"splish splash i was takin' a bath"

there have been

two common occurrences

with brennan's baths this week.
a.

baby climbs up on side of tub

(looking extra cute mind you)

mom sits baby down

(in a nice voice, "no standing in the tub")
baby climbs back up on side of the tub
("mom, this is really cool, what's on the other side?")

this goes on until the bath is over.

with

big brown eyes

and

Michelin tire arms

like that, my heart melts.

b.

mom lets water out of tub.

baby closes drain, looks up and smiles.

mom smiles, closes drain, & scoots baby away from drain
baby scoots toward drain and closes drain

this goes on for some time until water drains.

baby is scooped up and out of tub onto towel.

i am absolutely intoxicated by his cuteness.

there's just nothing like a baby fresh out of a bath.

more please.

pizza pizza!

tonight's ingredients:

homemade wheat pizza dough,

(suuuuuuuuper easy, click here)

tomatoes, onions, yellow bell peppers, avocados, ground sausage, mozzarella cheese

salt, pepper, basil

lay it all out on your dough

(i cooked the sausage with half of the onions on the stove before)
bake at 475 for 17-18 min.

eat in heavenly peace

i've died and gone to pizza heaven.

don't you wish you were at our house tonight?

us too;-)

nie is back today

and don't forget to check out the

new nie

posting

today

for the

first

time

since her crash in august.

click here to read.

"i love to see the temple"

1. drive to draper temple open house to drop off mom, richard, & leslie

2. pick up shannon (she lives a few blocks from the temple)

3. drive back to temple to meet up with mom, richard, & leslie

4. loose mom, richard, & leslie

5. ask temple volunteer to help us find entrance

(this seems easy enough,

trust me,

the tent mazes made this difficult...

i had flashbacks of climbing over the fence at the

salt lake temple

to get across south temple to meet my mom

at my cousin's wedding when i was 9...

that's a story for another day...just know that the fence

is high and pointy and i was in a dress...)

6. get escorted through a back side door of the temple with

no

door

knob

by a lovely gentlemen temple volunteer

(thank you sir!)

7. led by

three

lovely

temple

volunteer ladies

in

three

different directions
8. finally led to the entrance, where

three

different

security

guards

asked us if we were lost

(this was due to the fact that we were at the "entrance," but not the start of the tour)

9. we still have not found mom, richard, & leslie at this point

10. no cell or text service

11. finally shannon and i decide to just go in and enjoy

12. enjoying baptismal font

(just the three of us inside, so peaceful, spirit so strong)

13. see mom, richard, & leslie through baptismal font window

14. smiling, waving, and jumping in the most reverent way possible

15. long last reunited!!!

16. finished tour together

mom, richard, leslie, me, brennan

(shannon was our photographer)
me, brennan
me, shannon (my temple partner in crime...that just sounds so wrong, but i mean it in a good way!), brennan

we still had to drive mom, richard, & leslie back to their car at the bottom of the hill (they bus everyone up to the temple for tours), so mom took one for the team and rode in the trunk to fit everyone in (what a champ!).

shannon and i decided that we will be the story in volunteer briefing this morning where they say, "if anyone asks you go in a different way, kindly direct them to the beginning to avoid confusion."

yeeeeeah.

good thing it was the first day.

hopefully they thought we were investigators;-)

even funnier?

we all went to lunch afterwards and mom, richard, & leslie got lost on the way (funnier part of the story? we used their directions to get there. moral of the story? go in one car).

the end.

numero seis

haircut that is.

the sixth one.

by 10 months old.

not too shabby,

if

i

do

say

so

myself;-)

my specimen brings a lot of cuteness to the table.
i think he would still be cute
with
a
bad
haircut.
but,
i think this is a pretty
good
haircut.

*note: cutting hair while baby is in bath is not as good of an idea as it sounds...

now my tub is clogged...

must get draino today.
1 day to nie.
i almost can't stand the anticipation!

dinner tonight!

i forgot to post about this amazing fish i made last week.

it was from my

60 min. Gourmet

book,

you know, the one with the shrimp recipe?

(click on "recipes" at the bottom on this post to see other recipes i've listed)

anyway, i do make other things than fish

from the book, but i've been trying to

eat

more

fish

lately.

it looks like lasagna right now.

...

baked red snapper

with feta cheese

1/4c olive oil

1/4c chopped onion

2tsp chopped garlic

2c canned tomatoes, diced with liquid

2tbls. drained capers

1tsp dried oregano

1/4tsp dried hot red pepper flakes

1/4c & 2tbls chopped parsley

salt & pepper to taste

2 red snapper fillets (about 1 1/4lb each)*

1/2lb feta cheese

...

*i bought the least expensive white fish that was fresh that day,

which happened to be orange roughie and cod.

about 2-3lbs worth.

...

directions:

1. preheat 425*

2. heat oil, onion, and garlic, stirring until onion is soft and transparent

3. add tomatoes with liquid, capers, oregano, pepper flakes, parsley, salt, & pepper

4. arrange fish in a round baking dish (one layer, do not stack fish on top of each other)

5. pour sauce on top of fish

6. bake for 15 min.

7. crumble feta cheese and sprinkle over fish and sauce, bake 5-10 min.

8. serve with a veggie and garlic bread, serves 4

...

my garlic bread

i use whatever bread i have in my kitchen

(sometimes leftover hamburger buns!)

spread butter

sprinkle garlic salt

sprinkle Parmesan powdered cheese

broil 3-5 min. until golden brown

...

alright, now go to the store to get your fish & feta!

cranky baby

last night went like this...

1. fed baby dinner

2. nursed baby

3. read baby 3 books

4. put baby to bed on time (7:15pm)

5. cleaned up kitchen, picked up toys

(okay, so i didn't really do this, but i should have),

instead,

i settled into our recliner and watched 90210,

but i did consider jumping on the treadmill,

does that still count?

6. baby wakes up crying at 9pm (this is not normal)

7. put pacifier back in

8. baby goes back to sleep

9. baby wakes up at 9:30pm (not sure if baby ever went back to sleep)

10. baby gets reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaallllly mad from then until about midnight

what the crap!?

we've trained this baby to soothe himself to sleep so rocking doesn't really work anymore...

but when we're desperate we try just for kicks;-)

11. 4 sessions of rocking, 2 attempted nursings

these two things are reserved only for emergencies,

like sickness and teething...

i think this one was teething.

tried oragel and baby motrin,

but no relief came to baby.

12. finally put baby in crib

13. baby played for 30 minutes with toys in crib

14. baby fell asleep until 8am

15. mom wonders, "what the heck was that about?"

have you had one of these nights?

the eternal optimist in me is

VERY thankful

it was from 9-midnight,

rather than 3-5am.

oatmeal, straight up

i eat my oatmeal straight.

that means:

1/2 c. milk

1/3 c. oats

(you know, the kind from the big cylinder canister)

i have it in a mug.

this is crucial.

you can hold your oatmeal by the handle and not burn your hands.

i have tried it in a bowl, but it was too hot on my hands.

very genius.

i learned it from my old college roomie kat.

i believe it came to be out of the fact that we had no bowls in our dorm room, but still.

and i wash it down with a big thing of this.

that's it.

i'm a simple gal who requires breakfast

every

morning.

oh yeah, i add a tsp. of fiber for heart health too.

and sometimes a banana.

Amber Alert GPS

Introducing

Amber Alert GPS

2G

have you heard about it yet?

what?:

GPS device to help answer the question,

"where is my child?"

...

features:

maps on your mobile phone

safe zones defined by you

SOS button

speed button

bread crumbing

temperature alert

...

how?:

1. place device on or with child

compatible with wrist, ankle, or belt

(fits in the palm of your hand)

colors available: blue, pink, green, red, silver

2. call your amber alert GPS and receive a text message of its location

3. view the location from your mobile phone or computer

...

Features Defined:

-Maps on Your Mobile Phone: When you call your GPS to request a location, you will receive a map URL right back on your mobile phone.

-Safe Zone: Define an area in your neighborhood, school district or any where you choose and receive an alert when your GPS is carried outside that location.

-SOS Button: Teach your child to press the GPS SOS button when they need help and you will immediately receive an alert with their location.

-Speed Alert: Receive a notification when your GPS surpasses a specific speed and know immediately when your child is in a car. Great for speeding teenagers!

-Bread Crumbing: You can have the Amber Alert GPS unit send you messages on a regular time schedule, set by you, to tell you the exact whereabouts of your child from moment to moment. This will save you time of having to call the GPS unit every time you want an update (only available with "Unlimited Plan").

-Temperature Alert: Know when your child is in danger from extreme temperatures or water.

interested?

ask me!

your personal Amber Alert GPS affiliate!

affiliate# 319275

couldn't fight the urge

there's only one problem with my red lipstick revolution...

i have this kid with these cheeks that scream,

"kiss me!!!!"

i thought i would just kiss him once,

wipe off the lipstick,

and be on my merry way.

but,

i just couldn't stop myself.

muah, muah, muah, muah
thank goodness for baby wipes;-)

"encourages crawling"

that's what the box says...

do you think they will let me return it if results are not shown?

sean's mom bought this little beauty in the hopes that brennan might learn to crawl. we are all very excited to see how things turn out.

as you can see,

he is on all fours.

this is something he has been unable to do in the past.

so stay tuned b/c part deux of the crawling competition will be announced soon.

get ready to place your bets again!