Mt. Hope Cemetery

We went to the Mt. Hope Cemetery today. It is right next to the University of Rochester and is the oldest municipal cemetery in the United States. It is a beautiful place and has become one of our favorites in Rochester. Here are some pictures that we took today. We are doing our best to relish the fall before the long winter arrives.

Small Moment

I hear a lot about the small moments of mothering, but I'm not always good about recording those moments. But I don't want to forget what happened today. I promised Annie that I'd give her an orange when we got home from the farmers' market. I dutifully peeled it seconds after we walked in the door. I broke it into slices and set them on her high chair. Just as I reached for her to put her in, she folded her arms and said, "Prayer". She's been good at folding her arms and saying "amen" to most prayers for a while, but it was really tender to me that she is learning that we don't eat unless we've thanked Heavenly Father first. I've noticed a lot of physical and cognitive developments in her lately, so I was thrilled to see this spiritual development as well.

Catch Up Post

I've been a super lazy blogger, so after loading several older pictures onto my computer, I'm ready to photo dump.

University of Rochester photos:

We took these pictures during our first few days when Brad's mom was here. The campus really is beautiful. George Eastman was the owner of Kodak (HQ for Kodak are in Rochester), and he donated most of the money to start the University of Rochester. When I was walking around campus one day I heard the beginning of a tour about the campus where the guide said that Eastman really hoped that the school would be part of the ivy league, so he only wanted red brick buildings with ivy growing on them all over campus. He also didn't want any buildings named after him, but they fudged a little and named a grassy area in the main part of campus after him.

White Coat Ceremony:

So apparently this white coat ceremony is a big deal in medical families, or maybe just in general. Every single student had at least one parent fly/drive in for the event, with the exception of all five Mormons in the new class. :)

I spent most of my time in the hall with Annie. I'm sort of used to church where most people don't fuss too much if Annie makes a little bit of noise, provided she's not screaming at the top of her lungs. I did not get that much leeway in this setting. People were shooting me not-so-subtle glances when Annie said "Daddy!" as Brad paraded in. On the bright side, this is where we first really got to know Bryce, Annie's little best friend here.

Wine and Cheese Party:

Everyone here is obsessed with a store called Wegmans. Initially, we went to one that was not that big or that nice and we were not overly impressed. However, a few weeks later we stumbled on another one of these stores and this one convinced us that everyone here is right - Wegmans really is amazing. Their cheese section had me drooling. I was dying to try all of it, but I knew we could never afford to buy it all on our student budget. Then we struck on a grand idea - wine and cheese party! We invited a bunch of the people in Brad's class that are in committed relationships to come to our house for a wine and cheese party. Everyone brought a different type of cheese, and we provided baguette slices and non-alcoholic wine for everyone. (It was great we found non-alcoholic chardonnay!) The cheese was amazing! FYI, a drop or two of honey on goat cheese is fantastic!

Watkins Glen and Letchworth

We have been excited to discover what a beautiful area of the country we live in. We're especially enjoying all the fall colors right now. They are gorgeous! We went to an area called Watkins Glen today. It was so pretty! To get there we drove along Seneca Lake (one of the finger lakes) for about 40 miles. Watkins Glen is a hike along (one of?) the river(s) that empties into the lake. It comes down a gorge, creating stunning waterfalls the whole way.

Brad was a trooper and carried Annie (just in his arms) the whole way. I was so grateful not to have to take a turn. These days I get winded carrying her up our small staircase. Annie loved it and spent most of the hike saying "hi" to the "wawa". It was quite cold, but she was really good the whole time. Unfortunately we couldn't get her to smile in the pictures that well, so know that she was much happier than she looks.

On my birthday (so a while back, I haven't been the greatest blogger), we went to another really fantastic state park called Letchworth. We went with our friends Jenna, Brett, and Bryce. Brett is a first year med student with Brad, so Jenna and I have bonded during the times our husbands are gone. Annie ADORES Bryce. She yells his name in excitement quite frequently. Unfortunately we got too busy taking each other's pictures to realize we didn't get one of the six of us.

Rock-a-bye Sweet Baby James!

It's official - we had the ultrasound today and we're having a BOY!!! We are SOOOOOO excited!!! (Even Brad is, though he thought he wanted another Annie.) The ultrasound tech took a 3D picture, which I thought was going to be silly, but I loved it. You can really see his little face, and in my unbiased motherly opinion, I think baby James is going to be one handsome little devil. From what she can deduce with the ultrasound, he is very healthy. We are thrilled with that news - it's such a relief. He measured a little ahead of schedule, but she told me not to get my hopes up that he'll come early (too late!).

We've got a DVD and some pictures, but I'm not sure how to get those posted to the blog. I hope I figure it out soon, so you can all see our cute little James!