a four dog night

you may have heard the phrase a "three dog night?" well, here at doggie day care fuquay, we prefer a four dog night.

we call it a river of dogs, but it makes us happy to be able to have all the pups at our house for the holidays. with deac (emily & brad) and bailey (jill & robert) joining our clan, we are having a great week! some might call us crazy, but it's pretty cute when they all get in their beds like this!

no white christmas

so, for the last two years, we have had friends and family flying into denver around christmas and new years only to be met with two of the biggest snowfalls (aka blizzards) ever. this year, richard and i were on our own for christmas and of course, no snow at all! in fact - it was 60 degrees here yesterday!

here are a few pics from our quiet holiday...

richard may have had a little two much fun getting the turkey ready!

but we were so proud of our first turkey on our own. with only 10 calls to our parents for advice, it came out great!

the stovalls joined us for christmas dinner and brought yummy sides for all to enjoy. it was a great meal that we were still enjoying 5 days later thanks to the leftovers!

even without any turkey, dirk was in a tryptophan coma christmas night from all the excitement

the last few weeks

well, we got a new camera so the updates should come a little more frequently now. here are a few shots from thankgiving in dallas, the university medicine christmas party, girls night out at our church, our christmas party and our cute pups who love to pose for the camera!

30+ weeks

thought this would be a fun pic to share - i swear i look more pregnant every time i stand up! it's hard to believe we only have about 2 months to go - this has been a joy so far!

this baby is sure loved

Thank you to Brooke and Karen for such a wonderful baby shower this weekend in Dallas! With friends of mine and friends of the Fuquays, we celebrated baby fuq and he was certainly showered with amazing and beautiful gifts. The shower was an incredible way to start a 10 day visit to Dallas for Thanksgiving!

a handmade original from grandmother Kathryn - how perfect!

It was great to see my friend Allison from Fort Worth

I don't know if i will have more fun playing with the animal toys or if the baby will - this elephant is adorable!

baby fuq's new wardrobe thanks to brook and karen - precious little pieces - i especially love the one on the left.

with grandmother kathryn

the pics you've been waiting for

finally, pregnant andrea pictures!

i know some of you have been asking to see these, and i figured our first baby shower was a good time to start.

we enjoyed a great long weekend with family and friends in atlanta, including a round of golf, a day at the spa, a wonderful shower, a cookout, and a birthday party for our sweet niece, kayla. what a busy couple of days!

since our camera is broken i only have few pics from the shower...

with jill, amy & bridget, my oldest friends

the cutest shower favors ever - with hand picked "fall" M&Ms

delicious brunch and cupcakes

with jill (who just finished the chicago marathon in 2 hours and 49 minutes! AMAZING!)

with bridget, one of the hostesses (and also 6 1/2 months pregnant!) i am so excited that we are having little boys together!

the quilt that goes with the crib bedding - we have already set up more of the nursery after the shower and it's so cute!

all the guest at the shower designed their own onsies for baby fuq - how fun!

grandma (nana Paula) trying out the snuggli from our friend katy - a great hand-me-down from her daughter lindsay!

thank you to amy, mardie, bridget & betty ann for such a wonderful celebration!

our baby?

we had a fun weekend starting to move furniture around the house and setting up our new crib in the "nursery." we love the crib and can't wait to have a little baby to put in it! for now, our only test is dirk! and both the crib and the dog held up well!

*sorry for the awful pictures - our camera is turning everything pink and editing only does so much!

it's a . . .

Today was the big day...we decided to find out if baby fuq is going to be a boy or a girl...the suspense!

i made two signs (one for a boy and one for a girl) and brought them with us to the ultrasound today. we asked the technician to put the right one in this envelope so that we could take it to dinner with us and open it then. we could hardly keep ourselves from ripping into it for the three hours until dinner. and then...

we were ready to be excited with any news we opened tonight, but find ourselves thrilled to be expecting a little boy next year. he is already an active little guy from the ultrasound and we can't wait to meet him!

planning for 2009

surprise! the fuquays are having a baby!

what a summer it has been! we've been keeping pretty quiet but now it's out in blog world and must be official! we're going to be parents next year!

i'm 16 weeks so far, doing great, and we could not be more excited! some days it has seemed more real than others, but these pictures show the proof! my unbuttoned pants and newly emerging bump also drive it home!

so, come about february 1st we can't wait to introduce you to the first baby fuq!

more updates to come as we get ready for our new arrival...

I'm proud to be...

AN AMERICAN!!!

Probably some of you reading this are totally confused by the headline.

But today, June 16 2008, I became an American citizen!

Born in Canada, citizenship was a long process of applications, fingerprints, and interviews all leading to the a big naturalization ceremony today in Denver, CO.

Along with 310 other new citizens from 63 countries around the world, I took the Oath of Allegience and was sworn in as a US citizen. It was a really special morning with more emotion than i was expecting. it was really great to see all of these people, from all over the world, reach this momentous day. I know for some, citizenship meant the culmination of years of hard work to get here as well as religious and political freedom.

i was so proud to stand with these other new citizens and take this big step in my life. it's also special to gain citizenship in this election year.