Tis the season to be thankful!

We have had a wonderful end to 2012!  For Thanksgiving we went to the Foulks' home (Michael's brother Scott's in-laws) in southern New Jersey and had a fabulous time. Thank you to the Foulks for their generosity and kindness! Here are a couple highlights.

 On our way to the Foulks we took a detour through the quaint hamlet of Princeton. We walked around the campus of the local university and were impressed by the beautiful buildings and grounds. Michael's convinced that Micah should go to Princeton -- after BYU of course!

 For Thanksgiving Micah got some adorable pajamas from his Grandma Robertson and he ended up wearing them all day! Thanksgiving dinner was so delicious! We especially loved the homemade applesauce!

The day after Thanksgiving we took a little outing to Philadelphia with the Foulk family. This display was at the Liberty Bell exhibit and caught our budding lawyer's eye right away.

 Per usual, eating was part of our visit to Philly. Neither Michael nor I had ever had a Philly Cheese Steak, and they most definitely did not disappoint! Yum!

The uncracked side of the Liberty Bell, because the line to take a picture of the cracked side was much longer  (Micah was there too, but sleepy in his stroller)

We were pretty excited to see the Rocky statue and run up the Rocky stairs! Another check off the Bucket List :)

For Christmas this year we came to Oregon to be with Michael's parents. It has been wonderful to be in their home and spend time with them!

 We decided to open presents from my parents before we left for Portland. Micah had a fun time opening presents (or watching us open his presents).

 Pretty excited about his presents!

 Going to get a Christmas tree -- a Robertson family tradition!

 Michael did a great job cutting down the selected pine. He had just finished his finals that morning (he worked on them for the first five days that we were at his parents' house) and luckily was not too worn out to cut it down.

 It was so fun to decorate the tree! I don't think there is an empty branch.

 Christmas morning

I think this picture is so cute! He loves holding and hugging his giraffe, whom he's named Geo.

Happy New Year! See you in 2013!

Happy Halloween and other fall festivities . . . such as a hurricane!

Hurricane Sandy

Monday morning found Michael donning his black fleece coat -- and then another, warmer coat over the first coat -- running to the car through the pelting, wind-driven rain, and driving the .8 miles to the grocery store to stock up on water and other necessities (chips, crackers, candy bars). The news reports suggested this was to be the worst storm on record -- a serendipitous (for the storm) synchrony streaking across the skies towards the eastern seaboard, where it would indiscriminately unleash its awesome fury. It was to make the Perfect Storm look like a March day in Portland (which is to say, rainy, but somewhat shy of apocalyptic). We kept the blinds closed throughout the day, to prevent the inevitable shards of shattered glass from flying unobstructed across our apartment. The winds picked up in the afternoon -- a portent of the storm to come. At 1:00, the top of a tree in front of our house, right in front of our house, was torn off by an especially violent gust, and fell thudding against the asphalt below, demanding the attention of Boston's already overextended emergency responders. Our flashlight batteries were charged, our 72-hour kits packed, our baby laughing and smiling inexplicably, incomprehensibly . . . maddeningly.  Around 6:00 p.m., the wind died down -- the calm before the storm. A quick scan of our Facebook news feeds revealed that people had lost power across the city -- fellow Cantabrigians, classmates and friends, were being driven into the shadows by this meteorological monster, this Frankenstorm. We would almost certainly be next. And then a new trend appeared -- the power was coming back on; people were emerging into the light. The storm, at least insofar as it affected Boston, was past. And we were unscathed, untouched, and grateful for our good fortune. Our thoughts and prayers are with those not as fortunate.

Halloween

Halloween itself was uneventful this year. Either we live in a sub-prime (and I don't refer to the quality of the mortgages) trick-or-treating neighborhood, or we missed the best hour for it when we were taking Halloween cookies to a friend who had a baby the week before. I just now (as I was looking for the picture to post) realized that we forgot to take a picture of the cookies -- they were molasses cookies with orange (Halloween-coloured) frosting.We made four or five plates to take people on Sunday but then with the storm coming in on Monday and some other things we didn't get around to taking them to people until Wednesday night, All Hallow's Eve. Somehow, inexplicably, by that time there was only one plate left. A ghost or goblin must have eaten them while we had our hands full with the storm. Either that, or Micah has been having the midnight munchies.

Even though Halloween itself was somewhat lackluster, we did make it to a couple of pre-Halloween parties, thanks to the Harvard Law School Couples' Association's Children's Club (that's TWO mouthfuls to say) and the Cambridge 2nd Ward. Michael and Sarah were the only adults dressed up at the Children's Club party, but that's okay, because nobody even noticed we were in costume. Sarah went as a Skittle and Michael and Micah as M&Ms. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of everyone together in their costumes, so we'll either have to reenact on a random Tuesday afternoon or wait until next year to capture the Robertson family's first (with children) Halloween.

To give you an idea of how big Micah has actually gotten, you should know that he's wearing a girdle in these pictures. Michael too.

Last thing

We've been trying to explore the Boston metro area a little bit more while we are here. Last week we went to the Arlington Reservoir for a walk. There are so many great ponds, rivers, and lakes in this area -- and they invariably have convenient and well-kept walking/running paths along their shores. We saw a couple of beautiful swans and what looked like an egret (or related bird), although we weren't able to get photos of them. We did, however, find some nice neighborhoods proudly flaunting New England's famous fall foliage.

A summer never to be forgotten

Time for a little catch up:

haha, we're so funny. . . not really . . . but really:

Some highlights from the last six months or so:

Introducing our new nephew Ivan Paul Kelley, born March 5, 2012!

It was so fun to go and visit Ivan and Kristin in the hospital when he was born. He is the cutest boy (this is just an expression; of course, as parents, we are obligated to assert Micah's right to that designation, even though Ivan is adorable) and we are excited that our little Micah will have a cousin (actually two: un-pictured is our beautiful niece, Jane Laura, born September 16th) right around the same age as him. We feel so lucky to have had the Kelleys here in Boston this last year. We are sad they had to leave, but grateful for the memories. 

 A couple New England discoveries and adventures (can you guess where they are? besides the Fenway one . . .)

One Saturday in the spring we ventured to Mount Auburn Cemetery, the resting place of Phillips Brooks, minister and author of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," as well as the resting place of many other famous and not-so-famous decedents. It is fairly close to where we live but we had never made it over. It quickly became one of our favorite places in the area. It is beautifully landscaped (it is actually the first landscaped cemetery in America) and full of history; this picture is of an impressive tower that provides a spectacular view of the city and its verdant surroundings.

Also in the spring my good friend Meridith came to visit. It was so fun to have her here! We are not the best tour guides around . . . but we did take her to see Fenway! Not pictured but also a fun site I saw with her was the Orchard house in Concord, where the Alcott Family lived for a time and where Little Women was written. 

In late summer we took an FHE outing to a rooftop garden in the middle of Kendall Square, Boston's bio-tech equivalent of Silicon Valley. It was fun to enjoy this little green oasis in the middle of Cambridge.

On August 4th (I remember the exact date because of what happened later that night . . . ) we decided to take a stroll in downtown Boston. I love walking cities and dream of living in the heart of a city for six months or so, like Mary Tyler Moore (except happily married, of course). We enjoyed the beauty of the Public Garden and gazing (Michael incredulously and me contentedly) through the windows of all the chic stores on fashionable Newbury Street. The second picture is of the reflection of the Trinity Church in the side of a skyscraper.

This fall we decided (or maybe I decided . . .) to take a few trips around New England on the weekends if possible. Our first trip was to Sharon, Vermont to visit the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial. It was a beautiful drive and an even better site. Don't worry, despite his conspicuous photographic absence, Micah came with us too!

The arrival of our beautiful baby boy, Micah Mark

 August 5, 2012

So, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, we haven't done a great job at updating our blog. One event that has yet to be officially documented on our blog is the birth of Micah Mark Robertson -- the defining event of our young married life! Here are some pictures from my pregnancy:

At about 6.5 months pregnant

At Bear Lake -- about 8 months pregnant

Micah arrived on Sunday, August 5, 2012 at 1:37 am. He was 7 lbs. 11 oz, 19 inches long and absolutely perfect. The delivery went well (and fast!) and the recovery was good. Micah is a great baby and we love him so much. Every day I feel amazed at how blessed we are to have him in our lives (despite the occasional diaper disaster). 

Micah's blessing day, with Grandma and Grandpa Skidmore and the entire Robertson clan - August 19, 2012

We were so lucky to have so much family there!! Thanks to both sets of our parents for making the long trip out to be with us! And thanks to both of our moms for making those first few weeks bearable. We didn't realize how much you had done for us until it was just us against him (I mean, us and him, of course).

Winter Games

Two weeks ago we held the first annual Robertson / Skidmore Family Olympics during Family Home Evening and it was intense -- when it comes to competitiveness, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, and Tiger Woods ain't got nothing on Anna, Sarah, and Michael! Anna flew into Boston just to defend her arm wrestling championship (and compete in the other events, of course). This year, however, Sarah routed the competition, beating both Anna and Michael in back-to-back matches.

 (Just for the record: Sarah is left-handed, and Michael is NOT)

 In between events (and whenever occasion permitted) Anna helped Sarah and Michael work on their 1000-piece Thomas Kincade puzzle; but she left before it was done! Oh well; Michael gave up on the puzzle a few weeks ago when he discovered that three of the edge pieces were missing from the box. 997-piece puzzles just aren't as much fun I guess.

 This is the crab walk. Need I say more?

 This is the first year push-ups have been on the program, which is probably the reason the crowd was so big for this event -- everybody was eagerly awaiting some sort of disaster, and they weren't disappointed. Michael had a lackluster performance, unable to recover after falling behind early. He wants his fans to know that he was suffering the last stages of pneumonia during the event (and he even thinks he may have had a touch of the gout); he promises he'll do better next year, even if that requires actually going to the gym sometime between now and then; don't think he won't do it, if that's the difference between losing and winning or tying. Sarah took the gold handily (and humbly).

 Michael won the indoor Frisbee toss (the outdoor was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions), beating a depleted field. He was the sole entry for this event.

On Anna's final day in Bean-town, she attended the Boston Temple with her sisters (and Michael; Taylor had to help out at the Cambridge Stake young men's basketball tournament that morning). We were so glad that Anna was able to come visit us. It's a great blessing to receive visits and phone calls and emails and letters from family.

For Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year! Our blog post title does not totally correspond with this post, but I have always loved that song since we played it in high school marching band, so the title will simply act as a little shout out to that great poem penned by Robert Burns.

Michael finished his finals (thank heavens!) on December 19th and we were airborne on the morning of the 21st -- bound for the winter wonderland that is the Twin Cities. Of course, this year, it was a balmy 55 degrees, without a drop of precipitation, but generally Minnesota is a frigid place, hospitable only to reindeer, polar bears, and a couple million brave Minnesotans. We had a great time in Minnesota with Sarah's family. It was wonderful to be at home during the holidays with loved ones.

We brought the camera!...but did not take many pictures. So here are a couple that we do have.

 

Sarah's cousins from Wisconsin (the Andersons) visited for a day and a half, which was quite the treat for us. A tradition we have is to gather around the piano and sing Christmas songs, each picking our favorite (except when Sarah's mom vetoes certain selections! I guess we've done it for so long she has had her fill of certain carols. It's become a bit of a joke now.). 

 Lucas (Kristin and Taylor's 19 month old) was the only grandchild at Christmas this year and we often made him the center of attention. He is pretty cute and can sing an impressive Gloria rendition. But he only likes to sing solo and impromptu, nothing on command. It is always fun to have kids at Christmas!

Ready for church on Christmas day!

 We were treated very, very well this Christmas with more presents than we could count. Michael's parents sent a huge package to Minnesota with yummy Christmas goodies and generous presents. The peanut butter balls and rice crispy teddy bears were a huge hit, as anticipated! We feel so blessed to have such loving families that are so thoughtful towards us.

We flew back to Boston after Christmas (also to find it quite warm) and have enjoyed spending the remaining break together. We haven't done too much as Sarah has been a bit under the weather, but we did make it out to Concord on New Year's Eve for a nice, reflective walk around Walden Pond and the surrounding sites.

Michael had a thoreau-ly good time with New England's favorite transcendentalist.

 Walden Pond

Didn't capture the rocks skipping very well, but just know, Michael is very good at this Robertson Family tradition. This video is dedicated to Pa Robertson :)

And WE went to the woods to see why HE went to the woods. Good thing we found this placard.

We wish each of you a wonderful 2012. We look back with grateful hearts at the blessings that overflowed for us during 2011 and the loving friends and family that made and make our lives so rich.