Kate's First Laugh

What do I do this boy?

Today he was told he couldn't come out of the bathroom until he picked up all of the bath toys he dumped everywhere. I gave him a minute or two to work on it and came back in to check on the progress. Instead of cleaning the toys he emptied my cupboard and drank some Ora Gel. He tried to wipe it off his tongue as he realized it was numbing his whole mouth. I called poison control and he should be fine. I guess I need to hide the numbing products better!

Go Cougars!

*This post has been hacked by me (Christian). Hopefully, Suzanne won't notice until after the game. Originally, Suzanne had a big BYU picture at the top, but I couldn't let that happen :)*

We are a house divided 2:1.
Christian Utes
Suzanne Cougars
Benton Cougars
Kate TBD

We took Benton to a BYU game a couple of months ago and now the boy is a cougar fan through and through . Christian even has tried numerous times to persuade him to be Ute, but it always ends up with Benton crying saying "no utes daddy, GO COUGARS!!"

We are excited for the game tomorrow, GO Cougars!

Grateful For...

I am...

• Grateful for a husband that can save me from going crazy (especially when I have a child thriving in the terrible twos)
• Grateful for quiet moments feeding Kate
  
• Grateful for Kate's new ability to smile and brighten our day
  
• Grateful that I live 10 mins from a temple and can slip away for an hour and find peace
• Grateful there is an end to raking leaves
• Grateful to have good friends, neighbors, and family in my life
  
• Grateful for easy to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that always seem to work out even when directions aren't followed perfectly
• Grateful New Moon is out and we have a baby sitter lined up
• Grateful Benton can sleep through Kate when she cries at night
• Grateful that Benton LOVES his sister and doesn't want to send her back, just yet anyway
• Grateful to not be pregnant and back to being active again
• Grateful to be in the primary and to hear the sweet primary songs
• Grateful Christian won't be in school forever...just a few more years, hope we all survive :) And
  
• Grateful to be a family of 4
  

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving week, I know we will!

I Love Days Like This

What can be better than a beautiful fall day, Christian done early with homework, and 2 happy children? We took advantage of sunlight and took a quick hike up to Ensign Peak. What made it even better was meeting a senior missionary couple out enjoying the hike as well. They have been married for 60 years and are turning 80 this year. I hope I have as much energy as they do when I am that age.

Happy Halloween

We had a great time celebrating Halloween with our 2. Benton discovered how great trick-or-treating can be and can't wait for next year to do it again.

Thanks Aunt Natalie for the cute skeleton shirt!

Nothing cuter than a girl in pink.

Good thing we had 2 halloween outfits, she definitely needed to change :) Thanks Kenna everyone needs a pumpkin shirt for Halloween!

Out little pirate. Nice goatee Benton!

We went to Gardner Village this year, so fun to see all the witches. I would definitely recommend going if you haven't been before, the atmosphere is great!



I added this one just because I love these 2.


I have to add my thoughts or more complaints about day light savings, really annoying! Whoever thought it was a good idea didn't have children. It has taken several days to get Benton to sleep in past 6am even if goes to bed late. Hopefully we can all adjust soon!

It's Amazing What 6 Hours Can Do For You

It is amazing how good you can feel when you 6 hours of sleep in a row, for 3 nights in a row I sure hope it continues. I guess that is one benefit to having a bigger baby, they fill up that belly and sleep and sleep and sleep.

It is also amazing how good you feel when you have great neighbors and family and friends who feed you for 2 weeks and help with Benton and sent loving wishes. THANK YOU!

One Week Later...

We have enjoyed this week getting to know Kate.


Benton is such a great big brother. He is almost too helpful. He is also already starting to boss her around. If she cries in the car, Benton will cover his ears and say, "Baby Kate, No cry in the car!"


Kate didn't pass the bilirubin test so we had to put leave her on a bed that treats her with UV lights. It was so hard having to put her on the bilibed, but fortunately she is doing better and she doesn't have to be on it anymore. Even better, she doesn't have to go to the doctor's everyday to get her foot pricked.


Her dad is already the first man to love her.


She has a great temperament which has been a real blessing . We love her so much.

Happy Birthday (Oct 2nd)!!!

Posted by Christian:

Hooray and Huzzah! We finally get to meet baby Kate. The labor was indeed laborious, but both Mom and Baby are doing very well. This will be just a quick post to let you guys see some pictures.


We came into the hospital at 7:30 am. This is Mom a couple of hours after her water was broken.

This clock is now in the pm. And....

Kate was born. 8 lbs. 9 oz.

Suzanne was worn out from the delivery. She was an absolute trooper. It was so cute to see that, as soon as Kate was given to Suzanne, she immediately stopped crying.

And there she is. Wide awake and ready to eat.

Thank you all for your help and concern. We really appreciate all that our friends/family has done for us.

Instead of having a baby...

I really was hoping that I would start on my own instead of being induced, so starting last Friday we have been trying to keep our selves busy and keep our minds off going past my due date.

We started off by going to Tucahno's Brazilian BBQ, always a favorite treat. Good thing we don't always eat like that, wow we would be huge!

Saturday we were able to go to the BYU game, thanks Dad for the tickets! We decided it would be fun to take Benton and he loved it. He kept cheering for the COUGARS right along with the crowd. He was mainly interested in watching where Cosmo the Cougar was.






























We have also been out to DayBreak and enjoyed dinner with Christian's family and taken advantage of there beautiful lake and walked along it, had a fantastic movie night with our neighbors, been to play dates, and have tried to enjoy everything we could this week.

We have had a lot of fun, but no baby so I guess we have to force her out. I am scheduled for tomorrow to be induced. We can't wait to meet this little girl!

Stomach Flu Sure Can Ruin Your Weekend

I thought just being this pregnant was bad enough, but getting the stomach flu has made me appreciate the "just being really pregnant" part. I am thankful Christian got the flu after me so at least one of us could taking care of Benton. I am glad we are feeling better!

Now that the baby is turned head down we are anxiously awaiting her arrival. I went a full week over with Benton, so I may still have some time on my hands. I guess it is time to do some deep cleaning!

How Can This Kid Sleep?

We wanted to get Benton a "big bed" before the baby came and found this great Thomas the Train bed from a friend. When he came in the room and saw it all put together he was thrilled! He told us the crib is for babies and that this was HIS bed. It was a great transition especially because he thinks he isn't allowed out of it (except to get toys as you can see). He will sometimes play in there for over an hour before actually falling asleep. Hooray for fun train beds that make life easier for moms!

Also Benton is officially off the binki. I never thought the day would actually come, but come to find out I am the one that had a harder time making the decision to be all done. We started off by snipping the top off and slowly kept cutting it down and after a week or so he stopped asking for it. What a big boy we have on our hands.

As Requested

Ta da!
P.S. Look at the new pictures posted of Benton's birthday.

"You Look Like You Could Go At ANY Moment!"

Yep that is what I was told yesterday at the grocery store by the lady bagging my groceries. I told her I still had 4 weeks and she asked if I was sure and wondered if I had seen my belly. I am feeling quite front heavy, but found comfort in knowing part of the reason for this massive belly is that this little miss inside me is breech still. For some reason she likes it that way and won't move into a more fitting heads down position, bummer if we can't get this resolved before she is born ( I am not too thrilled about the idea of having a c-section.)

I will post pics soon!

Just Over a Month

I am definitely in count down mode as we have just a little over a month until my due date. For the most part it has really flown by, and hopefully these next few weeks will as well.
Now for the reason for this post, any suggestions out there on helping our little boy become a big brother? I have already asked a few of you and have a few suggestions, but we are always open for more.

Happy Birthday Benton!

Benton has been obsessed with pirates ever since we went to Disneyland, so we had no other choice but to have a pirate birthday party. He was thrilled when he saw his costume and all the decorations.



I am really enjoying this fun stage in his life with all of his energy, funny things he says, and his sweet personality. I can't wait to see all that happens this next year with our little 2 year old.

Here, Benton is enjoying his new tent with Grandpa.

All tuckered out after a long day of partying. Notice the multitude of toys on his bed. How can anyone sleep like that? :)

p.s. really slow computer = no patience for blogging= very few updates Hopefully we will be back up and running shortly.

I am in LOVE with my boys!

I got Benton all dressed for church, Christian saw what he was wearing and decided to dress just like him. I was laughing so hard when the two of them came out together. The best part is that Benton really is just like his Daddy in so many ways, and I love it.

Happy Indepedence Day!

This is Brad Elder, one of our good friends. Look at that costume, does it get any better?
Benton enjoying the fireworks with his sunglasses on.

Enjoying cotton candy, how more American can you get.

Just look at that face!
Crash landing! Benton was the first one down the slide at our ward carnival and must ended the night with atleast 30 trips down. I couldn't get him off of it!

The primary was in charge of putting on the carnival games, thankfully I have an awesome husband and sister-in-law who were willing to jump in and help. They took care of the balloon dart board for several hours. Thanks!

More of the primary crew. Look at all that candy!