Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

We hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours was!

Surprise Birthday Party

Andrew threw me a surprise birthday party for my 21st birthday! He did such a good job planning it and keeping it a secret from me. I had absolutely no idea! I also have some great friends here who helped him out! Andrew got Subway sandwich platters, had a friend make a birthday cake, brought in a ping-pong table and he even borrowed a karaoke machine. The party was so much fun! It was so cool to see all my friends together to celebrate my birthday.

When Andrew plans something he's completely thorough, which is really cool! He covers every single detail you could think of. To get me to go to where the party was, he told me a friend wanted to borrow his PS3 at the school. So on our way to dinner, we had to drop it off on campus. I was a little frustrated that we had to get out of the car and bring it to him, because it was freezing outside. When we walked into the room I thought we were interrupting something. I was totally shocked! Andrew even thought to ask me to dress up nice and do my hair. Thank goodness. He told me he wanted to take me to Olive Garden and asked me to do my hair pretty. I have such an amazing, thoughtful husband who is really good at showing me he loves me. :)

There's still nothing quite as awkward as standing in the middle of the crowd and having them sing "Happy Birthday" to you. I never know what to do. Standing there and smiling doesn't seem adequate enough.

Thank you everyone who helped Andrew put the party together. Thank you everyone who came and thank you for all the birthday cards! It really meant a lot to me to see everyone there!

Hello world...

Our baby boy would like to wave hello...

This is an image of his face upside down. You can see the outline of his nose and to black openings were his eyes are.
This is also an upside down image of his face. You can see the black circles where his eyes are. And the picture below is a profile image.

Andrew and I had our 20 week ultrasound today to officially determine the gender of our baby :) The doctor got a clear shot of his butt and found something in between. It was such a fun day! We got some clear views of his face, and he is going to be such a cute baby!! I cannot wait to hold him in my arms! It was so fun to feel him moving in my stomach and actually see it happen on the monitor. I loved seeing Andrew enjoying it, too. Although some images are very difficult to even tell what it is a picture of it's still so cool knowing that we are looking at our son! I just can't wait for him to get here now! We're planning on naming him Hudson David. :)

17 Month Anniversary

Friday was Andrew and I celebrated our 17 month anniversary by going to Red Lobster and looked around the mall and Dick's Sporting Goods. I took Andrew to show him some puppies that I had seen the day before. I fell in the love with pretty much all of them! There was one that liked to play with Andrew and me through the window. If we put our hands up he would chase them. Andrew put his face up to the window and the dog tried to kiss it. It was so ADORABLE! I am so glad I got a picture of it! I know Andrew and I will have a lot of fun puppy shopping the day we decide to buy one.

This puppy is a Maltese/Bichon mix. He will make his owners very happy one day.
This is a Shih-Tsu/Bichon mix. This breed is called the "Teddy Bear" breed. Such adorable faces!
These puppies are a chihuaha/dachsund breed. These were one of Andrew's favorites.
And this is the face that won my heart! Oh my goodness!! He just makes me melt! He is also a "Teddy Bear" breed. He was so cute! He would try to provoke the other "Teddy Bear's" to play with him. Oh, I loved him!

It was so much fun looking at all the adorable puppies! Andrew and I had a fun night out. It's so nice that Andrew and I can enjoy our time together doing simple things.

Fall Ball!

Andrew and the SVU Baseball Team had a scrimmage on Saturday. It was a lot of fun to watch Andrew play baseball again. It makes me very excited for February and baseball season to start. Andrew did really well and hit a homerun! Looks like he's off to a great start. The game was a little frustrating to watch, because the other team didn't hire an ump so they were making all the calls. The weather was beautiful and sunny! I got a bit of sun on my arms and face. After the game we went to Cici's Pizza for dinner. It was a good day! Here is a video of Andrew's homerun :)

Pregnancy Update!

I am now 19 weeks pregnant and starting to feel better! Last week I had a really bad cough and I was feeling miserable. But everything seems to have cleared up and I hope it stays that way. I am now able to feel my baby move, and I just recently felt the baby kick my hand. It was so awesome! Andrew got to feel my belly "roll" today. It was so fun! I am so excited that I'm almost half way there! Our "20 week ultrasound" is on October 28th and we'll be announcing the gender of our baby then. :)

Fun Weekend!

Andrew and I had a lot of fun last weekend! On Thursday we got to go to Richmond to see Wicked with our friends Zach and Megan, and their adorable daughter Skyli. We got such great seats for a wonderful price. The talent was incredible and it was so much fun to watch. I'm so glad Andrew was willing to go see it. He even ended up enjoying it.

This is the view from where we sat. Not too bad at all!
A picture of us during intermission. I'm so glad SVU gave us the opportunity to go!

Later, on Saturday, Andrew and I went to an Oktoberfest party at our friend's apartment complex. We drank root beer and ate pretzels. Then we also played games.
The whole week before the party I had been planning what Andrew and I would wear. I got Andrew's outfit ready for him. Then I showed him what we were supposed to look like from pictures online. Once I start getting dressed, he comes out with this shirt he got from his mission in Chile. It looked so awesome! I was jealous of how "legit" he looked.
This is a picture of al the girls at Oktoberfest. It was so much fun!

Some of my summer creations...

Here are a few of the things I baked over the summer. Pretty much in the beginning. After I got pregnant I didn't have much motivation/energy to do anything in the kitchen. Hopefully that will change soon. I miss creating things!
These cookies were my first try with royal icing. I was pretty excited about the outcome. I used my mom's sour cream sugar cookie recipe. They were so yummy!
Mickey Mouse cake balls... Notice how I put the BEST looking one in the front :)
I made these cookies for my little friend Savannah. I went to visit her after seeing her for 2 years. Now she's 7 and growing way too fast!
I made this cake while I was taking cake decorating classes at Michaels.
This is my 4th of July American flag cake. It looked really pretty before it was cut too.

What have we been up to?

There have been exciting things going on. Andrew and his team are now 28-6 and heading to Nationals in about 3 weeks. I will be following the team to watch them play their hardest. Nationals is in Maine, when we're done we will be going back to California for the summer. We are so excited!!

Andrew hit his 12th homerun this past week. My mom told Andrew that I seem to text her every other day telling her he hit a homerun. He is so much fun to watch!

And I have started my own baking blog, since I have been baking for the team a lot! I am having so much fun documenting all the new things I have been baking. Andrew and I have often talked about how it seems like I am always in the kitchen now. It seems like I have a huge set of dishes to wash every day. But that doesn't stop me from doing what I love. I am so in love with cooking!!

Tennessee Road Trip Homerun #3

Just like the first homerun of this trip, the first baseman drops Andrew's foul ball. With his second chance he hits a homerun!!

Tennessee Road Trip Homerun #2

First pitch of his at bat, Andrew hits a homerun!!

Tennessee Road Trip

So I road with another wife to Tennessee to watch the baseball team play 5 games. Andrew hit 3 homeruns this weekend and I figured they were too good to not share with anybody who couldn't make it to the games. Here is Andrew's first homerun; my favorite one as well. It is really awesome! The first baseman drops his foul ball, giving Andrew a second chance to hit. That's all he needed. Next pitch is an amazing homerun over right field. Just ignore my annoying voice while you watch.

Family Home Evening

Andrew and I have set goals to do better at Family Home Evening and scripture reading together. We've been doing pretty good for the past three weeks. Last night was my turn to plan Family Home Evening. We went camping... in our living room. It was so much fun! We built a fort with our box springs over our kind-size mattress. Then we roasted marshmallows with candles. They were so yummy!

Shower Drain

Ever since Andrew and I moved in to our apartment we have had troubles with our shower drain. The water just did not want to go down. Ironically, when ever I wanted to take a bath the water doesn't stay up. It got so frustrating! We would use some draining liquid. It worked once, for about a day and that was it. So yesterday we went grocery shopping and bought what looks like a thin saw that's supposed to help unclog a drain. It worked! We got lots of hair! Probably some of mine, and some of whoever lived here before. Our drain already has very limited space for the water to go down, and it looks like it is divided into 3 sections. This is what we got in the first section. GROSS! The stick didn't go down the other two as well. So we ran the water to see if it had worked. The water went down a little faster, but there still seemed to be stuff blocking it. So we tried the 2 other sections again and there still wasn't much luck. I put the stick down the 3 section one more time, and I got even more! I think when we turned the water on, it moved the hair around. I still can't believe there was so much hair down there! Anyway, when I took a shower for church this morning, I didn't finish with my feet in 3 - 6 inches of water. No more clogging! Now the shower will stay cleaner longer too! Yay!

Lemon Curd Bars

Andrew got me a baking cookbook for Christmas that has a ton of yummy dessert recipes. So I've been trying some. So far I've made lemon curd bars, brownies and pound cake. The lemon curd bars have been the best so far. Andrew doesn't usually like lemon-flavored desserts, but he liked this! I wanted to share the recipe.

For the crust:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp of salt

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

For the filling:

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest (optional)

3 large eggs

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

3 tbsp heavy cream

Confectioner's sugar for dusting

To make the crust, preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish, preferably heatproof glass.

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon. process briefly to blend. Add the butter pieces and pulse until the dough forms moist crumbs and sticks together when pinched, about 1 minute. There should be no trace of dryness. Press the dough into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the prepared baking dish, lightly flouring your fingertips if necessary to prevent them from sticking. Bake the crust until pale golden, 20-22 minutes. Let the crust cool completely on a wire rack. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 F.

To make filling, whisk together the sugar, flour, salt, and lemon zest, if using. Add the eggs, lemon juice, and cream and whisk until just blended. Carefully pour the mixture over the baked crust.

Bake until the filling is set but still jiggles slightly when the dish is gently shaken, about 20 minutes, or longer if using a metal pan. Let cool on the rack for about 30 minutes. Run the tip of a small knife along the inside of the dish to loosen the crust from the sides, then let cool completely.

Cut into desired size pieces and carefully remove from the dish with a spatula. Dust the pieces with confectioner's sugar before using, if desired.