Date Night

If I haven't mentioned it lately, I have a pretty sweet husband. He's been on hiatus from work for the past 5 weeks - not that he's had much time to relax. He's been working his butt off trying to get this house in order. But when he takes time off, I always get way too used to him being home. Then I don't want him to go back to work. It's too much fun having him here.

Well the time has arrived where he must go back. So even though we've gone out plenty of times in the last few weeks (you know... dinner, movies, simple stuff like that) I told him "Before you go back to work, we should have a date night." I always throw in that it might be the last time we will ever be alone too, just to rub in the baby factor. Of course, he had no objections. He likes food and movies as much as the next guy.

But then we made the mistake of going to Target.

Oh, Target. We are there like 3 times a week and can never seem to leave the store without spending $100+. I mean we literally had 5 things on our list and walked out with much, much more. And none of it was even frivolous spending! Mostly food and necessities (this time.) So as that little green cash register number got closer and closer to $200, I said to him "You know, maybe we should just stay in tonight... *GULP*" He agreed and so I prepared myself for a Sunday night of TV watching and bean burritos. No big deal, but date night would have to wait.

Cut to a few hours later - my adorable husband is in the kitchen preparing a real honest-to-goodness dinner. Pork chops, rice, veggies, AND he was cute enough to set the table with place settings and top it all off with some sparkling cider in wine glasses. He didn't want me to go without my date night. So we enjoyed our food, some conversation at the table and watched Friday Night Lights with the fireplace going. It was one of the best date nights I could've asked for.

And it all took place in my yoga pants.

He wins!

Home Improvement

For the past 4 years or so, my husband and I have been all talk about remodeling our kitchen. We would come up with a plan, start weighing our options, then decide it was just too expensive and scrap the idea. I can't even count how many times we did that. Our latest plan was that we would just slap some paint and handles on the cabinets and call it a day. That would've cost less, but wouldn't have solved the real problem.

So, all that talk finally turned into action. IKEA was having a sale on their counter tops, and Best Buy was having a sale on appliances. Then with that darn baby coming, it really got us thinking how nice it would be to have a functioning kitchen that also looks a little nicer. It was really my husband who got the ball rolling. He just couldn't take it anymore. So we did it! It's done! And it's so fantastic! (And thanks to IKEA the whole thing was completed start to finish in less than a month!)

Isn't it pretty?

Our old kitchen was the same layout, but as you can see below it's hideous. It was built in the 80's and hadn't been touched since. My favorite is the crazy stove (someone actually bought that from us on Craigslist. Hey. One man's junk...) To give you an idea how stupid the old kitchen was, we had - count them - 3 drawers. Total. 3 drawers in our whole kitchen. And 2 of the 3 were completely useless. There were other problems too, of course. But obviously cabinet and drawer space were major factors in our decision.

So now we have quadrupled our storage space, we have awesome stainless steel appliances, and it just looks about a gajillion times better. We are so happy with it. We can't stop looking at it! Of course, now I have no excuse not to cook, but I think I will enjoy using this kitchen just a little bit.

127 Hours

I went into this movie not knowing anything about it, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's based on the true story of Aron Ralston who was trapped while hiking in Utah a few years back. You probably know how it ends, but if you don't, stay away from the link! After watching the movie, I did remember hearing this story in the news. James Franco was the lead (which is about the only information I had going in - and what sold me on seeing it) and he was great. It had some really intense moments and you can't help but imagine yourself and what you would do in a life or death situation like that. I like to hope that I would fight it out, but I also know what a wimp I am.

The thing I didn't like about the movie was it sometimes was a little too much like "I Shouldn't Be Alive". I know there's only so much you can do with a story like this, but it didn't feel that different from the TV show, except for freakin' James Franco. (I love him.)

Mammoth Mountain

This last weekend, we had the chance to get outta dodge and go visit some nature. Same cabin as last year and it was just great. We had snow in the hills and it was plenty cold. We did some beer (and root beer) tasting, watched a lot of TV, went to the tippy top of the mountain, played games on our phones, and basically ate a lot of food. Just what you'd expect for a weekend getaway.

As always, grateful for friends who make these trips so memorable.

Baby Shower

Well after all my moaning and groaning about how hard it is being pregnant, my wonderful sister-in-law went and threw us the best baby shower in the whole wide world. Seriously, you would not believe how awesome it was. We had quite a guest list and she made accommodations for everyone - all 65 friends, family & children. I know, I know. It's an insane amount of people. But I definitely wanted a co-ed party, plus my husband's extended family is huge. And they have been waiting a long time for this little one. So a serious celebration was in order.

My SIL took care of everything - from the adorable invitations, to delicious catering, to a photo booth with props, to a craft table for the kids, to the centerpieces, to desserts... I mean it was off the charts. And she didn't make us play any baby shower games (phew!) I honestly can't thank her enough.

Another huge thank you to husband's Aunt, who let us have the party in her backyard. She is always a marvelous hostess.

And one last thank you to everyone who came out to party with us. Some people drove far and others live right around the corner, but they all made the effort to be there and it meant so much to us.

The party planner extraordinaire! One day she'll be doing this
for the stars, I'm sure of it.

We truly are so blessed.

Things They Don't Tell You About Pregnancy

I've read "What To Expect When You Are Expecting". I even glanced at it before I got pregnant. It almost made me not want to bother. Almost. Because if you focus on all the pain and suffering it takes to get that little baby into your arms, it seriously sounds like a deal-breaker. But I keep telling myself women do this all the time. And I'm a tough woman. I can do it! I want that little crying, pooping reward. But there are some things I never expected, even with the help of a book.

1. Public bathrooms are too small for me to fit comfortably inside. It's a bit claustrophobic.

2. How difficult it is to:

A. Put my clothes on - namely pants and shoes

B. Get out of my car

C. Get over a minor cough or cold

D. Wipe

E. Not stub my toes

F. Get out of bed!

3. My ankles and feet don't just swell, they look like tree trunks.

4. About 6 months ago, I could run 5-6 miles. Now I get winded walking up a single flight of stairs. And putting on socks.

5. Sweating a lot.

6. People saying things like "Are you sure there's only one baby in there?"

7. How many pillows I would actually need to be comfortable in bed. And it's still not that comfortable!

8. Granny panties. I totally had to get them.

9. Did you know you can grow out of maternity clothes?! I thought they'd fit through the whole pregnancy, but this is not always the case.

10. Belly hair, mucous plugs, swelling, leakage, skin tags, joint pain. (WTF?!)

11. Snoring. Dear Lord in Heaven, the snoring.

12. How incredible it feels when the baby moves around. Well, people might mention that, but there's no way to understand it until it happens.

I feel more like the girl in the first book. Not the cute, modern one that looks all smug.

I think am really over being pregnant - if you couldn't tell. As scared as I am, I'm ready to get this kid out! But first things first. We still have a LOT to do. The baby doesn't even have a place to sleep yet. Plus he/she needs to bake a little longer. Go baby, go!