By the way....

Well, I know most of you already know this....but we are pregnant. Tom and I are pretty big secret keepers and we've kept this quiet for quite a while b/c we thought it would be fun to tell his family when we saw them at Thanksgiving. It was fun and nice to be able to tell most people in person. Anyway, we went to the doctor two days before leaving for Utah (November 15th) for the big ultrasound and found out that my due date would be changed to March 27th (10 whole days sooner!! I'll take it!) so I'm 23 weeks and we found out we are having a BOY! We are excited although I was totally hoping for another girl...I even picked out a name for her...Cambria. But, it will be so much fun to have a little boy and girl. I hope he is just like his Dad! He may very well be named after Tom (Thomas Maxwell) ...but we'll wait until later to name him for sure.

Here is a video of us telling the last brother/sister in law about being pregnant and having a boy. We'd been around them for a few hours by this time, but b/c Taylor was sick we didn't get a chance to tell them until later in the evening. We were trying to do it in a sly way by me showing my other sister in laws green and teal flannel I had picked out to make a blanket for him. They totally didn't get it at first, but finally caught on. I was being pretty quiet at the time b/c this was when Taylor was feeling sick...you can see her cuddling on my lap.

I've been tagged again!

My friend Wendy tagged me, but I'm not going to follow the rules exactly b/c it seems like almost all the people I blog with have already been tagged at least twice...but if I do tag you at the end of this list 6 things about yourself....

So about me:

1) I love to read about health and nutrition and lately have loved reading the YOU books by Dr. Oz and Dr. Morohmat (sp?). They are really good and really interesting reads so check them out!

2) I've met President Clinton at the White House (in 1998) and heard/saw President Bush speak in person in Springfield, MO in the fall of 1999 while he was campaigning.

3) I spent two summers living and working at the Missouri State Fair- the second summer I was a superintendent for the FFA building. I also spent a semester interning for radio station reporting the farm news.

4) I've been on a fair share of strange/awkward/bad dates. Two of the worst were once in high school I went out on a date with this big guy named Tyson...we drove to Springfield, Missouri to Christmas shop and he cut off this guy with his family in a minivan. The guy got mad at Tyson and was pulling up next to him (on an exit ramp) making faces and saying stuff to him. Tyson didn't like that so he pulled out a pistol from under his seat and started waving it at the guy!!! I was in the passenger seat in between Tyson and the guy in the minivan yelling at Tyson to put his stupid, illegal, concealed gun away. That was the only date with that guy...

5) The next bad date was right after my mission with a guy that I was interested in dating (I'll refer to him as B). He invited me to an OSU basketball game and said we would be meeting up with some other friends at the game. Well, right before leaving for the game we met up with his ex girlfriend (whom I was good friends with and who still had strong feelings for B). I was totally perplexed by this and during the game was placed in between this girl and B...my date (or should I say "our" date). After the game we went out to eat with two other couples (yes, his ex girlfriend was still with us riding in the car with us--he opened the door for both of us) and at the restaurant to other two couples sat in a booth and then this girl and I sat in one side of a booth adjacent from them and directly across from B. He paid for both of our meals and I never wanted to go out with this guy again but I also thought it was ironic that I was Mormon going on a date with a guy out with two girls at the same time!!! Never again!!!

6) I drink tons of ice water and wake up craving it and I love to eat Kellog's raisin bran and I even like it soggy.

Okay, there you go...now I tag Kristen, Mar, and Nancy.

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been a while since I've posted. We went to northern Utah to visit Tom's family for Thanksgiving. We had a great trip and it was great seeing everyone but Taylor got really sick in the middle of our visit with some sort of flu virus. It stinks being away from home and being sick. Well, it just stinks having her sick anywhere...she did a lot of throwing up and it went on for almost a week so it was sad...but she's doing better now and hasn't thrown up since Sunday night. Here are some pictures and videos from a couple of weeks ago just before leaving on our trip: Tom and Taylor in front of the chapel at the Air Force Academy
Taylor was so tired and ready for bed she just layed in her Dad's arms on this pillow
Taylor loved carrying around my purses...
Taylor with her cousin Isaac in Logan...

I'm not sure if the 1st video is going to work...we'll see. Be sure to double click ob play

Our favorite fall recipe...

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

I made these this morning (it's not the first time this fall ;-) and I thought I'd share them with you. They are easy and are so good!

1 1/2 cups flour (whole wheat works great too)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
" baking powder
" baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves (or I subsitute pumpkin pie spice)

*mix all above dry ingrediants together then add:

8 ounces or 1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter...or you can add 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup applesauce (it's healthier and takes just as good)

*mix it all together and then add about 1/2 bag of chocolate chips or 3/4 a cup....sorry Kristen! I know you can't eat chocolate, but they taste really good without the choc. chips too!

Topping (optional for more gourmet looking and more calories):

mix 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour and a tsp. of butter with a fork until crumbly.

Put muffin mixture into muffin pan and sprinkle topping on each one then bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes. I hope you enjoy!

Our weekend with Tom's parents...and little brother Mike

Last weekend Tom's mom and dad and brother came from Utah to visit. We had a lot of fun with them. They got here on Friday evening and we had pizza and visited and then on Saturday we drove to Manitou Springs for the annual Emma Crawford Coffin race. It was really amusing! There were several different teams of people all dressed up, usually in a theme like the "fat Elvi", the beverly hillbillies (who won 1st), Gilligan's island, etc., etc. They also created a coffin to match their theme and then two by two raced down the main strip in Monitou Springs pushing their coffin. We think it would be fun to enter next year. Maybe we could make a boy scout themed coffin....Tom's only concern is that some of the guys he works with may not be able to run more then 10 yards... :-) We spent a little while walking around downtown Monitou Springs looking at some of the fun shops and art galleries and then drove to Garden of the Gods (it's right next door from where we were) and went on a little hike. Then that night we went to our church's halloween party (a chili cookoff and trunk or treat) which was a lot of fun. Taylor dressed up as a pink teddy bear. After that we watched a nancy drew movie from the 1930's that Tom and I think is really funny.

On Sunday after church we all went to the dog park with Maddie and then took his parents by Tom's work place so they could see where he worked. Monday, all of us except Tom who had to work did a little book and Christmas shopping and then that evening we played some games and hung out. And then his parents left early Tuesday morning. It was so nice for them to come and see us and we really enjoyed the time together. Here are some pictures that we took on Saturday.

Taylor and Grandma This was right before the race begun. In this picture you can see two of the coffins. There had to be someone riding in the coffin...it was usually a small, light female and they all had to wear helmets.
This team was pretty funny, especially the guy with the white headband and huge mustache. He was acting the part of a gym buff from the seventies really well. I wish you could've seen him.
Taylor loves to walk this way with Tom and I.
Taylor with her dad and Grandpa. She was having lots of fun getting swung.

Pics from our trip...LOTS of them!

Well, these are VERY out of order. I could've taken the time to figure out how to upload them so they'd be in order....oh well. I'll just try to add captions. These first pics are the Sunday morning after we got back. The next two are at the Old Timer Days in Benton, Arkansas...the town my parents live in.
Taylor found a dog that reminded her of Maddie....on our way home we swung by our friends' home and picked Maddie up, took her right inside to the bathtub and gave her a really thorough bath (she'd been outside for almost 3 weeks straight) and then once she was able to roam around Taylor kept giving her hug after hug....it was so funny, but she was so excited to be with Maddie again.
Taylor playing the piano with Grandpa at my parents house.
This was at a rest stop on our way home....Tom likes changing Taylor in the grass....hey, just as long as he does it! :-)
like I said they're way out of order....sorry! This was the Sunday morning after we got home. It was supposed to be a cold day and it snowed about 2-3 inches...it was gone within 24 hours. That's the kind of snow I like! :-) Pretty and it melts quickly!

this was at the Texas State Fair.
Texas State Fair...Taylor and Tom watching a fun parade.
Taylor trying her first funnel cake. She liked it!
This was right after Tom surprised us by arriving to my parents early. Taylor was so excited to see her Daddy, she just layed in his arms for a long time and let him cuddle her.
At the park near my parents house.

This was day 3 on our trip. Misti and I took our girls to the mall and this was Taylor riding her first carousel....getting a little dizzy! :-)
Taylor and Misti's son Carter and daughter Keeton in the backseat. Carter looks thrilled to be in between two little girls!
At Bruce and Misti's...Keeton had this little stroller and Taylor pushed it around all day, everyday so I went to Toys R Us and got her her own and now she pushes it around our house, pushing 3 jars of peanut butter (she has her own cabinet full of peanut butter) all the other cabinets our mine) :-)
bathtime...
back at the Texas State Fair...hope you enjoyed the pictures! I hope you have a great weekend too!