the rest of summer

I feel that i should at least post a few pictures so that it looks like we did not sit around all summer. (or maybe the lack of postings is proof of that?) Either way, here is a sampling of the rest of our summer.

We went to the State Fair with Lauri and her kids. I can not wait for Allie to get big enough to do 4-H! Oh, and Aaron wants to plant some privacy trees in the back yard but I say lets just grow some corn. Do you see how tall those things are!

We went camping with 4 other families at Collins lake. There were about 15 kids there. So fun and so crazy! We were suppose to be close to the bathrooms but ended up being by the porta potty. Not fun. Staying up with all the other adults until 1am playing games. Lots of fun. Being woken up the next morning by children at sunrise. Not so fun.

Allie's first day of school. She is in first grade! It is crazy having her gone all day.

A super cute shot from Aunt Cassie's wedding. Allie got to be the flower girl.

How did you guys get so big?!

The Blue Bells

Our little Allie is all grown up and hip checking girls. She was quite the talk of the sidelines after her game last week when she bulldozed a few girls and scored two goals. (BTW, no idea where she learned that) Next week we are busting out the video camera to catch it on tape. My friend Melissa and I are coaching and Allie was our inspiration for practice yesterday. We taught the girls how to stick their booties in the other teams face (putting their bodies between the defender and the ball). The girls even thought it was funny to shake their booty and do a little dance which I am sure will get us lots of sportsmanship points when they do that in a game. One thing I forgot about myself that I am rediscovering by coaching.... I am really competitive. :) We have heard through the grapevine that we are pretty 'intense' for coaches, but you can not deny our track record. We are undefeated! Woot!

Summer lovin'

Have I mentioned we went to Florida this summer? Aaron's sister Becky and her family moved there last year so we decided to make a trip of it and go see them. Being the trend setters we are, Aaron's two brothers and mom came out too making an impromptu Bennion family reunion. So here are my thoughts on Florida.... 1. It rained EVERYDAY! Not even kidding. We knew we had until about 1pm everyday and then downpour. We were there for two weeks and this was the pattern everyday. 2. Holy crap it is humid. If you are not wet because of the rain, you are wet because of the dang humidity. I gave up on my hair about day three. 3. There are bugs. and not bugs like in California, I mean like people have their whole back patios enclosed because of the bugs. It is crazy. 4. There are alligators. We saw one just chillin in the water while we were over by Cape Canaveral. (sorry no picture, it was....wait for it..... raining, so the camera was not out). Alligators are crazy. I will take a mountain lion or bear or big foot or what ever else we grow here in CA. Alligators scare me.

So... As I read that over I realize it is a bit pessimistic. Other than everything listed, we did have a lot of fun. All the little cousins got to hang out and I got to read a ton. I finished 5 books just in those two weeks. As we left, Aaron said that the next time we came it would be in November when the humidity and bugs are better!

The beach is always fun. We went a few times (once in Miami in the rain even) but the kids had a blast. The water is warmer than in CA so it was fun for all the moms and dads too.

This is in Becky's backyard. See the water behind us? That's right, they have a small lake in the back yard. All the houses are built around it. Pretty cool.


This is our attempt at a cousins photo. We took about 10 and this is the best one. Don't these kids know we are trying to document their childhood!

We went to this drive through animal park down by Miami. We watch America's Funniest Video's on Sunday nights and you always see people in these things and animals coming up and slobbering on them. I always wondered where there were, and here you go. Luckily for us the animals stayed a respectable distance.

I really really wanted to jump out and take a picture of this. In front was this momma giraffe, then us, then the baby right behind us, then Becky and their car. If it had not been the fear of being mauled by a herd of gazelle I would have done it.

Aaron set the goal to take the boys to every MLB park. Number one.... The Florida Marlins. We made it about 5 innings before we were ready to kill the kids. Hopefully by next summer when we hit the CA stadiums they will be a little more interested.

Gator World..... pretty cool place. It lived up to its name of lots of gators. The kids were bummed that they did not get to pet one but other than that they had fun seeing all the different size ones.

All the babies in a pen as we walked in.

Feeding the birds. Dylan almost killed on by trying to step on it.

Gator wresting. Did not actually wrestle it, just sat on it and did this. Kind of wanted to see him roll around in the sand with it.

Disney World.... actually this is Down Town Disney which had a big Lego store. Of course Andrew found the dog.

We ate at the T-REX restaurant. The whole place is as if you are eating in the middle of the jungle. Every 15 minutes there is a meteor shower and all the robotic dinosaurs go crazy and move and roar. Overly priced but entertaining.

Jon, Chris and Sammie joined us at Disney World. All the kids loved It's a Small World. We went on it twice.

The classic shot with the castle in the background. Notice that Dylan does not have shoes on? We got there at 7am for magic hours. He had them on as we entered the park. By the time we walked to the back of the park to the first ride (as per our carefully planned itinerary) one of them was gone. So by 7:15 am he had only one shoe. We went to buy him a pair of crocs or something but they were $42.00. I think not screamed my inner sense of cheapness. So we went the white trash route and let him walk around bare foot all day. That's right, we're classy like that.

Most days, the kids just had fun hanging out. We were the most nervous about Andrew and Matthew who fought like horrible a year ago when we were together for Christmas. This time? Awesomeness! (yep, that is a word) They did so well. Such a relief.

So... that was Florida. We also went to Miami and saw the spaceship launch which was super cool. And like most things it made me appreciate where we live, dry heat and all. :)

whose kid is this?

Look ma... blond hair! Who would have thought that when we cut off the red it would be so blond underneath? I can't decide if he looks like the other kids at one year old. Seriously, the hair is throwing me!

Andrew at his first b-day. maybe similar smiles?

Allie at her first b-day party. Definitely a Bennion.
Well, at least they all have blue eyes! I suppose we will just have to have another one to see if we can have another Blondie! :)

One year older (& wiser too!)

This cute kid just turned one on Wednesday! We celebrated a little late because Aaron was working in LA this week. We tried to have him make a mess but this kid is pretty clean. Smiley and clean! How did I get so lucky?! He loves, loves, loves to climb. Getting down is the problem. Have you ever heard this? That is what Dylan does when he gets up on something and can not get down. So annoying!

The drum was a hit. My personal favorite part of this picture is Aaron's feet sticking into the middle of the frame. Awesome picture taking skills me!






He loves his new giraffe. So does Allie. So does Andrew. Yeah fighting over a stupid toy.

Happy Birthday Dylan!

Lost!

It has been loose for about a week so dad took things into his own hands and with one YANK! it was out! Apparently our tooth fairy should have conferred with the other tooth fairies out there because she only left .50 cents. (which in our tooth fairies defense she thought was about right for a 5 year old who does not quite grasp the meaning of monetary amounts) Apparently the going rate for the first lost tooth is anywhere from $1.00 to $5.00. Whoops. Oh, and our tooth fairy left her tooth and the money because Allie wrote her a note asking if she could keep it. Apparently that is not usually done. I (I mean our tooth fairy) is just jacking this whole thing up. How many more times will we have to do this?

The ultimate update

Hello people! I would love to say that this is the beginning of some big reemergence into the blogging world, but really it is just my guilt eating away at me for not posting anything for the last few months. So instead of hoping for more blogging and putting way to much pressure on me, lets just enjoy this massive long post! I think the best way for me to start is by highlighting a few pictures from each month.

The very End of May... this little guy joined us. The third and most likely the last c-section for me. Aaron took off a few weeks which was awesome as we all got to know each other. Unfortunately I could not hide away forever. Allie had t-ball games so out we went!

Allie and Andrew love to hold this kid. Poor kid. We are learning how to gently hold a baby and not squeeze the poor thing to death. Allie is getting the hang of it, Andrew is still a work in progress.

June..We could not stay away from the beach for long!

July... I love the fair. Maybe is is because I worked there for so long, but it is so fun to take the kids. Andrew was so excited to go mutton bustin... until he saw the first kid get thrown off and face plant in the dirt. Then he changed his tune. Maybe next year!

August... Allie turned 5! We celebrated with an awesome Fancy Nancy Party. The girls had so much fun getting dressed up and then going out to lunch.

Another big step for Allie. She started Kindergarten! She had a rough start. It took a good two weeks before I could leave without her bursting into tears. But she soon found her stride and know loves going to school!


September... Whats better than getting to go to Aunt Georgia's? Getting to play with her puppies! This occupied quite a bit of our time since my kids, Andrew in particular, are obsessed with dogs.

Still working on being gentle. luckily Dylan is figuring out some use of his hands and starts to fight back a bit!



October... We moved! We bought a house! We are in serious debt!

We got to go down and visit Aunt Cassie and Uncle Marc. He took the kids on a tractor ride and let the kids ride horses which quickly moved him up the chart and into favorite uncle consideration.
November... We made our first (and maybe last) major trip as a family flying to New Jersey to see Uncle Teddy play football. Here he is in their athletic center next to his poster.

Lauri and Andrew met us out there! Only they were smart enough to leave their kids at home!

We stayed with my dad while we were out there. He moved out to New Jersey for the season so he cold go to all of Teddy's games. He actually lived in a house on one of the school farms. The kids loved it!

December... This guy turned Three! Whoo Hoo!

The whole family descended for Christmas. Seriously we had 12 people in my house. Crazy!

Two of their favorite presents were stick horses. Their cowboy hats from Halloween made them into perfect little cowboys.


I could not find any ties that i likes for Christmas so I had the crazy idea to make them bow ties. luckily awesome MIL Ursula was here and helped me do them.


January... This kid is getting so big!

February... we made a trip to the Sacramento zoo. Not as good as the LA zoo but definitely better than Atascadero!

March... Playing with cousins who have awesome toys is always fun!

April... and here we are, all up to date and happy.

The kids and I went hiking with some friends. There are some great hiking trails around here and we are only a few hours from Yosemite so we will be taking advantage of that this summer.