Beginning to Look Like Christmas

The tradition of putting up the Christmas tree the first Sunday after Thanksgiving reigns supreme! Rich and I made a deal after dinner that if he would make the lunches for Monday he wouldn't have to put lights on the tree. He jumped at this deal. In the end though he ended up putting lights on the top part of the tree because Mom and I were too short. He is such a good husband!

Mom passed out ornaments and Dad, Rich, and I decorated the tree.


There is not a picture of me hanging ornaments because Rich only took pictures of me while he was sitting on the chair. This angle made me seem GINORMOUS. And not in a good pregnant way. He later informed me it was NOT the angle. He then received a death glare. I still like him though.

Rich didn't think the way I was putting the beads on the tree was good enough, so he took over.

He did a fantastic job.

This is us being cute in front of the tree!

Love Christmas and the lights and the tree and everything!

Thanksgiving 2009

We had Thanksgiving with the Millett family this year. It was supposed to be a magical time of being together as an entire family, but then Christy and Phil moved to Kansas City and ruined that plan. BUT WE STILL LOVE THEM.

Wednesday night was spent preparing some things for the big meal. I stood so long that my ankles swelled to proportions that ranked them in the extreme cankle category. But this was a minor sacrifice to make so we could have delicious foods to eat the next day!


I've never made a pie crust before. I normally go straight to the freezer aisle and fill the crust with my own goodness. A few weeks ago for Relief Society we had a pie making demonstration and were given a really easy recipe for a pie crust. Susie and I decided to be adventurous and make our own crusts. It was very apparent that Susie had made pie crusts before. It was very apparent that I was a beginner. But in the end I was amazed at how things worked out!

I was proud of myself. (Sometimes being prideful is okay right?) I will no longer be terrified of the crust-making.

Rich was a huge help with making the Dixie Salad. His favorite part of Thanksgiving is peeling the pomegranates. In honor of his special Thanksgiving job, he wore my bedazzled apron from the Philippines.

He is adorable, no?

He later asked why Dad didn't have a special Thanksgiving job, thus ensuring that both of the men had to help the rest of the morning.

Dad's main jobs included carving the turkey

and then sleeping to recuperate from the strenuous effort.
The whole family came over early to visit and eat appetizers. Next year we may only have one appetizer, because by the time dinner was ready everyone was full!

Dawn made cute napkin holders out of the family's pictures. Rich and I would have fit in perfectly in Puritanical New England.


We are grateful for wonderful family! We are also grateful for many other things:
Each other
Our baby
Jobs
Education
Our testimonies of the gospel
Health (especially more so since we've been sick for like 3 weeks with stupid colds)
Friends
Each other!

Adventuring

Rich and I went on a quick adventure right before Thanksgiving. I took exactly 4 pictures on our adventure. Rich took 2. We are not photo-journalists.

But we had a great time and now know that Rich doesn't hate all domestic-made cars. We also know that when the GPS tells you to stay left, stay left, and keep staying left and then exit right in .2 miles, it really means YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE EXITING THIS VERY SECOND.
Magellan failed. How he got around the Cape of Good Hope I'll never know.

The Showering of the Baby

Our baby is already pretty popular. Judging by the nice gifts people have bestowed upon us for his use. I mean, I'm not surprised. He is pretty awesome. But it's nice to have his awesomeness validated by others.

Last Saturday, Lindsey, the bestest of friends, threw me a wonderful baby shower. Her mom even made her famous (to me) homemade eclairs. I cannot begin to discuss the wonder of the homemade eclair. I haven't had one of these eclairs since early college years, so this was a magical thing. And though the recipe doesn't look that hard, I'm positive Ann's eclairs will always be better than anything I could make. In fact, I may never try to make the eclairs myself because why ruin the wonder of the magical eclairs?

(This is the stud outfit from Jen to match the party dress I got for her little girl. THEY WILL PROBABLY FALL IN LOVE SOMEDAY.)

This shower was made up of friends from high school, dance years, college, and my current ward. All the girls there were either pregnant or had recently just had a baby--we love the babies in Utah! It was fun to catch up with everyone and eat the magical eclairs and other goodies Lindsey whipped up.


We also all marveled about the craftiness of Lindsey who had cute decorations and favors. Plus she also designed this wicked cool shelf and had her dad make it for me. There is no picture of it right now. Because I am not good at taking pictures.

In fact, this picture of me and AnnDee and Toni--my amazing college roomies--will be the last of this post because while I may have taken the camera to the next shower, I may have never actually pulled it out of my purse. Details.

After the friend shower was wrapped up, Mom and I headed over to Sandy for a shower with Coralie's side of the family. I don't get to see this side of the family very much, so it was nice to have a get together with them.

They were also very talented with the food, and I'm pretty sure the doctor would not be impressed with the amount of sugar I consumed this day. I will probably not tell him.

The aunts and cousins were super generous, and, again, our baby will be thouroughly loved, as is evidenced by the wonderful gifts that were given to help us on our adventures in parenthood.

(Imagine a pile of presents here.)

BLESSINGS!

Baby Showering!

Here's an old baby bump pic. I'm 30 weeks here. I'm now 32 weeks. Which is freaky!!

My wonderful mother, sisters, and sister-in-law threw me a baby shower for our side of the family and for people from our (old and new) ward. There was so much food and so many people I love came to wish us well on the new baby adventure!

All these women were like second mothers to me. They know me very well.

Wendi and Jo are not like second mothers to me, bc they are my sisters. But I love them very much.

Little ceramic baby shoes! Once I have the baby I will get my own personalized pair. I think it's so cute! It will be a great keepsake.

I also loved the bath stuff we got. Hooded towels make me happy.

There were many other wonderful and thoughtful gifts. But these are the only pictures on my camera. Before yesterday we really didn't have anything for the baby, but now I just feel so blessed! We got a super cute bouncy seat and adorable clothes. Plus it's just so fun to see people that you love but don't get to see very often! So yay for the baby shower! And thanks to my mom and sisters!

Halloween 2009

Late on the Halloween and pumpkin carving, but that's okay.

Sometimes things die. And since I don't know which sibling has the pictures of Rich and I from our Millett family get together, I instead took a picture of the pumpkins on the porch. They've been there for two weeks. Some (a lot) mold is creeping in. And they are wrinkly. But this is just a life lesson that NOTHING LASTS.

And we are still cute. Perhaps not-so-artistic, but cute.

Rich's pumpkin depicts a spider. With 6 legs. Sometimes spiders have 6 legs. But normally they are called ticks when they do. However, Lyme Disease can be scary. It does kill a small percentage of Americans every year.

My pumpkin is happy (though he does look scarier bc of the mold--GINGIVITIS). I like to make easy carvings. Pretty much every year I make a huge pumpkin mouth. And I finish carving my pumpkin in like 7 minutes. Which is what I'm going for. Plus, this year, I got Rich to clean out the pumpkin guts. So really, my effort in the whole carving endeavor was minimal.

Rich really likes roasted pumpkin seeds, and he made the whole family donate their guts to his collection. He cleaned all the seeds and got them ready so I could roast them. They are surprisingly good. Last year he did the whole process by himself, but this year I needed to step in to make sure the seeds got cooked.


I made three different kinds. Rich really likes the ones with Worcestershire Sauce, I wanted to try some with some cheese flavoring, and I wanted some plain ones to use in granola. I have been planning a part two to the homemade granola I made in the crock pot in the spring, and the craving has heightened since I have some seeds to put in it! We'll see if I make some.

I really want to.

But a lot of the time my wants/intentions get pushed to the wayside by my intense laziness.

We Did Stuff.

When I was on the high school yearbook staff I got to go to editor camp. Our yearbook adviser's dream was that some year, some day, one of his editorial staffs would use the theme "We Did Stuff" for that year's book. He had apparently been trying to convince high school kids for years to use this theme.

The Britton's theme for the past week would be "We Did Stuff." We didn't do stuff every day that equaled amazing. We did some things that were very important to us. But mainly we just did stuff that happens every week. Normal things. The things that make up life.

Annalisa lent me a book called Contentment: Inspiring Insights for LDS Mothers. I liked the book for many reasons. (I also didn't like the book for a few minor reasons, mainly because stop citing quotes from sources other than the original, it makes you look lazy!) One great quote was from President Eyring and it said something to the effect of not expecting life to be filled with amazing, out of the ordinary, exciting adventures. If we are constantly getting bored with our everyday lives, we're not being content with the blessings that God has given us.

I'm grateful for the ability I have to have fun adventures and outings with my husband. But I'm more grateful for the fact that we have a pretty normal life. A normal life filled with love, appreciation, service, and joy. I wouldn't want to be on this journey with anyone else than Rich. That fact has been drilled into my soul with ever-more intensity in the past week of "stuff."

Many things in life are changing and hard decisions are being made. And we will certainly have days full of crazy, very unordinary things, but I most look forward to just being content with my pretty wonderful, normal life.

Only in America

I mopped the kitchen floor tonight. Why? Because my parents are returning to America. And apparently I only clean when they make a trip to America. Except this is not a trip. This is a to-stay-forever arrival.

After Rich and I finished cleaning the house in preparation for the Milletts' grand entrance, he commented that when we have our own house it will never be clean. At some point in the night Rich also sang some of the song "Only in America." We then discussed whether this song was from Fievel Goes West or Fievel Goes to America. I made sure he knew the official name was An American Tail. I then realized that was not even a song from the movie. The actual song is "There are No Cats in America." I'm pretty sure I haven't seen this movie since I was 8, but I know this is why I may have some dislike of cats--this movie, or the barn cat that gave me ringworm as a child. (Note to Kate: I like your cats. They do not give me ringworm.) Those Kindergarten pics of mine are a testament to the fact that you should not play with a barn cat.

THAT WAS WAY OFF TOPIC.


But here is a clip of the song just in case. Good times.

Back to cleaning. . . I assured Rich that, of course, I will be better at cleaning when we have our own house because I will be home more. And I won't have a stove that is SO HARD TO CLEAN. Also, in my head I thought, "I will always clean before my mom comes to visit." Apparently I feel that cleaning is a precursor to my mother arriving at any location. Is this my need to please her? Or is it linked to the fact that she is a bit OCD? (Whereas I, though not completely dirty, am okay with the fact that sometimes the side tables are dusty--a lot dusty.) I'm not sure. But at least she gives me a reason to clean. Though, as Rich said, I'm certain our cleaning of the window shutters are not completely up to her standards.

I do like the kitchen clean though. And I was driving myself nuts with how out of control the kitchen has been for the past month. Due to some typhoons in the Philippines, Mom and Dad's arrival was delayed by two weeks. Therefore, Rich and I had time to prepare the house properly. I was also able to finish the bottling. So now the water bath canner and the food dryers are put away. I HAVE SO MUCH CABINET SPACE.

The mopping of the floor has been needed since the beginning of September. But really, why mop the floor of the peach stickiness when there was surely to be pear stickiness and applesauce stickiness to follow? There is no reason why. The sickness really made the canning process drag on longer than it needed to. That, and being pregnant and slow makes it longer to do things than it probably should. Plus I had to do double batches of everything since my mom wasn't going to be home in time to do her own fruit. But the good news is that I canned fruit all by myself! I'd done applesauce before, but this was the first year of venturing peaches and pears.

In the end, the fruit is done and away. The floor is mopped. And Mom and Dad are coming back to America.

We are going to live together and eat the fruit I bottled for us.

FAMILY MAGIC!!

Book Lover

Sometimes you find those books that really make you feel something. You can actually feel the story in your soul and the people seem to really come to life and you feel as if you've known them your whole life.

I love happy discoveries like that. Reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was a happy discovery.

It's even better when the author herself writes something that you had thought to yourself in the past. LIKE READING YOUR OWN THOUGHTS. Spooky. But cool spooky :)

"Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers."

I honestly believe that.

My favorite baby gift so far has been this little onesie. (Thanks again Faith!)


I really hope that our little guy is a reader. The world is a much more interesting and magical place when you love to read.

Two-Year Mark

On September 28, 2007 we were joined as a familial unit, and that was the best day of our lives.

Two years later we are still enjoying the fun of being the Brittons!

We were going to celebrate by doing some low-key, albeit important things. Instead, we got the sickness.

The sickness was rough. We didn't enjoy it. At first we thought it was just me getting food poisoning or something pregnancy related. Once Rich also got the sickness we realized that this was no food poisoning. However, in the meantime we did babysit Brad and Jo's kids, thoroughly ensuring that they could get our germs. (I'm still crossing my fingers they don't get sick! Mainly bc Addie ended that night with black eye from an unfortunate slide trick. So really, Rich and I are going to be great parents--we spread germs willy-nilly and give children horrible wounds.) The sickness was such that Rich and I were pretty useless for most of the week. I was useless from the beginning toward the end, and Rich was useless from the middle to the end. I recovered by getting the freezer corn done and the very ripe pears bottled. Rich recovered by sleeping for 13 hours straight from Friday night to Saturday morning. He didn't have to go to the bathroom once. He's so lucky.

Due to the 13-hour sleep, and the sickness, we didn't make it to the temple on Saturday morning like we had planned. We wanted to go to the temple and celebrate our special day by being where our marriage all began. Since the temple is closed on Monday we thought Saturday would substitute. Instead, we went tonight. I'm so glad that we've gone to the temple both anniversaries so far. I hope that's a tradition we continue because what better place to be than the temple to think about our life together? I'm grateful for the blessings of the temple and for the opportunity that we have to be sealed together for eternity. Because I don't want to be with anyone but Rich for forever!

We decided we would go out for ice cream after the temple. I picked Leatherby's! Then I found a coupon in the mail for a buy one get one half off at Coldstone. So we went there. Nothing like couponing on your anniversary!

On our actual anniversary day we were planning on just going to a nicer dinner--one that didn't include a dollar menu or an Hot-n-Ready pizza. Instead, back in August, we got sucked into buying something at Costco that we didn't know we really, really needed, that is much larger than a regular purchase, but that was at an incredible deal (essentially like every trip to Costco).

I had actually been coveting one of these pictures of the Salt Lake Temple for ages and when I saw them at the local Costco, I begged Rich to spend all our monies on a picture. We agreed that this purchase would count as our anniversary and maybe some of Christmas. So, instead of going to dinner on Monday, I decided I would make a nicer meal. Then the meal got downgraded to a crock pot meal. Then I ended up pulling a lasagna from the freezer that I'd saved from earlier in the summer. We are high class. And romantic.

I love Rich very much and (cliche) can't believe it's already been two years. It hasn't been a two years free of frustrations and learning experiences, but it has been a perfect two years because we've grown closer together, loved each other more, and helped each other become better people. In our third year we'll have have many more adventures, and we can't wait!


We really like each other.

Da Bumps

I decided I should post some baby bump pics so I could remember my largeness. And, so when in a few months I'm even larger, I can look at these pictures and remember the good old days of being only 5 months pregnant.

23 weeks. This was an accidental baby bump pic while in Times Square.
[I look amazing.]

I love the juxtaposition of me and the naked underwear model in the background.
There is something remarkably different about our two bellies. . .

I feel like I had that "you popped out" moment in the past few weeks or so and actually look pregnant. And though I'm not as big as I thought I would be at this point, I'm okay with that. Grateful, would be the word. I'm also okay with the fact that I have to wear nylons to work everyday because they hold in my belly even more throughout the day. Nylons are not completely evil!

Here I am with my current belly (almost 25 weeks). I love it.

I love knowing that inside that belly (the belly that also freaks me out bc omgosh I have never weighed so much) is a baby boy! I've been able to feel the little Britton a lot more, and Rich is able to feel him, too. I adore having those moments

Baby miracles!

Really Important Post About Waffles

I sort of love having breakfast for dinner. It's comforting, and it's easy (I'm a little lazy right now in the dinner-making category). And our recent brinner (breakfast for dinner) was perfect for a stormy--seemed just like fall--night. Pumpkin seems to make you feel right at home.

I went on a spree last week looking at all the pumpkin recipes I could find. (That pumpkin cupcake from Magnolia really got me in the fall mood and made me NEED some pumpkin stuff!) Anyway, when I found a recipe for pumpkin waffles on Smitten Kitchen (whom I love), I knew I needed to make them. They were good enough to blog about--mainly to remind myself to make these again, and soon.

These waffles were a little more intense than I thought, but only because I didn't look to see that I would be needing to dirty three bowls. In reality, they were pretty easy to make. So don't let the three-bowl thing scare you. I added more cinnamon and cloves than called for, and I added some nutmeg for good measure. I used some pumpkin puree that I had saved in the freezer, so I think that may have been why I needed more flavoring. Or I just really like a lot of spices.

Also, if I were to make them again for just the two of us I would half the recipe. I didn't realize how many waffles it would make. And as Rich is not a fan of the reheating of waffles, we had them for dinner two nights in a row. Thank goodness the batter kept in the fridge overnight. I was worried. But we seem to be alive still and the waffles tasted as good the second night.

Pumpkin Waffles from Smitten Kitchen
Adapted from several sources

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk [I didn't have any at home, so I made my own by adding lemon juice, perhaps these would be even better with real buttermilk?]
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin [again, I used pumpkin puree]
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted [I used salted bc that's how I roll. I like salt.]

Vegetable oil for brushing waffle iron or cooking spray

Accompaniment: warm pure maple syrup [we used buttermilk vanilla and store-bought maple]

Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron. [I didn't use the oven--too much effort]

Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices.

Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl with buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients just until smooth.

In a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Fold them gently into the waffle batter, until just combined.

Brush waffle iron lightly with oil and spoon batter (about 2 cups for four 4-inch Belgian waffles) into waffle iron, spreading quickly. Cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Transfer waffles to rack in oven to keep warm and crisp. Make more waffles in same manner.

Final Day!

Tuesday was our last day in the city. Our flight wasn't until later that evening, so we had enough time to get some more sight seeing in. First we headed to the Statue of Liberty.

I highly recommend going first thing in the morning. Fewer lines and you get it out of the way! However, the water at the pier was very, very choppy. Apparently 400 years ago Henry Hudson "discovered" (explored) the Hudson River area. Thus, navies from several countries decided to honor this feat by having a naval parade (and probably caused the choppiness).

This also meant that we had to stay at the dock for awhile. Thank you Henry Hudson. We were on a tight schedule, but I guess history should be celebrated. Pregnancy+really tired+no breakfast+choppy water=unhappy me. But I lived. By using the backpack as a pillow and laying down on Rich's lap. Like a 5 year old.

We finally made it to the monument, where we enjoyed ourselves and took pics and walked quickly to ensure we saw everything. I thought I was in pretty good shape for a pregnant person, but walking up those steps reminded me that my lung capacity could stand to increase some. [There are pictures of me. They're on Rich's camera.]

Again, the weather this day was great, a bit more humid, but still pretty mild and wonderful. We decided against exploring Ellis Island. Another trip! Plus, Rich told me he had a pretty good idea what it was all about from the movie Hitch. So, thank you Will Smith, for teaching my husband about immigrants.

After getting back to Manhattan, we walked over to the Financial District, took our bull pictures, saw Wall Street and the NYSE, and bought a new power tie for Rich. Then we headed up to City Hall Park and the Brooklyn Bridge.

We booked it across the bridge, snapping pics as we went, and made it to Brooklyn!

Then we had a wonderful pizza at Grimaldi's. I love their pizza.

I know some people think it's not that great, but I do. I love, love, love it! And apparently Rich and I are pigs since we ate an entire large pizza between the two of us in approximately 30 minutes. New York pizza is amazing.

We headed down to the pier to take pics and to get some ice cream from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. So much food in such a short amount of time.

I love this picture. Rich looks so cute. And he's smiling his normal smile. Love him!!

After this was a subway trip back to Manhattan and to the Cambridge offices. I wanted to drop in and say hello to my old boss. I love Scott. I should have taken a picture with him. But, oh well. I will remember him and his cuteness. We visited for a bit and caught up, then Rich and I did more walking, stopping occasionally along Canal Street, but generally making our way up to Washington Square park and the NYU bookstore.

I decided my souvenir needed to be an NYU hoodie since I'd meant to buy one long ago but never did. And the bookstore employees took pity on me and my pregnancy and let me use the employee only restroom. Heart them!

We didn't get to explore my old neighborhood because we were short on time, but Rich told me he didn't even care! Rude! Next visit I'll make him understand the East Village love. We did, however, have time to go up to the Strand and peruse the $1 book carts. Really, it wouldn't be a New York trip if I didn't buy some $1 books. I didn't find any super amazing treasures this time, but I did find some picks that I'm sure will make me happy.

Making our way back to the PATH to get to Jersey City and our bags, I realized that our route was perfectly aligned to stop at Murray's Bagels one more time! I didn't even plan it. It was destiny. The NY gods knew I needed the bagels. So we got our dozen. And I smiled.

Then to Jersey City and then back into the city to catch the subway to JFK. Our whole trip was perfect until reaching JFK. I hate the Delta. So much. I thought about writing a strongly worded letter to the people who schedule the baggage drop desk for all Delta flights and ask them rhetorically why, WHY IN THE WORLD THEY ONLY SCHEDULED ONE PERSON TO WORK THE DESK. But I've decided against it. Mainly because I'm pretty sure the guy in front of us will write a letter that's strong enough for all of us. He threatened to sue the desk worker. And though, I kind of hate her too, his letter will most likely get the point across. I will also probably get over the disapointment of having to throw away my brand new pretty bottle of hair product that I had to take through security because Delta wouldn't check our bags. At least the TSA guys commiserated with me. They hate Delta too.

The end! Our trip was great! We spent too much money, mainly on food, but it was a wonderful trip for us to take, and I'm so glad that we were there for Meryl's wedding and that I got to reunite with all the girls I used to work with at Cambridge. I hope to get Rich back to the city someday. Hopefully soon! Because I already need more pizza and bagels.

Day 4

Day four needed some serious sleeping in! We then packed up and headed back to Jersey City. Rich and I wanted to get some more touristy stuff in, so after a quick lunch we headed into the city.We first went to Central Park. I love the park. It's so great. And I constantly get lost on all the pathways, but it's okay. You always discover something fun, and you forget you're in the city. I just love all the different areas of Central Park.

We were thinking of doing a carriage ride, but instead saved our money and just wandered around and at one point relaxed on the lawn for a bit just hanging out and chatting. It was a great way to spend a few hours. And I have to mention at this point that the weather during our whole trip was amazing. I was nervous it was still going to be hot and humid, but we were pleasantly surprised and had mild weather the entire time. It felt like fall weather, and since fall is my favorite time in the city, I couldn't have been happier.

After Central Park we walked down 5th Avenue and saw all the fancy stores we will never shop at! We found our way down to Rockefeller Center and snapped pics there.

We also found the Magnolia Bakery that's there now. My pumpkin cupcake was freaking amazing. I want to try to duplicate it at home! After our sugar fix, we headed up to Top of the Rock.

Annalisa had told me that Top of the Rock was better than the Empire State Building just because you could see more and then take pics of the ESB. Plus, the lines were shorter. I couldn't agree more.

I'm not sure if I ever want to go back to the ESB after going to TotR. There was no waiting, no giant crowds, you could see the whole city, and it didn't seem so commercialized. I'm really glad we decided to get tickets to go up and see everything.

After taking many pictures on top of the building, we headed over to the Stage Deli. The Stage Deli is a Millett family tradition. My dad first discovered the place when he was in NY on business, then he took my mom, then the kids when we went as a family. Wendi and Erik even went there on their trip together--though Erik being a super saver back then didn't eat anything and made Wendi order the cheapest thing on the menu, the egg salad sandwich. Erik did take me back there when I lived in NY, and he let me get whatever sandwich I wanted, and he even ordered food for himself this time :) Anyway, I figured Rich needed to be included in the Millett family fun. Oh how I adore the pastrami. It was so warm and wonderful. Mmmmm. [Imagine my giant sandwich, bc the picture Rich took of me did not meet blog post standards.]

After this we took our tourist pictures by the Late Show sign and headed home. We were tired, and my feet needed a break!