Twelve Years of Friendship

So, my family moved around a lot when I was younger. We never stayed anywhere longer than like 5 years, so I never really had a chance to make really good friends until we moved to Utah. Now, boy do I have some good ones! I got to reconnect with two of my college roommates that I absolutely adore, Jana and Shelby and have lunch with them. Shelby surprised me first by telling me she was pregnant and second by telling me she was having a girl! (She's one of those stick girls that only looks pregnant in the belly and only if you look really hard!) We also reminisced about the good old college days and how we graduated from Snow 10 years ago and had known each other about 12 years. That may not seem remarkable to some people, but it's an absolute miracle for me to have friends for that long. It was a great time and I am so glad I got to stop and catch up with all they have been doing! I am blessed to have such good friends! Yeah for girl's lunch out!

Bragging on Ben

Wilson busted sneaking strawberries!

Even Bennett ate his all up!

The culinary master himself!

Happy Mother's Day to me!

So, I fully admit that I don't give Ben nearly enough credit for everything he does, but this last week he outdid himself, so this post is dedicated to him. The week before last was a tragic week at our house. Ben and I were both sick and broken. It took it's toll on me. Last Monday I spent 5 hours at the doctors trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with my face (feel free to insert face joke of your choice here). It was swollen and I was Quazimoto. Anyway, when I got home from the doctor's that night Ben was there with flowers and declared it Mother's Day week. Every day for that whole week he did something nice for me. The list is as follows:

Monday: Flowers

Tuesday: Scrubbed my kitchen floor on his hands and knees

Wednesday: Chocolate iced cake donut from Holiday (white trash I know, but oh so yummy)

Thursday: Apple Pie Caramel Apple from Rocky Mt. Chocolate Factory

Friday: Another cake donut (can't get enough of a good thing)

Saturday: Full service date including a chick flick of my choice and the Cheesecake Factory

Sunday: Crepe breakfast before church, he made the pistachio salad for dinner and gave me an overnight getaway to Park City with my sister!

Can I ever go back to normal life again? I'll tell you, it was hard today, but I am grateful for such a sweet husband who is constantly trying to make me happy!

Bennett's First (Documented) Trip to the Zoo

Wow! Instead of looking at the rhino that's like 3 feet away, let's play on the fake rocks! Boys.

Wilson put his own shades on and I didn't have the heart to tell him!

Wilson wasn't even brave enough to sit on the spider! Maybe it helps if you have no idea what's going on! This really was Bennett's first train ride though. He really liked sitting next to big bro!

I think in Bennett's short 9 months of life, he has already gone to the zoo no less than 5 times. However, this last week was the first time his crazy mother remembered to bring and use her camera. Bennett still doesn't get what he's supposed to be looking at, but he did follow the two monkeys running around in front of his stroller (Wilson and Parker) really well and they were fine entertainment. Wilson found the landscaping in the animal exhibits (i.e. the waterfalls and rocks) much more fun than the actual animals and both he and Parker lost all will to go on until snacks were had. This trip we didn't make it past the penguins before we gave up and headed for the playground and the train on our way out. I guess that is one hazard to having a zoo pass, your kids get spoiled! Bennett is for sure more willing to pose for pictures than his brother, so there are some cute ones of him! I am just glad the weather has turned warm and we can get out and go!

I think Easter has to be my favorite holiday, really. It is so much fun. I love the spring weather and the egg hunts. I even love the candy the best of any holiday. This year we went up to Brigham City to Ian and Bonnie's to have an Easter egg hunt. It was really fun and there were so many easter eggs that everyone got plenty. Wilson loved to hunt for the eggs but then immediately wanted to open each one up and see what was in it. That significantly slowed him down, but I had to stop my competetive side from taking over and dragging him up the hill to show him all the other eggs he was missing! I just had to remember that he doesn't know the difference and it's just fun for him to look. It was fun to watch Wilson's reaction with Bennett. When the Easter bunny came he had to show Bennett everything in his basket and show him the Easter ropes. The egg hunt at my mom's house was equally rediculously over stocked with eggs, but no one is willing to downsize. We also did something new this year, an adult egg hunt. The prize for Ian's was $20 bucks while our prizes were bags of the good candy (cadbury eggs and coconut creme kisses, mmmm) and $5. That was a fun idea and I would love to make it a standing tradition. I got all of my boys matching shorts and I think that will have to become a tradition too. I just love Easter and all it stands for!

Conference Weekend

Sethy and Bennett in the WBWF- Worldwide Baby Wrestling Federation

For Conference weekend, which I can't believe was a month ago already, the Horsleys and we decided to visit the grandparents. Being the neglectful grandchildren that we are, we hadn't been to Idaho since my grandma Wilson's 90th birthday party last year in March! Man, are we lame. It is always a good time. Sethy and Bennett spent some quality smack down time together. It seemed like whenever they met on the carpet they would take turns pulling on each others clothes, smacking each other and then steam rolling over each other. It was really cute. Grandpa Allred couldn't get over how much they looked alike. Grandma had fun with the babies too! We taught Wilson to say Great Grandma's house because frankly we have too many grandparents to keep straight! Bennett loved all the open space to roll around and almost got squished when he found himself under uncle Ben's chair! I still can't figure out how he did that. Wilson's favorite toy was the grocery cart and he wanted to give his brother a ride in it. Bennett was a little too heavy and almost tipped over several times, but I think he liked it. It was a very fun and relaxing weekend and I was grateful for the chance to unwind.