Another Beginning.

Happy New Year!

January is here, believe it or not, and we're back in the regular routine of school, work, and normal life. We spent a wonderful Christmas with our families here in California, and then drove to Utah to spend the week after with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. It was the first trip to Utah where Franco and I were able to have a day just to ourselves to explore--it was awesome!

We had a late lunch in Salt Lake at Gourmandise, a French bakery & restaurant highly recommended by my cousins Ed and Rachel, followed by our first-ever visit inside the beautiful and huge Salt Lake temple. Wow! doesn't even begin to describe the detail in each room, not to mention the endless hallways, stairways, and rooms. We're grateful we could always ask a helpful temple worker which way to go or we very well could still be there trying to find a way out!

Despite the 12-hour-long drives to and from (which should have taken us only 8 hours...) it was a successful and relaxing trip. To our surprise, my family threw me a little baby shower luncheon and our baby boy received so many adorable clothes, blankets, and even some tiny mittens! I'm officially addicted to cute baby clothes. I may or may not have just spent the last few hours hunting for vintage rompers (rompers!) and cardigans on Etsy. It's a curse! But a curse I'm glad to have.

Franco and my mutual goals are simple this year: read the scriptures together daily, attend the temple at least once a month, and prepare our home and our hearts for the third little member of our family coming April 2012. Here's to a fantastical year!