Nikon D40

I was just noticing my last post was from a snowy get-away and today it is aproaching high 90's and the AC isnt working right now here in downingtown.

For my birthday my fam bought me a new digital SLR camera, a Nikon D40, after my old Minolta 35mm camera was having way too many issues.

So now I am excited to get back into some quality photography. I am digging the camera so far. Looking forward to capturing all the fun at the summer events.

Here are a few shots recently!

Afternoon at the Strattons.

Ellie and Namo after Gardening

RiRi directing the crazy kids race at the Monk Run in Springfield last night.

Stick battle.

Stowe VT

In early February Katie and I took our first long get-away from our little one on an anniversary trip up to Stowe Vermont to do some skiing, enjoying nature, enjoying one another and checking out the town. It was an absolutely beautiful place and I would definitely recommend the trip!

We made the drive up in our little Civic despite the snowy conditions. Considering how much it snowed while we were there the car did pretty good!

The first two nights we stayed in a gorgeous bed and breakfast, fit out with a jacuzzi tub and a double sided fireplace. This was definitely on the very top list of nicest places I have ever stayed.

We were hoping for a snowy get-away and Vermont pulled through. The first night I think it snowed 8" and then the night after that it snowed 11" and kept on going all day. We had well over 24" of fallen snow in the few days we were there!

We did some great Tobogganing together down the hill behind the B&B, took plenty of advantage of the kitchen stocked with snacks for us and their movie arsenal.


We took a little snowshoeing adventure. As you can see the snow was kind of packed down already, so we didnt really need them, but it was fun anyway! We did feel embarrassed at one point when a girl came jogging by us with sneakers on ;) , but we were encouraged when we saw a number of other people out there with their snowshoes!












Skiing was fantastic. I have never skied in powder like that. If you fall its like you are getting carried away by a big fluffy cloud .. a cold big fluffy cloud that shoves snow down your pants. Anyway we had a blast. We ate lunch at the lodge on top of the mountain, skied some great trails and took in the beautiful scenery.

We were definitely ready to come home to our beautiful baby girl, and felt like she had doubled in size and advanced a few years already.

Here is Katie on the mountain. Yes she has ski's on, but you cant see them under the great powder!

Big fluffy piles of snow to jump on!

Here is a picture of one of our favorite trails that winded through the snowy trees.

A beautiful little river running through town.

A buried bench in the park that we went snowshoeing in.

On top of the Mountain!

Its been way too long huh?

Well .. I was checking over a few friends blogs tonight and decided it was way overdue for an LaBriola update. Katie is hanging out with Toni Davis tonight and I just put the little one to bed and felt inspired.

Way to much has happened in the last 5 or 6 months since we last posted!

1. I changed job locations from Wilmington, DE to Exton, PA (same company). A good and welcomed move for me.
2. In light of that we put our house up on the market and moved in with my parents in Downingtown, PA until we sell our house and find a new one despite the scary housing market.
3. We also started going to Grace Community Church meeting in Newtown Square.

So that is about enough life stuff change for me for the next 5 years or so .. except selling our house and buying a new one of course.

We are enjoying life living with my parents. They are about the easiest most flexible people ever to live with. I haven't felt once that I was invading space or cramping their style. Since day one they have been overly flexible and excited to have us. That may or may not have anything to do with the fact that they get to see Ellie all the time. ;) Anyway they are a huge blessing from God in this time when we aren't sure of what is going to happen with the house.

Here are some updated pics of Ellie!

This one is back at Christmas in her little stocking dress with Aunt Laury (my sister). She wasnt much of a present opener this year, but loved tissue paper!

She loves to go, "bye-byes". We call her our little adventurer. Always is excited to go out the door, but of course needs to bring all her stuff with her if she goes. ;) She is such a girly girl the way she carries her little purse too. That of course does not stop her from playing in the dirt.







She is starting to talk up a storm. Its really amazing how quickly God allows thier little minds to learn. Right now she is learning almost a new word every day it seems!

What are you doing to me Dad!

Beautiful Baby!

Fun with Pop-Pop.

Fun in the Park on Easter Day!

Look Mom I learned how to take off my pajamas for you!

Sorry for the fast forward update, but wanted to get some pics up here for you. Would love to hear from you!

- Steve (Katie & Ellie)

Ellie B-Day!

Well we celebrated Ellie's 1st B-Day this past weekend and today. I cant believe the year went by so quickly! Here are a couple pictures & videos to recap! The first two pictures are from this weekend with the LaBriola's. Then the next three and videos are from tonight with the Kellers!


Ellie took a big handful of sugary icing and started crying! Not sure if she will be a sweets kind of girl.


Once she found that there was cake under that icing she had no problems about digging in!

She got a little radio-flyer walker that she loves pushing around and getting in!

She again started to cry when we gave her this big cake to dig into.


But once we just gave her a piece, she was loving it! Check out the videos!

Ellie - The super cute crawler

Here is Ellie doing a little crawl segment.

Coming soon: Ellie's first steps! - Steve

Not Ashamed to Call Us Brothers

Steve and I have recently been meditating on what it means to be "in Christ". One "ID" passage that I came across today is in Hebrews where the author states "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers"(2:11). Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers! This amazes me the more I try to wrap my mind around it. To make things harder on myself ;), I went to Col. 1:15-20 to more fully contemplate Who I am calling "Brother"....

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

Just soaking in one of these descriptions of Jesus leaves me in awe. And to think, that we can relate to Him as a brother. What He did for us in His death and resurrection carries that much power.
-So there you have it... A snip it into what's been swirling around in our brains lately.

Blue

We forgot to share with you all about our recent trip to New York! It was quite an experience. We are such foreigners to city life. Our jaws were dropping open at least 3/4th of the time (well, mine was. Steve's alittle more "city savvy"). Some of the jaw dropping events included: staff at the information desk at the train station who were more confused than we were on which trains went to New York; a young fellow, presumably high on something who kept dropping things and asking me if his stop was coming up???, and a bazaar art festival parading down Broadway... I'll leave it at that. But despite all our wayward adventures we did arrive at our destination; The Blue Man Group. It was a great show and very funny. Steve was thinking of quitting engineering to join the show. What do you think? Could he pull off the blue man look? :)