The Brennans

John admiring one of his gifts. What uniform is the nutcracker wearing? You guess it, you win!

It only took us 4 months to go, but we finally were able to go this morning! The Portland Temple was pretty and smaller than I expected. We had a great time!

Man, our time in Oregon has flown by! And, these next couple of days are going to be filled with family get togethers, a trip to the temple (finally!), packing, wrapping, working, and baking just to name a few!

So, recently I just found out about a website called EBATES. Anyone else know what this is?

My sister and brother-in-law made this card for our family with all the Ernhofer grandkids. We took a few photos of Brooke as an angel and they took some photos of their kids and thanks to photoshop they put everything all together flawlessly! I think it came out great! I love it!

So, here I am at work, left with nothing to do, as usual, and have been having all these thoughts flood my brain. What should I do with them? Get them out in the open to get them out of my head! Hopefully this works.

1. I keep biting my cheek unintentionally. Yesterday I did it 6 times. Today, 2. I don't know why my teeth feel it necessary to chew on my own living flesh, but there you have it. My mouth hurts.

2. My camera has a hard time uploading photos onto my computer and its really annoying. I can't do it after multiple attempts, but Gordon seems to do it with no problems at all. Conspiracy? Maybe...

3. Brooke has 3 teeth coming in all at once. Yesterday, she was quite the drama queen, but today she seems to be more like her pleasent self. I hope this lasts. Is that likely? NOPE, but a girl can dream.

4. I am rather quite fond of my husband. He works really hard and is really excited to complete his degree and get a 'real' job, as am I. I heart him muchos.

5. This is my last week at work. I have enjoyed earning the extra money and I really think it makes me appreciate being a wife and mother more. I might even argue that it makes me a better mother. Maybe in Rexburg I could find a mindless 3 hour-a-day job where they pay me to surf the internet and update my blogs. I should look into that.

6. Christmas is coming up fast which means we are going to be traveling back to Rexburg soon! Although we have thoroughly enjoyed being here, all three of us are excited to get back! (Gordon is excited to start and more importantly finish his last semester of classes...I'm more excited for Bajio and Craigos)

7. Our old neighbors moved :( I'm hoping are new neighbors are just as cool, but we all know that thats nearly impossible. They could be nice.....I'm keeping an open mind.

8. My sister had a baby while we were gone. Little Olivia is waiting in anticipation to meet us. I'm sure of it!

9. I get to make dinner tomorrow and I'm debating between Coconut Chicken Curry or some sort of Chili or something else......thoughts?

10. Even though I only have 7 followers on my food blog, I really like it. It makes me happy.

11. Its getting colder here and I don't like it. Running SUCKS in the cold. Just fyi.

Man, has it been a crazy week! Zach, Emily and their kids drove from Colorado to be here for a nice long visit. It was the first time I met Zach after being part of the Brennan family for over 2 years! I still have yet to meet Tamara's husband, Jeremy. Maybe in the next few years we could make that happen. Haha. Anyways, there was always something going on this past week and Brooke loved playing with toys and watching all her cousins run around. AND! She has started crawling! She just just started today, so we'll upload some videos tonight or tomorrow. Stay tuned for that!

We also went to the outlet mall in Troutdale to get some ideas for Christmas gifts. This picture was taken at the GAP of Brooke in an interesting hat. I don't think she knew what to think, hence the blank look on her face!

Since last Friday, Brooke has been sick with the stomach flu--ie lots of vomitting and diarrhea. Never before have we done so much laundry, not even when she was a newborn! And, she has been so incredibly cranky! Needless to say, its been a challenging few days, but I think she is starting to get better because we're just down to managing the diarrhea (thank the good lord!). I'm sick of being thrown up on. Looking forward to healthier days ahead!

Soon enough, Brooke came along. She is totally awesome (As most of you know)! We have so many fun pictures of her. She can bring smiles to our faces no matter what time of the day or night it is, or how badly our day has been going previously. She also amazes me at how

The other night, we went to the pool with Kent, Lindsey and their girls and man, was it fun! Brooke was unsure about it when we first got in, but she seemed to warm up to grabbing toys and splashing by the end of our hour and a half 'swim'. Its definite progress, I'd say.

So, lately I've been feeling like I can't control anything in my life. This is true for some things, but for working out and eating properly, I can totally control those! I just need to not forget and remind myself that I am in control all the time- I just need to choose a little better. I've been trying to figure out why I eat bad foods and I have come to a revelation: I'm BORED! I have nothing better to do, so I eat! Now, its not like I have nothing to do, I just choose to be lazy some days and those are the days where I eat whatever I want. So, in an attempt to gain a little more sanity, I am going to try and wean myself off of sugar. Now, I'm sure you all are thinking I'm crazy, which is fine because I once thought that too. BUT, I thought it was crazy to run a half marathon and I already did that. I guess I fall under the crazy category. Oh well.

Back to this no sugar thing: I've been reading a book called Sugar Shock which is all about why white sugar is bad for you and how to get it out of your life. I don't agree with everything the author discusses, but she makes some pretty valid points and gives great sugar weaning tips. A lot of it I knew already, but its giving me the motivation to eat healthy foods for nutritional value. AND, its helping me become more aware of what I am putting into my body. I'm also trying to not drink any soda or consume any foods that contain ingredients that I don't recognize (like preservatives and chemicals). I'm not going cold turkey-and I still plan on having treats every now and again, just with some self control. Just something I'm trying in attempt to feel healthier! Who's with me?

(Speaking of treats, I made some Pumpkin Cheesecake swirled Brownies the other day and the recipe can be on my food blog! Click HERE!)

Brooke doesn't like the whole crawling thing, so she's moved onto standing and walking. She hates being put into the crawling position, but could stand for hours! We had her standing and walking for at least 20 minutes and she loved it! Anyways, scroll down for a video!