LOOK WHO'S TWO!

 Dear Benjamin (it's okay, everyone can read this. :-))

Who would have thought that you could have so much impact on our lives! We are so grateful every day that you are part of our eternal family. Here are just a few of our favorite things about you.

You never get mad if your diaper hasn't been changed in a while, you're quick to forgive after you've gotten in trouble, you are always happy in the mornings even if you're stuck in your crib for a while, you are always willing to go to bed for the night, you eat almost anything, you ROCK at sharing, you make us laugh, you already know the Scotsman(GO AGGIES), you think we are AWESOME, it makes us happy when you say I love Yoooooooooooooou, you have an amazing cheeser smile, you LOVE being outside, you get so excited to see your friends and family, you know where Aunt Jessie keeps her cookies and you go straight there when you go over, you love books, you love to talk on the phone, you love being chased, you've taken down daddy already, you LOVE swinging and could stay there for hours (weeeee), you know what to do at a green light, you stop and make siren noises whenever you hear a siren, you love the potty even though you're not potty trained, you know what it means to go fast...but not slow, you fold your arms for basically the whole prayer, you sustain (and oppose) sustainings at church, you know Jesus and love to look at His pictures, you make us better people!

WE LOVE YOU BENJAMIN HOWARD HUFF!!!

Our new HOME!

Josh and I are not from UT and neither of us ever thought we wanted to settle in UT. But...we love it here in Cache Valley. It's the best place to be in UT. So we will be making HYRUM our new home for a while. At least until Josh can afford to buy us our big house on the hill in Smithfield....or so he tells me.

Here are some pictures of our new home - we are so excited to finally have windows! They were on back order for a while.

Hyltons house on the right, Huffs house on the left.

Our pantry - WAHEW! Good thing it's big, Josh just bought me 100 pounds of flour. It was only $20, I might add.

The living room. I'm thinking of having them leave the wall that way - awesome? Okay, no.

Going up the stairs.

Josh coming in the front door...HELLOOOOOO! Half bathroom on the left.

One wall of the master closet...Most of it will be mine. Ha ha ha

All are invited to come to our home in November...it will be finished then. You could come now, but there's no electricity, running water, carpet...and you'd probably be woken up fairly early by construction workers. You're call.

INDIANA

We went to Indiana over Labor Day weekend. Josh had the amazing opportunity of baptizing his nephew and confirming him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This would be Benjamin's 2nd time riding in a plane...the last time was when he was 3 months old. He actually did really well. There was another little boy on the plane that made Benjamin look like a perfect angel!

Thank goodness for play areas at the airport! We had to wait a couple of hours to board our plane, so this was nice to occupy Benjamin's time!

Let's be honest, he would have rather looked out at the planes than played with the toys. He was in heaven!

Benjamin was a trooper. If you don't know, his bed time is about 7 p.m. We got into Indianapolis about 8 p.m. UT time and then had more driving and a stop for some dinner. He didn't get to bed until about 10 p.m. UT time only to turn around and wake up around 6 a.m. our time. Needless to say, he was a little tired, but did amazingly well! What a trooper, and GOOD LOOKIN' to boot!

Here are Josh and Zach after Zach's baptism. It was wonderful to see all the support of the ward and friends and family. The room was filled with people.

Three handsome boys!

Josh and I with Zach....WE LOVE YOU ZACH!

Benjamin loved watching daddy and Zach play the Wii.

Josh and Zach playing a mad game of bowling!

Benjamin at the birthday party they had for Zach and the Jammin! He was in heaven with all of his presents. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!

Benjamin playing with toys...go figure!

MORE CAKE PLEASE!

Grandpa and Benjamin having a great time!

It's always a joke that Josh says that I know someone EVERYWHERE we go. Imagine my surprise when we are waiting for church to start and I look over to see Dallin Murray. Dallin was my little brother's good friend growing up in Casper, WY. His mom was my YW leader and I graduated with his older brother. Yeah...random. Turns out, he's in my mother-in-law's ward. What are the odds?

Benjamin got to see a REAL fire truck - thank you AUNT DANI...we LOVE YOU! He was excited about the fire truck, but not quite as excited about the fire hat. Thanks Grandma for helping with the picture! In fact, every time you say the words "fire truck" he quickly replies with his rendition of a fire truck's siren.

We got to go to the Indianapolis zoo and you can pet sharks there! Here's Aunt Dani petting a shark. Yeah, pretty sure I was too scared to do it...I've seen too many "sharks eating humans" shows.

There goes Josh petting a shark. Benjamin wanted to put his hand in the water SOOO badly, but I don't think that the sharks would have liked that too much. You weren't supposed to splash and you had to use two fingers. I think Benjamin would have wanted to jump in with them.

Benjamin looking at a HUGE walrus...he loved all the animals.

He wasn't so sure about this huge gigantic FAKE snake. Now, if it would have been REAL...that would have been awesome.

As we were walking through the zoo, it started to POUR! The beauty of Indiana. So we got soaked...to say the least. Here is Benjamin wanting to go back out into it, and then there's me - drenched.

Sadly, we only got to stay about four days there. We had a lot of fun. Josh and I also got to go on a date while we were there while Benjamin got to play with Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Dani, and Zach. We all had fun. I have pictures on my phone that I'll have to download from the park. It was THE most AMAZING park! Even better than Ryan's Place Park here in Cache Valley - which is saying a lot. They had the best slides...they were rollers. It does get a little dangerous when you have 3 people going down them at the same time. But we had SO much fun there.

Thank you mom and dad Huff, Dani, and Zach for a wonderful time. We love you guys and we miss you guys. We can't wait to see you again!

Top of Utah Half

Here's the picture that should have been inserted in the last post...but was not. So here it is. Click on it to make it bigger.

13.1 miles

I've never been a long distance runner. As of June 1st, the furthest I had ever run was a 5k (3.2 miles). In the last year I've really wanted to become a runner. So I started with a book...A Woman's Guide to Running - after that, I was hooked. I saw that the Top of Utah Half Marathon was on August 28th and that it was 95% downhill...PERFECT. So I started training. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. almost every day in order to train, I am proud to say that I have a stellar amount of determination!

Let's be honest, I'm not the thinnest french fry in the happy meal (bad analogy when talking about weight...I know). So this half marathon was also a very emotional battle for me. When I first ran 4 miles, I was so excited. Then I did 5 miles and I couldn't believe I had actually run THAT far. Mile 8 was probably my favorite accomplishment. Wow, 8 miles - further than I had ever imagined running. Every Saturday when I would run my long runs I would imagine myself crossing the finish line of the half marathon and I would start to tear up....as I was running. I know, pathetic. By the end of my training I was running 5 miles twice a week and then anywhere between 7 and 10 miles on the weekends.

Top left - me and Dolly running and me trying to look like I'm having fun for Mike Hylton to take my picture at mile 13. Next picture - me with my best friend Jessie...couldn't ask for a better one! Top Right - That's me in the bright pink in the center of the picture still a bit in the distance. Bottom left - Happiest family in the world (when Benjamin has had his nap). Next picture - I'm number one....okay more like 1006 - that was my bib number. Bottom right - Me chatting it up with my bestie - trying to get her to do it next year, but she might have a valid excuse next year. Not like the lame broken foot excuse she used this year!

RACE DAY - The night before the race I had a really hard time sleeping. I had so much anxiety! I think that I probably got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep....not a good idea when you're about to run 13.1 miles for the first time. At any rate, adrenalin carried me through. I went into this race alone, but soon found one of my friends from my Oakcrest days - Amanda AKA Dolly. I ran with her and her friend for part of the race. It was a first time half marathon for all of us. During the race there were many people that went through my mind. I thought of Josh, Benjamin, Mike and Jessie waiting for me at the finish line. I thought of cute Jaci Udy who would have loved to have been there running with me. I thought of Heidi and Clayton McMurdie EVERY time I saw someone running off the side of the road to use the bathroom. I thought of all of my running friends and everyone who supported me all the way....I had a lot of time to think, can you tell?As I was running, I kept thinking that I couldn't believe that I was actually doing this. By mile 12 my legs were burning, but I just kept plugging away. At the very end of the race, my favorite people were there! First I heard Mike Hylton yelling at me to move faster. Then I saw he and Jessie with Benjamin. When I finally got Benjamin's attention and continued to run past him, he was so upset that I didn't stop to chat. When I got to the end with all the people standing and cheering me on, I sprinted...and totally beat the girl next to me...wahew. At the finish line I saw my favorite person ever - Josh! It was the perfect ending to a great race. My time from crossing the starting line to crossing the finish line was 2 hours and 33 minutes. I didn't care about my time!

I DID IT!!!!!!!

Who's on for next year's Top of Utah Half Marathon?