Baby Shower #2!

Last weekend, my mom and sister threw me a baby shower! I had so much fun seeing family and catching up with old friends. It was such a cute "pink" shower! Great food, fun games, and loads of presents for the baby! Here' s a picture of the Rebarcak girls.


Look at that cake! Isn't it amazing? It tasted as good as it looks (don't worry, I didn't eat all of it)!


It was fun to see some of the L family too! Annie, Debbie, and Nana all came. It was fun to have "both" families together. I don't think we've done that since our wedding almost 5 years ago!

I'm sad that I didn't get a shot with everyone who was there, but here's a picture with me and some of my good friends from college -- Jen, Steph, and Abby.

Thank you so much for everyone for coming to my baby shower! It meant a lot to have everyone there.

How to Freeze Meals, Pan-Free!

Lately, I've been cooking double the amount of food that we need for a meal for the purpose of freezing enough for a second meal. It's been great because I have a running list of all of the frozen meals that are in the freezer, and if I don't have time to cook one night, I can just throw one in the oven!

I recently discovered a way to freeze casseroles, pastas, and soups without the need for a pan. It saves your pans and space in your freezer.

Here are the directions for casseroles or pastas:

-Line baking dish (any size or shape) with aluminum foil

-Make recipe, and bake completely in the foil-lined dish

-Refrigerate until cool

-Place in freezer for a few hours

-Remove foil and casserole from pan and wrap completely with foil, then label and date

-Freeze

-When you want to re-heat, just unwrap and add to original-sized pan and bake at original temperature and time (no need to thaw)

For soups:

-Put Zip-lock freezer bag in pan so it is standing up-right, add soup

-Freeze for a few hours

-Remove bag from pan; soup should remove easily and stay in the shape of the pan

-Label and freeze

-When you want to re-heat, remove from plastic and add to pan until thaw, then heat.

Baby Shower!

Some friends put together a really nice baby shower for me last weekend! I had so much fun, and felt so blessed to have such wonderful friends that care so much. Thank you to everyone for coming (Beth, Bri, Kayla, Nicki, Traci, Danielle, Lindsey, Erica, Amanda, Jenny, Tonya, Tracy, Sarah, Andrea, & Ranya)!


The food was amazing! I think everyone brought some of my favorites, including Ranya's wild rice salad, Amanda's cowboy salsa, Andrea's meatballs, Tonya made spinach dip, Magnolia's cupcakes, and fresh fruit, among other things. Too bad I was too busy talking and opening pressents to eat very much! How pretty does that look?

Traci made the cutest diaper cake - how cool is that?!?! I received so many great baby gifts from everyone. Baby L says....(kick-kick)...thank you!

Thanks so much to Beth and Erica for throwing me a great shower!

Election Perspective

Click here to hear John Piper's view on the current election.

I agree that we shouldn't be so invested 100% in this world and what happens in it, because it is not our home. Wow. I admit for a few days especially right before and after, I was pretty wrapped up with the whole election. But I realize that because I believe God is sovereign, the outcome doesn't really matter. His will for America may be that we prosper or may be that we fall into tough economic times. Our happiness and goodwill isn't His primary concern. His election perspective...really made me think.

FINALLY...29 Week Belly Shot (as requested)!

Fall Back, Spring Forward

I can never remember which is which. Hopefully, this saying will help. I have to admit, we forgot this year. Until this morning. Good thing I woke up at 6:30am (which was actually now 5:30am)!

Now that I can barely stay awake past 8:30pm, I have to try to stay awake past 7:30pm! Oh, my! =)

Costume Party

Our "annual" costume party last night was a success! It was pretty funny to see what everyone ended up dressing up as. I got pictures of some of the costumes from the night, but not everyone (sorry, Josh, Danielle, and Hans!).

Kyle and I were, you guessed it, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. He was such a cute little frog! And did you know we are expecting? We're not sure if it will be a green pig or a pink frog. Hmm...

This was a very creative costume. Can you guess? They are Salt & Pepper Shakers. What a cute "couple" costume. I love the hats!

Another very creative costume -- Micah the bee, Erica was "Burt's Bees" chapstick, and Ben was "Burt" the Bee Catcher. I love it! So coordinated!

And to our wonderful hosts, these Stars on Ice are in desperate need of a new hairstyle! Gotta love those wigs!

Adam and Eve - er, Ren and Kristy. This is the couple I've mentioned whose house burned down two weeks ago. They didn't have any clothes to wear, so they had to come naked, only covering with a few fig leaves! =)

The Holm family - Zac the Pirate, Tinkerbell, and a ladybug. I think Traci was dressed as "a mom who just dressed two kids in costumes." Cute family!

And these cuties are two little bugs in a rug!