18 week bump

two weeks in a row... i just can't seem to get the picture in time to put it up with the weekly post...

bump shots from sunday.  at 18 weeks, 3 days.

 

 

 

thank you baby girl for making me SO excited to have another kid!!!

 

and just for the record... this is what i looked like a mere three months ago at 5 weeks pregnant...

with abigail i never missed being skinny.  this time around, i've been missing it for weeks.  heaven help me.

grilled stuffed zucchini

sunday evening, honey and i made this recipe for grilled stuffed zucchini.  it was so out of my comfort zone and i told my honey at least four times while we (he did the grilling part) were making it, "i'm so glad you're doing this with me... i've been so nervous to make it and i feel better that we're doing it together."  ha.

 

 

we had two really huge squash given to us by one of honey's coworkers so that was actually the inspiration for making this in the first place.  turns out they were so huge though that we only had filling for half of what we'd grilled.  sooo i'll be repurposing that other squash.

they looked so gorgeous on the grill.  it was during this time that i went inside to clean up a bit when honey came in to tell me that our baby just told him she had crap on her cheeks.  

and then they were done!  there is something insanely crazy that happens in that free hand me down grill of ours that makes everything honey puts in there taste amazing beyond belief.  the stuffing was great but this recipe would not be nearly so delicious if you did it on a grill pan.  the taste of the squash from just rubbing them down with oil and salt and pepper and getting those nice grill marks on them... ohhhh i ate so much.  we actually had no leftovers.  well, actually we did.  but i ate them after i finished doing dishes.  do you ever have those moments?  "i could either put this in the fridge in a tupperware... or i could just finish it off right now before i go to bed."  i too often choose the latter.

anyways, here's a few things i loved about this recipe.  anything grilled is deliciously incredible.  it enlists the help of my honey.  it has lots of veggies (and i'll definitely up the veggies next time i make it too).  it seems super meaty even though the recipe only calls for 4 ozs (one link) so i actually have four links left over for future cooking!

individually wrapped and in a ziploc bag, to the freezer they go!

and just because i thought this was funny... today, baby girl brought me this random sample makeup remover face wipe thing, excitedly telling me that it was emmy!  "it's emmy!  that's emmy!  there she is!  emmy!"

 

well at least the brunette part is right.  looks like we'll need to skype more so baby will be more accurately able to differentiate who is emmy and who is not.

sweet potato pancakes

i made these last week.  sunday i think.  and they were incredible.  like way better than regular pancakes.

 

the joy of "dip" which in this case was whipped cream.  i'm a generous mom sometimes.

but look at this face (and these bare bones)... how could you not be?!

ha.

"you guys are wasting my time.  let me get back to my dip."

the life cycle of pancakes.  clockwise from top.  batter, pan, plate (and then obviously belly).

too bad my photography sucks.  because these were the prettiest crispy golden you've ever or never seen.

the leftover snack went in a tupperware in the fridge and was perfect for a quick snack.  pop in the toaster while you heat up your syrup and you've got a delicious treat on your hands faster than you can say "this is way better than eggos!"

 

remember when i went to visit my neighbor a week ago and she sent me home with sweet potatoes that just so happened to be baking in her oven?  well, she also sent me home with this recipe card.  so while baby and i ate one of those hot sweet potatoes for lunch as soon as we got home, i made sure to save a sweet potato to try out this pancake recipe and it was divine.  i made it exactly as written (with whole milk) with some shakes of cinnamon and a splash of vanilla and added a sweet potato i'd mashed up for a minute in a bowl with some beaters.  i really noticed having the sweet potato and the cup of wheat flour making these pancakes more filling and substantial and the sweet potato flavor was awesome.  

they're good enough to eat plain with just a little melted butter on top but i couldn't resist adding some syrup too.  buuut as a testament to how good they are, i normally load pancakes and waffles with everything i can think of... butter, multiple syrups (maple and berry flavored), cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, fresh berries, whipped cream, and anything else i can think of.  this time, i just did butter, syrup and whipped cream on my first one and actually decided that less tasted better.  so, i gave my whipped cream to baby girl and cut down on the syrup the second time through.  so much more delicious when you can really taste the sweet potato of it.  if i ever get out of my "i need eggs and toast for breakfast every single day of my life" stage, i'm going to start making a batch of these every sunday so they're ready for a quick and easy breakfast or snack when i need one!

whoops

this evening honey was hanging out on the patio with baby girl while he grilled some zucchini for us (recipe to come) when he noticed that baby girl had gotten some sort of dirt or gunk on her cheeks...

in my defense, my child is extremely observant and a quick learner and i swear i'm a good mom because she sings along when we play our favorite abc's song (which she calls abcd).  but honey kinda busted me on this one.

community service

honey was in wyoming on thursday and didn't get back til 2am.  so when baby girl woke up from nap we went to target to check out maternity clothes, pick up a few things for that apple snickers dessert and basically just get out of the house and kill some time.  

on our walk through the parking lot, baby girl started noticing that some of the landscape rocks had made their way to the sidewalk and she took it upon herself to make sure that every single rock on the sidewalk was cleaned up and put in its proper space with the other rocks.  all while eating her apple chips.

 

grasses included.  those are not allowed on the sidewalk.

 

good thing we weren't in a hurry anywhere.  on our way home we saw the most gorgeous sunset.  it looked like the whole horizon was on fire... which in colorado is actually a possibility, but thankfully it was just an optical illusion.  i was two streets over by the time i was able to pull my camera out of my purse and stop at a   light for a picture so the view was almost completely obscured but like with everything else... just having this picture helps me remember the real thing.  it was amazing.  colorado is so beautiful.

and then we passed by these cows that are always grazing right outside the entrance of our neighborhood.  one of them strayed behind our house the other day and i kept looking at it during our dinner with the missionaries.  i still think it's the coolest thing ever that i can see cows from my kitchen window!

ps- this morning we went to honey's 10 year high school reunion.  and then to costco.  and then claimed a free chocolate milkshake at chick fil a.  there is something magical about chick fil a.  their chocolate milkshakes are so light and fluffy and they don't have too sharp of a chocolate taste... it's delicate and lingering and has just the right amount of maltiness.  and it was gone within like 5 minutes.  how does it always disappear so fast?!

i feel nauseous

story of my life.

also, the phrase most likely to come out of my mouth during/after a meal.

we had the missionaries over for dinner tonight.  it was tons of fun.  i made french dip sandwiches with provolone cheese, and the salad mandarin from easy weeknight favorites... with modifications.  i used spinach, chilled mandarin oranges, thinly sliced avocado (this MADE the salad), and toasted pecans.  i ate mine with creamy poppy seed dressing but put out italian dressing as well (as suggested by the recipe) which was appreciated by one of the missionaries in particular who apparently has an obsession with italian dressing.  fabulous.  glad to help you out there!  also served carrots that i'd thrown in the crock pot with the roast.  for dessert, i made a snickers apple salad.  i used 3 apples, a half cup of powdered sugar, full block of cream cheese (which i whipped myself because i was afraid it would be too hard to fold in the cool whip), and a full tub of cool whip.  i eye balled the snickers because i was using the tiny mini ones and i just put them in the freezer and whacked them with a hammer a few times before opening up the wrapping and pouring them on top.  i saved some of the tiniest crumbs and pieces to sprinkle on top for decoration.  it wasn't really honey's style but the missionaries each had seconds and one of them asked me where i found the recipe (i'd told them they were my guinea pigs when i admitted i'd actually never made it or eaten it before) which led to a discussion about pinterest which one elder (been out 19 months) had never even heard of.  sometimes talking to a missionary is like talking to someone in a time warp.

anyways... here are pictures...

set your shirtless child up with a clifford or baby E dvd...

sear your roast

and take pictures for emmy

be a good mom and take your kid to the pool...

but upon hearing thunder explain that the pool broke

and head back to the car

this is a dainty child if i've ever seen one

apple snickers salad dessert

i used a light hammer

the aftermath... thanks again honey for cleaning up!

and now it's time to sleep.

ps- how'd you like the olympics?!  

duke

we're currently semi pet sitting for our wonderful neighbors i'm always talking about.  the husband is in the stake presidency and the guy that saved my life that one time.  the wife is so sweet and sent me home with delicious straight from the oven hot baked sweet potatoes last week when i stopped by to visit.  she also plant sitted my little mint plant for me while i was in atlanta and at the beach.  and the daughter was just called as my new beehive class president and is actually the only paid babysitter we've ever used.  

anyways, they're amazing and it's nice to be able to repay a little favor when i can.  

so it goes like this "i want duke!  i want duke!"  "okay baby girl, go put your shoes on and we can go see duke."

"i need help!  i need help!!!"  (ummm, when is that independent toddler stage supposed to happen?!)

 

"up mama.  up please mama!"  (she has a somewhat love hate relationship with highly energetic dogs)

"there he is!  that's duke!"  that's duke's ball!  he's running!" as we played fetch from the backyard bench swing.

"hi duke!  hello duke!"

(my view)

 

[bored]

 

 

"hot rocks!  that's hot rocks!"  (said loudly as she quickly dropped the rock back on the ground)

 

above her head, you can see the yellow slide to her baby pool.  parker doesn't believe in large yards so it's especially nice that we love our neighbors so much!

"i want nap!  all done duke!" 

the wife and daughter were out of town and the husband sometimes has to work long days (today was 14 hours then had church meetings later) so we went over once in the morning and once this afternoon before nap.  both times went better than yesterday because yesterday went something like this...

backing up a bit: i was supposed to all day watch a little boy in the ward for my friend who's been in the hospital lately.  but there was some miscommunication and the husband never dropped the kid off and my friend decided since he was behaving so well, she would be able to manage fine that day without my help.  so my day suddenly became completely free.  my longtime atlanta friend tarin just moved to the area and she happened to call at this exact moment.  "why hello... how are you doing?"  "WE'RE BOOOORRRREEEEDDDDD"  "okay, come over!"  so tarin and her kids came over.  we hung out, went on a walk, played at the park, and then went over to check on duke.  while we were all in the backyard i called my neighbor "i just wanted to let you know that when i got here, duke wasn't in his crate" to which she replied "oh, no big deal, i bet jim was just so busy this morning that it slipped his mind.  just play with duke and put him in his crate when you leave."  so then we left duke in the back yard to hang out some more.  i thought it strange he hadn't gone to the bathroom out there yet so i left him out for a bit while we went in the house to check the floors and rugs for stains or signs of an accident.  while we were doing that tarin said "is someone home?"  "no, the husband is working.  you probably heard the screened front door creaking or something."  "i hear someone talking" hmmm, so i listened and sure enough i was like "that's his voice!  what's the husband doing home?!"  so i called his cell and as it was ringing he came up from the basement laughing and apologizing for the inconvenience "i'm so sorry, my brother something something something and so i just cancelled my day and forgot to tell you that i'd be here to let duke out."  WHOOPS.  sorry i just broke into your home while you were here!  needless to say, even though it wasn't my fault, i felt kinda ridiculous and was insanely glad that tarin was there with me.  the moral support was very much appreciated.