Holiday baking!

I love this time of year and I particularly enjoy cooking all the yummy meals and goodies.

This year I tackled a turkey! My first ever. I had to cook one last minute for our ward Christmas party because someone was unable to. So, it was the night before the party and I had a frozen turkey on my counter- I panicked a little. Luckily my mother in law came to the rescue and walked me through it- it turned out perfect!

The Turkey

I did the "turkey in a bag method"- way easy. I brushed it with butter, rubbed a mixture of rosemary, thyme, and salt n pepper, and laid it on a bed of onions and celery. I finished it off by sprinkling it with paprika for even browning. It was so yummy!

The Red Velvet Trifle

This is my latest creation. I kinda made it up as I went but its going to be so good.

Recipe:

1 Red Velvet Cake- I cheated and just did a box mix

Bake and cut cake into 3 layers

Middle layers:

1 box of Cheesecake pudding

2 c. milk

8 oz. cream cheese

1-2 c. whipped cream

Top layer:

8 oz. cream cheese

2-3 c. whipped cream

3/4 c. powdered sugar.

Top with fresh raspberries and white chocolate chips

(I also did this in the middle too)

2 year anniversary

I can't believe that we are already celebrating our 2nd anniversary. What a crazy two years it's been. We have gone through 4 moves, several apartments, 3 states, new jobs, a new house, and are now expecting our first baby. We are so happy and feel extremely blessed for all that we have!

Little Gunner

I know it is kinda hard to see but.... you can make out baby's head (at the top) and side profile of the face with its' little body and the umbilical cord (on the bottom)! You can kinda even see the little face!

I had my first OB appointment this morning and I was very excited to finally hear the heartbeat. I am only 10 weeks and the doctor couldn't get the heartbeat on the doppler- sometimes they are just to little to pickup. I was pretty bummed. My doctor only does one ultrasound at 20 weeks- which is when you find out the sex and most insurance companies only pay for 1 ultrasound. Lucky for me- my husband happens to be a doctor. He knew I was bumming so he asked he attending (the doctor he reports to) if I could come down the the clinic that day and get an ultrasound since he was there anyway. His attending didn't mind a bit and I got to go right in and have Jimmy give the ultrasound. It was neat for it to just be Jimmy and I in the room looking at our tiny babe on the screen. We took a few pics and then I was on my way! It was just a relief to see the baby and to know that yep- there is really one in there!

Christmas Joy!

I was so excited to decorate for Christmas this year...

and to start all the yummy holiday baking!

Too bad I will probably just throw it up

5K Run!

Race for the Cure!

This past weekend a few of my fellow Young Women leaders and I signed up for a 5k run to benefit breast cancer. A few of the Laurel girls joined us as well. We had a blast! It was great weather and thousands of people turned out for the event.

Brione, myself, and Laura were troopers and they helped keep me motivated!

We were a a little pooped out afterwards!

We had such a fun group- and are totally planning on doing it again next year!

The Amana Colonies

For Labor Day weekend, we decided to take a nice little trip to the Amana Colonies. It is an old German settlement established by Lutherans wanting a better life and created a profit sharing society. Oh and did I mention that this is Amana- as in Amana appliances...? Crazy. However, it is about an hour or so outside of Des Moines and it is a cute old town with shops and bakeries. We had a lot of fun going to antique stores, bakeries, and woodshops.

The colonies are picturesque!

We ate at the Ronneburg- Jimmy had some time of wienerschnitzel and of course- sourkraut- his favorite

We also went to the bakery and Chocolate Haus- and got some yummies- Apple butter and Raspberry jam

At the general store we got some awesome german rootbeer- it had a unique flavor but really good

The Amana colonies are famous for their woodwork and furniture. I got an awesome wood cutting board- it was also the only thing we could afford- everything was so expensive!!

It was a fun relaxing day!

My own HGTV

HGTV is my favorite thing to watch... all the time. I try and get ideas and dream of grand home decor. Whenever I say.."I could totally do that" in relation to home decor, my husband thinks I am crazy. But regardless I am having a blast trying to decorate my home on a very tight budget and trying to repurpose the stuff we already have!

Before: Ugly paint color, old furniture

After:

I painted the entire room by myself- a task harder than I anticipated, our new sofas, and a few new items for the walls. I still have this amazing rug I want to buy but its $$$ so it will have to wait.

It has come a long way!

I looove my new sofas

Our little dining room- I painted in the chair rail

My little reading corner!

My project: I found a bunch of old frames at Goodwill or garage sales and painted them all.

The whole room will have a shabby chic feel- but I am not done with it yet- my vision is still coming together. More pics when its finished!