The Results Are In

So it looks like "boy" won the poll. If that's how you voted, you were...

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RIGHT!!!

It's a BOY!

Snow Day!

Well, not really snow. ICE. Church (the spanish branch) was cancelled this morning due to a nice coat of ice covering our area. So Dave is making breakfast and we're just takin' it easy until we find out if the ward was cancelled too. I like being snowed or iced in. I like knowing that it's okay if I don't leave my house today.

I put a poll up. You have two days to vote before I annouce what we're having (we find out tomorrow right before we take off for Utah)!

'Tis the Season

I have to admit, I haven't been much in the holiday spirit lately. Maybe it has something to do with still being pukey (is that a word?) at 18 weeks pregnant (oh, if you didn't know--SURPRISE!!!) But visiting Longwood Gardens helped!

Just one more week of school and work before we take off for 2 weeks to celebrate Christmas with our families. We're so excited!

Thanksgiving Trip

This Thanksgiving we took a trip to visit friends and see the sites in Boston. We kicked off the festivities with a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in New Haven, CT with Amy and Dave and Ben and Jenn. Amy and Jenn were two of my roommates at BYU and they are still just as fun and crazy as they were back then!

Friday morning we headed north to Boston. It was raining the whole drive up so we were worried we wouldn't be able to see anything, but by time we got there the skies cleared and we were able to visit Lexington and Concord.

Minuteman Statue

Hartwell Tavern The Old North Bridge, where the "shot heard 'round the world" was fired

Concord is not only famous for it's role in the Revolutionary War, but also because of it's rich literary history. It was home to several important authors including Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts, who are all buried on Authors' Ridge in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
Just before it got dark we made it to Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau lived from 1845-1847 and inspired his book Walden.

Friday night we had another delicious dinner at Ben and Jenn's house, celebrated their son's birthday, rang in the Christmas season with singing carols around the piano (except that Dave and I didn't sing), and playing games.

Saturday morning we walked Boston's Freedom Trail. We saw Boston Common, The State House, Park Street Church, Granary Cemetery, King's Chapel, America's first public school, the Old Corner Bookstore, The Old State House, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere's House, and the Old North Church.
The State HouseGranary Burying Ground (John Hancock, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, the Boston Massacre victims, and Benjamin Franklin’s parents are buried here)
Christmas CarolersLunch at Cheers. This was a must on my list, and the food was really good! We had "Bahston Clam Chowda" and a big juicy cheeseburger with fries.
Statue of Paul Revere with the Old North Church in the background

Inside the Old North Church, where on the evening of April 18, 1775, the Old North sexton climbed the steeple and held high two lanterns as a signal from Paul Revere that the British were marching to Lexington and Concord to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock and to seize the Colonial store of ammunition. This fateful event ignited the American RevolutionChristmas tree at Faneuil Hall Marketplace

This picture of Ben Franklin and I cost us $2! The guy told us as we were taking the picture that there was a charge. He said he was collecting money "for the school kids". Sounds fishy to me!

After a fun day in Boston, we headed back down to Connecticut to see my old high school friend Ashlee and her husband Jason. We went out to dinner and caught up. It was so fun to hang out with her again! We went to church with them the next morning and then headed home.

Other than the insane traffic, we had a great trip! It's good to have friends from home on the East Coast!

Fall in Valley Forge

Phillies Phever!

Here's a shout-out to the Phillies for winning the world series. It was quite the experience! The city went wild, partying for days after the win. On Friday 2 million fans showed up for the ticker tape parade downtown. Dave and I thought about going, but then thought better of it.
And for those of you who don't know, this win also ended the cities "curse". Prior to 1987 there was a gentlemen's agreement never to build a building taller than the statue of William Penn sitting on top of the city hall building. When buildings started being built taller than William Penn, some believe this upset the sports gods and the city of Philadelphia was cursed with never winning a championship in any sport since. Last year, the Comcast Tower was built making it the tallest building in Philladephia. The tower was also topped off with a miniature replica of the William Penn statue as an attempt to break the two decade old curse. Well, apparently it worked!

Laerenswaert...

means "worth learning" and is an annual day of colonial craft demonstrations at the Peter Wentz farm. The Wentzes, as part of the great migration of Germans to Pennsylvania in the 18th century, built a large stone home in 1758. It became famous as George Washington’s headquarters during his attempt to keep the British out of Philadelphia in fall, 1777.

candle dipping
flax culture and spinning
apple cider pressing
wood working
beautiful fall day!