HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN!

It's hard to believe my nephew is already 2!! I'm sure it's even harder for his parents to believe that though.

This is little Benjamin on his blessing day almost 2 years ago.

These are the pictures I borrowed off his mom's facebook page - I sadly don't have anything recent as they live SOOOOO far away.

He is super cute. In our house he is still known as Baby Benjamin. A name we started using when we were out East for Christmas in 2008. I know he's not a baby any more - but Hillary has a hard time connecting that he's grown up since she saw him last. If we look at baby pictures of anyone - she thinks its Benjamin. So we still call him Baby Benjamin. Sorry Benjamin - but it could be Bubba - that would be worse. I hope you have a FanTabuLus Day Ben!!

New stuff to check out

I've added a bunch of new blogs to my sidebar. You should check them out in your free time. Some are hillarious (Dear Brittany) and some are crafty (Tator Tots & Jello). Enjoy them as I do.

Go Jazz

A very generous friend offered us some Jazz tickets last week when she couldn't use them. Sadly there were only 4 but Breanna didn't want to go anyway so she spent the evening with her friend Dessa. But the rest of us loaded in the car and drove up to Sandy where we caught Trax to the Arena in SLC for the game. We had tons of fun.

Hillary loved the train ride even though it was about 40 minutes long.

Hillary started asking for a finger as soon as we walked through the door. What is so appealing about those dumb things anyway?

We weren't in the worst seats - but we weren't lower bowl.

This is in the first couple minutes of the game. After that - Hillary didn't really understand why we couldn't leave.

Reason number 1 that we couldn't leave.

Reason number 2 that we couldn't leave.

And in case you were wondering - yes it was a great game and yes they won.

200 and Hilarious

So this is so not what I had envisioned for my 200th post. I was going to do a great post and perhaps a contest/giveaway. But then I found this video on another blog I read and just had to post it here. I almost fell off my non-Hawaiian chair laughing. So watch it and enjoy it and maybe at 300 I'll give something away.

Another contest

Over at DIY Dish they are giving away two awesome sewing machines. Head over there to enter and find a fun project to do.

Poor Penny

Sometimes Hillary's enthusiam for dressing her dolls overflows onto poor Penny. This is what they called her "mexican donut making outfit". I'm not sure why other than they thought the poncho was Mexican and the hat looks like a donut makers hat. Penny is very tolerant don't you think?

I think if she could talk she'd be screaming "Help me!!!" at the camera.

HIllary....

Grandma Tinka has finally found a kindred doll-loving spirit. Anyone who knows my Mom knows she loves dolls. Especially American Girl Dolls. She started giving them to Breanna when she was young - and gave her three in all. Melissa, Lindsey and Marisol. She gave Hillary her first a couple years ago - Nina and her second last August for her birthday - Kaya. So there are 5 in our house. Breanna no longer plays with hers as she has grown out of them - so Hillary has taken possesion. She loves them all. She dresses them all up multiple times a day and it's the cutest thing to watch her try to carry all 5 around at once. She frequenly lines them up on the couch for what she calls "family picture" time. There is almost always one in the car where ever we go and they are amazing at holding up their end of the conversation-at least that's what I'm told.

Happy Birthday Dad

This is the year I'm going to start posting for birthdays. Of course I've started late and missed several already - so I apologize in advance and promise you'll get a post soon. So this post is for my Dad.

The pictures of my Dad are not the most recent pictures - I don't see my Dad as much as I'd like since he lives way over in Virginia. But these are some of my most favorite of him. They almost always involve his grandkids.

This is when they took my kids down south on a mini-vacation. Hillary was 2 so it must have been in 2007.

This was last August when Hillary and I went to visit.

This was December 2008 when we were all home for Christmas.

Christmas 2008 - all the grandkids except Connor - who know where he was.

Here are some things you may not know about my dad, but they are a small part of what makes him great.

• Last week he sent all his kids a picture of his colon. Yes it's healthy and clean in case you were wondering. I guess this says more about his sense of humor than anything else. But it made my day when I got it.
• He is smart. If any of my kids has a question I can't answer - they always ask to call Grandpa cause he will know.
• He takes care of my Mom. And the last couple of years have not been easy for him. But he does it without complaint and with love.
• He loves fossils.
• He can fix just about anything.
• He will watch the same dumb cartoon over and over with a grandkid just because she wants to.
• He has freakish good taste in clothes. I hated to admit it when I was growing up - but the stuff he picked out and bought for me was pretty cool. And looking back - the best homecoming dress I ever had was picked out by him. The worst - was picked by me. Breanna is learning that now too.
• He is incredibly patient.
• A couple years ago he decided he didn't want to be called Grandpa - so now he refers to himself as "Super Ralph". Sadly he's the only one who has caught on to that name (at least in our house). He's still Grandpa Ralph to us.

So Happy Birthday Dad. I hope your day is great and you do something fun. We love you.

Sledding

A couple weeks ago there was almost enough snow to go sledding. The one year I buy my sleds early so I don't get ripped off paying $20 for a skimply piece of plastic-We can't get snow that stays long enough to sled on. All our snow comes in the night and melts at dawn it seems like. But I've had these sleds in the basement since early December and Hillary has been dying to use them. So when there was just a skiff of snow - we went. We took her cousin Marion. As you can see not even all the grass was covered - the older kids didn't go but wouldn't have been able to sled even if they had. But Hillary and Marion had the best time.

Has it been a year already?!?!?!?!?

It seems like just yesterday we were making the yellow truck for the Pinewood Derby last year - and it's time again already. It's actually past time now due to my lack of timelyness in posting - but we'll pretend I am more on top of it. So for the first time Connor decided to go function over form. The past two years he just wanted his car to look COOL. And they did. But they didn't win. This year he wanted to win. So we went with a slick design with low wind resistance - at least that's what the package said anyway. He wasn't the fastest car - but unlike the past years he wasn't the slowest car. He actually won a couple of heats and never came it last so he considered it a successfull year. I'm sad it will be our last.

His is the red one.

Just being his cute self.
Loading his car onto the track.

Again - the red blur is his.

Here he is coming in second place.