Wednesday, August 31, 2011

{ 100 Year Old Harley Race :: Irwindale Dragstrip }

Last Thursday Matt and I went down to the Irwindale Dragstrip where we watched his 80 year old Grandpa, Bob Laidlaw, race his 1911 Harley Davidson Motorcycle against fellow Harley enthusiast Carburetor Carl and his 1912 bike. Check out this quick video of his epic ride to the finish line!

Monday, August 29, 2011

{ Light & Delicious :: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Squares }

Last weekend my mom was telling me about this delicious recipe she made for a little dinner party she had and how easy it was. Of course I asked for the recipe and the next day went to the store to get all the ingredients I would need. We finally had an excuse to make this treat this weekend when Matt's cousins came over and wow was it tasty! It was the perfect treat to cool off in this crazy summer heat. Here's the recipe in case you'd like to make it for you and your guests too...

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup wheat and barley cereal (I used granola)
3 cups fat-free strawberry yogurt
2 1/2 cups frozen unsweetened strawberries
1 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1 cup light or fat-free whipped topping

DIRECTIONS:
Line an 8x8 pan with foil. Sprinkle cereal on the botton of the pan, set aside.
Place yogurt, strawberries and condensed milk in a blender. Cover and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture over top of cereal, gently smoothing yogurt mixture to edges of pan. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and freeze for 8 hours or until firm.
Use edges of foil to loosen and remove from pan; let recipe thaw for 5 to 10 minutes. Cut into squares, top with whipped topping, and serve.

Storage tips: Squares may be individually wrapped and frozen for single servings.
Note: Create your own variations by using other flavor combinations of yogurt and fruit.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

{ It's a GIRL!!! }

Friday afternoon I had my appointment with the ultrasound tech to find out if this cute little lump is a boy or a girl. I went into the appointment pretty sure it was a girl because of a few silly experiences I'd had over the past few months so when the tech said "It's a girl!" I was kind of like "Yeah, I know." Haha! But I was excited nonetheless. I may have even cried a little when I saw my little girl moving her lips and even waving to me. So exciting!


After my appointment I snuck off to find some cute way to surprise Matt at work with the news. I really wanted to bring everyone at his office some pink cookies or pink cupcakes but after visiting 3 bakeries with no luck, I finally settled on pink balloons!


When I walked in the door the look on his face was classic! He said "Uh, I guess pink means girl?" Yes honey! It's a girl! Wwe are ecstatic to be welcoming a little girl into our home in January. And speaking of January, they gave me a new due date: January 11th! Only 4 days earlier, but still, this baby is well on her way! I can't believe this pregnancy is already half over! Where did the time go? We can't wait for this baby girl to get here!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

{ Guessing Game :: A Boy? or A Girl? }

Okay friends! This Friday we find out if Baby Laidlaw is a boy or a girl. Any guesses as to what I'm carrying in that 19 week bump of mine? Matt thinks boy. I think girl. Guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Monday, August 22, 2011

{ Five Guys And A Husband }

Monday night is our date night. Well, pretty much our date day. You see, Monday is our day off! And boy do we love our day off! We usually reserve it for things like cleaning, shopping, and running errands, but we usually do most of those things together. Something else we like to do together? Eat! Especially me. I'm all about the food these days. Hey, I'm eating for two, right?

So for dinner we met up with Matt's fam out in Rancho Cucamonga so they could try one of my favorite burger joints, Five Guys. While you may argue they are not as good as In-N-Out, they certainly put up a good fight. And you'll most likely agree their meat is the bomb! We love our Five Guys!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

{ Dessert Recipe :: Apple Crisp }

I needed a last minute dessert for Sunday night and could only use what I had around the house, so I did what I do best...jumped on google and found something yummy that I could make using the items I already had laying around. Here's the yummy treat I came up with. Wow was it delicious! We enjoyed ours with Fuji apples and candied pecans because that's all we had, and then served it a-la-mode...because ice cream makes everything better. It was sooo delicious! I will definitely be making this treat again.

INGREDIENTS:
Filling:
5 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, chopped small
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Topping:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For the Filling: Mix all the ingredients together. Place into 8-ounce ramekins.

For topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. Blend the butter into the mixture until it forms pea size lumps. Stir in pecans and sprinkle over filling.

Bake crisps for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving. About 8 servings.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

{ Pregnancy Diary :: 18+ Weeks }

I just clicked over to my little sister's blog a minute ago and was catching up on her pregnancy (she's due 3 weeks before me!) and was really impressed that she took the time to document a few things about her pregnancy as of late. I kind of wish I'd been doing that all along so that I can always have the memories: good and bad. But I figure it's not too late to get started now, so here it goes. My thoughts on pregnancy thus far...


  • My due date is Sunday, January 15th which means I am a little over 18 weeks as of today.
  •  I feel ginormous compared to all my other family and friends who are pregnant. My sister is due 3 weeks before me, my sister-in-law is due 4 weeks after me, and I'm pretty sure I'm bigger than both of them combined! But I'm trying to embrace the "bigness" and love the bump, even though it's cut my wardrobe options down by about 80% already.
  • Speaking of clothes, I think my favorite outfit is a loose skirt or shorts, with my Be Band from Target, a t-shirt belted above the bump and a cardi. It's kind of my go-to.
  • Recently complete strangers are starting to take notice of my bump.  When I go grocery shopping people usually look at my face for a second and then I see their eyes go straight down to my bump.  It makes me smile.
  • We still don't know what we're having and I'm actually okay with that.  Mostly because it means I don't need to start stressing myself with nursery designs and stopping by the baby department every time I go to Target.  Of course we're excited to find out, but these last 4 months of not knowing have actually been wonderful.  We find out the gender at our next appt. on August 25th.  I think it's a girl.  Matt thinks it's a boy.  Of course we'll be happy either way!
  • My first trimester was tough, but not as bad as I thought it might have been.  I had some morning sickness, threw up on the side of the freeway a couple times on my way to work, and was exhausted 24/7.  But I hear of many who had it way worse than me, so for that I am grateful.
  • Now that I'm in my second trimester my energy level has perked just a little (I still feel painfully tired around 2:00 everyday) but my only complaint is the headaches!  Around week 14 I was almost immobilized by them for 3 days and just yesterday I experienced my first occular headache after a trip to the grocery store.  Apparently my mother and sister experienced the same thing with their first pregnancies.  I hope I never get one of those EVER again!
  • I crave cheese like a crazy person!  I love goldfish crackers (I'm crunching them in my mouth as I type), quesadillas are heaven sent, and mozarella makes me drool!  
  • My sneezes have suddenly become lethal.   It's the weirdest thing.  They are massive eruptions that can cause the earth to quake and I have NO idea why? Weird, I know.
  • I'm still waking up at least 2 times a night to go to the bathroom.  I fear this symptom will last all 9 months so I guess I should just learn to deal with it.  At least I sleep on the side of the bed closest to the bathroom.
  • I really like to go on walks.  On the days I'm at my office I usually go for a 20 minute walk around the block after lunch.  And then a couple times a week I throw on a cardio or yoga video in our gym while my husband pumps iron.  It works for us.
  • I'm still waiting to feel my first big kicks from this kid.  Sometimes I think I can feel little bubbles like the baby is swimming, but I'm ready for some real jumping around in there!
Well that's about all I can come up with for now.  I truly love being pregnant and get such a kick out of waking up each morning and seeing my bump in the mirror.  We're excited to find out what we're having and will definitely keep everyone posted!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

{ Kauai Vacation :: Summer 2011 }

ALOHA!!! We're home from our Hawaiian vacation and lived to tell the tale. We had an absolutely fabulous time, as was expected. And I left the SLR in my backpack for the majority of the trip and just Instagramed my way through each adventure. Gotta love the iPhone - so handy. So here's a little picture tour of our weeklong trip in paradise...

THURSDAY: The morning started early...mostly because we were dealing with a 3 hour time change AND an entire army of roosters in our backyard. If you've ever been to Kauai, you know exactly what I'm talking about. However, one can't complain for long when they look out the window and realize they're in paradise!

After a delicious blueberry pancake breakfast, we all headed out for our first island adventure, Queen's Bath. We had a good soak in the sun for a couple hours and Matt even enjoyed a dip in the waterfall on the hike back up. I would've joined him, but someone had to take the picture, right?

The remainder of the afternoon was just spent relaxing and being lazy, followed by an early dinner at the Olympic Cafe in downtown Kapa'a, one of my favorite eats from last year's trip to the island. Love the kailua pig there.




FRIDAY: One of my favorite things about Kauai are the picturesque views everywhere you look. Every square inch of the island is covered in lush green landscape. One place where you can see it all is the Hanalei Lookout. It affords a view a of the taro fields below, surrounded by soaring cliffs, scenic waterfalls, and a river running through the middle of it (which we kayaked Saturday.)

The rest of the day was jam packed full of adventure with a visit to the wet and dry caves, Ke'e beach, Bubba's Burgers and Paradise Shave Ice in Hanalei, all topped off with some snorkeling at the world famous Tunnels beach, and a late night dinner at Bouchons to celebrate my sister-in-law Stephanie's birthday. Funniest moment of the night? When Matt stole the first bite of birthday cake the waiters brought her. That little snake!






SATURDAY: Waking up to the smell of blueberry pancakes is always a good thing! Just take a look at those mouthwatering hot cakes! YUM! With full bellies we made our way back to Hanalei for some kayaking through the Hanalei valley. While it was so much fun, it was also a ton of work! More work than I think any of us were expecting. But I'm not complaining. We had a blast and got a workout in at the same time!

Afterwards we refueled our famished bodies just down the road with some gourmet Margarita pizza and of course chased that down with yet another Shave Ice. You can never get enough of that stuff!



SUNDAY: All I wanted to do on Sunday was relax! And that's exactly what we did. Well, some of us did. While Gale, Scott, and Mom headed off to the west side of the island for a strenuous 8 mile hike (uphill both ways I'm sure!), the rest of us opted for a relaxing day with the Hanalei branch at church followed by an afternoon of lounging and napping on the sand at the St. Regis in Princeville. Probably one of my favorite days of the trip. I just love being lazy.





MONDAY: I'm pretty sure Monday was Matt's favorite day of the trip! The one thing he wanted to do while we were on the island was find a great place to surf. So he signed himself up for a class with the world-renowned surfer Titus Kinimaka, also known as King Titus. Lucky for Matt, Titus singled him and his brother-in-law Sam out and spent a lot of time with them in the water giving pointers and tips. Matt loved every minute of it!

To finish off Matt's perfect day we all snuck away to one of my favorite places on the island, Banana Joe's. If you love fresh, frozen banana treats, you'd love their Banana Pineapple frosty made with nothing but fruit in a super juicer. It's delish! Matt opted for their incredible frozen banana dipped in melty chocolate and sprinkled with macadamia nut crumbs. A must-try island treat!





TUESDAY: Another fabulous day full of fun and adventure! We started out the morning with a hike down to the picturesque Hideaway Beach per Sam's request. He was dying to check out the snorkeling down there and quite frankly, so were we. Our favorite find for the day was a sweet little sea turtle that we chased around for a good five minutes before finally letting it float out to sea. I love those beautiful animals.

After snorkeling we decided to sneak back down to the east side of the island so I could introduce everyone to one of my favorite places on the island, Ono-Char Burger. Oh. My. Goodness. I love that place so much. Last time in Kauai I had the Local Girl Burger, a monstrous mess of meat, teriyaki sauce and pineapple. This juicy burger had seriously been on my mind since the day our Kauai trip was announced. And in case you're wondering, it was just as good the second time around!

We finished off the day with a drive out to the tourist attraction Wailua Falls and somehow found ourselves following a local down a muddy path to the bottom. It was an incredible sight to see! My daring husband was the first to jump in the cool water, followed by my equally adventurous sister-in-law Gale and her husband Scott. I of course opted to stay on the shore to document the occasion. Hey, someone's gotta do it.








WEDNESDAY: The last day of our trip was a little bitter sweet. The rest of the family scheduled a fabulous boat ride around the North Shore to see the Napali Coastline, but pregnant ladies weren't allowed on this one. Sad. But, that's ok because Gale and I spent the day exploring the east shore and taking in the sights at the Kilauea Lighthouse, Kauai's most northern point on the island, followed by a hike down to the Secret Lava Pools at Secret Beach. What a sight that was!

All in all it was an incredible vacation and I'm so grateful we were able to squeeze it in before the baby's get here in January and February. Next time we make it back to the islands we'll have a little prince or princess to bring along with us. We can hardly wait!



Sunday, August 14, 2011

{ Family Favorite Recipe :: Chicken Piccata w/ Capers }

I can't believe it took me so long to finally try this amazing recipe! One of my husband's favorite dinners is Chicken Piccata, so I figured it was about time. I bought all the ingredients this week and surprised him with this yummy dish for our Sunday meal. The result? He LOVED it! And so did I. I'll definitely be making this delicious dish again and I think you should too.

INGREDIENTS:
4 (6-oz.) chicken breast halves (I used tenders)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (rice flour for GF)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons capers
2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups hot cooked spaghetti (I used a little less)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

DIRECTIONS: Pound chicken to 1/2-inch thickness. Place flour in a shallow dish and dredge chicken in flour. Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add white wine, lemon juice, capers, and garlic to pan; scrape pan to loosen browned bits. Cook for 2 minutes or until slightly thick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve chicken over pasta. Top with sauce; sprinkle with parsley.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

{ Must-Try-Recipe :: Chili Relleno Casserole }

I just made the MOST delicious recipe shared with me by my Grandma Janice. It's quick, simple, AND delicious. What's not to love about that? If you love Mexican food, I promise you won't be disappointed by this one. Enjoy!

l lg. can whole green chilis
l lb. each shredded cheddar and Jack cheese
3 eggs
2 T. flour
l 5 oz. can evaporated milk
l regular size can tomato sauce

DIRECTIONS: Rinse chilis, remove seeds, open them up and drain on a paper towel. Make 3 layers of chilis and cheese in a baking dish. Mix flour and milk together with a wisk. Beat the eggs separately and add to milk mixture. Pour over layered chili and cheese and bake at 350 for 30 min. Remove from oven and add another thin layer of cheese and drizzle the tomato sauce over that. Return to oven for 10 min.

Friday, August 12, 2011

{ Kauai Babymoon :: 17 Weeks }

With my sister-in-law Gale and I preggers, our Mother-in-law thought we ought to all skip town and go on one last big "Hoorah!" before the babies get here! So off we went with the Laidlaw crew to Kauai for the most adventurous week ever. Stay tuned for more pictures and maybe even a video montage of our fabulous Hawaiian vacation...


The St. Regis :: Princeville, Kauai

Monday, August 1, 2011

{ Design By Aubrey :: Vintage Wedding Flowers }

The 2011 wedding season is finally coming to an end for this designer and I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad about it. Just 2 more weddings on the calendar before I take my leave for maternity. Crazy, huh? Click HERE to get your fix of fresh flowers while you still can!

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