for the love of heels

i've spent the last many years of my life avoiding heels because i'm 5' 9''.  but last summer when i moved here i realized that all of the girls in our ward, regardless of height, wore super tall heels.  well, as we know... i'm a follower.  so i happily sport three inch heels now.  

and so does baby girl.

these shoes are target brand, they're very plain, and they were given to me for free from someone who didn't want them anymore.  despite all of that, they make me feel pretty and i love them.

i must say, it was a very pleasant surprise for me.  and i don't even care that i wear them almost every sunday without fail.  because feeling pretty knows no logic.

in other news...

tonight for dinner i made this recipe for crock pot creamy chicken and wild rice soup.  it calls for a stick of butter and two cups of half and half so it's not exactly low fat or anything, but you could totally cut back on the butter and use milk instead of half and half.  i used milk last time and it tasted delish.  i'm trying to put on a few lbs though so i used half and half this time... honestly can't even taste the difference.  also, i doubled the celery and carrots (even though i don't like celery) and i think next time i make it i'll triple both.  more carrots because i love carrots and more celery because i hate celery and you can't even taste it in this recipe so it's a good way for me to get myself to eat it!

also, we had young womens tonight and it was soooo fun.  i act like one of them though.  i think i need to tone it down and try to act more adult.  i feel like i do a pretty good job on sundays of acting like a grownup but it's way more difficult for me at mutual during the week.

with the combo of a busy day yesterday and today, i got my visiting teaching done!  between sickness and snow it was very very tricky this month.  but since it's a leap year i can say i even had a day to spare!

i did laundry today.  i kind of have a special love for laundry because it makes me feel so accomplished.  and really, it's something that i can do almost entirely in bed.  win win for us all.

i think my baby looks so cute when she's sleeping.  i think her daddy looks even cuter... occasional snoring and all... i love it because it is amazingly precious.

to those that actually comment on my posts:   i love you and it makes my day.  y'know... like if i'd told you a joke that wasn't funny but you laughed anyways... just to make me feel better.  i appreciate it.

unstoppable

It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.~Vince Lombardi

Preventing someone from falling is better than helping him get up.~ Italian Proverb

If you get up one more time than you fall you will make it through.~ Chinese Proverb

i think it's safe to say i side more with the chinese and vince lombardi than i do with the italian.

what's your parenting style?

the sweet 16

a year ago today baby sprouted her first tooth.  and baby girl looked something like this.

and finally, last night, on the eve of her first tooth anniversary, baby girl let us count her pearly whites (for the first time in several months!) and there were 16!  SIXTEEN i said!  and at least two or three of those just barely finally broke through a few days ago.  perhaps that's why baby girl woke up THREE times during the night on friday while happily sleeping all the way through thursday night, saturday night and sunday night?!  

anyways... now her mug shot looks something like this...

and a close up...

this baby girl can eat raw veggies, nuts, and steaks with the best of them.

happy sweet sixteen [teeth] baby girl!!!  you're doing great!

my honey

i have such a wonderful husband.  he's really great all the time but lately he's just blowing me away.  so much of my time now goes to young womens stuff and honey is just really picking up the pieces for stuff i can't get to anymore.  3 sundays a month now i have meetings before church.  so honey goes to his 6am bishopric meeting and then rushes home so i can get to the church by 7 30 for my meeting.  while i'm at my meeting, he wakes baby up, feeds her, dresses her, packs snacks, and gets them to church on time.  he's really risen to the challenge on that one.

he's done more dishes in the past two weeks than in the past several months combined.  and he's doing the undesirable stuff too that i'm too wimpy to take care of... like putting out the trash and recycling... i totally used to do that before it got so cold and so dark.  now i just ask my honey and he'll go around the house to collect all of the trash, including the diaper pail, and take everything to the curb.

it makes me think of when i was pregnant and so super sick.  when i was at home, i laid in bed for every single waking and non waking moment.  and my honey really rose to the challenge of it all.  he did all of the dishes and cleaning.  he fed himself.  he brought me leftovers in bed and begged me to attempt to eat them and was my own personal cheerleader every time i tearfully took a bite.  he brought me my toothbrush with toothpaste on it so i could brush my teeth in bed and only have to get out once to rinse my mouth.  he did everything.  and even when the sickness went away and was one week later replaced by the most extreme fatigue ever, he still waited on me.  and was so patient every saturday when instead of going to sporting events  and other things on campus, i just wanted to lay in bed.  it was like his whole existence was just for me... just to make my life easier.  he has such a precious, quiet way of serving.  it melts my heart.  i really wish i was as patient and full of selfless service as he is.  buuuut instead, i'll just try to be so super especially grateful.  because i really do have so very much to be grateful for.

especially because this afternoon he had me laughing so hard i could barely breathe.  laughing soooo hard i couldn't see through all the tears as they soaked my face and spotted my pillowcase.  oh my goodness.  it was pretty awesome.

putting my time in

with the exception of about two hours playing with baby girl this evening, i have spent the last ten hours doing young womens stuff.  writing personal fb messages to the girls, going to their homes for visits/to drop off the new strength of youth pamphlets, answering emails, writing more fb messages, studying lesson material for tomorrow...  yikes.  and it's almost 1am and i need to be waking up in about five hours to shower and get ready before ward council and church.  faaaabulous.

honestly, i have no idea how this is so time consuming.  i get involved in what i'm doing and then i look up and it's two hours later.  i mean, seriously?!?!

in other news, baby girl loves attempting to dress herself and put on/took off the same skirt at least twenty times tonight (pictures and video to come) and honey did a sink full of dishes again without being asked.

those two are just too sweet to me.

baby tevas

mother, we finally got the package in the mail!  thank you so much for all of the wonderful goodies inside!  baby girl especially enjoyed her present!

can't you just hear her saying "woooow"?  because she was.

once she realized what they were, she immediately wanted them on.

and couldn't stop looking at them.

and a video because she was just so cute prancing and tip toeing around in her new pink sandals!

needless to say, they didn't come off until it was time to get dressed for nap.

thanks mother!

atlas shrugged

i tried to read this book several years ago... on our hungary trip.  i managed to read the whole traveling pants series and maybe even another book or two (lots of time on trains) but for some reason could not get farther than 25 or 52 (can't remember but i swear it was one of those) pages into atlas shrugged.  i really need to read it though because my honey is obsessed with it.

anyways, tonight we watched the movie... part one.  it was awesome.  but my christopher said it was ehh.  "the book is just soooo much better!" he keeps saying.  well of course.  and this is one of the few combos where i've seen the movie first.  i'll have to fix that and make sure to read the book before seeing part two.

like i think i want to start the book this weekend.  or maybe tomorrow.

who's read it already?!?!

the big camera is back!

sooo happy to have our big camera up and running again.  

this morning we went to play with kirstyn and michaela.  hung out at their place for a bit and then went on a long walk to enjoy the beautiful weather today.  came home for lunch and a short nap.  baby girl has been so hit and miss lately with her crib.  sometimes she's totally fine and happy and then sometimes she'll whine and then cry for a few minutes before going to sleep.  this afternoon was a cry nap... which normally means a short nap.  soo she cried for a few minutes before going to sleep and then an hour and a half later i heard her up and crying again and she wouldn't go back to sleep.  she wasn't in a terrible mood which was wonderful but it did leave us with a whole lot of time to kill before honey got home.  starting your afternoon an hour and a half early makes a big difference.  so it was wonderful that first counselor chelsey came by with her handsome hunk, griffin.  they left, we made dinner, we ate dinner (homemade cheddar broccoli potato soup that i just made up on my own!) and watched the debate.  another excellent day.

ps- baby girl specifically requested to wear a flower in her hair today.  after nap though i didn't put it back in.  when i was doing something on my computer she wandered off and went upstairs.  i thought she was going to the ball pit but she came down a minute later.  what had she brought me?  why, a tiny little rubber band for me so i could put her hair up!  ha.  i seriously laughed out loud.  she climbed up a flight of stairs, went to her bathroom, opened the drawer, got out her comb and rubber band package, got a rubber band out, and carried it back down the flight of stairs and into my room to give to me.  seriously hilarious.  i love this kid.

baby buffet

tonight with the young women, we discussed the dress and appearance section of the new for the strength of youth pamphlet and then learned hair tips/tricks/styles and made delicious smelling bath salts.  it was a ton of fun and easy to do.  mostly because i have awesome counselors and advisers that do everything for me.  it's wonderful.

anyways, turns out that the hardest part was getting baby food jars for our bath salts since we didn't want to spend budget money on jars from hobby lobby or something.  i texted every mom in our ward with a baby under 18 months and wasn't having much luck.  turns out though that kirstyn had a bunch of jars leftover from when michaela was in that stage... i just needed to take the baby food out of them.  so initially i'm thinking i'd just put the food down the drain because baby refuses to be spoon fed but then i thought maybe i'd give her the benefit of the doubt.  and actually, she ate a jar and a half of those big stage 3 gerber meal things when she woke up from nap... but i still had several jars left and no where to put the food.  to save myself from dirtying up a million little tupperwares, i put the food in an ice cube tray and covered it with plastic wrap to put it in the fridge.  but baby girl saw it and started saying please so honey took over... and after watching the two of them for a few minutes, i decided i needed to get some of it recorded.

as is always the case with taking video, the best part happened before i started recording, but whatever... it's better than nothing!  too bad that that music is so loud the whole time though... goodness how she loves that thing.  but listen out for my favorite part at the very beginning when she says "this one" so clearly while she points.  that's what she was doing before i got the camera out and she got lazy and would just point and mumble instead.  sooo, enjoy!

i still can't believe she was eating that stuff!  seriously, it's so difficult that she won't let us spoon feed her (unless it's from an array of ice cube molds apparently) because it rules out soups, yogurt, applesauce, and other stuff that she can't manage on her own.  and when i sit back and actually let myself think about it, i can't believe all the stuff she says these days... i don't even notice so much of it because she's talking all. the. time.  seriously amazing.

and ps-  i am sooooo very happy to report that the long missing battery charger to the big camera has been found!  apparently i thought it would be easy for me to find if i left it conveniently plugged in behind the sofa, so it would be ready for me next time i needed to use it.  hmmm, we might have to rethink that one going forward.  but right now....so so glad to have that back.  thank goodness!

blessed are the meek

for they shall inherit the earth (matthew 5:5 and 3 nephi 12:5).

yesterday during our young women lesson, i talked with the girls about the word meek.  we'd read doctrine and covenants section 25 verses 5, 14, and 16 and i wanted to make sure they knew the definition of the word "meek" since it was mentioned multiple times.

 5 And the office of thy calling shall be for a ^acomfort unto my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun., thy ^bhusband, in his ^cafflictions, with consoling words, in the spirit of ^dmeekness. 

14 Continue in the spirit of meekness, and beware of ^apride. Let thy soul delight in thy ^bhusband, and the ^cglory which shall come upon him.   

16 And verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my ^avoice unto all. Amen.

basically, it's counsel and revelation given to emma about her wifely responsibilities.  and then in the last verse, verse 16, it's basically a "ps- this is actually for everyone... not just emma."  so i had the girls write down their future to do list of wifely responsibilities and i wanted to make sure they knew what everything meant so they would be clear on how to fulfill it.


we talked about how the work "meek" gets such a bad rap in society these days.  that people associate it with being weak, submissive in a bad way, and basically crouching in a corner because you're too afraid and insecure to stand on your own.  then we talked about the true meaning of meek..."showing patience and humility; gentle, long suffering."  also that it's submissive in a good way, like how the scriptures say to be submissive like a child to his father.  i shared with them how my mother has always been a perfect example of this and how it's because of her that i have always striven to be meek... which i really don't think is a very common thing for people to strive for in 2012.  we talked about how the scriptures are never old fashioned... they are always for our day and they're always right, even when they disagree with society.  i really wanted the girls to know that meekness is an amazing quality they need to strive for.  and tonight only confirmed that for me.


honey and i were watching celebrity apprentice tonight.  we really love that show and it's the start of a new season.  i don't feel like explaining the whole concept of the show but basically, if your team loses a competition then the person in charge takes the two weakest people of their team and the three of them are judged by donald trump and one gets fired and has to go home.  so tonight donald trump was asking the team leader about the performance of his team  and basically who the two weakest people were.  the ones that didn't raise as much money, work as hard, etc.  and the team leader said "george.  there are a lot of strong personalities on this team and he just doesn't seem to have one.  he is really quiet and meek." MEEK.  he was saying that george should go home because he's not as macho and vocal as the other guys.  he was too much meek and not enough assertive.  and the thing is, donald trump was very surprised and taken aback that the team leader would use a word as offensive as meek.  donald trump actually defended george saying that he was a strong, smart, quiet type and that he didn't think meek was the right word at all.  and eventually the team leader took it back as well.  and WHEW, because heaven forbid should you ever on television use a word as offensive as meek!


so really i have no conclusion or wrap up... just this random story about how once again, society has it wrong and the scriptures have it right.  and it also reaffirmed to me the importance of keeping up with pop culture because it's insanely important to know what you're up against.  so for that reason, if nothing else, i am suuuper pumped for the rest of this season of celebrity apprentice!


ps- george didn't get voted off.  no worries.

i'm a member

i've had the parker costco on my speed dial since i moved here.  i like to call from time to time to ask things like

"do you have egg nog in stock yet?  what's the quantity and how much does it cost?"
or
"i know you can't check sizes/colors in your system, so could you go do a physical check of that giant stack of boots and tell me if you have the gray ones in a size 9?"
and
"have you put halloween costumes out yet?  can you tell me if you have that carters ladybug costume with the striped tights in a size 12-18 months?"

it's been very useful to have their number right at my fingertips.  and they're oh so helpful.  the ironic part of this all is that i didn't have a costco membership.

i'm a costco shopper but i'm also a mooch.  i only go to costco with people that have costco cards so they can buy my stuff and i can pay them back.  so that's why i've called the parker costco so much.  because i wasn't going to tag along on a costco trip when the specific item i wanted wasn't going to be there.  it's been wonderful. especially because every time i called with questions it always made me feel so sneaky.

well, that will all change now because tonight we took the plunge and got a costco membership.  the strange thing though?  it was probably the first time i've felt weird or uncomfortable shopping there.  whereas before i should have probably felt scandalous for shopping there without a costco card, i didn't.  but this time i definitely felt scandalous shopping there without a costco cardholder friend/family member.

anyways, this is just one more step towards becoming a "real person."  real person = true adult.  is there going to come a time in my life where i actually feel like an adult instead of feeling like a kid pretending to be an adult?!?!

ps- i think i have the best life ever.  it would be impossible for me to not adore my life.  part of that is because i have an awesome life and part of that is because it's just in my personality.  for the past six months or so, my goal has been to make my honey as happy as i am.  i want him to realize that he has all the same blessings that i do and he should be as obsessed with our life as i am.  i think he knows it but it's just not his personality like it is mine.  anyways, we were driving home tonight when out of the blue he said "y'know, we have everything."  and then went on to list stuff.  the funny part about it was that it wasn't "our kid, the gospel, each other and our eternal marriage..." it was "we have everything.  a house, [something else i can't rememer], a costco membership, and gym membership, season sports tickets..."  ha.  and then the conversation veered in the direction of how we never actually use those tickets because we're too cheap to get a baby sitter.  so does that mean i'm making progress in my goal?!  it was a sweet moment but it was also kinda hilarious.

i love my life.

busy sunday

today was fabulous.  church was great.  my lesson went much better and wasn't so terribly traumatic like last week.  after church we got home taught while baby napped and then we woke her up and headed to the in laws for dinner.  honey had to leave after that for some random church meetings but baby girl and i stayed til 8 30 or so and got a ride home with brian and kelsey.  it was a lot of fun although definitely one of our busier sundays.

i just love a good sunday filled with church and family.  it really doesn't get any better than that.

in other news:

while i was at the in laws, i played their piano.  a super easy version of "i heard him come."  made me realize how much i miss playing the piano.  i'm going to renew my efforts to try to find a cheap one on craigslist or goodwill or something.

the battery charger for my big camera has been lost for over a week.  i used to keep it in the closet in the craft room upstairs but it was so inconvenient.  so i finally moved it downstairs.  and now i can't find it.  so for the last week i haven't been able to use my big camera at all which means i have to take my point and shoot out of my purse to take pictures around the house and then it's never in my purse when we got out.  so i'm getting frustrated with that.  tonight i missed soooo many good pictures when we were hanging out with honey's family.  and since i'm using a really crappy cell phone from six or so years ago, that camera can't act as backup.

i feel like i went from three cameras to one and i'm not coping well.  seriously, how on earth did i misplace my battery charger?!?!

our new ceiling fan!

and every single other picture from my camera today.  

whoops

playing hello! goodbye!

i dreaded baby being able to open doors but i hadn't anticipated the hours of fun that would come of it.  now i embrace it.

still groggy

playing hockey

check out the piles of snow that will. not. melt.

yup, that's my fall wreath still on the door.  i'm not crafty more than once a year so that'll probably be year round for me.  ;-)

loooove the ear flaps on this hat and the little window it creates for baby's face

check out that latter contraption... it's actually two ladders, of different heights, tied together with ropes.

that's when you're thankful for eagle scouts that know their boy scout knots.

the finished product!

i saved up birthday money from my in-laws and christmas money from my parents so really, today feels like a wonderful ceiling fan birthday christmas combo sort of day.  i'm so very excited about this ceiling fan.  it will be fabulous during summer (we have no AC.  didn't know they made houses without AC?  me neither... until i fell in love with this one and found out!) and i'm already loving it during winter because it gets dark so early and now we have light!  we have had zero light in this room since we moved in.  really, zero... we have a table lamp but never turn it on because of the harsh shadows and it doesn't light up a room this big.  so we've been living in the dark.  especially because 5 out of the 6 light bulbs in the entry way pendant light have been out as well... but with our makeshift super tall ladder we fixed that too!

LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!  i am giddy with excitement.  

and because i know that anyone that knows my honey is wondering how we got that ceiling fan installed... well, we have a wonderful friend that came over to do it for us.  he liked the challenge and we liked not paying lowes a $275 installation fee.  oh happy day.

and two videos

of absolutely nothing in particular.  i pretty much just press record and follow where ever it takes us.

ps- because i don't want baby girl to flip out every time she sees sugar, i've been giving her bites of whatever i'm having when i'm eating something in front of her.  so now she's familiar with "treat"... a term that we used to use for anything from the kashi wheat squares i pull out of my purse when we we're running errands to a bite of chocolate or a lick of a sucker.  so it didn't take her long to start saying it and requesting "treat! treat!" when she'd spy us attempting to be stealth about something.  she's really good about knowing she only gets one or two tiny tastes but i guess she doesn't know under what contexts.  because this morning when i got her out of her crib, we walked into the kitchen and she pointed at the cabinet over the fridge saying "treat! treat! pleeeeaaase.  treat! treat!"

ha.

tonight

here a few pictures of how we killed time tonight since my honey didn't get home til 10.

from nursery... found in the junk drawer

in the tent

invented tonight.  and we call it the "fat bunny" face.

hmm too bad this got zoomed.  baby looks super cute.

oh how i love my baby's blues

and of course when we get the self timer working and the camera isn't zoomed.... we get the fat bunny face again.

she loves this new thing where i lay on the floor and she bounces up and down on my stomach.

and then occasionally she'll lay her banana down on my stomach in between bites.  fabulous.

life doesn't get any better than this.

i got burned out yesterday.  so i took the rest of the day off from life.  and today as well.  haven't answered emails or worried about other stuff i have to do.  i kept baby in her pj's all day and we didn't even leave the house.  i cleaned out my junk drawer, picked up the whole house (minus the craft room... because it's a disaster... but i did make a tiny bit of progress in there), cleaned out my car, and did dishes.  with baby girl, i read tons of books... and ummm, actually i think that's it.  i'm pretty sure the only thing she wants to do is read books.  oh, and sing and dance.  all day long we just read and sing and dance.  i realized this late this afternoon and decided i should pull out some play dough i bought for her a long while back.  i figured she's old enough to not be messy with it and to not eat it if i told her it wasn't food.  well... she's not ready for it yet because it went exactly how things went with crayons the first time i gave her a shot at those.  literally to a T.

hand baby crayons/play dough and show her how it works.  let baby try it.  pull it out of baby's mouth and tell her it's not for eating.  show her once again the proper way to play with it.  give her a minute... look away for a milisecond... freak out... pry baby's mouth open to dig out crayons/play dough... baby cries and screams.  try to reintroduce crayons/play dough again in a very positive way.  not happening because baby is still terrified and traumatized.  so i guess i'll do what i did last time and wait a few weeks months.

i wouldn't feel so bad except i'd totally hyped it up and told her about this new and fun and exciting activity we were going to do together.  i'm sure she's thinking to herself "MOM, just stick with FOOD."

better luck next time.