All Things Bright and Beautiful

I've been thinking, which could be dangerous. But I was thinking about wanting to go camping and how it seems like EVERY time we plan a trip- it falls through. Then I was thinking about how I used to go all the time when I lived in UT and with my dad when I was little in AZ and how I just love it. THEN I was thinking about how it's pretty here in GA, but there is so much beauty out west as far as "nature" is concerned. So I wanted to share a few of my favorite places I've been in my life... just some.
The Grand Tetons, WY. Awe inspiring. And let me tell you, oh so cold in the winter! But also gorgeous in the summer!
Southern UT, Horseshoe Bend. Near Moab. That whole region including Moab is beautiful. This is the only picture I could find from that trip, cheesy face and all.
Cannon Beach, OR. Oregon (that I saw) in general. I was only there for like a total of 2 1/2 days... if that and I fell in love. It was Fall and the leaves were beautiful... it was a perfect combination of two of my favorites- ocean and mountains.

The High Uintas in UT. One of my FAVORITE places in the world. So many good memories there, and a place with so much to see and so much beauty. I miss it SO much. (wow! Look how small and cute my butt was!)
Yellowstone! Such an amazing place. I can't wait to take my family there on family vacation one day!
The Alpine Loop, American Fork Canyon UT.

Zion's National Park, UT
Sequoia National Park, CA. Such a beautiful amazingly cool place!
The Grand Canyon, AZ. I grew up just about 70 miles away from the Grand Canyon in Flagstaff and didn't really appreciate it as a kid. I had the opportunity to hike to the bottom one year with a Geology class at UVSC (now UVU) and will now always have such an appreciation for it's beauty and awesomeness.
Somewhere in Eastern, UT. Another Geology field trip, this time with USU. I think it was near the Bookcliffs or Vernal... but it was a LONG time ago and I forget.
I'm so grateful I've been able to get to see SO many beautiful places and know that Heavenly Father has created all of them for all of us to see and appreciate. To me, these places are so humbling because it reminds me of how little I am (literally) in this LARGE diverse world and how around EVERY corner there is something new to see and discover.

Send Me On My Way

I'm way over due to write a post. It's been rainy again the last three days, it was this morning and then luckily cleared up in time for my lunch hour. It was BEAUTIFUL! The leaves are really starting to do their changing thing and the sky always looks so perfectly blue and clean and fresh and the clouds so white and fluffy and all the colors so vibrant. Some of the reasons to love Fall. Another is the less humid and cooler weather.
Saturday we spent with Ashley (Jacob was out of town with his parents) listening to some General Conference, helping around the Terry house, washing the car, shopping at IKEA and watching Ben explore there and loving it. We got him a little $3.99 potty to "practice" with. Something just to get him used to the idea of where that stuff goes! he, he! But we're not really in it to force him in to it too early. Anyway, he really enjoyed walking around and exploring there. That place can wear me out too! We had "Conference-fest" at our house Sunday. We plugged the laptop up and watched it over LDS.org and enjoyed it. We had soup, rolls and the staple sausage dip for lunch and ate out on the deck and in the house and enjoyed each other's company. We had about 12 for lunch and after, not including us- so the house was pretty full. But we, of course, love that.
So what's going on right now? Both Ryan and Ben are asleep. I'm listening to iTunes (for the moment Feist) and am thinking it's time I go to bed. BUT... I want to make sure I keep up with my blog/journal.
We're making a big change in childcare for Ben. We have been praying a lot about alternatives, especially lower costing ones lately. Our EQ Pres and home teacher came over a couple Sunday's ago and we happened to mention we were still looking for someone to watch Ben and he said a couple had recently moved in to the ward from Alabama and she (Megan) used to do some childcare before moving here. He gave me her info and I emailed her and she wrote right back. She and her husband are looking for work and this is right up her alley and she is able to watch him the time we need her to and at HALF the cost of what we're paying now. She doesn't have any kids of her own yet, so Ben will be the one and only. There are definitely PROS (mostly) and CONS... the CONS are that he's going to miss his buddies. He's a social little dude, and so it'll be hard to go from constantly being around little kids to none at all. But we'll find alternatives, and a PRO is that he'll be getting one-on-one attention. I only wish it was mine. There are several other PROS and we are just really grateful that the Lord provided for us and really for them as well, they need the money/work. The daycare directors are saddened that he's leaving... but I'm sure we'll be back once in a while. Some of the mom's of his classmates (even the ones he's bitten!) are up for play dates, so we'll definitely do those too. We want to have more kids and feel like we need to save a little first, and cut some costs down... and this has to be one of them. I met her at Enrichment and liked her a lot, and then her and her husband came over Friday night for dinner and we all chatted for hours with each other. Seems like he and Ryan will have a lot in common. So we both feel good about it and if it doesn't work though and he's not happy- we'll rethink things. I think she'll be a good fit for him and we're crossing our fingers all will be well.
Ben is just a smarty pants. He's saying or repeating a lot of words. We did an iChat with my mom tonight and he was doing his best to say "grandma". He says "cah-cah" for cracker, and he can say "hello" or even "hola". We're working on "I Love You!", he knows to say something but it sounds nothing like the phrase. But we're getting there! He's also started to say "amen" before I even do when saying prayers. I'll say "in the name of Jesus Christ..." and he'll say "Amen" before I finish! Too cute. He's very friendly. When people walk by he'll wave and said "HI!" to them. He loves to ride in the car with the windows down and if they're not he'll say "outside!" In general, he loves to be outside and is always asking us if he can go. He's got the kissing on the lips thing down, no more baby-open-mouth kissing. I'm the special one that gets them though, he doesn't do that to anyone else really- maybe Daddy once in a while, but mostly me. Yesterday I went to get him out of the car and I said "give me a kiss" and he grabbed my cheeks with both hands and planted one on Moments like that make my heart happy.
This weekend I get to have my hair cut, thank goodness by a cute girl that moved in to Ashley's ward recently. We're trading a hair cut/color for family pictures! She and her husband have the cutest little girl and so it should be lots of fun. I want to get Ryan's sisters kids together for some pictures too.
Here is his last school photo for a while, he took it about a month ago. He's so dang handsome. He didn't feel much like smiling though that morning. But we have some others that turned out pretty good.
Okay. My ears hurt, my eyes are tired and we have to wake up SUPER early... blah... I need a sleep in day.

(Ben's first pair of Chucks... AWESOME!)
Well, our camping trip got rained out. Which was a bummer because every time we plan one it gets canceled due to the weather. Stupid weather. And the thing is that it was PERFECT Friday and Sunday... but of course Saturday had to suck. Stupid Saturday. It was kind of nice though to curl up on Ashley and Jacob's couches with a blanket and watch movies with Ash while Ben napped and Ryan and Jacob cut up the tree that fell in their backyard...in the rain! He, he... Then we partook of the world's best nachos that evening (during which Mr. B had a ginormous blow out and I had to change it in the POURING rain in the back of the car) and then watched the Relief Society Broadcast. It was crazy because my old landlord Martha gave the opening prayer and I was like "hey, wait a minute... I think I know her! No really! I do!" She's a good lady.
Another Ben landmark... he's telling me when he's gone potty. I mean, he's 19 months! That's great! My goal was to have him out of diapers for when we decided to start to have another kid (not yet though...) and hopefully it'll be true! He even knows the difference between #1 and #2 and will most of the time tell me BEFORE he goes even! He's learned SO many words lately and I think that nasty second molar has finally stopped making him miserable. But he's still got 4 more I-teeth left. Hopefully those will come fast though. He really is the light of our lives. He is so smart and funny and really is such a good little boy. We are two VERY blessed parents. He's doing really good with transitioning to his new classroom, although morning drop-offs are a little harder for him. But he's sleeping and spending most of the day binky free which is terrific. Now we just need to do that at home too. The problem is he knows which drawer of his dresser I keep them in and will walk up to it and try and reach for it while saying "Na-na! Na-na!" He's saying juice, knows the sign for eat, seat-seat (for sit), up, open, book, outside, frisbee (Ryan's been trying to teach him that one FOREVER and he's so excited he can finally say it!), yummy (mummy), amen (maymen), shoes, socks, he says She-she for Sesame Street on the iPod, apple, and there's a few more I can't remember right now. He's FINALLY saying Mommy or Mama! And it's really cute because sometimes he'll call Ryan Mama too! He loves to read "Goodnight Moon" before bed and when I ask where the telephone and red balloon are he can point to them with out my help. And we always count the 3 bears sitting in chairs, he'll attempt to say "1, 2, 3". Pretty darn cute. He's learned to fold his arms for prayers... for like a second, but it's cute! He's not really my little baby anymore! It's trippy... but SO fun to see him growing and learning and every day his little personality comes out more and more. I love my Benny!
Tonight Ben & Daddy had some man time and shared a chocolate chip cookie... and it was adorable.
Well, my clean good-smelling sheets are awaiting my arrival...so I'd better go to bed.

My boss sent this picture of the amusement park Six Flags here in Atlanta out today. Supposedly after all this, they want to have the park cleaned up and ready to open by THIS Saturday morning. One of my coworkers responded to the email and said "oh is this the 'Log Ride' now?" Ha, ha, ha... Get it? That was a good laugh.

the rains came down, and the floods came up...

Just in case you're wondering or are worried, we're okay. Today is the first day in a week we have had a break from the rainy weather, so far. Thank goodness! I have missed the sunshine oh so much.
Different parts of town have been drastically affected by flooding and where we live luckily has not. I have 2 coworkers that live in some of the counties that are the worst, but luckily are both okay and their homes are fine. Some flooding but they're okay. If you have NO idea what I'm talking about and haven't seen Atlanta and flooding all over the news- go here. We live close to the Chattahoochee River and have to drive over it and yesterday on the way home noticed it was WAY full. There is a road that we often take to go to the Terry's house that goes under that same bridge, so Ben and I went to scope it out. The park there is under water, I took some pictures and it's crazy! Here it is as of Saturday:

And what it was like yesterday:

And here it is today (thankfully it went down a bit, but still covering the dock):

It's crazy! Ryan said he's NEVER seen it that full in his entire life of living here in this area. We're expected to see more rain in the next couple of days, but they said the worst of it is over. However, that doesn't mean the flooding and damage wont stop. It's crazy how just about 20 mins away from where we live they are seeing such horrible conditions and we are perfectly fine... and obviously blessed. Ryan took this picture today while scoping things out around his work.

Looks like it's possible our camping trip this weekend is going to be postponed... BOO! Seriously it seems like EVERY time we try to go camping it rains. Maybe next weekend....
Happy (official) First Day of FALL! I was inspired to put up my Fall decorations already this past weekend- check, the leaves are starting to change-check, the acorns are falling on our roof and startling us a little-check, cooler weather on the way? Not sure... but in a couple weeks it'll be time for pumpkin patches, apple festivals and corn mazes and lots of other fun activities! YAY!

Movin' Up in the World!

Ben had his 18 month check up Friday. He's as good as can be expected. He's made it to the 15-20th percentile!!!! He grew 2 inches since his last appointment. She told me I'm doing everything I could be with his biting "issue". She said he's saying plenty of words and is impressed he can feed himself baby food vegetables! he, he....Here he is with Dr. Greenwald. She's been his doc since day 1 and we really like her a lot!
Because of the biting in daycare, they decided maybe a change of scenery was needed. So they have been "transitioning" him to the toddler room and so far he's done excellent. He's not bitten anyone and has a good time. Today he drank out of a cup...not a sippy cup, but a little dixie cup! I wish I could've seen it! I mean, I saw the juice on his shirt when I picked him up- but the teachers said he did a really good job. He didn't need his pacifier all day either, even napped with out it. I am so proud of him and I guess this is what he needed! The last few nights he's been a little grumpy, okay A LOT grumpy... but tonight he was a good boy and had fun in the bath and even pointed to who Jesus was in his bedroom. He's saying "amen" or his version of it anyway, after prayers now.
Today I got to reading some info on parenting... it's a website for a certain type of parenting and I don't completely agree with it all, but I don't disagree with a lot of it either. I use a lot of the "techniques" if you will already. One thing it said though made me feel horrible... it said that mothers really should be at home and that it's better for the kids. That childcare centers can be stressful on the children and all these other things. That if you are planning to take them to childcare it's best to just do it for a few hours a day, but not all day long. Well... how about that. My son goes 9 hours a day. 9 hours of my day I don't get to be with him. Boy... way to make me feel even more guilty than I thought I could! I wanted to shout at the computer and say "look lady, if I could- I WOULD!" but didn't think that to be entirely appropriate to do... at work. I just hope and pray that some day I can be with my dude and future siblings... if not I hope they KNOW that their mommy really, really, really, really, REALLY (x's a million) wanted to be at home with them. I know it's so much better for me to be with him. Look, I'm not naive- I know a lot of stay at home mom's sometimes wish they had that outside time to themselves. And I know it's not all peaches n' cream staying at home ALL DAY with children. I wont lie, I'm sure it is a lot easier in a way dropping your kid off for someone else to watch all day long. BUT mentally it's not. I want to be with him; through thick and thin, stressful and bad days, good and wonderful days... everything. I want to teach him more about Heavenly Father and Jesus than I know he gets. I'm grateful though that he can go to Nursery at church and learn more there too. Anyway... after a year and a half of this going to work and leaving my little boy at daycare it's still not any easier. That's my soap dish...and here is my cute boy in his new class.
It's raining today and it's been quite dark and gloomy the last few days. It's really starting to feel like Fall though, for the exception of the warm weather. We're planning a camping trip for the last weekend in the month. I AM SO EXCITED! Then can you believe it? October is just around the corner. Blows my mind.
I mentioned before they are renovating the temple. We drive by it every day so we always look to see what kind of progress they've made. It took a while to see anything happening, but then we started noticing dumpsters, and then trucks, and cranes and then Monday we saw this. It's a little strange to see the temple with backhoes and tractors on it's front lawn. We'll see what happens! Ryan suspects maybe they'll put a drop off drive way sort of thing, maybe!
We also got some good news this week at work, the 3% pay deduction they took from us is coming back! Phew! It will be a relief to have that back. Things have been super tight!

Labor Day-Destin Trip

Happy 9-9-09!!!
It’s Wednesday, which is good news. Because that means we have a short work week. Ben has his 18 month well-child check up Friday, and that means I get to leave work a couple hours early. SO… hopefully this week will go by fast? Although… now that Labor Day weekend is over I really have nothing in particular to look forward to in the very near future. We are hoping to go to TN in October to Dollywood with my cousin Laura and her family, and then my parents are coming for Christmas… so I guess I should be excited about that stuff! This weekend was a BLAST and seriously what I needed, but it marked the end of summer for us. That’s okay though, I DO love me some Fall-time and it was a VERY fun summer. I hope it was for my little guy. I know he enjoyed swimming and being in the water a lot this summer.

So we went to Destin, FL this weekend with the Terry’s, the Elton’s, the Clint, the Jiznin and her friend Chris. We got off work early on Friday, and then picked the Elton’s (Hillary & Mark) up at their respective locations. Mark’s was at Georgia Tech and getting out of downtown was a BEAST. It took a ridiculously long time to get out of town and even longer to get to Destin! BUT, we had a fun ride down. Ben did well and only fussed a little. But we let him run around occasionally and we took plenty of potty stops. Especially one particular humorous stop we made in the back woods of Alabama for me to go potty, even though I’d only gone like maybe an hour prior to that! It was a small gas station of the road we were traveling on and I went in and saw two guys standing near the door to the bathroom, so I waited for a second thinking that they were in line, and then it occurred to me that they were just hanging out…in the gas station. I looked around to see where the actual door was for the restroom and found it was cracked open and thought “oh, they must not be waiting…” and when I opened the door my life flashed before my eyes. Okay, not really but a man on the toilet did who yelled at me did. SO… I apologized quickly while shutting the door and stood for a minute… waiting… until I decided that I didn’t want to be there anymore. It smelled of fried something and I didn’t want him to see me- the girl who walked in on him doing his thing. Plus, I didn’t want to be sitting doing MY business and someone walk in on me because the door didn’t shut all the way! So I crossed my legs and ran out and told the gang what happened and stunk the car up with the smell of whatever that fried something was that stuck to me. We found a “better” bathroom down the road!!! We ate in Opp, Alabama. It was a little scary I wont lie. But I’m not judging, I just had to note that because the name amused me. It rained pretty hard on us and we saw lots of lightning. But really, it’s a beautiful drive. We saw the ITTY-BITTIEST LDS church building I’ve EVER seen. It was seriously the size of maybe two bathrooms and a kitchen in a stake center put together! Anyway, we got to Destin first before the other car (The Terry’s, Clint and Jennifer) and got all settled in. Ben was asleep by this point, so I stayed at the condo and waited for the other 3 to go to the store for some basic necessities for the next day. We crashed out pretty hard that night and slept well. Ben woke us up fairly early Saturday, but that was okay because we were ready to make breakfast (me and Ryan) and get to the beach. So we ate and applied sunscreen and headed out. The water was PERFECT the weather was PERFECT the company was PERFECT. Ben was a little weirded out by the sand at first and I think he thought it hurt to stand on it but he enjoyed playing it. He had to have a shovel in his hands at all times when playing in the sand. He also was a big fan of his floaties we got him. I wasn’t too sure he’d be so in to them, but he like them and wore them the whole time. He’d even say “on, on, on” when they weren’t on! He liked the water… he kept liking his mouth or the float or even the water because of the salt I guess. He didn’t like to stay out for too long, which is fine. But the water was such that he could’ve if he wanted to because it was so calm. I think it was perfect temp for us, but maybe a little too cold for him. It was a little more wavy at the shore (of course), so when we’d walk in sometimes it would slap against us and get him all wet and in his face, but he dealt with it really well. If we laughed he would too. He kept pointing at it and saying “wah-wah” too. Smart kid! As a side note, the water seriously relaxed me SO much. I can’t even explain how badly I needed that trip. I LOVE the ocean just as much as I do the mountains, and it was so good to be there and in such good conditions. Ryan had a wonderful time too and we both had fun playing or floating or splashing in the water! So, we’re still on Saturday… we went back to the condo after a few hours at the beach and ate and then put Ben down for a nap. Everyone came in at that point and put a movie on- but neither Ryan nor I could stay awake and I was starting to get a headache so we napped too! It was terrific! Some of us realized though that we didn’t sunscreen ourselves up as adequately as we thought we did. Apparently I forgot to do my back, and so did Ashley. Hillary thought she got her front side and didn’t, Jen got a little spot on her neck that caused her much pain and I apparently forgot to apply sunscreen to the lower half of Ryan’s back too! Whoops! But after our naps and eating and movie watching we went back out to the beach. By this time Jen’s friend Chris joined us. Some didn’t swim though because of the aforementioned sunburns. Ben played in the "wah-wah" again but mostly enjoyed the beach. I think he was still pretty tired from earlier that afternoon. So he hung out a lot with his peeps and enjoyed putting sand in his hair and of course ate some. After the beach me, Ryan, Ben and Jennifer went to the grocery store to get stuff for the rest of the weekend. And the others ordered pizza for us all. We ate pizza and enjoyed each other’s company and played games and stuff. We spent more time at the beach and pool the next morning and then spent the afternoon relaxing and cooking dinner. However, my little guy must’ve had his feet sunburned or something because when he woke up from his nap he was FUSSY! It took us a minute to figure it out, but we finally did and saw that his feet were VERY red and could tell it hurt him to walk, so we put aloe on his feet and on top of that his teeth were bugging him and so we also gave him some Tylenol. He perked up after a few which was good because he really was driving everyone crazy and dinner sucked because I was a little distracted by him and didn’t make it quite right. Anyway that night we walked down to the beach and then watched “Jack Frost” from MST3000 (Mystery Science Theater) and laughed and listened to the storm outside and then we all crashed HARD. Monday a few of us made one last trip out to the beach and enjoyed the peaceful warm and calm water… so beautiful and clear. I will miss that water… I already do. It was PERFECT. Then after cleaning up we headed home… on an 11 hour trip home for what should be a 6 hour drive! Traffic was bad again… and we stopped a few times. We got to visit Hillary’s house in Columbus and that was fun to see where she grewed up (some people say it like that here in the South). Besides the traffic, the trip was most excellent!!! We all decided we needed to make this an annual trip and maybe spend more than just Labor Day weekend there!
So Ben keeps biting his peeps at school. I can only deduct that it’s his teething thing going on. He doesn’t do it everyday and he doesn’t break skin, but he does leave a mark. And yesterday he did it with out being egged on or anything, they were just sitting there. Everyone keeps telling me not to worry about it, but I feel bad for the other kids and their mom’s getting mad- but I don’t know what else to do. We made a pretty big deal out of it last night when we went to get him, but he’s too little to realize after the fact what he’s done. He doesn’t do it at home… he knows better. Here’s to me praying my guts out that he’ll stop soon. At least when his teeth have all come in!
I was starting to get worried because he hadn't really expanded his vocabulary and he wouldn't repeat things even though he'd said them before and I knew he knew how to. And then all of a sudden he's saying a lot more words now! His favorite is... guess... "no". He knows how to use it right even. Beach, water, please, up, sit (seat, seat), spoon, poop, pee-pee, teeth, hair, his own name which sounds like Bee, he can "sing" the alphabet- rather he makes sounds like what we sing- but he's trying! He can say A,B,C though. He's starting to say "amen" at the end of prayers. And another favorite thing for him to do is to give Ally her treat before we leave for the day and shut her door. He sure does love her. When we were in Destin I was doing our bedtime thing Sunday night and was talking to him and stuff and I asked if he was excited to go home and go see Ally and which point he jumped up from laying down to look for her! He was really hurt when I told him she wasn't there because he'd gotten so excited.
That's all for now folks.

My kid's got rhythm.

The coolest thing I ever saw...

Comfy Lounge Pants Look Like Your Favorite Pair Of Distressed Jeans.Description: A great look for you and your man, these comfortable 100% cotton lounge pants have an elastic waist with drawstring and side seam pockets.
The soft knit material has the comfy fit of your favorite lounge pants.

Thank you LTD for bringing this magical new "lounge pant". With faux butt pockets and everything! I expect to see people sporting these at my local Wal-Mart any day now!

**Update on the "Chair Issue", the chair lasted a couple days. I came in this morning and it was gone. And replaced by this. An old gray chair. To match my gray desk, gray walls, gray floor.... I should bring in a throw pillow in a bright vibrant color. :) Something that says, "Come on in! Have a seat! Let's talk!"

A year and a half! WOWZA!

Can you believe our little man is 18 months today?! He's getting to be such a big boy. It's like everyday he wakes up and he looks like he's gotten bigger and older! He's so adorable and fun and cute and we are so happy we have him!

Here he is with his two buddies from daycare Amara and Sabrina.

"Chair Issue"

Boy oh boy, there are some really amusing and sometimes infuriating things that happen at work. This was kind of a combination of both. This was my favorite "office happening" this week, so far. My initial email is in green, and the response below it. And by "guest chair" I am referring to a chair that EVERYONE that sits in a cube has that is meant for visitors or people that need to come and sit and train or whatever. Just like one would have chairs in their office. So I came in on Monday morning and mine was gone. And so were the others with in our dept. But NO WHERE ELSE.

Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 8:12 AM

To: Facilities

Subject: Guest Chair

I had a guest chair in my cubicle and now it’s gone this morning. I do use that and need one, is there any way to get it back?

-Heather Smith

The response:

Heather,

I removed the chair as it belongs to the breakroom.Guest chairs are being ordered and distributed as needed when they arrive. Guest chairs will be limited to Director cubes, and Manager cubes that have a staff. Please schedule conference room spacing when needed for side by side meetings until we can supply a guest chair. Unfortunately we are experiencing a chair issue so I am required to supply the areas and people that have a dedicated need.

Kind Regards

"Chair issue"???? Really? A chair issue???? Plus, I've had this chair ever since I've sat in this cube and the person before me as well! Now... I present to you a photo of the breakroom.

I'm not sure, but 8 chairs a row of tables seems like enough to me! Mine was sitting alone, against a wall... rendered useless. So my boss went and got it and brought it back to my cubicle!!

My "venting" chair is back! That could be a good or bad thing... and we'll see how long before it goes missing again!

Life With The Smiff's

It seems like all I do lately is give people updates on our weekends. That's kind of boring huh? Well too bad... because you're getting another one!
Friday I enjoyed the company of get this... OTHER WOMEN! What? Really!? I know right! I had a girl's night "out" and it was quite enjoyable. Ryan and Ben kicked it at the house and I went and hung out with Ashley and Martha and some other girls from their ward. We watched a chick-flick, ate junk food and talked GIRL talk. It was nice and much needed I think for all of us. One really good perk of the evening is one of the girls I met does hair, but from home and so she charges HALF of what I've been paying the salon. SCORE! Another way to save money...
Thursday I got a surprise text message from my sister Delinda that said she was "accidentally" in Atlanta visiting for the weekend. Saturday was her birthday, so we were excited when she decided that they would come with us to our already planned Saturday activity- the Red Bull Soapbox Race. Click here to see some pictures and info on if there's an event near you! It was a lot of fun, hot... but fun. We wished we could have hung out with Delinda more but it was nice to even get to see her since she's moved far away from us! Ben was a champ, had fun playing in the park and drinking lots of Gatorade (G2- half the calories, which means less sugar and my kid stays hydrated!). They had the NASCAR Camry that drove by and made a lot of noise and Ryan and Ben LOVED that. We couldn't really see the soapbox cars too well as they were "racing", but before we got to snap some photos in the pit. It was fun, and next time they're in town- we are so there! After we got home we let Ben finish his nap and then went to the store for groceries and then ate dinner, put Ben down when it was time- and Mommy and Daddy watched a movie and ate a half a pan of Rice Krispie treats and cuddled. It was... LOVELY. :) Except for we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and it was a little depressing. But pretty good.
We had a good Sabbath, Ben was good at Church especially after a good breakfast, nap and then snack! So we had a nice weekend and are a little bummed it's over. However, one more week of work and then we're off to the beach for Labor Day! Destin, here we come!
We decided to not go to St. John's this winter with the Terry's unfortunately. It really saddens me deeply, but like my mom said (and the Rolling Stones...) "we can't always get what we want" and well, life goes on. We get to at least go to Destin and then we're mostly likely headed to TN to go to Dollywood with my cousin Laura and her family and stay in a cabin in the Fall. So that should be lots of fun too. ALSO... good and exciting news! I helped my parents find a pretty good deal on tickets for Christmas this week and we purchased them so prayers were answered and Grandma and Grandpa are coming for Christmas!!! Wahooo! (Ash, that's for you!) It will be so nice to have them here and we will enjoy their company and I'm excited for them to spend Christmas with Benny.
Money always seems to be a stress in our lives. Maintaining a mortgage, car payment and VERY expensive daycare payments is difficult. We are currently looking for other avenues to lessen these stresses and this is one of the reasons why we can go with the Terry's to St. Johns. Hopefully things will straighten out soon, even if we have to do it ourselves. I am praying we can find cheaper but still GOOD care for Ben during the day, until I can hopefully one day do it myself. Of course this is something that presses on my mind and HEART daily... I miss him so much I try not to think about it because I get all weepy if I do. We of course would like to have more additions to our family but we can't until we can get some of the costs of life down. So I pray that this will all work out soon. I'm not getting any younger!
Other than that we are good. We are tremendously blessed and I am so grateful for our family and friends. We have so many nice and wonderful things and a roof over our heads and food to eat. And more importantly each other.

We had a really good weekend. I took Friday off and first thing in the morning was violated by a Nurse Practitioner at my OBGYN office who told me that I was in great need of lowering my blood pressure and basically that I was fat. She didn't come out and say "you're fat"... she was nice, but it was obvious what she was getting at. AND well come on- it wasn't exactly news to me. ANYWAY, after a quick change of a poopy outfit at the daycare when I went to go get Ben after I was done, we ran to my work so that I could let someone use my computer to run a report and so that everyone could go bonkers over my cute kid. After I was done there, we drove to go see Cecilia and her little Ryan! It was so much fun! I haven't seen her in a long time and haven't seen the baby since he was itty-bitty so it was so good to see her and spend some time with her. Plus we talk very candidly and I appreciate that a lot. Ryan is a cutie little bundle of happiness and fun and I am so happy for her and Aaron.
After we spent a couple hours with them, we met up with Clint, Ashley and JENNIFER! YAY! It was SO good to see her. And then basically the whole day was spent in honor of Jiznin. We ate lunch and talked and laughed and then headed to the Terry's and talked some more and then that night we had breakfast for dinner and the Elton's, Neaner and Clint came over (and Ryan came with the Elton's after work). We got to listen to her tell us all about her mission and she showed us some really neat pictures. We are glad to have her back and are proud of her and pray for her to get back in to the swing of things soon and to find a good job to boot, hopefully close to all of us! Yesterday we went and helped move Clint in to his new apartment. Goodbye stinky, scary place and hello nice little apartment. (Even though there is already cockroaches in the new one!) After we got done with that we ate lunch and then cleaned out our back room and put up a lot of stuff in the attic. I didn't really realize how many clothes Ben has until yesterday... ones he doesn't wear anymore anyway. Hopefully we have another boy eventually! We basically really just cleaned yesterday. Did a lot of laundry... and played with Ben. Today we did the church thing and then made spaghetti and cookies for our Sunday Dinner, had our home teacher over (whom we really enjoy) and had a good night with our friends. It was such a nice night some of us decided to eat out on the deck. Other than stupid mosquitoes it was great!
John and his family are off to Argentina today, I wish them the most fun and safety and a safe return. I can't wait to hear all about it!!!! The Fall is rapidly approaching, I dare say I am already seeing some of the leaves on the trees changing and the air and light is changing. It's making me quite excited! We are excited to go to FL in a couple weeks, hopefully TN in Oct, maybe even a quick trip to Chicago to see DJ. We will see about that one, but here's to wishing! We are also hoping (and praying) that my parents can come out here to GA for Christmas. That would be so awesome. Hopefully finances with allow it.
Well, here are some photos... Ben looked super handsome and all grown up today at church I just had to take a couple of pictures of him. Also, I wanted to add video of him playing the piano over at the Terry's house Friday. He's pretty much the cutest thing ever, and I'm smitten over him!!! Also, when we were sick last Monday we decided to go on a drive to get out of the house. When I was younger my mom always sent me outside to get sunshine and fresh air when I was sick- and so I decided that's what we needed too. To get away from the germs and fill our lungs with goodness. So we drove up to Lake Lanier and Benny decided he wanted to play in the water. It was warm and he had so much fun.

I have the day off tomorrow, not because I'm sick- but because I get to visit with friends! Oh and I have to go see the girl doctor since I was supposed to Monday and was holed up in bed trying to get over my previous night's bout with the flu. I plan to visit my good friend Cecilia and her little guy and Ashley's going to pick Jiznin up to come up and see us! Yay!
We've had an okay week. The beginning of it- not so much. Tuesday we were still recovering, Wednesday we had a fun time over at the Terry's celebrating Jacob's b-day. The boys played Madden and I chased the kid around a little and he played on their cute new white piano and LOVED it. And got to see a cute new little baby Olivia. She's adorable. :)
Tonight I went visiting teaching and Ryan and Ben had a manly men bonding experience. Ryan cut Ben's hair and gave him a bath and put him down to bed. I enjoy chatting with the ladies and so that's a nice little thing to do once a month. We missed one of the girls we were supposed to visit, I guess maybe she forgot! That happens!

-does anyone else hate how long it takes just to get in to your mail on hotmail anymore?
-I STILL don't like the new U2 or Pearl Jam songs... I have cannot be convinced. I'm sorry.
-I tend to agree with Kelly and couldn't have said it better!
-we live close to the Verizon Amphitheater that's in Alpharetta... all I have to say right now is why does Judas Priest have to be so loud? Ryan just opened the back door and said "Heather, come here...I know this song". That's just how loud it is. (It's Saturday now, and it's loud AGAIN.)
-I love Kohl's. And I love that I used the $10 gift card they sent in the mail today to buy and bath rug and only paid $1.33 for it.

The Itsy-bitsy Spider...

I tell you what... me, Ryan AND especially Ben will be glad when all those toofies come in. There's a pattern; teething, growth spurt, teething, growth spurt, teething... get the picture? He just finished a happy-Benny growth spurt and everything was sunshine and lollipops and pig outs and lots of sleep, and now- the molars. Ech... poor kid has been miserable today. And to boot has a HORRRRRRRIIIIIIBBBBBBLLLLLEEEE rash on his bum and poor little boy balls. :( He snuggled a long time with me tonight and I sang "Go to Sleep My Baby" and lots of primary songs to him... he almost fell asleep. I love when he wants to snuggle with me, so I take full advantage of that! He's sleeping like a champ now.He says "nose" now-only with out the "se" on the end. He says don't, no-no, shhh, and I'm pretty sure it's "poop" he says now too. Twice when he's had a poopy diaper he's said something VERY similar to the word... so I think that's what it means! Leave it to my kid to learn to say poop! He's able to feed himself with a spoon or fork, so to get him to eat his veggies I give him a bowl of (baby food) veggies and let him go to town. We remove clothing, and he eats them, has fun and makes a mess- most importantly he gets what he needs! He's all green and goobery and cute here.Not much else happening. Oh, there's a ginormous spider out on the deck right now. Kind of cool and gross all at the same time.I'm really, really ready for Labor Day to be here. I am a little worn out with work. Our friend Jennifer got home from Mongolia today. Or she's supposed to anyway, haven't heard the latest. Ashley and I are hoping to go visit next week possibly. Love to you all.

Ben eating a lemon

He's so cute.

I guess it's time to update. I haven't been much in the mood to, although I've had a lot of really good thoughts I have wanted to share. But I don't remember them anymore now!
One thing that's been kind of hard of me is Ben is starting to have a little bit of an issue with kicking, biting and hitting. This not only makes me mad it makes me sad too. I know it's normal and almost every kid goes through it- that doesn't mean I have to like it. He's been sent home twice now with "Incident Reports" because he's bitten someone. Sometimes he'll snuggle his face in my legs when I'm wearing pants and bite my pants. He's started to kick at me when I change his diaper and has gotten in trouble with Daddy for that. And today I was holding him and he wanted down and I wouldn't let him because we were in front on the daycare waiting for Ryan to come and he slapped my face with both hands. I know it's kind of silly for me to be upset because he's so little... but I don't want this to become the beginning of bad habits and notions of how he treats people-especially his mommy. He's testing his limits and that's normal... I just want to be patient and stern at the same time and I'm assuming this will be my next challenge as a mommy! It's really important to me to make sure he and I get along but that he respects me and Ryan as his parents. And any adult really. I was taught and raised to respect my elders and I will expect that out of my kids as well.
Delinda made it to Chicago today. That girl... she somehow finds herself in a series of unfortunate events. She had a run in with a cop and an impound lot and then her car unfortunately met a pole but not in a good way, which dislodged the bumper that came undone while driving to stay in Louisville, KY that had to be tied up with the string from a mesh laundry bag! They had to sneak Kidder, her dog, in to the hotel room in a suitcase since pets weren't allowed! Then Louisville was experiencing major flooding and storms and I said to her, "wouldn't be appropriate if your car just floated off?" Luckily it didn't and they made it to Chicago safe and sound. She's starting a new adventure in her life and I'm so proud of her. I will miss her SO much. I know she's gone and left me for AZ and Africa before, but for some reason this feels more permanent. I'm just glad she has plenty of people to visit here in Atlanta so I know she'll be coming often. I find comfort in that. PLUS I've always wanted to visit Chicago so it'll be fun to go and see her digs. We got to hang out with her and Jen on Saturday night. She brought Kidder over and Ben is TERRIFIED of her for some reason, so we watched Kidder torment Ally and Ben be afraid of her for a little while. He started to get more and more used to her but still didn't really like her being around.We're counting down the days to 1. the arrival of our friend Jiznin (Jennifer G.) getting home from her mission to Mongolia. I can't believe it's already been that long, and it'll be cool because the last time she got to see Ben was when he was still in my tummy. And 2. going to Destin, FL for Labor day! I need something to look forward to and this is just the thing for me. We're going with The Terry's and Clint and maybe Jennifer if she's up to it and possibly another couple of friends. I'm excited to see how Ben does at the beach and to even to just GO to the beach. We'll be staying in the same condo that we stayed in a couple years ago for Memorial Day. So we're excited. Should be lots of fun.
This past Sunday after dinner, we headed over to Jacob's parents house. They have loads of land and it's all beautiful and kept beautifully but also very rugged. His dad had a burn permit so we went and made a bonfire and made S'Mores. It was a lot of fun. One thing that I LOVE about the summer time in the South is the lightning bugs (or fireflies)! I am so excited my kids get to grow up around them. It was kind of hot and humid for a fire, it had been raining all day... but it was still way fun and enjoyable. I didn't have the camera so iPhone pictures will have to do. It makes me excited to finally get to go camping this Fall. We love the Fall in our group of friends... there's SO much fun stuff to do. Camping, pumpkin patches, apple festivals, the leaves changing and nice drives, corn mazes, the Holidays... we're almost there which honestly freaks me out. It's AUGUST people! School starts in our county next week! Weird.
More photos of Ben playing in the pool. It was nice and toasty from being in the sun this time.
It's late... off to bed.

What we did this weekend so far:
-ate frozen pizza and then watched Bedtime Stories last night.
-we all woke up at 9am and then gave Ben some breakfast.
-did yard work and housework.
-drove to help Delinda pack her 1 million books... seriously felt like it. She could open up her own library! (Did I mention I will miss her?)
-ate lunch (kind of late, sorry Ben!), Ben got his first balloon courtesy of Miss Ann at Chick-fil-a, mommy let it slip from her hands while getting in the car and it floated away while daddy was more upset that it was gone then Ben was!
-ran some errands; went to get me some shorts/capris- found a comfy pair, shopped for some other essentials.
-rested and let Ben nap
-filled up our new pool we got him, unfortunately the water was too cold to play in and by the time we got out there to play the sun was going down... until next time.-ate at Taco Mac
-saw a beautiful sunset with the BIG ORANGE SUN.
-put "The Dude" to bed, he was WORN out but still wanted to play and laugh with me even until we left his room.-watched Food Network, went to Facebook, and now writing this post.
I should go to bed. It's almost midnight... I'm pretty worn out from a kid who has been WHINING for like 4 days straight. Tomorrow we'll do the Church thing and then have the peeps over for dinner. PIZZA NIGHT! Then it's off to another week of work....my how the weekends pass us by so quickly.

Don't Worry, About a Thing...

Why is it okay that the summer is quickly vanishing away before our very eyes? It's already closing on the last week of July and it seems like time has just flown by!
I stayed home today with my Benny. He had a fever yesterday and ralphed on the way to daycare in the morning. He was fine though once we got there. Then after nap he had another fever, so we had to go pick him up. He had another one at 1am and I've been feeling a little like I'm getting a cold so he and I stayed home. He went down for a morning nap, and about 40 mins after he went down, so did I! And oh...my...gosh... I NEEDED THAT. It was a beautifully perfect nap. The bed was comfy and cool, I slept and didn't worry about needing to make sure I woke up if he did, it rained a little outside which made the snuggling even better.... ah man, it was just what the doctor ordered. We went for a little walk, Ben loves to go outside and took me by the hand to both the front AND back door trying to get me to take him outside. SO we walked up the street with the dog and it was kind of "sprinkling" if you could even call it that. But by the time we got back to the house and the driveway it started to rain again. So it was perfect timing. After his second nap he was pretty grumpy and I think in pain, so after the Ibuprofen kicked in he was happy again. AS you can see above- we did a little coloring too. He's still getting the hang of it, and got bored after a while. But that's okay, "every little bit counts said the old lady as she peed in to the sea" (as my mom says).
DJ came over to hang out tonight and that was great. She's leaving for Chicago soon, and it makes my heart very sad. I love my sister SO much and will miss her immensely. It has been great having her here in Georgia with me. I don't want to talk about it anymore, because I don't feel like crying right now when my nose is already stuffed up.
So what's new? Eh... not much really. Both of us are still working, day by day. Same thing, different day. What keeps us going and happy is our guy. He makes life interesting, exciting, crazy and wonderful. He's getting really good at saying things that sound like what he's really trying to say, like "thank you", "all done", "bee" for tree. His vocabulary is getting bigger but my favorite is still to hear his gibberish talk. Ryan's favorite is when he says "bye-bye!" and waves! He refuses to eat with utensils at daycare, but refuses to eat WITH OUT them here at home! I'm still having the "no eating vegetables" battle with him- but I need to try a different method out. I read in a Parenting magazine to wait until he's STARVED and give him those first. But he's pretty stubborn and I don't want to fight him too much. He'll at least eat the baby food kind- but he's almost a year and a half and getting too old for that. He's getting something though, so I guess that's good. I'm thinking part of his not feeling good today is from getting more teeth. I will be happy when all those little buggers come in- but I think we've got a long way to go. He whined a lot today, so Nichole- I think I know how you feel... a little! I think I'll head to bed, back to work again tomorrow.

Our Little Monkey

It's official... he knows how to climb. Oh boy...