Cow, Ben. Ben, Cow.

This is my favorite picture from this weekend's trip to the Fair! More to come!

So... what's going on?

I know. It's time for an update. There really isn't much that's been going on in OUR life, however a lot going on in our family's lives.
-have a family member that's been in the hospital with health problems which is never good.
-my parents have FINALLY sold their house in Logan, UT after having it up for sale for quite a long time and are waiting to hear about a house they put an offer on in St. George, UT.
-because of this, they have been under the gun to get their WHOLE house packed up, and THANK GOODNESS FOR SHAUNA! I wish more than anything we could be there to help. It's hard living so far away.
-my sister Delinda is in Luanda, Angola Africa and has already visited and spent time with our family in South Africa, both Johannesburg and Cape Town. I don't think she even KNOWS how envious most of us in the family are that she gets to repeatedly have that experience. I am so glad though that someone from the Collier family can make associations and relationships with them besides mom.
-our home front: Ryan has successfully installed the toilet- or as we refer to it, the twa-lette. :) Now what's left is the vanity, caulking, tub faucet, mirror and other accessories. I'm pretty dang proud of my guy for doing all of that on his own. It's been a trying experience, but I think for the rest of the time we're in that house he will always be proud of his work!
-Ben WANTS TO CRAWL. He doesn't have time for sitting up, but is doing better at it. They're practicing with him at school and we do a lot of practice at home too when we can. In fact today at lunch he was doing quite well on his own. It's possible he'll be breaking in some teeth soon too. He's getting so big so fast. He also is starting to give kisses, of course with his mouth wide open! He's a loving and happy little guy. We are so grateful for him!
-we are having (Aunt) Ashley and Jacob watch Ben tomorrow so we can go to the temple. It will be super nice.
-I posted for another position with in my company a couple days ago. It's time to change up the scenery a little and get some different work experience. I also am seeking for management who understands parenthood. So, hopefully, if it's Heavenly Father's will- it will go through. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
-Heather (me) is thoroughly enjoying the cooler weather, but not Ryan. I am super excited to be able to sleep with the window open at night, which we are convinced has made it extremely difficult to get up in the morning! I LOVE IT!
-we have LOTS of fun Fall-ish things planned for our future weekends. The State Fair, the Apple Festival, the Pumpkin Patch, possible camping trip, picnics, Ben's first Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner! This is me being excited!

This is me lately. I am so darn forgetful. I told Ryan this morning that lately it seems that it's requirement for me to forget at least ONE thing a day. The day before yesterday it was my purse. I left it at home, on the kitchen table. Today it was my deodorant (I've made a conscious effort to keep my arms down today!). Ben needed diapers on Monday, I had them in the back of the car... I didn't remember I had them in there until I got a lovely note on his chart asking for them and reminding me!!! Ever since I had Ben, and maybe even while I was pregnant with him, I have become SO forgetful! I used to be able to think of EVERYTHING- I was on top of it! Now... not so much! It's SO, no like SOOOOOO annoying! I feel so unorganized, even if I make myself organized. Make sense? Even if I plan things out- I'll still forget something. Maybe it's because there are just too many things and people to remember things for. Goodness, gracious. I was at the doc's office a couple weeks ago and I had Ben in his car seat on the floor while I was checking out. One of the nurses came over to distract/play/gaga at him so I could focus on the task at hand. After I was done- I started to fret because I couldn't find my keys.... I was looking everywhere... saying to myself "Where are my keys? Oh no, did mommy lose her keys?" (Yes, I'm referring to myself as Mommy to Ben now.) The nurse politely said to me while patting my shoulder "your memory WILL come back someday honey... it just might take a while". What a relief to hear! Mostly because I'm glad I'm not the only one! Oh well... I look forward to that one day.

Labor Day in Florida

Because it's easy and you don't have to look at a bunch of pictures you may or may not want to see, I am just doing ANOTHER mosaic of our trip to FL. We had a really good time with the Woodsons. It's so great to know we have a friendship with them that will last forever! On our trip we got to go to St. Augustine first, and had a wonderful time there. We got rained on, but it was a fun little adventure. Not 5 mins later it cleared up and we got back to being tourists. We went to the Castillo de San Marcos Monument, we walked up and down the "town strip" and stopped by for a quick picture at the light house. After we got to the Woodson's, we went to the beach a couple times (even though at one of the stops we made there really was no beach! The hurricanes made the water really rough and the tide really high). We went to the pool in their neighborhood a couple times and Ben LOVED it. He had a blast in his little crab floaty. Ryan & I got to go on a date to my favorite restaurant and did a little shopping. We had a lot of fun!!! It was so wonderful and relaxing and we just love it there. Ryan keeps saying he wants to move to FL someday so we can be close to the beach. We will see! I am really grateful that we are so close to the ocean living here in ATL... it's really not too far away. Speaking of far away, Ben did AWESOME on the way down. He slept most of the time. Now on the way back it was a little more of a struggle. Probably because it was daylight and we did the full 8 hour stretch (which turned into 10 hours with stops and eating). He wasn't completely awful though and he did sleep a lot. It was just annoying for him I think. Anyway- we look forward to going again next year!

1. me and Ben at the monument (fort)
2. the lighthouse
3. Ryan and Ben with the beautiful ocean behind them, also at the fort.
4. rainy leaf
5. Ben's first trip to the beach
6. toes in the sand
7. daddy and Ben playing in the pool
8. laying out at the beach
9. cool fountain in St. Augustine
10. Me, Ben and Jill
11. Cute boys Seth and Ian
12. Sleeping on the way home
    

He likes to roll and I think he's thinking that he might want to crawl sometime soon.

The Halloween/Fall Candy Arrives...

All I have to say is YUM. Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses people!!! It's like have a little mini piece of pumpkin cheesecake in your pocket!!! Well, don't put it in your pocket cuz it could melt and then things WILL get messy, then you'll get mad at the Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses and then you'll have a bitterness towards them and you need to love them as much as I do. So put them in a nice candy jar or bowl and have them as accessible as you see fit.

Sup?

We got Ben's 6 month pictures at Portrait Innovations this weekend. The pictures turned out pretty good- mostly because he's the cutest thing EVER... but I wasn't super impressed with our visit. We (Delinda and I) were late because I thought they were in the mall and it turns out they are NEAR the mall, not in it. So I called to let them know we were late and while on the phone asked if I needed to schedule for another time or if I could still come in. She said they weren't "that busy" and that we could still come. We got there around 12:15 and our appt was for 12. My first frustration was when on the phone with them I asked the girl where they were and she just kept saying we're here by Ross or by Target. This is how our conversation went:

Me: "so those are RIGHT next door to you?"

Her: "well they're down the street"

Me: "Can you tell me what's right next to you?"

Her: "well, we're near Panera and Carter's"

Me: "okay, so Carter's is right next to you?"

Her: "No... it's close to us though."

Seriously- she could NOT just tell me what store was exactly right next to her store and was getting annoyed with me because I kept asking. Anyway- luckily we found it. And when we got there we waited and waited and finally at about 1pm I decided to just leave, and right then someone came to get us. It wasn't just the wait that made me want to leave, the people were SO rude! They were rude when I asked if there was a time frame of how long it was going to be. Also, Delinda was sitting next to me on the couch and one of the workers said something to me about how much longer it was going to be, then as I was talking to Delinda asked if her she had an appt. I said "she's with me" and I guess the girl didn't hear me (and obviously didn't pick up that we were sitting next to each other talking) and asked Delinda AGAIN and I said "She's with me..." and kind of gave her a look. Her response was "okay! I was just wondering!" and walked off all put out. Um, okay...? Anyway- the photographer was new and she did a pretty good job. The lighting was a little crazy- but the pictures turned out fine. Luckily Ben was AWESOME and obviously smiled lots. But by the time we were done, he was hot (it was warm in there) and hungry. We waited for the pictures to be uploaded and the photographer told us it would just be like 15 minutes. Well, 15 mins had come and gone and she was just sitting at the front while we were sitting next to the computer that had our pictures up wondering why we weren't looking at them yet. By this time it was around 2, and so I asked her if we could look at them and she looked at me (again put out- and this was a different girl than the first) and said "my manager has to go through them with me". Hmmm. WHY? So finally we start looking at the photos, and the manager comes over to "help". He's not letting the new girl do her thing at all, kept picking different pictures for us to look at then she picked- really kind of being rude to her and making her looking bad. He's also telling me the different package options and not making ANY sense about it at all, and then again acting put out that I don't understand. SO, anyway- the moral of the story is, I'll never take Ben or any of my other kids there to get pictures again. Luckily the pictures did turn out well... but you're probably asking why didn't I do them? Well, I wanted pictures in a studio, and I don't have a studio or good enough lighting yet. SO I'll have to figure that part out for future photos. Anyway- hopefully other people wont have a bad experience with them- but for the one over here at Perimeter, I wouldn't suggest it.

Ryan took Ben to his 6 month check up and he's doing really good! He's still in the 25% for both weight and height, but between the two he's proportionate. That's what he gets for being born to not-so-tall parents! He's trying to sit up these days, I bet with in a week or two he will be. He's also rolling ALL over the place and his new favorite thing is to be on his tummy. He only rolls on his left side though... makes me wonder if he's going to be a lefty! No teeth, YET. And he's just a good kid. We've had two almost 12 hour nights of him sleeping. Although a couple of times during those two nights I've found him either somehow sleeping on his tummy or sideways in the crib. He's a cutie pie.

Okay. That's all. OH WAIT! Ryan is like 2 or 3 tiles away from being done with the tub!!! He rocks. Well, okay technically he still needs to seal them, then grout and then seal them again. But they're all up! He's amazing, that man of mine. Delinda leaves for Africa (Johannesburg, Angola and Ethiopia) this weekend for 3 months. We will miss her TONS.

Okay, NOW that's all. We're boring. :)

Finally! Our Utah Trip!

I, like my friend Jessica, am a big fan of One True Media. Here is our slide show of our trip to Utah, FINALLY! Sorry, it's kind of on the long side.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Can you believe it?

Happy 6 Month Birthday little man! (Yah- I know it's not the best picture of him in the world... but it was taken today- and that's what really counts!)

A song called Bubbly?

Wow. There are some really dumb songs that have been playing on the radio station of my choice lately. I'm not so impressed. I'm sorry if you like any of songs/artists I'm referring to. I just find them so "blah"... She (click on She) bugs me, BOTH songs that are popular I think are horrible- seems like all she can put in her lyrics is the word "Love" repeated over and over again. (I'm a big fan of love and loving though I promise.) The Bubbly song... from this chick... horrible- the tune, the lyrics, even the way she sings... (Lyrics: V1: I've been awake for a while now you've got me feelin like a child now cause every time I see your bubbly faceI get the tinglies in a silly place C: It starts in my toes and I crinkle my nose where ever it goes I always know that you make me smile please stay for a while now just take your time where ever you go... OKAY SERIOUSLY?) I listen to the radio only at work and there are just some songs that I'm like "Really? You're playing this?". Oh and that Duffy song too- ew, it bugs me so bad!! (Again, sorry if I am offending.) And I really like R.E.M., but their latest album- not so much for me. What's going on? I believe there are good and bad phases in music. I guess that's true for all time huh? Because those songs suck, but on the other hand I give the Coldplay album props, and the Death Cab for Cutie album is really good- both their newest ones. The Jack Johnson album I haven't given enough time to- but the songs I've heard, I like. Just with every other artist though, they all do sound an awful lot a like. But that's okay- I like that sound and it settles well with me. I'm crossing my fingers that I get tickets to the Coldplay concert (which they had to set up another here in Atlanta because the first one was sold out and there was such high demand!). My work has box seats at Philips Arena and you can sign up to get tickets to events, sort of like a drawing. So, here's to hoping. Purchasing them was just TOO much for us right now. Boo.

Anyway- that's my music rant for this morning. We're headed off to Florida this weekend to go see our friends The Woodsons!!! We're SO ready for a little get away. It'll be Ben's first trip to the beach and LONG car ride, hopefully he'll do well. I think and hope that he'll sleep most of the way down. We're leaving tonight after work and going to stay the night in St. Augustine which is about a 6 hour drive and so I think he'll probably sleep most of the way-especially if we feed him and give him a bath and get him in his jammies! AND I think he'll be pretty cool about the beach too. Then tomorrow we're meeting up with The W's and going to a water park in Daytona Beach and maybe the beach too? We'll see how Ben is doing by then. Then we'll head to their house near Cocoa Beach and have lots and lots of fun! We'll take lots of pictures- but at this point whether or not we'll get them posted is another story! I still haven't done my UT slide show yet! I guess I better get on that huh?


Have a good weekend y'all! Be safe! Relax and enjoy!

World's Longest Curly Fry

It's there on the right.

I think Ryan is the winner of eating The World's Longest Curly Fry.

Finally

So, we've been in our ward going on almost a 1 year and 1/2 now. I just BARELY got a calling. I've even been asking (yes, asking) for a calling and JUST got one. Guess what it is? Primary. I've never done Primary. I'm a little nervous, but pretty excited too. I think it'll help me be a better mommy for teaching Ben more about Jesus and being a good little person and everything. I'm not sure what class it'll be yet- but we're pretty sure it's going to be CTR 5. My visiting teacher's son is in that class, with 2 other little boys. So it should be interesting! PLEASE give me good ideas... like macaroni necklaces, cut outs and coloring, etc.... ANYTHING! Ryan also got a calling and got called to be a Ward Missionary. He's a little nervous/anxious about it. But I think he'll do great. I think the Lord has wonderful things in store for him. He just doesn't know it yet.

J.J. Strikes Again

Delinda watched Ben and we went with the newly engaged Ashley and Jacob to the Jack Johnson concert last week. It was sold out and we even had lawn seats. Talk about jam packed and not a lot of personal space! It seemed no matter where we sat or stood, people would have to walk over us or our stuff or between us on our blankets... it was crazy to me. The last few pictures are of us doing shake face... don't worry, there was no alcohol involved. Just good ol' fun. And then Ben in his souvenir concert "t-shirt"... PRICEY concert t-shirt. But of course, all of our kids WILL wear it at some point. :) It was fun. I LOVE going to concerts! I'm glad we have people willing to hang with the kid so we can still do that and go out and have grown up fun.

This blog entry is not meant to complain. I've just been contemplating a lot of things. There are things in life that happen that just don't seem to be "fair". I think you know what I mean. For example, my parents are good and righteous people. They have a lot of faith in the Lord and have worked their hinneys (sp?) off for so long that I feel they deserve a break. They are trying to sell their house and move on to better things, and also to be closer to family by moving closer to one of my brothers in St. George, UT. They moved in to an older home about 8-9 years ago so that they could take care of my dad's mom who had Alzheimer's she passed about 5-6 years ago. But because it's an older home- it's been difficult to sell. They've had 2 offers fall through and are really getting a little down and out. As well as the rest of us. You start to question things like are they meant to move? Is there someone out there better suited for the home then the last 2 people were? Things like that. It doesn't seem like a big deal and maybe one or many of your have been through the same experience of not being able to sell your home. This is just the tip of the iceberg for my parents though- they really have been through A LOT the last few years. It seems to that they just deserve a break from it all.
Another example: my best friend's mom is going through some health issues. It just happened too. She's been healthy otherwise and now all of a sudden things have switched into high gear and surgeries are happening and MRI's and all sorts of not fun things. She is terrified of losing her mom. I am too. But because it's happening to her, it's all of a sudden VERY real. But why now? Why at all? Is this trial for her mom? Or for her dad, or for their kids?
The thing is, I know all of this is "for our good". To "test our faith"... or something. I know all of that. I believe all of that. I really do. BUT I do think it's okay to feel that it sucks in the meantime. I don't know why my parents have to constantly struggle and it makes me sad. I wish I seriously had a magic wand that could make it all go away for them. They've been through enough. Anyway- I guess my point is that I'm not afraid to say that it sucks to go through trials anymore. It's okay to have a poopy attitude about it, not to the point where it drags you down but it's okay to be sad or even mad for that matter. We truly cannot know happiness until we know sorrow. I know through it all too that Heavenly Father loves us. He knows what the reason is, and I guess in the long run it's all that matters. Hopefully someday we'll either realize why or He'll get to tell us. I do know that he will never give us more than He knows we can handle- even if it feels like we want to give up during it all and can't move we're crying so much, etc. Keep praying. PRAY HARD. I know I will be.

Want Something Good To Eat?

I found this recipe on www.allrecipes.com and we tried it last night and it was DELICIOUS (as Jacob would say)! It was super easy too. The only thing is, I added a 1/2 cup sour cream to the chicken/taco seasoning/cream cheese mixture. I also used Jalapeno Stuffed Olives instead of putting a whole pepper in, and killed two birds with one... olive. HA! Anyway- it was GREAT! Oh and good as left overs too!

Chicken Chimichangas with Green Sauce
Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 20 Minutes
Ready In: 40 Minutes Yields: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:
2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
2 (4 ounce) cans diced green chilies
5 pitted green olives (I used Jalapeno Stuffed Green Olives and ignored the next ingredient)
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning
1 pound shredded cooked chicken meat (I used a rotisserie chicken)
8 (10 inch) flour tortillas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 (8 ounce) package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped green onion
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

DIRECTIONS:
1. Pour the cream of chicken soup into a blender along with the green chilies, olives, jalapeno, and lime juice. Puree until smooth, then pour into a saucepan, and warm over medium-low heat while proceeding with the recipe.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the cream cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and taco seasoning until well blended (this is where I added the sour cream). Fold in the chicken. Evenly divide mixture among the 8 tortillas. Fold each tortilla into a rectangular packet around the filling.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry 4 chimichangas at a time until golden brown, then drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
4. To serve, place a chimichanga on a plate, and ladle the warm sauce over top. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese and green onions. Finish with a dollop of sour cream.

Toes

He found them. And just like everything else he can get his hands on, they go in his mouth!

Nola

My mom is from South Africa. And has a lot of little sayings that I've grown up hearing. These are sayings that other people might not understand and think are weird, but I didn't know any better hearing them my whole life. Here are as many examples as I can think of, siblings feel free to add!

1. A Monkey's Wedding- when it's sunny but raining at the same time (a "sun shower"), it's a South African thing but apparently there are a lot of other countries that use the same kind of phrase but with a different type of animal. The Monkey's Wedding supposedly comes from a Zulu saying, but they don't know why an animal or wedding have anything to do with the rain and it being sunny at the same time! Interesting eh?
2. Sometimes when we'd ask what was for dinner she'd say "fried frogs on toast!". To this day I have yet to taste a fried frog on toast!
3. We'd ask "where's dad?" or "where's John?" (or anyone) to which she'd reply "He/She went crazy, so I shot him". Of course she didn't...
4. Another question, "where did you go?" Her response "There and back to see how far it is".
5. When someone would say something in a different language or would say their name and it was a complicated name or one she didn't understand, she would quickly jab in "You do and you wipe it up!".
6. She always calls the boys (men) that she loves (her favorite students, young marrieds in the ward, cousins, my hubby, etc.) "you ugly thing you". It's a term of endearment. If you've been called that before, that means she approves. :)
7. We'd always hear random things in Afrikaans even though it wasn't her first language. Some I'd better not put in here, because now they are inappropriate phrases and most of them I'm not even sure how to spell anyway! One that you'll hear even ME say is "sis!" used as in response to someone saying something inappropriate or dirty- something along those lines. When we asked where something was we were looking for, we'd get the equivalent of the scripture "seek and ye shall find, knock and it will be opened..." in Afrikaans, or shortened down to "Soek" (pronounced: sook) which means "seek". Ryan and I say that to each other all the time now!
8. Whenever I didn't get something I wanted or just to be funny I'd say "you don't love me any more..." and she'd always come back with "I don't love you any less!".
9. Another saying "You lie like your feet stink!"
10. When I'd ask too many questions out of kid curiosity she'd say "Why do you need to know the ins and outs of a nanny-goats tail?!".
11. One of us kid's favorite songs she always sang to us (and we all sing to our kids now) is Go To Sleep My Baby. I will always love that song.
12. "is statue?" said for "is that you?"
13. I left my heart in Sam Clam's Disco.
14. She is also queen of finding songs to sing along with something you're talking about.
15. She's a voice teacher, and whenever she heard someone singing that maybe wasn't so good she'd comment that they must have a tummy ache!
16. One of my favorites "That must be jelly, cuz jam don't shake like that!"

I'm sure there are many, many more. I just can't think of all of them right now. But I love that quirkiness that my mommy has. I hope that I keep a lot of these sayings up with my kids!!!

This could be VERY interesting!

Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog (or e-mail if you don't leave comments) leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew/know me a little or a lot - just anything you remember.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Pictures Of...

A picture of something you DON'T want to find in your salad bag.

A picture of something funny to read in the break room. (Apparently someone stole 1/2 of someones sandwich right out of their lunch bag- not the brown paper bag kind. So they posted a nasty note on the fridge, and this note below was in response to it! I guess they also spelled "potato" wrong on the other note too. Man I wish I had a picture of it.)


A picture of two of my favorite people who got engaged last night! YIPPEE!!!! Congrats you two!

A picture of Ben with his Nana. He loves her lots.


A picture of my two favorite guys, IN THE WORLD!

Let's Play Ketchup

Ha, ha... nice play on words huh? You thought I was serious didn't you?

Okay, well lets see. Last week was pretty good I guess. Tuesday night I got a call from one of my old friends Melissa Lindsey whom I used to work with in UT, and she and her friend were basically stuck in the Atlanta airport and after a series of delayed and then cancelled flights and needed a place to stay that night until their flight left first thing in the morning. Of course we obliged because we love visitors and also, if it was me I would hope and pray that someone would take me or us in as well! Luckily the MARTA (Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) is about 10 mins from our house and comes and goes directly from and to the airport. They finally got to our house around 10:30pm and then first thing in the AM (around 6:30) I took them back to the MARTA station. It was a short and sweet little visit, luckily we had a bed for them to sleep in and the house was fairly clean! (All of us at 6:30am)

That started my day off. I took the day off for two doc's appts that I needed to take care of. So Ben and I headed to my first one and afterwards went home and both ate and then took a nap. It was GREAT, I love napping with my little buddy. And I think he secretly LOVES to sleep on our bed. But seriously- who wouldn't? It's like the most comfy bed EVER. I was fighting a headache and hoped it would go away, but it didn't. Anyway- since my other doc's appt was all the way downtown and a pain to get to, I decided to leave Ben at the daycare for a few hours so he could eat and not have to be toted around everywhere. It also gave me a little break too. I will admit though, I did feel guilty. I knew he was in good hands though. I am paying them anyway after all! After my doc's appt, which confirmed I STILL have an ear infection after a good month or more, I went and got my feet done. I TOTALLY needed that. I haven't had a pedicure since I was pregnant which was really almost a year ago! After I did that I went and got some stuff for Ben and got myself a Oreo Milkshake from Chick-fil-a which if you haven't had one, you haven't lived, and then went and picked Ben up. I only had him there for a total of 3 hours, so it wasn't too bad. We went home after that and my friend Jenean, who is a massage therapist, came over and gave me a delicious little massage which has decreased my headache-factory output quite a bit. So basically, it was a "I deserve it" day, and it felt good.

The weekend was filled with more bathroom stuff. Mostly Ryan doing it. He's a champ and my hero. He is so dang handy and smart with that kind of stuff. He grouted the floors during the week and so he was able to start to tackle the tile on the wall. And wow... what a mess. This is what was discovered beneath those (probably) 28 year old tiles. It's a DANG good thing we're redoing our bathroom!!! It was basically tiled on top of drywall on top of more drywall. So, over time the grout had come out and water had seeped in and destroyed the walls. Ryan had to tear the lower half of the walls out and luckily the studs weren't ruined. The insulation on the outside wall had to be replaced as well, but other than that it was an easy fix. Ryan already put up the green drywall last night, which I guess is water permeable, and is almost ready to get the backer board up and start tiling. Have I mentioned my husband ROCKS? Because he does. I love him lots. SO... Stage 1 was the floor which I will have to do some before and afters later. Stage 2 was the demo of the shower tile which is done. Stage 3 will be to put up the new shower tile. Stage 4 is sealing all the tiles since they're tumblestone. Stage 5 will be putting in the new vanity and toilet and other needed items; mirror, cupboard, toilet paper holder, etc. I'M EXCITED TO HAVE A NEW BATHROOM! It'll look awesome when we're all done.

Well, Ben will be 5 months the end of this week! I can't believe how fast time has gone. And I have loved EVERY minute of it, hard and easy. Overall, we again are tremendously blessed with such an amazing little guy. He is such a good baby and I thank God every day for not only the opportunity to be a mother, but to have such a wonderful little spirit in our family! We are feeding him cereal mixed with jar food (fruit so far) here and there. Last night he tried Peaches in with his cereal last night and he liked that a lot better than when he tried bananas. I think the naners also made his tummy hurt, so I probably wont do those again for a while. He is doing well with tummy time, he laughs so much and talks up a storm, he's starting to try and roll over completely, and I think he could be teething soon. He's growing out of a lot of his clothes, although he's almost 5 months and still fits in some of his 3 month clothes! He's a little guy as my sister Shauna says! But really, are we surprised with how short his mommy is?! He even let us go out on a double date with our friends the Bundersons the other night while Ashley and Jacob babysat. We think the routine we've got him in really helped in being able to leave him that night. It was kind of sad not to put him to bed for the first time though, but we had fun- we went and saw Dark Knight and it was good. Here are some picts from lately.

This is his "I just woke up" look. I think it's so cute! Here he is with his Auntie DJ, both napping together! SO CUTE!Uh... so, Ben's mom is a dork and forgot to put the RIGHT leg in the RIGHT pant leg hole. I'm special, I know.

It's amazing to me also how much he's changed, and yet the different things that have stayed the same.

Here is he is at about 3 weeks old and now.

That's all for now I guess. We'll probably have more to update on as the week goes by. Especially on the bathroom. I will post some before and after pictures.