BABY SHOWER!

I had the BEST baby shower thanks to my wonderful mother and best friend Megan!

Here are a few snapshots of that day!

Amazing cupcakes!

Amazing friends

Delicious food!


Presents!


Wonderful mother and mother-in-law

booby class....

I went to a breastfeeding class today. I won't get into much detail about that or I may get in trouble. It was really amazing being reminded of how incredible God has made our bodies. For instance - I learned that if you lay your baby against your body, your own body heat will regulate your baby's body temperature. And if the baby starts to get too warm, your body cuts back on the heat it's emitting! How incredible. I wanted to stand up in my chair and say "People! How can you not believe in an intelligent, loving, creating God?!" But then I would forever be known as "the crazy lady from booby class."

Prayer is good....

I spent some time in prayer tonight for The Sound. It's amazing to me how we can go for so long without it. I pray everyday. In my car, in the shower, while I'm folding laundry. But I never make time to REALLY pray. To go in my room, lock the door and not look at the clock. Just pray until I'm done....or until God's done. I am amazed at the peace and relief I feel right now....how can I not want that feeling all the time? Prayer is awesome and I plan on having more of these moments from now on.

Blogging chef

I just watched the movie "Julie and Julia". I am the type of person to watch something interesting and then decide it's something I want to pursue. I watched "The Cutting Edge" when I was little and decided I wanted to be an ice skater. I had never been ice skating before but I was sure I would learn quickly and be in the olympics one day. I even drew up a floor plan for the barn I was going to turn into an ice skating rink (just like the movie :) ). Well, the ice skating thing didn't work out for me. That's ok.

So of course tonight when I watch a movie about a chef who blogged it inspired me to want to start doing 2 things....

Now I can check thing number 1 off my list since I'm doing it right now. I also got out my Sandra Lee cookbook and make a grocery list for a wonderful week of food consumption.

On the menu:

Angel Hair w/ a Rose Cream sauce

Lemon Tilapia

Grilled Veggies with Saffron Rice

AND a Soy Mocha Smoothy that I am really excited about

I was also going to try a Lime Souffle, but I think I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit! I'll try that next week.

I will try to post some pictures of these creations if they turn out well!

Yum Yum Time

I thought I would give you all a gift today...my favorite dessert recipe. Three reasons why this is my favorite recipe. 1) Biscotti is Italian. 2) It tastes amazing. 3) Each biscotto (a biscotto is a singular biscotti) only has about 80 calories....thank you Jesus!

P.S. My cooking tip...I always add more flour after all the ingredients are mixed together because I find the dough too sticky to really handle. Adding more flour has never messed with the yumminess for me!

Chocolate Cherry Biscotti

Yield: 40 biscotti (serving size: 1 biscotto)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
• 2/3 cup dried tart cherries
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flours and salt in a bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Beat sugar and eggs with a mixer at high speed until thick and pale (about 4 minutes). Add oil and extracts, beating until well-blended. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in cherries and chocolate chips.

Divide dough in half; turn out onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Shape each portion into a 10-inch-long roll, and flatten to 1-inch thickness. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove rolls from the baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.

Cut each roll diagonally into 20 (1/2-inch) slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes. Turn cookies over, and bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire rack.

Firsts....

The first clothing item we bought Abrielle.















Rog and I went to build-a-bear and made her first Teddy. We got her a "birth certificate" and so we had to name her...Buttercup. Then my mom bought us the record book to keep all of Abrielle's "firsts". I'm excited to start filling that out!

This last first is for Rebekah Butterfield. I just want her to realize what is coming down the road for her. I'll call this my first emotional breakdown over food.
I came home and had just bought all of these yummy groceries from Trader Joe's - my new fav place to shop. I wanted to make Roger a delicious turkey sandwich on ciabatta bread. It was going to be scrumptious. But he said he wanted a steak and cheese. I said "no I really want to make you a turkey sandwich." He said "babe I really want a steak and cheese. I'll make it myself." After another minute or so of going back and forth it happened....I started crying. I just wanted to make him a turkey sandwich people. Is that so wrong?

My Belly....

^ This is the day after we found out!

Well I promised Megan I would post some belly pictures since I have gotten huge lately!

I am embracing the gaining weight thing. Since I was chubby as a little girl I thought it would be really hard to start gaining so much weight...but it's been fun actually! I don't eat like a cow even though everyone in the world says "You're eating for two, eat whatever you want." That is a bunch of poo. Plus you want to eat healthy because you ARE feeding your baby! Anyways, in these pics I kind of just look like I love ice cream. I think in the next two weeks or so my belly will finally be round! :)

This is about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I'm a lot bigger now, but no one is home to take my pic!

I don't know when this was but I look huge!!!!!