So much to catch up on...

It's been a month and a half since I have written anything and I feel like there is so much to catch up on. On Sept 6th, Matthew and I went to the taping of the NPR news quiz "Wait, Wait... don't tell me" downtown in the Chase Auditorium and it was so much fun. Here is a picture of us with Peter Sagal and Karl Cassel, the shows hosts. If anyone is in Chicago on a Thursday evening, we definitely recommend fitting this into your schedule. And if you aren't familiar with Wait, Wait, it airs on Saturday mornings, I think right after Car talk. Here in Chicago I think it starts at 10:00 a.m. and then again at 9:00pm Saturday night. It's quite an amusing, informative show and often has us laughing out loud. Here is another picture of Matthew and I in a self portrait in front of the water fountains at the Chase Auditorium. The next day was Matthew's birthday so this was kind of our night out to celebrate.

The following week TJ and I headed out to Utah for our annual visit, and we had an absolutely wonderful time. If heaven had a taste, I think I know what it would taste like - fresh peaches and the raspberries from my parent's garden, along with all the wonderful veggies that we were able to eat straight from the garden. It was so nice to eat zucchini, marinated cucumbers, and green beans picked just an hour before eating them. And my mom can make anything taste good. It was SOO wonderful to have her great cooking again. I think one of TJ's favorite activities the whole time we were there was picking raspberries and eating them right off the bush. We did that at least once a day, if not more. At least he got his servings of fresh fruits.

Another highlight of the trip was my younger sister having her baby about 7 hours after I got home. I was able to stay with their 2 year old daughter while they went to the hospital, and then we were able to meet Kimball when he was just hours old. He is such a beautiful, or should I say handsome, baby and he is so good natured too. Here is a picture of the first time I saw him. He was born Sept 12th and I believe he weighed 7 lbs 12 (or 13) oz and was about 20 inches long. It's been almost a month so I am a little rusty on the exact details. Chalise did the labor and delivery without any drugs - something that I don't think I will ever attempt, at least not voluntarily. But she's Wonder woman, so I'm not surprised that she did. And she was seriously up bottling homemade salsa and peaches about 2 days after getting home. I hope my second delivery goes that well - I could hardly move for the first week after having TJ.

I was also able to meet my nephew Sam for the first time, who was born in March, so he was about 6 months old by the time I saw him, and he is absolutely adorable. He belongs to Michelle and Nick. TJ was born on his brother Seth's first birthday, and I guess here is as good a place as any to announce to those who don't know yet that we will be having our second child around the same time Sam turns one. Sam was born March 12 and I am due March 23, so if I go a little early we could have another set of cousins who share a birthday. And it's kind of ironic that it is Nick and Michelle's children that we are sharing birthdays with since Matthew and Nick are first cousins once removed (Nick is cousins with Matthew's dad). So the boys are first cousins through Michelle and I and second cousins through their dads, and they share the same birthday too.

Well, I still have more to update about our trip, but this is getting long and I have a few things I need to do before hitting the sack tonight. I will try and do the next update sometime in the next few days.