Okay, so I'm a huge slacker and haven't posted for a little while so I thought it was high time to get myself in gear and post some of the lastest and greatest. Aaron and I had the chance to visit Aaron's brother Troy and his family in Detroit, Michigan for a few days followed by another few days in Charleston, South Carolina with Aaron's sister Wendy and her family. We had a blast and packed a lot of great times into just one week at the end of May. It was also Aaron's "29th" birthday, which we celebrated in South Carolina as well as when we got back to SLC. I'm so lucky to have him in my life - love you, sweetie! Here are some of the highlight photos:
Michigan photos start with this one of all of us at Lake Huron. That's right, we've officially visited one of the great lakes and we know how to point out where we are on "the hand" so we can be counted as truly educated Michigan visitors. Thanks to Troy and Ang and kids for making us feel so welcome and showing us a good time!
We got to go to the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, which were both amazing. Here we are with all of the clan...4 "adults" and 6 kids worth of craziness.
At the Ford Museum, there were some amazing historical artifacts among all the cool cars. We saw the chair that Lincoln sat in when he was assasinated, the car that JFK was assasinated in (apparently, they have a thing with assasinations) and, the most impressive of all was the bus that Rosa Parks sat on. In fact, we got to sit inside the bus to listen to a tour and Aaron actually sat where Rosa sat. It felt like such an incredibly significant event to somehow be a part of.
We got to spend part of one our days in Michigan with Heather and Andy so we went to Detroit Science museum where Aaron had a hayday. We went into this tube that similates being in a hurricane and it was surprisingly fun (although I don't think I'd like to experience the real thing). :) It was great to see Heath and Andy...see the photo of Heath and my prego bellies on their blog.
Driving in downtown Detroit can be a challenge...enough said.
Now for some photos of the second leg of journey in South Carolina. We started with walking through the open market that used to be the slave trade area in the old days. It was lots of fun to see all the different thing there. Notice the random couple in the photo who looks like they're just one of the family.
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Aaron and I took a little stroll out onto this pier that has actual swingsets on it for people to just sit and relax - what a fun idea!
Aaron and I took a day to go see some of the sites that Wendy and Lys have seen a bunch already. Our first stop was Fort Sumter, where the very first shot of the Civil War was fired - it was fascinating and both of us loved exploring the rich history of the area. The second shot is of Magnolia Gardens, a beautiful plantation - the photo doesn't do it justice. It was beautiful and hard not to take a picture of every single view.
For Aaron's birthday, we went to dinner at a seafood restaurant and had a great view of the pelicans getting fed and dolphins playing in the water...it was perfect! Thanks to Wendy and Chris for hosting us and for Lys being such a great sport to drive up to be with us as well!
What a trip! It was great to see so many different things and to spend time with everyone!
We're finalizing lots of projects throughout the house (must be the nesting instinct) so I'll keep you updated on the decoration of the nursery and other parts of the house. We went yesterday with Drue and Maggs to register and, thanks to them, it wasn't the harrowing experience that I was expecting. Phew! We get more and more excited each day. I'm brushing up on Russian and Spanish so I can speak only in those two languages to our daughter while Aaron speaks English. It's a little rusty, but coming back...if you know of any good websites for getting multilingual materials to use with kids, send them my way!
A couple different views of our front room/living room. We wanted some bright colors that would be calming, but still fun (and by we, I mean mostly me since Aaron said I could do whatever I wanted). :)
A few views of the family room, including the fireplace and sitting area, entertainment center and workout area. 
Kind of hard to see, but this is a photo of our dining area looking in from the living room. To the left of the table is the rest of the kitchen that also leads out into the garage. We love how light the kitchen is as well as our new table and chairs.
Week 23
Aaron wanted to see if taking the picture with me holding my hands under my belly would make it easier to notice growth...I'm not sure, but it was worth a try.
