We spent friday playing out on a couples' beautiful property from church.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect!

Some baby goats were born about an hour before we got there. 

They were super cute and bigger than you'd expect a newborn goat to be. 

B kept calling them puppies.

Bennett finally got to ride on a  pow-pow-powerwheel!

Our neighbors have one and he's been totally jealous of them.

Too bad the one he finally got to drive was pink and purple:

(and the battery was dead, so he really just got to  "drive " it)

B also got to ride on a "tractor":

(he's such a city boy)

He loved the 2 week old puppies:

Saturday Bennett wanted to wear a party hat for most of the morning:

and while Chris and his brother worked on the nursery, 

B and I hung out with my mom:

I made sure to leave the guys with cookies hoping it would motivate them to work efficiently:

I'd say my cookie motivation technique worked pretty well!

We now have a wall!

Chris finished painting last night and the nursery should be ready to be decorated by the end of next weekend!!! We still need to install and paint the trim, install and paint the door and closet, and Chris' dad is going to build some new shelving for the closet. 

We are so close!

B and I are off to the library today...I'm so glad this boy loves books!

We usually check out 30 at a time and I give him 15 once we get home and we switch them out for the "new" 15 when he gets bored with the first ones (usually after a week or so).

He will literally sit and read each one cover to cover after we bring them home, which means a little downtime for me...totally a win/win!

Happy Tuesday Friends!

 After our amazing brinner we headed to The Ace.

This was our awesome room:

(read about our last stay at the Ace here and here...I think it's impossible to feel stressed while staying at The Ace, which is exactly why Chris made reservations...also their beds are heavenly)

 It's super convenient that Stumptown is right downstairs.

We had amazing coffee both days while we got ready:

 After we were ready we walked down to our favorite bakery Lovejoy Bakers to grab some breakfast:

 Every time we go, we love trying out a new pastry with our breakfast.

This time we tried the double chocolate muffin.

It was huge and not too sweet.

The top was crunchy and the inside had a biscuit-like texture with random dark chocolate chips.

It was totally amazing and I really need to figure out how to make something similar asap!

 In addition to the muffin, we split the deluxe breakfast sandwich (fried egg/creamy blue cheese/bacon/butter/tarragon and frisee on a ciabatta) and they had already sold out of their brulee'd steelcut oats so we decided to try out the granola which didn't disappoint (though the steelcut oats are our fave)!

 After breakfast we made some stops at a few of our favorite stores that we don't get to frequent much anymore. We tested out a double stroller at Posh Baby and Chris tried on some jeans at Lizard Lounge.

I was able to sit and put my tired prego feet up for a bit:

 We stopped in at Barista (our fave coffee in PDX) for a little break, though our drinks never lasts long:

 Chris humored me and went into the random/quirky store Cargo with me.

I found B another gas station number for his collection and we tried on some silly/creepy masks:

 We decided that eating lunch in bed sounded amazing, and that is what we did:

 I propped my tired feet up on a stack of pillows and enjoyed my late lunch all the while hoping that walking 3 miles around downtown in my rainboots wouldn't cause these prego feet to swell.
I'm pretty sure I couldn't have walked any farther!

 Chris watched a movie while I read my new magazine and took a short snooze:

(it was the perfect lowkey afternoon!)

 After I woke up I was able to accomplish one of my goals for the weekend, to paint my toenails.

(still being able to touch my toes is a huge feat in itself...and they look halfway decent too!) 

We purposely had a late lunch so that we wouldn't be very hungry for dinner.

Salt and Straw was in our plans for later in the evening and we wanted to create space!

I decided to try a root beer float for a change and Chris had the usual two scoops in a waffle cone.

We ended up staying for a couple hours because we ran into two different sets of friends!

Love that place.

 Here are a few shots from the around the hotel...I always have to take a bajillion pictures:

 All weekend I had a thing for ice...I couldn't stop eating it:

 A view from our window:

Sunday morning Chris went down to Lovejoy Bakers again to grab some breakfast to go. He brought it back to eat in bed along with some drinks from Stumptown. Call us predictable, but we know what we like! I was so excited to be eating Lovejoy in bed (they weren't out of steelcut oats this time!) that I forgot to take any pictures...oops!

 After checking out we walked over to Nuvrei to grab some sandwiches and a box of their macarons:

(their specialty macaron right now is espresso and it. is. amazing.)

 Chris got a roasted chicken salad sandwich and I got a hot ham and cheese crossaint:

 Then, just like that, our amazing little "staycation" was over.

As soon as we got in the car we started talking about things that needed to get done at home.

Chris mowed the lawn and we did a little yard-upkeep before Chris' parents brought B back.

I know a lot of people think it's silly that we paid to stay just ten minutes from our own house.

To you I say, don't knock it til you try it! 

Staycations are amazing because:

a.) you get out of the house where there is always something that has to get done.

(and for stay at home moms, just getting some time out of/away from the house is a huge refresher!)

b.) you already know where all of the best restaurants/shops/coffee shops are.

c.) you can save/spend money on food that you would otherwise be spending on gas/airfare.

d.) the drive home from vacation is never fun, but luckily it's minimal when you stay close to home.

e.) it's fun to play tourist in your hometown and visit places you wouldn't normally go to.

And that was our amazing weekend.

Chris, thank you so much for knowing exactly what I needed...
a weekend of downtime with you was perfect!

Happy Wednesday Friends!

sweet potato black bean burger:

 (recipe here.)

We are fans of veggie burgers, though I've never found a great (or even good) recipe for making my own. Usually they are super mushy or turn out really dry.

These were amazing, the texture was perfect, lots of veggies and protein and the recipe makes a ton...perfect for guests!

We were out of buns so we just had two each and topped them pepperjack and avocado.

All three of us loved these!

cheesy quinoa and broccoli bowl:

No recipe needed!

 Once again I was trying to figure out what to do with leftover quinoa.

I love making extra quinoa so I can throw this together quickly the next day for lunch.

I put a little bit of water in the quinoa before I microwave it (for about 1.5 minutes) and top it with steamed broccoli and whatever kind of cheese I happen to have in the fridge.

Top it with a little sea salt and pepper.

So quick and easy!

black bean and corn-topped baked potatoes:

(recipe here)

I actually keep thinking about this meal because it was that good.

I have actually never make baked potatoes because I probably wouldn't be able to control myself with the yummy butter, cheese,sour cream combo.

I can get behind a veggie topped potato, and it still includes a little of the good stuff.

I honestly didn't miss the butter at all.

Can't wait to make these again soon!

green curry over brown rice:

No recipe needed!

Okay so I've never had (or even seen) green curry before, so I'm not sure if this is what it's supposed to be like...but it sure was tasty/filling/super spicy!

In my cockpot I put frozen chicken on the bottom and covered it with two jars of Trader Joe's Green Curry Simmer Sauce. I tasted the sauce and it was extrememly spicy 

(I don't like spicy, but will tolerate it if the food is super tasty...like in the case of Pok Pok's spicy fish sauce wings)

I added a can of light coconut milk to dilute the spiciness a bit but it also helped to make the sauce a little more liquidy.

I cooked the chicken and sauce on high for about three hours (or until the chicken was cooked) then I quickly shredded the chicken and threw in three chopped carrots, one chopped sweet potato, one coarsely chopped sweet onion and a bag of baby dutch yellow potatoes that I chopped in half.

Cook it on high for another three or four hours (or until the potatoes are soft) and top with cilantro, cashews and lots of lime. Serve over rice.

(this made a TON of food, so have people over when you make this!)

 Last but certainly not least is the lovely Anna's homemade chicken noodle soup,

 including the noodles from scratch!

(recipe here)

I had never made my own noodles

 (or chicken noodle soup for that matter) 

but it was surprisingly easy and super tasty. 

I added some red potatoes and made the noodles with half whole wheat flour.

This also made a ton of food, and is great leftovers as well!

Let me know if you guys try any of these recipes out...

you won't be disappointed!

(and post your recent favorites too)

Happy Friday Friends!

Chris surprised me with a relaxing weekend downtown at The Ace and I couldn't be more excited to do nothing except eat good food and drink good coffee with him.

Such a good hubby I have!

For date night two weeks ago we decided to try out the dinner at one of our favorite breakfast places, Broder. 

Sidenote:

We were celebrating Thursday the 16th, which is a significant day to us and they don't come around too often...

Chris first asked me to be his girlfriend on Thurday, October 16th, 2003.

After a year or so, we decided to break up for about six months, then got back together on 

(unbeknownst to us) 

a Thursday the 16th.

Realizing that this was kind of a special day, Chris ended up proposing on Thursday, June 16th 2005.

So now, we like to celebrate a little whenever a Thursday the 16th rolls around!

Look! Something other than stretchy cotton over the bump:

I actually still (somewhat) fit into this dress!

On our drive over to the restaurant I almost called to make reservations .

(since it's typical to wait an hour to get seated for breakfast)

When we walked in, we were delighted to see only one family just finishing up their dinner. They left around the time we ordered our food, and we had this all to ourselves for the rest of the evening:

I have no clue why we were the only ones enjoying Broder at this hour. 

 The dinner was just as amazing as their breakfast.

 (which is ahem, served all day everyday = no more waiting!) 

I couldn't wait to dig in:

(sorry for the super dark pictures!)

lamb burger with potato gratin:

swedish meatballs on brioche with lingonberry and a cream sauce, and an amazing, creamy pea salad:

Last Sunday we had Abi come over to take some updated family pictures.

Afterwards we filled our bellies with tasty lattes, peanut butter chocolate chip biscotti , red velvet crinkle cookies and 

buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake :

(which is SO good...and I'm not just saying that because I made it!)

While B was napping, I decided to nest a little by organizing our breakfast/snack cupboard:

(I had a giftcard to Container Store and used it to buy these, which I am loving)

Bennett has been getting stickers for staying in bed at naptime/bedtime.

After earning seven stickers, he gets to choose a big treat...

he finished his second row of stickers earlier this week so we all went out for milkshakes!

I love how proud he looks:

Lauren and Fern came over for a little hang out time.

Bennett shared his stuffed animals with her while they chilled on his sleeping bag:

Bennett has been sleeping better (for the most part) which means more than 5 hours of sleep for me...just in time for the 3rd trimester exhaustion to kick in.

I thought it would be nice for Chris to show me how to use his grinder and espresso machine in case I ever want to make myself a latte. I made a pretty good one with his help, but I'm still too nervous to make a drink without him here...getting the tamp pressure juuust right is quite intimidating (and I don't want to waste Chris's freshly roasted beans)!

I guess practice makes perfect though.

Thursday night we went out for a family date night at Por Que No.

We got our usual chips and guac, Bryan's Bowls and agua fresca...mine was strawberry prickly pear and it was delicious!

Saturday was D-Day for little brother's nursery.

Chris' brother and dad came over to close up the opening, move the doorway into the hall, and insulate the walls. They got a lot done in one day and I'm so greatful to have such handy people in the family! 

This is what it looked like when B and I got home that night:

(they actually discovered that the door to that room was indeed there originally...it makes me feel good that we are putting the house back to how it was supposed to be in the first place)

 

They even installed the fauxdenza, which looks awesome!

We still need to get some wood to finish the top and sides but I'm loving all the added storage in our living room...can't wait to see it completed!

 Sunday morning we made this baked apple pie oatmeal for breakfast and it was so good!

We pretty much had to force ourselves to stop eating...and Chris ate the last of it for lunch.

We will definitely be making it again soon...thanks Elizabeth! :)

Chris hung Bennett's new light fixture:

oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm almost 31 weeks and rather large:

 (and uncomfortable)

Time is seriously FLYING!

That's it for the double whammy...

Happy Tuesday Friends!