A Work in Progress

We closed on our new house last Friday and have been BUSY ever since getting things cleaned, painted, fixed, replaced, moved and put away. We are no where near done but I thought some "during" pics were worth a post. We are working hard and sleeping hard but enjoying every minute of it (I think :) It is wonderful to have something to call OURS again! We'll be disconnecting our computer on Monday and who knows when we'll be up again but we'll have "after" pics before too long. I hope! :)

We're in ESCROW!

After quite the test of my FAITH, and many reassurances from my husband that the Lord would provide, we finally got one of our many OFFERS accepted and we are getting a HOUSE!!! It wasn't my first choice of a home, in fact Jeremy had to do a little convincing before I would even consider putting an offer in. Its a bank owned property and needs some WORK. Mostly cleaning, but also carpet and all new appliances. All before we can MOVE IN. But things are falling into place like they do when something is RIGHT. We are very excited to own again, though housesitting for G&G Johnson has been a huge blessing to us. Here are some pics of the house. For those familiar with the area, its at Signal Butte & Elliot in Mesa.I can't wait to PAINT this room...And this room...

I will eventually paint every room in the house, but for now those HAVE to be done. YIKES! Since we have virtually NO furniture, painting after we move in is not nearly as intimidating as it could be. We won't have a ton of stuff to displace during the process, so we will do one room at a time until it is just the way we want it.

We are SOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

I HEART Craigslist

We got a screamin' deal on these...

Picked 'em up yesterday for $800 bucks! I got them all sparkly clean and now I am ready to use them in my new house!!!

Zack-O

I've been snapping pics of Zack like crazy lately cause he has started to smile so much more! Babies are the best! (but so are 2 year olds!)

Here are a couple of Aiden. Wouldn't want to leave him out :)

Being a good big brother...

And one with his friends Gage & Elsie...

Too Hard???

So I guess my questions were tougher than I thought cause Nicole and Lindsey are the only ones who took a shot at any of them! Cassie... I'm surprised you didn't stab at a few!
Nicole is the lucky winner. She got 2 1/2 right. Lindsey was a close second with 2 right! Nicole, I like Afton's idea of giving you a Jamba gift card. I will get it to you soon!

So here are the answers:

1) 1966 Chevy Pickup Truck

2) Honda

That's right!!! Jeremy drove the Honda & I drove the TRUCK!!! Go figure. What's better is that his first car (other than the baja... see below) is in a mangled heap in his parents back yard and my truck is still kickin'. At least as far as I know. My parents sold it when I went to college. And I totally cried when they did!

3) Aiden's middle name is Manaia (Maori -from New Zealand -means strong & immovable) This is Mount Manaia in New Zealand.

Zack's middle name is David (same as Jeremy's. Also Jeremy's uncle who died at birth was named David.)

4) Jeremy was home schooled and did correspondence in high school. Yes, that one was kind of a trick question.

5) Tiff wants to go back to school when she 'grows up'. I'll take classes in lots of stuff. But mostly interested in Photography, Nursing and Sign Language. I know... totally unrelated topics!

6) Jeremy spoke 6 languages (although not ALL of them fluently) on his mission. He can name them all... but I'm not sure I can.

7) Jeremy was 8 when he learned to drive a stick shift. We own the car he learned in too! VW Baja Bug.
8) We are on the activities committee in our ward.

9) We met when we were 14 or 15 years old. Started dating seriously 6 weeks before the mission!

10) Christmas Day!

Cute Idea

Nicole had this cute idea on her blog. So I am copying her (even some of her questions - cause I'm not all that creative!). How much do you know about the Benson's??? Post your answers, but don't cheat and look at other's first. It'll be fun to see what obscure facts you know about us... There will be a small prize for the one who knows the most so take your best shot!

1) What was Tiff's first vehicle?
2) Jeremy's first vehicle?
3) What is the significance of our boys middle names?
4) What high school did Jeremy attend?
5) What is one thing Tiff wants to do when she "grows up"?
6) How many languages did Jeremy speak on his mission? (bonus points if you name them!)
7) How old was Jeremy when he learned to drive a stick shift?
8) What are our current church callings?
9) How old were we when we met? & When did we start dating?
10) What day was Tiff due to deliver Aiden?

Rocky Point

We spent Memorial Day Week - Monday to Thursday - in Mexico with the Bleazard Family. In fact, Jeremy, Aiden, Zack and I were the ONLY ones there whose last name isn't Bleazard. My grandparents, aunts & uncles and all my cousins were there(except Casie & Logan who were very missed!) .

We had a BLAST! It was a riot to watch Aiden play in the water. Grandma Robyn spent tons of time just sitting at the water's edge with him while he took shovels full of sand and dumped them back into the ocean. She taught him that "Heavenly Father made the water." It's so cute to hear him say that. We stayed in a condo resort. Our condos were on the ground floor (to the left in this pic)

Which meant no stairs to get to this...

We did lots of this...

And a little of this... (I don't recommend night snorkeling for anyone with claustrophobia!!!) We can't wait to do it again! Here is the whole gang and a few other family pics...(Josh and Jen were inside nursing Josh's sting from one of the many stingrays... so the family isn't complete) :(

Thanks Jeff & Mauri for organizing the whole thing and making it fun for 30 people!!!

Aiden & German

Of course, now that my camera is back (see previous post), I am busy taking pictures again. It has been raining this afternoon. Aiden and German wanted to watch the rain so here they are sitting on the front door step.