American Idol and the MTC!

So before I tell about our crazy few days, I thought I would share what is really going on at our house. I have found an addiction to American Idol. I watched it all last year while Kevin was gone on his internship. So this year found me watching it again. The world stops on Tuesday and Wednesday. My kids are really liking it too. As you can see, Emma thinks she is the next American Idol. She has a toy microphone and sings along with the contestants. Watch out Simon, my two-year-old can rock! We spent the past few days being with Kevin's family in Idaho and in Utah as we took Bryndon to the MTC. He is going to the Ukraine Dnepropetrovsk Mission. While at the MTC we ran into this pic. Does anyone else find this as funny as we did? The sign was supposed to mean that the field that the missionaries play soccer on is closed due to bad weather. But it does leave you wondering?

We went up to Idaho for Kevin's little brother's missionary 'farewell' over the weekend. We came up from Utah and one of Kevin's other brothers flew in from Missouri. It was a small miracle that ALL of the family could be there together. It is a miracle considering there are 10 kids in Kevin's family, 2 parents, 7 spouses and 27 children! For those of you who can't do mental math like me, that is 46 people. (Did I mention there is one baby on the way?) And we got an updated fam picture. Unfortunately with that many people, not everyone is looking at the camera. That is what you get with the masses.Here we are again at the MTC. This is us saying goodbye to Kevin's bro. Good luck Bryndon! It was a little strange to back at the MTC. I haven't been there since I went on a mission. It brought back tons of memories!

Here is our future missionary...well maybe.

P-day!

First off, thank you for all the birthday wishes. We had a great day! Did I mention that I have a great husband who loves to spoil me? I love it!
On a different subject, I could use a little encouragement right now. I am hoping that positive comments will help me to stay positive today. We are starting to potty train. And by noon, we had already had 3 accidents and no sucess in the potty. :( So I think by tonight I am going to be exhausted. Really any suggestions would be great. What did you do? What worked and what didn't?
With all of this I am realizing that my kids are growing up. Cami just turned 11 months old and she has decided she is done nursing. (Which is nice for me since she was biting). But I also feel a bit nostalgic. If I am done nursing then I don't have a baby anymore. As cliche as it sounds, kids really do grow up too fast.
Wish me luck on this new phase of life!

Happy Birthday "Old Woman"

Jen says every year how much she hates her birthday. I pulled the wool over her eyes when we first started dating. She threw me a surprise birthday party and assumed I was turning 18. I was a grade behind her, but she thought I was at the older end of my grade. She found out later I was turning 17, and she has regretted it ever since. From February until August she is 2 years older than me. She likes my birthday better because then we're only a year apart. I told her she's being like Bella in Twilight with all of her fuss over getting too old.

We just celebrated 4 years of marriage together, and I am so grateful for my sweet wife. She has grown so much and continues to amaze me. I'm proud of her for sacrificing her career to take care of our precious little girls. I'm proud of her for being willing to clean, cook, and care for our home and family. Things haven't always been easy for us, like anybody, but I'm grateful to have my best friend at my side through it all--to dream, laugh, cry, and create beautiful memories. I love you Sweetheart! Have a very Happy 27th Birthday.

Funny Emma

So Emma is quite a polite kid. She usually says please and thank-you fairly unprompted. She also thanks me almost every night for making dinner. (Thanks Kev for teaching her this one). Tonight was a little different.

Emma: Thanks for making dinner mom.
Me: Your welcome.
Emma: Mom, you make dinner a lot.

That made me feel good. My efforts are not going un-noticed!

Holiday number two...the best day of my life!

So February is a busy month for us. First is Valentine's Day and four days later is our anniversary. (And 10 days after that is my birthday, sorry Kev). I have been told that it is my fault that all these holidays are so close together. Honestly the only one I had control of was my anniversary and when you are trying to pick a date, I wasn't thinking, man this is four days after Valentine's. I did eventually realize it when my all roses bouquet ended up being twice as much. Sorry Ross and Judy about that one. :)
Here is a walk down memory lane in tribute to getting the catch of the year, a husband! These are some things that I have been remembering about our special day.
First of all, it seems weird to me to only be celebrating 4 years. I have now 9 years (holy cow, is it really 9?) of memories with you, Kev. I guess that is what you get when you start dating when you are in high school.
I remember that crazy week and how we only missed one day of school, the Friday that we got married! And how we both got 4.0's that semester, yeah we rock! (Or we're just insane). We did have Monday off because of President's day. I remember how my weird roomie thought that I had bought a fake engagement ring to scare off boys. Who does that? (Except you Stepha, but we know you have scary stockers :) I know you remember how I didn't want to spend 'eternity with you.' Cut me some slack man, I had only been home from a mission two days! Obviously I changed my mind. :)
I remember all the people who came to support us on our special day. Cease, looking at this pic I can't believe how little you were and to remember that you planned my whole wedding! (That is my sister on the front row and she was 10 at the time).
I remember our sealing in the temple. Grandpa Benson was able to perform the sealing for us and marry us. I remember he talking about two great families being united that day. (My great-grandpa and Kevin's great-grandpa were best friends. Yeah talk about a panic when Kev invited me to a family reunion to some tiny po-dunk Idaho town that I had never heard of. Come to find out the town is Moreland, ID where my ancestors came from. Thought we were related because that is how a small town is, but we are not.)
I remember Grandpa telling us to 'make beautiful memories' and to have that be the theme for the rest of our lives. That was very special to me.


I remember being STINKIN cold! I guess that is what you get when you get married in February in Idaho! The snow was pretty everywhere and it was blue skies. I remember it snowed/blizzard the next day, glad we chose Friday!
The rest are just some fun pics from that day. Including your favorite, Kev. (And one to show off my dress. I was a little vain about my dress and I LOVED IT!!!) And yes, Kevin all of these pics are showing your face. :) I love looking at wedding pics because that was one day that I really felt beautiful. We really did have beautiful memories that day. And that was back when we liked each other. (Don't panic, we still like each other. We just joke about that.)
I am so glad that I married my best friend. We have had a lot of fun together. I am excited for the next 96 years! I love ya babe!

Happy V-day!

Here our cute girls in their Valentine shirts. (They were on clearance.) Happy V-day Daddy. The rest are pics are of my favorite thing on Valentine's Day. Flowers!

This is my happy box. I love to get this in the mail.

I love my Valentine. Thanks babe! I like this day to remember those that you love. Have a happy love day.

I also included this pic of Camilla. This is our favorite face Cami pulls. She does this when she is eating. She raises her head up and puckers her lips. She then laughs at herself as we all laugh at her. Hope you have a happy day.

Behind the Times

Well since I didn't post my Halloween until after Thanksgiving, what were you expecting with Christmas? :) I guess that is what you get when you misplace a camera cord. So here are a few highlights from our eventful Christmas.

First off we spent Christmas Eve with Kevin's family. Did I mention that there are 10 kids, mom and dad, 7 in-laws and 27 grandkids. Yikes! It is a zoo when we get together. The following video gives you an idea of the masses of people. We had fun with our Christmas gift exchange and program.

Before we get too into Christmas, I wanted to share a pic of us decorating the tree. Our house was very festive and Emma had fun looking at what she called her "Santa tree" everyday.
So being in Idaho for the Christmas Eve party, we went to my parents to spend the night and share Christmas morning with them. I guess Emma was nice, not naughty this year.

One of her favorites was a toy castle. I don't know what is up with the face. She is really into pulling faces for the camera.

Camilla didn't really understand what was going on. She had fun tearing paper. I think she was a little dazzed from getting up so early.

There were a few snow storms while we were there. Emma had so much fun playing in the snow with her daddy. Here they are getting ready to play. Hmmm...like father, like daughter.
They built two big snowmen. Emma likes eating the snow more I think.
Kevin spent a lot of time pulling her around on a sled. She asks me quite often if she can go sledding. They even built a jump in the front yard.
We had a lot of fun seeing family and friends and spending time with those we love. Thanks for a great holiday break! And since I haven't posted for a bit, Camilla decided to start officially crawling when we got back from Christmas. She was army crawling/scooting before. And now she is standing up to things. Her favorite, the bathtub! So here is in honor of 10 months!