Laguna Beach

In September we snuck away for a few (far too short) days at Laguna Beach. Benjamin was so funny about the beach, he did NOT like the feel of sand on his hands or feet. He liked to dig in it... and play with his shovel... as long as his feet were securely on the beach towel. ;-) Silly boy.

We brought out bikes and had a lot of fun biking up and down Huntington Beach. It was so nice to be there off season, because I don't think we could have biked there easily mid summer.

We stopped here for a snack and to let Benjamin run around.

This is Benjamins's FAVORITE swimming game. He jumps off the steps...

Swims out to mommy to get his dive ring... (with the help of his little baby flippers)

And swims back to the steps! The kid does not get tired of this. He loves it. ;-)

We went to a park for a picnic, and due to the fact that all Benjamin wanted to do was run around like this:

We didn't have any luck getting him to sit still long enough for a family picture...

We really tried...

With no luck at all.

Oh well. ;-) Here are some happier pictures:

Man, these pictures make me think it's about time for another trip! These pictures don't do them justice, but we saw some beautiful sunsets. It was a really fun trip. :-)

Soldier Hollow Classic Sheepdog Championship!

So I'm still catching up on posts, but the good news is this brings us all the way into September! Wahoo! ;-) Anyway, if you didn't get a chance to go this year, this was actually a lot of fun! The fifteen best sheepdogs come from around the world to compete in this competition up in Soldier Hollow. They also have duck herding, a splash dog competition (VERY fun!), booths, food, petting zoo, etc. This picture of the Llama and I giving Benjamin a kiss is probably my favorite from the whole day! He he he.



We brought Jack with us too, so both boys got to see all the animals:


Jack was cooperative for the group photo... Benjamin was not. Jack was also cooperative for the face painting of the cute dalmation on his cheek... Benjamin was not. He got a balloon on his hand instead!

Both boys watching the duck herding, I don't know how we missed a picture of the ducks, it was kinda funny to watch them getting herded around.

This was one of the better pictures I was able to get of the splash dogs, I think it was so fun because the dogs would get SO excited!!! One funny dog apparently didn't want to jump, so he ran back down the platform, and up the ramp the dogs normally use to get out of the water, and swam to his toy instead. He he he.

Here is a video clip that talks a little more about the event if you're interested. All in all, it was a lot of fun. There seem to be all kinds of events going on that we never attend, so we're trying to broaden our horizons, and at least this time it turned out to be a lot of fun!

4th of July!

I'm going to admit, I LOVE his baby flip flops!! He he he, they are so cute, and so SUMMER! These are from playing at the park with Noah.

This is pre-big brother Noah, before Kayla was born, isn't he doing a good job?! Cute, huh! We didn't even have to prompt this one.

Yeah, this was the best picture I got of the two of them looking at the camera. Noah is doing a better job. He must get more practice somehow... can't imagine how... ;-)

Fireworks! (No pictures of the actual fireworks, hate to disappoint, they just never turn out that special.)

Benjamin's bedtime is close to sacred at our house... even now. ;-) And he was WAY past it on this night, so this is one of not that many pictures where he is sleeping somewhere besides his crib! Poor tired kiddo. :-)

Random Pictures

Oh man, I just love this kid and all his mischievious little boy ways. It's the best ever, too much fun. :-)


Yum!! Learning to use a spoon, he's gotten much better, but yogurt still pretty much looks like this when he's done!

We had a pool for a few weeks last summer. A bit white trash, I'll admit, but Benjamin and I still had fun! We love the water!

He he he, love this picture. Had to post it. Can't believe how much Benjamin has grown in four months!!! Wow!

Rub a dub dub, it's always more fun with a friend in the tub. ;-)

St George

Okay, so I haven't posted for like five months. Tad behind... I'll admit it. But frankly, since this blog pretty much covers for scrapbooking, journaling, and photo album all in one, I am still going to post all the random pictures from last summer. Yes, last summer. Sorry, I'll be caught up in a few days, so feel free to just skip over the posts til then, they're all outdated anyway. ;-) This first post is actually one I wrote last summer, but didn't get all the pictures attached so it never got posted. This is how I wrote it out then, so I added the rest of the pictures and I'm just going to leave it. One thing I can say about looking back on these pictures is I kinda already miss summer! Oh for the nice and warm sun rays... the snow just isn't doing it for me right now.

So Jonathan and I spent three nights during June in St. George, and this was the first time we've gone on vacation without bringing Benjamin! My mom came over and stayed with him the whole time, isn't she amazing? We were so lucky she could help us! Fortunately she did have some babysitting help from Mary and Will, and also McKell. (Thanks you guys!!!) When we went to pick up Benjamin from McKell's house, he was playing with a ball, and paused long enough to hold it up for us to see and say "ball!" before he turned back around and continued to throw the ball on the ground and chase after it. Glad to know we were missed. ;-) (I was actually really glad he did so well!)

The first morning we were in St. George, we went to a 4 hour rock climbing course with an instructor, who both refreshed some basic climbing skills we used to have and taught us more about top roping. It was a ton of fun! Neither one of us had climbed in years. Now I'm motivated to get a bit more gear so we can climb again!

Made it to the top! Wahoo!

Don't worry, Jonathan made it too. ;-)

We did some hikes while we were down there, this is in Snow Canyon. Behind us is an old volcano that we hiked, which turned out to be not nearly as exciting and interesting as it sounds. That may be due to some negative experiences losing the trail and haphazardly hacking our way up and down the hill... yeah.

Here's the view from the top:

We hiked around in Zion National Park for a day also:

Lots of pretty views. Mediocre photography, but nice views. ;-)

Nice, cool, little oasis we hiked to:

So this was one of my favorite parts of the trip by FAR. We went and saw Tarzan at Tuacahn Ampitheater! It's based off of Disney's Tarzan, which I really like, so I liked this one too. Their "young Tarzan" was AMAZING! He was EXACTLY like I pictured him, and very talented! I found this promotional clip online, and I think he's in it for a few seconds. It was really fun though, and since we went in June the weather wasn't unbearably hot, although it was really windy the night we went.

Yep, we went camping.

Okay, catch up on the fun summer adventures we've been having. So in June we took Benjamin camping for the first time!! We decided somewhat last minute to join our neighborhood for the ward campout, and it turned out really fun. :-)


As we're taking DOWN the tent, I realize this was Benjamin's first camping trip and I didn't even take any pictures of the tent! Yeah, totally NOT worth setting it up again, so this is where the tent was, and you can use your imagination!

This one is a little less backlit, but Benjamin didn't want to stand still for a picture, so he's running off somewhere, oh well!

Ok, I really don't know how we had this much stuff... we only stayed overnight, and we didn't even cook up there at all. We bought a pizza on the way up, and since it was the ward campout, breakfast the next morning was provided (score!). We did set up my family's eight man tent for the three of us, but it gave lots of room for both the air mattress and Benjamin's pack & play, where he slept great all by himself all night long! What a good boy! He did sleep with about 6 layers on, as well as a winter hat and quilt. And although he peed through about 4 of those layers by morning (that was fun), his toes stayed nice and toasty warm, so I still call that success!! And with the entire Pilot filled to the brim we still managed to forget pillows, one of I think TWO things Emily (Jonathan's sister) told us to remember. And she was right. Bunched up clothes are NOT the same!

We had so much fun we just might go again before the summer is over. ;-) (No really, we do want to go again!)

So I may have a confession to make...

So consider this a spoiler alert if you haven't seen the movie, but Jonathan and I went a few weeks ago to see this movie:

LOVED IT!! SO much fun! It really does make you feel nostalgic for your childhood... I guess that's when you can turn around and appreciate being a parent, and experiencing that part of life all over again and in a new way. :-)

So that wasn't the confession though. (Are you kidding, I'm PROUD we went to see it! We had a blast!) But remember poor Lotsa's story? The one about being abandoned, forgotten, and ultimately replaced by his child? The story of how he became all scarred and twisted?

Well, earlier this year we all went to participate at this event:

And only as we were finishing the walk and back to the Gateway did we realize that Benjamin's monkey was missing. This is the monkey he naps with, sleeps with at night, carries into the grocery store, hugs all day long, and drags around by the tail. Gone. No good. He had been holding him in the stroller and apparently had pitched him overboard without us noticing!

So yeah... we probably could have done the walk again to try and find him... instead we stopped at Smith's Marketplace on the way home and bought not one, but TWO replacement monkeys, so that next time he lost his money we'd have another one handy.

Aren't we horrible? I actually hadn't given it a second thought until we saw the movie, and then I felt GUILTY!! Oh, sad. Normally "spare monkey" live in the back closet, but these are some cute pictures I took one morning when Benjamin found not one, but TWO monkeys to carry around and play with!! You should have seen him, he was SO EXCITED!! These pictures don't do it justice. ;-)

So yes, I'll have to claim responsibility for the next Toy Story in which the forsaken Benjamonkey joins Lotsa's ranks and they return for revenge.

Underwater swimming!

Look at my swimming boy!! Isn't he so cute?!