10 weeks and we are shouting from the mountain tops!

We are finally announcing our pregnancy to the world today!  Although, we have already told A LOT of people who have been praying for baby and cheering baby on <3  I wanted to do a cute announcement, and something a little unique that not everyone has done.  An idea came to me when I saw all my cake decorating stuff sitting there, and I had fun with this!

 

I have been the most nauseous yet this week!  I was told that pregnancy hormones peak around 9-10 weeks, so I think I am feeling those effects.  Exhaustion has also taken over- I am pooped by 4pm and literally asleep by 8/8:30 every night.  I am lucky that I have that option :o). I also feel like I am getting the slightest of baby bumps!  I have been having a lot of pregnancy bloat, but this week the little bump is there no matter how much I suck in.  Baby is growing!

9 weeks and baby's sweet heartbeat

I am 9 weeks pregnant, and I had another Dr check up today and got to see baby again! Baby is still measuring perfectly, and has a great heartrate of 175-180 bpm.  Things are looking great <3

 

I have been feeling more and more nauseous.  Often it is hard to make myself eat because everything makes my stomach turn.  Luckily there has been one go to that I can eat pretty much anytime, and that is Cinnamon Life cereal!  At least it is tasty :o)  I feel really lucky though, because compared to some friends I feel like I have it easier.  When I feel really awful, I don't have to work, so I can just sleep it off!  And the sleeping I definitely need :o)

 

 

Eric also got me a doppler after our first ultrasound.  I found baby's heartbeat for the first time yesterday!!  It was soooo amazing to hear that little heart chugging away.  Love my little one SO much already!! <3

7 weeks...first ultrasound

7 weeks pregnant and exhausted seems to be an understatement.  Also have been struggling with nausea, some days are worse than others.  But it is all worth it for the joy that I feel and the miracle that is growing inside me. 

My first Dr.'s appointment was on Dec. 3.  It was a LONG appointment. We got to see baby for the first time <3 and baby was measuring perfectly.  We also got to see the heart flickering on the screen, so amazing.  Baby's heartrate was a strong 175 bpm.  After the ultrasound we met with the Dr, he said everything looks great!  Then I had to give 7 vials of blood-E had to step out for that part ;o)

Here is baby Moody at 7 1/2 weeks

Hurrication and My Scentsy Business!

WOW!  It has been a crazy past couple of months! We survived our first (and hopefully only) hurricane!  Haha, we didn't actually stay.  Here's how our week went-

On Sunday, August 26 we decided to take a trip to Home Depot to get a few things Eric needed.  We got there, and the place was packed!  We walked in and see tons of people running around frantically with their flatbeds loading up cases upon cases of water, and generators and gas cans....I looked at Eric and said uhhh is there a hurricane coming!?  Sure enough, Isaac was on his way and headed straight for us! We went home and started watching the news, and found out they are not enforcing mandatory evacutaions, but to just be "prepared." Now remember yall, we are NOT from here, and we have never had to go through a hurricane before- so when you say prepared, what the hek do you mean!?!  We started bringing all of our outside things inside and making sure anything that might blow away wouldn't.  One of my cake girls was texting me checking in making sure we had a plan in place just in case- seriously how sweet is that!?  She knew we wouldn't know what the hek to do so she made sure to check on us-LOVE you Eva!!!  Well a few hours later we found out that St. Charles Parish was under mandatory evacuation.  Now we don't live in St. Charles, but that is the Parish where the Nuclear Plant where E is working is located.  E's amazing boss called and told us that everyone should just take the week off and take a little vacation and plan to be back at work next week- AWESOME!!! Commence: Hurrication 2012!  We didn't waste any time, and we packed up our important stuff and hit the road north toward West Virginia.  It was a nice little unexpected vacation, and nice for E to be able to have a relaxing week before crazy outage hours start.  All in all we made out VERY well with Isaac.  I am not sure how long we lost power, but I reallly don't think it was long at all!  We had friends that were without power all week.  We had a ton of tree limbs in the yard, a fence leaning, and one lonesome shingle off the roof, but that is pretty much it.  We got lucky, because our neighbors on both sides had much more damage-huge trees down, tree fallen on a brand new cadillac, block walls crushed by trees, etc.  It was crazy, and I am glad we didn't have much!  That was the event of the month for us haha.

E's parents came to visit a couple weeks later and it was so fun!  We enjoyed spending time with them and showing them around.  We took them to Bourbon St., and on a swamp tour.  I think they really enjoyed their time here!!

The other big happening in September was my decision to start my Scentsy business!  My friend Monica has been talking to me about it for a couple of years, but I never did it.  As I was sitting here thinking one day I decided maybe this would be a good opportunity for me.  With us moving so often for E's work, it has been difficult finding anyone to hire me for only a year or so.  I decided to give Scentsy a try-this would be a company that I could not only use my degree in business to try to develop my own business, but that I could also take on the road with me and continue wherever we may move to- sounds like a great opportunity!!  It has been less than a month, and I already absolutely LOVE it.  I love Scentsy products.  I love that I get to work from home.  I love the marketing aspect of it.  I love the people I have already met through it.  I love the company and all of the resources, opportuinites and support they provide.  I just love it!!  go check out my websie! https://kelseymoody.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Home

Well that's about it for the past several weeks.  E will be starting night shift soon, which has its pros and cons.  By mid October he will be in full outage mode working 7 days a week 12-13 hour days-poor guy!  It will be a rough couple of months, but I am hoping it will fly by! 

21 day positivity challenge

Well we had a great little get away for our first anniversary.  Both Destin and Pensacola were really pretty.  We had a good time, only wish we could have stayed longer!

Recently a friend of mine introduced me to this Ted video by Shawn Achor.  He talks about what we can do to train our brains to see the positive things in life. Take a few minutes to watch...

http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html

I loved the video, and the idea behind it.  So I decided to take the challenge.  For 21 days I will be doing the challenge to think positively. 

It is super easy.  Every day, for 21 days, you do the following 5 things:

1- 3 Gratitudes- Each day write down 3 different things you are grateful for
2- Journal- Journal about a positive experience you had in the past 24 hours
3-Exercise- any little bit you can get each day- teaches your brain that your behavior matters
4-Meditation- take 5 minutes to close your eyes in silence.  This trains your brain to focus on one thing.
5- Random Act of Kindness- each day write one positive email or note thanking or praising someone in your social support network.

I have actually been doing this for a little over a week.  I have a journal that I have been writing everything down in each day to keep track.  I am loving it.  It is nice to be able to reflect on all of the positive things at the end of the day.

I encourage all of my friends to join in doing this with me, and let me know how you like it!

Almost 2 months...FAIL

Wow, guess I'm the world's worst blogger!

First of all, I finished course 3 of my wilton classes.  I start course 4 (the last one!) on Wednesday!  Here are a couple of pictures from course 3...

And my final cake for course 3...

July has been pretty fun around here.  The little boy I was sitting, Noah, is now doing daycare a couple days and Grandma.  It is better for him and their family's situation, so I am glad for that, but I miss him!  It was so nice even just having him to chat with while running errands-haha. 

For those that don't know, Eric bought a Jeep back in May.  We've been having fun doing some cruising in the Jeep, and recently went to a Jeep event at a dealer here. Thats where we met a "jeep club" (who knew??) and got hooked up with them to go on a trail ride the following weekend.  It was seriously SO much fun!!  I was terrified for some of the crazy stuff we were doing, but we made it.  E was having an absolute blast-that was my favorite part just watching him in his element, and everyone LOVED him because he was crazy, haha!  His motto is "when in doubt, throttle out."  And that pretty much describes our ride/my experience.   It was such good wholesome fun too, a family friendly atmosphere, everyone just hanging out chatting and having a good time-I loved it.

I went to visit my sister in Houston a couple of weeks ago.  Loved spending time with her.

 I have also been testing out some "southern" foods at home.  I have recently become hooked on fried pickles-amazing!  So I pulled out our deep fryer and made some for myself.  While I had it out I also made some beignets!  Both came out great.

Coming up....

Our ONE YEAR anniversary is coming up on Monday!  We are doing a quick little trip to Destin, Florida.  I am sooo excited to spend some quality time with my hubby and celebrate our love, and to see the white sand beaches!  Our puppy dogs will be having their first stay at the pets hotel-I am excited for them to have some fun too!

FOOTBALL SEASON!!!

In September, the arrival of my nephew

And hopefully a visit to CA and WV!

Until then...

As promised..Apple Pie "Cupcakes" and another sweet surprise

As most people probably already know, I like to cook, but I absolutely LOVE baking!   I love trying new recipes as well as some old favorites.  This week, I did one of each!  Apple Pie "Cupcakes" and one of my old favorites, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Caramel Cookie Bars!  If anyone is a fan of Sandra Lee from the Food Network (I LOVE her!) then you will want to know both of these recipes definitely qualify as "semi-homemade."


When we first moved to LA, I started my cake decorating class.  For the first several weeks, we had to bake a cake, or cupcakes, to practice our decorating on.  Well, instead of letting the cupcakes go to waste, or even worse having them sit here for E and I to eat them, I would just send them to work with E on Fridays.  Well, one week we didn't need a baked good for class, and therefore I sent NOTHING on Friday to work...and boy did I hear about that!!  A lot of E's friends were pretty disappointed to not have a sweet treat on Friday ;o) Luckily for them, baking makes me happy!  So I have made it a routine to try to send something for them every week; they are like my guinea pigs to test out a new recipe!  And thats where these Apple Pie "Cupcakes" came in.  Everyone said they were delicious!  Without anymore delay, here is the much anticipated recipe

Apple Pie "Cupcakes"

**This recipe will only make 8 cupcakes. 
Apple Pie Filling
2 Tbsp butter
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
4 tsp lemon juice

Topping
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup walnuts

Base
1 can refrigerated cinnamon rolls

Instructions
Heat oven to 400.
Spray 8 cupcake cups with cooking spray

In a skillet, melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium heat.  Cook apples in butter for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle with 2 tbsp brown sugar, the cinnamon and the salt.  Continue to cook about another 5 minutes, until the apples are tender.  Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice.

In a small bowl mix all the topping ingredients until crumbly. 

Separate the cinnamon roll dough into 8 rolls.  Flatten each roll, and place in the cupcake pan as your "crust" for your apple pies. Put some of the apple pie filling into each roll, and sprinkle with the topping.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until bubbly. Cool completely and garnish with whipped cream and caramel syrup. (In this case, I used store bought whipped frosting) 

I think these would be best served warm out of the oven, but a lot of the guys ate them without warming them up and still loved them.  They are A LOT messier than a cupcake, so they used plates and forks with these babies!

Today we are heading to Baton Rouge to have dinner with some friends.  I decided to bring a dessert (go figure!)  and pulled out one of my old favorite recipes.  These are super yummy and SO easy.

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Caramel Cookie Bars

Ingredients
1 roll refrigerated chocolate chip cookies
1 cup oats
2/3 cup caramel syrup
5 Tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350
Set aside 1/2 cup of the cookie dough
In a small bowl, mix the caramel, flour and vanilla. Set aside

Knead the oats into the remaining cookie dough, and press into a 9 in sq pan.

Bake 10-12 minutes until the dough starts to puff.

Sprinkle the walnuts and chocolate chips over the crust.  Top with the caramel mixture.  Crumble the reserved cookie dough on top. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Cool completely and cut into square cookie bars.

As Sandra would say... "Keep it simple, keep it smart, and always keep it semi-homemade."

Wilton, West Virginia, and staying cool

So I started course 3 of the Wilton classes-the fondant and gumpaste class!  I was terrified of fondant, because it seems so hard to work with!  But, so far so good!  Here is what we have done so far:

a bow

calla lily

We have done 2 classes so far-Wednesday will be class 3.  We did not have class last week, partially because I have been SO busy!

My sister came to visit us a couple of weeks ago.  It was so fun to have her here for a few days!  We did some shopping, and our big purchase was our new "Moments" bracelets-they are kind of like a knock off of the pandora charm bracelets.  So far we each only have one bead/charm.  It is sooo pretty I LOVE it.  So if anyone needs a gift idea for either of us ;o)

Last week, Eric and I spent the week in West Virginia!  I always love going back there.  It is seriously SO peaceful and pretty-it feels like time stops! 

Reese loves WV too!

The worst part about the trip was the 17 hour drive up there and back-it never gets easier!  We always try to drive straight through so that we don't waste too many days on the road.  For some reason, whenever it comes time for our LONG drive I am always so pumped and ready to fly down the highway!  I get really excited for our Pilot Travel Center stops so I can get my french vanilla cappuccinos!! 

We spent a week in WV.  We had a lot of "business" to get done like getting the vehicles registered and inpected and stuff, it made it hard to get around to visit people but it was still so nice to be there and get to see everyone!  We went camping memorial day weekend with my in-laws and some of our friends.  It was so hot, but I got a pretty good tan!  And we got to do a lot of riding which is always so fun, but also scary at times when my hubby is drivin! haha.

Something new we did while we were there was to stop in at the Heston Farms Winery/Pinchgut Hollow Distillery-for some wine and moonshine!  It was a super pretty farm in the mountains.  Wine tasting was only $4 and included the souvenir glass!  WHAT?  I am so used to paying like $12-20 in CA!  And the wine was GOOD!  The shine tastings were...FREE!  I didn't taste any, but Eric did.  They had regular, peach, apple pie, buckwheat, and hot pepper shine.  E tasted a bit of a few of them, and said they were strong! I have yet to try any of it.

Pinchgut Hollow Moonshine

We headed out of Parsons on Saturday morning.  We towed Eric's newest purchase back, so we had to drive a little slower.  The drive home seemed to take FOREVER.  Boy was I excited to finally lay in our bed.  The past couple days I have just been playing catch up with housework.

It is getting very hot here in Louisiana.  and HUMID.  I think our a/c runs pretty much all day.  I try to do indoor activities as much as possible- yesterday was cooking.  One of the things I made was a recipe for a Pineaple Cool Whip pie that my mother in law shared with me.  It is seriously SO good and really refreshing on a hot summer day!  Plus, its super easy and no bake-perfect to take along to a cookout!  I want to share the recipe:

Pineapple Cool Whip Pie

1 can crushed pineapple, drained
1 tub cool whip
1/4 cup sweet condensed milk
1 packet vanilla pudding mix (unprepared)

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into a graham cracker crust (I bought the premade one!) and chill in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Hope yall enjoy!

Wilton Course 2 Complete and UH visit

Well I completed another Wilton course; Course 2 Flowers and Cake Design.  Here is what I learned the last 2 weeks of class

The rosebud

Wilton Rose

Violet

Lilly

Daffodil

and the basket weave

And here is my final cake for course two!  I absolutely LOVE how it came out.  It is a chocolate cake with strawberry filling.  It is covered in buttercream icing, with a basket weave, reverse shell border, and gumpaste pansies!

Next up is Course 3: Fondant and gumpaste.

We've kept ourselves pretty busy these past couple weeks!  This past weekend, we went to Houston to see my sister play in her last home games for softball at the University of Houston.  It was fun to watch her play (kinda sad it will be the last time!!) and it was SO much fun to have our WHOLE family together. I love seeing my husband interact with my family, it makes me even more sure that he is my perfect match.  My favorite part of the trip was Saturday night when all of us were sitting by the pool enjoying cocktails and each other's company.  I can't wait to see everyone again!  Here are a few pictures from the weekend

This coming weekend we are finally going on our airboat ride! Hopefully the weather holds up so we can go.  We will be seeing lots of wildlife and gators!!  I can't wait.  And we are counting down, 15 more days until we go to West Virginia! Can't wait to be on those country roads.

Wilton Course 2 class session 2

In class last week we learned how to make apple blossoms and primroses.  It was our first time making and using royal icing...and that is quite the process as you have to mix it for 7-10 minutes and I have a hand mixer!  My icing needed some work (which is what caused my flowers to flatten as they dried), but it was pretty good!