The Smedstad Family: NYC

Gosh! It's been a while since we have posted.. but I wanted to include pics of all the good stuff we have had going on!!!

First of all, baby-in-utero is growing!!! All I can say is WOW!- Cantaloupe this week- impressive!

We had the "BIG" ultrasound last week.. baby looks good and healthy and is measuring ahead of his/her due date. As most of you know.. my dear husband thinks we should wait until the baby is born to find out if it's a boy or girl- those of you who know me well, know that I am super impatient.. so this is KILLING me....Chris says "there are only so few surprises left in life".. barf. But I guess I will let him have his way. According to the Chinese predictor calender, we will have a girl.. according to the Russian cab driver we had in NYC, also- girl.. So we will see.

Here are a few pics from the ultrasound.. $100 goes to the first one who can tell me if it's a boy or a girl!!!

Ashlyn is doing so well- and pretty darn cute, wouldn't you say??

and.. no..nothing matches and she is wearing a headband.. I figured I would show this at her wedding...

We are about to come up on the BIG FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!! I absolutely cannot wait!!! It's not anything big, just family, but I cannot believe my sweet baby girl is going to be ONE!!! Time flies by so fast, **sigh**...

This is her first birthday tutu.. pretty sure it doesn't go there.. buuut.. I could be wrong...

Ok.. so over the weekend, Chris and I had our big "babymoon" trip to NYC!!! All I can say is WOW!! We had fun and got to do LOTS of fun and interesting things. We started on Friday night by checking out the musical 'Chicago'- it was a pretty good show and well worth the money!!! I love Broadway!! I think I might have liked to be an actor on Broadway- if only my voice didn't make people run so very fast in the opposite direction....oh well.

We did the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on Saturday after noon- which was really pretty interesting.. we had skipped it all last time we were in NYC due to the incredibly CRAZY long lines and tourists.. but this time of year, it was perfect.

On the ferry to the Statue of Liberty...very.. very Windy.

There she is folks...

Ellis Island (well, not the ISLAND.. but in the building ON the island..)

Saturday evening was.... AWESOME!!!!!!! So one of my number one things to do in life (sad, I know!!!) was to get to see Saturday Night LIVE, well, LIVE!!! Not ONLY did we get to see SNL.. but we got to sit on the FLOOR of the studio (well, not THE floor, but the MAIN floor) . This is where all the magic happens.. all of the actors were racing by us, the cameras were overhead, all of the sets moving everywhere.. it was a TRIP!!! There are only 38 seats TOTAL on the studio floor, the rest of the audience sits up above the stage, looking down on the production. The guest host was Dwayne Johnson ("The Rock") and the musical guest was Ray LaMontagne (who was AWESOME by the way).. not only THAT, but Justin Timberlake AND Jessica Biel BOTH made surprise cameos. Every actor was close enough to touch (don't worry.. I am not that kind of stalker.. but it was so surreal!)- all of the skits were pretty much RIGHT in front of us!!!

I have NO idea how we got so lucky.. When they were checking us in, they told us to go into one of two lines.. our line was the shortest (obviously), and we were the third couple in line- all I can think of is that they thought we weren't too ugly- I dunno, maybe they wanted a good sampling of the American population, and they thought a preggo and her hot husband couldn't hurt?? All I know is I didn't see any fatties or dudes in cut off tees. (ha!)

Unfortunately, they did not allow any photography in the studio.. and we were afraid we were going to be sent back with the masses, so we didn't even try it. But it was such a NEAT experience!!!! Thank you LORD!

After thinking that NOTHING could top Saturday night....

That's right folks, it's the NAKED COWBOY...right there in Time Square.. in all of his glory (ah-hem- undies). Now this is no way TOPS SNL, but it's definitely the cherry on top.. Never in a MILLION years did I EVER even THINK I would run into the Naked Cowboy, much less jump in and take a picture with him.. I am sure he loved it... because everyone loves a preggo hugging a guy in his tighty-whities. Needless to say, my lovely husband was NOT amused.

And by the WAY- I did NOT put my hand there- HE did...(seriously).

After our awesome weekend.. it was time to go home, but not before a visit to Radio City Music Hall and a quick pic with a Rockett.. it was a neat tour, but unfortunately, they put the kabosh on me EVER becoming a Rockett (I'm sure it's just the height.. could also be the bump.. I will never know.. **le sigh**)- but Chris seemed to fit right in!!

Chris's audition

So we flew home Monday night, tired and worn out from an awesome weekend. The flight was delayed a bit, so I grabbed a book, 'Twilight' to read, and read it cover to cover- it was GOOD!!! I love reading and haven't gotten much of a chance since baby girl was born, so it was nice to be immersed in a novel again.. it was so good, I ordered the other three books in the series, and hope to make it a little something special I do from time to time!

I was so happy to see baby girl when Chris brought her home from Brian and Heidi's- I just almost BURST! I have never been away from Ashlyn for more than about 24 hours- so this was a toughy!! But I know she was in good hands, and had lots and lots of fun with Nana first and then with Brian, Heidi and cousins Grady and Ella!! I couldn't ask for anything more! Thanks so much to all of you!!!! We love you ALL!!

Kisses from us both!!!