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

"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!!!

Bastogne

Two weekends ago we went to a place in Belgium called Bastogne. It is where the Battle of the Bulge was fought during WW2, which was a crucial battle for the US. It was awesome to see a huge memorial dedicated to the United States Military all the way in Belgium. There was a museum full of authentic army supplies, weapons and uniforms. It was a cold, but fun day.

Thanks Brent and Mary :)

Haarlem & The Hiding Place

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Haarlem in the Netherlands with a book club from our ward. I was the youngest one with 4 other women/mothers and felt a little out of place, but still had a great time. We had just finished reading "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom. We took a tour of the ten Boom's house and saw the real hiding place. It was a really neat experience being in that little house with a Dutch woman telling us about the family who made their home a place of refuge and comfort for so many people. I enjoyed the book and the private little tour a lot. I think that we can all learn something from the mission and faith of Corrie ten Boom. Here are some pictures.

The bottom shelf would open up and that is where the entrance to the hiding place was. The wall is knocked out so you can see inside. 6 people were in hiding there for 4 days without food or water, survived and were never found by the Gestapo.


This is for Brett and his love of windmills.