The Dia de Los Burritos

Burrito Bandito is like Mexican heaven.

It's where tortillas and beans and rice go to die.

My loving sister picked up some burritos in Redding.

Froze them.

And drove them 12 hours into my hot little hands.

The deliverer.

(She will kill me for posting this. She is precious.)

The delivered.

Like a cute little burrito couple.

The deliveree.

Seriously, I can not describe the total tastiness of this burrito. It is way beyond anything available in Utah- in fact I have often thought of opening a franchise here. That is true love.

Baby's first Bandito? Check that off the list.

*Visit www.juanmeanburrito.com for more information.

Bump Watch '09

Please excuse the quality of the picture. Jazz (bless him) has not yet completed the Guide to Sumsion Photography 101, and he lacks some necessary skills to take a flattering shot of me. Plus he has this habit of taking 12 pictures before I am actually ready, causing fire to explode from my ears.

I took this shot in my skinny mirror in our spare bedroom right after Stake Conference on Saturday night. My talk went very well (thanks everyone for asking!) and I actually wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. Elder Christopherson from the Quorum of the Twelve is in our stake- he spoke on Sunday and Jazz and I got to meet him. It was a great weekend.

This is me and the baby at almost 18 weeks. I haven't felt her move yet (at least not that I know of), hopefully in the next couple weeks she will start exercising her ballet legs on my abdomen.

Look at me go- posting twice in two days. Bring on that second trimester energy!

4 Empty Chairs

In our church, we have a bi-annual meeting called Stake Conference. It is when all of the church members in one large area gather together to have a joint meeting in our Stake Center meeting house. Since the crowd is generally greater than the capacity of the chapel, the overflows are opened to allow for extra seating- my guess is for about 3500 people. (Be aware, this may be extremely inaccurate as I am terrible at guessing.) *Update: current estimates place this number closer to 900. Again, I am a terrible, terrible guesser.

Last October, Jazz and I went to our Stake Conference meeting together. We were right on time, which means we were a tad bit late. We snuck in the back, resigned ourselves to a row of uncomfortable metal folding chairs, and settled in for the meeting. More people came later than us and filled up all of the space in front, behind, and around us.

Except for our row.

For some reason, no one wanted to sit by us. This entire meeting house was packed with people, chairs were set up on the stage and in the rooms surrounding. Every square inch was filled with people- except for these four lonely chairs next to us.

I know I should have been paying attention, but instead my mind wandered to those four empty chairs. I pictured our lives six or seven years down the road. By then we would probably fill those empty chairs ourselves- with wiggly little kids. I pictured how we would handle two hours of reverent time with our children. I would probably sit between the trouble makers, Jazz would keep the youngest busy on his lap. I would tote around the typical church bag filled with reverent activities and colored pencils and scripture cut outs.

The whole thought was fairly brief, but I have thought about those four empty chairs ever since then.

We just had our Stake Conference again this past Sunday- so much has changed in six short months.

We are in the process of filling that first little seat with our first wiggly kid.

And I couldn't be more excited.

Week 17

Dear Girl Baby,

Hello again, it's your mom here, just checking in with you. This week you are a little over five inches long and weigh about 6 ounces. Look at you go! You are now about the size of a large onion. I think you are doing a great job growing, I am very proud of you.

Your wee little skeleton is hardening from cartilage to bone now. All of your joints can move around and you even have perfectly formed fingerprints that are completely unique. You may be able to hear things on the outside world now. If you can, I am sorry that I have been listening to country music lately. I promise it's just a phase. Taylor Swift is just so catchy.

Well, you are starting to accumulate onesies, clothes, socks, tutu's, hats, and hair bows galore. We had to buy a giant plastic storage bin to hold all of your stuff until you arrive and are ready to try stuff on. Of course I am a bit biased but I am pretty confident you are going to be the cutest baby in the entire world.

In about ten days, we are having the "big" ultrasound to look at all your organs and limbs and stuff. Your dad and I are both pretty excited to see you again, I mean, neither of us were blessed with x-ray vision so it gets kinda tricky. So get out your lipstick and put on something fancy- its photo time!

Baby, tomorrow me and you have to get up at Stake Conference and speak to a lot of people. Yeah, you're right, I am pretty nervous, but I'm sure it will be fine. I am more worried about what we are going to wear. Total nightmare.

Alright well, I will keep sending orange juice your way since it seems to be your favorite. Can I stop eating Quiznos now though? I am starting to get a little tired of it. Okay, can't wait to see you soon. Hope all is well. Write back.

xoxox,

Momma

It's whats for dinner

We used to make this dish back in the day at The Lob called "Fish in a Bag." I kind of remember the recipe, so I made my own version last night. This picture is right before I rolled it up into a little square parchment paper baggie and baked it. I was planning to take a picture after it was all cooked, but as soon as it came out of the oven I basically inhaled it.

Recipe:

4 Fresh Tilapia filets
Large Red Pepper
Green Onions
Celery Stalks
Carrots
Olive Oil
Fish Seasoning (I don't know where I got this. I just had it.)
Cayenne Pepper
Salt and Pepper
Lemons
Parsley

Dice up the vegetables into 1/2 inch pieces. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, dash-ish of cayenne pepper, and some fresh squeezed lemon juice. Place vegetables in the center of a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Brush olive oil on both sides of the fish, season with fish seasoning and cayenne pepper. Place over vegetables. Slice lemons and place on top of fish, finishing with a squeeze of lemon juice and some parsley. Take an additional piece of parchment paper and cover the food, crimping sides to form a sealed bag. (Why didn't I take a picture of this?!)

Bake on 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

I was actually surprised how tasty it was, and Jazz really, really, really liked it. Then again, he likes everything except potatoes. Go figure.

*Edit: It has come to my attention that apparently I failed to mention that my fabulous chef kitcheny sister MORGAN helped me when I had questions about the bag, fish cooking times, etc. HERE IS WHERE I MENTION MORGAN IN THIS BLOG POST. RIGHT HERE. SHE KNOWS EVERYTHING.

4/20/09

I realized that I have not posted any real pictures of anything fun for awhile now. There are a number of reasons why this has happened. One-It is difficult to take my new camera everywhere with me... Also, I do not enjoy being photographed with this extra chunkiness...And lastly, I don't think you want pictures of me doing laundry and Jazzy fixing computers and unloading the dishwasher. We just haven't been out in awhile to do something, you know, fancy.

So the highlights of our weekend consisted of running errands, getting stuff done, and cleaning. Once you get married BAM the boring stuff becomes more necessary and you actually have fun doing it together. We had an appointment Saturday morning, then we went to the Gateway for awhile. I am in desperate need of a fierce church outfit for this weekend because *cough* I am speaking in Stake Conference. (death.) We browsed Pea in a Pod and some other stores, but I didn't really find anything super adorable.

Perhaps the best part of this day (besides the absolutely perfect weather) was eating at the new restaurant The Counter. It's a modern burger place- basically you get this piece of paper and you check off everything delicious that you would like on your burger.- create your own adventure sort of meal. I had fresh pineapple, bacon, cheese, and tangy bbq sauce on mine, while Jazz went for a more random approach with cheese, mushrooms, honey mustard, and a fried egg. Those of you who know Jazz know that he will eat anything on a hamburger. Seriously, anything. It was a good burger for sure, but be prepared to spend $30 bucks on two burgers, fries and a drink.

I also braved the storage room and switched out all of our winter crap for happy bright spring crap. It was pretty successful, except I am missing one of my favorite flops. The flip made the move, but the flop is MIA.

I guess that's all for now. I'm Ron Burgundy?

Ode to my pants

Ok now that I am getting on the chunk side I went ahead and supplemented my wardrobe with the addition of maternity pants. Let me tell you what, these things are FANTASTIC. I do not know why they don't make these for regular people, because holy hell baskets they are so comfortable.

Its like wearing perfectly normal jeans with built in Spanx, no waistband, just stretchy and ready to accommodate your large lunch.

My mom was visiting last weekend and she said, "So, you wanna go shopping for maternity pants?" And I replied, "Ummm all the pants I have been wearing this week have been maternity pants." She could not believe how cute and normal looking they all were- apparently pregnant women only wore large potato sacks during the 80's.

Seriously though, how am I ever going to go back to "normal" pants after this? I feel like I am wearing sweatpants to work, just disguised as denim and black trouser pants. Don't tell any of my co workers.

Do yourself a favor and go get yourself a pair. Immediately. Like right now. Go.

Blog Etiquette

So, quick question.

I've always wondered- when people ask you questions through a comment on your blog post, is it appropriate to answer their question with another comment? Or do you go to THEIR blog and leave a comment with the answer to their question on one of their posts? What if they don't have a blog? Will they come back and actually check to see if their question is answered?

I mean, I don't think there is a book about blog etiquette. Yet.

What's a girl to do?

15 Weeks

Dear Baby,

You are a girl baby! Well, we think you are a girl. We are getting a second opinion on that in just a few more weeks, but for now we will just go with it. Also I am going to stop calling you "fetus" now since you look more like a baby and well, my mom said it is really "crass."

This week you are growing even more-you are about 4 inches long and you weigh in at a whopping 3 ounces- about the size of a naval orange! You can now move all of your joints and limbs, and you can sense light coming from the outside world. Your eyes and ears are moving to their proper place and you are starting to move amniotic fluid around your digestive track. How do you like pizza? Orange Juice? Bananas? Does it taste good in fluid form? I bet it is delicious.

Baby- the other day your Grandma and I did a little baby shopping. I think you are really going to like what we have picked out for you! If you could just let me know what your favorite color is, we will start working on the nursery. Kick once for pink, twice for purple.

Your dad came home with a surprise the other day- your very own fetal doppler! I think he is just a bit nervous still and it makes him (and me) feel better when we can just listen to your heartbeat whenever we want. You are doing a great job beating that little heart of yours. Just so you know, since you will probably eventually read this on the outside of the womb, your dad is so excited for you to come. He likes looking at cribs and bedding and fluffy girl stuff as much as I do. You are really going to love him a lot.

Ok baby, in the words of my BFF Will Ferrell- "keep on...keep on truckin." Next week- circulatory system! yeah!

xoxox,

Momma

Pronoun Update

Spur of the moment on Saturday between General Conference sessions, Jazz and I ran to a 3D Ultrasound place in Sandy to get a peek at our baby. Ever since we found out we were expecting, we have been DYING to find out the gender of this little fetus. I really don't know how people wait all 40 weeks, I would seriously explode. Patience just does not come easily to me. So we broke down and paid the extra money to get an early preview of our offspring.

and.

And.

AND.

It's a GIRL! From what the doctor saw, he said she was a healthy 15 week baby girl, we got to see arms and legs and her little nose and 5 fingers (so we know she has at least one good hand). She had the hiccups while we were watching her on screen and it was incredible to see her whole body jump around like she was showing off for us. Maybe she has some of my competitiveness....

I am so excited! I kind of guessed it was a boy, while pretty much everyone else in the whole world thought it was a girl. Motherly instinct? It hasn't kicked in yet. Jazz was so thrilled as I think he was secretly hoping it was a little girl. We have had two nieces born in the last year and we are excited to add another little girl to their play dates.

Without further adieu, here is Baby Girl (I don't have to call her "it" or "fetus" or "herm" anymore!)


And no, we will not be showing the ultrasound picture that proves she is female because she is a lady and ladies are modest and most certainly do not flash their goods on the internet.

So here is to pink and purple and fluff and bows and tea parties and all things girly!

Weekend Evening Walk

Last weekend we went for a walk in our neighborhood

Where I encountered a rare flying JazzMonster

and me and this silly monster

watched the sun perform

a great finale performance

we walked home, hand in hand

still finding joy in our journey.

Horrible, no good, very bad day.

I have started a blog post almost everyday this week and then stopped every time.

Did I run out of interesting stuff to talk about? I don't know.

But I have been one moody pregnant lady all week long.

This morning was no different.

I woke up tired. How is this even possible when I go to sleep at 9:30 pm? It's because I wake up every 90 minutes all night long to use the bathroom, to rollover, or to adjust pillows. Seriously this is getting annoying, I don't think I have slept through the night since week 6.

I took a shower late last night, thinking my hair would air dry and it would be no problem to straighten this morning. Uh, wrong, I looked like an over sized parrot with a big fluffy mullet. I plugged in al lof my hot electrical appliances to tackle this beast and it took forever.

And I swear this weather is making me go insane. Our office is all windows so in the afternoon it really heats up- I mean like, bring your vacation clothes to work or else be prepared to work in your skivvys. So I stood in front of my closet for no less than 20 minutes, trying to find something suitable for layering to wear so I would be warm in the morning, and nice and cool by the afternoon time. I tried on a zillion things. Stuff doesn't fit the same. I cried. Jazz hugged me. I went to work.

I had a dream last night about giant maple donuts, so I thought I would be a super employee today and bring some in for the office. Well, when you spend a half hour getting dressed, it doesn't leave much time for super employee-ness.

Now I am at work. Without breakfast. With a hungry fetus. In some weird outfit that I know will be too hot in about three hours. I don't mean to complain, except I mean to complain. Some days are like that, even in Australia.