Sweet Corn Festival, Arthur, Anniversary, and more.

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.