Baby Love

We are so excited to share that we are expecting our first baby!  Our estimated due date is September 6th and we are positively thrilled!

Here's an ultrasound picture from a week-and-a-half ago, the baby was a mere 2 inches long from crown to rump.  Our little tyke was very active during the ultrasound; we loved watching it kick its tiny legs, wave its arms, and even arch its back to stretch!  It was so cute!  

I'll be 13 weeks along tomorrow, I'm grateful to be at the end of the first trimester because it has been a pretty rough stretch the last few weeks!  :)

Out and About

We've been cooped up a bit the last few weeks with the cold weather and whatnot. So getting out of our home and seeing The Lion King in Hartford last night was a desperately needed excursion. The musical was amazing; I loved the costuming, the African dancing and singing, and sharing a magical experience with Dave.

Home For The Holiday

We were able to go home to Utah for a wonderful visit December 30th through January 9th. I hadn't been back to my parent's home since our whirlwind visit in March 2008 for Carrie's wedding, so I was beyond excited for our trip!

Mom and Dad left all the Christmas decorations up for us and it looked beautiful. Their home is just perfect in my eyes, I love the feeling there. We loved spending time with family from both sides and made lots of visits during our brief stay:

Dan and Julie hosted Michael, Dave, and I for a delicious breakfast and then we played games until the afternoon. The time went by so fast and we had so much fun being together!

A reunion with some best friends; just like the old days, we still get a little crazy when we are together. I'm sure lucky to have this bunch (and so many other wonderful friends) in my life! There were a lot more friends we would have loved to have seen but our time went so quickly!

We rode the Front Runner to Salt Lake City and were very impressed with the smooth ride, how exciting for Utah to have a commuter train!

We visited Dad at work and got yummy lunch in SLC together. Thanks Dad!

We loved visiting with Grandpa and Grandma in their home, we enjoyed the many wonderful stories from their years of serving for the Church in Europe.

BYU is a wonderful place and it was so fun to visit with Michael and walk around the campus.

We did a session at the Salt Lake temple on a cold night, I was eager to get this picture taken and then get inside! :)

Mom, Dad, Jay, Em, and us at Jay and Em's place for a delicious lasagna dinner made by Mom.

Me and Emily with the sweater I knit for her baby boy. We were so confident that Em would have her baby while we were in town, but the little guy was not in a cooperative mood.

But the cute little guy arrived safe and sound a few days after we got home to Connecticut, we just love this sweet little baby! Welcome Carter!

Holiday Style

We spent Friday and Saturday in New York City taking in the many Christmas decorations, eating wonderful food (Lombardi's Pizza!), and seeing some amazing performances.

The ice skating rink and Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.

I finally convinced David to go with me into the American Girl store. It was so sweet to see the little girls bringing their dolls excitedly to the store. I never had an American Girl doll but loved reading the Felicity books when I was younger, so she is my favorite.

Saint Patrick's Cathedral is just beautiful and had a wonderful feeling inside.

The nativity scene inside Saint Patrick's.

Every street is decked out with some holiday decoration of some sort, the nutcrackers on this street were a favorite of ours.

Friday afternoon we went to Radio City Music Hall to catch a showing of the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular. It was a really flashy, fun show. The Rockette's were so beautiful and the dancing was amazing. The show ended with a living nativity presentation which was very nice.

Inside Radio City Music Hall.

After the show we went to South Street Seaport and went to the Bodies Revealed exhibit, we then walked through the Financial District. The tree outside the New York Stock Exchange was beautiful. We met our great friends Robbie and Emily for pizza at Lombardi's which claims the distinction of being America's first pizzeria. It was DELICIOUS, we ate a ton. :)

Saturday started with a trip to the temple which looked lovely with wreaths decorating it.

We then went to the Metropolitan Opera House to see Il Trittico by Puccini. Our friend Tammy sings for the Met, and we loved seeing her perform. We were absolutely enthralled by the entire experience at the Met, it was so grand and beautiful. We loved it!

Outside the Opera House after the show, I couldn't stop smiling after seeing Gianni Schicchi (which O Mio Babbino Caro is from), it had us laughing so hard.

Merry and Bright

We fully feel the Christmas spirit following this weekend of holiday activities.

Friday night we went downtown to enjoy some of the sites:

The gingerbread house is modeled after the Yale Repertory Theatre, so cute!

Look how beautiful the tree on the Green is. We love New Haven!

We had a piece of Lithuanian coffee cake from Claire's Corner Copia. We had read in several local magazines that this coffee cake was the best and it lived up to the reviews! Yum!

Today we decorated our tree, watched It's A Wonderful Life, and sang in our stake's Christmas concert. To top the weekend off, we had our first real snowfall of the season tonight!

Happy Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my oldest brother Matt and his great family in Massachusetts.  It was so wonderful to spend the holiday with family!

Dionne's family has a tradition of celebrating "Pie Night" the eve of Thanksgiving, Dave and I were more than happy to participate in the festivities of eating a delicious variety of pie! We brought a yummy pumpkin swirl cheesecake but there also was pecan, apple, chocolate, pumpkin, and cherry pie (and a few I can't remember!).

Thanksgiving Day was a ton of fun.  We played in the boys' tree house, played piano, ate an amazing Thanksgiving dinner, and played a great round of Scrabble. 

Friday morning Dave and I watched the boys while Matt and Dionne braved the Black Friday crowds to do some Christmas shopping.  Here are all the boys piled on their parents' bed watching cartoons.

Trey pulled out his fun magnet kit and taught us about compasses before Dave and I had to head back home. Thanks for having us in your home Matt and Dionne, we had a wonderful time!

Field Trip

I joined Dave (AKA Mr. Choules) on a field trip with his 3rd-graders to the Yale Peabody Museum today, we had such a great time!  Seeing Dave in his element as a teacher just melted my heart, he is an absolutely amazing educator and his students love him.

Mr. Choules in action.  

The highlight of the outing was the rocks and minerals presentation by a museum employee, the kids have been studying geology in class and they really know their stuff!  

Boarding the bus to go back to school afterwards.

The Yale Peabody Museum is beautiful and so fun!