Plenty to celebrate

Well, I've been home for a few days now, but I've been slow to post about my great week in Utah. I think I've been a little overwhelmed at all the pictures I took! I chose my favorites and made them into a couple of slideshows. It was the perfect time for a family visit - we celebrated my dad's birthday, my brother Aaron's birthday, and Mother's Day of course. As I've already griped about, Ben is still away in Tucson - in fact, he had to work all day on Mother's Day, so I was glad that I had my family to keep me entertained this past week - or I would have been a rather sad Susan. :(

Some notes about our week -

Dad's birthday: Sarah grilled some kebabs and pineapple. She also made an awesome raspberry trifle (per dad's request - in lieu of cake). Dad's birthday actually ended up with a space theme - Dad LOVES space and dreams of traveling to the moon one day. :) I actually bought him his very own acre of land on the moon to someday be used for building a second home. hmmm....

Thanksgiving Point Gardens: I was sooo impressed by this place. It motivates me to get my own flower garden going... someday. :) My parents have season passes and go walking here often, which sounds absolutely lovely! Emma's favorite part was rolling down the big grass hill - she kept veering sideways, and even started rolling up the hill a couple of times. :/

Aaron's Birthday: Aaron wanted homemade pizza for his birthday dinner - he ended up helping quite a bit with it actually - he even tossed the dough for us! After dinner, presents, and cake, we went disc golfing at a nearby park. Emma loved coming along - she insisted on hanging onto the pink disc (and DON'T call them frisbee's or you'll get in big trouble - not by me, but by those that care). Dad ended up winning - awesome discing dad!

So, as you can tell, it was a great week - Mother's day was really nice too - I got lots of presents from Emma (which she made in Primary - her Aunt Sarah teaches the sunbeams, so even though she's really in nursery she got to spend the time in Primary - and she LOVED it!). Ben also surprised me and had flowers sent to my family's house a couple days earlier. That really made me feel special - thanks cute Ben! Now I'm anxiously awaiting my hubby to come home. His last day in Tucson is tomorrow, so he'll be home for good tomorrow night - hooray!!

David Archuleta!!

So, I totally feel like I lucked out being in Utah the week that David Archuleta came to town! I Love American Idol and 'Little David' is just so cute! ;) I have a total crush on him. Ha! I guess he's too young for me. Anyway, my mom and I packed up the kiddos and headed to Gateway to see him. On our way down, I thought to myself - 'it'll probably be packed with people, but it can't be that bad since it's during a school day and all the little 12 year old David fans will be away at school'. But, I was sooo wrong! The place was swarming with little girls - but, not too surprisingly, also swarming with lots of mommies and their toddlers. Right next to me there was this older lady in her 50's or so, screaming her head off "David! I LOVE you!!". It was hillarious - she kept apologizing to me for waving her hands in front of my camera - she said "I'm just crazy about David! He's just so cute!" Anyway, it was fun and a rather memorable outing. After seeing little David, we ate some lunch and then headed over to the children's museum. I love visiting that place! The kids always have an awesome time! Well, I'll post more about our week in Utah after we get back home. We'll be coming home Monday. We have a fun weekend planned and tonight we're going to see Iron Man!

Finding things to do...

My kids have been so silly lately - it starts with the fact that in the last few weeks Becca has really been making huge leaps in her ability to play and communicate and her personality is just so amusing. I LOVE my girls! I've been so grateful for them these past couple of weeks as Ben has been away on rotation - they have definitely helped keep me distracted and entertained. Anyway, back to the silliness - they have been finding the weirdest things to do. I've been trying to scale back the television watching (I've been working on this for while now - some days are definitely better than others!) and as a result they definitely have more time to experiment with their imaginative play. Emma discovered that she could push Becca around in the little push cart they have. And then the funnier thing was watching as they switched places and Becca pushed Emma around! That made me laugh. Later in the day I found them sitting in the laundry basket full of clean clothes. I just like seeing the two of them giggle together and enjoy each other. They definitely get on each others nerves quite a bit as well, but I like to think they get along more than they fight. This morning I was so amused at the activity Becca found to do. Emma was busy in her room dressing up like a princess and Becca decided to take all the toilet paper rolls from under the bathroom sink and put them in our bathtub. This was while I was getting ready in the bathroom, so I was definitely happy to see her keep herself so well occupied! I just couldn't believe how long she worked on this little project. She could only get a hold of one roll at a time, so getting that much t.p. transferred was quite a feat. It doesn't surprise me really, though - she definitely enjoys this kind of thing. She loves moving objects from one container to another. I'm not sure what that means about her personality - I just know that Emma was never entertained by stuff like that. Oh, and sorry about the crazy slide show - I'm usually not a big fan of pictures that bounce around and make you dizzy - but this time around, I felt it was appropriate, since the kids have been bouncing around the house and making me dizzy.

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Hooray!!

I'm sure you can sense the excitement in my voice during this video! Hooray for Becca!! I love how she kind of wiggles her tush in preparation for the next step. :)

Hugs for daddy!

So, we're on to week 2 of Ben's Tucson rotation. Thankfully Ben was able to come home for part of the weekend. We miss him so much when he's gone! We kept busy last week to stay somewhat distracted from the fact that we were without a daddy - plenty of playgroup activities, swimming, Young Women stuff, visit teaching, and playing with friends to keep us moving. Emma helped me make her daddy's favorite cookies on Friday afternoon. Whenever she helps with baking, she insists on putting her little apron on. She also loves turning the mixer on and off as we add ingredients. Ben had to work through Saturday morning - he met up with us at his family's home in Gilbert around noon. Before he arrived, we spent the morning with Grandma Dangerfield shopping and playing at San Tan Village. They have a cute kids section with children's clothing shops surrounding a great outdoor play area with stuff to climb on as well as a splash pad. This was Becca's first time playing in little fountains like this - she was hesitant at first, but warmed up to it quickly and rather enjoyed it! She was really wanting to walk while playing in the water, so Ben's mom was clever and had her push the umbrella stroller around - it was funny - it got soaked, but dried off in like 10 minutes from the heat. We got back to Ben's parents home just after he had arrived. We were all soooo happy to see him! The girls snuggled with him for a while - still in their swimsuits from playing. Becca, in particular, is a real daddy's girl right now and rested her head on his shoulder while smiling real big for a good long time. It was just the cutest. Ben had to leave again Sunday evening. We are planning on going to see him on Friday afternoon since he has a half day. On Saturday evening he's coming home late and then taking us to the airport Sunday morning. We get to go see my family for a week in Utah! Hooray!! While we're there we'll be celebrating my dad's and my brother's birthdays, as well as Mother's Day. I'm really excited!

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For a good giggle, I thought I'd add this photo of Emma from our latest swimming excursion. We were getting ready to go, so I put her back in her regular clothes - but while I finished gathering our stuff, she went ahead and put some swim goggles on and hung out next to the pool. Her hair was all crazy from swimming, adding to the amusement. I know I always say that Emma is a goof - but come on! Here's some real proof!!

More cake please!

We enjoyed more birthday celebrations this weekend! I love birthdays! Ben turned 28 on Saturday. Happy Birthday cutie-Ben! I have to admit that I am usually the lamest when it comes to buying fun presents or planning fun activities for Ben's birthdays - which is a real shame considering how above and beyond Ben will go for me on my special days. I tried really hard this year to plan better and put more thought into his birthday this time around. I got him the awesomest present (if I do say so myself... is awesomest a word? probably not) - Ben is now the proud owner of his very first grill. Now that we actually live in a house with a little patio space, we have space for one and Ben's been wanting one FOREVER! He was super excited about it (which made me feel good) and we grilled 3 times this weekend with his new manly toy (which made my tummy feel good). So, anyway, I surprised him with that on Friday afternoon and later that evening, after it got all assembled, he grilled up some pineapple and topped it with vanilla ice cream and caramel. Wo yummy!! On Saturday I made his favorite breakfast - eggs benedict (I don't make it as good as he does, but it turned out alright - it's the thought that counts right?). After breakfast, he got to open presents from the girls. Emma actually picked out her present and paid for it with her very own money (quarters and dimes from her piggy bank). She even wrapped it all herself and she did a pretty good job! :) Later in the morning we headed over to our new favorite store and Ben picked out some steaks and other stuff for his birthday dinner (see how well I planned that? I bought him a grill for his birthday and then he just can't wait to make his own celebratory dinner... I'm so sneaky... anything to get out of cooking!). In the afternoon I had a sitter come watch the kids while Ben and I got to go to a movie. We saw Leatherheads which was just okay. We both agreed that the music was fun and the acting was good, but the story was a little odd - I wasn't really sure what was going on some of the time and the ending was kind of abrupt and nothing was resolved really. Anyway, it was fun to get out nonetheless. That evening we had the Lee's over for dinner (which included grilled steaks of course!) and more grilled pineapple for desert! Earlier in the day we also had yummy cupcakes and Emma got to help in singing Happy Birthday to daddy. Becca was just super excited to get to eat cake again. On Sunday we had dinner at Ben's parents house and celebrated some more with cake yet again (I'm sure I've put on a few pounds this week!) - It's Ben Lee's birthday on Wednesday so this was in honor of him as well. The boys opened some presents and later I had to bid adieu to Ben as he left for Tucson. The last rotation of the school year is sadly 2 hours away. He'll be coming home on weekends, we assume. Ho hum. I always hate it when I'm without my Ben. At least we had a fun weekend!

Swimming and Shoes

So, we had the beginnings of some summer heat this past week with the temps getting in the 90's! Woohoo! Well, I'm bracing myself for the REAL heat in a couple of months when it's over 110 and I start melting like a Popsicle. Although, the past few summers I've been learning how to really love the crazy Arizona heat - swimming! We recently tested out Taya's pool at the Jones Family Resort and Spa (book now... they're filling up fast!!). This was Becca's first time swimming! Last summer she was so tiny and honestly, I just didn't want to bother getting her in a swimsuit and all lathered up with sunblock and such, especially when she was so content to sleep in shade. :) But, now she's the big ONE and the time had come. She really loved it! She kicked her little feet and giggled and pulled some concerned but amused faces whenever the older kids jumped in the pool and made a big splash. And both the girls looked cute in their new matching swimsuits - thanks Grandma Dangerfield!

And a shout out goes to Jodi for spending all morning (and into the afternoon) teaching me how to make her famous baby booties. I love the way they turned out! Becca wore them all day today - I love that they never fall off! You're so awesome Jodi!