Hey everyone! We have decided to go private with the blog. I hate to do it because I'm always so bummed when I realize I'm blocked from other people's blogs that I'm too shy to ask to add me because we aren't really good friends. So don't be shy and if you want to keep reading just comment and add your e-mail.

On Friday I got done with school early and had an OB appointment last time I had lost a pound and this time they told me to slow down if I didn't want to gain too much over the holidays...dang it! The baby is measuring great at 32 centimeters, and they poked around and think she is in position with her head down. Since we are going to Utah for Christmas they are having me come back in a week to see if I'm dilated at all or if I'm ok to travel. When I got home I was feeling crafty so I decorated this wipey case and made a little bag for diapers to go in to put in the diaper bag. I even sewed on velcro for the first time.
It's upside down but you get the picture. :)

Here is the fun diaper bag that Jason got me for my birthday. I can't wait to use it. It even has insulated pockets on the sides for bottles to go in. It smells like leather and I love it!
We learned how to make cheesecake in my cake decor class we learned that for them not to crack or brown they need to be cooked with a water bath so there is steam in the oven. Who knew! We also had to decorate the top so I tried out the drippy chocolate ganache look. It still looks like something to do for a Halloween treat to me but it sure tasted good.

I'm ashamed to say how long this lasted at our house though to our defense we did share with some friends!
Jason and I both have finals this week and my graduation is on Saturday! Time is flying and we are preparing and getting very excited for our little girl to get here. Her favorite thing right now is to stretch out her legs and push her bum out which makes my stomach lopsided and hard as a rock. My current cravings are olives and smoothies (which is weird because it's FREEZING outside!!). We got tons of snow last night and I was quite the sight in my high heels shuffling down hill in the snow to get into the church building this morning. Jason has meetings early for bishopric so I'm going to need to get good at this especially when I'm carrying my baby in her carseat. Hopefully by then my legs won't be swollen and I can fit back into my boots :).

I'd like to meet the inventor of the expansion set for board games and ask him why he hasn't made his millions off of making one for pregnant women's bodies. I could really use a few inches in my torso right about now to accommodate my baby's growth, my ability to eat without getting heart burn, and my lung capacity. I understand now why pregnant women get crabby sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable sharing space with a baby who is growing half a pound a week! I don't want to sound like I'm complaining because I'm SO SO grateful to be pregnant and have a growing healthy little girl but I just wish that I could live sprawled out on a huge exercise ball to give us both a little extra living space. Right about now stretch torcher doesn't sound too bad :)

I need to start remembering to take pictures right when I finish my cakes. This one sat for about 4 days before it was graded and I took it home so the fondant is a little wrinkly. I loved learning how to make these gum paste flowers they were pretty time consuming and breakable but they turned out how I wanted them to. I also tried a new technique on the bottom tier with the royal icing bands. I wanted to do a red cake but now know why they are not very common. It takes SO much red dye to color icing. I appreciated the fact that our final was due before Thanksgiving.

Here I am at 32 weeks! Jason took me on a road trip to Jackson Hole Wyoming for my birthday. We saw buffaloes, elk, and bison on our way (the pictures didn't turn out). We ate at a mexican food restaurant and went shopping in downtown in their fun shops. We decided skiing was out of the question. :) Jason gave me money to go shopping (later of course) and the coolest diaper bag that is so cute I've wanted to use it as a purse on more than one occasion.
Jason posing in front of the Tetons, it was a little cold and foggy but they are amazing!


This park had four of these elk horn arches. I felt bad for all the animals.
Jason and a Buffalo! The people taking pictures after us with it had to reassure their daughter that it was in fact fake before she'd go near it. We had lots of fun just hanging out and having no distractions. It was a fun stress free birthday thanks for all the birthday wishes!

So yesterday we decided that we needed to get a jump on the babies room. We recenetly bought some prints that matched the crib bedding, so we decided to go down to Idaho Falls and get some picture frames. We went to Down East Outfitters and found some Pottery Barn frames we really liked, they were marked from $15-2.99 for the same exact frame so when we got to the checkout Alissa mentioned to the cashier the price differences, I guess the lady thought we were trying to haggle with her and she gave all the frames to us for $4.99 a piece. We also bought a matching shadow box. We decided to paint them so our living room was an interesting site last night!




It was really fun just to spend time together, I think this is the first time in the last few months that we have spent more than an hour together! We are excited for the rest of our adventures this next week! We will post the final product from our painting when we finish the baby room this week!

I over did it this week, big time. It all started a few weeks ago when I decided it would be a great idea to take advantage of a job opportunity in the next town over for a few days. Monday morning woke up at 3:50 am to get ready and be to the job by 5:30 am. We did health screenings for Melaleuca employees and it really was an awesome opportunity and reminded me why I study health and all the things I have learned in school. This schedule continued through Wednesday but also included making up classes I missed and working my regular hours at the wellness center. I had to finish my final cake for cake decor (pictures are on the way), do interviews for the wellness center to hire a new staff for next semester, and take my practical final in baking (included making pastry cream, a cake, and pie dough) and did I mention that I'm 30 weeks pregnant and should really have my feet up reading a good novel and eating white pasta with a heat pack on my back? Regardless I'm done with my week and it feels wonderful to have it all accomplished. We get a whole week break for Thanksgiving and I'm excited spend time with Jason and just relax for a few days.

My sister had a baby! Mom came down to help out for a few weeks so I went to visit everyone. It was so fun to visit and so hard to leave when Sunday afternoon rolled around. Emeryn is getting so big and Eden (the new arrival) got me so attached to her, it must be all the motherly hormones I have going on.
Em loves to hop up into the chair whenever someone is doing their makeup and play in whatever anyone will let her touch. Eyebrow curler anyone?
Good morning!
Baby Eden
Me with my super cute nieces. It's wonderful having the examples of my mom and sister to look to and I hope I can be the kind of mother that they each are. Thanks for spoiling us momma!

This is my mom's recipe we love it and it's cheap if you butterfly your chicken breasts, then it lasts for dinner and lunch the next day for 2 people we like to eat it with rice.

-Thaw however many chicken breasts you want to use then coat them in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, dip in beaten egg, then in italian bread crumbs.

-Fry with a little bit of olive oil and butter until browned on both sides. Pour on sauce and simmer with the lid on until the chicken is cooked through

Sauce-
Juice of 2 lemons
generous 1/2 cup sugar (more if desired)
1 1/2 cups water
3 drops yellow food coloring
2 Tbsp cornstarch
Mix all of these ingredients together and thicken before pouring onto chicken.


Salad Dressing
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 1/2 tsp. poppy seeds
1 lg. red onion (optional)
slice onions thin and marinate in dressing at least 4 hours, shaking several times. Add to salad at last minute.

Today for pastry we made tarts. I found a chocolate tart recipe in the book, and topped mine with chocolate mousse and raspberries. Lets just say the school doesn't skimp on the chocolate quality that they buy and this sucker was rich and delicious! They're going to have to roll me out of the kitchen by the time I'm done with this semester. This dessert though I must say was worth every stinkin' calorie.

This week was crazy!! I jumped out of bed Sunday morning at 8:30 yelling to Jason (who sleeps on an air mattress in the living room because I can't hold still to sleep anymore) that he was late to his Sunday morning meeting. Turns out it was very ill and stayed that way until Thursday. I realized I had no idea how to take care of a sick person and promptly called my mom and to be informed. He slowly got better throughout the week and let me take care of him for once! I also had two written mid-terms and a practical mid-term in addition to my normal week this made for a very busy me. Every Friday for baking lab we make something and this week was pies. I'd never made a pie with a pie crust top on it so I figured I should try. We found out that we aren't the biggest fans of blueberry but it was pretty good.


28 weeks!

It's ironic to me that the time that I am most uncomfortable with the way my body looks is the time that I most despise wearing clothes. I barely wait to close the door anymore before taking off my uncomfortable maternity clothes and flinging them across the bedroom towards my closet. At our birthing class last week we talked about the stages of labor and in one of them you lose your need for modesty (due to the pain) and Jason poked me and laughed. I don't have to be modest around him if I don't want to, besides he thinks my stomach is funny which I'm only slightly bitter about. I just think that maternity clothes should be cute, and comfortable, and less expensive. Jason's grandma gave us some money for the birthing class we are going to and we love it. It's a natural birthing class and while I'm not completely sold on going without an epidural I want to see how far I can go without it. We are learning about relaxation and how the husband can be a coach during labor. Jason recorded "The Rainbow Script" for me to listen to as I go to sleep at night so I can use it during labor to help me relax, it's great! The semester is half way over already, it has gone by so fast and we are looking forward to the holidays!

Here is the cake I made for midterms in my advanced cake decorating class. It was fun to get to make a cake that could pass for wedding style.
The roses were exasperating!
Flowers
This "cake" is actually styrofoam. I love piping work I decided the detail work on cakes is my favorite.

Shot from the top.

My camera is magical and it is my new best friend. I feel and look alot bigger in real life. This is baby girl at 24 weeks and a few days. We are still working on the name, I have one that I love but I've got to work on convincing Jason that he loves it too. She is going crazy in there and I love to watch my belly move when she kicks Jason has finally been able to feel her move too. I feel like I'm being very blessed to feel well and have energy while I finish this semester, it's great having a distraction and staying busy.

We had to choose between making English muffins and pita bread today so I picked the pita and loved the fact that they are part wheat! So the dough for pita is just bread dough, we get to use a "proofer" in lab which is a machine that makes the perfect environment to make yeast go nuts in half the time (I want one.....and a convection oven). The proofer helps us make all our products in the amount of time we have for lab. Pita bread is so cool it turns into a big balloon in the oven and lays flat as it cools. They were yummy with honey. I was proud of the space inside because I always wondered how pita bread was made.
Last Friday we made french bread. I went a little deep on my cuts but it ended up helping my bread get bigger. We got to use squirt bottles and spray them into the convection ovens while the bread cooked for the first 10 minutes (the steam helps the bread to expand before a hard crust can form). Jason is loving the breads that come home with me and they don't last long around here. I just love getting to learn how bread works a little better and hope to have success with my yeast products up here in Idaho from now on.
-The Wellness Center opened today and it was CRAZY! Lots of students have to come in for full assessments for their classes so we are scheduling frantically while trying to get the appointments scheduled for that day done. I was really stressed before we opened but now that we are I remember why I LOVE working there so much it's the coolest thing to teach people about health and why it's important and have them get excited about it too.
-I can't find any baby clothes and I'm annoyed. We already have our baby room cleaned out and I want something to hang in the closet. Jason and I went to 5 stores in Idaho Falls...nothing, I tried walmart and even DI! Where are all the cute dresses I see everyone's babies in hiding?