kitchen photo shoot.

when we were cooped up in the house all day friday, henry and i had a few photo shoots. this one was in the dishwasher. of course. we had the best weekend too, besides for the insane weather here in utah, our little family had a good two days with daddy in salt lake. more to come later. enjoy the pictures!

isnt he cute?

all before 11am.

this is what i did today. all before 11am...
get ready.

• brushed my teeth (that usually doesn't happen before 11)
• nursed henry
• made my little brother in china a valentines day package (he is on a mission).
• made pancakes for daniel
• burned the pancakes for daniel
• tried to get all the smoke out of our little apt
• made more pancakes for daniel
• took daniel to school
• changed henry's diaper
• got henry dressed
• nursed henry again
• got myself dressed, sorta
• made daniel lunch for work
• made a pizza
• ate almost half a pizza
• got in the car to go pick up daniel and take him to the train
• crashed my car
• made daniel miss the train
• gave daniel the car for the day and ate the rest of the pizza
• nursed henry again
• called my mom 

impressive, huh? i know, really, i amaze myself sometimes. the car crash was not just any old car crash either, i crashed into my relief society presidents car and bent in the entire front of it. why? well, i was in a hurry to get honey so he could make his train! WE DIDNT TAKE THE TRAIN TODAY, FOLKS! (pun totally intended.)
yesterday there was almost 300 crashes here because of the freezing rain fiasco, and it looks like it still continues.

but, not all is terrible around here, yesterday henry and i made pom pom hats. henry in his hat is the cutest thing. ever. then we found ourselves having a burger at good ol sammy's in salt lake. we had a date with dad. yahoo! we hadn't been out to eat in two weeks so we really enjoyed ourselves.

hope you didn't crash your car today!

xo

.post script.

made the hats out of old sweaters and yarn. soo easy.  my sister micka helped make mine, she can make anything out of anything.

henry.

last night was one of those nights that you wish you could hit the pause button. henry and i played on our bed and we were both laughing so hard. henry totally gets me. and i get him. its a mommy and baby thing. then he got tired so i went into his little room and started to rock him to sleep. we rocked for awhile. singing, playing, dancing, laughing and signing some more. i found myself singing you are my sunshine.

You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When the skies are grey
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
So please don't take
My sunshine
Away

The other night dear
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
When I awoke dear
I was mistaken
And I held
My head
And cried 

i started thinking about the words. first verse...so true. henry makes me smile all day long whatever the day, whatever color my skies are. it is amazing. the second verse made me cry, i started to think about my little henry all grown up and i wasnt a mommy to babies anymore. i couldnt hold them in my arms. i thought of myself when all my kiddos where gone and me dreaming of holding them. dreaming of the days when we would play and snuggle on the bed for hours, then i would rock them to sleep. when those days are over. i will cry. but until then i will enjoy every moment i can with this perfect boy. 

i am blessed. 

so blessed.

1,2,3.

1...

2...

 3.

 good night, folks.

happy long weekend.

this was us at church as proud ward librarians. we love our calling, neeleman family party all the time. so happy together.

today was a good day. we got to spend all weekend with daddy plus another day. we love martin luther king jr. day.  i will post pictures of our holiday later on. but we did go to scheels. wow, that place is huge. complete with ferris wheel.
please mr. weekend, dont be over!

this was moments before little henry fell into the sink. he got his first visible owie... it was terrible. poor little guy has a really bad chin gash.  but he forgot about it shortly after...who knew that lions love dried mango so much! 

xo, my friends!

friday.

today was quite the day. thank goodness its friday. it felt like i was in a race against time the entire day. and i didn't win. it is 11pm and dinner is finally ready, too bad daniel fell asleep 45 minutes ago. thats what i get for being too ambitious and trying to make pot pies for dinner. crust and everything. maybe he can have his for breakfast. yeah, i've heard of them, breakfast/brunch pot pie. yum.

.....sigh.....

yes, it'll all be fine in the morning. henry boy had a hard day too. it all started when the vacuume fell on him. he was mad at it all day. then he couldn't figure out how to fall asleep till 11pm tonight, and he really wanted to be asleep at 7pm. fridays are long days sometimes, even for an 8 month old.

i have been thinking a lot about work and what then word means to me. the talk by elder christofferson keeps coming to mind where he stated that all work is divine. i like that. i especially like it on days like today, too. i remember when he gave that talk, i was single and in my junior year of college. it really applied to me at that point in my life because school was hard. i would go to ballet class everyday and essentially work on the same things day after day. it gave me purpose in school work and dance, because that was just it, i was working. i was trying to achieve something greater. working to perfect my art form, train my mind and body. and now that i am a mother, that phrase has a whole new light. it takes work to be a mother, to be a wife, and to take care of our little home. but as i thought about that phrase "all work is divine" as i was doing dishes this morning, it gave me peace. it gave me hope and it gave me joy, right then.  sometimes we just need to reinvent ourselves. (such a modern dance phrase!) sometimes we, well, i just need to step back and think about why i am doing the things i am doing. there is purpose in building a home, a family, a marriage. there is joy, and there is laughter. i love the work that i am doing right now, because i know that i am building something great. something forever.

that all made perfect sense when henry finally fell asleep in my arms tonight, (because that is the only place he wanted to be). i took him and laid him in his crib. sleeping babies are the most pure and perfect sight you have ever seen. and in moments like that i can really see that this work is in fact divine. 

love that baby boy. so much. 

he makes us happy, even on long days.


xo

Dominican Republic.

i am missing this weather right about now. its 2 degrees in provo, yuck.

every year the neeleman family takes a christmas trip with all 9 kids and their spouses and grandkids-it is quite the troop. for the past two years (since i joined to ranks) we have gone to the DR. they rent a house on the beach and we just spend time together. we eat, we play games, we do insanity(the workout video), we eat again, we play in the waves, we take pictures, then we eat some more. pretty awesome.

it was magical this year because henry was seeing so many things for the first time. he loved the sand, a little too much i think. i would always find him and his little cousin cece, sneaking the sand like it was a snak. i kept finding it in his diaper. oh well, what can you do? henry was terrified of the waves up close but liked watching them from our balcony. he would stare at ocean and watch the waves as they crashed onto the shore. it was quite breathtaking. sonny and i spent a lot of time watching and listening to the waves as i would rock him to sleep. something about the ocean is so peaceful, and extremely terrifying all at the same time. he also went on his first boat ride, and went swimming in a pool. wow. lots of firsts. 

henry also grew up on this trip. he learned to climb up on things, do the stink bug crawl (straight legs in the back, cutest thing ever) and sleep in the big beg with mom and dad. without his normal bed and bedroom he couldnt sleep unless it was with us. we would wake up in the morning with henry in the middle, with one hand on both of our faces. it was pretty cute.

when we flew back into SLC it was 1 degree outside. not cool, utah, not cool.

so thank you, DR for the wonderful trip, until next year.

^^henry and mommy watching daddy play in the waves.^^

^^lunch is served.^^

our view. yes.yes.yes.take.mebackplease.

^^eli and hungry (that is what eli calls henry) are totes having a moment.^^

^^i spy a little hand holdin on tight.^^

^^i had to put this one up, henry is so funny, i laugh everytime "horray, i love taking pictures, mom! this is so fun im throwing my arms up!"^^

^^im always finding henrys bink in daddy's mouth.^^

teacher.

life has been extra busy this past week or so. i started teaching at uvu. i was asked by my dear friend and past teacher, amy, if i would teach a modern dance class monday-thursay. i thought a lot about it, and talked to daniel a lot more about it, and finally came to the conclusion that it would be good. daniel figured out a way to clear his schedule for that time period and is able to watch henry. phew. so here we are. i feel pretty overwhelmed and underqualified. but i have learned so much. so much about a lot of things.

i really love dance. 

i want my students to feel that same love and passion as i do. 

i had the greatest teachers in college.iam so grateful for them. 

articulating my thoughts into comments or corrections, is hard. 

it is so rewarding to see them take a correction and then improve-amazing.

i feel like i put so much into each class when i am teaching.i want to help my students. 

we are so blessed to have bodies that can move and express and feel things in such an emotional and physical way. what a blessing. 

i miss henry a lot while i am away from him. 

i am compelely content and happy with my life, and with my family. 

i love being a mother. 

when we put our faith and trust in God, he provides a way to make all our dreams come true, even the ones we dont even tell him about. he knows us, he knows me. 

henry has been so sad today! its terrible. i think he must be teething. he was so sad when i went to teach  today that it broke that mom heart of mine. i love that henry boy, oh so much. i have been thinking a lot lately about my life and just how grateful i really am that i am right here, right now. two people (one was a past pageant coach, the other a fellow dancer i once danced with) ask me if i was "really happy" to have given up those dreams for where i am today. ha! i am so happy. i am so at peace. i have a husband who is mine forever. together we have a beautiful baby boy who is full of purity and joy. i get to spend my days with someone who is perfect, it really cant get much better then that. i get to dance and teach as much as possible and i love that, of course. but there is nothing more rewarding then seeing my family. here. right now. i really feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
so yep... i am happy.

goal for the week:
only eat out once.
(harder then you think).

i dont think i have ever cooked so much in my whole life. here are a few photos from the week so far.

^^german pancakes.^^

^^the best mornings are when we are bare feet in the kitchen with baby on hip.^^

^^baked banana oatmeal. i spy henry^^

^^pretzel chocolate chip cookies. ^^

mmmm....

^^happy, cute husband. ^^

^^always better with a glass of milk. ^^

^^henry doesn't have a high chair yet, so we eat on the ground. all of us. its better that way anyways^^



xo, my friends