Here Comes the Sun

This weekend Jeff is getting a special visit from his best friend Erik!

As you can probably tell, these guys are pretty good friends. The kind of friends who enjoy playing frisbee golf for days at a time. On a completely unrelated matter, Jeff and I decided that this weekend would be a perfect time for me to fly down to Arizona to visit my parents! 

I have always loved our trips to the land of eternal sunshine and constant heat. They began many years ago when Nate and Sharon lived there. Some of my fondest memories are associated with Arizona: delicious food, fresh citrus, hikes to secret mountain springs, even the heat holds a special place in my heart. Mom and dad have now lived there for a little over a year and we have been able to visit them twice. Each time is more special then the last. They always take us to their favorite places: hikes, restaurants, coffee shops. However, some of the best times we have had are when we sit down after dinner with a hot cup of tea to play our favorite game, sequence. 

Im sad to be leaving my best buddy here at home but he will be getting some much needed man time. Crazy to think that next time we snap a picture together in Arizona we will most likely have Lentil with us!

Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like...Fall

For some reason I still wake up every morning expecting sunshine and 80 degree temps. Im pretty sure fall has begun up here in the North West as we have been waking up to this:

For The past several weeks...

As much as I love the summer sunshine, fall holds a special place in my heart. Fall makes me think of crunching leaves and hot chocolate, bundling up by the fire with a good book, a big bowl of soup for dinner, oh, and honey crisp apples (buy some if you haven't already). Needless to say all of the clouds and the rain make it a little too easy to for me to curl up on the couch and take an afternoon nap.
One thing that always sounds fun in the fall is baking. Our house is sorely lacking in the baked goods department. Every time I set out to bake something I realize Im missing an ingredient or that the recipe makes enough for 50 people. I hate throwing food away and, especially with baked goods, usually only like to make enough for Jeff and me to consume in one day. A gallon bag filled with cookies and muffins is just too tempting. Hmmm, Im beginning to think that our lack of baked goods is self imposed.

What do you love about fall? What are your favorite fall recipes?

Growing baby: 17 weeks

The baby is 17 weeks today. Little Lentil is now 5 inches long and weighs 5 oz, about the size of a turnip. The skeleton is hardening into bone and he/she can move her little joints. I can already feel little kicks and flutters all throughout the day. Its hard to imagine that they will soon be strong enough for Jeff to feel from the outside! I love feeling the baby move, it makes being pregnant feel that much more special and purposeful.

Week 17:

Week 14:

Week 10:

First Trimester Revisited

Hi all!

I thought it would be good to give a little summary of what my first trimester was like. I'll start at the beginning.
 I decided to take a pregnancy test when I woke up at 5am on a Saturday needing to go to the bathroom, definitely not a regular occurrence. You are supposed to wait for 3 minutes or some similarly absurd length of time to look at the results so I waited 30 seconds and looked at the two boxes that would determine the rest of our lives! I was pregnant ( I made sure to take 3 more tests just to be sure)! Assuming that Jeff would also have to get up I left the test on the counter so that he would see it. Sure enough he got up 10 minutes later. Many words could be used to describe Jeff's face as he came back into the bedroom, confused, excited, shocked. I explained that I took the test and he was going to be a daddy! I for some reason assumed that we would both just be able to easily fall asleep once we both knew. Not the case. We were both so excited we just lay in bed with our eyes wide open smiling and frequently reminding each other that we were going to have a little baby!

Strangely enough, the surreal feelings that surrounded the first few moments and hours after finding out that we made a little life were there for pretty much all of the first trimester. I attribute this to several things: I had absolutely no morning sickness or other "symptoms" that made me feel like there was a baby in there, we waited 12 weeks to tell most of our family, and we live what seems like worlds away from those we love.


We were able to tell everyone in person when we flew home to Colorado for Christian and Amber's wedding! My birthday was on the 5th of September so we celebrated with family and friends... and this delicious cake

Although I didn't experience any morning sickness I did notice an almost immediate change in my body. It was so weird to see my body changing even though I was eating and working out the same as usual. As far as cravings go, I haven't really had any. There was a week when I wanted only chipotle for dinner, many weeks when vegetables didn't sound particularly appealing, nights that I just had to have black beans, but nothing crazy. In fact, it seems that my normal love of certain foods has just increased throughout pregnancy. I mean, I loved pudding before I was pregnant so does feeling like I could eat an entire gallon at once constitute a craving now that I'm pregnant? I submit that it does not.

My parents came to visit us a week after we found out and we decided we could not resist the urge to tell them. At the time the baby was this big and received its first nickname "Lentil". Little Lentil is now much MUCH bigger and growing more every day.