30 Week Bumpdate/ Halloween!

I promise, I totally have a good reason for being so behind on my posts. MIDTERMS. Ugh, just a few more weeks until I'm done with my Bachelor's Degree. Just gotta keep on keepin on. I really cannot wait to be done because it brings me so much closer to meeting my cute little guy! And then I get to be a stay at home momma and don't have to worry about school until I find out where/if I've been accepted to grad school. Don't even get me started on that because it brings my stress to a whole other level. Oh and how about this- I had to pay $200 to take the GRE, which is fast approaching. (Fingers crossed that I do as well as I'd like.) I think they should be paying me to take the test haha but whatever gets me closer to being a Speech-Pathologist!

Anyway, let's get onto the 30 week bumpdate. So I turned 30 weeks on Halloween. And for the longest time leading up to Halloween, I was trying to find Tay and I the perfect costume. I know there's a big trend for pregnant ladies to paint their stomachs on Halloween, but I decided that I wanted to try and look for a cute costume for me and Tay- and I think I succeeded! We went as the 50's housewife and the milkman. And the best part was that we had everything we needed for the costumes already. Simple. :) Well, here's the 30 week bumpdate plus some pictures of our Halloween costumes. Hope you enjoy!

How far along? 30 weeks! 75% of the way done!

Baby size? size of a large cabbage

Trimester? 3rd and final, ladies and gents!

Due date? January 9th

Gender? baby boy :)

Cravings? rocky road ice cream, vanilla coke, pizza, still anything chocolate- so that is very much welcomed if you feel so inclined :) haha

Movement? This little guy is so active! Up until this point his favorite times to kick momma have been right when she's trying to sleep haha but he's been moving a lot more throughout the day. Sometimes it seriously feels like he's playing the xylophone on my ribs, but I love feeling him move. :)

How I'm feeling? I have been so blessed with this pregnancy. I didn't get nauseous and wasn't throwing up throughout the first two trimesters. And this trimester, all I have to complain about is some acid reflux- which is usually only bad at night. And all it takes is some tums to make me feel better. You better believe I carry those with me wherever I go haha.

I have been feeling rather large lately, but that was bound to come at some point. It's weird not being able to do things that I would normally be able to do- like put on my own shoes. I still can, it's just a lot harder for me to bend down, so it's a lot easier to just have the husby help me out. But the good news? I haven't started waddling yet, which is a definite plus in my book! haha

Nursery? It's a work in progress. Hoping to be done with it in the next few weeks :) I'm really excited about seeing all of my ideas come together for it though, a vintage cars theme is every little boys (and my husbands) dream.

Belly button in or out? Still in, but it's getting closer to being out.

Weight gain? 20 pounds. I'm hoping to stay under 35! Fingers crossed haha

--Until next time :)

Taylor Swift-1989

Two words ladies and gentlemen, Taylor Swift. She has done it again.

Taylor Swift's new album, 1989 came out this week! And whether you love her or hate her, you have to admit that she's incredibly talented. I am a hardcore T. Swift groupie. I've loved her since she came out with her first album. I loved her album, RED and 1989 is even better. I can't believe that every single time she comes out with a new album, it's better than her last. That's a tough thing to do, but she comes out on top without fail every. single. time.

When her song Shake It Off hit the radio stations a few months ago, a lot of people were undecided on how they felt about it. I loved it right off the bat. I love that she can make fun of herself and totally doesn't care what people think about her. And the fact that she decided to go completely pop and stray away from country- I think it was a good choice. This album seriously has a song that everyone can relate to. You can even ask the hubs. We were totally jamming to it yesterday in the car after we picked it up and pretty much for the entire rest of the night. Needless to say, it will be my jam of choice while I'm driving to class all week. So, if you haven't picked up her new album, 1989 yet, run, don't walk, to your nearest target and pick one up. I dare you to tell me that you don't love it. Happy listening!

27 week bumpdate!

It's been a pretty rough week. I think my body sensed that I was in my third trimester, so it automatically started to make things harder for me. But really though. Every single night this week I haven't been able to get comfortable finding a position to sleep in, mainly because of the acid reflux. And because I can't sleep until the wee hours of the night, I can't wake up in the mornings. This can be problematic with me having classes at 9 am every morning. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out a way to make this work so that this week isn't as bad!

Another thing that hasn't been so fun... lately I've been getting a little bit annoyed with people. Over the weekend, Taylor and I went to the BYU football game. While we were there, there was this group of girls sitting in the row to the right of us. I looked over at them and two of them were staring at my belly and whispering to each other. Normally when you're staring at somebody and you see them notice you staring, you look away. This was NOT the case. They continued to stare and whisper to each other. I imagine they were probably wondering to themselves if I was fat or pregnant because then they proceeded to turn to another friend in the group and ask her something. Immediately, she looked over and saw me looking at her and her eyes dropped down to my belly, as if she was questioning something. I couldn't believe how rude they were being! I was almost tempted to say, "To make it easier for you guys, yes, I am pregnant." I realize that I'm not huuuuge yet, but I have enough of a belly that it looks like a baby bump. It just got on my nerves that they weren't even embarrassed when I looked over and saw them staring. Oh well, I guess I better get used to it. On to the bumpdate!


How far along? 27 weeks, the first week of the third trimester :) (Each bumpdate is from the week earlier, so right now I'm 28 weeks)

Total weight gain? 16 pounds!

Stretch marks? Yes... but they're not on my belly. I'm still slathering on my belly butter though!

Maternity clothes? Yep! Mostly still just the pants because a lot of my shirts still work with my growing belly :) I just bought this super cute dress from Charming Charlie that totally works with my belly too and it's the perfect maroon color for fall! Can't wait to wear it :)

Belly button in or out? Still in, but it looks like it's on the verge of popping out!

Sleep? Not the greatest, but if this is the worst thing I'll have to deal with during my whole pregnancy, them I'm pretty lucky.

Movement? Lots, he is one very active baby. Taylor told me that while I was still sleeping the other day, he had his arm around me and could feel the baby kicking a lot. :)

Cravings? Caesar salad, orange juice, pizza, macaroni and cheese.

Gender? baby boy!

Usually happy or moody? Happy :)

Looking forward to? Halloween! The hubs and I picked out our costumes, so stay tuned! haha

Best moment this week? We finally found the perfect coming home outfit for our little guy, it's precious! I've been on the lookout for a cute coming outfit since I found out I was pregnant, so I'm very happy about this haha.

Worst moment this week? Acid reflux :/ really hating it.

I made the time of the clock 1:09 because the baby's due date is January 9th :)

 

A Letter To My Son

My sweet little guy,

I just finished taking a test. I'm so close to getting my Bachelor's Degree. I find the strength to continue doing school knowing that at the end of the semester, I'll be just days from meeting you. Since finding out that I was pregnant, my views on school have changed. I used to just want to be done with school, and though I still do, I realize that school is no longer only for me. It's for you. Everything I do is for you. I hope some day you will know that.

Right now, your daddy is at work. He works so hard so that he can provide for you and me. His work is never done. He comes home from a long day of work and then he does his schooling online. This is not ideal, but he does it for us. The best gift your dad has given me is the opportunity to be able to stay home with you and be your mommy. I know that if it were possible, he would stay home with us too. But he works so that I can stay home with you and teach you all the things that you need to know. Just wait til you meet your dad, he is gonna be one great daddy! I remember that the first thing that drew me to your dad was how happy he always was. It was like when I was around him, I had to be happy because his happiness filled the room, it was contagious. I hope you inherit that from him. Your dad has the biggest, most beautiful heart and the best laugh! He's the best man I've ever known.

As I continue to count down the days until I get to meet you, I am so grateful for the now. Right now you are growing inside of me. And though I long to meet you, I'm glad that you have a safe place to grow until you are ready to come into this great big world. I'm thankful that I get to be the one to provide that safe place for you. I hope that you will always feel that you have a safe place to reside, even if it's just our little apartment. The emotional bond that I already feel towards you is nothing short of wonderful. I've had dreams about you and I feel that through them, I get to know you before I've actually met you. I wonder about the little boy that I see in my dreams.Will he look/ act more like his dad or his mom? Though I have a feeling you'll be a miniature version of your dad, I still hope to see some of myself in you!

You are so loved. Momma loves you. Dadda loves you. May you always know, my little one, that you were wished for, longed for, prayed for, and wanted. I hope you don't ever question that. The day we found out that I was pregnant with you was the happiest day of my life. I've been preparing to be a mom ever since I was a little girl. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be your mom! I know we are going to have so much fun together. And though being a first time mom scares me, I know that the Lord will help me to be the best mom that I can be for you. If there's one thing I want to teach you that I hope sticks with you throughout your life, it's to put God first. He will never abandon you and he will love you with an unconditional love. Make sure that you are constantly trying to have a better relationship with him and you will be so blessed for that. Get to know him on a personal basis and let him be your best friend. And let your heart, sweetheart, be your compass when you're lost. You should follow it wherever it may go. When it's all said and done, you can walk instead of run, cause no matter what, you'll never be alone.

I hope that you look up to your dad and I's marriage and that we will be a good example to you of how marriage should be. I want you to know that I love your dad more than life itself and I feel so blessed that he is mine. I need you to know that I will always put your dad and I's relationship above all. Just like you and I have a special bond, your dad and I do too, and we need to be able to continue to grow that bond if we want to be good parents to you. He's going to be such a good dad. There will be lots of laughter and silly dancing when dad's around. I want the best for you, and if that means me sacrificing in order to give you everything you need, so be it. I want you to be a dreamer, just like your daddy. Dream big, little one. You can be anything you want to be.

All my love, your mom

Netflix/ Breakfast In Bed Date

With the weather getting more chilly this time of year, I have the perfect Saturday morning date for you guys! And very little goes into planning for this date, pretty much no planning at all. And it's a free date! It just keeps getting better, right? Okay picture this:

It's a Saturday morning and you're exhausted from working all week and you just want to relax. So, you sleep in a little bit and when you wake up, you just stay in bed. Then you proceed to eat breakfast in bed and watch some Netflix while snuggling up to your hubby. Yep, sounds pretty perfect to me.

This is what Taylor and I did over the weekend. It's nice because all throughout the week, Taylor has to be at work by 7 and I have classes that start at 9 every day, so we don't really get to see much of each other in the morning. Then, we come home from work and school and are working on homework or studying all night. So, Saturday morning's are the one day where we are perfectly content sleeping in and just hanging out for a little bit before we get done what we need to get done. We spent this Saturday in particular, eating some cereal while watching the new show "How To Get Away With Murder." The show definitely intrigues me, but I haven't decided how much I like it or not yet. It's very interesting and keeps you on the edge of your seat, but there are a few parts about it that I don't really like. Some of the students are willing to do some pretty crazy things just to get their teacher to remember their names. But overall, it's really suspenseful and I like it for the most part.

One way to switch up this date would be to spend the morning in bed catching up on a favorite show and then going out to breakfast. We actually considered doing this, but decided on a more lazy Saturday haha. Hope you enjoy some quality snuggle time with your hubs or significant other! :)

P.S. Can you guess whose cereal is whose? haha

26 week bumpdate!

The moment I have been waiting for has finally arrived. I am officially in my 3rd trimester as of yesterday! (27 weeks) I feel like that's such a huge milestone. 2/3 of the way done. In just 13 short weeks I get to meet my cute baby boy :) And I know it's not a good thing to wish my days away, but I seriously am so anxious to meet him already! I spend all of my time thinking about if he's gonna look more like Taylor or more like me, what his personality will be like, the qualities he'll inherit from me and those from Taylor, etc. I have my hunches that he's gonna be a miniature version of Taylor, but I'm hoping he at least gets some things from me! Like my love for reading :) Anyways, here's my 26 week (last week's) bumpdate! :)

How far along? 26 weeks

Baby size? A head of lettuce

Total weight gain? 16 pounds! Doctor says I'm right on track with my weight gain during pregnancy. I'm just hoping I stay within the normal 25-35 pound range! haha

Maternity Clothes? I'm pretty much always in maternity pants because they're so comfy haha since it's fall, my sweaters and cardigans still fit, but I still occasionally wear some maternity tops.

Due date? January 9th!

Gender: little boy :)

Name: We have a few picked out, but we want to wait to decide on one for sure until we meet our little guy :)

Symptoms: Lately at night, I've been getting some acid reflux. Definitely not fun. I'm also having a harder time bending down to put on my shoes.

Cravings: BYU creamery's mint chocolate brownies!, arby's melts, ginger ale.

Aversions: The smell of taco bell makes me a little nauseous but other than that, nothing!

Sleep: I've had a harder time getting to sleep, mostly because of the acid reflux. This might sound weird, but there was one day this week where I was awake at like 6 am when Taylor was getting ready to get up for work and I totally couldn't remember if I'd even fallen asleep to that point. Weird right?

Fall Drive/Sunset Date

 L.M. Montgomery said it best, "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." Fall has very quickly become my favorite season. It is so pretty and there is so much to do! Fall just makes me happy. Some of my favorite things about this time of year are:

• Oversized sweaters
• boots
• apple-flavored desserts
• the crunch of the leaves while you're walking
• the changing colors on the trees
• snuggling under blankets and reading a good book 
• oxblood colored nail polish
• hot chocolate with whipped cream on top, yum.
• scented candles
• making homemade soup

I could go on and on. Probably my favorite thing about the fall though are all the different dates you can go on. This week, Taylor and I went on a fall foliage drive up to Squaw Peak through Provo Canyon. Let me just say that being on the passenger side of a car driving up there can be a little bit scary. I would look over and just see a ledge and a long drop to the bottom. Kinda freaked me out a little! haha But it was such a pretty drive and we got some good pictures. We got to the overlook and were just in time to watch the sunset while drinking some hot cocoa. :) Can you believe we've been married for over 2 years and have never gone on a date to watch the sunset until now? Yeah, me either. And I love how I'll plan a date and then we'll take pictures and I hate how I look in every single one of them. Ugh, story of my life. But when we're just taking pictures for fun and I don't care about looking good, they turn out good! Life can be unfair. haha Which is why, there's only gonna be scenery pictures in this post and none of yours truly. Hopefully next time the "Odds will ever be in my favor" as far as pictures go. haha Speaking of The Hunger Games, I'm sooooo excited for the first part of Mockingjay to come out. Can't wait! Well, off to do some homework, thanks for stopping by lovelies!

22 Fall Date Ideas

Fall is probably my favorite time of the year! So, when fall comes around, I usually make a bucket list of different fall date ideas that would be fun to do. So the hubs and I sat down a few days ago and made a list of 22 things that we want to do this fall. Some we want to do before Halloween and some we would rather do after. But I always love looking for new and fun date ideas, whether it's a Saturday afternoon date or a night-time date. I'm constantly bugging Taylor about going and doing fun stuff this fall and taking lots of pictures to document. haha So hopefully with this list, we'll actually do most of them! And the best thing about this list is that most of the dates are free or don't cost a lot of money, so they're perfect for anyone! Here's my list:

• Carve/ decorate pumpkins. Carving pumpkins is the typical fall date, but I also added decorating pumpkins because some people don't like getting all the gunk out of the pumpkins and getting all slimy! haha
• Go to a corn maze. Sometimes it's just fun to go and get lost in a corn maze with your lover!
• Go to a haunted house/ haunted hayride. Because when you're scared, it's the perfect excuse to get close with the person you love....Especially if they're scared too! haha
• Go on a fall foliage drive. There is nothing prettier than going for a drive and seeing all of the leaves on the trees changing colors.
• Do a Harry Potter movie marathon. Fall just makes me think of Harry Potter, so it's the perfect time of year to do this date! But you have to do it the right way with some homemade butterbeer. :) Recipe included here.
• Make haunted gingerbread houses. Got the idea to do this date from here. It's pretty much just like making gingerbread houses for Christmas, except it's a spooky version. 
• Go on a hayride. 
• Do a bookstore date. Find out more about this date here. (Can you tell that I'm a fan of the Dating Divas?)
• Go watch the sunset/ do a stargazing date with hot cocoa.
• Go to an orchard and get some apples, then come home and bake a pie or an apple dessert together. Yum! While everybody else loves everything pumpkin flavored in the fall, I love anything apple flavored.
• Make a cream cheese pumpkin loaf together. Even though I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin flavored desserts, this is really good!
• Pick out Halloween costumes together. This one's pretty self-explanatory. Who doesn't want to pick the most awesome couples costume!?
• Make or go get caramel apples. (Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory's caramel apples are the best and they have a pretty good selection.)
• Go to a BYU football game! Any college football game will do, BYU is just what we prefer since we have season tickets :)
• Go Black Friday shopping. So we included this one because neither Taylor or I have ever gone Black Friday shopping before. We figured we'd see what all the hype is about.
• Make apple cider floats. These sound so good! Would be a perfect date to make these and watch a scary movie with some caramel corn.
• Go on a scenic chairlift ride. If you live by a ski resort, sometimes they'll do scenic chairlift rides. I think it would be fun to see all the scenery. If you live in Utah, I know that Park City does this for about $12 per person, but only until October 19th!
• Go on a picnic to the park. Because picnic's aren't just for summer! 
• Go check out a local farmer's market.
• Watch netflix and do breakfast in bed. The weather is getting colder, so a perfect Saturday morning activity would be to watch some of your favorite shows together in bed and make some breakfast together.
• Do a 13 Going on 30 date. You can watch the movie and then go track down some razzles and swing on the swings. :)
• Watch a movie outside. This just seems like it would be fun! You can use your phone as a projector if you don't have a real projector. (tutorial here)

Feel free to comment to me on any other Fall date ideas that you have! I love hearing new ones :) 

Harry Potter Movie Date

Don't you just hate waking up in the morning knowing that your school isn't Hogwarts? Yeah, me too. Going to quidditch games, sippin on some butterbeer at Hogsmeade, going to charms class- that would totally be the life. OH and I can't forget that me and Hermione would be total bff's, duh.
I'm seriously so sad that there are no more Harry Potter books. That was my entire childhood. Call me a nerd, but I was seriously devastated when I didn't receive my Hogwarts acceptance letter on my 11th birthday. I'm still waiting for it. haha
But I guess the good books will always stay with you.. which is why I'm totally planning a trip to Universal Studios in Florida to go to Harry Potter World since there are now 2 Harry Potter parks! And the best part is that you can ride the Hogwarts Express from one park to the other. Just let that sink it. It would be a total dream come true. And little boy Williams will grow up loving Harry Potter too, I just know it. Oh and speaking of little boy Williams and Harry Potter, look what I found.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/14918242491261778/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/14918242491261775/

I already bought the leggings for him, now I just have to get those booties! Only the cutest little Harry Potter clothes for the cutest little Harry Potter fan.

So I bet you're wondering what all of this has to do with anything. Well, over the weekend the hubs and I did our annual Harry Potter Movie Date! Complete with homemade butterbeer. :) We only watched one of the movies, but I plan on doing the complete Harry Potter Movie Marathon.  Fall just makes me think of Harry Potter, so it was the perfect date night! And there are so many more things you can do with this date. Instead of butterbeer, I'm sure there's a recipe out there for pumpkin juice. You can make some pumpkin pasties, get some Bertie Botts every flavor beans, even make some butterbeer cupcakes! The options are endless. I'll put the recipe for the Homemade butterbeer below. Hope you enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Design Dazzle

Butterbeer:

• 2 Liter Cream Soda
• 2 tablespoons butter extract
• 2 teaspoons rum extract (we didn't include this in ours and it still tasted great!)

*Drop the extracts into the 2 liter bottle, put on the cap and slowly rotate until combined.

Cream Topping:

• 1 7oz container of marshmallow creme
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon rum extract (we didn't include this either)

* Add items together in an electric mixer and combine until smooth.

Pour the butterbeer into a glass and drizzle with desired amount of cream topping. We sometimes like to add caramel syrup on top of the cream topping. Enjoy!

25 Week Bumpdate!

Well, I finally did it. I broke down and bought some maternity clothes. Up to this point I've been rocking my maternity band so that I could still wear my regular jeans, but I've also been wearing some maternity pants just because it is so nice to have the elastic waistband! I've still been able to wear all of my regular shirts, the only thing that I'm starting to need now are some dresses/ skirts for church because they are no longer fitting.

It has been really surprising to me how many unflattering maternity clothes there are out there. Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I don't wanna be stylin! So for the past few weeks I've been on a mission to try and find some good websites or stores that sell nice maternity clothes. Either the websites have really cute clothes but are way overpriced or they have clothes that I really don't like. Luckily, Asos.com has a pretty good selection of maternity dresses that are cute. Some of the really cute ones are over $100, but they still have some great options for under $100 as well.

The other website that I found is PinkBlushMaternity.com. They just added some cute fall dresses and clothes, which I'm excited about. I actually just ordered a bunch of fall shirts/ sweaters from there and am loving them! Even though I don't actually need to wear the maternity shirts/sweaters yet, I figured I should probably order some now so that one day when I don't fit into ANY of my clothes, I'll have something to wear. haha

I'm finding it harder and harder to contain myself from buying too many clothes for little man Williams. I can't help it, some of the stuff I've been finding is just so cute! One of these days I will splurge and buy him a ton of stuff. You can look forward to some pictures of the cute outfits I buy him in the next few weeks. Don't say I didn't warn you.  25 weeks down, 15 to go! And here's a little bumpdate :)

How far along? 25 weeks 

How big is baby? Size of an acorn squash 

Maternity clothes? Still just rocking the maternity pants, but I did order a bunch of maternity shirts/sweaters from PinkBlushMaternity this week! Loving them :)

Sleep: Still pretty good! I normally sleep on my left side, but a few days ago, I wanted to sleep facing Taylor, so I tried to sleep on my right side. After about a minute, I felt a pain in my side and put my hand over where it was hurting and I felt part of baby Williams pressing hard against my side! So I decided I better go back to sleeping on my left side haha

Best moment this week: I found these cute harry potter baby leggings on pinterest and followed the link to the Etsy shop and bought them for baby boy! I got really lucky because when I clicked on the link, it said they were sold out. So, I emailed the owner of the shop to see if there was any way she could make me a pair. I got really lucky when she said yes because she didn't have much of the material left. They are so cute!

Miss anything? I miss not having to pee a million times a day haha

Movement: He's moving more and more every week! Sometimes he moves when dad talks to him :)

Food Cravings: Snickers, Vanilla Coke, anything apple-flavored, little caesars pretzel crust pizza!

Gender: baby boy :)

Symptoms: getting more tired, peeing frequently, baby moving, getting out of breath, cravings.

Belly button in or out? In

Usually happy or moody? Still pretty happy! Hoping it stays that way :)

Looking forward to: Decorating the baby nursery! We already have a dresser, changing table, and crib in there, but I'm looking forward to getting the decorations! We decided on a vintage car themed nursery :) I have lots of ideas!

Happy fall!

Peanut Butter Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Here we go again with my cravings, guys. Sometimes it's exhausting trying to keep up with the foods that sound good to me. haha I don't really have the "have to have it right now" cravings a ton, but last night I was all about indulging in some kind of peanut butter dessert. I am a total peanut butter lover, so when I saw this recipe for peanut butter chocolate-chip cookies, I knew it was the best of both worlds. Chocolate and peanut butter in a cookie? You really can't go wrong with that. AND this is a totally gluten-free dessert for any of you gluten-free people out there. AND it's the simplest recipe ever. AND the cookies are so fluffy and delicious. I made these last night and the recipe made about 2 dozen cookies. Yeah... the hubs and I already polished them all off. The baby made me eat it guys! Seriously though...totally need to buy this shirt for myself. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from: myrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Stir together first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.
2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets,
3. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire baking racks to cool for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Apple Fritter Bread

I am so excited to post my first recipe on this blog! It has been a long time coming. Like, a long time.

While everybody else goes crazy over anything pumpkin flavored the second the season changes to Fall, my weakness is everything apple flavored. Yummy. So naturally, ever since I pinned this apple fritter bread recipe on Pinterest, I could NOT STOP thinking about it. Granny Smith apples and cinnamon sugar all baked into the sweet goodness of this bread, what could be better? That's where my pregnancy brain is always at: thinking about food. Seriously, all day long that's what I think about. It doesn't help that I have a major craving for all things sweet, so I pretty much had to make this bread otherwise I would crave it until I made it. And I'm so glad that I did. The bread was delicious and it filled our apartment with a heavenly smell. Love it. Enough talk, time for you to see it to believe it.

Recipe adapted from Rumbly In My Tumbly

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 apple, peeled and chopped (I used Granny Smith, but it's up to preference), mixed with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze: 1 cup of powdered sugar + 1-3 tablespoons of milk (depending on the consistency you like)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.Grease and flour a 9x5 inch bread pan.
2. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat sugar and butter together using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, until incorporated. Add vanilla extract
4. Combine flour and baking powder together in a bowl; stir into butter mixture. Mix milk into batter until smooth. Pour half of the batter into the prepared bread pan; add half the apples and half the brown sugar mixture. Lightly pat apple mixture into batter. Pour the remaining batter over apple layer; top with remaining apples and brown sugar mixture. Lightly pat apples into batter; swirl brown sugar mixture through apples using a spoon.
5. Bake 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.
6. Let cool for about 15 minutes before drizzling with glaze. Enjoy!

Pregnancy Story/ 24 Week Bumpdate!

Wanna know something crazy? I'm 24 weeks pregnant. Which means that I only have 16 weeks left! And I'm already so anxious to meet my little man that I can barely stand it!

Since I haven't blogged in forevs, I figure that I should probably start by telling you the story of how I found out I was pregnant....

The day before Mother's Day, Taylor and I went shopping with his parents and his sister. Everything was great and I was feeling good and obviously the new clothes helped with that (shopaholic right hurr). Then we decided that we were going to go to the cheap theaters, but first we stopped at a grocery store. That's when I started to feel sick, and not the kind of sick where I felt like going and sitting through a movie would help it to go away or at least make it a little better. I was nauseous and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and lay down. So, Taylor and I decided to ixnay on the movie and go home instead.

The first thing that Taylor said when we were in the car and out of earshot from his parents was, "What if you're pregnant!?" Right you are, Harry. (Please tell me that you guys know that Harry Potter reference!?) Immediately I got really excited because we had just recently started trying to get pregnant. About a week or two earlier, I totally jumped the gun and took a test too early and was heartbroken to find out that I wasn't pregnant. So, as soon as I got home, I went straight to the bathroom and took a test. Guys, longest 3 minutes of my life. I was sitting on my kitchen floor and Taylor was standing above me and I was kind of trying to block the test from him because I didn't want it to say no. But then it said yes. Before Taylor even knew what was going on, I started crying and jumped up and hugged him. I think that's when he put it together. Such a happy moment for us. But just in case, I took one more pregnancy test and the results were the same: I was gonna be a mom! I couldn't even think of anything else except for the little bub growing inside of me for the rest of the night. (PS. I was born on Father's Day and I found out I was going to be a mommy on Mother's Day so I feel like that's pretty cool)

Mother's Day the next day was so much more meaningful to me than it had been in the past.We decided to wait to tell everybody other than immediate family (and one of my closest friends) until I had my first Doctor's appointment. I was too excited to wait until the first trimester was over to keep this a secret anyway!  My mom texted me that morning to tell me Happy Mother's Day and said that someday I was going to be a great mother. My reply was "Someday might be a lot sooner than you think :)" And I sent her the picture of the pregnancy test.

While we were at church, the speakers were obviously giving talks about their mothers and it made me so excited to know that by that time next year, I would be a momma to a cute little bub. I couldn't stop smiling all throughout church.

 Later that night, we went to eat dinner at Taylor's parents house. Taylor had this whole plan of how he was gonna tell them, but it kind of fell apart when the first question Taylor's mom asked was if I was feeling better. I said yes. She knew that we had been trying to get pregnant, so she asked if I took a pregnancy test. I said yes once again. Then she asked if I was pregnant, and I couldn't help it, I had to say yes and ditch Taylor's plan. haha Man she was good, a mother's instinct, am i right? :)

Picture of how we announced our pregnancy :)

Now onto the bumpdate!

So, as some of you probably know, I'm finishing up my last semester of school at BYU right now. I've been a little bit worried lately because I finish finals on December 19th and baby boy is due January 9th. So I'm cutting it a little bit close. I'm just hoping that if baby boy decides to make an early arrival, he at least waits until my finals are done. haha I also worry about how my third trimester is going to be. I have pretty much had smooth sailing up to this point. My first trimester I didn't have any morning sickness (other than a little bit of nausea the day I found out I was pregnant. Weird right?) and was feeling pretty good. The only thing that has been hard has been how tired I've gotten. I'm just hoping that my third trimester is the same as my first two trimesters have been so far because I'll already be stressed and uncomfortable waddling around campus while I'm eight months pregnant, without having to worry about being sick and missing a bunch of class too. But anyways, here's a little update on my 24th week of pregnancy :)

How far along? 24 weeks

How big is baby? As big as an ear of corn :)

Maternity clothes? So far, just the maternity pants. But I'm definitely going to need some dresses soon!

Total weight gain? At my last doctor's appointment, I had a total weight gain of 12 pounds.

Sleep: Have been sleeping pretty good. I've started sleeping with a body pillow, which is more comfortable. Taylor recently started going to work earlier though, so sometimes it's hard for me to fall back asleep after he leaves.

Best moment this week? Last night we put some music on my phone and put it up to my tummy and the baby started moving a little bit :)

Miss anything? Since I've been pregnant, I've pretty much been off of caffeine. (Occasionally I'll have a sip of Taylor's Dr. Pepper, but only a sip.) This week, I've really been missing Dr. Pepper. Especially with 3 tests coming up this week. Missing my study aid. haha

Movement: Some throughout the day, but this little guy moves a lot at night!

Food Cravings: Chipotle burritos, apples with caramel, pineapple, and here's a weird one...pizza flavored combos.

Gender: little boy :)

Symptoms: peeing more frequently, sometimes get out of breath walking around campus, and the baby's movement :)

Belly button in or out? In

Usually happy or moody? Usually happy! Taylor might disagree with me on this one though haha

Looking forward to: We're going to a Blake Shelton concert on Friday! Baby will totally be jammin out! (bought the tickets before I found out I was pregnant)

And of course here are my weekly baby pictures!

P.S. Does anybody know where to get some cute maternity clothes? Specifically dresses? The only places I've seen that are cute and less expensive are pinkblushmaternity.com and asos.com! HELP!

Adventure Is Out There!

I have had a hugeeee interest in themed dates lately. So naturally, when I found out that there was a replica of the UP house in Utah, it only made sense to have an UP themed date! And I am sooooo excited about this one.

I work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the week at one job, and then Friday night and Saturday night at my waitressing job. So, pretty much the only time husby and I could have done this date was on a Saturday morning before I had to go to work. Here's the added bonus to this date...
I woke up to breakfast in bed! Best husband ever award? I think so.

breakfast sammy and orange juice = yummmmm.

Anyway, after breakfast, we watched UP. :) If you haven't seen this movie, it is so cute and funny. Totes need to watch it if you haven't already.

Got our adventure goggles on :)

So, once we were done watching the movie, we headed up to Herriman, Utah to go see the UP house. It was legit. Apparently before the house was built, the builders had to get permission from Disney so that they could recreate every detail of the house. Although we weren't able to tour the house, I've watched a video tour of the house and they seriously don't miss any details! They had the weather vane on top of the house and the green hose in front. So fun! They even had Carl & Ellie's mailbox. Since there are actual owners of the house now, it doesn't say Carl & Ellie, it says the owners' last name, but it used to say Carl & Ellie. Here are some pictures of the house!

Although we didn't have enough time left to do this, another fun thing you can do for this date is to go for ice cream and then sit outside on the curb and one person counts the blue cars that drive by and the other person counts the red cars, just like Russel and Mr. Fredrikson do at the end of the movie. Or, you can make an adventure book of your own. The possibilities are pretty much endless. :)

Juan-uary!

It's that time again. Oh yes, that time, and after months of anticipation. JUAN-UARY! I know, I know, you think it's a waste of two hours on a Monday night, but I love it. Maybe part of the reason for that is because of all the drama, it totally sucks me in. AND I'm a total romantic. AND Juan Pablo seems like such a genuine guy compared to some of the other Bachelors. When Ben was the Bachelor, I have to say, it almost ruined my love of the show because I hated him, but I'm so glad that it's Juan Pablo! I think the husby secretly likes watching it with me too, but shhh, don't tell him I said that. ;)

So, just based on watching the premiere of The Bachelor, here are my predictions for the final 4 girls!

1. Andi

2. Nikki

3. Renee

4. Elise

Who are your final picks? Happy Bachelor-watching! :)

2013 In The Rearview

It is the start of a new year! WOOOHOOO! The start of a new year means a fresh start,
 the chance to make resolutions to do things better in the new year (in the hopes that we'll actually keep them), and a chance to reflect on the previous year- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

This year, I've decided to take on a deeper meaning for my New Year's Resolutions. In the past, I really haven't taken them very seriously and therefore, didn't keep my resolutions throughout the year. But this year, I have a better appreciation for the tradition of New Year's Resolutions. This year, I want my resolutions to not reflect the person who I am now, but the person that I want to become. Resolutions are meant for bettering yourself, so here are some things that I want to do better this year...

Stop feeling guilty, or letting people make me feel guilty for the things that I truly want. This is my life. I shouldn't have to worry about how people are going to judge me based on my choices. I need to stop letting people who do so little for me, take up so much of my feelings, mind, and emotions.

Learn to accept the apologies I never got. I'm sure that everybody can relate to this one. Everybody has been hurt by somebody else, but that's in the past and I need to start focusing on the future. This reminds me of a quote by C.S. Lewis, "Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing the monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward."

Don't be so afraid of the unknown. Take baby steps and watch how things unfold from there. This is a huge one for me. It makes me feel so much more comfortable knowing what's going to happen and when. But especially right now, when I'm getting ready to start applying for grad school's in different states, I need to just have faith that everything will work out and that I'll end up being where I need to be, when I need to be there.

and of course, the ever so present resolution of...

Working out at least 4 days a week and eating healthier. I don't really think this one needs an explanation, everybody want's to look and feel the best that they can!

As I look back on 2013 and remember

• Celebrating my first anniversary with my husband 
• Transferring to BYU
• Moving to Provo
• Getting accepted into the Communication Disorders Major
• Sharing memories with friends and family
• And making many important life decisions

I welcome 2014 and hope that it's filled with lots of love, laughter, memories, friends, and happiness. Happy New Year!