Happy day after Thanksgiving!

This year was definitely different. I didn't eat one bite of turkey or dressing. Not one bite the entire day! I've been blessed to not have any morning sickness so far in the pregnancy. One thing that does bother me though is the thought of eating any kind of poultry or roast. I can't even stand to think about it. However, I did enjoy (and possibly indulge) in all of the awesome sides. I had to share the recipe for one of my new holiday dinner staples. Recipe courtesy of Kara Hubbard.


Cranberry Salad
Two 3oz boxes of cherry Jello
1 lb. raw cranberries
½ orange with rind (Yep! That's right. Just wash an orange thoroughly and cut it in half. Pop out any seeds that you see.)
1 regular can crushed pineapple (drained)
2 cups sugar
½ cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
½ cup celery (optional)

Make Jello according to directions. Grind cranberries and orange in a food processor. Combine all ingredients together. Put in bowl and chill in fridge to set.
This recipe is so great. I do use the celery and it adds a nice touch as well as a little extra crunch. Hmm. I think I might have to eat some of the leftovers right now.


Here are some pictures from our dinners over at the Ledger house and Powers' Mountain.

Be careful shopping!

The Radcliffs - Take 1

Our good friends, the Radcliffs, had asked if I would be willing to take a few pictures of the family for Christmas. We (thankfully) had some lovely weather yesterday afternoon and were able to get some cute shots of Kimberly and her adorable little boy Ethan. Dad (Phil) would have been there too but he had tweaked his knee playing basketball (again).

I love this one of Kim. Ethan was trying to squirm away but it's still cute. We'll get some more pictures once Phil's knee is feeling better. :o)

Sweet little baby

After a series of not-so-serious events we found ourselves at the doctors office waiting for an ultrasound to see if everything was ok. It took the tech a second to get everything in place and then... the baby popped into view!!!

What an incredible feeling! We could see it's little heart just beating away. The baby is 6 weeks old and my due date is July 15th!

After we left my doctors office, Dan and I went straight to the after-hour care facility so he could get his throat examined. After about 2 hours there, we were finally able to get his prescription and go home. Needless to say, it was an interesting day that (thankfully) ended on a very good note. The baby was very hungry when we finally returned home so I treated it to a spinach salad with cream cheese and pear and a little extra comfort food since it behaved so well at it's first doctor's appointment. :o)

Sleep well everyone! I know that we will. Thank you, Lord!

Twenty Four

Yesterday was my twenty fourth birthday. Dan was scheduled to be in Connecticut over my birthday so we decided that I would travel with him! It has been an awesome trip. We flew into Hartford on Monday evening. While Dan was working on Tuesday, I had the opportunity to explore Hartford and find ways to occupy myself. Mom had been searching the area for some cool places to visit so I punched in the address to a shopping center into the GPS and headed to West Hartford. It was awesome! Great find, Mom! I was able to buy Great Expectations - Your all-in-one resource for pregnancy and childbirth. Not the Charles Dickens novel (like Dan thought I was talking about). I also had to buy a little something from the clearance rack at Janie and Jack's. I couldn't resist!

We went to downtown Boston for dinner. We didn't realize that we would be so close to the city! It was so awesome. I was really hoping for some seafood and the Barking Crab didn't disappoint. It was a little creepy at first but we soon got used to the lobster's antenna brushing against our arms and we cracked off it's claws. Eww! It tasted sooooo good!

You can see how excited I am. :o)

Us outside of the Barking Crab on the harbor in Boston. Happy birthday to me!

It's true.

We couldn't be happier!

I found out on Thursday morning in a little town outside of Nashville, TN. Dan was finishing up a training session and I was just hanging out at the hotel. I had felt a little funny for about a week. I had taken a pregnancy test about five days before and it was negative so I didn't have much hope for the test that I took on Thursday morning. In less than a minute, the flashing hour glass changed to PREGNANT. I was so overcome that I sobbed for a half hour straight! I then had to wait 2.5 hours for Dan to get back to the hotel room before I could tell him that he was going to be a daddy. My goodness. We're still trying to get it in our heads that it's finally happening! From what we can guess, I will probably be due around mid-July. We certainly appreciate everyon's prayers for a safe and healthy pregnancy/delivery. I'll certainly keep you posted!