we're back with more of "today" on a monday morning, the 3rd day of september, 2011. we're only getting into the 60s but pretty bright skies, not so bad out on the plaza, matt lauer along with ann curry and al roker. natalie is on assignment. coming up the situation involving amanda knox and the jury. she spoke to the jury and the

judges this morning asking to be set free. will she be? we'll check in with lester holt in a couple of minutes. we'll help you save money on gift cards, clothing, your cable bill. the secret to saving 10% on a lot of your expenses coming up. if you're feeling tired during the day the obvious question or reason is probably you're not sleeping well. what's not so obvious is what is causing you to stay awake. separate fact from fiction, one of these is napping. king of the naps. >> 30-minute naps. >> only one a day. >> oh, six, seven a day. adds up to 3 1/2 hours. >> he's napping right now. >> let's go inside, natalie is on assignment, samantha guthrie at the news desk. good morning. >> good morning to you. in the news today, it is decision day for amanda knox in perugia, italy, the american college student was convicted in

2009 in the death of her british roommate, meredith kercher. now her fate is in the hands of the jury as they deliberate and try to reach a verdict as soon as today. nbc's keith miller reports. >> reporter: italy's longest running courtroom drama was broadcast live to dozens of countries and attracted hundreds of journalists. the knox family remained upbeat right to the last moment. >> i'm very hopeful. >> reporter: making the long journey from prison, amanda knox in her final presentation to the court declared her innocence. speaking fluent italian the 24-year-old student from seattle insisted she is not guilty of any crime. in a voice breaking with emotion knox said "i don't want my life taken away from me because i am innocent."

choking back tears knox says she is paying with her life for something she didn't do. her co-defendant and former boyfriend also spoke to the judge and jury. raffaele sollecito said he had been living in a nightmare. in slow measured tones he declared he had nothing to do with the murder of knox's roommate, meredith kercher. he described his former girlfrie girlfriend, knox, as sweet, beautiful and shining. he showed a bracelet he wears inscribed with the words "free amanda and raffaele. now is the moment to take it off" he said, "offering to the jury to set him free. rudy guede, convicted of the murder and sexual assault of meredith kercher, an exchange

student from england. his dna was found at the crime scene mixed with the blood of the victim. today in a final plea from knox's defense lawyer he repeated that there is no evidence his client had anything to do with the crime. it was an emotional and dramatic conclusion to a criminal prosecution that has spanned almost four years. >> that was nbc's keith miller reporting. lester holt is live in perugia with the latest. lester, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. right now amanda knox and raffaele sollecito are awaiting the verdict in a prison about 20 miles from central perugia. we got word a short time ago from the member of the italian parliament who visited with amanda knox after she returned from prison, she was allowed to go in the prison chaplain, playing the guitar and singing and saying she wants to go home

to seattle. her parents want that same thing. i was in the courtroom this morning when she walked in, she looked very nervous, appeared weak in the knees, being helped to the table, she was wearing a dark blue overcoat despite the fact it's a warm day in perugia. she took it off, put it back on again, nervous when she began her remarks but seemed to find her voice, though she broke down a few times. raffaele sollecito spoke in rather tender terms, the love of his life, he talked about. she talked about how sollecito was there for her after they found the body of the roommate meredith kercher. clearly some affection, feelings to them, separated by four seats as they sit at the defense table. it was an emotional day in court, the verdict could come later on today, the judge said no sooner than 8:00 p.m., that's 2:00 p.m. eastern time. >> in an array of possible

outcomes so people are clear on what could happen, it's he not either all or nothing, either she walks out of prison or returns and finishes the rest of her 26-year sentence. that's a good point. she was convicted on six counts including slander, another man being part of the crime who was not. there's a slander charge, a possibility she could be acquitted on the murder but found the conviction on that case would be upheld. the judge could say you're sentenced to time served or may serve another year. keep in mind an appeal works both ways in italy. the defense gets to appeal but so does the prosecution. their defense we want her to stay in prison for 30 years, that's a life sentence here in italy. >> lester, speaking of the differences between our system and the italian system, the appeal is almost like a second trial, very different from what we have in this country. how successful are appeals typically there?

>> reporter: about half of them in serious criminal cases are successful, so much higher chances than you would in the united states. that's worth pointing out, there's been criticism in the u.s. about the italian justice system but the appeals process is one that i bet a lot of american defendants wouldn't mind because it's essentially a redo, unlike our court of appeals, this system pretty much everything goes, you can bring everything back on the table and take another look so it is a do over and in this case even her parents, amanda knox's parents admitted to me this is one case where the system may in fact be working in our favor, they said. >> certainly has given her a second chance, lester on duty in perugia for us, thank you. a new survey suggests 10% of american parents are not following government guidelines for having their children vaccinated. parents are refusing some vaccines and delaying others mainly because of safety concerns which many health experts say are unfounded. well who knew a dolphin could take down a lion? it happened this weekend at the

box office. "dolphin tale" took the top spot from "the lion king" taking in $14.2 million. "moneyball" came in second and "the lion king" slipped to third. still on the topic of our furry friends, catholic churches around the world held their annual blessing of the animals on sunday. the tradition is observed in memory of francis of assisi, the patron saint of creatures great, small and furry. eight past the hour. >> ava in a earlier you mentioned today's supreme court session, the students of john jay saluting our supreme court justices here by dressing up. >> thank you so much. >> you're welcome. >> good to see you. nice to have you here. >> thank you. >> you didn't know it but al roker used to be a supreme court justice, with a check of the weather. >> actually i used to be part of the supremes. that's much, much different. >> oh, sorry. >> you heard me sing with diana ross. it's really moving. thank you so much. let's show you what's happening for today. we've got some showers moving

into the pacific northwest, as a frontal system comes in there, low pressure will finally exit the northeast, and that will end the showers and thunderstorms later this afternoon. beautiful weather from minneapolis, 79 and sunny today, 88 down in corpus christi. we've got sunny skies, hit or miss showers and thunderstorms >> good morning. we of temperatures in the 40's. we will struggle to get into the 50's this afternoon. >> and that's your latest weather. savannah? >> al, thanks. this morning on "today's

consumer" how to save 10% on nearly everything from your energy bill to gift cards and pet medicine, there are easy ways to cut back costs. jean chatzky, a cell phone is a huge expense for people. how can we save 10%? >> let your contract expire and go to a metro pcs or straight talk, one of the plans that gives you everything for a flat $45 a month, because the average cell phone bill with the $73, we don't use all of our minutes. >> if you don't get the contract you might not get the snaziezie. >> you have to live without the iphone. if you can't do that, get texting for free with a cool app called text plus so look for that. >> purchasing a new car, look for dealer cash, what's that? >> dealer cash is unadvertised cash that goes from the manufacturer to the dealer. go to a website called edmonds.com, they list what's available and tells you how much

is on the table so you can take that off your offer. the other thing to do, go through the internet sales force, they're actually paid based on the number of cars they move rather than the price they get for each individual car, so they just want to sell them. you'll get a better deal. >> highly motivated. >> they are. >> next step has to do with energy and the cable box. i never thought about this. >> remember when the cable boxes made the headlines for being energy hogs? they actually cost you $40 a year each. lou manfredini gave me this tip, hook up a timer to your box and let it go to sleep and set it to wake up a half hour before you wake. >> they don't want to wait for it to reboot. >> get the kilowatt energy meters to figure out how much keeping the cell phone chargers and computer charges plugged in is costing you.. it's a lot. >> let's talk about clothing, in

this case press "subscribe" for some of the retailers, not unsubscribe. >> follow your favorite retailers on twitter and facebook. they send you special sales. the caveat if you can't handle the e-mails all the time, stay away from this one. >> you say a gift card is a great idea for the holidays. >> you can save money on gift cards that other people aren't using by buying pre-sold gift cards at sites like plastic jungle and gift card granny. you can get 6% off home depot cards and 15% off kohl's and sell the gift cards you're not using. >> back to the cable business. you can definitely cut the fat from your cable bill. >> you can do it going whole hog getting rid of your cable and subscribing to hulu plus and netflix and renting dvds from the red box or go through your bill and say am i not using these channels and by just getting rid of the channels you used to use and not using anymore you can save yourself significantly. >> last but not least we're all

animal lovers. there's a good way to save with pet expenses how? >> ask your vets for discounts. if you're getting medicines from your vet, ask them to prescribe the human version. 75% of animal medications were originally developed for humans. >> really? >> then you can go and fill the generic human prescription at a costco pharmacy or something else inexpensive and it will cost you less. vets get a lot of sample medications and if you have a nice vet they're willing to give them away. >> for the lightning round, we can save 2% by getting the right credit card. >> get a cash back credit card, go to lowcards.com to find the right one for you and that will save 2% off the top. >> jean chatzky thanks so much. great tips. coming up next, sleep myths keeping you up at night, right after this.

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today's health" is brought to you by pronanel, helps protect your teeth from acid erosion. this morning on "today's health" common sleep myths that could be making you tired. dr. holly phillips is a medical contributor for "prevention" magazine. good to see you. >> great to be here. >> you know all about this with an 11-week-old. >> one thing is not a myth, 11-week-old babies keep you up all night, that one i'll throw out from the beginning. >> first myth napping only makes us more tired. true or false? >> you know what? that is false. really napping all depends on how long you nap in terms of feeling refreshed. 20 minutes is enough to improve your mood, alertness and energy. if you sleep longer than that,

then you might end up groggy because you'll enter slow wave sleep which is our deepest phase of sleep and you don't wake out of that very well. >> where you nap is important, too. >> you know, during the time of day, in particular, if you nap between 1:00 and 4:00, that's ideal for most people's circadian cycle and when it won't interfere with your sleep at night. >> don't get into bed and get comfy. you should maybe be in a chair. >> exactly. >> if you take a nap or exercise too close to bedtime, that's bad. >> right. that actually is a myth. some recent research found that vigorous exercise right before bed actually doesn't keep many people up at night and helps a lot of people sleep so at "prevention" magazine we recommend you try it out for yourself but keep a sleep diary, see how you sleep after you've exercised. many of us only have that time between work and bed to exercise, so it's best to make the best of it. >> another myth, skipping a little sleep isn't all that bad. it's not good. you can't make up that sleep.

>> not at all. you know, recent research found just skipping 90 minutes of sleep was enough to decrease your alertness by 30% and more shocking people who skipped six hours of sleep for one night had the same level of dexterity, reaction time and mental acuity for people legally drunk. if you've had a bad night of sleep it might not be the best idea to drive or if your work requires you're physically with it, if you do construction or work in something dangerous it might be a good idea to call out sick. >> or work from home, you should be in bad shape before you think about taking any sleep aid. >> that's right, that's actually also a myth. sleeping pills work best if taken for a very, very short period of time, right when you start having trouble sleeping. what happens is people once they start to experience anxiety also get depression, sorry, once they

start to expand sleep problems they get anxiety around going to sleep. so you goet in bed and start to worry that you can't fall asleep. >> becomes the catch 22. >> that's when sleeping pills are most effective for a couple of days to break that cycle and non-drug alternatives, something called cognitive behavioral therapy can also help. >> does a warm glass of milk help in? for >> you know what? for a lot of people does. anything that will calm why you are mind and make you feel like you can go to sleep. >> alcohol helps you get to sleep but doesn't give you good sleep. >> it triggers adren lin in your system and wakes you up later. it helps you fall asleep but you don't get restful sleep. >> last myth, doesn't matter when you go to sleep but just matters you sleep. >> that's completely wrong. people who go to bed earlier are less likely to develop depression or any of the other health problems, like obesity, and other things related to sleep than people who go to bed later, even if you're sleeping the same amount. so i no longer feel quite as

guilty for going to sleep at the same time as my 2-year-old. >> you got to sleep when you got to sleep. >> exactly. >> dr. holly phillips thank you so much. still to come the 9-year-old girl who swims with sharks. but first these messages. things like fresh fruit, fruit juices, have acids that can soften our enamel. once you've lost your enamel it's gone for good. pronamel iso-active is different, it's new, it's a toothpaste in a can. it starts off as a gel, transforms into a foam and actually surrounds your teeth and gets into all those nooks and crannies. dentists recommend pronamel. pronamel iso-active rehardens enamel and helps protect against the effects of acid erosion.

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>> light rain showers and tunnels out there, and pictures by the ford of britain. still a chance for off and on like rainshowers. rain early tomorrow, coming up,

♪ you're just in love ♪ i'm just in love with you >> that is joe jonas, the middle brother of the jonas brothers. the 22-year-old has a new solo album coming out, dabbling in fashion and food. he'll share all of his passions here wednesday on "today." i used to listen to the jonas brothers with my daughter, leila. coming up this half hour, today safety, the salad bar, restaurant or grilling burgers at home the way food is handles

can make your family sick. ten tips to keep you and them safe. most 9-year-olds are playing with barbie s but this 9-year-od swims with sharks. we'll get to meet her next. and an authentic easy to make mexican meal to spice up your weeknight dinner. a special edition of "steals and deals" tomorrow, where we share exclusive deals of all kinds with our good pal joan martin. >> and a las vegas vacation package from the palms casino resort at 54% off. tune in tomorrow for that deal and there will be steals but first, al, how about a check of the weather? >> will there be any wheeling and dealing? >> there will be. there will be a screaming steal and deal. >> let's check your weather, what we're looking for as far as

the weak ahead. chilly in the east, withet in northern new england. midweek warmth continues to expand to the east, into the mid-atlantic states and the southeast, gulf coast, much below normal weather, out west which will continue along with a lot of moisture at the late week period, below normal temperatures new >> good morning. we will see some scattered light showers. the temperatures will struggle to get into the 50's. and that's your latest weather. >> al, thanks.

coming up next, you are what you eat, take care of your health by taking care of your food. we'll have tips. and not your ordinary child's play, why one 9-year-old swims with sharks. there's a place called hidden valley where kids not only eat their vegetables, they can't get enough. hidden valley ranch makes vegetables delectable. [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno.

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four healthy grains come together in crispy flakes and crunchy granola bunches. honey bunches of oats. did you know every year about one in six americans get sick from contaminated food? dining in or eating out how do you make sure your food is safe? "good housekeeping" magazine focused on the topic. rosemary ellis good morning. >> good morning. >> was it frightening looking at this? >> it is scary. 48 million americans get sick from something they eat, more than 3,000 die mainly the elderly and small children because they're vulnerable.

our food safety system is not remotely air tight. there are huge loopholes and not enough safeguards. >> this will increase as we import more from different places? >> we're importing more every year, the budget to inspect foods are decreasing but one great thing happened in the last couple of weeks i'm happy we were a part of. we produced this special report "why your food isn't safe." at the same time senator gillibrand introduced an act into congress to safeguard poultry, where the biggest dangers lie, and meat. they pushed the biggest usda to declare the six most dangerous kinds of e. coli bacteria as adulterants. they have to test and inspect and make sure the food isn't tainted. >> common sense. >> duh. they'll be started in march, fewer people will die every

year, it's a beginning first step. >> first of all you say prioritize your shopping. >> here are some things you can do yourself no matter what the government does. when you go to the grocery store buy your canned goods and packaged goods first, buy the cold stuff last. run by the produce aisle last, get the meat and fish last. >> also make sure your produce cooler is cold. >> if you reach in and whatever you're buying doesn't feel cold, don't buy it. bacteria thrives in twaurmwarmt. if things supposed to be cold get warm it's more likely to make you sick. >> keep a cooler with ice packs in your trunk. >> if you have a long way to drive or four or five errands on the way home from the goesry store keep the cold things cold. food should not be out for more than two hours. things that are supposed to be cold need to be safeguarded more. keep it chilly. >> i've done this, don't wash raw meat or poultry, why? >> it's counter intuitive.

anything you cook, that's what kills the bacteria, it's not washing it but when the stream from your faucet hits a piece of meat or chicken it slashes and the contaminants go over your sink, counter and so don't wash it, put it in the oven. >> prevent pros contamination. >> right. two ways to do that, one is to keep separate cutting porboardsr meat and poultry, cross-produce, and seal it up in bags so it doesn't drip on anything. >> use one of three methods to defrost your meat, poultry or fish. >> all exactly what most of us don't do. most of us put it out on the counter. you need to either thaw it in the refridgeor or a bag in the sink in cool water. >> this is important, make sure you wash your fresh fruits and

vegetables. >> any kinds of fruits, and also good to dry them with a paper towel because you can scrub off any bacteria on them. what you don't need to wash interestingly are things that are prewashed, say you know lettuce that comes in bags. in they make you sick washing does not get the bacteria off. >> eating out, your restaurant's health inspection? >> right, you can do that going to a website called allfoodbusiness.com, and it will tell you and also in the restaurant there are a cup of very smart things to do especially ordering a burger because ground beef is one of the most easily tainted foods there is. ask how they know it's done, and if the answer doesn't involve the words "meat thermometer" order something else. >> and then salad bars. >> salad bars, what you want to see is people when they replace food not dumping new batches into the old batch. you want to see them remove the old batch and put in a new bowl in. >> rosemary ellis a lot of great

advice and timely. >> thank you. still ahead the 9-year-old girl who swims with the sharks. we'll meet her, after we get a bigger boat, right after these messages. planted the same... ♪ ...harvested the same... ♪ ...and roasted the same as our other premium coffees. ♪ it only makes sense it would taste the same. so, try it for yourself. buy a pack of 100% natural starbucks via® ready brew. we promise you'll love it or we'll send you a bag of starbucks coffee. it's the starbucks via® taste promise. look for it at starbucks stores and where you buy groceries. carol. fiber makes me sad. oh common. and how can you talk to me about fiber while you are eating a candy bar? you enjoy that. i am. [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. if you sleep in your contact lenses. lucky for you, air optix brand has a lens approved for up to 30 days and nights of continuous wear.

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covergirl and olay floats above lines and makes you look younger. can your anti-aging makeup do that? simply ageless from olay and easy, breezy beautiful, covergirl. as the fiercest predators in the ocean sharks have long been feared and misunderstood but for the addison family which runs a marine expedition company in south africa sharks are the family business. joining me mark, gail and 9-year-old ella addison. we'll talk to you in a moment about you swimming with sharks. mark, what is extraordinary about what you do, you swim with the sharks withouts cages. isn't that cages? >> no, i think cages spread fear and not understanding, we've spent most of the best part of

our lives trying to understand the animals better. i feel confident without cages is the way towaforward. >> what kind of sharks do you encounter? >> we have a fantastic array from great whites through to the tigers, the bulls and of course there are over 100 species you can interact in the coastal waters so not all of them are big and dangerous. many very small but very vital in the ecosystem. >> mark you spiwim with the shas and gail and ella, you've been swimming since 5. >> yes. >> why do you do it? >> because they're amazing and i can. >> are you afraid ever in the water and you see them? >> no. the first time i got in, i was, but then i've been fine ever since. >> if i understand it right, the first time you got in, you forgot to ask mom and dad if it was okay. you just jumped right in, right? >> yes. >> what happened? why did you decide to do that? >> because i couldn't handle just sitting on the boat and doing nothing.

>> well, gail, i know you thought as a mom it was a foregone conclusion someday ella would be swimming with the sharks but did you think so soon at 5 years old? >> no, they were given strict instructions on that particular day, ella wasn't allowed to go on the boat. i knew she wouldn't be able to do that so they begged and begged and they went, and only when they got home did it come out >> they confessed. >> under duress. >> you still look a little afraid about having to confront mom that ella was in the water with the sharks. >> i don't think the danger was in the water, it was on the beach when we got back. >> we laugh but these are animals unpredictable by their nature. some might be saying wait a minute, i don't care how experienced you are to have a little girl in the ocean with the predators is too much of a risk. what would be your response? >> not true. when that first happened it wasn't my intention, it was an

impromptu experience. she proved at that age it's possible. i have implicit faith in the animals and obviously it's with certain controls and protocols in place. it's definitely safe to interact with the animals. we found the sharks, ella needs to do a lot more. >> what's important to remember swimming with sharks? >> keep your hands under your arms like this or the back. >> why is that? >> because they could think you're bait and then by accident come and bite you. >> and i know, gail, your theory is that actually ella's learned a lot of skills other than the obvious, just by being able to swim with the creatures. >> well it definitely teaches discipline because you don't get a second chance to say sorry, mom, i should have kept my hands away. the instruction has to be followed first time straight up and you also have your child's undivided attention. how many parents have that? so it is wonderful.

ella works with a lot of animals and animals are very good for teaching children how to behave. >> ella it's great to meet you and jack, your penguin here and mark and gail. thanks for coming from south africa. good to have you here. >> thank you, guys. it's been a great privilege. coming up, mexican food made easy. first this is "today" on nbc. ♪ [ woman ] we didn't know where to go next with eric's adhd. his stimulant medicine was helping, but some symptoms were still in his way.

so the doctor kept eric on his current medicine and added nonstimulant intuniv to his treatment plan. [ male announcer ] for some children like eric, adding once-daily nonstimulant intuniv to their stimulant has been shown to provide additional adhd symptom improvement. don't take if allergic to intuniv, its ingredients, or taking other medicines with guanfacine, like tenex. intuniv may cause serious side effects, such as low blood pressure, low heart rate, fainting, and sleepiness. intuniv may affect the ability to drive or use machinery. other side effects include nausea, tiredness, trouble sleeping, stomach pain, and dizziness. tell the doctor about your child's medicines and medical conditions, including heart, liver, or kidney problems. [ woman ] adding intuniv helped eric. [ male announcer ] ask the doctor about once-daily nonstimulant intuniv.

♪ whoa, mexico, sounds so sweet ♪ in "today's kitchen" mexican food step by step. >> chef marcella has new recipes from her new cookbook, "mexican made easy." >> i grew up 45 minutes from the border and i love mexican food.

tortill tortillas. >> kind of a 101 on mexican cooking make people feel comfortable with mexican cuisine. not everybody is like you, grew up on a border town. everyone wants to know how to cook it and make it easy at home. starting off with tortillas, it's confusing, they're at the market, you see so many. white corn tortillas which i prefer, a little bit more pliable, yellow corn tortillas slightly sweeter, blue corn, perfect for chips, all of them are perfect for chips, blue corn a little bit higher in protein content, sometimes they're a better option and a nice color. >> yellow soft for tacos. >> making a soft taco thee stand up nicely. making a soft taco once you add the salsa it starts to get soggy. white corn a little better. >> so what kind of tacos are we making? >> floutas, in spanish means

flute. one of my favorite recipe, it's great making leftovers, when you have leftovers sorry, you can fill a flauta with any protein. >> this is the corn? >> the corn tortilla. >> do you have to heat these first in. >> you bring up a great point. if you don't warm up the tortilla they're not going to be pliable. they're going to crack. >> a tight roll? >> the tighter the better. secure it with a toothpick, put a couple in there just like that. >> thank you. you're frying it up for how long? >> until it's crisp. you don't want to do it too long. you already cooked the meat. you're not looking to cook anything. you want to crisp up the tortilla. four minutes. perfect >> what do you serve with it? >> sorry g ahead. >> what do you serve with it. >> don't add tuna because you don't want to bring down the temperature of the oil. al is the chef, he knows what he's talking about.

>> go on some more, stop it some more! [ speaking in spanish ] >> so your question was what to serve it with. >> yes. >> this is why i love this, you have proteins, carbs and veggies, nice and fried, absorb the extra oil, shredded iceberg, colorful, and some pico de gaya salsa. >> a little guacamole. >> and fresco. >> let's move to the back. >> this is a chicken adobo. tell us about that. >> simple a dobo you make with a lot of chilies. this has tons of flavor. sauteed onions and garlic and i love the chilies, one of my

favorites to cook with. the guijillos get bitter if you cook them too much. soften up the chilies, let it get soft and blend and that's your adoba right there, really simple. you add it on your flattened chicken and the reason i like to flatten it is because it cooks quicker. more evenly, easy to maneuver, move around on the grill. put that adobo on there all over the place. >> on the side? >> yeah, all over. we're going to add a little bit of salt, and then go directly on your grill pan, once it's on the grill pan you can do the other side. >> skin side down. >> so you can do the other side. >> how long do you keep them on there? >> finish this in the oven at 350 until it's 160 on the inside. make sure chicken is fully cooked. >> serve with the night acoutrements. >> few seconds left, tell us about the soup. >> like the flauta, it has

protein, veggies and my son fausto loves it. >> hoda kotb has the kardashians coming up next.