Round

For anyone out there tracking my shape...be amused :)

3rd Anniversary

Chris and I celebrated our third anniversary this year with a trip to Banner Elk, NC and a stay at a bed and breakfast. The place was beautiful, not to mention the breakfast! We drove around the area trying to get a feel for the place. It's so funny how close Boone, Blowing Rock, and Banner Elk are to each other. We found a Pumpkin Festival in Valle Crucis (right outside Banner Elk) at one of the oldest Mast General Stores. And further down the road was Mast Farm with some increidble old Appalachian buildings. I was trying to gather inspiration for the upcoming store remodel. And Chris ended up finding his dream car across the street where you can rent all kinds of fancy cars for your vacation. It was a quick trip, but a wonderful one to mark three whole years. Yep, sometimes we feel like our days are numbered now that there's going to be one on the way...

We've tried to make the most of the this fall. Stay tuned...

Our Baby Bumps

For your viewing pleasure...

It's a Girl!!

Look's like we're having a little baby girl! Our ultrasound on Tues. went really well. There were no concerns or any abnormalities seen. It's incredible how much you can see on an ultrasound. We saw everything from her kidneys, to her heart, to each hand and foot! Amazing. New due date is Mar. 7 (it's no longer Texas Independence Day, Mar. 2). Not sure why it's so difficult to pin down, but it seems to be. It's definitely becoming more and more real. Chris and I got our first real piece of baby gear in the form of a glider and ottoman off of craigslist last week. It's awfully pastel and early 90's (even though it's only a few years old...hmmm) so we'll look into recovering it. Last night we scored a moses basket from our friends Karl and Ellen to use for the first few months.

One thing I've noted in the past several months--maternity clothes. It's a slippery slope into the world of terrible clothes and I think this is a potentially hazardous gateway season in one's life. I was really surprised to see that they sell 2 piece outfits at Motherhood that consist of a patterned top and solid color, matching bottoms. Wow, it's tempting with it's ease and convenience but please, please don't let me go there. I'm asking for accountability here people!?

But seriously, we are awed by the gift of a little one that somehow we are supposed to care for and parent. We need prayer. Sometime worry and anxiety about the future can overwhelm and dishearten me. I wish this weren't the case. If you think of it, please pray that we'd trust in the Lord who made us, who is making our baby, and who controls all things. Please pray for joy and against stress. Thank you in advance.

Much love and we can't wait to share more with you in the days to come.

Heartbeat

Yesterday Chris and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat, but only after waiting an hour for the doctor. I finally decided to cross some things off my to-do list and register us for childbirth classes and in she walks. She put the doppler thing on my tummy and found the heartbeat right away! 146 bpm. Pretty normal, I hear. I was starting to have some of those crazy "am I still pregnant?" type thoughts because 1) I'm not really showing and well, mostly number 1 I guess. Anyway, still pregnant. Of course, we are still happy about that! I'm 16 weeks now--that's 4 months people (that is people who don't think in weeks, but months like normal people)! We are slowly but surely cleaning out what will be the baby's room. If you've been to our house, it's also called the mango room. Pretty sure we'll paint it as we don't want the child to wish it had never been born. Does anyone out there have some color suggestions? We won't find out the sex until our next appt. on Oct. 14. So, you can look forward to that announcement--hopefully! Hopefully, as in hopefully it won't be crossing it's legs and we can get a good look at the parts :) Today my engagement ring was tough to get on and off so I left it off...did I mention that I'm not really even showing yet!?

Civic

These are pictures from camping about a month ago. We found a great campsite not far from us (south Asheville!) that has some nice trails and a lake. We had a lot of fun just packing up and getting out of our routine for 24 hours! The homestead.
The alarm.
The heat.

The fridge, storage, and wonderful transportation.

By the way, we inherited a "new" car this summer that we LOVE! It gets incredible gas mileage and does everything we need it to--we can fit the whole family in it. It ain't pretty, but it suits us just fine for this time in our lives. We often see it a reminder of God's good provision for us.

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is part of Italy's northern riviera. It is the most beautiful place on this earth. In fact, I told Chris he should propose to me while we were there for this reason. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small towns all connected by a walking trail. We stayed in town #2, Manarola. Unfortunately, some of the trails were closed while we were there due to landslides and a fire, but the one we did manage was pretty tough at times--and so worth it! We got some of our best pictures from the trail. This was by far our most favorite part of the trip. And it was a wonderful break from the city.

This is town #5 (people really do refer to them this way!) also named Monterrosso. The only town with a real beach.
Above is Vernazza. It's so unique with the town surrounding this little water inlet, and SO picturesque.

If you're in Italy, don't miss Cinque Terre!!

Moving on to Florence

Florence was amazing. It was busier than I expected and more intimate than I expected. What a wonderful room on the Duomo square.

I'm not sure why, but this picture ended up being one of my favorites from the whole trip. Maybe because it look so Italian to me.

These are our top 5 pictures from Florence. I'm sure many of you are ready for me to get through this Italy trip. If you're on facebook, all the pictures are there.

Palatine Hill and Roman Forum

You can see the Vatican City in the background.
Looking over the forum and playing with color settings.
I loved this. I love a certain amount of symetery and yet the differences make it interesting.
Forum overview.
Everything was so grand. It was almost unthinkable to envision people walking in and around these enormous structures. Did they think it was grand?

Coloseum and Palatine Hill

Check out the background. We were still excited about skipping the line, thanks to Rick Steve.
Not your usual Coloseum shot.
Usual Coloseum shot.
Ditto.Only in Rome, did this ancient piece of finely carved stone (probably marble) on the ground look "normal". In the scheme of things it was nothing special. But I liked it.

So, um here's our baby...

We're pregnant! I didn't think I'd be one of those people who had to keep everyone on the interweb posted on every little latest and greatest development of our pregnancy...and I still don't think I will, but hey, here he/she is in black and white.

It's real.

It's actually happening.

It looks like a teddy graham.

Back to Italy pictures soon, I promise. Probably a more condensed version though as it takes a while to add and organize photos on here.

Day 2 in Rome

Since it takes a long time to upload the pictures for our trip on blogspot, I've decided to just show you the highlights from each day. (They are all on my facebook profile though, if you have an account.) This picture is from inside the Vatican Museum courtyard.

Greek busts.

Tapestry
Ceiling of the Vatican Museum
St. Peter's
Windy Gap shirt in the Sistine Chapel!

Tiber River at night

First Day in Rome

Capital Hill

Rome Courtyard Scene
Trevi Fountain
Behind Chris at Dinner
Trevi at NightPiazza Navona

From the Steps of the Pantheon