Thirst Quenched

I don't know what has come over me, perhaps it's the last and final pregnancy craving, or maybe the fact that we've entered the season of pumpkin flavored everything -- either way, this week I have been absolutely unable to get Starbucks off my mind.

I always loved coffee and coffee flavored things, but haven't indulged ever since I began avoiding caffeine and coffee.  Back in the day Starbucks was a special treat for me.  But it wasn't something I was ever addicted to so it wasn't hard to give up . . . Until now apparently!

Well anyway, I decided today while thinking about a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, that I wanted to find out what options they do have for LDS and other no coffee or caffeine drinkers.  No matter where I looked I couldn't find an exhaustive list, or one that was truly caffeine free.  So obviously, I decided to make one of my own!  And boy, oh boy did what I find excite me!!

Hot chocolates

- Traditional hot chocolate

- White hot chocolate

- Zebra hot chocolate

- Flavored hot chocolate

        - Pumpkin, peppermint, Nutella, hazelnut, salted caramel, vanilla, or any other syrup they have can be added to either the traditional or white hot chocolates

Frappuccinos

(I always assumed these were coffee or espresso based beverages...but it turns out I was wrong!)

- Cinnamon Dolce Crème

- Double Chocolatey Chip Crème

- Vanilla Bean Crème

- Strawberries and Crème

- Salted Caramel Mocha Crème

- Pumpkin Spice Crème
- Basically anything with the word Crème in it

Steamers/Other

- Steamed Apple Juice

- Caramel Apple Spice

- Steamed Milk

- Flavored Steamed Milk
        - Pumpkin, peppermint, Nutella, hazelnut, vanilla, raspberry or any other syrup they have can be added

- Vanilla Rooibos Tea Latte (iced or regular)

- Blended Strawberry Lemonade

I tried to to the best research I could to avoid anything black tea or coffee based. I even looked up the ingredients to the mocha sauce/syrup to ensure that was coffee free.  A lot of the lists I looked up included the chai and chocolate chai variations (which were my absolute favorite), but chai tea is traditionally black tea based.  Which, for word of wisdom followers or the rest of the no-caffeine population, is off limits.  That is of course, unless you find a rooibos chai, which is a red herbal tea and therefore ok.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the list!!  I've only tried a very select few, so recommendations/your favorites would be delightful.

Don't see your favorite?  Let me know!!  I'd be happy to add it to the list :)

Oh, Baby!

Well, time sure does fly when you're . . . pregnant?!

That's right - you heard me, pregnant.  And what an exciting surprise it was to find out 9 months ago that we were to expect our lives to forever change for the better.  We're both young, we're both still getting established in the "real world," but our little family just got a whole lot more real . . . and we couldn't be happier!

The Mr. and I consider ourselves to be incredibly lucky.  We are blessed with families that love and support us completely and are incredibly excited to welcome our precious little babe to the world.

As one could expect, it's been a crazy 9 months.  But not as crazy as I would have initially expected.  I've been blessed to have a complication free pregnancy!

Here are some of the highlights:

First Trimester (weeks 1 - 12)

• Our first ultrasound was probably one of the most special experiences of my life thus far.  Not only did we get to see our little bundle of joy for the first time, but we got to do it on Valentines Day!!  I'm pretty sure a girl can't get a better present than that!While most people are trapped with those morning-sickness blues, I was of the rare percent that missed it almost entirely!  Sure I had some nausea, but that's about as far as it went!  I most certainly wasn't controlled by it.  For that reason alone I consider myself to be incredibly lucky!
• One the down side, I ended up having to get a root canal basically the second we found out I was pregnant.  Which meant I got nothing to help relieve the pain - talk about ouch!!
• And perhaps the saddest part of my first trimester was our inevitable move from Southern California back "home."  After living somewhere for five years and finding the most amazing job ever, the move was almost devastating.  It was so sad to leave my friends and colleagues, but it was so exciting to turn the page to a new chapter and live in a place surrounded by family.

Second Trimester (weeks 13 - 27)

 

• This trimester was fun.  Any hint of morning sickness I did have was utterly washed away and I went from teeny-tiny flat-bellied me to what I thought was crazy gigantic!

• We got our "big" ultrasound that informed us that our precious little baby was 99% positively a girl!  From there oodles of shopping and crafting began.  It's basically impossible to walk past a baby aisle or into a baby store without melting over the cute little outfits!

• I felt movement for the first time . . . and I don't care what anyone says - it does NOT feel like butterflies.  It feels like someone is kicking you - hard - from the inside out haha

• We took a trip back east for a family reunion.  The plane rides were something else with the swelling and bathroom breaks, but it was so much fun and so worth it to see all my extended family . . . even if I wasn't allowed to wakeboard, kneeboard, or go tubing!
• Eventually I did really pop to basically my full-term size and learned the painful world of heartburn

 

Third Trimester (weeks 28 - 40)

Exactly 1 month till the due date

• More swelling
• More bathroom breaks
• More difficulty breathing
• More heartburn
• More trouble sleeping
• More contractions
• More kicks . . . harder kicks
• But it all prepares you for labor, delivery, and post-partum life!  Plus my crazy monthly weight gain tapered off completely and I've still yet to get stretch marks!! Lucky, lucky, lucky.
• Best part of the third trimester - her hiccups.  My Mr. gets so excited and giddy when she gets hiccups . . . which of course makes me beyond happy.

It's crazy how much you bond and how much closer you grow as a couple during this gestation period. Knowing you're soon going to be responsible for human life -- that you have created and are bringing into this world a tiny little person with wants, needs, emotions, and who is entirely dependent on you for survival is truly amazing.  The fact that your body can combine random gametes and turn these little cells into a living, breathing human being is breathtaking.

As scary and crazy as all of this is . . . and as much as I really don't want to have to give birth . . . I am incredibly excited.  It's going to be so fun to see her face and hear her voice!  With 2.5 weeks left, she could come any day now.  We have the nursery set up, the hospital bags packed, and are just waiting for the "time."

Knowing how terrible I am at blogging, you probably won't hear from me again until our little one is here with us.  But I'm beyond excited to show her off!  And hopefully her presence and my 6+ month leave of working will be enough motivation to get the weekly blogging habit engrained into me :)

One Year

June 22nd, 2012 was, until now, the best day of my life.  It was the day I married my sweet husband.  We have officially been married 1 year and I couldn't be happier!

Seeing as this was our first anniversary, I wanted to do something special.  But we're not millionaires, so I looked to Pinterest for inspiration on how to make this day as special, if not more so, than our actual wedding day.

Let's be honest - we all know I went over the top.  Because that's just kind of what I do!  I thought it would be fun to start the traditional anniversary gifts.  Thank heavens year one was paper!  I don't know what I would have done if it was the diamond anniversary!

Anyway, I found my pinspiration, and proceeded to craft away!  We've been staying with family the past few months to save some extra bucks.  The town we grew up in, where just about all of Mr.'s family lives is not an inexpensive area!!  Seeing as he wants to settle down here, we figured it was best to save up the money rather than rent so we can get that much closer to purchasing a home.  Back to the story -- I wanted to have an amazing romantic and fun anniversary, but couldn't quite figure out how to work that out . . . seeing as we live with family.  So I ended up renting a hotel room down the street to create the magical vision I had for our anniversary.

Step 1) Ambiance.
I gathered together some white Christmas lights to create romance without candles.  Plus, what's prettier than a bunch of twinkling lights?!

Step 2) Set Up.
So I wanted to do the cute little Balloon-Picture thing that's all over Pinterest.  I bought 12 balloons in our wedding colors and gathered 12 - 24 pictures of us over the past year and floated them over the bed.  I also got us each a "love journal," that I placed on the pillows.  Now before you get creeped, they're books I bought at Border's that give you ideas on how to journal about why you love your spouse, how you met, fun memories, etc.  Of course I got fancy sodas and a bottle of sparkling Martinelli's and put it in an ice bucket with some "classy" plastic champagne flutes.  I brought over our record player and some romantic records and a few items of wedding paraphernalia for memories, and last but not least, some nice chocolates and the top layer of our wedding cake for us to enjoy later.


Step 3) Surprise.
I didn't want him to know about ANY of my plans . . . so I was super sneaky and pulled it off as though I didn't really do, get, or make anything for our special day.  I woke him up with a box of doughnuts and said something along the lines of, "I'm sorry I couldn't really do anything special for us today.  I know you hate breakfast, but love doughnuts . . . so I got you these so we can have breakfast-in-bed."  The sweetheart he is thought I was adorable and said he didn't need anything else and this was perfect.  Meanwhile on the inside I'm squealing with excitement thinking I've fooled him.  I then excused myself because my mom "needed my help" and told him I had one other small thing for us, the time I would be home, and just to be in whatever is comfortable.  I left to set up . . . having sneakily already packed a bag of his clothes and toiletries.  Upon my return I convinced him to put on a blindfold as I drove to our destination and walked him through the halls of the hotel -- all the while he kept guessing and freaking out about what was going on (especially in the elevator).  When we got to the room I walked him in and told him it was ok to take of the blindfold, he was speechless.  I haven't seen the man cry since our wedding day.  He was so touched by everything, making all the effort worthwhile.

We had a super fun rest of our afternoon and got ready together at the hotel for our traditional anniversary dinner (from when we were dating) at The Melting Pot.  And I got to surprise him one last time with my final first anniversary gift to him -- a 52 Reasons Why I Love You deck of cards book.

When we got back full-bellied and exhausted, he played our first dance and we ended our celebration dancing in the moonlight from the balcony.

Needless to say, it was a great first anniversary.

G.G.'s 85th Birthday Party

Here are a few shots of my grandmother's 85th birthday at family reunion from back in July

Big Pimpin

The Beginning Middle of a New Year

So I promised myself in December that once I graduated I would actually start blogging again and I'd be good at it this time.  Turns out not only was I wrong, but I was INCREDIBLY wrong.  These last three months have been some of the busiest months I think I've ever had.

Why you ask?  Good question.  Here's the gist:

1.  We have some exciting news you should expect to hear about soon
2.  The hubs got a new job
3.  We're moving

Wha-BAM.  It's almost like life looked at me and said, "Take that for slowing down and relaxing!"  But in all honesty, these crazy busy months have been amazing.  We have a whole new adventure ahead of us and I'm beyond stoked to begin it.

November, December

Well, in 7 days my sweet hubby and I will be married 6 months -- and boy has that time FLOWN by!  Between the craziness of the final semester of my undergraduate, packing moving, holidays, going from three callings as a couple to two for myself, and being the wife of a seminary teacher I almost don't even know what happened!

As I near the end of my journey at this precious little Cal State, with only a week left of finals and papers, why do I blog now?  Of course, for no other reason than procrastination!  But seriously, I just need a break from theories, statistics, and papers.

So to lift my spirits as I wait for some lovely dough to rise, I present you with Thanksgiving and the beginnings of Christmas:

My darling husband and I took a quick trip to see our families for Turkey Day.  Luckily this time we were graced with the benefits of flying (1 hour vs. 6 by car).  Here is a little photo-documentary of our trip.

One of my favorite parts of going home, are the cute little pups I get to play with.  My parent's black lab, is always so difficult to get pictures of, but this little guy refuses to leave my side.  He even waits outside the bathroom door the entire time I shower!  What a sweetie-pie

But nothing is really better than hanging out with the nieces and nephews on my Mr.'s side of the family.  I get to see my precious little ones once, maybe twice a year if I'm lucky, so I've grown very close with his nieces and nephews during the 4.5 years we've been together.

On Thanksgiving we went to his dad's uncle's house an hour and a half north of my hometown, which was surprisingly an easy drive with the Thanksgiving traffic!  Aside from the delicious dinner that I was too hungry to even try snapping a picture of, the best part of that trip was playing with the kids and riding around on a super sweet red Vespa!


 Don't let this picture fool you, I was too much of a sissy to drive it myself!

* * * Disclaimer * * * 

You've made it this far, so I only feel it's fair to warn you - this is going to be a long post!!  But as long as your here, I have some more to tell you :)

Well anyway.  We got back from a lovely trip and immediately I turned Southern California into a Christmassy Winter Wonderland!  So what if I can't have actual cold or snow, it's like on of Dom's favorite Christmas Songs goes:

"Some folks say it doesn't feel like Christmas

If you can't look outside and see some snow

But I don't recall that it was snowing

In Bethlehem two thousand years ago"

Besides, who needs the bitter cold when you can create snowcapped cupcakes, hang wreaths, and put up a real Christmas Tree (none of that fake nonsense)?!

 

Of course Christmas baking is fattening amazing -- but I think one of my favorite parts of commercialized Christmas is the tree.  Between the beautiful lights, the sweet smell, and the decorating traditions I couldn't be happier!!

We went to pick out our Christmas Tree, per my request, the Monday we got home from our Thanksgiving travels.  I know, I'm ridiculous, but hey!  This is my first Christmas as a wife and nothing sounds more exciting to me than baking, decorating, and stringing pretty lights everywhere :)

Anyway -  We went down to the beautiful chop-your-own fields of the Home Depot parking lot.

 The lucky tree that now calls our apartment home is a beautiful Noble Fir that was taller than me, again per my request.  My sweet husband, despite knowing it would be way too big for our tiny little apartment, appeased me and got us a tree just shy of hitting the ceiling.  And boy I could not have been happier that night!

But the best part is decorating the tree!  I love that my mom sent us a cute Christmas package filled with holiday pillows, blankets, ornaments, and kitchen accessories.

This one has always been a favorite of mine, even before I understood what Christmas was really about or what the nativity really was.  I think I liked it at first because it has a little spot at the bottom you can stick a light in that brightens up the background illuminating the star behind baby Jesus.  I love that my mom sent me this ornament.  Not only because I used to fight to put it on the tree every year . . . but more importantly because it brings the birth of Christ into the trivial wintertime activities.

My second favorite ornament is one that my middle brother claims is "his."  But just because he was born eight years before me does not me he gets claim on the gem! Oh man.  This is one of the glories of the Christmas tree! So you can guess how delighted I was when I opened the box and the ornament I begged my mom to put in the package was sitting right on top!  Oh man.  The picture to the left is the one I texted him as soon as I hung it on the tree.  The response back made my week.

But what makes everything even better, is that I decided to go on a hunt.  My brother got this beauty of an ornament before I was born and I was determined to find it's soul mate via the internet.  I'm not going to show you everything I got . . . But I'll give you a preview of the package . . . 

Christmas is just the best :)

Life as a Wife.

Ok, I'm not going to lie, I'm a TERRIBLE blogger.  When things get hectic, the blog goes out the window - and by gosh by golly, it has been a hectic first five months of marriage!  But we've had the time of our lives.

Living life as a wife is, how do I put it . . . AWESOME.  I love married life.  I love being my own family.  I just love it.  That's all I really have to say.  I just love it.

A lot of perks and fun stories come from being married.

One perk I particularly enjoy is the addition of a new extended family.  I've now officially found myself a part of the Fosson Family.  Such an amazing check off my list.  The family I've adopted has adopted me ten times over.  They are such a phenomenal support system.  I love knowing that not only do I have my family, the family I grew up in, but I've got a brand-spanking-new extended family of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews.

This being said, I'd like you to . . .

(a) Meet my Family:

This is a picture of us thoroughly tanned from our trip to Hawaii

(b) Meet the amazing Family that raised me:

and last, but not least, (c) Meet my sweet newly acquired Family: