Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Popcorn shaped clover. :)

I have to say that my mom is excellent at celebrating all holidays with her kids, even though we don't live at home anymore. :)

For Valentine's Day & Christmas she sent us chocolate covered strawberries. For Halloween she sent us a card and chocolates. She does something similar for Thanksgiving too. I mean who gets presents for Thanksgiving? This year for St. Patrick's Day we got a bin with an assortment of popcorn flavors. It was delicious. The only regret that Matt & I had  was the fact we had to share it with Aline. (She wasn't even home when we got it--- but we knew it was the right thing to do.)

It came in a festive green tin filled with goodies!

I know it's almost April but... HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!

Fetus

In case you haven't heard... we're having a baby! We're excited but at the same time it seems all unreal.

When we tell people, everyone wants to know a few things. So, I'll just answer the questions you might have already formulated in your head the moment you read the first line.

1. Baby is currently due on August 12th
2. As of today I am 18 weeks.
3. We're having a boy.
4. No I have not been really sick.

I haven't had any of your typical pregnancy symptoms. Well, I have but if I didn't know I was pregnant I could easily ride it off as just gas, shortness of breath, and exhaustion. I mean what normal person doesn't go through those things?

On Thursday we went to the doctor and found out that we're having a little boy. Both Matt & I felt pretty confident that it was a girl. When we saw the little boy parts on the ultra sound screen we did feel disappointed but in the words of Matt, "I don't care that it's a boy. I'm just sad that I was wrong."

I was so sure it was a girl that I had a list of girl names that we could potentially use, and to be honest, I really liked those names. I almost bought some really cute bows that I saw on sale and I have been thinking of what type of cute lacy onesies I might make over the summer. I really love it when little girls have the lace on the bum. Now I think I'm going to make onesies with ties on them and suspenders, which are cute as well-- I just REALLY love lace on the bum. Im trying to think of a manly way to do it now, maybe just stripes and no lace?

They gave us a DVD of the ultra sound. I really wanted to find a way to get it off of the DVD but it took too much effort so I thought I would record my computer with a camera. There is no sound on this clip except the sound of the computer. It's kind of annoying so if you want to press mute and watch it, it may just be better for you. ;)

Here we see him sucking in fluid and either a: coughing, b: burping, or c: having the hiccups. I believe it could be some form of regurgitation. Can a fetus regurgitate??

New York

This is obviously VERY late. 

Since Boston and New York City are "so close" we figured that we would visit the big city after spending time in Boston. We have a friend who lives in New York that we hadn't seen in a long time so we figured it would be a great idea. Let me tell you... best choice every. 

Here is a picture of our friends.

Susan, Fionna, & Dustin

I did take this picture and I am not going to lie, this is a photo that belongs on their next Christmas card. We loved staying with them and their cute daughter Fionna. At this point I feel like if my children don't come out like Fionna I will send them right back where they came from. :)

Matt & I knew Dustin in college and when we found out he lived there we thought it would be fun to take a trip from Boston to New York. Dustin was probably the BEST guide to New York. I dont think I could have paid anyone to do what he did. We would say something like, "Dustin we really want to see site A." Dustin would then say: "Okay we can do that but let's also see Site B, C, and D. Oh wait.... Site E is right nex to site C so we can see that site too!" Dustin also shared with stories of specific sites. I feel like I had the most complete tour of New York City in 3 days because of Dustin.

I actually dedicate this video to Dustin because I saw a lot of what Jay Z is dancing in because Dustin took me there. No joke as I watch this video I say: "WOW! I've been there!" I feel like my connection and relationship with Jay Z is better just because I went to New York and I saw this video.

                                        

Also another part of New York that I LOVED was....

Ellis Island

Time Square-- So many lights!

Statue of Liberty 

While site seeing I asked Dustin, "Hey, does New York City have it's own Arc de Triomphe?"
Dustin: "Yeah it's close by let's go see it." I may never go to France but at least I can say I've posed next to
the Arc de Triomphe. There is also a grand piano sitting in front of it in an open court yard for anyone to play.
How cool is that?

If you watch the Jay Z video you'll see a big bull made out of metal. Apparently
everyone wanted to get a picture with it and there was a HUGE line. I saw it, waved, and kept walking.
We found this rat across the street from it. No one was standing in line to get a picture. So I thought I'd
take advantage of the moment. I love this picture mostly because Matt usually doesn't pose but here he did. :)

Fionna--- I really hope my kids are like her.

Boston

For the two weeks off I have for Christmas we decided to go down to visit my sister in Boston. Also, because we were so close we also decided to go to NYC too. It was a lot of traveling! It was also a lot of fun.

Highlights of the trip in Boston:

Matt visiting Walden's pond and the mini house Thoreau stayed in.

Going to Longfellow's house!

He wrote the lyrics to the Christmas song, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Aline's chapel was across the street from his house and for sacrament we sang that song, it was a tender moment. :)

Boston Cream Pie

A Boston cream pie is definitely on my list of delicious cakes! It's texture reminds me of tres leites. So delicious!!!

The site of the Boston Massacre

We took a walk a long what is called "The Freedom Trail". You basically follow a red brick line that shows you around to some historic sites in Boston. We saw Paul Revere's house, we saw where the Declaration of Independence was first read publicly, we saw Bunker Hill, & so much more! It was more fun than I thought it would be. It was fun to take a walk through history. 

 

We didn't have a christmas tree or proper wrapping paper to wrap our presents. I went to Staples and I bought some construction paper to make a tree. I did want the tree to be green but I didn't have enough paper so I decided to make it more fun. With the extra wrapping paper I did have I decided to use that to wrap presents. :) Aline said it wasn't really a Christmas tree but a Kwanzaa tree. :)

It was so fun to visit Aline and we're excited that in March she'll come and visit us!

Aline being friendly with this penguin at the New England Aquarium, which was also
another highlight of our trip. :)

Salad In a Jar

I LOVE CARBS! 
Oh, how I crave them! 
I must always have crackers at my side! 


However, I recognize that if I decreased the amount of carbs I ate I could probably loose a few pounds too. (I can easily eat 4-6 pieces of bread in a day.) So I started looking into salads. Matt mentioned how he saw something online about salad in a mason jar. Not only did this probably seem like a cute idea, but a practical one. (Anything in a mason, besides juice and pureed fruit, looks really cute. For example imagine water in a mason jar. *Cuteness* j/k)

So I did some googling and on Sunday night I created my salad in a jar! I've made enough for lunches for the next week. Wahoo!!

You can click here to see the website where I got the idea for these two recipes. 

It's December!

Although there's no snow (that is not a complaint!) I am doing what I can to get in the holiday spirit.
Last night, spur of the moment, Matt & I decided to check out some Christmas lights. You gotta love Smart Phones and the  information it can relay in seconds, no matter where you are. Matt found this place: Christmas Utah.

Address: 5631 Whispering Pine Circle (5631 South 820 East) SLC, UT


This was absolutely magical. You're looking at a still life view of this but what happens when you enter the subdivision you turn on the radio to  99.9FM and you hear the music and the voices of the trees as they talk. The lights turn on in synch with the music playing. It is absolutely fantastic!

Below is a youtube video that was shot several years ago, but it gives you an idea of the magic of this little house:



Magical! If you live in Salt Lake or even remotely close to it (Provo) this is a MUST see. Apparently this is the last year they'll be doing it!

In other news:
Who ever heard of Christmas Geese?

Angels I can understand... but geese?

Classroom Moments

In my class we were discussing what "migration" means and someone asked why birds fly in a V-Shape formation. I asked the class if anyone knew. I dared them to be risk takes and to take a chance on what they thought the reason was. Without the slightest sign of hesitation, one boy struck up his hand stiff and tall with an eager expression on his face. He looked determined to answer the question. Other children held their hand up and then quickly put them back down, with looks of confusion.

I figured the boy, who was raising his hand up eagerly, had probably learned the answer from his parents and was excited to share his intellectual response with the class. I thought I'd be doing him a favor by calling on him. When I called on him he said: "It's because V stands for vacation! They're going down south for vacation."