Keeping up with the Joneses

Spinning

2011-08-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the long delay between posts. Something about having two little girls seems to eat up time. Here's a video of them spinning in my new office yesterday.

Preview

2011-01-20T11:41:00.001-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since we last posted. It turns out that graduate school is pretty demanding! Here's a preview of the recent photo shoot we had on Monday. Enjoy!

Anne's 1st week

2010-12-27T21:04:00.000-08:00

I love this 1st picture and think it captures her features best of all

Sisters

2010-12-27T20:56:00.000-08:00

Olivia loves being a big sister and is a fantastic helper.

The weekend before Anne

2010-12-27T20:47:00.000-08:00

At church 3 hours before Sarah's water broke

Shortly after the water broke (but before we were sure)

3 hours after Sarah's water broke our friend came over to stay the night with Olivia while we went to the hospital. You can see why we love these guys - this picture is like a postcard of friendship.

2 nights before the water broke we went to the Michigan-Utah game which Olivia loved. Her favorite part? "Getting popcorn and walking around with daddy."

3 days before the water broke we had a first visit by this squirrel. Notice that there's not a drop of snow. By Sat night (the night before), everything was covered in many inches.

Anne Debra Jones

2010-12-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

Today has been absolutely unbelievable. Sarah's water broke around 8pm last night (the 12th), but we weren't sure until around 10pm. We made arrangments for Olivia's care, got our bags and braved the terrible roads, arriving at the hospital around 1am. Sarah was incredible, progressing through labor without needing pitocin or an epidural. She transitions to active labor so quickly, that just as everyone was ready for her to start pushing the baby's head was out. The midwife and nurse (both of whom were absolutely incredible all night long) helped Sarah finish the job, and by 6:50 Anne was laying skin to skin on Sarah's chest. Believe it or not, she weighed 6lbs 14oz, Olivia's exact weight though around a week and a half later.

There's so much that could be said, but nothing quite captures it. We obviously feel full of emotion and gratitude. We have loved Anne for quite some time now, it's nice to put a face with that emotion. Olivia is handling the transition beautifully and seems to love being a big sister.

Recent videos

2010-12-09T05:52:00.000-08:00

Here are a few videos from the last month or two. Sorry I'm so far behind!

Baby #2 Update

2010-12-09T05:43:00.001-08:00

Sarah is finishing the 37th week and we couldn't be more excited for baby girl #2 to join us. Even still, I feel like I'm racing her to try and get everything finished for school this semester. I have one big paper, a 3 day take home exam, another big paper, submiting an abstract for a conference, finishing a chapter I'm writing for a book, grading 21 papers on health reform and grading 77 final exams. Sarah's been having such strong contractions for so long that I've been worried I wouldn't make it - but I'm starting to be a little more optimistic now.

September Visitors

2010-12-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

Sarah's parents visited at the end of Sept and beginning of October. It was great to have them here as they played with Olivia, helped build shelves in our basement, and "watched" General Conference with us.

It was also great to have my dad here for his bday in mid-September. We went to a Tigers baseball game in Detroit (which Olivia loved), played in the backyard and read lots of books.

Marathon

2010-12-05T07:01:00.000-08:00

On Oct 17th I ran the Detroit Marathon, my first time doing the full 26.2 miles. What an experience! I had trained for months in cities all over the world, including Ann Arbor, Ottawa, Montreal, Dublin, Paris, Rennes, Toulouse, and Nice. I was very happy that during my training runs I was able to get my time for 13.1 miles (21.1km) down to 1h51m and my time for 5 miles (8km) under 40 min. Certainly not lightning fast, but pretty good for me. Unfortunately, I was sick leading up to marathon day and didn't have that great a race. My body started falling apart around mile 14 and I had to walk quite a bit. I ended up crossing the finish line in 4h 45m. Recovery has been tough, physically and psychologically. I've only run 2x in the 6 weeks since the race, neither time feeling able to go more than 2 miles. Even still, I definitely want to do it again, to prove to myself I can get closer to 4 hours.

Baby Girl #2

2010-10-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

Isn't she beautiful? She had the hiccups during the ultrasound and had her hand around her mouth a lot. She was absolutely as cute as can be.

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The Coutures Visit

2010-03-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

Olivia is learning how to smile for the camera. You can tell how much these two loved being together.

We went to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. This is the very bus in which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. Everyone is at the window where she sat. In case you don't know about her, here's the wikipedia page. We also saw the car JFK was riding in when he was shot, as well as the chair Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot.

2010-03-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

Learning to put on Makeup

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My Birthday

2010-03-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

Merci pour les gateaux!

Some people treat themselves to a morning at the spa or a nice morning jog for their birthday. I scheduled a colonoscopy! It ended up being not so bad, but I was pretty tired (and a bit loopy) for most of the day. Olivia enjoyed decorating me while I slept.

Play Time!

2010-03-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

Play time photos

2010-01-24T05:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent photos of our little cutie:

Olivia's "first" Christmas

2009-12-31T08:27:00.000-08:00

She had a tough incident yesterday but is doing fine.

Whenever I squat down to take a photo at her level, she often squats down with me as well.

While Sarah was in the kitchen the other day she kept hearing Olivia say "uh-oh." When Sarah came to investigate, this is what she found.

Christmas has been a wonderful opportunity to discover new toys and re-discover old ones. Thank you to everyone for your generosity! Here is a sample of pictures from Christmas. You'll see she's wearing many different outfits, partly because we spread the holidays out and opened many gifts as they came, and also because she was so excited by her outfits that we had to keep trying things on. Enjoy:

December Visitors

2009-12-31T08:19:00.000-08:00

We were lucky this month to have visits from my (Dave's) mom and then my dad. In early December my mom was able to arrange a weekend layover on her way home from meetings in Washington DC. My dad was here until yesterday, spending Christmas week with us. Here are some photos:

Update

2009-12-21T06:20:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a long time since we've updated the blog; sorry for that! Here are a month's worth of pictures for you to enjoy (in chronological order).

New looks

2009-12-21T06:16:00.001-08:00

Last week I got a new hearing aid (finally) and Sarah got a new haircut. My two girls only get cuter and cuter.

Jumping Olivia

2009-10-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

Jumping along with her dvd

2009-10-23T05:24:00.000-07:00

The funny thing about this video is that for a few months now she has been saying "Papy" (grandpa) everytime she sees this BBQ sauce. Now she's even started kissing him. Notice that if she turns the bottle around she finds Nanny! What a great bottle. What do you think, does this look like my (david's) dad or Sarah's mom?

New pics

2009-10-23T05:16:00.000-07:00

Her halloween doggy costume. She insisted on wearing Sarah's brown hat

she loves moving her elmo chair everywhere

She loves her new froggy boots and we love this dress my (david's) mom made.

our 2 new craigslist chairs

The smallest turtle we've ever seen

We're already busting out the winter gear

The view from our front door - Olivia heading straight for the swings

No canvas can contain her artistic talent

Ann Arbor, Michigan

2009-09-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Olivia loves wearing hats, including the hat in the picture above which belongs to Sarah and the hat in the picture below which might have fit her 1 year ago.

This is in front of our apartment.

After getting settled we made the four hour trip west and explored Chicago. It was a lot of fun. Here we are in Grant Park.

Chapel Hill

2009-09-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

Our first stop back in the US after nearly 3 months in France was Chapel Hill, NC where we stayed with my (Dave's) dad. Olivia loved being with her papy, including swimming in his pool. Just like in Nice, she did all should could to try and figure out how to get convince us to go swimming, including constantly wearing her swimming gear even if we weren't going.

Nice

2009-09-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

Our last few days in France were spent in Nice, aka, Paradise. We went to the beach at least once a day, sometimes more. You can see in one of these pictures that Olivia found her swimming diaper and is trying to put it on herself. She also enjoyed trying on the hats and bags that belonged to Sarah's Grandmother, and insisted that Papy Jacques try the hat on as well.

Back in Toulouse

2009-09-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

After leaving Brittany and before heading back to the US we spent a week and a half in the south, including many days at Sarah's parents in the Toulouse area. As you can see, Olivia had a blast!

2009-06-24T23:29:00.000-07:00

Some Paris Photos

2009-06-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

Le Mont St. Michel

2009-06-24T23:05:00.000-07:00

My mom and step-dad were able to visit us in France for a week, and we had a great time exploring the area. One of the places we went to was Mont St. Michel, this beautiful tourist-trap of a city that is situated in a unique spot in which the height of the water around it fluctuates by more than 40 feet with the tide. On the day we went the tide was completely out. Here are some pics of our trip:

Here's a picture of the "island" completely surrounded by water. Notice that our parking place doesn't exist.

Beaches of Normandy

2009-06-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

One week after the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the visit of President Obama and President Sarkozy, we were able to visit the beaches of Normandy. It was a beautiful and humbling experience. On d-day itself I ran more than 10 miles through Rennes, on streets named after Winston Churchill and General Patton, among others. I learned that Rennes was liberated by General Patton in August of 1944, a couple months after D-Day. It's interesting to consider how all these events have affected my life. Would Sarah's dad have ended up in France and doing graduate work in Canada where he met Sarah's mom? Would there have been a Sarah to come to Montreal where we met?

Funny videos

2009-06-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

Rennes!

2009-06-09T12:33:00.001-07:00

Olivia and I in front of our summer home/my office. We live at the French school of public health where I am doing research on pedestrian/bicycle safety issues in Rennes. We're having a ton of fun and feel so lucky to be here. Everyone at the school has been so great to us. Here's a picture of our living room/our bedroom. There is another bedroom with a double bed, but it's not the most comfortable, so we actually sleep on the trundle beds in the living room and put Olivia's pack 'n play in the "master bedroom."

The comforts of home...baby signing time. Anyone that's visited us knows what an important part of her daily routine this is. I wish we could capture on video all the signs she currently knows and uses, she's incredible.

When we first got here we really didn't know how to best feed Olivia. She's a very big girl, but not quite old enough to sit in a chair on her own yet. Fortunately the school had a high chair they lent us (like I said, everyone has been so nice to us here). As you can see though, sitting her in a high chair doesn't mean she stays clean.

Rennes is a beautiful city with many buildings and facades preserved from as far back as the 1600s. We have just barely scratched the surface of all the parks and beautiful areas in Rennes and Bretagne. It's hard to believe we only have 5 more weeks until we have to leave.

Family Reunion

2009-06-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

EVERYONE came to Toulouse for a Sacuto family reunion, including two of Sarah's sisters who live in eastern Canada, a sister in eastern France, a brother in Hong Kong, and us in the US, as well as all their spouses, fiances, and children. Not a single person was missing. As you can imagine, we had a blast! Here is just a sample of photos:

We took a boat ride on Le Canal du Midi that runs through Toulouse. It's a pretty impressive Canal, built in 1667 to connect the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Olivia LOVED being with her older cousins

Guillaume and Estelle drove the metro for us; they did a great job.

A little quiet time in Toulouse

2009-06-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

Olivia catching up on some much needed sleep:

Our last couple weeks in Chapel Hill were pretty intense. I was finishing a few major papers and projects for the end of my master's degree. Sarah was tending another baby much of the day 3-4 days per week. We had a constant stream of visitors coming to celebrate graduation and Olivia's birthday. On top of all that we had to get ready to head to France and get all our stuff ready to move and be shipped off to Michigan. The tricky part was having enough stuff that we could be comfortable in France, but only as much as we could physically carry, and then fit in our little car once we arrive back in NC and head north to Michigan. Our reward for finally getting it all done was a full day of flying, including an overnight flight from JFK to Heathrow, and then 6 hours of jetlag.

All in all Olivia handled it extremely well, just like she does with everything. The hardest part for me was that once we got to Europe we split up, with Sarah and Olivia going straight to Toulouse and me going to London and then Rennes. As it turned out, the Thursday and Friday of my first work week were a holiday, so I took the train to Paris and then boarded the night train to Toulouse where I got to sleep on a bunk. I was so excited to finally arrive at Sarah's parents house after 10 days without seeing my girls. We had a few days to ourselves before the rest of Sarah's family arrived for the reunion.

2009-05-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

London!

2009-05-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

After a few crazy weeks finishing my degree, packing, entertaining a string of guests, etc, we finally made it to Europe. The excitement was tempered by the fact that it meant I wouldn't see Olivia and Sarah for two weeks. They went to straight to Sarah's family in Toulouse while I came to Rennes to start my work. I treated myself to two days in London on the way and really enjoyed myself. Maybe it was the jet lag, but I found London to be a pretty overwhelming city. I am from an overwhelming city, but this felt different. Just when I got comfortable, I would step out from the curb and a car would come flying from the opposite direction. It was harder to get used to that than I thought. I had a blast though, saw tons of things, did two long runs (of 7 miles and 9 miles), but mostly missed my girls.

The train station I left from on my way to Paris

Standing where the players and coaches watch the game at Stamford Bridge, home of the Chelsea Football Club.

My post game press conference

Sarah was understandably dissapointed she couldn't tour London with me. I asked what she would have wanted to see and promised a picture of myself there. Here I am at the London Bridge.

It just so happened that Sigmund Freud used to live up the street from my hostel. It was a nice but non-descript house in a quiet residential neighborhood. Whatever you think of his work, he was certainly very influential. It always inspires me when I see that such important work was done in such regular locations. Why couldn't great things be accomplished in a studio apt in Rennes, or student family housing in Chapel Hill and Ann Arbor?

University Commencement

2009-05-17T07:51:00.001-07:00

Sunday morning was the university-wide commencement ceremony and we decided to go incognito. It was great to be able to be there with Sarah and Olivia and all my other family. I think Sarah appreciated having someone to walk around with her. Desmond Tutu, nobel peace prize winner from South Africa was the featured speaker, and he was wonderful; both delightful and inspiring. He spoke about God having a dream of a world without poverty, terrorism, hunger, injustice, etc, and that we need to act as His partners to make that dream a reality.

Got a bite of something good!

The undergrads wore Carolina Blue and filled half the other side of the stadium. This is a picture of them walking in.

Graduation

2009-05-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

Graduation was a really special day for me. I've loved living in Chapel Hill and really enjoyed the master's degree program I was in, especially all the other students and faculty who supported me so much. As much as anything though, this day is a celebration about all the family and friends who made it possible. I was grateful to be able to share the celebration with so many, including my Jones Grandparents who came out a little earlier for Olivia's birthday. The day was also particularly special because my mom received her doctorate at the same time. The above photo was taken by someone from the school and apparently they're going to profile us in an upcoming issue of the School's magazine. Mother and son receiving graduate degrees on the same day, from the same university and same department. Pretty special.

Sitting still during the ceremony was not easy for her little 1 year old body. Thank goodness one of her favorite people on earth was there to help!

Can you see me walking across the stage? Second from the left.

UNC Doctoral Hooding Ceremony

2009-05-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday morning was the doctoral hooding ceremony for the graduate school at UNC. It was a special occassion to be there celebrating mom's accomplishment. It was also pretty fun to get to stand at half court on the floor of the DeanDome after it was over!

Atlantic Beach

2009-05-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

We celebrated graduation with my mom and Bingham Grandparents with three days at Atlantic Beach. It was tons of fun and a great chance to get out of the "big city" of Chapel Hill. The above picture is the view from our room. Some of the other pictures are of a nearby fort that was used in the civil war.

Final weeks in Chapel Hill

2009-05-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

In the final few weeks living in the city in which she was born, Olivia was lucky enough to have visits from all her grandparents and great grandparents on my (David's) side. She got more than a few gifts and loved them all. The first photo is great, you can see her excitement at recognizing the dog on the cover. Apparently she showed no interest in watching the actual dvd, but she loves the cover!

The girls cashed in on their strawberry picking trip, though Olivia wasn't too sure what she thought of it all.

While we were packing and moving the apartment was a perpetual mess. It all got done, but Olivia seemed to kind of like the free for all!

2009-04-28T04:26:00.000-07:00

My favorite video in the history of videos

First bath

Happy Birthday Olivia!

2009-04-28T04:09:00.001-07:00

1 year later

Baby Serena gave Olivia a drum for her birthday! She loves it and is playing it some more as I type this.

Recent pics

2009-04-28T03:53:00.000-07:00

We went to a celebration at the Dean Dome the day after the Tar Heels won the championship.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

2009-04-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

11 1/2 months

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She walks around the house pretending to talk to her grandparents on the phone. Here she is trying to call grandpa. Notice her do the sign for grandpa towards the end of the video (bouncing her hand off her forhead)

I love the "chord" she plays in this video

11 months old

2009-04-05T05:29:00.000-07:00

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Spring in SF

2009-03-24T04:50:00.001-07:00

The fortune cookie factory where they make the cookies by hand

Chinatown in SF

Spring Break in San Francisco

2009-03-24T04:45:00.001-07:00

Growing up

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Sunday afternoon

2009-02-09T05:59:00.000-08:00

She's going to hate me someday for posting this last picture, but it was just so cute I couldn't resist. As we took her out of the tub she started pooping, so we held her over the toilet to finish the job. Of course we're impressed at her multi-tasking abilities, to poop on the toilet for the first time while brushing her teeth!

Krispy Kreme Challenge

2009-02-09T05:57:00.000-08:00

Recent Pics

2009-01-29T18:29:00.000-08:00

Recent Videos

2009-01-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

Finally home

2009-01-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

On the way home we stopped at a fast food place in Great Bend, PA. As we're sitting eating our sandwiches, we noticed a historical marker next to the road describing that Joseph Smith lived a few miles east of where we were. After lunch we drove 5 minutes to Harmony (now the Township of Oakland) to the home Joseph Smith was living in when he translated the Book of Mormon and was baptized. I had been there as a child, and it was interesting to come by again. Olivia was just grateful for more time out of the car.

Driving from Chapel Hill, NC to Montreal, Quebec took 16-17 hours of actual driving. Add to that stopping every two hours for a diaper/food/crying break, plus the car not defrosting, and a day to enjoy NYC, it took us 3 1/2 days to make it up to Canada. We were anxious to make it home and Olivia was such a good sport, we made it all the way to Baltimore at 8pm on our first night (12 hours from Ottawa, 5 hours from home). We could've kept going, but realized we wouldn't be home until after 2am anyway, so might as well stop close to Olivia's bedtime and let us all get a full night's rest. As you can tell, Olivia and I enjoyed watching sports for the first time in weeks. She was very playful and happy all day the next day; she loved bathing in her own tub and playing with her own toys.

New Year's Eve in Gatineau & Ottawa

2009-01-11T16:57:00.000-08:00

We took a long walk outside where it was -25 below (celsius), which is something like -13 degrees F. Afterwards we enjoyed a nice picnic at the national park's visitor center.

Sarah ad I visited one of our favorite restaurants in a great neighborhood in Ottawa. We lived in the Ottawa region for a year and really loved it, though I had forgotten just how cold -13F feels.

Olivia LOVED being with and mimicking her older cousins, and exploring the younger as well. I loved being with them too!

On another frigid walk:

Christmas in Montreal

2009-01-11T16:49:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun in Montreal, here are some pictures of spending time with Sarah's sister and her family (including Olivia's newest cousin), as well as good friends of ours and there little baby.

Christmas morning

On the Road North

2009-01-11T16:40:00.000-08:00

On the way north we stopped in NY and had a coule great days with my Aunt. We also enjoyed visiting my old neighborhood and favorite pizza place (Exclusive Pizza on 181st between Ft. Washingtn and Pinehurst, 212-795-0550). It was nice being back home in the city.

As I wrote about previously, we didn't have enough energy to make it all the way to Montreal in one shot. We didn't get started until later in the day and ran into a bunch of traffic, so we stopped at a hotel in upstate NY. Olivia seemed to love traveling (once we got out of the car, that is).

Montreal had a ton of snow just before we arrived, and it snowed even more our first night. Here's what we awoke to that first morning. It only took 15 minutes to dig out, but then I had to double park at our destination so I could dig out a spot, then dig us out of that spot as we leaving to go back to where we were staying, and finally dig out a spot for us to park there. Winter is so much work, I love the south!

Heading North

2008-12-23T05:16:00.001-08:00

I'm sitting in a motel room in Pottersville, NY, about 90 minutes from the Canada border, asking myself "what were we thinking?" Somehow it's comforting to know that it's below freezing back home in Chapel Hill as well right now (30F, -1C). But right now, Montreal is our destination, and it is -2F, -19C! I lived in Canada for almost 6 years, so I felt tough and used to the cold. But it's quite a shock to the system to go from unseasonably warm weather in NC (I packed the car in a tshirt and shorts) to a full throttled Canadian winter in just 2-3 days. I knew it would be bad when I felt overwhelmed by the cold around DC, just four hours into trip. NYC got hit with a pretty crazy storm just before we arrived, which made driving around trickier. Luckily we missed the storm and everything had been cleaned up already, so the roads weren't too bad. But our poor car seems to be adjusting to winter as well and gets foggy windows. Before leaving NYC we decided to have a mechanic look at our car to make sure it was ready for serious winter weather. They didn't get back to us until 12:30, meaning we weren't on the road until 1pm yesterday. We got stuck in some serious traffic, causing it to take almost four hours just to make it to Albany (2 hrs north of the city). Olivia made it clear it was time for a break and a diaper change, and by the time we were back on the road it was dark. Sarah did really well, but once we got further north and there were fewer cars on the road, we decided to call it quits. So here we are, at Lee's Corner Motel in Pottersville, NY. We're actually having quite a bit of fun, it's great not having to go to school or work until January 12th! I think the drive south is going to feel like a relief, though I'm really glad we made the trip and can't wait to see our family.

Sarah just got out of the shower, so it's time for me to start getting ready for the fina stretch.

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More Pics

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Thanksgiving 8K

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November Pics

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Inside the West Wing

2008-11-03T04:12:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Sarah, Olivia and I drove up to DC to get a private tour of the White House and West Wing from my old college buddy Stephen. Here's a picture of the three of us on Pennsylvania Ave.

Above is a picture of Pres. Eisenhower in the Indian Treaty Room of the Executive Office Building giving the first televised Presidential address. Below is Stephen, Sarah and Olivia in front of the same window, as well as me and Stephen posing at a podium in the same spot where Pres. Bush is pictured speaking.

A unique view of the White House, from the Eisenhower Exec Office Building, with the West Wing in the foreground.

Olivia getting her diaper changed in this historic room.

Some of the more beautiful features of the EEOB

Another ceiling

The above picture is Pres. Nixon in his private office away from the oval office. Below is a picture of Sarah and Olivia in the same room, and on its balcony.

The four of us in front of the west entrance of the West Wing. Sorry, no photos were allowed inside, though we did go to the Cabinet Room, Roosevelt Room, and Oval Office, as well as the Navy Mess and outside the Situation Room.

Here we are in the Collonade connecting the residence and the West Wing.

Here's the view from of the West Wing from the Rose Garden. The windows are to the Cabinet Room, and the Oval Office is on the corner on the left.

Here's the view of the Rose Garden and residence from the West Wing. This is the view Pres. Obama will have when giving his Rose Garden speeches.

Here are a couple of pictures of us in front of hte main entrance of the West Wing.

The walkway along the north side of the house, walking towards the press briefing room from the outside.

A few shots of us in the press briefing room. It is a lot smaller than I thought it'd be.

Our last stop on the tour was the area in front of the house where reporters keep their cameras set up so they can start reporting in a moment's notice. This is the view you always see of the White House. All the equipment are covered under the green tarps.

Richmond, Virginia

2008-11-03T04:06:00.000-08:00

Our Big Girl

2008-10-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

Happy half a year, O! We love you so much! You are such an easy going baby! I am so proud of everything you are learning, and hope you forgive our mistakes!
You are already able to do so many things by yourself and are well on your way for most everything else! I love when you talk and sing to me. Your laugh is the best reward after a long day...I love how ticklish you are and how much you enjoy being naked (you will thank us one day for not posting all those cute pictures of you).
I can't believe just 6 months ago you were just fresh out of my belly!

Here are some pictures of our spontaneous family outing last Saturday. D took us to the UNC football game, and we managed to get in for free at half time!

O was so easy going...the only time she got really startled was when the band came right behind us to play and get us pumped up! It was a tad loud!

O really liked watching the huge replay screen...more than she did the game!

O in her new car seat- she LOVES it, even falls asleep in it!

Greensboro half marathon

2008-10-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

This is the last race D has been training for...we woke up at 5am to leave the house at 6:45am. O was really sweet about being woken up and did well for most of the ride.
I'll let D tell the story, but we ended up being lost in Greensboro and D missed the starting gun. I think the extra hour of driving did O in, and she started getting REALLY fussy!

(Oh , and I got a hair cut this week...)

Before the race

THANK GOODNESS FOR SUZI!!!! I am so happy Suzi has moved home to North Carolina! O and I got to go hang out at her house while Daddy was running. It was a nice break from being in the car.

I hope my brother won't be too jealous : O met her first "Jacob"- Suzi's dog. O LOVED it, and was a little surprised that she was getting licked and not the one licking....Jacob is such a well trained sweet dog!

Dave managed to run...and though we did not get tickets for the Phish reunion, he was tired enough he did not care any more!

O showed off what a big girl she is with her Auntie Suzi!

Daddy's girl

2008-10-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

We finally made it out to Dave's work (the North Carolina Institute of Medecine) to visit. We celebrated the coming of Berkeley's baby...and O got to meet Gaby-who is only 2 days older and quite a few pounds lighter! She was tired but had a lot of fun being social!

This is how O and Daddy like to hang out...I love how she finds a way to curl up around D and still be looking with him! ( this is the cute outfit she was wearing to show off at the office...but pooped through it just as we got there!)

She is ALWAYS happy when she wakes up! We are such lucky parents!

General Conference

2008-10-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

This was Olivia's first General Conference...and having her with us made things VERY different from what they used to be. I don't think I took any notes. She was really patient with us and was happy to stay in the house and watch!

(we went for a family run early Saturday morning before the broadcast)

Happy 5 months!

2008-10-03T05:27:00.001-07:00

Bath and Play Time

2008-10-03T05:23:00.000-07:00

5 mois déjà!

2008-09-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

Joyeux anniversaire! J'en reviens pas comme tu grandis vite! Tu es un amour de petite fille et je suis tellement heureuse de pouvoir être ta maman!

2008-09-20T06:15:00.000-07:00

Two videos capturing her love of Winnie the Pooh. I don't know how she knows about him, but she seems to be genuinely excited each time she sees him. Her reaction in these videos are relatively tame compared to how she normally reacts, but they give you a sense of her beautiful smile and personality.

Our baby is growing up...

2008-09-20T06:11:00.000-07:00

...and in a couple other directions!

Cute Series

2008-09-15T04:55:00.001-07:00

Grandpa and Grandma visit part 2

2008-09-15T04:47:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Granpda Visit Part 1

2008-09-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

She gets her thumb in her mouth in her sleep now.

It doesn't look ilke she was ready to have woken up!

Grandma and Grandpa braved Tropcial Storm Hanna to come visit us, and we're so glad they did. Thank you for such a great time!

Olivia and Sarah ready for Church

Our Sunday afternoon walk, and some great butterfly shots Sarah took:

2 Year Anniversary

2008-08-31T14:48:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe, but we celebrated our 2 year anniversary on Tuesday night. Thanks to friends from our ward who babysat O, we were able to enjoy a night at the Temple thinking about how great our wedding day was and how great our future will be together. I love you Sarah!