little pink hangers

We had a fun Christmas in COLD Vernal with Brett's Dad, Mary (his step-mom) and Chester. We received a lot of baby goods, which was fun and weird at the same time. I missed my family but loved the thought of having an almost one-year old next Christmas...CRAZY!

I've still been teaching pre-school and babysitting. Next week is my last week working, which will be nice....I've been so exhausted. Brett had his 25th birthday, and has been studying hard for the GMAT which he takes this week. Grad school choices are: BYU, State University of New York at Albany, Monterey Institute, and two schools in London. We'll find out around March...I'm anxious!

Now, all of a sudden, it's January and I'm 38 weeks pregnant. It seems so surreal to both of us at this point and I keep having reality checks, like when I started putting little pink hangers in our closet-I had a minor freak-out. I had a wonderful second baby shower last weekend and I think our little girl has just about as many clothes as we do!!! I can't believe that it's already time to start doing things like: install the car-seat, put up a crib, wash baby clothes, pack bags for the hospital, etc.

I am 37 1/2 weeks in this picture....full term!


We used Chester as a prototype for all of the baby gear :)


3 moms (almost), 2 grandmas

a baby shower and a little bit of turkey

We had a really good Thanksgiving down at my parent's house in beautiful Pine Valley. Hilary even made it!!! My good friend Shari gave me a baby shower the Saturday before, and it was a lot of fun. It made the fact that I'm having a baby in 2 months all the more real. Brett is really excited. He keeps pretending like my stomach is a basketball, grabs it and pretends like he is shooting a 3-pointer. I'm going on 32 weeks and feel really good so far. I have a part-time job teaching pre-school right now. It's exhausting, but perfect for our situation.
Brett has started a GMAT study course at the U and will be applying for grad school next year. It's an exciting time, but scary not really knowing where we'll be. We're so excited to meet our little girl. She moves so much and I can almost feel her growing everyday. Merry Christmas!!!

I am obsessed with this outfit that we bought. I couldn't resist, even though it won't fit her for a year :)

31 Weeks!!!!

Some people from the shower. My mom made the cutest blanket for baby girl!

I love my sister!

nothing better

For those of you who have wanted to see pictures, here are a few. Brett has still been commuting to work in Vernal and I've been substitute teaching and tutoring as much as I can.... throw in a few BYU football games, the Yankees winning the Pennant and being 26 1/2 weeks pregnant, things are good and time is flying by. I can't believe our little girl will be here so soon, we can't wait to meet her, there will be nothing better. We love where we're living and have met some amazing people.

This is up in the Uintah mountains over Labor Day.



Pretty day, but horrible game against TCU :(


He hates this sweater, but it keeps him warm :)

I'm about 25 weeks in both of these pictures

it's a baby girl searle

We are so excited and officially arguing over names! Ideas anyone???

"Expect to be Surprised"

We recently moved into our new apartment in Salt Lake City. It's in a much more diverse area, and we really love it. We took Chester with us at least until December. It's been amazing having a place of our own again. I forgot what it was like to live alone together after staying with so many family members over the summer, of whom we are so grateful for. I stopped looking for a full time teaching job due to some unexpected and exciting news. There will be a new little Searle towards the end of January and we are so happy. We have realized that life really doesn't turn out the way you plan, and you just have to be adaptable and grateful for the little surprises and big surprises that are thrown your way.

So we are looking forward to the next several months and meeting our new little one. The sex will be known in a week and a half. We can't wait. Meanwhile, we are working, laughing, eating and playing.

Here are some pictures of moving in our new apartment!!!

Roma

We're in the middle of packing everything up to leave tomorrow morning. We are excited to get home and see our family. We made it to Rome last week and had a fantastic time. We had some trouble getting there, but that is a long story. It was sunny and warm the whole time, I even got a sunburn! Anyways, here are some pictures. Rome is a beautiful city with so much history. We saw the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, Colosseum and SO much more. It was amazing (not to mention the gelato we had about 8 times).

Us in the Colosseum


If you look closely, you can see the Spanish Steps behind me.

The Roman Forum, my favorite!

We ate dinner at the Pantheon, it was so fun....live music and everything!

Easter morning, we went bike riding along Appian Way out in the country. It was beautiful.

The world's largest McDonald's and the best ice cream: Gelato


A view of Rome, you can see St. Peter's Basilica on the left.

I loved all of the cobblestone streets and buildings.

Italy then Home!

We are heading to Rome, Italy bright and early tomorrow morning. We return to Brussels on Monday and go home back to Utah that Friday. We can't believe it's already time to go home. Time has gone by so fast and it's amazing to think about all of the wonderful places we've been and seen together. We can't wait to see Italy. We will be there for 4 days and are planning to spend one of those days in Pompeii. It will be crazy, being Easter weekend, but we are excited...especially for the Napoleon Pizza :)

Before we leave, here are some pictures of Ghent, Belgium (where we went last Saturday). I don't know if I'll be able to post more after we return from Italy, so good bye for now! Happy Easter!!!