It's a..........

BOY!!!!!

Apparently baby Bryce didn't get the memo that we only know how to buy pink in this house. :) I am thrilled, and Marty? How do I describe Marty's elation?...Nope, don't think I can, you'd just have to see the giddy smile that's been plastered on his face all day.

Everything looks normal, and so far it appears as though the baby is right on track. Which is nice because it was SO frustrating to push my due date back and back and back last time. Of course, this time I don't have to worry about running into Christmas!

We can't wait to welcome you, Bryce!

Foiled again

This is for those of you involved in the towel saga. So, just a few days after Marty agreed to take the towel off the pad lock (so I could finally WASH it), this little beauty arrived in the mail. :) This is from my Aunt Michelle in Virginia, and of course Marty looooves it and swelled with pride when he first saw it.

I have been truly grateful for my family this fall. Honestly, these last couple of months have been really rough for me and care packages have rolled in from all over the country. Absolutely every bit of the support we have received from you guys during this pregnancy has been so, so appreciated. I'm sure I haven't told you this nearly enough, but thank you, thank you, thank you. We are feeling you're hugs from the desert, I promise! We love you guys!

All Pretty

The finished product!

This is my new way of getting ready in the morning. I have tried different things to keep this little one occupied, but she actually started getting kind of bored of bath time, which is what she used to do while I got ready. So this was the next alternative, I guess. I slide a chair up to the bathroom counter and she puts on my necklaces, earrings (usually she just tries to trap them in the hair above her ears - not hard to do in that curly mop), puts on her version of eye shadow and blush, and never forgets to brush her teeth and put on deodorant.

It is so fun to watch her mimic me. Except when it's really embarrassing, like this new little treasure: "What the hake?"

Wasn't there something important I forgot to post?

Oh, yeah. Halloween.

It's squash season again!

This year I will save you the rant about how much I love squash, and get strait to the question. Anybody want to swap squash recipes? Here's one!

Last night we had "Dinner-in-a-pumpkin" and it was so fun and yummy! It's easy, too. Here's the recipe.

1 Pumpkin

1 Onion, chopped

olive oil

1 1/2 to 2 lbs ground beef

2 T soy sauce

2 T brown sugar

1 Can mushrooms

1 8oz can water chestnuts

1 can cream chicken soup

1 1/2 C cooked rice

Clean out pumpkin. You'll want to cut the top off at an angle, so that when you replace it later, it won't just fall through the whole to the bottom of the pumpkin. Saute onions and brown meat. Drain. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms (I used fresh mushrooms because I don't like them canned), and soup. Simmer 10 minutes. Add rice and water chestnuts. Spoon into pumpkin. Replace top. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Be sure that when you serve it, you scrape the sides so you get plenty of delicious pumpkin in there!