I just ordered a 7-cup Cuisinart food processor from Williams Sonoma. It's my first Christmas present from my mom. I have been drooling over this thing for years, as Brett can attest. It chops, slices, dices, makes pie dough, and does a million other little chores that I am going to love.

I have several recipes that can only be made in a food processor, including Swedish Almond Cardamom Stars, a kind of cookie that I am planning on making for the holiday season. I am thrilled that this is coming soon!

I will post pictures of Texas when we get back, and Kennedy's first visit to Santa!

I am so excited that I can have the full Christmas spirit now! More music, more cheer, more snow! On December 1st we are going to decorate the house and the baking extravaganza will begin. I'm going to try out new recipes this year because I'm trying to come up with some cookies and other things that will begin to be traditions at our house. What are your traditions? What smell coming from the oven makes you think of Christmas? Our tree will be nothing like this, but isn't the Rockefeller Center tree amazing? Have a great beginning of the Christmas season! (And to those of you who are shopping today, be careful out there! A Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death this morning!)

Give thanks for the wonderful belssings in your life! I am thankful to be here in Texas with my family, for Brett and Kennedy, for all of my friends, for being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and many other little things that make me happy everyday. Enjoy your days and you meals!

As I have been informing you over the last few weeks, Kennedy is going to be a crawler soon.  She was entertaining Brett's family last night with her attempts and her push ups.  My sister-in-law Lori said that she gives her 2 weeks before she can crawl, but after this morning, I think it may be less.

She's got the legs down!  She is moving her knees forward just like she needs to to crawl.  Granted, it's slow, but it is definitely there.  And she's actually moving forward today, which is better than her usual backwards shove.  She still hasn't quite figured out how to use her hands, but it's getting there.  In the meantime, here is a picture of her awesome boy push up.

She's sitting next to me doing them right now.  She is so strong!  She'll be able to beat up all the boys her age, especially since she will be bigger than most of them until 8th grade.

We are heading off to Texas tomorrow for Thanksgiving bright and early.  We are excited to go and see everybody and to meet Wyatt!  We'll have a home cooked Thanksgiving which we didn't have last time since Grandma Emigh had just gotten out of the hospital.  Brett is cooking the turkey, and I'm in charge of the squash and the pumpkin pie.  I'll try to post while we're down there, and you can bet that my blog will be festive for Christmas on Friday!

I am sorry for my double posting today, I never do that.  And I don't mean to distract you from helping me find a good squash recipe, since I know that you are all clamoring to help.  But my daughter is too cute.  Lately, her hair has been getting so long that it is getting in her eyes.  I don't really want to cut it, but it is too short to just put behind her ear.  Since she, unlike every other baby I know, has way more hair in the front than in the back, a ponytail is out.  I needed to do something.

It's probably hard to see, and she was squirming quite a bit, so it's not that pretty, but here is what I came up with.  I took a clip and just put it up.  And it's cute!  I did it for the first time the other day and when Brett came home he said, "You look like a girl!"  Yay!  Thanks to Grandma Pitt, Kennedy has all kinds of colored clips and some that are white so she will always be able to match the outfit she is wearing.  I haven't quite figured out how to make it stay in really well yet, but at least we're getting somewhere.

Not only is her hair getting long, but she is really trying to crawl.  In her attempts she has been doing numerous push ups every day.  And not just any push ups - boy push ups.  She's a strong little thing!  She's getting so much closer to moving forward, and last night she even moved one of her knees without our help.  So any tips on baby proofing would be highly appreciated.

Alright, you can get back to searching your recipes and cookbooks now.  Distraction over.

I am in charge of finding a squash recipe for Thanksgiving, and then I have to cook it.  Oddly enough, the cooking is the easy part.  I cannot find a squash recipe for the life of me.  I did find one from the Pioneer Woman that looks a lot like this:

But my mom said that she doesn't want the soupy stuff in the middle.  Personally, I think the soup sounds fabulous.  It's basically butter and brown sugar with a tiny bit of maple syrup.  Does anyone have any ideas of what to make?  Do you make squash for Thanksgiving?  What kind?  I'm thinking acorn, but anything will do.

I often look at Jaden's Steamy Kitchen, a blog about food and cooking.  It is a beautiful site, and today she is giving away knives!  You can win any of the single knives in the Phoenix or Fusionwood lines from New West Knifeworks.

The Phoenix Santoku is beautiful and I hope that I win it!  By telling all of you about it, I get a bonus entry.  If anyone wants to enter the contest, just stop by Jaden's Steamy Kitchen by clicking the link above or on the sidebar, and leave a comment telling her which knife you'd like to win!!

Well, since she's been born anyway.  She got lots of presents last year while she was still in my tummy.  But this year Grandpa Pitt wanted to get her something that would be hard for us to bring back with us from Texas, so he went ahead and shipped it to us early.  It is a Baby Einstein activity center, and it was an instant hit!  We finally have all the pieces put on and this is the finished product.

She loves it because there are so many different things to focus on.  There's a book and a mirror, a puppet that we can control, things that move, things that make noise, and things to chew on.  She can put her feet on the ground and "stand up" while she plays.

When I put her in it this morning she just screamed for joy for a really long time while she played.  She has been in it for a few hours today and she is happy as a clam, as evidenced by the cute smile in this picture.

Thanks Grandpa for the awesome gift!  Hopefully you can see me play in it sometime soon.  On a different note, she started 2nd foods today and she devoured them!  I also had to include this last picture because it was just way too funny to skip.  It looks better when it's big, so you should click on it to get the full effect.

Thanks again Grandpa!  Christmas is already awesome.

I need some help.  I am having movie issues.  Last night Brett and I watched The Benchwarmers, which was pretty much the dumbest movie I've ever seen besides Talladega Nights.  Seriously.  Don't waste an hour and a half of your life on that movie.  It was basically John Heder picking his nose, a bunch of bathroom humor, and a bunch of jokes that didn't even make sense.  And then they all ended up with hot girls.  To make up for it, I will probably watch something awesome tonight, like The Prestige.  I am desperately wishing that Dark Knight was out on DVD right now, but since it's not, I would love some suggestions for a good movie that we can watch.  What's your favorite movie?  What's a great movie that you saw recently?

A few of the better movies that I've seen recently were the old version of The Manchurian Candidate, Lars and the Real Girl, and Wall-E.  The last two were very heartwarming, touching movies, and the first was just great.  It was mostly talk (the one action scene is not so great) but it is pretty suspenseful.  Plus I love old blue eyes.  So help me out and give me some ideas for another great movie to add to my repertoire!

As I put Kennedy in her high chair after her mega  long nap today (4 hours!) I realized that I had not put any pictures of her in it.  As I write this I realize that I am lying to you, because I posted a picture of her watching BYU football in it.  Whatever.  I'm posting these pictures anyway.  We have really enjoyed the Fisher Price Rainforest line, and have 3 different items from it.  I loved the high chair because it came with the nifty tree toy that attaches to the tray and lights up, makes noise, and moves.  It is wonderful for distracting Kennedy while I get her food ready.

As you can see, she was not in a smiley mood because she had just woken up.  Plus, she is fascinated by cameras and can do nothing but look with interest when one is around.  Her eating habits are great though.  Apart from her bottles she eats 3 meals of solid food a day.  She eats cereal in the morning (today it was oatmeal with cinnamon), a vegetable for lunch (squash) and a fruit for dinner (apples).  We are getting ready to move her up to 2nd foods next week, which is exciting because she can start having mixtures of foods and meats.  But the canned meats gross me out, so I'm going to make my own.  If it's not too nasty, maybe I'll do a post on that when I make it.

She loves her food!  She has tried everything in first foods except prunes (because pears also help with constipation and she had some serious issue with those.  I wasn't brave enough to try the prunes after that fiasco) and peas.  I added cinnamon to her oatmeal the other day and she devoured it, as she has done every morning since.  She is also finally starting to sit up for longer than 2 seconds on her own, and she pushes herself up on her knees like mad when she's on her tummy, so I'm waiting for her to break out the crawl any day now.

Dear Kennedy,

Please get better.  It breaks my heart to see you sick and sneezing, and to be honest, sucking snot out of your nose is not on my favorites list.  I wish so much that I could explain to you that sleep helps you get better.

Your Mommy

Dear American Visions book,

How I wish that I didn't have to open you yet again to write a paper on Edward Hopper.  At least you have pretty pictures.

A Disgruntled, Ungraduated Student

Dear Lucy,

When are you going to understand that in order for me to throw your foil ball you have to bring it all the way back?  Half way is not going to cut it.  Even if you say please.

Lazy Girl

Dear chocolate cheesecake,

You were so yummy, but now you are gone.  I really don't want to wash that pan.

Chef in the Kitchen

Dear Costco,

I am so excited to go shopping today!  There are some items that we desperately need, and once we buy them from you, it will feel like we will never run out again.  Hallelujah.

Bulk Buyer

Dear Thanksgiving,

I wish you would come sooner.  I want to eat yummy food, make a pumpkin pie, and have people who want to play with Kennedy all the time around.  I want to meet Wyatt and see my family.  Come fast!

Impatient Eater

Lately, Kennedy has been letting us know that she hates the music we listen to in the car.  She gives us about 5 minutes, and then she begins to complain and complain until we turn on her music.  Her music consists of a) Baby Einstein CDs, which are basically classical music babyfied, and b) classical music.  Since my knowledge of classical music is somewhat limited, I asked my friend Nathan (who is basically a musical genius) what composers she might like.

One of the ones he suggested for her was Chopin, which I am excited about, because I really love his music.  So it looks like until further notice Brett and I will be expanding our horizons and becoming cultured with new classical music.

Brett and I both love music and always have, so I am happy to let her listen to whatever music makes her happy.  I love that she is interested in music!  And since she seems to love classical music and is such a wiggle worm, I think ballet classes will be just the thing when she is old enough!

Well, Brett doesn't have a tractor, but I still love him.  My friend Stephanie posted a husband tag the other day, and while I'm not going to tag anyone, I realized that I don't put much about Brett on here.  I thought that I would dedicate this one to him.

How long have you been married?  2 years, 5 months

How long did you date?  6 months (yes, I know it's kind of short)

How old is he?  26

Who eats more sweets?  Well, that depends entirely on what it is.  On candy, he eats more.  On cakes, I eat more.  On cookies and brownies we're pretty equal.

Who said "I love you" first?  Brett.  And it was totally on accident.  But I didn't let him get out of it.  :o)

Who is taller?  Definitely Brett.  He's got 7 inches on me.

Who can sing better?  Neither.  We both love to sing.

Who is smarter?  Once again, neither.  He just likes different subjects than me, which exposes us both to things that we wouldn't normally explore for ourselves.

Who does the laundry?  Most of the time it's me, but sometimes (like right now) I get behind and then he helps me out.

Who pays the bills?  I send in the checks.  Anything that has to be paid over the phone he does.

Who mows the lawn?  Well, considering that we have no lawn, we both get out of that one.  Hopefully we will have a son one day.  :o)

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?  Brett.  I have slept on the same side of the bed my entire life, and Brett was nice enough to let me have it when we got married.

Who cooks dinner?  Once again, most of the time it's me.  Brett does cook very well though, and he's also really good about taking me out when either of us need it.

Who drives?  Always Brett when we're together.  I feel weird driving him around.

Who kissed who first?  He kissed me.  You'll have to ask if you want the story.  It's better not written down.

Who asked who out first?  He asked me on our first official date to a Jazz game.

Who wears the pants?  We actually do a pretty good job with being equal.

Brett, I love you so much and appreciate everything that you do for me and Kennedy!  You are the best husband and friend I could ever have asked for.

And so can you!  If you haven't voted yet, please go!  Vote for President, vote for your local and state governments, vote for propositions.  Vote for everything!  And when you're done, take your "I Voted" sticker to Ben & Jerry's, Starbucks, and Krispy Kreme for free stuff!  I fully intend to take advantage of my free star shaped doughnut.  Exercise your right as an American to have a say in what happens to this country and to your state.

Ok, I know it's a little preemptive, but there weren't any Thanksgiving molds.  I started thinking that I wanted to try making some candies on Friday.  Brett's mom makes candies and he loves them, so I thought I would try my hand at it.  Considering that this was my first time doing it, I'm pretty proud of how they turned out.

They were a little bit time consuming, but I had a great time with them!  That detail work is what I'm good at.  I really needed a more precise brush because the one that came with the pack was a cheap plastic one and the bristles wouldn't stay together.  Some more colors would have been nice, but I made do with what I had.

I got all of the equipment from Michael's, and on recommendation from Maria Manitoken I am going to take the cake decorating class there in December or January.  I'm really excited for that because then I'll be able to make Kennedy an awesome cake for her birthday!

PS - Go vote tomorrow!  I am going early tomorrow morning.  If you are in California or are registered there, vote YES on Proposition 8!

We didn't do too much for Halloween this year, but we did have some fun.  We dressed Kennedy up in her little pumpkin outfit, as you have already seen, and we headed off to Brett's office to go trick-or-treating.  Considering that Kennedy is not anywhere near old enough to eat candy, she sure got quite a bit.  And wouldn't you know it?  She got all of mom and dad's favorites!  There were some really cool costumes at the office, including a pair of kids who came as Calvin and Hobbes.  They were darling!  One of our favorites was Matt who's mom made him a Winnie the Pooh outfit.  We had to get a picture with Kennedy since her room is done in Pooh.  There is a framed picture of us at Disney World with Pooh in her room, so this will go nicely.

After the trick-or-treating we headed down to Santaquin to get some candy (and dinner) from Grandma and Grandpa Lee and Jamie.  We got to see some cute costumes on the kids that came by, have a great dinner, and have a good time with family.  Unfortunately, Kennedy was a bit exhausted after such a big day and had to go to bed early.  Here we are in Santaquin in our matching costumes.

When we got home we put Kennedy to bed and headed to the apartment just above us (with the monitor of course) to the Halloween party that the Dicksons and Biolos were hosting.  The Dicksons came as John McCain (complete with goiter-ish looking cheek) and Sarah Palin, while the Biolos were the Joker and Two Face.  You have to get a look at Johnny's costume here.  We couldn't stay too long because of the baby, but we had a good time.  We tried to find a scary movie on TV, but of course there weren't any.  We ended up putting on Ghostbusters II, but being the old married people that we are we only made it about halfway through.  All in all we had a good time and hope that everyone else did too!