Six Months

So I know everyone has been waiting to see me "fat" since you all thougt it would never happen. Here is a picture of me about half way through 6 months. At this point, I weigh more than I ever have in my entire life!

Philadelphia

Jen and I took a trip over up to Philadelphia to see some of the historical sites. We found the liberty bell here. We also saw Valley Forge, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross's house, and had a genuine philly cheese steak.



Also out at Valley Forge, we saw a railroad station which was home to the Reading Railroad, featured in the Monopoly board game.

Weekend Shopping

This weekend we took advantage of all the Labor Day sales. We bought our first major baby item, a new dresser/changing table, which Phil did a great job of assembling. We also bought a new TV, something Phil has been waiting a very long time for. We found a really great deal at Circuit City on a Sharp 42" HD LCD. As I type, Phil is in the process of assembling it. I think this will keep him happy for a very long time.

Phil's Birthday

Phil turned 25 this week...a quarter of a century old!!! We had some friends over for chocolate cream cake and ice cream, Phil says the cake was delicious. For his birthday, Phil got the Tiger Woods PGA Tour game for the Wii. I think he played all day on Friday.

It's a ...

We are having a boy!!! We had our ultrasound yesterday and it is very clearly a boy, and we are thrilled. Phil is excited that he was right and that he'll have a little boy to teach baseball to. I'm excited to know so we can start planning. We got pictures, but I haven't figured out how to add them yet. Hopefully, one will be coming soon.

Entertainment Review

4.5 out of 5 stars. Jen told me I had to read the order of the phoenix before I could go watch the fifth installment in the epic journey of a young Brit through Hogwarts and his fight against He-who-must-not-be-named. After finishing it, I was curious, so I finished up the last two books. It's quite an entertaining story on the whole, and at many points throughout the books it's hard to put it down.

Just a reminder to all who haven't voted, there's a little less than a week before you can't vote any more!

2nd Anniversary

Phil and I celebrated our second anniversary this week. Phil got us box seat tickets to the John Mayer concert which was very fun.
We also went to dinner at the Melting Pot, which most people know is for fondue. We decided we liked dessert the best. We got the "Cookies and Cream, Marshmallow Dream" chocolate and got to watch the marshmallow flambeed. For gifts this year, Phil got me the new Harry Potter book and I got him a gift card to iTunes. We have loved being married and look forward to the adventures to come in future years.

John Mayer Concert

Summer

Well, summer is here. We watched the fireworks they had up on the hill on the fourth, in addition to the production they had, hosted by Tony Danza. I wonder when the person in charge of that was looking at the list of people he could ask to host that thing, what made him stop on Tony Danza.
The picture above is obviously from Lake Powell. We were trying out Ric's new seadoo, making sure it floated and what not. We also made it up to Rainbow Bridge, which I'd not seen before, even though I've been up there plenty of times. It turns out they've put up some cell phone towers near the lake lately, because Ric kept getting calls on his phone even though we were 6-7 miles up the canyon.

Good News!

We wanted to share our good news with everyone. Yes, we are having a baby! As of now, I am almost 3 months along, due January 15. We are very excited, even though it messes up our Christmas plans (the doc says no traveling at that point). So if anyone wants to come visit DC at Christmas time, we would love to see you!

This picture isn't actually of our baby, but is what it looks like about now. The ultrasound we got a few weeks ago just looks like a blob, but I'll post the one we have in a few months.

Oh, by the way, Phil is really hoping for a boy, and I am really hoping for the morning sickness to end!

The last few weeks

We have been pretty busy the last few weeks. We managed to make it out to a Nationals game...unfortunately, the Nats couldn't pull out a win for us. Phil however, decided to grow his goatee like Albert Pujols, which he thought was pretty cool.We also made it up to New York for Memorial Day weekend. Mainly, we went to be there for the blessing of our new niece Charlotte. Phil was such a great uncle, and pushed Charlotte around in her stroller all over NYC and Central Park.
I took my first visit to Serendipity (yes, where the movie came from) which had fabulous desserts. I quite enjoyed my frozen hot chocolate.

Mr. Steve Comes to Washington

Just like the old movie, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", Steve came out to visit Washington. We tried to show him a good time by taking him down to the city.

And making him take a picture of us.

We also determined the street fighter rankings that we haven't done in a few years. Steve took champion of the month, but I guess we'll see what happens next month.

We also played golf and baseball. And bowled. The rest of the pictures are available on the web at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pcbroadbent/MrSteveGoesToWashington

Any other questions or inquiries can be brought to our immediate attention.

NBA

The Search

In the flavor of Pete's Entertainment reviews, I thought I'd post about the book I listened to in the car to and from work for the past week or two, "The Search," by John Battelle.

4.5 out of 5 stars. It was quite interesting and educational. He explains how search engines began, how they work, how they led to the dot com boom and pop, and how Google emerged after the dust settled from the implosion.

He does not treat Google as the end-all be-all of all internet companies but also offers different points of views on Google's antics. He also explores Yahoo!, but not as extensively.

It is a documentary-style book, so if you're looking for plots, or character development, this book probably is not for you. But you don't have to take my word for it...

New Hat

So Phil and I finally went out and bought him a new hat, two new hats in fact. For those of you remember his BYU hat, you will know how gross and stinky it was (and of course he wouldn't let me wash it). He couldn't decide on which Nationals hat to get, so we got him both. He's all ready to play some ball now.

We also both planted some seeds for FHE last night. Phil is growing some basil, and I'm just growing some flowers for our front porch.

Italy

As most of you know, Phil and I, and Phil's parents went to Italy this month. It was such a great trip! We started the trip a little shaky, as there was a snow storm in DC the night we left. But after sitting on the plane for 2 hours, we finally took off and made it to Italy. We started our trip in Milan (the mission Phil served in). Here is a picture of us on the roof of the Duomo. We could see the whole city from there. Next, we headed to Lake Como. We went to church here in a ward where Phil served and he was so excited that everyone remembered him. This is a picture of us at Bellagio, a city about 30 minutes away, and where the two branches of Lake Como meet. It was beautiful (although a little foggy). We didn't find George Clooney's villa...too bad. After Lake Como, we headed to Verona, another city where Phil served. This was my favorite city, becuase it looked just like I thought an Italian city would look like. It was very quaint. As you should know, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet took place in Verona. This is us at Juliet's house under the famous balcony.

After Verona, we headed to Venice, the city on the water. It is much harder to get around Venice on foot, becuase the whole city is made of alleys and bridges, and there are a lot of dead ends. But we got to do so much here. We went to the Doge's Palace and saw the largest room in Europe. We also hung out in Piazza San Marco for an afternoon and got to see a glass blowing factory (Venice is famous for it's glass blowing). And of course we went on a gondola ride! Our cute gondolier was named Mario.

After Venice we ran to Florence, which is the city where the Renaissance started. Here we went to the Uffizi Meseum, where we saw several famous pieces of art by Botticelli. We also saw the David, which is AMAZING! This is Phil posing as the David in Piazza Vecchio. I was upset in Florence however, because the Gates of Paradise (the bronze doors at the baptistary of the Duomo) where being restored.

The final city on our tour was Rome. We had a little trouble getting there, because the there just happened to be a train strike on the day we needed to take the train. Luckily, we were able to get a taxi. My favorite venue in Rome was the Colloseum. It was so big and mind blowing. Phil and I decided we need to watch Gladiator again, now that we have been there. In Rome, we also saw the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain (where we of course threw our coins in) and the Vatican. Although it took us 2 hours in line to get in to the Vatican, we finally got to see the Sistine Chapel.

What a great trip, and thanks to mom and dad Broadbent for taking us. Also, happy birthday to our new niece Charlotte who was born when we were on our flight back!

I couldn't post all the pictures, or tell you all everything we did, or you would get bored, but if you want to see more pictures, you can view them at

http://picasaweb.google.com/pcbroadbent/PhilJenMomAndDadGoToItaly

Chinatown

We took a trip to Chinatown to see what that was all about. We ate at a place rated in the top 100 best chinese places in the country. There was even a duck hanging in the window. We also watched the cooks make the noodles.

We wrapped up all the preparations for our trip to italy. We're planning on going to milan, verona, venice, florence, and rome and probably pompeii. After we get back, there should be a slideshow put into production.

Jen's birthday is coming up - Apr 3. She already opened her present from me - a pink digital camera.

Inspired by the recent additions from Tina and H on their blog, and since people tell me I'm too centered around myself, I decided to come up with some Interesting facts about Jen Broadbent:

1. She danced her way around Europe with the Ricks Folk Dance team.

2. She underwent major brain surgery as a 5th grader to remove a tumor.

3. As a senior in college she preferred her faded goldish '92 Camry over her little brother's Maxima.

4. She spent most of her adult life believing that her natural hair color was 'mousy', until her husband convinced her otherwise.

5. Though she admits it is quite dorky, she clogs, but at least she's the best at it and has clogged to songs ranging from Michael Jackson to the Nike commercial where they're dribbling and passing the basketball around.

6. She enjoyed taking naps laying on her mom's stomach as a child.

7. Her favorite color is yellow. (Though she rarely wears it.)

8. She is able to drive a manual transmission car and refuses to do so.

9. She put her husband through the rest of his college after they were married by selling wedding bands to unsuspecting suckers on the internet.

10. She has lived her entire married life next door to a hospital.

11. She often pretends to be asleep on the couch so her husband will carry her back to bed.

12. She took her life into her own hands every day in high school when she drove a subaru that often mistook "Go" for "Stop".

13. She scared her father one night by bringing home a boy she'd been dating for a couple of months, and making him think the boy was going to ask to marry her, when her dad's house was just closer than the drive all the way back to Provo.

14. She speaks 2 languages (English and German).

15. She grew up in Blackfoot, ID.

16. She outski her husband down the mountain, 3 times to his one (on the snowboard).

17. Of the 36 hour drive to her new home in Fairfax from Provo, she drove 2 in Kansas.

18. She is a public notary of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

19. She played catcher for a softball team that won the Provo City League Championship game.

20. She can count on one hand the number of times she paid to do laundry during while she attended BYU.

21. Her favorite ice cream is Peppermint, but only eats it during the Christmas holiday season, and not even a whole carton when she does.

22. She thinks it is harder to clean the kitchen/bathroom floor with a mop then on her knees with a rag.

23. She prefers to clean the bathroom than take out the trash, and made a deal with her husband to that effect.

24. Her brother-in-law used to hold her down and lick her face to wake her up if she was sleeping in.

25. She danced at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake.

26. She amazes everyone with the pies, cookies, and cakes that she bakes, but rarely eats them.

27. Always claims she watches too much television, but holds fast to American Idol, Lost, Smallville, Grey's Anatomy, and of course, 24.

28. She has four nephews and a niece, 3 named after influential leaders, and one named for a surfer.

29. She refuses to sleep without a blanket, regardless of the fact that it could be 85 degrees in the house.

30. Her favorite christmas movie is "White Christmas" and tries to make it a tradition every year to watch it.

31. She claims to have met her husband in the hospital, when she really met him through a friend, but the hospital makes a better story.

32. She worked for her mother the entire time she was in college, and sometimes her mother worked for her.

33. She reads her father-in-law's weekly emails much closer than her husband does.

34. After eating a lot of sugar or sweets, she craves anything with salt on it.

35. She loves to put together puzzles.

More Snow

This is a picture taken from our living room window today. We got about 4 inches of new snow in the course of about 3 hours. Church was cancelled as a result. Unfortunately, they got the plows out early enough that work won't be cancelled tomorrow. Too bad! At least this is the good snow to play in.

As a side note, Phil dyed my hair last week. It is only a slight shade different, so nothing too dramatic. He did a good job, and it was a lot less than a salon would cost.

In the city

Well, it has been a while since we have been to the city so we decided to take a weekend outing. We wanted to go to the Natural History Smithsonian, but it was SO cold outside that once we found a parking spot we ran to the first building we could find. That happened to be the National Art Museum. This is a picture of Phil next to Rodin's "The Thinker." We saw lots of other art there, notably by Da Vinci and Rembrandt. Phil complained because I moved too quickly, but there was so much art to look at, and let's face it...most of it looks the same (yes, this is coming from a Humanities major).


After the museum we were ready to brave the cold again so we ran up to see the capital. We took a few pictures and were freezing again so we headed home. We are looking forward to those warmer spring days that are hopefully soon to come. (It was only 8 degrees here this morning!)