Chubby Cheeks...

We got another look at our baby boy today. All is going well. The due date is this Thursday. We are really hoping that this is the week we get to meet him. I will be sure to keep you all posted.

Cute little nose. His hand is in front of his mouth. Can you see his closed eyes and chubby cheeks?

Looking forward to kissing that sweet little face.

I love my baby.

The unexpected pregnancy symptom...

(Enjoy this photo that has no relation to today's post. Just a picture of my favorite person on a walk by a beautiful river  during my favorite time of year.)

Today marks my 39th week of pregnancy. And what a blessing these past 39 weeks have been. I am truly grateful for the gift I have been given to be able to carry this baby and very soon be his mother. Even these last few weeks with this unexpected pregnancy symptom have been a blessing because they are making me want to hold my baby outside of my belly more than ever before. And it has also given me time to reflect on the relatively easy road this whole experience has been.

I expected a lot of things coming into this pregnancy. I expected to be more hungry and tired than normal. I expected to really enjoy feeling a little person move inside of me. I expected my belly to grow and stretch more than I thought possible leaving the expected marks of such stretching behind. I expected I would nest, wanting everything in perfect order before the arrival of this tiny baby. And I expected that I would love being pregnant. (which I really do.)

However, what I did not expect with pregnancy is the almost unbearable itching that I am sure is a result of the expected stretching of my 39 weeks pregnant belly. This itching is probably worse than any mosquito bite I have ever had times 10. It is pretty close to constant and is very hard to relieve. I try not to touch it, look at it, think about it, and should probably stop blogging about it because doing so seems to be making it itch even more. But I felt that I should let my future-mother-friends out there know about this pregnancy symptom which for me was very unexpected so that they can add it to their list of expected things that may come their way when pregnant. But remember, everyone is different so you may be lucky and never have to experience the itchy belly. But if you do, also remember that it is a blessing. Because as my sweet sister once told me, if pregnancy were without difficulty we would forever want to remain pregnant. Instead we get to dream about the day when our little one is wrapped up in our arms and not in our bellies.

(So please come out soon little boy.)

In love...

(taken on an early morning last November)

I love this man. (a lot)

Monday

Sweet Grandpa Boman brought me this darling rose from his flower bed this weekend. He is such a great grandpa, always saying nice things and giving me hugs. He loves me like I was born into the family. I have the rose in some water on my desk and I love smelling it as I walk by.

My darling husband also did a very nice thing for me this weekend. It was very out of the blue and such a  surprise. For those of you who do not know of Stephanie Nielson, she is my hero. She has a great blog and an amazing story. She is a great example to me of having hope and never giving up. I admire the wife and mother that she is and the person that she has become from the experiences she has gone through. If you do not know of her, start with this video.



Then check out her blog,  and then read her book. Which brings me to the big surprise. Sage bought me her book! It is wonderful. There is a digital preview of the first few chapters on the right hand side of her blog. 

Oh, and have a great Monday!

Still Here!

This break from work and school has been everything I hoped it would be. It has been so nice spending time with my husband, seeing family, eating good food, celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and welcoming in the New Year. I hope that you all have had a safe and happy holiday as well. I took a few pictures over the break that I thought would sum up the fun we have been having pretty well. Here you go!

The day we left our little home in Logan.

In-law's house. (Before presents.)

In-law's house. (After presents.) Not sure how I managed to get feet in each picture :) Check out the stocking I made Sage! It is on the far left of the mantle. I have  one just like it. The white fabric is super soft.

Temple Square visit with my side of the family.

Beautiful Salt Lake City Temple.

Tucanos Brazilian Grill with In-Law's. (Celebrating my father-in-law's birthday) Delicious grilled pineapple.

Skype video call with brother-in-law on a mission to Chile. 

Cute sister-in-law and mother-in-law playing Jenga during Skype call.

Back in Logan now and still playing Jenga. Thank you Holly! Had no idea that Sage loved it so much.

First day with Naomi for the semester! Naomi and I have been good friends for a little over a year now. Here is a picture of her the first week I began my nanny job last year: 

Love this little darling.

We have a lot of fun together.

And that is what we have been up to for the past few weeks.
Have a great Day!

Ps. I have finally updated the About Me tab! Took me a while to get those baby pictures. Click here to check it out.

Final note: For those who were keeping track, I have not posted the remaining twelve dates of Christmas. I was having too much fun to post all of them. (that and I just stopped counting!)

Our Fourth Date of Christmas...

Today we enjoyed a nice dinner date in the engineering building. One thing that I love about our marriage is that we always have dinner together. Even on our busiest days we will find a place to meet and eat. I so look forward to that time we get to sit and talk together. I am really excited for winter break when we can spend more than just a few hours at a time together. That will be very nice.

Here is what we ate tonight:

Chicken Fajitas:
Cut chicken breast into strips, cook in a skillet. When almost done cooking add sliced green pepper and sliced red onion and a little butter if needed. When veggies are tender add a little water to your skillet along with one packet of taco seasoning. Let simmer for a little bit. Put in a tortilla with your favorite topping. We like black beans, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and tonight we are adding some baby spinach, cilantro and chopped green onions (leftovers from Thai Curry Soup). Wrap it up and eat. (If you feel like it, you can toast the tortilla after it is all assembled by placing it on a clean skillet or griddle over medium heat. Watch it closely so it does not burn. We like to do this sometimes because it gives the fajita it a nice crunch.)

This recipe is pretty simple and I probably do it a little different every time. That is why I was not very specific with this recipe post. Enjoy!

Our Third Date of Christmas...

Yesterday we had a wonderful Family Home Evening Date. We played the piano and sang Christmas songs, ate dinner, and played a "dating game". Sage wrote down some questions earlier that we each took turns answering. A few were, "How many different kinds of cheese have you tried?", "What is a family tradition you want to establish?", "What scripture has helped you this week?", and "What is one of your favorite memories of our dating and courtship?" It was such a nice date. I love Sage :)

Have a great day! 

Our Second Date of Christmas... With a Recipe!

Yesterday was our second date of Christmas. (If you missed the explanation of these dates click here.) We ate good food and watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I love my husband! We had so much fun together on our sweet and simple date.

This was our devotional setup. Very cozy :)

 Devotional Goodies: Kettle Corn, Hot Chocolate, and a Christmas scarf from my sister Kelley!

Dinner: Thia Curry Soup with mozzarella and basil toasted whole wheat dipping bread.

To make bread:
Cut any bread you have on hand into slices. Arrange on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and basil. Turn oven to broil and watch closely until cheese melts or turns slightly golden if you like it extra crunchy. (The middle is not supper crunchy but it is perfect to dip in soup!

To make soup:
I got this recipe many years ago from an online source that I do not remember. I was looking for a recipe similar to the Thia Curry Soup at Noodles and Company. This is perfect. Here you go!

Thia Curry Soup
prep time: 15 min.
cook time: 35-40 min.

Ingredients:
- 2 oz rice noodles
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 1/2 T. minced lemon grass (I just used a little lemon juice)
- 1 t. ground ginger
- 2 t. red curry paste
- 1 (32 oz) carton chicken broth
- 2 T. soy sauce
- 1 T. white sugar
- 1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk
- 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms (if you like them!)
- 1 (10 oz) bag baby spinach leaves
- 2 T. fresh lime juice (I used lemon juice because that is what I had)
- 1/4 c. chopped cilantro
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add rice noodles and cook until al dente, about 3 min.
2. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir garlic, lemon grass, and ginger, about 30-60 seconds. add curry paste and cook 30 seconds more. Pour in about 1/2 c. chicken broth, and stir until curry paste dissolves, then pour in remaining broth along with souy sauce and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce head and cover. Simmer 20 min.
3. Stir in coconut milk, mushrooms, spinach, lime juice, and cilantro. Increase heat to medium-high and simmer 5 min.
4. To serve, place some noodles into each serving bowl, and ladle soup on top of them. Garnish each bowl with a sprinkle of sliced green onion.

Tips:
- if the package says, "Rice Sticks" they are either the same thing or they work just the same.
- if you don't have lemon grass or line juice, lemon juice tastes fine. The real ingredients will taste better but the soup I made without them was very yummy.
- I don't like a lot of spinach in my soup, the whole 10  oz is kind of a lot for me. Maybe add a little then go from there instead of adding the whole bag all at once.
- getting your ingredients ready to go before you start cooking will make things go so much better.
- I am not a huge fan of mushrooms so instead, I like to put in thinly sliced red onions.

Enjoy!

I Love Christmas!

Sage brought me dinner while I was at work tonight, along with some early-Christmas presents. Among the presents was this darling nativity. He knew how much I have been wanting one and thought that I might want to use it to decorate before Christmas. He was right :) He also found a little silver saucer that matches my silver baby cup my grandparents gave me when I was born. And he got us a working can opener, and some darling Christmas tree cookie cutters. They were just little gifts but they meant so much coming from him. When I gave me the nativity he told me that there were so many to choose from and he had a hard time picking one. But when he saw the word "first" in this one he had made up his mind because this is our "first" Christmas together. Does it get any sweeter?? I love him.

And I love this idea for a Christmas treat! I stumbled upon it while looking for Thanksgiving treat ideas. I am definitely going to try it. It would make a great neighbor Christmas gift. Here is a brief description but be sure to take a look at the full tutorial here.

You take this:

And this:

Assemble it to look like this:

Add a some warm milk and you get this:

The tutorial has the recipes as well as some darling instruction tags that you can attach to the stick to give away as a gift. So cute! Had to share.

My New Ring

The photo shown above was taken on our wedding day. There you can see two beautiful rings given to me by my sweet husband. The pearl is the ring Sage proposed to me with. The diamond band is my "wedding band", even though I wore it for most of our engagement. (The pearl is oh so fragile and is not worn all of the time.) These rings make me so happy. I remember before we were married, I would wake up, look at my hand and get so excited to see them there. But .... the cute little diamond band did not hold up and was replaced after 9 diamonds fell out. Let me tell how each of them were lost:

# 1- We were on our honeymoon in California visiting some family when the first diamond fell out. I am pretty sure it happened when I was helping dry off my niece after she had been swimming. As soon as we came home we took it straight into the jeweler who replaced it free of charge.

# 2- The second diamond fell out while on a visit to see my parents in Tooele. My mom noticed a small black speck on my ring and asked me what it was. What looked like a black speck was a small whole where a diamond should have been. Bummer. Back to the jeweler we went for another free replacement.

# 3- While on a walk home from class one day my hand brushed against Sage's backpack and I felt a little tug. I looked down at the ring and to my disappointment, another empty whole where the third diamond had fallen out. After searching the ground for quite a while we gave up and headed to the jeweler once again for a replacement. He then sent the ring in for a closer look. 

#'s 4-9- The ring was put into an ultra-sonic cleaner overnight to test its stability when six, yes six, more diamonds fell out. The ring which we had received a great deal on was discontinued, we were given the full amount we paid for it in credit and were told to pick another ring. 

What might be frustrating to some was so much fun for me! How many girls get to go ring shopping twice (with the same husband, no divorces)? After about a week, of shopping we finally picked a replacement. I had thought about choosing another style, maybe with a center stone, but I kept coming back to the dainty little diamond bands. (I wanted to be able to wear my pearl with it.)

Here is what we picked. And after three long weeks of waiting, I finally have it on my finger and oh how I just adore this little ring.

I hope you all have enjoyed your Saturday like I have. :)

http://www.blissweddingblog.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

*All of my rings were purchased at Jerrick's Fine Jewelry here in Logan. Sage and I highly recommend this place. Jerrick and his wife are so nice. They work very well with you and have a beautiful selection to pick from. If you happen to stop by, let them know we sent you! (They have a referral program :)  And be sure to check out their website here.

Yes, I Am Still Here.

Busy, busy, busy. It has been a not stop flow of homework, studying for exams, preparing a talk for Sacrament Meeting, and trying to keep up with everyday things here at home. I have just been taking it a day at a time and trying not to get overwhelmed.

I am so lucky to have such a sweet husband by my side every day. He helps me so much. When I am too busy to cook, he brings me lunch. When I am tired, he runs his fingers through my hair. When I run out of time in the morning, he drives me  to class. etc. etc. etc. 

On Sunday, which is my favorite day of the week by far, Sage read me Little Women while I cooked dinner. And today he washed all of the dishes before he went to class so that I would have one less thing to do when I came home.

Yes, life is very busy right now. But I could not be happier. 

My Love

This is me and my love outside the Logan Temple the day we were sealed. We met exactly one year ago to the date on the day this picture was taken. He is my very best friend and the person who makes me the happiest. I love being his wife. Here are  a few reasons why....

This picture is of Sage the day we got engaged. He is so cute to always give me flowers. Maybe a week or so after we started dating he picked a little white rose for me out of his moms flower bed and put it in my hair.  No one had ever done that for me before! So I saved it to better remember that day.

Sage can dance! I always hoped I would marry a man who could dance. We did a lot of dancing while we were dating. I am not a great dancer by my self but I quickly learned to follow his lead. One day after we were married I was having a bad day. As I was doing dishes, Sage turned on our favorite song (All the Pennies by Mindy Gledhill) and danced around the kitchen with me. I was instantly put into a better mood.

 
Sage is silly. A day has not got by where he has not made me laugh. I remember someone telling me that same thing about her own husband before we were married and how grateful she was for that. I share that feeling. It is so fun being married to someone you can laugh with.

Isn't that dimple cute? I absolutely adore this man. And I love that he loves me as well. I hope that after reading this you have thought about that special person you love (a spouse, roommate, friend, dog, etc.) and some of the reasons why they make you so happy. And I hope those happy thoughts help you have a great day.

Thanks for visiting!