Little girl under construction.

So I've been slightly slacking in putting things up quickly but better late than never I suppose! This past week Mark and I got to go do another ultrasound since we were earlier along than we thought at our first one. The doc wanted a second one done so he could make sure everything was looking good. Fine with me! Who would pass up another chance to see the baby before it's born? Anyway, everything is looking great so far so we're pretty glad/excited about that. She printed three pics out for us although they definitely aren't as good as last time, but here they are anyway!

(This was the best face/profile shot the lady got. The baby had her arms in her face so it's not as good of a one as last time. I think it was because this was at one of her "quiet times" and she didn't appreciate it being disturbed by someone poking around at her so she decided to be fight back and hide her face...tsk tsk :)

(We did get a nice shot of her leg though!)

(And with this one you can OBVIOUSLY tell it's a girl... :) I can't read these things very well...Mark was disappointed but she kept pointing things out during the sonogram and he couldn't tell what the lady was talking about, I told him he should have spoken up but he's a pansy sometimes.)

Well there you have it! In 10 weeks or so we'll be putting up lots and lots of actual pics so get excited! We are! :) :) :) :) :)

The King of Country Returns to Utah!

So I got a phone call one day a week or so ago from my good friend Shauna who said that she had gotten tickets for a George Strait concert and the person that was going to go with her bailed and would I like to go? Um, heck yes I would!!! Who would give up a chance like that? NO comments from all you country haters out there...if you don't like country then just skip this post...cuz I LOVE country music and I LOVE George Strait, he's fantastically amazing and there's nothing you can do to change how I feel. :)

Anyway, the concert was last Friday night (the 17th). We were both running a little late so we missed the first opening act (some new girl who I don't really know), but we did get to see most of Blake Shelton's opening act which was pretty darn good. The concert was at this HUGE amphitheater up in West Valley which was pretty darn cool to have a concert at! The traffic was RIDICULOUS but I think the concert was worth all the waiting. :) Anyway, the two openers were about 45 minutes each and then George came out and sang for two whole hours...it was so great! He sang like 23 songs AND came back out and did 3 encore songs. How awesome is that??? It really was one of the best concerts I have ever been too!

It was pretty cool to be there too because it was the first time he's performed in Utah in the past 11 years. His band was really great, he was great, the weather was great...pretty much it was just a fantastic night! George is a wonderful performer (which seeing that he's been performing FOREVER, he's put out a cd almost every year since 1981, has OVER 50 #1 hits and is the king of country! can't get much better than that!) and I'm so glad that I got to see him live in concert! Thanks Shauna! You're the best!

(Blake Shelton)

(The King himself! George Strait!)

(Me, Shauna, and George! I was pretty proud that I got the screen in the background with this shot :)

(You gotta love the hat)

(And who doesn't love a man who can sing AND play the guitar?)

(This is part of his song "Write this down", I was trying to put up "The Fireman" but I can't find it :(

"The only irritating thing about eating is that when you are done, you are no longer hungry" --Dumas--

So Mark and I told each other long, long ago that if we got in the Navy that we'd go to this restaurant called Goodwood to celebrate. We've only been there once, for Mark's b-day last year, and loved it but haven't gone back since so we were pretty excited to go. It took us over a month after finding out we were officially "in" that we got to go, which was this past week. It was well worth the wait though!!!! We had to go up to SLC to get our military id's, then we went to the Draper Temple to do a session (that temple is soooo pretty!!!!), and after that we went to eat!

Goodwood is a bbq, which is quite ridiculous to go anywhere outside of the midwest cuz that's where the GOOD stuff is :)...but Goodwood is fantastic! Their onion rings are fantastically huge and delicious and go great with their ranch...yum yum yum! I got the pulled pork which was fantastic and Mark got a full rack of St. Louis style ribs which were divine! Here's some pics from dinner :)

(This was after we'd already eaten two...I couldn't wait :)

(Sorry this is blurry, I forgot the flash)



(This was so huge! Don't worry, even Mark couldn't finish it all in one sitting ...he even shared! So nice of him...)



(SO messy but so worth it! Luckily they provide plenty of paper towels and wet naps to help you out...)

"Good cooks never lack friends."

Well since my life has drastically become less busy with Sierra gone (don't worry, that won't last too long...this next month is going to be slightly busy, mostly with weddings! Yay!), I'm going to do a little something different for my blog. So I love to cook and try new recipes and my all time FAVORITE website is allrecipes.com. It's so amazing! They have recipes for everything and ratings/reviews from people who've made it which help SO much! It's really a lifesaver and I recommend the site to anyone!

Anyway, I try out new recipes all the time, which is pretty fun. I get tired of having the same stuff all the time so I try to be different and change it up and why not try something new at the same time? SO the other night I tried out a chicken pot pie recipe along with a homemade crust and it was SO GOOD! I always read the reviews before I make something and I used some of the tips found there and it was just so yummy. I didn't take any pics so sorry about that, it wasn't fabulously pretty anyway but it tasted great and that's all that matters. So here's the recipe for anyone wanting to try something new!

Pie Crust

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2/3 cup shortening
* 6 tablespoons cold water

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in the shortening until crumbly. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Divide dough in half so that one ball is slightly larger than the other. Roll out larger ball to fit a 9-in. or 10-in. pie plate. Transfer pastry to pie plate. Trim pastry even with edge.
2. Pour desired filling into crust. Roll out second ball. Position over filling; cut slits in pastry. Trim pastry to 1 in. beyond edge of pie plate. Trim pastry to 1 in. beyond edge of pie plate. Fold top crust over bottom crust. Flute edges. Bake according to recipe directions.

Chicken Pot Pie

INGREDIENTS

* 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
* 1 carrot, chopped
* 1 head fresh broccoli, chopped
* 2 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and chopped
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
* 2/3 cup milk
* 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Steam carrots and broccoli in a covered pot for 3 minutes, until slightly tender but still firm.
3. In a large bowl, mix together carrots, broccoli, chicken, soup, milk, cheese, and salt. Spoon mixture into pastry-lined 9 inch pie pan and cover with top crust. Seal edges and cut steam vents in top.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until golden brown.

That was the original recipe. In addition to it I added some celery (you can add pretty much whatever you want basically, I love recipes you can mess with!) and some additional seasonings according to the tips of the reviews- some pepper, garlic powder and Cavendar's...I think I put a little too much seasoning though cuz it was a wee bit too strong/salty but Mark liked it so meh...So yeah...I guess that's all for today!

"May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country!" --Daniel Webster--

So this week was slightly less eventful than the others. We went to work, shopped, watched movies, played games, ate food...the usual stuff I suppose :) The weekend was probably the most exciting part of the week, starting with Thursday. On Thursday, well we didn't do much til Mark got off work, but after he got home we went up to SLC (again) and went to see the new Transformer's movie at the IMAX. It was SO amazing!!! I've never been to an IMAX before so that part was amazing and then the movie was amazing too. Great fun.

Friday I had to work but Mark and Sierra went and hiked to the Y. Mark hadn't done it yet and you really have to do it once during your BYU career and Sierra was up for it so they went. I did it my Freshman year and it was tough then so I didn't think I would have to much fun hiking it and being prego. I'm glad I didn't too cuz they said it was hard and steep (I told them it was, they didn't believe me), and it was way hot. Hopefully it was somewhat fun though... :)

(Some people up on the Y decorated it with red stripes on the 4th...it doesn't show up to well in this pic but they're there!)

Saturday I only had to work a few hours because the mall closed early for the 4th (yay!!!). So we went home, had dinner, and then went up to campus to sit and wait for the Stadium of Fire fireworks to start up. We got there early (people sit out there all day to save a good spot...it's crazy...), and sat and played boggle and Phase 10 til it started. Pretty intense games I tell ya. :) The fireworks were amazing though...so freaking huge and SO loud! We were a block or so away from the stadium so we got a nice view of it all. So that was a lot of fun to go to.





Sunday was nice because we had Emma and Gary and Whit and Richie over for a little bbq. Whit brought some yummy chicken to grill up and a salad, Emma and Gary brought fruit and drinks, and then I did chips, corn on the cob (YUM!) and dessert. I made a pineapple upside down cake and it turned out SO good! It was my first time making one, I was pretty impressed with myself. So that was a lot of fun as well...I love getting together with friends! Sierra was delightfully spastic so they all got to see what a crazy child she is. :)

(I was so close in flipping this perfectly! One little piece stuck to the pan...don't worry, we didn't let it go to waste :)

Well that's pretty much all for last week. I'm not sure there will be much going on this week. Sierra leaves on Thursday and then I'll be back to being all by myself during the day :( SO sad! It's been a lot of fun having her here although it has gone by pretty darn quick! Time flies when you're having fun I guess!