Easter...Spring Break...and Snow?

Ben's First Easter!

He didn't know what to think of the Easter grass but he sure did love the plastic eggs. Houston also enjoyed his basket of dog bones.

The Easter Bunny also brought Ben a toy piano. He loves banging the keys and hearing the noise. Mom and Dad are actually ok hearing the noise too. How can you not be when you see his big smile while he is playing?

Daddy was trying to teach him a song.

Ben really did love the eggs.






He even got to find an egg at the Easter Egg Hunt at Grandmas.


Ben is getting so big. He loves to sit up by himself. He can't get to sitting position without help but once he is there, he is good for a few minutes.

Ben loves being outside so we got a small swingset for him to grow into. We hooked up his baby swing and he has so much fun. Since I am on Spring Break from school right now, we spent some time outside playing. Houston even wanted to play. We then took a walk around the neighborhood and enjoyed being outside. It was so nice. (Dad is jealous and wishes he could have been home for this)

We then woke up this moring to this.



So much for playing outside today. Snow for Spring Break...only in Utah. (Dad is glad that Mom could stay home with a day like this, he had the fun of a 7 am class to get to)

Our Winner is...

I am so upset....Sione was kicked off the Biggest Loser. Clayton and I were cheering for him to win. Instead he was sent home Tuesday night. He is still our favorite and we can't wait for Ron to get sent home. Oh the joys of being addicted to a T.V. show.

Happy 7 months Ben!

Today is Ben's 7 month Birthday. I can't believe how old he is getting. He is growing up so fast.

He is almost always smiling and laughing. Even when he is not feeling good.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It captures his "I know I'm cute" smile.

Ben is getting so big that he sits up in his stroller and loves it. He also loves to chew on everything. Anything he can get his hands on goes into his mouth...even the dog sometimes.

As he is playing on the floor, he sticks his butt in the air and tries to crawl. This is the best picture I could get of it. He moves too quick.

This is usually how we are sitting. Me holding Ben and Houston always close by.

We love Ben so much and are so glad he is ours.

Facebook?

I fnally joined the facebooking community. I have no idea how to use it but I joined. I am amazed at how many friends it has found for me. I don't know how to talk with them but at least they are found for now. So any of you who are on facebook...I will someday learn how to see you there.

Cute picture of Ben!

What can I say...we have a cute baby.

I was sitting at my table doing some school work one day with Ben in his high chair next to me. I was getting bored so I started to play with the camera on my school computer. I would much rather be playing with him than doing homework any day.

Ben is 6 months old!

So this post is about a week late but Ben is now 6 months old!

Time goes by way too fast. We started to feed him rice cereal and he loved it.


However, he also got sick. He has been sick for about a week which is why I haven't posted anything lately. We took him to the doctor yesterday and we are back doing breathing treatments with Ben. He is really congested and wheezing. We don't know if he got sick because everyone around is sick or if it has something to do with starting cereal or changing formula. (We tried to change formula too.) Since we changed so many things at once we need to just start over when he is healthy and try one thing at a time. He already seems to be feeling better, which makes me happy.

So this a lot of this weekend was spent sleeping.

We bought the coolest new thing for him. It is called a BUMBO. It is a seat that helps him sit up. He loves to sit but he can't do it by himself yet. He leans and falls over. With this seat though he is able to sit and play. Houston loves it too because Ben is on the ground and he can play with him more.

Ben loves to grab Houston's hair and pull his tail. Houston is so good and lets him do it.

Such great friends.

What's been going on?

So life at our house has been really hectic this week. I have a huge project due for my math class tonight that I finally finished and Clayton has been busy with school...he has a test this weekend. We had a fun weekend last weekend but I haven't been able to post until today.

Ben loves sitting up now so we thought we would get out his highchair and see how he liked it. He loves sitting in it and playing with his toys. I think he likes being up closer to us as well. He is also a drool machine lately (hence the wet shirt).





We also took advantage of the nice weather and took a 3 mile walk. It was so nice to be outside. We wore Houston out though. He came home and crashed on the chair.



We got our exercise bike set up last week and it has helped us get some exercise in when time is short and we can't got to the gym.



Along with our health kick lately, we decided to try out our new Bosh mixer we got for Christmas from my parents and make some whole wheat pizza dough. It was actually really easy. And it tasted really good. I am so proud of how domestic I am becoming. I actually made sugar cookies for a primary activity a few weeks ago too. After a few batches, they turned out great. My next goal is to make bread.

Benjamin is growing up!

I can't believe how big Ben is getting. He is such a happy baby. He loves to chew on anything (no teeth yet) and has found his thumb. He is almost always smiling and his laugh is so much fun to hear. We recorded his laugh on one of those recordable cards for my brother Matt who is on a mission. The only problem is that if you can't see his face you don't know if he is laughing or crying.

We sure do love him!!!

Valentine's Day Weekend

We had a great Valentine's Day weekend. A busy one but a great one. It started when I was called down to the office Thursday afternoon. Clayton had sent me flowers. He is so sweet. He even had picked my favorite kind... Gerber Daisies. I have the greatest husband.




Friday night we went out to dinner to the Olive Garden where we of course ate too much. I love their frozen raspberry lemonade.

Then Saturday, I got another Valentine gift. The new Taylor Swift Cd. I love Taylor Swift and have been wanting this CD since it came out. I was so happy. That is seriously all I have listened to in my car for the past few days.

Saturday afternoon, my brother's girlfriend Liz was baptized. It was so wonderful to see her make that important covenant with Heavenly Father. She was confirmed the next day at church and we went up to that as well.

Monday we celebrated my brother's birthday. We all went to dinner at Bonsai (it is a Japanese steakhouse that cooks your food on a big grill in front of you). It was very yummy and very fun. My 2 1/2 year old nephew came with us and it was so cute watching him react to the chef. He loved watching him cook.

That was our busy weekend. We spent a lot of time with family and we had a great time. We hope you all had a great Valentine's Day.

Houston's Birthday

We had a great little family birthday party for Houston last night complete with birthday cake (Clayton even tried it).



He didn't know what to do with the candle...



But he sure did like the cake.




Houston is the greatest dog. He is truely a part of our family. My mom even called to sing happy birthday to him.

WE LOVE YOU HOUSTON!

Happy Birthday Houston!!

I just wanted to wish our dog a wonderful and fabulous Happy Birthday!! He turned two today. It's weird to think that we have had him for that long, but we have. Lisa is making him a doggie birthday cake. (She found it online, it's an actual cake: flour, bacon bits, beef flavored baby food, ... all cooked in a 8x8 pan, which is good so there will be enough for me :))

Happy Birthday!! We love you!!

Ben is feeling better!!!

We are so happy that Ben is feeling better. He stil has a little cough but he is a happy baby.



His new favorite thing is to play with his toes. He even gets them into his mouth sometimes.



He can also roll over. We are hoping to get that on video soon but every time we bring out the camera, he stops rolling. This is him on his tummy so you can at least get the picture.



Houston loves to entertain Ben. He just laughs and laughs.

What are parents to do?

I have decided that being a parent when your baby is sick is one of the hardest things to experience. Ben has had a little cold since about Christmas time. A few weeks ago his cough started to get really bad and he was wheezing. Last Friday morning he woke up with a fever of 102 which scared me to death. We of course took him straight to the doctor and he ended up having an ear infection (which caused the fever) and bronchialitis. It is basically like bronchitis but is further out in the air ways. So now he is doing breathing treatments 3 times a day while we try to get rid of his cough. They seem to be helping so he can breathe better. We went back to the doctor on Monday and he said that we need to just keep it up and hopefully it will go away. We go back to see him in 10 days. Ben seems like he is feeling better though. Even though he is sick, he still is our smiling baby.

Our Girls Weekend was a blast!

There are a group of us that have been friends for a long time (some back to before I can even remember meeting them).
We got together last weekend and had a great time. We left our husbands and kids at home and went to Mandy's cabin. We spent the whole weekend talking and still didn't run out of things to say. That is what true friendship is. We don't get together as much as we should but we can always pick up right where we left off. The group consists of Allison, Mandy, Brooke, Laura, me, Kelli, Liz and Kristin. The last three were not able to come but we still love them.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

Mandy cleaning up after she saved us from the mouse!



Allison showing us some yoga moves.







Where we slept.



Plyaing around with the timmers on our cameras.





Our Puzzle.



Making a salad for dinner (we are so healthy).



Some cute picures.

Laura and Mandy

Mandy and Brooke

Brooke and Allison


Thanks Mandy for inviting us up. I can't wait to do it again.

American Idol

Tonight starts the new season of one of my favorite shows. Yes, I am an American Idol fan. There are very few shows that I have to watch on a weekly basis but this is one of them (Dancing with the Stars and The Biggest Loser are the other ones). I am so excited that it starts again tonight.

I am so grateful that we now have DVR (like TIVO).

Our new plan!!

Clayton and I have been wanting to get into better shape ever since Ben was born. So here is our new plan. Check out our weight loss blog losingthesparetire.blogspot.com

Our 'lttle guy' is growing up!

I love that he's growing, but it seems too fast. He now laughs and plays - he'll hold little toys, he can make the music play on the hanging toys that we place in front of him (he doesn't realize it's him yet though). Just in the last week or so he found his thumb and loves it. As of today he is 14 lbs, 4 oz and 26 inches long. The Dr. says he's really healthy which we love to hear.

Don't you just love this shirt? He really is our 'little guy'.