Family Photos

We had Jeanette, who is one of our greatest friends, take some family photos for us. We love how they turned out!! Visit her photography blog to see more!

Stuff to love...

...Food for Thought, former Utahn Kelsey Nixon's refreshing and fun cooking blog. She's got great Thanksgiving recipes up now if you are needing last minute inspiration!!

...Every Day I Write the Book. Funny, funny. I love her voice- just so deliciously sarcastic, especially her tips for having a Healthful Holiday.

...Mighty Girl (tagline: Famous Among Dozens). I particularly like her Mighty Closet series. I love her ideas for packing light.

...Metalia, who I have been reading for a while, wrote a hilarious rap explaining the plot of New Moon.

What have you loved on the internet recently?

Thankful...

for these guys.

Charlie- 33 weeks

Charlie is getting really mobile when he's on the floor. He is officially "creeping" which means he can do a pretty awesome army crawl. He can really cover a lot of ground! We spend a lot of time just hanging out in the living room floor playing with toys and working on that crawling.

One morning this week, the sun was shining through the window just the right way to cast rainbows right where Charlie was playing. He found them quite interesting and I loved the challenge of capturing all the colors in my photo.





And despite the fact that he is growing up all the time, Charlie is still my little baby and he is still little enough to fall asleep in the Moby wrap while at the grocery store.

Charlie- 32 weeks

It snowed and Charlie spend some time checking it out through the window. Although it wasn't Charlie's first snowstorm ever (it snowed the day he was born. At the end of March.) he really thought it was interesting!




He's still a happy guy!

How do you like them apples?

Every fall, John's Uncle John (did you follow that?) sends us some apples from his own trees. We had a peeling party and Chelsea and I made a gigantic batch of applesauce with our share. Kate joined in with apples from her backyard trees and Chelsea provided the recipe and the kitchen.









Charlie was our taste tester. He found it a little tart!

On the occasion of my birth

It was my birthday last week. I am 27. The thing about 27 is that it is not an old age by any means, but it is not particularly young age either. I am beginning to ask myself if I am too old for things. As in, "Am I too old to have super long hair?" (My stylist pretty much said yes and chopped 4 inches off.) As I'm on campus, the freshman seem to be getting younger and younger. I noticed a girl in my class was wearing a sweatshirt from my high school. I was excited to talk to her about good old East High until I saw something else on her sleeve- Class of 2009. As in less than 6 months ago she was in high school. As in she graduated 8 YEARS after I did. Sheesh, I felt really old to still be in college. Age is so abstract- I don't feel the age I am, but what is 27 supposed to feel like anyway?

Despite my age related philosophical ponderings, I had a really fun time celebrating my birthday. It actually made me really excited for Charlie's future birthdays and the fun things we will do to celebrate them.

John's family had a Sunday dinner for me (and the other fall birthdays) and his parents watched Charlie so we could go on a real, grown-up date. We decided to try a new-to-us restaurant and chose Fresco, a little tiny place in Sugarhouse. We decided to make trying a new restaurant part of our birthday traditions from now on.






My family got together for a Sunday dinner party, as well. Charlie loves seeing his cousins, Sam and Lily, and they are always so sweet with him.

Lily, Sam and Charlie were there to help me blow out all those candles...

Charlie loves being up in his high chair and a part of the action.

Sam, Steve, Kerry, "Mister Char Char" (as Sam calls him), and Lily have a group hug

My girlfriends took me out to lunch a few days after my birthday, too. I felt very loved and celebrated!

Charlie- 31 weeks

I've begun to get to the point where I honestly don't remember what it was like before Charlie was born. He is such a part of my day-to-day life and my identity, even. And I really love it that way (so far!)

He's my little pal- we do almost everything together. We went shopping (for, ahem, a nursing bra) and the store had this funny little contraption. It was like a baby holder attached to the wall at eye level. I strapped him in and he looked so funny sitting there staring at me.



John took this picture with his phone and texted it to me while I was out.



Charlie is getting so much closer to crawling. He digs his toes into the carpet and pushes his bum in the air. He's even gotten his arms involved a few times.




I love this little rosy-cheeked cherub! What a little chubby baby, oh, love him.

So THAT'S what you do all day...

In front of an engineering firm in London

My husband, John aka JohnnyT, is a "software engineer" which is a type of computer programmer. He works for a company called Alliance Health which is a social networking company in the health care industry. Telling people what he does for a living often confuses them- it isn't a one word answer like doctor, lawyer, plumber, or teacher.

Well, here's some clarity into part of what he and his company do! The Deseret News wrote an article highlighting Diabetic Connect, one of Alliance Health's free online support communities. John loves his job and he's really excited to a part of a company that helps so many people!

Tomorrow is World Diabetes Day- check out Diabetic Connect in honor of those afflicted by this disease.

Sweet Baby James

Chelsea brought my nephew over for a play date the other day. I love this little guy and I know that he and Charlie will grow up to be such pals!

Great Sale!

I love this time of year because I get the itch to do some Christmas shopping. Right now, Old Navy is having a 50% off sale on outerwear! Check it out! I'm digging these coats for my family but there are so many to choose from!


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The Cool Girls Table

Last night I shed my Mom title for a few hours and instead, happily wore the mantle of Groupie.

Ree Drummond (better known as Pioneer Woman) was in town for a book signing of her new cookbook. I have been reading her blog for years and even won one of her contests once (a gift card to Amazon.com with which I bought my camera). I envisioned having her sign my book and reminding her that we went way back and were old friends. And then she'd invite me to come to the ranch and work cattle with her and cook food and take pictures together. Or something like that.

She's looking right at me- we have such a connection!

What Actually Happened:

When I arrived at the event (45 minutes early), there were several hundred people already in line. Luckily, I had pre-ordered my book and my good pal, (and admittedly, my security blanket) *Casey, was already in line and saving me a spot.

Me and Casey, snapping a quick pic between moments of Moosh in Indy groupies approaching her

We were some of last people let into the Q & A venue. It was packed. We ended up with a pretty great spot, close to the podium and along the path where Ree walked in.

There's Ree walking right past me, so close I could reach out and touch her. But I didn't, because I have (almost normal) boundaries.

Ree was gracious and funny, answering every question and making us laugh. She told us her kids' and Marlboro Man's real names. She did her Ethel Merman impression. And she shared a great story about being introduced to "working cattle" by way of a thermometer, a branding iron, and cow poop up to her elbow. She added at the end, "Gloves were not provided to me."

Ooh, we're so close to the Pioneer Woman!

She snapped a few pictures of the crowd and even one of me taking a picture of her taking pictures. Hi, Ree! We both shoot Nikon! Let's be BFF! (Although, her camera is so big it looks like it ate my camera. Burp.)



I was so enthralled that I almost didn't notice I was standing next to two of my friends, Emily and Andrea!



After the Q &A we stumbled across a group of Utah bloggers that Casey knew. This is where the Cool Girls Table feeling began to really ramp up. This was a group of people who introduced themselves by first name, blog name. I've never been to a blog conference or any other blogging networking event so this was totally new to me.

In background, L-R Carol, Janet, Emily
In foreground, L-R Carina, Vanessa, Marie, Casey

I was just jazzed to be in their little group for the moment but all the while feeling like a Spaz.

Me spazzing it up with (L-R) Allison, Carina, Emily, Vanessa, and Marie

We soon parted ways to suss out the actual book signing situation.

After the Q & A, groups of 20 were to be let in the (teensy) bookstore to have their books signed, beginning with tickets marked "A". Casey and I were holding letter "J" tickets which meant at least a 2 hour wait in the cold. As we were mulling over our options, we met two ladies who had driven an hour to get to the event, only to find the cookbooks sold out and the tickets all gone. Casey insisted that they take her book AND ticket. She even came up with the brilliant plan to have Ree sign both the book AND the book jacket so that they could order another book and each have her signature. (Meanwhile, I kept holding tightly and selfishly onto my own book...)

We headed back to my car, both of us resigned to returning home to our mothering duties (bedtime, nursing, packing, etc.) On our way, we saw our Cool Girls Table huddled in the alley behind the bookstore. They were gathered around a tall, blond, skinny, pretty woman who looked remarkably like Heather Armstrong. We stopped in our tracks. Casey turned and said, "I think that was Dooce." I said, "We're friends with those girls now, let's get over there!"

We hustled over to the group and sidled up to their conversation. Casey introduced herself and in a very genuine and classy way made a connection with Heather. I chimed in at inappropriate times with gems like, "I'm Barbara! Our babies are the same age! I think I live by you!" and other such emphatic stalkerisms.

I took a photo of Casey and Heather together. I got up my courage and asked if I could have a photo with her, too. Just as I was handing my camera to someone, Dooce was needed inside the bookstore and she was whisked off into the brightly lit store to meet Ree while I was left in the dark, cold alley. I felt like the head Cool Girl had just told me that I couldn't eat lunch with her. (Although, Heather really was quite nice. It was just unfortunate timing).

A small group of the Utah bloggers was allowed inside to meet Ree. (They brought presents and had a Dooce-lubed entrance.) Carol was thoughtful enough to take my cookbook in with her to get it signed.



I stayed for awhile chatting with Allison, Marie and Carina about Charlie's superpowers, Kerry's blog, sleep training, breastfeeding, CJane, and Steve Clark for awhile until my hungry, tired baby at home could not wait for his mama any longer. I left the event without ever getting my face time with the Pioneer Woman, but I didn't mind. I got out of my comfort zone, made some new friends and left feeling like I belonged in that group sitting at the Cool Girls Table.



*Casey is definitely already one of the Cool Girls

Charlie- 30 weeks (7 months)

Charlie continues to be such a joy! I love his little developing personality. Here's some things about our little Cheby (like Che + Baby) this past month.

-He loves talking and practicing new sounds (da, ba, ma, hi, thhhhh, and many others that I'm not sure are part of the English language). Sometimes when he's complaining or crying, his voice distracts him from crying and he starts vocalizing more. It's like he's saying, "My voice! I remembered about my marvelous VOOICCCE!"

-He really enjoys playing in the Exersaucer that Chelsea loaned us. Just this week, he's started to jump in it in addition to playing with the toys. He has also figured out the Johnny Jump-Up. Jumping in any form is one of his favorite activities.



-He's slowly trying new foods. Mostly because mommy needs to get used to adding food into our daily schedule. He loves it and we're adding new foods all the time. So far: rice, sweet potatoes, yams, bananas, and apples.

-He loves sitting up in the grocery cart or in restaurant high chairs looking around and watching people.




-He has started leaning and reaching for me (and a few lucky others) when he wants to be held. Melt my heart.

-Charlie has a sippy cup that he's learning to drink water from and it is one of his favorite things to play with. He usually holds it upside down and chews on the bottom of it, but occasionally he gets the spout and drinks a little water. :)

-He's outgrown his infant car seat! We went shopping and picked out a new one and he looked so little in it! (Pictures to come).

He's growing up so fast! I just want to slow down time!