Well, I had a fabulous time.  I have gone to this conference 4 or 5 times and I always see former classmates and supervisors and professors there, but I’ve never gone WITH someone.  Let me tell you, it made a world of difference to experience it with Krista.  Previously, I was the only SLP at a private school, so I didn’t have any peers in my “district” – I WAS the district!  And then I worked at the university but everyone else was a professor or a grad student… I was the only “research coordinator.”  So I would wander around for 9 hours, learning really cool things… by myself.  As a people person, I don’t do well being by myself for 9 hours. 🙂  This year, Krista and I attended many of the same sessions because we had similar interests in topics and speakers.

And then there is the “we’re in Chicago – let’s go have FUN!” factor.  I’ve made many happy trips to IKEA, and I don’t mind being there by myself whatsoever! 🙂  I always get to go on a date with Jennine and explore a restaurant that I never would have found by myself.  And I always do a lot of driving in crazy amounts of traffic, which surprisingly, doesn’t bother me at all.  I put on my serious face, snuggle into the steering wheel with a death grip, and let everyone cut me off and pass me until I hit my point and start driving aggressively like everyone else.

This year, Krista and I stayed with her sister-in-law, Kelly, in her gorgeous and spacious condo right in the city.  It was awesome.  Kelly and her husband Sean were so kind to let me tag along and they gave me the guest room!  It was great getting to visit with them and with Krista.  I had a lovely view from my room and it all felt very posh.  Since hindsight is 20/20, I now wish I had lived in the city for a year or so without a car… just to experience that life.  However, I wouldn’t want to drag my 3 kids up and down all the stairs and in and out of all the buses and el trains now!  That ship has sailed.

I really missed my kids, and that was one of my goals for the conference.  I needed some time away to let me miss them and to let them miss me and it worked!  We were so excited to see each other on Saturday night!  I skipped dinner and raced home and got here just in time to snuggle my pajama-clad twins who were waiting up for me and reading stories with Daddy.  Their sweet smiles and giant, pouncy hugs were the sort of thing I want to tuck away in my memory and recall over and over for the rest of my life.  And since Nathaniel slept through the night!!!, I didn’t get to see him until the morning and he gave me glorious smiles too.  He’s different!  He talks ALL the time… so much babbling in a conversational cadence.  And I SWEAR he said “goggie” yesterday while talking to the puppies on his curtains.  Isn’t that amazing?

And my sweet Matt deserves his own paragraph.  He was AMAZING!  The kids had a great time with him and he totally pulled off 2 days and 3 nights of caring for them by himself!  I missed him too and he gave me a big hug when I got home and said, “I have so much appreciation for you, Sweetie!  I’m exhausted!”  Admittedly, I love to hear that. 🙂  He even ran a load of laundry and did some dishes and made dinners, which means he wasn’t just in “let’s survive this” mode – he was managing our entire household!  That’s more than I can do some days.

The actual information at the conference was great and I won a really cool book authored by Krista and I’s favorite speaker/session!  But let’s get to the few pictures that I managed to take.