beautiful weather

**update ** its over 73 degrees!!


its almost 72 degrees and sunny!!
we have all the windows open and its absolutely wonderful!!
the hills are covered with green grass and wildflowers are starting to blossom, the birds are chirping, and the buckeye trees are blooming!!
gotta love February in California!!

SINGLE DIGITS!!

nine days til our due date!!
i'm feeling great - i walked over 30 mins today and my co-workers say that the baby hasn't dropped yet.
we've got a doctor's visit tomorrow afternoon...

Baby Shower

These pictures are from the January 19th shower thrown by my Aunt and Uncle on my mom's side....

The Uncle & Aunt-to-be(Dom & Naomi) measuring my belly...
I look surprised in this picture, but I'm really not (it was just a long day) ... this is the awesome crib quilt that mom sewed for the baby!! its very very soft and has a Noah's Ark theme - very very cute!!
the Uncle & Aunt-to-be with the Mom & Dad-to-be

poisen oak

our property has poison oak - we knew this
my dear husband is sensitive to poison oak - we knew this too
when spending time outside burning brush/branches (we do this around here in the winter to prevent fires in the summer), sometimes you come in contact with poison oak - we knew this too
even when poison oak looks dormant for the winter, its still poison oak - we knew this also

well, the dear husband has poison oak - all over, and its itchy - at least we have some hydrocortizone cream... (we knew to have this around as well!)

quotes for today

"In order that Christian marriage may favor the total good and development of the married couple, it must be inspired by the Gospel, and thus be open to new life - new life to be given and accepted generously. The couple is also called to create a family atmosphere in which children can be happy and lead full and worthy human and Christian lives." ~ Pope John Paul II

"Women are called to bring to the family, to society, and to the Church, characteristics which are their own and which they alone can give. Their gentle warmth and untiring generosity, their love for detail, their quick wittedness, and intuition, their simple and deep piety, their constancy." ~ St. Josemaria Escriva

family baby shower

here's some pictures from our family baby shower two weekends ago... we are at my dad's cousin's (her husband is my Godfather) gorgeous home in southern california...

My dear husband and I are opening presents from Nonna (grandmother in Italian) (my dad's mom)...
she gave us a Rosary for the baby and all sorts of other neat stuff in that basket



GO DUCKS!! Aunt Bonnie (mom's sister) made sure that our kiddo will be well decked out in N*ke gear, including an outfit to cheer for U of O!



The lovely ladies who put on the shower - from left, my dad's cousin Eleanor, me, my dad's cousin Gina (her house), my dad's cousin Susie, and Eleanor's oldest daughter Bianca

The proud parents/grandparents -- and Greg is sporting his "Dad to be" tag

This is the resort we were at ... i take that back - its the backyard of the house!!!!

Another shot of the backyard - complete with my dear husband with his margarita from the margarita machine :) - I love the way I am standing in the picture - totally pregnant!

yet another reason why my dear husband is amazing...

... it was my birthday yesterday and he brought me pink roses (my favorite)

i love him

family

from far left to right - my Godfather, my father, my mother, me (and baby), my dear husband, my cousin, my cousin, my dad's cousin (out of picture), my Aunt (and Godmother)

(this was Feb. 9th) after watching my cousin's hockey game we were all hanging out at a restaurant where my Uncle's band was playing... lots of fun and mom, dad, Greg, and I (and baby) stayed at my Aunt & Uncle's house that night before moving on to visit more family the next day.

"Love is the key to the mystery. Love by its very nature is not selfish, but generous. It seeks not its own, but the good of others. The measure of love is not the pleasure it gives - that is the way the world judges it - but the joy and peace it can purchase for others." ~ Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

being a homemaker

today and yesterday i have the blessing of being home from work!
with baby clothes/diapers/blankets/socks, etc to wash and put away; food to make; chores to do; scrapbooking to get done; thank you notes to write; etc... i have plenty of projects to work on... i LOVE being at home. not just for the reason that i am not sitting in a cubicle, but the fact that i feel like i am serving my dear husband (and our child) by making our house a home! its such a blessing to be able to send my husband off in the morning with a smile and greet him in the evening without the stress of having to come home and then having to worry about taking care of chores, cooking, etc... Greg appreciated being welcomed home to a nice-smelling, clean, and relaxing home last night and even said this morning that i was way more relaxed because i wasn't rushing off to work...
anyway, i know that things will all be turned upside-down in the very near future when our baby comes, but i am definitely getting ready for life as a stay-at-home wife and mother ... and i am so thankful for this truly blessed opportunity to serve my family!!

100th post & snow

happy 100th post to our blog :)

we're about 25 days till baby's due date - YIPPEE!! i love being pregnant and i will definitely miss it... but we are also really looking forward to meeting the newest member of our family!!

here's some pictures from a couple weeks ago when we got a little dusting of snow... we've gotten more before, but these are some nice pictures and i love how excited my dear husband gets when we get even the slightest bit of "weather" :)

baking mix recipe

this is basically homemade bisqu*ck and can be used in place of it in any recipe

- I have no idea where I originally got this recipe from, so I apologize in advance for not giving proper credit!!



9 cups flour

1/3 cup baking powder

1 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered milk

4 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 cups vegetable shortening



sift all dry ingredients

cut shortening into dry mix until it resembles coarse cornmeal

store well covered in a cool, dry place (fridge works well)



for biscuits: mix 2 cups baking mix with 1/2 cup water. mix and cut or drop biscuits. bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes - until golden brown.



for muffins: mix 2 cups baking mix with 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 beaten egg, and 2/3 cup milk. mix and add in anything you desire (chocolate chips, blueberries, cranberries, or you could just sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top after you put the batter in your muffin tins). bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.



for pancakes: mix 2 cups of baking mix with 1 beaten egg and 1 1/3 cups milk. cook as usual for pancakes.



for waffles: mix 2 cups of baking mix with 1 beaten egg and 2 tablespoons oil and 1 1/3 cups milk. cook as usual for waffles.



enjoy!

visit from friends

our dear friends from Oregon came through to visit right before Christmas and then right after Christmas (they were on a road trip and we were *sort of* a good place to stop along the way - although our house is not really very convenient to get to from anywhere!!) We REALLY enjoyed their visits... Carolyn and I are expecting our kiddos about two weeks apart!! - We are already thinking about an arranged marriage if the genders work out right!! :)

35 weeks...

... on Friday (Feb. 1st) we completed thirty-five weeks of pregnancy... we're about halfway through week thirty-six now!! I think these pictures were taken on Friday - or sometime close-by. Excuse the lack of attention to my appearance - I had literally just stepped out of the shower and my dear husband grabbed the camera, so my hair isn't brushed and I look flushed, etc...

My co-workers say that I am "all baby" - whatever that means - I guess when you see me in person it doesn't look like I have gained weight anywhere else but the baby belly! (yippee!!)

**** QUOTE FOR THE DAY ****

Last night my dear husband and I went on the "stork tour" at the hospital birthing center where we are planning on having the baby... on our way home we were talking about how happy we are with the hospital and things we liked about the tour, etc. My dear husband's comment, in regard to labor and delivery at the hospital was "Oh, that'll be fun! We'll have a good time there." hahahahaha I am so glad my "birth coach" is positively optimistic about this process :)

pancakes for dinner

why are we having pancakes for dinner tonight?
well... Today is Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), the last day before Lent.

The reason that pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent is that it is traditionally a period of liturgical fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs may be eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk, and sugar are disposed of immediately prior to the commencement of the fast. Pancakes are therefore an efficient way of using up these perishable goods, besides providing a minor celebratory feast prior to the fast itself.

So, its pancakes for dinner tonight at our house - although my dear husband sees pancakes for dinner as more of a fast than a feast, so he gets his choice of other foods as well - which includes bacon, eggs, sausage, potatoes, etc... :)

Just fyi - I make my pancakes (as well as biscuits, waffles, some muffins, etc.) from a homemade baking mix that is like bis*quick sold in the stores - although my homemade mix is significantly cheaper. If you'd like my homemade baking mix recipe just leave me a comment on this post and I will send it your way :)

second week of our honeymoon

so... here are some pictures from the second week of our honeymoon :) - if you didn't catch the previous "husband of the year" post - read below to see that my dear husband took us on a week long vacation to celebrate the week before our first wedding anniversary (about 2 weeks ago)

This is the Historic Wawona Hotel in Yosemite National Park

Obviously we had gorgeous weather! This is by ___ Lake (I am totally blanking on the name) - but it was beautiful!!

Straight from the shower in our Swiss Chalet at Big Bear Mountain... Check out that fireplace!!

This was one of the views from our room of the ski resort in the morning. (No I did not ski -

more to come...