Someday....

...we will have a car that doesn't overheat every other drive!
Or... we will find an honest, knowledgable mechanic that can actually fix the problem for us!
Or... we will have a second car, so we don't have to rely entirely on the ten-year-old Acura!
Or better yet... we will be rid of the Acura completely and we will have two beautiful, reliable cars that will get us where we need to go without any finger crossing or silent prayers!!!

But until then, we will continue to enjoy (cough) the adventure of student life with a struggling little car! And if this is the worst of our troubles than we really have nothing to complain about.

nine weeks...

....and counting! I haven't had a picture taken of me lately, but here's about what I look like:

Last year Marie and I were janitors for a Tueller Halloween party. We tried to give ourselves pot-bellies, but we just turned out looking pregnant. They definitely weren't the most flattering costumes. Anyway, this is about the current size of my pregnant stomach. It's really popped out! (And I've still got a ways to go!) I had heard that the babe wouldn't move as much as she got bigger, but she is still moving around like crazy! It's so funny to watch my stomach move from the outside. I hope she settles down once she's born because she's sure an active little girl right now!

Recipes

TORTELLINI SOUP
1 roll (about 12 oz.) of Jimmy Dean sausage (I use original flavor)
1 onion, diced
5 cups beef broth
1 cup water
1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
1 cup thinly sliced carrots (I just buy the pre-cut matchstick carrots)
1/4 t. basil
1/4 t. oregano
1 (8 oz.) can of tomato sauce
1 T. parsley
Brown the sausage with the onion. Then transfer to large stock pot. Add the other ingredients and bring to a boil then turn down to low and simmer until the carrots are tender. (This usually takes about 30 min.)
Then add:
2 chopped zucchini
1 (8-12 oz.) bag of tortellini (I use the frozen kind and just let it sit out for 20-30 minutes so it's not quite so frozen when I put it in.)
Then simmer for another 20-30 minutes.

TOMATO SOUP
1.5 - 2 cups of matchstick carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 chopped onion
2 t. tarragon
2 t. thyme
2 t. basil
1 t. garlic salt
1/2 cup water
Bring to a boil, then turn on low when onion and celery and turning clear. (5-10 minutes)
Then pour in:
1/2 cup flour
1 T. chicken granules
1/4 cup sugar
1 (46 oz.) can of tomato juice (not V8, just the straight tomato juice.)
1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
Let that simmer on med or med-low for about 20 minutes.
Then add:
2 cups of half and half
Stir that in and then you're done!

EASY BREADSTICKS
Dissolve 2 T. yeast and 1-2 T. sugar into 1.5 cups of warm water.
Let that rise for 5 minutes.
Then add:
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 cups flour
Knead into a smooth ball. (You may need to sprinkle a little more flour). Let rise for 15 minutes. Then roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into strips.
Melt 3-4 T. butter or marg. in a jellyroll pan. Dip breadstick strips into melted butter on both sides and then fit them all onto the jellyroll pan. I like to add parmesan cheese, garlic salt, parsley, etc. on top of them.
Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Good Cookin

With the cooler weather and my art show all done, I have totally been in the cooking mood. I used to take pictures of everything I made when I was first married because I was so excited about it. I had gotten out of that habit, but now it's back. I think it's because I didn't cook over the summer while Josh was gone and I hadn't done a lot of cooking the last month or so because I was too busy with my art. Now I'm back in the kitchen, and loving all the new recipes Josh and I have been trying out! The above picture is some yummy homemade breadsticks. These weren't too difficult (okay, they're actually super easy) and they turned out great!

This is homemade tomato soup. It doesn't look that great in the picture, but it is soo good... and healthy. Always a plus! It has lots of diced tomatoes and other vegetables and it has such a good flavor. We took some over to my father-in-law and Josh's grandpa and they were both fans, as well!

Josh liked this soup even better than the tomato soup. It's a tortellini soup with italian sausage, zuccinni, tomatoes, carrots, etc. Soo yummy. It's got a really good flavor. Jae was sick last week, so I took him over some of this soup and he was better just the next day. I credit his speedy recovery to this delicious soup.

Finally, here's a picture of the yummy apple crumble pie that we tried. It was so good and fun to prepare. I felt so domestic and mother-ish pulling a hot apple pie out of the oven. Our neighbors brought us over a huge bag of apples from their tree, so it gave us a wonderful excuse to try out apple muffins and this apple pie. Yum. I like to attribute my growing belly to the fact that I'm pregnant, but who am I kidding? The main reason my stomach is getting bigger is because of all these new recipes!

A Little Catch Up

So my final show was last night and it went really well. I'll post about it when I get pictures from my sister's camera. I thought I'd give a quick update of a few things. First of all, here's a current pregnant stomach shot. My belly has grown a lot lately! Here's a picture from earlier this week: (You can totally see the line of my maternity pants. Not something I'm trying to show off.)

About a week ago Josh and I went to a BYU activity on campus for married students. This was a first for us and we were skeptical, but we heard that Comedy Sportz was coming so we couldn't resist. It was a fun night in the Wilkinson Ballroom with a catered dinner, musical performance, and best of all...some improv comedy from Comedy Sportz. It was a good break from working on my final art show. (It said semi-formal dress, but some couples were all decked out in tuxedos and long formal prom dresses! You know the poor husbands got roped into their tuxes by their wives!)

I loved the little place cards to show what we ordered. The head shot of the cow on Josh's steak card was my favorite!

The next night we went to Sizzler with my family after the BYU game for Jae's 24th birthday. Josh was soo happy to have steak two nights in a row! It was fun to be with family and to celebrate Jae's big day.

Final Art Exhibit

So I know I've already mentioned this, but here's one more post about my final art show. It will go up on Thursday...just two days! It will be on display until the end of the month. The opening art reception is this Friday from 7-9 pm in the main gallery of the Harris Fine Art Center on BYU campus. Everyone is welcome! My art reception will be in conjunction with the opening art shows of two graphic design students, so you can check out their work, too. (If my artwork isn't enough of an incentive to come maybe the work of the design students will convince you!)

I can't wait to have the exhibit up. It will be such a huge relief. I've been working like crazy to get it all done and I've still got some final details to wrap up these next few days. Josh has been so helpful with all the little details, and he's been so patient with me as I've been stressed out to the max! I'm sure he's even more anxious than I am to have this show up and over with. But it will be great and I'm really excited to have my work on display after months of laboring over it.

Josh's Birthday

Friday was Josh's 26th birthday! He's pictured above with a huge bowl of Grandma Tueller's famous carmel corn with nuts. It's his favorite! She was so sweet to bring over a fresh batch for his birthday. I'm pretty sure Josh was more excited about this carmel corn than he was about any of his other gifts! We spent a little time together then headed to Park City for Josh's mission reunion, which was great. Afterwards, we went to my family's house in Sandy for birthday cake and gifts. Logan had set up a big treasure hunt around the house for Josh, with two big bags of Reese's cups as the final treasure. Josh couldn't have been happier. (I promise Josh isn't as big of a sweet tooth as this post is making him sound like!)

Josh is amazing! He is the perfect companion for me and I'm soo lucky to be married to him.

Logan

This past weekend Josh and I were up in Sandy, using my dad's fancy tools to build some panels for my art. I had to make a run to Home Depot to get some materials and Logan asked if he could join me.

(This is beside the point, but I have to include why Logan would be so anxious to go to Home Depot: He bought a few long wooden dowels, which he later cut and made into wands for every member of our family....yes, you guessed it. He's reading Harry Potter. He just finished book five. Harry Potter has also incluenced his naming of our pigeons. Two of the newest birds are named Ron and Hedwig. In fact, he might be holding one of those two in the picture above. He says the next bird to be born is going to be Dolores Umbridge. Josh is so proud of him).

Anyway, I realized that I hadn't brought my wallet with me to Sandy, but Logan assured me that he could cover for me. Turns out he carries about $100 cash in his wallet. He's not your typical ten-year old. Either he's extremely frugal with his Christmas money or he's a thief. And either way it's pretty impressive. He was able to bail me out and pay my $50+ bill at Home Depot. On our drive home, however, he quietly mentioned that he would be charging me interest for the money he had leant me. When I asked what his rate of interest would be he initially said $5.00 a month. After thinking about it for a minute he decided it would actually be $5.00 a week. Smart boy.

The below picture is a sneak preview of the Fall Fashion Line of pigeon attire that Logan is currently designing. Notice the stylish red bonnet and green cape, both made of local grown materials. With his impressive design skills and his business sense, Logan is destined for success.

BFA Show

My final art show is in under three weeks! Click http://hawkinsart.blogspot.com for info and for a little preview.

Fish Tacos

Not much is new with Josh and I except that I'm still licking my lips over the yummy fish tacos I had last night for dinner. Josh and I got tons of gift certificates to Magleby's Fresh from our landlord over a year ago. We were so good at using them sparingly, but we finally used the last ones last night. I usually strike out at Magleby's. I think I've gotten a salad every single time and I just don't think their salads are that impressive. But last night, after seven hours of classes I was STARVING and a salad was not an option. I branched out and got the mahi mahi fish tacos. Yum. (They were almost as good as the ones I had at Becky's house a few weeks ago!) The tacos were so much better than anything I've ordered there. It's too bad that I didn't discover the fish tacos until I was on the last of our gift certificates! I'll just have to learn how to make them.

Speaking of fish tacos...I'll never forget ordering fish tacos with Josh at a restaurant in Mexico last summer. I was expecting some delicious fresh fish caught just that morning, but instead the tortillas were filled with fried fish patties (basically the generic brand frozen fish sticks that give you a bad feeling when you see them on the freezer aisle at the grocery store). Come on Mexico! You can do better than that! I'm pretty sure you invented the taco, and you could have even had a hand in inventing the fish! Ok, maybe.

The London pants are back

This is a long story, but it has a happy ending, so it's worth it: I spent the summer of 2005 in London on a BYU study abroad, and it was an amazing experience -- particularly for my taste buds. (Notice the beautiful freshly baked breads at the Borough Market above). For some reason I just went for it and ate all the English delicacies that I could find. I'm still not sure what happened to my self-control while I was there. Here are just a few of the pictures of me and the food.

The first, of many, trips to an Indian restaurant near the BYU London Center.

We are just about to dig into our dessert... following an already large-enough and fattening-enough meal of steak and ale pie.

Seriously, why didn't someone stop me!?

Just hanging out with my Professor's son....oh yeah, and a table covered in English candy, cookies, and sweets!

Needless to say, I came home much rounder. And I had to buy several new pairs of pants and tops to accomodate my new girth. Buying new clothes because of a weight gain is never a fun thing. However, I eventually lost the London weight and was able to box up those roomier clothes. The good news of this story is that those London clothes have been put to good use again...as maternity clothes! Josh will say "Oh, did you get some new maternity pants?" and I'll say "Oh no, these are just London pants." At least now I have an excuse to fit into them! I guess some nightmares do have happy endings.

Blueberry Pancakes

This morning I woke up and suggested we make blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Have we ever made them before? No. Did we even have blueberries? No. But was I craving them anyway? Yes. Josh didn't ask any questions. He took off in the car and returned 15 minutes later with blueberries. And 10 minutes after that we sat down to a delcious blueberry pancake breakfast. Yum. If blueberries weren't $2.50 for a tiny, little package I think I'd make blueberry pancakes every morning.

Date Night, SLC Style

We had such a fun date night last night! We went downtown to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts for the big "Monet to Picasso" show. It was a really great exhibition. Josh is a trooper because this is the second art date in a row. Last Friday we spent the evening going to several galleries in the Provo Gallery Stroll. The SLC Gallery Stroll is next Friday and I'd totally love to go, but I'm not even going to ask. I think that's where Josh would draw the line.

After the art show we walked around the Gateway and had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Yum. Josh got a delicious pizza, and I tried the BBQ chicken chop salad and I LOVED it. It was really, really good. Plus, food has been 10 times more satisfying ever since I've been pregnant. Josh is loving it. I'm usually not a huge fan of going out to eat, but now I'm all over it. Josh is taking advantage of this time and we've had some good eats lately.

Miracle Grow?

This is what my hair looked like about a year ago - nothing fancy, but nice and long. Just ignore the little hairs that are spiking over my forehead, it was after a long day. Okay, who am I kidding? I have little baby hairs in just about every picture I have of myself. Anyway, I have to have the slowest growing hair of all time. I think it will be another five years until my hair gets to this length again. In the meantime, does anyone know of anything to speed up the process? You know, secret off-the-market products, incantations, fertilizer, accupuncture, etc.

It's pretty sad when you resort to posting about your hair length. I guess it goes unsaid that it's been a pretty uneventful week. We did, however, go to a rivoting Reptile Show at the Bean Museum this week for FHE, but I don't want to post about it and spoil it for the rest of you - as I'm sure you'll all be attending next month's show.

Baby Update

The babe is 23 weeks and she's moving like crazy! It's been hard to focus in my classes this week because she's just been going wild in my tummy. I don't know what her deal is. Why all the thrashing around? It could be that (A) she's a BYU fan already and she's ecstatic to be on BYU campus, (B) she values a good education and she's just giddy about the high standard of classes I'm taking, or (C) she's on a sugar high from all the cookies I've been eating this last week. Those are my best guesses.

Many of you have asked to see the growth of the baby via tummy shots. We just weren't sure whose tummy you wanted to see. Ha ha. We took these pictures this morning and hopefully they will do.

It's A Girl!

Woohoo!!! We are soo excited!!! The ultrasound went great. The babe is healthy and everything looked totally normal. And it's definitely a girl! I am thrilled. I can't wait to buy little dresses and learn how to make those fun flower headbands. Soo fun!

At first, her cute little legs were all stretched out...

...but then she pulled them up to her face. Her knees were right up against her nose. Josh was loving it. He keeps saying we're going to have the next Shawn Johnson...but I think he forgets that most babies are that flexible at this age!

Just a Quickie

I don't have time for a long, exciting post, but here's a quick update:

Josh got home safe and sound...despite the Acura nearly overheating about five times.

The meatloaf was a huge hit, and our favorite chocolate mint dessert was equally as good! (or better! if you ask me)

We have had such a blast being together again!!!

We had so much fun on Sunday with the Hawkins family!

We loved hiking and having a little picnic in Big Cottonwood Canyon yesterday...

...and having FHE and a sleepover at my family's house.

The best news of all is that we'll find out the gender of our baby later this afternoon!!!

I'm sure I'll post about it soon!

Really???

Josh will be home tomorrow afternoon and will no doubt be craving a good homecooked meal. I asked him a few weeks ago what he wanted for his first meal home, and suggested pot roast in the crock pot, turkey, lasagna, herb chicken, and lots of other nice options. What did he ask for? Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I've asked him again and again if he still feels like meatloaf, but he hasn't changed his mind. That's what sounds the best to him, so I guess that's what I'll be making. I will admit, we make a pretty mean meatloaf at our house, but meatloaf is still meatloaf. I guess I shouldn't complain, though. My husband is easy to please!

HP

I finished book seven last week...and LOVED it. I wasn't a big fan of the Epilogue, but the book was amazing. Everyone had talked it up so much, but I wasn't disappointed! Great ending!

A Few Changes

I found my grocery shopping list from last week and realized that I'll have to make a few changes when Josh gets home...

GROCERY SHOPPING

These are the weekly staples for me, but I don't think Josh could survive on this! I'll have to get back into the habit of long shopping lists with meat, eggs, dried pasta, and potatoes. With the big bowls of cereal Josh loves I don't think my half-gallon of milk per week will do it!

CLOSET SPACE

It didn't take long for me to take over Josh's empty closet! But before he gets home I guess I'll have to cram my stuff back into my own space. I found out after Josh left that my little closet on the right is about half the size of Josh's closet on the right! How did that happen!? I don't know how I didn't realize it when we were first moving in. I'm definitely going to pull a switch on him!

BED SAPCE

With Josh gone I've gotten into the habit of taking up the whole bed. I sleep diagonally across the whole thing. It's what feels normal now. This is definitely going to be a hard habit to break. I tried sleeping on my regular side of the bed last night, but it only took a few minutes for me to end up diagonally.

Despite the effort it will take to break these habits, I'm so glad to do it! I can't wait to have Josh back. Four days!!! Woohoo!!!

(My posts are beginning to all have the same theme, but I'm sure you'll see more variety once Josh is home).