Lots of news...

So it has been a little while since we added to the blog and lots has happened! First, as a follow up to a previous post, I was able to get Karen's pictures of Julie's shower. No pictures of us during the shower, but rather in our natural state after the event in pj pants and sweat shirts--in sweat shirts Julie doesn't even look preggo:-) Also, the first picture is Julie opening the quilt that I made for her...

On November 11th, Amy and James welcomed Hailey Marie Howard into the world. Below is one of the first pictures of our Goddaughter! She is just perfect...and how hard do the rest of us try to get lips as beautiful as these??

Finally, our big news--Mark and I are expecting a baby! Below is the first picture that we have of the little one at 7 weeks old...now I am in my 17th week of pregnancy! We have a better ultrasound picture at 14 weeks that I will post soon, but wanted to get the first one out there. Because it was a grain of rice in this picture, we are calling it the Rice Baby. The Rice is due on May 22nd, 2009--the Friday before Memorial day!

We now have 8 dogs!

Ali was away this week end so I spent some time messing with my dogs, the camera and photoshop.

The Vansmithstrand Festival

Dad, Mike, & Mom


Ali & I went to Seattle this past weekend for the long awaited Vansmithstrand Festival. We had a great time seeing everyone and celebrating with Mike, Jess, & Lucy. Lucy has changed so much from our 1st visit with her in February. She seemed to really take to Ali on this visit (or she just really loved her jewelry). Mike & Jess looked amazing & it was great to see all of our friends & family!!!!


At the Sculpture Park
The Not so Newlywed Game
Lucy's Tea Party
Jess, Lucy, & Grandma Marion
Mike on stage with Mad Rad
Whats with the hat?
More Tea Party!
Mike & Lucy

It's been a while...

Hello to all of our blogging friends...sorry it has been a while, but lots has been happening in the past month.

We headed down to Atlanta for Jill Davidson's sorority-sister-filled wedding the last weekend in September. It was so great to see all of the girls and Jill looked amazing!

The weekend after was Juile's baby shower in DC...waiting to get pictures from Karen because my camera wasn't working.

I also headed up to Boston for a work conference and was able to spend some time with some good Principal friends! Below is me with Jessica Henricksen from Des Moines.

Fairfield Tri-Fit Triathlon

This morning Mark competed in the Fairfield Triathlon. The race was a 880-yd (1/2 mile) swim out in the LI Sound, a 14.4-mile bike and a 5K run. Even with giving minimal time to swimming training, he came in the middle of the pack on the swim and gained serious ground on the bike and the run. His final time was less than one hour and 45 minutes! It was a beautiful day in Fairfield today, the last day of summer, and Mark had a great first triathlon!

Weekend with Jason and Amy!

This weekend I went to the DC area to see two of my very best friends, Jason and Amy. I finally was able to meet Jason's fluffy children, Cody and Bailey!! Cody has Dickens' face! When Amy came to pick me up to take me to her baby shower, we tried to steal them, but weren't able to get out the door:-)

After leaving Jason's, Amy and I headed to Fredericksburg to be with her family and for her BABY SHOWER!! I can't believe my little sis is having a baby in less than two months!! She looks WONDERFUL and we had such a good time catching up in person...I wish we lived closer together! Nothing left now except to have the baby...and assemble the bassinet...and wash all the clothes...and....

I also got to see my nephew kitty, Maxwell. Max was being naughty and was caught on film--drinking my water and then trying to look innocent:-)

Here is a picture of baby Hailey's nursery!

Amy got up!

So today Amy, Mark and Ali went out on the beautiful 80 degree day to take advantage of the zero humidity in the wake of the hurricane yesterday. Gotta love New England--the hurricane is just long enough to allow for hurricane brownies and movie rentals, but not long enough to ruin the weekend:-) This is our last weekend out on the boat for the season--we'll be too busy over the next couple of weeks, so are going to take it out of the water next weekend. We enjoyed the tube that the Kline's gave us for Ali's birthday and the wake board! Amy's first try ended up in the water, however, her second try to get up and she was looking like a total pro! Ali tried, but still wasn't able to get up:-( Amy gets the award for the most natural at wake boarding! We can't wait for more boating fun next summer, but are definitely wanting some fall weather rather than jumping right into the winter like last year:-)

We are in the middle of the hurricane...

In CT and Mark just left to go drive the jeep in the mud. He wanted the blogging universe to know:-)

One Dog's Search for Peace

So for anyone that hasn't heard my raves about the book "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson, it truly is a book that everyone should read. I had the opportunity to hear Greg talk on Friday when he was the key note speaker for the Freshman class of 2012 at Fairfield University. While not a great speaker, the message is so clear--78 schools promoting peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan have done so much more for international politics than the bombs we have dropped over there. A strong point that he made as well was that 5,000 copies were ordered for our men and women in the military that were to be deployed to the region. Those that went came back with the same clear message--we need to get education to region to prevent the bloody battles there that have happened in the past. If people like Greg don't do the educating, the Taliban does. If you haven't read it, let me know and I would love to purchase it for you as an early holiday gift:-)

Now off my high horse, I offer these pictures of Mog at peace to foster the feeling with you:-)

Me and my buddy

Dickens and Ali