Guess who went on a date?! If you guessed me you are right! It was so much fun to go out to eat and socialize (thanks to our neighbor Eula who gave us a gift card).
Here I am getting ready
Hallie loves to help with EVERYTHING! I love her chesser in the top picture.
The happy couple!
P.S. I just wanted to brag that I got a love letter for Christmas from the handsome man pictured above! He’s so WONDERFUL!
The week before Christmas we got a HUGE storm. It snowed and snowed and snowed. In the three total years I have lived in DC we have never got this much! The area seriously does not know how to react to this much snow. Everything shut down including church. I LOVED it!!
Ben helping a neighbor get his car in his spot. Don’t ask why he pulled it out of his spot just to put it back in! NO one knows how to drive in the snow out here. Ben was getting so frustrated with this guy who just kept spinning his wheels.
We played outside for a while but Hallie only has the cotton gloves that don’t work well in the snow. She played until her hands hurt then I took her inside. As you can tell she wanted desperately to be back outside.
Christmas morning breakfast! I asked Hallie to smile and this is what I got. Silly girl!
I didn’t have any presents under the tree until Christmas morning. (I knew Hallie would try and open them.) She was really excited!
Opening her first present. I think the wrapping paper was the highlight of her day. 🙂
And another one. At first she would tear off little pieces at a time. It only took a few presents before she got faster and much more efficient.
One of her presents was a softball glove. We had to teach her how to use it because first thing she did with it was put it on her head and call it a hat. haha
We were able to skype with both of our families on Christmas. Hallie decided, without any encouragement, to give kisses. It was hilarious!!!
At our ward Christmas party the primary children acted out a little nativity scene. Hallie insisted on going on the stage so I gave her an angel’s halo and up she went. Let me just tell you she stole the show! She walked along the front until she placed herself perfectly. Then she looked out across the crowd and gave them the biggest cheeser grins (the picture doesn’t capture it fully). She knew she was cute and that everyone was looking at her. lol I was drying I was laughing so hard. Don’t ask me where she gets it from!
Beautiful Hallie in her Christmas dress. Thanks Nanna Romrell!
When you are sick and don’t feel like doing much you will try anything to entertain a toddler.
For example: I made jello pudding and let Hallie play with it in the tub. She loved it and it entertained her for a good 30 min while I just sat there and watched. HAHA Well, and took tons of pictures of course.
Just getting started and a little unsure.
First taste test.
Evidence that it tasted good.
Getting a little more into it.
Really into it now. P.S. I had a little fun writing on her.
More eating was involved.
The final result=good times and fairly easy cleanup.
You can consider this an announcement!!
It snowed in Virginia!!!!! I was so excited. We pulled the blinds up in all the windows and just stared at the beautiful snow flakes. It made me feel like I was home (Utah).
We took Hallie sledding. She is so funny! At first she seemed really nervous but then she finally started to smile. Silly girl!
We had another wonderful Virginia Thanksgiving this year. We were blessed to join Ben’s second cousins the Stoker’s for their feast. Boy was it good. Carol really goes the extra mile and makes everything from scratch. I mean even the stuffing came from homemade bread. We were spoiled to say the least!!!
Here are some pictures of our meal
I’m kicking myself now because I didn’t get any pictures of us!! DUH
That same Thanksgiving weekend we went up to the Shenandoah mountains where the Stokers were camping for the weekend. We only stayed for one day but we had so much fun. I seriously LOVE camping. Hallie really enjoyed herself as well and she even did great in the car (which considering her history is a HUGE deal!). YAY, thanks for inviting us once again Randal, Carol and Rachel.
Hallie riding in the wagon on our walk.
After awhile Hallie decided she wanted to help dad pull the wagon.
So beautiful!!!
I did it!!
As I went around and checked out different blogs a few months ago I ran across The Mother Load. I read about the no spend challenge and knew that I needed to do it. I know our family isn’t the only one who has to watch what we spend and I know I’m not the only one who loves to buy, buy, buy. I’m a shopper what can I say. I LOVE clothes and I LOVE crafts. Joann’s craft store takes a significant amount of money from me every month. haha
I decided that November would be my NO SPEND MONTH. Of course I still bought groceries (but even that bill shrunk) and we even had a date night (which rarely happens). However, I never went out to eat with my friends for lunch, and I never bought anything at Joann’s or the mall or even the thrift store. It was so HARDDDDDD. I wanted to go to Joann’s a million times.
Now that the month is over and I can look over our monthly budget and smile because I can see the money we saved it was all worth it. YAY!!
Well I’m back to posting my weekly menu. We are still eating leftovers and I have two girls nights this week so we will see how close we stick to this menu. I’m sure Ben will keep his fingers crossed. 🙂
Also, thank you to those of you you helped me find a few more recipe blogs. (Stacey and Meredith) It helps a ton. Keep them coming people!!! 🙂 lol
Lately I haven’t been able to find very many new recipes that I liked enough to try. If you have any recipe blogs or websites that you like please pass on the web address to me. I’m in desperate need.
Here are two of my favorite recipes that I found awhile back. You should definitely try them.
Cook asparagus in large pot of boiling water until crisp tender, 2-3 min. With slotted spoon, remove asparagus from boiling water to a bowl of ice water to cool and stop cooking. When cool, strain and cut into 1 inch pieces and set aside.
Return water to boil and add pasta. Cook until al dente. Drain pasta reserving 1/2-1 cup water.
Heat oil in large skillet and add garlic. Saute until fragrant (20 sec or so) Add asparagus and season with salt and pepper. Add pasta, prosciutto and mozz cheese. Toss to combine and add some of the reserved water if needed. (basil is optional)
Cut asparagus into quaters. Toss asparagus and onion with vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. Grill until tender crisp and browned. Brush pizza dough with olive oil. Evenly distribute veggies over top. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake pizza at 475 degrees in oven until browned and cheese is melted.
This past week my parents flew into town and spoiled us for 5 days! Hallie LOVES her Nanna and Grandpa. She is such a little show off and thrives on the attention. We played, played, played, shopped craft stores until I wanted to go home (which tells you something), ate out everyday, and watched movies! My dad also taught a mommy CPR/first aid class that was a huge success. The two hours went by so fast and we could have easily added another hour. I’m so grateful for a dad who knows so much. I really feel better prepared now if anything were to happen. Ahh it really was a great weekend.
Hallie and Grandpa coloring:
Our family best friends are in the military and so Saturday we went and explored Font Belvoir and the Black hawk Helicopters that Lee flies.
Hallie chillin’ inside the helicopter
Hallie and Nanna
The girlies (We all look like our dad’s) lol
Hallie and Grandpa
Our group exploring.
Nanna, Grandpa and Hallie
Boss man in the driver seat!
Up top checking out the motor. Any of you who know Ben know that his mind was soaking every bit of this up.
Inside the elite black hawk that is only for top officials and high rollers. (Notice the difference between the other helicopter Hallie was sitting in? This one even has couch covers!)
Boss woman in the drivers seat.
We had so much fun last week. We love grandma and grandpa and wish we could see them more often. Although I guess when you live across the country the amount of times we see them is actually a lot. We just miss them so much we always wish we could be with them. Thanks Nanna and Grandpa for such a great week. Also, thanks Hoopers for showing us around. It was awesome!! Ben is still talking about it. 🙂