Blogging

I LOVE to blog.  Why?  Well, it gives me a way to document our lives and keep track of fun things we do as a family.

Some people are great scrapbookers.  Not me.  You should see the scrapbook that I put together of my younger years.  Yeah I don't have the cutesie handwriting or the patience to glue everything onto a page.  Plus compared to my sisters...my scrapbook just didn't compare.

Some people keep a journal.  I use to be really good at this.  But then I got older and life got busy and my journal keeping went down the drain.

It was then that I discovered blogging.  It was a combination of scrapbooking and journal writing, but much easier and less time consuming.

I love keep track of my families life.  All the time that I put into blogging makes it worth it when I get these in the mail at the beginning of each year.

 I LOVE my blog books.  I love looking through them and reflecting back on all the fun things that we do together as a family.  I love that I can hold my blog in my hands.   

I got last years book in the mail last week. 

I always get excited when they come.

"You will have significant experiences. I hope you will write them down and keep a record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh your memory of those meaningful and significant things. Some may be funny. Some may be significant only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experiences."
-Gordon B. Hinckley 

My Husband

There are a few things that you should know about my husband before I show you the picture of his creation. 
1.  Ben can be VERY creative
2.  He loves to cook

With that being said let me tell you about my very creative husband.

This semester Ben has had an internship at a prosthetic and orthotics  office in Idaho Falls twice a week.  He was very lucky to even get it.  Originally the guy at the office told him no but Ben being the likeable guy that he is eventually convinced this guy that it was a good idea for him to let Ben do an internship at his office.

So Sunday night as we were driving home from Rigby, Ben was telling me that Tuesday was going to be the last day at his internship and that he wanted to take something for everyone at the office.  I said we could make chocolate chip cookies or cinnamon rolls but Ben had an even better idea.  He said that chocolate chip cookies were a great idea but he wanted to make them in the shape of a gingerbread man and then cut off their legs or arms.  {A little weird I know but it makes sense if you know that Ben was working in a prosthetic office}.

So Monday night Reese and I made up the dough while Ben was in class.  Reese LOVES to help make anything, it is her favorite thing to do.  It could be eight in the morning and she tells me, "Mom, lets make dinners!".

On a side note I am going to miss having so many great neighbors that I can call up and ask for anything.  We didn't have a gingerbread man cookie cutter and so I called a bunch of the girls in my ward and they were all so helpful.  After calling a lot of people we finally found one.  Not only did she give me the cookie cutter but she also gave us an extra rolling pin for Reese.  Reese was in heaven and was very disappointed when she had to give back the rolling pin.

Anyways, Reese and Ben made the chocolate chip gingerbread men together.  Reese mostly picked the chocolate chips out of the cookie dough.

After a couple of trial and errors Ben made the perfect chocolate chip gingerbread men.  He then decided to make each little man a prosthetic arm or leg out of matches.

Yup that's my husband!

I do have to say that he is pretty darn creative!  

Kids

We are LOVING this wonderfully warm weather that we are having here in Rexburg.  Reese especially loves it and has a hard time staying inside.  She figured out how to unlock our front door...deadbolt and everything.  She will unlock our door and run outside a lot of times.  Thankfully we do not live on a busy street. 

I love spring time.  It is so nice to be able to wear shorts and sandals and enjoy the warm weather.  Reese on the other hand does not understand that certain clothes are for a certain time of the year. 

She can usually be found wearing boots, mittens, and a beanie.  She doesn't quite understand that these types of clothes are for winter time.  I think she would wear them all year long if we let her.

Reese is also really into wearing our clothes.  She can usually be found roaming the house with our shoes on or some of my shirts.  She will bring me one of my shirts and say mommy it is a pretty princess dress!  It is too funny, maybe we should get her an actual pretty princess dress, otherwise she will keep thinking that daddy's shirt is a pretty princess dress!

Little Benson is growing SO fast.  He is getting so big.  He has slept through the night a couple of times now and I am VERY happy about that.  He is the sweetest little guy.  We all just love him too pieces.  He is so happy when he is awake.  We all love to make him smile because he has the sweetest little smile and dimple. 

He is SO smiley.  I don't remember Reese smiling this much.  All you do is have to look at Benson and he smiles, even when it is 4 a.m. he is still just as smiley as ever.  We love him so much and are so glad that he is apart of our family.

These two are the best of friends or at least I like to think so..

Whenever Reese is around and Benson is awake he follows her around everywhere.  Reese loves her little brother so much.  She always tells me "Benson is cute mommy" or "I love Benson mommy" it is the sweetest thing.  

Operation find an apartment

I never realized how blessed we are to live in Rexburg Idaho until now.  We are moving to Dallas in the middle of April so that means we need somewhere to stay.  We have been looking at apartments for about 2 weeks straight now.  I don't think I have ever looked at so many apartments in all of my apartment living life.  It is kind of scary to pick an apartment complex off of the internet because we don't know what the area is like or if the apartments are really as nice as the website makes them look.

We have been reading reviews about apartment complexes like crazy but that gets discouraging really fast because it seems like all of the reviews are negative.

Plus all of the apartment complexes that we have talked to have fees for EVERYTHING!  They have a fee for just filling out an application to live at their complex!  You have to pay for trash pickup, pest control, water, electricity, and then they can have all kinds of other fees.

This is why living in Rexburg for the past 3 and a half years has been such a blessing.  You can find a nice apartment for cheap.  There are no fees for anything.  You pay electric and that is it.  The community is safe and I don't feel like any of the apartments we have lived in have been trashy.  I have never been scared that my neighbors are sex offenders.  I have loved our time in Rexburg.

Thankfully we got a phone call  last night from Ben's mom who had a friend of Ben's with her.  This friend lives in Dallas right now and gave us some great tips.  He told us that it is worth it to pay for the more expensive apartments because they are safer.  He gave us some names of a couple of different complexes to check out.  So even though I don't want to pay almost a thousand dollars a month for rent I definitely think it is worth it when it comes to the safety of our family. 

Thankfully after that phone call from Ben's friend last night we have closed all 42 tabs that were open on our computer of apartment complexes to call and now we have it narrowed down to 4!

Life

Benson is one month old and I can hardly believe that it has already been a whole month.  He is growing like crazy.

We went to the doctors today and our little Benson weighed in at whopping

10 lbs. 8.5 oz.

22 inches

He is an awesome sleeper.  

He wakes up once during the night to eat and I love that he is sleeping so well.  He started out sleeping in our room but that only lasted about two weeks.  Benson is the loudest grunter and groaner I have ever met.  So after about two weeks of not getting very much sleep because of all of the excessive grunting and groaning we finally put him in the living room.  Yup that is right, Benson sleeps in the living room.  I can still hear his grunting and groaning even though our bedroom door is closed but my mama sensors have finally been able to block it out and all I hear now is when he wakes up to eat.

Having a baby boy is totally different than having a baby girl.  People told me all the time that changing a boys diaper was going to be a lot better than changing a girls diaper, but boy were they wrong!  I hate changing Benson's diaper.  He either pee's on me or sprays his poop all over me.  I have had to learn how to change his diaper VERY fast, because if I am not fast enough he sprays me.

 We sure do love our little Benson.  I could sit and kiss his little chubby cheeks all day long.

Benson has recently started smiling when we talk to him.  

I just love his sweet little smiles.

Miss Reese is growing like a little weed.  I feel like she has become so grown-up since Benson was born.  She is the perfect little helper.  She is always running to get me a diaper and then makes sure that I have the wipes too.

A few weeks ago she had her shirt pulled up and then came up to me and told me that she needed to feed Benson.  She is the perfect little mama and is always putting her babies to bed and telling them sweet dreams.  She also pretends to nurse her little baby dolls!  It is too funny!

Her new favorite chair is Benson's car seat.  

 I don't think it looks too comfy but it is her favorite place to sit. 

Reese definitely acts like a 2 year-old now.  She is a pretty good girl for the most part but she has definitely learned to throw a good tantrum and she likes to whine when she doesn't get her way.  But we love her all the same.  

Ben and I are definitely keeping busy.  Ben has an internship this semester in Idaho Falls.  He was very lucky to get this internship because initially the guy didn't want anyone interning at his office.  But Ben being the great sweet talker that he is finally convinced the guy to let him intern at his office.  He has been working all semester at a prosthetics and orthotics office and he loves it!  It has been a great opportunity for him because that is what he will be studying at grad school and it has been great to get some experience in the field. 

Being a mom of two is definitely more hectic but I wouldn't trade my sweet children for anything.  I feel like I am running around all day.  Ben is seriously great and makes sure that I get out every once in a while.  Life is great and we are definitely blessed!

Our Future

Our family is EXTREMELY excited for this guy

Why?

About 2 weeks ago Ben headed down to Dallas Texas

He had an interview for grad school

Last Wednesday we found out that Ben was accepted!!!

This is our future

We are extremely excited to start this new chapter in our lives