a beautiful day

Today was not freezing.  It was not raining.  It was not snowing.  Today was sunny and 50!  It was beautiful.  This is probably the main reason today started so well - but the whole day was great. 

Kyle and I have lived up here for about a year and a half now.  We have yet to find a church that we really like.  We typically go to the one that is 2 blocks from our apartment because it's convenient - but it doesn't feel like our church "home"  Today we decided to try a new church.  It's called Our Lady Help of Christians.  Yeah, Catholics like those long names. :)  So maybe it was the church, or maybe it was the day, or our mood or all three - but Kyle and I both enjoyed the service and both "felt" like it was a good fit for us.  It's a large church with a young population - lots of families (and babies)...something I didn't used to notice so much, but do now. We enjoyed the pastor and when Abby threw her paci on the floor as I went up for communion, the deacon swooped it up for me and whispered "5 second rule"  ...which made me laugh.  

So, we're optimistic that this will become our church home while we're up here.  Something that we've been looking for since we got here.  'Bout time, huh?

After church, we met up with Karen and ate lunch at the cheesecake factory (yum).  After lunch, we took advantage of the gorgeous day and walked through the public gardens and then through town.  The gardens are beautiful in the spring.  Today, they still looked like they were recovering from winter - but it was nice all the same. 

view of the city & gardens

walking & talking 

I took lots of pictures of the cool trees

We decided to make our way over to the "Make way for Ducklings" statues.  I actually hadn't been since we moved here, so it was kinda fun to get that checked off my list.  We had fun letting Abby sit on the ducks... although, she didn't always see the fun in it. :)

(notice how Big her belly is! She had just eaten a full bottle)

After the gardens, we walked through town for a while.  We all stopped and enjoyed some starbucks (a nice warm drink on a slightly cool day is perfect).  We eventually made our way to the Apple store.  I had fun letting Abby try on these headphones.  They are noise canceling headphones - and they are amazing.  I seriously was in complete awe over how well they worked.  Of course they're like 350 bucks, so I will never buy them.  But I still wanted to see Abby's reaction to having all the noise in her world taken away.  Here she is right after I put them on for the first time...

"Woah, Dude.  It's really quiet now"

..."and I like it!"

She just grinned and giggled the whole time.  She loved them.  It was great. 

Kyle and I eventually made our way home and put poor Abby to bed a little early - she was tired! I'm really glad we got to enjoy the day.  I love walking around the city - I could walk for hours and hours on a day like today.  Hm, come to think of it, I guess we did. 

Here's to hoping the week starts off well for everyone.