Carson City Day: 23, 24, 25, 26

I am a couple of days behind in blogging, sorry! Basically the last few days have been uneventful so there is no reason to give each day it's own post. I will just do some updates instead.

How am I feeling about Carson City: It's getting better. Maybe that's because Nic will finally get paid this week, maybe that's because my in-laws were just here, maybe it's because I am planning my trips home for the Holidays..who knows! Baby steps, right?

Pregnancy: 12 weeks, just finishing up the first trimester. This pregnancy is definitely easier than Sam's. I have to fight morning sickness a lot, but I don't throw up that often (which is the biggest difference). I nap everyday when Sam naps and that is such a blessing. I have random stomach pains/cramps a lot that I don't remember having the first time around, but other than that things are great. I have my next doctors appointment next week.

Nic is loving his job. It's been a great learning and growing opportunity and we both feel very blessed with this job. Everyone he works with is really nice and its a great work environment.

Looking forward to Nevada Day this weekend (we will find out what that is all about)!

Carson City Day 21, 22 : Surprise Visit!

This has been the worst week for my homesickness. That's mostly because my sister Wendy went home to Utah for her Fall break and it made me so sad to not be home with everyone. Well, my in-laws made an impromptu trip here Thursday night. It's just what I needed. When Sam woke up Friday morning she was in pure Heaven to see 1/2 of her family who she loves and misses so much. We had the best weekend playing and showing them around the area.

Playing in the leaves

 Joe's in Reno (so cute, 50's style diner)

 Driving up to Lake Tahoe

(This place totally changed my opinion of living in Carson City!)

 Crossing over the Nevada/California State Line

 I loved Lake Tahoe and all that surrounds it. It's like Park City mixed with a beautiful lake and forest. It has adorable shops and boutiques with a lot of restaurants and activities. It's only a short 20 minutes from our house. I just can't believe that such a beautiful place is right through the sage brush covered mountains.

 The water was so clear

 Even though it was freezing, Sam cried when we made her get out of the water

I was so excited when I saw this Chevy's sign! We fell in love with Chevy's when we were living in Washington DC last year. They don't have any in Utah so I am so thrilled there is one close to us again.

Making their fresh tortillas

 SO good!

Needless to say I am totally in love with Lake Tahoe and all that surrounds it. It really does make living here easier knowing that there is that kind of beauty and fun so close.

Thank you Gary, Char, Kimmy & Daniel for making the long drive out here and making our weekend!

(we welcome any visitors, any time...hint, hint, wink,wink)

Now I only have 30 days until we get to go home for Thanksgiving!!

Carson City Day 20

Book Club! I skyped in to my book club at home today. This month our book was "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford.

Putting aside my frustrations of skyping in for book club (I couldn't hear, I couldn't see, and I wasn't there to discuss my new favorite book!) I am happy to give my thoughts here on my blog.

This is my new favorite book. It has everything I have been looking for in a book;

• enough tragedy to pull at your heart strings, but not break it
• such a strong friendship and love connection
• it was well written, and easy to read (no big words I didn't understand)
• no swearing or anything inappropriate
• love is the reason why everything in the book happens (love for a person, country, value, belief)
• I usually think books that switch back and forth between past and present can get confusing, but I didn't think that at all this time

This is a story of mystery, friendship, prejudice, patriotism, and everlasting love. It isn't very often that I feel like I can't put a book down. I loved living in this story.

I highly recommend it!

Now I am on a quest to find other books like this, if you know of any let me know!

Carson City Day 19

We tried storytime at the library today. This is something that I like better here than at home. There were so many kids at our old library it was a joke. Here there was a very nice manageable amount of kids and the lady who ran it was awesome. They sang songs, read books, and colored a picture. We loved it.

Carson City Day 17

Sam and I had an awesome day today, we accomplished a lot. We cleaned the house, went walking, played at the park, got the oil changed in the car, had a great visit with a new friend, and made a fun new dinner.

I like to try new recipes on Mondays. I somehow have a stronger Homemaker instinct after the weekend when things get back on schedule. Today I made Stuffing Chicken, Ranch Potatoes, green beans & pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting (much better recipe than the one I tried a few weeks ago)

I tweaked these recipes a bit. For the chicken, I followed an alternate suggestion to layer it instead of roll it. It was much easier and faster.

This cake is to die for. The recipe is from my dear friend Allie. It is a wonderful Fall dessert that I will use all of the time now. Here is the recipe:

4 eggs

1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 c. sugar
15 oz. pumpkin
2 1/2 c. flour
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients and spread across a cookie sheet (jelly roll pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes (check for middle to be set). Cool before frosting.
I only baked mine for 19 minutes and it was perfect and moist

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
2 1/2 - 3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. butter, softened
I added some milk because mine was a little stiff

Carson City Day 16

I.Love.Skype. It has been a real lifesavor to me since we have moved away. Every Sunday we chat with our families and it is just so much better than talking to them on the phone. Sunday I broke into tears when I saw all of my sisters together and I wasn't there. I miss them and the rest of my family so much. But thankfully we have this wonderful communication that allows us to stay close. Especially now that my family has someone living in every US time zone!!

Carson City Day 15

Saturday we made an impromptu trip to Gardnerville which is just a little bit south of here. It's a cute little town that's prettier than Carson City in my opinion because it has more Utah-like mountains. We stopped at a Pumpkin Patch that was there. It was closing in less than an hour so we hurried to try everything we could before they closed. It was a little bit ghetto (and expensive!) but Sam loved it and that's all that really matters.

 Doesn't the sky look gorgeous?

 Pony Ride...with a sombrero?

 Picking our pumpkins

 Train ride

 Kid straw maze

We tried Pizza Barn pizza, pretty good!

Carson City Day 14: Reno

We explored Reno on Friday night. Nic found a Mexican Restaurant, Bertha Miranda's, that had good reviews so we tried it out. It was so good. Everything we had was great. We will go back there for sure.

 Sam loves her chips and salsa, although this salsa was pretty spicy

(which you can tell by the look on her face..but it didn't slow her down)

 Then we checked out the Meadowood Mall. It is a nice mall, it was fun to walk around.

 Had some good See's Candy

Had a blast checking out the Disney store. What a fun place for Sam!

Carson City Day 12 & 13

Wednesday we visited Nic at work on his lunch break. The weather here has been around 80 the past couple days so we have been spending time outside. The grounds that the Supreme Court and Capitol are on are the prettiest place in the city in my opinion.

I love this picture, Sam was so happy to see him!

.

Day 13: Sam and I stayed home and played all day. Sorry no exploring to report!

Carson City Day 11

I was driving down Carson Street this evening, which is the main street here in town. I was on my way to Walmart to go grocery shopping. I saw a man running on the sidewalk towards my direction. As he got closer I saw that he was naked. Totally naked. He was jogging along like he was wearing work out clothes...but he was not. He ran along the passenger side of my car, crossed the street behind me, and started running the opposite direction on the other side of the street. He wasn't laughing, or running terribly fast. Seriously just out for a jog on main street. Naked. What the heck?

Carson City Day 10

Today Sam and I checked out the local library. It seems like your typical library. It is close to our house which is a plus. It has a fun kids area and there were actually no other kids there at the time (so different from our library at home that is always packed). They have a reading group that I think we will try to attend next time. They also have a little bookstore at the library and we found some fun kids books for a quarter!

Carson City Day 9

We went to our new church yesterday. Everyone in the ward was so kind and welcoming. Sam loved nursery and instantly made new friends.

So far my pros and cons of Carson City are...

PROS:

• Clean air, no pollution or smog
• My asthma is better here
• Hardly any bugs
• No traffic, anywhere
• It's small, so everything is close by
• We have only used a 1/2 tank of gas since we have been here
• It only takes Nic 5 minutes to drive to work, or 15 minutes on the bus
• The ward members have been so helpful, kind, and welcoming
• We have good neighbors and a good neighborhood
• There's only 1 High School and everyone supports it
• And our house is my favorite part about living here

CONS:

• It's small, there is no where to shop (no Ross, no Kid to Kid, no cute boutiques, no bakeries, no charming stores, no mall)
• There are no cute/fun restaurants to try (the economy has been really hard to this city)
• Everything seems & looks run down
• It's not a very family friendly place
• Not a lot of classy looking people
• No greenery, just sagebrush and desert ambiance
• And obviously it is far away from all of our friends and family

Carson City Day 8

This Saturday we had a BBQ and watched the Utes play (sniff, sniff). It was weird to not watch the game with family, which we definitely missed. We are so grateful to have cable now so that we can watch the games from here. We are going to have to find some Utah fans out here to watch the games with.

Carson City Day 7: Friday Night

I have been super excited for Fall with the cold weather we have been having. That inspired our meal tonight..

 Soup, Rolls, and Pumpkin Cake for dessert

 After dinner we went to the Carson High School football game. They played their rivals and came back from behind to win. It was fun to be at a small town football game. It reminded me a lot of Cyprus where everyone goes to the game whether you have a kid playing or not. My sister would have loved the marching band in their traditional uniforms. Go Senators!

Sam liked the Sheriffs on horseback