Notre Dame with the Dad

mr. kelly cat came to chicago for a business trip, and he was able to come party with us for a bit! kelly got some tickets to a notre dame/byu game, so we all drove up to northbend, indiana and had a fabulous li'l party! the campus and stadium were spectacular.  the weather was spectacularly FRIGID! it was one of the coldest games ever.  we ended up leaving early because it was so cold and because byu was losing! :p  still glad we went.  we also all went to the museum of science and industry.  My favorite parts were the WWII U505 submarine exhibit, the christmas trees from around the world and toymaker 3000...SCORE! :)  chicago knows how to make a great museum.  as you will see from the pictures below, kelly and rich were thoroughly entertained.  it was a super weekend--thanks kelly!  we miss already! come back! :)

Notre Dame Cathedral

under the golden dome!

they have a cool trumpets under the dome tradition before the game

we are sporting some fabulous notre dame gems and jewels, but because of the weather--you can't see them under our coats. 

so so so so so cold. my jaw was frozen. i look high.

gary, indiana=scary abandoned town.  i think kelly took us on this little detour to try and get us killed! yikes.

these two....i love them...

I LOVE THEM. A LOT. REALLY. A LOT.

after the toymaker 3000...these two needed a little r & r.  this mindball/relaxation competition game was calling their name.

byu vs badgers

last weekend, rich and i met up with some fabulous friends (drew, michelle, jenna and aj) in madison, wi and watched the cougars and badgers game. :p besides the loss, it was a great time.  the drive was gorgeous, the weather almost perfect (a little too cold, but tolerable), the stadium was amazing, the badgers fans were very entertaining, and rich and drew especially loved the bucky burger (burger with a bratwurst on it).  definitely a guy thing! ahah!  i loved seeing this awesome family, and i know rich especially loved seeing his buddy from mapleton.  the only problem with the trip was that it was definitely not long enough! drew works for proctor and gamble in cincinatti, so we will all meet up in indianapolis sometime hopefully super soon! thanks for the fun time guys!

my byu boy :)

i love going to football games!

ahahah look at aj! gotta love it!

camp randall was an awesome stadium!

michelle is so pretty!

;) so hottttt (the other self pics only get worse...)

hot chocolate race

richy ricardo and i are pretty much olympian runners now! :) for real though, we ran another race! and we rocked it rockstar style! ;) granted, this was a shorter distance than our last race, but we did better overall.  rich ran the 5k and placed in the top 14% of like 6000 male runners and i ran the 15k and placed in the top 4% of about 6000 female runners! :) it was my best pr and i ran it in the 7 minute per mile range, so i think running with my hubby must have motivated me to exceed my record! :) also...i had to keep up with him because he was cruising so fast! after the race, we got delicious hot chocolate and hung out with some friends who ran it too.  it was a way super adrenaline filled fun day!

we had to wake up at like freakin' 5am but i t was worth it!

we got matching hot chocolate shirts.  presh.

rich had to capture the moment. lol!

minutes before we started...

minutes after we finished!

the chocolate was so rich and smooth!

leanne, maryann and ana (ana runs in every single freakin' race!)

ana, maryann, mary and leanne

Monster Dash

my amazing richardo and i ran the monster dash half marathon! i know you are thinking: WHAT#*$^?! rich hates running?!  false.  since about...march, rich started running with me about twice a week and gradually rich has been hating it less and less.  is he obsessed? not yet.  maybe never...but he doesn't hate it now! miracles happen! also, i must say, running with rich is awesome. ;) ahah! the race was awesome! it was a monster dash/costume contest run, so we dressed up as clowns (if you couldn't tell).  there were a lot of glorious costumes and it was definitely one of the funnest races i have ran in.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

hey hot clown man... ;)

we ran along the lakeshore and wow! it was so beautiful i wanted to stop and takes pics!

ana payne, an amazing nurse at ABH, who literally runs in every marathon/half/5k/etc race in chicago!

winning!

big bro visits sister

my big brother, mickey, had a break from work in texas, so he came and stayed with us! it made me feel cool and special to have him come see me because i was and always am the annoying little bratster, but luckily he is too cool and looks past that.  thanks mike! it was short visit but we still partied!  mickey went running with me in the mornings (he is a fast dude), and i showed him some sites in downtown chicago and we did the city thing.  we also went to naperville and did the suburb thing.  mostly we just annoyed each other, but that is what we do best. :) love ya brother!

it's naturaaaal

these dork clowns should start their own show

mike, if you wanna eat, you have to take a pic with me! look at the camera dangit! he still hates taking pics with sister. ahah! some things never ever change!

signature room views

country boy in the big city :)

more views.  it was suuuuch a gorgeous day! perfect fall weather.

we went shopping downtown and at navy pier.  i helped mike find some awesome updated clothes (in my personal fashion opinion at least).  then, i got rich the exact same awesome updates clothes.  lol! those two have a tendency to be wearing the same thing....my fault! :) but if the shirt is cool, rich must have it too!

millenium park

lookin' cooler than cool at cloudgate

al bawadia

one thing i love about chicago is all of the cool people we meet.  the second thing i love is how all those cool people we meet introduce us to delicious, delicious food.  dr. m (from abh) introduced us to some amazing indian food.  yummy! look at the huge ginormous feast he ordered.  i don't even know what half of it was, but the lamb dish makes me salivate just thinking about it! 

Nurses take on Six Flags

adventist healthcare (one of my employers) rented out all of six flags for an entire day and let all of it's employees run loose and take over the park...hospital style! ahah! just kidding--we were still somewhat professional, but it was a blast.  we hung out with bernadette, one of my favorite nurses ever, and her hubby, marcin, and went on some rides together.  it was super fun day! thanks abh!

beauty stars

all pooped out! thanks for coming rich and hanging with me and my cool colleagues! :)