The friends that we spent the most time with when we lived in Utah were Ryan and Addy Hall and Dan Midgley. The summer that we left, the Halls also left to Swaziland Africa to join the Peace Corps and Dan headed to LA for work. We've spent a lot of time missing them and wondering when we'd ever see them again, until a couple months ago I got an email from Addy telling me that they would be coming to America in  October for her brothers wedding and they thought they'd be able to come to RI to pay us a visit. We were so excited! They haven't seen any friends or family for a year and a half but they still drove all the way here from Pennsylvania and arrived on Tuesday. When they arrived they told us to come outside, there was a surprise in the trunk. When we got out there  Dan popped out! The quintet was complete! I had no idea Dan would be joining us. It may have been the most surprised I have ever been. I was ecstatic that we were all together again.

I can't tell you how happy I was to see these folks and that they used their time and money to come see us.

Atlas loves them.

Even Cosby was smiling in his sleep.

We seriously have some of the coolest friends in the world. The problem is- they are all over the world. I don't know when we'll see these guys again, which makes me sad, but these are the kinds of friends you have for a lifetime no matter where we all end up. Thanks for coming here friends!

None of our friends and family (outside of RI, which is pretty much all of them) other than Sam and my Dad have met Cosby, so I guess I need to post photos more often. So here are a bunch of mostly random photos I have taken over the past couple weeks.

Atlas mimicking "Partysaurus Rex," the new Toy Story short where Rex throws a party with a bunch of toys in the bathtub.

Atlas is always hugging Cosby...

which usually ends up like this.

He always want us to put Cosby on his lap, even if he is not paying any attention to him whatsoever.

I take lots of pictures of the baby, but they mostly all look the same.

He has a hard time falling asleep unless we are holding him.

He likes to be held up right. No cradling this kid.

Atlas hamming around while I tried to get him to smile.

We went to a pumpkin patch that had lots of weird little set ups.

We rode on a giant pumpkin pulled by a tractor.

Cosby loves to eat my shoulder.

When we got home, Atlas painted the pumpkin that he picked out.

He also picked one out for Cosby and painted it for him as well.

Stay tuned, cause tomorrow we have some more friends coming from far away to visit us and meet Cosby. I will post pictures from their visit next weekend.

Last weekend was fairly eventful, at least as far as our standards go lately. Friday was my birthday. I woke up and went to the gym for an hour. When I returned Atlas was waiting for me with these flowers and a picture that he drew. Nick gave me some comic books and we all hung out until Nick had to go teach class. Later that evening Nick had Atlas tended while he took me out to dinner to a place I had been wanting to go for a while. It was small plates so we ordered everything to share: roasted beet and goat cheese salad, roasted curry cauliflower, super gourmet mac and cheese and whole wheat oven fired pizza topped with sweet potato, gorgonzola, arugula and caramelized onions. It was dreamy. Then, to top it off we went to a bakery on Federal Hill that I have been dying to go to and got a slice of raspberry almond cake and a piece of the most heavenly fruit tart in existence.   

As a kid I hated when my birthday fell on conference weekend, but now I consider it a special honor. I love listening to conference. Holland, Oaks, Eyering, they are all just so good. Conference really recharges me and makes me remember super basic principles that are hard to grasp in every day life, such as, the entire purpose of our time on Earth!
After the second session on Saturday we drove to Warwick to get some cupcakes at a spectacular cupcakerie. Atlas chose this "swirly pop" instead.

We got there right as the owner was closing up for the night so the cupcakes were buy 1 get 1 free. We chose 2 cupcakes, then 2 more for free. Then, right as we were walking out, she said she would give us 4 more. So we scored 8 cupcakes for the price of 2, and these are seriously the best cupcakes ever. Needless to say- I really need to go to the gym every single day this week to make up for my yummy weekend and it was so worth it.

Sunday was just more watching conference. We stream it on the internet and just watch it on our computer.

Monday Nick had school off so we decided to take a day trip. The plan was to drive up to Vermont to see the fall leaves and stop at Ben and Jerry's, then walk around Stowe, then head home and stop in Salem on the way. (since it is October and all) First we stopped in Concord, Hew Hampshire and Atlas and Nick walked around while I fed Cosby.

Atlas wanted to take a picture of Nick.

After that, we got lost and ended up nearly in Canada before we noticed. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate living here without a GPS!!!! (Nick doesn't want one, but I think I am just going to order one ASAP anyways) We stopped at this super crazy gas station in the backwoods of New Hampshire, and of course, Nick, being a guy, wouldn't ask for directions, so he grabbed a map and we proceeded to drive through New Hampshire having no idea if we were headed the right way, since we didn't yet have a map of Vermont.

The drive turned out to be incredible. This picture in no way does justice, but I didn't really get photos, since we were in the car the whole time and didn't want to stop since we had already added a few hours to an already very long drive. One area we drove through, The White Mountains, was absolutely one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life.

We finally made it to Montpelier and stopped for lunch. We went to a little pizza shop and I had the Vermont Pizza which had apples, cheddar, and maple syrup on it. We then drove around the tiny town for a while. Nick was in love and kept talking about living there. I was..... not in love so much, but I still thought it was very charming.

Atlas wanted to hold the baby's bottle, while I held his drink.

(Excuse the random guy in my photo, I was taking pictures out of our car window)

We finally made it to the Ben and Jerry's Factory and took a tour.

At the end we got to sample the flavor of the day, which was Milk and Cookies, a flavor I don't think I would choose on my own, but I think it may be my new favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor. I am craving it and going to buy me some more when I go shopping tonight.

We don't have a stroller at the moment cause it's in Utah, so lately when we go out we just carry Cosby. 10 lbs gets really heavy after a while so we have to take turns with who gets to carry him and who has to wrangle Atlas.

The flavor graveyard!

We even brought Bixler along, since the trip was mostly in the car, and the weather was nice enough to leave him in there for short amounts of time.

We ended up not going to Stowe, or Salem, since we lost so much time being lost, but at least I saw a killer sunset out our back window on the way home.

Now Atlas is in the living room, sitting in some packing peanuts saying "send me to Papa," and I think I just might, considering what a little devil he has been lately.