It's Been Too Long

Sierra, I realize it has been way too long since I have posted anything here.  Life has been crazy, but that is no excuse. Ben graduated from college and has been teaching at a local high school so that's pretty exciting.  I am a full time stay at home mom and loving every second of it.  I do work part time in the evenings but it's been giving Ben and Benson some great bonding time. Benson is growing up so much and we want to share that with you.  He is SO much fun!  He is talking up a storm.  He says full sentences no problem.  He loves Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and talks about Buzz and Woody all the time.  He is hilarious too.  He is always making us laugh.  His favorite thing to do lately is when I say "I LOVE you"...he will say "No, I love daddy", and when Daddy says "I love you" he says "no, I love mommy" and then he totally giggles.  He is so much fun!  He LOVES playing outside.  He loves rocks and sand and water and just being a total boy. For nap and bed time he FILLS his bed with toys and books and every little thing you can imagine.  It's pretty dang cute. We love him every second of every day!  We continue to talk about you and keep you in our prayers.

He's 2!!!

It has been WAY too long since I have posted on here and I first want to apologize for that.  Life has been busy.  Ben graduated from college and got a job as a real teacher!  We are excited, but he's been working two jobs so things have been a bit crazy.  We will do better!

We celebrated Benson's 2nd birthday on the 4th, since his actual birthday  fell on a Sunday.  Just like last year, I was thinking of fun themes and ideas for months before the birthday, but when it came down to it I just let it get to the last minute without being prepared.  That's kind of my story.  But, it didn't matter at ALL.  It was such a fun night.  Benson loved every second of it, and even now 6 weeks later he says "Happy Birthday" any time he is happy of excited about anything.  It's adorable!

A few things  really made it a hit.

1. I did one very big thing right!  I hired a professional to make his cake.   All I told her was that we were doing a cars/trucks/trains/planes "theme".  Benson LOVES all things that move and I just thought it was extra fitting.  Well, she went ABOVE and BEYOND!  The cake was AMAZING!  As you can see from the pictures.  She asked me if Benson has any nicknames and the only one he has is that his Lolo calls him Tarzan.  She really did think of everything.  The headlights even really lit up!

2. We had a BUNCH of balloons all over the room (thank you to his cousin Monika for coming over early and blowing them all up).  They were not hanging or anything special, just spread all over and he was in heaven! He was literally falling all over them, laughing and smiling.  He was so happy.  He loved piling them into the tent we got him and then going in there with cousins Hailey and Addy.  As you can see from the videos, he LOVED the balloons.

 

3. We put together a cute picture montage to music on the PS3.  We had it playing in the background and it was just perfect to have adorable pictures of our little man's 2 years of life up on the screen while we celebrated his birthday.

4.  We put up a coloring collage on the back wall and he got markers (washable, thank goodness) as one of his presents.  He and Addy especially loved coloring "on the wall".

It really was such a great party!  We have so much love and support around us and Benson LOVES his family and they love him.  He got lots of fun presents, including his tent, coloring supplies, a grocery cart with play groceries, snacks, books and so much more!   Most importantly though, he just had a blast!

After everyone left I just sat and watched the photo montage and was overwhelmed again with the blessing Benson is in our lives and the amazing opportunity we have to be his parents.  I wished I could call or skype or text you Sierra and have you share in our beautiful day, but all I could do was just pray that you know how loved and happy he is and how grateful we are for him.

For his actual birthday we called and skyped with family members from out of town.  He got a video from cousins Aiden and Regan saying "Happy Birthday Benson" and he played it over and over again. He loved showing everyone his tent and the balloons!

Happy Birthday little man!  I cannot believe you are already two.  It feel like yesterday that we were holding you for the first time.  We love every second with you and love to watch you grow!

October 7, 2013

Lately Benson loves books and reading.  Today I walked into his room and found this.  Pretty dang adorable.

He has started to mimic everything we do (yikes) and today I had an "owie" on my foot so I put a band-aid on it.  Of course he wanted one too.  The best part about it is while he was trying to put it on he had this painful face on and kept saying "owie" even though there was no owie there, haha.  Hilarious.

He LOVES to spin in circles, but the best part is when he stops and tries to walk....and falls down.  It is quite hilarious.

Today he decided he wanted to sit IN the box with the toys.  I even tried to empty the toys out and let him sit there and he refused, he put all the toys back in and THEN got back in on top of them, lol.

I figure I should be in some of the pictures since Benson and I are together 24/7.  This was us tonight, winding down and watching The Voice and Dancing With the Stars. This kid loves singing and dancing so much.

This is most of Benson's interaction with daddy.  They can talk for 10 minutes straight though.  My favorite part is when Benson will put one of his toys up to the phone like he is "showing" Ben.  It is quite cute.  Tonight I heard Benson start yelling "DADDY"... and thought it was kind of weird since he had never done that when they were on the phone before, so I went over to check what was up.  He had hung up on Ben but didn't know why daddy wasn't talking anymore so he just started yelling his name.  It was QUITE cute.

This is showing two of Bensons favorite things.  He is playing with these 3 circular magnets that he thinks are so awesome (I know, choking hazard) and he is "hiding" behind his chair.  He runs to get behind it and as soon as he does he starts to giggle until you find him. 

It seems the family magnets are working.  Today at lunch time I asked Benson who the pictures were and he knew SO many more names than I thought.  Some of them he said perfectly (or as perfectly as possible for a toddler). I was so impressed.  I think he especially liked that if he said one right I would give him a high five, he thought that was pretty cool.

October 6, 2013

General Conference weekend is always good.  It's one of our favorite times of year.  Listening to the Prophet and leaders of our church is uplifting and inspiring and I am so glad we live in a place where we can sit in our pajamas and be edified all weekend. Benson actually sat and listened some, especially to the music, he loved it!  We taught him how to say prophet, and he got to eat ice cream and strawberries so I think he was a happy camper.  It's a tradition in our family to do waffles with ice cream and strawberries on Sunday between sessions, but Benson couldn't have the waffles because they had traces of nuts in them and he was recently diagnosed with a nut allergy :(  We were also lucky to have COCONUT syrup for the waffles thanks our good friend.  Oh my gosh, so yummy!  I love anything coconut flavored, like Dirty Diet Cokes (coconut and lime in diet coke) and coconut M&Ms and now coconut syrup.  I just feel like coconut flavor tastes like the beach (that sounds weird but I think you know what I mean :))  We had a lot of family time and then tonight we got to skype with our Crisanto Family in Oregon, so it was really a good day.

Playing games family style

Getting ready for the cold weather

 

He loves to sit with his toys in the corner

Daddy/son time (I was sleeping or you would probably hear me telling Ben not to do this in the background, haha.  Benson seems to be quite enjoying it)

One of his favorite activities

He keeps us busy.....constantly :).  Life is never boring, that is for sure.