Haleigh, Gavin, and Henry: August 2014

Well, after three readings of "La Petite Souris & la belle fraise rouge" / The Little Mouse and the Red Ripe Strawberry, two bottles of milk, and a few songs, Henry is finally in bed. The poor guy has a runny nose and is so tired, but just hates to miss any of the fun! [The "fun" meaning exciting events like me unloading the dishwasher while dad is at a school event :)] We have enjoyed spending the past couple of days together before Gavin starts up full-speed-ahead school on Monday. Let me recap some of the events:

Thursday Gavin and the other incoming MBA students trekked up to Chicago for the day and evening. They listened to speakers and participated in a mock career fair. Several companies and recruiters set up booths and gave the students advice on their resumes, their approaches, and more. Gavin said it was very helpful. They loved that he included his mission and his eagle scout project on his resume. They gave some constructive criticism at the end and told him he needed to be more passionate when talking about himself. The seminar was actually held in the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) but they were too busy to take the elevator up to the top. However, at about 9 that night, they finished up and took a boat ride past the Navy Pier and down the shoreline. They made it back at about 1 AM, and I wasn't planning on waiting up, but I started writing my church talk for tomorrow and I finished up just as Gavin walked through the door.

While Gavin was gone, I invited the wives of the other two Mormon MBA students over for dinner. Kate Lovett and her cute little Anna came, and Jen Walz and her newborn Kinzlee also made it over. They are so nice, and I hope we'll be getting together often, seeing as our husbands are going to be swamped this semester. I made a spinach and chicken salad with peppers, toasted almonds, noodles, cilantro, and a yummy nutty sesame dressing, as well as rolls. (Both recipes are from Janell and work out great every time). Anna and Henry played; aka: Anna tried to play, while Henry ripped every toy she picked up out of her hands. The poor girl hid from him several times behind her chair, but he was relentless. By the end, he had sort-of figured out how to co-exist and was having fun. We are definitely working on the whole "sharing" technique. I hope nursery will help that.

Yesterday, August 22, marked 5 years since Gavin and I were married! What a milestone. Although our sweet little 3rd-wheel was with us all day, we still had a nice time. We took a drive down to Arthur, Illinois, an Amish village not too far from here. It was fun to see the horses and buggies driving around and to wander through their craft shops, furniture stores, and bakeries. We plan to go again soon. They had a charity auction going on, so we stopped so Henry could pet the animals and run around. Then, we headed back to Champaign for dinner. We had a free meal at Noodles and Co. so we used the coupon and then headed to Jarlings Custard Co., a local favorite, for dessert. While downtown, we ran into two of Gavin's fellow MBA classmates, Jacob and David, and had a good time chatting with them before they headed off to the "Mug Club" (some sort of drinking club). Well, Henry still wasn't tired, so we went to the mall playground for an hour while he ran himself ragged. After chasing him around, he finally tuckered out and we crashed for the night. Unfortunately he was up at 3 AM crying for an hour, but then went back to sleep until 8 AM. The only thing I can think of is that his runny nose was bothering him.

We woke up tired, but ventured out to the Urbana Farmers' Market, and we were glad we did! They had a beautiful display of produce, home baked goods, arts and crafts, booths, and unique specialties like "goats' milk gelato". We didn't buy anything, but several things were tempting. Then we got our weekend errands done for the day, and headed back so Gavin could work on his church talk. Later this evening, we headed out to the Urbana Sweet Corn Festival. It was packed with people! We've seen the signs for awhile now, and it was quite an event. Naturally we had to taste the corn, (1$ per ear. It's a good thing we got 3, Henry scarfed his.) It tasted much sweeter than the corn I used to by at Allred's Fruit Stand in Utah. They had a machine on the grass that took the husks off and dropped the ears into water. Then, the workers cooked them and wrapped them in a buttered piece of plastic wrap and handed them, dripping and hot, straight into our hands. It was delicious! We walked through the booths but they were mostly food, so we didn't stay too much longer. We headed back to our apartment and grilled some steaks we had bought at Sam's Club this morning and ate them by the pool. I have been trying to be better at budgeting exactly how much we spend on groceries and food, and it's actually been kind of fun to see how much we save by eating at home. I knew it was significant, but I didn't know the extent. Tonight's meal for example: each steak was about $2.00, and with the marinade we made, the potato, the condiments etc...Gavin and my plates came to about $2.75 each! No restaurant can beat that. :) However, there are so many fun restaurants near campus that are always full of people lined up out the door, and I hope we'll get to try some of them these next couple of years.

Well, it's late, and I'd better end this for now since I've already typed way more detail than I had intended. But, for any family or friends reading this, we'll keep updating regularly and hope this finds you happy and healthy! Until next time... H,G,&H

A cheesy grin :D

New haircut

Buggies

Arthur, IL

Henry's room finally in order.

I got the bumbo out for cousin Brighton when she comes this weekend, but Henry thought it was so funny to sit in it.

I hesitate to start up this blog again because of the huge lapse since I’ve recorded anything, and over the past 3 years, some of the most momentous events of my life have taken place! Graduating with my Masters Degree in French, taking Gavin to France, England and Italy, giving birth to Henry, Henry’s first 18 months, just to name a few. I have taken pictures, but I still plan to retroactively post about these moments. In the meantime, however, I will continue in the present and start afresh with our new adventure here in Champaign, Illinois. That way, our family, friends, and loved ones can see Henry grow and still feel close to us even though we feel so far away.

Although we never pictured ourselves living in the Midwest, we are happy to be here and are looking forward to these next two years. Earlier this spring, when our dental school plans weren’t coming to fruition, we decided we had better shift to plan B. Gavin loved his business minor at BYU and did very well in its classes, so he thought an MBA would be a great choice for him. So, for the following weeks, he studied like crazy for the GMAT and long story short, did exceptionally well! We had originally hoped that just one school would take us, but following his GMAT submission, the interviews came quickly and soon we had several to choose from! We narrowed it down to four: University of Utah (close to home, comfortable, and a 75% scholarship, but not as highly ranked); Hult (great location in Boston, exciting program, and highly acclaimed worldwide for international business but not as highly ranked in all areas as a whole); Tulane (ranked highly, great reputation, awesome job placement, but a little tougher of a location and culture); and finally, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (highly ranked and still climbing-#35 in the nation-, great reputation, incredible job placement-almost 90%-, family-friendly location, $18,000 scholarship, and when we toured the campus we loved it).

Before finally deciding on U of I, we came out for a quick visit. We were amazed at the beautiful and enormous campus. It goes on for blocks and blocks and the architecture is exceptional: classic red brick and stone buildings, statues lining the libraries (yes, plural), corners, and neat wooden halls, green grass in abundance, a smoke-free environment, and a great “feel” that adds to its charm.

Gavin and Dallin left in our nearly-full 26-foot Penske moving truck last Wednesday morning and Jim and Janell drove our car out shortly after. They made it to Lincoln, Nebraska, spent the night, and drove the rest of the way just in time to pick Henry and me up from the Champaign airport at 6 PM Thursday evening. Wow, what a long drive! We are so grateful to them for helping us out here. We spent a couple of our last nights at Burgons and enjoyed getting to play with them and Uncle Garrett and Dallin. Nanny took us to the best new restaurant called Black Sheep Café in Provo, and we all loved it! She and Henry chased a grasshopper around the outside of the restaurant for quite awhile beforehand and he was laughing so hard. Before our flight, Henry and I said an awfully sad goodbye to Granny and Grandpa. We had a fun time with them the days prior to leaving; we went to Snowbird to visit GG and Aunt Kathie, had mom’s yummy minestrone soup, got to visit the home ward and hear dad teach, had a Koller family barbecue, watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and sleep in Hilly’s comfy bed. We also got to spend some precious last time with Stephanie, as well as our dear friends Bryan and Cali. Steph (or “step” as Henry says) and he played with a jumping dog stuffed animal, went exploring for treats in her purse, took pictures, spun around in a rocking chair, and had fun visiting. We adore her. Bryan and Cali treated us to a yummy pizza dinner at a new place called Lucy’s where you can get doubly thick crust, and ice cream at Baskin Robins, and then a fun chat back at their house. Every time we get together, it seems like we pick right back up where we left off. We just love them.

Back to the flight, Henry did better than I had anticipated. He had been congested in the morning that whole week, but with the help of some Benadryl his ears didn’t seem to hurt him at all and he slept about 1½ hours. The rest of the time he played with me and didn’t seem to bother anyone too much. Once we got to Chicago, we got some Garrett’s popcorn and an overpriced but really yummy brie/green apple/turkey sandwich. Then, we hopped on our plane to Champaign which only took thirty minutes. Nanny and Papa picked us up and took us to our new apartment. When we arrived, a whole crew of ward members were already there and unloading the moving truck. Four missionaries also came to help out. With so many hands, it took under an hour!

One fun coincidence that we discovered was that Peter Wright, a friend of ours from Orem, is working on his PhD here. He came to help unload and is having us over to dinner tonight. Besides him, we didn’t know a soul. However, the ward was immediately welcoming. A nice woman named Candy came with her husband and chatted with us, and one of the men relayed from his wife an invitation to dinner the following day.

We spent the next day and a half unpacking the sea of boxes! Dallin built us some more white wire shelving in the pantry/laundry room so we could store our nicer dishes and other items we use less frequently. Jim set up Henry’s room and organized everything so well. Janell shopped for groceries, wrangled Henry, cleaned a bunch, and did about a hundred other things simultaneously. Gavin and I ran around in circles trying to help and figure out where to put things. We can't thank the trio of worker-bee Burgons enough for their help.

Now, about two weeks later, we’re down to the last few boxes and hanging pictures. Hopefully soon it will start to feel like home. It’s easy to think of all the hard aspects of a big change like this, but I’m giving a talk on diligence on Sunday and so every time I start thinking that way, I try to come up with a positive thought to replace it with. For example, the humidity is uncomfortable since we grew up in the west, but I’m grateful that we have A/C in both our car and our apartment, and we have a nice fan in the living room. Plus, the complex has a swimming pool if it gets too bad! Because of the humidity, everywhere tends to smell musty, even if it’s clean. So, I’m trying to counteract that by burning candles and cooking yummy food. It’s lonely without family and friends around, but I’m getting involved in all the fun things available. So far, that includes ward aerobics on Mondays and Fridays, a weekly ward potluck, book group, relief society, and inviting the missionaries and another girl over for dinner.

Other things I really like are: 1. The open space Henry now has to run and play, and all the dogs around that he is just tickled with. 2. How kind people are here. We’ve had nothing but welcoming experiences so far in the Midwest. Especially from the ward. I think we’re really going to like it. 3. The parks! There are over 60 parks in Champaign/Urbana and many have great playgrounds, statues, ponds, splash pads, etc… 4. The campus. I just love driving and walking near it. Today we drove by the arboretum where they have a Japanese house and garden and something they call an “idea garden”. I’m anxious to go back and walk around; it was full of all colors and types of flowers and paths. The list goes on, but I’d better move on.

Yesterday, Henry finally had some success with nursery! We were overjoyed. We were nervous (okay, maybe just me), and really wanted him to make friends and learn to share and sing like the other kids and last week he hated it. We had to stay the whole time and he kept looking back to make sure we were there. Plus, he was stealing treats from the other kids at snack time, he wouldn’t stay sitting on his chair, and he wouldn’t follow anything going on. But yesterday was a huge improvement! He cried going in, but a sweet leader Sister Carlson just scooped him up and took him to play with the toy kitchen and he was distracted enough that we left. We checked on him twice after that and both times he was fine! When I peeked in, they were singing “Here we are together” and saying all the kids’ names and as they were pointing around to each other, Henry was engaged and poking the girl next to him to the beat of the song. She didn’t seem to mind :). He was sitting in his chair and doing what all the other kids were doing. They have the best time; they switch activities every ten minutes and plan it out so well. A fun lady comes in to do music time and brings scarves, puppets, feather, and all sorts of props to use. Sister Carlson and the other leaders make healthy snacks like banana bread muffins, cucumber slices, mandarin orange pieces, etc…There are about a dozen kids and they all love it; I am so excited that Henry gets to be there too.

Well, I could go on and on, but I’ve stopped and started this post several times over the past few days, so I guess I’d better just get it posted. I’ll try and keep updates on here often and post pictures here and to Instagram/Facebook as often as possible. Until next time…