Christmas Centerpieces

I know I have posted like a dozen times in the last 2 days... but bear with me.

These are pics of the centerpieces I am in charge of making for the Ward Christmas Party. Jeremy and I just got called to the Activities Committee. Its a great time of year to get in and get to work! I thought these turned out so cute and wanted to share the idea with anyone in need of some inspiration for your own holiday festivities.

Maternity Nightmare!

I am going crazy with my dang maternity pants! I have a bunch of capris but I am very much in the mood to wear pants. My problem is that even "long" pants fit me like capris. I'm not abnormally tall so what gives??? Does anyone out there know where to find LONG maternity pants? I'd like to get them at a resonable price, but at this point I might break down and splurge on just one pair of fabulous denim. Please let me know if you have a secret shopping destination when nothing seems to work!

Tagged by Two

Both Kennedy and Nicole tagged me to do this "6 things about me tag." I hope that doesn't mean I have to do 12... cause I'm not.

When I asked Jeremy what I should write for this he didn't say anything. I asked him if he didn't think I was special and he said "Oh, no - I think your special!" in a look here comes the short bus kind of way. Haha! So here goes nothing...

1. I love my sleep. I'm not a morning person or a night owl. I'm lucky that Aiden is such a good sleeper & hope all my kids let me have my sleep. Its my way of taking care of myself. Some people get pedicures - I sleep. 2. I CAN'T walk in heels. I tried this weekend only to be reminded that I probably never will be able to! I blame that on my Mom and my Grandma Bleazard. My mom because I was never allowed to wear heels until I was 12 or 13 and then only a wedge. (I don't fault her for the rule - just the outcome). My Grandma Bleazard because I inherited my lousy coordination straight from her. Maybe that is why my mom didn't want me in heels in the first place... she didn't want me falling on my face every Sunday! 3. I love to read cookbooks (with pictures) - also something I get from Grandma Bleazard. I get such great, easy ideas and then I run out to the store, buy a ton of stuff, put it in the fridge and lose all motivation. I know I can make the stuff. I have all the ingredients. Just no motivation to do it. Its actually quite frustrating, and something I need to work on. At least I enjoy reading the recipes... that is a start. Someday I will be a good wife & mom and make good meals for my family. 4. I can't stand a messy house. I know this doesn't make me all that unique, but its still true. I like my bed made but it is low on the priority list. I am getting better at spending my precious small amounts of energy on Aiden though. I am learning to only clean the kitchen once a day and not worry so much about toys on the floor. And since I suck at making 'real' dinners, the kitchen shouldn't get that dirty, right??!? 5. I am very competitive and I'm a poor loser. Jeremy is the same way. We learned early in our marriage that a 'fun game of cards' or even Sorry was not the way to spend our evenings. We both know that it is immature but we can't play a competitive game unless other people are around or else we go to bed mad at each other. Stupid, huh!

6. I am SO thankful for my health and the health of my family. I don't know if this fits the criteria of this TAG but oh well. Aiden has had pneumonia this week and I thought I was getting it too. We are both on antibiotics and are doing well. (This was taken when he fell asleep with a 103 degree temp. So sad!)But I am grateful for our overall health. We are so blessed that Aiden very rarely gets sick. He was born healthy and didn't even get the sniffles until he was at least 6 months old. Jeremy goes and goes constantly but fights illness better than I could ever dream to at his pace. And as long as I get my sleep, I am great. My heart goes out to a couple of my friends who just had babies. Amanda had twin girls 8 weeks early and Katie's little guy has had a rough go of the first days of his life. They are great examples of faith to me. And their experiences help me to appreciate the normal life we usually lead.

Thanksgiving Pics

Pics of our Thanksgiving. Jennie's family was here for the endowment & sealing and we all spent the day together. Her sister has twin boys that are Aiden's age. It was fun to watch them run around together. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Our Thanksgiving

We had a very eventful Thanksgiving weekend. The Benson family started arriving late Wednesday night. The cooking began at 6:30am. YIKES! We ate at 12 noon. Here is a pic of Candy, Jennie Raye, Me & Amy (Jennie's younger sister) after we had lunch.The reason we ate so early is so that we could get to the real fun of our Thanksgiving which was off roading in the VW bajas. The latest and greatest in the way of our off roading toys is the Mini Buggy that Robert just got. Aiden still needs to grow a couple of inches before he can reach the pedals, but it is super small & great for the littlest grandkids. Aiden had a blast riding around with Kendell. And I think Kendell enjoyed it just as much!

This Thanksgiving was super special because on Friday Jeremy's whole family (Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister and all the spouses) were able to go to the Temple together for the first time. Jennie & Candy both received their own endowments. It was a great feeling to have all of us there together. Then on Saturday Logan & Jennie Raye were sealed. Following their sealing, Jeremy's dad & aunt served as proxy for the sealing of Jeremy's Great Grandma & Grandpa Benson. Then Grandpa Benson was sealed to his parents.

I was so blessed to be in the Temple for all of these wonderful ordinances. It reminded me of how thankful I am for those blessings in my life. To have parents who blessed my life by being sealed before I was born. To have Jeremy by my side for all eternity and to be able to share that blessing with Aiden and our future children. I am grateful I have had the chance to count my MANY blessings over the last week. Especially those that are the most lasting and important.

My Little Climber

Ka-Chow

A little background for a second and then the real story....

Aiden LOVES CARS, the movie. He asks all the time to watch "Light-a-queen" (lightning mcqueen). He has a Lightning McQueen toy that says "Ka-chow", which he repeats all the time with great energy, and come Christmas he will have plenty more of "light-a-queen" to play with.

Jeremy decided the other night to change the crib into a toddler bed for Aiden. He's been doing really well. He even sleeps great at naptime without a fight. I'm enjoying that while it lasts! He usually wakes up between 7:30 and 8:00 in the morning. And he is my alarm clock! Another thing I completely enjoy - especially since I know that #2 will have his own way of ruining my beautiful sleep habits.

Today I woke up on my own at 8:30. I ate breakfast, checked my blog, balanced the checkbook and THEN started to really wonder what he was still doing asleep! So I quietly opened his bedroom door thinking maybe he was playing quitely with his teddy bear. Nope. He was still out cold. He didn't even hardly stir when I went in there. So I left his door cracked and started picking up around the house. I thought I heard him talking a minute later. I went in again and he was STILL asleep. I leaned over him to see if his eyes were open (they weren't) and right then - IN HIS SLEEP - he said "KA-CHOW!" It was the cutest thing. I practically ran out of the room to go call Jeremy. He didn't answer, so I called my mom. We have all gotten a good laugh out of that today. This is the pic I HAD to take right after the phone call to my mom. He woke up shortly after this... about 9:15!

It's a BOY!

I don't think I'll ever trust my prenatal gender instincts again!!! I was sure this one was a girl. We will put aside the fact that I REALLY wanted a girl and my 'instincts' were totally biased! We are so happy that the little guy is healthy and growing well. They said he is in the 59th percentile for his size. I didn't know they could tell that already! I am still wrapping my head around the fact that we'll have another boy, but I am getting excited already. We had a really hard time agreeing on Aiden's name, so chances are this one won't be any easier! We probably won't decide until he makes his appearance in March.

Here are a couple of the ultrasound pics. We get a 3D ultrasound in about 8 weeks & hopefully there will be more to post then.

Cute Little Profile

Yep! Its a boy!!!

Halloween Pics

Ultrasound Day

We get to have an ultrasound done today at 4pm! I'm sooooo excited to find out what we are having! I wasn't sure I wanted to know this time around, but now that the day is here, I can't wait! We are taking Aiden with us. I don't know if he will get it at all, but Jeremy and I both want him there with us. I will post the "results" this evening!

Halloween Fun

Sorry it has taken the better part of a week to post all of our Halloween pics! We got to go to Vegas for Halloween, so I haven't bothered with my blog since then. Enjoy!

On the Saturday before Halloween we went to a little pumpkin patch. Aiden wouldn't look at the camera so this is the best pic I could get. He was going nuts with all the pumpkins everywhere. And he says "pu-kin" so cute. We got a tiny little pumkin for him and a normal sized one for the whole family.
Here are some pics of our Halloween parties. Saturday night there was a neighborhood carnival at the park. Aiden was Bob the Builder. This was the best picture I could get of him all decked out. Mommy & AidenOn Monday we had a party at our house. We did a potluck and carved pumpkins. The food was wonderful and we had a TON! The older kids (5 & 6 yr-olds) had fun climbing in the tree. We were so happy to have so many of our friends around us for FHE.



My Boys with the pumkin that Jeremy carved for Aiden. How cute!

The McDowell Family

The Young Family

The Cotter Family