Wednesday, February 25, 2015

DAY 1274... 3 Month Mark


I am in shock that my little man is already 3 months old! It's really not fair how fast babies grow. Benson is changing and growing so much every single day. I feel blessed that I am able to stay home and witness and absorb every single change and second with this little man, something that I did not have the opportunity to do with Aniston.


Benson is such a hefty and strong little guy. We're talking 14lbs hefty. He is about the same size as his 6 month old cousin. He has rolled over already, from back to belly, twice. He is trying so hard to sit up. This little boy has some serious ab power. I feel as though he is very eager to keep up with his older sister, and as much as I love the smile on his face when he sees her and how I can feel that love between them, I wish he would quit trying to grow up so fast.


He has discovered his hands and there is nothing more, besides his bottle, that he would want in his mouth. There is drool EVERYWHERE all the time!

He still is hating bath time. Whether he takes a bath in his tub or a shower with Dad, it is never a good experience.

He, like his older sister was at his age, is obsessed with Baby Mozart. He will sit and watch that no matter what is going on around him. Seriously, it is an amazing thing when Mom needs to get cleaning done. Luckily Aniston still loves it and it distracts her as well. Win-Win-Win.


He will not make eye contact with you if you are holding him, weird right. We kind of think it's hilarious. He is loving his carrier, as opposed to being in his car seat or just held and being able to see everything around him.

This boy is always smiling and is usually happy... unless he is hungry. That he gets from his Mom.

The past 3 months have been the most amazing months of my life. I feel happy and I just love having a little family and being a Mom to my beautiful children!


Aniston at 3 months compared to Benson at 3 months. Gosh they're the cutest! I am obsessed with their little ears that stick out just a tad on the top! Being a Mom is the BEST!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

DAY 1273... Adjusting my Attitude

It seems as though the instant we walk out of the house, one of my babies get sick, which means within days hours they are both sick, which means we don't leave the house for days. We stay in our jammies all day long. We do our best to stay hydrated and eat healthy. And we cuddle a lot and take tons of naps.

I HATE being sick and even worse, I hate when my children are sick. I just feel so helpless and useless when they are sick and it breaks my heart. Just one of the many reasons...

I. HATE. WINTER.

So I decided that instead of being miserable and sad and depressed all day, that I was going to take my camera everywhere with me and find the moments that we all experience every day, even when it's the worst of days, that make us smile. Moments that we want to remember. Moments that make our day. As they say in the movie Juno, I was out to find "a blessing from Jesus in this garbage dump of a situation."

This is how we spend our sick days...




















Documenting my children, during what seems like the worst of days, really makes me realize that even sick days have a silver lining. Life is beautiful even on the bleakest of days.

Monday, February 23, 2015

DAY 1272... Oscar Awesomeness

Anyone who knows me knows that I love celebrities, movies and people.com. I also LOVE awards season and Neil Patrick Harris! So a couple of weeks ago, I came up with the idea of throwing our first Oscar Viewing party. Surprisingly my husband was on board and we began planning. Thank goodness for Pinterest! I seriously cannot believe that I was married and planned a reception without Pinterest. I think I am owed a redo...


We decided not to invite many people and to have a laid back fun enjoyable time. Next year, yes, it went well enough to make it an annual event, I think it needs to be a formal event. As adults you rarely get to dress up and get fancy and that probably needs to happen. Spencer was actually really wanting that to happen since he had already worn his other new suit to church that day and he was looking mighty fine. I'd take him to an awards show any day as my date!



I started the day by dressing Aniston in her gold dress, suitable for the Oscar's, for church. I was super bummed that I couldn't find her tights, so she rocked the Shirley Temple/Pageant socks.



Poor girl has a crazy bad cold, but that didn't stop her from partying it up, let me tell you. Some of our friends brought their 2 kids over, so Ani was super excited to have little people to play with as opposed to adults.









I really wanted people to be engaged and motivated to watch the Oscar's, so we had everyone fill out ballots before we started watching and offered a prize for the person who guessed the most correctly. We also played Oscar Bingo and because of that game, even the men were paying close attention. Thank goodness for prizes aka motivation!

The winner at the end of the night with 13/24 correct Oscar winners? Yours truly? It's probably bad hosting etiquette to be able to win a prize, but oh well. It happened.


I decided that I wanted to have a Popcorn Bar along with a few other small treats because you CANNOT have a party without treats. It was super simple and easy and best of all CHEAP! I really liked how it all turned out. I ordered these seasonings off Amazon and offered 8 different candy toppings for the popcorn.



I found these cute goody bags at the Dollar Tree and thought they were perfect for our Oscar Party! We filled them with even more candy. You can never have too much candy!


 We couldn't have the party without sparkling cider and of course juice for the kiddos! I also offered some veggies. I have lost 10lbs in 2 weeks (more about that later) and decided that I probably shouldn't go too crazy.




We also set up a photobooth area... that could use some work next year for sure. But it was my first time and it wasn't awful. The little girls adored it! They may or may not have eaten some of the uncooked black beans used to keep the props in place. My bad. 


It was a super fun night, and definitely beats watching the Oscar's alone. I already have so many ideas for next year!!!

Friday, February 20, 2015

DAY 1262-1265... Road Trip Time

It has been 6 months since we have been down to Utah and we were itching for a weekend getaway. Since Benson has gotten his immunizations and we felt more comfortable, since he was older, to actually take him in the car for 3 1/2 hours, we decided it was time to head south for the weekend. May have been a HUGE mistake because now we are both itching to move back to Salt Lake City ASAP. It probably doesn't help that there are 2 possible coaching jobs available to me... Anyone know of any Athletic Administration job openings????

Anyway... Benson was pretty excited for his first road trip. 


Let's be honest though. The excitement was short lived. This kid is definitely no longer a fan of his car seat. The drive takes 3 1/2 hours and this big boy demands to be fed every 3 hours. I should have taken a picture of me squeezing myself between the two car seats in the back seat in order to feed the little man. I am still in shock that my bodacious hips fit in that middle seat! We definitely made a few stops along the way for diaper changes and to get out the crazy! Ani loves to explore rest stops!


We stayed with my aunt Julie and her family, seriously some of the most amazing people ever, and Benny Boo got some serious love all weekend! My cousins just adored him! They also put together the cutest little sleeping cave for Aniston for the weekend. I think her smile says it all!

 

Friday night was awesome! I was able to get together with some of my old cheerleaders for dinner. We try to do this every time we go down to Utah and it's probably one of my favorite things ever! I started coaching these girls 5 years ago and they have just all grown up and are doing amazing things with their lives! I'm so proud of all of them! I love that they make time to see me when I come down. It seriously makes me feel so good! I love the friendships that we have and how our relationships have grown way past the coach and athlete relationship.


Saturday was Valentines Day. Not a day I choose to recognize as a holiday in the past, but with children now, I'm realizing the importance and the fun of celebrating holidays with my babies.


I wore my "wifey" shirt that I ordered from this shop on Vday. I felt as though it was fitting for the holiday and besides, being a wifey is one of the most amazing aspects of my life. I LOVE it! Spencer is my best friend and to be able to have him in my life everyday is absolutely amazing! Being a wife definitely isn't the easiest thing I have ever done, but who doesn't love a challenge right?


Of course we had to go shopping while we were in Utah. Believe me when I tell you that we have nothing in Rexburg. We don't even have a super Walmart. Super lame. We headed to the Outlet Mall in Lehi. Seriously, my favorite outlet mall ever! The views from the parking lot are insane and the store selection is perfection! We broke out the double stroller. Let's talk about this for a minute. First of all it seems brilliant right? But no one tells you that the aisle ways were not made for a side by side double stroller. I made my own aisles. But Benson loved it and Aniston did too and my back didn't kill from carrying one of them all day. Win-Win-Win.


We bought Benson his first pair of sunglasses. OBSESSED!


Our friends from Rexburg came down for the day, which was awesome, and not only did we get to go shopping together, but we also got in 18 holes of disc golf at our favorite Utah disc park.







Seriously though,  how cute are they????


Seriously, can you believe that it's the middle of February and we are wearing short sleeves, capri's and shorts? this is my kind of winter for sure!


The beards right??? Haha!


Let's talk about how dirty Aniston's pants were after letting her run wild in the dirt... Why on earth do we put white pants on toddlers? Because they are super adorable and I have an amazing homemade stain fighter. Plus they only cost $3 from Walmart.

And because of my faithfulness to tradition, we partook of Taco Bell on Valentine's Day. 11 year tradition. Love it!


Sunday we headed out to Eagle Mountain to go to church with Spencer's family. Spencer got to wear one of his new suits that we bought while we were down there and hubba hubba...



I am beyond obsessed with these two dudes! Benson was so over the trip by this point PS.


It was a nice little getaway and such a fun trip. I did spend the entire drive back to Idaho wedged between my children in the back seat, but there is honestly no where else I wonder rather be wedged! We cannot wait for our next Utah trip!