Waiting for the baby

We were so lucky to have Christian's parents come to help out when the baby came. We hadn't seen them since January, so the kids were really excited! They got here on Aug 3 and if the baby didn't come on his own I was going to be induced on Aug 7. 

Christian had been wanting zucchini bread so the kids and grandma made him some. It was so delicious! Of course they loved the clean up just as much. Playing in the sink with lots of bubbles! Jamie and I did lots of shopping and walking around trying to get the baby to come.  Benson picked out a pair of Jordan's from the Nike outlet that he just had to have. I am such a push over for that kid and his sports addiction. He couldn't wait to get home and make a "big slam dump" with his new shoes! 

 Grandpa took the kids to the city on the train to meet Christian for a White Sox game. This was Benson's first time on the train. He was so excited! He thought when he got to the baseball game that he was going to get to play. He was ready with his mitt and was so disappointed that no one would hit the ball to him. They had a great time and loved riding the train. Both kids fell asleep on the ride home. It was definitely a great day!

Baby Finn finally decided to make an appearance on Aug 10. I was so glad that grandma and grandpa didn't miss his birth! They had to leave the day after I came home from the hospital but enjoyed all the snuggles they could get. It was so helpful having them here taking great care of us.

April 2012

Christian turned 35 in April. We celebrated by going out for Japanese... surprise, surprise! It was a fun night celebrating the main man in our life.

The following weekend Christian's parents came for a visit. We were so happy to have them here to celebrate Easter with us. We took the kids to Cosley Zoo to see the animals. Both kids were very afraid! I am not sure why, but it was kinda funny. Addy was the most scared of this llama. He looked harmless but had the most disgusting teeth.

 EASTER

We had a nice Easter morning. The kids came down to their baskets before we headed to church. They both received new blankets in hopes to help Benson with his bedtime routine. He started climbing out of his crib the week before so Christian and Dave converted his bed. We just needed a way to keep him in his bed. He can roam free in his room but I still want him to stay in bed. The blanket definitely helped because he is completely obsessed with Cars 2! Now if I could only keep him from escaping his room.

Jamie and I made a yummy Easter/ Birthday dinner complete with homemade Lion House rolls. Addy  made cinnamon rolls with grandma for the first time. She did a great job and loved eating them after! Licking the frosting off was probably her favorite part.

The kids hunted for eggs in the backyard. Benson of course loved throwing them with grandpa. It was the only way we could get that boy to smile. 

The rest of our time with grandma and grandpa was spent shopping, playing, and of course cooking! We all loved their visit and can't wait for them to come again.

Here are my cute kids in there Easter outfits. It was quite the adventure to get any pictures of Benson. Luckily, Chelsea and Cailyn were there to help us out. After we tortured our kids with pictures, they played at the park and in the water in Chelsea's backyard. 

December 2011

At the beginning of December we went to our ward Christmas party. They had a yummy breakfast and the primary sang a few songs. When it was time to go up, Addy and Madelyn walked up holding hands. They were being so brave together. The girls were so cute and held hands threw the whole program. 

Grandpa Dave drove back from Utah with Christian and stayed for a night with us. My kids loved seeing him. He helped us get a few projects done and even made time to build some shelves with me. The guys pulled out the Christmas tree and the kids went to town "decorating" it with their toys. It took me awhile to take down all the toys that ended up on the tree that weekend!

Addy's preschool had a Christmas sing-a -long with all the morning classes. She did a great job singing.

Addy really loved decorating the Christmas tree again this year. She remembered all the ornaments she picked out from last year. I did really good and let her decorate it how she wanted. I only had to help in a couple ares where the ornaments got a little too clustered. Benson wasn't too interested in helping. He did however enjoy throwing all the "ball" ornaments at the tree. Not many of my ornaments survived this year, but they sure entertained Benson all month long!

I turned 28 in December but unfortunately had to pass on celebrating because my family was hit with the flu. It was BAD! Poor Benson had it the worst. My girl friends had a fun party for me that I had to miss and we had to cancel on what was going to be our very first babysitter ever. I seriously was looking forward to a fun night out with Christian. It was an awful week and a half! So we will scratch this birthday and hope next year is better!

We had our first visitors for Christmas this year! My parents flew here on Christmas Eve. We picked them up and went for an early dinner at Shinto. We all ordered the Hibachi grill and some yummy appetizers and sushi to share. We spent the rest of our evening at home playing games and watching movies. Addy couldn't get in enough card games the whole weekend! She has become quiet the card shark.

The kids opened their jammies and a book before bed. It was fun to see how excited Benson was this year. They both loved their new jammies and looked adorable in them.

Christmas morning was really exciting for us! I loved having my parents here to share all the fun and excitement with my kids. I am not sure if Benson knew what to expect coming down stairs, but as soon as he saw his basketball hoop he took off running! Addy was so happy Santa brought her the hair chair she had been wanting. She couldn't wait to give her dollies their first "hair do" in the chair.

Opening presents always makes me laugh. My kids want to play with whatever they open right then. We had to keep convincing Benny to open more presents. A few treats were given to him to finish the task.

I surprised Christian this year with an Ipad. My mom and I thought we were being so funny by pretending the huge box I was carrying up the stairs to wrap for him was so heavy! We were laughing the whole night and being silly. I filled the box with towels and a few other things with his wrapped gift in the bottom. He seriously thought I was so lame! He wasn't expecting an Ipad but he knew it wasn't something heavy. I loved surprising him! He definitely deserved an extra special present this year.

We enjoyed every minute my parents were here. We had a lot of down time spent at home with them. We all needed the slow paced weekend. My mom and I made lots of yummy food and even got in a little sewing. Of course we went shopping too! Christmas went by super fast, but we sure enjoyed our company this year!

Hawaii 2011

Christian and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this year. What way to better celebrate than a trip to Hawaii! I wasn't too excited in the beginning of bringing our kids with us, but it turned out to be a great vacation! Christian's parents came with us to spend some time with our family. I couldn't have done the trip without them! They even kept our kids over night so we could go out and spend some time together. Family vacation + alone time = a perfect trip!

I didn't take any pics of the first day there. We flew in, went to the base on Pearl Harbor, ate dinner, shopped for groceries, and went to bed. The next morning we went to our Hotel on Waikiki and headed for the beach. This was my kids very first time on a beach. They both loved it! We played there for a few hours until we were surrounded by jellyfish. Unfortunately, Christian's mom Jamie, was stung by one on the back of her thigh. The life guard posted signs up about the jellyfish after we had been swimming for awhile. Jellyfish are all over the shoreline for two days after a full moon. We caught a couple in a bucket to look at. I was a little too nervous to let Addy and Benson swim any longer, so we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up.

Benson loved crawling around in the water! He kept drinking the water even though he hated it. He would dry heave every single time! Benson also had his first couple mouth fulls of sand. it made him throw up immediately, but for some reason he kept putting it in his mouth.

Addy loved building a sandcastle with nanny Jamie.

That evening, we went to dinner and walked around Waikiki and looked at the shops. We ended the night with ice cream and smoothies.

On the third day, we went to the Dole Pineapple factory for some delicious ice cream. My kids were asleep in the car, so nanny Jamie stayed back with them while we went in for ice cream. Such a great grandma!

We drove to Waimea Bay to play on the beach. It was so cool to watch the locals surf the enormous waves. The beach goes up to a small hill and the waves were washing all the way to the top. The kids loved the waves crashing up on them. Even though we were all standing where the last of the waves reached, they could still pull my kids down the beach. Addy's new watering can was swept out in a big wave.

After we finished playing at the beach, nanny and papa took the kids back with them for the night. Christian and I went out for the evening and spent the night without the kids. It was so nice!

We went to one of Christians favorite restaurants, Duke's. We went there our first trip to Hawaii our first year of marriage. So it was kinda fun to go back there and remember our trip 5 years earlier. Our dinner was so delicious! I had baked mahi mahi and Christian had teriyaki steak. We walked on the beach all the way back to our hotel. It was a very relaxing evening!

The fourth day, we went to the Hawaii temple. It was so nice to be able to go with Christian! While we were inside, Dave and Jamie took the kids to BYU and ate lunch and walked around. When we were done, we took the kids with us to get more to eat at a little Japanese place and a delicious shaved ice. (I don't remember the name of it but it was super big and tasty!)

After lunch we drove to Poipu Bay to play in the ocean. We found a cool little spot in a cove where you could snorkel. It was beautiful! There were fish swimming all around us. My kids really enjoyed playing here. Addy met some friends that she had fun playing with.

On the fifth day we headed home. We really wanted one more day at the beach, but the flights were full the next couple of days so we didn't stay. The flight home was nice! Benson did so much better coming home because we stopped in L.A.

I really enjoyed my vacation in Hawaii with my family and Christian's parents. We could not have done it without them! My kids got to spend so much time with their daddy and grandparents.

Benson at 14 Months

-He is standing and walking around furniture

-points to everything and says "dat"

-loves walks in the stroller with his dad

-he lifts up his shirt to show his belly

-waits by the gate when daddy comes home at night

-still wont wear shoes

-he is very wild at church

-loves to brush his own teeth

-crawls at turbo speed