A Pretty Meal

I think I'm a good cook. Really, I can count this as a talent of mine. Recipe following to a 'T' may not be my strongest point, but I can improvise and substitute with the best of them! I rarely make the same meal twice unless it was just an ABSOLUTE winner because I love to experiment and try new recipes. Some yield more success than others, but for the most part, I think I've got a cooking gene.

I've never, however, been able to get my meals to turn out as beautifully as the pictures in books... (maybe because I don't do EXACTLY what they say, I don't know. Or maybe they're all really plastic-- like in fast food advertisements.) Eric assures me my food is attractive, not just tasty. (we were discussing Elder Uchtdorf's talk in the Relief Society Broadcast and I commented that I can never get my food to look as good as I think it tastes.) He didn't agree, bless his merciful eyes and tastebuds!

I made this Thai Halibut (don't worry, I didn't eat the Halibut) curry meal this week (even made the curry myself from whole spices! Very pleased with my new birthday mortar and pestle! Thanks hon!) and he immediately got out the camera to document the "pretty meal" with a

"see, Hon? You make pretty food!"

I love that boy!


btw, there was rice and curried butternut squash to go with everything. Just didn't make it in the picture. I don't know why I'm telling you that... like anyone really cares... but I guess I don't want you to think the meal is unbalanced. (I'm so silly! Why do I care if you think I made an unhealthy meal? We already ate it all anyway!)

Baby Budget 2009

So Eric and I have been working on a baby budget for 2009, just to make sure we will have enough funds to cover all the new expenses. We might need to cut back our entertainment/miscellaneous fund to take care of diapers, ya know? :P It is kind of funny trying to look at national averages for things like food, diapers, and health care and then just kind of guess how much we think WE will be spending in each area. Really, we're trying to be 'generous' with our baby fund but not extravagant. Frugal. I still think we'll be surprised by how much things end up costing us. So, a quick poll for all the moms out there: what was the most surprising new baby expense that you encountered? (and may I ask how much it actually cost you?) Also, if you'd rather answer this question... what item did you purchase that everyone told you was 'essential' and then you realized afterwards there was a much cheaper route? Are there more expensive items that you think are actually WORTH the extra expense for some reason instead of getting the generic/cheap kind?

Pregnancy Thoughts and Shots

Well, we had our 34 week check up yesterday. Everything is looking great!

What will I miss most about being pregnant?

7- stronger nails and beautiful hair!

6- feeling justified to sleep in a little

5- being first in line for food because no one wants to impede the pregnant lady from getting her edibles!

4- how nice everyone is. Seriously, so accommodating!

3- imagining what she's doing or thinking right now every time I change activities

2- watching Eric press his nose into my belly begging for her to "give us some kicks"

1- feeling those sweet wiggles, kicks, and hiccups inside me during the day when I'm pleased to know she is awake too.


I've just been thinking so much lately about how beautifully miraculous it is knowing that she is so much a part of me right now. I'm going to miss that, I think. There are definitely things for which I'm grateful.

32 weeks

33 weeks

34 weeks! 6 more to go!

Delaying the Project...

No picture to go with this one. I'm just kind of postponing getting started on one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) projects for baby: sewing the bumper and matching valance.

don't get me wrong. I'm THRILLED to be making it myself and excited to have the finished product so cute with all the hand appliqued animals and bugs, and all... and the ears and wings that flap freely instead of being tacked down... I mean, these things are going to be ADORABLE! And I really love using my hands (and Jenni Harris's sewing machine) to do it, and I've got the time since I've finally gotten all the furniture finished, and I've eliminated the excuse of a cluttered room since I've finally finished organizing and tidying everything....

so why don't I want to march upstairs and get started?

I think it has something to do with knowing that once I get started, there is no going back til I'm completely finished. I'll no longer have nice, neat stacks of cute material folded up on my desk... I'll have a big work in progress.

it is kind of like that feeling you get before you start typing your huge research paper or thesis. you know. Like you've done ALL the prep work, all the compiling and quote selections, and all you have to do is dig down and commit to sitting in front of the computer for a dedicated 20+ hours or so just to put it all together and crank out the rough draft. But you don't want to do it. Don't want to start because you know you can't do it in 1/2 hour spurts: it has to be HOURS and HOURS to get it done. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? Am I the only one who ever feels this way?

What Wakes you Up?

So, lately I've been plagued with light sleep. This is HIGHLY unusual for me, as any of you that ever lived with me will verify! I am a HEAVY sleeper and regularly oversleep an alarm unless a physical person helps me wake up. (Jordan, you remember those good times, right? :P) Funny thing is that I won't hear any mechanical sounds in my sleep, but will startle awake if someone says my name. Don't know why that is.

When Eric and I were engaged I was really busy with a full load of spring/summer classes. He had a much lighter schedule. Naturally, despite my workload, we were the usual engaged couple that stays up WAY late every night just having a great time. especially since it was summer! So, I had Eric call me every morning to wake me up for class. I thought this would give him adequate warning about my difficulty waking up. Turns out, he was still surprised when we got married. Apparently, he thought I just wanted to talk with him every morning and used the 'wake up call' as a ploy to squeeze more Eric time into my day. Boy was he surprised to discover my morning wake up troubles! But I digress. I was telling you about my recent inability to sleep.

Sometimes it is because I have to use the restroom (pregnancy does that to you). Sometimes it is because I wake up hungry (pregnancy does that to you too). And sometimes it is because our sweet 33 week baby is awake and would like to play games in my tummy (pregnancy definitely did THAT to me!). Whatever the cause, despite my exhaustion during the day, I find I've become a light sleeper in the mornings. I get up and stay up at ridiculous hours (3:15, 4:30, 5:45, 6:15 on a Saturday...) and even have trouble taking naps. I just lay there. Restful, but kind of frustrating when I'd REALLY like to be in a deep sleep dreaming or something! This morning I got up early after laying there for over an hour and made omelettes with fresh tomatoes and peppers from our garden, sauted mushrooms, salami, and raspberry-peach yogurt/OJ smoothies for our breakfast. At least I did something productive, right? :)

So, what wakes you up in the middle of the night? What wakes you up in the morning, and would you prefer to wake up some other way? Let's hear some stories, eh?

What Were You Like in High School?

Kendall, this is for you. Actually, it is the very first tag I've ever received. :) So I can honestly say I don't normally do these! :) P.S. Brianna, I know you only read short entries, so I won't be surprised if you skip this one. There aren't any pictures, after all.... hey, I should scan some and put them in here...!

1. Did you date someone from your high school? No. I went on a total of 3 dates in high school. And I asked for all 3 and they were all prom.

2. What kind of car did you drive? I drove an 82 white Firebird for a week... til I totaled it in a 3 car accident. The long snout saved me from some serious injury. I'll share the story someday, I guess. It was pretty traumatic. I didn't drive again for a while, actually. When I did, I drove a white Honda prelude with a stick. That was a lot of fun! Finally I ended up with a 96 red Mitsubishi Galant... which some of you may recognize as the car I still drive now!

3. What is your most embarrassing moment in high school? hmmmm.... I dunno. I don't really get embarassed that easily. Not that embarassing things didn't happen, but I probably just laughed and pretended I didn't care. One time I did mistake a gal in my class for a guy. We had known each other for almost 3 years and that whole time I thought she was a guy. I totally tried to correct her when she was going into the girls' restroom. That was pretty ackward when she told me she WAS a girl.

4. Were you a party animal? I was a social creature, that's for sure! I was involved in EVERYTHING! That is NOT an exaggeration! But I don't think I was QUITE crazy enough to call a party animal.

5. Were you considered a flirt? nope. I don't think I really knew how to do it very well. That is probably why I never had a boyfriend or dated much. I had this bad habit of going out of my way to MASK the feelings I had for guys rather than letting them know it. It took me a LOOOOONG time to get over that tendency!

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Yes. If you count 9th grade as HS, I was in band/orchestra then. clarinet. I was pretty good, and my dad was SUPER disappointed that I opted to only do choir after that. I figured I could either be good at both or great at one! I was in choir ALWAYS. I think I lived in the choir room during certain times of the year! Especially during All-Region or All-State tryout times. I'd go in right after early morning seminary for the morning practices. Usually I was one of the only ones there. I enjoyed that one-on-one coaching time with our directors. Then when I was in Unity my senior year we had all those rehearsals. It was crazy trying to balance things with soccer and all.

7. Were you a nerd? Well, I was blessed with the ability to get along with all kinds of groups of people. I was definitely friends with all the nerds, but also with all the preps and sporty types and music folks and artsy folks and, well, everybody. I think my 'floater' style of associating with people spared me being labeled a nerd. But I DEFINITELY took my classes seriously. I was all about the A's, man! I think, personality wise, I'm a nerd. I claim the title with pride! :) I STILL love to study and check out documentaries from the library to watch for fun! :)

8. Were you on any varsity teams? yes. I played Varsity soccer all through HS. LOVED it and still crave that kind of unity that you get from training hard together as a team! There is NOTHING that quite compares to organized, competitive sports!

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? are you kidding me? I can't even fathom HOW to get suspended or expelled!

10. Can you still sing the fight song? I don't think we had one.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? My 10th grade English and also AP Comp teacher Mrs. Rossetti (coincidentally, we have the same birthday), my 10th grade science and also AP Enviro teacher Miss. Banning, my algebra II and calculus teacher Mrs. Burlingame, my Spanish teacher Mr./Bro. McWhorter, and finally my choir teacher Mr. Erwin. Actually, this was hard to choose because I truly enjoyed MOST of my classes in HS.

12. Where did you sit during lunch? In the choir room. It was fun to hang out there!

13. School Mascot? bulldog. RED ones, to be exact. That is important to note because, for some REALLY strange reason, our rival HS was also bulldogs. they were purple, though. "sissies". ;P

14. Did you go to homecoming and with who? nope, never.

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? I loved HS, I really did! I had a blast and feel like those were awesome years! I don't know about repeating them, though... would I ever want to repeat ANY years of my life? It might not be as much fun the 2nd time around. Would all my friends ALSO be repeating it with me? Would we do anything different or would it just be the same? If it was different, would I still love it as much... and if it was the same, what would be the point?

16. What do you remember most about graduation? it was long, the choir sang, my family all went to the Blue Bird of Happiness sculpture garden and restaurant in the boondocks afterward to celebrate. It was cool!

17. Where did you go senior skip day? If we had one, I don't remember it. I think I went to class. :) I told you I was a nerd.

18. Have you gained weight since then? Most DEFINITELY! There's no way I can compete with my HS self for being in shape. Holy cow, I was running around for 3 hours every afternoon at soccer practice and drinking a protein shake with fruit for 2 meals a day! Even if I managed to squeeze a run into my schedule every day now, there's no way I'd be in as great shape as I was in HS. Especially now. I've got this belly, ya see... ;)

19. Who was your prom date? Juan Carlos, Pongsak Jituatrakoon, and Tommy Lowden.

20. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Sure, why not? I miss my HS friends. Most of them are still in touch with each other bc they stayed close to Arkansas. I'd love to see everybody and show off my awesome family! :)

21. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself? I wish I had been more confident in sharing the gospel with my closest friends while we were REALLY close. It would be more ackward now. Like I was emailing them just to preach to them or something. I'm not very good at keeping in touch.

You're it: whoever wants to do it.
I want to hear what ya'll were like in High School.

From Bug to Butterfly

Apparently, these beautiful, fat, black and green caterpillars that we found demolishing the foliage of our carrot tops are Black Swallowtail caterpillars! They prefer a diet of parsley, dill, or carrot tops... go figure, we already saw that!... and are DEFINITELY voracious eaters!!!!

When you upset them, they stick out these bright orange horns. Scent glands. They are called osmeteria. Apparently they are supposed to surprise predators as well as have a nasty scent. I can't smell anything though. Guess I'm just not as sensitive as something that might actually want to eat them. Cool, eh?

Eric and I are holding on to 4 of them as 'pets' because we want to see them make their chrysalises. (Before you start thinking 'cruel and unusual treatment of animals', remember that we have huge jars, plenty of cheesecloth, and access to fresh caterpillar appetizers daily!) It can be a hassle to go out there and harvest fresh carrot tops for them to eat, but we are so excited to see what happens. Blame it on the entomologist in each of us... we're just science nerds! What about you guys? Any other nerds out there that enjoy this sort of thing?