Stay Tuned for International Adventures

Its official! Brian has in internship in Berlin this summer and this week we purchased airline tickets for me and Allison to join him there! We're planning to see ALL of Berlin, heading down to Bavaria to see the Neuschwanstein Castle and when his internship is over, making it west to Paris and London. Now, granted, I probably need to have my head examined for flying solo to Europe with an infnant, but I still can't wait... stay tuned for blogs from Europe... coming Summer 2008!

Cutest Photo Ever

Maybe I'm biased, but isn't this photos beyond adorable? =)

6 Months Old!

I can't believe my little girl is 6 months old already! Tomorrow is her half birthday and I can't believe how fast its all gone by. We went to the doctor today and she is still just a smaller baby: 14 pounds 8 ounces. 23rd percentile. Its spot on for her growth pattern (just over 1 pound every month). In honor of my little girl's big half birthday, I've got six things Allison just LOVES.

1. Watching the monkey and frog move on her crib soother
2. The one-on-one attention at diaper changes
3. Her binky and her bottle
4. Putting anything and everything into her mouth
5. Pulling her fuzzy blanket up to her cheeks
6. Bouncing and singing on daddy's knee

And here are six things Brian and I LOVE about our little Allison

1. She sleeps at least 10 hours at night before waking up to eat
2. Her giggles
3. She loves to nurse
4. She gets so excited when her daddy comes home
5. The yummy sounds she makes when she gets to eat
6. Her huge, gorgeous smiles

Happy half birthday, munchkin!!!

This week in photos...

So I haven't posted a blog in about a week... maybe I'm feeling lazy... maybe I'm feeling like there's nothing to blog about... maybe I'm trying to avoid an online pity party over turning 25... who knows? So, instead of much writing, how about my week in photos? Warning: these are of Allison, because she is the cutest photo subject I have around. =)

If I try hard enough, I'm sure I can figure this cup thing out...

Playing with my soother in just a diaper... what fun!

SO close to sitting up all by myself!

We wanted to see how much she weighs... she's about 15 pounds

Enjoying a good book! =)

Rice Cereal

I started Allison on rice cereal earlier this month and I've been waiting for her to warm up to it and decide she likes it. I think she likes it now...

ABC Book Poem

Several people have asked for the poem I used on the ABC Book I made for Allison, so I figured i should post it. Feel free to use it for your own personal use and change whatever you don't like!

A is for atonement, my Savior made for me,
B is for baptism, when I reach the age of accountability
C is for church, on Sunday I will go,
D is for daddy, he loves me so.
E is for earth where I came to live,
F is for family where I learn to love and forgive.
G is for grandparents, who keep me amused,
H is for handcarts the pioneers used.
I is for Israel, twelve tribes in all,
J is for Jesus Christ, who saves me from the fall.
K is for kneeling in fasting and prayer,
L is for love, showing you care.
M is for mommy, she always loves me,
N is for Nephi, who lived faithfully.
O if for obedience and following God’s ways,
P is for prophet, I’ll do as he says.
Q is for quiet, be reverent and still,
R is for resurrection, live with God again I will
S is for scriptures, do what they say,
T is for temple, I’ll go there some day.
U is for Utah, where the pioneers came,
V is for vision, the first one by name.
W is for word of wisdom, it keeps us strong
X is for eXaltation, join the heavenly throng.
Y is for you, a precious child of God
Z is for Zion, get there by holding the iron rod.

Please note that while I do not mind if others use my poem for personal use, it is copywrited. It is not to be used for profit of any kind.

BBQ Chicken Soup

Its snowing outside, and nothing puts me in a soupy mood like cold and snow. So for lunch, I experimented. On Thursday night we have Oven BBQ chicken for dinner (chicken baked in BBQ sauce) and we have about half a breast left over. I decided to try a BBQ chicken soup. Its turned out SO yummy... here's the "recipe" I used (or made up...).

BBQ Chicken Soup

1 chicken breast
1/2 cup frozen corn
2-4 cups chicken stock (depending on number of desired servings)
1/4 cup BBQ Sauce (or just use BBQ Baked Chicken)
1-2 ounces cream cheese, milk or cream

Put chicken breast, BBQ sauce and stock in pot. Bring to a simmer. Add in corn and return to a simmer. Add cream cheese, milk or cream (optional... makes it yummy and creamy!) and return to simmer(I melted in cream cheese).

So easy, so yummy... this would also be really good with black beans in it too I think.

One of my new goals

I've seen a lot of people on blogs that I look at putting together monthly menus. I've started to think that this is a really good idea for me to try. I used to be SO good about cooking... but then Brian and I took a management job, which stressed me out. And then I got pregnant with Allison, which made me dislike food and the smell of food for a while. Needless to say, I'm not nearly as good at cooking dinners as I used to be. So, this is my attempt to try and get back on track cooking dinners, keep our grocery budget to a reasonable amount and reduce the amount we are spending eating out. So, here's January!

Sunday's (Crock Pot Night)

6 - Creamy Salsa Chicken

13 - Beef & Potato Casserole

20 - Chili

27 - Pot Roast

Monday's (Mexican Night)
7 - Tortilla Stack
14 - Chicken & Green Chile Enchiladas
21 - Tacos
28 - Spoon Tacos

Tuesday's (No Theme)
1- Chicken Pockets
15 - Lemon Chicken
22 - Chili Pasta Skillet
29 - Cordon Bleu Quiche

Wednesday's (No Theme)
2 - Ginger Chicken Stir Fry
9 - Macaroni & Cheese
16 - Wontons
23 - Parmesean Chicken
30 - Spaghetti

Thursday's (No Theme)
3 - Oven BBQ Chicken
10 - Eat out (my birthday!)
17 - Lasagna
24 - Chicken & Sun-dried Tomato Fetticuini
31 - Shepherd's Pie

Friday's (Pizza Night)
4 - Frozen Pizza
11 - Homemade Pizza
18 - Pita Pizza
25 - Papa Murphy's Pizza

Saturday's (Soup/Sandwich Night)
5 - Hamburgers
12 - Taco Soup & Quesadillas
19 - Sloppy Joes
26 - Honey Lime Chicken Sandwiches

I would do a left overs night, but those usually get eaten for lunches. I suppose if I rearranged things I could also have an Italian/Pasta night... maybe next month! Hopefully this will be something that works for me. I would call it a new year's resolution, but we all know what happens to those.

Allison's Scrapbook

I've started! Over my Christmas break my little sister wanted to learn to scrapbook, so while I was teaching and managed to (mostly) complete a couple of pages of my own. These are my first ones in 12x12 format, and I think they turned out pretty well. Maybe now I could get started on my wedding scrapbook... =)

First Foods

Allison has been SO interested in our food for the last month or so... she is always reaching and trying to get at whatever Brian or I are eating. So, I decided its time to get her started on solids (if they can be called that!). Allison got to taste her first real food this week... rice cereal! Although she was so excited that we were acutally giving her food, I really don't think she likes it so far! Hopefully she'll warm up to it!

Merry Christmas!

I'm pretty sure Allison didn't quite understand Christmas completly, but I stil she still enjoyed it. Brian caught this photo Christmas morning while we were at his parents' house opening gifts.

She also LOVED trying to open her gifts and LOVED all the paper. Allison had her own special method of gift opening... not very effective, but she sure tried hard!

More baby giggles...

Allison love diaper changes... she always has (well, since about day 4 I guess). During this particular diaper change I had the hiccups and she thought it was just hilarious! Now, granted, at lot of my hiccups on the video are fake, but I wanted her to laugh. Ironically, all the laughing at Mommy gave Allison the hiccups too! =)

Bows!

Katie and I spent some time making bows for out babies while we were both at my parents place (only about 3 days when we were both there). It was so fun and they ended up so cute! Look what we ended up with!

Maybe someday when I get ambitious and open that baby boutique that I think would be so fun I'll sell some of these. =)

Cousins!

Allison got to meet her best cousin, Emma, on our trip to Grandma and Grandpa McKee's house. Emma is just 5 days older than Miss Allison. She lives in Iowa, so this is the first time they have gotten to see each other since Emma left Heaven on July 19th. They were throughrouly fascinated with each other. It was SO cute when we let them meet... they both got SO excited and were reaching for each other. Sadly, I didn't have our camera handy to get a video of it. Its amazing how different two babies the same age can be! Allison is a petite little baby (below 25th percentile for height and weight) and Emma is chubby and tall (I thinkk she's over 65th percentile for height and weight). They are both so cute, but in such different ways. They both look like McKee's too... Allison looks a lot like I did (but with hair) and Emma looks so much like my brother Ben.

Ben and Katie left my parents place for Oregon to go see part of Katie's family for a little while before Brian and I left to go home, so we made sure that we said goodbye and gave goodbye kisses before they left... it will be probably 6 months, maybe more, before we get to see them again. This picture was not assisted... All I did was put Allison near Emma's car seat and ask her if she could give goodbye kisses. She leaned in and gave the kiss all by herself. Emma kissed Allison back too... how cute is that?!?

We love you Miss Emma and can't wait to see you again soon!

Playing Catch-up

Happy New Year! Brian and I have been gone for a week and a half and just got back yesterday... I'll be posting several posts trying to catch up all the fun we had on our trip... Christmas, laughs, new cousins and everything else. Hope you each had a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy new year's.