Catching up on our summer fun-June

Daddy and Benji at the petting farm

Cousin Ryelle's First wadding pool experience- she grew to love it but this picture was too precious!

Benji had some creative ways to keep cool in the 100 degree weather. He built this "shelter from the sun" all on his own. I promise we plan on planting some trees for shade soon!
Benji made some great strides in his second year of swim lessons. He was thrilled to go down the "big water slide" for the first time as a finally to swim lessons. When he came down he screamed "that was totally awesome" over and over and, "I want to do it again!!!" I was so surprised was this my timid boy?

Ryelle was a real trooper waiting for Benji at his swim lessons every day for 2 weeks. Isn't she a cutie!!!

After lessons we practiced in our neighborhood pool and he shocked Daddy with being able to jump in, swim above & under water all on his own. We now have a regular fish for a son. He could stay in the pool all day. The longest span has been 4 solid hours of swimming with out floaties. I remember last year at lessons the coach had to practically pry his arms off my legs to get in the pool now we have to drag him from the water he loves it so much.

The finally water slide!

Side walk chalk art.

Ryelle & I love to snuggle together! I

More Summer Memories

Who's this cutie you ask...This little bright eyes is one of the latest additions to our family...My sister Chelsie and her baby Ryelle moved in with us the Aug 19th. We are thrilled to have some of my family here in Utah. Yes WE even Dan, he is the one who suggested Chelsie come live with us. And we have had many fun times together sense.

SO this is Benjis favorite chair...the first two weeks here Ryelle was really interested in it and would come up to Benji while he was sitting in it and make her way in it, Benji would just sort of get out of her way...Very polite like...Chelsie & Dan would affectionaly call her a bully. (not the best choise of words in hind site and we have sence stopped saying that) Then he fought back and we are trying to teach him to share and how babies really dont understand sharing. Its been fun to say the least for 2 first born kids to come together and struggle to share.
As you can tell they really do love eachother and do share well at times too!! We spent as much time as we could in the pool. Both Benji and Ryelle are little water babies-well I guess benji is a water big boy and Ryelle is the water baby. He would swim pulling her in the water behind him. Great times.

We went on a carriage ride at farm country together and visited all the animals.
We tried to get Benji to ride the pony-he said he wanted to but the ride ended early in tears.Received a package from Grammie and Poppy a small Peruvian bag perfect for holding chalk for his chalk board. And as always the candy nestled inside was a huge hit.

Im usually surprised when I upload our pics to find that Benji stole the camera a few times, actually every chance he gets he takes pictures...some of them are not that bad, heres one of his favorite subject, his best friend Nelly. Recently he discovered the zoom feature.

Two first born only child's lives collid- Benji is learning the wonders of having a sibling-sort of

They have some great moments together. Here they are playing the classic laundry

basket-boats. I love this memory, pirates, row row your boat or watch out for the crocodiles (mommy), the options are endless and the giggles are many.

We had a great day at the Dino museum. Our friends from our old neighborhood came up for 2 dollar Tuesday at to play at the park. What a blast. So nice to see our great friends, above Elizabeth and kari playing with Benji in the Dinosaur museum below Benji lines up all the Dino's and Ryelle soon makes a king Kong swipe (Im sure her attempt to play with Her friend) and knocks them all down greatly upsetting the Dino master Benji.
Ryelle loves other children and latches on to Baby Mathew my good friend Diana's second baby, Sammy's brother.

Amazingly huge!

Benji and Sammy pairing off discovering together. Zoi and Benji posing under the monstrous Dinosaur Skeleton.

After the Great Thanksgiving Point Adventure all the friends met over at our house for a BBQ. Even the Spouses came. It was so nice to have so many of our friends up to visit in our new home. I was really frustrated with this move because we had made such nice friends and we really had a good group to get the kids together with. I was worried the move would be to great a distance, as it had been with some other recent great friends moving. Sarah, Omel,Ethen, Asher, Oliver and Jessica,Laurence, Neal and Paul. This had been very hard on Benji and Me and note those great friends who moved were also about his only friends that were boys. That brings me to the object of the childrens play by the end of the night they each collected some toy of Benjis and morphed them into hair styling products.

But hey

if Dans Manly enough to have his hair and nails done by cute little girls then Benjamin is too.

Dan and I got out for a night of laughs with brian regan at the outdoor theater.

Benji became better friends with my mission comps son Benji. Yep same name two cute little guys.
Story time with Daddy Dan aka uncle Dan.

Two supper heros. Two good friends. Sammy and Benji
The Best Daddy Ever!!! I love my two boys.

Summer Memories

Looking back…
September is here & summer is passing...We have enjoyed a busy summer for 2008. Some memories have been captured on the blog and others have not… The building of a new beautiful home, baseball lessons, Lots of MOVING, leaving our home & friends of 3 years, meeting new wards of great people, traveling 1 hour on the free way sometimes daily for swim lessons and tumbling time- to keep in touch with great friends, disappointing fertility treatments, anxious adoption papers-and web profiles, our trip to Washington to visit family, Dans brother trip to the Darby Caves, lots of eating out at restaurants as we lived in a rental home for 2 months, & subsequent exercise programs to lose the weight gained from all the change and yummy restaurants...Im sure I am forgetting something…But I wanted to post some pictures of our favorite memories of our summer. Starting with our Washington Family Trip over the 4th of July.

We have such a nice time visiting family we are always grateful for the time we have to share together and sad to say so long. I feel bad for Benji who usually cries the first hour of the return trip- he takes after his mother. He is to heart sick to say goodbye. He has had so much fun, playing with immediate friends aka cousins, back seat buddies, making pretend campfires in Nanna's front yard and roasting marshmallows, visiting Papa Lucki's tractors and cool old cars, freezing lake swimming and just too much fun. Its like coming off a sugar high when we have spent so much time having fun with family and then back to just Mom and Dad. Poor little guy.