Guess What?!?!

We have some exciting news to share with you!  Dan and I are pregnant and are due July 31st!!  We are now in week 13. 

Dan’s parents came to visit right after Christmas (early January 2010).  It was fun, we felt like we got to have 2 Christmases this year!  While they were here we took a “field trip” (there’s the teacher in me talking) to the history museum in Raleigh.  It’s funny how you never go and see the things in your own area until you have company come.  Dan’s mom and I took another “field trip” to the tea room in Wake Forest.  We had a lot of fun trying on hats and enjoying our tea and scones.

We went up north for Christmas this year.  We made a quick stop in Ohio first to see my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  It was good to see everyone.  Then, we headed to Pennsylvania (a short 3 hour drive) to see my parents.  It was a relaxing trip full of games, food, and fun.

Okay, so we’ve been VERY bad about posting since we got back from our trip, but we wanted to update the world on a few things.

On October 4th we celebrated our first year anniversary!  For our first anniversary we got out the top part of our wedding cake that was taking up a shelf in our freezer.  We weren’t sure it was going to be any good, but believe it or not it tasted great!  (We thank my dad for giving us tips on how to freeze it properly — he’s a baker.)

We have a few friends who use the traditional gift giving list for anniversaries and we thought that might be a fun idea.  So, for gifts we gave each other “paper” gifts this year.  I sent Dan on a treasure hunt around the house using paper clues and in the end he got a bunch of “coupons” for things like a back rub, dinner, etc. (perfect for my SavvyDollar guy!).  Dan gave me a picture that he framed of us on one of our trips.  It even had a poem that he found online in the corner.  So sweet!!

Yesterday we went to the fair since it was can day (bring 4 canned goods and get in free).  We had a great time!  We enjoyed walking around and looking at all of the fun sights to see (animals, prize produce, village of yesteryear, new fried foods, etc.).  There is just something so exciting about the fair.  I think it’s because it hits all of your senses – so much to see, smell, touch, hear, and taste.

We watched an episode of Good Eats on how to make pot stickers and thought we should try it ourselves.  So, a few nights ago we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.  They were delicious and fun to make!  It really was very easy too (especially since we used pre-made wonton wrappers). 

Okay, so I very rarely promote a product, but I have to take a moment to mention Easy Off.  It’s an oven cleaner that you spray on, let it soak for a few hours, and then wipe off.  Let me just say this, “WOW!”  I’ve been in a cleaning mode the past few weeks and have tried to do the things that you don’t get to that often – I’ve scrubbed grout, cleaned floorboards, etc.  I  also tried to scrub our  oven last weekend and decided it wasn’t worth the effort, but then I tried Easy Off.  It worked like a miracle cleaner.  Take a look for yourself.  Can you tell where I’ve wiped off the cleaner?

We went to the Cary Diwali Festival on October 10th.  Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights which is celebrated over several days in October/November.  It was a lot of fun and there was a really good turnout.  I’m not sure what the total was this year, but last year there were over 12,000 people at the festival!    We felt as if we had been to India and back in just one day!

We recently made our favorite Malaysian dish — Nasi Lemak.  It’s the national dish of Malaysia and it’s delicious!  It seems like a strange combination of ingredients, but the flavors and textures really work well together.  You start with a scoop of coconut rice and add a sweet chili sauce.  Then you add sliced cucumbers, peanuts, a fried egg, and fried mini anchovies.  Yum!!

Hey, you can’t knock it till you try it!

The past few weeks we have really gotten into playing Guitar Hero!  We’re getting better and better as time goes on, it’s just too bad we’re learning how to play a FAKE guitar.