Beautiful Chicago

There are some beautiful sites here! Maybe I think they are so pretty just because I'm used to Utah and how dry everything is there but I am just blown away at the every day things here. This picture is of a little lake and there is a 3-mile running trail that surrounds it. I actually have been running on this trail every morning with some of the other moms from the ward and it is so much fun to be able to run in such an amazing location. This is about 3 miles from our apartment.



Last Saturday I went to downtown Chicago with Nikisha, another mom that is out here for the summer. She has twins that are just a few months older than Emma so it is fun to hang out with her since the kids can play together. This is of us on the train on our way to downtown.

This is right outside the train station. We had our hands full with 4 kids! It was a crazy but fun day!

We got to ride on a water taxi on our way to the Navy Pier. This is a shot from off the front of the boat.

The girls and I on the boat. (Sorry it's a little washed out)
We passed this on the boat ride and I thought it was an interesting concept. I don't know if you can tell but those are cars parked in those little holes, and above the cars there are apartments. Those look like they would be fun to live in! This is just in one of the shopping areas in downtown. This is at the Navy Pier. We are going again sometime and when we do I will get better pictures. At this point in the day the kids were crazy and we were just trying to keep them happy so I wasn't too worried about getting any good pictures! :)

Miss You!

Well, we've been out here for about three weeks now and even though we have made a smooth transition and things are going well, we still miss everyone and hope your summers have been great so far. Mitch is doing great so far with his new job. Our computer was out of commission for the last week and a half so let me catch you up on things here. Last week he was in the top 7 salesmen for the office here in Chicago (there are about 30 people total) and then he got sick and was out for 4 days so he is now back and trying to catch back up to all that he missed out on. Kenzie is almost 5 months old and is sorta getting the hang of sitting up, which is a HUGE milestone that I can't wait for!! She is all smiles and loves being held by anyone, which is nice for me! Depending on the night, she will sleep all through the night, which is also really nice for me! Emma is going to be 21 months at the end of this month and she is getting better with talking. She still likes to use sign language a lot but is starting to say the word while she signs it. She is all over the place and full of energy. I call her my little monkey because it seems like she can climb onto anything! I actually have a picture to illustrate my point, unfortunately. The other day I put her down for her nap (currently she is sleeping on a normal bed because we weren't supplied with a crib) and she had done pretty well with the bed up until this point. I thought she was taking a nap because all was quiet until I thought I heard a little noise so I was curious and poked my head in. Boy was I shocked when I saw this...



I don't know if you can tell but the bottom drawer is open, so what she had done was pull the drawer out, stand in it, open the top drawer, reach her little hand in and found the Desitin! So then it was a joy trying to get the desitin out of her hair as well. Since Desitin is water resistant, washing her hair with just her normal shampoo wasn't doing the trick. It wasn't until my mom told me to try dishwashing soap (which luckily worked) that I was able to get the greasey look out of her hair! But in this picture, before all the Desitin had been washed out, she was laying on the bed and when she sat up her hair was straight up in the air, I thought it was funny so I took a picture! Her hair looked like this for about 3 days so I was way excited when we were able to get the Desitin all out with the dishwashing soap!

The Windy City

Just thought I'd let everyone know that we are here in Chicago now (and will be until the end of August) and I will get some pictures on as soon as I can get the camera cord mailed out to us. ( Of all the things to forget, I forgot the cord that allows me to put pictures on our blog! Blogging is one of the few things I can do here because I can't really go anywhere when I'm car-less and have two girls!) Oh and Mitch has sold 3 accounts so far! Yea Mitch, I'm so proud of him! (For those who may not know, Mitch is selling home security systems door-to-door this summer in Chicago, Illinois.) It's been a pretty great adventure so far though. I've lived in Utah basically my whole life so Chicago is quite a change for me. It's also been fun coming up with creative ways to do things, like using baby diaper boxes as laundry baskets. We only had the trunk of our Honda Civic to transport our stuff we would need for 4 months so it was a tight fit just for the basics, especially when you have to pack for a 20-month old and a 4-month old because they are still growing and changing at such a rapid pace. We will miss you all this summer!!!

Mitch's 15-minutes of Fame

Below is an article that was written about Mitch for the upcoming summer of selling in Chicago. This is posted on the APX Alarm Systems website but we just copied and pasted it for everyone to enjoy!
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Mitch Watkins: Sales Pitch Anyone? --by Jessica Stewart April 8, 2008



Provo, Utah - One of the few first year reps that Brown Region Manager Devin Arp will talk about his hopes for is new salesman Mitch Watkins.
Watkins is a neighbor and friend of Arp’s, who has make some of the biggest sacrifices and taken the biggest risks of anyone in the 2008 office.
Mitch, who has been working as a plumber for the past few years and had planned on continuing on in that career, has recently bought a house and has a young family to support. In making the decision to work at Apx, Mitch had to also decide to leave a steady job that was to be his career and put his trust in his manager’s training and counsel.
I ask Watkins what made him make such a 180 degree turn toward Apx’s alarm program, and he tells me that a big part of it was the potential for increased success.
“In my other job, I found that I was working really hard, I was one of the hardest workers at my job, and I really wasn’t getting much out of my hard work. I talked to Devin and found that Apx is a place where you get rewarded for your hard work because you basically set your own salary.”
Mitch also tells me that he’s making this move for his family.
“I want to be the best provider for my family, and I know that nothing is rewarded in life without taking a risk first. Obviously it is a risk to come out and sell during the summer, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take in order to be the best provider I can be for my family.”
And Mitch is already putting a lot of effort into the job preseason. Manager Devin Arp tells me that one of the reasons he is so hopeful for Mitch is his work ethic.
“Every week we do trainings at my house, and I tell him what to work on for next week, and he always does that and more. If I tell him to memorize something, it’s memorized - word for word.”
When I ask him about it, Mitch tells me that he really has been working hard to improve.
“After every training I do with Devin, I come home and just go over everything for like half an hour.”
Mitch also tells me that he is constantly doing sales presentations to his wife and in-laws. He also makes a pitch to every couple or friend that they invite to their house.
“It’s a little more comfortable for me to pitch a friend in my own home than it is a stranger on a doorstep, but you’d be surprised at the feedback. They always let me know how I can improve, and it really helps.”
Pitching his friends and family for practice? This guy is DEDICATED.
While Mitch was still working 50 hours a week and going to school, he was fitting in as much training as he could. Now that he has left his former job, he plans on spending even more time doing preseason selling and training with Devin.
“I really appreciate the time and the way Devin has been training me. He is more open to let me choose when I am ready to make pitches, and wants to find the most effective way for me to learn,” he says.
Watkins tells me that having watched Arp sell a few accounts and having sold one preseason account himself, he is feeling much more comfortable with his pitch, and is very excited for the impending summer.

The Living Aquarium

This was a pretty fun exhibit in Sandy, I think it's pretty new. It was worth checking out. I got a pretty cool shot of a jellyfish too!

The tunnels were probably their favorite part!

Ok, so it's not real, but it's still a pretty cool picture!

I thought it was hilarious that they have a tank of eels in front of them but Madison and Emma are more interested in Kenzie's crying.

This was pretty neat becaue the sharks weren't afraid to swim right next to the glass so you got a pretty good look at them!




Holding hands inbetween exhibits

More Zoo Pictures

We tried to get a good picture of all the kids on the cougar. Lets just say it didn't work...

Here are Emma and Madison (Madison is Emma's cousin) hugging.
They didn't quite know when to let go, so they took a tumble!

Our trip to the Zoo

We went to the zoo last week with the Williams and all the kids loved it. Emma especially loved the turtles. In the picture below she had gotten underneath the bar and was walking along the glass, following the turtle as it swam.

Max, Madison, and Emma in their animal hats (an elephant, giraffe, and turtle).

Poor Kenzie enduring the long day at the zoo.