Goodbye BYU

We've had many fun adventures the past few months! I can't believe 3 months have flown by and our life is changing like crazy. A few happenings in the Gannaway Family:

In January, February, & March, we waited and waited (not so patiently) as we were hearing back from where Grant got accepted to his PHD in Economics program. After he heard back from all the schools, he felt right about going to the University of Chicago. He wouldn't like me to say it, but it's one of the best Econ PHD programs in the country. We're very lucky to be going there. Grant & I visited Chicago for a few days for their prospective student visit days, and decided we'd love Chicago. We also made the decision to buy a condo since we will be there 5 years. We're excited to have our own place! In the middle of July, we will head to Chicago to our new home.

It's been amazing these past few months watching Jackson grow and learn like crazy. He catches on with words so fast, and repeats words we say all the time (scary). It's amazing how big his vocabulary is already. These past few months have also brought a lot of fun activities for our family to do, as the weather has gotten nicer and warmer. Jackson's favorite thing is to be outside, it doesn't matter what we're doing outside, he's happy if we're outside. And we're happy when he's happy, so we're outside a lot!

Grant graduated in April, and Grant's mom and my parents came out to visit. It was wonderful to celebrate our BYU experience together, we really are going to miss this wonderful University. There's so many things we love about it and have been blessed with from attending here. It's been a fine education! A few days after graduation, Grant & I took a trip to Las Vegas for a few days while my mom watched Jackson. It was nice to have no worries, relax a bit & enjoy the nice weather, even though we missed Jackson terribly. Now Grant is working full-time as a research assistant for a professor at BYU through spring term. We're excited to have some time in Provo (without homework) to play a little bit! It's amazing how much life will change in the next few months.

This is half of Jackson's life. Holding a
ball (in this case, an orange), in his hand.

Here are a few pictures of our experiences:

The playground at the mall. When it's freezing
 outside, this is what we do!

We went up to Rexburg for Andy's (Grant's brother) mission farewell, going to Brazil!

A cowboy at The Gannaway's

Can't get enough of jamming with Tanner

Dropping Andy off at the MTC. Somebody looks excited (it's not Jackson)! :)

Valentine's Brunch with the moms & their cute kids!

Feeding the ducks at the BYU pond, we've gone at least 5 times already!

I'm pretty sure every kid loves to play without clothes on. 

Easter get-together with all the kids in the ward. 

Jackson's first egg hunt. I thought he would just pick one up and play with it, but he actually caught on and kept picking up more and put the eggs in the bag! I saw his competitive spirit come out. :)

Some of the moms and kids in the ward at the Easter get-together.

Ducks.

The BYU easter egg hunt. The older kids got the best of him. He mostly only found opened eggs.

Track star already? Fine with me!

BYU Baseball Game 

Easter Sunday

 Grandpa Gannaway & Jackson playing with bubbles! The Gannaways

came and watched Jackson while we went to Chicago.

Jackson & Grandma Gannaway by the temple

 I ran the Salt Lake City Half Marathon in April, and it was GREAT weather, as you can tell...

 Ready for summer.

 Jackson loves the McDonald's play place. And so do I, because Jackson is contained. :)

 Jackson & his buddy Gavin. The moms were trying to make doing laundry more entertaining.

Playground? Yes please!

Tender hearted child, right there! A statue on BYU campus.

Watching commencement

Grant's BYU Graduation

Grandma Risley & Jackson

Grant & his mom

On our way to the BYU softball game

Jackson obviously couldn't keep his eyes off the game.

I LOVE how cute this picture is. He absolutely loves baseball/softball!

Grandpa Risley & Jackson

The Bellagio atrium in Las Vegas 

We went to the St. George temple on the way home from Las Vegas. Incredible.

We went to the museum of Paleontology. Jackson couldn't stop oooing and ahhing the dinosaurs!

Christmastime is over but what a new year to come!

Every year I hope that Christmas will last a little longer than usual, but it never does. Luckily, it was still a wonderful break, Christmas, & New Year!

Half of our days lately have been watching Jackson play (or playing with him) and saying, "how can he be so cute?" or "He's such a clever little boy" and recently, "he's starting to get mischevious in an innocent way" (we realize that does sound like an oxymoron). But he brings us so much joy, it's unbelievable. Most of the time we just have a blast together.

I realized I never posted about Thanksgiving, even though that seems like an eternity ago. We went to the Gannaways for Thanksgiving and Jackson just played and played and played! We had a great feast,  the missionaries joined us, and Jackson sported his Turkey shirt.

This Christmas break was the first time we have ever had a full 3-week break, it was wonderful! We were finally able to spend some quality family time where Grant wasn't super stressed with a crazy semester. The first week of the break, we visited the Gannaways in Rexburg and relaxed. We went to The Hobbit & went to a few of Lee's Basketball games. Jackson was captivated as he watched boys pass and shoot the "bol". We think he kind of loves basketball already.
 For Christmas and New Years we were in Oregon with the Risleys. We got to meet my brother Nate & his wife Kaila's new little baby Cohen. It's insane how small he is compared to Jackson, and how much babies change in a year! Most of Jackson's interactions with him were looking at him, turning his head to the side, and walking away to play with something. But I'm sure they'll be best cousins soon enough!  We went to a tree farm to chop down a tree & decorated it, went to an Oregon basketball game, swam at The Wave Pool, played lots of games, saw Les Miserables, and met up with old friends and had wonderful family time. It was a much needed break!

One of the most exciting things that have happened in the past month or two has been Jackson talking! We're pretty sure his new words are mostly only recognizable to Grant and I, but they're developing. Jackson's favorite and most common words are: ma & dada, ball, book, more, uh-oh, dog, ruff-ruff, meow, applesauce (very roughly...). He also loves to give kisses, hugs, and he responds to 'come here' (3/4 of the time...it decreases as he learns he can be more independent...yikes), 'don't touch just look', and 'yucky'. It's such a big world as he learns new things! We're having so much fun, and making him giggle makes our world so very bright. He's a happy one!

Well here are a few...maybe too many pictures... Of the events of the past few months!

First snow of the season! Jackson was thrilled.

We went with some friends to their family cabin in Park City and played in the snow.

Sledding! Jackson was TERRIFIED.

Mr. Turkey at Thanksgiving

Turkey feathers

Grandma & Jackson

Always up to something...

Helping put up the Christmas lights!

Grant's birthday, celebrated with Chocolate mousse. The first birthday in college he hasn't had finals on his birthday :)

We went up to the mountains to get a tiny little branch as our "Christmas tree".

Here it is! Our tiny tiny Christmas tree! (We're not aloud to have real trees in Wymount apartments, so we got this...we figured it's pretty much the same thing as flowers, right?)

Christmas Eve fondue! Mmm.

Christmas morning... Jackson attempting to enjoy a candy cane.

Baby Cohen & Jackson in their matching Christmas day outfits!

 

Grandma with her Grandkids!

Merry Christmas!

Baby Cohen would take his naps in this basket, and Jackson would always go look at him. After awhile, Jackson thought it was funny to get in the basket like baby Cohen! 

The wave pool! Jackson was terrified at first, but after awhile, he had a blast.

Go Ducks!

A rocking chair at Grandma & Grandpa's was his favorite- just his size!

We're lucky we have such a good plane traveler. He sure was flirting with the flight attendants! Two of them asked to hold him by the end of the flight!