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.

Bring a Friend to Boot Camp Day

This is the field were it all happens and skinny jean dreams come true!


Well, today is Saturday so boot camp didn't start until 6:30 this morning, not 5:15. I enjoyed the extra hour of sleep!!! I invited my friend Kaitlyn to join me this morning and she actually took me up on my offer. So fun! We got there when it was still dark and actually got to watch the sunrise as we worked out. That was a first for me! So we started out with stretching and then squats/run/frog jumps on the football field. We had to start with 10 squats then run 50 yards then do 10 frog jumps then run back. Then go to 9 squats, run, 9 frog jumps. All the way down to 8. By then we were all warmed up and little winded and we started right on our stations. There was a twist on our stations today, we had less stations, but we had to sprint in between each station. We had to do left stationary lunges, run, suicides, run, shoulder press, run, mountain climbers, run, squat/run/frog jump, run, medicine ball sit ups, break, right leg lunges, run, push ups/run/push ups, break, hammer press, run, tricep/push up combo, run, tire run, break, tricep with bands, run. I was beat by then!!! Next we did 25 throw downs and started Fartlek training. I know that sounds really weird, but it was named after some guy named Fartlek and I'd like to give him a piece of my mind!!! We walked/jogged for 30 seconds and then our coach would blow the whistle and then we would have to sprint as hard as we could for 30 seconds we did this for 3 minutes straight. I had never done anything like that before and my legs were en fuego! After that we did abs, stretched, and did our buddy info. I was so impressed at how well Kaitlyn did! My goodness! She kept right up with everyone the entire time. I so wish she could come with me in the mornings!!! So here are 2 pictures from today. They are both AFTER our entire workout (it is always dark out on weekdays) and we are hot, sweaty, and looking beautiful. I'm especially in love with my hot pink work out pants. They are the bomb! Don't we look super strong?!

You Won't Believe This

Okay, so I was making dinner for the sister missionaries last night and into the kitchen walks Ethan without pants or a diaper on. He came in and said "Potty" so I turned and ran him to the bathroom. Meanwhile, I had chicken about to burn on the stove and roasted pears ready to come out of the oven and my child was diaperless in the bathroom. What's a mother to do? So I sat him on the potty, ran to the kitchen to take out the pears, turn off the chicken, and grab a diaper from Ethan's room. By the time I got back Ethan had gone potty in the potty!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! He didn't even get it on the floor! So we did the celebration dance and he got lots of praise and I grabbed him his special "potty" treats (a few M&M's). Of course this had to happen 2 minutes before everyone came for dinner, but we somehow managed to get almost everything done before they got here. I was stunned that he could even hold it long enough to run to the bathroom! What am I going to do with this kid?

Exercise Boot Camp Week 1...continued

Yesterday I did all my homework and worked out for over 45 minutes. Go me! I am super sore everywhere and I can feel it when I sit, when I stand, when I lift Ethan, anytime. My 4:45 wake up call was kind of hard this morning. I got up, ate, and was out the door jamming to some great IPod tunes. They worked us out pretty good today. We warmed up around the track and stretched out and then it was down to business. We did frog jumps and ran the football field. Then they did our baseline of how many sit ups we could do in a full minute and that meant flat on the ground then coming up so your elbow touch your knees. I could only do 28, I was dying by 45 seconds. Then we did as many push ups as we could in 1 minutes. I did 30 modified (on my knees) push ups. Again, dying by 45 seconds. Then we did a quick lap around the track to get our time. After that we broke up into our stations and we had 12 stations for 2 minutes today: suicides, jump rope, squats, walking lunges, shoulder press, chest press, right arm jab, left arm jab, cone hops, medicine ball lifts, tricep dips, and tire run. After that we had to sprint the width of the football field and then come back to start abs. At this point I had drank my entire 30 oz water bottle, I was sweating profusely, and I felt like a big blob of Jell-o. We did our abs, finished our stretching, and were off for the day to begin. My arms were crazy sore and I could barely even shampoo my hair when I got home. The funny thing is that even though I hurt really bad and I worked really hard, I've got a lot more energy to do things. Don't get me wrong, I am tired, but I'm not lethargic. Does that make sense? My body feels tired, but I'm more alert. Ethan's friend came over to play for the morning so his mom could have some fun by herself and the boys had lots of fun. Now E's taking a nap and I'm getting things together for dinner. I have the sister missionaries coming over for dinner tonight. We're having grilled chicken with a roasted pear and blue cheese salad. Very yummy and nice and healthy (we're going light on the blue cheese). Oh and by the way, Saturday is "Bring a Friend to Boot camp" day so I'm extending an invitation to all that are interested in joining me for some boot camp fun.

My Book is Here!!!

The UPS man just dropped off my blog book today! That was fast! I finished up the book over Labor Day weekend and it's already here! I am really impressed by the quality of the book. It's pretty much like one of those nice "coffee table" books that you pick up at Barnes and Noble. The pictures turned out great and are very clear and the print/fonts look good too. I never thought that I would ever be able to have a hard copy of my whole blog. I used to print off the text each month and put it in sheet protectors and stash it away in a scrapbook. Just in case for some horrible reason my blogger would crash and my blog would be lost forever. Now I have all my pictures and text bound in a beautiful book for everyone to check it out. The book contains March 2006-August 2007 so it ended up being a little under 200 pages. Not too much, but just enough I think. I plan on slurping my blog every year now. I just have to say I'm very impressed and very excited! Here are some pictures of it, sorry they don't even do it justice.

First Day of Boot Camp

So it's 8:00 and I've already showered, had breakfast, got Ethan ready, and picked up my house. I don't think that has happened since I've had a baby! Wow! I owe it all to the fact that I woke up at 4:45 this morning to go to boot camp. I ate a banana with a little bit of peanut butter first thing and got ready. I left around 5:15 when it was still really dark outside (It took me back to those days that I worked night shift in L&D). It was really nice a cool outside due to all the rain we got yesterday so it was perfect weather to workout. I could see how it would be really really bad if it was hot and muggy. When I got there they had us walk a lap around the track and then jog a lap. Once everyone got there we all stretched out and then started our station workout. There were 10 stations that had different sorts of exercises like suicides, squats, lunges, shoulder press, triceps, quick step kick box jab right arm, quick step kick box jab left arm, tire run, mountain climbers/push ups, inclined squats. We broke up into groups of 3 and we all worked out at each station for a full 2 minutes. My workout partner made sure I was doing them properly and she said it best, "are there flames coming out of my triceps? Because they are en fuego!!!" Some of those stations were really hard to do for a full 2 minutes. I thought I was going to die. Then we did an Indian run where we broke up into 4 groups and formed 4 lines. Then we ran around the track in line and passed a ring from the front to the back. Then the person in the back had to sprint to the front and start it over again. We did this for a full lap. Next we worked on abs. We did it with a partner where you lay down and they throw your legs down and you have to lift them back up. After we did a medicine ball pass in a circle with the full group and it was super hard! To end it all we stretched and recovered and cleaned up our stations. We had a few people throw up, but luckily I was not one of them. I actually felt pretty good. By the time I drove out of the parking lot my arms felt like Jell-o and I had a hard time just turning the steering wheel. I know I will be sore tomorrow, but I'll just have to get back out there and do my own workout for homework. I think I'm going to take Ethan out in the jogger. I've got another I-tunes card so I'm thinking of downloading some good workout songs. Do you guys have any suggestions?