april around here

Nathan and Sawyer had a great time playing in a spring hail storm. Crazy kids.

Dave and I went out to dinner and then to see Captain America at the theater with our neighbors. We feel very blessed by the great people we get to live by.

Ben is now wearing underwear and continuing to delight us with his sense of style.

We enjoyed General Conference. Megan and Tim came over on Sunday morning and made crepes for us. Delicious. I managed to stay awake through 3 of the sessions but finally succumbed in the last. I am really glad they publish the talks so I study them again and again.

Spring Break was the second week of April. We stayed home and had a rather boring week. Oh well. Sometimes that is just the way it has to be. We did go to the aquarium at Emma's request. Unfortunately it was so crowded it was hardly enjoyable. We get to go back sometime this summer. Hopefully that will be a better experience.

We woke the boys up to see the lunar eclipse. They were too tired to be very impressed. At least we tried.

Dave served as a delegate at the county convention.

We went to lots of baseball and soccer games. Lots.

Our ward had an getting to know you activity for the adults. They requested pictures of us in our 20s for a slideshow. No one could believe it was Dave in this first picture. In truth, he hardly ever looked like that but it is such an awesome picture. Oh, we were so young and skinny once!

Dave ran another Thanksgiving Point half marathon. This year it was in the pouring rain. I don't think this will ever be my idea of fun but I think it is so great that he does.

I was able to get together with a few folk dance friends since one of them came into town. I am so blessed by the amazing friendships I still enjoy so many years later. It doesn't matter that we live miles apart or that we rarely see each other. We just pick right back up. We ate dessert at The Chocolate in South Jordan and talked, cried and laughed until it closed.

Keri, Michael and Josh came over for dinner the last Sunday. We had a delicious Asian buffet because Josh and Emma requested Orange Chicken. After dinner, Anne was brushing everyone's hair. Even Michael's which is in a buzz cut. She still got mad at him when he "messed it up." We thought she made Keri look particularly lovely. :)

biggest and littlest

I had my photography backdrop out after another photo session so Emma took these pictures of Ben.

Look how he's grown. Still pretty cute though, don't you think?

These two have a really sweet relationship.

happy new year

So far 2014 has been filled with sickness and not a whole lot of fun. After Christmas, Ben got sick with a bad cold which lasted through the new year celebrations. While Dave took the kids to play laser tag and hang out at Grandma and Grandpa's, I stayed home with Ben. For days, I've been a prisoner on my own bed.

On New Year's Day, Emma babysat for us while we went to a movie and dinner with all the Daniel adults. We went to see The Hobbit and had dinner at Chili's afterwards. Sadly, this is the last time we'll be together for a while since Brett and Heather moved to Texas the next day. They have been living about two minutes away from us so I am so very sad.

new year's catch up

As it stands right now on January 1, 2013, 4:10 p.m., my blog has 17 entries for 2012. There are no entries for January, March, May, or December.

The last year (or two) seems to have gone into a black hole called life with Ben. I like to call it the Ben Factor. He has made everything in the last two years more complicated and overwhelming. That said, as our family's historian, I cannot let things stand as they are. I love reading back through our blog and remembering the details of life, big and small. Therefore, I am pledging to catch up and fill the holes of last year.

I am writing this post though as a reminder of my reality in 2012. I don't want to forget once the blog is all filled that I really only had 17 entries in all of 2012.

a year in photos

I put up these pictures of Ben all over the cabinets for his birthday. It was fun to see how he has grown. When I first sat down to choose photos, I was worried that I wouldn't have enough because of how sparse the picture-taking has been in the last year. Happily, I found plenty.

one sweet cookie

Our little Benny Boo Boo turned 1 today! We celebrated this evening with a Milk and Cookies party. As always, I didn't manage to get everything done for the party that I wanted, but it was still a nice celebration. We had a mixture of homemade (Chocolate Chip, Lemon Crinkle, Chocolate Ginger) and store-bought cookies. For the milk, we had flavored milk (Orange, Vanilla, Rootbeer, Strawberry, and Chocolate) and homemade ice cream (Peach, Strawberry Buttermilk, and Mint Chocolate Chip).

Ben had no trouble digging right into his cake. Cousin Lauren wanted some too.
the following pictures were taken by Dana
 

Party guests included the Vances, the Linders and all the Daniels. It was a house full of lots of people who love Ben. One sweet evening.