Emma Bean

It is SUCH a joy to be a mother. I still can't believe that I am a mother..... weird!

Our little one brings so much happiness into our lives, it's so hard to put into words just how happy Jamison and I are to have her around. And frankly, we don't really remember what life was like without her. It feels like she's always been around.

Goodness I love her so much! I can't wait to see her grow and develop, and learn and play. We are so anxious to hear her little laugh for the first time. She already smiles ALL the time. (melts my heart every time).

In every single ultrasound we had of Emma she had her hands in her face in some way or another, and we secretly hoped she'd keep that habit once she was born, and she definitely has! She loves putting her hands in her face, especially when she sleeps. Here are a couple of recent pictures of her. I will jot down little habits and such in a later post. It's time to put my little angel to bed...so I'm off for now! :) :)

The key

Today was the day to get the keys to the house, and as excited as I was, I could NOT wait until after work to get them, so on my way to work I stopped by and got the key, showed my mom around in the house briefly, and went to work with the longing to stay at the house and get things moved already.

Jamison stopped by during his lunch break, unable to get in, but also just longed to get in already....and make the house our home.

I'm just SO excited! And I can't wait to decorate the house for Christmas and the fall, and light yummy scented candles, and really make the place feel warm and cozy...which is where the fireplace will come in handy.

It's just such a cute house with a lot of charm, and we're excited to get in tonight and start this next chapter in our lives. The apartment was a much needed blessing, and served its purpose, and we're so grateful to have had it. And we're ready to move on....to a new home and new ward/stake. Exciting!!! I promise that pictures will come up soon. Of the apartment and the house. :)

YAY! I'm a happy girl. We are SO blessed.

Tis the Season

...to make EVERYTHING Pumpkin!!!

Two days ago it was Pumpkin muffins which I somehow didn't get a picture of, but was way yummy. Today it will be Pumpkin Pie Milkshake. Oh holy goodness.....my mouth waters just looking at this picture.

Here's the recipe from ourbestbites.com Make some, you know you want to! :)

PUMPKIN PIE MILKSHAKE:

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1/3 C pumpkin, canned or homemade
1/4 - 1/2 C milk
1/4 t vanilla1/2 t cinnamon
1/16 t cloves (just use a 1/8 t measure and fill it half way, or do a pinch)
1/16 t nutmeg
2 T brown sugar
2 C vanilla ice cream
1-2 graham crackers

Pop everything but graham crackers in a blender. Start with 1/4 C milk and then slowly add more if needed to make the blender process it all. I used somewhere between 1/4-1/2 C.


A note about blenders: Here's the problem with making thick, diner style milkshakes at home: A lot of times you have to add so much milk to the thing to get the blender to process that it turns into a milk-slushie instead. Or you have to blend and plunge, blend and plunge, etc. You know the drill, right? So if you have any trouble with your blender, I would recommend blending everything but the ice cream first and then mashing it into the ice cream by hand (well, with a hand. Holding a fork or spoon :) If your scooped ice cream sits out at room temp while you measure the other things and get them all ready, then by the time you mash it all together it should be a good consistency.

Sprinkle with crushed graham cracker crumbs before serving. It reminds me of DQ's Pumkin Pie Blizzard!

Oops...

Well I've already ruined Top Ten Tuesdays...great! It's Wednesday again..hmm, hopefully I'll get the hang of this.

1. Life is good, life is great, life is wonderful!!

2. I LOVE planners. One of the best things invented.

3. We are currently house hunting. We are in our apt. until wecan find a home (thanks to my dad for helping us out in it all...love him). It might sound weird, but what I really want to do is park a tent in my family's backyard and call it home. I JUST might do that!

4. I'm dying to hang our pictures on the wall. Somehow we find time to do so much, but there never seems to be time left over to do it. My goal is to have them all up by next week...but as that was my goal 2 weeks ago, well, let's just say I don't have high hopes.

5. Had an Elder's Quorum bbq last Saturday for families. It was fun. Good food. Fun company. Cute kids. Overall loads of fun.

6. I LOVE Saturdays. That's the one day in every week that I get to see my boy ALL day because there's no school/no work. AND to top that off, Saturdays have become (since the very week we were married) our Temple day. I hate NOT being able to go. I missed last week with other things going on, so needless to say, I'm VERY excited about this Saturday.

7. Found a new cute recipe to making slime and cool silly putty here...and want to try it for my primary kids. Now, how to incorporate it into a lesson???

8. I. LOVE. FALL. I can't wait to go home and make pumpkin muffins!!!

9. Grandpa's Birthday today! LOVE you Grandpa! Happy Birthday!

10. I crave Cafe Rio every day it seems. Today just happens to be a day that I am NOT. It feels weird. HOWEVER, instead I am craving Baja Fresh. Do the cravings never end? I am so not excited to see how bad I am when pregnant with a precious little one. Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

OR....

hmmm......

Crockpot Lasagna

If any of you know me..and I mean REALLY know me, then you know that Lasagna is my best friend...shh...don't tell Jamison! I LOVE Lasagna. Well, seeing as we have no stove for a while, we've had to get creative with the crockpot. So we got a recipe from a friend...tweaked it to meet our liking, and voila!

Yesterday we had crockpot lasagna for dinner (We used different noodles so it doesn't LOOK like lasagna, but it most certainly has that beautiful lasagna taste!) and it was GoOoOoOoOod!!! mmm...Seriously it might not look good on the plate because I'm bad at my presentation skills (sue me!), but it was SO delicious. Thanks to Amber for the recipe. It has officially been added to one of our family Favorites! Want the recipe? Shoot me a request and I'll get it to you! It's one of those recipes that are good for quick fixes...when you have little to no time to cook and prepare meals for your loved ones. Takes 15 minutes prep time, and 30min-1hour in the crockpot. It really is a great recipe and easily feeds a family of 3 or 4. LOVED it!!!

....stay tuned for Pumpkin muffins.

.......................................................Seriously it's a 3 ingredient recipe. YAY!

Autumn is for walking

Who wouldn't want to go for a walk in a place like this?!?

Jamison and I are going for a walk today after work. Not any place special. This time of year just makes me want to walk everywhere and all the time! Yay for fall!!!