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.

pura vida

we just returned from an amazing week in costa rica and having loved living out their popular phrase, "pura vida". like my favorite t-shirts, the costa rican's say this to mean "life is good." and it sure is in costa rica!

we started out our trip in san jose and quickly got out of town and headed to the pacific ocean to meet some friends in playa esterillos este. what a fun coincedence that the trotters, coors, and longs were all spending a week in costa rica at the same time! after a great roadside breakfast we arrived mid day and met up with them at the beach - we swam, surfed, hacky sacked on the beach and relaxed by the pool.

the next day we drove about 20 minutes north to playa hermosa, a beach known for its surfing. we stayed for 2 nights at the backyard hotel and loved every minute of it. we had beautiful views of the pool and beach from our room and spent the whole time lying by the pool and reading good books - so relaxing! richard tried surfing a bit, but the waves were a little out of his league!

from hermosa (beautiful in spanish) we drove about 3 hours north east into the mountains (about 5,000 feet) on the most steep and unpaved roads we had ever seen. the views were spectacular on the switchbacks all the way to monteverde. monteverde is an old quaker mountian town where they make cheese and have an incredible cloudforest that we toured the next morning. because we visited at the beginning of the wet season, the town was pretty empty, and the one gas station in town was closed for months! we also toured a renario (frog garden) and had fun finding all the big and little frogs in their cases.

from monteverde we took another terrible road down the mountain and then finally hit pavement on our way to laguna de arenal (lake arenal) and the arenal volcano. this volcano is one of the most active in the world! we loved this drive around the lake and found a great place to stay at montana de fuego resort. the next morning we took an awesome 3 hour canopy tour in the rainforest complete with 9 zip lines, a 150 foot rappell, and a horseback ride back to the hotel. while the afternoons were rainy, we enjoyed time by the pool and watching the french open in our room.

on the way back to san jose, we stopped at a beautiful waterfall on the roadside and visited the la paz waterfall gardens for a quick lunch.

overall, we loved the trip and would recommend costa rica to anyone.

our only suggestions?

1. make sure you opt in for the gps - we would have been lost without it.

2. fill up with gas before you go up to monteverde!

3. eat at least one trit a day (the most awesome ice cream sandwich!)

for more of our pictures, check out:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bg0m1qv.2l9tax7v&x=0&y=5ywvxa&localeid=en_US

"Spring" in Denver

While locals say Colorado has a Spring Season, we're not quite sure. One day it's 75 and sunny, and the next you have highs in the 30s with 2 inches of snow! I don't call that spring!

But, the last few weeks have been great and we've enjoyed fixing up our yard, watching flowers begin to bloom, and taking walks into the late light evenings.

Earlier this month, we had both of our mom's out to denver for Mother's Day weekend and had a great time together. We ate great food at Table 6 and Crepes & Crepes, researched flowers and shrubs at Paulino Gardens and took lots of great dog walks in the neighborhood.

Also, Richard finally caught up to me in years! Happy 29th Ricardo! His favorite 5 weeks of the year being younger than me are finally over!