Lately...

It's been a while since we've updated our blog so here we go. Life has been pretty crazy busy lately with school for both Scott and I, work for Scott and a baby on the way! The baby is due next Monday and I've had such a roller coaster of emotion over the last few months. The last month the baby has grown by leaps and bounds (at least so it seems by the lack of space) and gotten very heavy. The days that she feels light and doesn't have her feet stuck up in my ribs on the right hand side are the days that I'm the most excited and happy about being pregnant. The other days when my bones and muscles feel like they are going to split apart and my back is on fire are the days when I just want to scream and wonder why I got into this whole having a baby thing. BUT, most days have been pretty good. The other day I saw a commercial for pampers with the cutest sleeping babies and I started crying because I was SO EXCITED to meet the little girl in my tummy! Sometimes we have "conversations" about what she's thinking about, what she'll look like, what kind of personality she has, I tell her about her daddy and how funny he is. Sometimes I feel the bumps in my tummy and try to figure out what's what. I was amazed at my appointment last week when the midwife could tell right off the bat where the babies little tush was and her head and her feet. One thing I have noticed and really love is the little one's tendency to kick and move around a lot when Scott calls on the phone or sits next to me and talks to me. I don't know that it's the sound of his voice or if the baby can just tell how excited I am and so she gets excited. Either way, it makes me smile every time it happens. I have the feeling that the two of them are going to be very close when they meet for real. Scott is going to be the best dad ever! Sometimes I listen to Scott's stories about the way that his dad parented, and the things that he thinks are important and I see those same things in Scott and it makes me smile. Sometimes I feel inadequate about knowing what to do with a little baby but with her coming soon, I can hardly wait to meet her and snuggle with her and watch her daddy hold her.

eye-opener

I have had quite the awakening lately. Being pregnant has definately not been a walk in the park for Scott and I, which was a surprise. There have been many ups and downs, lots of "losing my cookies", some scares and checking in to the hospital and some REALLY cranky emotional days. Some days it's been a real challenge to be optimistic. Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to be having a baby but there are some days that I wish it wasn't so hard. Then I run into people who didn't have a single pregnancy symptom and loved the whole experience and I feel a little resentful. But, in the last month or so, which has been the easiest part of the pregnancy for me, I have discovered something that has helped change my perspective. I had no idea until recently that a handful of my friends are unable to bear children. What an eye -opener. They have talked on their blogs about how they would give anything to be having the experience that I am, including the misery, pain, soreness, crankyness, etc.. Wow! How narrow-minded have I been.. I am so blessed to be having the experience that I am. I have to remember that on days like today when it's a rollarcoaster. Scott and I have been given the opportunity to bear a child and help her become the person she is meant to be and I can't forget that. I have a wonderful loving husband who takes care of me and worries over the little things that could posssibly go wrong with the baby and is there to hold me when I cry about badly worded sales ads, sleepless nights and sappy tv shows. I wish so much for my friends to be in different situations but I am so grateful that they were able to remind me of the wonderful opportunity I am having and help me to have more perspective. So, factoring in everything in our pregnancy that has been a disillusionment and been miserable, I would still choose to be having a baby and am grateful to those who have helped open my eyes and wish I could help them as well!

My birthday was this past sunday and it was a great day. I've been wearing the great maternity clothes that my inlaws gave me earlier in the month which has been such a nice change! I've been enjoying my sunday birthday gifts of perfume and a great cake decorating kit from my wonderful husband! I'm also excited to get to use my new glue gun as I get ready to decorate the house for the upcoming holiday season!(I'm making what should turn out to be a fabulous wreath)
Today I gave in to the temptation that I've been fighting all week and used my cake kit for the first time. It was SO FUN!!! Still not perfect but for the first time with these particular techniques and tips I don't think it's too bad :)

Weekend Off!

Life has been pretty crazy lately and so Scott and I were both excited for a weekend off from life! Scott had a mandatory retreat for work over the weekend. Friday morning we drove the scenic route(aka long route) up to the Tifie Ranch because I was tired of driving on the freeway all the time and Scott humored me. The Tifie Ranch is part of a nonprofit group associated with Goal Zero (the company Scott works at). The ranch was amazing! It is all completely powered by solar, wind and hydroelectric. They have paintball, archery, shooting range, super close to the reservoir for boating, etc... You can stay in a room in the lodge(which we were lucky enough to score because of the little girl who's on her way to our family), in a small cabin, in a tepee or your own tent. Even the bathrooms out by the tepees were nicer than most that I've seen in people's homes. Definately not your normal camping experience.

For it being a required company retreat, it was super relaxed and fun. Taking a tour of the ranch and learning about it's self sufficiancy was the only part that seemed remotely required. Everyone played minute to win it games with some great Goal Zero prizes in the morning the rest of the day was full of haning out, going to the archery range, eating(of course!), roasting marshmallows for smores(gourmet s'mores with dove chocolate no less).

 

Throwing and catching LOTS of pencils! Scott did great!

Scott racing to drop different colored m&m's into different cups!

Scott trying  to jostle ping pong balls out of an empty tissue box!

                                                         The marshmallow roasting master!

 Trying to move a cookie from my forehead to my mouth without using my hands....unsucessfully!

                                       

The elusive fish....

Experiments, experiments, experiments...
I am so lucky to have a husband who is so supportive of my dreams and aspirations and who encourages me!

Banana Strawberry Freezer Jam

So, this is the jam I made the other day that y'all requested the results and recipe for. This recipe comes from the Ball Blue Book for canning and preserving.

Recipe:
3 large bananas
3 cups crushed strawberries(about 1 1/2 quarts)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 pouch freezer jam pectin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place bananas on baking sheet; do not peel. Bake for 15 minutes at 400. Cool. Peel and crush bananas. Measure 1 cup crushed bananas. Combine bananas and strawberries in a medium bowl; set aside. Stir sugar and pectin together in a large bowl until well blended. Add fruit mixture to sugar mixture and stir 3 minutes. Ladle jam into plastic freezer jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Let jam stand 30 minutes to thicken. Lable and freeze.

Results: So, the jam TASTES great! The only thing that bothers me is that it froze solid. Most freezer jams maintain a semi liquid state so you can spoon out jam. With this jam I had to cut out a chunk from the freezer to defrost and try. If anyone has any suggestions they would be appreciated since I've never done freezer jam before! (The regular strawberry freezer jam recipe turned out fantastic!)

Gingerbread!

I made this gingerbread cabin a few years ago and just found the pictures again and I was super excited so ya'all get to see them! I have been making gingerbread houses for many years, it's something that my mom and I enjoyed doing together when I was growing up. With this particular house, realistic looking was my goal. Everything on the tray is edible, from the chimney down the sugar water stream with floating "ice" chunks. Imagine that the door is broken and standing open because a bear scared away the people while they were roasting marchmallows outside because he wanted to hibernate inside....yup..that's what MUST have happened!
Now, the only question is...what kind of gingerbread creation should I do this year?