Easter and the beginning of Spring

This Spring has brought a new quarter for Grant, as well as some new weather! There's still a chilly breeze once in awhile, but it's so wonderful to see the trees budding, and daffodils and tulips sprouting all over the place! Jackson has been fascinated by how the flowers sprout up and grow.
Jackson is also taking a soccer class at the FRC, which he absolutely LOVES. It's the most adorable thing to see these toddlers running around kicking balls. Every week he can't wait to go to his soccer class.
For Easter this year, we started it off with an Easter Egg Hunt at Soldier Field. It was the first time we had even been to the field, and not only that, but we got to go on the field! There were tons of people there, but it was wonderful.
We also had a fun Easter Party at our place with Jackson's friends, and a happy family day on Sunday together celebrating the end of the Savior's life and the Resurrection.

Soccer class. He's still learning not to use his hands...

My wonderful college roommate, Alpha May, stopped for a night in Chicago while driving
 from NY to Utah. It was so wonderful to be able to briefly catch up!

Kite Flying for family night. The wind in Chicago definitely makes it a great place to fly kites.

We recently went to the Field Museum, and were so excited to see the lake
is no longer frozen at all. Big smiles for that.

We found a duck pond on campus! Watch out BYU duck pond, this one has fish, ducks, and turtles too.

Easter Egg Hunt at Soldier Field

The kid is a natural. Although, what kid wouldn't be "a natural"
when picking up as much candy as they could?

Dying Easter Eggs

Easter Party with friends

Bunny Pizzas!

Easter Sunday

Spring Break in Nauvoo

We welcomed Spring break coming around. 2 quarters down for Grant, one to go! We spent half of our Spring Break in Nauvoo, IL. It was mine and Jackson's first time visiting, and it was such a special, fun trip. Jackson now loves Nauvoo and he was so excited to go to all the sights and learn about the Mormon Saints. He especially loved the Nauvoo Temple. He was so thrilled every time he saw it.
It was still a bit chilly, but it made for a not-so-busy tourist time, so we got to see everything we wanted to. We also visited Carthage Jail on our last day, which was a very special, spiritual experience.

Grant and I also got to go inside the temple. What a beautiful temple! It is now one of our favorites.

A few of the pictures show us in a huge bathtub-- we actually got upgraded from our regular hotel room to a suite. Jackson couldn't believe his eyes when he saw we had nearly a pool in our hotel room! It made for some fun evenings to say the least. I'm so happy we live only 4 hours from Nauvoo, and I can't wait to go back to see the pageant, and maybe do some camping!

Wagon Ride

This is the plot of land where Grant's ancestor, Edwin D. Woolley lived when the Mormon Saints were here.

Red Brick Store and an exhausted Jackson

Jackson is pretty good at spotting Joseph Smith now.

Hotel bath tub

Carthage Jail, where Joseph Smith was killed

Trail of Hope

Jackson learned how to make a rope!

Jackson thought the hotel room was one of the awesomest places on earth.

This is where the Saints crossed! And on to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Winter in Chicago

Nearly everyone here warned us that the months of January, February, and the beginning of March were pretty brutal as far as snow and cold go. And were they ever right! Not only that, but this winter was the worst Chicago has had in years-- nearly reaching the most snowfall ever, as well as the coldest temperatures. The windchill was insane! They even had to cancel school several times because it was -40 degrees. The upside is that at least our next 4 winters probably won't be as bad!
Despite the cold and snow, we were able to fit in a lot of fun things, even though many of them were indoors. Jackson took a Messy Mats arts class at the Uchicago Family Resource Center once a week. He loved it, and he loved playing at the FRC with all of their toys and the other kids. We also visited museums pretty regularly and had lots of play dates with friends. And winter did go by surprisingly fast.
Another very exciting thing we learned at the beginning of the year is that we're having another boy, due June 4th! Jackson is going to be a big brother! He's taken it with stride, and is very excited to be a big brother. We are so excited he's going to have a little brother!

Happy it's snowing... but a little cold.

 

On a day off, we went to breakfast downtown to The Yolk, and we ran into the whole BYU Men's Volleyball team! We found out they were playing Loyola that evening, so we ended up going to the game later.

A great example of what our winter looked like.

Messy Mats class

Museum of Science and Industry with his buddy Emmett

Our sweet little boy!

Grandma Risley visited for a couple days on a layover she had in Chicago. The Planetarium. 

Just flying planes.

He LOVES helping me bake, and despite the mess, he is surprisingly helpful!

Valentine's Day

This kid LOVES  receiving packages! This was sent from the Grandpa and Grandma Gannaway right
before they came and visited for a couple days while they were here for work.

Magnificent Mile Nike store with Grandpa Gannaway

Making cookies

Dr. Seuss's Birthday!

Fun at the FRC

Notebaert Museum 

St. Patrick's Day Breakfast

One of our favorite things we did for dates this winter was explore the delicious hot chocolate places. I think we found our favorite so far- Mindy's Hot Chocolate. Rich as melted chocolate bars, and they include fluffy homemade marshmallows. Divine!

Visiting the Brookfield Zoo for the first time

We couldn't believe this Peacock opened its feathers for us right as we passed.