Spokane!

A couple weeks ago Andrew and I flew up to Spokane for his little brother's graduation from college. We got to spend a week enjoying time with family and friends as well as celebrating my mom's birthday, a baby shower for me, and Timothy's graduation! It was packed with activity, but so wonderful to see everyone and be back in the NorthWest! Here are some pics...

Our favorite coffee shop

At Rockwood Bakery

Uncle Drew loves baby Luxe!!

Manicures at the Davenport enjoying some cider

Birthday Girl!

We got the royal treatment!

My BFF threw me the best shower :)

Blue Sky

Excited for Timothy!

Brothers

Grad Party!

Enjoy a cupcake made by auntie Megan

Miss this girl and all my NW friends!! Hard to leave everyone again!

My 24 week Bump!

Fun day downtown with my mama!

Spring & thoughts on mother's day!

The weather is just starting to warm up here in Atlanta and it is fantastic! I will be totally honest (speaking for myself) I've been VERY grateful for this cooler spring we've had here. From the locals I've heard that it tends to start getting warm mid April, but I this year the cooler temps have lasted up until now! Being Pregnant and living in the south are two very new things to me so we'll see how the next three months go :)

We've taken advantage of the not-so-warm temps by getting outside and enjoying it before the temps go WAY up! A couple weekends ago we hit up the Sandy Springs farmers market and got some delicious Organic strawberries. At some point on the weekend we usually find ourself at a coffee shop sharing a french press and a cookie together.

I've also been reading a lot about urban gardening. I am learning lots and can't wait to get started on some gardening in the near future.

On to baby...

What a cutie :) This picture is from my 19 week ultrasound. Hard to believe that was already 4 weeks ago. Time is flying by, and although I'm looking forward to meeting the little one in September I've been enjoying feeling all the little thumps and kicks inside my belly.

As Mother's Day is approaching I've been thinking a lot about the fact that this is the last mother's day that wil go by without me being a mom. Next mother's day I will be holding a chunky 9 month old! I have so many different feelings about becoming a mom. Mostly excitement and a little scared/nervous too. Nervous because I know that motherhood can be a huge source of joy but if I'm not careful, motherhood can become a large factor in how I determine my self worth. It's so easy for a women to use her accomplishments in motherhood as a grading scale that determines her self worth. While there are so many things to get wrapped up in as a mother-to-be (nursery decor, names, child-care, and labor/delivery) what I have been trying to focus on is becoming an even better person every day. I've always tried to be good at self reflecting (something my husband does very well!) but now more then ever is when I want to become more selfless, cultured, aware, and giving.

I am thankful for my wonderful mama and all that she has done to bring joy to my life. My mom is such a kind and loving person! I am grateful for her in my life, especially as I transition into motherhood!

I also have an extremely loving mother-in-law who has embraced me as one of her own and given me endless amounts of advice and wisdom!

I am feeling awfully sentimental and have so many emotions about this mother's day! One of the best mother's-day-to-be gifts I can think to receive is actually seeing my mom and mother-in-law in person!!! We will be traveling up to Spokane on Tuesday for my little brother-in-law's college graduation! I am so excited to see family!!

Pregnancy Update

We're Expecting

Baby Esqueda due September 4, 2013

Taken the day before I found out I
was pregnant (Dec. 30th)

 I have gotten lots of questions from friends and family and I will attempt to Answer them all at some point! Here are a few FAQs I'm getting. 

Q: Are you finding out if it's a boy or a girl?

A: No we are not finding out! We really want it to be a surprise and are both 100% happy with our decision to wait. Although I know some of our family and friends are not as excited about us waiting :)

Q: How are you feeling?

A: Now I am feeling pretty good. All things considered I really didn't have anything to complain about during the first trimester. I never threw up I was just a little nauseous and very tired. Everyday after work I came home and took a nap. I have a lot more energy now and am running, and doing yoga still! 

Q: What are you craving or having aversions to?

A: fun question! I will start with the not so fun aversions...Spinach, brussels, edamame, protein smoothies, peanut sauce, curry, and eggs are questionable too.

I am craving frozen waffles, peanut butter (nothing out of the ordinary for me), sweets, trail mix, lots of fruit especially grapefruit and oranges, s'mores, ginger ale, beer (so unfortunate) and cheese. 

Here are some pictures we've taken along the way!

17 Weeks

18 Weeks

We are so excited to meet our little one in September! I will try to post more updates and pictures along the way!

Girls weekend in North Carolina (plus my brother in law)

A couple weeks ago I got to spend the weekend with my sister (Nikki), brother-in-law (Andrew), and two nieces (Ayla & Mia)! I had a blast relaxing and getting waited on at their awesome house! Andrew was sick that weekend so he stayed in Atlanta. I felt bad leaving him for the weekend, especially because we only have one car (he ended up riding the bus to the dr. while I was gone). At the same time, it was nice to be out of our apartment and away from all the germs :) Here are some pictures that I took on my phone while I was there. 

Ayla and Mia

Nikki is the best baker and she rocks an awesome baking business here in Charlotte! I requested these peanut butter pretzel chocolate chip cookies. They were amazing

Sweet Mia

Brought this book for Mia. 

Sisters

Ayla and I 

Friday:

I got there on Friday just in time to enjoy some delicious veggie lasagna and homemade bread. Andrew's mom Nan who lives in Atlanta currently, but just retired and is moving to NC, was there for the weekend as well. She is so fun to be around. We all talked and watched tv for a while and then went to bed around 9pm (This is becoming a routine these days)! 

Saturday:

While the girls went to gymnastics with Nan and Andrew, Nik and I took a long walk around the neighborhood! It felt so good to be outside and in the sun no less! We met the rest of the gang for lunch and then back home for a nap and more relaxing. Ayla told me all about her upcoming trip to D.C. and her science fair project.  I had so much fun spending time with the girls, I plan to see them as often as I can. 

Sunday:

French braided the girls' hair for their big super bowl party, ate some breakfast, packed up and hit the road. It was so good to be with family! 

Recipe

Happy New Year!! Andrew and I had a great Christmas in San Diego. We spent lots of time with family and friends and it was hard to leave.  I will eventually post some photos from Christmas when I find my camera cord. For now I wanted to post a recipe! Last weekend I made a Lentil Quinoa Loaf with Mango Salsa and it was amazing.  I modified the recipe from one of my favorite blogs and wanted to share it with y'all!!

Lentil Quinoa Loaf

Modified from The Dailygarnish

This Loaf is hearty and satisfies the meat eaters and vegetarians alike.  The fruit salsa, dried cranberries and orange juice sounds like an odd combination, but trust me it's amazing! Enjoy. 

• 1 cup dry lentils
• 1/2 cup dry quinoa 
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 3 Tablespoons chia seeds
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 celery ribs, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tablespoon good balsamic vinegar 
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
• 8 Tablespoons mango salsa
• 1/2 jalapeno (optional) 
• Salt and pepper to taste

**Make sure the veggies are diced about the same size that way the loaf will stay together

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

2. Place the lentils and quinoa in a fine strainer and rinse thoroughly. Pick through the lentils to assure quality.  Combine Lentils, quinoa, orange juice, broth and a 1/4 teaspoon salt in a sauce pot and cook until liquid is absorbed and lentils are nearly tender. 

3. While the grains are cooking, heat a large skillet with a couple splashes of olive oil over medium heat. Once the pan is hot add in the onion, celery, carrot, and bell pepper, season with salt and pepper and saute until soft adding in the garlic when the veggies are just about soft. 

4. Place the chia seeds in a bowl with 1/2 cup water, stir to combine.  Let the chia/water mixture sit in the bowl for a few minutes for it to create a gel like texture (sounds appetizing, I know). If you would rather use eggs then use 3 eggs in place of the chia seed/water mixture.  

5. Once the veggies are cooked and off the heat add in the dried cranberries, sunflower seeds and balsamic vinegar.  Stir in the cooked lintels, quinoa and the chia seed mixture.  Make sure to mix it well. You will most likely still need salt and pepper at this point. Add a half teaspoon of each, stir and taste (unless you added eggs, in which case you might want to trust your gut on the amount of seasoning you add). If you need to adjust the seasoning, do so.  

It tastes way better then it looks in this picture!

6. Press the mixture firmly into a greased loaf pan. Make sure it is even and flat on the top.  Slice the jalapeno thinly and place the rounds on top of the loaf.  Spoon the salsa on top of the jalapenos and spread evenly over the whole loaf

7. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow the loaf to cool for 10 minutes before carefully slicing and serving.  

8. ENJOY!! 

Oregon/Washington Part 2

....SORRY for the lack of posts lately. Life happens and we have been going at a million miles a minute!! It's a good thing, totally a good thing.

I did want to finish my post about our trip to Oregon and Washington. So, here goes...

One of my very favorite aspects of our trip up to the NW was spending time with my parents in Portland.  Neither of them have spent time in Portland and my dad being the foodie, wine/beer/coffee lover, chef that he is had no business missing out on such a cultural driven, foodie city!!

First things first, off to our FAVORITE coffee shop. And lets be honest, Andrew and I are obsessed with coffee. So, for us to say favorite is a huge deal!

Doesn't get much better then this!

After consuming some of the best coffee at Barista we made our way to Powell's books. A HUGE book store that I could easily spend all day in.

We are total tourists

We hit up my favorite store next Anthropologie my mom bought a candle and I just drooled over the extravagant home decorative items, dishes, comforters and candles.

After a little shopping we went to Rogue for a little beer tasting and then hit up an amazing Mexican bistro in the Pearl District for dinner.

On Saturday we spent the day remembering Andrew's grandma. Her memorial service was a great time of reflection. Grandma Prebble was one of the most loving women I have ever met. She never spoke badly of anyone and was committed to loving and praying for all of her grandchildren.  She will be missed dearly and we are so greatful that she is in a better place now!

There's really no smooth transition from the last paragraph to this next part but here goes.
On Sunday morning my parents were set to head back to Spokane around noon so we took advantage of a few more hours in Portland.

First stop...

Voodoo doughnut is it's own beast. World famous for its bacon maple bar, this place is hoppin'. We took our doughnuts over to Stumptown coffee down the street to load up on coffee! My [vegan] chocolate peanut butter doughnut was to die for!

Stumptown

Social media is taking over our world :) gotta check-in, instagram, text etc. 

My wonderful mama!

It was hard to say good-bye to my parents. Of course. Although the circumstances were kind of crappy it was great to see my parents and Andrew's family as well.

Last but Certainly not least. Andrew and I went to Salem after my parents left and got to see some of our great friends and former house-mates, Nate and Kristi from Pasadena.

 Little David wasn't too excited about taking a picture. Nate and Kristi were so sweet to come to Church on Sunday night to see Andrew and his family lead worship.  They are expecting their second boy in early May! 

Vera and David became little buddies at Chruch.
It was so sweet to watch them  play together!!

All things considered, we had a great trip to the Northwest!! It was really hard to leave, but we are getting even more settled here in Atlanta!