Chicago and Niagara Falls - Church Road Trip: June 2025

Mark and I have always wanted to do a cross country Church History road trip in an RV when the boys were in high school. Our dreams came true this summer. Originally we had planned to leave June 30, but the week before leaving, we got some very sad news from Mark's best friend from high school, Dave Matsumura. We learned that his wife, Kimi, succumbed to cancer and passed away. Dave and his kids live in Chicago and Kimi's funeral was set for the Saturday before we planned to leave. We hadn't planned to visit Chicago, but since we were heading that way, we decided to move the whole trip earlier to attend Kimi's funeral and give Dave what little support we could. 

We headed out for a very long drive. We left Thursday evening and Mark drove late into the night. He pulled off at a rest stop for a bit of sleep then drove all day long on Friday through the endless fields of Nebraska. 

Finally, late in the evening we arrived in Chicago!

We only had the RV and we wanted to park it close to Dave's neighborhood and to downtown for the night, so Mark found that we could pay to park in the McCormick's truck/trailer lot. We pulled in and found a spot among the trailers and had a pretty quiet night, especially for being so close to downtown Chicago.

The next morning we had an Uber come pick us up to take us to the church where Dave is the bishop as there was no place to park an RV. It was hard to see Dave and his kids have to go through this hard hard thing.  Kimi really was one of the most incredible individuals. Her funeral was a beautiful tribute to a beautiful person inside and out. I wish I would have known her better. I pray for Dave and his kids. I am glad we were able to be there to learn more about Kimi and be inspired by her incredible faith, generosity and example.

After the funeral we went back to the RV and changed into walking clothes and headed out to see a bit of Chicago that day. We first went to the famous Giordanos for Chicago style pizza. 

We were pretty excited and it looked delicious.

But in the end it wasn't as good as we thought it would be. The boys say Little Cesar's is better.

Then we walked the Magnificent Mile and marveled at the spectacular towers and fun Chicago vibe.

It was a lovely day with a lot of walking. Chicago's a cool city.

It was getting later in the evening and we were needing to head out of Chicago so we could be in Buffalo the next morning, but the kids were seriously disappointed by the pizza we had earlier so we caught an Uber over the Chicago's Chinatown in hopes to find some better food. After getting some ligit Bobba and walking up and down trying to make our decision on the best place to eat, we decided to go to Chef Xiong - Taste of Szechuan. 

It did not disappoint. We had the best fish ever. It was worth staying a little later in the city and made up for the disappointment of the hyped up pizza.

Mark took us out of the city as evening settled in and started the long push to make it to Buffalo, New York by late the next morning. It was probably about 9 to 10 hours at RV speeds. Mark drove way late into the night and then pulled off the get a little sleep at a truck stop. We made it into Buffalo just in time the next day to meet his two coworkers for lunch at this fun café.

After lunch we drove over to Niagra Falls. Poor Mark was so tired from driving all night that all he could do was sleep in the RV while the boys and I explored the falls. 

We decided to do the Maid of the Mist boat ride. I'm so glad we did. It was so fun!

After seeing the falls and a good nap for Mark, we found a place to eat some Philippine food. 

The next morning we were going to pick up Mark's mom at the Buffalo airport so we found an RV park to hang out in for the night and morning. 

Luckily the boys got a little pickle ball in before the sun was completely gone. We got a great sleep and picked up Mark's mom at the airport and headed out to Palmyra to begin our Church History adventure.

June 2025

The Student Government USULC Camp was at the beginning of June. I took 30 kids up to Utah State for this leadership camp. This year was special because both Brian and Timmy were in Student Government and went with me. We left on Monday morning and came back late on Wednesday night. It was a great and successful (although exhausting) three days of fun, team bonding, and leadership experience. 

We were assigned to be part of the silver team and silver ended up winning! We have never won before.

The kids put together a fantastic dance for the dance battle. I was so impressed with how they worked together and kept positive attitudes. 

When we got back we made the drive out to Bonchon for some delicious Korean fired chicken. This wasn't even everything we ordered. These boys eat so. much. food.

Brian was asked to DJ at Ruby Amis' wedding. He did an incredible job!

Mark is a great mentor for so many things.

Mark had two of his employees in town from Japan. He of course was the best host and took them all over the state in the time they were here. Timmy and I joined them up at Silver Lake.

Brian decided to run the drop 13 Half Marathon without training at all. He was fast ending up in the top 5, but he shredded his feet on the way down. The bad part was that he had to go on a huge YM campout and river trip the day following.

That same day was the Stake Youth Conference. Mark hosted and Timmy cooked for everyone.

While that was going on on the same day, Brian had to DJ for another wedding. This one was as a service. He could barely walk from his half marathon that morning and he had to miss Youth Conference, but he did it and he did an incredible job and it was very needed and appreciated. 

The next day was Sunday. After church we went up to the Ranch. Mark took his Japanese employees up to Provo Falls.

The boys and I stayed at the ranch to spend a little more time with Matthew before he started his MTC. He was doing the MTC in Mexico and then serving in Las Vegas Spanish speaking mission

Mark's employees loved seeing the baby horse at the ranch.

Super early the next morning was the youth river trip in Moab. I was pretty worried about Brian with his injured bottoms of his feet. He pushed through and was glad he went. It ended up being a great youth trip.

Poor Brian did suffer a bit with his feet and they needed some doctoring by dad when he got home.

But eventually they started healing.

While the boys were at the youth river trip, I went up to the ranch for a night. It was the best vacation ever for both me and Pip.

Emily was in town and this was really the only time I got to spend with her. I didn't get any pictures with Emily, but she took this one of me as we enjoyed golden hour with the horses together.

The day after the river trip I took the boys back up there to spend one last day with Matthew playing airsoft.

I think I just captured this photo knowing there won't be many more of these moments with Brian. 

Mark taught the boys how to take care of their car. I think they changed the break pads and changed the oil.

Then it was time to finally say goodbye to Matthew. His farewell was fantastic. He'll be a great missionary.

One day Mark got to hang out with his favorite person while Luke and Timmy cooked the Yakitori.

Mark took his Japanese employees in the RV to Moab for a few days. He felt like they couldn't spend two weeks in Utah all the way from Japan without the Moab experience. I know they had an amazing time!

At home the boys ate a whole lot of Dave's Hot Chicken.

And did a little swimming in the hot tub.

Brian's new watch came.

I don't know what this picture was for, but I love this guy. Maybe with Matthew leaving I felt like I needed to take pictures of him.

Mark got home with the RV and we cleaned it and prepped it and headed out right away for our epic cross country Church History experience. That trip will be broken into sections to come.

Not pictured in June....

-Timmy's very intense Tennis Academy at the Sport's Mall (two weeks)

-Stake Endowed for Life Meetings (Mark in charge and Brian attending)

-Stake Conference (busy for Mark)

-Doctor and dentist appointments

-Some meetings at school for Jenny

-Work, work, work for Mark