My Boy

My Boy.  Some might think it strange that I call Jon a "boy".  But it really is an endearing term, I promise.  He in turn calls me, "His Girl."  Or if you've been around us at all, you've probably learned many other loving names we've given each other (along with Molly Pocket).  

Anyways, my Boy is just great; I really do love him.  A few weeks ago, I told him I was badly craving Watermelon, as I often do throughout the whole summer.  He was going grocery shopping for me and promised he'd pick up some watermelon for "His Girl."  Well, I must say I was surprised when he came home with one of the biggest watermelons I've ever seen in a grocery store.  I left it on the counter for a day and by that time, it was perfectly ripe as you can see in the picture below-yum!  And did I eat the whole thing?  Almost!  Besides sharing some with some company and a bit with Jon (who doesn't like watermelon--what!), I ate pretty much the whole thing.  Often, I would have 6 or 7 pieces at night for dessert; what a perfect dessert!  I even put some cut up pieces in cheesecloth and squeezed the juice out of some chunks to mix in a drink.  Fresh squeezed watermelon juice, anyone?  Maybe not everyone is a watermelon fanatic like I am, but I realize I definitely have to cut myself off before I eat and eat way too much. 

Needless to say, I think Jon going to the store for what I'm "craving" will come in handy down the road.  I have no doubt that he will pick up what I need and even come home with a few surprises. 

Something else about my Boy.  As I'm taking a break from my Spanish to blog, he's taking a break from his work by grabbing his guitar.  So, during this time, he's been strumming away and we've been singing together-what fun!  I think that after spending time with our very talented friends, Mic and Sarah, we caught a bug for playing music together since we came back from Ohio.  I love that Jon sang Rose of My Heart by Johnny Cash to me at our wedding, so Cash has always been a favorite of ours.  It is fun to sing and play other Cash songs together, even though his voice is closer to Johnny's than mine is to June Carter's.  Hopefully our neighbors don't mind us belting out Ring of Fire at 10PM...probably time to stop singing and blogging and instead get back to studying my vocab...

All in all, I love my Boy.

August Busyness

 It's the last day of August and I'm realizing I did not update much about our lives this last month.  Well, that probably means that we were (and still are) crazy busy.  So, I thought I'd throw a bunch of things into this post to at least share some pictures of what we've been doing. 

Love my Sasta!  I hadn't seen her in a year and a half! 

 Technically July 30th, but close enough to August...My mom, Auntie Sasta and I organized a baby shower for Emily.  We had it the day before we went to camp, so it was fun to get together with family and friends while in Wisconsin.  Jon and I were also happy to stay two nights with Anders and Em! Jon's family also came up for the shower and so it was fun to combine our two families for a special celebration.  Since her shower, Emily has entered her third trimester and is about 30 weeks along!  It was fun to celebrate with her as well as see all the fun baby gifts.  It was sad saying goodbye to Anders and Em because we said, "It'll probably be the last time we'll see you before the baby's born." 

 Well, little did we know, but we would see them again soon after!  Anders and Emily decided to come down to IL for a night and then go up to the Brewer's game together, now three weeks ago.  What a fun and spontaneous time!  The game also happened to be German heritage day or something, hence the German flag in the back (go figure).  It was also another bobble head day, so not only do we now have a sketchy hot dog bobble head from July, but also a Craig Counsell bobble head with a bierbrauer jersey. 

 Tailgating

Packing up and heading inside!  

Well, turns out that also wasn't our last time seeing them before baby is born because we are going to one last Brewer's game in a few weeks.  I think we have said "this is our last Brewer game of the year" a few times now, so maybe this is it. 

Jon and I also started class last week.  I started Spanish once again and he started his many classes.  This semester, my professor is speaking Spanish through the majority of the class time as well as us speaking in small and large groups.  I am actually enjoying this class much more than the first, so far that is...  This semester Jon is taking 14 credits: Synoptic Gospels, Pentateuch, Educational Ministries, Christian Ethics, and Intro to Counseling.  Along with this, he is still helping out at church for the 20's ministry as well as leading a newly married group with me.  We are really excited about leading the newly married group.  Even though we are by far the youngest couple leading, we feel like this is where God's placed us and we know we have a lot to offer from what we've learned and gone through so far in our marriage.  I guess this is where the tough times experience comes in handy, when we can help other couples through difficult things as well.  At least now I can look back on times and see how God has worked them out and continues to work them out for his God by helping others and being real with other believers.  

Just briefly on me, my new kids transitioned on Monday to my class.  So I have said goodbye to my last class and started my new one two days later; whew!  Let's just say it has been so draining, on top of Spanish starting and everything else.  But, I can say that looking back at the summer, it was fruitful and I had a wonderful time with my Boy.  Jon is the "bestest"!  Now I just have to get back into the school routine of him being gone more and studying even more...press on! 

Well, that is our August in a nutshell, onto September now; can you believe it?

"It's New!"

If you've been around my family quite a bit, you've probably heard us yell at each other, "It's new!"  We got this from my Nona who would bring bags of goodies and trinkets in that were "new" while saying, "You've gotta try this! Here!" Or the ever popular phrase to the kids, "New candy!  Here, take it before you mother sees it!" as she shoves it all down deep in our pockets, gives us a butt pinch, and we waddle away with our new, tasty treat.  I still find myself saying, "It's new" when I find something to show to Jon or someone else in my family.  So today when I was walking through Target I saw an entirely new shelf of marshmallows.  Since they are on sale, maybe they aren't completely new, maybe I just have been out of the loop of marshmallows.  Click below on the picture and you'll see what I mean. 

We all know about those junky, fruity marshmallows that just ruin the original marshmallow taste.  But "Don'tcha know?" about the chocolate mint, cinnamon bun, German chocolate cake, and piña colada marshmallows?  Who knew?  I was pretty intrigued by the cinnamon bun marshmallows myself!  You can also see below the square marshmallows that will now fit perfectly on your graham cracker.  I'd like to know how that works when you push it on a stick and plunge it into fire, is it still square?  hm.

Anyways, just wanted to share something that especially my side of the family would appreciate with a little "Don'tcha know?" and "It's new!" thrown in with it all! 

Cheesy Girl

I found the picture below while searching for 'grilled cheese' online.  I was organizing pictures for my Getting to Know Me board for school before the kids transition to our room on Monday.  As some of you may know, my favorite meal is grilled cheese with tomato soup and rice (plus a huge dollop of butter spread on the bread and plopped in the soup.  So, I was looking for good pictures of my favorite meal to add to my board when this picture popped up.  I saw it and thought it may have been a picture taken of me as a child with that crazed cheese obsession look in my eyes.  I feel like I often times get this look even as an adult or if nothing else, my hands are held like hers, waiting in anticipation for when I might grab that delicious melted heavenly cheesy goodness! 

It's funny, Jon must really know me well because just a few weeks ago he said to me, "You're in a cheese mood aren't you?"  I was not eating at the moment, but instead cuddling with him.  So, apparently, I get cuddly when I need cheese.  How cute is he!  But it's true, it is a comfort food to me, especially when it's warmed in between bread!  

Often times, family brings me cheese as a gift and I'm pretty excited about this, especially when I haven't had good cheese in a long time.  Sometimes when I talk about cheese curds at school, people look at me strangely.  I mean, come on people, you live an hour south of Wisconsin, have you been deprived your whole life of such a squeaky and salty treat?  Sad.  But, alas, I have a new student who's family is "smart" enough to live across the border and drives down for work (although I don't know that driving an hour is worth it).  Today, I asked her if she knew what cheese curds were and what flavor she liked the best.  She answered 'yes' quite quickly and replied she likes orange ones; this was such a happy thing in my day-I think that might be weird to have as a high point...  Thank goodness though, someone I can share my love of cheese with in Illinois.  

Oktoberfest in August?

Jon and I usually have a "Back to School" dinner each year.  It was a tradition in my family for my mom to either make us our favorite meal or choose our favorite restaurant before the school year started.  I suppose it was kind of the last hurrah of the summer and a good way to kick off the school year.  I forget where Jon and I have gone in past years, but I think I'll remember this one.  Yes, we went to an Oktoberfest in August.  Apparently, the Germans here can't wait until the actual Oktoberfest time to celebrate in late September early October.  I drove past the fest yesterday and thought that since Jon is German, he might enjoy going to the little fest.  Normally, I give him a hard time because he's German, but today I didn't and instead asked if he wanted to go for his back to school dinner.  We decided to go and we even got in for free as I found a coupon on their website, yay!   For fun, when getting dressed, I grabbed my "Made in Sweden" shirt; Jon wouldn't let me wear it though.  As we were getting ready, I spouted off any German I knew, that being "Ich liebe dich" and "Eine kleine Nachtmusik", which as I'm sure you know is a famous piece of Mozart's.  Obviously I am not a drop of German, Jon can at least remember a decent amount from years of German class.
So, along we went (without my Swedish shirt), with Jon's partially German self and myself with some added German stereotypes to my outfit.  It definitely wasn't a magnificent fest by any means, but it was a fun atmosphere with some decent food.  Plus, how can you not enjoy seeing little boys and old men in lederhosen?  Maybe later this fall, we'll go to a real Oktoberfest, but this was enough of a taste and time for Jonathon to be German.

We got some wonderful bratwurst on hard rolls which were so much better than Johnsonville.

Across the table from us was an older couple who had immigrated from Germany.  They asked another older couple next to us if they were German as well and the lady next to me said she was Italian.  When I heard that, I turned and excitedly told her I was also Italian.  I mean, how many Italians do you meet at a German festival?  Well, she turned her nose up a little and said, "Well I'm a hundred percent" and turned away.  Wow, I just got completely snubbed, how rude.  Yes, I definitely got more of the Swedish looks, but she doesn't know I'm also northern Italian and their skin is more fair, so there!

After that, Jon and I just enjoyed the German dancing and music that went on at the stage for awhile. 

What cute old people

 By the way, I want one of these twisted trombone/sousaphone looking things. 

Well, normally you wouldn't catch me at a German festival, but I did have fun with Jon.  We talked about how we would like to go to more cultural fests such as this one, so we'll have to keep our eye out for others!
Happy Back To The School Year Jonathon! 

5 loaves and 2 fish

Last night was the racetrack ministry graduation.  Tuesday was our last teaching night and I was glad to have been able to go to both.  Throughout the summer, I went to Thursday nights consistently, but came on Tuesdays whenever I was free as well.  One of our students Evelio was the only consistent student throughout the entire summer, he came to every meeting!  Unfortunately, this summer compared to previous ones, the numbers were lower for students because we had to compete with other activities occurring at the same time such as soccer leagues and other Bible studies.  But, Joann and I were so happy to always have at least one student whereas other volunteers would come and have noone show up.  For the graduation though, we ended up having three adult students who also ended up bringing some of their family making a total of ten people.  The night ended up being very different than what we had in mind, but God worked everything out the way he wanted it, I think. 

(Excuse me if the next chunk of explaning things is jumbled) Sadly, our leader for the ministry was unable to be there because of her father being gravely ill, so a lot of the preparations for the night were not finished.  We didn't know this until we got to the church and realized that there was no plan for the evening.  Right away, the other teachers and I sat down together to pray because we had no music, no fluent Spanish speaker to give the Gospel, nothing set up ahead of time, and no plan for the order of events.  I contacted one of the pastors, Troy,  that I know and he started to help us by printing off some graduation certificates and putting together some gift bags.These gift bags were extras that were given to him months ago and as they sat on his bookshelf, he had no idea what to do with them until tonight!  He came with them and asked if it was enough.  I felt like we had a "feeding of the five thousand" moment because we had 5 adults coming and 6 bags to hand out.  On top of that, Troy found a bunch of candy and toys to give the kids that fit their ages and genders perfectly! 

Now, we needed to find someone that could speak Spanish and comfortably share the Gospel; this became my job.  While a few teachers drove to the racetrack to bring the students back to church, I wandered the halls asking strangers if they could speak Spanish.  It was good that I was the one who did this because it reminded me of why I want to learn Spanish or at least enough of it to help out in situations like this.  After wandering and asking a few people, I ran into another pastor who I hadn't met yet but might I add, talked highly of Jonathon and his servant hood at church.  He then was able to ask two classrooms full of people and one person volunteered and turned out to be a missionary's kid from Peru-perfect!  So, while we were out in the lobby praying as a group for someone, she was actually sitting in a room nearby, at a table with Jonathon none the less (Jon was at a meeting for new small group leaders).  Another teacher read her testimony in Spanish that randomly was in her trunk and then Sarah spoke Spanish and gave a personal message.  We really loved that she had a South American background to connect with them and told us that they need something real and not just a "go to church" type of story because of their Catholic background; again, it was perfect! 

Afterwards, we had dinner together, chatted, and then sadly we had to bring our students back to the racetrack and say good bye.  We asked if they would be back next year, Alejandra said yes, but Evelio said he wasn't sure.  So, it's always hard to say good bye when you've invested time into someone and you're not sure if you'll see the person again.  We shared the Gospel many times and Evelio seemed to have a very good background and understanding, we just hope that they will have a personal relationship with Christ if they don't already.  I now realize how much I will miss them after seeing them every week.  Although I didn't always feel like teaching again after already being at school for 9 hours, but every night I knew it was well worth it and was a blessing to me. 

I came back to the church and ran into Troy and Jon's pastor mentor, Jeff and we talked about how God worked out everything perfectly for tonight.  I was in awe of how everything happened and how they seemed to enjoy being at Harvest even though we had a crazy start to the night as leaders.  But, when we prayed to God and handed everything over to Him, amazing things happened. 

Camp Forest Springs

Last week's vacation already seems so far away, I can't believe it.  I love the high you get from a vacation, but coming back to reality can be so brutal.  Jon and I went to Camp Forest Springs with my parents, the same camp I grew up going to.  This year was our 19th year going, so we have a little bit of a history there.  Growing up at camp, I never thought that someday my husband would be coming with me and doing activities that I loved as a child and still enjoy doing. 

Setting up camp!  Here, Jon can display his country-boy-ness for me. 

Got one!  

We got to go fishing a few times.  Jon and dad actually went for most of the day Wednesday while I went to my dentist appointment.  Unfortunately, I hardly caught anything.  This rarely happens, so I was quite bothered by it.  But, all in all, it was so nice to be out on the lake, relaxing and enjoying the loons and the sun. 

This was one of Jonathon's bigger bass'.  He and dad were on fire! 

This picture is a major reason why I miss being in the country.  This spot is also one of my favorites in the whole camping area.  I love walking along this trail and taking in the nature surrounding me. 

Lumberjack Night

Each camp has a theme and this year's was trees and lumberjacks.  We learned how we are supposed to be "trees planned by streams of living water."  Thursday night is also a family activity night, so they had a fun dinner for us and then activities at the rec. field afterwards.  The food was really tasty and I'm pretty sure I ate 2 pieces of corn bread and took 2 with me for later on the way out. 

Hatchet Throwing

Showing off our teamwork and sawing skills. 

I love this kid!

Thursday night also has a concert led by Matt, one of the main singers at camp.  It's such a wonderful time of worship and relaxation on the waterfront. 

Papa and I.

Jon participated in the campers vs. staff softball game.  Normally, the staff rules over the campers, but this time we smashed them 13-6.  Jon had a bunch of wonderful assists and back ups in the outfield.  There's just something about watching your man play a sport. 

S'mores!

I love the smell of campfire smoke and the relaxing time spent with family. 

It's always so sad to leave camp and come back home.  But, since we have been married, we have looked forward to the couple's retreat in the fall.  We have gone with Anders and Emily the last two years, but since their baby is due around that time they will be staying home.  Jon and I look forward to going to camp next year as well, Lord willing.   Thank you to my family for the many wonderful years I've had at CFS and now with Jonathon as well! 

Guilty Pocket

Jon and I just got back from vacation, so I don't really feel like blogging at the moment.  But, I figured I'd put something up on the blog since I haven't written in a week plus.  

The picture below was taken about two weeks ago.

This is how I've been finding Molly's bathroom after I come home from work.  Her cubby is supposed to be where she is sitting in the picture with the green blanket inside and rug straight.  Well, I don't know what her deal is, but she's been pulling everything out and flipping over her cubby, often times upside down.  Since her blue bowls are against the other wall, she has often been spilling her water as well.  Bad Pocket.  She used to protest us leaving her by tipping her food bowl over, but since we have her eat before we leave, she found another way to protest I guess.  Guilty Pocket.

nine dollars and forty-seven cents

$9.47 I've never seen that price before, have you?  I just had to share this picture!  We passed this gas station twice in one evening and the price was the same and people were at the pumps.  Sooo, not exactly sure what was going on here, but I hope I don't see gas up this high for real! 

Couch Potato

As Jon and I have been camping out downstairs the last few weeks, Molly has been hanging out in front of the fan quite a bit.  It has been so hot that being upstairs is unbearable and Molly has decided to "veg-out" with us as well.

(Click picture to enlarge)

Needless to say, we see her belly up quite often. 

Change of Plans

This last weekend, we had planned to go camping with some friends from Trinity, Kate and Matthew.  But, because of some storms that were coming in Friday night through Saturday night, we decided to scratch the trip.  I was pretty sad about it as I had been looking forward to camping since this last spring.  But, we are looking into a weekend in the fall to see the pretty fall colors, so that should be even prettier plus it'll be less hot and hopefully less wet.  We ended up getting about 4 inches of rain here, but Chicago got hit with 8 inches!  Although we weren't camping with the storm, we ended up driving in it as we still hung out with Kate and Matthew.  It was one of the worst storms we have seen in a long time and driving in our Civic was not the safest feeling as the water was so deep and lightning hitting so close to us.  But all in all, the night was still a good one despite the let down of not being able to camp.  We went to their house for some grilling, then to cheap bowling and to see the movie Captain America. 

Kate was my co-leader for Trinity Wives this last year and president for this coming year.

Jon beat me in the first game and I beat him in the second.

4th Anniversary

A week ago Thursday was our fourth anniversary, can you believe it?  We feel like the last two years have really flown by especially being in Korea and transitioning into seminary life.  But, we are really enjoying this stage in life and are happy to be together despite all that is going on in our lives.  For our anniversary, we ended up extending it through the weekend making it a four day celebration.  We didn't quite intend to do it this way, but it worked out so well and it was a lot of fun to look forward to new things each day.  I'll share some of the highlights with you!  On Thursday night, we went out to a favorite place of ours called Bonefish Grill.  We both enjoyed some tasty seafood as well as our favorite, Bang Bang Shrimp.  Our waitress was so sweet, we had declined dessert, but ended up bringing a mini dessert of our favorite crème brûlée!  Not knowing that it was our anniversary, she said we both looked so nice and were so dressed up that she wanted to add something extra to our special night. 

 The waitress was great and brought us a mini crème brûlée

Sunday, we went to Shedd Aquarium.  We both have wanted to visit there and after going the last time and not getting in, we learned it was better to go Sunday morning.  Sunday traffic downtown is also much better, so it was a breeze driving in.  Even though we were at the aquarium by 10, there was still a 45 minute wait outside the door.   This is a very common site, but at least it wasn't the 2.5 hours with 95 degree heat like last time.  So, we braved the line and got in with not only my free teacher discount, but Jon's student discount; woo-hoo! 

Notice the one dolphin swimming upside down and the other above Jon's head! 

Jon and I have always enjoyed nature and spending time watching God's interesting creation. 

The coral exhibit was our favorite and we went through it two times.

Besides doing the above activities, we enjoyed relaxing together after Jon's final summer class as well as cooling off with some ice cream!  We also decided to start playing disc golf together, so we're going to hopefully start that up soon.  We'll see how my coordination goes with this; maybe Jon should be wearing a helmet.  Anyways, it was a wonderful time together and I am so happy to have my great guy! 

Racetrack ESL

As I've mentioned before, I am spending some time this summer at a nearby horse racetrack teaching English.  So far, it has gone really well and I've enjoyed the people from church that I work with as well as our adult students.  Last week, both my partner and I were gone and after talking tonight, we realized how much we missed them and loved seeing them.  One of our students walked up to us today with such a happy twinkle in his eyes and happy to see us after being gone for a week.  At first, he was so quiet and reserved, but tonight he was very talkative and confident.  It was so fun to see the growth he's made even in a month.  We have two other students that normally come as well, but one was gone but one more joined us this week.  I just couldn't stop smiling as our confident guy was helping the new student and teaching her things we have taught him.  It is fun to be able to joke around with them and for them to find the humor in how crazy English is.  Seriously, the more time I spend teaching English, the more I realize how ridiculous it is.  I have also been able to use some Spanish or at least understand some of what they are saying and help bridge a gap between the two languages.  

Tonight, I was able to snap a few pictures to at least give you an idea of things!  

 Our students (Nelma, Evelios, and Alejandra) and Joann, my teaching partner.

The building on the left is used for a lot of things for the church ministry but because of no A/C, we have been teaching outside on a grassy patch.  The building on the right is a little kitchen and store for the workers.

Off subject, but I'd like to say last night at 10:00 p.m. the temperature here was "feels like 100".  goodness!  Apparently, it's not going to cool off at night.  Hope you are all staying cool.  

Beady Eyed Baby

Click on the picture to get a better view.

This also happens to be her, "I can't keep my eyes off of Mama" face. 

Brewer's Round 2!

Growing up, my family always loved going to baseball games and since we lived close to Milwaukee, we were able to go to County Stadium and cheer on the Brewers!  But even as we moved hours away and they built Miller Park, we would still make a trip together as a family.  Now that Jon and I are in Chicago, it's nice that we are only a little over an hour away from Miller Park and can easily make a trip up there.  In May, Anders and Em came down for a game with us.  This time, we met them as well as my parents and Emily's sister and two kids.  We went to a Saturday and Sunday game against the Reds and boy were they nail biters at the ends!  I just love the atmosphere when you're at a game and the comradery you have with the people around you as you're pulling for a good hit or just one more strike to get the batter out.

But before you can go to the game, you HAVE to tailgate!  I was so happy to introduce Jon to tailgating when we were dating.  Poor kid grew up in Minnesota and had no idea the joys of tailgating.  Before this picture was taken, we did have a canopy shading us from the dreadful heat, but it died shortly after...But, at least we had our wild rice brats to comfort us. 

One of my favorite times at a Brewer's game is watching the Sausage Race.  You know you're in Wisconsin when running sausages bring in huge crowds and extreme cheering.  My favorite is obviously Italian.  My mom and I even have matching Milwaukee Italian sausage shirts! 

Normally, they do not wear pink shirts, but today was some support for Cancer cure. 

 Guy talk

This was a great picture, with "Brewer's Win!" in the background and then there's my lovely brother.  Oh I do love him!  

Let's try again...

Helquist Family!

We also have a favorite burger/grilled cheese/custard shop called Kopp's.  In May, we went to the one my family frequented when I was little and I got to show Jon the big spoon and cherry that I always tried to climb; he was not surprised.  The last few times, Jon and Anders have done a little bit of a custard eating contest to see who can eat the most over two days; it's pretty sickening. 

It was a wonderful weekend to be with family and enjoy Wisconsin.  I love doing things as a family, especially special traditions like these.  Thanks so much! 

Bun in the Oven

Yes!  There is a "bun in the oven" for my brother and his wife, Emily.  Jon and I are really excited for them and to meet this new little girl in November.  They told us in February, so I have been waiting for their go-ahead to share on the blog.  I told Anders he is lucky that there aren't twins, since we would be the next generation to have them.  But, I also told him he better hope that his little girl isn't wild and accident prone like I was.  Good luck! :) 

Jon and I are so happy to be an uncle and aunt in a few months!  Congrats Helquist's! 

Sorry, Em, I stole this from you! 

Lights Out Quick Post

Well, we have had no power for almost two days now because of a horrible storm on Monday morning.  But, since I was at Trinity for a meeting, I thought I should finally put up a post I had started before the power outage.  Also, this storm hit right as I pulled into work; it was fun running in a dress and bare feet through the torrential downpour and swirling wind. 

Below are just some random videos and pictures that do not really have specific blog post home.

Molly has been pretty hot lately with all of the humidity.  This is how she likes to stay cool; she is our Molly Model. 

I thought Molly wouldn't like something sour, but apparently she didn't care!  But, since she loves eating raw garlic and onions, I suppose this really shouldn't be a surprise. 

We call her Platypus Bill Baby when we catch her like this!

 

Helping to lace up my dear friend, Amanda. 

 I love this picture that I got from someone else.

The Enger's Visit

 This last weekend was a busy one, not only did Jon and I have Amanda's wedding, but we were also blessed to have family visiting us.  We haven't seen Jon's parents since his birthday in March, so it was nice to have them come see us!  While they were here, we got to go to some places in the area that we hadn't taken advantage of yet. 

 Saturday, we went downtown  intending to go to Shedd Aquarium, but when we saw that the line was a 2 hour wait out the door in upper nineties heat and high humidity, we decided against that.  Instead, we went next door to the Field Museum.  They had a lot of great exhibits and was pretty interesting.  Afterwards, we went for a little walk by the lake to take in the nice breeze!  

View out to Navy Pier. 

 On our way home, we made a stop at Smoque BBQ.  I told you after watching the video a few posts back would make you want to come for the best brisket!  Needless to say, I was wondering how all this brisket was going to feel on my tummy for our 5k the next day.  ugh. 

 I had so much fun running Sunday morning and I think Jon and Bob did as well, despite getting up at 6:30 for it and aimlessly wandering around looking for our car afterwards.  The weather turned out to be better for it than expected because the forecast said 90% humidity in the early morning; not good.  Good thing it was cooler than expected and we all finished well!  I'm so proud of the guys for finishing their first race! 

After cleaning up after the race, we went to church and then we all had a nice nap!  But after sleeping, we needed coffee and ice cream to get us going again!  So, we went to a famous ice cream shoppe nearby; they make the best! 

On Monday, we did some shopping as well as visiting a nearby historic village called Long Grove.  Since my sister in law used to live around there, it always makes me think of her.  It also made me think of her when we were scarfing down her favorite donuts (apple cider and strawberry)!  haha.
At Long Grove, we went to The Olive Tap and taste tested some amazing olive oils and balsamic vinegars.  Sounds weird maybe, but it was pretty amazing and tasty.  How about some white coconut balsamic vinegar or naturally buttery olive oil?  yeah, yum.  I felt it bring out the Italian side in me.

Monday ended with some wonderful fireworks in front of Burger King.  Not exactly Mikana fireworks, but still pretty good.  (Who knew an unincorporated town could produce such wonderful fireworks and spoil me?) 

Happy July 4th!  We hope you all had a wonderful and safe weekend! 

Helquist's Round 2!

I told myself that I'd be better with writing a post when family, but here I am writing as we have another set of family in town. Oh well, at least I'm writing, better late than never.  

As I had said in an earlier blog, my mom came down early on the train and was able to take care of me and Jon while we were sick.  I was so sad that I got sick before she came, but it ended up working out okay as I spent a lot of relaxing time at home.  Lots of loving cooking occurred 

including homemade chicken and rice soup and Nona's sloppy joes.  My dad came down on Friday evening and he was able to stop by my school and visit me.  It's fun that growing up I visited my parents' school and now they visit mine!  The next day, Jon was busy with school again, so my parents and I naturally, went out food shopping.  We even got to enjoy some Caribou Coffee!  Once Jon came back home, we went to our new favorite Korean BBQ Hut!  It seems everyone that comes wants to go eat Korean food and we're definitely okay with that!  After eating Korean food at least once a day while living in Korea, we have been on withdrawal over the last two years since we've been back. 

Squid and Beef

I figured you might want to see a video of how BBQ works if you haven't been to one before!  

On Sunday, we were able to enjoy going to church together and have a Father's Day dinner before my parents took off.  it was great having my dad for Father's Day and my mom for a good chunk of the week making me feel better from my sicknesses.  The time together went by so fast, but we are quite excited to be able to spend time next weekend with them as well as Emily and Anders again!