Merry Christmas!
The holidays are without a doubt the best part of the year. We are so thankful for them, because they mean everyone spends time with friends and family. With that in mind, we post this letter with our love for all of you!
We have had a great year, and we thought we'd pass along a few updates. Ryan finished up his MBA at BYU this past April. YIPPEE! It feels wonderful to have a paycheck again. We feel really blessed that he was able to find a job in this tough economy. When school let out and we still had no promise of employment, we were feeling pretty nervous. But, we knew that God heard our prayers and knew our needs. We know many of you face similar difficulties with employment and finances – keep praying and believing and things will work out!
Ryan's new job is with Microsoft. He works doing sales and marketing for a product called Visio (if you're interested in details you'll have to ask him….). With our new employment came a BIG move – all the way to Pennsylvania! For a couple of west coast kids, this has been a mighty big change. We said good bye to the mountains and desert of Utah and hello to rain, humidity, and lovely greenery. I can honestly say, though, that we feel so blessed to have ended up here. We live in Exton which is a smaller town about 45 minutes (if there is minimal traffic) outside of Philadelphia. Exton is the perfect type of community for us. I come from a small town with lots and lots of open space, and Exton still has a small town feel with beautiful country side. Ryan enjoys the rain and the green because it reminds him of Oregon.
Another blessing we've enjoyed here in Pennsylvania is our exceptional ward! Every time we told neighbors, coworkers, other stay-at-home-moms, etc. that we moved away from family and friends out west they would say, "How can you do that?" Our first response was that we have a very supportive Church; when you move in you are family. And it really has felt like we have a big family out here. Our ward put us to work pretty quickly. Ryan is serving as the membership clerk and I get to work with the 10 year old girls' primary class and achievement day activities.
As for the little princess of the Pace house, she is doing great. Mia talks non-stop all day long and she expects us to listen up. Whenever Ryan and I start a conversation that she's not interested in, she'll start yelling, "MOM TALK-A ME! NO TALKING TO DADDY!" Another one of her current antics that we enjoy is her waking up ritual. We know she's awake because we start to hear things like "moo moo, baa, gobble gobble, naaaayyyy." That's our cue to go see what sort of circus has appeared in her room.
As for the New Year, we are excited for all the promise it holds. We are especially interested in the month of April, because we're expecting little Pace #2. We just found out that we're having a boy!
We wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
Lots of Love,
The Paces
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
An early prediction
We are very excited to have our 21 week ultrasound this coming Monday. Mia has given us her prediction:
Translation: It will be a baby sister, and she shall be called "Piglet". Poor child.
Translation: It will be a baby sister, and she shall be called "Piglet". Poor child.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monster Thanksgiving Fun Post
This was our first Thanksgiving away from family since we've been married. I feel like I'm too young to worry about turkeys, stuffing, and the like - so we decided to have our party in New York!
It was truly a crazy idea to begin with, but we knew that going into it. We sure had fun though!
On Wednesday we drove to a train station in New Jersey. We parked our car, hopped aboard, and ended up in Penn Station in New York City. This was probably the easiest travel we have had since we've been out here. It took a mere 2 hours 15 minutes to go from our place in PA to downtown NYC. Not too shabby.
So, I made two important observations on this family vacation. First, New York is a lot of WALKING and WAITING. Second, two-year-olds have SHORT LEGS and SHORT ATTENTION SPANS. This made for a very interesting trip. :) I can't say that the trip was melt-down free, but I can say we had a really good time.
We enjoyed looking at the store windows decorated for Christmas:
Unfortunately, we opted not to do the ice skating. I've got a pretty big belly at five months pregnant, and we figured Mia was just a little too small to really enjoy it. (Plus, she was really cold).
We did like watching this guy carve an ice sculpture:
We had fun walking around the Macy's at Herald Square the night before their big Thanksgiving Day Parade. They had all the grandstands set up, they were doing sound checks, they were starting to block off the roads etc. The Macy's itself was beautifully decorated and SO CROWDED.
Thanksgiving morning the plan was to get up early and watch the big parade. So, we, well I, woke up at 6am so we could leave our hotel by 6:30. Ryan got up and got dressed too - and then there was Mia. She is just not a morning person. Her idea of getting up involves drinking a couple of bottles, rolling around in bed, lounging in pajamas, and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for 3 hours, and then waking up. So, we weren't able to get out until closer to 7. (Some people had been waiting since 4:30am) It was a little rough...but we survived. None of us loved walking around for an hour trying to find a spot among the other 2.5 MILLION PEOPLE (I looked that number up), none of us enjoyed standing around in the cold for another hour waiting for the parade to start, but all of us enjoyed watching the first half of the parade. Mia got a kick out of the balloons :) I think her favorites were the fish and Dora.
As you can tell from our pics, we didn't have a fabulous view. :) In fact, we probably saw the second half of the parade better - because it was only about 4 feet from the TV in our hotel room (and it was warm).
This picture sums up Mia's feelings about being outside early in the cold.
But, this one gives me some hope that she enjoyed the parade at least a little bit:
This picture of the three of us turned out pretty well.
We ate our Thanksgiving Dinner later that afternoon at Virgil's BBQ in Times Square. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera!!! :( I was severely bummed about that). We enjoyed some ribs, chicken,and brisket. We're not bbq fanatics or anything, but this was good. There were lots and lots of restaurants serving Thanksgiving dinner, and most of them were crowded! From the two times that I've been in New York, I'd say that half the people there are tourists. I love that there are always lots of kids & families. We were by no means the only crazy people carrying a two year old around the Big Apple.
We enjoyed seeing lots of Christmas decorations while we were there. Our hotel was pretty:
The poor lighting and my photography skills don't do it justice. We stayed at the Hyatt (thank you priceline.com) right next to Grand Central Station in New York.
(Yes, when we were getting in the car we listened to the traffic report and heard the reporter say "There is news of a potential terrorist attack on the New York subway system this weekend" - and yes, I almost thought we should stay home instead.)
Grand Central Station is BEAUTIFUL. The architecture of the building is just amazing, but it has really poor lighting - so it's really hard to get a good picture. I took a couple of pictures - but they are too blurry to post. While we were there though, this really nice guy saw me taking pictures of Ryan & Mia and offered to take one of our whole family:
I want everyone to know that people in New York are really very courteous! Even the cab drivers usually said hello to us before they asked where we wanted to go. Nice people.
The day after Thanksgiving, we decided to see the Statue of Liberty. I told Mia that we were going to go see a princess so that she would be more interested. So she kept running around all day talking about "The princess statue of Liberty Bell". (Ever since we saw the liberty bell in Philly she has talked about the liberty bell.)
We started out at Battery Park on the very southern end of Manhattan. You can see the Statue from there. We had to wait in line for an hour and a half. Mia was not loving this, neither was I, neither was Ryan. It was windy and cold.
Mia did like the boat ride though.
The view of Manhattan from the island is really awesome - you can see it behind us here:
The Stature Herself is phenomenal. I loved seeing Her in person - it was worth all of the waiting, cold, and several family-meltdowns.
This pictures is taken inside of the "processing room" on Ellis Island. This room is where all of our ancestors who passed through Ellis Island stood and waited to be admitted to the country. Mia is rubbing her eyes - that sums up everyone's feelings at this point of the trip. ;)
When we got back to Manhattan after seeing the Statue of Liberty, we walked up through the financial district. Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange are all down on the southern end of the island.
This is my blurry attempt to take a picture of the Broad street/Wall street signs.
And I included this one just for my Mother dear. Inside the car there are some of New York's finest equipped with Machine Guns. :) There were TONS of police officers all around town.
Phew! The last exciting thing we did while in New York was to pay the ridiculous amount to go to the Top of the Rock - that is the top of Rockefeller Center (where my favorite friends Meredith Viera and Matt Lauer do the Today Show). The view was extraordinary. I couldn't believe it. It was dusk when we got there - so we saw the view during the day time, and then after it got completely dark (at 4:50, it gets dark so early). It was awesome to see how the East River and the Hudson River cut out the island of Manhattan, I couldn't believe how many tall buildings there were for miles and miles around, and then you could see the big square that makes Central Park. It really was awesome.
Well, that was our crazy trip to New York. It was a lot of fun! I'm glad we did it! But, it was also a LOT of work, walking, and waiting in the cold. :)
The other nice thing we were able to do while there was Ryan & I took turns attending a session in the Manhattan Temple. The Manhattan Temple is a small temple, but it is GORGEOUS. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. It was probably the prettiest one I've ever been in.
So all in all - it was a good trip! Happy Thanksgiving!
It was truly a crazy idea to begin with, but we knew that going into it. We sure had fun though!
On Wednesday we drove to a train station in New Jersey. We parked our car, hopped aboard, and ended up in Penn Station in New York City. This was probably the easiest travel we have had since we've been out here. It took a mere 2 hours 15 minutes to go from our place in PA to downtown NYC. Not too shabby.
So, I made two important observations on this family vacation. First, New York is a lot of WALKING and WAITING. Second, two-year-olds have SHORT LEGS and SHORT ATTENTION SPANS. This made for a very interesting trip. :) I can't say that the trip was melt-down free, but I can say we had a really good time.
We enjoyed looking at the store windows decorated for Christmas:
Unfortunately, we opted not to do the ice skating. I've got a pretty big belly at five months pregnant, and we figured Mia was just a little too small to really enjoy it. (Plus, she was really cold).
We did like watching this guy carve an ice sculpture:
We had fun walking around the Macy's at Herald Square the night before their big Thanksgiving Day Parade. They had all the grandstands set up, they were doing sound checks, they were starting to block off the roads etc. The Macy's itself was beautifully decorated and SO CROWDED.
Thanksgiving morning the plan was to get up early and watch the big parade. So, we, well I, woke up at 6am so we could leave our hotel by 6:30. Ryan got up and got dressed too - and then there was Mia. She is just not a morning person. Her idea of getting up involves drinking a couple of bottles, rolling around in bed, lounging in pajamas, and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for 3 hours, and then waking up. So, we weren't able to get out until closer to 7. (Some people had been waiting since 4:30am) It was a little rough...but we survived. None of us loved walking around for an hour trying to find a spot among the other 2.5 MILLION PEOPLE (I looked that number up), none of us enjoyed standing around in the cold for another hour waiting for the parade to start, but all of us enjoyed watching the first half of the parade. Mia got a kick out of the balloons :) I think her favorites were the fish and Dora.
As you can tell from our pics, we didn't have a fabulous view. :) In fact, we probably saw the second half of the parade better - because it was only about 4 feet from the TV in our hotel room (and it was warm).
This picture sums up Mia's feelings about being outside early in the cold.
But, this one gives me some hope that she enjoyed the parade at least a little bit:
This picture of the three of us turned out pretty well.
We ate our Thanksgiving Dinner later that afternoon at Virgil's BBQ in Times Square. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera!!! :( I was severely bummed about that). We enjoyed some ribs, chicken,and brisket. We're not bbq fanatics or anything, but this was good. There were lots and lots of restaurants serving Thanksgiving dinner, and most of them were crowded! From the two times that I've been in New York, I'd say that half the people there are tourists. I love that there are always lots of kids & families. We were by no means the only crazy people carrying a two year old around the Big Apple.
We enjoyed seeing lots of Christmas decorations while we were there. Our hotel was pretty:
The poor lighting and my photography skills don't do it justice. We stayed at the Hyatt (thank you priceline.com) right next to Grand Central Station in New York.
(Yes, when we were getting in the car we listened to the traffic report and heard the reporter say "There is news of a potential terrorist attack on the New York subway system this weekend" - and yes, I almost thought we should stay home instead.)
Grand Central Station is BEAUTIFUL. The architecture of the building is just amazing, but it has really poor lighting - so it's really hard to get a good picture. I took a couple of pictures - but they are too blurry to post. While we were there though, this really nice guy saw me taking pictures of Ryan & Mia and offered to take one of our whole family:
I want everyone to know that people in New York are really very courteous! Even the cab drivers usually said hello to us before they asked where we wanted to go. Nice people.
The day after Thanksgiving, we decided to see the Statue of Liberty. I told Mia that we were going to go see a princess so that she would be more interested. So she kept running around all day talking about "The princess statue of Liberty Bell". (Ever since we saw the liberty bell in Philly she has talked about the liberty bell.)
We started out at Battery Park on the very southern end of Manhattan. You can see the Statue from there. We had to wait in line for an hour and a half. Mia was not loving this, neither was I, neither was Ryan. It was windy and cold.
Mia did like the boat ride though.
The view of Manhattan from the island is really awesome - you can see it behind us here:
The Stature Herself is phenomenal. I loved seeing Her in person - it was worth all of the waiting, cold, and several family-meltdowns.
This pictures is taken inside of the "processing room" on Ellis Island. This room is where all of our ancestors who passed through Ellis Island stood and waited to be admitted to the country. Mia is rubbing her eyes - that sums up everyone's feelings at this point of the trip. ;)
When we got back to Manhattan after seeing the Statue of Liberty, we walked up through the financial district. Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange are all down on the southern end of the island.
This is my blurry attempt to take a picture of the Broad street/Wall street signs.
And I included this one just for my Mother dear. Inside the car there are some of New York's finest equipped with Machine Guns. :) There were TONS of police officers all around town.
Phew! The last exciting thing we did while in New York was to pay the ridiculous amount to go to the Top of the Rock - that is the top of Rockefeller Center (where my favorite friends Meredith Viera and Matt Lauer do the Today Show). The view was extraordinary. I couldn't believe it. It was dusk when we got there - so we saw the view during the day time, and then after it got completely dark (at 4:50, it gets dark so early). It was awesome to see how the East River and the Hudson River cut out the island of Manhattan, I couldn't believe how many tall buildings there were for miles and miles around, and then you could see the big square that makes Central Park. It really was awesome.
Well, that was our crazy trip to New York. It was a lot of fun! I'm glad we did it! But, it was also a LOT of work, walking, and waiting in the cold. :)
The other nice thing we were able to do while there was Ryan & I took turns attending a session in the Manhattan Temple. The Manhattan Temple is a small temple, but it is GORGEOUS. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. It was probably the prettiest one I've ever been in.
So all in all - it was a good trip! Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
8 States, 1 District, 3 Days
We had a whirlwind weekend this last Fri-Mon. On Friday we drove up to Connecticut to visit our good friends the Berretts. We had to see them one last time before their lives get crazy with the arrival of baby #2 (she's going to be adorable!). We drove from Pennsylvania through New Jersey and New York to end up in Connecticut. Last time it took us 6 hours - this time we avoided the George Washington Bridge through NYC and we made it in 4 hours. MUCH BETTER!
On Saturday we rented a van and drive up to Rhode Island to see some sweet mansions. We toured the Vanderbilt family's "summer cottage" a small inconsequential place on the coast with 70 bedrooms and some 130,000 square feet.
The fence alone was incredible. You'd have to think an awful lot of yourself to build a fence like this around your place:
These pictures don't really do it justice - the place is huge, and situated right on the coast. It was phenomenal. I wish it was for sale....
Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside. It was incredible though - the lavish decorations rivaled the palaces I saw in Spain. The marble used for the fireplaces and bathtubs was imported from Africa and Italy, Mrs. Vanderbilt's marble tub weighed in at 1500 lbs, the wood used throughout was from all over the world, the "Gold Room" (probably named for the 24k gold in the ceiling, no joke) was actually made in France and then shipped across the sea and reassembled in Newport. Anyway, the place was amazing - it cost 7 million when it was built in 1893, which in today's currency is a cool 300 million. Pretty intense.
The kids were really good and thankfully they only ran wild outside:
After a good visit with the Berretts we drove from Connecticut through New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and down to Virginia to see one of my former college roommates: Michelle! We didn't get there until 9, but we still had fun visiting with Michelle and Roy (Abby was already sleeping). After our visit we drove back to Washington D.C. to spend the night at a hotel where Ryan had a work meeting at 7am the next morning. Mia was really loving the "princess bed":
So - while Ryan was occupied at a conference all day Michelle & I planned to do some catching up. Initially, I had no intentions of venturing very far from the hotel. The DC Zoo was right across the street - and I figured that would be plenty of entertainment. But, when we drove past the WASHINGTON MONUMENT, the CAPITOL BUILDING, and the LINCOLN MEMORIAL, I just decided that this was not the time or place to be a pansy about getting on the subway. So, I was brave and figured out how to meet Michelle at "the mall" all by myself. (Did everyone else in the country know that this area of DC is called the mall? When I popped out of the metro station and Shell asked which side of the mall I was on....I said, "I don't see any stores").
I am pleased to say that Mia and I maneuvered through the DC Metro quite easily. Much of our success is due to the 2 months I spent riding the subway in Spain. I was really glad that we ventured out. Shell & I made quick tours through several of the Smithsonian museums (as much of the bottom floors as the kids could handle). Anyway, it was AWESOME!
Here's Mia flying an airplane in the air & space museum:
One of the museums (i don't remember the name) had tons of awesome plants, and this neat exhibit with miniatures of the White House, Capitol Building etc. It was really cool - Mia, however, was not impressed and so we exited the museum rather quickly. :(
This is the one picture we got with Mia & Abby! It was so fun to see Michelle & Abby & Roy! Thanks for showing us around. :)
PHEW! So that was our crazy weekend. We both picked up some new states on our list of places we've been.
On Saturday we rented a van and drive up to Rhode Island to see some sweet mansions. We toured the Vanderbilt family's "summer cottage" a small inconsequential place on the coast with 70 bedrooms and some 130,000 square feet.
The fence alone was incredible. You'd have to think an awful lot of yourself to build a fence like this around your place:
These pictures don't really do it justice - the place is huge, and situated right on the coast. It was phenomenal. I wish it was for sale....
Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside. It was incredible though - the lavish decorations rivaled the palaces I saw in Spain. The marble used for the fireplaces and bathtubs was imported from Africa and Italy, Mrs. Vanderbilt's marble tub weighed in at 1500 lbs, the wood used throughout was from all over the world, the "Gold Room" (probably named for the 24k gold in the ceiling, no joke) was actually made in France and then shipped across the sea and reassembled in Newport. Anyway, the place was amazing - it cost 7 million when it was built in 1893, which in today's currency is a cool 300 million. Pretty intense.
The kids were really good and thankfully they only ran wild outside:
After a good visit with the Berretts we drove from Connecticut through New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and down to Virginia to see one of my former college roommates: Michelle! We didn't get there until 9, but we still had fun visiting with Michelle and Roy (Abby was already sleeping). After our visit we drove back to Washington D.C. to spend the night at a hotel where Ryan had a work meeting at 7am the next morning. Mia was really loving the "princess bed":
So - while Ryan was occupied at a conference all day Michelle & I planned to do some catching up. Initially, I had no intentions of venturing very far from the hotel. The DC Zoo was right across the street - and I figured that would be plenty of entertainment. But, when we drove past the WASHINGTON MONUMENT, the CAPITOL BUILDING, and the LINCOLN MEMORIAL, I just decided that this was not the time or place to be a pansy about getting on the subway. So, I was brave and figured out how to meet Michelle at "the mall" all by myself. (Did everyone else in the country know that this area of DC is called the mall? When I popped out of the metro station and Shell asked which side of the mall I was on....I said, "I don't see any stores").
I am pleased to say that Mia and I maneuvered through the DC Metro quite easily. Much of our success is due to the 2 months I spent riding the subway in Spain. I was really glad that we ventured out. Shell & I made quick tours through several of the Smithsonian museums (as much of the bottom floors as the kids could handle). Anyway, it was AWESOME!
Here's Mia flying an airplane in the air & space museum:
One of the museums (i don't remember the name) had tons of awesome plants, and this neat exhibit with miniatures of the White House, Capitol Building etc. It was really cool - Mia, however, was not impressed and so we exited the museum rather quickly. :(
This is the one picture we got with Mia & Abby! It was so fun to see Michelle & Abby & Roy! Thanks for showing us around. :)
PHEW! So that was our crazy weekend. We both picked up some new states on our list of places we've been.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Now I understand........
I now understand why parents don't like Halloween candy...Mia just helped herself to her second full size reese's peanut butter cup.
Monday, November 3, 2008
The Jersey Shore
I've been meaning to post this for several weeks now: My favorite excursion with Ryan's parents was our visit to the Jersey Shore. All summer people here talked about the Jersey Shore like it was the most fabulous thing around. I have to say, it was fun. We visited Atlantic City, Ocean City, and Cape May - the very southern most tip of New Jersey.
This is a picture of a gorgeous old "plantation" style hotel that is right on the beach. There was a wedding the day we were looking at it. My favorite part of this picture, though, is the look on Mia's face - it's just so funny.
The city of Cape May is filled with these Victorian style houses. They are so interesting.
I liked seeing the lighthouse.
I thought the best part of our trip was our time on the beach! It was too cold to swim, but Mia LOVED chasing the waves - because they CHASED her back! It was seriously one of those golden moments. I was laughing so hard because she never got tired of chasing the waves into the ocean and then running away screaming when they chased her back. It was so much fun - I could have played at the ocean with her all weekend!
Here's a good view of the boardwalk at Ocean City and a sand castle that Mia is working on.
Ahhh, so much fun. I can't wait to take her back to the ocean.
This is a picture of a gorgeous old "plantation" style hotel that is right on the beach. There was a wedding the day we were looking at it. My favorite part of this picture, though, is the look on Mia's face - it's just so funny.
The city of Cape May is filled with these Victorian style houses. They are so interesting.
I liked seeing the lighthouse.
I thought the best part of our trip was our time on the beach! It was too cold to swim, but Mia LOVED chasing the waves - because they CHASED her back! It was seriously one of those golden moments. I was laughing so hard because she never got tired of chasing the waves into the ocean and then running away screaming when they chased her back. It was so much fun - I could have played at the ocean with her all weekend!
Here's a good view of the boardwalk at Ocean City and a sand castle that Mia is working on.
Ahhh, so much fun. I can't wait to take her back to the ocean.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Halloween!
We've had requests from both sets of grandparents to see Mia's costume! Here is our little Cinderella in all her glory:
I know that I am biased, but she was so cute it was painful. :) And wow, candy is an excellent motivator for this little princess. She must have knocked on 20 doors, all the while insisting that she walk in her three-sizes-too-big "glass slippers" and without a jacket! (and yes, she had m&ms for breakfast the other day...her candy needs to disappear soon)
And of course a video...I love the videos...
Here are a few other pictures of our Halloween Fun.
I know that I am biased, but she was so cute it was painful. :) And wow, candy is an excellent motivator for this little princess. She must have knocked on 20 doors, all the while insisting that she walk in her three-sizes-too-big "glass slippers" and without a jacket! (and yes, she had m&ms for breakfast the other day...her candy needs to disappear soon)
And of course a video...I love the videos...
Here are a few other pictures of our Halloween Fun.
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