A little of this and that!

Howdy all! Not much has really lately since Kris and I mostly just go to work. We did find out we are having a little boy! We are so excited to have him. We are enjoying getting his room ready. We are decorating it in a Lion King theme. I also enjoy buying baby clothes and decorating his bathroom with rubber duckys. I started feeling Meko move around 19 weeks and he moves a lot now. He likes to move late at night around bed time. Kris and some of my family were able to feel him move a little bit last week, but last night kris got to feel him kick really hard. He was really excited about that. The other exciting thing was feeling Meko's hiccups last night. At least I think they were hiccups because they were different than just moving and kicking. Feeling him move keeps me awake but I enjoy feeling him. Kris says it's fine if he keeps me awake now as long as he sleeps well when he is born. Lol Other than that we don't have much to say. We have spent time with both of our families for a couple days at a time. We have gone to a Bees baseball game andthe Days of '47 Rodeo with kris' sister and family. We also went to Seven Peaks last weekend since we have season passes and plan to go again this weekend. I will use more sunscreen though since what I did put on didn't do much. We hope all continues to go well with the pregnancy and we will finish up our summer with fun weddings before kris goes back to school.

A Baby Is On the Way!

Well a lot has happened since I last posted, but most of it started around the end of March, when I started suspecting that I was late. I had been late before so I waited a week longer, with the anticipation building, before I decided I should take a pregnancy test. After seeing the first ones results I decided I would not need the other two test for a while. It was positive; Kris and I were a little bit stunned to be able to get pregnant so quickly and easily, but very, very excited! Soon after we found out we were prego, we decided we wanted to take a vacation before having kids, so we planned a trip to San Antonio. I, along with many other people, were wondering what there is to do in S.A., but Kris soon filled me in on what we would be doing. We spent time exploring the famous Alamo as well as four other mission (although these ones did not have fighting occur in them), we watched a movie about the Alamo, that I slept through, and spent lots of time exploring the river walk which is beautiful. We also went to the little San Antonio temple, where you should normally make reservations and bring your own clothes since they have a limited supply to borrow. We didnt know those things but were still able to enjoy our time in their beautiful temple. For some more "historical" enjoyment we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, The Guiness Book of World Records Museum, Ripley's Wax Museum and their other amusement attractions. All of those museum are right accros from the Alamo which I think is funny. I wonder what the people that fought at the Alamo think about having kind of ridiculous museums across from the place they fought so hard for. We did go to another museum that housed tons of antlers, along with exotic animals and info about Texas Rangers and their guns, jail house, and badges. While planning our vacation, I requested that we stay at a hotel nicer than a days in. Kris found us a great deal on the Historic St. Anthony Hotel. It was very elegant and old with a nice red carpet grand stair case. Sometimes I felt so crappy walking through the hotel all sweaty and nasty, but it can't really be helped the humidity down their. One night they had some kind of fundraising event with people dressed very fancy, and they had fancy food and fancy card games. Over the weekend they also had the aetherfest. People were dressed up in every sort of costume from Victorian, pirate, futuristic, Halloween, ect. Evidently it was a punkrock fest. who knows what they were all doing... San Antonio was very beautiful, and we enjoyed exploring all the history and kind of random places while down there. I would totally recommend this as a nice place to visit if you enjoy historical places like my history buff husband and I do. We did have to come back to the real world eventually though... Since then we have been working, packing and visiting the doctor. Kris is still working at Vivint in the Retention Dept but he is very stressed out being on the phone all the time. I am working at A to Z Building Blocks, with the two year olds, but will move to working with the babies in August. That way I can be with my baby while I work and I am very excited to be with them. Visiting the doctor has been lots of fun and exciting. On our first real visit at 13.5 weeks, we got to see the baby on the ultrasound to check length to make sure they were correct in how far along I am. It was very exciting, and made us feel like the baby was actually real seeing his or her heartbeat and hand wave and scratch his/her head. On Tuesday at 17 weeks we were able to listen to the babies heart beat which was good at 150. I have gained five pounds in four weeks, and have normal blood pressure. We also made an appt for July 9th to have the ultrasound to find out if our little baby is a boy or a girl. I want a boy but Kris doesn't care. We will be happy either way though. I have always wanted a boy first I think because I always wanted an older brother, not that the younger one wasn't nice to have. A girl would be fun though because then I can dress her up in cute clothes and headbands. lol For the record I am not feeling nauseous on a regular basis anymore, but my tailbone does hurt often and its hard for me to sleep on my side all of the time. I often find myself waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and I am on my back. I get very tired in the afternoons when I get off of work and can take a break, so we take naps a lot. Lastly, I developed a small bump near my left elbow a week ago that hurt like a bee sting for a couple days, then just hurt when I put pressure on it, and now seems to be getting smaller. Last of all, Kris and I moved to a bigger, nicer apartment in Provo! We found the apt. soon after we found out we were prego and it has all the things we need right now...three bedrooms so the baby doesn't have to have the deep freeze, spare bed, extra dresser and storage in his room. Air Conditioner-we about died last summer and didn't want to try it again. Pet friendly! Our apt managers found out about our cats after we had lived there for over a year. They went to live with my parents for a month and a half until we moved and we missed them a lot, but glad they enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa's house. hehe The apt is also generally bigger, except the kitchen, and has TWO bathrooms. The spare/babies bathroom is decorated with duckies! Well I think that is about all for now. I will try to update more so that my posts are not so long! and so everyone knows how the baby is doing.

Welcome Spring

Well I am pretty excited for Spring! So I made a wreath to show it. But first of all I just want to say how everyone elses lives seem more exciting than mine! Sometimes I feel like I just go to work and school to the gym once in a while and read everyone's exciting life experience. Kris and I do fun stuff to like we went to a REAL Salt Lake Game last Saturday but other than that we haven't done much recently. I just need to remember to find joy in the little moments and remember that once I graduate, get a job, move somewhere else, have kids it may get exciting for a time but may also get more tiring and not as fun. I love a song that talks about how in life you shouldn't wait for the next station on the train ride, just enjoy the ride.

Anyways I am excited for Spring so here is the wreath I made! I love how fluffy it is and I love the colors.

Pinterest Ideas - Making a Wreath

So recently I have been spending a lot of time on pinterest (my husband calls it an addiction but he spends just as much time ready sports plus the time he spends watching the games.) so I decided to actually make something and this is the wreath I cam up with. Its not perfect but it is cute and was fun to make!

Soup Contest Winners

Recently I received an LDS Living magazine with soup recipe contest winners printed in the pages. So far I have made two of the soups and have loved them both, so I figured I would share them with all of you.

1st Runner-up: Creamy Potato Soup

10 medium potatoes, cubed
14 slices bacon, sliced into 1/2" slices
1 small sweet onion, finely diced
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese (at room temp and sliced)
1 cup unsalted butter
4 cups 1% milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup flour
Salt & pepper
3 cups potato water (from boiling potatoes)

Place cubed potatoes in a large pot and cover them with water. Add salt for flavoring and bring to a boil. Cook until tender and remove the 3 cups of potato water to a separate bowl. Drain remaining water off potatoes.

While potatoes are boiling, cook bacon until golden brown. Reserve some of the drippings, add the onions and cook until transparent.

In large saucepan, melt butter, and with a whisk stir in 1 cup of flour slowly to incorporate. Slowly add 2 cups milk into the roux, making sure to stir constantly to avoid lumps. Slowly add sliced cream cheese to mixture, stirring until well blended. Add 1 cup milk, along with 1/2 cup sour cream, and incorporate into mixture. Slowly add up to 3 cups of reserved potato water. Sauce should be consistency of a medium-thick gravy. Salt and pepper sauce to desired taste.

Mix together bacon, potatoes, onions, and cream sauce to serve. If there are leftovers, add extra milk or water when re-heating to achieve a desired consistency.

Makes approx 14 servings


Rainy Day Ravioli Soup

4 cups chicken broth
1 Jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1/2 diced yellow or white onion
1 strip bacon, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 can corn
1 cup julienne carrots
1 bag frozen cheese ravioli
1 lb ground beef
2 tbs olive oil
salt & pepper
optional: 1 can Italian-style stewed tomatoes (I added them and it gave it a good flavor.)

In heavy stock pot, saute bacon, red pepper flakes, and onion in olive oil until bacon begins releasing its fat and onion begins to soften. Add ground meat and garlic and cook until meat is browned and almost cooked through. Add corn, carrots, chicken broth, and spaghetti sauce to the pan and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and add in the ravioli. cook according to time recommendations on package. Salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Winter Wonderland

Since school ended a wonderful time of year has been here...Christmas Time!
Yes I have worked a lot since other teachers took some days off and Kris has worked less since his department closed early a couple of days. I love my job working with the kids though and it gave me something to do instead of sit around the house. My house has not been cleaned perfectly as I planned though... hehe oh well.

We had a wonderful Christmas with my family...Saturday we spent preparing for Christmas day and being lazy. That night we watched a movie about our Saviors birth and life that really shows the story in a way that makes it really real. I believe it is called "The Nativiy". We also opened pajamas that my Mom made us. Kris and I got matching monkey ones and they are even long enough for him and short enough for me since they are specially made! After we opened the pj's we decided to take pictures...Kris' bright idea was to throw me over his shoulder. This may be alright but Kris is tall, the ceiling is low and my head smacked right into it. Not the best moment of my married life.

Christmas Eve night I could not sleep of course... Ever since I was little I have had a hard time sleeping until I get to see my presents from Santa. I know I sound like a little kid but thats how I am. This year my presents from "Santa" were wrapped in my stocking so I watched Christmas Movies with Catherine.

Christmas Day we got up and went to Church. I hardley know any of the 4th ward anymore. Its good that The Phillips still sit on the 2nd row and my family sits right behind them...Solae' passed me some jelly beans during Sacrament Meeting... Hehe Its good to have friends at church. The spirit was really wonderful too and I so enjoyed the primary and young womens' singing Christmas songs.

We went home and opened presents and Kris even surprised me with some gifts like slippers, hiking sandals, and nerf guns! He also got me some jewelery, a gps and boots. I only surprised him with shower gel! Oh well, he wanted the rest of the stuff I got him. I wanted to get him a nice argyle sweater but he doesnt like the argyle pattern so that was a no go... Anyone else want to buy stuff for their spouse that they dont like? I think we should form a support group.

After presents we ate a wonderful breakfast of Monkey Bread and chili Egg Puff (ask my mom for the recipe if it sounds good because it is delicous!) We have had it for many years for Christmas breakfast and I even made the Monkey Bread last year when we were at Kris' moms house!

Then we took a nap...a much needed nap which was very nice. I think after we took a nap we started dinner, my brother came over and then played Catch Phrase!

It was a lovely Christmas and we so enjoyed time with family...we love our family so much we even took family pictures the next day! hehe

For New Years we spent the weekend in Taylorsville at Kris' sisters house with her family and their mom. We played games, watched movies, ate icecream, pizza and hot chocolate. Just some of my favorite things!

Now its back to school for me and Kris and back to the real world. Little kids that ignore me but can be so cute and forgetting to take their blankets or gloves out of my coat pocket. Kris is still enjoying his job although some people are like little kids.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, a happy New Year!