WHIP in your NOGgins {good things utah}

Good Morning Sunshine!

If you're tuning in from 

Good Things Utah,

WELCOME!

We're so glad you're here.

Whether you love egg nog or hate it,

this recipe is for you.

Please note: 

i don't love egg nog.

but this,

I LOVE!

and it's just not New Year's Eve without it.

My friend Tammy is the one who I give ownership to it,

and one day I hope to grow up just like her.

...

THE

WHIPPING CREAM

EGG NOG

{once mixed, CHILL--in other words,

make in the morning before party time}

Ingredients:

1 pint Whipping Cream {heavy cream}

Powdered Sugar to taste {this is what makes more fluffy whipping cream}

4 eggs

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbls vanilla

1 quart half and half

3 quarts 2% or whole milk

Vanilla Ice Cream

Directions:

Whip 1 pint whipping cream, sweeten with powered sugar and set aside.

Combine 4 eggs and 1 can sweetened condensed milk.

Add:

1/2 tsp salt

1tbls vanilla

1 quart half and half

3 quarts 2% or whole milk

Fold in whipping cream and top with nutmeg.

Add small balls of ice cream before serving, and top with more nutmeg.

...

Click here for the Grandma Max's Gingerbread Men recipe.

They're also hanging out on the 

Good Morning America 

{yep, you read that right}

website 

for their 15 minutes {errr 26 seconds} 

of fame!

way to go champs.

you're making mama proud ;)

SLEEP.

sometime right in the middle of july i find myself coming down the stairs in the morning,

or really late at night.

with the air conditioner blasting,

and the hot summer air looming outside,

and i fantasize about seeing my christmas tree with its lights glowing in front of my front window.

and for a minute i can almost smell the fresh scent of christmas tree in my house.

once i closed my eyes and always fell down the entire darn staircase.

man was i glad no one saw that except me.

but right now,

every time i come down the stairs,

i'm basking in that big open space,

and all of the hard work it took to put it all away,

and how satisfying it is to see everything back in its place for the routine life of the rest of the year.

with no needles anywhere.

not even in the cracks of the front entry tiles or in the crooks of the bottom banister.

just a toy bin, and newly arranged christmas toys that are being loved with novelty of childhood.

i love that fresh clean start of january!

now about that one word resolution everyone keeps posting.

here's mine: 

SLEEP:)

no more partridge & a pear tree {goodbye 2012}

{i had to start keeping a list to keep everyone and their drugs straight.}

{i wish chase had only woken up to get his motrin at 4am. t'was not so...}

...

with 2 fevers, 1 puker, and another one with a messed up foot,

we gibson's are hoping to leave all of our ailments in 2012!!!

{and maybe even some of the sleepless nights?!}

after a whopping 3 hours of sleep last night at 2 different times,

all of our party plans have been canceled.

BUT,

i'm thinking it might not be so bad to put the kids to bed early,

and celebrate all by ourselves.

i am still in my pajamas at 2:09pm,

a vision of beauty for sean to come home to indeed!

{he is SO lucky, and i am too}.

i did manage to brush my teeth around noon,

so i'm calling it a "win."

my new year's eve will REALLY be the cherry on top if i get a shower before the ball drops.

and we don't end up at the pediatrician's office.

have no fear, i won't be letting all of these germs get in the way of my food festivities.

the show must go on!

menu and recipes below...

happy new year!!!

{it has to be a flu that wasn't in our flu shot. THE PITS!!!}

{it's either a flu that wasn't in our flu shot or another ear infection}

{the athlete's foot cream messed up his foot}

...............................................

the menu

whipping cream egg nog 

{tammy's recipe--this will be MY main course}

homemade whole wheat pizzas

artichoke dip 

{tammy's recipe also--she always makes REALLY good stuff}

remember here?

artichoke dip recipe here?

apple bubbly

...

you're welcome,

in advance.

{seriously, get to the store and make some for tonight!}

bring on the Wii!!!

{but no more partridge and a pear tree.}

2010+1

last night for family night we did our annual gibson goals.
and talked about the creation,
but i'm pretty sure brennan thought that we were just showing him pictures from the zoo.
after neatly titling our goals,
writing them all down,
and feeling very accomplished and motivated,
i looked at our wonderful list.
for last year.
at least,
that's the year i wrote.
dang.
which is why i've added +1.
b/c it always takes me a few months to remember which year to write.
you?

*thanks again amy for the clipboard!

the year of the troll.

 happy new year.

whipped nog {a shin-dig}

the red lips
reSOLution, turned reVOLution.
a good one, you were.
i think i'll keep you.

tammy's egg nog...or whipped nog.
it had floating chunks of whipped cream.
i died and went to heaven.
and then things got REALLY interesting...
it's just not a party at the mccleary's without a little GH.
last year's here.

like MOTHER, like son;-)
boo-yah!
largest pizza i've ever seen in my life.
the ruff's were responsible for it.
a pie is what it's called. bree called me a "poser" after this shot above.
whatever.
the first meltdown wasn't until 11:43pm.
go little dude go!
can't believe he made it that long.
if we'd only known what was in store...
at which point we decided to just stick it out and enjoy the midnight hour.
and then the REAL fun began...
the story of the REST of our night follows:
arrived home 12:31am.
washed the pork loin's hands,
threw on his jammies,
and then into bed.
cleaned our kitchen,
picked up toys,
got ready for bed,
read our books for a minute,
went to bed sometime around 1am.
2:45am brought a screaming child.
"binky sean." i say.
he rolls out of bed.
hall light on.
forever is what it feels like.
"what is he doing?!" i think, ready to be really grumpy that he wasn't being faster.
i'm not the nice one in the middle of the night.
i'm working on it.
rolled out of bed to see what was up.
child in father's arms, still screaming.
"he can't breathe," says sean.
great, i think.
so we suck his nose.
old news.
put him back to bed.
10 minutes later screaming recommences,
except now he's gaging like he can't breathe and is going to throw up.
awesome.
at least he never threw up.
why did we stay up to midnight?
why did i keep my child up to midnight?
guilty feelings emerging,
"bad mother" speech going on in my head.
this goes on for about 3 hours.
the screaming and sucking snot, not the "bad mother" speech.
sometime around 4am i got tired of going back and forth between his crib and the recliner in the front room.
i tell sean to just bring him into our bed so we just have to sit up every 15 min to suck his nose.
sean agrees.
we're exhausted.
nights of a newborn were FLASHING before our eyes!
6 weeks early.
(although, i don't feel that exhausted this morning...maybe i can do this again.)
somewhere between 4 and 5am we decided he was finally breathing through his nose and sucking on his binky at the same time.
a feat within itself.
sean shoved two huge blankets under one end of the pork loin's mattress, put him to bed, turned on the "steam machine," and we all fell asleep until after 8am.
woke up with a food hangover.
or was it the egg nog????
cranky baby all morning, but awfully "lovie," as i call it.
hugs, kisses, reaching to sit on my lap.
love that little kid.
still think it was a great night and worth all of the aftermath.
crazy, i know.
thank goodness new year's is only once a year.
and thank goodness our friends and fam made the night worth it;-)
...
in other news...
the power went out this morning.
just realizing all of my clocks are wrong.
i did this again yesterday.
must have forgotten my note to self last year.
however, it wasn't nearly as bad.
picked up nursing necessities for baby "max" and bought a bathing suit to fit my "current form."
let the swimming begin again!
although, i haven't totally ruled out the bikini...

red lips revolution

aren't those mountains

to die for!?

fresh snow on top.

kind of like whipped topping.

it's just yummy.

red lips,

where have you been all my life?

love my red lips resolution.
it rolls off the tongue so beautifully, doesn't it?
red lips resolution.

remember, new year's resolution 2009: wear red lipstick. a lot.

say it with me folks.
red lips resolution.
or maybe we could start a
red lips revolution.
yeah, i like that.

feels so good

there's nothing like an after christmas shopping spree!

seriously, best new year's day ever.

played a few songs on world tour,

got two encores & unlocked a song.

grabbed the babe and hub and went to the mall.

crazy?

i thought so too, but it was surprisingly not very busy.

i guess noon is still early on new year's day.

the best part was

not

spending

a

dime.

no, i didn't steal them!

i have morals people;-)

two words:

gift

cards
thank you gift card givers.

i

love

you.

almost as much as i love this "steal" i found in the kids' dept. at nordi's.

really, best deal all year!

lol

if you know me, you know i LOVE lucky jeans.

i snagged these little duds for brennan while waiting for sean to do a return.

originally marked as $58

marked down to $37.90

marked down to $28.90

rung up as...

(drum roll please)

$19.97!!!!!

or

$21.34 with tax, but tax surely doesn't count!

seriously, that would have bought a cute little pair at old navy, but no, i got

baby lucky jeans for the same price!!!!!

2009 is so great;-)

and in 2T!

you bet i'm rolling those babies up so he can start wearing them now.
new year's resolution:
wear red lipstick

a lot.

they did my lips at the mac counter, don't they rock!?

i think that might be the biggest my nose has ever looked,

but this is about the lips, right?

rockstars

rockstars

we battled

i won

woot woot

this was my preparty practice at our house
new year's party at the mccleary's this year
we put little "overactive bowels" to bed
(thanks mom for holding the fort down)
and went out on a new year's date!
i made this aMAZing artichoke dip.
you
MUST
try it.
recipe to follow
sean and layne
"besties"
thanks for a great party mccleary's!

artichoke dip:
sorry no picture b/c frankly i was too busy eating all of it;-)
1 pkg softened cream cheese (i microwaved it for 30-60 sec)
1/4 c. mayo
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
1 4 oz. can diced green chilies
1 c. grated parmesan
garlic salt (a few shakes)

mix it all together, bake at 350* for 30 min., serve with chips
seriously,
you might want
to make it
tonight.

new year's no no

never go to the store on

new year's eve day

ever.

lesson learned.

however, now that i am home i am very happy to have guitar hero world tour to play on my wii tonight.

EI8HT

ei8ht

is my favorite number.

it's no surprise that 200EIGHT was a great year.

8 has always been my favorite number.

my lucky number!

you know, pick a number in your head?

i always choose eight.

guess you'll be able to win at that game now!

i

made a quilt

became a mother

had a 9.4lb baby with an epidural

(thank you dr. kyle for the drugs & dr. nielson for a healthy babe)

became a nursing mother

became a stay at home mother

(you should try it, it's fab!!!)

watched my husband become a father

and an amazing one at that

fell in love with my husband in a whole new way

became more honest

took maternity leave

resigned from teaching

(at least the kind i got a paycheck from)
fell in love with a 2nd boy

(hint: name begins with B)

learned every kid song known to man

made up a song for everything in my day

traveled to 4 or 5 states

lost 45 pounds

(thank you breastfeeding)

started swimming again

started sewing

successfully made homemade bread

dyed my hair dark (a feat within itself!)

fell in love with my new dark locks

became a "ehem" blogger

(something i had once rolled my eyes at in the past)

was offered a guest blogger post

(tune in to see where & when!)

rekindled old friendships

tried to make new friends, but ended up mainly sticking with the old

made some new friends through the old

fell in love with nieniedialogues

put my baby on a schedule

took my baby off a schedule

put my baby on a schedule

(thank you baby wise)

taught my baby (with sean & nat) how to sleep

increased my milk supply

(very VERY proud of this!!!)

am still nursing full time

plan to nurse until he is 1

(yes, to join the elite 20% group who actually make it there!)

did a 1/2 way homemade christmas

organized a fundraiser for nie

tried some new recipes

fell in love with homemade wheat pizza

recommitted myself to eating more fish

and avocadoes

appreciated my country

my freedom

and right to vote

joined a book club

read over 20 books

purchased fabric & patterns for retro aprons

(will finish in 2009)

reorganized my closets 3 times

(which need to be done again, d.i. i'm supporting you!)

went to the movies once

got released from a calling

got a new calling

set a 10pm bedtime

threw out the bedtime

renewed my temple recommend

try really hard to stay at church every sunday

we are getting better at staying!

(do you have kids? do you know what i'm talking about?)

went home for christmas

got excited for christmas like a kid

(hoping for the 1 gift i really really really wanted-wii)

started tuesdays with marie

supported a husband through the first 1 1/2 of grad school

nursed a baby through his first real sickness

(this is not completed just yet...)

leanred that there is really a special place in heaven for scout masters

and mothers

learned what "happiness" is truly all about

found my dreams

found courage

found confidence

(and a whole new wardrobe...

or it feels that way at least)

found more love.

cheers to 200EIGHT.