A new Holiday called Springsgiving

Keith enjoyed deep frying the turkey at Thanksgiving so much this year that he was looking for a reason to do it again. He came up with the idea of hosting an event at our house called Springsgiving. He invited all the podiatry residents and their families and asked them to bring a spring side.
He was so excited to go to the sporting goods store last week and pick out his very own deep fryer. We bought 2 turkeys and buffalo wings for the Springsgiving feast. We had a wonderful turnout on Saturday; 4 of the families were able to attend. They brought delicious spring salads, fruit, and desserts. I had the wonderful experience of learning how to butcher the buffalo wings. Who knew the wings needed to be separated into three parts before cooking. Anyway, Keith explained that all I had to do was fine the tendon, break the bones there and hack the wing into three pieces. At first it was kind of gross and difficult but by the end I was seeing my future as a top notch butcher. I think some of our guests were a little worried to see me hacking the wings with a giant knife. In the end the wings came out great. Keith injected one of the turkeys with butter creole and the other turkey with butter jalepeno. They were both delicious; but I liked the jalepeno the best.
We were sad that the weather was pretty chilly on Saturday. The kids put on their jackets and played a little football anyway. Next time we'll be breaking out the bocce set for sure!
The dogs; Mason and Jackson, were absent for most of this event. They were getting haircuts at the groomer. I picked them up late in the afternoon and was very entertained by their super short summer haircuts. Mason reminds me of a giant white rat; with the cutest face of course.
I am stealing pictures of SPringsgiving directly off my friend Jess' blog. She takes such great pictures so I didn't even get my camera out. Thanks Jess! She was also so sweet to take all my chocolate and sweets so I would not be tempted to eat them. I was recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes; more about that later.
Thanks to everyone for a great Springsgiving! We'll have to do it again next year!

28th Birthday

I turned 28 last Friday. This was my first birthday since high school that I have not been in Texas. Keith did a really good job to make it special. He asked me to be ready to go at 4:30 and would not tell me where we were going. He picked me up and we went to see Date Night at a cute little theatre. I was very touched that he chose this movie because he REALLY wants to see hot tub time machine.
After the movie we went to a very cool modern japanese/thai place for dinner. This baby sits so high up and doesn't allow me to eat very much food at a time. So, keith and I split Calamari, Red Curry Corn soup, and this cod/pork noodle dish. It was delicious!
We were both super tired after dinner so we just came back to the house. My friend Rodney sent a birthday party in a box so we got out the candles and the swiss rolls. I pretended that the swiss rolls were a birthday cake and it worked pretty well. Thanks Rodney!
I was very touched by all the cards, texts, and birthday calls that I got from friends and family. Thank you everyone for remembering. You helped to make a birthday far from home a special day.

Wisonsin Wedding

Keith and I flew to Wisconsin last weekend for the wedding of a former med school classmate. I was a little nervous about this wedding because it was being held at a waterpark resort. I was not sure that anyone would want to see a 7 month pregnant lady in a swimsuit. Luckily the actual wedding ceremony and reception were in a nice ballroom at the resort.
We had a great time catching up with Keith's old med school friends and roommates. Eveyone is spread out now doing their residencies. We stayed in a condo/apt type place where everyone could hang out. It was really fun. One of the med schools guys is a big Michigan State fan; so it was extra exciting to watch their basketball game on Saturday night. Sadly, they lost by 2 points to Butler.
We really enjoyed spending time with Scholl gang. We will definitely get to see them all next August when Kelly and Brian get married. We'll be heading back to Wisconsin for their wedding. It is crazy to think that we will have a one year old little girl to bring with us. Here are a few pictures of the group at the wedding. I'm very glad that no one brought their camera into the waterpark, ha!

The Chairs

Keith and I decided that we wanted to get a comfy rocker/recliner for when the baby comes. There is definitely not any room in the nursery; so the chair would go in the front room. We looked at chairs in Arizona at the Lazy Boy Gallery. Of course Keith had a chair that he absolutely loved and I had another chair that I loved. We tried to be objective and listen to each other's arguments on why their chair was better. We did not really come to any conclusion in Arizona.
When we got back to Pittsburgh, Keith looked up Lazy Boy Galleries nearby. The closest store was 70 miles away in Ohio. He called ahead and spoke for a long time with a nice salesman. He was willing to make quite a deal if we would purchase both chairs. So, we discussed it and decided it was a pretty great deal.
The next day Keith drove out to Ohio and purchased both chairs. He was able to fit them in our car and bring them home that day. His chair has a home in the basement where our TV is located. This chair has a massager and heat feature. It is also a great recliner that is super comfy. My chair is a very soft oversized leather recliner. It is now sitting in the front room. I have made a point to sit in it daily and take a nap. This might seem like something an elderly person would do, but I don't care. It is a great chair and I'm so happy to have it. Keith is loving his massage chair too.
If you come to visit us you'll have to sit in both chairs and pick your favorite. Here is a picture of my oversized leather chair.

Arizona Visit and Baby Shower

Keith and I had a great visit to Arizona during the last week of March. My mom was a wonderful hostess. She knows how much we like to eat so she had several new recommended places for Keith to choose from. Everything was delicious. Keith and I were talking about our favorite place and it was too hard to pick. Keith was able to play golf with his brother Josh on two of the afternoons. They had great weather. Josh is a second year medical student in Glendale, Arizona. Josh and his wife Steph just moved into an awesome condo in Scottsdale. We LOVE their location!
We did a lot of relaxing along with the eating. It was so much fun to be outside in Phoenix after all our terrible snow and cold in Pittsburgh. On Thursday night we went to dinner with Keith's brother and his wife at a place called Zipps. We wanted to watch some of the MArch Maddness basketball. Little did we know that Zipps was a Kansas State Alumni hang out. It was so much fun to watch Kansas State play Xavier and win after two overtimes. The place was going crazy!
We also got to visit my Aunt and Uncle at their house. It has been over a year since we last saw them. On Saturday we went to lunch with my cousin and his wife Lori. Their kids have gotten so big! Their little girl Jamie is very talkative now. She has the sweetest little voice. They were very patient to sit at the table and behave during our long lunch. It does help that they have these cool leap frog and star wars hand held games. My mom tried to play the star wars game and couldn't even figure out how to start it! ha! We are hoping they will get to come and visit us in Pittsburgh sometime next year.
Sadly, Keith had to fly back early SUnday morning, so he missed seeing everyone at church and the shower. That's the life of a first year resident. I'm just glad he was able to take a few vacation days and come out to ARizona.
The baby shower on Sunday afternoon was so much fun. It was wonderful to see so many of the people that I grew up with. We had a great crowd! Two of the girls I went to high school with are also pregnant right now. We are all due within a month of each other. The hostess at the shower had 2 giant edible arrangements. It was my first experience with a chocolate covered pineapple, so yummy! All the shower treats were great. One of the ladies from church made little cupcakes with pink baby feet. They were cute and tasty. My best friend from junior high made us the most precious baby quilt. She was visiting KEith and I in Pittsburgh when we were trying to decide on a nursery theme. Keith really wanted to combine a penguin and a cowboy theme and have cowboy penguins. He was sold that cowboy penguins were a brilliant idea. I did not so much agree on this point. We ended up deciding on just penguins but Sally remembered our debate and came up with a quilted version of cowboy penguins. You can imagine that Sally's quilt is Keith's favorite baby gift. Thank you Sally!!
I was really sad to leave Arizona last Monday. I wish that we were able to visit more often. I am never able to visit everyone or spend enough time with people. Hopefully we will be visiting soon with baby Brooke.

Girls trip to New York

My great friend Liz flew to Pittsburgh on Wednesday (St. Patrick's Day) for a visit. She had never been to Pennsylvania, so it was fun to show her around a bit. She enjoyed relaxing in the movie room in the basement and cuddling with the dogs. Mason was her clear favorite. I love when friends from out of town come to visit. We got up super early on Friday morning and Keith took us to the airport. We flew to New York City and got right on the subway to our hotel. We stayed at the W hotel in Midtown East. It was the perfect place! They let us check in early; at 9:30 AM and upgraded our room. After getting settled in the hotel we got back on the subway and headed downtown to shop. All of that shopping worked up a serious appetite so we went to Balthazar's for lunch. Bobby Flay says they have the best french fries that he has ever eaten. We definitely got TWO orders and finished almost the whole thing. THey were awesome. Then we continued shopping for the rest of the day. We planned to eat out but were so exhausted that we got some New York style pizza to-go and ate it in our hotel room.
The next day we started with the Sex and the City tour. It was really fun to see all the stores and restaurants featured in the show. I was suprised how popular the tour was. Our time slot had 2 full buses! After the tour we spent more time shopping. I loved the NBA store. We got back to the hotel with just a few minutes to relax. Then we headed out to a fancy italian dinner. After dinner we had tickets to see the Broadway show "A Little Night Music" Liz knew one of the main actors in the show. The orchestra and signing was great!
Sunday morning we headed up to the Manhattan Church of Christ for services. They had a really wonderful service.
I cannot believe how fast the weekend flew by. I had such a great time with Liz. I am so proud of how much we walked. We only took a cab to dinner on Saturday night and Church on Sunday morning. That was really because we had on uncomfortable shoes. Hopefully I didn't slow Liz down by being a preggo person. It is crazy to think that by the time we take our next trip I'll have a baby girl. I am so thankful for great friends. I appreciate them making the extra efforts to keep in touch and stay close; even though I am living so far away.

Trip to Vegas

Our company hosts a leadership conference each year. The past two years the meeting has been held in Vegas. Anyone who has talked to me recently knows how excited I was for this trip. The snowy weather in Pittsburgh made me want to get away even more.
The trip was truly great! We had wonderful weather the whole time. I even wore my flip flops. It was really nice to hang out with my coworkers and catch up with everyone. We saw the Cirque show "O" this year. It was like synchronized swimming on crack. The whole show was based in the water but they had acrobats and fire too. We were totally on sensory overload. Our group really loved the show. We had a wonderful italian dinner at the hotel before the show.
Monday night was the cocktail party and dinner with our company. It is so much fun to see everyone dressed up. My friend Rodney won an award this year. Our team was really pumped up for him!!
We had some great speakers at the conference. One of the presentations was on this book entitled "The Flip Side" It highlights your behavior constraints. I was suprised to see which constraints I scored the highest. The book has a test that you take to see where you rank with each constraint. I would recommend this book to everyone.
Our Ops team did a bit of acting in the conference again. Rodney and Brittany played Caesar and his assistant (we stayed at Caesar's palace). Several of us acted in skits. I acted in a skit on my own. I have fun doing things like this for work. I don't think I'd be comfortable acting with friends or family; but for some reason I have fun with it at work.
We finished the conference on Wednesday and everyone flew home. I got in at almost 1 AM because of the 3 hour time difference. Keith was there to pick me up. He had several fun suprises at home to show me. He worked on the baby's room, purchased and setup a blue ray player, and fixed a couple other things around the house. He also had 2 dozen pink roses in a vase for me. I love to have fresh flowers in the house. I'm glad to know that he missed me while I was away. I also came home to 4 dogs instead of 2. We are dogsitting for one of the residents while they are on vacation in Florida. Thankfully the dogs love playing together and get along well.
The sun is finally out here and the snow is really melting. It is still really cold, but I'm thankful for the sun. Now that my Vegas trip is over I am looking forward to my friend Liz visiting from TExas. SHe will be here in less than 2 weeks. SHe and I are going to New York for a weekend of fun! Then KEith and I are flying to ARizona. We will get to spend time with my mom and Keith's brother Josh and his wife Steph. Lots of great things to get excited about!!!
Everything is going well with Brooke. She is kicking all the time and my belly is expanding every day. My next visit is on the 17th. I am be taking the glucose test to see if I have gestational diabetes. I will try to post some new belly pics soon.