Happy Birthday Meefus!

Wow, I can't believe you're so old! The big 30! It's hard to believe I have known you for close to half your life (and almost all of mine)! Have a great birthday, we love you! Enjoy your Aunt Beth Cake!!

Make Me Laugh Monday

This is what Trav and I wish we had done for our first dance!

The Belly!

I really don't want to do this, but here it is!




I have been putting off posting a picture of the belly because my sister's picture of her belly made me paranoid. When she posted a picture of her belly at 21 weeks I became convinced that I must be farther along than I thought because I swear I'm twice her size!! But, I had my ultrasound today and they confirmed my worst fears...It's just me! I'm just big! No, its not the baby that is big, I am just big! (The baby is measuring right on target for size, a little big on weight, but just right on length.) So I guess I'm gonna have to own up to it and just accept this big belly for what it is and let the whole world see it and I got the feeling my family might kill me if I didn't finally post some pictures tonight. So this is me at 19 weeks pregnant! The funniest part is when people ask me when I'm due and then look shocked when I say it isn't until July! I know they are laughing inside trying to picture what I'm going to look like by then! And this is only what it looks like in the morning, you should see it after I eat or when I really stick it out! I stuck it out last night after dinner and Travis got so freaked out he told me to "Stop doing that! That is so creepy!"

Just a little side note for Jenny: I have already gained as much weight as you gained your entire pregnancy!!! And I'm not even half way there! Disgusting!

Such a good day!

I absolutely love holidays and pretty much live for tradition, but lately with so many distractions I was starting to become a little bit of a grinch (a Valentine's grinch)! It seemed like nothing was working out right. I wanted to have a Valentine's Day party but we didn't get in our house in time. I've been feeling either sick or exhausted most days thanks to this baby. Travis was going to be out of town until that afternoon. I hadn't sent packages or even cards to family and friends. I hadn't finished the cookies I was making for Trav and other friends and neighbors. The weather here is awful. And worst of all I have to be away from my family which makes me sad on every holiday!

As you can see I was pretty pessimistic and considering I married a man that wasn't born with a holiday gene in his entire body, I was pretty sure this Valentine's Day was doomed! But I was wrong...

My Valentine's Day started at about 2 o'clock in the morning. I was in bed alone asleep at Trav's parent's house, not expecting Travis home from out of town until later that afternoon when I heard a knock at the door. After recovering from my initial terror when he snuck in to surprise me, it was so nice to not spend another night in bed alone and to wake up on Valentine's Day with my husband.

When we woke up the next morning and were laying in bed talking, I of course started into more complaining. I was whining to Travis that I missed when I was growing up and how my dad always had a rose and chocolates waiting at the breakfast table for each of us when we woke up. I of course went on and on with my "my dad is the best, and you'll probably never live up to him" speech while Trav sat back and took it as usual! A few minutes later I wandered downstairs to get breakfast, and this is what I found...



I felt super guilty, and so so happy! I couldn't believe he remembered what I liked and pulled it off even after having come home in the middle of the night! This got me in such a better mood and set my day off to a much better start! The rest of the day seemed to follow suit. Things finally just fell into place. We signed the final papers to close on our house, I had lunch with my husband, talked to my mom, Reese and Stephanie came over and helped me decorate the cookies (which was so much more fun than if I had done them myself!), I finally finished the cookie bouquets like my mom always made us, and it just turned out to be such a nice day. I couldn't believe it!





To finish up my wonderful day, Travis took me out to celebrate with best dinner I have had in a very long time! A favorite local restaurant of ours "The Collage" put on an amazing five course gourmet Valentine's dinner this year and my husband actually remembered to make reservations (if you know him, you know thats a big deal)! It was so incredible. I wish I could have taken pictures of the food but where we were sitting there was no way to do it on the down low! Every single course looked and tasted like a masterpiece. They even gave each woman a long stemmed rose as they sat you. Just to summarize some of the treats we had crab cakes, field greens with pears and feta, potato leek soup with creme fraiche, shallots with sorbet and champagne, filet mignon in a peppercorn sauce, rum chocolate tarte with vanilla bean custard, and panna cotta with a berry compote! We were in heaven to say the least! I looked at least 8 months pregnant by the time I finished all that food! It truly was such a perfect night, and likely one of the last fancy nights out we will have for a very long time (at least without worrying about babysitters and bottles)! It was such a treat to dress up a little (even if I did look like a hefty bag!) and spend a romantic night out with my husband.



So, in the end, I still didn't get to host a party and I still feel bad I didn't get treats out to family and friends (especially sorry to my TyGuy & Carter), but more importantly I was reminded that if I can just relax a little and let go of some of my stress I have so much more fun and make much better memories! I need more days like this one!

The moral of the story...(really just for Travis)...just think how happy and cheerful I would be if I woke up to fresh flowers and dark chocolate every day!

Happy Valentine's Day Travis!

It is hard for me to believe that this is the fifth Valentine's Day that Travis and I have celebrated together as a married couple!! Six if you count the year we were dating! Time really does go fast! With everything that has been going on in our lives and all the chaos of the house and everything else, I have really let myself take for granted how much fun those six years have been and how wonderful of a husband I really have. I just wanted to take this chance to let Travis know that I really do appreciate him in so many ways, even though I don't always show him that. His hard work and drive amaze me everyday, not to mention the love and generosity that he shows to me! I am so excited to experience what an amazing dad he is going to be! I love him more every single day!

Love you Trav! Happy Valentine's Day!

Tasty Tuesday

No time to blog today...lots of house stuff to do! But I thought I'd share a few foodie blogs and websites that I recently found. I don't know most of these people but their blogs intrigued me! Thought some of you might want to check them out.

http://wwwdelectabledish.blogspot.com/
http://5loaves-2fishes.blogspot.com/
http://gorgeoustown.typepad.com/lex_culinaria/ (this is a new favorite!)
http://verbatim.blogs.com/verbatim/2006/03/big_night.html
http://www.hellodelicious.com/
http://favfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/12/strawberry-pretzel-jello-salad.html
http://www.mireilleguiliano.com/recipesnew.html
http://2000ate.blogspot.com (totally random, but really intriguing!)

Make Me Laugh Part II: The Woody show

Okay, there is a reason I'm posting two videos today. This next one is by far my favorite internet video of all time, but I hesitated to post it because I know not everyone will appreciate it the way I do. I ended up deciding to post it anyway for anyone that likes rap and hip hop, but I'm posting another video for the rest of you. So this one is for Jimmy and anyone else who appreciates it! It really is amazing!

Make Me Laugh Monday: Mother of the Year Commercial

First of all, sorry there was no flashback friday. We were out of town.

I think this lady has a pretty good idea! (Mom, it reminds me of the "purple bloomers.")

Thanks Jill & Stephanie for sharing this one!

Tasty Tuesday: Local Co-op!

"Good food in season responds best to the simplest preperation...You really can't go wrong when you start with quality. The best cook in the world can't make good food from poor ingredients; and it takes some perverse genius to turn great ingredients into bad food!"
~Mireille Guiliano

Well today's little tasty tuesday thing is really only for people living in southeast Idaho, so sorry to the rest of you, but it is something I'm really excited about! Most of you probably know that living in Idaho is not my favorite thing and you've probably all heard me complain about it. One of the things that I complain about most is the food, or lack there of! I hate not having a variety of places to grocery shop and often have a very hard time finding unusual ingredients for dishes I want to make and when I do find them the quality is often not so great! Well, I'm excited to announce, in case you haven't heard, Idaho Falls is taking a big step...We're finally getting a Co-Op!!!

I'm pumped! It is suppose to open sometime in the next few months and will be a place to find locally grown produce, organic foods, and all kinds of food products that can't be found anywhere else around here! It is really important, however, that it gets the community support it deserves. Check out their website: http://www.eaglerockcoop.blogspot.com/

One of the best ways to show your support is to get a membership. Memberships are half price right now until they open and get you a discount every time you shop as well as input and voting priveleges to help decide what products are featured as well as other decisions. You can shop there even without a membership but you'll save money and help insure that more things like this thrive in Idaho Falls. There are also some other links to great local things on the website!

Make Me Laugh Monday: Evil Eye

A friend of ours, Chad, posted this video on facebook this weekend and I fell in love with it! It just cracked me up, especially because this little boy reminds me of Carter and how he totally knows that he is hilarious! I want this baby! (unfortunately, I'm pretty sure mine isn't going to look quite like that!)