In case you haven't seen it on facebook, I am pregnant!! I'm 11 weeks.  We heard the healthy heartbeat (153 bpm) on Wednesday.  I'm due May 6. 

With this announcement, I'm afraid there's also a sad addendum: I think it's finally time that this blog comes to a close.  I have obviously not been very diligent in updating it, and I'm sure all I'll want to talk about anymore is baby stuff anyway, so I will be moving here: http://babyvk.xanga.com/.  Feel free to join me. 

Sadie

My poor little neglected xanga!  I've been meaning to write an entry for ages, but keep forgetting.  Here goes.

Today was our first real taste of fall this season.  I'm actually looking forward to it this year! Usually I dread fall because it's a precursor to winter which is most certainly the worst season ever.  However, this year I'm going to enjoy fall as its own season.  I'm excited to put up some fall decorations and start burning my fall candles.  I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday to find a fall wreath for the front door only to discover that all their nice ones are $80!! They were 50% off, but still! I definitely can't spend that much. 

Anyway, I'm enjoying the cooler weather.  I'm so sick of my summer clothes (all 5 t-shirts that I rotate through every week).  I'm excited to pull out the sweaters and hoodies again . . .although ask me in six months how I feel about them. Haha. 

In other news, I haven't been working very much, so I've been spending lots of time hanging out with Lola.  On Monday I cleaned, did laundry, and went grocery shopping. So yesterday was my fun day.  I went on an all day shopping extravaganza.  I hit Goodwill (1 shirt, 1 pair of pants), Thrifty Outlet (sweet ceiling fan for our bedroom), Valueland, Schuler's (a book I've been looking for for a long time on sale!), Target, and Hobby Lobby.  It was a good time.  And then when I got home, I convinced Justin to take me to Arby's!

So that's what's going on in my life.  Working a few days a week, hanging out a home a few days a week, enjoying fall, counting down the days 'til my birthday (24), and not seeing enough of my husband (thanks, soccer).  I hope you all are doing well!

Sadie

This weekend, we decided to finish out our month of weddings by driving to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for Ben Cowell's wedding.  Justin was good friends with him in high school, and another of our friends, Paul, was in the wedding.  So we all started out here on Thursday night.  We drove separately, but Paul supplied Justin with a walkie-talkie so they could share "that's what she said" jokes the whole drive. 

I was amazed by how expensive the Ohio turnpike was.  We were on it for two hours and had to pay over seven dollars!  But the roads were pretty nice.  Unlike Michigan.  I was also surprised by how mountainous Pittsburgh is.  It's a beautiful old city with lots of brick buildings, but it was apparently built over rivers and through mountains since it's bridge after bridge after tunnel after bridge.  I'm not the biggest fan of tunnels - especially the ones you can't see the end of.  Too claustrophobic for me!! Also, the traffic here is ABOMINABLE.  It took us an hour and a half to get from one end of Pittsburgh to the other - a 20 mile drive.  I am a bonafide country girl and am definitely not use to that.  Everywhere we've gone here has been a long, drawn out process.  SO annoying. 

Anyway, we got to our hotel last night and were amazed to see how nice it is!  We always stay at Marriotts because that's where I can redeem my credit card rewards, but I had a hard time finding an inexpensive one in Pittsburgh.  I picked this one because it was the cheapest, and it's way better than we expected!  It's like a studio apartment.  It has a full kitchen, including a dishwasher, oven/stove, full-sized fridge, cupboards, drawers, and counters. There are even dishes in the cupboards! There's a living room area, a bedroom area, and a huge bathroom.  It's crazy! 

Today was the wedding.  It was held at a beautiful old, Episcopalian church.  I've never been to an Episcopalian service.  It was different than any wedding I've ever been to.  A lot of liturgy.  Standing up, sitting down, blessings, bowing to altars, responding aloud to the Pastor's admonitions, even a little kneeling (by the bride and groom, not the congregation).  It was interesting.  The reception was amazing.  There was so much food.  They had cupcakes instead of a cake, four food stations, an entire table of desserts, and my personal favorite, the chocolate dipping station.  Instead of a chocolate fountain, they had candy makers there dipping things in chocolate - strawberries, pretzels, oreos, even potato chips!  Yum. We ate a lot.

We're leaving tomorrow, and unfortunately we haven't had much time to do any sightseeing.  We have spent most of our time sleeping and driving - or sitting in traffic.  We did make it to Ikea yesterday, but we only had an hour since they were closing, and everyone knows an hour is not sufficient for Ikea.  We just ended up with a few vases, but that's ok since our $8,000 STILL hasn't come and we really shouldn't pre-spend it in case the government runs out of money or something.

Ok, well it's late and this has gotten so long, I doubt anyone has even gotten to this point.  I can't wait to see my Lola tomorrow!!

Sadie