New Baby Boy!!!

Amberly and Rafael FINALLY had their baby! Nicolas (Nico) Matthew Hazembuller was born last week and he is ADORABLE!

Nico is clearly a genius. We went to see him the day after he was born and he was awake, alert and his eyes followed our voices.

He has a ton of hair and is basically perfect. We had a great time welcoming Nico and can't wait to go visit soon! Nice job guys!

Home, Again...

Well, I was in PA for the 2nd weekend in a row. And I'm officially SICK of driving. I'll definitely be laying low this weekend and I'm looking foward to it!

However, this weekend was SO fun. As a friend put it, "a Dave Matthews Band concert and a Steelers game? That's pretty much your idea of a perfect weekend!" It was pretty perfect. And the weather made it even better. It had rained in Pittsburgh for about a week (serious thunderstorms, flooding, etc.) and I drove home Thurs. night through some awful weather. Here I am driving from the sun of Maryland into the dark clouds of Pennsylvania. It was around 6:30 p.m. at this point and once I got into the rain, it was dark the remainder of the trip. Oh fun.

We were really nervous when it was pouring Friday morning, but by 2:00 (an hour before we met to drive out to Post Gazette Pavillion), the sun came out and stayed out! The rain had cooled things off and we had PERFECT tailgating weather! We met up with some of Eileen's friends (who were tailgating experts) and also with Kristin & Michael and we had a great afternoon. Then we headed into the venue for an amazing (as usual) night with Dave and the guys. It wasn't the best setlist I've heard, but the band was INTO it! The new songs sound great and hey brough back "Sweet Up & Down" after a 7 year break! Stefan danced around with his base a lot (I LOVE it when Stefan dances for me) and had a SWEET solo at the beginning of the Watchtower encore! Dave's voice sounds amazing and Eileen and I can't wait to see them again in Raleigh in September! My only setback of the night was the fact that I could BARELY see. It sucks being 5'1" when you're at a concert. I'm glad they had the big screens or I would have had to settle for the backs of heads all night. I think all concert-goers who are tall should have to sit behind me. Or at least not ALL in my section, in my seat, in the 10 rows in front of me. Or maybe I should just get front row seats all the time...it's only fair...I've spent all my life NOT-seeing things because I'm so short! Here's a bad camera phone photo of my boy Stefan Lessard rockin' it out on stage. He's an amazing base player. I. LOVE. HIM.

The Steeler game was great too...even though it's only pre-season, the stadium was packed and the Terrible Towels were out in full force! We don't get to see Brett Favre play in Pittsburgh very often, so that was very cool. He's SO hot and even though he only played for a few minutes, it was worth it! The Steelers lost, but it's okay. The first team looks great and some of the rookies are going to have great careers. I hope they play Ben a bit more this weekend. They're playing the Redskins down here, so I'm going to try to get some tickets!

It was fun to be home, though I need to stop doing it two weekends in a row. It was hard to leave yesterday and I got a bit teary on the drive home. It's so easy to be at home, so comfortable. Not like my life here is that hard, it's just that sometimes I miss the familiarity of being in Pittsburgh, where I know everyone, I know where things are, and I feel needed.

Scott & Dani's Wedding

My brother Scott was married last weekend to a WONDERFUL girl named Dani. They're very much in love and SO good for each other. They balance each other perfectly. It was a hot August day, but there was no rain and we all had a blast! They were married at a small bed and breakfast north of Pitsburgh. It was a small, intimate gathering and I'm very excited to be gaining another sister! See photos below...and no laughing at my parasol!

Check out my Slide Show!

NYC

My roommate Susan and I took a little trip to New York last week and had a BLAST! We both attended our first game in Yankee Stadium...it was SO cool to be there.

You can't really tell because it's so far away, but this is a photo of Roger Clemens pitching! He made it through 6 innings before being taken out of the game and only allowed one run. I felt very lucky to be there on the night he pitched! I'd forgotten what it was like to be at a baseball game in a city where there's a winning team.

Susan and I discovered that all of the hot native New York boys are Yankee fans and many of them were at the game, sitting in our section! They're not only ALL hot, but they're very nice. This photo is of Dave and Vince. They grew up in the Bronx area and Dave now lives in Manhattan. Vince was visiting from Philly. Both had thick New York accents and even offered to buy us a beer! ;)

The next day we spent just walking around, doing a little shopping (I added another Kate Spade purse to the family) and enjoying the city. It was so nice to not have anywhere to go or anything to see, we just enjoyed being in the city and wandering through the Village and SoHo. It rained a bit and was super humid, which was kind of annoying, but it's just nice to be in New York. We ended up in a great little Italian restaurant for dinner and then went up to the theater district to see Curtains.

Curtains was a very funny show, with amazing dancing. We were lucky enough to be in the 3rd row and could see everything...the actors' facial expressions, the spit & the sweat. It was great. David Hyde Pierce is an incredible comedic actor (anyone who's seen the Frasier episode with Niles getting ready for a Valentine's date will agree) and his timing is perfect. It was also great to see Debra Monk & Karen Ziemba!

After the show, as usual, we went to the stage door. Just about everyone in the cast signed playbills and posed for photos. We chatted with a few of them (not a lot of people were at the stage door, which was nice) and one of the actors was a graduate of Point Park (in Pittsburgh) and she was fun to talk to. David took the time to sign playbills and pose for photos with everyone there. He wasn't in a hurry and was very cool! What a great night!!!!!

Cain't Say No...

I had 3 goals for last weekend (well, I had more, but 3 that I HAD to get done)...
1. Go to Target to return some stuff
2. Do laundry
3. Call the guy who cuts our grass

I had one goal for this week (again, I had more, but this was for my sanity)...
1. Eat lunch AWAY from my desk ONE day this week.

Can you guess how many of these things were accomplished? Yep, that's right...ZERO. Will the world end because none of this was finished? Certainly not. But's it's still aggravating!

Target is 6 miles away. I had dinner about 1/2 mile from it on Sat. night. Did I make it to Target on Saturday? Yes. Did I remember to put the returns in my car? No. My laundry remains in the laundry room, ready to become clean. I hope to get to it tonight, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm sure someone in my house will have a trip they're packing for or something and my clothes will remain in waiting. I couldn't find Matt's cell # (landscaper-guy) and finally asked my roommate where it was..."on the fridge" was her response. Of course. Followed by, "I noticed the grass looked awful and wondered why someone hadn't called Matt yet". Wondered, but didn't pick up the phone and call him herself? P.S. the grass still looks like a jungle 4 days later. As for lunch away from my desk...I realize I have two days left to accomplish that goal, but it's not looking good. Meetings, conference calls, deadlines, etc. Why can't we ALL take the summer off like my three teacher roommates?!? And why am I the one worrying about the lawn?

To my credit, I did get stuff done last weekend, just not enough. Isn't that always how it goes? You can never get enough done. I've learned that the reason I can't get enough done is because, just like Ado Annie, I cain't say "no" (except she's gettin' much more action than I am). I don't know how to say "no" to things I want to do and things I'd rather not do. I couldn't say "no" to my friend's birthday dinner last weekend, to seeing a weekend movie with Jen (Transformers...it was AWESOME. At one point the guy in front of me turned to his wife/girlfriend and said with reverenced awe, "Look honey, that's Optimus Prime". I highly recommend it.), to making posters & flyers for Enrichment night (and we all know how crafty I am...this takes me longer than most), to creating the power point presentations for our team training session, to my visiting teachers coming over, to cooking dinner for the missionaries, to the midnight showing last night of Harry Potter 5 (even though I had to work today), etc. Now my laundry still isn't done, the grass still isn't cut, I still have to go to Target and I'm running on 4 hours sleep. Real smart, Sara.

So, my new goal (to replace other goals I'll seemingly never finish) is to learn how to say "no". But I hate to be more selfish with my time, especially since our Bishop keeps telling us that giving our time in service is what we need to work on, so maybe instead of saying "no", I'll try to put my priorities in better order. Yeah right, I've been saying that since I was in college. Though I guess by now I should know when I'm spread too thin. This week I'm definitely spread too thin. And even though a lot of the stuff I've been doing is fun, I still can't do it all. Lesson learned (I hope).

And I think I'm done with midnight movies on a work night...

Gabe & Lauren's Wedding Reception

Saturday was Gabe & Lauren's wedding reception at the LeMont in Pittsburgh. It was a beautiful day and the view of the city was amazing! Aren't they a gorgeous couple?!? Congrats to them as they start their life together!

Here they are being announced for the first time as the new Mr. & Mrs. Mosey!
And here are the three HOT single girls...it was fun to catch up with Aimee (who I haven't seen in ages) and Kerri. Great bridesmaid dress choice Lauren...they'll actually wear them again!