August 2 – August 17

Posted on August 18, 2012 by

August 2: Enjoying pear/apple crisp with some sweet friends during a weekend movie marathon

August 3: Midnight snack

August 4: Hanging curtains in Lydia’s room! special thanks to my models 🙂

August 5: drive to Abu Dabai

August 6: kinda blurry, but loving my view!

August 7: belly pic! 33 weeks

August 8: good lil’ dishwashers

August 9: Ramadan visit at 11 pm

August 10: had a bit of a fire with our A/C… not huge, just a few sparks and then it stopped working, but we got our fix-it man to come out and he got the A/C to work without the plug

August 11: future daddy working on some possible art work for his baby girls nursery

August 12: my “new” laundry room! yey! my washing machine is out of my kitchen!!

August 13: my sweet roommate, Traci, made me fresh squeezed lemonade! yum

August 14: Dubai at Iftar, the time when everyone breaks their fast during Ramadan at sunset

August 15: Frist birthing class at Oasis Hospital! 34 weeks!

August 16: had a local family over for dinner… they were supposed to come at 9 pm, but showed up at 11 pm… totally normal! Love these girls playing “tea party”

August 17: sweet hubby painting my toes since I can’t reach them anymore!

    Posted in 365 | 1 Comment

    summer celebrations

    Posted on August 14, 2012 by

    I have been up since 6:30 am (it is now 9:15) and I finally decided to stop fighting it and just get up and do something on my to do list– catching up on the blog… 

    It has been so fun having Jord here for almost a year now (hard to believe!) for many reasons, but one of my favs is throwing parties with her! She is so talented and has so many great ideas. I love getting to help plan, craft, decorate and cook for parties she is throwing. This summer we have had a several fun ones and have 4 coming up soon! (one of them being miss Lydia’s baby shower!)

    While Jord’s sister, Kirsti, was in town they threw me a SNAP Photography party for my birthday! It was originally supposed to be a 30th birthday dinner for Jord, but since Kirsti was here during my birthday Jord wanted to throw it for me instead- sweet friend (we will be doing her 30th birthday with a fall theme in September- only a few months late.. ha) Anyway, they went all out with the food, decor and a super fun photo booth. For more details on the food and decor check out their awesome blog.

    The photo booth was a huge hit- fun had by all!

    24 weeks!

    I am blessed with great friends- thanks for helping me celebrate my 26th year of life! (p.s. don’t ask what Jord and I were doing- we don’t know…?)

    The food table… there was all sorts of yummy “photo” themed food items like Photatoes, Snappy Cupcakes and Photobomb Brownies

    4th of july Desert Bash…

    Since we don’t live in the USA, but still love our country and are proud to be Americans, we thought is only proper to throw a BIG party and invite all the Americans living in our town to celebrate the 4th. We had about 50 Americans at the Remke house…! We asked everyone to bring a side dish or dessert and since Americans love a good pot-luck BBQ we had plenty of delicious food, drinks and desserts.

    *I can only take credit for a few of these pics- my camera died right as the party was starting :(.. thanks Jord for sharing yours! 

    We worked on the decor for several weeks leading up to the 4th while watching Anne of Green Gables

    I made these pies! – thank you pintrest for the flag cherry pie idea:)

    For fireworks we did these massive candles that are actually used on indoor birthday cakes out here, confetti poppers for the kids, and diet coke with Mentos for “firework” rockets (I didn’t know this before, but if you put about 6 Mentos into a 2 liter diet coke bottle the coke shoots up about 8-10 feet!). These were great replacements for fireworks and made it really feel like the 4th!

    Always need a belly pic… 28 weeks!

    Also, a fun fact: as people were arriving for the party at 5:30 pm someone told us it was 120 degrees outside! How’s that for a HOTT 4th?!

    Happy (very late) 4th! Hope you all had fun celebrating yours! We hope to make this an annual tradition out here… helps make it not as hard to be away from home during holidays (all thats missing is family and our stateside friends)

      Posted in Food, Parties | Tagged | 1 Comment

      July 26- August 1

      Posted on August 12, 2012 by

      July 26: Yup, thats right our town has a Domino’s in it now…we are moving up in the world!

      July 27: He is gonna be such a great daddy!

      July 28: Princess tea party followed by a dance party… the girls begged Chase to dance with them… it didn’t take much for him to say yes

      July 29: “camping” with Kead & Sayla… complete with hot chocolate, marshmallows to roast over the fire, and campfire stories

      July 30: LuLu’s- our new grocery store with lots of hallways like this with the potential for more shops (maybe a coffee shop!) to open… for now its just colorful walls and a great place to walk around with A/C

      July 31: date balls to take to some local freinds

      August 1: finally got to meet our friend’s sweet new baby boy

        Posted in 365 | Comments Off on July 26- August 1

        babymoon (part 2)

        Posted on August 11, 2012 by

        Finally I am getting around to posting the rest of our pics from Thailand! Between just having one computer now, nesting, and needing to nap again I have gotten behind on posting again… hope to catch up before miss Lydia comes in like 6 (plus or minus) weeks! I don’t think I can fully wrap my mind around how close it is… super excited.

        This was the last stop on our tour around the island… gorgeous view. I am missing Thailand– the food, the weather, the green…

        Every night we got dressed up and headed to dinner somewhere off our resort. It was fun to try local restaurants while enjoying the ocean breeze… and a bonus the food off our resort was super cheap!

        Our last day in Thailand we got to spend about 6 hours in Bangkok. We got Starbucks and a map and rode around on just about every form of public transit system and explored the city as best we could in a short amount of time. I felt like we got a good taste of the city, but if we ever make it back it would be fun to explore a little deeper.

        Sights from the ferry boat

        Buddhist temple at sunset & after dark

        Street food… I decided to opt out of trying any of this due to the baby growing inside me.. but next time I would love to try some of this!

        Our last stop in Bangkok was this outdoor market that sold all sorts of knock off clothes, shoes, sunglasses, nail polish, etc for cheap cheap… oh and we found this awesome Barbie headband of some sort…

        What a great trip we had! Something I will remember forever. We headed home exhausted from walking around all day, but feeling blessed for getting to spend quality time together. Chase tried (3 times) to get us bumped up to first class on the way home… no such luck, maybe next time!

          Posted in Travel | Comments Off on babymoon (part 2)

          32 weeks!!

          Posted on August 9, 2012 by

          How far along? 32 weeks (August 1st)

          Total weight gain: 14-15 lbs.

          Maternity clothes? Yes

          Stretch marks? Nope

          Sleep: great still… just get up once for the potty

          Best moment this week: taking maternity pictures… can’t wait to see how they turned out- Jord is super talented so I know they are going to be great!

          Miss Anything? Laying on my tummy

          Movement: yup! Lots… I have been able to tell where her little bottom is and her feet! Love love love it!

          Food cravings: Orange Juice

          Anything making you queasy or sick: nothing really, but still just avoiding most Arab food

          Gender: girl!

          Labor Signs: Nope- had bad back pain a few days ago and was a little worried, but I think it was caused from too much laying around last weekend

          Symptoms: shortness of breath, achy lower back, heartburn, and Nesting… I think it has started… so far I have cleaned out my kitchen drawers and cabinets- feels so good!

          Belly Button in or out? OUT!

          Wedding rings on or off? on

          Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, because I am excited to meet our sweet little girl in 7 plus or minus weeks and because I got to get out and wear cute clothes, eat delicious food, and hang out with good friends for a few days… (I know the cute clothes sounds funny, but in our town I have to wear long pants or skirts and jackets… hot and not so cute always at 8 months pregnant)

          Looking forward to: seeing my maternity photos, continuing to get the house organized…

           

          We found out at our last doctor’s appointment that our doctor (who we have loved) is moving back to America at the end of this month, therefore, missing our due date & end of pregnancy… sad day, but we are thankful for the time we had with him and felt like he was who we needed at the time. We will have our first appointment with the new doctor at 36 weeks. I am excited to meet him and have heard great things about him. I am thankful for a hospital that has many great doctors that I feel like I can trust- for sure a blessing!

            Posted in Mcnugget | 1 Comment

            July 18- July 25

            Posted on July 26, 2012 by

            July 18: thank you Jord for craving this and pintrest for the recipe– homemade toffee= delicious

            July 19: Happy 4 years to us! Chinese food & coffee! Gosh I love that boy.

            July 20: ICE an essential for us Americans here in the heat… (or anytime really) all our friends (other than Americans) always look at me strangely & make comments about my ice drinks

            July 21: game night with some freinds

            July 22: Turkish coffee with some friends after we got our eyebrows threaded. Since it’s Ramadan things open later and stay open later- this was at 11:30pm…

            July 23: dates and a visit with my old neighbor, she was fasting, but still severed us… felt bad to eat in front of her, but she insisted

            July 24: Baby Back Ribs in Dubai at Billy Blues with Drew & Jord on our double date… delcious

            July 25: We are watching these sweet girls for the next 5 days while Drew & Jord get some much needed “them” time. We are super excited! Called the girls down for lunch and this is how they came dressed! love them

              Posted in 365 | Comments Off on July 18- July 25

              30 weeks

              Posted on July 23, 2012 by

              How far along? 30 weeks!! (July 18th) (don’t love my hair in this one… but traveling from my house to Jord’s for the pic in 115 degrees= gross/sweaty hair! ha)

              Total weight gain: not sure…? Maybe 18 now or more? Feels like more depending on the day! Hard to believe I could get any bigger!

              Maternity clothes? Yes- pretty much all maternity now…my fav around the house wear are Chase’s soft t-shirts!

              Stretch marks? None so far!

              Sleep: great still

              Best moment this week: Seeing Lydia move from the outside! I want to try and get it on video to share… we’ll see if I can catch it in time!

              Miss Anything? Being able to just sit on the couch without having to readjust my position constantly because it is hard to breathe or I can’t get comfortable – but I wouldn’t trade being pregnant or getting to be Lydia’s momma for anything J

              Movement: Lots! Esp when we watch loud movies… she moves almost the entire time we watch movies… I tell Chase she is his daughter for sure cuz he loves movies- I think it could watch one everyday if I said yes.

              Food cravings: milk, pickles, and popsicles

              Anything making you queasy or sick: nothing really, but still just avoiding most Arab food

              Gender: girl!

              Labor Signs: Nope- feeling the Braxton Hicks contractions, but no pain… just tightness

              Symptoms: earaches, shortness of breath, achy lower back if I have been standing all day or walking a lot, heartburn

              Belly Button in or out? OUT! When Kead & Sayla (my friend Jordan’s girls) saw my belly button sticking out for the first time the said, “Look Brittany Wydia (what Sayla calls her) is pushing your belly button out!!” and then giggle!- love it

              Wedding rings on or off? on

              Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, but feeling my moodiness creep back similar to first trimester… where sometimes I am super happy and love living here and then the next day (or minute) I just want to lay on the couch and take the first plane home to America… or not get up from my bed with the A/C on full blast for an entire afternoon because I can’t cool off!

              Looking forward to: my momma (Grami) coming in 59 days!! (not that we are counting…) She bought her plane tickets and will get here September 20th—I told Lydia she can come greet us on September 24th after mom and I have a few days to get stuff ready & she sees me preggo… we will see how well she listens 😉

              P.s. We are praying that Lydia has eyesight like her daddy… even though I am not exactly 20/400… I might as well be- ha

                Posted in Mcnugget | 2 Comments

                July 10 – July 17

                Posted on July 22, 2012 by

                July 10: had some friends over for Chicken Parmesan- this is their sweet girl

                July 11: the results of “cooking from scratch” … believe it or not the kitchen was super clean before I started cooking- ha

                July 12: Trip to Dubai which included a movie… trying to fit in as many as we can before little miss joins us!

                July 13: sleeping in till 11:30 am on a Saturday= breakfast for lunch and an episode of 24… also trying to take advantage of sleeping in while we can!

                July 14: Photo School- learning how lighting effects your pictures… also learning how lighting is KEY to great photography… don’t you love my model?

                July 15: getting stuff put together for the nursery…

                July 16: enjoying some fruit at a local friends house… had to leave after an hour even though they insisted I stay for dinner at 11:30 pm! because of heartburn…

                July 17: Mimi’s (my grandmother) vase and sunflowers… working on lightening and composition for photo school

                  Posted in 365 | Comments Off on July 10 – July 17

                  July 19th…

                  Posted on July 20, 2012 by

                  4 years ago we said “i do” in an Albuquerque thunderstorm! What an exciting 4 years it has been- 2 in the states living in our college town, and almost 2 overseas. The Lord has blessed us beyond measure. I am so thankful for my husband and so proud to be a McGough!

                  Not sure if I have shared on here, but I got my computer stolen a few weeks ago (sad day- i know), so I don’t have all our anniversary pics on this computer (they are all on our external hard drive), so I found a few pics over the last 4 years of random events…

                  July 19, 2008- Happiest day of my life!

                  After the rain the clouds & sunset were gorgeous & made for some great pictures!

                  Year 1: First Christmas as a McGough couple!

                  Year 2: Loved living as a married couple in our college town and getting to go to Tech football games for two seasons

                  Year 3: Love getting dressed up with this boy and eating yummy food. We started a favorite restaurant list over the past 4 years that we will share with you soon!

                  Year 4: Babymoon in Thailand… excited to start our 4th year off together becoming parents!

                  Happy Anniversary baby! Here’s to 80 more! I love you more!

                    Posted in Everyday Life | Comments Off on July 19th…

                    babymoon… (part 1)

                    Posted on July 17, 2012 by

                    Finally, am sitting down to post pics of our babymoon in Thailand! I have way too many pictures to just share a few, so I thought I would create some collages to share with ya’ll.

                    First, I want to say that we were incredibly blessed to get to go spend a week together in Thailand before Lydia arrives. We had an amazing time- just being us, reading, resting, eating, talking, laughing, and enjoying cooler weather. I am so lucky to have married my best friend- I seriously have so much fun with Chase and couldn’t be more thankful for the times that I get to spend with him. I am excited for our next phase of life as we become parents, but I want to always remember us and make sure we make time for each other and learn how to love each other well in the midst of no sleep, dirty diapers, and a crying baby… (I know there is much more than that when it comes to a newborn, but you get the gist).

                    If you are pregnant for the first time and have not taken a trip or “stay-cation” with your man yet, make sure you do… it is totally worth it!

                    Now for some pictures…

                    Around our beautiful hotel… Mai Samui Resort & Spa on the Koh Samui Island. It felt very “Thai” like, with a great pool, great food, staff, and rooms. One of my favorite parts was how excited the lady receptionists at the resort were about our baby… every time they saw me they would rub my belly and put their ears to it and tell me it sounded like she was sleeping! ha They were also very opinionated in what I could and could not do as a pregnant lady around the island- like no hiking and no riding a scooter motor bike around town… glad they were looking out for me!

                    One day we hired a guy to take us around the island and show us some sights (everything was so cheap out there that we were able to have our own car for 6 hours to do whatever we wanted!) We enjoyed our day, however, we wished our driver would have spoken more English so we could have learned more about the island. Above are pictures of us at the “BIG” Buddha- I thought it would be fun to take a pic of my round belly with Buddhas- ha!

                    One of our island stops included this unique spa treatment! The fish cleaned the dead skin off our feet- it was super ticklish at first, but then you got used to it and it was super relaxing… definitely a fun experience complete with green tea and relaxing music.

                    After we ate some delicious Thai food we went and got foot massages (and a pedicure for me)… loving that I can rest food on my belly now! ha

                    We “hiked” to this waterfall at the end of our island tour… it was so green and cool- we also got a treat of seeing some Europeans taking a dip in their underwear… was tempted to join! ha

                    I will leave you with some pictures of the food (yes, one of my favorite things to photograph) …all the food was Delicious! I think I had Phad Thai like 3 or 4 times… yummm and for those Lubbock-ites that read this- Thai Pepper is pretty legit, so keep supporting them.

                    Believe it or not, I have more pics to share… until next time…

                      Posted in Mcnugget, Travel | 2 Comments