Happy Birthday Love

Happy Birthday. I love you.

Good Times

This weekend was the best!! We had two extra tickets to the Utah vs. Notre Dame game and decided to give our good friends, the Mickelsens, a call to see if they wanted to come. It's a long drive from Rochester (about 8 hours) so I didn't think they would really come, but they did!!! I am soooo happy that they came. It was great hanging out with them and having some of our best friends to hang out with. Bryan and Cody grew up together, were roommates at Snow College, and went to the same medical school. Miquelle and I were roomies in college and have been friends ever since! It's always fun to get together.

You'll notice that we are wearing red at the game. It was wet and the ponchos were free, so we decided that it was okay since it was an 'ox in the myer' situation! I'm a Utah grad so I have a nice excuse! :) We decided that there was sort of an inner satisfaction sitting amongst the Ute fans and watching their team lose. We just can't cheer for them. I realized that Bryan has officially brainwashed me!

Sadly, this is the only some what decent picture I got of myself and Miquelle. Their was either a kid's head in the way or Cody in the background being goofy! Sorry Miquelle.


Bennett and Jackson are going to be best buds when they are a little older.

These girls has so much fun together! Look at the huge grins on their faces. I later found out that they tried to ride the crib mattresses down the stairs with the babysitter! A little mischievious, don't you think?!

(Addi, Chloe, Niah, and Macie)

It was hard saying goodbye. I wish you could come back Mickelsens!! It was so much fun having you here and thanks for coming on a whim. I'm glad you spent 18 hours in the car for us!

Growing Boy

My little man had his fifteen month check-up today. (I know, he's closer to sixteen months now!) He weighed in at 22 lbs and is in the 25th% on height and weight. He is perfectly healthy! I am so greateful for that. Bennett really is the sweetest, happiest, cutest boy ever. I am so proud to be his momma. Here are a few things about Bennett at this fun age.

- He is always happy. Seriously. He doesn't cry unless he gets hurt.

- He has eight teeth with two more coming.

- He has the walking thing down. He tries to run but just trips on his feet and falls down.

- He LOVES mom. He follows me around like a little puppy dog and if I even put my coat on like I'm leaving he clings to my leg or won't let me put him down.

- He really likes dinosaurs lately. I bought a book called Dinosaurs Love Underpants and it's the only book that he will sit and listen to. He also has dino jammies and a figurine and he roars whenever he sees them.

- He is a great eater. Some of his favorite foods are cucumbers, goldfish crackers, and German pancakes.

- He can say uh-oh, dada, and sometimes momma. He makes the sounds of a monkey, tiger, puppy, elephant, and a couple other animals.

- He loves his sisters. He loves to play with them and do what they are doing.

- He's a good sleeper. He loves his bed. If we try to get him out before he is ready he moves to the far corner of the crib and grunts at us and shakes his head 'no'.

- He loves music and is a very good singer. He likes to lead the music in church!

- He is really good at followig directions. He can put toys away, put things in the garbage, and get his shoes, among other things.

Bennett is turning into a little boy! I can't believe it. The time has gone too fast. I want it to stop. This morning I woke up to fire truck sirens outside and then I heard Bennett in his crib mimicking the siren. It was so cute! He is always smiling and doing cute things. I am constantly staring at him and admiring his darling face- dimples, blue, blue eyes, and his very blonde hair.

I love you Benny! Please stop growing so quickly.

Not So Happy Halloween

Our Halloween week was rough. Chloe came down sick and was throwing up and complaining of a belly ache for three days. She didn't sleep for four nights straight. This was towards the middle of the week, so by the time our Halloween parties started we were all exhausted and a little grumpy. We had a party with our ward. I am on the activites committee so I knew what was going to go on at the party. I got my kids all pumped up for the games, hayride, prizes, food, and of course, a trunk-or-treat. They were so excited! Bryan started his night float that night so he had to leave early to go to work. My kids are going through a weird separation anxiety phase right now- mostly Niah- (isn't she too old for that?!) so they would not leave my side to go with their friends and play games and participate in all the fun things I had told them about. (Chloe probably would have gone no problem, but Niah's fits made her nervous, I think.) Keep in mind that it's pretty cold too because the party was outdoors. We have big coats on, blankets, etc. so my hands were FULL. Here I am trying to chase a monkey, but every time I would wander off to get him the girls would get out of line and start to cry and follow me. If I held the little monkey he would squirm and get mad because he did not want to be held. As I'm typing this it doesn't sound that bad, but it really was stressful, chaotic and really not fun! This went on all night. Finally, the trunk-or-treat came and they did a little better, but would not leave my side. Bennett had a lot of fun getting candy and would not let go of his candy. I'll spare you the rest of the details, but all in all I didn't get to talk to a single person at the party and my kids were big grumps all night. I was glad to get cleaned up and out of there. I thought the party was a success though! I think the ward members had fun.

Sadly, these are the only pictures I got of the kids in their costumes. Where's Chloe you ask? She was being stubborn and would not get in the picture. So, I have no decent picture of Chloe in her cute hippie costume. :( Here's my cute little monkey. He loved his costume and when people came up and said, "Oh, what a cute monkey," he would answer with a monkey sound. It really was adorable.

Niah was the cutest pirate I have ever seen! Arrrgggh!


I kind of gave up trying to get the kids excited about Halloween day. I down played it and as the day went on, I felt bad that they couldn't go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood- because it was Sunday. South Bend sets hours for trick-or-treating and they set it for Sunday night. Boo. I thought I should have made more of an effort to find somewhere to take them Saturday night. Anyway, the kids saw people out getting candy and wanted to give candy to the trick-or-treaters. We were all out of candy from the ward party so we had the idea to clean out their buckets and get rid of all the candy they didn't want. It worked out nicely! There were not many people that came down our circle, but Niah didn't let that stop her. She got a whistle and stood in the circle blowing the whistle and yelling, "Candy, we have candy!" If she saw someone at the top of the circle she would start yelling and try to get them to come down to our house. It was the funniest thing ever! I was laughing so hard.



Chloe and Bennett thought she was a little crazy! Oh, look- a picture of Chloe in her costume. She decided to just throw it on over her clothes so she could give candy away.

She's a cute hippie. Or as she says, "I'm a whoopie!" She didn't even wear the earrings that started the whole hippie idea. Oh well.

In the end, I think our Halloween turned out alright. The kids had more fun giving the candy away and weren't sad at all that we didn't go out trick-or-treating. It was truly entertaining to watch Niah yell down the street to passersby! The kids buckets are still full of candy from the ward party, so they have had their fair share of it- and so have I!

Wow. I didn't realize how long that post turned out to be. If you are still reading, I'm impressed.

I Just Blew In From The Windy City

The windy city if mighty purdy. (Click on the link to see a scene from one of my all-time favorite movies!)

We went to Chicago for the weekend. I had never been to Chicago before. I love this city. It's not as intimidating as NYC and it seems safe and clean. We had a great hotel in a perfect location. Here's Benny watching all the cars and firetrucks drive by from our hotel window. He loved all the cars.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the Navy Pier. It was a gorgeous day and we couldn't have asked for better weather. The kids had a blast on the ferris wheel and the carousel. Daddy and Chloe 'petting' the lion, or dog man- whatever that is!

This is the tunnel that went under the street to the pier. The kids were troopers and walked a long way.

There's a greenhouse at the pier and the kids were fascinated by the jumping water.

After the pier we walked to the American Girls Doll store. The girls were in heaven, but due to a few tears, okay many tears and a huge fit, because Niah couldn't get a doll we had to end the shopping trip. What normal person can afford one of those dolls?! I think it's a joke that they are so expensive, but that's a different post. :)

A recent convert family from our ward went through the temple Friday and got sealed on Saturday. Bryan went to the sealing while the kids and I played on the temple grounds. Our original plan was to go to the zoo while Bryan was in the temple. But after realizing that it would take an hour to get back to the zoo with all the traffic we stayed at the temple. The kids were bummed at first and there were a few tears shed, but before we left the temple Niah said to me, "Mom, forget the zoo. I had way funner here." It was so nice to be at the temple and I think the kids could feel the spirit that was there. We had a great time.

Look at Niah's happy face. This is going on my list of favorite pictures.

Bennett loved exploring and roaming on the temple grounds. He is getting so busy these days.

The girls decided to have a race down the sidewalk. They were running really fast....

Tie goes to the winner...

Then the girls have a little collision and Chloe pays for it by falling face down on the cement. She has a huge bruise/scrape on her head. I've never heard such a loud 'thump' on cement before. OUCH!

Niah is such a good big sister. She was taking care of Bennett while I consoled Chloe. Benny loves Niah- as long as she doesn't try to pick him up!

We had a fun weekend and I am looking forward to going back to Chicago again. Maybe a girls trip?!

Family

I love that we live within driving distance to family. We spent the weekend at my sister's house in Ohio. We took turns taking each other's family pictures. Tam did a great job with ours. I love how they turned out. The sun was so pretty on Sunday.

Here are a few that I love...

You can go here to read my sister's blog. I think it's inspiring!

Listen

I love this message. It's a good reminder for me.