Utah Vacation Day 3

Day 3 started out with Ethan playing with the kids before they went to school. Once the kids were gone it was shopping time. Can a girl ever have enough shopping? We just went around to all sorts of places and we had to stop by Rumbi's for some delicious salads. Oh so good. Once the kids got home from school it was playtime for the Ethmeister. Tyler and Stockton taught Ethan how to tackle and helped him with his basketball skills. And of course Morgan was the greatest baby-sitter ever

Well, all that guy training was good and all, but of course Ethan wanted to put on the "spirit dude" costume. My cousin Tyler did a skit to win 7th grade president and he dressed up as "Spirit Dude" which was a tutu in his school colors, an afro wig, a tiara, and a wand. He totally won and Ethan was very intrigued by the costume. Once he put it on he ran around the house saying, "Princess!!" I knew his father would kill me for letting this go on, but it was hilarious and Ethan loved it. Isn't he so cute?

Utah Vacation Day 2

Day 2 was an eventful shopping day. We started out with some time at Rod Works and I found some great stuff that I shipped home. Yeah! Then we went out to Tai Pan. Oh my gosh! Can we please get one of these in Texas soon?!??!??! For those of you who don't know what Tai Pan is...it's an awesome home decor store that has just about everything at a great price. It was all set up for Christmas already and with the cold weather out in Utah, it truly felt like Christmas! After Tai Pan we headed out to Cafe Rio. Can we say pork salad??!! Yum! I love Cafe Rio. Well, if the day couldn't get any better...it did. We went to the mall and my child fell asleep in the stroller, yes the stroller.

Since when does that happen? The last time he ever fell asleep in his stroller was after a long morning at Disneyworld and it only lasted 10 minutes. Go figure. So I got to cruise the mall and check out anything I wanted while he slept peacefully in the stroller. Once we got home, the kids filed in from school and played with Ethan.
At night I would go to bed with Ethan at like 8:30 every night. My plan was to lay down by him long enough that he would be asleep and then I would go out and socialize, not the case. I was so tired that everytime I would be fall asleep before Ethan was sound enough for me to leave. Plus he would wake up every morning at 5:30 so I guess it was good that I went to bed that early.

Utah Vacation Day 1

Okay, the pictures are loaded and I'm ready to journal our fun vacation! Ryan was out in Australia for his brother's wedding and I wasn't able to go since a plane ticket to Australia wasn't really in the budget. Instead of being left at home alone all week while my husband got to party "down under", I decided to get some cheap tickets to Utah and have a party of my own. I really wanted my mom to come too so she got a ticket too since my dad had a hunting trip planned for the same week (too bad it got cancelled last minute, sorry Dad!). So early early early Tuesday morning my mom and I headed out on our trip to Utah. I got Ethan a ticket too and brought his car seat on board since there was no way that child would ever sit in my lap or in the seat with a lap belt. You should have seen my mom and I at the security checkpoint juggling a stroller, a car seat, Ethan, purses, carry ons, shoes, etc. It was crazy, but after that it was a piece of cake. We were able to get the bulk head seat so Ethan wouldn't kick the person in front of him the whole way to Salt Lake and he was so good the whole plane ride. Wrapping all of his toys was a big hit for him and his favorite toys were his little Buzz Lightyear figures and the silly putty. We got to Denver, changed planes and only had a 50 minute ride to Salt Lake. Once we got to Salt Lake we got all our luggage and got a rental car and drove down to Provo to meet up with my Aunt Nancy and my cousin Jessica. She actually lives in the same dorm that I lived in when I was out at BYU. AWWWW, the memories! I had to take Ethan up to the Cannon Center to see where his mommy spent many fun times. After a trip down memory lane, we headed out to Brick Oven for some yummy pizza, soup, and root beer. YUM! We met up with Jessica's friend, Matt, and you should have seen Ethan's reaction. Every time Matt would look at Ethan, Ethan would close his eyes and try not to look at Matt. He honestly went on for 20 minutes with his eyes closed, trying to peek at Matt or putting his head on the table. It was insane.
Well, the best treat of all was meeting up with the Van Dyke's

I hadn't seen Alivia since she was a newborn and she has grown so much! What a cutie! The kids got to play together and of course Ethan had to find the floor sweeper like they have in nursery. It was so great to catch up with them and see how they're doing. I miss you guys!!!
After Brick Oven we headed out to the BYU bookstore and to check out campus. It was so weird to drive past all my old apartments and old hangouts and see how much it has and hasn't changed. Everything there is basically the same, but my life is so different since BYU. Weird Weird. Anyway...I got to do some good ol' bookstore shopping AND see my "sister" Ashley! And I can't believe I got away without getting picture! Ashley, we should have gotten a picture! Ethan absolutely loved her and she totally entertained him while I finished up my shopping. We sat down and had some creamery brownies and talked until Ethan had a major meltdown in the middle of the Cougareat. Of course most of the people at the Cougareat are freshman or single people so they were staring at him and at me like they haven't seen a child throw a tantrum before. Heaven help us! So we had to say some quick good byes and were on our way to go up to my Aunt Nancy's house. The kids were anxious to see us and I was anxious to see them. I haven't seen these guys in like 2 1/2 years so they have grown up a ton! Ethan loved them instantly and he had so much fun with them! I can't believe I used to watch Morgan and Stockton and now they're watching my kid! Crazy! More posts and pictures to come!

Greetings From Utah

Okay, we made it to Utah! Phew! Ethan did really good on the plane. He was awake the whole time, but I had plenty of fun things for him to do. We got in and drove right down to Provo and spent the whole day down there. We met up with my Aunt Nancy and my cousin Jessica so we could check out her sweet dorm room. It was so weird to be back at BYU and be bringing my son along. I almost felt like I needed to be headed to class or something (glad that's all over). We also met up with our friends, the Van Dykes (pictures coming when I get home) at Brick Oven. I love their chicken noodles soup and root beer. It was so good and it was awesome to see the Van Dykes!!! After lunch we went up on campus so I could go check out the latest and greatest at the bookstore. I called up my wonderful "sister" Ashley so I could see her while we were up on campus. It was so good to see so many familiar faces! Ethan was totally in love with Ashley. He was laughing the whole time with her. SO cute! So BYU was grand and wonderful and I munched on a beautiful Creamery brownie while I was there.

We're staying at my Aunt Nancy's house right now and Ethan has been LOVING my cousins! He is like their little shadow! I didn't really know how much of a vacation this would be for me since I was coming out here without my husband, but this has been a dream! Ethan plays with the kids when they get home from school, he goes to bed on time, he plays with the kids before they go to school, he sleeps in his stroller, and I get to go shopping! What more could a girl ask for? I've been enjoying my Utah shopping while I've been here. There are some great stores/Restaurants here that we just don't have in Texas like Rod Works, Tai Pan, Down East, Cafe Rio and Rumbi's.

So I'm loving my time here in Utah right now. We're headed up to my Grandma's in Idaho tomorrow morning and we will be up there for a little while. More fun to come!

Birthday Girls' Night Out

Since it was my birthday on Monday we had to go out and celebrate this weekend. You guys all know how much I love and miss the wonderful taste of Cafe Rio so I have been looking forward to this Utah trip for months now. Well, luckily I found that a Costa Vida opened up here in Texas! For those of you that aren't familiar with Costa Vida it is a lot like Cafe Rio, not exact, but it will suffice. So yeah, can't get any better than that on my Birthday Girls' Night out! That's right, do you see this beautiful salad?! Do you see the wonderful look on my face? Oh my goodness and I ate way too much of it yesterday.


After filling our tummies with yummy Costa Vida, we headed out to this gourmet grocery store just around the corner. It has all your gourmet grocery needs and more. I was on the look out for my favorite kind of apple, Honey Crisp Apples. If you haven't ever had this kind of apple, you are seriously missing out. Go out and find one today and tell me how much you love it when you try it! They are so juicy, crisp, and delicious. It's better than candy! I swear! I found my delicious apples there and bought about 4. After the gourmet stuff we headed out to this really cute scrapbooking store and Kaitlyn was in heaven! I wouldn't even know where to begin in a store like that! We picked up some Nestle Toll House yumminess after and headed out to my parents' house to play games. It was like I was back in high school all over again. Bringing my friends over to play games and making sure people were back by their curfew (some people had baby-sitters to take home). It was a really fun night (even though it was just a few of us) so thanks to my girls for making time to celebrate my birthday and making it fun for me.

Getting Ready For Our Trip

Well, it is now time for us to get ready to go for our trip and traveling with a toddler is a whole lot different than traveling with a baby or by myself. The last time Ethan was on a plane was when he was about 6 months old. He wasn't super mobile, slept really good just about anywhere, and still was breastfeeding. Now it's a whole different story. I've been looking around for "trip friendly" items to help things go smoothly on the plane for the past few weeks and have a few finds that you may want to try on your next trip. I got Ethan his first backpack at the Disney Store outlet for $2 and he was so excited to have his own backpack. It has Lightening McQueen from Cars on it. That by itself is so exciting for him. I've bought lots and lots of snacks, small toys to play with on his tray, coloring books and twistable crayons, silly putty, My First Leap Pad, wind up toys, mini magna doodle, mini Buzz Lightyear toys, etc etc. The best find that I got was from the State Fair. THere was a lady there selling Usborne books and she suggested this great book.

It has a little mouse that you put through all different holes throughout the pages of the book and it has lots of flaps and bright colors. Ethan will be giggling the whole time he reads it. I'm really excited for this one. My friend also suggested wrapping up all his toys in wrapping paper to make things exciting and suspenseful for him. It's at least 5 seconds worth of anticipation and quiet. So tonight I've been packing up a storm and I will be wrapping all his toys like it's Christmas. The whole travel process will be about 5 hours. Our first flight is almost 2 hours, followed by a 45 minute layover, and our second flight is only 1 hour and 15 minutes. Not too bad. I can handle him being crazy in the airport, but it's just being confined in a plane with a screaming toddler or a wiggly toddler is not fun. He's usually pretty good at church so I know he can get good for at least 1 hour, but it may get a little trying as the day progresses. I'll let you know how it goes.

New Do and Boot Camp Graduation

There's a girl that just moved into our ward and neighborhood and she does hair so I made my appointment and got my hair cut and highlighted yesterday. I wanted a different look and a different color so I told her I wanted to make it a lot more blonde and little bit shorter. I just have to say that I LOVE it! I never had my hair thinned before and she suggested that I do it and man, did I need it or what? I have always had really thick hair and none of my hair dressers have ever thinned it before so now it doesn't look so heavy and the shape looks great. Yeah for good hair!

Today was our boot camp graduation. We did one final big workout, we ran with fire hoses, did lots and lots of squats, ran "vomit hill" a few times, and lunged our little legs off. After our workout we had our big results ceremony. When our coach got to my results/shirt she said, "Brittany, this is great, I'll save yours for later." So she proceeds to go through the rest of the results/shirts. Then she got to mine and she said that I was so close to the "biggest loser" but I was in the top 5. We had a three way tie for biggest loser, two guys and one of the guy's wife. All in all after 5 weeks of bootcamp I've lost 4 pounds, 5% body fat, and 6.5 inches!!! I am so happy! I went ahead and signed up for another camp even though I'll miss the first week due to my Utah trip, but I will come back for the last 4 weeks. Here is a picture of my big "reveal." These are the t-shirts that we got, "Leave it on the field!" and check out my new do. The drawstring on my pants makes me look like I'm pregnant, but it's just the drawstring.

How Time Flies!

As E's 2nd birthday approaches, I just can't believe how much he's growing! The first picture was taken last year at his favorite park near Nanny's house. We stopped by there the other day between conference sessions and I grabbed a similar picture, just a year later. Isn't he just so sweet! He's definately out of the baby stage now. He's practically a kid! To think about what he's doing now compared to last year, it's crazy. Last year he was just learning to walk, he was always into everything, lots and lots of teething, he was saying his first words, he wouldn't ever sit still to read, and he loved his binky. This year he is running, jumping, and climbing everywhere, he can talk a lot and tell me exactly what he wants (makes my life so much better!), he can do simple skills like help me pick up and wipe the table, I can tell him no and it actually registers (sometimes), and the list could go on and on. It's amazing to see how quick he is learning and how strong of a little guy he is. I took him to the Little Gym today and the instructor there was commenting at how quick and strong he is and it's true. He is definatley on the go 24/7 and he always needs to be doing something. That's why he's perfect as "Dash" for Halloween. We're headed out to Utah soon so I'm hoping my family will be ready for him...hide your breakables!

Cute Tutus

A friend of mine is starting her own business and she's making all sorts of cute goodies. I'm adding this on my sidebar so go check her stuff out! I just wish I had a girl to put in tutus!!!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yes, today is my birthday! I'm a whole quarter of a century old today. Whoopie! First off we have to start out with my latest win. I just had these delivered on Saturday.

I won a pair of Ryka shoes! They're giving away 50 pairs of shoes and 50 performance tees every single day until October 25!!! Go sign up! I won the MC Run shoes that retail for $90! I just took them out on a run this morning and they were great plus they're cute.

Next, my husband got home earlier than I thought from Utah. He showed up at 2:30 and didn't go to his GMAT class so I got a fun birthday with my hubby. He even showered me with way too many presents! Check them out!
I've been wanting a big Cuisinart for a long time. They're great for salsas, dips, marinades, homemade baby food, pie crusts, shredding cheese, etc. So fun! He also helped replace my Chi since my lovely son damaged my other one when he was about 16 months old and I've been Macguyvering ever since. It seriously takes me forever to use the old one since I have to mess with it so much. Yeah, for a new one! Can you tell my husband loves my straight hair? He also got some extra hair stuff that the girl at the store recommended and he also picked up this cool Martha Stewart recipe divider. It is a little wheel that helps you double, triple, half, and third your recipes easily with exact measurements. Very cool! So all in all it was a very happy birthday and I'm just glad to have my husband home! I think someone else is VERY excited that Ry is home...imagine Ethan saying "CHEESE" really loud as this was taken. He is so funny!

Random Updates

So here's what's going on with all the stuff that's been happening lately. I called and talked to the Target Headquarters people and they sent me a letter from their insurance/claims company that takes care of all their claim items. I'm supposed to be talking with someone soon so we'll see how that goes.

I also talked to the people from Hanes.com about exchanging those items that I won since none of them were E's size. They told me to take it to the nearest Hanes Leggs Bali outlet and they should let me exchange it. So I took my box full of clothing to the outlet on Saturday and after about 30 minutes of talking to supervisor after supervisor blah blah blah, they let me exchange it. I had about $112 of store credit that I had to redeem that day so I was running around trying to find things that my little family needed. Everyone got at least 2 packs of socks, dress socks, undershirts for E, underwear for E (for the blessed day that he's potty trained), nylons and bras for me, and pajamas. I was so incredilby happy! Thank you Hanes!

Ryan went to conference up in Utah this past weekend and ended up leaving his Blackberry in the Mariott Center after the Priesthood session. I've been on the phone all morning talking to the lost and found, head custoidal, Marriott center, Marriott custodial, etc etc. Hopefully someone will find it. If anyone from BYU is out there and wouldn't mind helping me look for it, I would be forever indebted to you! I think the custodial people are trying to get the whole place cleaned before the devotional tomorrow so I think I may hear something today or tomorrow. We'll see. Ry may just have to get a new one, bummer.

E has also been making some progress on the potty. The other day he was about to get in the tub and I tried putting him on the big potty to see what he would do. I told him to go potty and guess what...he went! I was so excited! I let him have a sucker in the tub as his reward. I tried it again the next day and he went again. I always give him a small bowl of M&M's when he goes on the potty. Now he runs to the cupboard and yells "TREAT!" and I say "potty" so he heads to the potty and I get him to go and he gets M&M's. It's just hard because he doesn't know to tell me when he feels like he needs to go potty because I don't think he quite understands that yet. But he will go on command when you put him on there. He had a dry diaper all day yesterday (except after his nap)! I was astonished! I do have to say diapers are a ton more convenient, but if he's willing to give this a go then we'll do it.

So those are my random updates. I'm still waiting on my memory card for my new camera to be delivered so maybe I'll have some sweet pictures to post sometime this week.

Recipe Blog

My friend Kaitlyn and I just started a fun little recipe blog calledHey Mom! What's For Dinner?. We wanted to put together a place that we could post our recipe experiments and share them with our friends. We're going to try to include pictures for each recipe since I'm a big advocate for cookbooks with pictures. That's the only way to do it. Anyway...head over to our new blog and try out our recipes. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know of any sort of recipes you'd like to see or any fun ideas.

Texas State Fair

My dad took a half day from work on Friday and took my mom, Ethan, and me to the Texas State Fair. Ry was gone for conference so he had to miss out, too bad for him. I can't believe how hot it was! Oh my goodness! It's the beginning of October and it was 95 degrees for crying out loud! Well, the Texas Fair is one of the largest in the U.S. and I can believe it...there was tons to do! We started out taking Ethan to this "Little Kids Barnyard" where they put together a pretend farm where the kids could be like little farmers. It was so cute! They let you gather eggs, milk a cow, feed the animals, plant seeds, pick vegetables, and drive a tractor.







Then when you're all done you get fake money and they let you redeem it in their "Farmer's General Store." E bought himself a big granola bar, yum. After that we went to the petting zoo. I think was a little intimidated at first, but after a while he was trying to feed all the animals and talking to them.

Now when you go to the fair, you have to enjoy the fair food. Man, the food there was great (even if it wasn't on the boot camp list). Basically they take any food, deep fry it, and serve it. E had a nice big corn dog (shown below).
I had the best fried dill pickles ever!!! I tried sharing them so I wouldn't eat so much. Luckily E was a huge fan of them. He cried when they were all gone! Haha. But the best food of the day was the Texas Fried Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. That's right, deep fried cookie dough. It was so stinkin' good! I can't even begin to say how wonderful it tasted. I'm drooling just thinking about it. So if you ever go to the state fair, you have to give that a try!

E lasted about 4 hours there, not too bad at all. We left around 4 to beat rush hour traffic and came home and swam in the pool. I grew up in Ohio and conference weekend never included swimming in the pool, ever! I just watch the people outside at conference and it looks FREEZING there! I'm getting ready for cooler days, but I'm really enjoying our swimming weather.

My Hidden Talent

I was making dinner with a friend tonight and as we were cooking the kids just played in the play room. Well, after dinner my friend's daughter brought me E's harmonica and wanted me to blow on it. Little does anyone know that I know how to play the harmonica. Yeah, me...harmonica?! Go figure. My friend had no idea where the music was coming from and then when she saw me playing the harmonica, she just busted out laughing. The shock on her face was priceless! A similar experience happened 3 or 4 months ago when our Ry and I were driving to the mall. E had his harmonica in the back seat of the car so I pulled it out for him and played my signature song, "Oh, Susanna." Ryan just looked at me in the rear view mirror and said, "Are you serious?! We have been married for almost 5 years and I never knew you played the harmonica?" It was hilarious! He was impressed and a little shocked for some odd reason. Then for the rest of the car ride he tried to figure out all these different songs as he drove us to the mall. Imagine some guy driving down the freeway playing tunes on his harmonica. I still catch Ry trying to figure out songs on it and it gets so annoying that I have to hide the harmonica when he's not looking. Anyway...I just had to share my funny moment tonight.

Young Women in Excellence Olympic Night

Last night I was in charge of putting on the Young Women in Excellence Program. Back in the day, when I was in Young Women we used to do a program with songs, talks, and then we'd all have tables set up with our Personal Progress display items. That's what I did all growing up in Young Women, but here they like to put on big "events" instead of a boring program. Since I'm the new Personal Progress advisor/Secretary they put in charge of it. Oh geez. Luckily one of the counselors was willing to help me out and we tag teamed the whole thing. We decided to do an Olympic theme. It quite a big production, but it was pretty casual so it made the evening fun and relaxing. We had the girls come dressed in their best athletic wear and we decorated the room with the Olympic rings (7 rings in the 7 value colors)and value colored balloons. We made torches to represent each value and the girls carried those in during our opening ceremonies. We sang the Star Spangled Banner and then did the theme and our YW President did a little talk about the YW program. Then I explained all the events that we were doing. Basically we had an event for each value and the girls would earn medals for completing the event(we had the medals tied to the value color). We had a faith walk, a divine nature crossword event, Individual Worth compliment sticker exchange, Knowledge Scattergories game, Choice & Accountability/Integrity Bingo, and Good Works Project Linus event. It turned out really fun and the girls loved it. We had each girl bring 4 things that they've been working on in the different values and had the display tables next to the events so their parents could see what they've been working on. After the events we had closing ceremonies and we recognized the girls that received their medallions and also the girls that completed an entire value. Then one of our counselors had an awesome talk about the YW values and torches it just brought it all together. For refreshments our Mia Maid advisor did Patriotic mini cheesecakes. They turned out so cute. She used silver and gold muffin cups and then made mini cheesecakes with cherry or blueberry topping. All-in-all it turned out to be a pretty good night and it flowed pretty well too. We also invited the new beehives to come since all of their birthdays are in January so we made it a Young Women in Excellence/New Beginnings night. And if you know brand new beehives, YW is so exciting to them and they just eat it all up. I love that! They're so enthusiastic to do things and they're so happy that they get to be in with the big kids and not in Primary anymore. Hopefully one of the counselors will be sending me pictures of the night in the next few days so I'll post those if I get any.

It Was the Best of Times

Okay, after a day like yesterday, I needed something good to happen. I went to boot camp early this morning and had an "arms" day. My arms were like noodles today and we stepped up the cardio so we're now doing sprints or some sort of running after every station these days. I got home, got ready for the day, and read my e-mails all before E woke up. Hallelujah! We got our day going and I was so tired I just crashed on the couch while E ate his breakfast. I actually fell asleep while he ate. Of course I was cleaning up Kix for the next 10 minutes, but that sleep was priceless! We took my broken pot back to Pier 1 and got a new one and we also took our receipt into Children's place since she charged me for an extra pair of jeans that I didn't buy. Can you believe I bought 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of windbreaker pants, 1 pair of sweat pants, 1 sweat shirt, and 7 shirts for $65! Crazy!
I got home and made sure the vase wasn't going to fall over and shatter on me and that Ethan stays as far away from it as possible. No more balls in the living room! As I was getting lunch together the Fed Ex man came and dropped off this huge box on my door step. I was expecting my camera and memory card to come later this week so I knew it wasn't that so I had no clue what it could be. It was all addressed to me and it said it was from New York. I was like, "What the heck is this?" I was honestly scared that it was a bomb or something. I grabbed a knife and opened it as far away from me as possible just in case. I'm so ridiculous sometimes. Well, come to find out, I won a Hanes "Back to School Giveaway"! The box was filled with Boys and Girls clothes. It had 3 packs of girls undies, 4 packs of boys boxers, 3 pairs of cute leggings, a shirt, 2 sweatshirts, a girl's shirt, and a pack of boys undershirts.

Unfortunately no one in our house is a kids size 6 or 10 so I called up the Hanes people to see if I could exchange them for E's size. She told me to just take it to the outlet and they'd let me switch it for his size All this stuff retails for over $125 so I am thrilled! My niece will be receiving the cute leggings, but everything else will be exchanged so E can get some socks, undershirts, and underwear (for the day that he's potty trained). What a happy day!
It gets even better, my camera came! I haven't opened the box yet since I was in the middle of writing this post when the UPS guy came. I can't wait to get started on figuring it all out.
Today is a much better day. I got to go to boot camp, my vase is now in one piece, I have $125 to use at Hanes for E, my camera just arrived, and my E is actually taking a nap.

It Was the Worst of Times

Yesterday was such a weird and awful day. Please bear with me as I explain the madness that went on yesterday. First off, I got a lovely wake up call at 5:00am from my little E who decided to wake up early and not go back to bed. I wake up at 4:45am enough these days that I didn't want to get up early on a "non-boot camp" day!!! So I had an early start on my cleaning day, oh joy. Well, usually I run in the morning and then clean while I'm sweaty and gross. But since I was so tired, I didn't run. Not good, but I did clean my house.

Well, a few days back I bought these really cute slipper socks from Target.

Featured in Exhibit A
Well, after 1 hour of wearing these lovely slippers, they started to unravel and got a big hole in them. Bummer.

Exhibit B

So I put the slippers on top of my dresser so I could take them back to Target after the weekend. Okay, now back to my weird Monday...So as I'm cleaning the house I go to grab the slippers to put them in a bag to take to Target. When I pick them up I realize to my horror that they left these terrible round, black marks on my dresser!

Exhibit C

The black marks came from the little black treads that help grip the floor so you don't slide on it.

Exhibit D


I quickly started rubbing it to see if it would come off, but it didn't. So I grabbed my trusty Mr. Clean sponges since you all know that they can get out anything. Well, I got out what I could but it was worse than I thought. Not only did the slippers make big black marks on my dresser, it left divots in the shape of those marks all over. So even if I got out all the black stuff, I'd still have round holes all over the top of my dresser! I was furious! I didn't expect to purchase a pair of $4.99 slippers so it could ruin my $499 dresser!!!! Oh my goodness. So after E's nap I marched myself down to Target to see what could be done. They gave me my money back and then I filed an incident report with the manager. He was really cool about and said that someone from headquarters would be calling me this week. We'll just have to see what happens. Ugh!!!
Well, the day doesn't stop there. I headed over to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to go look at some decorative boxes to put our DVDs in and as I'm looking at them all crouched in the corner all the boxes fell on me! I was so embarrassed and it actually really hurt. It was one of those typical klutzy "Brit" moments and the employee there saw it happen and asked if I was okay. I felt like such a nerd and of course E thought it was hilarious and was giggling in his stroller. So I moved on to check out Pier 1. I really wanted to get a big vase for our living room and found one that I really liked so I bought that and went on down to get some sweet deals from Children's Place. Long sleeve shirts for $2!! Hello!
Okay, I got home, left E in his car seat so I could unload the car without him getting into things and so I could lug the huge vase into the house. I get everything inside and put the vase in the perfect spot in my living room and then go out to the garage to go get E. On my way in I hear a huge crash and then see my brand new vase on the carpet, smashed into 1,000 pieces. I don't even know what the heck happened! No one was even in the room and it just fell over! At that point I just sat on the floor and bawled. What could I do? At this point I should have taken a picture of the aftermath, but I was just so sick over the whole thing that I couldn't remind myself of what happened. So I called up the girl at Pier 1 and told her what happened. She was soooo nice and I have to give props to Pier 1...she told me to bring in the biggest piece and my receipt and she would give me another, free of charge. Bless this kind, wonderful woman! I will be writing Pier 1 a very nice letter and I will be visiting them for further purchases. Stay tuned for today's "Best of Times" section. After all, things could only go up from there.

Happy Halloween Season!

I just love October and Halloween! Now that it's October I can decorate my house with all my Halloween stuff. While I was going through pictures I found this Halloween picture on my computer. This was me 2 years ago when I was pregnant with E, I was huge (it was the day before my due date). Anyway...go check out 5 Minutes for Mom to check out their Cyber Baby Shower. They have some really cute stuff on there.

Boot Camp Week 3 and Camera

So I just completed Week 3 of boot camp. I'm over half way there!!! This week for homework we've been doing a water flush. We have to drink 50oz of water in an hour in the morning and then 50oz for the rest of the day for 3 days. I have been visiting the bathroom a ton! But it's weird how funny it makes you feel. Maybe it's just all in my head. We've also turned up the intensity again. We've started isolating muscle groups now so we'll work one day on just legs and the next day we'll work on arms. Today was a leg day and I feel like I'm walking on noodles. We did lots of squats, lunges, running, and band work. Tuesday we did arms and I could barely wash my hair and when I tried to Ethan in his car seat, I almost dropped him. It's getting better though. I'm definitely noticing a difference in my muscle tone these days. I don't think I've had arms this defined in all my life! I've loved boot camp so much that I signed up for another camp which I'll start when I get back from Utah. Yeah! Anyway...I also made my big camera purchase. I went with the Canon Rebel XT. It should come in the next few days so I'm definitely looking forward to the UPS truck coming my way. I wrote a special note to myself on the "gift note". It says, "Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear Brittany, Happy Birthday to me!" Isn't it sad when you have to buy your own birthday presents? For whatever reason I hate that, but at least I'm getting what I wanted.

"Dash"

E got his Halloween costume on Monday and it looks so good! I was very impressed with the quality of it. I bought it off ofDisneyShopping.com. The costume is made out of great fabric and has elastic in the arms and legs so it fits really well on him (and it will for quite awhile). It even came with some fun accessories like shoe covers, gloves, and a mask. The other Dash costumes that I looked at in the stores basically looked like pajamas with a cheap mask. Boring! Not only does it look great, it was at a pretty good price. So if you're looking for a good costume buy one off there. My mom and I got him into his costume the other day and here are a few snapshots.

On My Doorstep

I got home late last night from a fun day with my mom and there was a nice big box on my front step! I could hear it just calling my name. It was from an awesome giveaway from the Pinks and Blues Girls' website! So this is what I won...


I won an awesome diaper bag from Skip Hop and it retails for about $88! Not only did I get a great diaper bag, but it was filled with the goodies too. There was a little flower doll, Victoria's Secret Appletini body lotion, and a fun "mommy" book. I don't know how I got so lucky, but I'm so excited about my new diaper bag! I only have one diaper bag and it's the one that I got at my baby shower. It has done a lot of good, but I always wanted another one to "change things up." How exciting! Thank you Pinks and Blues!!! P.S. I don't know why my pictures look like they're chopped off. Ever since I changed my template, my pictures have been screwy. Sorry.

The Votes Have Been Tallied...

And it's a tie between #2 and #5. So thanks for the input everyone, now it's up to me to figure out which one it will be!

Updated Blog Photo

My cousin Toni totally hooked me up with some head shots to put on my blog profile. I can't decide which one I want to use first. I will probably use all of them at one time or another to change things up, but let me know which one you like. Which one would be best for my profile?
#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Leave a comment and let me know which one captures my blog personality the best. Of course, be sure to go check out Toni's photography website! She has some awesome stuff on there. Thanks Toni!!!

Look What I Won!

You have to check this out! I entered a contest of a fellow blogger,Bethany, who was doing a giveaway to kick off her Etsy shop, Love, September . She was giving away a beautiful changing pad. Her shop also has other items like those diaper pouches that I love, tutus, and changing pads. Well, I was chosen as the lucky winner of the changing pad and it just got here yesterday. I just have to say that I love it and it will be so nice for Ethan and especially nice when we have another baby (no, I'm not pregnant). The bad has such a cute design and the lining is so nice! It's nice and long so Ethan won't be half off the thing when I'm changing him. Plus, it folds up really cute and fits right into my diaper bag. I'm so thrilled to win! Go check out here stuff! Thanks Bethany!

Exercise Bootcamp Week 2

Week 2 is kicking my trash! The intensity has been turned up a few notches. We are now doing more reps, heavier weights, more cardio, and pushing ourselves to the limit. Our coach told us we burned at least 700 calories this morning! I don't think I have sweated (is that a word?) so hard in my whole life like I did today. It has been crazy, but the funny thing is...I love it! I feel so good (even though I'm a little sore). We're also working on our eating and I have been trying really hard to do good. I've been right on track for the past 2 weeks so I'm feeling good about my choices. I try to have fresh, healthy foods, but also allow myself some indulgence as long as it fits into my calorie intake. The funny thing I haven't really been craving chocolate like I thought I would. I have been totally wanting cinnamon rolls! What?! Not even the nice kind you get at the mall, just the can kind. I have a few calories to spare this evening so I popped a can of cinnamon rolls in the oven. Yum! Ahhh...the simple pleasures of life!

Ethan's Halloween Costume

Well, I've been shopping around for a cute Halloween costume or costume idea for awhile for Ethan. When I was looking into actually making a costume I found that by the time I bought the pattern, fabric, thread, zippers, etc it was way more expensive than a store bought costume. So back to the drawing board. Well, lately Ethan has loved the baby off the Incredibles movie. I think the Incredibles is a little violent for a little 2 year old so I've just been letting him watch the parts with the baby and with Edna since those are his two favorite characters. So I found a really cute Dash costume online so this is what he's going to be for Halloween this year. I found a 2 great promotional codes going on where I got free shipping and 15% off my entire order. After tax and everything the costume was about $20. Not too bad. We'll see how it fits once it gets here. It will be one of Ethan's birthday presents so don't tell him. I'm just hoping it's not one of those costumes that he will want to wear everyday of his life and never take it off.

Update on the Binky Saga

So I never told you guys anything since the first week of no binky. So here's what happened. Well, Ethan had been climbing out of his crib 2 weeks before I took away his binky. It was never a problem because I would lay him in his crib for nap time/bedtime, cork him, and he was out. Well, when the binky went away he would just keep climbing out of his crib and would cry and knock on the door for us to let him out. I couldn't keep him in and he'd end up sleeping on the floor by the door with his fingers underneath the door. You have to understand that the kid is seriously a monkey. I wish I would have gotten a video of him climbing out, but he seriously wraps his feet around the spindles and shimmies down like it's nothing. I got so fed up that next day that I disassembled the entire crib and put his crib mattress on the floor so he could at least get back in bed if he needed. Well, he never liked his crib mattress on the floor too much and he'd end up just sleeping by the door all the time and we'd just lay him on his mattress when we'd go to bed. Well, my parents had a spare twin mattress that they let us borrow until we get his bed in January. Ever since that day he has been a lot better about his bed. He loved the fact that his "Nanny" brought him a new big boy bed and that it's so big and fun to show everyone. I also gave him a special "Diego" blanket that he can only have at nap time/bedtime. His blanket along with lots of stories has helped out a lot. He cries when I leave him, but he doesn't fall asleep by the door anymore. He's learned to fall asleep without his binky and fall asleep on his bed. Hallelujah! It's just a normal part of life now. I don't ever have to worry about a binky when we go anywhere for nap time or bedtime or when we travel. It's so nice. I'm headed out to Utah in a few weeks and now we have 2 items that we don't have to pack. A port-a-crib and a binky. Yeah!!! He's getting to be such a big boy and he talks so much these days. It's so funny because he really tries to annunciate the words that he knows. I'm keeping track of all his words and right now he's up to 110. Pretty crazy, huh? Well, enjoy these funny pictures that Ry took the other night.

Which Camera Should I Get?

Okay all you photographers out there...I need your help. I've asked a few of my friends and I've narrowed it down to 3: Nikon D40, Nikon D40x, or Canon Rebel XTI. Which one? Do I pay the extra money for more fancy stuff or do I just stick with the basics and get a nice camera? I just don't know! This is my birthday gift to myself so I'm pooling all my birthday money to get it. I'm wanting to go get it in the next few weeks so I need some help! Please keep in mind that I am very very amatuer when it comes to photography and I'm trying to upgrade my 3.2 megapixel purse camera to something nicer. I guess I'm just wondering if I'm wasting my money if I go all out since I won't know what the heck half of the "fancy stuff" will do. I just want a great camera that will give me great quality picture and I won't have to know how to do too much to get it. I'm sure I could figure things out. I'm just wondering if it's worth it.