August - You want to read to the end...

August was a BUSY month!  We had a trip to visit Preston, our anniversary, two birthday parties, Steve went back to work, canning, and so much more happen that month.  It seems like August always ends up so jam packed, but always fun too.

Much of our August business - and fun! - comes from the fact that we usually make a trip to visit family in Preston, ID and Northern Utah.  Those trips always make us wish we lived closer to Steve's family, miss the farm, and we inevitably end up trying to cram as much into a 5-7 day trip as is humanly possible while still enjoying lots of down time with family and two kids.  We left on August 1st after I worked a short day at work to get everything prepared and duties written out for other people to take care of swimming lessons while I was gone for the next week.  We arrived at Preston late, but the girls traveled unbelievably well.  The next day, Steve woke up early and started helping out with grain harvest as it was time for his folks to cut grain.  This meant Steve and Papa Bennett were busy for much of the day cutting grain, hauling truckloads to the mill as long as it was open, and then filling all the trucks up to start again the next morning.  It was so great that Steve could help as he loves getting to help out on the farm and the guys managed to get everything cut and hauled in the first few days we were there with minimal lines at the mill.  The best part was that any grandkids around, including both our girls, got to take combine rides with Papa.  Ellie loved riding in the combine with Papa, stealing his chips, and just hanging out.  She literally spent hours like that over a few days, and talked about Papa's combine and tractor rides for weeks after.

In the midst of all the harvest, we also fit in Ellie's 3rd birthday party.  The weekend that everyone could make it up to celebrate was right after we got there, so the guys cut grain for part of the day on Saturday and then we had a fun family birthday party.  Steve planned fun with rockets, and everyone (except Ellie) loved setting off water pressurized 2 liter pop bottle rockets and watching a "real" rocket later on in the day which ended up quite a ways down the road in a neighbor's pasture.  The things you can't do in the city that you can on a farm....  Ellie did eventually come around to the rockets as she didn't love the noise but enjoyed chasing the soda bottles down for everyone.  Steve had also planned for something Ellie LOVED which was to ride a neighbor's horse.  All the cousins and kids took turns, but our birthday girl got an extra turn and she had such a blast on the horse it made us a little envious of farm life.

Grandma and Papa's neighbor Lena was so amazing to teach each of the kids when it was their turn and it was just a joy to watch her teach Ellie on the horse.  Here Ellie is riding Misty.

After horses we headed back to the house for dinner and gifts.  Ellie got to choose whatever she wanted for dinner, so she of course chose hot dogs and a salad with fruit in it.  Doesn't every 3 year old love any kind of salad?  Well, ours does...

Mckayla hanging out with Aunt Lori during some of our picnic dinner.

Ellie then got to open gifts, where she obviously got spoiled.  Here she's getting "help" from Aunt Kathy and Amanda to put on some new dress up accessories they got her.

And then it was time for cake.  Ellie loved the movie Wall-E all summer, so she had decided on an "Eva cake".  I was really pleased with how she turned out too!

I will, one day, actually get the hang of making my children's birthday cakes, which is good, because Ellie already won't stop talking about how she gets a "Toothless cake" next (How to Train Your Dragon).  Unfortunately, Ellie did decide that the cake was great, but she still hates the sudden noise of a group singing to her or clapping for her, and cried most of the way through the birthday song...  Here is just about the moment she stopped having fun...

Yeah, she had a pretty rockin-awesome birthday party, even if I do say so myself.  And we're so fortunate that so many family members traveled to come and celebrate our vibrant 3 year old with us.

Mckayla had a fun week too.  Her Cousin Amanda had a blast playing with her, and although we came to Preston with Mckayla just having started to crawl, by the end of the week she was getting really speedy and had started pulling up on everything.

Mckayla also decided that 9.5 months was the right age to start refusing formula or bottles - while we were traveling, so she got to begin her new love affair with milk while we were in Preston.  With a 3 year old who we have to cut off each day, and a baby who gets all she'll take, we go through A LOT of milk in this house...

 Yeah, the girls always have a lot of fun at Grandma and Papa's house...

Later in the week, to celebrate the end of harvest, we took a trip up to Black Canyon and the Grace Fish Hatchery with the girls and Grandma and Papa.  Unfortunately, we stink and this cell phone picture of the Canyon is all we took.  But the hatchery was so green and the water was so clear!  The canyon was gorgeous and this was taken off the side of a foot bridge that spans the Bear River there.  It was a fun day.

Later, on the 7th of August, we planned our next big adventure.  The Bear River runs through Cache Valley, and the Cub River is one of its tributaries.  Fun fact, later in the summer Ellie could tell you that the Cub River is a tributary of the Bear River which runs to the Great Salt Lake, and the same for many of our local rivers going to the Columbia and on to the ocean.  Her father....  is awesome.  ANYWAY, you can actually hike a little path that's really nice and well maintained to the head of the Cub River where the water comes straight out of the rocks and it's clean and safe to drink.  It's a beautiful walk.

Here is most of the group, minus Grandma, crossing one of the bridges on the trail.

Here is Ellie celebrating her drink of fresh mountain water.

And our family at the head of the river.

After our hike we headed back to the picnic area, and enjoyed a "small picnic" anyone would be jealous of, as only Reva could provide.

 Following our picnic, we packed back up in the car, but the menfolk felt adventurous and the womenfolk didn't mind a pretty view, so we drove up into Franklin Basin to explore.  It was gorgeous.

 And the kids missed the entire thing...  It was a fun, but exhausting day.

 The rest of the trip the girls spent having fun with family.

But Steve and I still had a fun mini-trip to look forward to.  On August 9th we said goodbye to our kiddos and left them in the very capable hands of their grandparents.  We are SOOO grateful that Ray and Reva took our girls for us so we could have some us time.  It doesn't happen very often with such young kiddos and we are so appreciative when someone helps us make it work out.  Anyway, we said goodbye to the girls and headed out for our anniversary date.  We were headed to Ogden but had a little extra time, so Steve decided to check out the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.  It was beautiful, even with much of it dried up late in the season.  And we saw these gigantic pelicans!

Steve also spotted a falcon which was fun.  Granted, we started running short on time before our dinner reservations, and weren't sure how far the preserve went, so Steve turned around on our abandoned one-way road, and promptly got pulled over by the park rangers.  They were nice enough to let us off with a warning and we headed to dinner... We actually got treated to a prime rib dinner at Maddox's (so DELICIOUS!) by an old U of I friend Steve-o.  Steve and Steve-o had made a bet on their NBA teams and loser got to buy dinner.  So we met and Steve-o bought us our anniversary dinner, even though we didn't really expect him to.  It was great to laugh and catch up with him.  After dinner we drove back to a little place called Smithland Bed and Breakfast.  It's a little place, just a couple of rooms and a home made waffle breakfast, but it's special to us as it's where we spent our honeymoon 6 years earlier.  So, we woke up on our 6th anniversary in the place where we spent our first few days as a married couple.  It was so fun to be there again.  We even found our original post in the guestbook.

 After leaving the bed and breakfast on our anniversary we drove through some of the beautiful areas I am less familiar with in Cache Valley where Steve's family has roots, and made our way back home to our girls.  It is always fun to see them so excited when we've been away.  Other highlights of the day included Steve teaching me to drive a manual for the first time - not terrible, but I need more practice for sure!  As well as shooting some, including an AR-15, which Steve enjoyed more than me, and we finished our night up with a four wheeler ride with all four of us in the family on two four wheelers driving around the farm and showing Ellie the Great Horned Owls that live around the cemetery adjacent to the farm.  Yeah, we had a fantastic anniversary this year.  Thanks to Steve who always plans our outings and makes them an adventure.  (Too bad Ellie still thinks every time we drive past a cemetery we should see owls there, even at mid-day in the city...)

 On August 11th we headed back home to get ready for the real world.  I had to be to work on Monday and Steve started meetings on Wednesday, so it was back to the real world.  My last official day of work was August 15th, at which point I missed my family, was tired, and was ready to get back to being a stay-at-home mom, and yet sad to let work go where I felt I'd accomplished tasks, contributed to the swimming program, and enjoyed working hard.  Steve was a little less conflicted about starting his meetings up I think.  However, he was happy when he got his test scores and once again had the highest passage rates in his district for biology.  He also had 4 kids pass the AP biology exam, which ties the all-time high for his school in the last decade.  Way to be fantastic at your job Daddy!

Ellie also got back to the real world that week and had to be poked and prodded as it was time for her 3 year well-check (which she did great for) and her second ever dentist appointment (which she screamed and cried the whole time for).

This was before the actual appointment when all the screaming started...

 But the next weekend on the 17th, we got to see more friends and family and Ellie got spoiled once again.  We went with the traditional Rose ice-cream cake for her second party, and she chose the bee cake at Baskin Robbins.

After the birthday parties things slowed down some.  In part because we did A LOT of canning.  Here are Steve and Ellie when we picked peaches at Ray French Orchard - which we LOVE - and this was after we'd already canned green beans earlier in the summer and then two big fruit boxes of peaches, two more of pears, and one of nectarines (big accident led to that, but we'll see how they come out when we get brave enough to try them...).  Yeah, it was a busy canning month.

Just the beginning of our 2013 canning.

Another development that slowed up down was that the ultimate flu that makes you wish for a bright light at the end of a tunnel hit our house.  It was actually my welcome home to being Mom the first Monday after I was done with work.  I spent all day cuddling Ellie and keeping her away from Mckayla while getting really quick with the bowl I was teaching her to throw up in.  A day or two later, it hit me (big surprise when you're the certified puke-catcher) and Steve had to take one day off work before school even started because all I could do was lay in bed and vomit.  It was literally one of the worst illnesses I have ever experienced in my life, and I have had some send-you-to-the-hospital bugs before.  Yay.  Thankfully, you only threw up for exactly 12 hours (in our house) and then it just took a week or so before the appetite and energy levels were back to normal.  I hope never again...

 At least we did get to end the month on good news though, because here is the reason you all wanted to stay tuned and will get the pay-off if you stayed with me through this admittedly OBSCENELY long blog.  Because..... On August 31st, this is what I left for Steve to find when he went to the bathroom.

That's right folks, as crazy as it may seem, we officially had a 10 month old and were expecting number three.  Baby #3 is due May 10th.  I will say that Steve and I had originally planned to wait one more year, but beginning in late spring, we started feeling like maybe that wasn't what we should do.  It took us the summer of wrapping our minds around it, and praying about it, but we feel good about following the inspiration we've been given with regards to our family and when we should plan to welcome children into it.  So far, each of our babies has been given to us with no doubt when they should come to our family, and this child is no different.  We are excited - if nervous and a little scared - to welcome the newest Bennett to our family this upcoming spring!

July

So admittedly, there isn't a ton to write about July. I worked. A lot. Which meant Steve was a full-time Dad and awesome at teaching Ellie more science and watching Mckayla learn new things. We really were pretty boring in July. And it really is my fault. In three and four day work weeks I was working 38 to 46 hours. Which meant that weekends were spent trying to have family time, catch up on housework, and catch up on rest! Poor Steve sometimes had the girls to himself from before they woke up till after bedtime except when he brought Ellie to see me and take swim lessons at the pool.

Ellie progressed a lot in her swim lessons in July from struggling to listen and put her face in to doing everything the teachers asked and putting her face in a lot! I was so happy to see her do well and she loved swimming lessons. She still talks about Teacher Kale, Teacher Ellise, Teacher Jen, and Teacher Eric. Which I think also speaks to the quality of the program I got to supervise this summer.

Some fun things did happen in July though. First of all, I did enjoy work for the most part, and even helped build our new water slide one day for our outdoor pool that opened this summer. I did happen to split my suit the same day -luckily in front of a female guard who was nice enough to let me know before anyone else came by. Less embarrassing and more exciting for our family, Steve lost his boot at the end of the month. Yay! And he only had a limp for a few days, which he said was more mental than physical in nature. We also went and watched fireworks at one of Steve's co-workers houses for the Fourth of July and the girls had a lot of fun. We learned Ellie hates fireworks when it's noise and daylight so she can't see them, but is ok when it's dark and she can be distracted by the light. Mckayla also took a whip of a dog tail to the face, which explains her nice little tough-girl eye in the next picture. She didn't even notice when it happened since she's so laid back...

Also, Mckayla grew so much! The very beginning of the month saw her just starting to back against the couch and get up on her knees and rock some.


But, on the 25th of July I got an exciting and sad text and video while I was at work. Mckayla was crawling! I was so proud of her and excited for the fun to come, but definitely a little sad that I missed it being at work. Once again, I learned a lot of empathy for Steve and his hard work coming home to his girls each day while I worked full time.

We also got her 9 month stats. She's huge. We know. She was 29.5 inches long, 25.1 lbs, and 47+ cm in her head circumference. She was 96 percentile in height, and literally off the charts in her other measurements. It's always fun to get the entertaining comments from our pediatrician about our giant children. Here Mckayla was playing at the mall one day in some legwarmers I had made her - which she quickly outgrew.


Other fun things - Mckayla's first time on a swing. She loved it. Mckayla further demonstrates she is our dare devil whereas Ellie is our overly cautious child who STILL hates swings or anything fast moving.


And, we were full on cloth diapering and line drying our diapers in July. Mckayla seemed to have a lot of diaper rash and sensitivity issues to being in wet or dirty diapers though, so we eventually decided in August that she is too sensitive to keep with cloth for now because it wasn't worth some of the terrible diaper rashes she kept getting. To be fair, we have to use diaper cream on her even in disposables quite frequently, but she is much happier and so are we now that she's back in disposables. We'll see how another child does in them down the road before we totally give up on our cloth diapers though.


Beyond swimming lessons, Ellie also had excitement in July with her first haircut on July 2nd. She SCREAMED having to lay on their little table while they washed her hair, and then surprisingly was fine with the actual cut. We took her to a local place that does kids hair called Monkey Dooz, and Ellie enjoyed choosing a pink car to sit in and watching Tangled while they cut her hair.

We really didn't cut it very short, just to her shortest length of hair. It made a huge difference though as we went from braids partway down her back and french-braided pigtails to not being able to do much with braids anymore. I loved the difference of how it cleaned her hair up and got it more out of her food... However, I was not prepared for how much older it made her look at first! Ellie loved it though because they made her hair pretty and then put sparkles in her hair after. She still will randomly talk about Monkey Dooz and ask if she has sparkles in her hair. Her memory...


Also, just a random fun picture of our goofy girl. She loves the PBS show Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and kept dumping toys out of this basket so she could wear it as a backpack. I always thought she looked like a turtle when she did this.



The last thing that happened at the end of July is that we had family pictures taken. We figured we were past due since we hadn't had family pictures taken since before Ellie was walking... It was time to have pictures that showed Mckayla exists. Here are some of my favorites from our session.











I have to say, I love these next two pictures, and love them even more next to each other.






So, that was our July - or the main parts.  And sorry about the weird formatting - I'm done fighting blogger on it right now.