Kaleb's Knock Um Down Game

seriously, my son is a genius.

No Relief in Society: A Ward Gone Mad

Writing with Becky, Filming, and Editing with Blake...

This short little video we made for the Relief Society dinner consumed or lives this past week. 

We've been working on it the past month, but it really came down to the wire

However, when all was said and done, it really was so much fun.
So, Enjoy!

(in case you can"t tell, the premise of the film is based on "A Day Without A Mexican")

What do you think?

Do we have a ward of actors or what? 


and in case you were wondering, we sot with our Sony a33 and Flip camera. Everything was edited in iMovie. (cause thats how we roll.)

Homemade Sweet Potato Baby Food created with our Baby Bullet

Tonight I decided to take our Baby Bullet on its maiden voyage!

I was debating between Broccoli and Sweet Potatoes, but opted for the yummier of the two for Kaleb's first "big boy" meal.

Meet our star players. 

To make this most delicious of super food for baby, here is what you'll need:

One sweet potato. Not a yam. 

One baby bullet. We registered for ours when I was pregnant. 

One cup of water.

and a few of these cute little guys. Baby food containers that come with the Baby Bullet.

and most importantly, you will need a hungry baby
 who can sit up with support and knows how to turn his head away when hes done eating. 
(we've been practicing with baby cereal.)

First step is to peal the sweet potato. 

Quick and easy.

I then chopped up the sweet potato in to smallish cubes. 

Let me tell you, that sucker was harder than I thought it would be... granted I used a bread knife...

not quite cubes... more like "bits". 

Then I boiled the bits. You can also steam them, this is supposed to keep the nutrients in, but I found a solution...

I used minimal water

Then used one cup of the boiled sweet potato water to reclaim some vitamins and reuse in the recipe.

 I added my cup of boiled water and my potato bits to the baby bullet.

To activate the bullet, you push down and turn.

after about 3 seconds it had already reached a mushy consistency. But there were still too many lumps for my little one, so I pulsed (pushed down, but didn't lock)  the blender four or five more times.

So after just a few spins, everything had a nice, smooth "baby food" texture. Much more organic and "polished" look when compaired to mass produced, jar baby food.

See? Perfection.

Then I filled up my little baby bullet containers. 

The little containers that come with the baby bullet are awesome because they are tiny little things that are perfect size for baby and they also have a little dial on the lid so you can remember what day of the month the food was made. 

*Baby food will last only 3 days in the refrigerator, but up to 30 days in the freezer*

See the little "1". This baby food was made on the first of this month!

They even have a handy little tray that holds all six of the containers.

I had some food left over, so I put it in the frozen food tray that also comes with the baby bullet.

But now, the ultimate test.

Would he eat it? 

He seems intrigued... 

...wait for it...

SUCESS!

Heres a quick little video of his first bites. He may look like hes not enjoying it sometimes, but he really it. :D

(Does the video look pinkish to anyone else? It looks pinkish to me.)

 I had lots of fun documenting and making my baby his first "big boy" meal.
He took to it much faster then he did baby cereal, which is a good thing, right?

Hes just growing up so fast. And as happy as it makes me to see him grow and learn and become an even bigger little guy, its so bitter sweet.

Ok, I have to go cuddle with my sleeping baby now.

Kaleb is on a roll!

Kaleb rocks.
Kaleb…



Please excuse our silly noises, we were very excited for our son.
Thats my boy!

Christmas 2011

The Barrera Family has the big Christmas par-tay on Christmas Eve. 

On Christmas day we headed over to the Green's and made pizza dinner for everyone. 

Santa's favorite laugh... "Ho Ho Ho" in peperoni and cheese

A beautiful, veggie Christmas Tree.

A Snowman... he melted. But the white sause, bacon and chicken were delicious!

I have no pictures from the Greens, but I do have video... that I currently can't find... 

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving 2011 was spent with the Green family.
It really was something special, because the ENTIRE family was able to be there together.
Jordan and Freesia came up from San Diego.
Blake and I were, of course there from down the street.
Jillian and Kyle came down from Utah with their girl Becca and baby boy, Paul.
Vance and Melissa were able to come down from Idaho at the very last minute.
and Quinn and Becky came down from Utah with some Big news!

Yeah. It was a pretty awesome Thanksgiving.

Becca helping with the rolls

Kaleb… looking awesome.

Jillian's second attempt at pie crust. Bad shortening made for a crumbly first try. (her second try was delicious.) 

Jordan and Dad doing their part. 

Baby Paul being super cute.

Blake took this one… I don't think I could get that close to sleeping dad.

Its me and my boy! (who seriously looks like my dad in this picture.)

Auntie Becky soothing Kaleb

Jill and her pie.

Jordan… being… um, Jordan. :D

My Green bean Casserole. So so good, I'm telling you. 

Freesia's salad. Fruity and Delicious.

The Green Family Turkey. (and baby Paul for size comparison) 

Ok, holy molie. Freesia made this pumpkin cheesecake that was the most amazing thing I have ever tasted. It was beautiful and delicious and just so rich. 

Pudding pie! (with home made whipped cream)

Betsy even came by to visit Kaleb (oh, and probably the rest of the family too.)

Later, after dinner, we decided it was time for a "grandchild photo shoot". Becca, Paul and Kaleb were gonna be the stars, and Blake's product photography soft box was the tool.

Kaleb was sleeping at first...

But he eventually woke up. He still couldn't sit up like Paul, so he looks a bit slouchy.
Oh and look how Mexican my son looks sitting next to his white cousins! I was so happy and proud of my brown baby

A little brother and sister shot. So sweet.

We then tried to take some pictures of Kaleb by himself. . .

For this one we propped him up on the boppy… I kinda think he looks like Mr. Burnes. "Excellent." 

Then we flipped him over, so he was on his tummy on the Boppy. He seemed to like that more...

until he started to fall over. 

Then he started falling asleep, singing and smirking.
"Hey Mooooooooooom!"

I tried to sit him up to wake him up and that was the end of that.

After a quick nap, we tried a different tecnique… Laying the babies on their back and shooting down at them.
This was met with shouts of joy.
Success. 

Kaleb was happy and we got our smiley picture.

The next day we decided to do a huge family portrait. We enlisted the help of a tripod and timer, and we were good to go.

Good lookin' family right?

Below are some of my favorites from the day…

Dad, Mom and the Grandkids.

Jillian, Kyle and the little ones
(Kyllian)

Blake, Me and our fussy one.
(Blaige.)

Vance and Melissa… Battle style
(Valissa)

Jordan and Freesia… showing their best sides…?
(Jorsia.)

Quinn and Becky. She forgot to make the Jell-o
(Quicky)

Our Family.
We rock.

That was our Thanksgiving. It was awesome.