Friendsgiving

I've seen alot of people posting on Facebook about "Friendsgiving" this year. While I'm sure we all wish we could find the time and money to travel home to be with our family, at least we have good friends to spend our holidays with and that was just how it was for Reid and I this Thanksgiving.

We have a lot to thankful for this year from Reid graduating law school, to passing the Colorado Bar, finding a temporary job and us finding out we are having a baby. It has been a year of changes and growth and we are blessed each day to have each other.

My Thanksgiving started with an Email from my bosses last Wednesday saying we could leave work 2 hours early! I'm also thankful to work for such wonderful people who really truly care about family. That evening we went to work on our Thanksgiving dinner task of desserts. We decided to make Bavarian Apple Tort and Pumpkin Pie. Both turned out oh so delicious and we were happy to take the leftovers home :)

Bavarian Apple Tort (from Reid's mom)
crust
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1 cup flour
* Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Blend in flour then spread mixture onto bottom and sides of 9" spring-form pan. Bake 10 minutes at 400.

filling
8oz cream cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
* Combine cheese and sugar, blending well. Mix in egg and vanilla and pour over crust. (you can make double filling for a "thicker" appearance)

topping
1/3 cup brown or graulated sugar
4 cup peeled and thinly sliced apples
1 tsp cinnamon
*Toss sugar and cinnamon over apples. Spoon apples over cheese mixture. Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes. Cool before removing from pan.

Pumpkin Pie (from Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook)

1 15oz can pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup half-and-half, light cream or milk

*Preheat oven to 375. Place pie crust in 9-inch pie plate (we just used a store-bought crust).
*For filling, combine pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in a bowl. Add eggs; beat lightly with a fork until combined. Gradually add half-and-half and stir until combined. Pour over pie crust.
*Place pie in the oven. (to help prevent the crust from overbrowning, you can place foil over the pie and cut hole in the middle so only the crust is covered) Bake for 25 minutes, then remove foil. Bake additional 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack and cover and chill within 2 hours.

On Thanksgiving morning I met a friend from Spokane and ran the Turkey Trot with her and her family that lives in Denver. This was really fun and I'm glad that I went out and ran. The weather was a bit chilly, but perfect for running. Great morning exercise before pigging out on yummy Thanksgiving food later in the day. Reid met up with a friend from law school and played some overdue golf. He said for not having played in so long, he did pretty well. He was just happy to get out and play! That evening we went over to Reid's friends brothers house, who invited us over for dinner. We had a great time, ate some delicious food and even all our dogs ran around and played.

Friday, we found out some friends from college were in Boulder and so we made a day trip up there to say hi. Reid went biking with his fraternity buddy and I went shopping with the girls. We also got to meet their two adorable boys. Saturday was time for more friends as a couple from law school was in town (whom I ran the Turket Trot with). We met them at a park to catch up and decided we need to head to Billings, MT sometime to see their new house and dog they are getting. When Sunday finally rolled around it didn't feel like it should still be the weekend but we now had a day at home and life felt like it was back to reality.

We hope everyone else had a fun-filled holiday weekend. Bring on the Christmas music, decorations and hopefully some snow for a white Christmas!!

First Trimester Check-Up

Well Baby J and mom had their first trimester screening today and both checked out great! Baby J was a wiggle worm and we had to patiently wait for him/her to sit in the right spot so we could get the correct measurements. If Baby J keeps up this squirming later on I'm going to be in trouble!! But it was so fun to see him/her moving around and we even saw baby have the hiccups. And best of all we got to hear the heartbeat. It was crazy to see how much Baby J has changed in 3 weeks. We did leave the doc with one piece of disappointing news and that was that we probably won't find out the sex before we head back to Kansas for Christmas. Sorry parents! Here's some pictures of my ultrasounds over the weeks...




7 Weeks



9 Weeks



9 Weeks



Touchdown: 13 Weeks

Lounging with a leg up: 13 weeks

13 Weeks

Other news in the Jennings household is we gave the official word that we will be moving out of our current apartment in January. There is just not enough room here for three and they did not have any available three bedrooms in our complex. So on we go, just to where is the question. Reid has been applying for jobs like a mad-man so hopefully he hears something sooner rather than later.


Baby J: 12 Weeks

Well I have made it to the 12 week mark and only a few more weeks and I'm free of the first trimester. Not that mine has been horrible or anything but still a big stepping stone! I've been fortunate to not experience any sickness and only an occassional nausea feeling after dinner. The big change for me is eating did not sound like a good idea at all and no food really sounded appetizing but as soon as I took a few bites of something those thoughts went away. When I first found out I was pregnant I quit doing my crazy workout videos and my cardio took a big hit! But in the past month I've been doing one every now and then (in moderation) and am still trying to run but it is a lot harder. Gotta get my cardio back up for the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving!

How far along: 12 weeks
Best moment this week: having more energy and not needing a nap after work
Have you told family and friends: yes, we shared the news on Halloween. My best friend cried and my dad was in complete shock and had to call me back later to say congrats, lol(http://reidntara.blogspot.com/2012/10/spooktacular-halloween-surprise.html)
Miss Anything: enjoying a beer during football games. At least now I get plenty of water in :)
Movement: nope
Food cravings: french fries! my husband says I'm craving junk food because we deprived ourselves from it for so long
Anything making you queasy or sick: salads and frozen turkey burgers. they use to be my go-to lunch
Have you started to show yet: if you call the bloated, fat belly showing then yes!
Gender prediction: I really have no predection. I would say girl but I think that is because I'm secretly wishing it is a girl :)
Looking forward to: not feeling "fat"
Fun fact this month: to date, baby j has hiked/climbed the following... baby j has also made a trip to Manhattan, KS to watch K-State beat Miami!
     1. Challenger (14,081)/Kit Carson (14,165) and part of Shavano - 2 weeks (Sept 2-3)
     2. James Peak (13,294) - 4 weeks (Sept 16)
     3. Pikes Peak (14,110) - 6 weeks (Sept 29)
     4. Part of Quandary - 7 weeks (Oct 7)
     5. Vasquez Peak (12,947) - 9 weeks (Oct 21)
     6. Mt Lindsey (14,042) - 11 weeks (Nov 4)

I'll finish this post with my craft project to document the belly and baby growth. I have seen plenty of people using the chalkboard technique on pinterest so I thought it would be the easiest. However when I went to Hobby Lobby to find a board they were all sold out. So I wandered through the isles and stumbled across what looks like a slice of a tree stump. Perfect for this outdoor-loving gal. I grabbed some chalk-paint and after a few coats it was ready to go! I am not using chalk-pens but just your average chalk (found for 99 cents at Target). The wood wipes clean with water and a rag so you can re-write all you want.

Mt Lindsey

Well another weekend passed by and another weekend we went to play in the mountains. Reid, still on his quest to climb all the Colorado 14ers, had a trip planned to go down near Pueblo to climb Mt Lindsey. I still have this fear of going up steeper terrain so I wasn't planning on going, but Saturday night about 8pm I changed my mind and decided to come along.

This was a good weekend for daylight savings because we got up at 3:30a to get ready to head out for the 3+ hour trip to the mountain. Reid had invited some of his hiking friends along so on the way out we stopped and picked up someone and his two dogs. Snyder wasn't thrilled about sharing his beds with other dogs but I think he enjoyed the dogs company on the trail.

When we finally made it to the trailhead, Reid's other hiking buddy met us there to join our hike. Off we went into a beautiful basin with mountains towering above us. I'm never un-impressed by the beauty the mountains. Over the past few months my cardio workouts have taken a hit (doctor's orders) so this hike was a workout for me. Not to mention one of the other people hiking with us lives at 9,000 feet in the mountains so this was nothing to him and he was walking like it. But I eventually found my own pace and made it to the next basin.

Sign for the trail as we entered the basin

At this point we could finally get a glimpse of the mountain and that's when I decided I might just hang back and let this be a boys summit. There are times where I put my fear aside and will summit, but this mountain looked a little more daunting than others I've stood before. So after a short rest we were off to the saddle where I would wait and watch the boys push to the top.

Mt Lindsey is the pointy guy on the very left of the picture

Hard to see in the small picture but I could see Reid and his friend climbing the gulley and his other friend near the top walking the ridge line

The weather was pretty nice the whole hike up but of course as soon as I stop moving the sun decided to go away and that mixed with some winds around 13,000 feet elevation made it quite chilly while I patiently waited. But it was pretty cool getting to see Reid and his friends climb up the face of the mountain toward the summit. The dogs were also along for the summit and Reid said there were a few times Snyder didn't quite know what to do and had to be hoisted to the next rock. Poor guy, but what a trooper!

Hanging out and waiting for the boys to come back from their summit

Snyder coming back. I'm sure he was glad to be back off that mountain

When the boys (and dogs) made it back down, we had a nice hike out and even pondered some nicknames for the baby on the way out. I suggessted Reid should give it a mountain name and he came up with Calebra "because it's the coolest Colorado mountain name." I suggested KC because the first big climb for our little one was up Challenger and Kit Carson. I don't now why, but for some reason no nicknames are still sticking with me.

Glad he convinced me to come out for the trip

Well usually after our hikes we stop for a burger and beer (maybe I should start having burger and dessert :) ) but since we were farther away we made a quick trip to Wendy's instead, lol. Still enjoyable after burning all those calories! We made it back home in time to watch the BCS show before bed to see K-State still at #2 in the country. Way to go 'Cats!!

Hopefully I'll be able to get a few more hikes in before I'm out of commission for a while.