Bennett's Birthday~

Two weeks ago, we celebrated Bennett's seventh birthday! He got to do a lot of celebrating! A couple days before the actual birthday, he invited some friends to see a movie--Hotel Transylvania. Then the day of his birthday we had all of the family over for some Halloween food, music, and dancing. He also got taken out and spoiled by Russ's parents the next weekend, and taken out to eat the next week by my mom. He got his fill of celebrating. I think he is excited to be seven.

Here are some pics from the actual day:



He got to open one present real quick before he had to leave for school. It was an Ultra Stomp Rocket! He was excited to finally have one of his own. Plus it helped pass the time later that day while he waited for his guests to arrive.
I love getting to be the mom of this boy.
Bennett with his dad. I am surrounded by great guys in this family :)
Bennett & Mylie = best friends (well, most the time)
He wanted a spider web cake this year (which was nice for me...pretty easy to do that one) and then mummy hot dogs and Halloween fixin's just like last year.




The little witch hat cookies were so fun and easy to make. What did mom's ever do before the internet...Oh, I guess just be creative all on their own.




Jack-o-Lantern vegetables...Yum! And Mummy dogs. I also loved the Halloween-colored tortilla chips I came across at Walmart.
About his presents: Bennett received the first set of Magic Tree House books for his birthday last year. He has since "fallen in love" and has read almost every single on in the past year. I think he is currently on #45. The only thing he asked for for his birthday was Magic Tree House books. However, since he has discovered them at his school library and the public library, he had already checked out and read every single one I got for him. He didn't care though, he still wants the whole collection, and he now almost has it. He loves to read them to Mylie (even though I don't think she really listens most the time). He will just follow her around reading. He wants to make sure she hears all of them. He also just loves playing with and looking at t he actual books. He comes up with all sorts of games to organize them and sort them.   He also got a nice chess set. He has always loved the game chess, and at seven years old he is probably better at it than me.   Mylie wanted to get him a stuffed dog, so she picked out one that looked like Aspen, the golden retriever my parents used to have.   We also got Bennett his own digital alarm clock for his room. He is obsessed with numbers and time and always  has to know the exact minute he goes to bed so he can calculate how much sleep he gets. Now he doesn't have to ask us to check the clock for him one last time before he goes to sleep.   He also got some great books (science, activity, and piano) from relatives, including one about "Trees" that Franklin, his cousin, wrote and illustrated for him (it is the most darling book ever.)
Happy Birthday Bennett!

Bennett~

I can't believe this boy is SEVEN! He is such a joy in our family. I couldn't have asked for a better first child. He is such a wonderful older brother to his siblings and really tries to be such a good person. I can always count on him to always be honest and to always try his best at whatever he does. (Even if that means he is a little too hard on himself sometimes...i.e. perfectionist.) He is such a smartie and loves to read and learn. He is getting so good at the piano and memorizes all of his songs. He loves running and playing soccer and basketball. He is extremely logical and inquisitive and asks a lot of questions...He always wants to know and understand everything he can...even if I'm not so sure I want him to know the answer to everything just yet.

Here are a few shots I took of him just before he turned seven. I bet his smile will look a lot different next year when he turns eight. So long to the cute little baby teeth...

Remember how just two days ago...

The weather was like this? Today feels like winter. See more of this family HERE.

Some October Happenings

We always love visiting a little produce shop near our home every October. The kids get so excited! So excited that even though the wind almost blew us over when we got there, they cried when I said maybe we should just go another day! So we braved the weather and dirt blowing in our faces.

Bennett of course likes the big pumpkins. Mylie always picks a little one, and Coy wanted to pick a little one that had green on it...since green is his favorite color.

After we left the pumpkins, we went to Kobe for dinner. It is a Tepanyaki restaurant, and the kids absolutely LOVED watching the man cook our food and do his tricks. They said it is the best restaurant ever! They devoured every last bite of their steak.














Later that same week, we enjoyed General Conference. Bennett and Mylie always get so excited for conference. I hope that excitement lasts :) They did some activity sheets, played a little conference bingo, and Mormon Tabernacle choir time was apparently dance time.




Here's Mylie dancing when the choir sang.


This is Mylie's worksheet.


Mylie also worked on a chain for Halloween. I didn't have any colored construction paper left, so I cut her strips of some blue cardstock that I had. She decorated every single strip herself, then put it all together by herself using lots of tape. I can't believe she has already ripped off every single piece and that Halloween has already come and gone! I was flipping through the radio stations last night and heard Christmas music! Really? I couldn't decide if I was ready to listen to it yet or not. I ended up listening...Don't know if I'll pull out the ol' Christmas CDs just yet, though. I can't believe the holidays are already upon us. I really love this time of year!

Busy, Busy Fall!

Been busy taking pictures! I only hope I can catch up on my personal blogging and pictures. Seems like I take a million in October due to Fall, Halloween, Bennett's birthday (he just turned SEVEN!!!), pumpkin patch, photo shoots galore, etc. etc. ...Here is one from the latest. This little beauty says she has a crush on Bennett :) See the rest of her family HERE!

More to see

Some new sessions up on my photo blog.
Doesn't Hadlee have such beautiful eyes? CLICK HERE

Fall Colors~

Two weeks ago, we headed into the mountains for our annual drive with Russ's family to see the changing leaves. The colors were truly breathtaking this year! I absolutely love where we love and being so close to the mountains. I love getting to experience all four seasons, and Fall is definitely my favorite. We kind of did some impromptu family pics...nothing that will make it on to the wall...but at least something capture our family this year. I also tried to get a few of Bennett since his birthday is soon approaching, but I will post those later with the others that I will hopefully be taking of him in the near future. It seems I never get in a full session in with him, since his birthday is at the time of year when I am the busiest with other peoples photos!

It is nearly impossible to get a picture with my three kids together. Don't be fooled by the couple I got that look half way decent. Really, how hard could it be, right? It is ridiculous, really. I feel bad for Russ any time I tell him I want to try to take a picture of the three of them together, since he is always the one that tries to get them to be good, and puts Coy back in his place a million times. I'm grateful for my great husband and that he always puts up with all of my ideas, hobbies, plans, etc. etc.

On another note, I can't believe that it was three years ago today that my dear sister, Amber passed away. I have spent the day reflecting on her and the life that she lived. I'm so grateful for the journal she left on her blog that strengthens me and helps me remember her and feel of her spirit.

 

Last night I pulled out the book my dad compiled of all her entries and have been inspired once again by her testimony. Most of the time, I don't like reading it, because I know it will make many emotions, old and new, come to the surface. It's hard to relive what she went through. It's hard to think of how much time has already passed since she has gone, and how much has changed! It's hard to miss her all over again...It's hard to compare her life to mine, and to think about how if I were her, I would only have a few short months left! I am the exact same age right now that she was when she went on hospice!

 

But all in all, I am SO THANKFUL for my sister, for the time we did have together on earth, and for the legacy she left behind. Today I read words she wrote saying she knew that even though she was going to die and leave this earth physically, she knew she would still be there for all of the events (baptisms, graduations, weddings, etc.) in her family's lives. It was such a great reminder to me to know that she is still here blessing our lives in a way that we may not always be able to see.

 

I love Fall because it reminds me of Amber. She loved the Fall and all that went with it. I can never celebrate Halloween without remembering her and how much she loved that holiday. I think it is fitting that she left us in the Fall because it will always help us remember her at that time and help us feel of her spirit.

 

 

Wrapping Up September~

September was a fun-filled, busy month! Our days have been full with school and preschool, homework, soccer, basketball, dance, piano lessons, library days, appointments, photo shoots, potty training, gardening, reading... and the list goes on! It gets tiring but I don't think I would have it any other way! I feel so blessed to be able to have the wonderful life I've been given. It is so fun to watch each person in our family grow, learn, and accomplish goals. I'm so excited for the arrival of October. It may be my favorite month of the year! Here are just a few pictures from the past few weeks.

Our kids all love books and reading. I found the kids like this one Sunday morning when we didn't have to rush off to church since we had the Brigham City Temple Dedication Broadcast that day. All of the little stuffed animals were given to them by the cute babysitter we had the previous night. She played a game with them and gave them the animals for prizes. My kids thought it was the greatest thing ever.
Coy and Mylie being cute at lunch one day. They have to stick together and are becoming great friends now. We sure miss Bennett during the day, but I'm glad these two get along pretty well and love each other so much.




Coy is such a fun kid. He reminds me a lot of Bennett in many ways, but he definitely has a little personality all his own. He has learned his colors very well now. Before he could say all of them, he would point at things that were pink and call them "Mylie." He would also point at things that were blue and call them "Bennett." And anything that was green he would call "Baby." He now calls every color by their correct name...except for green, he still calls it "Baby." Coy's favorite color is with no doubt, green. But he WILL NOT say the word "green." Furthermore, to this day he WILL NOT say the word "Coy." We will tell him: say "Mommy" and  he will repeat "Mommy." Say "Mylie" and he will echo, "Mylie." And so on with everyone's name in our family. But if we ever say: Say "Coy", he will say "Baby." He calls himself "Baby." No matter how hard I try, I cannot get him to say his name. We'll say to him C-C-C Coy, with much emphasis and exaggeration of the sounds. He will say, "C-C-C Baby." It will be a big deal when one day, he will say the color Green and say his own name. But until then, I just didn't want to forget that silly little thing about him.   *Update: Right after I wrote this entry, my mom got Coy to say "green." So he has been saying it like crazy today, pointing out everything green. Funny thing is, now when I ask him to say "Coy" he pauses for a second and then says "Green." So now his name is "Green."   On another note, I decided to bring some of my hydrangeas in one last time. Lately, each time one starts blooming, the flowers turn whitish-brown rather than turning pink. I thought maybe I'd try to save a couple by bringing them inside. I was thrilled that they did turn pink, and in fact are even bigger and pinker now than they are in these pictures. I love my hydrangea bush!