Happy Birthday to the Best Husband Ever!

This past weekend was a BLAST as we celebrated Brian's 26th birthday! I decided to plan a weekend of sorts because April is always my birthday month, so I figured Brian could at least get a weekend, right!?! It started off with him getting off work early on Friday and bringing home some Sushi for lunch. I'm not a fish fan, but I have definitely been trying because we are so close to fresh fish and everyone says it's better on the coast. Hasn't changed my mind yet, but I'll keep trying:) Then we headed to Stew Leonard's, Brian's most favorite place in Norwalk. If you remember it from my previous post, it is the World's Largest Dairy Store, and just a fun place to go grocery shopping. Thad is deathly afraid of the mechanical cow inside, but we are trying to get him used to it. After that I sent Brian to the driving range because I watched Sophie for Hanna and Tracy for Hanna's birthday which was on Friday. Weird side note: I must get along very good with Leos (Brian is a Virgo on some calendars, but I truly believe his is a Leo because of this). Hanna and Heidi have the same birthday, August 20th and Brian's is the 23rd...weird! Anyways, Sophie and I made a cake and banner for Brian and Hanna and we had a mini surprise party for them. Well, it was just a surprise for Hanna, but it was super fun and she was really surprised. I freaked her out when I opened the door and yelled "surprise" really loud!

 When baking, the batter or dough is my favorite part, so I let Sophie in on the fun:)

As you can see, the party was a huge success and our friend's Lisa, Moroni and their little guy Noah came over to help us celebrate! I made Teresa's German chocolate cake recipe and I have to say that it was pretty delicious!

To continue the birthday weekend I set up for Brian to go golfing in Greenwich with guys in the ward. Golfing is not as accessible or affordable back here, but if you go with a resident of the city it can be a pretty good deal. 

So the guys went golfing: Jake-Mike-Brian-JT (the man who put it all together)....

 And the girls went to the beach, OF COURSE!! Kristin and Lizzie are in the pic, but I never got a pic w/ my camera of all 4 of us, so there ya go. Lizzie and JT are married and the ones that live in Greenwich and put this all together...they are SOOO awesome and I'm so glad Brian could do this for his birthday. This beach was so fun because we rode a ferry over from Greenwich and it was just a fun little island. Thad was very brave and went down to the water on his own several times. He loves throwing rocks in the waves and having the waves roll over his feet...what a cutie!!

We took Sunday off for celebrations, but started early Monday by making Dad breakfast:

And I also planned for Thad to wake up at 6:45 so Dad could see him before he went to work;-) It worked out great and we had a fun morning together!

I didn't document the evening very well, but Hanna and Tracy babysat Thad while we went out. We went to dinner at a yummy Indian restaurant in South Norwalk (SoNo) called Coromandel. We loved our meals and went to walk around SoNo afterwards to check out the little shops and grab some dessert, but EVERYTHING was closed! It was only 6:30p.m., but I guess they don't get enough traffic to stay open every evening. So we trekked around and found a yummy ice cream parlor and just chatted. We rented a Red Box and headed home...we are such an old, married couple! ;-) When we got home, Brian had some surprises from family waiting for him:

My parents sent him a fun card with lots of funny quotes in it with a bottle of cologne from Abercrombie and Fitch. Brian's parents sent him a book, The Silence of God, about a Russian family in the church. Our families are so sweet and I know he really enjoyed the things he got.

As you can see, we had a fun weekend and I truly think Brian enjoyed himself. It is so fun to celebrate his birthday because I get to do/buy him things I usually wouldn't be able to. He is such an amazing husband and makes Thad and I SOOO happy! Love you tons, Brian!

P.S. I'm so sad I couldn't celebrate with this girl too:

I know she is coming in a couple of weeks (WAHOO!!!!), but I would just love to have been close to celebrate with such a wonderful friend. I know she had a wonderful weekend and she really deserved it! We will definitely show her some celebrating when she comes to CT! Love you, Heid! (

Beach Bummin'

This weekend we headed about 1.5 hours northeast to New London, CT to go to Ocean Beach Park. Hanna and I love going to the beach right by our house during the week and we're not complaining, but it's kinda rocky and pretty much no waves because we're in the Long Island Sound, and not right on the Atlantic Coast. So we googled and found this place and just went for it because we wanted an exciting weekend while our summer is still here!

We got in the water RIGHT AWAY! We had to convince the kids a little, but once we waded out there they loved it!

Hanna and I were super excited that there were waves (even though they're not very big) and we rode them in! We did it a lot more in the late afternoon, but we got kicked out by some jelly fish...ahhhh! Some people just kept swimming, but Hanna and I weren't willing to take any risks.

Just playin in the sand

Isn't this sweet! Sophie is such a momma's girl and they are just so sweet together. We just loved basking in the sun. The high was around 80 degrees, so we were all in heaven!

The kids LOVED riding the carousel and Sophie couldn't stop talking about it after:)

We walked down the beach and found this fun little cove. The water was warmer and everyone was crab hunting...

Brian and Tracy got a little carried away....

But it sure paid off!!  

(Thad wasn't too interested. If you know Thad, you know he has unfounded fears of odd things, and this was one of them)

Needless to say, we had a PERFECT day: 80 Degree weather, a slight ocean breeze, awesome kids that didn't complain, fun friends, gorgeous view, Five Guys for dinner...the list could keep going!

The beach has been so fun for all of us and I am excited for Brigitte to come because we have a trip planned to The Hamptons, and I've heard amazing things about those beaches. I'm going to scout a beach out for when Heidi comes and we may catch a ferry over to Long Beach...I don't know, but we'll have something fun planned for sure! Happy summer everyone and if you're itching for the beach, give us a call and we can help you scratch it;-)

Life Lately...

It hasn't been crazy exciting around here, we have just been laying low, but it has been very relaxing. These are just some of the things that have been keeping us busy:

Skype-ing every Sunday with the fam! Kayci, Kelli and Teresa make this kid feel like he is the only person that exists in the entire universe by applauding him and "Oooh-ing and Awww-ing" over any tiny movement or utterance he makes:) He recently learned how to play the harmonica, and is showcasing his skills to the fam on the other side of the country. (Please don't mind the outfit...laundry got to the bottom of the list and this is what we rummaged up for PJs. Also, the hair has been cut since this pic and it's way cuter!)

The boy LOVES to read! He would really sit around all day and do exactly this. He usually cries until I sit down to read to him and then will get a book off his book shelf one by one and sit on my lap while I read him every book he owns. He is obsessed.

Perfect days at the beach! Brian and I haven't had much exposure to beaches, so we definitely want to take advantage of it while we're back here. It's nice that it's just 5 minutes away and we can go for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning.

Swimming in the backyard has been AWESOME! Hanna and Sophie let us borrow this for the rest of the summer since they don't have a yard to put it. Thanks, gals (Come over ANY time)!

Oh, and just reading the paper! We get lots of ads and Thad loves to thumb through them;-) 

Just tonight he got really excited about the Gutter Cleaners, as you can see!

Connecticut is still treating us well and we are loving our ward and the experience as a whole. Things kinda slowed down this week and I wasn't dragging Thad all over town, and I thought it was a good thing to finally stay home for a whole day...It was good until I started getting a tad homesick and wanting to hang out with my sisters:( I just starting thinking about how I have never been able to live by my in-laws or siblings and their kids since we have been married and I got a little sad. So I just decided I have to stay BUSY! Today we went to Hanna's and played with a couple of other friends and it was the perfect cure! Being surrounded by other people in the same situation reminds me not to pity myself and be grateful for the here and now. We love and miss you all!

~First Visitor~

We had the privilege to have our first Utahn visitor tonight!

Mike! It was SOOOO wonderful to see a familiar face, and especially his because he is so fun to be with. Mike was Brian's first friend when Brian's family moved to West Jordan when Brian was in middle school, and I had a crush (who didn't?) on Mike in middle school, so we all go way back;-). He has been back here for work for the past few days and we finally got to meet up. He came over for dinner and then we headed to Sweet Ashley's around the corner for some ice cream.

Mike and his future wife are moving to Rhode Island in September and will only be a short 2 hour drive from us! We are so excited to have friends close by and are already planning monthly (at minimum) get togethers. Mike was such a sweetie with Thad and we really enjoyed the company...See you soon, Hawkers!

Great Weekend

Connecticut has yet to fail us on weekend fun, and we're not planning on it to do so any time soon. On Friday night we went to Jordan's, a Greek and Italian restaurant for dinner with 3 other couples from the ward. Hanna and Tracy of course came, Braden and Megan and Camille and Scott. Braden came and helped us (by us I mean Brian and Russ) move in the first day they got here and come to find out he is another Aggie Alumnus! At dinner we found out that he was really good friends with a group of roommates that we really liked at Cobble Creek Apartments where we managed! It's so funny what a small world it is:) They have a sweet 5 month old named Eve and Camille and Scott have a little 7 month old boy, Payton. We each got a large pizza at dinner and shared...needless to say it was a fun night and wonderful to have friends while being so new in the area.

Saturday was a great day too! We got up and unpacked some more decor for the house because we finally got the bookcase we had been wanting from IKEA, and then Brian helped me organize the basement because it was kind of a frightful scene down there. I also vacuumed the floor and some cobwebs because I don't think that basement has seen any sort of cleaning in it's entire life. I hope it will get me down there some more to get some laundry done!
After our productive morning we took Thad over to Hanna and Tracy's and headed to the Manhattan Temple. We were daring and drove into the city because we heard there are good, cheap places to park so it makes it less expensive than a train ride in. The drive went very smoothly and we are officially city slickers now that we have driven in NYC;-) As we made our way towards the temple I was really excited to see it, but I didn't notice it till we were RIGHT across the street! It snuck up on us, but it was so neat to see the temple amidst the craziness of the city.

Can you see how it sneaks up on you?

The inside was gorgeous, and it is so cool to see how the space is utilized when a lot of space isn't available. It was so amazing to be inside the most sacred, peaceful place we could possibly be, and then to walk out onto the crazy streets of Manhattan! It was awesome and I'm so grateful for our proximity to the temple so that we can go back often.

The Lincoln Center is just down the street from the temple, so we stopped and enjoyed it for a minute.

We had a wonderful weekend and just love going into the city! I am so glad Brian got the opportunity to be out here because it is exactly what we needed right now in our lives. We still miss everyone and hope you'll make it out here so we can entertain you!:)

I Heart NYC!

Saturday was my first time to New York City, and I'll have to say that it not only met, but exceeded my expectations! I was told to go in without a major agenda, and just explore for the first time and it was really great advice. We went with Tracy, Hanna and Sophie and they had been before like Brian, so we planned some things that weren't so typical of NYC trip since I will have lots of trips to come and they had all already seen the major sites.
We rode the train in from Norwalk,

 getting off at Grand Central Terminal and walked down 5th Ave, through Rockefeller plaza

(We seriously LOVE 30 Rock, so this pic was a must:)

And straight into Central Park:

It was so fun to be in the thick of the trees, but then see the buildings standing so tall over them.

After the kids were soaked and we got their clothes changed, we headed to Pronto's Pizza for a classic New York Slice.

This filled us up for the rest of the day to say the least.

We jumped on the subway, strollers and all, and headed over to the Brooklyn Bridge

At first we went down to the pier under the bridge and got some yummy ice cream. We also got a great show from some sweet rappers filming a rap video:

Yeah, it was pretty hard core.

We wanted to walk across the bridge because we had heard good things about it and even though everyone but me had been to the city, none of them had walked across:)

It actually turned out to be the best part of the day!! It was a perfect view of the city and also nice and breezy to cool us off a bit.

The kids were pretty pooped by the end of our promenade...

And we gladly let them sleep --- zzzzzz

While they were sleeping we walked through the Financial District

And headed to the Staten Island Ferry. It's free to the public and goes past the Statue of Liberty, thus eliminating the crowded, costly trip to Ellis Island which I'm sure I will make eventually:)

Hanna and Tracy stretching after our long walk to the ferry...and across Manhattan!

It was a perfect way to end the day and not have to be on our feet for 45 minutes. Thad and Sophie loved to look at the water and sit by each other on the benches...what sweeties!

Again, the day was absolutely amazing and I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend my first day in the city. It is such a fun adventure to be out here and I can't wait to go back with all of our visitors. Speaking of which...We already have 4 in the works! Heidi booked her flight the other night to come September 16th and I thought she would be my first, but my sister Brigitte is coming out August 24th! Breanne and Taryn and Todd and Kelsie are also planning for mid October and I am just seriously SOOOO excited! We love visitors and would love to get anyone else on the calendar that is interested. Let me know.

Oh Connecticut...

So we've almost been here a week and it truly is crazy how time flies! The trip out here went very good for Brian and I. Brian drove a 26-foot moving truck out here with his step-dad, Russ and it all went pretty good except for at the end of the first day driving, Russ' motorcycle had fallen over in the back of the moving truck (they were brought it out because Brian's mom, Teresa flew out w/ me and they are riding it back to UT) and they weren't able to figure a way to keep it standing w/o falling, so Russ ended up riding the bike behind Brian for the next 2 days:( They were both really good sports about it and they kept each other awake while driving next to each other. When they got here last Tuesday night there were 5 people from our ward ready to help move things in! The church is true is all I have to say...I didn't have to move one box into my new place:) Teresa  and I flew out Wednesday and Thad was an absolute gem on the flight. What did I do to deserve this kid?

He was awake for the whole flight except the last 10 minutes we were descending! What a silly kid. 

After we landed it took 2.5 hours to get home from JFK...it's only 40 miles away! I chose a bad flight (all future visitors take note;-) and it landed right during rush hour. I mostly slept, so I shouldn't complain too bad. In between cleaning and unpacking our new place we went and did some fun things while Russ and Teresa were here:

We ate at this fun little sea food shack just down the street from our house and ate out on this dock. Listen people...COME VISIT...this is 2 minutes away from my house!!!

After that we drove on over the the beach ONLY 5 MINUTES AWAY (hint hint) and were introduced the rocky beaches of New England.

Then we went to Stew Leonard's (that's what the orange sign says) and it's a fun grocery store that is featured in Ripley's Believe it or Not as the largest dairy supplier in the country. You should come to Norwalk...

We also got some ice cream at a little shop that is just around the corner from our house called Sweet Ashley's and it is super yummy. You may have to come out to try it;-) Russ and Teresa are so amazing for coming out and helping us with our move. I would have been a mess w/o Teresa here and I am so grateful for her support and understanding. We were definitely sad to see them leave:

But at least they left in style! They are so fun and adventurous for riding the bike across the country and they are having a blast stopping and seeing a lot of the church history sites. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your love and help! We miss you already and hope to see you soon.

We went to church on Sunday and have already made some friends. A sweet couple that helped us move in invited us over for dinner on the 4th of July along w/ Hannah and Tracy. Tracy and his wife just moved out here too this past week from BYU because he is doing the same thing as Brian. Hannah and I didn't meet til last week, but we feel like good friends because of the whole process:)

Sophie (Hannah & Tracy's little girl), Hannah, Aubri, Me & Thad at Aubri and Thomas' house for some awesome 4th of July BBQ.

The guys: Brian, Thomas & Tracy

After dinner, another sweet couple called us to come over for dessert so we went over and had a blast with them and another new couple that just moved in the ward from Manhattan. Thad got kinda bored and this is the entertainment we came up with for him:)

Now for the MAIN EVENT - - MY HOUSE! 

Isn't it cute! I am going to give a tour of it in pictures. I am mostly posting these messy/stark house pictures so that the before and after is more shocking. We have mostly everything unpacked, no decorations up, and a few more things to purchase before the space is complete. I just wanted to give you an idea of where we're living. (Also, it's kinda like "Where's Waldo" but with Thad)

The view from the front door

The family room

Dining Room Area

The Kitchen

This is to the right of the dining table:  A pantry, half bathroom and stairs to the basement.

Up the stairs we go:)

First stop: Full Bathroom

Thad's Room

Master Bedroom

I hope you enjoyed the tour and look forward to seeing the improved version of our new place. Things are going great so far and we really like it here. Brian started his job yesterday and knows already that he is going to have a good time. He is on two different project teams and is excited to get working. Again, if you are at all interested in a visit back east, you know who to call: Free lodging, free dinner, free tour guide and lots of other perks! We love and miss you all!