Lydia's 2nd Birthday

Lydia is 2!  Boy is she 2!  She is silly, funny, loving and everywhere!  She loves shoes, clothes, lotion (especially when she can smear is all over things like carpet or her sisters hair) and singing.  Her favorite songs are I am a Child of God, Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam and Do as I'm Doing or as she refers to them "God", "Jesus" and "Dooo it!"  Lydia brings meaning to the word Joy, we don't know what we'd do without her.

Post Bath Birthday Party

2 fingers is hard to do...good job Brynlee

Halloween 2010

Halloween of course started with the carving pumpkins.  This year all our pumpkins came out of our very own garden...unfortunately they're the only thing that came out of our garden!

 It wouldn't be Halloween if Jake didn't carve a Pumpkin!  Someone even asked for his card this year...maybe this could become a seasonal money maker! ha ha 

3 little Cupcakes...

 Apparently, clouds were moving in extremely fast behind me which was cause for concern from our weather conscious girls Gracie and Brynlee...Lydia on the other had no idea.

 We were able to convince them it was ok ...

 But we were wrong!  We should have been paying closer attention to those clouds because even though we were literally across the street and up 3 houses from our house we got caught in a hail storm that came on faster than I've ever seen. When it hit we ran for it.  Brynlee lost a shoe and of course thought she needed to stop, sit and put it on even though she was so terrified she could get it on!  We couldn't make it to our house so when we came to a fence we were able to smash the girls up against it and cover them as best we could.  I felt like a mother hen trying to get my babies under my wings, but my wings weren't big enough!  We thought it would pass as quickly as it came and even though we were getting drenched we were at least it a position where the girls (not Jake and I of course) weren't getting pelted by the hail, so we stayed put.  Unfortunately, it wasn't letting up so with the girls screaming, sure they were going to lose their lives, and Jake and I laughing hysterically at the situation we were in, Jake made a run for it to get the van.  The girls were now traumatized and had No desire to go trick-or-treating....until about 20 minutes later when the rain/hail stopped and we promised we'd take the van this time just in case.  

Drenched!

 We hit about 10 houses and man were they thrilled with the abundance of candy before them!!  Jake and I were laughing pretty hard and how much they were freaking out how much candy they got...we just went right along with it with our "WOW!"  "Holy Cow!"  "That's a TON!"  Some how in a few years I don't think those 10 pieces of candy are going to cut it!

I love that in Utah everyone just trick or treats on Saturday even when it's on Sunday, it's great!

After Church on Actual Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Bennion Family Christmas Name Draw 2010

Yes, I do realize we haven't even celebrated Halloween yet but for my own selfish reasons ( I needed to know what Super Saturday projects to sign up for!) I've once again taken over the Annual Bennion Family Christmas Name Draw!  Here are the results...

Giver- Reciever


Dad- Lydia
Mom- Gracie
Chloe- Dad :)
Camille- Connor


Kara- Sophie
Jason- Jenny
Brianna- Brynlee
Emily- Kenna
Dallin- Chase
Savannah- Tyler
Connor- Claire


Krista- Chloe
Chase- Savannah
Tyler- Tanner
Halle- Camille
Sophie- Brianna


Kenna- Halle
Jake- Derrik
Gracie- Krista
Brynlee- Emily
Lydia- Baby Girl Jones


Tanner- Mom
Jenny- Jason
Liam- Dallin


Claire- Liam
Derrik-Jake
Baby Girl Jones- Kara


Well there you have it.  Chloe it's your lucky year!  Love you all and leave a comment so I know you saw it!  Happy Gifting!

First Day of School 2010

We had such a great summer!  So great and so filled with fun family visits and more pictures than you could imagine that blogging about it all is a little overwhelming!  So for now we'll skip ahead and get caught up with what is going on now....School!  Brynlee started her first year of Preschool and is loving it.  She feels like such a big kid, especially when she gets to do homework...to bad that won't last!  When she got home after the first day I asked her if the wanted to have a snack and watch a show on T.V., her response was, "No thanks Mom, I've got SO much work to do.  I need to get my homework done first!"  WOW!  I hope she has such work ethic when she's 15!  

  

The day after Brynlee's first day of preschool, Gracie started Kindergarten!  I know I can hardly believe it!  She was so excited for the big day.  We walked to school with her friend Riley who out of pure luck ended up in her class.  The 2 girls skipped along while me and Riley's mom and my good friend blubbered about how my oldest and her youngest were about to enter the real world!  

I was so worried I was going to get emotional and make a blubbering fool out of myself, however, when I tried to leave Lydia and Brynlee waiting out in the hall while I quickly said one last goodbye to Gracie they both through a gigantic fit.  So, quite embarrassed we rushed out of there without any tears shed...of my own tears anyways.  Of course we won't talk about how I cried all the way home after picking up Gracie the 3rd day of school and witnessed a boy as big as me grab a girl by her shirt and shove her into the wall...homeschool was not sounding as radical as it used to. :(  Don't worry Grandma, her school is safe and I Love, Love, Love her teacher!  I suppose they have to go out into the world sometime, but sometimes I sure wish I could keep them in my little bubble!

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

I needed this today:)

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

3 Parties for Brynlee's 4th Birthday

Our sweet Brynlee turned 4 this month!  She has been requesting a "Hula" birthday since February...so a Hula party (or parties) is what she got.  When we found out we would be in Montana a week before her birthday and that Halle, her cousin, would be there too, it would be a perfect time for a birthday party.  It wasn't until we got to MT that we found out that ALL of the cousins were going to come which made it all the better!  So thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Bennion's perfect backyard setting, cute decorations and Yummy food, Brynlee had a wonderful Hula Birthday!

 

The Girls...Jake didn't make it there until late that night.Sand Castle Cake... the Chocolate seashells the best part, they were dangerously good!

Brynlee was beyond thrilled about this outfit. My mom and I spotted it at a store and just laughed...if Brynlee were an outfit this is what she would be! When she saw it she exclaimed, "Just what I always wanted!"  There is a better picture of it later on in the post.

Greatest Cousin's Ever!  This is everyone but the 3 Babies.

On our way back from Montana we stopped and stayed the night in Lander with Jake's parents.  Grandma Smith surprised Brynlee with another Hula party!  Brynlee really spread the word about this Hula theme!  Grandma Smith took us all out for pizza then we came home for cake, ice cream and presents!

Such a cute "Hula Girl" Cake.  Brynlee thought is was so neat...and it tasted delicious too!

A Beautiful Princess "Nightdown" (as Brynlee calls them!) So thrilling:)

Even though Brynlee had already had 2 parties by the time we got back to Utah, none of them actually fell on her actual Birthday.  It didn't seem right to not do anything on the special day so once again Brynlee got to celebrate.  This picture cracks me up...I'm not sure who's face is better.  Lydia's Joyful "I'm gonna grab those candle's and I love this helmet face", Brynlee's "Oh yeah all the attentions on me" face or Gracie's"Oh come on, she gets  ANOTHER cake...I want to blow out some candles!" face!  Brynlee was very kind and allowed Gracie to help her blow out the candles this time...it was very sweet:)

Brynlee got her very own Big Girl "Tony Hawk Hula" bike.  Okay so it's really not a "Tony Hawk" bike but we kinda had to tell her it was.  You see we took her to Toy's R Us awhile ago to see what kind of bike she wanted.  To our surprise she passed up every princess sparkly bike and fell in love with a pricey Tony Hawk trick bike, with pegs on the back wheels and all.  When ever anyone asked her what she wanted for her birthday she responded "A Tony Hawk bike" without hesitation.   Well I just couldn't picture my sweet little princess loving girl riding around on this Tony Hawk bike, and there was no way I was going to pay the price for it anways!  So when we found this "Hula" bike we convinced her it was a different Tony Hawk bike and that it fit better with her Hula party.  Luckily she bought it...but nobody tell her it's not really a Tony Hawk bike!!!! 

On the day of her birthday, Brynlee got her hair cut.  When the girl cutting her hair found out it was her birthday she gave her this awesome bow to go with her awesome outfit!  

Luckily I was able to convince Brynlee that is a Birthday outfit, and it can only be worn in public on her birthday!!!  

Happy Birthday Brynlee, we love you some much.  I'm so grateful for your tender heart, spunky spirit, sassy style and your love of snuggling.  May you never loose you lisp or your excitement for life! xoxoxo

4th of July weekend 2010 Mega Post

In our family there usually isn't much discussion on where we spend the 4th of July.  I'm pretty sure there has only been one year since we've been married that we haven't spent the 4th in Lander, Wy where Jake is from.  It's like nothing you've ever seen, you really have to experience it because there is no describing it!  Anyways more on that later....

Here are some photos of our weekend.  We played at the park, watched and lit fireworks, celebrated my nephew Justin's Birthday, and even rode horses.  It was such a great weekend!

4th of July attire 

Playing at the park

The reason Lander is so phenomenal on the 4th is because of the Fireworks.  Every year a local orthodontist, Dr. Bills, puts on a firework show that is amazing!  10,000 people come to see the show!  He is also a member of the LDS church and before the show missionaries serve ice cream and watermelon.  The best part is that it's all free!!

Here we are waiting for the fireworks to start.  We had to take cars down to save us a spot that afternoon, otherwise there's no way we would have been anywhere near the fireworks!

As you can see we are sitting on the side of the road so Jodi is giving a " don't cross the white line or you'll die" lesson!  It worked, good job Jodi!

A view of some of the cars... there were SO many more than this though!

"Writing" with flash lights... pretty neat I think!

Lydia sat and watched TV with Jake's dad for longer than I've ever seen her sit still.  She loves Papa!

Justin's Birthday is on the 4th of July so of course with celebrated!  Pinata, cake and presents!

Lydia's ready to watch her Uncles put on a show of there own...love the outfit!

Snaps!

Sparklers!

Like I said, it's hard to describe what it's like in Lander on the 4th, you just have to experience it yourself.  The whole town in like a giant Firework display, everyone is letting off Huge fireworks.  Just to give you an idea here is a video of the fireworks that people were letting off just down the street from Jake's parents house.

 My mother in law just sent me this picture of Lander in 2006.  It's a pretty good representations of what it's like!

Everyone got a turn riding Grandpa's horses.  We were so glad with Lunch (the horse) decided to join our picture!

Lydia and Zack, can you believe he's only 13!

Feeding Pokey...I love Gracie's face in this one:)

We had such a great weekend!  We hope your 4th was enjoyable too!