Dang I'm Good...

Last year for Christmas my sweet husband bought me a sewing machine. I had never sewn before I got it and life has been kind of crazy since I got it, so I haven't sewn much since either...okay, okay, pretty much I haven't sewn at all, UNTIL yesterday I completed my first sewing project.

It was a pretty big project to take on, and I kid you not that it took me ALL day to complete but I am very, very happy with it and since it's pretty much front and center in our main room I have LOVED looking at it and feeling very proud of myself.

My inspiration came from this tutorial but I just followed the general steps because I wasn't making curtains for a window but for a built in cubby hole in our living room. This being said cubby hole:

It's great storage and we have put it to good use, as you can see, but it is quite ugly to look at and there's really no attractive way to organize it. I had found that tutorial (thank you pinterest) a long time ago and instantly knew that was what I wanted to do to cover up the cubby hole but life happened and the sewing did not, until yesterday.

Drum roll please....(I'm kind of being serious)

Aren't you impressed, because I am whenever I look at it, haha. I was nervous about doing ruffles with my first sewing project but it actually worked out perfect because most of my sewing is covered up by the upper ruffle layer and ruffles are very forgiving because they don't have to be perfect.

Here is the big picture view:

See, much, much better because now I don't have to stare at the chaos behind the curtain. Yay for another sewing project, probably making cute pillow covers!

Surprise=Success

So some of you may remember my post about how much Neil spoils me and how I wanted to spoil him for a change.

Well the the big surprise was today and it was a HUGE success if I may say so myself! I bought Neil a ticket for something called "The Mustang Experience" at Miller Motorsports Park. Pretty much he got to drive a race prepared Mustang around their racetrack for 15 laps and then he got to ride with a race car driver for two more laps around the track.

My intention was to wait until we got to Miller Motorsports Park to tell him what he would get to do, BUT, I'm terrible with surprises and I was so excited that I begged him to let me tell him so I told him at the very end of September what he would be doing and he was excited then and afterwards with all the hype was not disappointed.

We started the day by looking through their cool car museum which Neil found very entertaining and saw a bunch of super expensive cars

Neil then got instructions from the race car drivers on what line to take around the curves so that they could go fastest and different stuff about shifting, braking and accelerating which I didn't understand at all, but luckily he did.

We then rode over to the race track and Neil got to meet his race car; lucky number 25.

I then went up into the control tower and got to watch my man do his thing.

He was all smiles afterward and really enjoyed his ride along laps with the race car driver from Nashville, Tennessee who usually races Dodge Vipers (no big deal).

The smile of sweet, sweet success!

Graduated into the 30's

I have finally passed the 30 week mark in my pregnancy and I feel like now I'm legit and respected as a pregnant woman. I feel like when people would ask me how far along I am and I'd say oh I'm 20-whatever weeks they'd respond with "Oh, so you still have a while to go" and I'd think to myself "No, I'm pretty far along". But now that I'm beyond 30 weeks people say "You're going to have your baby so soon" and I think to myself "Finally, I get some respect around here".

Another milestone is strangers are now asking me about my pregnancy rather than just suspecting. That has been really exciting for me that people can now tell that I'm pregnant, and thankfully no one's asked to touch my tummy *fingers crossed*. Funny side note, the other day I was in a family's house for work and I was sitting on the floor and the mom said "Wow, I just saw your baby move" and she continued freaking out the rest of our visit staring at my tummy saying whenever she could see the baby move.

The baby is definitely getting stronger and enjoys kicking and punching me and I can see her moving all around which is so fun. I cannot get over how amazing it is to feel Neil's and my baby move inside me, that is something I definitely want to take in and appreciate while she's still growing inside me.

Now that I have less than 10 weeks until baby's "Guess Date" Neil and I are really starting to prepare for the birth of our baby and we have pretty much everything for her that we need, except we need to get a crib mattress and buy our cloth diapers. The baby doesn't have a ton of clothes but we will have plenty of time to get more, right?

My amazing midwife, Rachel, told me at my 30 week appointment that Neil and I need to write down what we want our birth to look like and to be very specific so I've been watching a lot of birthing videos and doing my Hypnobabies home study course to prepare as much as possible for the big day!

Current cravings are still orange juice and chocolate, I've finally gotten everything for my healthier, raw chocolate recipes:

Raw Chocolate Ganache (Ganache is just like chocolate frosting and I kept it in the fridge and ate it with a spoon periodically)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup cacao powder
2 tbsp coconut oil

Directions: Blend all ingredients until blended well and voila <--my kind of recipe

And I made this yummy Almond Bark which is a recipe from my midwife:

Ingredients:
2/3 cup almond butter
2/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla
almonds (or any nut of your choice)

Directions: Place a layer of nuts on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Blend above ingredients in blender and pour on top of nuts. You can grind some sea salt on top (I didn't) and then freeze it over night and break off pieces after frozen.

And it is to die for, so I suggest trying both of these recipes because they're amazing!

Six Month Changes

While I have been growing a baby for 6 months (AH, hello third trimester!), Neil has been growing a beard for 6 months.

I went from this

(The day we found out we were pregnant)

To this

(6 months pregnant)

She's moving around like crazy and I'm craving orange juice and anything with chocolate. My wonderful midwife gave me some rawfood chocolate recipes that I need to try so that I don't feel so guilty indulging every once and a while everyday (lets be honest).

Neil had a job interview (and he got the job, YAY!) so he had to shave off his 6 month beard growth which I was happy about, him not so much.

He went from this (6 months of beard growth)

to this (Capitol of Panem Edition)

to this (haircut)

to this (creeper)

to this (looking 20 years younger)

He hasn't shaved since, go figure, but he starts his new job tomorrow and we are both very, very excited about it. So yay for exciting blessings and the changes they bring.

Confessions of a Spoiled Wife

Neil has always spoiled me for as long as I can remember. He's always planning surprises and honestly does treat me like a queen. The first 16 weeks of my pregnancy were terrible and I mean terrible. I think it doesn't help that I'm generally really healthy and haven't thrown up since elementary school so to put it gently I was a huge baby. Neil brought me breakfast in bed everyday of those 16 weeks. I couldn't open the fridge either without getting sick so whenever I wanted anything from the fridge, even water, Neil was more than willing to stop what he was doing to get me what I wanted. I also couldn't cook or stand the smell of food cooking so for 12 weeks he took me our to dinner anywhere I wanted to go. He'd get me my favorite candy to help me feel better and honestly never complained once. Now that's a man isn't it? And as we speak he is driving to Riverton to pick up a black dresser we found on KSL.com because the nesting is continuing. He almost never buys anything for himself, unless it's a hat or something, even if I know it's something he really wants and give him permission to buy it for himself he almost never does. So I've decided I'm going to plan a surprise for him before the baby comes. Now he gets to simmer and wonder what it is which I know he'll hate because he's so used to being on the other end. I love you sweets :).

Let the nesting begin...

Neil and I moved into our house the beginning of September and I had all these big plans of using pinterest to make the cutest house ever. But then I realized that we went from living in a studio apartment the size of a 2 car garage (literally because our apartment was over a two car garage) to a 3 bedroom house.

The first few months I focused on filling it with necessities, like a real sized couch and a dining room table, etc. Then in December I had an ectopic pregnancy (not fun and quite the surprise) so I had surgery two days before our anniversary--romantic, I know. That event led to a lot of emotions and me begging Neil to buy me a puppy which he did (the adorable Grandee) and she took over most of our life after that. In March I learned I was pregnant again which was followed by 3 months of hating my life because I was so sick. But Neil took incredible care of me even though I'm sure I was overly dramatic...sorry babe.

So this long rant leads to the fact that now that I'm feeling like myself I can start to make my house look like it's lived in (well I guess my messy counters also let people know it's inhabited).

This weekend I have been busy dragging Neil around from store to store buying baby clothes (do girls clothes honestly only come in pink?) and pretty things to hang on our walls.

Neil's actually an incredible shopper and was able to help me find great deals and shop through ksl of course.

The end result of our home shopping trip was...

This lovely mirror that we got for 50% off that will go in our dining room area. It's really big but the pictures doesn't really show it. Oh yeah and we did paint our living room that amazing blue you can see reflected through the mirror...well Neil painted it (I owe him).

This cool picture will find a home here, Neil was able to talk the sales lady into selling it to us for 66% off...I didn't even know this was possible.

And this lovely 25 inch clock that I got for $25 off KSL which will go in our living room.

It really is a baby

Neil and I are expecting a healthy baby girl sometime around the end of November/beginning of December.

I am 20 weeks pregnant today and we got to see the baby for the first time and it was so crazy and surreal. Even though I can feel her kick now I just can't believe we're really going to have a baby. She looked great on the ultrasound and everything looked perfect, and she's pretty darn cute to if I may say so myself.

Don't worry Grandee is also excited she is going to be a big sister, though she will probably be a little jealous that she is no longer the center of attention.