...was awesome. Loved it. Unfortunately, it leaves you ten times more confused than the first book, and the final book doesn't come out for another year. Boo.
Today Brandon Mull comes to the store for his book signing. Hopefully it will be crazy busy...living in an area like this pretty much assures that it will be!
Someday, however, someone will be blogging something similar about some of Tyrel's books...that'll be the day, eh?!?
I love this time of year...crunchy leaves, pumpkins, cool weather...too bad it only lasts about a day and a half in Idaho. That just means that I have to enjoy it ten times more to get my fall fixing! I must say, however, that the best thing about fall can be summed up by these bad boys...
HO-LY COW. These are quite possibly my favorite cookies ever. Within 2 minutes of taking that picture, those poor, sweet morsels were toast. With a cold glass of Reed's Milk, they didn't even stand a chance! I can't take the credit for the recipe, nor for even finding the recipe. This one came from a late college night when my roommate Melissa stumbled upon these and whipped up a batch. Melissa, my life may have changed because of you :) Anyway, here you go. Make them, and devour them. I have to keep extra cans of pumpkin in my pantry just so I can have these during whatever season I want!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 cups chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350; spray cookie sheets.
Beat butter until smooth; add both sugars, a little at a time, and mix until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla and pumpkin.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat into batter.
Stir in chips, and scoop onto cookie sheet. Add more chips on top of each mound if desired.
Bake 13 minutes, or until just golden. Let cookies rest for 2 minutes; cool on wire racks.
Delicious. And while you are either waiting for you cookies to bake or as you are loading them into your face by the shovel-full, check out my husband's blog for his creative writing samples (http://tyrelmurri.weebly.com/). Grad school application deadlines are drawing near, so he can use any advice he can get on how to improve what he has already written.
All throughout high school and college, I was extremely diligent about keeping an embarrassingly detailed journal. The other night, Tyrel and I read through all the entries that mentioned him (he had no idea that I was writing about him the whole time!), and I realized that I haven't been very good about keeping notes about being pregnant. Although this does not make up for 5 1/2 months of detailed entries, this will have to do :)
I found out I was pregnant at 5:45 am on a Friday morning (4 weeks and 1 day along). I wasn't really expecting a positive test, so I had to get my glasses out to double check that I was really seeing those two little blue lines. I snuggled back up to Tyrel, who was sleeping like the angel he is, and whispered that I was pregnant. It took him a moment to realize what I had said, but by the end of the day, we were both on cloud nine!
The wonderful gift of morning sickness manifest itself when I was about 6 weeks along and lasted for another 5 weeks. While I was 100% nauseous ALL DAY LONG, I only threw up 3 times. The first came while Tyrel and I were out to eat at a pizza restaurant, where I luckily made it to the bathroom with my hand over my mouth. The second came after eating nectarines...Tyrel was on his way out the door to play basketball when it happened, and, not knowing how to help me, came into the bathroom and flushed the toilet for me and said goodbye. The third time was at 2:00 in the morning, as I went flying toward the garbage can by our window and said goodbye to my yummy mac and cheese (which also came out my nose.). There were a few times that I probably should have just let it all come out, but I was sure I could be a big girl and not spew all over our brand new car :)
I started feeling the baby move at about 18 weeks, which was one of the best moments so far. Now she never stops moving! She likes to kick, punch, and roll when I sit down for breakfast, if I ever get a break at work, and between 9:30 and 11:30 at night...which unfortunately now keeps me awake. It is a good thing it is still cute to me! It is pretty much the best feeling ever!
While most people find themselves buying clothing right away, our first purchase was the crib and bedding.
Tyrel was 100% positive we were having a boy while I was pretty wishy-washy about who was in my tummy.
Picking out names was fun but sort of stressful...we now have Whit, Tate, and Claire on the backburners for our next few. Despite the kindness of the recommendations, Simba and Meriwether were not added to our list.
Although no one has touched my belly unexpectedly yet, every single person comments on how small I still look. I guess that is flattering, right?
Kemry is tentatively joining us on January 27th of 2011, but I secretly wouldn't mind if she came a little early to get me out of work :)
I have gained about 13 pounds so far...yikes. I have been the same weight since high school, so this little bump on my tummy is certainly a change for me. I love the excuse to eat all the time and how comfy my maternity pants are, but I am avoiding maternity shirts for as long as I can. For some reason, I just can't bring myself to buy any.
I find myself craving pickles, cookie dough ice cream, Oreos, tootsie pops, and Mexican food. My favorite thing to eat, however, is a bag of grapes with some slices of cheddar cheese. I also can't get enough of ice cold water.
I can't handle alfredo sauce, thick ranch, most meat, and Pita Pit. They all make me want to puke as I am typing this. Also, I couldn't stand bread for the 5 weeks I was sick. Now I can't get enough of cinnamon toast.
Give me an epidural. No questions asked. My biggest fear is that I will not get to the hospital in time to get drugged up!
The funniest thing is watching my belly button change. It is totally going to pop out soon. No stretch marks yet, but I do have that cute little line running down my belly :)
Even though Tyrel was bummed that we are not having a little boy for him to watch sports with, Kemry already has 4 Boston Celtics onesies waiting for her!
Tyrel had a few nice dreams about our precious little girl. I, however, have only had one dream...and our child turned out to be Chucky, the evil doll. In my dream, we just loved our Chucky so, so much, even though he wanted to, well, kill us...the best part of the dream was when we put him to bed...I sang him a lullaby as I chained a lid on his crib. Tender, yes?
...are my father and my husband. Sorry everyone. Somehow I lucked out and got both the greatest father in the world as well as the greatest husband ever, too. No one beats my dad. He is the most selfless person I know, and he will give up anything for his children, even though we are all "grown up". My husband follows in a close second, but I am sure he will tie with my father once our little Kemry comes in January and he learns to give even more of himself to someone who truly relies on him. I think he will be an amazing father...don't you think? I think it kind of fits him already...
