The Sushi Birthday SURPRISE!! (and world's longest post...)

Steve and I celebrated our almost-joint 28th birthdays this past weekend!! I wanted to do something fun together, so I surprised my sushi-loving hubby with a sushi-making kit and all the fixins to make real sushi, and we learned this fine "art" together!! We were having so much fun that we were actually quite surprised at the end when it tasted good!!

(And p.s. to those that know me well, YES, this was a pure act of love on my part...our kitchen was COVERED with various kinds of seafood...Yuuuuckkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!! I held my nose and smiled the whole day...totally worth it to have so much fun with my hubby, and I discovered that veggie rolls wrapped in soy paper are delicious!! ;)

Steve being silly opening his surprise!

All the STUFF:
Making the special rice:
Steve starts prepping the fish and veggies (which were NOT allowed to touch, for me!;)
The veggie mountain!!
Beginning to learn the rolling technique:
Beautiful!
Steve's first try with a crab and avacado roll!
Spicy tuna roll:
I try my hand at rolling - veggies ONLY wrapped in soy paper!!
World's Handsomest Sushi Chef!!!
Prepping the nigiri:
Viola! Perfect Nigiri:
Woohoooo!! Wasabi is HOT! But we enjoyed everything SO MUCH...DELICIOUS!!
Oh, but did I mention the MOUNTAIN of dirty dishes that resulted from this fun time?
Whew...but well worth every minute!! :)

A highly recommended activity and AWESOME meal!!!
Happy birthday, honey!! I love you!!

Friday night with the ladies!!

This past Friday night, I got together with my favorite DC girls and we had a blast!!

L to R: Lisa, Jenny, Me, Jessica and Grace:

Showing off our growing tummies! (Jenny is clearly further along than me, but she's SO CUTE!!)"Heeeeeeey, baby Grusy!!! We can't wait to meet you!!"
The bestest friends a girl could have...
;)

A little early birthday celebrating...

We headed out to the wild hills of West Virginia this past weekend to celebrate our joint birthdays (a week early!) at the famed German Bavarian Inn, and it was beautiful!!

This is the main lodge: But we opted for a little chalet!!

We stayed in the one in the middle:
Our lovely room:
Our deck:
...with an AWESOME view overlooking the Potomac
Definitely a grand sight to behold on the deck sipping your morning coffee ;)

A perfect weekend!!

YAY!!!!

...but the name shall remain a SECRET!!! :)

Since you asked...;)

Here's a tummy growth report!!

Twenty weeks: Twenty-one weeks:

And hopefully by this week Friday (September 7), we will know if Mini-Mac is a boy or a girl!!!...But no asking about the name, 'cause that part is a SECRET!!! :)