First 2 Weeks in Illinois

Okay, I'm finally getting around to blogging again. So...Jeremy and Anna and I flew here on my birthday, June 29th. Our truck was supposed to arrive on the 30th, but ended up getting delayed until the 1st. Luckily, this worked out fine. Jeremy was originally supposed to start work on the 1st, but his boss said he was going to be gone that day, so he wanted him to start on the 2nd. Then, we met the property manager at the house on the 29th to get the keys and found the house filthy, so that gave us some extra time to get that taken care of.

So we moved in on the 1st, Jeremy started work on the 2nd, and the boys and Jeremy's parents came on the night of the 2nd. I was FLYING unpacking everything in those two days, let me tell you. I wanted to have the bulk of it done before the boys got here, and I accomplished a lot. On Thursday, I didn't spend any time unpacking and we went on a long walk to explore our new surroundings. We walked to the park (less than .5 mile) and Eli's school and down to the river trail. It was beautiful! The weather was great and it was nice to be out and about.

Jeremy got the next day (July 4) off and we were going to go do something, but decided just to stay close to home instead. We went to the park and played and had a picnic lunch and ate yummy food and then did a little more unpacking and settling in. Then on Saturday, Grammy and Papa stayed home with Anna while we took the boys on a way-too-long trip to Ikea. We were able to get a long of bang for our buck though and get a few things we really needed. The ONLY rooms in the entire house with overhead lights are the kitchen and dining room so we needed several floor lamps. Ugh. Not my favorite, but I wanted to get plenty so I wouldn't feel like I was living in a dungeon come winter. Thanks to Ikea we were able to get some for $6.99 each. Woohoo!

 We also listened to some fun music and had a little dance party before dinner. :)

 Oh yeah, Connor!

 The next day was Sunday and we got to go to church for the first time. Everyone was super friendly and welcoming. My friend Jolene lives in the neighboring ward and she told all her friends that I was coming, so that was very helpful! The kids and I got invited to a little "Christmas in July" party the next day and then on that day I got invited to a girls' night the next night and we've since gone over to another family's house for dinner and met another family at the park for a picnic. It's a party I tell you! There are a lot of moms with young kids just like me and they are all so quick to accept someone new, for which I'm very grateful.

Jeremy's parents went off on a Family History excursion the whole next week and then came back Friday night until they flew out Sunday after church. I didn't plan to do anything on Saturday because I thought they would be tired of traveling, but that morning, Debbie said, "Let's go to Wisconsin! I've never been!" so we did! It's just over an hour away, so we drove to Lake Geneva for a couple hours. We didn't really know what to do, but we walked around the lake for awhile and looked at all the mansions along the lake and then we came home! Haha.

 It was rainy all day at home, but up by the lake we only got a few drops. The wind was blowing pretty good the whole time though!

  We actually found a little farm that had strawberry picking on the way back, so that was fun! Not quite like Oregon strawberries, but they were still delicious.

"The corn is as high as an elephant's eye......"

 We had such a great time with Grammy and Papa, it was sad to see them go. Connor was so cute one day, he kept his hat and sunglasses on his head like this all day and said, "That's how Papa does it." Since they left, we've settled into "normal" life here and we've been having a good time finally enjoying the summer! More to come later!