Thursday, July 31, 2008
Update from Indiana
Just wanted to post a quick update. We are still alive! We got to Indiana on Saturday afternoon and we've been having lots of fun with family and getting a lot of relaxing in as well. Last night my family had a little baby shower for me. That was really nice and we got lots of stuff! I have taken a few pictures which I'll post once we get back and settled in. This is our last day as we'll be leaving tomorrow morning. We'll be stopping in Jeffersonville, Ohio to shop at the Prime Outlets and we'll stay overnight there and then get back home on Saturday. It's nice to be away but of course it's always nice to be back home as well. Definitely not looking forward to going back to work though! It will be a crazy week back to work next week for sure. Well, that's all for now.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Tragedies, Belly Pics, and Yummy Recipe!
Well, it's about time for an update. Nothing major happening here. There's been a lot of sad, tragic things going on, either with people I know or know of, or things I've seen in the blogging world. Little Tyson fighting cancer has finished up his first round of chemo. My dad's partner at work just lost a one month old son to SIDS. A wife and mother mudered in NC. A hopeful couple lost the son they were adopting in just a few weeks from Ethiopia. I don't understand why these things happen but I do know that they make me appreciate my husband and family a little bit more. I hug a little tighter and love a little deeper. It's really scary to think of all the bad things that could happen but I think I should try to live day to day, just appreciating what I have been given today. I hope God will bring good things out of all these terrible situations.
On a lighter note, I finally took "belly" pictures for the first time this past Sunday. I think I am finally starting to show just a little bit so I figured I better start with the pictures so I can see the progression. Mind you, I'm not posting those because it just looks disgusting to me! I have some trouble distinguishing "baby" from regular fat, so I'd rather not have the rest of the blogging world analyzing those photos! :) I will post pictures once it is obviously baby instead of regular fat!
Also, I wanted to share this amazing recipe. I have made it before so I hope I am not repeating myself. It's from the Kraft magazine, "Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Sandwiches". I never knew BBQ could be so easy to make and so amazingly delicious! Here's what the recipe calls for and then I'll add my 2 cents:
1 boneless pork shoulder (2 lb.)
3 onions, sliced, separated into rings
1/2 cup Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce
Place meat in slow cooker; top with onions and barbeque sauce. Cover with lid. Cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours (or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours). Remove meat from slower cooker; cut off and discard excess fat. Shred meat using 2 forks or chop meat into small pieces. Return meat to slow cooker; stir until evenly coated with sauce.
Now for my tips and opinions.... I actually use a pork picnic roast. I don't really know what the difference is, but with the picnic roast, there is no bone so you can just shred the meat. Also, we usually get closer to a 4 lb roast. It will still cook in under 10 hours and you can get at least 3 meals out of this. I usually still use the same amount of onions but you could adjust that to your taste. Obviously I use more barbecue sauce with a bigger roast but you can adjust that a little too. Also, sometimes I use different flavors of BBQ sauce.
This is way better than BBQ you can buy at the store and it is SO easy with hardly any work required! I'm telling you, try it and you will love it! Let me know if you do!
Well, off to get ready for bed for me. And I need to get a few minutes of reading into the book I am borrowing from Courtney. It is the BEST book to read when you are pregnant and I think it'd be a great read even if you're not pregnant cause it's just so funny! Thanks Courtney! :)
On a lighter note, I finally took "belly" pictures for the first time this past Sunday. I think I am finally starting to show just a little bit so I figured I better start with the pictures so I can see the progression. Mind you, I'm not posting those because it just looks disgusting to me! I have some trouble distinguishing "baby" from regular fat, so I'd rather not have the rest of the blogging world analyzing those photos! :) I will post pictures once it is obviously baby instead of regular fat!
Also, I wanted to share this amazing recipe. I have made it before so I hope I am not repeating myself. It's from the Kraft magazine, "Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Sandwiches". I never knew BBQ could be so easy to make and so amazingly delicious! Here's what the recipe calls for and then I'll add my 2 cents:
1 boneless pork shoulder (2 lb.)
3 onions, sliced, separated into rings
1/2 cup Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce
Place meat in slow cooker; top with onions and barbeque sauce. Cover with lid. Cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours (or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours). Remove meat from slower cooker; cut off and discard excess fat. Shred meat using 2 forks or chop meat into small pieces. Return meat to slow cooker; stir until evenly coated with sauce.
Now for my tips and opinions.... I actually use a pork picnic roast. I don't really know what the difference is, but with the picnic roast, there is no bone so you can just shred the meat. Also, we usually get closer to a 4 lb roast. It will still cook in under 10 hours and you can get at least 3 meals out of this. I usually still use the same amount of onions but you could adjust that to your taste. Obviously I use more barbecue sauce with a bigger roast but you can adjust that a little too. Also, sometimes I use different flavors of BBQ sauce.
This is way better than BBQ you can buy at the store and it is SO easy with hardly any work required! I'm telling you, try it and you will love it! Let me know if you do!
Well, off to get ready for bed for me. And I need to get a few minutes of reading into the book I am borrowing from Courtney. It is the BEST book to read when you are pregnant and I think it'd be a great read even if you're not pregnant cause it's just so funny! Thanks Courtney! :)
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
A River Runs Through It
The "it" being our backyard!
The past few days we have had some massive rainstorms. This evening we ended up with a "river" in our backyard. This is actually after the peak of it because it was done raining at this point. While it was raining we couldn't open the door because the rain would have poured in!
Continuation of the "river" into the neighbors yard. At one point, their entire backyard (which is a good deal smaller than ours) actually looked like a swamp!
And out the front, we have a little ditch type thing and if you can see it right next to the road, it was actually brimming full at the little dam type thing. It never gets like this! I am certainly thankful for the rain though. As you can see, our grass is looking decent and I really enjoy falling asleep to a thunderstorm at night! :)
The past few days we have had some massive rainstorms. This evening we ended up with a "river" in our backyard. This is actually after the peak of it because it was done raining at this point. While it was raining we couldn't open the door because the rain would have poured in!
Continuation of the "river" into the neighbors yard. At one point, their entire backyard (which is a good deal smaller than ours) actually looked like a swamp!
And out the front, we have a little ditch type thing and if you can see it right next to the road, it was actually brimming full at the little dam type thing. It never gets like this! I am certainly thankful for the rain though. As you can see, our grass is looking decent and I really enjoy falling asleep to a thunderstorm at night! :)
New Living Room Furniture
Finally got the batteries charged and took some furniture pics! We love it!
Pardon the plastic totes in front of the window. They are filled with baby things! :) We moved the TV to the corner and I really like it. I'm just one of those "caddy-corner" kind of people. And it means we can now see the tv from the dining room, so if it's a meal we don't want to eat in the living room, we can still watch tv. Haha, good, right? One of these days we'll stop that nonsense. My mother did not raise me to do that! :)
The couch and loveseat are both reclining.
This is the fabulous chaise lounge. The funniest part of it was that Anthony did not want to get it when we were buying the furniture, and now, I can hardly pry him off of it! This is "his" chair now. It is really comfy and the back lays pretty close to flat. When they first brought it in the house it seemed really big and overwhelming, but it works how we have it. I am so glad we bought this stuff!
Pardon the plastic totes in front of the window. They are filled with baby things! :) We moved the TV to the corner and I really like it. I'm just one of those "caddy-corner" kind of people. And it means we can now see the tv from the dining room, so if it's a meal we don't want to eat in the living room, we can still watch tv. Haha, good, right? One of these days we'll stop that nonsense. My mother did not raise me to do that! :)
The couch and loveseat are both reclining.
This is the fabulous chaise lounge. The funniest part of it was that Anthony did not want to get it when we were buying the furniture, and now, I can hardly pry him off of it! This is "his" chair now. It is really comfy and the back lays pretty close to flat. When they first brought it in the house it seemed really big and overwhelming, but it works how we have it. I am so glad we bought this stuff!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Quick Update
Here's a quick update so I'm not a blogging slacker... too much...
We have had a great weekend! Friday we slept in and went to the Biggs' for a cookout, like we always do on July 4th. Then Saturday we slept in again and then headed to Lynchburg for Amanda and Lee's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and it was fun to catch up with some old friends. Then we did a little shopping with the fam (they also came for the wedding) and stopped for some dinner at CFA before we headed home. Then today we went to church and to Mom's afterward. I got a little nap in after lunch and then we dug some baby stuff out of the shed for us to bring home today. As I was unpacking it and semi-putting it away, I was overwhelmed by how much "stuff" there is! I am going to be bringing a whole plastic tote full of blankets and other stuff back because there was just more than I forsee us needing. Zoe had more clothes and "stuff" than any baby ever needs, but it's working out pretty well for us. :) It's really nice to have a family member who has had a baby around the same time as ours is due. :)
I will be putting up new furniture pics when I ever get them taken. I think either my rechargeable batteries or the charger itself, or maybe both, are not working right. So once I get that problem solved, I'll take some pictures and post them. We are definitely loving the furniture. Well, it's on to a new week now. Too bad it can't be another 4 day week, but hopefully this week will be less stressful, and I have a doctor's appt. on Thursday so that's exciting. Hope everyone has a great week!
We have had a great weekend! Friday we slept in and went to the Biggs' for a cookout, like we always do on July 4th. Then Saturday we slept in again and then headed to Lynchburg for Amanda and Lee's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and it was fun to catch up with some old friends. Then we did a little shopping with the fam (they also came for the wedding) and stopped for some dinner at CFA before we headed home. Then today we went to church and to Mom's afterward. I got a little nap in after lunch and then we dug some baby stuff out of the shed for us to bring home today. As I was unpacking it and semi-putting it away, I was overwhelmed by how much "stuff" there is! I am going to be bringing a whole plastic tote full of blankets and other stuff back because there was just more than I forsee us needing. Zoe had more clothes and "stuff" than any baby ever needs, but it's working out pretty well for us. :) It's really nice to have a family member who has had a baby around the same time as ours is due. :)
I will be putting up new furniture pics when I ever get them taken. I think either my rechargeable batteries or the charger itself, or maybe both, are not working right. So once I get that problem solved, I'll take some pictures and post them. We are definitely loving the furniture. Well, it's on to a new week now. Too bad it can't be another 4 day week, but hopefully this week will be less stressful, and I have a doctor's appt. on Thursday so that's exciting. Hope everyone has a great week!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Fun Weekend and Pregnancy Update
We had a great weekend! On Friday evening we went to Holli & Josh's wedding. It was a wonderful wedding and an excellent reception. The food was great and it was lots of fun! They are a really cute couple and I am so happy for them!
Saturday we slept in a bit and we finally had our new living room furniture delivered! It took us forever to figure out how to situate the room but we finally got it figured out. I love the furniture and how we have it set up and I am so glad we bought it. I feel like it looks like a real living room now and not a college kid's room anymore. I will take a picture of it eventually, but I'm enjoying sitting on it right now too much to do that! Haha!
Then Saturday afternoon, Mom, Ashley, Kevin, and Zoe came over to see the furniture and then we went to Foster's Grille to eat dinner. It was great! After that Anthony and I did our normal grocery shopping and stopped for Sonic's 99 cent milkshakes before we headed home. :)
Sunday we did the normal church and Mom's house deal.
On to the pregnancy update. I am now 15 weeks and 1 day. It's hard to believe I am only 5 weeks away from being half way through the pregnancy! I still don't really have a belly yet, but I know it will be soon because I am having round ligament pains, so I know things are definitely getting bigger down there. I have my next appointment, next Thursday, July 10th. It's just a regular check-up, nothing too exciting, but I'm hoping maybe we'll get to hear the heartbeat again.
The good thing about this week is that we both have Friday off! We are planning on going to the Biggs' house for the regular 4th of July cookout. Then Saturday we are headed to Lynchburg for Amanda & Lee's wedding! Amanda and I have been friends since pre-school so I am so excited to be there with her on this day!
Saturday we slept in a bit and we finally had our new living room furniture delivered! It took us forever to figure out how to situate the room but we finally got it figured out. I love the furniture and how we have it set up and I am so glad we bought it. I feel like it looks like a real living room now and not a college kid's room anymore. I will take a picture of it eventually, but I'm enjoying sitting on it right now too much to do that! Haha!
Then Saturday afternoon, Mom, Ashley, Kevin, and Zoe came over to see the furniture and then we went to Foster's Grille to eat dinner. It was great! After that Anthony and I did our normal grocery shopping and stopped for Sonic's 99 cent milkshakes before we headed home. :)
Sunday we did the normal church and Mom's house deal.
On to the pregnancy update. I am now 15 weeks and 1 day. It's hard to believe I am only 5 weeks away from being half way through the pregnancy! I still don't really have a belly yet, but I know it will be soon because I am having round ligament pains, so I know things are definitely getting bigger down there. I have my next appointment, next Thursday, July 10th. It's just a regular check-up, nothing too exciting, but I'm hoping maybe we'll get to hear the heartbeat again.
The good thing about this week is that we both have Friday off! We are planning on going to the Biggs' house for the regular 4th of July cookout. Then Saturday we are headed to Lynchburg for Amanda & Lee's wedding! Amanda and I have been friends since pre-school so I am so excited to be there with her on this day!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Weekend in VA Beach and a Surprise Blessing!
We had a great weekend in Va Beach. Saturday we were all over the place! We went to Chris & Laura's as soon as they got home from the hospital and saw their new house, and of course, baby Elena. She is definitely the smallest baby I have ever held. Her little head is the same size as the softball they use in church leagues. Laura measured her head and it was 12 inches around! She is absolutely precious and we are thrilled to have another niece!
Then we stopped at Jon and Sam's for a few minutes to drop off a dresser, then we headed over to Jeremy & Brynn's apartment. It was the first time we had met Brynn and we got to see their cute apartment!
Then we went to Outback Steakhouse to celebrate Jeremy & Brynn's marriage. Unfortunately Chris & Laura couldn't be there, but I guess popping out a baby (even though it only took 2 pushes) is a pretty good excuse! I had baby back ribs and it was a fantastic meal! It's probably bad for me cause it put a taste in my mouth for more ribs! :) We had a really good time having almost all the family there.
After dinner, Jeremy, Brynn, and us went back to Jon & Sam's for games and dessert. They guys played Super Smash Brothers or something and we talked for a while. Then once Kevin & Isaac went to bed, we played "couples" Mario Party. It was really fun (I love that game) and Anthony & I won! Yay! Jon is really bitter about it, haha. :)
Sunday, we went to church and were able to have lunch with the entire family, all 13 of us! We even got a family picture which I will post later, I'm feeling too lazy right now! We had to leave right after that to get back for our Financial Peace University life group. We definitely don't want to miss that as much as we paid for it, haha!
So today we had an amazing blessing in our mailbox! We got a notice from Navy Federal, who our mortgage is with, that according to federal law they have to evaluate the escrow account once a year. Well, we have been paying more on that than was needed apparently because we got a check for over $300 and our mortgage payment was reduced by about $25! It may not seem like much, but we've been a little worried about how we are going to make it work once the baby comes with me only working part-time. I have been confident that God will provide and this was just an example showing how he can and will do that. It was also great, because our lifegroup last night was about getting rid of debt. It really got us (and everyone else in the class) pumped up about getting out of debt, and so now we are dead set on getting the Jeep paid off as soon as possible. So now we can put that check straight toward the Jeep. I was just close to tears because of what a blessing from God this is.
And finally, I'll go ahead an announce it on here as all of our family knows now. We have picked out a name for our little girl........ she will be called.....
Bailey!
We are still thinking about middle names, so please give us any suggestions you have. I'm off to get ready for bed now.
Then we stopped at Jon and Sam's for a few minutes to drop off a dresser, then we headed over to Jeremy & Brynn's apartment. It was the first time we had met Brynn and we got to see their cute apartment!
Then we went to Outback Steakhouse to celebrate Jeremy & Brynn's marriage. Unfortunately Chris & Laura couldn't be there, but I guess popping out a baby (even though it only took 2 pushes) is a pretty good excuse! I had baby back ribs and it was a fantastic meal! It's probably bad for me cause it put a taste in my mouth for more ribs! :) We had a really good time having almost all the family there.
After dinner, Jeremy, Brynn, and us went back to Jon & Sam's for games and dessert. They guys played Super Smash Brothers or something and we talked for a while. Then once Kevin & Isaac went to bed, we played "couples" Mario Party. It was really fun (I love that game) and Anthony & I won! Yay! Jon is really bitter about it, haha. :)
Sunday, we went to church and were able to have lunch with the entire family, all 13 of us! We even got a family picture which I will post later, I'm feeling too lazy right now! We had to leave right after that to get back for our Financial Peace University life group. We definitely don't want to miss that as much as we paid for it, haha!
So today we had an amazing blessing in our mailbox! We got a notice from Navy Federal, who our mortgage is with, that according to federal law they have to evaluate the escrow account once a year. Well, we have been paying more on that than was needed apparently because we got a check for over $300 and our mortgage payment was reduced by about $25! It may not seem like much, but we've been a little worried about how we are going to make it work once the baby comes with me only working part-time. I have been confident that God will provide and this was just an example showing how he can and will do that. It was also great, because our lifegroup last night was about getting rid of debt. It really got us (and everyone else in the class) pumped up about getting out of debt, and so now we are dead set on getting the Jeep paid off as soon as possible. So now we can put that check straight toward the Jeep. I was just close to tears because of what a blessing from God this is.
And finally, I'll go ahead an announce it on here as all of our family knows now. We have picked out a name for our little girl........ she will be called.....
Bailey!
We are still thinking about middle names, so please give us any suggestions you have. I'm off to get ready for bed now.
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