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!

Soda, Pop, Carbonation, Caffeine...

SODA

(call it what you will...I call it Soda)

I was talking to this lady at work about drinking water. I have to say that ice water is the love of my life as far as drinks go. I love it. I will admit, every now and again I'll have a vanilla diet coke. I hate juices. But I just absolutely love ice water. My co-worker was talking about how she doesn't drink enough water. Then we started talking about people who drink 48 ounces of soda a day. SICK. 

It's killing America. Statistics show that soda is the leading cause of obesity in 45% of obese people. Okay, that's not true...I made that up, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true. I mean, do you know how much sugar is in soda?? In a 20 oz bottle of soda there are 17 teaspoons of sugar - no joke. Drinking one 12 oz Coke (10 tsp of sugar) a day for a year results in the consumption of 32 pounds of sugar. Drinking one Coke a day, instead of an equivalent amount of tap water, for a full year would cause you to gain 18 pounds. In addition, a real statistic shows that Americans spend nearly 66 billion dollars on carbonated beverages, such as soda, a year. WOW.

Why not cut back on some soda? - you'll lose weight and you'll gain money!

A trip to Casper!

I know, one would not think of Casper, WY as much of a vacation spot...but it really is a great place. We stayed at the Howard Hotel for free...I mean, you can't beat that price! Josh and I even had a king size bed all to ourselves and Benjamin had his own room as well. I know, you're so excited to hear about our trip...so here are some pictures to tell our story.

Benjamin sleeping on the way to Casper...can you tell he's excited?

Here's Benjamin even more excited to JUST. GET. OUT. OF. THE. CAR!!!!! Six hours in a car is a killer for a 2 1/2 year old!

Josh - the man, the myth, the legend! Look at that concnetration!

Benjamin enjoying a snickers from Pa Howard! Go figure.

Yolanda the Honda...before her bath. She was pretty dirty...she's also got a chipped windshield. Don't worry, we replaced it last month. URG!

My dad had pneumonia while we were there, but he still took time to come down and spend time with us. Benjamin asked for him every morning! Benjamin liked to watch sports with Pa.

Benjamin could have stayed here all day. It was freezing cold...but he wanted to be outside. Go figure.

Josh and I got to go on a date to a nice Italian restaurant in Casper. DELISH!

Cheesey!

What a stud!

Another reason to love Wyoming. While we paid $3.05 to $3.09 in UT, we paid much less on our trip. Nice!

We went to the Tate Geological Museum. There's an old mining cart out in front of the building if you look closely and Benjamin kept calling it Mater.

Benjamin enjoying the museum on his dad's shoulders.

Josh, the mammoth!

Benjamin the lil' Mammoth!

Terra the mamma mammoth! There was a mammoth at the museum that had been uncovered in WY - it was huge. It took them 4 years to uncover it and put it all together.

Josh and I on another date to South Sea - fabulous Chinese food!

Yay for yummy Asian noodles...they make such fun pictures!

This is a 1,000 piece puzzle that Josh and I started on Friday and finished on Sunday night. My mom helped out too.

Benjamin worn out from playing with Nana and Pa all weekend. He had fun!

Our new addition! Me and my mom LOVE to shop! So here is what we got on our shopping spree while in Casper - our new entry table. Thank goodness for nice tax returns and good sales, right??

 It was fun to go back and visit and see how much it's changed and stayed the same. Family is very important to me and Josh, so we take the opportunity to visit or be visited whenever we can! We can't wait for more visits and visiting!