What I have been up to the last few months!

So for the last few months my good friend Vanessa and I have been working on putting together a Non-Profit organization! Its been a lot of work but so worth it! What we are doing is something that we are very passionate about! Our first event is being held in Birmingham, MI on the 25th of September and we are very excited about it! Visit www.theabcf.org to check out what we are all about! You can also check out our Facebook page too! https://www.facebook.com/TheAboveandBeyondChildrensFoundation

I am so excited about this because I will be able to work from home doing something I LOVE and raise my baby! We have a lot of events planned for 2011 into 2012! And we plan to add many more events to this list!

September 2011:

TBD- ABCF Night, Comerica Park, Detroit, MI

9/25- Welcome Dinner, Birmingham, MI

March 2012:

3/17 or 3/24- First Annual Golf Tournament, Jacksonville, FL

May or June 2012:

TBD- First Annual Golf Tournament, Minnesota

TBD- First Annual 5K, Minnesota

November 2012:

TBD- First Annual Golf Tournament, Tucson, AZ

Even if you don't live in Michigan but still want to make a donation you can visit: http://theabcfraffle.eventbrite.com/  

Every little bit helps!  

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe!

So this was my first attempt at making Chicken Tortilla Soup and it was a BIG success! This is a super simple recipe!

               Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium jalapeno pepper, chopped
• 1/2 medium green pepper
• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or 1/2 cup water
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 2 (14 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
  

1 Sauté onion, garlic, jalapeño and green pepper with olive oil in a large pot until soft.

2 Add all the rest of the ingredients to the large pot and bring to a boil.

3 After about 15 minutes, remove the chicken breasts and shred.

4 (Two forks work well to pull the chicken apart!).

5 Return shredded chicken to the pot and simmer an additional 45 minutes.

When done add some shredded cheese, tortilla chips and some sour cream! 

O'h the Navy life!

As always the Navy has made our lives pretty hectic! We found out not too long ago that we will need to report to NAS Jacksonville, FL no later than September 30^th! The baby is due September 16^th, so needless to say the last few weeks of September are going to be a whirlwind! But I am very grateful that I get to have my baby here with the same doctor I have been seeing throughout my pregnancy. Having a baby, moving across the country, living out of hotels and trying to find a place to live all within two weeks makes me tired just thinking about it! Luckily we get to see some great friends along the way!

I really can’t help but think how truly blessed I am to have such a strong support system! And Derek has been a saint through this entire pregnancy!  I know I have been a ton of work and not so easy to deal with at times. We finally settled on a stroller and car seat (it was a process finding one we liked let me tell ya!) But thanks to some advice from my good friend Jenny we ended up getting the stroller she got for her little girl and we LOVE it! Though it was pretty easy for Derek to put it together, installing the car seat in the car is a whole different story! 

Two great friends of ours, (Derek’s brother from another mother as he would say), or as they will now be referred to as “Uncle Nick and Aunt Brigitte” Sent us custom made MN Twins and MN Wild Jerseys! We love them and we know our little man will too! I can’t wait till he can wear them! This little boy already has so many clothes! It’s definitely a downfall of mine! I never imagined while shopping I would want to buy clothes for anyone else as much as I love buying them for myself! And though he will NEVER admit to it, Derek is just as bad as I am ;) 

 Derek and I both decided it would be good for me to take some time off work to stay home and raise our baby. But anyone who knows me knows that I love to work, as crazy as it may seem I really do! I like staying busy! Though I know this baby will keep my plenty busy I still want to do something I love! So my best friend Vanessa and I have been working on a project that we will soon let everyone know about! It’s something that I will be able to do from home and also bring the baby with me! It’s coming together so well and we are both so excited about it! Though it’s been a TON of work so far it’s going to be 150% worth it! Stay tuned! 

-Megan 

Trader Joe's Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream

My boss bought this for me today because she is awesome! And I am in love with it! If there is a Trader Joes near you I suggest you go get some! Less calories then regular ice cream too and it might even be better!

Life has been crazy!

Wow it has been way too long since I have posted! Things have been so busy in our lives lately I have completely lost track of time! I am now 21 weeks and over half way there! We found out about 2 weeks ago that we were having a boy! I wish I could have recorded Derek's reaction when the ultrasound tech pointed to the monitor and said "You know what that is!" I have never seen him smile that much in my life! I was waiting for him to jump out of the seat in the doctors office and start cheering! So needless to say we are very excited!

 

I think I am way to impatient of a person to be pregnant, now that I can feel him move (and he moves ALL the time he is a wiggle worm!) I just want to meet him! This whole thing has been an amazing experience, minus the whole getting sick EVERY DAY, ALL DAY for the first few months. But now its starting to get hard to sleep at night, with all the trips to the bathroom and only being able to sleep on my side I am not having the best luck getting a lot of sleep. I know everyone says it's to help me prepare for the lack of sleep I am about to get for the rest of my life but still I want to be as rested as I can be before this little man comes! My Aunt Dina told me that when she was pregnant she had forgotten what it felt like to be skinny, I totally know what she means now! I know its only going to get worse, but its 150% worth it! :)  

18 weeks, I thank God for who ever invented the sun dress, they are the best thing ever when you are pregnant! 

21 Weeks! 

I will be going home to Minnesota 2 weeks from tomorrow! I am so excited! My Aunt Dina and Aunt Carol are throwing me a baby shower! I am so lucky that I have such an amazing family! I can't wait to come home and see all my friends and family!

Well that's about it for now! Derek is nearing the end of training though we are still not 100% sure when he will be done. But that's how the lovely military works! 

-Megan

We're having a baby!

Derek and I are SO excited to announce that we will be expecting our first baby September 16th! Time is already flying by WAY too fast!

 I wish I could have video taped the morning I took this! It was about 5:30am and I was getting up to get ready for work, I realized I was a tad late so I figured I would take a test not thinking for one second it would be positive! I set it on the counter to "process" when I looked at it about 30 seconds later I saw 2 pink lines! I RAN into our bedroom screaming "Oh my god I'm pregnant!" Derek FLEW out of bed super confused and said, "With a baby?!" Then of course I called my mom and best friend Vanessa woke them up and told them :) I get out of the shower about 15 min later look in our room and Derek is completely asleep like nothing ever happened lol I love how men can just shut things off!

Our first OB appointment was probably one of the best days of my life! We went in and met with the nurse first and went over everything you could possibly go over medical wise. Then the doctor came in and did the ultrasound. Though this isn't the best picture we could already see teeny tiny arms and legs and they were moving! It was so amazing! Then we heard the heart beat, it was so loud and fast I thought it was my own! Of course I teared up a little and thought "Getting sick ALL THE TIME is so much more worth it now!" Yes I got VERY VERY sick for the first 10 weeks. Luckily the last 2 weeks I am getting back to feeling normal again.

So I had my 12 week appointment yesterday and look how much bigger he/she got in just 4 weeks! CRAZY! Its starting to look like a baby now! We got to see him/her mover its arm up and down it looked like it was about to suck its thumb! Hopefully at our next appointment we will get to find out what we are having!

I'm still getting use to my fast growing belly and I still don't think I look pregnant yet just full ;) Luckily Derek thinks its super cute :)

Our tip to Beverly Hills and Hollywood!

So this weekend we finally made the trip to Beverly Hills and Hollywood! We went with our friends who live about an hour north of San Diego, Tara and Tucker! It was a lot of fun and we will definitely being going back as there is SO MUCH to see,  its pretty hard to fit it all into one day!

First we stared in Beverly Hills, it was everything I thought it would be!

 

 We had lunch at nice place on Rodeo Drive and as you can see the food was beautiful, and really good! 

 

After we finished lunch and did some shopping we headed over to Hollywood! It was about 15 min away from Beverly Hills.

We started by checking out some hot spots!

 Guinness World Records

 Madame Tussauds House of Wax

 Madame Tussauds House of Wax

 Chinese Theater

 Kodak Theater, this is where they host the Academy Awards!

Next went to see all the stars on Hollywood Blvd. 

Matt Damon

 Britney Spears

 Sylvester Stallone

 Steven Spielberg

Christina Aguilera

 And of course Michael Jackson, I think his was the most popular

 Then we went to see the hand prints out in front of the Chinese Theatre

First is Shirley Temple, I think the coolest thing about these is the date! You can see it better in the next picture.

 Bing Crosby

 Fred Astaire

 Judy Garland

As you can see we had a great day! So much history in Hollywood! We will for sure be going back!