Week 38 and Counting!

37 weeks 1 day!

Still pregnant! All 38 weeks of me, but not for long I presume! Saturday was a pretty awesome day. Can't remember the last day that really wasn't actually! I feel very blessed to have felt so amazing through this pregnancy. I did get hit with some fatigue the past few weeks. I had plenty of down days, just spent relaxing, reading a book, playing with Elijah outdoors and lounging around.

It has been nice for a change. I am quite a busy girl. I like it that way too. I really enjoy always having a task, chore, errand, craft, or home improvement project to do! At first when the fatigue hit I was a bit miserable. I missed going to the gym, and my at home workouts just don't do me justice I feel. I at least had jogging outdoors with Summit! The only downside was after my morning workout I was beat! And it literally zapped my energy for the rest of the day. So I cut back on cardio, and upped my pilates, and yoga. It helped a lot, but I missed my daily running routine!

Elijah helping mom and dad prep the vegetable garden

The past week has been good with my energy levels. They have seemed to come back to normal. Most likely because of my hormones I think? Getting ready to have this baby!! Penelope will be here literally any day now. It's very exciting to think about!

I got a lot of work done in the yard yesterday. I decided it was time to get rid of a lilac bush that Jamie and I had always talked about cutting down. We love lilac bushes, however this one was in the way of my up and coming vegetable garden! Good thing we have 2 lilac bushes in the yard. It would have been really sad, I love keeping fresh lilac in the house during the season!

Jamie woke to me taking a the chainsaw to the bush in the early A.M. He came out and asked what I was doing. I told him. "Prepping my vegetable garden!" He said "OK, just don't cut off your leg." Then he went back inside and him and Elijah apparently watched me finish the job. He told me later it was enjoyable watching his wife do something like that. It made him proud. :O) 

Goodbye Lilac Bush!

We spent the day running errands, doing yard work and going to a birthday party for our sweet niece Paige. I was literally on my feet, hands and knees all day. Played basketball with the nephews, ran around in the yard blowing bubbles with all our nieces and nephews. Walking around the mall, and home depot, digging out lilac bush roots, shoveling dirt and weeding in my vegetable garden. There were a couple of times when I was pulling up roots that I literally though Penny was gonna pop RIGHT out of me! She didn't though!


After we called it a day, Jamie wanted to go mountain biking. I was all game to go. But he thought it best for me to stay home and relax. Good thing I did. He came home drenched in sweat, and so sore beyond belief! Guess Ill have to hit that trail after Penny is born! ;O) I don't think I would have survived!

Playing with Earthworms!

I didn't have a problem with the high amount of activity yesterday as most people would have thought. I felt great, slept great, and woke up early feeling great! Ready to do it all over again!

I did have some more sign this morning about Penny's arrival! So I know that those contractions yesterday from all the activity must have been doing something!!? 16 days left until my due date. I wonder when she will make her debut!?!?


On another note! Our family hit a milestone on May 18th!! It was our sweet Summit Boy's birthday!! He turned the big 4!!! What an amazing dog he has been in our lives. Great Danes make GREAT companions! Elijah and him are the best of buds. Our family would not be complete without him!!!

Happy Birthday Sir Admiral Ullr Summit!

Summit's Birthday doggie cake I baked!

Elijah and Summit <3

Pumpkin Quinoa Bars

A friend of mine asked me if I had a recipe for a Quinoa Protein Bar. These are delish! Having trouble finding the original site I adapted this recipe from, and I wanted to pin it! So here it is. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Quinoa Protein Bars

Part one:
(1 cup) uncooked quinoa
2 cups water

Part two:
(1/2 cup) fresh pumpkin meat ( canned will work just fine, however fresh meat is tastier!!)
  1/2 cup water

Part three:
1/3 cup + 1-2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 - 3/4 tsp sea salt
(1/4 cup) flax egg



Part four:
1-2 tbsp pepitas (seeds from squash)

Cook the quinoa (after rinsing it). I used the method in which you boil the quinoa and the water for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat, cover it, and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine half of the quinoa and the pumpkin purée in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse on low and slowly stream in the water, then gradually bring it up to high speed. It will be tough to purée quinoa, because it's very gummy and glutinous, but be patient and keep working it and it'll come out fine!

Dump in a large bowl, and then add all of part three, along with the rest of the quinoa. Mix well, give it a taste and adjust any of the seasonings or sugar to your liking.

Scrape into a well-greased 8x8" baking dish (I baked it in a larger dish and I found it a bit too thin to handle well). Smooth out so it's level, and then sprinkle the pepitas over the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the top is dry and doesn't give in when you press gently on it, then cool for an hour (you can put it on a plate and then leave it in the fridge uncovered to speed up the process). Then cut into as many bars as you want. I cut them into 16 because they're pretty densely packed with nutrients and fiber and protein, so a little should be enough!