Bennett's Birthday

The year following up to Bennett's 5th birthday was a long one. 365 days worth of "Is it my birthday yet?"

Our upcoming move made it difficult to celebrate how Bennett imagined we would, so I made the executive decision to postpone the event 10 days. To make up for Bennett's agony of having to wait 375 days for his birthday, I decided to have a surprise party for him.

*If you know Bennett, he is the ultimate surprise king. He wants everyone to be surprised about everything, including himself...even if he already knows about the surprise.*

Much planning went into this party. I was in Arizona packing to move to Wyoming while planning a party in Idaho. But it had to be perfect since I was ignoring Bennett's actual birthday. With the help of Heather, Michelle, and my mom we got a Spiderman cake ordered, the bouncy castle ordered, decorations purchased, and HB's backyard reserved and properly groomed for the guests.

*A very sad side note* Bennett went to play at a friends house on the 18th. Sierra got Bennett a present and told him Happy Birthday. He was very excited for the present, but confused since I told him his birthday wouldn't be until after we moved. Several people called him to wish Happy Birthday and he graciously said thank you to everyone. The night before the big party I realized that since the 18th he hadn't mentioned his birthday at all. I was outside packing my car when Grace, his cousin, asked him about his birthday. He told her he already had it. When I questioned him why he thought he had his birthday he said that everyone had already wished him Happy Birthday and he got a present from Sierra. How sad is that! He spent the entire time since thinking Matt and I hadn't wished him a Happy Birthday, got him a present, or got him a cake. It makes me sad/proud/mostly sad at how good he was to accept what he thought was his birthday and was happy with it.*

Well the morning of the much anticipated surprise party arrived....I was soooo excited for his reaction....and Bennett was sick. That's right, sick! He was pale, had a fever, sick to his stomach, and no energy. I thought maybe once he saw his surprise he would perk up a bit...NOPE.

We jumped out and said "Surprise"...almost no reaction...a little smile perhaps

Matt placed Bennett in the bouncy castle and after 1 bouncy he was sick to his stomach.

I didn't take anymore pictures. The other kids ate cupcakes, bounced themselves silly, and made Spiderman candy necklaces. His cousins begged me to wake Bennett up to open presents and break the pinata, then he slept through the rest of the party.

The next day we took Bennett to the DR. they thought he had pneumonia or bronchitis. Poor boy.

Fortunately, I did save the cake and froze it for the following weekend when we would all be back up for Labor Day.

Bennett was feeling much better by the time the cake thawed and everyone sang to him.

He even mustered up enough lung power to blow out all 5 candles on his cake

In the end he got his cake, friends, a bike, and is relatively healthy. It might not have gone exactly (or at all) how I planned, but we are so blessed to have Bennett in our family. He blesses us with his sweet spirit everyday. He is such a great big brother to Jemma and Jacks, by watching out for them and helping them with what they need, and of course playing with them. Not only is he smart and funny, but he also has a great positive energy around him. He loves learning and trying (most) new things. We love you Bennett...Happy (belated) Birthday

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Bennett Michael was born on August 18, 2005 at 6:30 pm

He was 7 pounds 8 ounces and 21 inches long.

Thursday, August 18th I woke up feeling sick to my stomach. That was unusual because I had been feeling so well my last trimester. I had a doctors' appointment at 10:30 am and was discouraged because up to that point I hadn't felt any contractions. I was certain my due date was going to come and go without a baby.

Matt and I debated on whether or not he should go with me or to work. We decided he would go to work because I didn't think anything had changed since my last appointment.

When I got into the check up room, I told Dr. Baker I was concerned because the baby had been moving less that morning. Dr. Baker was very surprised when he checked me. I was dilated to 6 centimeters and needed to go immediately to labor and delivery. I was in labor!

I was so nervous. I got in my car and tried to call Matt at work. He was suppose to be there at 11 am but wasn't there, by this time it was already 11:45 am. On my way home I called my mom, Michelle, and Heather, who were all down in Utah. They were, of course, excited to hear my baby was on the way. Then, when they realized I didn't go directly to labor and deliver, they were upset! They asked why I was going home. I had to admit to them I needed my make-up bag, and I hadn't packed a hospital bag yet.

Once again I tried calling Matt, he still wasn't there. I started wondering if he had lied about working and went hiking instead. Calling his work several more times, I discovered he hadn't arrived, so I headed back to the hospital and went up to labor and delivery, it was 12:30 pm by then.

Finally, Matt called, he was on his way. I had been calling the wrong Wal-Mart pharmacy! He had the morning shift at the Idaho Falls store and the evening shift at the Ammon store. Luckily the Ammon store had figured out my mix up and got a hold of him.

Dr. Nelson broke my water at 1:30 pm. I was still not feeling much in the way of contractions. By 4:30 pm I was at 8 centimeters. Dr. Nelson decided to give me pitocine to increase the intensity of the contractions. It worked! I began to feel pains in my lower back, and lower abdomen. I asked for a bit of pain medication, which ended up making me very drowsy. I slept in between contractions. At 6 pm I woke and told the nurse I needed to push. Thirty minutes later, Bennett Michael was born.

6 weeks old

2 months old
1 year old
We are so lucky to have Bennett in our family. He is good, kind, and loves to make us laugh. He loves being a big brother. Bennett teaches Jemma and Jacks how to do things and tries to take care of them.

He loves to fish and find bugs to examine where ever he goes.


He loves to camp and eat smores.

Bennett loves to paint and color and create things.

He loves all sorts things like skiing and being in the snow.

Bennett likes to help around the house and to surprise us with his good deeds he thinks up. He loves school and is excited to go to kindergarten next fall. He loves to go to church and be around his friends. He's excited to get baptized and tries his best to be a good person. He loves to say our family prayers. We love Bennett so much and are so blessed he is a part of our family.

First Day of School

Behind...I know
The first day of school for my boys was September 7th. Bennett and Jacks were so excited for school to begin again.

I enrolled Bennett in the only preschool that had an opening, Lander Christian Academy. I was worried after the first day; Bennett's classmates were all so much younger than him. Most were 3 and younger 4 year olds who haven't learned their letters, numbers, or colors yet. Bennett's schedule was 5 days a week for 3 hours and all he was doing was coloring.

Well a miracle happened. I was pretty depressed about the school situation and Bennett wasn't excited either. I was considering pulling him out. But in the summer I had called and put his name on a waiting list at Lander's Childrens' Museum. They started a new preschool called Curious Minds, it's actually a Kindergarten Prep class. It's designed for kids who are in the same position as Bennett, right on the boarder line of being able to go to kindergarten, but would be a lot younger than other classmates.

Well I jumped on the opportunity when they called to say they had an opening for Bennett. He now goes Tues - Friday from 8 to 12. Bennett's teacher is a man, Mr. Mike, who is great with the kids. I was a little worried when I met him. He was wearing sandals and a pony tale. Bennett said yesterday at lunch all the kids begged him to take his hair out and "rock out". Bennett said he looked like a "rock star"....I guess that is good, right? Anyway, Bennett is now a much happier kid at school (what a difference 2 great days can make), and I'm much, much happier with the situation.

Jacks also started school. He LOVES it. His schedule is Monday/Tuesday from 8:30-11am. Wednesday-Friday he begs me to take him to school. I'm going to take that as a good sign.

The bad sign....There was a mountain lion seen at the apartments in front of his school in broad daylight yesterday. They haven't caught the mountain lion yet, but several people have seen it and they are telling everyone to be very cautious. (DUH!)

The interesting part to me? The moment people saw the mountain lion, they called the Fish & Game. 30 minutes later the F &G show up, but the mountain lion is gone. The F & G office is about 2 buildings down from the preschool...Talk about slow response time.

I'm now having a horrible internal debate. Bright and early Monday morning I have to drop Jacks off at school. Do I have to be brave and take him in, or can I let him run for it by himself and pray for a good outcome? Tough decision?

PS...I'm just kidding Mom, I promise I won't let Jacks go by himself!

Jackson Hole

Our family went to Jackson Hole and all we got was this lousy bear that pooped

Seriously. The kids tricked me into this one. I thought it was a cute little key chain. All 3 kids had to have one.

I didn't understand completely it's purpose until we were standing on the street watching the gun fight, when Jacks placed the bear on a random spectator's shoulder and said "Bear poop on you!"

I was mildly embarrassed.

Mesa Falls

We ventured to Mesa Falls over the holiday weekend. I was not comforted by the Forest Service employee in the lodge who pulled her map out and showed me where all the wolf packs are roaming in the area (and apparently they are hungry this fall season), or the fact that she saw a bear on the road just before she got to work that morning
The falls, however, were well worth the drive
Although, I would propose there were 2 individuals in this picture who were deliriously happy to be out and about (I'll let you guess which ones). We had a picnic after our short hike and then decided to take a couple family pictures.
Heather and Jason's family: (took 2 takes for this cute one)
Michelle and Rob's family: (3 times the charm for this one)
Ashlee and Matt's family: (this is as good as it got, 20 pictures later...seriously)

We had a great weekend. I'm so glad we live closer to family now and can spend our weekends with those we love.

Eastern Idaho State Fair

We headed to the fair on Saturday. It was hot, windy, and delicious. Can anyone argue that the food is the highlight of the fair?

We walked around the booths to scavenge anything free they were handing out (hence the Culligan Water head dress and the Big Dog TV fans)

Then we went to the rides. Each kid, and Matt, got to choose a ride.


And then, of course, we fed them all mounds and mounds of cotton candy in hopes it would settle them down for bed.


PS. It didn't work. I wouldn't recommend the cotton candy method if you want a good nights sleep.

The Life of the Party!

This is why we invite Ashlee on Sister's trips to shop....She's always the life of the party!

I've waited awhile for paybacks...It was worth it...Love you Ash!

My List

I've missed a WHOLE month of blogging...and it's driving me crazy. So here is my list of things I'm not going to be blogging about:


*Swimming Lessons...oh! wait I do have a couple pictures of this one




*Packing

*Moving to Wyoming

*Finding out I have to live on the reservation

*Bennett's first soccer game

*Bennett's surprise Spiderman birthday part to celebrate 5 years



And well...that doesn't seem like a whole lot of stuff. What did I do in August? It's all a blur...