Routson Family Pictures

For mothers day this year we decided to get my mom some professional pictures taken of the fam.  The boys were gone the whole summer so we had to wait for them to get back, and then we had to squeeze them into the short window that Curtis is here before he leaves for BYU Hawaii.

PS.  It's kind of weird having my side of the family all busy and grown up/adultish.  With Shawn's family everyone is grown up and busy so we are used to having to plan accordingly.  Scheduling pictures was a pain in the butt.  In the past we just had to schedule around work.  Now we have to plan around if someone is going to be in the state, working, school, golf, soccer etc.  I do not like it.  I hope its a little while before my brothers get married and start getting even busier.

 My cute parents.

Love my mom so much!

 The stool was my mom's idea.  I think it turned out cute (:

 There was a lot of laughing.

and more laughing.  In this picture Shawn is laughing hysterically at something Curtis did. 

Shawn: Where is Curtis?  He needs to make me laugh or I can't smile. 

.pause for 2 seconds. 

in the background a shoe goes flying into the corner and hits a door. 

Shawn laughs so hard.

Spencer:  So you just laugh at anything Curtis says or does?

yah. Pretty much he does.

 

Everyone always picks on me!!!

Chingin'

Last night Paul and Suzy introduced us to an amazing thing called "Chingin".  You go to the airport and find abandoned luggage carts (like the ones shown below) and then you return them to their homes.  When you return them you get a quarter back.  Cha-Ching!  Pretty much it's awesome. 

Our earnings

Paul and Suzy said it was a slow night...we are looking forward to going back during the busy holiday season. The good thing is we had Paul's parents drive us, so we didn't have to pay for parking! haha.  We had a fun night, we always do with Paul & Suz.

Chicago

After Nauvoo we headed to Chicago. It was only a 4-5 hr drive. 

We had a lot of time to argue and play games.

When we got to the hotel Shawn had surprised me with my favorite candy and a big welcome banner.  He is so cute.

The first night Shawn took us to a yummy pizza place called Illuminates. 

The first day Shawn had to work...so the rest of us went exploring.  We were all pretty toured out and didn't really have anything planned.  So we started out at the Navy Pier and then pretty much just walked...and explored...and walked...a lot!

It was freezing!

It rained pretty much the whole day.

Kevin really wanted to see the Millennium Bean...we walked forever trying to find it!

After being in the city all day we went back to Schaumberg where we were all staying at a hotel.  Schaumberg has one of the biggest malls in the country.  So we spent the evening shopping it up.  H&M was where we all spent the most $.  

My family only stayed 2 nights...and really only 1 day in Chicago.  They were pretty tired and needed to get home.  

Shawn and I spent all of Saturday and Sunday in Chicago.  We had so much fun. 

We went to the Willis tower.  We were lucky it was a nicer day.

After the tower we spent the rest of the day walking around and eating yummy food.  

We ended up at the art museum. 

The art museum was amazing.  We just didn't have enough time to see everything.  It was huge.  I think that if we spent a whole week in the museum we wouldn't have seen it all.  

We walked so much on Saturday...the next day I was so sore.  I had no idea you could be sore from walking...and I'm kind of a runner! We had so much fun though.  I think Shawn and I could enjoy living in a big city like Chicago.  Actually...I think we would love it. 

Loved the train stations.  I was amazed by all of the beautiful architecture.  Everything seemed so old and charming.

Sunday we spent the day shopping...and more exploring...and then that night we went with a couple of Shawn's Canon friends to the Second City Comedy Show.  It was awesome!

I was so sad that I had to go home Monday.  I had to be back for school.  I hope we can go back some day.

Mickie & Kallie's Birthdays

 Mickie & Kallie's Birthdays were in April.  They decided to do a joint birthday party...  Because the weather was bad they had to have it in a gym at the church.  It turned out to be really fun.  We were late because of soccer...of course soccer.

For Mickie's birthday Stacey planned for the 3 of us to go see Good Things Utah.  Mickie loves the show and watches it all the time.  It was fun. And we got to have our picture taken with Amy Rycroft who was a guest on the show that day!

10 Things we love about Kallie:

1.  I love that she loves Disney movies, and can quote them like none other

2.  Love it when she says my name, "anshg" and "uncle Shawn".

3.  Love that she loves maggie.

4.  Love that she is the cutest 3 year old I know.

5.  Love that she lets me braid her hair.

6.  Love it when she snuggles or wants to be hugged.

7.  Love that she is such a little princess and wants to do girly things.

8. Love that she will go to movies with me.

9.  Love that she can have full on conversations.

10.  Love that she is our niece!!!

10 Things we love about Mickie:

1.  She is a great mom.

2.  Family things are always more fun when she is there.

3.  She has the cutest kids.

4.  She always knows when something is wrong.

5.  She always tries to include us on things going on with her family.

6.  Love that family is so important to her.

7.  She always knows where the good deals are.

8.  She swears just as much as me.

9.  She is a great sister.

10.  She is never judgemental.

Love you guys so much!  Happy Birthday!

Nauvoo

In March my family went on a trip to Nauvoo. It was my dad's wish for his 50th birthday.   Shawn wasn't able to go because he had training in Chicago.  We decided to add Chicago to the list of places to go.  My family drove all the way to Missouri and they picked me up at the airport in St. Louis.  They made a lot of fun stops on the way...they can blog about that on their own.

My aunt Louis has a house across the river from Nauvoo in Montrose.  It had the most gorgeous view.  They call in the "Nauview House".  We stayed there for about 3 days and filled as much in as we could. 

Famous Rootbeer at the RedBrick House

We went on a carriage tour ride thing. It was really cold, but really cool.

We had fun going to all of the little shops and hearing the missionaries talk about everything. 

 The 2nd day we headed to Carthridge.  We were so sad because they were redoing the floors in the jail and we weren't aloud to go in at all.  The only thing we could do is walk around the jail, and then go into the visitors center.  I wish we could have gone in, but it was still a great experience.

After Carthridge we went to the temple.  It was seriously so great to be in the temple with my brothers and my parents.  We did baptisms for the dead all together, then Spencer left, and the rest of us did some more temple work.  My favorite was the baptisms.  It was such a special experience. 

Coming out of the temple there was a beautiful sunset.

 On the last day we did the Church of Christ's tour.  It was cool to see Joseph Smiths house and grave, but their guides and everything else were lame. 

On our way out we walked down the trail of tears. 

All of us at the Nauview house.

At first I was not at all excited to go to Nauvoo, but it turned out to be a great trip. I mean I don't plan on going back anytime soon...but I'm glad my parents were able to go and enjoy it with all of us.  :)  It was a great family trip.