Any old excuse for a party!

We decided to have the family over to let them know the gender of the baby. We asked everyone to vote on what they thought. The final tally ended up being 8 for girl and 7 for boy.

I made cupcakes with blue centers and everyone had to take a bite to find out the gender

We even skyped with family in San Francisco. I literally ripped open a cupcake and held it in front of the camera. It worked great!

(this shirt makes me look more pregnant than I really am... I swear!)

Baby Update

We are having a BOY!!!

This is what I thought all along so it wasn't a big shock. I would have been stunned if they told me it was a girl! Here are a few ultrasound pictures to show off our little man. They sent us home from the appointment with about 6 prints, a video, and a CD of pictures. Pretty darn fancy.

Here is the video. You can see the babies mouth open and close and he even sticks out his tongue!

A Valentine Dinner

Joe and I alternate years for planning our Valentines Day and Anniversary. This was Joe's year for planning and he really outdid himself! This year the theme was things I have been craving lately. The most out of character for me is lemon desserts (I blame the girl scouts and their delicious lemon cookies).

We even get dressed up to make it feel more special :)

King Crab Appetizers

Lemon Trifle

Full Menu:
King Crap Appetizer
Cucumber Salad
Killer Artichokes
Balsamic Roasted Red Potatoes
Horseradish Crusted Halibut
Lemon Trifle

The Highlight of Christmas...

Announcing to the family that we are PREGNANT!

We told a lot of people by showing them printed photos of our trip to Mexico. We hid this photo in the stack:

I am sure I will post MANY more details on this later :)

Late Christmas Post

As Joe prepares Valentine's Day dinner, I thought I should FINALLY post about Christmas. As usual we were very busy with all of our families. The season got kicked off by a trip to Nebraska with my extended family. We see them sporadically throughout the year but Christmas is the only time we are ALL together. We don't all fit in one house anymore so we rented this hunting lodge that turned out perfectly. We all had our own rooms plus there was a large dining room and gathering rooms for us to use. It really was the perfect setup.
(Thanks to my sister, I have any pictures at all... some day I will be better about this)

Cute picture of "B" and I:

Santa delivered handmade treasures from my Grandpa's old overalls (he wore Key overalls everywhere but church).

Great Grandma with all of her Great Grand Kids. 8 now but there will be 10 by next Christmas!

The "Original 8" cousins in the family.

One of the most memorable parts of this Christmas was the VERY intense spoons tournament. I beat the "Original 8" along with a few others who dared to join in. The prize? This traveling trophy:

Since I am horrible at taking pictures, I don't have any from the remaining Christmas celebrations. We spent the 23rd at Joe's Mom's house for breakfast and lunch. We did fondue (family tradition) at Joe's Dad's house on the 24th and followed that up with a candlelight service at our church. Christmas Day we were at my parent's house for the traditional crab feast.

Pre-Holiday Vacation

With multiple Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations J and I get pretty exhausted. This year we decided to visit our neighbor to the South. Joe and I have been to some pretty exotic locations but neither of us have ever visited Mexico. We decided it was time! We stayed at the beautiful Marriott (of course) and were not disappointed.

We basically lounged by the pool for 5 days. We only left twice... to deep sea fish and to visit the town of Puerto Vallarta. Fishing was fun and we saw a lot of whales as well. It was a private charter, so I was able to stretch out a take a nap or 2 on the boat. I tell ya, waking up at 6 am is ridiculously early when on vacation (or really anytime for me nowadays).

"exploring" the town of Puerto Vallarta...

Adios Mexico! It was a lot of fun while it lasted...

Thanksgiving Recipe

I was in charge of making a Thanksgiving dessert for the celebration at my parent's house. It was our THIRD T-day meal and I thought I could use a reprieve from pumpkin pie (especially considering I don't even like pie... unamerican... I know... I know!). I made a Pumpkin Creme Brulee instead. I had purchased some Ikea ramekins more than a year ago and I have been itching to use them. It also gave me a good excuse to buy a fun kitchen torch! The recipe was much easier than it sounds and the best part is that it can be made in advance.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee (www.foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar, plus 4 teaspoons
• 8 large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 cup mashed cooked pumpkin

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Arrange 8 (1/2-cup) ramekins or custard cups in a large metal baking pan.

In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Bring to a bare simmer over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until frothy and lemon-colored. Slowly add 3/4 cup of the hot cream mixture, whisking constantly. Add the egg mixture to the remaining hot cream, and whisk. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin, and whisk until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. Divide among the prepared custard cups.

Add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cups. Bake until the custards are just set in the center but not stiff, 45 minutes to 55 minutes. Remove from the oven and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours or overnight.

Sprinkle each custard with 1/2 teaspoon of the remaining sugar. Using a kitchen torch, caramelize the sugar. (Alternately, preheat the broiler, and broil until the sugar melts and caramelizes, watching closely to avoid burning and rotating the cups, about 1 to 2 minutes.) Place on small dessert plates and serve.