vintage valentine

I found this free downloadable and printable vintage valentine card and matching envelope here.

A cheap and lovely way to wish your sweetheart a happy valentine's day.

progress

Halle learned to fold her arms each time our family prayed when she was about 11 months old. True, it only lasts for a few seconds and the rest of the prayer is spent running around, asking for food, and saying hi to everyone. A few months later she started to say "amen" after the prayer was finished. Since then, we have been working on getting her to close her eyes during the prayer.

A few weeks ago we decided to have family night in the bathroom while Halle was taking her bath. I said the prayer that night and before we began we asked Halle to fold her arms and close her eyes. No reaction. So, I started the prayer and about halfway through she closed her eyes for the first time. The prayer I said was full of lots of laughter coming from me and Wes and I will show you why. This is the way Halle closed her eyes during the prayer:

happy birthday

Grandpa Nimer!

Is there anyone as patient as you that can sit and clip the grandbabies fingernails especially with the way Halle squirms?

Thanks for doing the little things and being a wonderful "pampa."

We love you!

what a week

what a week we have had.

halle caught the cold of death that wiped her and me out.

mom came to save the day. bless her many times over.

wes started intramural basketball (missed the batemans and the staggs! remember that one time we showed up to the game and were checking out the other team and they were a bunch of overweight balding men and we thought the guys would have no problem creaming them and then it turned out they were amazing and shot a million three pointers and our husbands got killed and they were way embarassed?)

halle was introduced to basketball and naturally she loves it.

i got a new calling as a miamaid advisor. oh help.

i caught the cold of death and have been down and out for the past two days.

wes has been pulling triple duty being a nurse, the mom and the dad, and the student.

haiti. enough said.

a germ infested house turned spotless house turned germ nest again. all in one week.

oh, and halle is getting cuter everyday.

beach baby

hopefully halle will be strutting her stuff in this swimsuit from gap on a beach in kauai and in a pool by disneyland this summer. how many more days?

mini me

babies are like sponges.

they soak up everything they see.

she's even caught on to my love of shoes.

be careful.

the pretty and the not so pretty

the pretty

• the way pilates makes me sore.
• halle.
• the way betsey johnson perfume makes me smell. i have been complimented on my smell several times since i received this gift for christmas from my sweet inlaws. wes loves it. and you can find it for a good price at nordstrom rack.
• halle asking me to play her favorite songs on our piano. popcorn popping, if you're happy and you know it, book of mormon stories, and i'm a child of god.
• the southwest chicken wraps i made this week.
• halle's elephant jammies.
• sleeping next to halle two nights in a row.
• the sun is shining.
• my husband.

the not so pretty

• the way i look when i do pilates.
• halle's cough.
• the way i smelled after taking care of halle for 48 hours straight during her cold. seriously no time to shower in two days. every time she slept i had to hold her.
• my deteriorating piano skills.
• the thai curry chicken i made this week. did not turn out at all. nothing could be salvaged. when it comes to thai food, i think we will stick to take out.
• halle has been in her elephant jammies for the past two days. she won't wear anything else.
• sleeping next to halle two nights in a row and listening to her cough, moan, cry, and talk in her sleep every 40 minutes.
• there are a few inches of snow outside our house that just won't go away.
• there is nothing not so pretty about my husband. he gave me naps and played with halle and just left for church to teach our nursery kiddos by himself.

le dessert

My first baking endeavor of 2010 was a success. I chose something simple, because let's face it, if I can't even get a cake from a box to turn out, there is no way I am going to be baking bread or gourmet dishes anytime soon. I found a recipe for blonde brownies in a ward cookbook my Aunt Tina gave me as a wedding present. They aren't the most glamorous or pretty dessert, and they definitely don't deserve the french title of this post, but they are not too sweet little nuggets of joy. Aren't ward cookbooks the best? Real women with tight schedules making delicious food for real people (sometimes with some pretty unsophisticated palettes) and sharing their best dishes with other women. I love it. This dessert is a little bit like cookies in a pan, which solves my problem of shaping little cookies that burn anyway. These little babies even passed the Wes test, which is saying a lot. Sound yummy? You're in luck! Here is the recipe submitted by Darla Green. Enjoy.

Blonde Brownies

2/3 cube butter (not margarine)

2 c. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 c. flour

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 c. chopped nuts (optional) --please people, never put nuts in your desserts. It makes me want to hurl.

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Stir in brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Place mixture in a bowl and blend in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, just until lumps disappear. Spread in 9 by 13" pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (I had to take mine out at about 22 minutes because they were very done, so just watch it towards the end.) Cool in pan and cut into bars.

isn't she lovely?

i've got a little stevie wonder on my mind tonight.

attempting to achieve

I don't like the word resolution.

Resolution is sometimes defined as: finding a solution to a problem

I do like the word goal.

Goal is sometimes defined as: a result that one is attempting to achieve

So this year I am not making New Year's resolutions. I don't like to think of the things I want to accomplish this year as problems that need to be fixed. Instead, I am going to make New Year goals, things that I am attempting to achieve this year.

They look a little something like this:

• Attend the temple at least once a month. Just try and stop me satan.
• Eat better. Goodbye potato chips, fried foods, and sweets. It has been a lovely two years, but I really need to get back to the way I ate before I had a baby. It's not you, it's me.
• Read some classics. I have chosen a few I want to be sure I get to: Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Anna Korenina, Sense and Sensibility, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
• Plan a trip for the family this summer before Wes starts his career.
• Learn to bake something. I will figure out the whole altitude and flour thing.
• Serve my family, neighbors, and nursery babes much more and much more graciously.
• Do pilates. My new solution to my exercising with a toddler dilemma. Pilates can be done from the comfort of my home during nap time.
• Teach Halle to share. Heaven help us.
• Be lovely.

I am going to make 2010 a fantastic year.

p.s. I must share one of Wes's goals that cracked me up: prey on the weak minded. Everything is somehow turned into a joke with this guy. I love it.