DECEMBER 1 - Our month started out well for Grayson. After 2 weeks in his cast, there was enough calcium on his metatarsal bone to warrant removing his cast and pins and putting him in a boot. He is still in non-weight-bearing mode but it's much easier to shower and DRIVE!!!!
DECEMBER 2 - Fast and Feast. The youth in our ward began a 24-hour fast on Tuesday evening with a fireside by recently returned missionaries Adam and Garrett. It's one thing to have Garrett home and back in our daily lives, but it's another thing to watch this man stand up and deliver a 15-minute talk about fasting using quotes, scriptures, personal experiences and testimony without using any notes! The spirit was so strong. He still astounds me every day.
DECEMBER 3-5 - Garrett was kind enough to join me on crossing a few more of the less popular states off my list. It was extremely cold but we were lucky not to have any snow or storms. We flew into Chicago and rented a car for our hundreds of miles driving journey.
1st stop--Gary, Indiana. Besides the popular song from The Music Man, Michael Jackson's family home is located there. We were definitely the minority nationality-wise and many of the streets had burned-out homes.
Next stop--downtown Chicago via Willis Skydeck (formerly Sears Tower).
Our last activity in Illinois was the Chicago Temple. It starts getting dark at 4:30 pm and these pictures were taken at 5:00!
Had the most amazing salad and pizza at Lou Malnati's!!!!
Day 2 of the trip was our big driving day to get from Illinois all the way across the state of Wisconsin and end up in Minnesota that night.
Took a fabulous tour of Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers which included visiting the suites, running through the tunnel with fans cheering and a look at the field up close.
This is pretty much what our 7 hours of driving through Wisconsin looked like...
Stopped at a cheese factory and sampled many delicious flavors! Even brought a couple home...
Made it to Minnesota where gas is cheap and chain of lakes everywhere in Minneapolis.
Stopped at the St. Paul Temple on our final day before heading over to a few hours of shopping and fun at the Mall of America. Ate at one of our favorite food chains, sampled some never-before flavors of PEEPS like Red Velvet, Sugar Cookie and Hot Chocolate and then rode the roller coaster before heading to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. What a fun trip we shared and the perfect way to get us in the Christmas spirit!
