Nature

Out on a walk enjoying the beautiful day in nature!

A mommy confession...

I've come to realize when you have a baby, people (ok, women) will always ask these few questions: how old is he? Is he sleeping well? And...are you nursing? 

Never did I imagine while I was pregnant that that last question would make me feel like someone punched me in the gut every time I heard it.

During my pregnancy, like all women do, I made my plans. I planned what my child would be called, what he would wear home from the hospital, where he would sleep. I had my birth preferences-I refused to have a birth "plan" because I didn't want to be upset in case my plan didn't work out-which thankfully I didn't have a plan because preeclampsia and delivering by c section 6 weeks early would definitely NOT have been part of the plan! But, we rolled with it. Looking back, I wish I'd have had the same mentality about the way I planned to feed my baby. 

I planned to nurse my baby. In fact, I planned to exclusively breast feed for AT LEAST 6 months, with the hopes of going a year plus. I didn't need to worry too much about these plans because nursing your child is what was natural. Sure, I was well aware of the fact that the first several weeks are hard. I was ready for it. To me, there was no other option because "breast is best." In fact, I didn't even need to buy any bottles because I wouldn't need them for at least several months, because I was going to nurse my baby. 

Little did I know how even these "no brained" plans could be affected. 

After Evan was born, I was thrilled that he was able to nurse. Being a preemie I expected him to be in the NICU for a while, expected it would be a bit before we were able to try to breast feed. But he was very surprisingly healthy! I was shocked and overjoyed when the NICU nurse called my room and asked me if I wanted to try to breast feed him. He was brought to my room, and we attempted bfing for the first time. Evan latched right away, and perfectly. The Lactation consultant was impressed. He did great. I was nursing my son. 

Evan lost quite a bit of weight in the hospital-but that's ok because that's normal. We were discharged with the suggestion that we nurse every 2-3 hours to get his weight up. Every 2 hours around the clock I was up with my baby nursing. And I loved and cherished every minute of it. But guess what...3 days post discharge and Evan was still dropping weight. It's ok, keep nursing. 2 more days passed and he continued to drop weight. "It must be because he's a preemie, he's getting tired before he finishes, he's burning too many calories" ok, new game plan-nurse your baby, top him off with a bottle of expressed milk, and then pump. No problem, whatever it takes. I spent the next couple weeks doing just that, every 2-3 hours I would spend 1-1.5 hours on our feeding routine. I spent hours researching breast feeding. I talked to several lactation consultants, I talked to a breast feeding doctor (who knew they even existed??). I was going to nurse my baby. 

At 3.5 weeks when Evan was still not gaining Weight (he had dropped down to 4lb 5oz) everyone involved started to get concerned-even LCs were telling me to supplement. If he had been a term baby with more meat on his bones we may havd had more time, but he was dropping too low, too scary for a preemie.

To say I was crushed is an understatement. I planned to nurse my baby. I continued to nurse, as well as supplement. And guess what? My baby gained weight. I searched high and low for a reason, a way to make it work, anything. I kept trying, I just was not producing milk. I took every galactagogue you can imagine. I drowned myself in water. I pumped like it was keeping me alive-nothing was increasing my very low supply. The drs think it may have been something called IGT may be the cause (i won't go into detail here), I still don't know for sure. Could it have been being separated from my baby after birth? Could it have been thr preeclampsia? could it be due to prematurity?  I wished for an answer. With the complications in pregnancy, the scary delivery and having a c section, plus having a preemie, I was certain that nursing would go great. But guess what? I was unable to nurse my baby.

Now here we are at 3+ months. My son is formula fed. Do I still nurse? Sure, we try when we can, but he does not get much from me, and sometimes does not tolerate the frustration. Am I ok with that? I am trying.

 I can't help but wonder what happened? Why? Was it related to him being preemie? Was it something to do with my complications? Did I do something wrong? Did I try hard enough? Is there something else I could have tried? 

I feel a tremendous sense of guilt, made worse by the constant reminder from society that "breast is best." I am still trying to cope with the fact that, for my baby, breast is not best. 

So here are my confessions for this evening...

My child is formula fed.

I still wonder if I tried hard enough or could have done something differently.

I feel tremendous guilt over it and still don't know why.

I sometimes still cry when I'm feeding a bottle, wishing I was nursing instead.

I get upset when my anyone refers to his bottles as formula-can't we just call it milk?

If I know I'll be out in public or out with friends, I pump and pump and pump as much as I can the day before, collecting drop by drop until I have at least a partial feeding to take with me (it takes about 5/6 sessions to get enough for a bottle)-just so I can say oh no THIS is breast milk...

I feel a slight bit of jealousy toward mother's who are able to successfully nurse, although I am the biggest breastfeeding cheerleader and supporter and extremely happy for my friends who are able to nurse.

I feel like I have to explain myself to everyone I run into. (Maybe that's why I'm putting this out there for the world to see)

Hearing of formula fed babies-both current and previous-makes me feel a little better.

I feel absolutely horrible for having all these negative feelings about the way I feed my child, when I should feel blessed to even have a child, and especially that he is healthy and happy. Especially when I know there are women who would love to be in my shoes, who would gladly take the struggles if it meant they could have a child.

My only focus should be my son. He is happy and healthy and that is what matters. People can say I'm doing it wrong,  I should do this or that, I hold him too much, or question everything I do. But my son will never have to question my love for him. People can try to interject, but no one can be mommy the way I am for him <3

Evan's birth story

I am finally getting around to blogging again! I definitely want to get back to it in order to share and document how the end of my pregnancy and delivery went, because it was a whirlwind! And then of course it will be WAY more fun to blog about my son :o) 

Anyway, this will be long! 

I had a pretty rough pregnancy! When you imagine being pregnant you expect total pregnancy bliss-the glow, cravings, a cute bump, baby showers, shopping and decorating the nursery. 

Dieting, bed rest and a preemie baby are not on the radar! 

From the day we found out that I was with child the nerves set in. Having just went through a miscarriage, I was a nervous wreck hoping my dream wouldn't come crashing down again. There were quite a few scares in those first several weeks. But then we finally made it to the "honeymoon" trimester, and I was able to relax a bit! My 2nd trimester really was awesome. Besides having to pack and moving 1000 miles north just to turn around and move back south again, all while 20 weeks pregnant, it really was an easy peasy time in my pregnancy. 

20 weeks pregnant

And then the 3rd trimester hit. My dr started noticing my blood pressure was rising, so we had to be cautious of Pre-eclampsia. She ran several labs, and I was in the clear for a while.  At 27 weeks I had to take the routine 1hour glucose tolerance test, which to my complete surprise I failed. I had to go on to do a long, boring, torturous 3 hour test. Making a pregnant woman fast for 12 hours and then sit in room for 3 hours getting periodic blood draws is just wrong! Lol. Well I failed that test too, which brought along the dreaded diagnosis-Gestational Diabetes. Now when I thought about diabetes all I could think is I'm going to freaking starve having to eat salad and water all the time! How's that for torturing a pregnant lady!!! In reality though, following a diabetic diet was much more manageable than I expected, and it turned out to be great for me because I was learning ways to eat a more healthy balanced diet. Plus it helped me not gain TOO much weight (12lbs total I might add! :o) ). So I accepted this new challenge of changing my eating habits and pricking my fingers 4x a day. 

30 weeks and my last bump photo!

Well 31 weeks came along and again we are dealing with blood pressure issues. At my appointment my blood pressure was too high and I ended up being admitted to labor and delivery that day. They wanted to monitor my pressures and run some more labs. Those lab results didn't have such great news. I was officially diagnosed with Pre-eclampsia. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, google it-it's a pretty scary situation for both mom and baby. The L&D nurses started having the "preemie talk" with me, preparing me for a possible delivery THAT DAY. I don't think I have ever been so scared in my life, I was so worried about my baby. After more monitoring and a long chat with my dr, I was able to be discharged home on strict bed rest through the remainder of the pregnancy. Our goal was to make it to 37 weeks, but at the very least 34 weeks as the outcome for babies of that gestation was much better. 

So home I went. Stuck in bed. I got so sick of hearing people tell me how lucky I was and how nice it must be to be able to relax and be lazy...anyone that's ever been on bed rest for any reason can attest that it sucks! On top of that, I was supposed to be enjoying my pregnancy, having fun preparing for my baby. Instead I was confined to a bed, saying my prayers that myself and my son would be ok.

Each day closer we got to 34 weeks was a blessing! I was so happy at my 34 week appt. 

Two days later my BP shot up again! I was again sent to L&D for monitoring and labs. Little did I know this time I was not leaving that hospital without a baby! 

My mom was with me and we went down and checked in and I got hooked up to the monitors. It was about 1pm by the time I got all settled. Then we waited for lab results. Apparently they were not good! The Pre-e had progressed to severe, and my blood pressure was reaching scary high levels. I was told my dr (who was out of town) and the on call dr were discussing a "plan of action." I will never forget the moment I knew this baby was coming-the nurse asked me "where is your husband?" I said he is on his way and she replied "ok that's good." Panic set in! At about 2:45 the drs came in to tell me that I would need to deliver the baby ASAP, and that I needed to have a c-section. I was terrified to say the least. I've never had a surgery. All of the unknowns about the health of our son was daunting. They sent a NICU dr up to talk to me about what would happen with him. Drs and nurses were coming in and out getting paperwork, introducing themselves. It's kind of a blur! 

Eric finally got to the hospital at 3:15, and at 3:30 I was being wheeled back to the OR. The spinal block was done, and surgery started. Ill never ever ever forget the whole experience. C-sections feel WEIRD. When they pulled my baby out, I remember being so nervous waiting to hear him cry. And then he did. Dr. Brantley held him up and we got to see him and it was absolutely amazing. They took him to be evaluated, then Eric was able to bring him over to see me briefly. 

Evan Robert-June 7, 2013 @4:01pm

5lb 3oz 19in. 

He was then whisked off to the NICU. Eric went with him, and I was left in the OR to be stitched up. I will also never forget hearing the dr tell me that the placenta didn't look good, it was starting to deteriorate. If we had waited much longer to deliver there's no telling what would happen to my sweet boy. Thank God. 

After I got back to my recovery room I was started on some serious meds administered to Pre eclampsia patients to prevent seizure. 24 hours of a mag drip and no getting out of bed...and that medicine is killer! It was no joke and was an interesting 24 hours. I was super out of it-in fact I am still reading text conversations I never knew I had that night lol. 

The best part about my whole birth story is how incredibly amazing my son is. 

He is seriously such a blessing. All of the drs and nurses were VERY surprised at how well he was doing for how early he came. At 34 weeks, babies are expected to be in the NICU for a couple weeks working on minor things. Evan was in the NICU less than 2 days. He was doing amazing. He needed no oxygen, no feeding issues, nothing. Every dr that saw him said how surprised they were by him, and how blessed we are. 

3 days later we were BOTH discharged home. I'm still in awe of the fact that I was able to take my 34 weeker baby home with me. We still had/have some struggles as he is still a preemie baby who should still be in the womb, but he's amazing and I am so thankful he's home and healthy.

Blessed is an understatement to how I feel. 

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.