Pictures of Caroline

Here are our two ultrasound pictures of Caroline. They're both profile shots but in the second one she has her mouth open and it looks like little bubbles are coming out. So cute!!

I have another ultrasound on February 13th and I'm so excited to be able to see her again and see how much she's grown! Until then I'll continue to enjoy her little kicks and movement. Hopefully soon, Bryan will be able to feel her move too. We try all the time but I guess they're still not hard enough to feel on the outside. So Bryan just talks to her and sings to her - big surprise, huh?! I have a feeling Caroline is going to be a Daddy's girl. :)

Merry Christmas News

At each Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. It's always such a special time to be able to reflect on the many gifts the Lord has given us.

This year we saved one special gift until Christmas Day. Some of you know, some of you have guessed, and some probably still have no idea but.... we're pregnant - actually about 5 and a half months pregnant!! For our Christmas gift this year we found out whether we're having a boy or a girl.

We had our ultrasound on December 5th and told the ultrasound technician that we didn't want to know the sex of the baby but that we wanted her to write it down in a card that we had brought and seal it in an envelope for us that we would open on Christmas. She was happy to play along with us. We left the ultrasound knowing that we have a healthy baby with 10 fingers and 10 toes, a strong heart, and an amazing profile. We also left with the sealed envelope that would remain in my car for safe keeping.

We've had this envelope for 20 days and everyday Bryan would say, "Come on...let's just open it!" But we both knew how special it would be to open on Christmas Day. So we waited.....and waited....

Finally, yesterday, we woke up early just like little kids wanting to see what Santa had brought them. First we went through our stockings and then we prepared ourselves for the big reveal. Bryan read the story of the birth of Jesus from the Bible and we prayed. There was just one thing left to do.... We opened the envelope to find out that God has blessed us with a..........

BABY GIRL!!!

My heart jumped out of my chest and we both embraced with tears running down our faces. Seriously...my glasses got all fogged up! We were both really surprised as we had somehow anticipated the card reading Boy. Initially we both felt "girl" but the suspense and waiting had played tricks on us. We are SO happy and thankful to be having a little girl. Here's a picture of us yesterday morning with the card.

In all the excitement we've decided to reveal another special surprise that we were planning on waiting to unveil when she was born - the name. Our little girl is..............

Caroline Grace Pringle

We feel her middle name is especially significant in that "Grace" is God's perfect gift to us and she will always be a reminder of that in our lives. Also Grace is something we all need to share and offer each other. "Caroline" while being a beautiful name is also a nod to how Bryan and I really first started dating....at a Super Diamond concert....singing along together to "Sweet Caroline." She will always remind us of God's perfect plan in bringing us together, the fun we have together, and how much we love each other. We will be expecting Caroline around May 1st.

The fun doesn't stop there. All along we have been telling our family that we weren't going to find out the sex at all, but they too were surprised yesterday with a special gift.

We all celebrated Christmas yesterday at Bryan's mom's house in Brea. My parents, grandmas, my Aunt Suzie, and Bryan's sister's family all gathered together for more presents and Christmas dinner.

Bryan and I had been planning the big surprise for them for a while. On Christmas Eve we went out and bought two mylar helium balloons, one that said "it's a girl" and one that said "it's a boy". Yesterday morning when Bryan and I knew what it was, we wrapped the "it's a girl" balloon in a box and brought it as a family present. Our niece Alyssa unwrapped the present, took off the top of the box, and out flew the "it's a girl" balloon. Everyone was surprised and happy and couldn't believe that we surprised them. Then we told them her name and again, they were all excited. I think the biggest reason they were so excited is that now they can start shopping for cute girl things! Here are a few pictures from Christmas Day!

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

The Rockettes!

Last night we went to the Orange County Performing Arts Center for a Christmas Show with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes! This is the 75th Anniversary of the Rockettes and the first time that they've traveled and performed in Orange County.

My mom, dad, and grandma went too. It was supposed to be a ladies' night out with my sister going with us, but she's caught the cold going around so my dad went in her place.

What a great show!! It was a Christmas pageant of sorts with various Christmas scenes like New York at Christmas, Santa's workshop, and a live nativity scene. Of course the Rockettes performed throughout the show and they are really amazing. The strength that they all have is totally evident. And they really do all look the same - their height and size are so similar that they dance in perfect precision together. They did what I guess is something they're famous for at Christmas - the toy soldier dance - and they move together just like toy soldiers would in perfectly straight lines in many different formations - amazing!! Of course every number they did was fantastic!

The live nativity scene was pretty cool too - and no, the Rockettes were not part of the live nativity scene! The entire story of Christmas was told with the trip that Joseph and Mary made to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, the bright star leading the shepherds and wise men, and the wise men's arrival to give their gifts. A donkey, a few sheep, and some camels were the "live" part of the nativity scene. They really did a beautiful job explaining the birth of Jesus and incorporating traditional Christmas songs into the show.

Christmas cheer was definitely in the air. Can you believe it's almost Christmas???!!!!

Date Night with Grandma!

Saturday night my parents had some Christmas parties to go to so Bryan and I took full advantage of a date night with Grandma McNew. This is my mom's mom who is visiting us from Pittsburgh, PA for about a month. We love having Grandma here and because we only get to see her about once a year (usually at Christmas) we're trying to take full advantage of the time we have to spend with her.

So Saturday night my parents dropped her off at our house and we were off to dinner and the movies! The movie of choice was Enchanted! So we got to the theatre, got our drinks and candy, and enjoyed the movie. It was a very sweet story of fantasy meets reality and how we all need a little of both in our lives. If you haven't seen it yet, I would definitely go see it - and it's not just a kid's movie!

After the movie we went to dinner at Daphne's. Just a casual dinner with great conversation. I hope that when I'm my grandma's age, I'm as full of life as she is and have as much faith in God as she does. She's a great example for me and turns out...a great date too!

A Week Full of Christmas Parties!

It truly has been a week full of Christmas parties - as the season usually calls for. It all started last Sunday with a Holiday Open House at my parents' house. The house always looks beautiful for Christmas but it was extra special to have it filled with friends and family we don't see all the time and lovely Christmas carols coming from our piano. We had a guy come play the piano for the party and boy was he in for a surprise!! As most of you know Bryan LOVES to sing so he took full advantage of the accompiment and made sure to get as many other people as possible to help him sing Christmas carols. Luckily this didn't start until towards the end of the party because some people did make some fairly quick exits but they're the ones who missed out on the Christmas joy. Here's a picture of the group around the piano!

The next party I attended was our work division Christmas party! It was held at Stage 17 inside Disney's California Adventure Park for a holiday luncheon. The festivities included a little play where people I worked with dressed up as elves and our SVP even dressed up as Santa Claus! Everyone left with a gift as well and I was lucky enough to get a golden ticket in my box which meant I one an extra special gift - a two night stay at the Junipine Resort in Sedona, AZ! Bryan and I have already talked about how we'll use the getaway - right now we're thinking a return to Sedona for our third anniversary next November. We went to Sedona for our first anniversary so this could become a little tradition!

I then got to go to a Christmas luncheon at the Blind Children's Learning Center in Santa Ana. This is an organization that my division at work has parterned with. We help raise money for them as well as host several small parties for them throughout the year. This year for Christmas we brought and served a hot lunch for the kids and they're families, sang Christmas carols, passed out some Pirate Mickey plush dolls, and of course had a visit from Santa Mickey himself. It was truly a fantastic party and so touching to watch the kids get so excited for Santa Mickey. Santa Mickey went around and hugged all the kids that would get close enough for him to hug and then the kids would touch Mickey all over as they "saw" with their hands what Mickey is like. They really loved his nose especially! Here are some pictures from that party!

Next was Bryan's work Christmas party down in San Diego. It was great to meet some of the new people that Bryan works with and talk to the ones I've already gotten to know. They're a really fun group of people who all love Bryan - but then again, how can you not love him? Bryan had the honor of calling out the winning raffle ticket numbers which of course had some funny commentary to go with them. A fun night for all.

Christmas parties can really fill up your schedule during the holidays, but they're really great events to help immerse us in the Christmas spirit and remind us of how grateful we are for our friends and families.

Christmas at Disneyland!

Last year I was able to share some pictures of Hong Kong Disneyland at Christmas time. Though they were beautiful and it was great singing Christmas carols with the Chinese, it doesn't compare to Disneyland in CA with my hubby.

We went to the Cast Member Holiday Party where the park is just open for Cast Members, enjoyed dinner, a few rides, the Christmas parade and the beautiful holiday decorations.

The castle has amazing lights this year actually very similar to what we saw in Paris at Christmas time when we visited Disneyland Paris on our honeymoon.

It was great to be able to share Christmas at Disneyland together this year!

A Crazy Beautiful Year

As you can see it's been a long time since I updated our blog, but there have been some amazing moments to this past year. Here are some of the highlights:

• Bryan's Surprise Birthday Party and a performance by Dolly Parton!
• Surprise Sailing Date for just the two of us.
• Wonderful trip to Amelia Island, FL and Charleston, SC for a great wedding and mini Gamecock Volleyball reunion.
• Triathlon Couple: Bryan competed in two sprint triathlons and I competed in one. We finished!
• Great summer weekend trips including a visit to Pine, AZ, Portland, OR, and Dallas, TX.
• Another trip to Hong Kong in August for me. Boy was it hot!
• Celebrated our second wedding anniversary on November 26th. Crazy how two years have gone by so fast - maybe because they've been so great! :)

Here are some pictures of our adventures over the last year. Click on the link and enjoy!

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