Utah

I must admit our trip to Utah went way too quickly. We only had a few short days to visit as many people as we could. It's so hard to fit everthing in and we were sad that we missed so many of our great friends. We wish there was a way to just see everyone! Benton had his first experience being really cold. When we arrived in SLC I could tell that it cold. I put on some warm clothes and attempted to put on his warm shoes. He freaked! All he wanted was to wear his yellow crocs and no coat. My brother arrived and I just told him to wait outside and I could make it out with the luggage. I figured Benton would be fine walking. About 30 seconds out the door he stops in the middle of the first street (i'm seeing buses approaching) and starts crying and saying "I cold mommy!" I can't do much as I'm carrying a bag and dragging a suitcase and his car seat. We luckily make it across the street okay. He still wants nothing to do with his coat but will actually wear his converse thanks to his daddy that has the same ones.

Lunch with Grandma Joan, Sue, Kirk and Alex Ferguson, Annie Wiseman and Brynne and Katie. It was a yummy lunch downtown. It was great to catch up and especially see Annie's litte guy Max!

We then headed to visit our friends Drew and Erika and meet their new little baby girl Lenna. She is so darling! Dan had a quick mix with Drew and his brothers and talked mostly of being Dad's and poopy diapers. I had to laugh at one point at their conversation. My how they have changed from 5 years ago. I was great to see them!

We stayed a couple nights at Dan's uncle Brian's house. We really look forward to staying with them and seeing their family. They have 4 girls and Benton was in love with them! After they got home from church, they called over to a neighbor who had a snow suit just Benton's size. He was out shoveling at first in jeans and his crocs (no socks) and was so cold. He cried at first getting the gear on but I think he liked it once he realized that it kept him warm. They shoveled snow and then went sledding.

On our way up to Boise we made one quick stop to see Shalee and Bronx. He is a solid little guy just like Benton. We missed seeing Chet who was in NY on business but so happy we could finally meet this little guy! After we left their house we made the 5 hour treck to Boise. If you look closely you'll see our little 11 week old neice in the picture. We had two little kids on the drive up to Boise and they were both angels! We watched Emme for a couple nights while Brynne started back at work (she works nights as a nurse). I keep telling myself that this whole 2 kids thing is going to be sooo easy :)

We're Here!

We are in Florida and Benton is absolutely in heaven.

The long flight (15 hours) went really well. He slept about half the time and then we played the rest. The second flight (2.5 hours) was when I almost had an emotional breakdown. Thankfully he fell asleep for the last hour and I was able to get some rest as well. I was so happy to see my parents who had left North Carolina at 2:30 AM to make it to the airport. We were all tired and we're asleep before 8PM. We tried so hard to keep Benton awake and he fell asleep at about 7PM in my mom's arms. He was up at 2AM crying for Daddy and then every hour after that asking for someone in my family. He really wanted Ahma (my mom). I think by now we have officially recovered and are enjoying every minute!

My parents house is perfect for little boys. They have toy drawers in just about every room in the house, a train table and tons of balls and toys outside. He has free roam of the house and its been nice to let him run around. He loves to go outside and feed the fish and the ducks. Uncle Ner has been so much fun.

Other wonderful news I have completely neglected to mention is that we are having a baby GIRL!!!! Yes, bring on the pink! This really deserves its own post and a big announcement but its been a couple weeks now since I've found out and so many other things have happened since then. I was completely expecting another boy, but am so excited for her to come join our family. I forget that I am out of touch with so many of you and blogs are our way of communicating and celebrating with each other. We are so grateful for this little blessing in our lives!

More posts to come of Thankgiving (when I get those pictures) and the fun we are having here in the states!

The Fall

This little boy took quite the tumble a few days ago. He's a tough little cookie and his daddy is proud of his first (of many) black eye. He was following the big kids on a ledge about 4 ft. off the ground and slipped and fell off. He looked like he was going to land right on his face but he somehow caught his fall and managed to only hit his arm...and not a scratch there to prove it. I guess he scraped and hit his face on the ledge on the way down. He'll mention his owie every once in a while but he is one tough kid! He seriously thinks he is one of the big kids. I feel like he is growing up!

it was a little too quiet...

for a little too long. PineSol all over the floor 2 days ago, yesterday it was fabric softener and today...the new box of frosted flakes...and yes, the real american frosted flakes, not frosties. He isn't 2 yet and he's into everything.

His other latest is taking off all his clothes including his diaper and saying that he needs to go pee pee. He did do one drop in the toilet today and was so proud. I was pretty proud too.

Happy Halloween!

We had such a fun halloween weekend! Dan had the whole time off and we spent some quality family time together.

He was a little timid at first and wanted to hold Dan's hand. It didn't take long for him to see all the big kids running and he was off. We had to run after him to find him mixed in with all the other kids wearing black.

His best friend Ella was the cutest little witch and it was so fun to watch them go up to the doors together. I was amazed at how many homes actually did decorate and were passing out candy. It's pretty hit or miss here as its not an actual holiday. Some people would have their lights on and we would knock and they would have about 20 kids at their door and had no idea what was going on.

Happy Halloween! Now onto more holidays. I love this time of year.

It went like this...

It was naptime and Benton wanted daddy to come to sleep with him. After countless rounds of I am A Child of God and then Benton singing back to Dan there was still quite a bit of chatter coming from his room. I took my turn as well to try to get him to go to sleep. (it's usually really easy). He finally climbed out of bed and we figured he wasn't going to take a nap...dang! The conversation then went like this.

B: My car, my bike, my choo choo, my pumpkin
Me: Your pumpkin Benton...do you think it wants to go take a little rest.
B: My pumpkin ni night.
Me: okay lets go lay down with your pumpkin
B: My blanky, pumpkin blanky
Me: Does pumpkin need a blanky too?
B: Yes
Me: Okay, lets wrap pumpkin up in a blanket and so he can snuggle too.

Not even 2 minutes later both Benton and Pumpkin were happily snoozing together in bed and I got to clean and get organized with Dan's help for the next two hours.

Thanks Pumpkin! You saved the day!

Finally an update!

I promise there is a good excuse for the delay in posting this last month! Dan's been working non stop, I've been chasing around a very busy toddler, we've moved and I've been trying to keep up with the all day "morning sickness" with baby number 2 due in April. Someday my house will be unpacked, uncluttered and maybe even decorated. For now we're taking things one day at a time!

Benton is in love with trains, cars, bikes, airplanes, motorcycles and pretty much anything that moved and he can make a sound with. We constantly hear the choo choo's, and vroom vroom's coming from different parts of the house. I was on the computer and he found that his train can stick onto the desk.

He's like most little kids and loves to wear our shoes. A few days ago he had to walk all the way to our car in a pair of my shoes.

Benton was right in on the action as we were putting beds together when we moved into this new place. He was a great little helper for the most part but was a little sad that he didn't get to use the power tools.