Snakes, Snails, & Puppy Dog Tails

Wow...I'm such a slacker. I swear I've started this post over 100 million times. But then I didn't have this or that picture. Or time. Or motivation. Mostly motivation. But we have been super busy the last few months.

However, I am more than 1/2 way through my pregnancy and it's finally dawning on me that I will, indeed, be a mother very shortly. I'll admit that I'm starting to get excited, even more I'm super-scared! But life is an adventure and I know that Heavenly Father won't give me more than I can handle. Also I know that Wes will be such a great father and he's already so excited for this. So that makes things easier for me to deal with and work through. At least, that's what I tell myself. But that's not the point of this post. So, onto our happenings!

The last while we have been crazy busy with school and a lot of other things. Among them we have found out that we will be having a boy!

This was the picture we took announcing to Elder Brother that we were having a boy. It came complete with an ALL blue package just in time for Easter. Also, as a side note please do NOT reveal to my mother that I put this picture up. She will kill me.

This is one of the few "Belly" pictures I've taken. Although I should be taking more to send to el missionario. We did send this one. I think I was like 21 weeks by this time. It's amazing how much bigger I've gotten in a few weeks! And kinda depressing. Not going to lie.

Approx 21 weeks. Wes wanted to show his belly off too. Because he's cool like that.

I wasn't kidding when I said that a lot has been happening since my last post. Both Wes and I have had work and school, finals, million page papers, the works. And we celebrated 4 birthdays! Not to mention trips to school, the doctor, our families, etc. Here's Taylor's birthday. He turned 10. To celebrate we actually got to go to a Magician's show. It was pretty crazy. I still haven't figured out some of the tricks and it drives me nuts to have things go unexplained.

Taylor and his cake

Wes & Taylor. Both scheming.

Then we had Wes' birthday. I was so worried over it! This is the first birthday we've done married and I invited our families and some friends over and wanted everything to be perfect! But I worked and we had a Dr. Appointment that day. Wes also had a major lab due.
He wanted Corned Beef and Cabbage (his FAVORITE meal) and carrot cake.
I don't really do box cakes but have never needed to bake carrot cake (in my family we do cream cakes and chocolate cakes.) And I've never cooked corned beef and cabbage (In fact, last year was the first time I'd heard of it besides references in Harry Potter and stuff.). Luckily his birthday is near St. Patrick's Day so it was easier to find. And even more luckily, corned beef and cabbage can be cooked in a roaster over long periods of time, and is relatively difficult to mess us. Despite my worries. Even the carrot cake turned out okay. My favorite part was the frosting, one can never go wrong with real cream cheese frosting.

They're sad because they want cake

We couldn't afford the gun safe Wes wants quite yet so we put money towards it and got him some ammo instead.

Next we went celebrated our 2 nieces birthdays. My sister-in-law made them the CUTEST tutu's for their birthday as you can see. They were very excited to be able to open all of their presents. I'll be honest, the little one didn't really care what was inside she just liked unwrapping the gifts.

They're amazingly adorable tu-tus.

We were excited to be there after a long day

After our 4 birthday parties we worked through school and work once more. We finished some major assignments. Weston painted during Spring Break with his best friend. And my old college roommate and her husband came down to visit. (Sorry no pictures.)
Then we got to Easter. Luckily I didn't have school that weekend, like last year. So we were able to color Easter eggs and enjoy a nice breakfast of light fluffy crepes. And even better is both sides of our family's get along so all of us went out in the sun for the day. We brought food and four wheelers, and of course, the football and just vegged. I even got a spectacular square tan line. 

We even climbed some crazy hills and went Easter Egg rolling.

After Easter life was pretty much dedicated to school and homework since it became the last month of the semester. I finished two weeks ago--with much joy and hallelujahs. And a lot of procrastinator studies. Wes finished his finals last week. That poor kid. He started a new job during this time AND we decided to get new carpet. So in the middle of his finals he was seeking out direct deposit information and learning some new ropes as well as packing boxes and removing all of our upstairs carpet. He's fairly amazing. The day he completed finals (and right after our carpet was completed) we went to Lake Powell with his family and went fishing. And I caught my very first ever fish! 

First EVER Fish! And it was the first fish of the trip too!

I even held it. But they filleted it. I wasn't even going there. 

We lazed about at Lake Powell and then the next day proved to terrorize even more fish. Between 3 of us we caught 10 (3 of which I contributed too!) Maybe it's because I've been watching too much River Monsters but I loved it. I'm excited to go again. 

When we returned I bribed my family to partake of our spoils as fish tacos. They were skeptical at first. And definitely when they saw what I wanted them to add to it. BUT I prevailed. And my whole family loved the tacos. Even the proclaimed fish haters. I just told them that I of course, knew best. But they were delicious.

Image NOT from me. We did not have time to take a picture of the fish tacos they were too busy being eaten.

So to those who would like to partake here's my recipe.

Fish Tacos:
Sm. Corn tortillas
White Fish Filets (We had Crappie--pronounced crop-ie--& Small-mouth Bass)
Fish Fry (we used Louisiana New Orleans Fish Fry--it's not way spicy but has a kick)
Oil for frying
Cabbage (coleslaw packs work perfect)
Ranch
Buttermilk
Sriracha

Cut fish filets into small bite-sized pieces, dip in fish fry and then fry in oil. Fry tortillas in a little oil. Mix ranch with buttermilk until runny.
On tortillas add fish, cabbage, buttermilk ranch and then top with 3-4 drops Sriracha to taste. (We don't like Spicy in my family so 3-4 drops is perfect. It really adds to the flavor without over powering AND is not spicy.
I'm sure you could also add pico de gallo, avocados, cheese, etc. But this is how we enjoy them.