The University Of Illinois Fighting Illini are going to the Rose Bowl......

and Monica and I will be there to cheer them on. The Illini finished 9-3 this year which was good for second in the Big Ten and eligible for a BCS bid. We fly out New Years Eve for the big game in California. I will post pictures when we return. GO ILLINI!!

Christmas 2007 With The Townsends

Monica and I enjoyed our first Christmas as Husband and Wife with Mason!

Monica is pictured with the first of many romantic Christmas gifts from me. It is a Chair Massager to compensate for my poor massaging technique. She will still need my nails to scratch her back so I am not totally obsolete just yet.













Mason shows off his Chief Illiniwek shirt. He plans to wear it on Jan. 1st when the Illini take on USC in the Rose Bowl.











Does Mason look excited about his new socks or what??!!?? Obviously they make this the best Christmas ever!










Here I am showing off my new desk calendar that Mason got me. The calendar features my favorite show "The Dog Whisperer" with Cesar Millan.













Monica shows off our little Girl's Christmas presents. Mason got his little sister the bib and her Daddy got her the crib toy. She can't wait until April when she will get to see them herself.









Mason shows off all his books that he can't wait to read. Books and socks for Christmas...what else could a 12 year old boy want??

Christmas with the Carrasco's......and the Smiths, Zorbaughs, Bernals, and Wyrobeks

The Roselle Townsends celebrated Christmas with Monica's side of the family on Sunday December 23.

The mass chaos of present opening begins! Mariah admires her new sweater. Olivia is trying to decide where to begin. Jessica and Tommy take a short break to catch their breath while Rachel is anxious to open her next gift.











Present opening concludes and is followed by the comparing of gifts to see which kid "won."













Rachel takes time out of gift opening to take a cute picture.

Pregnant sisters Monica and Nancy compare the size of their bellies. Nancy and Bryan are expecting a little boy about a week before Monica and I will be having our little girl.

On Monday December 10th Monica and I found out that we are going to have a baby Girl in April. We are both ecstatic and beginning to think about names. Mason wanted a little brother so he is a little disappointed but i'm sure he will warm up to his little sister once she arrives.

Below are our Baby Girl's legs. They are pretty long so her Mommy is hopeful that we have a future volleyball player on our hands.

Daddy's Little Girl gives her parents a smile from the womb. With that big brain she is no doubt going to be a future Illini.

John and Clarette brought their son Grant to Chicago from their home in Washington D.C. for a short visit.

Grant was dressed in Orange and Blue but unfortunately the colors were for John's Alma Mater Virginia instead of the University of Illinois. He is pretty cute just the same and there is still time to steer Grant in the right direction before he makes any college decisions.

Monica's Mother, Olivia celebrated her 66th Birthday on November 3rd. We celebrated by going out to a Mexican Restaurant and then back to Lorena's in Tinley Park for cake and fun.

Here is Olivia about to blow out her birthday candles. Grandson Josiah is getting ready to help out.

Olivia was able to blow out all the candles in one puff. Her wish was granted shortly after when the movie Beerfest began on HBO.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

Yes, thats right IT'S A BOY!!!!!






Monica and I are so proud to let you all know that we have another boy! I'm not talking about the Baby Monica is carrying but the young man pictured below. We are sponsoring his education in India through St. Walter's Church in Roselle.



His name is Gundala.







Gundala was born on July 27, 1999. We are told both his educational potential and health are good so we have high hopes. Mason has written him telling him about himself and included pictures of himself on his skateboard. Monica also plans to write him with our expectations of straight A's. He probably won't be able to make it to the next Diamond Family Reunion Picnic but maybe someday.

Denver Family Vacation - with surprise twist!

For my first Blog Entry I thought I would post the pictures from when Monica, Mason, and I took a family vacation to Denver, Colorado in August. Enjoy!

Daren, Monica, and Mason at the Denver Capitol Building one mile above sea level.

Here we are at the Cub's vs. Rockies Game. The Cubs pulled out the victory 10-2!
GO CUBBIES!

Colorado Mascot "Dinger" was not very happy with the Rockies loss so he took it out on Cub Fan Mason. I don't think he liked Mason calling him Baby Bop either.

Here we are at Pike's Peak. We had to take an 1.5 hour Cog Rail Ride just to get to the top.

After the long Cog Rail ride I started looking for a quicker way down the mountain.

Another cool pic of Pike's Peak.

Here is Mason at The Garden of The Gods. This is the toughest rock Monica would let him climb which he was not very happy about.

and.......

little did we know we had a little stow away on our trip!!!

I'm sure the Baby's view of Denver was not nearly as exciting as ours but maybe we will visit again in the future. Estimated due date is April 26th and needless to say Monica and I are very excited! Mason is looking forward to being a Big Brother but only if the Baby stays away from his Wii.

P.S. If you work for Kraft please keep on the downlow. We have not notifed Management yet as we wanted to make sure our Friends and Family were the first to know.

Well, that is it for my first entry! Hope you are all doing well!