Pumpkin Gooey Cake

This is for all of my Louisville Peeps (miss you all)! This is a great recipe, and will win over the hearts of any friends or family! It is a great time of year to make this VERY healthy cake!

Cake:
1 yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 Tbs melted butter

Filling:
8 oz. package cream cheese softened
1 can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
8 Tbs butter
16 oz powder sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350

To Make Cake:
Combine all of the ingredients and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 X 9 inch baking pan.

To Make Filling:
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, and butter. Beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and mix well. Spread the pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40-50 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE!! The center should be gooey.
Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Those of you who know me, know that I don't claim to be domestic diva at all; so you wont see many recipes on my blog. However, there have been some requests for this recipe and I feel obligated to my readership! ENJOY!

A visit to Salem; A Halloween Tradition

Christian and I headed to Salem this weekend for our annual Halloween trip. This year we took my pal from work, Kyle and his wife Debbie. We went a little later in the month this year and the crowds were CRAZY! We did have the pleasure of meeting the Monster of Frankenstein. We also saw the Ghostbusters, witches, pirates, and other Halloween creatures.

One of our favorite things about our weekend adventures is the food! What would the fall season be without a caramel apple? Oh the joy of eating a huge apple covered in caramel on a stick; it is inevitable to avoid getting it all over your face, up your nose, and enjoying every minute of it! Kyle and Debbie decided I win the biggest mouth contest, what do you think?

Part of our adventures in Salem this year included a Candle Lit Ghost tour of the town. We were a bit let down that we didn't get to see any ghosts on the actual tour, but some people in our group got some orbs in their photographs. We however left orb-less, ah Shucks!

After our adventures in Salem we headed to one of my FAVORITE chain restaurants, CHILI'S! We don't eat to often at chains anymore because there are so many local places to eat where we live. I cant help but love me some Chili's however.
Hope everyone has a
HAPPY HALLOWEEN this week!

Dog Party

(Laci and McDuff, Gloria and Bodie, and Julie and Bentley)

Last weekend we had a little dog party at our house. Two of my friends/co-workers came over for a dinner/play date. It is kinda like a mommy/son playgroup but with our dogs. All our dogs are between 22-25 lbs and ages 1 1/2-3 years old. All the pups had a great time playing together and wearing themselves out. McDuff was so happy to meet his new friends!

Fall

Have we mentioned how much we LOVE the Fall in New England?

Head of the Charles Regatta

Every fall there is a huge rowing race on the Charles River; this weekend we decided to check out some of these rowing teams that have come from all over the country. It is amazing to see the river full of row boats. It wasn't the most exciting sporting event I have ever seen, but it was a beautiful sight on a wonderful fall day.

Apart from watching the rowers, we also visited lots of vendor tents and got lots of free goodies including food, food and more free food. Who wouldn't want to go to an event like this?

I love that there is always something new to do in this city! What an amazing place we live.

BOSTON CELTICS

Last night I went to my first Boston Celtics basketball game. It was a pre-season game against the New York Knicks. I went with my mentee because we got FREE tickets. Now, usually when you get free tickets for mentoring they are not great seats. But hey, you are just happy to be taking your mentee to such a cool event, and give them an opportunity to experience something they normally never would. Well....this was defiantly an event that my mentee and I will NEVER forget! Our tickets were NOT in the nose bleed section, not even close. They were FLOOR seats! They were on row C, which comes before row 1 if you were wondering. The tickets we had were valued at $280.00 a piece. That is not a price I would EVER pay for a basketball ticket, but I was more than happy to take the ticket! It was such a fabulous experience to be so close to all the players and hear what they were saying.

Here is Big Kevin Garnett playing some serious D-Fence! The court seems so much smaller when you are this close, it is so much different than when one watches on TV.

Here is my favorite guy, Ray Allen, he is just doing some stretches along with his pal Paul Peirce. These pictures don't even do it justice, my camera doesn't have that great of a zoom, but they were right there. I was a bit sad that Sam Cassel aka: "Alien Head" didn't play at all; every time we see him on the TV at home C will say, "There is Alien Head." EVERY TIME! So I did see him, but he go 0 minutes of playing time.

Me and the little man at the big game! We are GROWING!

My mentee and I had a great time at the game! Thanks for the company who donated the tickets to a very worthy cause!

Twenty Five Weeks

Here I am 25 weeks pregnant with my two little boys. McDuff is slowly learning that his mommy's belly is off limits and snuggles with her on other parts of her body.
The little man inside my tummy is doing great. He appears to be growing and with it my stomach; he is also moving lots everyday to let his mom know that he is doing well.

To date, pregnancy has treated me very well. I was not one of the women who gets sick my first trimester; I did throw up a few times, but it was not a big deal. I felt incredibly blessed to be able to feel well enough each day to continue to work and carry on my every day activities. The main struggle I have had is just being tired and I know that is nothing most pregnant women don't experience. I feel lucky that everything has gone so smoothly; our little guy is growing normally, developing well and appears to on track for a healthy life.

As far as moodiness, I had to ask Christian, and he says there has been a little, but nothing like what he was expecting (not sure what that is supposed to mean.) I have been a lot more emotional lately; I am not usually someone who cries a lot, but I lately, I can be talking to someone and just start crying out of the clear blue sky. At least I have the hormones to blame!

Cravings: I have eaten a lot of Macaroni and Cheese during the pregnancy and chocolate (not sure if that is pregnancy related). Other than that, no weird cravings, which people are always asking me about; perhaps that will come later.

Lately sleeping has gotten more uncomfortable as I am having more and more back pain, but I am getting through it. It is getting harder to bend over, not something I enjoy; whenever I drop something I get so discouraged because it is so hard to pick up! Silly!

Overall, pregnancy has been treating me well. The only thing I am not enjoying about this process is the buying of maternity clothes, this really is not fun! I would much rather be spending me money on other things, but a girl has to have something to wear to work each day! I feel like I wear the same five things each week, probably because I do. Oh well!

We are so excited/nervous/anxious to be parents, we can/cant wait for the little guy to arrive. Time is going by so quickly and I am feeling less and less prepared as the time zooms by. I know it will all work out however. Thanks to everyone who calls/e-mails to check in on me and normalize my pregnancy experiences.

SIX years of marriage= Trip to Vermont

Saturday, October 4, marked our sixth wedding anniversary!
Christian was a sweetie, and sent me six of my favorite flower to work.

We decided for our anniversary weekend we wanted to get away to Vermont. A lady from my work rents out her home there, so we decided this would work out great for us. Her home is in Jamaica, Vermont and is secluded in the mountains and beautiful! It is still close to a few quaint towns but far enough away to get that "cabin in the woods" feel.

It was the perfect weekend to go to Vermont as the foliage was changing and everything was so picturesque. Across from the house were we stayed was this river; McDuff had fun following Christian from rock to rock. It was so fun to watch him follow his dad wherever he went.

McDuff had a little fall in the river and was a bit more cautious after that about where he was going to jump. Our dog is a bit of a wimp, it is true; he is quite the city dog and has lost touch with his roots (I don't want to hear about it Peter).

What a cute couple!

Vermont has a lot of these covered bridges and every time I see one I think of Beetlejuice the movie. This is the Scott Bridge and is the longest covered bridge in VT.

We tried to go Apple Picking in Brattleboro , but Pretty Lady (GPS) led us down a dirt road that eventually ended. We did not find the orchard, but stopped at a local mark and picked some apples out of a bin. I wasn't going to leave empty handed! We did have a nice drive however and saw some amazing country side. Everywhere we went was breath taking, no kidding, it was so beautiful.

I love drives in New England during the Fall, there is just no place like it. The colors are so sharp and crisp.

We ventured to Hamilton Falls, which we almost didn't find. Everything is so hidden in the country, you really have to know which dirt roads to turn down. Luckily the locals walking around were more than willing to help you out.
This was a short hike and it was well worth it. McDuff loved having the freedom to run around in the mountains. We loved being out in nature and not worrying about every day life.

Everything we saw was so cute! I couldn't decide what pictures to put on the blog because there were so many great shots.

This was the perfect getaway and exactly what we both needed. Life has been so crazy with me working two jobs, mentoring, church calling and preparing for a baby. Christian has been busy as well with school, teaching a class, TAing a class, teaching piano lessons and his church calling as well. It was nice to have a weekend to get away from it all, sight see, enjoy nature and most importantly enjoy each other's company.

I have such a wonderful husband; I feel so lucky to have been able to have spent the last six years with him. I can honestly say I have never been happier in my life than my time with him. He really is the best match for me and I am grateful for him every day.
Happy Anniversary Love! Love you!

Chuck E Cheesin' It!

Happy 30th Birthday!
I think it is safe to say Christian had a fabulous birthday! He was kinda freakin' out a bit about turning 30, so to help him ease into this "transition" I did a 30 day countdown for him. I made him a chain with 30 links and each day he got to take a link off and get a present. Some presents were cool like a shirt, his favorite candies, and mechanical pencils. Other days were not so great, but hey, it is hard to come up with 30 presents!
His last present, which was his big birthday present was this new printer! Yeah, we can print on manuscript paper and do double sided copies! WAHOO!

That evening of coarse we had a big blow out at Chuck E Cheese. Growing up this was called "Show Biz Pizza." It has changed a bit, no more singing bears but they did have a mouse named Chuck E who was pretty adorable!

A big kiss for this cute birthday boy!

We had a great turn out for the party; we have been so lucky to make so many great friends through our church, Christian's school and my work. Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate Christian's big day!

What a happy group of people! Yummy pizza...mmmmmm

No doubt we had lots of fun playing skee-ball, Deal or No Deal, Basketball, The Magic Finger, and other fun video games. These are some of the cool prizes we walked away with!

( I really love Lisa's face in this one, she really captures the true essence of a pirate.)
It was a really great day! Thanks to all who sent cards, called, or facebooked Birthday wishes; it was a very special day for Christian and I know he will never forget it!

Christian turns 30 years old!

30 Tidbits about Christian

1. Christian's nickname growing up was "Chicken," not because he is one, but because one of his friends had a lisp and couldn't say his name.

2. He does not like being in big crowds one bit

3. His favorite food is Indian food, but he rarely gets to eat it because his wife hates it!

4. He has an amazing sense of humor and can always use it to get out of an argument with his wife.

5. His mom will laugh at anything he says, she thinks he is hysterical! Many times this does not make his sister Maren happy, because she can say the same thing and not get the same reaction.

6. He is an incredibly gifted musician!

7. He teaches piano students and when he left one of his students in Louisville they cried.

8. He takes great care of McDuff and is so cute with him, I can only imagine how great he is going to be with our baby!

9. He LOVES books and tries to read 10 at the same time. This means books everywhere; all over the house!

10. He does the dishes way more of the time than I do and never complains

11. He has a major sweet tooth and especially loves his mom's peanut butter fudge

12. He tries very hard to stay in touch with all six of his siblings on a regular basis

13. He wrote me a beautiful song when he popped the big question; how can a girl say no to that?

14. We love to sit around the piano as he plays and I sing horribly out of tune Broadway tunes

15. He loves sugar cereals

16. His favorite thing to do in the evening is veg in front of the TV . Favorite shows: Colbert Report, The Daily Show, The Office, Heros, Lost and So You Think You Can Dance

17. He HATES watching American Idol! "America settles for such mediocrity."

18. He is a very gifted writer and has written reviews for several newspapers and magazines

19. He enjoys to go to Rock Shows with his buddies

20. He loves technology just like Kip! He would like one of Apple everything.

21. He is most productive in the morning and enjoys waking up @ 5:00 a.m. to write music

22. We love to watch March Madness together!

23. He is one of the most sensitive and sweet men I know; he is always putting his family first and is so excited to be a daddy

24. I was recently told by a woman at our church that he is the best home teacher

25. He is very intellectual and uses a lot of big words that I don't always understand

26. His three oldest sisters loved to dress him up in girls clothes when he was younger

27. Everyday that I am around him I want to be a better person

28. He would rather take public transportation in any city than drive a car

29. His new favorite show to watch is Flight of the Concords and is often heard quoting from it.

30. For his 30th birthday, we are celebrating at Chuck E Cheese!

Happy 30th Birthday!
10/2/78