Any Advice?

Josh and I are wanting to buy a video camcorder before the baby arrives. Do any of you have suggestions? I've been looking online, but there are soo many options. Do any of you use digital camcorders or have you just stuck with the regular kind with little tapes? I'm only used to the kind with tapes, but maybe digital is the way to go???

Not a Good Combination

The car is in the shop until at least Thursday

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The weather outside is frightful, and more rain and snow showers are predicted for this week

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I don't have a coat that zips up around my big pregnant belly

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A really fun week!

Luckily...

(1) It's not a long walk to campus and even Josh's work is just a block away from our apartment.

(2) I love, love, love going on walks with Josh, so this is just an excuse to walk with Josh to campus and anywhere else we need to go this week.
(3) We don't have any big plans this week that require a car.

(4) I have a really cute pair of wool gloves and three great scarves that will keep me warm!

(5) I have an awesome husband that helps me laugh at silly situations like this.

Halloween

Logan's favorite food in the whole world is KFC and he decided a few months ago that it would only be fitting to dress us as Colonel Sanders (his hero) for Halloween. My family was all over the idea and were hoping that he'd actually go through with it. He didn't let us down.
Josh and I went up to Sandy last night and were soo glad to see him all dressed up. I know I'm biased because I'm his sister, but you've got to agree that it's a pretty awesome costume! Atta boy Logan!

Someday....

...we will have a car that doesn't overheat every other drive!
Or... we will find an honest, knowledgable mechanic that can actually fix the problem for us!
Or... we will have a second car, so we don't have to rely entirely on the ten-year-old Acura!
Or better yet... we will be rid of the Acura completely and we will have two beautiful, reliable cars that will get us where we need to go without any finger crossing or silent prayers!!!

But until then, we will continue to enjoy (cough) the adventure of student life with a struggling little car! And if this is the worst of our troubles than we really have nothing to complain about.

nine weeks...

....and counting! I haven't had a picture taken of me lately, but here's about what I look like:

Last year Marie and I were janitors for a Tueller Halloween party. We tried to give ourselves pot-bellies, but we just turned out looking pregnant. They definitely weren't the most flattering costumes. Anyway, this is about the current size of my pregnant stomach. It's really popped out! (And I've still got a ways to go!) I had heard that the babe wouldn't move as much as she got bigger, but she is still moving around like crazy! It's so funny to watch my stomach move from the outside. I hope she settles down once she's born because she's sure an active little girl right now!

Recipes

TORTELLINI SOUP
1 roll (about 12 oz.) of Jimmy Dean sausage (I use original flavor)
1 onion, diced
5 cups beef broth
1 cup water
1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
1 cup thinly sliced carrots (I just buy the pre-cut matchstick carrots)
1/4 t. basil
1/4 t. oregano
1 (8 oz.) can of tomato sauce
1 T. parsley
Brown the sausage with the onion. Then transfer to large stock pot. Add the other ingredients and bring to a boil then turn down to low and simmer until the carrots are tender. (This usually takes about 30 min.)
Then add:
2 chopped zucchini
1 (8-12 oz.) bag of tortellini (I use the frozen kind and just let it sit out for 20-30 minutes so it's not quite so frozen when I put it in.)
Then simmer for another 20-30 minutes.

TOMATO SOUP
1.5 - 2 cups of matchstick carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 chopped onion
2 t. tarragon
2 t. thyme
2 t. basil
1 t. garlic salt
1/2 cup water
Bring to a boil, then turn on low when onion and celery and turning clear. (5-10 minutes)
Then pour in:
1/2 cup flour
1 T. chicken granules
1/4 cup sugar
1 (46 oz.) can of tomato juice (not V8, just the straight tomato juice.)
1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
Let that simmer on med or med-low for about 20 minutes.
Then add:
2 cups of half and half
Stir that in and then you're done!

EASY BREADSTICKS
Dissolve 2 T. yeast and 1-2 T. sugar into 1.5 cups of warm water.
Let that rise for 5 minutes.
Then add:
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 cups flour
Knead into a smooth ball. (You may need to sprinkle a little more flour). Let rise for 15 minutes. Then roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into strips.
Melt 3-4 T. butter or marg. in a jellyroll pan. Dip breadstick strips into melted butter on both sides and then fit them all onto the jellyroll pan. I like to add parmesan cheese, garlic salt, parsley, etc. on top of them.
Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Good Cookin

With the cooler weather and my art show all done, I have totally been in the cooking mood. I used to take pictures of everything I made when I was first married because I was so excited about it. I had gotten out of that habit, but now it's back. I think it's because I didn't cook over the summer while Josh was gone and I hadn't done a lot of cooking the last month or so because I was too busy with my art. Now I'm back in the kitchen, and loving all the new recipes Josh and I have been trying out! The above picture is some yummy homemade breadsticks. These weren't too difficult (okay, they're actually super easy) and they turned out great!

This is homemade tomato soup. It doesn't look that great in the picture, but it is soo good... and healthy. Always a plus! It has lots of diced tomatoes and other vegetables and it has such a good flavor. We took some over to my father-in-law and Josh's grandpa and they were both fans, as well!

Josh liked this soup even better than the tomato soup. It's a tortellini soup with italian sausage, zuccinni, tomatoes, carrots, etc. Soo yummy. It's got a really good flavor. Jae was sick last week, so I took him over some of this soup and he was better just the next day. I credit his speedy recovery to this delicious soup.

Finally, here's a picture of the yummy apple crumble pie that we tried. It was so good and fun to prepare. I felt so domestic and mother-ish pulling a hot apple pie out of the oven. Our neighbors brought us over a huge bag of apples from their tree, so it gave us a wonderful excuse to try out apple muffins and this apple pie. Yum. I like to attribute my growing belly to the fact that I'm pregnant, but who am I kidding? The main reason my stomach is getting bigger is because of all these new recipes!

A Little Catch Up

So my final show was last night and it went really well. I'll post about it when I get pictures from my sister's camera. I thought I'd give a quick update of a few things. First of all, here's a current pregnant stomach shot. My belly has grown a lot lately! Here's a picture from earlier this week: (You can totally see the line of my maternity pants. Not something I'm trying to show off.)

About a week ago Josh and I went to a BYU activity on campus for married students. This was a first for us and we were skeptical, but we heard that Comedy Sportz was coming so we couldn't resist. It was a fun night in the Wilkinson Ballroom with a catered dinner, musical performance, and best of all...some improv comedy from Comedy Sportz. It was a good break from working on my final art show. (It said semi-formal dress, but some couples were all decked out in tuxedos and long formal prom dresses! You know the poor husbands got roped into their tuxes by their wives!)

I loved the little place cards to show what we ordered. The head shot of the cow on Josh's steak card was my favorite!

The next night we went to Sizzler with my family after the BYU game for Jae's 24th birthday. Josh was soo happy to have steak two nights in a row! It was fun to be with family and to celebrate Jae's big day.