Easter

Easter is such a wonderful holiday; we get to celebrate cute little bunnies, the Spring, hope, and most importantly the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

The video below is a beautiful depiction of the last week of Jesus' life on earth - something we all should try and ponder over today, between our mornings of Easter basket surprises, our evenings of delicious dinners and all that candy, candy, candy.

I want to publicly state here that I know Jesus lives. 

I know that Jesus is the Son of God who came to earth to be an example for all mankind. He spent His mortal life teaching and bringing men to the truth and to happiness. He performed miracles, taught parables, comforted those in need of comfort, loved his enemies, and though sinless He was baptized. He also chose to suffer for all our sins. He died so that we can repent when we make mistakes and one day return to live with Him again.

I also know that Jesus knows me and loves me. He has felt the pain of all my sins and therefore, I know I can turn to Him in my times of need. I have felt His love and guidance countless times throughout my life. I am eternally grateful for this amazing and selfless sacrifice Jesus made.

Hallelujah!

*I love music and I often feel closest to my Savior when listening to music about Him. All the links on this page are to music about Him that I love. 

Geneva

This post is all about Geneva. Oh, you don't know who she is? Well you should. She is my Gramme and I am kind of obsessed with her. 

Yeah I know, everyone loves their grandma and thinks that their grandma is the bee's knees. Well, bad news - my Gramme is the best. She is the exactly the type of woman I strive to be: hard working, brave, loving, loyal, generous, happy, and gorgeous. The more you know about Gramme the more amazed you will be. I am so excited to share her story with everyone.

First of all, can we just talk about all the American history she has lived through? It makes me totes jealous. She was born in the roaring 20's, survived well during the Great Depression thanks to their family farm, lived in worry while her brother served as a bomber pilot in World War II, got married and had her babies during the baby boom, supported the civil rights movement, thought the rock n' roll of the 60s was "different," and remembers she was in Hirsch's Department store when JFK was shot. I can also guarentee you that she was up on the latest fashions the whole time.

Okay, so here's her story:

Alice Geneva Hagee was born January 27, 1924 in Southwestern Iowa, near Lenox (if anyone here happens to be familiar with Iowa...). Her family lived on a farm where they raised cattle, hogs, horses, and chicken. Her Father was a successful corn farmer; he farmed about 400 acres of corn every year - so as you can imagine, she really likes good corn. Geneva has an older brother Dale, and two younger brothers Bob and Ray. She's crazy about them, and they are crazy about her. It's pretty cute.

Dale, Gramme and Bob - I love how Bob is holding her shoe. So adorbs. 

Gramme attended Nevinville High School where she was, get this, one of the five students in her graduating class (can you even calculate the Top 10% of that??). After high school she attended Creston Junior college in Creston Iowa, which was only about 25 miles away from her parent's home. She went to college during World War II and at that time the country was desperate for teachers, so Geneva studied teaching. Once she completed the program she became a 5th grade teacher, and while she was teaching she met Joy.

Joy Eldon Hagee grew up in Missouri (pronounced "Missour-ah" if you've lived there long enough) where his Father was a Preacher. He has three sisters, two are older and one younger (exactly the same as my siblings). As a little boy he suffered from rheumatic fever and when he recovered his heart had been damaged. However, Doctors estimated he would be able to live a pretty normal life, but warned that at around age 39/40 it might get difficult. When World War II broke out and men were enlisting Joy wanted to join as well. However, due to his heart condition he was never able to pass the physical exams, which was extremely devastating for him. Joy then decided to attend Northwest Missouri State University and graduated with his bachelors degree, he later studied mortuary science in St. Louis.

While Geneva and Joy were in college, Joy's Father moved his family to Lenox to begin preaching at the local Christian church. This, as you might guess, just happened to be the church that Geneva's entire family attended. Joy was often visiting and quickly he and his family became friends with Gramme's family and extended family. Gramme first met Joy at her Aunt Ruth's house when she back in town visiting. They began dating not long after but then Joy and his family moved back to Missouri. Over the course of a year, Geneva and Joy traveled between Missouri and Iowa to visit one another before they were engaged. They were married October 27, 1946 in her family's church in Lenox. Joy's Father and Uncle performed the marriage ceremony and after they had a small reception in the church basement. They had a short honeymoon in South Missouri (of course) and Gramme can still remember how even though it was late October it was "sun-shiney and beautiful."

Joy and Geneva - I am for reals obsessed with this picture. I mean, have you ever seen anything with this much 1950's perfection? And you can feel their happiness just looking at their smiles.

After Joy graduated college he began selling insurance and opened an insurance agency in St. Joseph, Missouri. After they were married Gramme moved down to St. Joseph to start their lives together. While Joy worked at "Hagee Insurance Agency" Geneva worked at Western Tablet Company until they started their family. In 1953 they welcomed Annis Joy and then in 1956 they had little William "Billy" Harlow, my Dad.

The Hagee Family - This picture is golden. I'm dying. 

Unfortunately, Joy's childhood Doctors had been correct; Joy began having difficulty with his heart exactly when they predicted. His heart had been enlarged and had been having to work much harder than normal for several years. My Dad has explained to me that his heart almost always felt like it was racing and Joy would often have to go to the hospital for oxygen. Due to these problems, Joy passed away in February of 1962. Gramme has never remarried and recently when I was on the phone with her she told me, "I'm still very much in love with Joy and always will be."

After Joy passed, Geneva took over the Insurance Company to support their family. They stayed in St. Joseph and my Dad and his sister Annis lived there until they left for college. (Side note - Harlow met this sassy girl named Jennifer Cox in St. Joe while they were in high school and pretty much that's where my story starts...) When Annis was in high school she was introduced to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and was instantly interested. Soon the missionaries were in their home teaching Geneva, Annis and Harlow about their church and its teachings. When the gospel of eternal families was introduced it immediately rang true to them and soon they were all baptized into the church. Eventually the time came when Annis left for Harvard and Harlow to the University of Missouri, but Geneva stayed in St. Jospeh and currently lives there today (in the same house, I might add - with fantastic sparkly-popcorn ceilings).

Throughout Gramme's life the thing that stands out the most to me is the value she places on family. She has made sure to keep in close contact with all her family members and with Joy's. One of her longest and best friends is Joy's younger sister Bonnie. She might not remember what she had for lunch last Tuesday, but she can tell you exactly where her children, her cousins, her siblings, her nieces and nephews, and her grandchildren are living and what they are doing. Her favorite thing to do is talk about her children, their spouses, her grandchildren and her super-fantastic-amazing great-grandson. Throughout my life she has taught me so many things and mostly by her wonderful example. See below:

Top Ten Things I've Learned from Geneva the Diva

10. Great mashed potatoes take a lot of salt, butter, a splash of milk and love. This lady's mashed potatoes are divine and I'd pick them over any other mashed potato anywhere. No joke.

9. Oprah can do no wrong. Obviously. Gramme is a big Oprah fan and she's passed it down to me. I've watched several Oprah episodes with my Gramme and she always has the latest O Magazine waiting on her coffee table for me to flip through. 

8. A quick drive-thru to get a "cold pop" can solve almost any problem. It has solved heated arguments in the Hagee household, cured lots of headaches, and sometimes just gives you 10 minutes of peace. 

7. Animals need as much love as humans... even cats. Well in Gramme's case, especially cats. One of my favorite stories to tell about Geneva is how during the winter she puts a heated blanket in a box in her backyard to make sure all the little kitties can stay warm. Precious.

6. You can never have too many clothes. Geneva the Diva loves her clothes - and I love that about her. She lives in a three bedroom home and every single closet is stuffed full of clothes (not to mention the extra closets in her basement). She is always down for a trip to the mall, and you can bet your bottom dollar she always looks fabulous.

5. There is no age limit when it comes to getting your hair done or getting manicures. Gramme is truly a believer in looking good/feeling good mentality, but lesbehonest, there is just really no better feeling than having fresh highlights and shiny new gel nails. 

4. Celebrate everything. Clearly this is something I practice and I hope to pass along to my children. I mean, why wouldn't you? Not celebrating = boring, celebrating = FUN. No brainer. Anywee, Gramme has always made birthdays and holidays special for us. On top of that, it felt like every time we were together she was celebrating just that. When we were kids she made sure to bring Lauren and I new Barbies every time she visited. Even now, her home is always stocked with Double Stuffed Oreos and Cheetoh Puffs just for us sibs and cousins to snack on.

3. Education, education, education. I know this is a lesson that Gramme's parents taught her and she passed it down to her children. Although Gramme grew up on a corn farm in Iowa she knew that college was her goal. As a single parent she instilled the value of education in her children (obvs since Annis went to Harvard) and my Dad (and Mom) have always placed a high value on education. You can never learn too much.

2. Work hard and never complain. This lady has obviously worked hard - she grew up on a farm, graduated high school, completed a two-year collegiate teaching program, worked as a 5th grade teacher for three years, worked as a newly wed, took over an entire insurance agency when her husband passed away and raised two children. Plus I can honestly say that I have never heard Gramme complain once in my entire life. Never. Not even about the weather. She's extremely gracious and kind; something that everyone notices.

1. Do anything and everything for family. It would be impossible to list everything Gramme has done for her family members. But I can guarantee you that if we were to make a list it would be long enough to wrap around the globe, probably twice. She's completely selfless and wonderful.

So, Gramme's story is pretty much awesome. If you're ever in St. Joseph, MO you need to stop by her house for realz. Also you need to play a few rounds at Cool Crest and play dress up at the Pony Express Museum. But actually, for the past month Gramme has been staying with my parents in Texas. She's perfectly healthy and happy but February is just a hard month, especially in Missouri with all the snow. When we learned that Gramme was going to be staying with my parents, Garrett offered to fly Jack and I to visit (plus this was early Feb. so Jack was still free - those were the days! Sad face.) Let me just say, it was fantastic. Gramme is such a joy to be around and I loved watching her and Jack together. 

Love you always Miss Geneva the Diva.

Keepin' It Real

Okay peeps, I want to have a blog that really illustrates my life - not just the good stuff. Although if I'm "keepin' it real" here, that stuff is way more fun to blog about. But I've been inspired by my friends lately - read here and here, oh and read this too - so I am going to keep the trend going. While I love blogging about parties, vacations and guilty pleasures; that's (unfortunately) not my entire life. Don't get me wrong here, there are so many things in my life make me extremely happy but there are also some things that are boring and hard and even ugly; but they're my reality.

Okay so here's me being real. Don't judge.

I have to first admit that my blog makes my life look much more exciting than it is; most days in the Blanchard home are kinda boring. While I do make sure that Jack and I "get out" everyday, it is usually just to the park, the grocery store or a quick drive through Sonic. Cherry limeades, please! Typically our days consist of cleaning, coloring, playing trains, playing kitchen, Disney movies, running around outside and then more cleaning. Usually when I talk to my sister Lauren, who has much more going on in her life than me, I just start off by saying "Literally nothing new is happening in my life, tell me everything about yours."

Okay I also don't blog about how I kind of love watching television.. and how I probably watch too much of it. Well, okay I know I watch too much of it. Therefore, I know too much about the Kardashians, The Real Housewives, and I've seen literally every single episode of Chopped. I knew Gar was for me when he wanted to sit and watch all 10 seasons of Friends with me and my roommates.  Oh and then after our honeymoon we went to Best Buy and bought ourselves the complete series of Friends as a wedding present to ourselves. Best decision ever. Obviously I have other hobbies - one being this blog - but I just love me some television and I don't see it changing.

Have you ever noticed how I have literally never blogged about cooking? Well there are several reasons for this - I don't cook very cool/creative dishes, I think taking pictures of food is sups boring, and because I really don't cook as often as I should. So here it is, we go out to eat too often - you can find us at Cafe Rio, Noodles and Company and Chickfila at least once a week. I do enjoy cooking and I can follow recipes, but I fall behind on the planning. I have trouble planning out the week's meals and therefore I don't have all the ingredients I need to make many dishes. Of course we always have the ingredients for sandwiches, waffles, quesadillas and pasta but those get totes boring. I grew up in a house where we ate dinner together almost every night and a majority of the time we ate at home what my Mom cooked and I loved it. Now that Jack is getting bigger (and more difficult in public) we are going to make a much bigger effort to have dinner at home. We can do it!

Along with so many other women, I have not lost the weight I put on post-marriage and pregnancy. I actually didn't gain that much weight during my pregnancy (well that's probably relative...), but I am currently at my heaviest and it's something I am forced to think about daily - well actually every time I look in a mirror. My goal weight, which is what I weighed in high-school, is now 40 (AH!!) pounds away. I've gone back and forth with trying to diet, but I am going to be honest, I SUCK AT DIETING. Since I don't cook at home every night I am often tempted with not-so-healthy restaurant options. Also I loooove me some dessert; which, sounds really good right now. Who wants to go get a DQ Blizzard? They're buy one, get one for 99 cents this mon -- see what I  mean! Dessert is one of my biggest down falls. And chicken nuggets. And french fries. And Dr. Pepper. Man, dieting sucks.

Alright well this is the last thing, and it's going to be the most difficult for me to blog about. Our little Jack has a speech delay and was recently diagnosed with having Developmental Speech Apraxia. Let me start by saying we are very grateful that Jack is healthy and happy, but it is extremely difficult as a parent to know that your child is not developing normally. When Jack was about 15 months old I began noticing that his expressive (vocal) language was behind the other kids his age. At his 18 month check-up I expressed my concerns with his pediatrician and he recommended speech therapy. When Jack began therapy he made a few sounds, but mostly used pointing and grunting to communicate. Jack has now been working with a therapist since October and while there has been progress it will be a long and slow process. Jack is working hard at learning to talk and you can tell that he has to concentrate on what mouth shape to make, if the sound should be in the front or back of his throat, where his tongue should be, etc. to be able to make the sounds he wants. Currently, Jack's vocabulary consists of about 10 words and he has five more words that he can sign. We have found that practice seems to help Jack the most so we are constantly modeling words for him and cheering him on as he tries his best. Jack's speech delay has been coupled with some behavior problems since he is often unable to communicate with us. While this is something difficult for all of us, it has taught Garrett and I a lot about patience. Jack has been given an excellent therapist and we are very confident that Jack will talk eventually.

Alright, well there was me "keepin it real" with ya'll. I was actually going to title this blogpost "lesbehonest" because it's probably one of my favorite sayings - thanks to Will & Grace and Pitch Perfect (Pretty much two of my favorite things to watch. I mean seriously though, without them I wouldn't have the term "bagina" or "a-ca-scuse me?" And without those, I'd probs be lost). Anywee, I didn't want to title the post that because I didn't want peeps thinking I was confessing something else...

Well it didn't feel like a complete blog post without a few pictures of Jack Boy...

That Time When Jack Turned 2

Slap me in the face and call me Shirley - Jack is two! And, (insert annoying high pitched voice here) say whaaaaaaa? He has been for over a week now!? Man, time sure flies... especially when you aren't blogging.

Okay, I'll be honest here; the one year and 364 day-old Jack isn't that much different than the two year-old Jack. Well except for the not being able to fly for free thing (which I'm not quite ready to talk about yet, this is seriously a tragedy in my life). But Jack is as precious as ever and although he is no longer my wittle beautiful bald baby, he is now my happy little gingie toddler and I wouldn't change it.

The fam was totes on top of things and sent Jack's presents a week early. Go them. To keep them away from Jack's claws I piled them on top of the fridge and explained to Jack that he had to wait until it was his birthday. This, as you can imagine, didn't go over well - I'll spare the deets, but Jack's favorite thing to do when he's annoyed is slap the wall. Yeah, I know. Okay well since this was obviously torture for him we decided to open presents first thing on his birthday. He was thrilled. The opening of pressies was going great until about the fourth present - a shiny new cash register from Grandma. Basically nothing else matters when you've got a new cash register. Literally. He could see nothing else. So while Jack sat and swiped his debit card over and over Garrett and I opened the rest of his presents.

Jack is the only one in the family who looks good enough in the morning to be in pictures.

Next was Jack's birthday party, which was da bomb (if I do say so myself...). We had it at our favorite place with our favorite people. Despite all the winter germs, almost all of Jack's buddies were able to come party with us. Plus Aunt Hannah, Uncle Billy and their roomies came in between their classes - which was really fantastic of them. 

After a good hour (okay, it was a great hour) of running, jumping, playing and laughing we went back to the party room to par-tay some more. We quickly downed some pizza-pizza and then had funfetti cupcakes (because why would you ever make any other kind??).

The party room - I made the garland and I'm kind of obsessed with it. It was way easy to make but it takes wayyy longer then you think it will.

Jack was so excited to blow out his birthday candle and he got it out on the first try! Luckily, one of the Mom's had her handy video camera and got the whole thing. It is my favorite. Also Jack likes it watch it over and over and over and over and over and over and... you get it, he really likes himself. 

Thanks to everyone who was a part of Jack's birthday - we love you! Jack had a wonderful day that was full of friends, family, love and good food. Basically all the best things in the world. Can't wait until next year!



Oh, and if you missed it - here's that time when he turned one.

Best and Worst of February

Ready for a break from the posts about Jack? Well it's your lucky day because I am doing this again. Get excited. So this month's award shows were The Grammys and The Oscars. I thought they were both pretty entertaining but as per ush way too long. Plus, LL Cool J is kind of annoying... Oh well, I don't really ever have much to do on Sunday nights anyways - but I mean, does anyone?

Anywee, I've picked my favies and no so favies of the red carpet fashions at the shows and added my input - obviously because I'm totally qualified here (not). Let me know what you think! (But seriously, I'm obsessed with people commenting on my blog. It makes me feel totes cool.)

The Grammy Awards

The Best

Taylor Swift

I totes love this toga-esque dress. The color with her complexion looks so good to me. I'm also diggin' the hair-do.

Rihanna

Rihanna is usually not my favorite - I'm not a huge fan of her music or of most of her fashion choices. Too cray-cray. However, I think this dress, plus her hair, and her makeup here are flawless.

Kelly Rowland

First of all, can we talk about how amazing it was to see Destiny's Child at the SuperBowl?! My 4th grade "Say My Name" loving self was in heaven. But I also love this dress! While it's a little revealing, which usually isn't my favorite, I'm kind of obsessed with how the cutouts give her an hourglass shape.

Carrie Underwood

As per usual, Carrie Underwood looks flawless. Harlow would probs pick this has his favorite, but maybe for different reasons. Oh and that $31 million dollar necklace doesn't hurt.

Not Sure

Katy Perry

Oh. Em. Boobs. I think that this dress is so beautiful, especially the color! But the girls are OUT and I don't like it.

Beyonce

I actually really love this outfit, but I don't think it was appropriate enough for the Grammy's. It seems to casual too me - but lesbehonest she's Beyonce so she can really do whatever she wants.

Adele

I love this dress, which some people might not understand. I think it actually looks great on her, it gives her a good waistline. I also think her hair and makeup are fantastic. However, those shoes. Awful.

The Worst

Jennifer Lopez

Ugh, really? Angelina did the leg thing last year at the Oscars and it was weird then. Can we talk about that slit? Like how that's the same place where my bathsuit is cut? Also I hate her hair - it's like Mulan's hair, but worse.

Faith Hill

Wonder why her face looks so stupid? She has adult braces. Which is so weird to me because I have honestly never thought, "You know, Faith Hill would be so beautiful if she just fixed her teeth..." But on top of that, I don't really like her dress either.

Kimbra

Um, this is really weird. I mean I like cotton candy, but I don't ever want to wear a dress that makes me look like it.

The Academy Awards

The Best
Naomi Watts

I'm obsessed with this, seriously. I looooove the dress, especially the cutout, but I also think her hair and makeup are flawless. My favorite look of the night.


Jessica Chastain

This dress is amazing! I love the color and I love the beading, which makes her shape look amazing. Her hair also looks beautiful and her red lips are perfect.

Jennifer Lawrence

First, can we talk about this? I made Garrett rewind it so we could watch it again, and maybe I laughed a little. I would feel bad for her except that she was winning an Oscar and Hugh Jackman ran up to help her - nothing that cool happens to me when I fall. However, I love her look - the drop waist, the full skirt, and the back-necklace. Everything about this is great.

Charlize Theron

Well she always looks amazing, so this was no surprise. She has her hair so short because of a role in an upcoming film, but regardless she looks beautiful. This white dress is stunning and I love the shape it gives her.

Not Sure
Jennifer Hudson

I love me some J-Hud but this dress is not my favorite. I don't hate the dress, but I just don't love it - too scaley. Also her shoes are bothering me, they're not quite the right color.

Nicole Kidman

I would love this look if it didn't have the stupid spiral gold detail at the bottom. I don't know why they bother me so much, they just do. I wish the bottom went into ombre gold, like the top. Oh well, I guess L'Wren Scott would know better than me.

Jennifer Garner

 If there were no ruffles on this dress it would definitely be one of my favorites. Don't agree? Look at this and your mind will change. However, the color is so beautiful that I still kinda like it.

The Worst
Halle Berry

Halle Berry is beautiful but this dress just is not my favorite, not even close. When I look at it if feels like it should have been worn to the Academy Awards in 1985. Am I crazy or does anyone else see it too?

Kristin Steward

Ugh she looks like a hot mess (but lets be real, that's pretty standard for her). I don't like this dress at all.  The top looks like it doesn't even fit correctly, and the bottom looks like it's falling apart, even though I guess it's supposed to? Weird. Um, and I don't think you should be allowed on the red carpet if you aren't even going to fix your hair.

Anne Hathaway

There's really nothing I like about this look, at all (and I'm trying to find something because I like her). The color is awful, the shape is weird, and the necklace looks out of place. Plus, is it just me or are the seams on her bust really drawing attention to the nipular area?