No bones about it, we're PREGNANT!

Well here we go again! Elijah Ames is going to be a big brother, can you believe it!? Our family is very excited for our new addition!

 

 

We found out that I was pregnant the MORNING OF ELIJAH'S 1st BIRTHDAY!! Holy Toledo was that one heck of a day! It was very exciting! That same day I ordered this awesome iron on decal to announce our pregnancy for October (MY FAVORITE MONTH). I actually found it about a year ago, but there wasn't a need for it. I had a friend get pregnant a few weeks before me, and I told her she should buy it and announce this way, she by passed on the idea, so I took it on immediately. Such a fun and cute way to surprise our friends and family. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, so this was perfect for us!

As of right now I am due June 5th, that puts me at 9 weeks. However when we went in, the baby was too small, and we could not measure, so we estimated my due date by my last cycle, I'm pretty sure it won't change much, but we go back in on November 7th for another ultrasound and measurement to get a solid due date. Can't wait to see my lil baby up on that screen again like we did with Elijah!

So far I have felt fabulous! No morning sickness thus far thank goodness, as was the same with Elijah. Hope it stays that way. I only felt tired the first couple of weeks. Then I got a cold, and that laid me out for a week, I seriously just slept all day every day! Thank goodness Elijah sleeps 12-14 hours straight through the night, this momma needed her rest. Now my cold is gone, and we are back to our crazy busy hectic schedules!

What is even MORE exciting about all of this is that I have 6 friends that are pregnant, and the furthest apart we are is 5 weeks! Pretty crazy, going to be so much fun !!

Happy Halloween!!!

Castillon style!!

Maple roasted sugar pumpkin, sage, and jack grilled cheese.

Totally a goodie for fall!

Take a sugar pumpkin destem, half, peel, and deseed.

Cut up into 1by1 pieces, add 2 tbs melted butter, and 1 tbs REAL PURE MAPLE syrup. Its a lot more expensive, but tastes so much better, especially when baking/roasting!

Place in a pan and top with fresh crushed black pepper (to taste)

You will also need fresh cut sage. 6 leaves coarsely chopped will do the trick.

For my bread I didn't use regular sandwich bread, I bought a fresh baked loaf of Italian rustic bread, very flavorful bread that is for sure!

Start grilling the bread, and add freshly grated Monterrey Jack cheese, top with roasted pumpkin, layered to fit the bread, then top with some sage, and add more grated cheese, then add your top piece of bread, and finish grilling. The pumpkin, maple, sage, and cheese is amazing flavor in your mouth! WOWZA!

Homemade Pumpkin Cheesecake w/ Pecan Praline Topping

Be sure that ALL of your ingredients are ROOM TEMPERATURE before you begin. It will make your cheesecake nice and smooth, if an item is cold, like eggs, you will have giant cracks across your pie, still edible, but certainly not as pretty!

Ingredients

Crust:

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
2 freshly baked and mashed pumpkins (then use 1 and 3/4 Cup of mash) OR
1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin ( FRESH IS SO MUCH BETTER THOUGH!)
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan, or if you don't have a springform pan, use a CAKE pan, you CANNOT use a regular pie dish, it will not fit, it will overflow horribly! You need a dish with at leas 2.5 inches tall on sides. Set aside.

For filling:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined. Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

For my topping I used a Pecan Praline topping..WONDERFUL and simple recipe as follows

Ingredients

2 cups whole pecans
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoons heavy cream
Cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl combine pecans, brown sugar, and heavy cream. Spread into a square baking pan, sprayed with cooking spray. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until coating is dry, and slightly crystallized, stirring once. Remove from oven to cool and stir once more. If not serving immediately, store in an airtight container.

Support my business!

So a lot of you know of my work in the snowboarding industry, however I am sure a lot of you do not! I do affiliate marketing and advertising for snowboarding shops that are web based. Here is a really easy and quick break down of how it works. You click on my advertisement for a particular board shop, and it takes you to that site, and you order merchandise!

I can get you discount codes, and coupons most times for these particular site, but you just have to click on MY advertisement on my blog, OR when I post the link to facebook, myspace, or google+. Its a win win situation! Some of you might be thinking, well I will just go to the site, and not through Julie and order..the catch is, MY ADS have built in coupons more times than not, so you will be saving money!! Just add my blog to your favorites, and when you want to shop, click on my blog, and then my ad!! Simple!

I just recently got job offers from quite a few shops, I will be adding more soon. Now here is the even COOLER PART. When I re certified my sites, I applied for different types of shops as well. I'm an not only doing snowboard shop based shops. I will and can expand my business with such shops like mammabargains.com littleruler.com etc... baby stores!! That is right! If there is a particular online shop you like to shop at, let me know about them, Ill can send my application into them and possibly get them to employ me. Just let me know if you are interested in coupons, and shops! I greatly appreciate your help!!

<<<<<-------Ill be posting my ads at the top to the left of my blog, it should be the first thing you see!