{ben}{angela}{kai}

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-20T19:54:00.001-08:00

The night before Valentine's Day I was baking some banana bread and when I turned around to get a measuring cup, there Kai was, in Ben's arms, giggling with a huge grin on his face and holding a dozen roses for me. It was so cute to see Kai so giddy over what he was doing.

The Next day I went and got some red velvet cupcakes from Temptation Cupcakes and dropped a box of 4 cupcakes and a single rose at Ben's work to be delivered to him. I bought 2 extra cupcakes for me and Kai to enjoy. They were sooooo yummy!

When Ben got home from work I had this display set up for him. Ben has been needing some new basketball shoes so I thought I would surprise him and go get them for Valentine's Day. Kai gave Ben a heart shaped basketball container filled with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a card with his hand prints and foot print on it saying "From the bottom of my heart....to the tips of my toes, I love you Dad!" Then Kai made a few scribbles on it for his signature. Kai and I had made this card about a week before Valentine's Day and Kai had a complete meltdown because of the paint and his issues with texture. Funny enough Kai made this exact same card with Ben the Sunday before Valentine's Day in Nursery. Ben was telling me how Kai was throwing a fit over it. Poor kid had to do this traumatizing thing twice!

That night Kai had a date with his Aunt Sam and arrived with a single rose for her. Since Kai was busy with his date Ben and I decided to go to dinner at the Coppermill with Ray, Andrea, Chris and Marsha.

Enjoying the Good and Getting Through the Bad

2012-01-30T14:57:00.000-08:00

Kai has been a handful lately. He is starting to throw tantrums and fits and has an ear pounding scream when he doesn't get what he wants. It's been hard to know what to do when he acts like this, and it makes my days at home more of a challenge. I find myself very discouraged and disappointed with myself not always being the best mom; not always knowing what to do and not only that but enjoying doing it. Then I came across this article (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glennon-melton/dont-carpe-diem_b_1206346.html ) and realized that motherhood doesn't need to be about enjoying every second of it. Being a Mom is hard and although everyone around you is telling you to enjoy every minute because it goes by fast, I know that as long as I am noting and remembering the good moments then all the hard stuff I can grit my teeth and just get through. Because honestly, no, I do not enjoy trying to calm Kai down in the middle of the store, or forcing him into his car seat, or cleaning up his high chair for the millionth time, those are the moments I do hope go by fast. But I do enjoy watching Kai's face light up when he laughs because I pulled a funny face, and hear his babbles in the back seat of the car while I am driving, and just like it said in the article I feel so blessed to afford all the food I feed my family. These moments I know may not last forever, there will come a day when I pull a funny face and Kai will roll his eyes, or instead of cute babbles in the backseat I will hear fighting and if circumstances arise there might be a day when paying for food doesn't come so easy. I am finding peace in enjoying the good moments and feeling the accomplishment of getting through the bad.

Here are a few pictures of the good moments!

Making brownies with Kai

Catching Kai "decorating" his room wearing his favorite boot (he asks me frequently to put this boot on him, I think he is drawn to the color). The other boot was thrown in the D.I. bag by Kai without anyone noticing, so now he gets to wander around the house in just one boot.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve

We think Santa hit it right on the nose with this gift, Kai loves it! As soon as we put Kai down in the hall he saw his basketball hoop and came running to it. He still loves it and plays with it all day long.

Santa brought Ben a Kindle Fire and Me a KitchenAid.

Kai really enjoyed opening his gifts. He got the movie Dumbo, an instrument set, and a radio. He really loves music and dancing to it. He will go and turn on the radio or ask someone to do it for him by grabbing their hand and taking them to the radio; then he will go and dance. It's pretty good entertainment.

After opening gifts Kai "helped" me make some chocolate silk pies.

Last Thanksgiving we took a picture of Kai's cousins that were born in 2010. This is all of them again in 2011, it was much more difficult to take pictures of these wiggly toddlers this year.

December Magic

2012-01-24T21:35:00.000-08:00

Kai is our little T.V. junky, he LOVES movies, which has been a lot of fun...he fits right in with us!

This was our Christmas movie night. We watched The Polar Express and had chocolate chip cookies and milk. Kai was too preoccupied to look up for pictures.

Ben scheduled a cousin sleepover and had Annika, Kaylee and Micha over for the night. I had just got my wisdom teeth out and wasn't much fun so Ben made up for me. Here they all are decorating Christmas cookies.

Kai enjoying his Christmas cookie.

Kai loves to be outside, not matter how cold it is.

Playing in a box

(in case you didn't know what he was doing)

Preston's Festival of Lights

I think this will be more exciting for Kai next year but I think he still enjoyed the lighted floats.

All About November

2012-01-24T21:16:00.000-08:00

Holidays have come and gone, I can't believe how fast time gets away from me. Here is a look at what we've been up to!

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this was Kai's nail polish incident.

While I was getting ready Kai got into my nail polish and one dropped and broke open. It went all over the floor, wall, clothes and his hands.. He did not enjoy his acetone sponge bath I gave him to remove the polish from his skin.

Kai enjoying his first snowfall, or rather not enjoying it. He HATES his snow gear, mostly because he is practically immobile while in it.

Even upset this face is irresistible to me!

First doughnut...success! Takes after his momma.

I didn't get any pictures of Thanksgiving, I have been really bad at taking pictures lately, but here are some pictures of Kai and his cousin Caleb playing together the day after Thanksgiving.

Little Lulu (Luci), Rob and Sara's baby was born on October 31, Kai was being so sweet with her.

Her cheeks are to die for, runs in the family!

Kai's 1 year photo shoot

2011-12-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the pictures below taken by Potatobug Photography for Kai's 1 year photo shoot:

The Cake Smash!

Halloween

2011-12-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

Kai was an elephant for Halloween this year, Ben and I did not dress up. I really want to make sure we do next year though!

Kai and Ben at Ben's Halloween work party.

Before we headed out trick or treating.

Kai and his cousin Kensington. Doesn't she look sooo cute in her costume?!

Our last trick or treating stop was at our house and by then he got the hang of it. He picked his candy and put it in his bucket all on his own. It was pretty cute.

Here is a video of him when he came trick or treating at our house:

Enjoying his very first sucker.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-12-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of our visit to the pumpkin patch!

Kai's Birthday Party

2011-12-06T10:10:00.000-08:00

Kai's Birthday party was a lot of fun to plan and get ready for. We ended up moving his party to Ben's work so we had more room for more people coming than we expected....Ok, I am going to complain for just a little bit. We thought we were going to have more people come since I had an RSVP regrets only on his invitations, well only a couple people RSVP'd but...we had a lot of people not come which is fine but there was no RSVP. It was pretty frustrating since we made special arrangements for more people, including more food. ANYWAY, if you are reading this just take note to be sure to RSVP to people's invitations you receive!

Ok back to the party. We played a couple games, one were T/F trivia questions about Kai and the other was a picture timeline of Kai that they needed to put in order. My sister Alisha won both of them, so we decided to get the second winners as well. My sister Jamie won one of them and Ben's cousin Heidi won the other.

Here is the room set up before the guests arrived.

Kai enjoying his lunch.

Trying to get into his gifts, he was excited to get playing with his new bus!

Kai did not appreciate the loud singing.

We forgot to open gifts before the cake so we had to multi task.

What a messy baby! He almost ate the entire cake!

While we were in Maui I put together a video slideshow of Kai's first year that we debuted at the party. I can't get the video to upload because it is too big, so you will have to visit my facebook page if you would like to see it.

Kai's Birthday

2011-12-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

Our little guy turned 1!

When he woke up he walked into the family room and started heading for the kitchen but his activity table we got him for his birthday caught his eye and he turned and went right to it. He played with it forever until we finally made him go eat breakfast. He loves making the music turn on, then he goes and dances until it turns off, then he goes and starts all over.

Here he is trying to blow out his candle before we even got it to him. This was the only time he tried to blow his candle out. We couldn't get him to do it for his birthday cake or at his birthday party.

This is Kai blowing his candle out, it was so cute!

Kai's play group went to the Farm on his Birthday, which I thought would be the perfect activity for him. He enjoyed looking at all the animals, but thought they were all dogs and he did his "whoof" noise the entire time we were there. You can see in this picture his lips are pursed saying it :)

"Here chicky chicky!"

He loves to play in the dirt and rocks. Here is his all-boy dirty face.

He was actually pretty good at opeing his gifts, but this is the only picture I have of him with his present. He got his activity table in the morning and a touch and feel book and bath tub boat after dinner.

Here is his really cute cake he got from Cold Stone. I was really happy with how it turned out. Kai really likes ice cream so I thought this cake was fitting.

I thought this picture was SO FUNNY!
Scared of the smoke I guess :)

Sugar rush!

Food Coma...

Ben's Birthday

2011-12-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

Well, the old man turned 29 this year (sounds like a big celebration is in order for next year).

Here he is with his breakfast burrito from Rancheritos, go ahead and judge us we LOVE these things!

He's actually on the phone with work right now, but he popped his head in to pose for a picture. Don't ask me why he answered his phone right before we were going to sit down for breakfast, I had to sit and stare at my burrito while it called my name for what felt like forever ;)

Hangin' out at his birthday party with his siblings and parents.

Blowing out all 29 candles with all his little helpers.

I thought this was a cute picture of Kai at the birthday party. He is getting so big!

Opening one of his gifts. A frame for his PMP certificate. I am proud of you Benny boy!

October Days

2011-12-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

October was a very busy month for us with lots going on. Enjoy my next few posts of pictures to see what we've been up to!

After we returned from Hawaii Kai was extra clingy and snugly, I loved it! Here he is after his bath snuggling up close.

Kai LOVES to play in the dishwasher

He was a little naughty and stuffed his clean clothes in the toilet.

Kai with his Great Grandma and Grandpa Moser.

(something to go in his time capsule)

Hawaii

2011-11-12T12:52:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of October Ben had to go to Maui for business so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and make a trip of it. It was a hard decision but we decided to leave Kai at home with my sister Jamie.

Our first stop was Maui, we didn't have a lot of time to see anything since Ben had to work most the time. I planned on just using my time alone by the pool or ocean but it was overcast the entire time and too chilly to lay around in a swim suit. Regardless of the circumstances I really enjoyed my time alone, except for one day when I really, really missed Kai, but other than that I was good!

The next stop was Oahu where we spent the rest of our time. This is us being weird on our balcony outside our hotel room. We had a beautiful view of the ocean along Waikiki Beach.

Hanauma Bay

Pearl Harbor was very humbling and educational. It was Ben's second time going but my first time and I learned so much about WW II that I never knew.

Ben's parents joined us in Oahu as well. They have been to Hawaii a few times and knew all sorts of things we could do. They kept us busy!

If you look hard you can see the U.S.S Arizona Memorial.

This is how pineapples grow, who knew! The
Dole Plantation was a must see and pretty interesting.

This is a cool tree we saw at the Dole Plantation. We both have never seen anything like it!

This is Pali lookout on a rainy day, we came back a different day when it was clear.

We went and saw the Laie Hawaii Temple before we spent the rest of the day the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was beautiful, we went on a Monday so we were not able to attend but we did go into the visitors center and watched a movie they had. It has been a while since I have gone to a Temple's visitors centers, it was a nice break from the world.

Canoe ride through the PCC.

Me playing dress up with Ben, he's a good sport :)

I was very excited to finally get a fresh flower lei when we went to the PCC Luau.

The PCC was haunted at night for the month of October.

Ben and his sweet mom.

This place had the best pancakes and some very yummy coconut syrup.

Pali lookout on a clear day.

This was our last sunset before we left Hawaii. It was a fun trip but we were both ready to go home and see our sweet baby Kai.

Day at the Park

2011-09-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

The other day I discovered the Whittier Park, which I absolutely LOVE! It has a section for older children and a section for toddlers. Kai was able to go off and play on his own and even access the slide all by himself. He had so much fun exploring everything and playing with the other children.

What we've been up to this summer...

2011-08-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

We have had a fun and busy summer, here is an overload of pictures showing our many adventures!

June

Road trip to visit Kai's Great Grandma Freeman in Davis, California.

July

Learned to get into the cupboards.

Celebrated the 4th of July!

Played dress up with Aunt Alisha...our little Buddha Man.

Got matching tattoos...okay not really.

I thought it would be funny to get a temporary one from the Preston sidewalk sales to match Ben.

Watched the Preston Parade.

Took Julia and Alisha with us to the Preston Carnival.

August

Brushed our teeth.

Kai loves to use his toothbrush whenever he sees me or Ben brush our teeth.

Took plenty of naps.

Played the piano with Grandpa Cox.

Tried chili dogs and hated it...Ben and I are wondering who's kid he is.

Taken swimming lessons with cousin Kensington.

Worked on our tan!

We sure do love this sweet boy's smile!

Eat, Sleep and BE HAPPY

2011-06-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that Kai is already eating SO MUCH BETTER! I can't believe how quick he responded. The first night I gave him squash he only got about 3 or so bites in and most of it was spit back out. I was gradually able to get him to eat almost half squash and half fruit. I have now moved on to green beans and his first day with green beans was better than his first day on squash.
Meal time has become a lot less stressful for me and him. I think letting him make choices on what he wants to eat really helped and then me offering him a little bit of something new without over doing it. He oddly enough will shake his head "no" when he is done eating. I really have no idea where he learned it but it has been very helpful. I think the respect I have shown to him by giving him what he prefers has reciprocated in him showing respect to me by trying something new. Now I know some of you think that is probably crazy, how can a 7 month old show respect...well I think it is possible!
My friend who gave me ideas of how to get him to eat better also told me to expose him to different textures like rice, beans, mud, grass, sand and so on. I tried rice the first day and he seem disgusted; he would touch it then quickly pull his arm back and start to spit. It was pretty cute. I think this has helped a ton, as he is now more wiling to try hard finger foods. Whenever he shows interest in what I am eating I will give him a taste. For the most part he will like it until he gets a chunk of something. But gradually he seems to not mind it. I was able to get him to eat an apple cinnamon puff today for the first time, and he loved it! I am looking forward to him improving his eating habits and I hope we can continue to move forward.
As far as sleeping goes, it started out really good. The first time he cried for 25 minutes, the next time only about 10 minutes and then after that he would fall asleep under a minute of me laying him down. The third day was the worst. He would cry for 30 minutes, fall asleep and in mid sleep he would wake up and begin crying again. Since that third day he hasn't been able to get a full nap in...but he has been sleeping all night long again ever since the first night we let him cry it out, which has been great! Our past few days have been different than normal so his schedule has been thrown off, next week I will be watching 3 other children and the week after that we are going to California...so I don't foresee the sleeping being mastered very soon, but we have our start and I am happy with getting my full nights back.

Eat, Sleep and...

2011-06-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

Kai used to be the best sleeper. I could lay him down and he would wine for maybe 5 minutes at the most then fall asleep; sometimes there wasn't even a peep made. Well slowly we got out of that habit and bit by bit we started to spoil Kai and now we find ourselves here today with him needing special cuddling, rocking and feeding to get him to go to bed. He wakes up at least once every night and won't go back to sleep until he gets a bottle. With many failed attempts at letting him cry it out because Ben and I are softies we gave up on it all together. I am not getting a very good nights rest and it's starting to take its toll. So tonight Ben and I are making a commitment to letting Kai cry it out. For a very sad 25 minutes we listened to Kai cry before he finally fell asleep. When I would go in to reassure him he would hold my arm as tight as he could as I start to walk away...talk about stab to the heart. After he fell asleep I gave him 5 minutes and I went to go check on him. He was laying on top of his tear soaked blankets, perpendicular to how I left him and on the complete opposite end of the crib. They say it gets better after 3 days, we are crossing our fingers that it does.

Kai has always been a hard baby to feed and the challenge has only gotten worse with solids. He took about a month before he would eat anything we offered him. When he finally did try it he pulled funny faces with most foods but really enjoyed sweet potatoes and fruits. He has slowly digressed and will now only eat fruit and even that can sometimes be a challenge. He spits whenever he sees a spoon, or anything for that matter, coming towards his mouth. If I can just get a taste of fruit on his lip he will go for more, but if it is anything else it is game over. I have been doing a lot of research and read a few articles about Food Aversions. It seems like he could have this. They talk about these babies having a difficult time breast feeding and then vomiting and spitting with solids. From what I have found it is best to offer him what he likes and then offer him something new, but letting him decide if he wants more, if he doesn't like it then you stop giving it to him. Forcing them to eat will only create more anxiety and can result in not eating all together. One study used young children around the age of 8-11 who had these food aversions and the children made goals to taste new foods. They did so at their own pace and on their own time. Their goal was to get to 50 bites over a period of a week and usually at that point they didn't mind the food anymore. A lot of these infants end up needing to go to a speech pathologist or occupational therapist due to poor oral development. So I decided to email my friend who is doing her clinicals right now as she is studying to become a speech pathologist. She recommended introducing a new food to him for three days while also giving him something he likes and to make sure I don't let him snack throughout the day, but make sure that there are set meal times, and that is the only time he eats.
So today on top of letting him cry it out I began working on introducing a new food...well reintroducing it. For dinner I gave him pears, one of his faves, and I offered him a few bites of squash throughout the meal. He hated it and spit it out every time he tasted it, but I don't feel like I overdid it. I will try this at every meal for the next three days and see if he begins to grow accustom to it.

If you managed to read through my entire post I am proud of you :) I will give you an update in three days to see if their is any improvements in any of the above areas.

Kai is already not looking forward to the next few days ;)

Books

2011-06-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

Kai loves his books. I can put him in his book corner in his room and he will sit and explore, taste, shake then toss his books one by one.

I love it when I read to him and he looks back at me and smiles, then looks back at the picture on the page. He knows just what to do to melt my heart.

6 Month Pictures / 7 Month update

2011-05-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

Kai is actually 7 months now, but below are the pictures he got at 6 months, I had a hard time narrowing it down, so enjoy the millions of pictures.

Isn't he just the cutest? I can't get enough of this little guy! He has the sweetest little eyes, they may appear dark brown at first but if you really look at them they are a dark green with a blue circle around the rim, and a golden brown/yellow in the very center next to the pupil. My sister Jamie has eyes like this except they are extremely bright so the different colors really stand out. Kai's eyes are more mysterious ;)

This little boy is full of smiles, sweet kisses, and giggles. He is a happy baby with the occasional breakdowns...mostly at nap time. He loves playing with his toys, I can set him down on the floor surrounded by toys and he is entertained for a long time. He still isn't the best eater, he can take a bottle like a champ but solids have been a challenge. One day I am sure he will LOVE food, he has to, he has me and Ben for parents.

Kai is starting to become more mobile, he walks holding our hands (more like prances), and he manages to roll around and reach for most of the things he wants on the floor. He get's pretty frustrated when he sees what he wants but doesn't know how to get to it. He is starting to get up on his knees and hands for a few seconds and I am sure crawling isn't far behind, I'm enjoying his fairly immobile stage for the time being.

Our little social butterfly loves to chat and smile with people he doesn't know, he's kind of a show off that way, but it's pretty dang cute. He likes to be involved and see what's going on. He is starting to recognize emotions and has become my little guard puppy. Ben was playing around and picked me up and carried me away, and I apparently appeared in distress. Kai would have none of it and was extremely concerned for my well being. What a cutie he is :)

I love you Kai and I can't wait to get to know you even more!

Mr. Big Shot

2011-04-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

April 1st was a beautiful day so Kai and I went and enjoyed basking in the sun and laying in the grass out in the park behind our house. It also gave Kai a chance to sport his new sunglasses.

Hangin' with Cole

2011-04-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

One morning at my parent's house I took Kai down to sit with his cousin Cole and watch cartoons. Kai loved it! He couldn't stop staring at Cole, he liked hangin' with the big boys :)

The big Two - Three

2011-04-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

Ben has once again spoiled me for my birthday. I turned 23 and I have decided it's a good number and probably my favorite age so far :) On my birthday Ben took me and Kai to Angie's Restaurant for breakfast (they have the best french toast) then we just lounged around until dinner when He took me, Kai and Alisha out to Cafe Sabor (my favorite!). He got me a very cute outfit (with the help of Alisha) and to my surprise a new laptop! Which I am using to blog at this very moment. I love it! It is so much quicker and easier to use than my last one.

Little did I know my birthday surprise was not over with my birthday ending. On Saturday I drove Ben to the airport so he could leave on one of his usual business trips. On my way home my sister called and asked if I would bring home a bag of chips for dinner. When I returned home to my parent's house I walked in the entryway and SURPRISE! My entire family with the exception of Cory and Kimmy in Hawaii was there, I was so overwhelmed and then as I am looking through the crowd I spot Ben, I was so confused at first since I just had dropped him off at the airport. Alisha was there waiting for him and drove him back home after I dropped him off. It was the best surprise I could ever imagine. Ben and my sister Julia worked together to make the best birthday ever for me. All the balloons had nice facts on them about me and after dinner (hot dogs made on the grill, a personal favorite) we watched home videos, which was a lot of fun to do with all of the family. Then Ben had one more surprise up his sleeve...more presents! I couldn't believe it. I got a swim suit and swim cover-up as well as a jogging stroller! (which I have used 3 times now, hopefully I can keep it up). What a birthday, I don't think Ben will ever be able to top this year!

Everyone waiting for me to show up

My surprised face, a little blurry but you get the idea

Kai had a melt down when everyone yelled surprise, Jamie was a good baby whisperer and helped keep him calm so I could enjoy my party. Thanks Jamie!

Kai's First Feeding

2011-04-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the fun photos of Kai eating for the first time. Don't let his smile fool you, he was not a fan of rice cereal...at least not yet, hopefully he will come to like it!

Silly Sleeper

2011-04-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

One day I went to go check in on Kai's morning nap and he had kicked through his pajamas and kicked off his blankets. It was pretty cute!

30 Picture Challenge

2011-04-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I saw this on facebook but decided to do it a little different. Anyone who reads this is tagged and has to do it on their blog too!

1.A picture of yourself

2.A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

I have never been closer to anyone but my lovely Ben! He knows and understands me more than I do sometimes. Thanks Ben for always loving me for who I am.

3.A picture of the cast from your favorite show

I LOVE the show Monk.

4.A picture of your favorite night

I think back to this night all the time. This might sound weird, but I loved going into labor. It was so exciting, of course I got the epi as soon as I checked in so I didn't have to experience much pain at all. It was the most exciting, wonderful thing to hold my little baby boy for the first time.

5.A picture of your favorite memory

A few months after Ben and I were married we spontaneously packed up a picnic and drove to Bear Lake. It was freezing cold, but the leaves were just changing color and it was very pretty, and a lot of fun!

6.A picture of someone who could always make you smile :)

Ben can always put a smile on my face, I love him so much and just seeing him makes me so happy. Ben can also make me really mad and then turn around and make me laugh..."ruffling my feathers" is what he calls it and then he "smooths them back down". :)

7.A picture of your most treasured item

I treasure my wedding ring, not just because it is BEAUTIFUL, but mostly because of what it means to me. It was given to me by Ben because he wanted to spend forever with me, I love that.

8.A picture that makes you laugh

I giggle every time I see this photo. When I was in high school Alisha and I had rooms that connected by a bathroom in between. That bathroom is where this photo took place. I don't know how we figured this out but we took a ton of pictures of Alisha with half her face at the edge of the mirror door. We thought she looked like Quasimodo, and thought it was hilarious and still do :)

9.A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

Ben just might pop up a lot in this post but he really is my best friend. It has taken some learning on his part but he now knows just what to do when I feel sad, mad, or depressed. He is a good listener and his genuine care shows through...even if he is still very uncomfortable with crying :)

10.A picture of your favorite sports team

The Celtics are my favorite sports team because one day I decided I needed to pick a team to like if I would find any kind of enjoyment watching some basketball with Ben. The Celtics were chosen mainly because their color is green, and I still don't enjoy watching basketball on tv, but at least now I have someone to root for.

11.A picture of something you hate

I hate spiders, I hate looking at this picture.

12.A picture of something you love

I googled "Summer" and this picture came up. I decided this is a perfect representation of my love of Summer: a lazy summer day with the sun shining and a light breeze blowing.

13.A picture of your favorite band or artist

Although it may not sound good, I love to sing Celine Dion songs at the top of my lungs. There is something about her songs that just make me want to sing. I tell Ben I am just practicing to become her back-up singer. Which will probably happen very soon :)

14.A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without

These two boys are my world and I don't ever want to imagine being without them.

15.A picture of something you want to do before you die

It is on my bucket list to spontaneously go to the airport, hop on a plane and go where the wind takes me...or pilot, either one.

16.A picture of someone who inspires you

My mom is my inspiration. She is the sweetest, kindest, most loving person you will ever meet. "Look for the good" is her saying and that is exactly what she does. She has such a positive outlook on life and has been a good example to me. I have never heard her speak one unkind thing about another person. She has worked extremely hard to nurture and care for her family. Each day she got up to go to work to take care of a class full of wild children and came home to take care of her eight crazy kids. And all the while she kept her smile. Thanks mom for being so amazing!

17.A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life

I couldn't choose between these two events. Getting married and having Kai has changed my life in the most amazing way. I am so happy right now and I love where I am in my life.

18.A picture of your biggest fear or insecurity

I am extremely scared of heights in a car. I always have been, even driving up steep hills scare me. One time I had a dream my family was driving on a high bridge without side rails and a car skidded into our lane but we swerved and missed the car...big sigh of relief, but just as we miss the car another car comes rolling toward us and we are thrown off the bridge and as we're falling we know death is just in a matter of seconds. Morbid I know, you can see why I have such a fear of this.

19.A picture of somewhere you love to be

When I think of vacation I think of Grandma Freeman's house. Everything about this place is perfect. Two years ago I was able to take Ben with me for the first time and I was happy to find that he enjoyed it just as much as I did, and he is also anxiously waiting for our next trip out. There is something magical about this place, it has specific smells, tastes and sounds that you don't experience any were else. When we were kids and asked if we should go to Grandma's house or Disneyland, Grandma's house would win! When you are at Grandma's house expect exceptional food, refreshing dips in the pool, long talks at the dinner table and staying up late with Grandma the night owl.

20.A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel

One other item on my bucket list is to travel to Tahiti and stay in a tiki hut over water.

21.A picture of someone who you aspire to be like

If there is anyone I am trying to be like it all comes down to my Savior Jesus Christ. His perfection and example of pure love is what I hope to become.

22.A picture of someone that makes you, YOU!

No one has ever accepted me more than Ben. I love that he loves me for me. Even my weird quirky outbursts :) He makes me comfortable being ME.

23.A picture of your talent/hobby

Although I am no where near as good as I used to be, I still LOVE to dance!

24.A picture of something you wish you could change

I would like to remodel my bathroom. The yellow color is so "noisy" and an awful color to put next to all the brown color in the counter tops and tile. The tile on the floor is too big for the space and also coming up. Hopefully I can re-do this space soon.

25.A picture of your favorite day

My favorite day was the day I married Ben. It took a lot of emotional hardship to get to that day but when it finally arrived it was perfect.

26.A picture of something that means a lot to you

My parents mean so much to me. They are the best kind of people out there. I feel so blessed to have them as my parents.

27.A picture of yourself and a family member

I love this picture of me and Alisha. I was 17 and she was 13.

28.A picture of something you want!

I really, really want a pool in my backyard.

29.A picture of something that you are afraid of

I am afraid of the dark.

30.A picture of someone/something you miss

I am lucky to say that I still have my maternal grandparents and paternal grandma still living. But my Grandpa Freeman passed away in July of 2006. These pictures were taken in the summer of 2005 on the last trip I had at my grandparents house before my grandpa died. The picture below was the last time I saw him, and as I hugged him goodbye for some reason I knew it would be the last time here on this earth. I definitely miss his interesting stories he always had to tell, and his fun sense of humor. My grandpa is an amazing person and I can't wait to see him again.

Peanut and Buster

2011-02-23T09:54:00.000-08:00

Here are the photos I promised of Kai sleeping with Peanut the elephant and Buster the dog.

Swimming at Grandma's

2011-02-23T09:48:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Kai and his cousin Kensi went swimming for their first time. They were a little tired and not as amused as we all hoped for, hopefully next time!

Afterward they took a bath together...future black mail photos!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day Ben and I did what we LOVE most, we ate! We went to a really yummy buffet and below is the delicious dessert!

Thanks for joining us Ray and Andrea!

Kai had a Valentine date as well...

it included the thing he LOVES most...food :)

And for your Valentine entertainment...

Two Peas in a Pod

2011-02-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

Poor kid...he sure looks cute though! :)

Splish Splash Kai was Takin' a Bath!

2011-02-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

3 Months and Growing Fast

2011-01-26T09:46:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast time goes by when you have a little baby around. Kai has been such a joy in Ben and my life and it has been so much fun watching him grow and develop and to see his little personality start to shine.

Kai has been a good sleeper since the beginning. By his 2nd or 3rd week he would sleep about 5 - 6 hours at night, Around 2 months he would sleep anywhere from 6-8 hours but he wasn't very consistent with the full 8 hours. He is now sleeping about 9 - 10 hours at night and it is pretty consistent, the only time he does wake up before then is if he has a stuffy nose, a wet diaper, or is cold; and once we fix the problem he is right back to sleep!

Although he may be a good sleeper he isn't the best eater. Feeding Kai fills up a good majority of my day. Since Kai hasn't been able to get enough while breastfeeding I have been pumping and bottle feeding him. Pumping takes 30 minutes, and bottle feeding takes him sometime up to an hour long. He has been getting better at it though. He has finished a bottle in as little time as 15 minutes, but that is pretty rare. My goal is to not stop pumping before 6 months and if I can handle it I would like to go until he is 9 months, it has definitely become easier since his feedings are now more spread out so hopefully I will be able to last until he is 9 months old.

Kai is such a flirt, if you give him the time of day he will tell you all kinds of stories. He is extremely smiley and if you get it just right you can get him to giggle. He is very patient and knows just what to do to melt his mom and dad's heart. He loves to stand up and he definitely prefers sitting up instead of laying down now. He is always trying to lift his head when you have him laying down. Kai turns into a chatty bird when he gets sleepy, it is so cute! He gets kind of a whiny sound to his voice and he pulls sad faces but never cries, he just acts sad, that is my cue to give him his bink and lay him down. He loves falling asleep with something close to his face, like his stuffed animals. I will have to get a picture of him falling asleep while he pets his stuffed animals and rubs his face against them, it is so sweet!

I couldn't ask for a better job!

This is Kai giving me his sad story before he falls asleep.

He has no chance to be anything but a nerd because he of course is Ben and my son, sorry Kai.

Baby Blessing

2011-01-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

Kai was blessed on January 2, 2011. Ben gave him a beautiful blessing and Kai of course looked adorable. I wish I would have got more pictures of him in his blessing outfit, but the two below will have to do!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-26T09:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas came and went extremely fast, I can't believe it is almost Valentines Day already! Needless to say Ben and I went all out for Kai's first Christmas and Kai of course had no idea what was going on, but at least we had fun with it. Kai decided to sleep in on Christmas morning and we ended up having to finally go wake him up at about 9:30 am so he wouldn't miss all the fun. Of course the one day we want him to wake up he sleeps in, but I can't complain because he is one good sleeper!

Christmas Eve Dinner

Kai debuting as Baby Jesus

Ben excited about his new PJ pants...this was the best picture I could find of him for Christmas, somehow most our photos are now of Kai :)

Kai stuffed in his stocking with his Santa surprise behind us.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-16T15:26:00.000-08:00

Here is Kai in his old man sweater Thanksgiving outfit:

Kai and his Thanksgiving feast!

The two boys zonked after their Thanksgiving feast :)

Kai and his 4 cousins all born this year:

Kai's Newborn Pictures

2010-11-09T18:14:00.000-08:00

Introducing...

2010-11-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

Kai Benjamin

October 21, 2010

12:29 am

7 lb 5 oz

20"

On Wednesday, October 20th I woke up at about 4am with some bad back labor, I had been having that for the past couple of weeks so I didn't think anything of it since I didn't want to get my hopes up. The pain never went away and I decided to not go into work that day and just lay around. I had a doctor's appointment that day at 1pm and as it was getting closer I had what I thought was contractions. I never really felt my tummy tighten I just felt intense pain that would last for a few seconds and come every few minutes so I was guessing it was a contraction. I decided to get my hospital bag ready for my doctor's appointment, hoping when the doctor checked me she would say I could be admitted to the hospital. Ben and I went to my appointment and I was still only dilated to a 1. I was so disappointed, I couldn't believe that after feeling like that all day long I was not progressing at all. Well when I got home from my appointment I decided to start timing my contractions and they were coming every 5 minutes, I waited for another 3 hours till they were coming every 2-3 minutes and at about 6pm Ben and I went to the hospital. When I got there I was dilated to a 3 and by 11pm I was dilated to a 10 and started pushing at 12:00 am and only had to push for 15 minutes. I couldn't have asked for a better labor and delivery. Everything went so smoothly and quick!

By about 3 am the nurse took our cute little baby Kai to the nursery. The nurse came in around 5 or 6 am and told us that Kai was turning gray with blue lips so they gave him some oxygen. Oxygen saturation is supposed to be anywhere from 90 - 100 and his was dropping as low as 65. They brought him into me and I got to cuddle with him skin to skin for a few moments, I will never forget those few minutes I had with him, I had the whole world in my arms. After I got to hold him for a few minutes they took him to the NICU where he spent the next 4 days. To make a long story a little bit shorter they later found he had an infection in his lungs, but luckily when he was admitted to the NICU they immediately hooked him up to some antibiotics to be on the safe side. It was so nice to finally get him unhooked from all his wires and take him home with us.

Kai has been such a joy in our life already and Ben and I are both so happy he is now part of our lives. We love you Kai!

Ben's Birthday

2010-10-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Ben celebrated his 28th birthday yesterday. I am so happy Ben was born and is a part of my life and I love celebrating it at least once a year! Below are some pictures of his big day :)

Ben My Hero

2010-10-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

The other night Ben and I were driving down Main Street at about 10:30 pm and Ben looks over and says did you see that? I look to my right and there is a guy all alone laying face down on the side walk seizuring. Ben quickly pulls over and we get out of the car and walk towards him Ben asks the man a couple times if he was ok. The guy was just staring off into space and his face was laying in puke. Ben calls 911 and then the guy trys to stand up, his legs look like noodles and he is all wobbly, Ben tells him to stay lying down and that everything will be ok, but the guy walks towards him and grabs Ben's arm and starts giving him and Indian burn and then starts kicking him, the guy seems really out of it and Ben said that he was way weak. So now Ben is on the phone with the police in one hand and using the other hand to hold off this crazy man. I start freaking out (inside, I tried to keep my cool on the outside :) ). I decide I would be safest in the car so I made my way back to the car. As I am on my way back to the car the guy runs around the corner and goes behind a store. Ben is still on the phone with 911 and follows the guy to keep an eye on him. Eventually the guy comes back out from behind the store and Ben asks him if he was ok. The guy seems a little more coherant now and says to Ben "what are you talking about?". Ben told him how he was laying on the sidewalk and then started to attack him and the guy was surprised and said he didn't remember any of it. The guy was acting really weird and Ben said he didn't smell like he was drunk or anything, but the guy had something in his pocket that he pulled out and showed Ben called "Sell Food" we aren't sure if that was what made the guy go all weird but that's our guess. Just a few seconds later the police showed up, as well as an ambulance and a fire truck. The EMTs put the guy in the ambulance while the police questioned Ben about what happened and then we were off. I was scared to death, but Ben kept his cool the entire time and was so brave to pull over to help this man when no one else driving by would. I am so proud of Ben for being such a brave hero, he probably saved the guys life!

Baby Showers

2010-10-12T23:11:00.000-07:00

Thank you everyone who helped put together my fabulous baby showers. Below are some pictures of all the fun, I sadly didn't get any pictures of my Preston baby shower, but they were all so much fun and we got some great stuff. Thanks again everyone!

The beautiful host

Babies in a blanket...cute idea Julia and Alisha!

Fun Photos

2010-10-12T22:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a while so I thought I would just post a bunch of pictures to catch up from the summer.

Ben holding the very cute Cash, he can't wait to be a daddy!

We started finishing the upstairs, cross our fingers that it will be done soon!

Ben couldn't resist taking a picture of me stuffing my face with my fantastic banana split.

Dressing up Caleb with a Build a Bear hula outfit.

Enjoying fireworks together.

Cute Kyla

Fist pump from Caleb

I haven't been to a single Aggie home football game so Ben and I made sure we went to one this year.

Little Moments That Take My Breath Away

2010-08-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

Recently Ben and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary. We took a day off work, went out for breakfast, got a couples massage and just spent the day doing really nothing but we did nothing together which made it fun. I wish I got a picture of us in our cute little massage robes but I forgot our camera so you will just have to imagine ;)

Sometimes I look at Ben and think I really am the luckiest girl in the world! The other night we were at flying J and Ben was filling up the car with gas but while he was waiting for the car to fill up he went and stood in front of the car and he was looking out at something. I couldn't stop staring at him, the sky was a perfect blue, the sun was setting but the sky was just a dark gray blue (very pretty). As I was looking at him I thought to myself I am never going to forget this image, it was perfect. I didn't want to be anywhere else right then...sitting there at the flying J. This is just one of the many little moments that take my breath away. I am so happy I am married to Ben and get to spend forever with my very best friend. Thanks Ben for the best two years yet!

Bear Lake Camping Trip

2010-07-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

4th of July

2010-07-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

Babysitting

2010-06-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

Here are Ben and my adventures with the kidlings when we get to babysit them, they are all so cute and we have so much fun with them!

Catch Up: Easter

2010-06-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't kept up with my blogging since the pregnancy had me pretty sick, now that I am feeling much better I will try to keep you all updated :)

Coloring eggs with Cole

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Baskets!

We've decided to start collecting the Disney movies, so those were our Easter gifts.

Smothering Caleb with Kisses!

This is us pulling Calebs scared face :)

and last of all a cute close up of Caleb!

It's a Boy!

2010-05-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

It's a boy! Ben was first to diagnose the gender even before the Ultrasound Technician. It was so fun to see our little man for a good 30 minutes while the Ultrasound Technician took her time pointing out different parts of our baby. Ben was pretty good at seeing what was there, I struggled a bit trying to figure out what each picture was of. It was fun when we got to see the movement of the baby. We got to see him bend his fingers, open his mouth and eat his hand, and right before the two bottom pictures were taken we saw him doing his hip thrusts, that was pretty cute to see :) Seeing our little guy made it seem more real to me and we are so so excited to meet him!

Going Private

2010-05-10T20:58:00.001-07:00

Ok, I am joining the crowd. Post your email or email me if you want to be invited to view our blog. I will be making our blog private on May 26th. Just before the big gender reveal!

Oh Baby!

2010-03-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

Valentine's day came around and I had no idea what to get Ben. So I texted my brother Cory the night before and asked him if he had any ideas and he said, "you should be pregnant, that's what I got last year". I told him that's easier said than done and then continued to brainstorm. Ben and I decided to go off birth control last July so I figured Cory's suggestion wasn't too far fetched. So the next morning I ran to Walmart before Ben woke up and bought an E.P.T test. Sure enough I was pregnant! I couldn't believe it, I really did not expect to be pregnant, my hands started shaking and I decided to go write Ben a Valentine's Card titled "Oh Baby" little did he know I litterally meant baby :) He was very excited to find out and we are both looking forward to our new little addition.

I am 9 weeks along and will be due October 17th. My first appointment is on March 29th, so ultrasound pictures will be coming soon!

Snow!

2010-02-05T23:24:00.001-08:00

After our huge snowstorm last week Ben and I headed out to shovel the snow. Since I have 4 older brothers and a hardworking Dad this was my first time to shovel the walks. I was pretty excited about it, I gave it a shot for about 10 minutes then decided to build a snowman, needless to say Ben finished the job :)

Ben started to eat my snowman...but its death came just a few hours later when I looked out the window and it had fallen over :(

The snowman will live forever in our hearts...until next year!

New Year's Day

2010-02-05T22:57:00.000-08:00

Every New Year's Day my mom's family gets together and has a little party. This year my Aunt Shauna wanted us to take a group picture. A little later I went up to my nephew Cole and told him to smile, the picture below is of him getting frustrated with me saying, "We already took pictures!" He is a character!This is Caleb thinking...it isn't that big of a deal Cole :)

This is Caleb again...I love that he can do this with his eyebrows, and I have tried many times to do this and still fail.

Beautiful Kimmy eating the good food!

Cute Kyla

Cole and Julianne are best friends, they get along so well. After we ate we all caught them walking around the church holding hands :)

And they're off!

I love this picture of Alisha with Cole and Julianne! Lish is a definite kid person, all the grandbabies adore her, as is portrayed very well here.

New Year's Eve

2010-02-05T22:28:00.000-08:00

For New Year's Eve my parents and little sister Alisha came up and stayed the night. It was a lot of fun to host our first party. There was plenty of food and a good time.

MIDNIGHT

Celebrating!

Dad celebrating and trying to figure out the camera at the same time :)

The Move

2010-02-05T21:20:00.001-08:00

The day after Christmas we moved to our new home. This is us packing Christmas night, goodbye 10X10 gold room, hello house!

This is Ben trying to figure out how to put the tv stand together. Yes, we did this before we unpacked our toothbrushes...this wore us out so much we just went to bed without searching for them :)

The mess!

Ben unpacking

Taking a break playing with his new toy!

The Kitchen

we are still waiting for our cupboard that goes above the fridge

Breakfast Nook

Entry Way

to be painted...some day

Hallway

Main Bathroom

MORE PICTURES OF THE HOUSE COMING SOON...

Christmas

2010-02-05T20:38:00.001-08:00

Below are a few snapshots of our 2009 Christmas! I got a new camera for Christmas and it has been a lot of fun to play with, I hope you can see the difference in picture quality when my photos switch from our old camera to the new one. I got a bit carried away with it Christmas night when everyone came over to the Cox house. But it was fun to get close ups of the family :) Below is just a small sample. Enjoy!

Christmas Eve Hot Chocolate!
Christmas Morning Stockings

My very first apron!

The big gift!

Ducky sporting his Christmas wear

(the new camera photos begin)

Jared and Becky

The Normans

Cute Kaylee

Eliza...I love this picture, it captures the face of a kid :)

Dramatic Sadie...she is giving us her sad face here

Happy Tristan

Ben and his sweet sister Samantha

Ben being the fun uncle he is

Love This Song

2010-02-03T08:29:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have a song you come across and you play it over and over and over? Well this one is mine. I would have posted the video but I don't know how, so you will have to follow the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrg_gzT1RVc

Lady Antebellum - "Need You Now"

"Your Valentine"

2010-01-28T07:47:00.000-08:00

Sorry so long since my last post, Ben and I are still without internet but just signed up to get Digis yesterday! Yay! updates of Christmas and New Year's coming very soon! As for us we are all moved in and loving our new home, pictures to come.

In the spirit of the month of love I thought I would share the legend/history of Valentine's Day. It is unclear as to what the entire background of Valentine's day is, but on History.com (http://www.history.com/content/valentine/history-of-valentine-s-day) they tell you about what is believed to be the history.

Basically in third century Rome Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, since he believed single men made better soldiers. St. Valentine continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. It is believed that St. Valentine sent the first 'valentine' himself while in prison. St. Valentines had fallen in love with a girl who visited him during confinement and before his death he wrote her a letter signed 'From your Valentine' which is the expression we use today! So there you have it!
Happy Valentine's Day!

College Graduation

2009-12-14T10:21:00.000-08:00

I finally did it! On Saturday I graduated from Utah State University. It was a cool day to graduate because I graduated high school on 06/06/06 and graduated college on 12/12/09. The 2009 throws it off but I still think it is pretty cool.

Ben made me a breakfast for champions that morning, eggs in a nest ( a heart nest). Sometimes he is just the cutest, ok most the time.
I am in this picture, I promise.

Shaking the Dean's hand and receiving my diploma

The USU alumni
My mom also graduated with her master's from USUThank everyone who came out to support me!

Final Walk Through...until we move in

2009-12-14T10:13:00.000-08:00

These are for you Sara since Rob is trying to get you to build this house!

Ok, so I promise I won't post anymore house pictures until after we move in. I went through the house and tried to capture each room the best I could and here they are:

Cabinets and Carpet

2009-12-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

The House is looking beautiful! Thank you Dan for all your hard work!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

Click on the links below to see Ben and I dancing for your holiday entertainment :)

ElfYourself - Disco ElfYourself

ElfYourself - Singing ElfYourself

The Latest...

2009-12-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

The Exterior is almost finished. The posts on the porch just need some brick half way up them and then paint the rest of the way up...oh and then Christmas lights :)
Hopefully down the road we will put on some black shutters around the front windows and a railing around the porch.

I am very proud of Ben for hooking up the can lights all on his own...he did have help from his dad on the first one though :)

Turkey and Family

2009-12-02T07:18:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday!
Here are some pictures of the day's activities...turkey and family.

It's coming along...

2009-11-25T12:49:00.000-08:00

Hopefully you all are not sick of these constant updates! It is pretty exciting to us and we can't wait to move in!

Kitchen Floor

2009-11-23T08:14:00.000-08:00

We finished laying the wood floor in the Kitchen on Saturday with lots of help from Ben's family, and a million calls to Dan for advice step by step, thanks everyone for all your help!
The floor is a bit dusty right now but I loved how it turned out!

Brick and such...

2009-11-19T08:38:00.001-08:00

This is a picture of the back of our house and the brick on the front of the house. I can't wait for the finished product!

Fall to Winter

2009-11-18T13:56:00.000-08:00

I took these pictures within a week of each other. The beautiful colors are fading and the snow is falling. Here comes a long, cold Logan winter!

House Update

2009-11-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick update on the things that have been done on the house lately:

Rob and my dad came and helped us paint...Rob looked like a circus monkey afterward...

The next week Rob and my dad helped us lay tile...

The siding and the brick are going up!

Thank you Rob and Dad for all your help!

House Update

2009-11-12T08:19:00.000-08:00

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago but I forgot about them! Here is the house with the windows, doors, and roof on. We have recently painted and will be soon laying the tile and doing the finish electrical, and the exterior should be on soon!

Caleb John

2009-11-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

My Brother Cory and his wife Kimmy had their first baby on November 1, 2009 at 8:30pm. He weighed 8lbs. 15 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. He is so adorable!

Halloween

2009-11-04T09:33:00.000-08:00

Below are some pictures of our Halloween Fun!

This year was Ben's first time carving a pumpkin with a pattern, I told him the one he picked out would be hard to do, but he thought it would be fine. It took him 3 1/2 hours to finish and we were up until 2:30am finishing it :)

Ben's Finished Product

My Finished Product

I didn't know what to be for Halloween this year so before my family's party started I ran down stairs and found an old costume my little sister wore in first grade...a pumpkin :)
Below is everyone who dressed up. Victoria (the vampire on the bottom) is pretty scary looking in this picture.

This picture makes me laugh

This is my little sister and her friend, I thought their costume was a cute idea!

Painting? This May Be a Problem...

2009-11-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

Well the house is coming right along. This week we are painting...I hope.

Murphy's Law: "whatever can go wrong will go wrong"

This week we are scheduled to prep and paint the house, and out of all weeks Ben is away on a business trip. This leaves me alone to do a pretty big job. No fun, but managable if I take a couple of days off of work....and usually my job allows me to have a pretty flexible schedule, but of course I have a deadline for a pretty huge project that needs to be met by the end of the week. This dilema has caused a lot of stress inside and I am not sure yet how I will handle it. All I can say is wish me luck and come home soon Ben!

Pictures of Halloween and my cute new nephew coming soon!

Electrical? No problem!

2009-10-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

The house is changing so quickly it is hard to keep up! Today we are having our 4-way inspection done (cross your fingers!) and if all goes well insulation will be installed tomorrow, the roof will be put on this weekend, and Monday the sheet rocking will begin!

This Last weekend Rob (my brother), Ben's Dad, uncle Mike, and Jared (Ben's brother) all came and helped us with the electrical work, we got about 80% of it done and Dan finished it up for us. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

Here is our giant tub I am very excited about!

The stairway from the view of our front door

27 YEARS

2009-10-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ben Celebrated his 27th Birthday last Wednesday (October 14th). I have also discovered a new love for editing photos, I have just began and sometimes over do it a bit, but below are my attempts at it...hopefully it will get better with more practice :)

I made him caramel honey french toast for breakfast, and he got to open up his "birthday" shirt before work.

After work his mom had made dinner for all of his family and a cute ghost cake!

After dinner I sent him on a treasure hunt to find the rest of his presents

All of his nieces and nephews were excited to help him out. His treasure hunt ended in the racket ball court. There he found two gifts and an office chair. As you can see below the kids loved the chair down on the wood floor :)

I went for a computer themed birthday, below is his long awaited external hard drive

And last but not least I spoiled him with a new computer monitor

Happy Birthday Ben I love you!

House Update

2009-10-16T09:10:00.001-07:00

So I know it has been longer than a week since we updated on our goals but life got crazy and an update on it will be coming soon :)

On another note, our house is coming right along. I visited the house this morning and it looks like all the framing is now finished and we even have our giant tub in...I am pretty excited about the tub :) Below are some pictures of the progress of the house starting with our 2 foot hole on the lot. I took a new picture today of the front of the house completely framed, but I have not uploaded it yet...so more pictures to come!

New Beginnings

2009-09-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

There comes a time when you realize something in your life needs to change, and the only way it is going to happen is if YOU decide to make the change. I am sure all of you, or at least most of you feel like every time you start thinking about change you get all motivated and it quickly fizzles out and once again you are left in the same place you started. We have sat down many times to write goals and eventually all the goals ever become are just words on a piece of paper tucked safely away in some messy drawer. So instead of writing down our goals on a piece of paper hidden from the world and kept from anyone ever knowing whethere we have accomplished what we set out to do, we will publish them on our blog for everyone to see, and if you are feeling motivated enough you can join in with us on our efforts to complete or at least try to complete the weekly goals we will set. Feel free to tell us all about your progress and journey along the way, maybe come up with your own weekly goal to share with all of us, perhaps we can all help each other stay motivated.

BEN:

Most of us have come to a crossroad in our life when we start to gain weight and don't quite look the same naked anymore. I passed this point about 15 months ago, 15 months later i am 40 pounds heavier, 50 times more tired, and 60% less motivated.

To give you a little background on myself I used to be 170 pounds, played basketball at least 3 times a week and it took me twice as long before I got tired. Now I am 220 pounds run up the court 5 times and get winded, not to mention my feet and shins hurt constantly. I am now finally going to find a way to change it all.

ANGELA:

For others of you out there you may some day come to find that your quick metabolism that gave you the bragging rights to say you can eat whatever, whenever, and wherever only led you to bad habits that would eventually lead you to the pudgy stomach you thought for sure you would NEVER get. Not to mention the natural muscle tone that came so easily and just as easily left you before you even realized a change had taken place. Yes, I may be talking from experience...sadly.

To give you a little background on myself I was...well to be honest about the same as I weigh now...except with washboard abs, killer thighs, and award winning triceps and biceps, yes I was voted best arms at the office. Then one day, and I swear it really does happen in just one "eye opening" day, you realize you don't quite have the body you always had. Now to set a few things straight, I wouldn't call myself fat and for those of you who know me I don't want you to get mad and say, "what are you whining about". The point is I am heading towards a certain direction and if I don't make a change now, it will only continue in that same direction.

We will be keeping track of the things that we do and the progress we make on this blog by making simple and reachable, weekly goals to lead us to our final goal.

ULTIMATE GOAL #1

Reach a healthy weight, maintain it, and continue to live a healthy day-to-day lifestyle.

Although we have only listed one ultimate goal, we have many more, and we hope to address all of them eventually. So for those of you who want to join in with us on our journey, evaluate what you want your ultimate goal to be right now. What is your focus? Evaluate where you are at this moment in regards to that part of your life, have you reached a certain point you never wanted to reach or are you heading in that direction? Today is the day change will start! Our first week is now underway, we will report back next week on how we did. Wish us luck!

WEEK ONE

Goal: Focus on doing something physical everyday (get our heart rate up)

One Year Summary

2009-09-28T10:12:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

We are Building!

2009-09-02T09:27:00.001-07:00

(We are planning on having cream shakes in the gables, green siding, and red brick)

We are officially building our first home! It has been a long few months making a ton of decisions and going through several different options, but we have finally made it. Last night we signed all of the papers for our construction loan and we will begin next week! We are really trying to get the house done before December 1 so we can get the $8,000.00, cross your fingers!

It all began one night sometime last spring semester, I was bored with my homework so I decided to look for fun at homes for sale in the area. I started getting updates on what houses went up for sale and Ben and I started thinking seriously about buying a home. After going and looking through a few homes we decided they weren't really what we were looking for or in the areas we wanted. We started meeting with builders and looking for a lot. We considered having my brother Dan build it but found that it would be too difficult to get a construction loan with this economy. We signed on with another builder and didn't feel right about it after a while. We began to research more seriously about the process of getting a construction loan and we found out that we could pull a few strings and actually get a construction loan. Dan had some awesome house plans and it all just fell into place. We feel so blessed to have this opportunity and we are so grateful for all of Dan and Rob's help to make this entire thing a reality.

Below is the main floor, this is all we will finish for now
(if you click on the pictures you can see the layout better)

The entire upstairs is a bonus level, we will have a temporary door and wall at the top of the stairs until we finish it

We will have a walk-out basement since the water table is so high in Nibley, this is where our future theater will be :)

Anniversary Trip to San Diego - part 3

2009-08-19T18:41:00.001-07:00

Last stop Sea World, I definitely want to make it back here again!

Shamu!

Baluga Whales

Ben and I in the Polar Bear Cave freezing our bums off!

The Polar Bear

My hand and the polar bear paw.... I learned that because of a polar bear's wide and long paw it can stand on a thinner piece of ice than humans can and not fall through.

Anniversary Trip to San Diego - part 2

2009-08-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

The next day we went to the San Diego Zoo

Ben scared of the Sloth Bear Me as a giraffe

Anniversary Trip to San Diego - part 1

2009-08-19T17:36:00.001-07:00

Ben took me on a dinner cruise in the San Diego Bay for the night of our anniversary.

1 Year Anniversary

2009-08-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it has been a year since Ben and I got married, I am sure everyone says that, but it is so true how fast time flies. This year I have really come to know and love Ben more and more. I have absolutely enjoyed our first year together and I am looking forward to the many more to come. I LOVE YOU BEN!

Bear Lake

2009-08-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

Every Summer the Moser Family (my mom's side) does a family vacation. This year it was to Bear Lake. Ben and I weren't able to make it the entire time but since we live close we decided to head up for one Saturday.

Ben and Angela tubing

Rob learning how to wake surf, not too bad for his first time.

Grandma and Grandpa Moser takinga snoozer

Ben taking his nap on the way home, too much sun for such a little guy ;)

4th of July - Freeman Family Reunion

2009-07-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July weekend the Freeman family held a fun reunion. For the first night we had a themed dinner (Get Smart) at my uncle's house and we were all given agent shirts. We had a lot of fun catching up and hanging out with all of our cousins.

The next day was the 4th of July and we had a BBQ and then headed off to the Stadium of Fire to see the Jonas Brothers...Ben loved it ;)

My cousing Kaly and I had twinner shirts on :)Brad plugging his ears for the F-16

Swimming Fun

2009-07-14T18:27:00.001-07:00

Ben and I invited our nieces and nephews over one day so we could all go swimming. All the little kids would hang on Ben and have him swim them around. They loved it! They sure love their uncle Ben.

Cinco de Mayo

2009-06-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

My sister Julia decided to throw a Cinco de Mayo party, it was a lot of fun. We had good food, kareoke, and a pinata.

Playing in the Rain

2009-06-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of down pours lately so one night i convinced Ben to run outside with me, he wasn't too interested but eventually he gave in, we were only out there for a few seconds and got soaked. Ben said we should both put our heads under the rain gutter and I thought he was kidding so he did it and I didn't...I made a run for it so he couldn't pull me under too.

Easter at Grandma's

2009-04-14T17:20:00.001-07:00

Ben and I got to spend Easter at my Grandma's house. It was a beautiful day, and my grandma made us all a very delicious Easter dinner! We were all sad that we had to go home the next day :( Ben was pretty excited to find his basket that my sister Alisha hid :)

California Trip

2009-04-14T16:58:00.001-07:00

Ben and I were able to take a very fun trip to California to visit my grandma with my mom and dad and little sister Alisha. It was so nice to get away, and we all did not want to go home!

We all took a drive through the wine country, which was absolutely beautiful...it was nice to see some GREEN! We made sure we dipped our fingers into the Pacific Ocean, and we went to the Redwood Forest. We did not go to the actual giant redwood forest, but we did see some very large trees. The ride home from our days adventure was very scary, the road was steep, extremely windy, and dark. I think I speak for all of us...including my dad, when I say we were all very happy to get on the freeway.

The next day was an Easter egg hunt at my grandma's house. A bunch of my cousins came over and we had a fun little BBQ. Ben and I are not used to the sun yet and we both got pretty burnt. It was nice to get some sunshine though!

Birthday Celebration

2009-03-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

So my family has always made birthday's a very big deal, and I was curious to see if Ben was up for the task. He made my birthday so wonderful and full of many surprises. I am so grateful for all the effort he put into making me feel so special.

I woke up like normal and when I got out of the shower the entire apartment was decorated with balloons and streamers.

He got me my usual birthday breakfast, donuts and Blueberry Morning Cereal.We went to dinner at my favorite restaurant Cafe Sabor and I got a virgin margarita to celebrate me turning of age :)After dinner we went back to the apartment to get ready to go roller skating/blading and Julia and Brad were there! They all surprised me and I had no idea they would be there. Here is cute little Kaylee (our neice) trying out roller skating for her first time!Here is Ben and I helping out our other neice Anika to roller skate for her first time as well. All of our feet were hurting after two hours on the skating rink, for some reason I remember roller blading being much easier and less "hurty" :)After roller skating we all went to Chili's to get Molten Lava Cake!

Ben surprised me and got me a new ipod for my birthday, woo hoo!
Thanks Ben! My new capris Ben got me.

Dallas - EHDI Conference

2009-03-14T11:26:00.001-07:00

So this may seem like a boring thing to blog about but... this last week I went to Dallas to help put on the Early Hearing Detection Intervention Conference. I have been doing conference planning for almost 3 years now and this has been one of the "neatest" ones I have been a part of.

In this picture below is the group in their plenary session, you will see two large screens which is displaying live captioning, and if you look close enough you will see two ASL interpreters. Each breakout room in the conference was also equipped with this...which I think, and everyone else a part of the conference thinks is so awesome!

I got to meet many people all across the world that come together for somewhat of a common cause...there is a bit of a contraversy among participants concerning cochlear implants, ASL, and hearing aides...which I never knew existed.

I was able to learn a little bit of ASL so I could somewhat communicate with the deaf participants, it was a great experience all around!

I feel so blessed to have the job I have. I get to meet so many different people that come together for a variety of causes. Anything from Gifted Children & Hearing Detection to Saving Aspen Trees & and Researching the Spring Runoff.

Below is the Exhibit Hall for the EHDI Conference...There were a lot of people!This is me and a co-worker in the hotel's showroom, it was such a cool looking room, you almost felt like you were in Las Vegas. This is where the cowboy poetry was held...one of the night activities. Not only was the conference a lot of fun, but the weather was very nice! This is me with some of our group enjoying the warm weather.

Picture Tag

2009-03-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

RULES:
1. Go to my documents/pictures
2. Go to the 6th folder
3. Go to the 6th picture
4. Blog about it
5. Tag 6 people to do the same

This picture was taken on my mom's birthday outside on my parent's patio. I am not sure what year it was taken but I am guessing around 3 years ago (probably August 14, 2006).

Whenever I look at this pictue my eyes are drawn to Julia (the girl in the purple shirt looking at the camera), I think she looks beautiful!

TAG....

Julia

Jen

Annie

Sara

Kimmy

Kaly

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T22:36:00.000-08:00

Ben was very thoughtful for Valentine's Day. He got me 6 white roses since we have been married for 6 months, and got me my favorite breakfast...donuts :)

Thanks Babe!

Superbowl Sunday

2009-02-15T22:17:00.001-08:00

Ben was out of town on Superbowl Sunday so I stayed with my parents for the weekend, my family had a party at my brother Rick's house. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and see our new baby niece Kyla!

Julianne & Cole

Maddie & Sara

My Mom

Dan & Annie

Julianne & Baby Kyla

Christmas

2009-01-23T20:38:00.000-08:00

It took me a while to update the blog, but here is Ben and my first Christmas!

Crazy Alisha singing along to Mamma Mia!