i'm back! and some yummies.

It's been way too long since I last visited the blog. Sometimes you just don't feel like it, yanno? Life happens, but hopefully my blogging slump is over! 

We haven't been up to a whole lot, but this last weekend was a busy one spent celebrating the marriage of Mike & Lexi. I'll share those pictures soon. Other than that, I've just been working, growing a human and getting ready for her to join us out here :)

I have been trying out a lot of new recipes lately, though. They've all been a success and husband-approved! I found them all on Pinterest, of course. 

Seriously, everything I do is inspired by that site it seems like.

veggie stuffed bell peppers

This recipe was loosely based off of THIS one. I wanted to make mine a little heartier for my meat loving husband. I knew if I was going to feed him a vegetarian meal, it had to have substance. I think I succeeded because he loved it and didn't miss the meat!

Black Bean & Veggie Stuffed Bell Peppers

4 bell peppers (dice half of one)

1/2 medium onion, diced

1-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed

1 can rotel tomatoes

1-1 & 1/2 cups cooked rice (spanish, brown, white)

2 tbs. taco seasoning

3/4 cup frozen corn

1/2-3/4 cup whatever cheese you like

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut the tops off of the bell peppers, or cut them in half if they are larger. 

Pull the seeds and veins out of them and reserve one half to be sauteed.

Roast the peppers until tender (about 15 minutes).

In the meantime, saute the onions, garlic and half bell pepper in olive oil.

Once the veggies have softened, add black beans, rotel, rice (I used spanish that I had leftover) and taco seasoning.

Stir to combine. You may need to add 1/4-1/2 cup of water if it looks too thick.

Cover and simmer for about 10-15 minutes.

Stir in the corn then scoop into roasted bell pepper halves.

Top each pepper with cheese and place back into the oven until the cheese is bubbly.

Enjoy!

Some other things I've made recently...

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Green Chile & Pineapple Pork Tacos (making this tomorrow)

Quinoa fried "rice"

Brown Sugar & Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

All of these recipes have been winners!

The pork tenderloin was definitely our favorite -- so yummy!

*****

Be back tomorrow with the 30 week bump-date :)

28 weeks!

headed out to register!

 How far along: 28 weeks! THIRD trimester! 

Size of baby: According to thebump.com Jaqs is the size of an eggplant! She's around 15 inches long and weighing in somewhere around 2-2.5 pounds.

Total weight gain: Up 15ish pounds. I don't have a doctor appointment until 30 weeks, so I'm not exactly sure.

Gender: Baby girl!

Movement: Yes...now we're sometimes able to tell where she is by a bulging head or hiney sticking out one side! I think she must not be able to do her gymnastics as easily now because my whole belly shakes when she turns.

Sleep: Sleep's still good, thankfully. I'm using a body pillow now, so that makes getting comfy easier! I'm usually up at least once to use the bathroom but have no problem falling right back to sleep.

What I miss: Nothing!

ready to tackle the list

Cravings: I've been on a fruit and cottage cheese kick lately...so yummy! But before you roll your eyes at that, please know that Rob & I ate his entire birthday cake between us this week. Whoops. Couldn't help it...Bob's Red Mill GF chocolate cake is delish! And most of our friends are cleansing...WHATEVER! ;)

Symptoms: Shortness of breath at times and foot cramps. I hate the way those things sneak up on ya!

Maternity clothes: Still working with both.

Best moments this week: 

--Knowing we've arrived in the 3rd & final trimester...WOW.

--Building our baby registry. So much fun, but also scary. Little people are veeeerrrry expensive.

--Jaqs' nursery is finally underway! I'm SO excited to see how it'll all turn out. Her bedding may even be done by the end of the month :)

 THE list. Yes, I'm old school and prefer a hand-written list over a typed one. Anyway, this baby registry has been kind of overwhelming me, but I think we've mostly got it knocked out now! I still need to make a few adjustments to it, but I'm glad to have that checked off our to-dos. It's hard to know what your baby will like and what's necessary, but we will learn as we go, I'm sure.

And one more little tid-bit...these beauties arrived today:

BumGenius 4.0 cloth diapers.

I've been going back and forth on cloth diapering since before I was even pregnant, so when Cotton Babies was having a clearance sale on the all-in-ones last week, I took it as my sign to go for it. There are many benefits to cloth diapering, so I'm really hoping that Jaqs and I will both embrace and love it. If you have any advice on the matter, please do share!!

lingerie + "last" fling

Last weekend was Lexi's lingerie party in Abilene. 

Her sister and cousins hosted a fun girls-only party, and Lexi got some adorbs stuff!

some of the girls

anna + kasey 

high school besties -- NGC!! 

food table

homemade sushi

 lexi playing a panty game + 'lingerie' from her mama!

lexi + the maids 

This weekend some of the maids hosted a Bachelorette party here in Temple. 

Lexi wanted a low-key girls weekend as opposed to a crazy night out.

We had a lot of girly fun and ate a lot of yummy food!

 lexi + bachelorette barbie...she had a crazy night!

myself + the bride 

reception TOMS!

custom painted just for her 

michelle + kristen + lexi + big mama

Hope you've had so much fun being celebrated, Lexi! We're all looking forward to being there for you on one of the best days of your life! Savor every moment. LYLAS!

TGIF

It's Friday!! Woohoo! Here's to hoping this Friday the 13th isn't cursed...

My brain hasn't been working in post-forming mode this week, so I give you...a list!

On Wednesday we celebrated Rob's 27th birthday! We went to dinner with some friends and had cake and ice cream at home. It was very low key, but I think he enjoyed it. I intended to do a birthday post all week, but like I said before, it just wasn't happening. The hubs knows how I feel about him and how grateful I am for him, so that's really all that matters, right? That's not to say I won't do a sappy First Father's Day post come June! Oh, my heart skips a beat just thinking about him being a daddy. 

Especially a girl-daddy :)

My first friend in Temple, Kendra, has 3 adorable little girls, so you can imagine all the clothes they've gone through over the years. Well, she decided she was ready to get rid of all the old stuff, but first she let me go through it. I came home with THREE of those big storage bins full of clothes NB-3T! Jackpot!! I've been doing a lot of teensy laundry the last couple of days to get the NB-12 months clothes ready for Jaqs. (I don't want to be frantically doing laundry the week before she comes, so I decided to do it as it comes in instead.) She already had some things in there from Grammie and other various family members/friends, so it looks like this little girl is going to be in good shape when it comes to her wardrobe!

If you follow me on the twit (@kgalu) you already know I've been craving some Red Robin fries somethin' fierce! It's a good thing we don't have one here, or I'd be a regular there for the fries and campfire sauce alone. Yum. No one else compares. Luckily I already know that and haven't been eating fries from every other restaurant ;)

This bar in no way compensates for french fries, but they are GOOD! Love 'em. It's nice when you can SEE all the ingredients in the food you're eating.

 And just for kicks, here's my mirror pic rendition of the 27-week bump:

 I was feeling especially pregnant this day, so I took a picture to see if I grew over night or something. I think it was just the top I was wearing ;) BUT on this same day Rob did say to me, "I don't know how you're going to keep her in there for 3 more months!" Haha, thanks honey. You ain't seen nothin' yet!

I hope y'all get to enjoy a 3-day weekend, too! This is our first weekend at home in quite some time, so I'm looking forward to getting some things done around the house, spending some QT with the hubs, and we're also having Lexi's bachelorette party Saturday night! Fun ahead!

baby prep, new car & a sweet friend.

I'm 27 weeks pregnant today! According to "What To Expect" that's the 3rd trimester, but according to The Bump, it begins at 28 weeks, so I'll go with that. Either way, it's crazy to me that we're entering our last third of my first pregnancy! 

I feel like I have SO much left to do. Probably because I do. The room is no where ready, but there is a plan of action! We're just waiting on the bedding to be made, and we need to paint, then things will start coming together, I'm sure. I'm ready to see it all come together.

We also have to get our registry done which is just how we plan to celebrate MLK day next Monday. I'm slightly overwhelmed by that, but I've been researching, so hopefully I'm making some headway. I'm definitely open for suggestions though!! Tell me your must-haves, PLEASE? :)

So last week I got to enjoy this syrupy-delight:

 The dreaded glucose tolerance test! I had to do the 3-hour test when I was diagnosed with PCOS, so the 1-hour one seemed like a cake-walk. It's really not that bad, but I was definitely ready to eat after my pricking session. I'm happy to say I passed! Yay!

Over the weekend my mom and I made this little pretty for Jaqs' room:

 Ribbon wreath inspired by Pinterest, of course. I cut the ribbons, and mom tied them on. It turned out so cute! We just need something to hang in the center.

The glider is also on its way to us! It is so comfy, I can't wait for it to be here!

Here's our fabric choice:

We definitely wanted something neutral that could be used again, so no pink furniture for us! Her bedding will be girly, don't worry ;)

In addition to making a wreath this weekend, we also got a NEW CAR!!

 I am SO excited about my new wheels! It's a Chevrolet Traverse, if you're wondering.

Previously I drove a Honda Accord...great car, but not really great for hauling all the things that babies require these days. Or great for my back while loading and unloading kids!

I'm officially in a mom car, y'all. And I love it.

On Monday I came home to a package from my college friend, Jennifer. She has a precious little boy, and is such a sweet momma! You can definitely tell how loved little Sylas is.

She keeps up with my blog and knows how precious the gift of a child is, so she sent us some things for Jaqs...how thoughtful is that?

 This precious outfit says "My Daddy Loves Me More Than Football"

How perfect is that?! She even picked a size that could be worn next football season! Smart.

Here's the rest of what she sent:

Y'all. The cupcake outfit made me cry. It's a newborn size, and it's SO tiny...I can't wait to see Jaqs cozied up in that cutie. And the "My first Bible" is awesome...I've been reading the stories and thinking about the future when we're reading bedtime stories--I think this will be one of our favorites! The stories and pictures are awesome.

Thank you for being so thoughtful, Jennifer! You really added some sunshine to our day!

Christmas 2011

Better late than never with the Christmas post, right??

Rob and I had 2 glorious weeks off from work together, and we spent most of that time in Abilene with our families and friends. It was WONDERFUL. It was so nice to do whatever we pleased and to just relax and enjoy the holidays with the ones we love.

My pictures are kind of a hodge-podge, so here it goes...

preggo christmas humor

Christmas Eve was spent at the Galusha's before Rob's brother & his fiance left town. We had dinner and hung out with them for awhile before going to Christmas Eve service. The candle-light service at church was amazing! Spending that time with other believers in the presence of our Lord was awesome and such a great reminder of why we celebrate.

We also spent Christmas Day with Rob's family at his grandparent's house. He has a HUGE family, but we had a relatively small crowd this year. It's always fun to catch up and see everyone! His grandmother is practically the only woman in the family, so together we got lunch cooked, served, and cleaned up. Successful day!

Rob's sweet Popo...ready for his presents!

checking out Rob's new knife

he likes to pretend he can play this thing ;)

nanny & popo...love them so! we're blessed by them.

presents! Popo is like a kid with presents!

Christmas tradition: puzzle building

My brother and sister-in-law pulled into town Christmas afternoon, so that evening we went to my grandparent's house to hang out and do gifts with them. My cousin Aryne's little boy, Brayden, is at a fun Christmas age, so we got to play with him, too! 

the big boys enjoyed Brayden's new work bench, too...ha!

my cousin Jessica & her hubby, Leroy...they're expecting in June!

Monday morning was 'Christmas' for the Boyce family! We all got new Christmas jammies, so we had to take a family picture in them :) Turned out pretty cute, I'd say!

Boyce Christmas 2011

Santa & Mrs. Claus

stockings hung by the chimney with care

stockings!

KB & Nicole

Jaqs' first stocking!

daddy was hoping to win big on the scratch-offs for Jaqsy's college fund!

from my hubby...love it!!

from my parents...a mom camera! YAY!

the after-math

prepping Christmas lunch

baby girl's gifts

This is where I failed at taking pictures the rest of the week.

One night we had dinner at Perini's with Rob's family because his cousin, Kathy, was in town from Jersey with her man. It was so much fun! Love seeing them.

We had game night with my Nana & Papa another night...GIRLS WON! Obviously ;)

Another night we hung out with our other extended 'family', the Miller's. Both the Miller & Boyce families had off the week between Christmas & New Year's, so we got to spend lots of time together!

Connie, Austin, Elizabeth, Aaron

My Natalie girl. She's getting so big and grown up! She has a lot of love for Jaqs and wanted to give her hugs constantly...so sweet! She even says she'll babysit for me ;)

love you, nattie-boo!

I hope your holiday season was filled with joy and blessings as well! This one was made extra special for us knowing that next year we'll have a little on-the-move baby girl.

We are so thankful for our wonderful families and for the love they show.

Thank you mom & dad for letting us camp out at your house for 2 weeks! :) It was fun!!