Hi!

This week has been a total whirlwind for me as I am sure it has been for many of you guys too. Last Sunday was my day for finishing up the monster paint project that we have been working on for over a year now (thank God that's over!), Monday was meal planning/grocery day for our upcoming family feast, Tuesday was meal prep and house cleaning for turkey day, Wednesday was Clayton's birthday and more house cleaning, Thursday was Thanksgiving Day and Friday through today was our mini vacation away from the kiddos. The intended parents are flying in tonight and we are going out to dinner once they arrive. Tomorrow will be an early morning OB appt./glucose test for us and then the 3/D-4/D ultrasound is scheduled for 11am. Sheesh, I have been going non-stop for a solid week now. I am tired...

Here's a quick recap of highlights from this past week:

Wednesday, November 26th-Clayton's Birthday
I had already given him his big present a couple of weeks ago (a kegerator) and today he got 4 new shirts from Gap. My other present for him was our weekend get-away to Fort Collins.

Thursday, November 27th-Thanksgiving Day
I hosted a delicious meal for my Sister-in-law Stephanie, her man Tom and my Mother-in-law Christie. Everything turned out yummy with the exception of the cold mashed potatoes, lol. We had a wonderful time hanging out with the fam.

Friday, November 28th-Day 1 of our mini vacay
Clayton and I took off before lunch to Fort Collins. We stayed in the most awesome hotel, The Armstrong Hotel. It is perfectly located in the middle of Old Town and is within walking distance to everything. The rooms are very cool. You can choose either vintage or modern decor. I chose the modern themed honeymoon suite for us. I have some pics to share with ya'll but I don't have time to upload them now. I will do that later this week.

We spent a few hours at the mall before we could check in. We browsed and took our dear sweet time (something that you can never do with 2 small boys, lol). Even though it was Black Friday the mall really wasn't too crowded. I checked out Victoria's Secret for some new bras and had one of the ladies measure me. Much to my surprise I have gone up 2 cup sizes since I became pregnant. Holy cow, I am so not used to having this much boobage, lol. TMI, I know, I know...

We checked in at the hotel and then headed to Odell, a local brewing company. Clayton enjoys their beer so he tried a 6 beer sampler and we hung out there for a little bit before dinnertime. We then went to dinner at Beau Jo's. It is a Colorado-based pizza parlor that specializes in Mountain Pies. Their pizzas are made with the freshest stuff and their doughy crust is HUGE. Some of our crust was a bit undercooked but it still got a thumbs up from us. While we ate 2 reindeer walked by. Someone was walking them on leads through the town. They caused quite a stir and crowds began to accumulate outside of our window. I wanted to see them but they walked on before we finished dinner. Luckily they were in the middle of the town square when we left so I did get to see them up close. They were such beautiful creatures.

As we walked around the square, we came across a store that had millions of things in it that my MIL and her hubby would love. They had the neatest stuff so we ended up purchasing a gift before we left. As we exited, we walked out into snowfall. It was so pretty and serene. Now it really does feel like Christmas around here.

Saturday, November 29th-Day 2 of our mini vacay
We got up early and walked a few blocks to a wonderful little place called Lucile's. It's a quaint restaurant inside of an old home. We got beignets that were to die for, homemade Chai, awesome French toast, biscuits and grits. Mmmmm, it was so yummy.

We headed out to do some shopping after that and ended up in Loveland so that Clayton could use his Gap gift card from his Mom. He bought a sweater and some khakis while I ended up buying myself 3 sweaters, 4 shirts, a scarf and a hat. It's too bad that I can't wear any of it until next year though, lol.

Clayton wanted to check out Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont so we headed that direction after shopping. In my opinion, he likes this company simply because he is left handed and he thinks that is cool. :P

I got incredibly sick and had a roaring headache throughout much of this day so I struggled to keep up. I fell asleep in the car on the way back to Fort Collins and went straight to bed for a while. That evening, Clayton decided that I might feel better after eating something so we went out to The Rustic Oven. Their food was really good but it didn't seem to help much with my headache. It just figures that I wouldn't feel good during the weekend that I had planned out so many months ago as a surprise for hubby. Sigh...

We went back to the room and rested for a little while and then I decided that I could muster up the energy to go downstairs to The Chocolate Cafe. We had been there before so I knew it would be good. After hearing awesome reviews on their homemade dark hot chocolate we both decided to try it. My gosh, it was delectable! I have never had such good stuff before. I used to love Starbucks' Chantico when they had it and it was similar but wayyyy better. Just before finishing our drinks we realized that it was beginning to hurt our stomachs. I don't know why that is but everytime we make hot chocolate at home we both have tummy aches afterward. Maybe we are lactose intolerant or some crap like that? Hmmmm... Anyhoo, we both ended up going to bed early after that and neither one of us felt good at all. It was a terrible way to end the night, that's for sure, lol.

Sunday, November 30th-Day 3 of our mini vacay
We went downstairs to Mugs Coffee Lounge for a quick bite to eat this morning and then we headed back home. We had a lovely time staying in the hotel but we were ready to be home again. The weather wasn't looking very good so we figured that the earlier that my MIL could leave for Wyoming, the better (her trip is 6 hours north of us). Unfortunately she had to turn around before getting to the WY border because the highway had been blocked off due to a winter weather advisory. She did leave again a little while later though since the advisory got lifted.

We have spent the afternoon eating Thanksgiving leftovers and lounging with the kiddos. Tonight we are heading out to have dinner with my IPs. Their flight got delayed so we have no idea how late dinner may be at this point. We are looking forward to visiting with them and I can't wait for them to see how big I have gotten. Their baby sure has grown!

***Tomorrow is the big gender reveal and I can't wait to draw a winner in the Starbucks free drink card giveaway. If you haven't already entered for your chance to win, click HERE. All you have to do is leave a comment there and guess what the baby is. I will be drawing from all the correct guesses. Go ahead and enter. Who couldn't use a free coffee?

***I know that several of you have left comments or dropped me an email about the recipes. I will get to them sometime this week. I haven't forgotten any of ya. ;)