Today, Angela and I took the entire day and went out on an extended date!  We had a TON of fun, and it was nice to be together and not have to worry about the kids.  Grandma and Grandpa took great care of them all day.

We started off the day on a great note by going up to the temple.  After our session there, we did a little bit of shopping at the LDS bookstore near there.  We got a DVD and a couple of other things before driving toward downtown Chicago for lunch.

Lunch was absolutely amazing!  Angela likes to watch Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, a show on Food Network where people submit recommendations of their favorite restaurants around the country, and then the show visits them and checks them out.  Before we went, Angela looked up to see where a good place to eat would be and this one came highly recommended from this show.

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The name of the place is “Smoque” and they specialize in BBQ.  It really was a dive, but it was BUSY!  The place had holes and scratches in the walls, cement scratched-up floor, old cheap tables and chairs, the front door was worn out, etc.  We couldn’t believe it until we tasted the food!  Angela got a brisket basket with beans, slaw, and macaroni and cheese, and I got a half-slab of St. Louis ribs with slaw, fries, and macaroni and cheese.  It is by far the best BBQ ribs and brisket we have ever had!  🙂 🙂  We would definitely recommend this place to anyone!   http://www.smoquebbq.com.

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After that, we went shopping for awhile at the Premium Outlets in Aurora.  We wore ourselves out just wandering about with no screaming or complaining children yanking on our sleeves!  🙂  It was nice to just be together!

After shopping, we went and saw the movie “Sherlock Holmes” at the theater.  It was a really good film.  I probably liked it (actually I definitely liked it) better than Angela did, although afterward, she wasn’t as skeptical as when we first went.  🙂

What a wonderful day!