Desserts everyone should be making

So, I wait and wait for it to finally be October 1st so that I can make my favorite desserts. I wanted to pass along these recipes so that everyone could enjoy. I must admit that neither one is my own. I borrowed both so I don't get the credit.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

1 small can pumpkin mix
1 pkg spice cake mix
chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients (add chocolate chips as you desire). Bake at 350 for 15 min or til tops are brown. Seriously easy.

Pumpkin Bars

4 eggs
2 C. sugar
1 C. veg. oil
1 16oz can pumpkin (NOT the seasoned pie filling)
2 C. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
Chocolate Chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Beat eggs, sugar, & oil. Add pumpkin and mix. Add dry ingredients & Mix. Grease & Flour Costco size Cookie Sheet. Pour batter onto cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool & Frost.

Frosting
1 cube margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 8oz. cube of cream cheese

Mix margarine, cream cheese & vanilla until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar, blend until smooth.

For the record, I enjoy the bars much more without chocolate chips. To me it brings out the pumpkin flavor but most of the family likes them with. Also, if you are not a pumpkin pie eater....DO NOT let these recipes scare you. They are nothing like the pie. ENJOY!!!

Weekend Fun

This weekend was so much fun. On Friday I drove down to St. George to see my mother-in-law run the marathon. We woke up Saturday morning to rain, rain, and more rain. It was about 50 degrees most of the day...odd for St. George. The race began at 6:45am and she finished around ten. 3 hours and 31 min was her time...go mom!!! I am totally inspired by her. After, we biked home in the rain back to our B&B and snuggled into bed to watch conference.

I love love love General Conference. I am so sad when it's over and get excited for 6 months to pass. This year I was away from David because he couldn't get time off work to come down to Utah. I missed him lots. I did however get to spend some great time with my sister-in-law Mindy. She is at BYU and so I miss seeing her around. We had late nights of talking and laughing and watching conference together. I had way too many favorites to mention but the message was clear. We as members still need to give more, have more faith & hope, give more charity. I hope that I can continue to reference these talks in the next few months and heed the counsel given.

We ended up driving up to Provo on Sunday night and I got to see my brother Hansen. He is so cool. I mean he is the best big brother a girl could ask for. He loves me and he tells me...so cool. I did however blow it for him....let me explain. Hansen has said from the beginning that he didn't want to know what we are having. He wanted it to be a surprise. I made sure everyone in the family knew not to tell him if it was a boy or girl, even talking to him in the last few weeks, I've still said "it" or "the baby". Well, one of the first things I say to him when I saw him was; 'The baby is kicking so much. I'll let you feel him if he does, he's such a little stinker' ahhh... I didn't even realize I said it until he told me I blew it for him. Oh well, after all that, and I tell him.

The driving wasn't much fun. Pregnant women are not comfortable as is...10 hours in the car; not helping. But everything else was totally worth the drive. Being with family is great.

I'm excited for this month. Weekend fun every time. This week it's Jacob's baptism and all the Daines' are coming. Next week (and the week after) it's vacation with my family! I can't wait to see them! And then...it's Halloween which to me is the beginning of the holiday season.

Picture Updates

The last picture I posted was me at 5 weeks. This is me at 20 weeks.



We bought a crib, I love it!





Here is Shelby just 2 weeks ago.

Our First Born

We couldn't be more excited!

20 Weeks

HALF WAY!!! Yay. I am now to the middle marker in my pregnancy. I'm not sure if I can wait any longer.

A few things to note...

The baby is kicking all the time. David can't feel it yet but hopefully in the next little while.

I have now gained back enough weight after losing 10 lbs in the first trimester and I am the same as when I ran the Boulder Bolder in May.

Friday is the day when we find out boy or girl. Majority both on my blog poll and the family survey suggest we are going pink.

I have to buy maternity clothes soon. It's like overnight, I just popped.

I bought a crib. So cute but I'm still painting the nursery so it's not set up yet.

Anyway, things are great. I go online or to various stores multiple times a week and look at baby stuff. I just can't get enough.

Nursery

Right now I am working on painting the Nursery. It is a lot of fun but a bit of work too. I haven't finalized on the colors. I know I'm using cream and chocolate but I haven't figured if I'm going the teal and pastel greens or the soft oranges yet. Here is a link to what it's going to look like depending on colors. I am so excited though!

http://www.parents.com/baby/nursery/nurseries/color-in-the-nursery/

I'll take pictures and keep updating as I go along. It will be fun.

Shelby

Hooray for working computers, cameras, and all things electronical.

I have been meaning to post about Shelby; unfortunatly my computer has not wanted to read my memory card for my camera and so...no pictures. Shelby's post needs pictures. They are a bit old and when I finally got these pictures downloaded, I went to take a now photo of her and low and behold, we have no reading again. Hmmm, I guess we'll have to wait.

OK.... so, who is Shelby? She is my biggest challenging adventure ever, ok maybe that's a bit much but let's start from the beginning.

June 20, 2008 David's Birthday





Puppy food? Why would we need that? Well because later that day we got this...






Oh she's a cutie and a very good puppy. But she's a puppy and since I've never had a dog and I only got her for David...She's a bit of work for me. I like her don't get me wrong but she is so wild sometimes that I don't know what to do with her. Little terror, but cute.

New..new...new

It's all new!


So I never really understood how many firsts there are being pregnant with number 1. I don't hate pregnancy, some of it is pretty crappy but it's more joyous so all that is outweighed. I finally feel stable in the nausea department. I sometimes feel a little fatigued but it's not the same as the "morning sickness" stuff. For me morning was the wrong word. All day would be a better way to say my round of nausea. I also get dizzy and am super tired...like rubbing my eyes like a little kid tired. Every afternoon I try to take a nap because if I don't I can't pick myself up after 7pm. Anyway, here are my new pregnancy things:

Hating food. even now, beginning my 5th month, I hate food.

Eating way less than I ever have before. Apparently we have a chunker as a baby, I have no room for my stomache to expand.

Completely zero desire to put makeup on or really wear anything but basketball shorts and a tee

A constant stuffy/runny nose. Seriously, all the time

No ability to hold off on bathroom trips

Going up the stairs is my Mount Everest. I'm huffing at the top.

Bloodhound super smell. I can smell everything and most of the time; it's disgusting

Dreams are real. I wake up and I can recount every detail almost perfectly. They are so vivid and ridiculously strange.

My tummy pokes out. I have never looked this stomache heavy in my life and I love the excuse. It's been nice for me though (I don't think I show that much for how far I am) I fit into every pair of shorts and jeans. But I still poke out a little.



I really like the new stuff. I can't wait for more to come; the first kicking, when we find out boy or girl, and of course the day of the arrival. So fun

XXIX Summer Olympic Games

The Olympics are definitely in full swing now. And I have watched it non stop. We have been recording so much that it has pushed everything else off our DVR. I think it's great.

My in-laws just got back for China. they went to the Opening Ceremonies and a few other events. I can't imagine being there now. Just awesome. They brought us back some really neat stuff. They got a bunch of little trinket stuff; bracelets, washclothes, pens, stickers, Opening ceremony memorabilia. We also got cell phone and key chaines, earrings, a beautiful chopsticks set, David got a tie and I got a pearl necklace. I'm excited to see their pictures too!

I've been pretty pleased with the events that have been broadcast. It also helps to have about 6 different channels covering 24 hours a day. My favorite events (in no particular order) are;


Who could not watch Michael Phelps







I really enjoy watching May-Treanor/Welsh



I'm really glad both men and women from USA got on the medal Podium. I think the women blew it. They really could have fixed a bunch of mistakes but I enjoyed it.




Maybe why I like diving so much is because my
mom did it when she was younger and so when
we went swimming we always asked her to show
us her stuff!

I like to watch any and all the events though. I hope everyone is watching them too!!! GO USA

What can you remember?

If you want to...give it a go.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

One Year and Counting

On July 14th 2008, David and I celebrated our one year anniversary. I think we should reminisce.....

Such an incredible day....
This year we were in spokane with his whole family so we escaped to their lake house on Coeur d'Alene and spent the night there. We went shopping for knives (we needed a new set badly), saw a movie and went to the Melting Pot. Hmmm, and David got me flowers. It was such a simple and sweet anniversary. I loved it.

Our Family is Growing

Expecting, February 10, 2009

The Marriage Tag

How long have you been married? One year in 23 days!
How old is your spouse? 24 on Friday
Who eats more? definitely David. I have to cook for 4 so that we have enough
Who said I love you first? Him
Who is taller? Him
Who sings better? Me
Who is smarter? oh have you met my husband? genius
Who controls the T.V. remote? he does but when I want to, I do
Whose temper is worse? hmm, about the same I think
Who does the Laundry? Me, he does an occasional load
Who does the dishes? Mostly Me
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? looking at it, he does
Who cooks dinner? right now, neither. but it's pretty much 50/50
Who is more stubborn? Me
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? more often it's him
Who has more friends? well I'd say the same. but we hang out with mine more often
Who has more siblings? exact same!
Who wears the pants in the family? I don't think that's been established fully yet. Sometimes it's me, others it's him

I love my David

Gel Toes

The new thing in pedicure world is Gel Toes. I think it should be renamed Glitter Toes. The reason for this is that all the colors have glitter in them. It's actually a powder not a polish. They use a clue first and then dump the powder, shake it off and let it dry. It's supposed to last a month or so. I went with my friend Emily on Thursday and got them done at a school...it was $15! A rip off. I am thinking that I could find it at a supply store and do it myself for cheaper. I want to try it on my finger nails too. The result I have to tell you is pretty cute. Mine are pink, like barbie pink and sooo cute!

Weather

I am not a partly cloudy, 56 degree girl. And yet the last few days here have been exactly that, even at times colder, and rainy. For goodness sakes, it's June; aka summer. I want sunny and about 80. That's the kind of weather I pray for. I look outside every morning, log onto weather.com 4 times a day, waiting for the sun to be high in the sky, no sign of clouds. And yet this is the weekend I'm getting
Jun 6 Today
Windy with isolated thunderstorms developing. High 71F. Chance of rain 30%.
Jun 7 Tomorrow
Chance of a shower or two during the morning, followed by partly cloudy skies in the afternoon.