Where has this month gone?

Here are a few happenings from the past few weeks:

Fun get away to Park City over Thanksgiving. Thanks dad for the fun time!
While in Park City I learned:
Benton likes to put his face in the water.
Midnight shopping at the Outlets is in deed busy! Thanks Jill for surviving the madness in Children's Place with me :)
and
Michael John is a competitive player at Ticket to Ride and Dad accidentally cheats :)
Enjoying the lights at Temple Square (twice).
Shoveling tons of snow at our complex, I am glad Christian is willing to do most of it!
And enjoying Christmas party after Christmas party.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

It's Nights Like These...

When Benton wakes up at 12:30AM with a fever and needs some extra love from his mom that I think how grateful I am for:
A mom that cared for me when I was sick AND left me that same rocker she used to rock all 7 of her babies
AND
I am grateful for a mother-in-law that cared enough about my comfort to make a cushion to go on that rocker that I now get to rock her grandchildren in.

Notice how he is the one sock wonder, always is.

Gotta love the morning look.

Why ONE Car is MORE Fun!

Christian has been riding his bike all summer and most of the fall, but now that it has turned cold we have been back to sharing our one car. I have found several reasons why it is more fun this way :)
1. I get to drive carpool in the morning (Christian and our neighbor who is in the same situation as we are) my first drop off is at the chemistry building and my second is the bioengineering building then back to home with a sleepy one year old.
2. I get to see Christian through out the day. Going to work, then school, then back to work again, then home.
3. I have several more opportunities to listen to Glenn Beck.
4. When Christian has the car it is a good excuse to walk everywhere, gotta keep the pounds off somehow this season!
and lastly 5. Did I mention I get to see Christian more often!

Happy Halloween

Nothing beats trick-or-treating at an Alzheimer's facility. I took Benton in to my work to show him off and they were doing trick-or-treating with all the patients there. It was hilarious to watch him go up to these elderly people and take their candy. This one lady gave him a sucker but then became confused and tried to grab it back telling him "that is my sucker give it back!"

Benton also got to go for a ride with a sweet lady who doesn't talk much these days, but really opened up to Benton while taking him for a ride down the hall. So cute!
Here is Benton with one of his friend Parker. Cute boys having fun at the Stake Halloween Party.
We had a lot of fun dressing up this year with Benton as the Big Bad Wolf, me as Little Red Ridding Hood, and Christian as our fearless Hunter. My dad invited us back to his ward Halloween Party. My dad won 2 prizes, one for his awesome Harley Outfit (little did the ward know it isn't a costume at all!) secondly he came in 2nd for the best chili.


Here is Benton winning his prize for having the scariest costume in his age category (he is pretty scary for being a Big Bad Wolf and all :) It was cute when Christian held him up he started clapping for himself, along with everyone else there.

We also had a lot of fun trick-or-treating at 9th and 9th in all the stores. We were lucky enough to have both grandparents come out with us. We came home with way too much candy so we ended up throwing it all out (after we ate our favorite pieces of course). Halloween is a lot more fun when you get to enjoy it with a child!
Can't wait for next year!

"Have You Seen Benton?"

I realize this might make me seem like a neglectful mother, but for those of you that know Benton know how fast he really is! At church today Benton did great during Relief Society. He played on my lap and on the floor, never attempting an escape, like he normally does. Little did I know he was plotting a bigger escape. As soon as Relief Society ended the doors opened and people started ushering out, so Benton followed them. I saw him leave so I quickly gathered all of his belongings and headed out to catch him. I got to the doorway but couldn't see which way he went. I chose to go down the hall he normally chooses, nope not there. Ok, so he must have gone down the other hall, nope not there. Great, it is getting really busy with everyone trying to get to their classes and I still can't see him. Back to the other hall, probably Christian has him I thought, nope not there again. This time I started asking people "have you seen Benton" nope, nope, and nope. Ok quick thinking now. I thought maybe he had somehow gotten outside or maybe somebody took him. I was really panicking by this point. So with a crew of about a dozen we scavenged the church and its grounds.

Thankfully one of the serivce missionaries in our ward checked the chapel where the primary children were practicing for their program. There he was not worried at all, but rather enjoying his time with all the other primary children on the stage with them. I walked in just in time to see his little face poking over the podium (thanks to the stairs they had set up for the program). I picked him up and he just patted my back like he was telling me "I am fine Mom, just seeing what was happening in here."

I had so much adreline rushing that I just about burst into tears when I finally had him back. He was probably only gone ten minutes but that was the longest ten minutes of my life. We are currently thinking of buying him a leash, any other suggestions??

Quick Get Away

Before our fun ride:




And after...


I guess he liked the ride because we came outside and found him climbing back on.

Thanks Kenna, Aaron, and Parker for a fun weekend!

IT'S ME

Well for all of you that guessed that it's Benton, you got it correct. We can't believe how big he is getting. He is like a little-man. In fact, he is already growing a mustache (of the milk variety).