{new loves}

happy friday to you!

i haven't done my friday new loves lately, so i thought i would share some scrumptiousness that i am loving this week...pretty much everything in the fall j.crew catalog but here are some faves!

duchess bracelet
crystal cadence necklace


double cloth lady daycoat in bright cinammon (i'm in love with this yummy color)

oh and i had a request to share my pumpkin pie recipe...here it is! but sadly, it's nothing gourmet, just the recipe on the back of the canned pumpkin...although this recipe has brown sugar added which sounds pretty yum!

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 (15 ounce) can Libby's canned pumpkin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can Carnation Evaporated Milk
1 unbaked 9-inch deep dish pie pastry (4 cup volume)
Directions
1Mix sugars, salt and spices in a large bowl.
2Beat eggs in small bowl and pour into sugar/spice mixture. Empty can of pumpkin into sugar/spice mixture.
3Mix everything with a wooden spoon or a wire whip, and use a rubber spatula to incorporate all ingredients thoroughly.
4Add evaporated milk gradually and continue stirring.
5Pour into pie shell.
6Bake in preheated oven at 425 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake for an additional 40-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center

thursday morning thoughts

baby schmidt and i are listening to this cd this morning! i love classical music and want the baby to appreciate it too...it calms me down, and i hope it will calm the baby! baby s is moving so much now. i first felt some flutters around 15 weeks, but this week (18), i feel movement every day and it's getting stronger. it makes me so appreciate the miracle of creation!

my sister brought me this beautiful willow tree figure last week. it's called 'cherish-awaitng a miracle' and i LOVE it! it was so special to me because i feel like this baby is such a miracle and was wanted so much (someday i will share the story of our journey to pregnancy) so this present meant a lot! thank you susanne.and speaking of susanne, my wonderful sister, you HAVE to check out her blog! she's posting pictures of her vacation to Maroma Beach and they are GORGEOUS!

18 weeks

i'm a couple of days behind on my 18 week picture but here it is! 8 days until we find out if it's a boy or girl...oh and we have for sure decided on names... if it's a girl, sadie isabella, and if it's a boy, crew hudson. on a totally unrelated note-i am SO ready for fall! it's my FAVORITE season. love pumpkins, and leaves changing, and cool mornings! so last night i made a pumpkin pie and lit my pumpkin candle. it was still 100 degrees outside but oh well...it made me happy!

district convention

we had our district convention this weekend! it was absolutely wonderful...the entire 3 days were so encouraging, faith strengthening, and great! the drama was really touching about the prodigal son and so realistic! and i cannot wait to read our new book about the apostles and we already watched the creation dvd...so good!

i felt great the majority of the time. in the afternoons i got a little tired and my feet were hurting quite a bit (but i wore cute heels 2 out of the 3 days ;) enjoy the pics! eating at El Con
this was sunday...wearing my anthro necklace mom got me. doesn't kali look cute?

mom and i

me, braely, and jen...pretty bright colors!

brett, savanah, amelia, braely, corey, and luke

too cute!

mike and his parents

love this one of mom and les!

allen, kaylee, and tonja

mike giving his talk about jeremiah. he did so good!!

weekend pics

we went out to dinner last night...so here are our funny poses before going...

we went to chili's and i was craving some appetizers so i got the triple dippers with mini hamburgers, spinach/artichoke dip, and southwestern egg rolls. yum! but oh my, did i pay for it later...indigestion for hours (sorry if that's tmi ;)

here i am at 17 weeks!

loved this one of mom and mckinlee. mom was doing an open house this afternoon for a house mike and i built to sell, and mckinlee was her little assistant, so we took a couple of pics while we were there.

and i made a tiny ponytail in mike's hair. funny, huh?! he's gonna hate that i put this pic on the blog...hehe!

girls night in!!

last night we had a girls night in...a bunch of girls came over to have snacks and drinks and play games...so fun!! everybody brought such yummy snacks. just so nice to have a relaxing fun time!

i made a pomegranate fizz cocktail (with no alcohol) sooooo good and easy! and i made a ham & gruyere puff pastry...we also had spinach dip, artichoke jalapeno dip, cheesy olive dip, fresh veggies, choc. chip cookies, and iced sugar cookies. and i'm so irritated i didn't take a single picture!

pictures from food network

this afternoon, miss m, nana, and i went to the pool for some sun and swimming. it was nice and not too crowded! happy saturday!

girly time

i picked up mckinlee from dee's house yesterday and she came to stay with us for the night...she's been staying with friends and family for a week while susanne and chris are in playa del carmen. what a grown up girl...i wouldn't have stayed away from mom for 10 days when i was her age, but she does great!

we went shopping for some back to school stuff, then got a divine auntie anne's pretzel and sweet glaze dip. we made stuffed baked potatoes (which were yum) and watched the movie bedtime stories. today she's going over to nana's to stay with her until monday when susanne comes to pick her up.

having her at her house made me think about how our life is going to change so much in 4 1/2 months. having a little one to take care of and think about constantly...it's one of the best jobs in the world, and we are so thrilled! my appt. on tuesday went great and we get to do the ultrasound in 3 weeks! yea!