Ahhh....springtime!

Spring has arrived in Illinois and I love it! It is so wonderful to enjoy the beautiful weather even though out here we really do get those April showers. We have been enjoying the weather and the fun things that Chicago has to offer us lately. This past weekend we went to the driving range on Friday before going over to Rob and Tiff’s house to watch a movie. Jason corrected something I had been doing wrong in my golf swing and it made a huge improvement! What a difference the smallest correction can make. I quickly told Tiffany and on Saturday we made the change. Which of course leads to Saturday – out on the golf course. I never imagined that I would one day be a golfer but I love it. Maybe it’s because I am outside and enjoying the beautiful weather and nature. Maybe it’s because it’s a sport that I can actually do with my arthritis. Or maybe it’s because it’s something that both Jason and I love to do together. Whatever the reason I’m loving it! We all had a good time…well almost all of us…Rob played with a different group of people and discovered he didn’t like “hoighty-toighty golf” – which is where you play serious…we like to have fun while we play.

Last week was also great because Jason and I went on a wonderful date! We went downtown to see the musical “Mary Poppins”. It was fantastic! They had the original Broadway Mary Poppins & Bert and they were amazing! The special effects were incredible and the music was glorious! Have I used enough adverbs???? My favorite part was when Bert actually danced on the walls and the ceilings of the stage! It was also sooo cute to see all the little girls dressed up for their first professional show…how cute is that. I told Jason that when we have kids we are totally taking them to shows. What a great experience for these kids to have and they seemed to absolutely love it! During one part of the show a group of mom’s and daughter’s sitting by us all opened up parasols when Mary Poppins did – so cute! Before the show we went to a wonderful seafood restaurant McCormicks and Schmicks – they had a special “tax relief day special” where entrée’s were only 10.40 (normally $30) so of course we had to try it out. In all we had a lovely evening together – even with me having to drive downtown with all the crazy cab drivers!

The final thing about this last week that I loved was the nursery kids. Jason and I both serve in the nursery of our church. We spend about 2 hours with kids between the ages of 18 months and 3 years old. It can get pretty crazy in there, especially since we had 14 kids there. Every Sunday at the end of church we are completely exhausted from running around with the kids but totally worth it. We love spending time with those precious children. Since we don’t have kids of our own we forget how innocent and Christ-like these little ones can be so when we get the opportunity to spend two hours with them we are reminded of it. It also makes the ache of not having children yet a little easier to bear because we get all the love we want from those little ones. They are boundless with their hugs and smiles. I love it!!!! Yesterday especially was fun because the kids were so happy and just so loving. I almost got a little teary-eyed as I watched Jason helping one little girl pray – he is going to be such a great dad one day. Anyways…we love it there!

The Adventures keep on coming...

So this month marks 3 years since we moved out here – well Jason anyways. Last night Jason bought me tickets to go see the Broadway stage version of Mary Poppins and afterwards we were talking and he mentioned the fact that before we lived in Chicago he had never seen a professional theater production (other than my Pioneer Theater shows). That got me thinking that since we’ve moved out here we have had a lot of “firsts”.

•First time living apart from one another since we were married (never doing that again!)
•First time Jason had lived outside of the state of Utah other than his mission
•We have added a country to our list of places we’ve been– Canada
•Jason added a ton of states to his list and I added a few more to my list of states we’ve been to.
•First time going to a Cubs game – or any Major League baseball game
•First time seeing a river dyed florescent green for St. Patricks day
•Jason’s first time at an art museum (I loved it – him not so much)
•First time going to Bulls Basketball game in a suite.
•First time seeing the Nauvoo temple completed (I had seen it while it was being built)

•First time to the top of the Arch in St. Louis
•First time smoking our own meat
•First time living in a city that was participating in the Superbowl (talk about crazy – it was awesome!!!)
•First time watching a movie being filmed (They were filming Batman Dark Knight outside Jason’s work for a few days)
•First time going to a Posh Charity Event.
•Diana’s first time golfing – and Jason embracing his love of golf.

I could go on and on but that is good enough for now. We have loved living out here and can’t wait to see what other new “firsts” we get to add while we are in Chicago. Luckily we have had some wonderful friend’s to share these experiences with – not to mention each other. We are so lucky to live in a place that offers so much!