The tree is all decorated...and the stockings are hung by the chimney with care...in hopes that our baby soon will be here! Baby girl Evans will be arriving soon after Christmas - what a wonderful blessing and gift!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
May Heavenly Father bless and keep you throughout the holiday season and into the New Year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!!
Who says it doesn't snow in Texas?!

Jack-Jack couldn't figure out what the cold white stuff was!

Our Magnolia tree.

Does anyone find it ironic that our sago palm is covered in snow?

We got about 2.5" of snow that day - and set a record for earliest snowfall in Houston.
Take that global warming! :-)

Homemade Granola! YUMMY!

My mom and I were talking over the weekend about the yummy healthy granola she used to make all the time when we were kids. I have always had a love for granola, but I have never found a store-bought one that I really liked that wasn't full of sugar and other fillers(not to mention expensive!). I found this recipe last night and decided to try it out - it is really similar to what my mom used to make - and it turned out AMAZING! I used what we already had, so ours contains almonds, flax seed, unsweetened coconut, dried tart cherries and golden raisins. I also used Texas wildflower honey instead of agave. We have some vacuum seal canisters that came with our Tilia food saver that I finally got to use - so our granola should stay nice and fresh for at least two months! Brian tried it and it got his seal of approval, so we probably won't be buying store-bought granola anymore - which is fine with me! :-)

Healthy Homemade Granola

Dry Ingredients:
6 cups rolled oats (you can also use a combination of rolled grains)
2 cups of raw almonds and/or walnuts (or other nuts)
½ cup raw pumpkin seeds (or sunflower seeds or pecans)
½ cup whole flax seed
½ cup wheat germ or ground flax seed.
Optional: ½ cup unsweetened coconut,
½ cup dried fruit (add after cooked and cooled) –date pieces, cranberries, cherries, apricots, mango

Wet Ingredients & seasonings:
2 individual cup unsweetened applesauce (about 1 cup total)
1/3 cup agave nectar (or brown rice syrup, honey or maple syrup)-I usually use honey or agave
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
½ tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients together, and then stir into dry ingredients. Stir well to mix thoroughly.

Spread the mixture into two baking dishes. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, or until evenly golden brown. Stir every 10 – 15 minutes to ensure even browning. If you use fruit, stir once it is cooled. Store in the refrigerator.

We're having a G-I-R-L!!!! We found out a couple of weeks ago - visions of pink are now dancing in my head! The doctor's appointment went really well...but the technician was really upset because this is only the second time she's been wrong (she thought it was looking like a boy at 12 weeks). She is very happy and healthy and loves to kick me all the time already!

A really neat thing happened Wednesday night. I picked Brian up from the airport - he was returning from a quick trip to Utah to visit the fam. When we were getting ready for bed, she decided to start kicking up a storm - and Brian got to feel her kick for the very first time! It was so special - she gave him 10-12 really strong kicks that were actually shaking my abdomen a bit. Brian was so excited - he kept trying to see if she would kick some more. Those were the strongest kicks I had felt to date - we decided she was doing her happy dance since her daddy had just come home.

Pregnancy has been really cool so far. Especially now that the first trimester fatigue has lifted. I was able to completely avoid morning sickness, haven't had any heartburn (knock on wood for the last half of the pregnancy), I'm feeling great and I've been able to workout regularly at the gym. I'm still anti-chicken (a hold over from the first trimester) and we still joke that she's a vegetarian, although I can do some meat in small quantities. It has been so amazing feeling her kick and move during the day (and especially at night). I'm sure when she gets bigger it will get uncomfortable, but for now, it's a real joy. I really love how in love with her Brian is...he is always touching my tummy and saying hello to the baby - he is going to be a wonderful father. Now, if only we could narrow down that list of names - it's still a page long! :-)

Yes, I know it's been a while since we've posted...I can only plead life...it keeps interfering! ;-) The last few months have been super busy, but also super exciting! As you can see, we are expecting a little bundle of joy right around the new year...he (or she) will be our first and both of us are over the moon! I always knew I married a wonderful man, but his wonderful traits have only been magnified since I've been pregnant. It has been a really easy pregnancy so far...no morning sickness (I am so grateful!), just a strong dislike of anything meat related...especially chicken. We joke that the baby is a vegetarian. The tiredness of the first trimester is beginning to lift, I am fine as long as I sneak in a 30-45 minute nap, but I have a tendency to forget and by 9:30 in the evening I am so ready for bed! I have been able to workout regularly without any problems as well - as long as I get in a morning session I feel pretty great all day. My sweet mom gifted us with a comfy rocker and ottoman for the future nursery, and we have begun looking at items on Craigslist. It has been a strange but exciting experience so far, and we look forward to seeing our adorable little one around the new year. We will keep you posted!

HAPPY SPRING - OUR GARDENIAS ARE BLOOMING!!!

THE STRAWBERRIES ARE HERE!

Brian and I played hooky (with my boss' permission) to go pick strawberries this morning at Froberg Farm. Strawberry season just started. We had so much fun picking them! The farm also hosts a local farmer's market - we were able to get some beautiful fresh veggies to take home as well. All in all, a wonderful mid-week date. Take a peek at our haul!

YUMMY! We're planning on sharing, freezing and eating these beauties...

Ok, ok...so I know I post a lot of house pictures...but remodeling is a big part of our life right now...and we're finally in the home stretch! Brian and I just finished one of the biggest projects we've done to date...we laid down almost 1200 square feet of floating laminate flooring about a week ago. Let's just say it was a learning experience. The best part was learning to work together even better. We've done many projects together, but never one that took 10 hours a day for almost 7 days.

I will admit...when we started on Monday I was GRUMPY! It took us six hours to lay 1 small bedroom closet, one linen closet, and the final row of flooring that the back hallway needed to get completed. By the end of the first day, we had only made it through what I mentioned above and three rows in the living room. Boy was I discouraged! Brian kept encouraging me and things really started to come together on Tuesday afternoon.

The entire week was pretty crazy though...our refrigerator, stove, couch, TV cabinet and desk were all crammed into the office area while we were laying part of the living room...Brian called it his man cave - couch, refrigerator, TV and computer all within stretching distance. LOL! We survived on cereal and PB&J...and some yummy Thai, Vietnamese and the obligatory pizza.

Our friend Kenny came a couple of times to help out (his wife, Texas, made us a great dinner - we really appreciated their help!). The biggest blessing that resulted from our "vacation" was the chance we got to build something together - it was really cool to see things progress - and know that we were able to do such a massive project together...it was so great! I am so grateful for a husband who works side-by-side with me to get things accomplished...thanks honey! My dad came by on Saturday and did about 3/4 of the new baseboards in the house(thanks Dad!) - it looks amazing - check out the pics!

Jack-Jack loves it too!

!!!Spring Is Here!!!

We started spring planting this evening...it felt good to get our hands in the soil and plant some beautiful flowers. We still have a lot to do, including all the mulching, and fertilizing,
but the flowers are here!

What a fabulous weekend! We spent Saturday morning at our favorite place...the temple. It is always so inspiring. The peace and joy we feel is so wonderful...and it colors the whole day. We spent the afternoon at Reliant Arena with thousands of other people watching:

With Dave Ramsey. Totally COOL! This was our Christmas present from my family. We've read his books and listened to him on the radio, but nothing compares to seeing him live. He has an energy that fills the room and is totally inspiring. A lot of people have a love-hate relationship with him, but Brian and I love his program. Truth is truth, and his program supports what the Church has been teaching for years. Brian and I were already following his program to a certain extent, but Saturday's conference inspired us to speed things up and we have set a D-Day Date (Debt-Free Date) in October this year. That's right, no more school loans and no credit card debt by October...all we will have is a mortgage payment...how cool is that? We highly recommend his program, and if you can, see him live and in person...it's eye-opening!

Happy 2009! It's been a while, but we had a wonderful holiday. We spent it with family up in beautiful snow-covered Utah. We've spent the first part of the new year getting back into the swing of things with work and home projects. Our garage is no longer a pit of despair...we started off the new year right by de-cluttering and donating about a third of its contents to Habitat for Humanity. With all the remodeling we've been doing, there were several large items we had pulled out of the house that we know will be put to good use by that wonderful organization. We are finally going to put in our floor next month! No more cold cement underfoot! In preparation for the big install, I wanted to get a little last minute painting done (no flooring = no drop-cloths - cement makes for easy painting!) Many of you know that we put in a backsplash last month...well, we were already not very happy with the paint color in the kitchen/breakfast room, and the new backsplash thoroughly convinced us that a re-paint was in the works. So, I re-painted the kitchen area - Gobi Desert is the new color (it is throughout most of the house - and I have plenty of extra paint in that color already laying about). Let us know what you think - I still need to finish the breakfast room, and now I'm not sure about the curtains over the windows in the bay window area (that's an easy change - they are just napkins!) Take a look and let us know!