Collin Graduation

Collin had to be at graduation (I would have made him go anyway). Both his parents and my parents came with us which was a lot of fun. We didn't want to pay for parking at the airport so we rode Frontrunner to the airport. Scotty thought it was great that we rode a train (Frontrunner), trolley (Trax), an airplane, and a bus (to the rental car) all in one day. He loved watching out the windows of Frontrunner. It was so nice and I was extremely glad and grateful our parents were with us. Carrying 2 carseats, a suitcase, 2 backpacks, and keeping track of Scotty with Kylie in the carrier on the Frontrunner and Trax was pretty crazy, but was much easier once we were at the airport and had additional help from parents. Both kids did so great the whole trip! Our flight left at about 8:30 PM. Kylie fell asleep before the plane took off. Scott was too excited that it took him about an hour and half before he settled down and slept. We flew into Chicago. We had a rental car while we were there. I reserved an SUV. Even though we needed 8 seats I reserved one that said 7 online. I thought all SUVs had a full middle bench. Apparently the rental company only had 2 seats in the middle row, so Collin got to drive a 12 passenger van! We had more space that way though and it was easier for me to go back and forth from the passenger and the kids right behind me. We got to a hotel that night around 1 in the morning and had to leave early in the morning to get Collin to Davenport for graduation practice the following morning. We didn't get tons of sleep that night, but both kids slept well which was good.

Driving to Davenport (2.5 hours) was uneventful. It was nice being back in Davenport. It felt like home! While Collin was at graduation practice the rest of us hung out at the school and talked. My memory is fuzzy on how the rest of the day went but at some point we went to the John Deere tractor museum. It brought back so many memories from going there with friends. We went to The Machine Shed for dinner. Scott fell asleep on the way there (pretty much anytime we were in the car both kids slept) He slept on my dad's lap pretty much all of dinner. He was so tired from such a late night, early morning, and no nap really. After dinner our friends the Colvins came to the hotel and talked with us for awhile. We miss them! It was good to talk with them and catch up with them, even though it had only been a few months since we last saw them.

Graduation was the next day. We had enough time in the morning to swim for a bit. That was Kylie's first time swimming. She liked it. It was then time to get ready to go for graduation. Graduations aren't fun, but it was so exciting for me to see Collin acknowledged for all his hard work! He graduated Magna Cum Laude and was also on the Dean's List every trimester. All that while being married and having 2 kids. I was so emotional seeing him walk across the stage. We were sitting right above where they walked in and out. As he was exiting he looked up, found us, and held his hand up with the I Love You sign - that's when I was very emotional. I really am so proud of him. After graduation we went and found Dr. Katie Clark (the clinic doctor Collin learned from and worked with). She is so great and we all loved her! After that it was time to drive back to Chicago. We went to the temple as soon as we got there. The men went first and then the women. It's a pretty temple and I'm glad we went. Collin and I meant to go there the whole 3.5 years we were in Davenport but always went tot he Nauvoo temple instead. After the temple, we went to dinner and then our hotel for bed.

The next and last day was spent sight seeing Chicago. It was so cold nobody wanted to get out of the car. We just drove around downtown before heading back to the airport. We got to the airport quite a bit earlier than we needed to, but Chicago airport has a playground that Scott played at for awhile. Our flight back to SLC had our friends from our Davenport ward, Jared and Holly Brown, on it. That was fun to talk with them for a bit. When we landed in SLC we realized we had to really hurry to make it on Trax, otherwise we would have had to wait an hour for the next Frontrunner. It took forever for our carseats to be unloaded. We made it on Trax just in time.

It was a fun, busy few days with lots of good memories!

Frontrunner

Trax, or as Scott called it "Trolley", like Daniel Tiger

Before we ever took off, with a sleeping Kylie

How they looked at the end of our flight

Dr. Katie Clark

Look at this crazy parking garage, with a river right below it!

The Bean

Illinois is very proud of Abraham Lincoln coming from there.

Lake Michigan

Wrigley Field. I really wanted to go to a Cubs game while we were in school, but we never made it. At least I got to see Wrigley Field while in Chicago.