A New Year and a New Member of the Family!

First of all I would like to officially announce; although I already told all my family and someone else told my Superman's family (sorry I didn't get to tell you myself), I am 11 weeks and 6 days pregnant!
I am feeling less and less nauseated and pooped, and more and more like I want to get to work preparing for this little one's arrival.
I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be a mother at last; although the circumstances are less thrilling for those involved, I know the Lord will bless us for following his commandment to have children. (even though it's wasn't planned.)
I feel a little sad I have neglected this blog over the past year. Coming back to it I realize how much I've done with it and how much I really like it. I have used this blog in the past to track my small families activities and such, but now I am thinking maybe I should combine all my other blogs to this one and just write what I want to be writing not just family news. I'm pretty sure family is the only readers I have anyway and I shouldn't redirect them all the time to my different projects. Thanks for your patience and support you all!
So what I have been doing on my other blogs is writing about cooking and writing about becoming more self-sustaining and less reliant on convenience, which is more expensive, and thus spending less. I have planted at garden of carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers and strawberries. I started cutting my own bangs and coloring my hair myself. I started making my family's bread from scratch, and I now make my own laundry soap.

Now, I am working on making my own cloth diapers, knitting wool booties and making a baby quilt. See how baby has taken over all my priorities! Hahaha.

Busy Bees

Well now, it's been more than five months since my last post and that's probably because I started a few other blogs and this one has just been left behind.Here's what we've been up to at my house:

My Superman fixed his mother's bumper..

I've been Card-making! Real surprise huh?

This set is from a while back when my mother and sister sent me a package of cards to make, I recently finished the last one and photographed them all together.

This set was sent to me later by my mother.

This one I cased after my mother bought me the stamp set and paper and inks for my birthday in April. I gave the card to my Grandmother-in-law for her birthday.

 This one I cased but added my own flare after my mother sent me a flower punch and a new stamp set.

 I made this card for my Dear Dad for Father's Day, and I later made another one a little different, both cased.

 This one did not turn out at all like the one I was using for inspiration, but I love how it turned out anyway. One of my very best friends got married this last weekend and I made this card to go with her gift. She loves daisies and yellow!

 I made this one right after but I think I will go back and add a strip of green above the owl like I did on the other one.

My husband and I have a truck and for some unknown reason last year it kept picking up screws and nails. (We suspect foul play but have no evidence ;).) The last screw that punctured the wheel ripped into the sidewall (a little poor driving on my part but if you ask me I'll deny it!) So my husband plugged it and we continued sparingly driving on it for some time. For fear of the tire blowing out we decided it would be wise to replace our well worn tires and felt an upgrade was necessary considering some of the terrain we tend to end up in. We purchased a small lift for the front and both got very dirty installing it ourselves one night. Here is Superman dirty from another hard day's work and doing his Zoolander impression:

He's so cute!
So then we were able to fit the larger all-terrain wheels onto our truck and realign it. Here are before and after pics:

 Maybe you can't tell, but the front end is now level with the back and the tires are larger and better quality. I feel so grateful we were able to take care of a problem before it became a bigger problem.

"Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it...yet."

Happy New Year!
The holidays seem to rush by faster every year; I still can't believe they're over.
I had a very busy year end I feel I should wrap up on here. Somehow with all my other priorities, writing my blog seems to fall by the wayside. I hope you all had a good year! I feel like I did. Anyway here's a few telling photos since July:
A friend had a baby girl, so I was busy with these...

My hair always gets redder in the fall and then darker brown in the winter and it's kind of a downer so I colored it this year.

Superman and I carved pumpkins with friends the day before Halloween.

On Halloween I made Treats while we handed out candy to Trick or Treaters.

I should have taken more pictures the rest of this year, maybe that can be one of my resolutions for 2012.
This year we spent Thanksgiving in my home town with my parents and younger brother. It was a Thanksgiving to remember. My mother and I made four pies and a quiche (for the first time.) We had such a good time baking together! Superman got to try out the Star Wars game beta, and took us all to see the new Twilight movie, New Dawn I. (Which I liked despite the teen drama.) We all had a good time and I didn't want to leave, but all good things must come to an end at some point I suppose.
When we came back we went to our friends' baby's blessing and barbeque, which was also fun.
Superman and I made Carmel Popcorn again on our anniversary, which turned out a little harder than we usually go for but still my-oh-my-delicious.
For Christmas, my husband's brother came to visit from out of state and has stayed till year end, as well as Superman's sister and her husband and two children, who left this morning to drive home to another state. We had a wonderful time during their visit. My other brother-in-law and his family came over for a Christmas Eve family dinner of enchilada pot luck, and then for Christmas dinner which my Mother-in-law and I made. It was fun to host and feed everyone, I really enjoyed cooking with my husband as we made enchiladas together and then the Christmas turkey together. (Which was a beautiful golden brown, and I really should have taken a picture of it.) My husband really is the most wonderful man I know!
We went over to Superman's brother's house for dinner and games the night after Christmas, and the gift giving continued. Superman and his brother-in-law were both given remote controlled helicopters for Christmas and they had a blast flying them all week. It was great to have little children around for Christmas, and to see the cousins playing together seemed to make everyone feel more unified as a family. I am grateful I have such great in-laws, and I hope we will have many more memorable gatherings as we did this past year.