Feeling Crafty!

SO, we were in Idaho Falls one day and decided to stop at D.I to see if they had any good furniture for the baby's room. (We didn't have ANYthing to put his clothes in except the closet that has no door.)

Lo and behold, they did have a little dresser for $15, hooray!

But the most exciting find, I think, was a glider! There was a stool that could go with it, but the two weren't part of a set. We got them both for about $20! No squeaking when it rocks, and I can put my feet up!

The wood was in great shape, but since the fabric was *cough*hideous*cough* and looked pretty used/dirty, I recovered the cushions! (You can't tell, but the chair was this pale once-pink plaid mixed with blue...ugh)

Here is the transformation:

(Forgive the shoddy camera work, these are from my phone.)

I found an entire bolt of that blue fabric at WalMart in their bargain stack for $5. Nice. I made the covers removable with velcro closures, so I can take them off and wash them. The most impressive part? I did it in an afternoon while Zach was at work, so he was wowed when he came home. =]

I LOVE rocking in this thing. It's going in the baby's room as soon as the storage junk is cleared out! (No space in our little living room for it, sadly)

"New" maternity skirt

I found a brilliant woman's blog tutorial on how to change an old too-small skirt into a maternity skirt, and guess what? I made it.

Ta-Dow!!!

The skirt was originally ankle-length, and had been shoved into a forgotten corner with a broken zipper, waiting for me to remember and fix it. It popped into my mind as soon as I saw the tutorial.

Here's the stretchy panel... the instructions called for an old Tshirt, and this is all I had:

Even though it's a little funky to have the panel all striped and whatnot, it works like a charm. And now that I have the know-how, I've got a feeling I'll be combing DI for some more skirts to transform!

In other news, my little boy has been such a wiggler! It's super cute to feel him poking/prodding/whatever-it-is-he-does-in-there. He's still teasing his daddy by holding super still as soon as Zach puts his hand on my tummy to feel him move. Lol.

I've been feeling really good lately, just easily winded and some back pain. And I'm seriously starting to outgrow the maternity clothes I have. So making the new skirt for free was exciting!

Anyway, happy weekend to everyone!!

Easy Peasy Lemon (poppy)Seedy!

I just found the most delicious-est pancake recipe ever. I tried it out today and fell in love.

AND since lemons are 3 for $1 right now at our grocery store, I decided to make it into a mix and share it with the girls I go visiting teaching to!

Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes - Gift Mix

To make the mix, put the following ingredients in a sandwich-sized ziploc bag:

1 cup flour

2 Tb sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp poppy seeds

Put the bag of mix and one lemon in a brown paper bag. Fold down and tie with a cute ribbon, and attach this label:

(Click on the picture to download the full size image. It should be able to print out at 4x6 size)

Nothing says summer like the smell of freshly cut lemons! I topped my pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream-- holy cow. Yum. Another lady online said she did blueberry syrup, and another said just put powdered sugar and whipped cream on top. The possibilities here are endless!

Let's get things movin!

Getting closer!

My baby is finally bumpin'! Which means people now assume I'm pregnant just by looking at me, and I'm long past my old jeans. (Becca, your maternity pants are saving my LIFE!)

It also means I'm pretttty sure I've felt the baby move a few times now, which is super exciting!!

Just 4 more days until our ultrasound! I gave Baby a pep-talk this morning about cooperating with the technician so Mommy can know whether she's having a boy or a girl; none of this hands-in-the-lap business I put my mother through.

I mean, the kid's got to learn to obey me sometime, right?

Hopefully we're at 5.5 inches from head to bum. Yay Baby!

2nd Trimester!

I'm 1/3 of the way done! Other than the occasional tummy ache, I have been feeling pretty good. Most of my nausea is leaving even though my nose is still pretty sensitive (Meaning I can tell Zach ate BBQ sauce for lunch, but I can hug him anyway without losing my own lunch).

I can feel my tummy getting firmer as it gets a little bigger, which is comforting, cause I know now it's more than just flab. This morning I leaned down into the washer to change the laundry, I'm pretty sure I felt the bubble where the baby is! Speaking of baby:

Zach and I got out a ruler today to see just how big 3.5 inches actually is. Pretty big! It's no wonder I'm starting to show! It's so fun now that it really feels like there's something there. I like talking about the baby and me collectively. I'll tell Zach, "Baby and I are going to take a nap" or "Baby says you should come hug us."

We are BEYOND excited for our next appointment in May, because we'll get to find out the baby's gender! We're taking votes, by the way, if anybody wants to guess. =]

Love you all!

Stacy & Baby

EDIT: There's a poll at the top of the blog now! Cast your vote for Baby Emmons, let's see how many guess it right! (Izzy, I added yours in for you :D )

It's official....

It's a baby!!!

Our early sonogram, taken at 8 weeks, 3 days.

(See the little head, and cute little bum? And no, we don't have a hunchback, that's the yolk sack... which I had never heard of until I saw it.)

We are now 12 weeks along and SO excited!! Zach already pushes his face into my tummy and talks to Baby. It's adorable. I've been feeling pretty darn good, except tummy-aches, frequent exhaustion, and the nose-sensitivity of a bloodhound. =] Other than that, morning sickness has been relatively gentle with me.

UPdatin'

Super Bowl Sunday
I saw these inflatable dinosaurs at the Dollar Store, and we decided our un-superbowl party (We're not much into football) should be dinosaur themed.

Tragically, we forgot the dinosaur chicken nuggets. So I made jello jigglers in my Jello-Bean mold and called them dinosaur eggs. =] We also had bean dip and ice cream and cake with candy bar mix-ins. Yum.


Valentine's Dance

Zach indulged my girly dreams this weekend, and we went to the school Valentines Dance. I told him a while ago that I had never been asked to a single dance in my life, and he's been determined to fix that. It was SOOOo much fun. It was easily the best dance either of us have ever been to. The dress was anywhere from sunday dress to semi-formal, and I had a heck of a time trying to find something to wear. Thankfully, Rexburg pulled through. It was really sweet, Zach took me to about five different stores in IF, where he watched me try on a few, and was extremely helpful. Better than taking a girlfriend, actually. The lady in the stall next to me in the dressing room complimented me on my sweet husband. =] But we came back empty-handed, so I went to a few more stores in Rexburg while he was in class and texted him pictures. It was unanimous, and I bought a [modest] little black dress (my first!).

Also, I really wanted to have fancy hair. It's kind of a must for formal dances. I found a tutorial on YouTube (sorry if that sounds pathetic) on how to do this updo, and it worked!

Behold:
My good side

The other side

Of course, this is after the dance, so it's kind of coming undone. But I loved it. Note the bling I got to dress up my new little black dress! And since it was Valentines, I got a pink ribbon to put around the waistline. (Zach even helped pick the ribbon!)

The music was great, the people there were super fun, and they had caramel brownies. We got our picture taken, and we should be getting it in a couple weeks. =] Best night ever!

Life Saver

My husband has got to be the world's sweetest anybody.

Today he wrote me a note saying, "You are my Life's Savor." He's adorable.

But also, that's another great idea for a Valentine!Love, Stacy

p.s. We're going to the Valentine's Dance tomorrow. *giddy*

Matisyahu!

This is the crazy-yet-cool stuff I've been addicted to lately. =]

You've probably heard of Matisyahu. Well, you gotta love Hassidic Reggae, so enjoy!

Upbeat


Uplifting

Valentines approaching!

I've been looking around online because I'm super stoked for Valentine's Day. I found a few cuties, and thought I'd share! (Click on the pictures to go to the site, a few of them have templates!)

Cell Phone valentines!


Snazzy Mailbox

Definitely want to be a bit more creative here, but I'm so making one.

Forget-me-not Elephants

(Candy is taped inside, and their ears are hearts with love notes written on them!)

And my personal fave....

Only change the words to say, "I'm e-kernel-y yours!" Totally doing that for Zach. =] My dad's popcorn recipe is one of his favorite things he gained from joining my family. =]

ALSO for Valentines Day, I am working on a small, quilted wall-hanging. It's on pause for now (school), but it won't take much longer! I found an adorable pattern from this awesome blog. I'm going to use her tutorial for a full-size polka dot quilt this summer, but in the meantime I've satisfying myself with this smaller project:

Sorry for the bad picture. I can't find my camera, so this is from my phone. =] It's gonna be 4 square blocks, probably. XOXO. I'm considering applique-ing hearts to the centers of the O's using the background fabric, so they look hollow... what do you think?

Hooray! Gear up for Love Day!

Ezra Pound and Me

I was looking up one of my very favorite poems, "In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound:

"The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals, on a wet, black bough."

Then I found an incredible essay written by the poet himself! It explains so well the way I see the world! (See my last post for proof.)

Here are some of my favorite excerpts:

"Since the beginning of bad writing, writers have used images as ornaments. The point of Imagism is that it does not use images as ornaments. The image is itself the speech. The image is the word beyond formulated language."

"[Quoting a Japanese hokku:]

'The fallen blossom flies back to its branch:
A butterfly.' "

"The 'one image poem' is a form of super-position, that is to say, it is one idea set on top of another... In a poem of this sort one is trying to record the precise instant when a thing outward and objective transforms itself, or darts into a thing inward and subjective."

Evolution

I saw the top picture, and it reminded me of the bottom one.

I guess not all of us evolved from the apes. =]

Carved Pumpkin...Pie

So Zach and I worked most of Halloween weekend, so we made our pumpkin pie jack-o....face.... on Tuesday.

I told you it would be epic! I know his face isn't quite centered. But I was so excited to cut into him that I just dove in without really planning or spacing it out. =]

This is pumpkin carving at its finest: you can eat the guts with whipped cream!

Also, I don't think I ever posted this picture, did I? It's from earlier this month:


Brownies for the neighbors. She's my visiting teacher, and she was having a hard time. Also, I wanted to do a homemade Halloween food-pick. =]

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month!!!!

Goal: 50,000 words by November 31st.
Stipulations: No editing! The month of December is set aside for proofing, editing, etc. The novel must be started and finished all in November, no finishing of old drafts.

Prize: If you make the 50,000 words in Nov, you win. If you can finish editing in December, they'll print one free copy of your novel.

ANYONE can do it, ages 13+. Here's my page, or check out my widget on the right to see how far I've gotten (not very).

Give it a shot!!!

Must be Halloween

I went to make berry syrup for my pancakes, and got this:

Looks like a scene from an evil scientist's kitchen, eh?

I lit a candle to make the house smell a little better (our warmer's lamp burned out) and got this:

Pretty oozy, huh?

I cleaned out the fridge. I'll spare you the picture, but it was perhaps the scariest thing I'll see this Halloween. Spooky.

Also, I just realized I've been calling today Halloween, because tomorrow is Sunday. Silly me.

Tomorrow, for real Halloween, Zach and I are carving pumpkin pies.

That's right. You heard me. Carving PIES.

I'm so excited.

P.S. For anyone interested, the recipe that caused my Halloween Microwave Horror:

Best Ever FlapJacks

Mix the following ingredients:

2 eggs

1 c. buttermilk

1 1/4 c. flour (I used white wheat flour, YUM)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 TB sugar

1-2 TB oil

Cook on a hot griddle. I like to add a little butter to the skillet/griddle when I cook them instead of buttering the pancakes later. I usually eat them with that berry syrup (frozen berries + sugar to taste + microwaved until hot) and top them with whipped cream. DELISH.

Emmons Family Update

I'm playing catch-up blog, but I'm too lazy to make separate posts. So you get it all in one big whopper. =]

In either July or August, Zach took me to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. I don't think I've posted any pictures yet, shame on me!

We had a blast!! It was my first fair ever, and I loved just soaking it all up. Zach said it was "almost as good" as the one he grew up with in CA. I guess poor Idaho has a lot to compete with.

Zach went the cultured route and had a gyro for diner, but I bought a hand-battered corn dog to feel more state-fair-ish. Right after I ate it, I saw this poster on one of the vendor's stands.

A pig dipping corn dogs in grease... made me feel super classy. =]

I think this also happened in August: to celebrate 2 years without an accident, Melaleuca threw us a party at the Rexburg Air Museum that was catered by Texas Roadhouse. Kind of a random location, but it was soooo fun. They gave us free candles and $25 (each) to Texas Roadhouse.

Zach had a blast educating me about all the planes. He knew all of their names, specs, history, etc.... As everyone was cleaning up, one of the museum volunteers noticed us looking, and had us come back where he was working. He gave Zach a tour/quiz of all the model planes and WWII plane history, etc. A night well spent!

**I would like to note that I have lost weight since that atrocious picture of me in the middle there. Hooray!**

I have been feeling super crafty. My new favorite thing to do (besides writing) is making fabric flowers! I turn them into hair clips, embellishments, headbands, etc...

The picture of my friend is her showing of the headband I made for her birthday. (Yo yo flower and buttons.) The bottom right is a card I made for some hair clips I was taking to my old roommate's baby shower.

I learned a new technique the other day (See top right photo, which demonstrates how to make most of the flowers in the top left photo) from an awesome blog... check it out HERE.

Aaaaand, as part of our mega pre-holiday excitement, we carved pumpkins with our friends John and Cassandra Beck. They were going with a Mario theme, and I was looking for a relatively simple design, so....

They made Mario, and we made one of the bad-guy-mushrooms! (I never played Mario as a kid, I think it's called a Gumba or something?) Yes, I know, theirs is a little more impressive. But we were pretty proud of ours too. =]

Last week or so, I won 2nd place in the English Department's Pre-Professional Conference (I'm still not sure exactly how to explain what that means) Fiction writing contest. AWESOME! I was so stoked and excited, and Zach was super sweet to be excited with me. He called his mom to tell her, and started the news like this, "Mom, guess what? [pause] Your precious daughter-in-law ...[increasing suspense]... won 2nd place in a writing contest!" We realized later she was probably totally expecting us to say I was pregnant. Oops! ha ha ha.

Zach has been rocking out his homework like a champ. He's been swamped with tough classes and work three nights a week, so today we got a little rebellious and ran away to the Cocoa Bean when he was supposed to be in Physics. It was super fun, and brought back a flood of memories from when we were engaged. (Speaking of which, November 7th will mark one year since Zach proposed! Hooray!)

Anyway, that's life according to us so far. Maybe I'll be better at keeping this updated so you guys don't have to sit through all that again. =]

Lately...

Been having some bad dreams lately. But I figure around a certain time of the month a girl's allowed to eat as much chocolate as she wants, and that helps. Plus my sweet husband gives me plenty of hugs when I need them. And memories like this help:

Sorry, not trying to make anybody cry. It's just, most of my bad dreams have been centered around losing people. So I have to think of happy times.

Autumn is definitely here in Rexburg, and it's got me excited for the holidays! I look around and see Halloween decorations going up and my instinct is to call family. I certainly miss them. But it's also really exciting to have my own place to decorate! I'll have to post pictures soon, we have a Halloween door mat and a witch on the door, plus a rapidly-disappearing pile of candy corn. =]

Love this season!

TREAT yourself

A few weeks ago, Zach and I took a few homemade granola bars to church and were nibbling on them during Sunday School (you caught us... it was a late morning and we were starving). The lady behind us said she'd be our friend forever, so we shared. She's been hounding me for the recipe ever since, lol.

I thought it'd be pretty selfish to keep this recipe to myself.

Here's my FAVORITE homemade granola bar recipe I got from my Aunt Peggy. You're gonna love it.

Dark Chocolate Granola Bars

Combine:
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. honey
2 TB peanut butter
1 egg
1 TB milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine in a separate bowl:
1 c. wheat four
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice

Mix the two bowls together. Add:
2 c. old fashioned oatmeal
1 1/2 c. rice crispies cereal (or crush up some Chex, Corn Flakes, etc.)
1/3 c. dark chocolate chips (or chunks of white chocolate)
1/4 c. dried cranberries (raisins, craisins, etc)
1/4 c. chopped nuts

Press into greased 9x13 pan. Cut the bars before baking to make it easier later. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. They should look toasted, do NOT overcook. Cool completely, then re-cut bars in marks you made before baking. Don't eat them all at once.

I wrap these individually and freeze them, so I can pull one out whenever I need to take a snack to school/work. You can microwave them for about 10 seconds if you want a gooey treat.

The best thing about this recipe is that it's completely customizable.
-Add mini M&Ms instead of chocolate chips for the kids.
-Substitute 1/2 c. karo instead of 1/4 c. syrup and 1/4 c. honey if you're all out. (Or make a simple syrup by boiling sugar and water: twice as much sugar as water, in any quantity. Ta-da!)
-Make a trail mix bar using M&Ms, shelled sunflower seeds, and several kinds of nuts.
-Add pumpkin pie spice and use butterscotch chips.
-Use chopped toasted hazelnuts, dried cherries, and double the chocolate for a time-of-the-month snack.
-Use your imagination!!! The possibilities are really quite endless.

**P.S. Post about Zach's birthday below**

Birthday Fiesta!

Zach's birthday was last Wednesday, and we celebrated on Friday with a bunch of friends.

My sister shared her awesome Bajio recipes with me --DELISH-- and they were a big hit! Most everybody went back for 2nds and 3rds. Which is okay, because I freaked out and doubled everything. (Two 3.5 lb roasts. Yeah. I'm my mother's daughter, we believe way too much is better than a little too little.)

I made my own version of Mexican Papel Picado with Zach's name on them. Took a while, as you can imagine. Right before I took this picture, I tore down the strings of crepe paper that were hanging down behind the papeles because they were flying all over when the fan was on.


I also made a bouquet of fiesta-colored tissue paper flowers. So fun! Only the female guests noticed, but that's cool with me. =]


We played Pin the Tail on the Burro! Quite hilarious. Our blindfold (which the burro is wearing in the pic) wasn't exactly cheat-proof. My tail is the one by the lock, and Zach's is the one smack in the middle of the saddle. lol.


I also passed around a wordsearch and crossword puzzle all about "Senor Emmons."

It was pretty funny hearing people guess for Clue 1 Down. (It's a quote from Nacho Libre.)

For his birthday cake, I made Cheesecake Brownies.

He originally requested a big, thick New York cheesecake with strawberry topping, but I completely forgot about it until about 30 min. before the party. So cheesecake brownies it was. I felt really bad, but they were pretty darn good. We sang Happy Birthday and he blew out his candle (I only made him do one. Sadly, no picture of that).

For his present, I made him a wallet card (Thanks to Love Actually for the idea, and Becca for directing me there) with "love" currency, and a fake credit card to use for an MCAT prep book. He only asked for the prep book, and we're saving up a little more before we order it, so I wanted him to know I hadn't forgotten.

(Front view)(Inside view)

I also bought a little journal and filled it with 26 pages of memories from our life together so far. We don't have a lot of pictures from when we were dating/engaged, so we're going to try to record as much as we can remember. Reading the journal really melted him, it was a touching moment.

Anways, he feels like one spoiled guy, which was my goal. I'm so grateful for such a sweet husband!!!!!

Baseball Superfans

So, Melaleuca's CEO owns the Minor League field in Idaho Falls, and last night was Melaleuca Night! All of us employees got into the bleacher sections for free! Awesome.

Well, Zach loves baseball, and I love cheering at sporting events (even if I have to be told when to cheer). So I surprised him and made these shirts for us to wear:

I used Zach's T-shirt we had gotten for his softball team at work (which he only needed for a game or two) and I found MY shirt at the Dollar Store. Yes, that's right kids. I'm wearing a child's Large. It probably won't fit when I wash it, but that's okay.

And because the local screen printing shop will do good quality iron-ons for only $4.50 (and I don't have a printer), I spent most of the morning designing our tees..... only to find out when I went to the store that they had closed early for the night. Unacceptable. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought these iron-on letters. I actually like them quite a bit.

Zach admitted that at first the concept of matching fan t-shirts was pretty embarrassing... but he got into it once we were at the game. Somebody teasingly asked me the score, then told him to play ball. We had a blast. And, with superfans like us, of course our team won!!!! Go Chukars. Even if you are just minor league. =]

The only not-stellar thing about the night was the concession stand. They were doing $1 hot dogs and drinks that night, so the lines were at least 3 innings long! We never got ours, even though I ran down to check the lines twice. We settled for a snow cone, cause there was no line there. =]