Oh, Baby!

I'm texting from the family birthing waiting room. We've done this before. Actually, this is almost a repeat of our last adventure here. My SIL is now six days past her due date... what a trooper! We were secretly hoping for a little leprechaun, but it'll be the 18th now...

We've played Sets.
We've played Catch Phrase.
We've played Toss Around Insults.
We've played Guess the Baby's Weight.
We're done playin' around!

The next game will be Guess Who He Looks Like and Who Gets to Hold Him First??

We all have our Team Nickolai shirts on... courtesy of *muah* we're rootin' for ya buddy! C'mon!

I've decided... being an Auntie is my favorite job so far. ;0)

Healthy but TASTY Blueberry Muffins!

I am a sucker for blueberries. I love them! I wonder if it's because we used to have about 12 bushes... Maybe! I used to make pies like a mad woman. Well, a mad-adolescent, really. Anyway, I put a yummy blueberry muffins candle on top of my stove last week and every time I use the oven it heats up and smells fabuloso! For a while I couldn't figure out what the smell was... but I knew I LOVED it! Ha! Thanks to my dear Hubbs for pointing out the obvious! The candle had half melted on my stove top. Um, duh! So, I have been craving blueberry muffins ever since. However, I'm really trying to stay on track with my eating plan. Not to mention that while I do love to cook I am very short on time these days. So, I picked up a box of Fiber One muffin mix the other day... I made them this morning when E went down for her first nap. They actually are pretty darn good!

I added half of a container of fresh blueberries to the mix... just because I love them so! I also made them with applesauce instead of the 2 tablespoons of oil that it calls or. The directions for the healthier version are available on the side of the box.

The best part? These tasty muffins are a decent size and when made as the healthier version, they're only 2 points! They are 140 calories apiece with 2.5g total fat and 5g dietary fiber! Score!!! If they are made with the oil then they are 160 calories and 3 points apiece. Their point value/caloric value makes them a perfect snack for anytime of the day. Since the box makes 12 these would be easy to make at the beginning of one week and freeze for the next week!

I do suggest having I Can't Believe Its Not Butter spray on hand as they aren't oozing with oil... ;) I enjoyed mine this morning with my scrambled egg whites & cheddar and a small glass of fat free milk!

Top Two Tuesday

Hello friends! I know I've been semi-absent...

Here's my list of excuses:

• LA BFF's wedding is in one month!
• LA BFF's second bridal shower was this weekend up here in WA so the weekend was jam packed.
• We had a serious bridesmaid dress situation in regards to LA BFF's wedding. Um, we solved it... with THIS dress in Navy... it'll be just fan.freaking.tastic!
• My Grandma's birthday celebration Sunday included lots of shopping at the "big city stores" such as JoAnn and Kohls... :) She lives in a tiny town!
• My nephew is about to make his appearance
• My BIL/SIL did a total remodel of their house... They started in November. Did I mention they both work full time and SIL is finishing her Masters this month? Or that my BIL did the entire remodel himself while working full time? Brandon and I have been helping them finish up loose ends and finish the nursery! Yowza!
• I got to visit my cousin's new baby girl, Isla. :) What a doll!
• I'm in my "finals" week of this session of school... Yikes!
  

Ok, on two Top Two Tuesdays... Favorite Names!

I just happened upon The Undomestic Momma today while blog browsing and I think I'll stick around! :)

We have talked about baby names for the entire seven years we've been together... They've changed over the years but there are a few that have always stuck in our minds. Girls names are by far easier for us to pick... And I kind of think we'll have girls when that time comes anyway.

Girls: Alivia, Taryn and Kara are our top contenders. The middle names we'll choose from are: Jeane, Kristine, Elizabeth, Irina & Lauren. I am pretty set on using a family name as a middle name and those are my favorites! :)

Boys: Tristan, Tyler, Owen & Andrew. My favorite is Andrew right now. I LOVE the name Drew for a boy and I think Brandon's favorite is Tristan. Now, middle names for the boy name is a difficult one. I still want to use a family names but I am not in love with the names we have to choose from. Here is the list of possibilities: Frank, Wayne, Lloyd, Harold, William, Michael, Jason, Scott & Blair. Or, we could potentially use my last name, Yarger. But, that doesn't flow very well!!! :(

Which is your favorite? Names are such a difficult task... Well, for me at least! I tend to be a little indecisive!!! :)

Happy Tuesday!

Spring Fever...

I can understand why some people around the country hate February. It's about the time that everyone is sick of their snow/frigid weather and has the itch for Spring. Around here, we can have some beautiful weather in February... It is my favorite time of the year not only because of my birthday, but because when we have these cold, crisp days with clear skies our mountains are SO beautiful! It was so refreshing to spend the day yesterday cleaning up the garage a bit, mowing the yard and just enjoying the fresh Washington air. I tried to catch a few pictures of the dogs yesterday, they were having a good time making laps around the house, haha!


For some reason, this old girl is afraid of the camera! I literally tried to trap her on the porch because I knew that she couldn't jump down from the high point that you see her trying to do in this picture! I quickly ran over there to stop her because I didn't want her to break a hip!!! She's SO weird!!!

Of course, this guy is a ham. But, he is afraid of me folding laundry... Good Lord!



Today, we are headed to a beach town to look at beach homes in this cute town! My mom is showing us at least four! This is a family endeavor, not solely Brandon's and mine! :) I can't help but think of the great fun that could be had at a family beach house! Yipee! I see us doing a lot of this:
and

Or perhaps some lovely CLAM DIGGING! So much fun!


But mostly, I just look forward to relaxing and having a place to get away!!! We'll see if we find anything today! :)

Sunny California...

I got to enjoy sunny and 80 degree weather this past weekend in Southern California! Amazing!

LA BFF is having her wedding at this beautiful place down in Fullerton in April. It's going to be so beautiful. They have an awesome outdoor garden area that is small enough to be intimate but so open and airy and perfectly lined with gorgeous palm trees. I can't wait... It's going to be a fabulous wedding. She's going to be such a beautiful bride, see?

**This is not her dress, no worries! This was a close 2nd but the dress she chose is amazing!*

Anyway, this past weekend was packed full of wedding prep and events. We spent all day Friday running errands here.there.everywhere. An appointment with the florist did not go well nor did a much needed mani/pedi! However, we made an unscheduled stop at a Chevy's for Pineapple Coconut Margaritas! Yum!

Thankfully, her hair appointment was much better and now she knows *almost* exactly how she wants her hair. The only thing in question now are her bangs. Yes? or No?


Saturday was her highly anticipated bridal shower. I feel bad because when I go to SoCal to visit she has to tote me around and because of that she ended up having to run last minute errands for her own bridal shower. *lame* But, she didn't mind and it was quality time spent! We booked a super cute and quaint cafe for her bridal shower. Since it ended up being a beautiful day we were able to have it outside in their courtyard! We couldn't really get around the whole Valentine's theme so we decided to just roll with it. Cute centerpieces, favor boxes and other decorations were tailored to the red, pink and purple look. I think it turned out well!

This is a picture of the "Advice Tree" that I made. The pink cards hang from the lovely branches and were filled out with advice for the new bride-to-be! Cute!


We also adapted the age old "memory" game into the "apron game" where she wore a cute apron around that had random household items pinned to it and people had a set time to memorize what was on the apron... too cute! The cafe had champagne & raspberries for us, assorted desserts and fruit with chocolate to dip it in! Yummm! It ended up being a very pretty shower.
Here is the bride-to-be with her sister and mom... Pretty ladies!


After the shower we went to the boutique in Pasadena that is making our dresses. That was a fiasco in itself... but I'm hoping it will all work out. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute! The lady that is doing the dresses is just SO unaware of deadlines and the fact that we all live in different states is adding its own drama to the situation! Let's hope all six of the dresses fit all of us!!! :)

Anyway, the whole weekend was great but very tiring! I'm happy to be home. :)

Not too long before these two are hitched!

Goodbye 23!

Hellloooo Mid Twenties! YIKES!

I, unlike the rest of America, spent this last Sunday celebrating my birthday with my wonderful Hubbs instead of watching the boob tube!** He rented us a hotel here and took me to dinner here.

OH! MY! GOSH!

We both are so busy in our daily lives it was just such a nice gesture for him to not have to work on Super Bowl Sunday. I mean, he manages a Sports Bar with several huge flat screens... we were inevidibly going to be busy! Duh! I had mentioned that I have lived in Washington State my entire life (minus one year) and had never been up in the Space Needle at some point this past year. So, he decided we'd splurge for my birthday. The odds were that the weather wouldn't cooperate for us but thankfully it was a clear night and the views were beautiful! I have some pictures, but my camera cord is missing. So, they'll have to wait. We were pleased when dinner was absolutely fantastic. We have actually shared quite a few fabulous meals together and this was one of the best. Brandon ordered the bone-in Rib Eye steak that was a whopping 24oz! Shooot! And, that 145.5 lb man ate it ALL! :) I enjoyed a delicious filet that was served with black truffle reduction and king crab legs! Yum O! After dinner we enjoyed some adult beverages with each other at a really nice place downtown Seattle... it was a perfect date night! Thanks Babe!

**Rest assured knowing that I strategically took a "nap" in the hotel room before dinner with CBS on... Yes, my man did get some good old football watchin' in! I couldn't be THAT selfish!

Earlier in the week some of my girls and I celebrated my birthday with dinner at a Thai restaurant in town... Afterward my BFF Liz and I hit up the best place to dance in this town and met up with Hubbs and Cousin Kyle. I don't know why I always call him Cousin Kyle... Oh well! We had a blast! Here are the highlights...

Liz & I tearin' up the dancefloor... Isn't she gorgeous? Love her.




Cousin Kyle & I enjoying Jake's Hot Dog Stand... Oh, and we got fried pickles.


Lastly, this is my adorable Husband who is not at all afraid of what anyone thinks of him. Seriously? He squeezed himself into Liz's sweet bomber jacket! Wow! Oh, and he's completely sober. :)


Anyway, here's to a great year! I plan to make it better than the past two have been, that's for sure! :)

Update of Sorts

This weekend was a little bit more exciting than normal! Whoo hoo!

Saturday I went to Seattle for a baby shower for my cousin. I've previously mentioned this but they don't know what they're expecting and I love the element of suprise! She's registered for mainly gender neutral basic things and is waiting until he/she is born to buy the bedding. She figures since the baby will be in their room for the first couple of months it was worth waiting to buy bedding. The shower was small but it was a good thing because it was in my Aunt & Uncle's small condo in West Seattle! I am SO not used to city life! I think I'd go crazy! I had a tinge of road rage just driving up there!!! :) It was really great to catch up with some family that I've lost touch with over the years. I plan on trying to regain a relationship there as these people are my biological dad's family, who died when I was nine.

Saturday night we worked, per usual. It was so slow at the bar though until about 10:30 (it figures!) and as soon as the kitchen was shut down there were about ten orders for food! Brandon will never turn a customer away, so he dirtied up the kitchen and we fed the weirdos! :) I swear it was a full moon... I never did check on that.

Sunday we had made plans with Brandon's parents to see Avatar. The showing was at 12:40 and we barely made it! I swear, the bartender life is for the birds! Ha! Anyway, I was sure that Brandon and his parents would love the flick as they all enjoy SciFi type of stuff. I, however, was just along for moral support. I had heard good things but wasn't going in with great expectations! I will admit that I fell asleep about 1/2hr before the end of the movie! I KNOW! What the HECK!? I was tired. And, the movie was LONG! But, it was good. I wouldn't say it was "amazing" though. Brandon thought it was fine and so did his dad. His mom wanted to go to Disneyland afterwards... I'm not sure what that was about. I think the Fantasy Land thing got her mind a goin'! HAHA! Anyway, after the movie we all went to the gym and I did a mix of what I've been learning on the Shred and had Brandon's mom along for the ride. I am still sore today (three days later!) from everything that we did! Yowza! Brandon's mom is a good sport though, she will never give up on me! We had dinner with them that night too... steaks, crab legs, butter clams & asparagus! Yum!

Monday brings the start of the school week for me. We had a very interesting conversation in my Ethics class on Monday night. I thought about trying to make a post about it - maybe I still will. The class is all about analyzing case studies of ethical issues that have occured in the business world. We even watched a documentary on Enron and I learned a lot about that debacle! I knew the surface stuff about the corruption but not EVERYTHING! GAH! It made me irate! I'm really enjoying this class though. It is really interesting to see everyone's different perspectives! Usually ethics classes get me hot headed as they are more about personal moral issues. This one is a bit different, which is good.

Yesterday and today I have E all day and we have done plenty of napping and playing! She is getting so big! It's fun to watch her growth since I started watching her in September. Her newist tricks are pointing (which cracks me up!) and doing the scrunched face and breathing really hard through her nose! So cute! She's getting a little bit of separation anxiety when her Mama leaves but her face lights up when I come over, so I know she loves me too! :) She'll be ten months this month which is crazy! We're trying to transition her bottles to sippy cups... that leaves much to be desired! So far, she's not having it. We'll keep trying though!

Tomorrow I am getting my hair *did*! I know that sounds like Larry the Cable Guy! Ha! I just always say that for some reason. Then, I'm going out with 10 or so ladies to a Thai restaurant in town for dinner and then to a wine bar for drinks! After that some of us will head to a bar in town that has music all night so we can boogie! Whoop! I'm sooo excited! I rarely ever get out! My stinkin' birthday falls on Super Bowl Sunday (lame!) so we're celebrating a bit early. I can't wait to hang out with my ladies!!!

Hopefully I'll come up with some interesting posts soon!!! Have a great week everyone, Happy Hump Day!