December 2010...

The month of December was MUCH more slow paced than I would typically prefer but being 8 months pregnant, completely exhausted ALL of the time plus health issues on top of that did not lend itself to anything other than "taking it easy." I had all of my Christmas shopping including stockings done (most of which was done at my computer off of Amazon - thank you Amazon Mom!) by the first week of December and it's a good thing because little did we know that our little man would come a whole week before Christmas! Anyways, we did manage to have some fun...

This is the third year Alyssa and I have thrown a Christmas party together. Ahem... except this year... she really did the whole thing...

A favorite things party with girls in our ward - this was TWO DAYS before he came. In fact, I even complained that night how my family doesn't go into labor and then my water broke two days later. ha!

Alyssa's house is the perfect place to hold a party

These favors were so cute. We put Chocolate peppermint cookies inside each box for the guests to take home.

And next...

Brooke and Livi at the ward Christmas party. It took us by surprise when they went off by themselves and snuck desserts at the dessert table. When did they get old enough to do this?

Love this.. no explanation needed.

Brookie had a mini-recital at her dance studio.. luckily we snapped this before it started because she ran off of the stage 5 seconds into the dance. Ironically, she really does love dance!

Brent and Brooke before the dance recital

We decorated the tree while listening to the First Presidency Christmas devotional and the night before that we saw a fabulous performance of the Messiah (no picture). This is a tradition that I grew up with and it was nice to be reminded of how much I love Handel's music. It definitely put me in the Christmas spirit and reminded me of my sweet Grammie who passed away last October. She would always go with us to the sing-in at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake. I will never forget listening to her sing those words and admiring her beautiful voice. She instilled in me a love of classical music.

Guerisoli home - Christmas 2010

Thanks for coming early, Bray. Mommy and Daddy thank you for the tax break!

Iphone photo purge

This post almost looks White trash but there are just a bunch of iphone photos I want to remember...

note from our babysitter on saturday night

also from the babysitter - what a great babysitter!

Sister in law's wedding cake gone bad... so sad

My parents got a cat. We all think it's weird. And yes, my Dad is wearing his robe in this picture.

First outing after potty training-dinner at CPK

Valentine's weekend 2010

BFF Jenae, and I and our girls at the San Antonio Temple - March 2009

I sewed something! Baby blanket for Nephew Teagan..

Did I mention?

Today is a good day. A good enough day to share some Monday musings, and at best... share them with YOU. Let's list 'em, shall we? Oh! And I might even share a few pictures that have nothing to do with these thoughts.

1. Brent got home at 6:15 p.m. tonight. I just about did 15 jumping jacks, and somersaults and back flips right then and there. This is A-MAZING.

2. Brookie and I have been under the weather the last few days. She cuddles when she is this way and so maybe I enoy her under-the-weather-ness... a little.

Brooke and her only (so far) girl cousin on the Guerisol side, Adria, taken in October

Did I mention how much Brookie loves ALL her cousins?

3. After Brent got home, and we celebrated and had dinner, Brent mentioned that we should have family home evening. Brooke immediately walked over to the side table and grabbed out of the stack of books, her picture Book of Mormon. We were STUNNED! What a smartie pants, and what a special reminder to us that she is learning from our teaching and reading, and to keep this up.

Us three at Pirate Island Pizza in St. George in October

Did I mention we went to Utah in October?

4. Brent found out today that he no longer has to work on Thanksgiving day. Yes. He was going to have to work on Thanksgiving day, and the day after, and the Saturday and Sunday after. I have been mentally preparing myself for this AND complaining to MANY family members and friends about this for months. So.... sorry ya'll. We're good now.

Amber (Sis in law), Vicki (mother in law), Muah, AnnElise (sis in law), Randi (sis in law) at 25 Main in St. George in between Saturday General Conference sessions

Did I mention how much I loved General Conference?

5. One other topic of concern I've had is Brooke's speech development. Well, I am happy to report that she is improving greatly. She is starting to say many three, four, and even five word sentences which is not where we were or even close to being three months ago. Let's hope this keeps up and she keeps progressing. On the other hand.....

Her love of people dressed in Minnie Mouse suits at Disneyland is, well... not so much of a love at all....

Minnie Mouse, Brookie, and me... Disneyland in October

Did I mention we went to Disneyland in October after being in Utah?

Me and Brooke on the teacups in Disneyland

Did I mention the teacups are my favorite ride ever in DL?

And this brings me to my last point:

6. We had the yummiest butternut squash recipe yesterday with Sunday dinner. We had it with grilled chicken marinated in a raspberry chipotle sauce, green salad, and parmesan garlic breadsticks. And it's a yummy, delectable, sweet fall recipe so I must share:

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apples

1 lb. butternut squash, cut and cubed

1 apple, cut and cubed

3 T. butter

3 T. honey

1/2 t. nutmeg and 1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 c. chopped pecans

2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar

Place squash and apples in an 8x8 pan. Pour two tablespoons of water over the squash and roast at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile mix rest of ingredients except for brown sugar. After squash and apples are tender, pour mixture over and sprinkle the brown sugar on top and return to oven to cook for 10 minutes. Please enjoy this.

Thanks for letting me mention my Monday musings!

I want to remember...

...this weekend because it was laid-back and chill, but productive and refreshing.

• Kicked friday night off by dropping Brooke off at a friends house because we started a babysitting co-op group!
• Ran errand for 2 hours by myself. Brent worked until 8. (Amazing sales at Old Navy right now!)
• $5 pizza for dinner, Oreo shakes and Kung Fu Panda with Brent. (He loves Disney movies; no joke.)
• Woke up late Saturday morning, even Brooke.
• Brooke and I had leftover pizza and a mint oreo for Breakfast.
• We sung and danced to random Broadway tunes in our jammies in our bedroom.
• Cleaned out the pantry, laundry room, and re-organized all of Brooke's toys in new bins while she napped.
• Brent: haircut. Don't you love it when your man gets a haircut?
• At 4:00 Brent said, "Lets go shopping.. and to Nordstrom Rack." Me: "okay!" (Dream come true.) So we did.
• He needed a new black belt and I scored on some clearance items at TJMaxx.
• Brooke ran everywhere to her delight and crawled on the foor at TJ's and Brent let her.
• $50 in free groceries that Brent won at work. I splurged and bought Peanut Butter Bumpers.
  
• Wonderful church meetings.
• Brooke's first week in nursery.
• 15 minutes into it, the nursery leader comes to tell me she had dumped the bottle of bubbles all over her. (Of course! Why wouldn't she do something like that!)
• Flush her eyes out for 10 minutes in the bathroom. Back to nursery. Happy as a clam at the end.
• Brent and Bethany happy to enjoy 2 hours of church kid-free!
• Naps, clean up, prepare for dinner.
• Have new couple over for dinner. (My friend, Karen always did this in Berkeley with new couples in the ward, and and I want to be like her, so I am doing it, too!)
• Indulge in the chocolate chip cookies that they brought.
• Beg Brent to take the rest to work or else I'd eat them for Breakfast. Remember the mint oreo?
• Get into a good discussion with Brent for a couple of hours. Laugh some more about the bubble incident.
  
• Had the house spotless before bed.
• Goodnight!

Weekends seriously keep me going! Don't they for you?

Monday Musings by Me

• We ate an entire half-gallon of dryers mint brownie ice cream in one day this weekend.
• I'm really getting tired of how the media is portraying America/the election/and everything in between, so I'm not watching the news anymore.
• Brooke learned to say "no" today. Oh boy.
• Our ipod has been missing for two weeks now.
• I spent over $100 on #10 cans of wheat today. (I guess all the negativity on the news got to me somehow).
• I can't wait for "The Hills" tonight. Yep, I'm an in-the-closet Hills fan. I feel better.
• Thank goodness general conference is this weekend.
• Brent will be home soon... better scram and clean the house!

A little preview of the house.

After Brent's Dad had been here moving and unpacking with Brent, my Mom came for a whole week to help arrange and get things in a little more order. She was a HUGE help. She did everything that the best Moms always do. Too many things to list! We have hardly taken any pictures the past few weeks, especially of Brooke or while she was here because of being so out of order with everything everywhere. But I got this one of them putting the china and crystal goblets in our hutch. It is so fun to not have our china and crystal in cardboard boxes anymore!

If you've been wondering what the front of our house looks like, here's as little glimpse! Brooke and my Mom right before we left to take her to the airport.

And a few more pics of some rooms that seem decent enough to post. We have a "his" and "hers" bathroom, meaning we each have our own sink space. It is so weird. But so nice. I almost miss climbing around each other while brushing our teeth at the same time with one sink. Ok.. not really, though. :)

My side.

His side.

Here's a view from the fireplace looking into the family room and kitchen. Remember our family pictures? We just hung them tonight, and I think/hope they look alright. I feel so inept at hanging things on the wall and decorating sometimes.

On a sad note: Brooke is terribly sick right now, so no pics of her in this post. Ah.. it's just miserable when your child is sick. I loathe it! It started with a cough a few nights ago, and she's had a really high fever and heavy breathing today. We took her into Urgent care this morning and the doctor said it was a "slight" case of pneumonia. What does "slight" mean? You either have it, or you don't, eh? Anyways, we're giving her breathing treatments, antibiotics, and a steroid (poor little muffin) and hopefully she'll be much better soon, in time to celebrate the 1st year of her life this coming week!

Family pictures

Like I said in the last post, we had family pictures taken a few weeks ago. Here are a few of my faves and if you'd like to see the rest of the sneak peak that the photographer put on her blog, click here. Oh, and don't forget to tell me what you think!

What's new?

Well, hello to all of you that read our blog! Just in case you are wondering what we've been up to... well not too much. Just enjoying watching brookie grow up some more, the beauty and smell of spring, and looking forward to graduation-four weeks to go, folks! She is a busy little crawler, as I'm sure most babies are at this stage. She really loves to stand right now! And when she does, she gets this look on her face like, "hey, I'm cool like all the other babies I see doing this!" I love it-

I got together with my visiting teachers and my friend showed us all how to make hooded towels for kids! First of all, I love the towel and they were easy. Second of all, what a great way to do visiting teaching-get together and talk and learn something crafty together! Here is Brooke modeling the finished product-

Brooke now has SIX teeth. Cute little smile. And they didn't come without lots of sweat and tears, either!

Brent and his favorite dessert of all time-Key Lime Pie!! He looks guilty and I think he is! But there's nothing like a sugar rush to get ya through the end of the semester.

I got a new 'do.' Bangs and highlights! If you think I'm vain for putting this up.. well... I guess you don't have to read my blog if you don't want to, right? ha! Plus if you know me well, you know getting my hair done is a huge deal for me (I guess I'm kind of a freak) and so since I kinda like it, I had to show it.

Every month the business school puts on a "consumption function." Basically, everyone gets together on a friday night to eat and talk (and everyone but us drinks pretty heavily). So we go to feed our little family dinner. The rest of the students go to feed their tummies some good ole' booze. Pretty nasty! We are with Tyler and Ann, some great friends we have made from B-school. They are also non-drinkers, making it really easy to hang out with them!

Brent and his good friend, Tyler. They look awkward, but cute. Thanks to Tyler for getting Brent back into working out! He's gonna be the buffest man ever this summer in his sizzlin' board shorts. :)

That's what we've been up to, hope you enjoyed reading it!

Lovin is so much fun!

We had such a fun Valentine's day and got to enjoy having Brent home most of the day. We had crepes with berries and whipped cream with pink smoothies in the morning and Brent gave me roses and tulips with a sweet card. We usually get takeout from Macaroni Grill (a sentimental restaurant for us) but we decided to cook dinner together. We had pesto alfredo pasta with grilled chicken, salad, and cheddar-garlic scones. It was so yummy and fun to cook together! For the past three years, we have had a tradition of baking a heart-shaped cake. We are not cake connoisseurs by any means, but it's always fun to decorate it and eat the whole thing together!

Here is our cake from 2006

And the one from 2007

And this year's.. 2008! We both took a picture with it. Yeah, I know. We're cheesy.

I think this year's was the prettiest and most delicious!

Here is the lady on the love day wearing her heart onsie. She hasn't been feeling that great because of another tooth, (which happens to be on the top left and not one of her two front teeth! My Mom said I got my tooth in that exact same sequence-so crazy!) and a little bit of a cold. But she's still pretty dang cute.

Hope everyone had a lovely love day!

Our Future CEO

For the past year, Brent has been in charge of running and putting on the Business of Health Care Conference at the Business School, and yesterday it finally took place! He has been so busy with this event and not only am I so proud of him, I am very happy that it's over. It has taken up A LOT of his time, more than we both thought. Brooke and I were able to go up and eat lunch with him during a break and I made him take some pictures. I think it's the perfect, future CEO picture, don't you? Anyways, I met a lot of the people that he had been working with, along with professors and people were so complimentary of him. I think he also felt really good about how it went and was happy to see the results of all of his hard work!

Sunshine + warmth = Productive Day!

Well, it's Super Tuesday (don't forget to vote!) and the name really does ring true, because it has been such a good day. It is finally really sunny and warm here after days and days of rain, and I have been so productive-it's great! Also, Brooke has been taking good naps allowing me to get a lot done. I love it when the day goes just right: happy baby and Mom, clean house, laundry done, beds made, kitchen stocked with food, and dinner cooking. If only this happened every day, right? That's why I love it when it does, because it's just not that often! I have also learned that I actually really love to organize. Thanks to a friend here who helped me get a little inspired about it, my whole apartment is so organized to the point of bins, labels, etc. I love it. It's amazing how much better you can feel in a clean home. Ok.. lots of rambling.

The picture shows Brooke in her exersaucer. When we put her in it, she sticks her hands down in the chair and just sits there. Doesn't she know that she can play? Oh well, I guess. I'm sure once I have more kids I will stop analyzing every little thing they do and don't do. Anyways, it's a busy week for us.. we've got something happening every night, and then next week is Valentine's day which is always fun. Time is flying-phew! Anyone have some fun ideas or traditions that they do for the ones they love? I'm looking for something new!

Princess Bride wants Mitt!

Amidst all of the political mumbo jumbo surrounding the election, I think this adds some lighthearted humor in such a tense presidential race. Enjoy!

p.s. I am trying to talk Brent into New York City. :)

Go Miss Utah!

Usually I'm not really into following Miss America pageants or anything but this girl, Jill Stevens is from my hometown and just a year older than me, and her story is awesome. She was a soldier in Afghanistan, and then came home and someone dared her to try out for the Miss SUU pageant. Well, she won and now she is up for Miss America in a couple weeks! I hope she wins, and you can even vote for her on the reality show they are doing on TLC here. Also if you want to see video of her, you can click here.

She looks like...

Daddy or Mommy? Many people these days that meet Brooke (mostly strangers) say 1) "Oh, he's so cute!" and 2) "He looks like his Mommy." Well, I'm thinking neither of these statements is correct. Obviously the first one is not because the HE they are talking about is a SHE, and pretty much since the day Brooke was born, we've thought that she looks like Brent. Anyways, now I'm not sure what to think. I guess I'll have to make more

big bows and never let her

leave the house without one.

Brookie's Room

I never posted pictures of Brooke's room when it was all finished (which was about 2 months before she was born!) and a couple people have asked to see it and especially the amazing quilt that my Mom made. Yes, she made this, with her very own hands. When she showed me the fabric, I just about died because they were the exact colors I had been wanting and hadn't been able to find. Isn't it gorgeous? Thanks, Mom.

Krista and I (with Mom's help) made the name banner when I went to Seattle in June, and Brent painted the dresser over Memorial Day. I am quite proud of how everything turned out. I love how pristine the white crib and dresser look together!

(Just ignore the terrible gray carpet in our apartment!)