A Belly Update - 38 weeks

Here's 5 Random Pregnancy Facts for all of you who might be interested....

5) I never knew I had enough skin to stretch this far :)
4) Doing regular (well - girl style) push-up's is just not possible when your belly touches the ground before you feel much of anything in your chest or arms. On to wall push-ups I guess.
3) God sure knows how to prepare a woman for motherhood when He placed the bladder so close to the uterus. Getting up 4-5x a night to use the restroom supposedly is great preparation for once the baby arrives. We'll see...
2) Make sure to get yourself a self-less husband - anyone who is willing to paint your toe nails is ready for ANYTHING! Thanks honey.
1) 112 degree's while pregnant is NEVER a good idea! Ugh....

Read more...

Steph's Pick - Strawberry Margarita Pie

All across the country this week it seems like it's been what I would call "smokin' HOT." So I thought in light of this heat wave I'd choose a refreshing dessert recipe for Steph's Pick. We made this about a month ago and loved it (note: I only had a couple bites)

Strawberry Margarita Pie Recipe
from Manchester Highlands Inn (via *Pie)

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh strawberries
2/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
6 Tbsp tequila
4 Tbsp triple sec
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 cups heavy cream

Directions:
Toss strawberries with 4 Tbsp sugar and set aside. Blend graham cracker crumbs, rest of sugar and butter in food processor. Press into bottom and up sides of buttered 9 inch springform pan.
Next, puree strawberries and sugar with condensed milk, tequila, triple sec and lime juice in processor or blender. Transfer to a large bowl.
Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of cream into puree. Gently fold in remaining cream. Pour filling into pie crust, cover and freeze until form, preferably overnight.
To serve, run hot, sharp knife around the sides of pan, remove dies and cut into wedges. Garnish with mint leaves and fresh strawberries.

* Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie

Read more...

A Baby Shower for Joy

This past weekend I co-hosted a baby shower for a good friend of mine, Joy. She is due 6 weeks after our little girl and she's also having a girl :) We're so excited for them to grow up together.

We had a couple different themes going on - one of which is fairly obvious from the photos - the colors, black, white and red. These are the colors of her nursery so we thought we'd incorporate them into the shower. We also asked each guest to bring a children's book. Joy and daddy-to-be, Kevin, love to read and so we thought we'd help them start Reagan's library nice and early.

It was such an incredible time of fellowship, encouragement and celebration as we anticipate Joy's journey into motherhood and the little girl, Reagan, who is due to arrive come late August.

Read more...

nursery (check)

We were finally able to put some of the finishing touches on our nursery/guest room over the past couple of weekends. Prior to that it seemed like we were traveling a ton and just didn't have the time. So both of us went to work putting everything together.
Although it's not a huge space, and I admittedly would probably already change a few things (I'm weird like that) - I think it turned out pretty great! And it's pretty much ready for our guest of honor.
Now all we need is the baby... and who knows when she'll make her appearance :)

Read more...

Steph's Pick - My new Toy

One of my "must-have" purchases once discovering we were going to have a baby was a nice camera. Although we had a great camera, I wanted to be able to capture our little punkin with a specific camera of my choosing that I'd had my heart set on for years. After much discussion with some other expert and amateur photographers (as well as some $ saved in the bank), I decided to purchase the Nikon D90. Let me tell you - I am in LOVE with this camera and can't wait to use it each and every day.
I feel like my relationship with my camera is like any new relationship. You just aren't sure of one another at first, and frankly are a little nervous to interact. But the more I spend time with it the more I fall in love with it. Below you'll find just a sample of photos I've taken of people with my camera.

My FAVORITE niece - Adelyn!

A dear friend, Nealy and her baby Callie.

Some other friends' engagement photos - Michael and Katie will be wed this coming winter.

Read more...

the belly project update...

Wow! I can't believe how quickly time flies. One would think getting an opportunity to snap one quick belly photo wouldn't be such an ordeal but for some reason it just slips our mind weekend after weekend. However, for those of you who have been eager to see how mom and baby are growing.... here you go!
And again, for those visual learners - up until the end of this week our little lady's size is compared to a honeydew (starting next week - a watermelon!)

Read more...

Steph's Pick - Fire-Seared Antipasto Platter

Just this week we had made arrangements to have some friends over for dinner. Like my usual self I was insistant on trying some sort of new recipe on them. I don't know why I do this as most hosts would suggest to prepare a recipe you're confident will turn out (ie: something you've made before). But I don't usually like to do the "normal" thing.
We quickly settled on making grilled filet and needed a side. We've only grilled vegetables a handful of times in the past and thought this fire-seared antipasto platter sounded great. And it surely rose to the occassion!! It's a new recipe I found in my June 2009 Cooking Light magazine. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
Dressing:
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
Vegetables:
3 plum tomatoes, halved
2 red bell peppers, quartered and seeded
2 yellow bell peppers, quartered and seeded
2 zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 (1 1/2-pound) eggplant, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
Cooking spray
Garnishes:
4 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced
1 ounce capocollo, thinly sliced
2 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons capers
6 green olives, sliced
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation
1. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.
2. To prepare dressing, combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl, stirring with a whisk.
3. To prepare vegetables, brush 1/4 cup dressing evenly over tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, onion, and eggplant. Place vegetables on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes on each side or until lightly charred. Arrange vegetables on platter; brush with remaining dressing. Arrange prosciutto, capocollo, and cheese on platter. Sprinkle platter with basil, capers, olives, and 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Enjoy!

Read more...

a Triggs wedding

On May 30th, 2009, we had the priviledge of standing up for my brother and Amy on their wedding day. It was such an incredible celebration of their commitment first to God and then to one another. I couldn't believe how quickly the day came and went! Amy and everyone who helped with all of the details (and anyone who has planned a wedding know's there are a ridiculous amount of details involved) did an incredible job and the day went so smoothly. We were so happy to be asked to play a small part in it.
The newlywed's return from the honeymoon today - we can't wait to hear what they thought about the wedding day and how things in the Dominican Republic went.

More photos of our time in the midwest to come....

Read more...

Steph's Pick - a Pregnancy Tip

Now I fully realize that I'm not yet through with this pregnancy thing but I have learned a couple of important tips over the past 35 weeks.
One of them came a couple weeks back when I started waking up every morning with severe leg cramps. Now this is a standard third trimester pregnancy symptom. I figured I would just have to live with it over the next few months, but after a conversation with a friend (thanks Joy!) she suggested despite the strangeness of the suggestion, she had heard that putting a bar of soap under the fitted sheet at the end of the your bed can help prevent these cramps.
So - because I was so desperate, I tried it. (don't laugh - you'd do it as well if this happened to you every nigtht!) And it worked!!!! I couldn't believe it so I obviously kept the bar of soap at the bottom of my bed just praying it would continue to pry off this horrible intruder.
A couple of weeks passed with no cramping and we made our way to Omaha for my brother's wedding (more pictures to come later). I forgot about this lovely tip and believe it or not, I woke up that first morning in the hotel room with crazy cramping again!! I couldn't believe that this wise tale actually seemed to work on me.
Needless to say, we're currently in Minneapolis staying with Alan's family and one of the first things I asked my mother in law upon arriving at her place was where her extra bar soap was :) I just hope I can remember to remove it when we leave on Sunday.
I'm not much of a believer in things like this but wanted to at least share this story for those of you who may also be experiencing the same thing.

Read more...