Moscow for a Day

Steve and I went to Moscow yesterday for an awards banquet for the College of Natural Resources. We got to catch just a couple of friends quickly which we loved, before heading to the banquet. It was great to see some familiar faces and to be surrounded by so many memories. We got some great hand-me-downs from our old Bishop and his wife which we are very excited for, and I bought these onesies because I haven't stopped thinking about them since I passed them by on spring break. So cute!


Then on to the banquet. My department presented me with an award which was nice, and said very nice things which once again had me feeling like I've managed to fool all the people around me. All in all, it was a fun day! Here are a few pictures of the banquet that Steve took. I know, I look really comfortable standing there having someone talk about me...

Just for Fun

So, this purely random post is partially to share the fun of our latest visit, and partially so I will remember how funny our little girl was while I was still pregnant...

We had a check-up on Tuesday, and I expected to just come out frustrated as my last "check-up" was a 20 minute wait for a 5 minute chat with the doctor just to see if I had any questions. However, this one proved to me what a handful we have coming and just how much of the Rose and Bennett genes are being passed on - specifically the genes for hard-headedness, stubbornness, and a dislike for going to the doctors.

So far, our little girl has not wanted to cooperate at appointments (except when she eventually let us hear her heart beat that first appointment which was such a relief after 5 minutes of the nurse searching and reassuring us many couples don't hear it till later!). This last appointment, the nurse once again wanted to listen to her heart beat. After a little bit of searching, she picked it up - and then it was gone. Once again. Found. Lost. She told me that our baby was moving away from the machine. So she found the heart beat a third time, and then started telling me she was getting kicked repeatedly for her efforts - till our little girl ran away again. This happened 4 or 5 times!

The nurse laughed and said our baby was stubborn and blamed it on Steve not knowing how true her statement was. To my credit, I did explain that the stubbornness comes from both sides. In response to my comment, the nurse told me we might as well give up hope now. Great. She also told me (as have a few other techs and nurses) that she thought we were going to have a very active child. So much for having a calm laid back baby for our guinea pig child... Oh well. At least she has spunk! As further proof of this, not only can Steve feel her when she gets kicking, but she now visibly moves my stomach when she's practicing her punting!

Our other baby news is that our swing came last week! I was so excited that an hour later it was assembled, tested, and already stored in the future-nursery. Hey, we may need it in 4 months, but it's ready to go now... I am such a child still.
As an aside, I am officially working part-time a few days a week now. I basically babysit and entertain kids in the pool and am starting to teach a few private lessons whenever I can get them. Swim lessons start soon so I am also creating my own swim lesson levels, paperwork, the whole bit. But hey, it's work...

A Productive Weekend

So this weekend Steve and I caught the bug. It was time for some spring cleaning and work. So I cleaned much of the house and vacuumed out both cars. Saturday, we borrowed a lawn mower and tiller from a friend and Steve got a lot of work done on the yard and garden. He even taught me how to use the mower since I'd never been on a rider before. There are no pictures because - apparently my threats were productive.

However, here is a picture of Steve for you.


I picked this one because:
1 - It shows Steve on a borrowed John Deere - his favorite!
2 - It shows how ridiculously long our lawn had gotten (and that it's now a more appropriate length)
3 - You can see part of our tilled garden plot in the background.
4 - You can also see and appreciate our view of the sheep. On the other side of the house are all the mamas and lambs and we're well over 20 little lambs now! We have lots of twins and even a set of triplets!

I love our yard and our clean cars!

Blue Birds!

So Steve and I learned that 30 or 40 miles from where we live is apparently the blue bird capital of the WORLD. (according to their brochure) So after church on Sunday we decided to go on a trip to see blue birds as I don't think I've ever seen one before.

They are beautiful! I apologize that we didn't get better pictures but these little guys are flighty! Also, there isn't a real road or path to see them from. You see them off the highways where you can't stop, or off a dirt road just outside of town. The overcast sky didn't help either as many of our pictures turned out to be beautiful little blue bird silhouettes against the bright cloudy sky. But, here are a few of our better ones anyway.

The lighter colored bird in these two is the female.

And more males.

Once again, so pretty! I just wish more of our pictures had turned out in focus... All the same, we are learning that there are some fabulous little secrets here in our desert.

New Neighbors!

So, we have gained some new neighbors - the old fashioned way.

The real reason for the burrows we made friends with a week or so ago is these guys.

Well, actually, these guys.

Aren't they cute?! I love watching them out our window when they come away from the barn. It's fun to watch them run and buck around and I especially love watching them and their moms run together for no reason whatsoever. Steve and I have already discussed the potential here for our little girl to become a champion mutton buster! (If you don't know what this is, you HAVE to youtube it... Amazing!) Happy Spring!

Please feel free to direct your sheep jokes at Steve now, so long as I don't have to hear them as well....

Spring Has Sprung

So, after spending week in Southern Idaho and Utah where it snowed much of the time, we came home to realize that it is past officially spring here. And beyond our 60 and 70 degree weather and constant bird watching through our kitchen window, here is some of the proof.

This is one shot of our yard. Yes, our grass is way too long, and yes we are planning on cutting it...
After we had a rather severe wind storm the other night, I found a nest in the rocks in our yard. No babies or eggs around thankfully.
This last week, Steve found these little guys and two more just like them under a log in our garden plot. (Which we can't wait to plant and build a fire pit in!)

We are getting our first flowers in our yard! (Besides dandelions)

These marmots are ALL OVER THE PLACE! Steve and I went for a walk today and saw 8 or 10 just in a short walk down the road and back. I don't have pictures, but I see their cute little babies on the side of the road when I drive to Steve's school or the grocery store as well. It is obvious why these are such a pest animal around here considering the agricultural nature of our area...And some of them are huge! This may be the inspiration for the ROUS's (Rodents of Unusual Size) mentioned in "The Princess Bride".

On a side note, we made friends with the neighbors the other day.

It was difficult. I walked to the fence to talk at them, and they came right up to me.

As a result, when Steve got home we went back out - with carrots.

I think our neighbors like us.

A Surprise Pet

So, on Tuesday, another teacher came into Steve's class with a tub. In that tub happened to be two guinea pigs. Although we had discussed the possibility of guinea pigs in Steve's class one time, we were not necessarily expecting to get guinea pigs, but apparently they are now ours for Steve's classroom. So, introducing our latest animals: no they don't have names yet.

They're a lot of fun to watch as they're still figuring out the whole cage and water bottle thing... We had to place them on the top level as they don't explore much and they bite the water bottle instead of drinking from it properly, so it sometimes takes a great deal of time and effort for one of them to get a drink...

Not sure if you can tell, but one is much larger than the other, and no, we have no idea what gender either of them is... That could prove interesting down the road.

The larger of the two. I love the random one black nostril.

And the smaller one. This little guy likes to talk! A LOT!
That last picture definitely makes me think of Bugsy from Bedtime Story.... They certainly are cute, even if they were unexpected.

Barefoot at Conference

Thanks to Steve's family getting tickets and a well-timed spring break, Steve and I were able to go to General Conference on Saturday, April 3. We went with most of Steve's family to the Saturday afternoon session. The events leading up to conference were kind of strange honestly. We got downtown early so we could park and eat before going into the conference center. Unfortunately I had not thought about all the walking we would be doing when I packed for the trip and my feet were chewed up by my shoes before we ever got to the Conference Center. After we ate, we headed to the Conference Center and were not surprised to see masses of people there. What was really strange, was all the people outside with little signs they'd written begging for tickets! Especially since many of these people were begging for tickets hours before conference started, I couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't used the time to get in line for the stand-by seating which would have ensured they got in as they seated a lot of people this way.


Anyway, we got into the Conference Center and found our seats. The Bennett Clan took up most of a row and it was an amazing feeling to be in such a special place at such a special time with so many family members. It was an overwhelming feeling as the choir began the prelude music. The part of conference which will probably stick with me the most was the Spirit I felt testify of Thomas S. Monson as a true Prophet of God when he entered the room. Having never been to conference, I didn't know, but when he entered the room everyone stood and was silent. Even though people were still being seated in the balconies, all was quiet and reverent. As he entered you could feel the whole Spirit of the room change. It was an overpowering feeling and as per usual in such occasions, brought me to tears. After he motioned for us to sit, I watched him greet the Apostles and a few people in the crowd. You could not help but feel his goodness and love for those around him. Although President Monson never spoke while we were there, the confirmation of his calling will remain with me. I also LOVED Elder Holland's talk and the power, authority, and love you could feel in his words.

The not so spiritual side of the story, and the too much information part, was that I was frustrated soon after President Monson entered. I had dutifully gone to the bathroom after lunch and after finding our seats about a half hour before conference began. However, 10 minutes into conference, I learned that Little Girl Bennett was sitting extra low that day and had to leave. I got a lot of strange looks for leaving only 10 minutes into the session but luckily didn't miss any talks as they were sustaining all of the church leaders while I was gone. She allowed me to enjoy the rest of conference after that with only one more trip to the bathroom before we left the building.

After conference was over, we found band-aids for my feet, but only a few blocks of walking later, they were worthless. I walked on my toes shuffling my shoes, but eventually gave up. It had warmed up quite a bit after all the recent snow and was a nice spring day. My day brightened enormously as I walked barefoot through the streets of Salt Lake City to our car.

Afterward, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of prime rib with the family. We are so grateful to have been able to attend conference, especially with loved ones. Such experiences where the Spirit is so strong always bring Steve and I so much closer. Thank you Ray and Reva for a wonderful experience!

Updated Belly

So, these pictures are definitely not very cute, but they get the job done. Here is the belly at 20 weeks. That's right! I can't believe we're halfway there, but that's where we are... And our little girl's movements and kicks get stronger every day! Just as the belly gets bigger every day. Already my innie belly button is practically an outie... Anyway, here's a picture of me in a t-shirt now, and I look even bigger in my new maternity dresses and my maternity swim suit for work. So strange since the whole thing still doesn't seem real to Steve and I yet...

It's a.... Girl!

So, Steve wanted to write this post, but I've gotten impatient to catch up on the blog, so here I go. Sorry, his posts are much more entertaining. March 23rd we headed to the doctor's for our ultrasound. We scheduled it during Steve's prep so he could just get a couple of teachers to cover a few minutes of the class before and class after so he could be there. We got into the ultrasound and immediately the woman was a little displeased. Turns out that it is really hard to measure a baby that is tucked into one side standing on its head with it's chin to it's tummy and it's back facing you... Who knew?

So she started on the leg measurements as she figured she could get those and see if the baby would move. About 10 seconds later, she told us she could tell us what we were having - a little girl! That was great news! Steve and I had kind of assumed we were having a boy because everyone around us is, but we were excited to know one way or the other and really had no preference. After that, the ultrasound only went downhill. It was neat to see her hands and feet when they came on screen as well as little knees and elbows. She still wouldn't cooperate though, even when the technician started prodding, poking, and rapidly bumping my stomach trying to convince her to move. I guess when both your mother and father's families are known for hard heads you're bound to be stubborn... or determined..?

Anyway, all the measurements they could take were good, but after a half hour we still hadn't gotten all the information they needed, so our little girl gets to have more pictures taken in June or July sometime.

Because of her positioning, we only got one regular ultrasound picture and you can only see her spine and skull.
However, they did take some 3-D ultrasound pictures which turned out amazing! She was covering her face most of the time, and played with her ear at one point, but we did get to see one quick glimpse of her face.
It's kind of ironic we're having a girl as not too long ago I found two baby blankets I'd started back in jr. high and high school and never finished. One was for a boy, the other a girl. Over New Years, Reva and Kathy helped me finish the girls one but we ran out of time for the boy's blanket. Turns out that was just perfect.
I also bought these cute onesies at Ross last week over spring break for her. Our first purchases for Baby Girl Bennett. I couldn't turn the Horton one away! The other two in the first set say I heart Mommy and I heart Daddy.

She also is officially letting her presence be felt. The other night she was kicking hard enough that she kept moving my hand and Steve has been able to feel her already as well! Basically, we are not too worried about college funds as she is going to become the first female NFL kicker.

In other news, Steve is already preparing his first animal sacrifices in hopes that she will never date or meet up with guys like he was in high school...