Comfort FOOD

First off... I want to say THANK you guys so much for the sweet comments about my 14 weeks post! I love having so many sweet blogging friends. Y'all make me smile! And when you're getting chubbier by the day, a smile is much needed!! ;) SO THANKS!

Speaking of getting chubbier... I wanted to post a yummy recipe I tried for the first time yesterday. It is definitely a comfort food so if you are looking for something quick and easy... and sloppy, here a recipe for Pepperoni Pizza Joes: (similar to sloppy joes)

Grab your crockpot!

What you need:
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 green or red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 pound lean ground turkey (I use ground buffalo)
1 1/2 cups (12oz) marinara sauce
18 slices of pepperoni quartered (I used a little extra pepp)
1/2 tsp oregano crushed
Whole wheat hamburger buns
Shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Coat large skillet with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper and cooking, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes or until soft.

2. Add turkey to skillet (or buffalo/hamburger). Cook 5 minutes or until no longer pink.

3. Transfer mixture to a slow cooker. Add marinara sauce, pepperoni, and oregano.

4. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 4 hours. Layer meat mixture on bottom halves of buns, then cheese and finish with top halves of buns.

And VOILA! Such a super easy and delicious recipe.

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Friday! Another weekend is upon us! Enjoy it ;)

I leave you with the cutest picture I took of our friends Shannon and Don's 1 year old baby. It was her birthday last weekend and Jon and I bought her this hat. I think she is the cutest baby and had to take her pic!

I can tell that she really LOVES her hat!! Isn't she precious!!!

HAPPY WEEKEND!

14 Weeks

Well, I am officially in my second trimester as of today!

Here's a quick update of how things are looking.

How Far Along: 14 weeks

Size of Baby: Baby Barrett is the size of a lemon.

Total weight gain: Not sure, but I'll find out in two weeks at my next appointment. I'm sure I've gained a pound of two with all of this Halloween candy I've been eating!!

Maternity Clothes: Not yet. I am still wearing my regular jeans, but I recently bought a couple pairs of jeggings, and I LOVE them. They are so comfortable. Hopefully I can wear them for a little while longer. And we are not in sweater weather because Germany has skipped Fall, and gone straight to winter.

Gender: Not sure yet... but we find out in two weeks! I CANNOT WAIT!!

Sleep: I am still sleepy all of the time, but of course standing for a good part of my day probably contributes to me being tired. I sleep pretty great at night, thank God!

What I Crave: This week it's Mexican food, Ted's to be specific. But a little less than a month and we'll be home for a visit! I can't wait to devour some Mexican food!!

Symptoms: Really my biggest complaint is being sleepy all of the time. And the pinched nerves are still flaring up.

And the belly is getting bigger by the day!

I hope you all have a fantastic Wednesday!! It's getting closer to another weekend, YIPPIE!

Fall Fests

First off, thanks for the comments on my post yesterday!! It's always so nice to see sweet comments! And yes, the hair is getting out of control long, but I really am liking the length. I haven't had a haircut since June, so you can imagine the amount of split ends... but I will finally be getting one in November when we are at home visiting. Yippie!!

Here in Germany they love their festivals! It seems like every month there is another festival going on. A couple of weeks ago there was a Fall festival and Jon and I went downtown to check it out. Here are some Fallish pictures for you...

Of course we had to stop at this cute little hut to grab a bratwurst!

YUMMM!

We ended the festival with a waffle!!

I hope you all have a lovely Friday! I know I will, because tomorrow is the weekend!!! and even though I have to work, I am still going to try my best to enjoy it.

See y'all on Monday!!

13 Weeks

Hello lovely friends! I hope you all are doing great on this beautiful Thursday! We are doing great. It has been an uber busy week for both Jon and I, but I wanted to write a quick post to update y'all on how things are going.

As of yesterday, I am officially 13 weeks along.

Belly is growing everyday!

Some days it feels bigger than others. (Today is one of those days.)

Here's a quick update:

How far along: 13 weeks

Size of baby: Medium shrimp

Weight Gain: Not quite sure, I'll be able to tell at my next doc's appointment.

Craving: Chips! All kinds, it doesn't matter.

Clothes: I am still wearing my own jeans, but they are definitely getting more snug!

Symptoms: I'm feeling pretty good. But I still have the pinched nerve in my lower back, which causes some difficulty when I walk or stand for a long period of time. (and since my job requires me to stand, it's not getting any better.)

What I Crave and Can't Have: Bologna! I DON'T even like Bologna... so I am not sure why I am craving it. I don't think I've eaten it since I was a kid, but for some reason I want a honkin bologna sandwich and have craved it for a while now. GROSS!!

And of course my favorite... wine!

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thursday! Tomorrow is Friday and that always makes me happy!

Weekends FLY by!

Hello lovely friends! I hope you are all doing well on this LOVELY Monday!

We are doing great! I'm gearing up for an uber busy week of work and wishing the weekend wouldn't have disappeared so quickly. We had a nice weekend! Saturday we watched football with our friends Sarah and Deaner and of course their precious new addition, Evans who I just wanted to cuddle and kiss all night long. He is the best baby in the world. He loves to snuggle with me and he fell asleep in my arms... ugh pure sweetness. Sunday Jon and I ran a few quick errands, then returned to the house and didn't move from the couch for the rest of the day. Talk about LAZY! We watched Christmas movies... I know it's a little early for that, but I am totally in the holiday mood! I even made a pumpkin cheese cake, YUM!! I'll post the recipe for that soon.

Anyway, I wanted to post a few MORE pictures from our trip to Slovenia. When we visited the castle at Lake Bled, there was actually a small winery inside of the castle. Jon got to pour and cork his own bottle of wine. He was so excited to get to do this, not to mention he got a certificate which he proudly accepted!

Pouring the wine.

Corking

Dipping in bee's wax

Adding the special stamp/seal.

Signing the certificate

And a happy, happy Jon!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!
And I hope you have a fantastic week.

Oh and BTW!! Go SOONERS for being ranked #1 in the BCS poll!!
So proud of Oklahoma!!!

Lake Bled

Hello everyone in blogland! How are y'all today?

I am fantastic, as it is Friday, and that means another weekend is upon us! We have a busy little weekend planned for us, but it will be filled with time with friends and of course the normal house hold stuff that I put off doing until the weekend. So it is sure to be a great one!

After yesterdays post, I was so surprised to hear that the earthquake in Oklahoma was also felt in Texas! Insane... I am so glad to hear that everyone is okay. But still, the whole thing baffles me.

Anyway... To continue the pictures from our trip to Croatia/Slovenia, I wanted to post pictures from our most favorite spot on our adventure, Lake Bled in Slovenia. When we arrived at the lake, I felt like I was in a fairy tale. This place is so magical and unbelievable. It's a place I could see being in a Disney movie... just beautiful. Well, instead of expressing with words the beauty that is Lake Bled, I will just post the pictures. Prepare yourself for picture overload...

Jon rowed me across the lake to the little island where the church stands.

I hope you enjoyed our pictures from Lake Bled!

And I hope you all have a FANTASTIC WEEKEND!!
Be back Monday with a weekend update!

Earthquake in OK??

Seriously... there was an earthquake in Oklahoma?!? I couldn't believe it when I got a phone call from my mom saying there had just been a 5.1 quake and she felt it. Her chandeliers were swaying back and forth and she thought someone crashed into their house! Never in a million years would I ever think there would be an earthquake there... Tornadoes YES, but not quakes! So strange. Thank God from what I hear everyone is okay. Some people lost electricity and some homes/buildings were damaged, but it was good to hear everyone is okay, including my family and friends. Craziness!

A big thanks to the comments about our ultrasound pictures!! I just love getting to see the baby and how he/she is progressing!

I'd love to share some pictures from our trip to Croatia. We left last Thursday morning and made it to Rovinj, Croatia at about 12:00. We spent quite some time walking around the town and then made our way to our apartment, where we continued walking around the beach. Here are some of the pictures.


The next day of our adventure we drove about 30 minutes away, to Pula, to visit a Roman Amphitheater. This is the 6th largest Roman arena in the world and is one of the most well preserved at that. Here are some pictures of our visit.


I hope you enjoyed our pictures from the first couple of days in Croatia. Tomorrow I'll be posting pictures of our visit to Slovenia!

Have a wonderful Thursday everyone!!