st. george reflections . . .

So Henry loves going to St. George. You know how I know this? Because when we are in St. George - he doesn't want to miss a minute of anything - so he thinks he needs to stay up all night. Even when nothing is going on. Even when the house is all dark and everyone is asleep - including his parents. He still think he needs to be up. He is wrong.

But seriously - when you are this cute - you want to show it off:

Also in St. George - I learned that my nephew can do amazing push-ups:

the end.

two truths and a lie

1) I attended a conference yesterday where I ended up "pumping" in the car. I was concerned about being cited for indecent exposure.

2) Due to my horrible cough/cold I drank eight (8! Ocho! VIII!) liters of water yesterday

3) Henry has two teeth . . . but continues to be pretty good at night.

Alright - these are all true - and just for good measure - here is Henry at his own personal Disneyland.

king henry

It's pretty obvious that we Carlklef's have a new boss in the house.

Mother's Day 101

I suppose my first lesson as a mother should be that really - you can plan to do whatever you want - but sometimes it's just not going to work like you planned. Consider this mother's day to be lesson learned.

First off, I didn't get to sleep in - but look who did:

Our grand plans were dashed when Henry woke up with some wicked eye boogers (aka pink eye). Plans changed. Instead we took Henry to his first visit to instacare and decided that we better just hunker down. Greg and I tag-teamed church where I hurried on over to teach the R.S. lesson. All in all - it was fine . . . just different. Cest la vie.

However, I do have one real regret from this Mother's Day - and that is that I couldn't cart Henry around and show off his awesome new tat.

Here's a better pic - because let's face it, if this doesn't prove his love for me - I don't know what does:

a repeat

Greg posted this picture on facebook but oh my goodness - it needs to be published on the blog -

Henry NEEDS this fedora - Greg does not - but Henry NEEDS it. I think I'm going to have to go back to Old Navy and buy it. Today.

the"haps"

Taken from Penny on Happy Endings. . . Everyone totally loves my abbrev's.

Here is this week (so far) abbrev-ed:

one drumstick....courtesy of kfc

This one is choose your own caption . . . 

Henry goes to scouts or . . . it's manpris weather!

The ceiling fan rocks!

What can I say? I love my boys. But I don't love that messy garage - you hear me Danklef? You hear me?

reading round-up

This month was a doozy in the sense that I got a teeny tiny bit behind in my reading. I only read *gulp* three books this month. Crapola! How am I going to meet my 52 books a year goal this way? The answer? I'm not. So I need to step it up. Don't worry - my classes are over, grades are in, and summer is here for me to read read read.

Here is my report:

"Nothing to Envy Ordinary Lives in North Korea: - Barbara Demick - Great! Great! Great! This was so interesting, it read like fiction and part of me really can't believe that it is true. Things over in North Korea are so crazy! Who knew? Alright, probably a lot of people knew - but I had no idea. Wow. Really eye-opening.

"The Beck Diet Solution" - Judith S. Beck - This was also a GREAT book! So good in fact that I ordered my own copy. Now if only I could really institute all of the helpful tips. My favorite tip? Every time you eat - eat sitting down. This is so so so difficult for me - after all, I love little nibbles of stuff. And hey - if I'm standing up or walking around while eating them it doesn't count - right? Right?

"Peace Like a River" - Leif Enger - I liked but didn't love this book. But - I'm glad I read it.

Wow - every book I read this month was so serious - for May I think my goal is to read more beach reads. You know, books where you don't have to think - Sophie Kinsella-like books. We'll see.

Henry: 1 Kitty: 0

This weekend Henry won. He beat me fair and square.

First off we finally decided that since we had to put butter on the bassinet at night to squeeze Henry into it - it was time for a crib.

(doesn't instagram make this picture look arty and fancy instead of just like a crappy picture with horrible lighting?)

Here he is, pretending to like it. But two nights of pretty much crap sleep where he insisted on being the boss and making us put his binkie in his mouth every two minutes showed us otherwise. 
(Last night, however, he was back to his good sleeping self  . . . praise be - we're hopeful).

What did we do to show Henry that his behavior was unacceptable? Oh we pretty much bought him the Disneyland for babies - a "zoo" jumparoo.

We also gave the boss a haircut - (Haylee, I need you to fix it!) but don't worry - he is still sportin' the combover. He just no longer sports the payots.

And we took some pictures of some pretty ladies at prom.

(this is an "action" shot)

This feels like an anti-climactic ending to this post- does it punch it up to know that we also went to Costco this weekend? Probably not. I better stop.

the chronic

Someone (who shall remain nameless) posted on my facebook wall last night saying, "It's sad that the Carlklef Chronicles are no longer Chronicling." And to that I say - AMEN! It is sad. But doesn't it seem like a lot of people are no longer chronicling? Maybe that's just me - but really - I need to kick it up a notch. This is the only family history thing we've got going right now - and I need to capture the ridiculous and the mundane. I must.

Let's start with the awesome:

Henry's legs. Oh my goodness. If this picture doesn't make you want to just squeeze them - then you are a heartless, cruel person. Henry's sweet chubby thighs are everything that is right in the world wrapped up in a cinnamon roll.

His hair? Well, we don't really know what we are doing with it - but he has a HUGE bald spot in the back of his head so I say . . . let's keep it growing - because the Donald Trump comb-over look really is in right now.

As more proof that Henry really is just a plain angel baby - here is he being quiet (not necessarily reverent but at least quiet - at church):

And now for some news.

I volunteered Greg to take my co-worker's son's prom pictures this weekend. I really can't tell you how excited I am about this. I was almost hyperventilating at even the possibility of this happening. Because really - I LOVE this sort of stuff. I mean, this past weekend we almost went out to Payson (that's right Payson!) just so we could go to their beauty pageant. (Because we do love ourselves the completely ridiculous movie "drop dead gorgeous"). So awkward and uncomfortable and awesome - all at the same time. But prom pictures - oh it is practically a dream come true. We are going out this week to go and scout out locations. We take this non-paying job very seriously.

More chronicling to commence!

green smoothie deliciousness

We are in the midst of another round of "Game On" and I hate to say it - but I really think that this might be my round. My turn to win. My team is strong and we are all pretty dedicated to making some changes.  I thought I would document my breakfast of champions . . .

I start out stuffing my vita-mix with spinach from Costco:

(notice the milk in the background of this picture  - nothing but cream for my boyfriend - nothing but)

I then put some fruit in - anything handy - I like these things cold so frozen fruit is good - but I always try and add some fresh stuff. Lately, Bountiful Baskets has been giving us TONS of apples and oranges - so usually I make sure to put those in.
(I LOVE to put in some frozen grapes . . . but alack and alas - I'm out of them right now).

(the fruit weighs down the Spinach but just know there is probably about 3 cups of spinach in this sucker)

I then add some cold water and a splash of almond milk (it looks like more than a splash of almond milk because of the water - really just like a 1/4 cup or less of the almond milk and then as much or as little water as you want)

Mix:

And then pour into mason jars and take to work - and drink with a straw. 

Smoothies with a straw always taste better:

Yes, this is all mine - I don't share it. And for the record - the Mason Jar is really not the most convenient container or anything - but it cleans up so easily that I just can't help myself.