10 months!

Happy ten month birthday today little bubby!!! I officially have a toddler I think. He is into double digit months, and I got a sample of toddler formula in the mail today. What happened to my babe?! He is still changing every day, I shouldn't be surprised because it's going to keep happening. But it truly is amazing to watch him grow up!

• His weight, is a mystery, our scale broke because he thought it was a toy....it is not.
• His height, also a mystery, I'll have to check tomorrow morning.
• He is starting to love his tables foods a lot more, he likes:
• cheese
• ritz crackers
• saltines
• graham crackers (a lot!)
• Veggie Straws
• greek yogurt
• cranberry raspberry juice (with water)
• white grape juice (with water)
• pineapple
• manderain oranges
• peaches
• He doesn't like
• berries
• BANANAS (weird kid right?)
• straight juices, they are too much sweetness or something for him, and make him cough.
• spaghetti noodles
• He is still crawling everywhere, and FAST, we literally have to run across the room to close the gate before he escapes if it is left open.
• He got into the cupboard of pans for the first time and loves it!
• He likes to stand up next to anything he can get his hands on
• After he stands up, he cruises around everything, and is a quick little walker (with help of holding on)
• He is getting bored with his toys and wants anything we have, especially the remotes and phones still.
• He has stood on his own 3 or 4 times, but falls to his bum after a couple seconds.
• He is starting to hate shopping in his stroller. Sad day for the mom who loves to shop and browse.
• Luckily he still likes the grocery cart. Sidenote: The other day at Costco I got a sample of frozen go-gurt for him, and he LOVED it! Ate it so fast, and as soon as it was gone, he screamed for more.
• He is still a mama/papa's boy anytime we are around. But once we leave him with a babysitter, they say he calms right down and is fine the rest of the time.
• His two little bottom teeth have left their mark on the crib! It's a giant chew toy to him.
• We've had to start tying Toby's tail (his tiger stuffed animal/sleeping helper) to the crib slats so Easton won't throw him over and then cry. He thinks it's a pretty fun game to toss him, but then he wants him right back....hence the tying (which he doesn't love so much either, but it's better than no Toby)
• He still is sleeping great through the night. Goes down around 8:30, and waits for us to get him out of bed around 7:30. We still don't know exactly when he wakes up, because he never cries for us to come get him, he just waits patiently for us to grab him.
• Usually takes two naps per day, around 9:30 and 2:30. Sometimes it's just one nap around 12.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Yesterday I scratched a big one off of my bucket list! I went and saw the Ellen DeGeneres Show! It was such and amazing day, and I got to share with two amazing girls!
Haley, me and Sheena left Las Vegas around 2:00 on Sunday afternoon and headed to LA. We got stuck in some terrible weekend traffic, and our trip went an hour longer than planned, but it was well worth it! We checked into Sheena's time share that night, then went and got some delicious dinner at PF Chang's. We were pretty exhausted from the trip, so we headed back and went to bed...we had a BIG day ahead!
Monday, we woke up early and got all ready for Ellen and our big TV debut! The studio had called earlier that week and said to show up at 9:00 instead of 11:00, and we didn't know why. Once we got there, and showed our ID's a million times to security officers, we got our tickets, and then loaded into a really big 'golf cart' that held about 15 people at once. The drove us between all the Universal Studio's. We saw the studio for Big Bang Theory, and the old Friends studio, and drove through a bunch of 'sets' that were built to look like real outdoor streets of New York.
The cart pulled up to a big theatre studio in the 'streets of New York' and we all went inside. Once inside, they had us all seated and told us we were about to watch the new movie "Dark Shadows" starring Johnny Depp and Michelle Phiffer, then afterwards, we would see them on Ellen's show! Everyone cheered, and they started up the movie! It was awesome because there weren't any previews...just straight to the good stuff!
After the movie, we loaded back up into the carts, drove through Universal again, and finally got to Studio 1, the Ellen Show!!! We went inside and lined up in the Riff Raff room, and waited to be seated. We looked around the Ellen Shop, and I got a cute t-shirt, some sunglasses, and a fun magnet. Then the line started moving and we knew we were close! It was awesome to walk up the stairs, and come out at the top of the stadium and look down and see her whole set! We took a million pictures, and they moved the three of us down to the 4th row! Her pre-show producer was really fun, and got us all pumped up, and told us how everything would go. We saw Tony the DJ come out and everybody cheered for him, he was so humble and didn't want a lot of attention. He put on some music and we all danced and danced! About 15 minutes later they said it was showtime and her music started playing, then there she was! It was so fun to see her walk out and talk to everyone! She talked about shampoos, then came up and danced with us! She danced down the row right across from ours, and then went back to the stage.
Johnny Depp was her first guest, and when he came out the crowd went crazy! It was so fun to see him in real life! Apparently he doesn't do a lot of interviews, and it was his first time ever on Ellen, so it was  a big deal that he was there. He talked about how he bases his characters off of random things. Like Willy Wonka was his version of a "stoned George Bush" and Edward Scissorhands was "a newborn mixed with a dog" He was fun to listen to! Michelle Phiffer came out, and was beautiful! As well as another co-star...Chloe something who plays Michelle Phiffer's daughter in the movie.
After they all left, they filmed a segment with Alison Sweeney, host from the Biggest Loser and she's on Days of our Lives. She played life-size Jenga with Ellen, and it went for about a half hour, even though the show only showed a couple minutes of it.
The last segment of the show was Flo-Rida and Sia's new song "Wild One's" It was SUCH a fun party/concert/loud/crazy fun song! Flo-Rida even came up the aisle and held Haley's hand while he sang and they danced! AMAZING right???
After the show was done taping, Ellen came out and talked to the audience, she told us how great of a crowd we had been, and that we had a "fantastic energy"...so much so, that she wanted us all to come back for one of her 12 Days of Giveaways show in December! We all could. not. believe. it! It was so loud with screaming and cheering that it almost just sounded like quiet muffley sound!
It was SUCH an amazing experience! As we all left the studio and walked back across the street to the parking lot, we saw Ellen drive out the studio area in her little silver Porsche, she honked and waved as she drove by. It was amazing.
I can't believe that it was even a real day in my life! It was so surreal the whole time, and I feel like it was too good to be true, so it must have been a dream!
After the show, we drove up and got out of most of the traffic, and found a delicious little Mexican restaurant, filled up on yummy food. Then we hit the road! We got home around 9:00 that night, and were all happy to see our hubby's and kids!
It was such a great girls weekend trip, and I'm SO excited we get to do it again in December!!!

me, Haley and Sheena, in the parking lot, waiting area

walking across the street from the parking lot, I had to take a picture of my favorite...the Vampire Diaries! (This one is for you Danielle!)

 In the riff raff room, waiting to go into the studio.

 at the top of the seating area

 cute Haley and cute Sheena

 some of my favorite girls in LV! We had a blast!

posing with the set, about ten minutes after the last segment. They were already all cleaned up and ready to go.

me and the "orange pants" dancer. For any of you who watched the show and watched her dance on stage, Ellen also referenced to her orange pants in her opening segment. She had parked right across from us, so I had to take a picture with her...she came clear from Toronto!

I had to take a picture of the TV because there aren't any videos online of this part of the show, but here is mine and Sheena's big TV debut...I'll sign autographs for you all later!

You can see us cheering in the top left corner at about 3:10, it's quick, but there we are!!!


Flo-Rida dancing with Haley at around 2:15, you can also see me and Sheena next to her as he walks down the other aisle!

9 months!

Easton had his nine month birthday on Easter Sunday! We were headed up to Utah that afternoon, so I'm late getting to this post. He is getting so big and so smart! We are blown away at everything he can do, and that he has figured it all out on his own!

• Weight: 25 lb. 1 oz. : 90-95%
• Height: 30 1/4 inches : 90-95%
• Head circumference: 46 cm. : 60-75%
• He mastered crawling in one week. He went from a slow creep, by pulling with his arms, then pushing with his legs, to full fledged crawling so quick. And he is VERY quick at crawling! He can scoot across a room really fast, and is always at my feet.
• We got a gate to put at the entry to the family room so he can't escape, we feel like we have an official 'kid' house now.
• He eats anything we put in front of him. Except he is funny about bananas sometimes. Also, we started giving him pieces of whole wheat toast, and he got diarrhea (TMI, sorry) Have any of you other moms had that problem? I'm thinking it might be too much gluten for his belly maybe?
• He has two teeth now. The second bottom tooth popped up about a week after the first.
• He has turned into a momma's boy overnight! My parents were in town, and then we went up to Utah and saw a lot more family and friends, and Easton had to be on my lap the WHOLE time. He'd whimper if I was only in eyesight, and scream scream scream if I left the room or someone else held him. Luckily, when Ryan picked us up at the airport, he went right to him!
• He is starting to pull himself up onto things already. It's scariest in the tub when he is so slick! And he has a couple bruises from face planting onto things.
• I don't think walking is too far away!! He just needs to strengthen his legs a little more.
• He loves reading his stories. His favorite books are "That's Not My Tractor" and "Where's My Bear?" He thinks turning the pages is the greatest!
• He's been to the pool a couple times since it opened, and is luckily a water baby, good thing, we'll be living there this summer!
• He is still fascinated with buttons...remotes, phones, the PS3 and DirecTV box...anything.
• He likes to play peek-a-boo with blankets, towels, and burp rags.
• "Itsy Bitsy Spider" is the magic song. Anytime is he crying uncontrollably, he'll calm right down if I sing it. Even when he is in the car and can't see me, I must have a lovely voice...ha!
• He is wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 4 diapers, and doesn't fit in any shoes. Ryan's mom said she had to find him special extra wide shoes, and I'm afraid I'll have the same problem, his feet are little bricks!

delicious dinner

Last night was a "clean out the fridge for dinner" kinda night. And it turned out delicious! One of those made up recipes that you have to rack your brain for afterwards to figure out exactly what and how much of everything you threw in. So, if your feeling like you need a new meal in your weekly rotation, try this light and zesty option! (extra points too because it's only about 550 cal. per serving, and the left overs are even more amazing!)

Onion and Chive Lemon Pepper Penne

4 chicken breast tenderloins, sliced

4-5 mini sweet peppers, sliced and de-seeded

couple handfuls of broccoli florets

1 T. olive oil

1 T. lemon pepper

1 cup skim milk

1/2 box Onion and Chive Boursin cheese (any flavor or seasoned cream cheese could work)

1/2 box of whole wheat penne

garlic salt

In a large saucepan, bring water to boil. Add garlic salt to water and then add noodles. Cook until ale dente.

In a small pot, add about a 1/2 inch of water, bring to a simmer, then add broccoli and place sliced peppers on top. Steam until broccoli is tender.

Heat a large frying pan to medium high heat. Add the olive oil, drizzle over the entire base. Put sliced chicken and lemon pepper in the pan. Cook chicken through, then remove from pan into small bowl.

In a blender, add milk and cheese, and blend until smooth. Pour milk mixture into the hot frying pan. Deglaze the pan, and heat the sauce until slightly thickened. Add the chicken back into sauce.

Serve with the vegetables on top of penne, and drizzle the chicken and sauce on top.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays ever...for no real reason. It might come from the fact that my favorite color is green, or maybe it's just because any reason to make a day a little more special is always exciting to me! But now that I'm a Doyle, I feel like I'm officially of Irish decent and I need to celebrate!

Easton wore his special green shirt all day, and we had a delicious green dinner! I made fettuccine alfredo with roasted asparagus and grilled pesto chicken...and lots of food coloring of course! It was amazing!

This year was extra fun because I had a spa gift certificate from Christmas that I used. Ryan sent me to the Oleksandra Spa in Treasure Island and I had a lovely and relaxing hour long massage. I felt so fancy, they gave me a big fluffy white robe, and slippers! I felt so spoiled, and it really topped off my favorite day!

visitors!

About two weeks ago my mom and sister Michelle came down to visit us. It was SO great to see them and have my family around to hang out. I forget how fun it is to have family around to do just random everyday tasks like running errands. Going to the grocery store with them is WAY funner than going by myself! We had an amazing time, and I hope they were able to relax and enjoy their vacation too!

They came into town on Thursday, and we hung out with Easton for a little while, and then watched TV while he took a nap. Once he woke up, we took off to Costco and got some groceries. Grandma even bought Easton a new carseat! He has long outgrown his infant seat, and he was unhappy and uncomfortable in it. Now in his new toddler seat (rear and front facing, don't worry) he is so much happier! He finally has room to stretch out, and he can see what's going on, he has always loved looking out the windows! That night when Ryan got home from school, we took off to dinner at our favorite restaurant we've found called Sammy's Woodfired Pizza.

Friday, Michelle and I took off to Smiths to get some stuff to make homemade laundry soap while my mom stayed with Easton during his nap. We made the soap and it made so much!!! I'm definitely going to continue making it from now on, it goes so much further than store bought detergent. That afternoon, I had to take Easton to Ryan's school as part of a pediatric evaluation for the Physical Therapy class a year ahead of Ryan. He did a great job, and LOVED all the attention the students gave him, such a flirty little guy! That night, i made dinner for everyone then my mom, Michelle and I went to get pedicures and shopping at Nordstrom Rack...my favorite!!

Saturday, Ryan went up to Mesquite to see his dad coach the USU baseball team (we wish Ryan was still playing!) And the girls and Easton took off for lunch and shopping at the mall. My mom and Michelle got a couple more cute things, and I'm proud to say I resisted buying something all weekend!! Wahoo! We got home and my mom helped me make a high chair/grocery cart cover for Easton. That night, Ryan and I took advantage of having babysitters and went to a movie! We saw Act of Valor, and it was incredible! I bawled. It was such a well made movie, and I couldn't believe how touched I was the whole time.

Sunday morning, they took off back up to Utah and I was so sad to see them go!