It's Finished, I have a Grown-up Bedroom!

After 2 1/2 years, 2 Christmas, and some furniture from my parents, I finally have a finished grown-up bedroom. When we moved in, It felt big and white and now it finally feels snug and colorful.

Merry Christmas

Santa must of enjoyed his milk and cookies and his cereal (Josh's idea in case he wanted a change of pace) because he sure left a lot of goodies for us to play with.

Michael's gift from Santa to burn off his boundless energy, Good idea Santa!

Joshua got a Dinosaur world ( as he calls it) Santa sure knows what this little boy loves!

Besides candy and coloring books in Michael's stocking he got a big jar of pickles, Santa knows the way to this boys stomach!

After a little while they decided to see what else was waiting under the tree to unwrap. It was fun this year because both the boys were old enough to really enjoy the joys of Christmas. Thanks to all of the family who sent them gifts and love this year, they enjoyed all of it. We love you all and miss you. Merry Christmas! XOXOXOXO

Christmas Snowstorm=Fun for the Boys!

Every year for Christmas eve we head over to my Aunt Judy and Uncle Jim's house for some out door fun. Josh remembered last years sledding adventures so was super excited for it this year. All throughout the day we were worried we would be able to go because of the snowstorm that we were getting pounded with. But we braved the roads and were really glad we did. The boys were outside sledding for over a hour with all there cousins and uncles. I'm not sure who had more fun the boys or the dads. Equally as fun were the remote control cars that they gave Joshua and Jackson that night. Needless to say Jim and Judy's house still reigns supreme in the fun dept.

Gingerbread Houses

This year Gran (Kurt's mom) Bought us a gingerbread house kit, so the FHE before Christmas we put it together. We all did a side and had a blast. We knew there was no way a house full of candy would last a day let alone a week in our house with Josh and Mikey so we let them have at it that night. Here's the aftermath:

Thanks again Gran and Grandad, we had a great time!

Our Little MacGyver

Michael can get into or out of anything with just the simplest of things, example:

He has been taking about 2 hours to go to sleep every night since he started sleeping in his big boy bed, because he can get out of his room by himself, so he does. After a few months of trying everything we could think of, we decide to child lock the inside of his door. So last night (the first day) he was at his door for 3 minutes trying to open it before we heard some banging on the door. We thought he was just knocking on the door for us to let him out till we hear the door open and Michael shouting "IT WORK, IT WORKS" while dancing around his room. We found out he used his bottle to brake the child lock off the door handle. So much for keeping this one down!

New Due Date

During the Ultrasound last week the tech said I was measuring 2 1/2 weeks behind my due date. So they officially changed my due date from March 24 to April 10. That Sinks! I was finally getting close to the point in my pregnancy when I can feel comfortable that if things happen the baby will be ok (25 weeks). Now I'm back at 20 weeks instead of 22 1/2 weeks. Well at least I'm feeling better and started working out again. YEAH!

The World's Greatest Wife

This is Kurt. My life's been a little crazy lately. The filing deadline for my clients is Monday, November 16, so I've been working long hours for the last few weeks. First, I caught a weird virus that went after my vocal cords. I didn't feel so hot and had no voice and I relied a lot on her to help me for about three weeks. I finally got better just in time for things to get crazy at work. I'll use this last week as an example. I usually ride the bus to work and my last bus comes home at 6:15pm. This last Tuesday, I worked at the office until 11:00pm. I called Jes and she packed up the boys and came to pick me up. The next night, I needed to work late again, so Jes missed mutual to watch the boys then packed them up and came to get me at 9:30pm. The next night, I was supposed to catch the 6:15 bus because busy season was wrapping up. But, my final project ended up taking until 6:30 so Jes had to come get me again.

Besides this, I've been waking up around 5:15am every morning to teach seminary from 6:00 to 7:00. Because I'm as quiet as a nuclear explosion, I've accidentally awakened the boys a few of those mornings meaning that Jes has to get up at the same time. If you know Jes, you know that she needs 10 hours in bed to get 6 hours of sleep. It's just the way her body works. My crazy hours have decimated her sleep this week. Being five months pregnant, that sleep is even more important than usual.

Because the boys have been dragged downtown late at night and have been waking up especially early (Michael usually sleeps until around 8:00am), they've been meaner and grouchier than normal, both to each other and to Jes. Finally, there was a three-day stretch where I saw the boys for about 10 minutes total.

Today was our primary program in church. Joshua had a couple of lines to say on his own and a poem to say with his class. I haven't had any time, so Jes worked with Joshua on both. He said his lines perfectly and the poem almost perfectly. He was so cute up there. But, the best of all was when the primary sang their first song. Joshua doesn't pay great attention in primary and he likes to play around. But, when they started singing, he was right there with the rest of the group singing and smiling. When he looked at me and smiled, I just broke down and cried a little. He was so great today because Jes has been a great example and teacher for him. I couldn't be prouder of my son.

Jes has maintained the house, taken care of the boys, nurtured our fetus-daughter, taken care of my needs that I didn't have time to address, and found a little time to work on her sanity. Through all of that, I HAVEN'T HEARD HER COMPLAIN ONCE! I want to let every one of you know that I think I am married to the most incredible woman in the entire world. Whatever flaws she might have, I couldn't ask for a better companion. I love her with every bit of my heart and I hope she knows that. I am blessed and I'm grateful for those blessings.

By the way, for those I never talk to: Hi. Things are great in Bennion-Land. I hope you can the same about your ...-Land. I still consider you my friends, even if we never talk. I'm just lousy about calling. I'll blog again in about a year.

What Michael Really Thinks About Church

Michael's favorite book lately is What Are You So Grumpy About by Tom Lichtenheld. It's a really cute book and every page has a reason you could be grumpy. We've read it enough that Michael know what each page it about so I asked him what the page was before we read it today and when we got to this page he said it was about Church and Kurt and I had a good laugh.

Here's what the page says:
Did you have to get all dressed up and go to somebody's house where everything was weird and fragile so you had to keep your hands to yourself and you could hardly move while the adults talked about boring junk?

It's Official...

...The Bennion Boy streak has been broken. We're having a girl! Josh knew from day one but the rest of us were very surprised. We're now entering the PINK ZONE!

Halloween

This was the first year both the boys went Trick or Treating and they had a blast! Michael didn't get what was going on till about the 3rd house and then he was on a roll. Kurt was on a misson too, to get Josh to get the most candy possible so he could snack on it too. Mikey and me when home after 2 blocks and had fun watching cartoons and eating his booty. Josh and Kurt went for another 45 min till Josh wanted to come home.

I forgot till that night we needed to go grocery shopping badly so I went to Cub at 11pm and hit a new low in this pregnancy. As some of you know I haven't been feeling that well this pregnancy but throwing up at the grocery store was definitely a first.

Oh last thought if you want to hear about a really scary Halloween and learn why you're glad you don't live on a Virgina farm in October go to this link from my friend Linnie's blog. http://genhofamily.blogspot.com/2009/10/happy-halloween.html

Aliens

Last night Kurt was looking at Job descriptions on the Internet and said "Hey Jes, I could be a CFO (chief financial officer)" A few seconds later this came out of Josh's mouth, " Hey Mom, Aliens do exist" I was thinking where did that come from so I asked Josh and he said, "Dad said he wants to be a CFO"

My 10 Year Reunion

This weekend was my 10 year high school reunion. I have been looking forward to this for a long time, so I could see old friends I had lost contact with since I left the state for college. It did not disappoint! I had a blast being on the planning committee with 5 other awesome classmate of mine. The night turned out great. We had about 300 people show up and I got to reconnect with a lot of old friends whom I haven't seen in at least 9 years. Also another perk about planning it was I have everyone's contact info so we can stay connected. Kurt unfortunately couldn't come because him and the boys were sick, but was awesome and let me spend the morning shopping for an outfit and getting my hair done. It was one of those amazing days when everything was working, My face was clear, my hair turned out great, and I felt good in my outfit! But I will have to say I choose the wrong footwear. I wore flats thinking I'll be on my feet for 6 hours they will be comfy, oh so wrong. They had no arch support or cushion and because of that I could seriously could walk the next day, I felt like I was 80. It was all in all a great night and I'm so glad I went! Go Tornadoes!

Rockin Recipe

Today I was craving Costco's Chocolate muffins and found this recipe.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5338821_bake-chocolate-muffins-costco-style.html

It Rocks and makes 21 regular size muffins (bake for 25min)

Use milk chocolate chips (semi-sweet is too bitter)
ENJOY!

What are your kids doing?

It's October 12, my kids are in full snow gear playing in 2 inches of fluffy snow. Don't you wish you lived in Minnesota!

What are your kids doing?

Mighty Hunters

We have a wasp nest in our siding next to our patio and have tried all kinds of sprays to get rid of them but nothing has worked. Kurt got a great idea to by an electric fly swatter (it has a current that runs through it so you can kill things in the air) and go after the little buggers! Josh is deathly afraid of them but Michael can't wait to go hit bee's with a racked like Dad. So far we've gone through 2 fly swatters but Kurt's killed 30 wasps and only been stung once. Way to go Mighty Hunter!

I raise you one burnt pot

Yesterday was interesting. I had a baby apt. and got to hear the heartbeat and everything is going great. Then I came home... Kurt was working from home (thank goodness) because I was really tired so I laid down. I love my boys but Kurt and Josh have got to be the loudest people on earth. I think I was woken up every 5- 10 minutes with either loud music from the TV, Joshua deciding now is good time to empty his piggy bank on the hardwood floor, or them trying to be quiet by running around the house. Anyways no sleep for me, so I got up cranky and feeling even worst then when I laid down. So what do I do... try to make dinner. Bad idea. I put a pot on the stove to heat up some oil to sear some meat. But I forgot it got to hot and when I put in the meat the whole house filled with smoke. I manage to save the meat. Kurt came in to tell me to go back to bed and he'd finish dinner. Yes, my husband is a saint! After about 45 minutes I hear Kurt telling the boys to, "get their shoes on their going to the store." Kurt comes in and tells me he couldn't find the soy sauce and figured sesame seed oil smells about right so he put 2 tsp. in the sweet n' sour he was making. He tasted it found out they're very different and not only that but boiling and simmering are not the same thing, so we're getting pizza for dinner. Oh the joys of being sick!

Yes we are having number 3

So as some of you have guess baby number 3 is on the way. So far so good, just typical morning sickness that should end soon! Every one's excited especially Josh who is praying for a girl, good luck little man. We find out in 8 weeks so we'll see!

New Family Picture

Washington

We just got back from a wonderfully relaxing 2 week trip to Washington! I was great to visit with all of Kurt's family, learn new card games and being able to sleep in or take naps whenever we wanted! Josh's favorite part would be he got to celebrate his golden birthday at Gran and Grandad's! (pictures to come) We also took a side trip to Utah to visit Kurt's sister and his family down there. We had a blast playing with everyone. Kurt got to act like a 15 year old and play football with his nephews and brothers. We also got to go to the fair and see Clint Black thanks to KC and Shawn, and Janice and Mike! Kurt was in country heaven (since Clint Black is his favorite country (and only) singer he likes). Michael had a blast and slept in a big boy bed the whole time and did a pretty good job.
Thanks for everything Scott and Karla we had a wonderful time, we love you!

Finally Published!

My Book (the book I illustrated) finally is up published! The title is, "Life Lessons From A Frog: Never Give Up!" You can find it at trafford.com. Here's the link http://books.trafford.com/09-0589 .

Here's what the book's about;

This is a story in rhyme of a small frog’s encounter with a stork, which ends up

being the battle of his life. The frog’s determination to not give up leads to

a happy ending. This message can be applied to any trial or difficulty in life.

For anyone looking for an uplifting story that will encourage them in a challenging

time, this is the book for you!

I hope you like it! Pass this info on to who ever you think would enjoy it!

Thanks!

Prayers for Mail

Josh got this play mailbox this summer and it has been sitting right next to his bed ready for the Mail Fairy to give him mail will he sleeps. Periodically One of the two Mail Fairy's put some sort of Joshua mail in the box but they have been busy lately and have forgotten his mailbox. Joshua decided the only way to insure that they come is to pray for it. His words "I need to pray for the mail fairy so she shows up, she only comes if I pray for her at night." Now it's up to the Mail Fairy's to keep is faith in pray alive and well!

Reunion

My 10 year High School Reunion is coming up and I have aways planned on going if we could. But I never planned on being on the Reunion Committee. It has been hard and fun finding people and planning the event. It doesn't happen till Oct. we just sent out the evite and it's so fun to see the response. I never realized how many of my classmates still live in the area till we started looking. My friend Amy recently told me that Minnesota actually has the highest percentage of people that grew up here and then decide to stay here. That surprised me. So far so good we'll see how the reunion goes in Oct. Wish us luck!

Green Day...Great Day

Thanks to Audrey's awesome concert tickets winning skills we went to see Green Day in concert on Saturday night! Kurt was green with envy! I was amazing. A little too many F bombs for my taste but they put on a great show. It probably helps that they have a second home in St. Paul so they played some fun songs like "Minnesota girl" (a love song for his wife) and Prince's "Let go Crazy". We had a great night all except for the security guard Audrey now despises ( if you want to hear more about that check out her blog). Thanks for a rockin night Aud!

Valleyfair Observations

Audrey wrote a post on these same lines but we had a few we wanted to add:

* $8 pop with $2 refills is still a rip off

*There should be a age and size limit law to bikinis

*Teenage girls have better gun skills then a (to remain nameless) army vet.

*Husbands who can ride every roller coaster tend to think that riding a spinning ride (aka the scrambler) will some how make there stomach explode so they can't bear the thought of riding them

* Electromagnets make the best thrill rides

*Don't bring baby's, there's no point

*Plan on at least $10 for every hour you spend there

*Lockers by the wave cost 75 cents but lockers by the water park are $8

*Don't take pictures with your camera or phone on the wave

*Don't wear a bumpit (period) but especially if you go on water rides

*Double bag your cell phone, water will get through one bag

My little devils

When we were at Valleyfair the other day Audrey and I decided to get airbrush tattoos. I found one that reminded me of my little boys aka my little devils. I think it looks just like Mikey when he doing something he knows he shouldn't.

Posh Nosh

We were up late the other night and came across one of the funniest cooking shows I've ever seen. Everyone knows I've been addicted to cooking shows since I was little, but this is a whole new kind of cooking show. It's on BBC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scPT7n5s4nY check it out! I will now be using words like embarressed, obsessed, thrilled and gall force blasted while cooking.

A Boy after my own Stomach

June has been a crazy month of celebrations around here. First it's Mikey's birthday, then Kurt's birthday, next Father's day, Our Anniversary, and last but not least Kurt's Mom's birthday. So with all the hoopla Josh has felt a little left out so he asked to have a Joshua day tomorrow. No presents just a day for Joshua. The main thing he wanted was breakfast in bed (a tradition for special days in my family). So I asked him what he wanted for breakfast and here's what he said: "Mommy I want a big bowl of the bread you make with the green stuff in it" aka He want a big bowl of Foccacia bread. What 4 year old asks for Foccacia bread for breakfast when he can have anything he wants. Apparently he's my boy!

Amusing Anniversary

Thursday was our 8th Anniversary so to celebrate we went to Valleyfair with Audrey and Ty who have the same anniversary as us. We had a blast! It's so much fun to go to an Amusement/Water Park with out the kids! We spent all day riding rollercoasters and waterslide and never looking at the clock! Every adult needs to spend one day where they get to act like a kid without having to check in every hour. Thanks to my parents and Sister and Brother -in-law they kids had a good time too.

We've had a great 8 years. We've had our bumps but we've made it through and had some wonderful time too! Here's to 80 more!

Happy 30th Kurt

It's Kurt's 30th Birthday today. So I figured I share a few things I love about my birthday Boy.

1. He LOVES sports

2. He's a great teacher

3. He has a huge heart

4. He's a great Dad

5. He wakes up with the boys on Saturdays and lets me sleep in

6. He does the dishes and other house work

7. He's got the best legs- perfectly muscular

8. He can Rock with the best of them (Rockband)

9. He loves to read and is very smart

10. He loves his job and is a hard worker

11. He loves to cuddle

12. He's a wonderful husband and I hope I can spend another 30+ years with him!

Love you sweetie!

What we love about Mikey!

Since it was Mikey's birthday I wanted to share some thing we love about our little bulldozer!
1. He loves to Rock! (Dance, sing, the works, he especially likes loud rock music)
2. He's a brute, he can wrestle, hit, and throw with the best of them and love it.
3. He smiles all the time, sometimes it mischievous but it's still cute.
4. He loves his big brother Josh (Josh was one of his first words before Mama and Dada)
5. Mikey will eat anything!
6. He is a monkey, he climbs everything except out of his crib amazingly.
7. He loves to fist bump instead of hi fives.
8. His personality aka Mohawk fits him perfectly and will be returning as soon as his hair grows out.
9. He's a good at sharing even if you don't want him too.
10. He loves to cuddle but only in short bursts.
11. He love his pluggie, blankie and monkey.

12. he can read scriptures and say prayers with us if we help.
13.We love him so much!

Happy Birthday Mikey

Today is Mikey's 2nd Birthday, and he made out like a bandit, thanks to Kurt. All I've got to say is putting together a cozy coup is a parents worst nightmare, let just say it involves loud hammering and lots of brute force. Mikey was a little unsure when he walked into the living room this morning and saw the presents but quickly caught on and had a blast finding out what was next. On of the boys favorite thing turned out to be 2 foam swords we brought for them to share. We'll see how that turns out.

Yesterday Mikey had a friend party at Como Zoo. He had a wonderful time terrorizing the monkeys as usual and then had a great picnic in the park with his friends.

All in all he's had a great birthday so far but the best is yet to come. Kurt is taking the boys camping tonight for Mikey's first time. I don't want to know the trouble they'll get in, I'll just enjoy the solitude and know they're having a great time being boys!

Happy Birthday my wonderful precocious little boy, we love you so much!

I Love My Flowers!

Last year I only had 1 iris bloom and this year I have over 50! I can't wait till next year. I love my tulips to and hopefully I can add more every year!

Preschool

Josh had his last day of preschool party today. We had a good time decorating visors, playing bingo, eating cupcakes and playing on the playground. This was his first year of preschool and he loved it. He learned so much and made some great friends. I know he'll miss it during the summer but hopefully soccer and playgroup will keep him busy. Clark and Eryn won't be with us next year so we'll miss them but Callie and Spencer will be there so it will be fun!

Suprise Getaway

Kurt won some major points the other day. He surprised me with a night at a bed and breakfast for some relaxation time for just the two of us. I was wonderful! My parents had the boys and we got the cocooning special so we could check in at 1pm and check out at noon. We went to the Cover Park Manor in Stillwater. It was a diamond in the rough. The outside could use some work but man do they pamper you. We had a wine and cheese tray in the room chilling when we got there then a amazing 4 course dinner and a wonderful breakfast all sent to our room. I've got to say the best part was the 2 person jetted tub on the second floor of our room! Heaven! Guys if you want to spoil your wife and in turn spoil yourself take a page from Kurt book, we're making it a yearly after busy season tradition!

Next Stop Vegas!

We took the boys to Dave and Busters for the first time tonight to celebrate the end of busy season. Yeah! We start to play games and Mikey walks up to this big wheel game where you have to stop the light and what ever number it lands on that how many tickets you get. Josh plays and get 20 tickets, Mikey goes and what does he hit, the jackpot! He won 1000 tickets on his first try. The funny thing was he knew he did something great because he raise his arms and said, yah! We all had a lots of fun and brought home some cool prizes. We love D&B.

HELEN?!

I can believe Helen won! I bet Ron's kicking himself now, if he would of kept to his promise and kept Kristen, Mike would have won. HA HA! Seriously though Kristen looked great!

Summer Hair and Mohawks

So I've been getting a lot of requests to bring back Mikey's Mohawk. Today while I was given them their summer buzz cuts I gave Mikey a true Mohawk. Enjoy!

First Braided Loaf

For Mother's day I wanted to make dinner a little special since my Mom and Sister we coming over for dinner. So I decided to make Jewish Challah Bread. The recipe was pretty simple but it turned out really great and looked cool too!

Josh's pictures

Joshua has gotten pretty good at taking picture with the camera lately. Here's some of my favorites: