William, Natalie & Giada

WILLIAM PARTICK BURKS
is in fact
WILLIAM PATRICK BURKS...for sure...100%!

Ok, before I get to Natalie I have a bone to pick with Giada first. I don't know about you, but for the most part I have never really been happy with ANY recipe I've gotten off of a cooking show. It may just be me, but I'm always disappointed with how they turn out.
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Yesterday I was watching Giada and I saw her make a warm pasta salad with 5 simple ingredients... when she took her "finished product" bite she got the shivvers and closed her eyes and smiled and talked about how bright the lemon made it and how nutty the cheese was...

So, we were going to Trav and Steph's for Kiante braised short ribs (so so good) and I'm thinking..."what better time to try Giada's super simple (but amazing) warm pasta salad."
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Let me just put it this way...I did NOT get the shivvers the first time I tried it...or the second for that matter! It was bland and pretty much tasteless.
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Ok, enough about that...I just had to get it off my chest. Our real reason for going of course, was to see Natalie....

Boston's gone for the weekend so it's was just our little guys and Makayla and Karlie. They spent a good 2 hours texting each other on their DS's. Nice and quite.

Natalie was a hoot. We took her a big Valentines balloon. She wanted to look at it floating in the other room and call it "pretty" but she was scared to death of that thing.

Her other favorite word is "bath". So, being the wonderful amazing aunt that I am...I gave her one and let her stand up the WHOLE TIME! I even let her drink a little RC Cola! Aaahhhh! The joy of being the aunt that gets to go home after a little sip of RC. Bran and Cade "helped" with her bath and kept her laughing the whole time. By "helped" I mean they watched her play and laughed about how cute she was while I got wet and did all the work! She liked to pretend she was going to give Cade her toy and then pull it back. She got a big kick out of it every time.
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This is the look she gave us every time she started to stand up.


and these are her super beautiful blue eyes.

as you can see she's the center of the world anywhere she is.
She loved to follow Cade when he "walked" around on his knees.
Aaron offered to "help" Trav work the kink out of his back...you can see Trav was really relaxed and enjoyed it a lot....I think?
Before we left she hung out with her Uncle Brandon. She is just the happiest, most laid back baby I know. She just makes you happy to be around her. She makes everyone smile & and ALWAYS has a smile for you.
I just had to throw in the picture of her after bath curls.
We had a great time visiting with everyone and the food was wonderful...except for the Giada's pasta salad...Now I'm off to watch the Olympics.