Summer Lovin'

The summer is coming to a quick end.  I think, both Ben and I are excited about that.  Don't get me wrong I love the summer time, but we are ready for summer sales to be over with.  We are excited to see our families again and spend some time with them.  I think Ben is looking forward to relaxing for a few days before school starts up again.  It will just be nice to be back home again!
These last few days Ben has got to spend an extra hour with us in the morning time.  They usually start at 12 but because it has been so hot they have been starting an hour later.  I LOVE it!  We got to spend a couple of extra hours at the pool yesterday and I got my FIRST sunburn of the summer!  (yeah I am pasty white)
Reese is growing so much.  I can hardly believe that she will soon be 6 months old.  I can't believe how quickly the past 5 1/2 months have gone by.  She is getting such a personality.  She is starting to do so many funny and silly things that make me laugh every day.

We have seriously been so blessed with such a sweet and happy little girl.  We just have so much fun with her.  She of course has her moments but those aren't very often.  She is the most ticklish girl I know and I can't help but tickle her every once in a while because her little laugh just makes my heart happy.  We love this little girl so much and I am sure that she is quite spoiled, but we just can't help it.
She was so funny the other day while I was feeding her rice cereal.  She couldn't hold still to save her life.  She had to stare out the window, then over at the couch, at the ceiling, and everywhere else.  It seriously took her 30 minutes to eat a little tiny bowl of cereal.  In between  her looking around everywhere she would get tired and rest her head on her Bumbo and then she would start sucking on it.

She has started doing something really funny with her nose.  Don't mind my deep breathing through my nose, I promise I wasn't blowing snot everywhere!  Enjoy! 

When Grandparents come to town

Brad and Jan (Ben's parents) came to visit us for a few days this past week and we have had so much fun with them.  They flew in Thursday afternoon.  Ben had been planning a surprise date for us.  If you know me at all you know that I am a very curious person so I was always trying to get just a little big of info. from Ben...he wouldn't tell me squat!  We drove to the airport Thursday to meet Ben's parents and to leave Reese with them.
We then drove into Houston where Ben surprised me with WICKED tickets!  I was so excited because I have been in love with WICKED since....forever and have been wanting to go for awhile.

We had so much fun together and we loved every second of the show.  It was seriously AMAZING!  The singing was incredible!  Everything was just too good  to be true!  We wish we could go again!

 While Ben's parents were here Reese and I did a lot of fun things with them.  Ben unfortunately had to work but he took Monday off to spend at least one day with us.  It was so great having Ben around on a weekday (we sure do miss him during the summer).
Brand and Jan brought Reese the cutest little present.  It was a little dress with a pair of sunglasses.  Of course we had to try it on and take lots of pictures.  She did so great with leaving the sunglasses on, which really surprised me because lately she wants to put everything in her mouth.  She looked so cute in her new little outfit!

Friday we went to the Natural Science museum.  It was pouring this day and to say the least we got a little wet!  The museum had a lot of bones of dinosaurs on the first level.

On the second level it was about animals from Africa and sea creatures.  We also went to an I-Max movie.  Reese loved being in the movie theater.  She sat there with big and curious eyes the whole time and never got scared.

But I have to say that my favorite part of the whole museum was the rocks and minerals.  That really surprised me because I hated Geology in college.  But these rocks and minerals were gorgeous and so neat to look at. 
Saturday was a sunny day thank goodness!  We went to the Aquarium first.  It was a little disappointing because there wasn't much to it.  But they did have a random white tiger at the aquarium??  It was definitely random.

 We also got to touch a stingray...I was a little bit chicken and only touched it once.  I just have a problem with touching things that could eat my whole hand!
After the aquarium we headed to the Health museum.  We learned all about our bodies.  We also watched another 3-D movie.   It was about our bodies and it made me feel a little gross...lets just say I am going to be washing my bed sheets more often!
On Monday we went to the NASA space center.  We learned all about how the astronauts train to go into space and saw a lot of displays.

I really liked learning about all of the space history.  But I was so happy to have Ben with us on this day.  We headed down to the beach in Galveston but by them Reese had had it.  So we sat in the car while everyone else went and looked at the beach.
Reese was such a good girl the whole time we were visiting all of these places.  She hardly ever got a nap but was still so happy and content for the most part.

We had so much fun with Ben's parents for the few days they were here.  We only wish they could have stayed longer.  Thanks so much for coming Brad and Jan!  We loved having you!

You Know You're Ghetto When...

Unfortunately our air conditioning in our car went out about a month ago.  Life is busy and we haven't had time to fix it yet.  Plus we usually don't go long distances and can stand the heat (for the most part).  We just roll down all of the windows and open the sun roof and enjoy the wind in our hair!
Thursday Ben's parents flew in to visit for the weekend.  We have been so excited to have them come.  We drove to the airport to pick them up, but it has been raining nonstop lately and so that means that we can't roll down our windows/sunroof or else we would get soaked! 
Thankfully it wasn't blazing hot but it was very warm inside our car and we were definitely sweating by the time we got to the airport.
We got to the airport pretty early so we pulled off the side of the road and sat and waited.  Well it was so hot in the car and it was still pouring outside.  Ben had an ingenious idea of how we could get some air and not get wet...

We are DEFINITELY ghetto!

The Pool

We finally took Reese to the pool this week.  I really didn't know if she would like it or not.  She loves the bathtub so I thought maybe she would like the pool, but the bathtub and pool are not quite the same.  Our pool here is gorgeous.

 I love the landscaping and everything.  I love the waterfall that comes down into the pool and I love that it isn't a very deep pool, because lets face it, I'm not a very good swimmer so I like it when I can always touch the bottom of the pool.
We got Reese dressed and greased up with sunblock.  I love this pictures because I think that she thinks she can fit her whole fist in her mouth...thankfully her mouth is small, otherwise I think she would try to get her whole fist in!

 She absolutely loved the pool.  She was so cute because as soon as she touched the water her legs just started kicking like crazy.  It was the cutest thing.

 I am pretty sure that she kicked her legs the whole time we were in the pool.  I don't think that she smiled the whole time we were there (maybe she was nervous, who knows) but we took her again the next day and she smiled this time and acted like she was excited to be there. 

We kind of are obsessed with our baby and took a bajillion pictures...thankfully I am not going to put them all up for you, but here are some of our favorites.

Ben's tan lines are hilarious!

I'm not sure what I think about this dad!

She sure does love her dad

Of course we had to take some more pictures of her with her goofy little hat on

Family shot

Swimming sure does make you tired!

I just wanted to end with this little video clip.  We thought it was so funny.  This is how Reese gets her workouts in every day...I can't believe how fast she can move those little legs!

My Adventures in Houston

Hi everyone this is Reese.  I am going to tell you about some of my adventures!  Last weekend I received my very first package EVER.  It was from my Grandpa & Grandma Hudson (I have the BEST grandparents in the whole world)!  I was so excited to open it because no one had EVER sent me a package before!

Mommy helped me cut open the package because Grandma always goes a little crazy with the tape.  When I opened the package there was a brand new swimming suit inside with a little hat to keep the sun out of my face.  I was really excited because mommy hasn't been able to find a swimming suit in my size.  So now I can go to the pool with my mommy and daddy and swim in the giant size bathtub!

I wanted to try on my hat because it was so cute.  But as you can see it is a little bit big...daddy says I look like a Mexican with a sombrero on!  Mommy and daddy laugh at me when I am wearing the hat...I kind of think it's funny too (but don't tell them) I try to stay as serious as possible when I am wearing the hat.

Yesterday mommy and daddy decided they were going to take me to the pool and I was super excited to finally go and take a dip in the pool.  They got me in my new swimming suit and put TONS of sunblock on me.  I was so excited that I decided to suck on my seat belt to show my excitement.  I sure tasted yummy!

When we got to the pool there were men cleaning out the pool and they said that it wouldn't be ready for another hour!  I was so sad that by the time I got back home I was fast asleep. 

Oh well maybe mommy and daddy will take me another day!

Houston

We have been in Houston for almost a month now.  Ben is gone every day from noon until 10 or 10:30 at night (sometimes 11) selling alarm systems.  Reese and I miss him, but we try to keep busy while he is gone. 
Ben has been doing awesome and I am so grateful that he has this great job during the summer.  The hours are the pits, BUT it is nice that during the school year he doesn't have to work and can just focus on school and family.  So I guess that I can handle him being gone all of the time for just 4 months.

Houston is hot and humid.  Thankfully I don't have to be outside in the hot humid weather all day (sorry Ben).  Our apartment is super nice and has air conditioning that works beautifully.  I LOVE our apartment and I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE having a washer and dryer and I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a dishwasher!!!  It is SOOO great!  Hopefully when we head back to Rexburg at the end of the summer our new apartment will have all of these wonderful accessories!  

Reese is getting so big.  She is smiling so much now.  At church on Sunday we were standing out in the hall and she caused a traffic jam in the hallway!  Everyone had to stop and tell us how cute she was.  Then when they would tell Reese that she was cute or beautiful she would give them the biggest smile!  She just LOVES it when you tell her she is cute or beautiful!

  I was trying to get a video of Reese lifting her head up but unfortunately she doesn't like to perform for the camera, so all this is is her making grunting noises and smiling. Enjoy!

Texas here we come

 

This summer Ben will be selling in Houston, Texas.  I have mixed feelings about this. 

Number one:  when I think of Texas I think of hot, Hot, HOT...I like warm weather but not unbearable hot weather

Number two:  it is a 25 hour drive...I HATE driving long distances...hopefully our two month old baby will enjoy driving long distances more than I do

Number three:  I was talking to a girl in my ward and I told her we had to drive through New Mexico...she had a few horrible things to say about New Mexico.  She pretty much told me that we should NOT stop there for anything!!!  It made me laugh a lot!

Number four:  it is not that fun to live such a long ways away from our family...especially when they go on all kinds of fun family vacations.

But I am excited to live somewhere new.  I am excited to meet some true Texans...supposedly Texas has some very friendly people, I am excited about making some new friends, and I am excited about all of the fun things that we are going to do...including going to THE BEACH!!  

BUT I am nervous about traveling such a long distance with a baby...hopefully she will be a perfect angel and won't make a peep the whole 25 hour drive!!  That would be ideal!