Productive Friday Night

God works in mysterious ways! I have been secretly stressing out about cleaning the junk room and getting it ready for a nursery. If you have been witness to this room you would understand my cause for concern. Our house is only so big....where is all of this STUFF going to go? I asked Scott about cleaning it out a couple of times. He didn't seem to concerned or worried about it. I on the other hand, believe that nesting is starting to kick in. Today at work I decided that if the room wasn't cleaned in 2 weeks, then I was going to go in and clean the room myself. If you are wondering why I didn't just start to clean the room to begin with the answer lies in that 3/4 of the room was filled with Scott's childhood memories, hobbies, and work stuff. However, when I walked in the door from work, Scott greeted me by telling me that he had decided to go ahead and start on the nursery:) Oh my, I could have started jumping for joy!!

I was so excited, I went up there to help him out. An hour later we made HUGE progress on the room. We have 3 piles. 1 goes to goodwill, 1 goes to my mom, and 1 is still work stuff, but he has great plans to get rid of it. The closet on the other hand is still full. I figure that we will get it out before Baby Carrigan comes. I told him how wired it felt to be cleaning out the room to make it a nursery. It still seems so surreal to us.

After cleaning, we went for a short 2 mile run. It felt so good to run. The air was chilly and crisp. Scott Allen has really picked up his speed. I had a hard time at the end staying beside him.

Then to ease the stress of tomorrow, we headed to the grocery store to get chili for tomorrow nights Halloween party. When we came home Scott and I cooked dinner together. We had Caprese Beef Tenderloin with asparagus. While our dinner was cooking we started on the chili. All Scott has to do is to put all of the ingredients together in the crock pot and let it cook all day.

This recipe is a must try! It was delicious and really easy. Also the perfect meal to share with the one I love after a long work week.

Gotta go get ready for bed. Tomorrow is Regionals for our Varsity team! Wish us luck!

17.5 weeks

I was reading a pregnancy book the other day, and it suggested I start taking belly pictures if I wasn't already. The book says I will regret not documenting the expanding of my belly. While I am sure the author is correct, right now I think I just look frumpy.

17 1/2 weeks Baby Carrigan is the size of an onion. Average weight 5.9 ounces and 5.1" long.

We will find out what Baby Carrigan is in T-11 days!!

Scott Allen is 29!!!

Last Tuesday night we celebrated Scott's 29th birthday with our parents. This was the last year to celebrate being in the 20's. Next year he turns the big 30!!!! We enjoyed a nice low key evening with the people we love, great conversation, and a delicious dinner.

Nope, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. Mr. City boy is sporting

his new camo. Thanks to Geoffery Brooks, Scott has decided to take up hunting as another hobby.

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful husband!

Sharing the News

There are no words needed for this post.

Surprised and thrilled are the words I would use to capture everyone's emotions:)

For my Mom, Chris, Ash, and Roo we put the dogs in big brother and big sister shirts. My mom and Chris it took about 15 minutes to figure out what the shirts said....I blame old age:) Ash noticed right away. Side note Mom and Chris found out a day before my sisters found out.

Scott's parents, Dad, and Bailey were given a picture frame with a picture of "We're Pregnant" written in the sand.

We are anxiously awaiting Novemember 6. We will share in the joy of finding out together with our family and closest friends what baby Carrigan is.

Me- Boy
Scott- Girl

Photo Shoot

For my birthday Scott got me a new lens for my camera. Last night I was able to get a few pictures of the dogs. The session didn't last long. They have a very short attention span, just like their grandma. However, we think they wanted to soak up as much camera time before the lens focuses on something else.

I know I am not suppose to be on the furniture, but maybe I will blend in with the pillows.

Oops, they caught me...but hey there is a camera so I can chill for a little while longer.

Coby loves to stick out his tongue. I finally am able to prove that

our dog does stick his tongue out at us.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday was my first weekend without a cross country meet in a while. So we took advantage of the free weekend and headed over to Hodges Pumpkin Patch in Charlotte. As an added bonus we got to see Ash and Trent while we were there.

The weather was absolutely beautiful. We walked around to see the local vendors set up and picked our pumpkins right off the vines! We had such a wonderful time we can't wait to go back next year and make it a family tradition!

Fallbulous

Fall is finally here! As you know this is our favorite season of the year for so many reasons. Pumpkin doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, Pumpkin spice coffee creamer, cooler weather, leaves changing colors, and Thanksgiving.

Last weekend our home was transformed. Scott went backpacking and I took the opportunity to decorate while he was freezing his tail off hiking. This is what I did while he was gone.

Breakfast nook.

Mantel

Dining room table.

Above and Below: Buffet

Homemade pretzels

For the first time I was successful at making a "bread" from scratch. Last Sunday I found a pretzel recipe temptation could not resist. Any time I have tried to use yeast in the past, the bread never rose. But with very specific and easy to follow directions I made pretzels that smelt and tasted just like Auntie Anne's Pretzels.

Above: Cinnamon sugar pretzel with icing.

Below: Sea Salt pretzel...can serve with mustard sauces if desired.

Enjoy!