Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had the most fantastic, moist, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I have ever tasted yesterday, and they are phenomenally EASY to make. Here's the recipe:

1 box spice cake mix
1 can pumpkin (it's about 15 oz.)
1 bag Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate chips (i really think this brand tastes the BEST)

Mix pumpkin & cake mix together. At first it will seem a little dry and hard to mix, but just let it sit on the counter for a minute then try mixing it again. Scoop into 2" balls on a greased cookie sheet (I cook mine on a pampered chef stone) and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. It is kind of hard to tell when they are done. That is the tricky part. The cookies are best once they have completely cooled and the chocolate chips inside have re-hardened. You will LOVE them!

My Nephew has Arrived

This is my brother Nathan's baby! He was born on Sept 26, 2007 at 6:45pm and weighed in at 8 lbs, 14 oz. I believe he is 20.5" long, too. He is such a cutie! Good job mommy Meredith! You grew a cute one! Can't wait to meet him! Oh and they named him Hibbin Matthew. (Matthew is Nathan's middle name). There's a pic of Nathan, the new dad, and also a pic of the brand new 1st time grandma, Jenith!

Newest Baby Stats

I don't have any pics to post today, because even though we were on the 4D ultrasound machine, the baby is so low (head down) that we couldn't get any good pics of his face! He always is hiding it. On another note, my "fears" are coming true...I'm about 35.5 weeks complete and the baby is weighing in (according to measurements) at a whopping 7 lbs, 3 oz. And I have at least 4 weeks to go! GAH. I am hoping that he is just really, really tall! I guess I can expect him to gain at least half a pound every week (at the least), which would put him around 9 lbs EASILY if I have him at 40 weeks along. DANG. 9 pounds is my limit, man! Otherwise, everything else seems to be fine. I have been feeling pretty good, too. Turning around in bed at night is a chore, I get full really quickly (but my appetite has increased substantially these last 2 weeks), and sometimes I can't breathe...but that's the worst of it. I really can't complain! However, I did forget to take my prescription heartburn medicine for 2 days in a row, and I got the WORST heartburn after a mexican lunch the other day--it was so bad, I almost threw up a few times! I will NEVER forget to take that little miracle pill EVER again. Lesson learned. Oh, and on a side note, my mom got the BYU job with the faculty department--so that is also really really great news!!! Congrats, mom!

Some Baby Decorations

Ok here are my lovely finds from Tai Pan. (love that store). I am not sure where I am going to put it just yet, but the big cream stars will go on the wall someplace...maybe the small ones, too. I think the rusted star with the coil under it will stay where it is...and I love the wooden blocks that spell "DREAM." I will find a good place for those, too. Much more to come!

The Baby Furniture is Put Together!

Well, this is SUPPOSED to be just the preliminary video shot of where we are on the baby room so far. I think the blogger website is down or something b/c it is taking forever to upload the video. I'll try again tomorrow. Sorry. (ok update, forget the stinkin' video, here are some pics.)

We spent most of the afternoon putting together the crib (not too bad), the changing table (horrible beast), and the toy chest (relatively easy). I also brought in the bookshelf I got from a garage sale (and painted), a 3 drawer dresser & nightstand given to me by a friend (painted that too), and a couple of floor rugs. It's late at night, so everything in the room in the video looks "yellowish" instead of the actual colors...but you'll at least get the idea.

We totally scored on our video camera. It's a long story, but Sears had it on closeout b/c someone stole the battery off of the floor model. So they knocked down the price from $600 to $240, just because of that! WHAT?? We were all over it. We only had to buy a $60 battery to replace the stolen one. I am trying to figure out what good thing I have done in the world to deserve such a sweet deal on my camcorder. We've been looking at them for months, and this one is newer Sony Model that stores all the files on a hard drive (doesn't need tapes or dvd discs). Love it! Though I am still trying to figure out some of the features it has. But it will be great to video the baby with and put them online for y'all to see.

Frenz & Family Shower

I am so stinkin' tired, but I promised my dad I'd get a few new pics posted on the blog! Mom took these, and she has a much bigger megapixel camera than I do, so I had to resize all the pictures before I put them on, which took a while, so that is why there are only a few pictures :)

The cute dog blanket is from my mother in law, there's a picture of my favorite sherpa fleece baby hat from my mom, the funny picture of me holding a ginormous amount of clothing from Meredith (I should've held it the other way b/c you can't tell how big the pile actually is), the newest pic of my stomach size, and the lovely table spread of food at Ralene's house.

The shower was supposed to be a surprise, but after a huge conflict with an open house I was planning to do (at the same time of the shower), Roob finally had to let on a bit that "something" was going on so I'd cancel the open house. I feel bad that the surprise was mostly ruined, but the shower was so much fun and I had a great time. My mom and great friend Kiki planned the whole thing, and my mom's friend Raelene REALLY OUTDID herself on the food. It was amazing! I was so full, I didn't eat for HOURS after that. I got some great gifts and things I really needed, such as a baby swing, 0-3 month clothing, a pack of bottles, a boppy pillow, my CRIB from my dad (thanks dad!!!), a toy chest (thanks mom!!!), and a bunch of other things that I can't think of right now. Now I am excited to lay out everything I have, wash it all, and determine what I still need to buy. That will be a nice project for me to do this week.

Century 21 Baby Shower

Well even though there were only 7 people there, I got such sweet presents. Lots of darling outfits, a sound monitor, garbage pail, diapers, etc etc. Diane & Kanion planned it for me (thanks y'all), and it was perfect. I had such a good time! I even wore my poofy white dress. I wish I had a picture of me standing up in it b/c I look gigantic in it (but it's a cute dress, at least!). I really need to take more pics of myself before I have this baby.

New Rug

Alrighty. We got this rug on clearance at Target yesterday for about $55. (trust me, that is dirt cheap compared to the prices I've been seeing). It's 5' x 8' long. Currently it looks GREAT in the room, but I haven't put any furniture or the baby bedding in there. That is what I am worried about. I hope the baby bedding will work with the rug, or the rug will have to go. It might be better to go with a solid color rug, but those are HARD to find (weird, huh?). So anyways, what do y'all think? I reposted the baby bedding fabric above so you would remember what I'm dealing with. I wish I were more of a interior designer!

Prenatal Class

So tonight was our 2nd prenatal class at the hospital. I knew they were going to make us watch birthing videos...but instead of freaking me out, they were quite entertaining! Ha! They were from the 70s, I swear, and had the craziest hairdo's and people in them! A couple of times Roob and I were laughing so hard (well we were trying to be quiet, which made it worse). For example, one of the men was singing "she'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes" to his wife WHILE she was in the middle of a contraction! WHAT THE??? It was hysterical. I would have punched the poor guy in the face. And they would say the funniest stuff to each other or make the strangest faces...anyways, I finally gained my composure back, but I couldn't look at Roob anymore or I'd start giggling again.

But, the coolest part was that we got to tour the labor & delivery unit at the hospital. The rooms were really nice! They didn't seem very "hospital-ish" to me at all! They have nice wood floors, and wooden cabinets that hide all the medical equipment (good idea). It had much more of a "home" feel to it than a doctor's office. I liked it! And you get to labor, deliver, and recover (for an hour) in the same room. They even do the immediate tests & clean up on the baby in your room right next to you! After the 1st hour, they move you to the postpartum section where you get a room with a private bath for the mom, and a separate handwashing sink for visitors (nice touch!). Overall I think the tour really surprised me, and I felt a lot less anxious about being admitted to the hospital. Yay! Success!

Church Baby Shower

(above) The two lovely friends who threw my shower...Krista is in the black shirt, and Erinn is in the white shirt. I can't thank them enough!!! PS. IF YOU CLICK ON ANY OF THESE PICS, YOU CAN SEE THE FULL SIZE AND IT LOOKS MUCH MUCH BETTER.
(above) Ok I have the funniest face, but this little red wagon is so adorable...someone gave me the idea to put the baby in it and take his picture. If he will fit, I will definitely do it!
(above) Here's the table spread...the theme was yellow & blue with rubber duckies. They had taco salad, lemon cookies (yellow), and yummy blue frosted cupcakes. They also had yellow and blue M&Ms. YUM. We had just enough food, too. Everything was wiped out!
(below) Here I am featuring a couple of cute cream & brown outfits with little stars on them. Aww...
A very sweet fluffy, white blanket that I will totally use for the baby blessing...perfect!
One of my favorite quilts...it's a vintage Dick & Jane flannel print, with a soft velvet-ish green polka dot backing, and the entire quilt has a stitched, swirly pattern all over it. There was even a matching green teddy bear that they made to go with it. Too cute!
My belly looks HUGE in this shot, so I thought I'd put it in here so y'all can see how big it is! I'm holding another super soft light blue blanket, with a complete satin back on it. So silky! Overall it was so fun, and I was thrilled to have quite a bit more people than I expected show up. My camera died after the first few pictures, so I don't have photos of every gift. I mostly got clothes (6-9 mos. sized or bigger), and a pack of size 1 Huggies, a couple more blankets, a farm animal book, a couple rattles, and the cutest ever tiny red wagon! (see an earlier picture for wagon)

Baby Room Trim Work

Yay! The floor is done...now we just need the trim work...
OOOh la la! Trim work complete!!!

Do you love it or what? I think it is the fanciest room in the house! Baby Jones has no idea how good he will have it!

I'm an AUNT!!!

My sister, Ashley, just had her baby girl this afternoon around 3:30 pm (if I'm remembering correctly). Everything is still crazy with all the visitors there and such, so I still haven't talked to Ashley post delivery, but my dad has kept me updated. The baby's name is Jazzmyn Leeann and she is 9 pounds, 6 ounces! Wow! She's a big one! I'm so super dooper excited to meet her and spoil her! :)

New Ultrasound Picture

Here's a nice profile shot of our little baby jones! It seems really easy to make out to me, so hopefully you can see it, too. According to the machine's estimate, he weighs approx. 4 lbs, 14 oz. Two weeks ago he was 4 lbs, 11 oz...so I'm okay with that growth rate! :) I just want him to stop growing at 9 pounds! Heh heh. As far as a name goes, we still like Rowan, but I also like Jase Alan. Alan is Reuben's middle name, so I think that would be nice to name the baby after him. It's not set in stone, but as for now it's the name we both are agreeing upon.

Chris Farley Reincarnated as a Girl

Ok someone forwarded this to my email and I think I laughed for like 20 minutes! Ha ha ha! It was so funny to Reuben and me that I thought I'd put in on my blog for all to see, too. Too funny!

Glorious Bamboo

Hooray, look at my floor! Roob has been killing himself installing this hardwood bamboo, which looks fabulous in the room. The pictures really don't do it any justice! We got this for a GREAT price at Costco, and now it's almost done! He still has a couple boxes to go (and the tiny closet to fill w/ flooring), but then he is D-O-N-E. Our next step is baseboards and we're also going to put in some built in shelves in that little nook behind the shop vac in the picture. It's really "unusable" space, so shelves seemed like a great idea since I'll need as much storage as I can get. The floor really makes the color on the walls even more fantastic looking. I couldn't be happier with the baby room progress! Can't wait to put stuff in it and decorate it!