A Huff Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to our blogging friends! We hope that you all have a safe and wonderful Christmas. We are headed to Casper, WY for Christmas. We're so excited to spend it with Terra's family. There will be 20 people and 2 dogs in the Howard home. So it will be a bit chaotic, but fun. Thank goodness that they have a 7 bedroom house. :-) We're leaving on the 24th to drive to Casper - pray that the roads are good! We'll be coming back on the 29th. We're so excited for Benjamin to open up his presents. He doesn't totally get it, but he loves to rip the wrapping paper..so that will be lots of fun. We'll take lots of pictures with our awesome new camera.

For those of you who didn't know, Josh got a new job with the grocery store Macey's. He works in the meat department and he LOVES it. It's such a nice change from the old job!

I'm still working at USU to put Josh through college. Hopefully he'll be done sooner than later. We're praying...I'm probably praying harder than anyone else. :-)

Benjamin is growing. He is on the verge of walking, but is fine to get by on crawling and walking with help. His favorite mode of transportation is holding on to mom's fingers and walking...or running. He is getting really good at animal sounds. In fact, yesterday at church we were looking at a book of Christ during the sacrament and he saw a sheep and he blurts out, "BAAA BAAA BAAA. " I know, my child is so irreverent.

We are so grateful for our eternal family and for the testimonies of Jesus Christ that we have. We are also so grateful for this time of year that we have to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Bishop Ward - USU 57th Ward

For those of you who were in the USU 57th ward while Bishop Ward was Bishop, he passed away on Saturday, November 28th. He went and took a nap and when his wife went to wake him up, he never woke up.

His funeral will be on Wednesday, December 2 at 12:00 (viewing from 10:30-11:30 before funeral). It will take place at the Richmond Stake Center (135 W. Main, Richmond). Sister Ward would like anyone who was in the 57th ward with Bishop Ward to sing at his funeral. We need to get a count of how many are going to help sing and if we can also get someone to play the piano. We will be singing "Each Life that Touches Ours for Good." Please let me know if you are able to sing and are able and willing to play the piano.

Thank you!

California Adventures

CALIFORNIA!!!

I will start off by saying that I made a very expensive mistake! I forgot to bring my camera to Disneyland. So I bought a disposable camera for $20!!!! Sheesh. Anyway, so Disneyland pictures are yet to be developed.

This year was kind of a big birthday for me. My mom was going to be going to CA to take care of my cute nephew, Damen, so she said she would take me for my birthday. Yes, we drove. Benjamin actually did really well. On Monday, the 9th, we went to Disneyland. I have NEVER been told Happy Birthday sooo many times in my life. My family called me and then a million people said happy b-day via facebook and then a gazillion people said happy b-day to me at Disneyland. On your birthday in 2009 you get in to Disneyland for FREEEEEE! Plus, you get a rad button that says "Happy Birthday" and then they write your name on it. It was a little creepy but fun at the same time. We all had a great time. Benjamin LOVED the rides and he could've gone on a lot more and been very happy about it. The faster we went on the teacups, the more he would laugh. He truly is a son of Josh and Terra. :-)



Here are Damen and Benjamin playing on the train table. Damen was very kind to share with Benjamin for the whole week.


Benjamin was very proud of himself for getting to the train table and then standing up with it.

And then he proceeded to climb onto the train table.


A famous Benjamin scowl that is often seen. We're not sure if he gets it from his Uncle Swen or from his mother. Uncle Mike seems to think it's from Aunt Jessie...but we think it's cute nonetheless.


Keep reading below for the rest of California adventures!

I guess if I had to get old, I might as well have done it at Disneyland. My mom also made this aMaZiNg cake! Needless to say, it honestly was one of THE most moist and most wonderful cakes I've ever tasted. We had fun celebrating!






On the day that we went to the beach, I remembered to bring my camera!!! AWESOME. We went to a beach that was in my mission! It was so fun to go back to a place that is very near and dear to my heart. We were at the Carlsbad beach!

A fun shot my mom took of us!



This is the last picture our camera ever took...and ever will take again - may it rest in peace. Here I was snapping some photos of sweet Benjamin and, as you can see, the tide started to come in. Well, it was A LOT more powerful and a lot bigger than I had expected it to be. It knocked Benjamin over and almost completely covered him had I not reached down to pick him up. In the process of saving my son from drinking a gallon of saltwater and sand...my camera was immersed into the lovely ocean tide. I still had it around my wrist, but when I looked at it again, it had passed away. We tried to revive it by letting it dry out for 2 days and then trying it again...but she was gone.

Anyway, it was a good camera, but now we've moved on to bigger and better things. Well, at least we've been looking. You can't have a child, a blog, or facebook and not have a camera. :-)

The rest of the trip was a blast. We went to SeaWorld - for FREE. We got soaking wet from the shamu show. Thank you, Melanie, and I quote, "They usually don't splash that much when it's cooler outside." Yes...yes, they do. Damen was not very happy about it. Benjamin, on the other hand, almost fell asleep after that. Note to self - don't EVER sit anywhere near the splash zone if you don't want to get wet. Even if it's November!

Oh California, you will ever have a spot in my heart. We hope to go back often...next time with Josh. We sure did miss him. We were very glad to get back to him and to be sleeping in our own beds.

I'm pretty much a slacker mom when it comes to the Halloween costume. It's not my favorite holiday, so I guess that's why I don't push it as much. Anyway, to show how cheap I am, a couple of days before Halloween I borrowed our awesome neighbors costume. Really, Benjamin doesn't need a costume to show that he's superman...he really is. :-) I dressed up as a mom - because I just pretend to be a mom. And Josh dressed up to be Superman's father. Doesn't he look great? And cute cousin Addison is a vampire cheerleader - a very cute one! Benjamin had fun going trick-or-treating, but he only lasted about a half an hour before it was just too cold. Then he went to bed and we sifted through all of his candy. Ahhhh...the joys of parenthood.

More Partying

Another party and more cake.

Benjamin's 1st Birthday parties

Benjamin's first present came on an airplane! It was Grandma Huff!







That night Benjamin got his first real taste of sugar. He couldn't have been happier about it either. Emily Hendricks made his awesome safari cake.



He certainly loved his cake! What a cute little boy. We love you Benjamin!

Walks with Mom

Hat - $7.00

Coat - $18.00

Crackers - $1.00-ish

Spending every day with this guy - PRICELESS

One year older and wiser too...

So I don't have birthday pictures up yet...but I will soon. I just wanted to let you know the stats on Benjamin as of his most recent doctor's appointment.

Height - 29 inches - 25th percentile - doctor says he thinks that's wrong, he says Benjamin is taller than that.
Weight - 21 lbs 3 oz - 35th percentile
Head - big - 80th percentile
Shots - 5 -he didn't get his one at 9 months because he was sick so he had to get an extra one!
Smiles - too many to count!

Some updates...pictures to follow.

Do you think that time gets faster the older you get? I mean, seriously, when you were younger didn't things just seem to creep by? Anyway, I can't believe that it's already the 12th. I did make a mistake, though. I didn't call my brother, Trevor, on his birthday. I thought about it about 5 times that day, but every time I thought about it was a time when I wasn't able to call. I'm a bad sister.

Well, I'm weaning Benjamin. Is that a weird thing to put on a blog? Probably, but there you have it. This week is his last week nursing. Babies have to have breast milk or formula for their first year of life, so I've done it and I'm ready to move forward...I think. So far Benjamin is dealing really well with it. He's such a sweet baby. I will post pictures of his first birthday party, which was also his first real taste of sugar. It's a good thing I waited till he was a year....he's already addicted.

Yesterday Josh was released from the Bishopric. He served for 22 months in our student ward, which is really long in a student ward. It was a great experience for our family. It will be fun to have Josh sitting with us on Sunday - Benjamin has never had his dad sit next to him in our home ward. But we will miss it. We are so grateful for the memories we have and for the wonderful friendships that we now have. We truly are members of the church of Jesus Christ and it is perfect. In every calling we both have been blessed and also refined to be better people. Thanks to all for your love and support...always. We are surrounded by great people!

THE most AMAZING water slide - EVER!

This past Saturday our ward had an activity out in Weston, Idaho. That is where the Nash's live, Jessie Hylton's parents, and they have this amazing water slide! Seriously, it's incredible - these pictures just don't do it justice. Our ward went out there for a rockin' good time!


As you can see in these pictures, Benjamin LOVED the pool that Grandma Nash put up! There are also some pictures of us going down the slip and slide, our Bishop going down, and crazy Mike Hylton with 3 inter-tubes around him. Next we have a video of Josh taking Benjamin down the slide...

It probably would have been better if I had taken Benjamin down first - Josh went a little fast down the slide. Benjamin wasn't a huge fan, but then again he was very tired. It was fun, nonetheless!

THANK YOU JESSIE AND MOM AND DAD NASH!!!

by the way, there's another "new" post down below.

Our visit to Casper - AKA God's Country!

In August we had the opportunity to go to Casper. The last time we were there was when Benjamin was 1 month old - so it had been a while. Evan and Ashlee also came from Littleton. We had a lot of fun spending time with family. As you can see in one of the pictures, there were deer that visited my parents neighbors - no, they don't live in the country or anywhere close to it. We also got to go up to "The Falls" in Casper and took some fun pictures. Benjamin also got to take a bath in Nana Howard's famous sink! All the grandkids get baths in that sink and it wouldn't be a trip to Nana Howard's without it! To see the pictures larger, just click on the collage - that way you can see Josh and Ashlee's fun faces! 

 

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

This is Benjamin's new favorite position. I had to capture it with the camera because he likes to stay there for a couple of minutes at a time. He cracks me up!

B-B-B-BENNY, Benny and the Jets...

We were at my sisters this weekend and Benjamin's cousin, Addison, had these awesome Ariel glasses. We just had to put Benjamin in them. Can you tell that he is just thrilled to death? Josh says that he looks like a baby Elton John - hence the Benny and the Jets song. Yikes!

The 3 best years of my life!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JOSHUA AARON!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

10 months and growing

Here are some pictures of our sweet little King Benjamin. You can't tell, but he has 4 teeth! You can kind of see some of them in the pictures. As you can tell Benjamin loves his bath time and he also loves his monkey and we often find him asleep with the monkey on top of him. He also loves to sit in front of the refrigerator and play with the letters. He's so much fun. At his 9 month appointment he was 18 lbs 15 oz (35th percentile) and very tall - as the doctor put it. They always do an imprint of his feet on a card and the doctor was amazed by his big feet! So, Josh is happy that we have a tall boy. Benjamin has already signed a contract with the Boston Celtics. He's so much fun and is starting to mimic a lot of things. He also likes walks with mom and Aunt Jessie, and he loves bread...just not a lot of it all at once. I had to sweep some out of his throat the other night because he was choking on it. SCARY! But all is well here in Zion, er, Logan. Every day is Zion with my boys! Yes, I meant that to be cheesy and sappy!

Here are some pictures we took on our trip to Denver. Sadly, we didn't take as many pictures as we would have liked. But we got three pictures of us as we started out on our voyage. We were all in good spirits...even Benjamin was happy about life as you can tell by the mess of porridge in his mouth. The closer we got to Denver, the worse Josh started to feel. He got the flu and was sick for the rest of Thursday and all of Friday. He was supposed to study Calculus on Friday with my super smart sister-in-law. He got sick so he didn't have to study Calculus...I know his evil planning. :-) But since he was better on Saturday we went to Tiny Town. It was a beautiful drive up there. Sadly, it rained, but Benjamin fell right to sleep! We also got some really fun pictures. The rest of the time we spent with family playing games and having fun. Thanks to Sean, Stacy, Conner, Garick, Heather, Kara, Evan, Ashlee, & Roxy for a wonderful time! We miss you guys!

4th of July catch up

Here are some pictures of the 4th of July. There are some captions on the pictures, so click on the collage and you can read more about it. Over the 4th of July we went to the Howard family reunion. It was on my dad's side, just my grandparents and cousins. There were about 50 people at my grandparents and Uncle's house...it was slightly crazy. We had a good time, though. I was sick going into the trip, then Josh caught it, and then Benjamin caught it full force. Luckily Benjamin had his 9 month doctor's appointment the day after we got back. He was such a trooper!

We still kickin

Yo everyone i just thought i would say hello. let you know that we are still alive and well, we have been away from the blogging world for some time but we are back and with a vengeance. I (josh Huff), am working a grave shift tonight so you get to hear your weekly grumblings from the huff. 1st i would like to say how much i love my wife and son. they are absolutely the greatest thing in my wife. Benjamin is getting so big! when we look at pictures of him as a baby i can't believe he was ever that small. He now has 4 teeth and two more on the way, wwwwaaaaaaaa! He is one great kid. Terra is still working and enjoying being a mother. She does a ton for our family, i would be lost without her. 2nd, i decided that i want to do the tour de france. No not really come on geez, i don't even think they let big guys like me think about that. I have a rad road bike and i love riding it. My next goal after baseball season ends this week, is to start working out my legs more and getting my legs conditioned to start doing long distance riding on my bike. Next, i have to say that i love denver!! we were there last weekend and it was awesome. This might be our next stop on the train of life for the huff family. We have loved all the stops that our life has made, but this might be the next stop. I'm sure we will post pictures from our trip soon. The trip started rough, i was sick with the flu, and i lost 16 pounds in 3 days. A very scary moment in my life for sure. Thanks to some awesome rest and my wife's help i was able to get better to enjoy the last few days of the trip and hangout with fam. We went to tiny town. it was a little village of houses made smaller to make you feel you were a giant. Although it started raining and we didn't get to ride the train which i was definitly disapointed about, it was fun to crawl into the minature houses and take some fun pictures. Last but not least, i'm looking forward to this next weekend. I am getting together with my brother in laws to do a little man retreat. I have the greatest 6 brother in laws. They are greatexamples and great friends. The chance to be around them is great. I've come to know and love each of them over the last 3 years of our marriage. They all have great talents and have taught me great things.
Well in closing i have to say this, in 8 days me and terra will have been married 3 years, it is a great celebration for us as a couple. Alot has happen in these 3 years and even more will happen in the next 3, but i want to tell my wife i love you and i love the journey we are on together. I also look forward to going to dinner and harry potter with you that night!!

To all i hope you are well, we thank you for your love and support. And good day, i said good day!!

The simple joys of life!

 

A Benjamin smile - it can make your bad day HAPPY!
 

Benjamin planning his escape route..."Now if only I could walk, or even crawl..hmmmm - eh, back to hangin with mom!"

 

"1....2...3....you better be hiding mom, that's as high as I count!"
 

Happy guy - yes, he is like this every day. What a joy!

Food Glorious Food!

Benjamin LOVES to sit in his high chair and EAT. He loves the food, but his most favorite time is at the end of the meal when I give him the spoon and let him play with it. He thinks that is the best. In the top left picture you'll see he's using the spoon as a microphone and singing to his mommy since his mommy always sings to him. In the picture on the top - the third one in - he is so happy about his food that he is saying, "HALLELUJAH!" The last row just goes to show you what a goof he is - he definitely belongs to me and Josh! Benjamin is now 8 months old - I can't believe it! He is sitting on his own, rolling from his stomach to his back (never back to stomach, he doesn't like his stomach), and learning lots of new things! He is so much fun and such a good baby...or as Josh says - "He's a rad kid."

Because I knew you.....

Last month one of my bestest friends came to UT from Texas. So part of Properly Pink gathered together in SLC at Becca and Anthony's place. It was so fun to see them all...but it made me sad that my dearest Beth lives so far away. Thank goodness for technology!

 

Here we all are with the hubbies and some of our children. We're missing the girls.
 

Funny, none of Properly Pink is wearing PINK. 
 

The double B's meet....Boston on the left and Benjamin on the right
 

Benjamin is telling Boston some baby secrets via baby binky talk.

Thanks again Wilkensons and Bernards, it was a blast! We miss you guys SOOOO much!

Teething

Benjamin and I are not fans of teething. He doesn't like it because it hurts, and I don't like it because he wakes up 3 times a night. I'm glad that he and I are on the same page. :-)

6 Month pictures

Me and Benjamin had a fun time getting pictures on Saturday. Okay, I had a fun time. It took a while to get Benjamin to smile because he was so enthralled with everything around him. But his mom finally remembered something that always makes him smile. That's when we finally captured the two pictures up top which happened to be two of the last pictures he took. The only bad thing about the picture with me and my sweet son, is the fact that I forgot my wedding ring. No, I am not a single mother. I have a wonderful husband who is the greatest help. :-) So, there you have it...Benjamin in my most favorite outfit that he has. Too bad it's getting so warm...he can't wear it too much. Oh well, that's why we have pictures, right?

A dirty question (GASP!)

For all of you who were hoping to read an inappropriate post, you have come to the wrong blog. This is a question, in fact, about dirty, grimy, linoleum kitchen floors. Yes, gross, I know...who still has linoleum? That would be us - we rent a 60's themed apartment with the brown/orangy carpet and nasty brown speckled curtains. So for those of you who don't know, we're moving. It's true, we are moving. We will no longer have the nasty carpet in our new apartment and we will have a swamp cooler. We also will no longer have neighbors above us because we will be the upstairs neighbors. In fact, if we stayed in our current apartment, we would be our very own upstairs neighbors. If you didn't catch that...we're just moving upstairs from apartment 3 to 1. Sorry, it's too fun not to mention. ANYWAY, in trying to clean our nasty linoleum I have hit a dead end. The stuff constantly looks dirty no matter how hard I scrub. Does anyone out there have something that they feel works wonderfully for cleaning dirty, grimy, linoleum kitchen floors? In fact, I think I'll have a competition. The person whose product works best, will get a post especially dedicated to them. I know, who can resist this one? And just so you know, that is not a picture of our lenoleum, it's just a picture I found...ew.

BOYS rule GIRLS drool

Benjamin learned first hand this weekend why girls are bad news! Now that you know the ending of our story, let me tell you the beginning. We went to my sister's house for General Conference. Conference was amazing and truly strengthened our testimonies in a living prophet and apostles. For the Sunday afternoon session we watched a little girl because her parents had tickets for Conference. She had quite the runny nose. We were having to wipe it every half hour or so. She was a darling little girl who was VERY well behaved, but she had a bit of a cold. As our story continues... I was changing Benjamin's ONE messy diaper a week (that's another story) and she was so excited about the baby. She was at his head looking at him and, yes, breathing on him. I was a little more focused on getting my son out of his EXTREMELY messy diaper and less focused on getting her away from his air intake. Needless to say, Benjamin got a little cold. Whether it was from this sweet little girl or from somewhere else, we know not. But, he did tell me that he knows why girls (not me...I'm a mom, not a girl) are bad news.

On a different note Benjamin had his 6 month doctor appointment yesterday and is weighing in at 17 lbs 7 oz, which is the 35th percentile...so we need to beef him up a little. :-) Actually the doctor said he was doing great. His height, is 27 inches...which puts him at the 75th percentile. That makes his daddy happy! He wants a tall boy! We will post pictures of him soon!

Take me out to the ball game!

Our sweet BENJAMIN is 6 MONTHS OLD now! He loves to grab at his feet and he's now making some new gurgling sounds. He is starting to sit pretty well on his own, but still hates tummy time and prefers being on his back most of the time. But his mom is mean and I make him have lots of tummy time to get those muscles big and strong. Benjamin loves his walks! I'm grateful to have a son that likes to be outside. We only wish that spring would come faster! There was one Saturday that was SUPER warm and we were able to watch daddy play some baseball! Here are some fun pictures with Benjamin wearing his daddy's baseball hat.
GO LOGAN CUBS!