Cousins!

Katherine came to visit from Las Vegas and Will was on cloud 9. They toured several parks, went to the beach, on a hike and shared several memorable meals. We celebrated Kat's 3rd birthday while she was here and Will was very anxious to give kat her very first My Little Pony.

Chocolate! Fine Chocolate!

I thought it would be funny to post a picture of all of Blaise's choc0late bars he got for his birthday. We each had a square of Valrhona Araguani 72% (French chocolate made with beans from Venezuela) today after our lunch and my oh my was it tasty. You can pick up your garden variety Valrhona from Trader Joe's, but the really good Valrhona you have to order from chocosphere.com or head over to France. Blaise, reading over my shoulder, thinks that I should stress that the taste difference between Valrhona or any chocolate you buy at the grocery store is not even in the same ballpark as the single origin French/Italian chocolates. I guess you could equate it to American cheese that is packaged in plastic to Parmesan Reggiano(the real deal).

When we were in France earlier this year we stopped by the Michel Cluizel chocolate shop in Paris (top photo), but they were closed. Blaise was heartbroken, but was thrilled that the grocery stores in Paris carried Valrhona Araguani and others.

Happy Birthday Blaise!!

In honor of Blaise's 37th Birthday, I thought I would list 37 great, original and or extra special things about the best guy I know (that's over 2 years old :) ).

1) Blaise is very PASSIONATE about travel. The picture above is, I believe, on top of the Duomo in Florence, Italy and as you can tell from the smile on his face, he is very excited to be there.

2) Blaise is the BEST dad to Will. I think we established from the beginning, that I would be the "nurturer" and Blaise would be the "fun" parent. Blaise loves to teach Will funny phrases, songs and how to tackle and hit a baseball (still working on that one). But, he also loves to give tons of hugs and kisses and it melts my heart!

3) Blaise keeps himself in excellent physical condition. He works out religiously at least four times a week either running or spinning.

4) Blaise has a great relationship with his mom.

5) Blaise can be a salesman when he wants to. When we were first married, after I found out all the things his mom did for him growing up...cooking, cleaning, administrative assistant stuff etc, I told him how spoiled he was. Blaise responded..."I am more spoiled with you!" He has a way of getting me to do all the things he can't stand. Except cleaning toilets. :)

6) Blaise has an incredible sports memory. Early on in our relationship Blaise was talking to a friend about a Super Bowl from the 90's and he mentioned the score from the game. Shocked that he remembered it, I pulled out the World Almanac and started testing him...he remembered who played who, coaches and scores to games back to the 70's....and he can remember ALL games in the BCS college football championships. Scary.

7) He is very affectionate.

8) He is very successful at Alliant. He has been promoted twice in the last two years and is now Assistant Vice President.

9) Blaise is a quality time person. He loves to spend "time" with me and his family and friends.

10) He loves chocolate. Fine chocolate. Blaise asked for chocolate for his birthday this year and even though that sounds like an easy task, it's not. Most people would think that spending 12.00 for a bar of chocolate (Amedi Toscano Black) is certifiable, and while it is a little coo coo...it is not wasted on Blaise. If you should be so lucky to receive a square from his sacred chocolate drawer, he will tell you where the beans originated, where the bar originates and even how to eat it...there is a proper method.

11) He is a gift person.

12) He takes his church attendance very seriously. No matter where he is, or often, no matter how he feels, Blaise goes to church. We have been to different wards all over the world because as a family, we never miss.

13) He LOVES and I mean LOVES Alabama Football.

14) Blaise has mellowed in his old age. :) When we first married he had 7 tickets in 7 different states on his driving record...3 plus years later he is down to 1.

15) He hates to do yard work.

16) He won't eat ANYTHING with corn syrup in it.

17) He goes through 2 gallons of skim milk a week.

18) He has a peanut butter sandwich almost every morning for breakfast-and a square of chocolate.

19) Blaise appreciates a beautiful view. We went to the Pompadu in Paris ONLY to see the beautiful view at the top and we climbed a VERY sketchy tower in Bologna to see yet another view.

20) He has a very strong testimony.

21) Blaise researches award winning Olive Oils and we always have several on hand.

22) Blaise is very loyal to his friends. He makes every effort to see his three best friends as often as he can and has a BYU forum of over 20 guys that he emails every week.

23) He won't eat anything sweet after 5pm.

24) He cleans toilets. :)

25) He is just as interested as me in cooking and helps me decide what to cook and critiques and compliments when necessary.

26) Blaise is an avid reader. He read over 15 major novels last year and is on a quest to becoming the most well read individual in the house. I'm the English major!!!

27) He doesn't watch TV on Sundays. Not even Football or Golf. Thank goodness for TiVo.

28) Blaise has a great memory for the Book of Mormon. If you open the book to any page and start reading, he can tell you the book and chapter.....and sometimes verse.

29) He has a great relationship with his dad. They talk after every Alabama or Chargers victory and often after Tiger has a great game.

30) He considers himself a "foodie" and researches ratings and reviews on restaurants before trying a new place.

31) He picked me as his wife!!!

32) He trusts my judgement on men's clothing. :)

33) Blaise is a morning person.

34) He loves old movies-spaghetti westerns.

35) He is very competitive in playing games-especially scrabble.

36) He has a great relationship with his sisters.

37) Blaise is very humble. :)


Happy Birthday Blaise!!!

Christmas Southern Style!

We had our second annual Christmas in Alabama with Blaise's family this year and it was even better than last year!!! Will was great on the 5 hour flight, thanks to the mini DVD player and when we touched down on the tarmac at LAX at the end of our week Will said "again"!!! We played tons of games, ate VERY well, spent time seeing the extended Harris family and and thoroughly enjoyed spending Christmas with the Harris'. Will had his own personal Christmas tree with ornaments he could remove and a nativity set he could play with. He opened several really great presents from Grandma Susie, Grandfather James, Auntie April and Auntie Emie. Blaise and I were also very happy with Santa this year!!

Will and Auntie Emie. Will has one of his Alabama shirts on that santa gave him. Roll Tide!! (yes, that is Blaise flossing in the background)

Grandma Susie decided to put Will to work while he was there. ;)

Will with Auntie April playing on the pink "water". Auntie April was very attentive to Will and taught him tons of new songs and even let him take her favorite fish stuffed animal home to California!!!

Will could hardly believe all that Santa got him. After looking through his stocking... that had to be covered with a towel as the contents would not fit in the stocking...he was beside himself with excitement. He loved the big truck that stored all his cars and his new playmat to play cars and trucks on and mom loved all his new clothes...Southern Santa really out did himself!

Happy Birthday Will!!

Will turned 2 on Sunday and we had some friends and family over to celebrate! Mommy made the cake and Will ate about two bites...excuse the dark shadows...lense issues.:)

He loved the candles ( i added a few extra for good measure) but could not believe it was ok to blow them out?

Will didnt want to wear the crown until the next morning and rode around in his plasma car wearing it!