Janelle's visit to Gurnee

sorry for the lul in posting. my little sister has been visiting us and i have been giving all my attention to her! i was SO SAD to drop her off at the airport today, but was so grateful to have her here these last 8 days.


I did try to give Janelle some-what of a complete tour of the town-plus-chicago. Of course, i stillw as working a few jobs, but Janelle was so sweet to help me with some things for quite a few hours so we could take a day off and go down town. We had quite variable weather, so we were restricted in some ways....anyways....

Well, of course, we started (and ended) her visit with some snow-shoeing! We just had to watch out for speedy snow-mobilers. Those guys zoom by us so fast - i can't believe they're allowed to do that on the trail! well, i think it is what many people around here do for fun in the winter (God-forbid they do something physically active like skiing or something).

Wednesday brought over a foot of snow! we had a full-blown blizzard in town!! Landon shoveled our drive-way more than once in a day. He seems pretty up to it, though, in this picture. The roads were covered in our town for days, so we had a hard time leaving, but there was much work to do, plenty of coffee, and Janelle brought some chick-flicks with her!
Landon received a pasta maker for his birthday, and made his first attempt at home-made pasta! Spinach ricotta ravioli with alfredo sauce and a bottle of Merlot (3-buck chuck!) was DELICIOUS! It was a lot of work, but was well worth it!
We went to the Art Institute of Chicago and had an amazing time walking among some amazing artwork. Walking around downtown chicago in the evening was also fun, as we had coffee at starbucks and then had dinner at a Thai restaurant. We even ran into an old friend from our time in Colorado Springs. (Callie - let Brandon know...) I was walking in the dark down Michigan avenue and noticed this guy walking past me watching me sort of creepily, then he grabbged my arm! (AAHH!) when i turned around i was looking at the face of an old friend! Will Forsythe! So weird to run into a Colorado friend in downtown Chicago on a Friday night. Awesome!
Look at this beautiful lady in the snow!!!! We will miss you, Nell