Hosting TNLC

It was my week to host Tuesday Night Ladies Club. I decided to talk about inexpenisve holiday decorating ideas. I came up with a few cute cheap ideas. I also made seven-layer bean dip for the first time and tried a new recipe called Chocolate, Cranberry & Oat Bars. They were a hit and so I am including a link to the recipe. http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=recipe&m=recipe/knet_recipe_display&u1=keyword&u2=cranberries&u3=**6*187&wf=9&recipe_id=107778One of my creative ideas was this paper wreath. This didn't cost me a thing because I used a wire hanger from my closet and old wrapping paper. Just cut out rectangels from paper (you could use pages from an old book, wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, brown paper bags etc.) and then string them onto the wire hanger. I then wrapped the top of the hanger with rafia and tied a little bow. It took me about 20 minutes to make this and I think it is pretty darn cute!

Some other things I made were these two centerpieces. The candycane centerpiece cost me about $3.00. I bought the vase from Goodwill for .35 cents and then candycanes from Wal-mart for .88 cents, you could use anything to fill the vase, but I bought Holiday M&M's. The next centerpiece: I bought the vase and ornaments from Goodwill for a total of $1.30! Talk about a bargain.

Overall, it was a fun night. This is a picture of (left to right) Ashley, Neely and Wendy.

This is a picture of (left to right) Amber and Lindsay.

I also had to include a picture of my Thanksgiving Banner. I made this banner last year, stealing the idea out of Pottery Barn Kids Catalog. I love how it turned out!

34 Weeks!

I can't believe I am 34 weeks. I feel like my whole pregnancy has gone by so fast. There was a slow point right around 6 months but other than that it has flown by. I am still feeling really good and have great energy. My feet aren't really puffy anymore and my back has stopped hurting. My doctor keeps telling me that I am going to "hit the wall" soon so I hold my breath everyday waiting for that to happen, but until then, I am enjoying myself. I get to have an ultrasound in 2 weeks and I am so excited to see more pictures of our little boy. He is going to be so big! He is a squirmy, very active little boy and I can't wait to meet him!

EBay, Love it or Hate it!

I love it! I have found a couple of great deals lately, especially on baby stuff. All my transacations have been smooth and I love what I have bought. Here are my great finds and the savings I made on each one from buying it on EBay.

#1 - BOB stroller. I have been eyeing these for a while now and was so excited that I found a brand new one on EBay. It is an awesome stroller and I can't wait to use it. Savings: $70!
#2 Pottery Barn Diaper Bag. Much to my surprise, Spencer has had quite the opinion on what diaper bag we buy. We found this one at Pottery Barn and he fell in love with it. It was kind of pricey so I went searching on EBay. I found a brand new one that had been monogrammed with the initials JPM. I figured I could unstitch those and save a couple of bucks. I did just that and you can't really tell they were there at all. Savings: $37.50!

#3 Pottery Barn Kids Advent Calendar. I have been wanting this cute calendar for years but could never bring myself to spend the money on it. When I finally convinced myself to buy it, it had been discontinued. I was so sad. So back to EBay to find one. The one I found is brand new but had been monogrammed with the name Matthews across the top. I am in the process of unstitching it, but it takes a very long time and a lot of patience. I love it though and can't wait to hang it up for Christmas. Savings:$44!

So overall, I have saved $151.50! Not bad! I have a few more things I am trying to get right now and we'll see how that goes. EBay gets addicting so I need to be careful!!

Happy Halloween!

We were invited over to a friends house for a little Halloween Party. I was in charge of bringing a dessert so this is what I came up with. It was a lot of fun to make and put together. As you can see, some of the cookies were falling apart but you get the general idea. It was a fun night and we had a good time watching the kids play. Spencer was sick and wasn't able to go to the party. I spent so much time making the cookies that I didn't have time to dress up...maybe next year!

This is Seth, Lindsay and Ava Mott.

This is Ryan, Kim and Matthew Petersen.

30 Weeks

I am 30 weeks today. It is probably a little too early to start a countdown but I only have 10 weeks left and 70 more days. We have been having record breaking heat and it is really taking its toll on me. I mean we are in the second week of October for crying out loud and it was 92 degrees yesterday!! Give a girl a break already! So that justifies my countdown a little bit right? Anyway, as you can see my tummy is BIG! Ty moves around A LOT, which I love to feel, except when he lodges himself up in my ribs on the right side...arghhh!

Humanitarian Aid Project

Saturday, Sept. 29th was our Stake Relief Society Humanitarian Aid Project. There was a great turn-out and we were able to get a lot done. Our "station" was in charge of sewing baby blankets. We were able to finish 39 blankets. I brought my sewing machine and sewed my little heart out for 4 hours! It was mixed with dinner, talking and laughing, and it was a great afternoon. Below are my friends, Bonnie Pratt and Anne Cannon. Both of their husbands are law students.

Tuesday Night Ladies Club

Tuesday Night Ladies Club (TNLC) is a club for wives, girlfriends and fiances of law students. It's not an LDS thing...it's for everyone. We meet every Tuesday night at 7PM and we rotate who is "hosting" that week. Last week, the girl hosting decided to have it at a pottery place. It is a cute store where you paint your own pottery then they fire it for you. They have a place like this in Utah called "Color Me Mine". I've never been and was a bit nervous about painting and trying to come up with something cute and creative. So, of course, I turned to Martha Stewart! I found this really cute idea on dot-painting pottery or ceramics on her website. I downloaded the template and voila, I had a great idea. The first picture is Martha Stewart's version...I copied the blue plate on the bottom. The second and third pictures are my creation. Not bad...I think I should have made the dots a little smaller...but all in all...I like it. I want to try the white plate flower template next.

New Doctor?

A funny thing happened to me at my routine OB check-up on Tuesday. My OB doctor is Dr. Buckovic, she was on vacation so I saw Dr. McMillan. Dr. McMillan was excellent and very friendly and everything was just fine with me and the baby. As I left, I went to the check-out window to schedule my next appointment. The receptionist asked if I wanted to see Dr. McMillan again. I told her that I only saw him because my doctor, Dr. Buckovic, was on vacation and that I need to be scheduled with her. The receptionist looked at me funny and said, "Vacation? Dr. Buckovic doesn't work here anymore!" I said, "What?" She then repeated herself and said that my OB doctor doesn't work there anymore. I asked her when someone was going to let me know that I no longer have a doctor? She snapped at me and said, "I know for a fact that Dr. Buckovic was telling her patients she was leaving." I told her that no one told me. I then told her that I was fine with seeing Dr. McMillan for the rest of my pregnancy. I couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation. I mean, I am 28 weeks for crying out loud and no one told me that my doctor was leaving!?!? Oh well. Dr. McMillan was excellent and I think I will be happy with him.

New Hair Cut

I decided to try something new with my hair. Don't laugh, but yes I took these myself and while at work. I am a little bored if you couldn't tell! Hahahahah!

Barboursville

We had a work party to celebrate how well the office did last academic year in fundraising. W&L received 2 of its highest gifts ever. One for $33 million and one for $100 million. Can you imagine having so much money that you could give that much away? They each were from individual people, not like a bunch of people or a corporation...just individuals! Anyway, we had a dinner at Barboursville. Barboursville is a winery and vineyard that is very prestige. There was, of course, wine tasting and a small tour of the vineyards, which were absolutely beautiful. After that we had a 4 course dinner with wine pairings for each course. Dinner was $95 a person!! Needless to say, everyone had a little to much to drink and as the night worn on it became more and more awkward. Thank goodness there was one other LDS girl that works in my department there and we hung out with each other all night. It was a fun night and a probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance to eat a $100 meal!

http://www.barboursvillewine.net/b/

Bonfire!

A group of us drove up the mountain and had a bonfire for Spencer's birthday...and just for fun. We roasted hotdogs and made smores...yummy! It was such a fun night and a much needed break for everyone from school and work.

There was this cool wooden bridge that went over the river. I didn't brave the bridge though...there were slats missing and who knows which step would be the next one to have a slat fall from underneath your foot??? No thank you! The scenery was sure beautiful though.

25 Weeks

Here is another picture of my baby bump. It's really not a bump anymore...it's definitely getting bigger. School has started and Spencer is busy as ever. He had his first interview in California over the weekend and he thought it went really well. It was actually for a firm in Las Vegas but the interview was in California. He has applied to about 10 firms so far and will apply to about another 30 by the end of the month. All of these are for an internship next summer. We are hopefull that he will get a lot more interviews and a couple of good offers. Most of the firms he is applying to are on the West coast, mainly in Utah. It will be a busy semester for him. I'm doing great and have been feeling fine. My only complaint right now is my puffy feet. They puff up during the day and hurt all day long then if I am good and elevate them at night they usually go down and feel much better.