For the Love of Blog

My friend, Jana has the cutest blog. I just love reading it because she has this dreamy life in San Francisco, loads of creative ideas and recipes, and the most smiley, beautiful, chub of love daughter I have ever laid eyes on.

Jana recently bestowed The Lovely Blog Award on little ol' me. I couldn't be more flattered. Thanks Jana! Kiss that Lily girl for me! Today is her first birthday and all.

Here are the rules of the Lovely Blog Award:

1. Accept the award and post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.

2. Pay it forward to 10 other bloggers that you have recently discovered.

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they have been chosen

These are my top picks (in no particular order). Happy Reading!

1. 1. Whitney is at Wit and Wisdom of Whitney
2. 2. Dione at It was the Best of Times
3. 3. Amy at The Ziehl Family
4. 4. Sasha at Love Birds
5. 5. Kira at Kira, Blake, and Jackson
6. 6. Dani at Dani Loves Kevin
7. 7. Andrea at Garcia Lovin'
8. 8. Annie at Macias Family
9. 9. Trista at Jesse, Trista, Jaiden, Graysen
10. 10. Dana at Always Changing

My Sweet Crazy Boys

At times I struggle with the day to day grime of being a mom; the endless cleaning, diapering, late nights, and early mornings. Sometimes I even take it for granted, and then I hear about parents who have lost a child, children who have lost a parent, and mothers who have lost their husband and partner through it all.

It makes me so thankful for each and every day spent with my little ones. Oh, how I love and adore them.

I love Landon even when he's asking me to read the same four books every night and nap time. We have at least 30 books, but every time it's those same four, Caillou Loses Teddy, Elmer's Colors, The Tallest Tree, and Yummy Yucky. I have and can "read" each book word for word without even looking at the pages.

If Landon's food is too hot, I'll have him blow on it to cool it down faster. Last week, as we were walking to the car outside, Landon said, "Too hot!", and started blowing at the air as hard as could.

He also joined us at a baby shower and asked, "Mommy, baby take a bath?"

At 2 years and 2 months, he knew all of his letters (capital), and can now tell you what sounds they make.

He drives me crazy with his stubborn independence, but he surprises me everyday with his

intelligence and wit. Mostly, he just makes me laugh.

Harper, my sweet, Harper. He is so mellow and cuddly. Harper takes so much abuse from the older kids and is still such a champ. Days after turning 10 months, he took his first steps, and the last few days he's been trying non-stop to walk. He wants so much to be like the older kids. He's getting better and better, taking five steps at a time before plunging to the ground. And, then he just gets back up.

He cracks me up because if I put Landon in timeout, Harper cries! He doesn't like to see anyone upset, even if Landon's in timeout for hurting him. I can tell already he has a heart of gold.

I'm thankful the Lord trusts me enough to care for these handsome, rambunctious, sweet, crazy boys. I hope I'm doing a good job.

Harper's Baby Blessing

At ten months, my dad could finally make it out for Harper's baby blessing. Oh, I love my chunky boy so much. He didn't make a single peep. He just sat up there looking cute and content.

Anthony performed the blessing beautifully, that Harper David may be kind-hearted, humble, charitable, excelling in the gospel, serving a full-time mission, marrying in the temple, and treating others, especially women, with respect.

I'm so grateful to be Harper's mother. He has such a gentle, loving spirit. I could feel how special he was from the time I was pregnant with him. He always just felt so wise to me.

My dad, Dean Lambert, and Sheldon Browning also helped perform the blessing. We are blessed to have many wonderful priesthood holders in our life. My boys have great examples to look up to, and I couldn't be more thankful.

Kali's Apple Chicken Walnut Salad

photo by Kali Matthews

Wendy's has a new line of salads, and my absolute fav is the Apple Pecan Chicken. They are a little pricey though, so I came up with my own version. I love it because it's easy, delicious, healthy, and features like four different food groups.

Behold . . .

the most amazing salad ever!

Grilled Chicken with herbs

Half Season Mix lettuce

Half American Blend lettuce

1/4 chopped apple

Dried cranberries (craisins!)

Chopped Walnuts

Blue Cheese Crumbles (if you don't like blue cheese you can use another kind, but I personally feel the blue cheese crumbles take the salad to the top).

and Light Raspberry Walnut Vinegarette

Oh, so good.