Crazy Lazy Days of Summer!

YAY for summer!

Here are some pictures to show all of our fans some of what we've been up to this summer.

We went to the Beach Boys at the end of June (when it finally started to get warm outside!) It was an AWESOME concert. For all of you thinking that how could a concert be great with a bunch of old guys singing - there are only 2 of the original members still singing with the Beach boys. The rest of them are younger than 50.

We sat with Craig and Belinda (woot woot).....

Crazy Mike and normal Jessie....the people sitting next to Hyltons were leaving and said to Mike that his good vibrations were getting to them. He was just the crazy....but in a good way!

And my faves - my parents!!!!! It's true, we went to a concert with my parents. It was a lot of fun. They didn't get jiggy wit' it like we did, but they still had a good time. Love those parents of mine!

Yup, that's part of the crazy-ness of our summer. The picture speaks for itself.

Benjamin got a pool!!! Best $8 I've ever spent! And as you can see here, he will get in the water no matter what he is wearing. One day we were out watering the garden and there was a little bit of water in the pool. I figured he would just put his feet in since he was fully clothed. All of a sudden I hear this big splash. He had jumped right in. I laughed so hard. He could care less what he's wearing in the water, as long as he gets to play in it! And if he's happy, I'm happy!

This is Paige, my niece. Her neighbors have a dog who is great with kids. I had to snap this photo because she would sit on the dog and he didn't mind one bit. It was a fun fourth of July party at my sister's house.

The Howe's had their baby! Alyssa used to watch Benjamin. Her son, Russton, and Benjamin were like brothers. They had so much fun together. She had little Alivia at the end of June and Benjamin wanted so badly to hold her. He was very cute with her.

Yay for bike rides!!! Benjamin has a lot of fun riding around in this. One day we rode the bike to the park. It was too much fun. We wish Josh could have come! Blasted work.

Josh and I got to see the last Harry Potter movie for FREEEEEEE! Thank you Macey's. Josh works for Macey's and since they promoted HP7 part 2 in the store, they were given some free tics. AWESOME. It was a fun date and a great show. However, if you've recently read the books...wait till you forget a lot of it before watching the movie.

Just to show you some MORE of our craziness (as if you haven't seen enough) here is sweet little Benjamin. I was bringing that box downstairs to be recycled. I put it on my head and looked out through the little hole, so Benjamin HAD to try it. He thought it was pretty hilarious and wanted mom to take a picture!

Here's part of our laziness. Sitting and watching the sunset on the back porch - what a beautiful thing. The other day, after swimming, Benjamin and I laid on the grass and blew bubbles. It was one of those perfect moments as a mother. I'm not a perfect mother, by any means, but me and Benjamin do get to share some perfect moments.

 Summer is all too quickly winding down. Where there was once isles and isles of beach toys and swimming pools, there are now backpacks and school supplies. We still have things yet to do this summer and, sadly, we won't get to all of them. However, we sure are grateful for all of our perfect moments of this summer!

California - a couple months late

WE WENT TO SO-CAL!

YAY!!!
We stayed the first night in St. George and Benjamin's first matter of business was to break in the bed!

What a beautiful site!
We left the coldness of Logan to 80 degree weather in Hemet, CA!
We stayed with my brother and sister-in-law -Dustin and Melanie and we did some really fun stuff. Benjamin was SO happy to go the this train place...although the tour was a little long.

COUSINS! Benjamin had so much fun with Damen!

Anything having to do with trains Benjamin goes NUTS over!

After a long day of playing, Benjamin was ready to eat...and so were we!

My FAVORITE place to eat is Pat & Oscar's! As a missionary when me and my companion were tracting, we would stop off at P&O's just to get a breadstick. Seriously the best bread sticks EVER...hands down!

Take a picture mom...I'm a fish!

We went to Palm Springs - the Living Desert. It's true, we we hung with the movie stars in Palm Springs. We're pretty cool like that...at least we like to pretend. We also hung out with all the old leathery people too - they've had WAY too much sun - YIKES!

Cousins, riding on the wart hog.

A family wart hog ride. It's fake...don't worry.

These two were hard core - riding the big lizard.

Cousins on the camel.

And, YES...we went to the BEACH. Enjoy the pictures of the Oceanside beach. It was so nice for Josh and I to be back in the place where we served our missions!

Love this action shot of Damen!

Oceanside Pier! I tracted that pier on the 4th of July, 2002.

Benjamin's action shot.

Basking in the sun...he was born for the beach!

Got dressed, and went to the pier.

YUM! GREAT food - it helped that we were starving. This is a restaurant at the end of the Oceanside pier - I highly recommend it!

As we left Hemet we passed the Scientology HQ. Very interesting.

I know...that was long, but it was mostly pictures - that's gotta count for something, right?

Hiking to the MC....AKA the ABC

We live by the high school, Mountain Crest. Here in these parts(yee-haw), it's really popular to have your school's initials painted on the side of the mountain. So right up the mountain from us is a big MC. Side note - Benjamin is learning his ABC's and naturally A and B come before C...not M before C. So for the longest time when Benjamin would say he wanted to go to the ABC, I had no idea what he was talking about. But after a while, we caught on - he's talking about the MC and how he wants to go to the MC. 

Wish granted! 

Last week Jessie, Mike, Benjamin, and myself hiked our way up to the MC. Benjamin got the easy job...sitting in a kid hiking carrier on my back(for about 10 minutes) and then Mike's back for the really hard parts. When we had gone a little way and saw all of the tractors and bull dozers and busses, Benjamin says, "WE'RE HERE!" 

Um...no.

We were hiking up some really steep parts and at one point Mike had to stop for a little breather. Then sweet Benjamin says, "You okay Mike?" Yep, that kid is mine! Mike also said, "Remind me never to gain 30 pounds!" It's true, Benjamin is about 30 pounds. A good work out. Another funny part of the trip was when Mike burped and said excuse me. Then Benjamin did a fake burp and said excuse me. Too funny.

We made it to the MC and then turned around and went home. It was a fun hike! 

Thanks to Mike and Jessie for a fun time!

The aftermath:

The next day I pointed out the MC to Benjamin in which he says, "ABC... You okay, Mike?"

He loves his "Uncle" Mike.

To be Vee or not to be Vee

Vegan - have you ever tried it?

Well, Josh and I hadn't ever tried it, but we decided that we wanted to try it. So here we are...trying it for 5 days - minus one dinner. So after two days of this new way of eating, I have some thoughts. First and foremost - it's not as "bad" as people say it is. It's really quite comical the reactions we get from people. The truth is, it's made me appreciate food a lot more. I do have a better relationship with fruits, nuts, beans, and vegetables now - we're BFF...at least for the week. I also pay attention more to my body. I thought I'd be a lot more run down, but I feel great. When I'm hungry I have a snack..but I can't just grab a handful of M&M's or some gold fish crackers - I go for the fruits or veggies. So now that I've talked it up, I do have to say that I will NEVER be a Vegan for real. I like milk (in cereal and ice cream), butter (on and in things...not plain - ew), eggs, and I LOVE meat. So for all of you who think that we're completely crazy - don't worry, we'll be carnivores again on Saturday. And for all of you who were excited for us to make this a permanent choice - sorry bout' yer bad luck...there's just no way this could be permanent for me - not by choice. So if you're curious about being a Vegan for a week or even a day, you should try it. It's kind of fun.

Two...and a half

On March 30th, Benjamin officially turned 2 1/2. I know, where did the time go, right? We decided to have a party - no better way to spend a Wednesday afternoon! Side note - We are going to Indiana in October. Josh made the mistake of telling Benjamin we are going to fly on a plane. Now all Benjamin talks about is going on a plane. That being said, I got Benjamin a cheap little toy airplane. Best...Toy....EVER!

On another note, Benjamin's room is basically now finished. (We do need to put up a picture of the temple as recommended at General Conference) But thanks to the creative genius of other people...we came up with this:

It's true, those are rain gutters holding his books. AMAZING idea - and cheap! Benjamin's reaction when he saw his room? "WOOOOOW!" It made me happy. He loves playing in his room now. It's great. I love that I can steal creative ideas from other people - it makes me look good.

Brother or Sister....?

I am NOT pregnant! I just wanted to make that clear.

Benjamin has a picture of Jesus Christ on his dresser. A lot of times when he goes to bed I will have him look at that picture and I tell him that it's Jesus Christ and He is our brother and that He loves all of us very much. So Benjamin knows that Jesus Christ is his brother. Well the other day I asked Benjamin if he would like a sister or a brother. (Insert first sentence of this post here.) He kind of looked at me. So I said, "Do you want a sister first?" He looked a little confused and said no. Then I said, "Do you want a brother?" Then he said, 

"Yeah, Jesus Christ."

I love being a mother!

Choo Choo

Benjamin loves trains!

His new favorite show is Disney Channels "Chuggington". It's great and it has a catchy song too - you know, the kind that gets stuck in your head all day every day.

Last weekend we went to Ogden for the model train depot that was going on there(Thank you Howes for telling us!). My niece, Addison, also came with us. We had so much fun! Let's be honest, we had way more fun playing outside on the big trains, but all in all it was great! Here are some pictures from our "traintastic" day!

Addison playing on the model train at the train depot. Alyssa Howe right behind her.

Addison posing on the train

Benjamin and Addison posing for their train photo shoot.

Benjamin peeping through the slit. He thought this was so funny.

Benjamin making one of the model trains go and whistle!

Random-ness. They all seem to be going for a different look in this photo. Benjamin's eyes look beautiful in this one.

You can kind of tell, but this one was a 2002 Olympic train car. It was rad.

HUGE! These trains were so big that they kind of freaked me out.

Benjamin touching the train and wanting to drive it.

Josh making a funny face - go figure.

I love this picture - Josh and Benjamin waving.

My two favorite boys - and the most handsome boys ever!

Holla, holla Josh Huff.

Favorite picture of the day! Dad, son, and cousin! TOO FUN!