Friday, November 27, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at my Mom's house and it was wonderful. Stu and I were in charge of cooking the turkey. It was the first time either of us had cooked one and Stu pretty much did it all. I did baste it one time while it was cooking so I guess I helped a little. :) Well...the turkey was one of the best turkeys I've ever had, so moist and delicious! Great job Stu! I'm looking forward to left-overs.

Stu making the brine and cutting up veggies to stuff the turkey with the night before.

Check out this gorgeous turkey! Hot out of the oven.

We had an interesting menu as well. With my brother Alec's recent diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes we wanted to have a low carb, low sugar meal that everyone could enjoy together and it turned out to be in the top 3 all-time best Thanksgiving dinners ever. Plus for the first time in my life I didn't over eat. I'm pretty sure it's because I have a baby in my belly so there isn't much room in there for too much turkey or goodies. I'm pretty sure I'll be back to the great tradition of stuffing my self next year. :)

Stu and I are so thankful for such wonderful family and friends. Especially with our little Sweet Potater Grater on the way. The thought of Burke being surrounded by people we love so much and who will be such strong influences and examples in his life is overwhelming sometimes. We are grateful for the love that we share with each other. And I am grateful for my Dad. I rose a toast yesterday to him and we sat around for a while afterward and told stories and shared memories of him. I sure do miss him and wish he was around to meet Burke.

Vanessa's had enough and decides to take a nap.

Momma Sant and Dallin.

Abe, me, (Burke) and Stu.

Stu, Calvin and Megan.

3 wiener dogs begging for more turkey. From left to right: Simon, Sadie and Heidi. Check out Heidi's ears. Every time someone would hold out a piece of turkey, she would start bouncing up and down on her front legs, like a truck with hydraulics, and her ears would flop out like this. It was pretty cute.

Making My Own Baby Quilt

So....I have been shopping around for a few months now and found the baby quilt I love and want for baby Burke. I found it at PotteryBarnKids.com, Kasey Striped Nursery Bedding, but they wanted $215 for the quilt, bumper and a pillow. I was just about to purchase them, when I thought...Hey, maybe you could make it from scratch. So I jotted down the different patterns in the quilt material and the next day I went to the fabric store and priced it all out. It ended up costing me $78 total, AND, I got to make it on my own. It took me about 4 or 5 hours total to do, so it really wasn't that bad. I would just sew for a bit each night after work while I watched TV with Stu. I am going to make a quilt for all of our kids now that I see how easy it was. I found the patterns and instructions online to make the quilt and bumper, and I just winged the pillow.

Me sewing Burke's quilt, and loving every minute of it.

Our Beautiful New Tile

We did it and we LOVE it! We have saved for 3 years for new tile in our upstairs (entry way, dining room, kitchen, hallway and bathroom) and we finally did it. With a baby on the way, I put the kibosh down and told Stu I didn't want Burke crawling around on plywood so he made it happen. :) I'm really proud of us for waiting until we had the cash to pay for it, and I can't say enough about how much we LOVE it. It has given the whole house a face lift. Here is some snapshots of the process.

DEMOLITION:
Stu with his construction glasses. Or 'terrorist glasses' as we like to call them.


Stu ripping out the old tile, sub-flooring and toilet in the bathroom. The folks that lived here before us had left the wood and linoleum and just put the sub-floor and tile right on top of it, so there were actually 4 layers to rip out. Yippee!!

Stu disassembling the dining room table.

Loading everything into Burke's room.

Stu is super happy to be tearing down the kitchen.

Our dining room floor after everything is ripped out and ready for the new tile. We have had our wedding dance floor (a big piece of linoleum) laid on top of this plywood for 3 years. We are SO excited to see what the new tile will look like!

INSTALL:
Day 1: the wire-crete is done and it already looks better than it did before. They start laying the tile tomorrow.

Days 2-4: The new tile is down and how beautiful it is!! Some final cuts and the grout go in tomorrow.

Jason, the guy that laid our tile. He was really cool and did an excellent job on the tile!

We still have the baseboards to install, but everything is done and beautiful. But don't take my word for it, come and visit us and see for yourself! :) I haven't taken pictures yet of the finished product, but I will shortly and post them.

Fall Leaves

Simon and I love picking up the leaves in the fall. I made a mental note the first year we moved in, that with all of our big trees we have 4 big leaf pickups. This is #3, and only the last of it. Each load produces about 10+ garbage bags full of leaves, no kidding.

Simon is such a good helper. I pile the leaves up and he jumps in them looking for his ball.

I LOVE the look of a raked lawn!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Baby Shower!

My Mom and Aunt Maureen threw a really fun baby shower for me a week and a half ago. My Aunt had a 'belly' cake made which was adorable and delicious. Thanks Aunt Maureen! My Mom was in charge of activities and we played the 'motherly advice' game...My Mom brought the cutest, chubbiest blue piggy bank and gave everyone pennies and they would give some great advice about motherhood and throw their pennies in the bank for Burke. I was given some amazing advice that had us all in tears at one point and laughter at another. Thanks for such a great game Mom! Some of my favorites were:

Trust your intuition - Mel
Ask for help - Courtney
Follow through with discipline - Arryn
Go easy on yourself - Arryn
Go on adventures with your kids - Aunt Cathy
Learn new things as a mom all the time - Grandma
Learn & watch the stars, meteor showers, and astronomy - Grandma
Read to your kids - Aunt Cathy
Don't become emotional when a child becomes emotional, stay logical - Larisa
Hug Stu more than I used to - Ruthie
Have boundaries - Mom
Keep yourself happy and taken care of and the rest will fall where it should - Marie

I got the most wonderful and useful gifts from everyone and I can't wait for Burke to arrive and enjoy everything. Thank you to everyone for coming and celebrating with me. :)

The only thing that would have made things better is if my sister Marie was there. Marie, your name came up a few times and we all missed you, especially me. I love you.


Courtney, Mel, Ruthie, Me.

Me, opening presents.

Mom, Aunt Joan, Aunt Maureen. I love this picture because everyone was 'taken off guard' and the looks on their faces make me smile.

Larisa, Asher, me, Samantha - a few of my cousins

The 'belly' cake