Merry Christmas!!

We've had so much Christmas fun all month that today just seemed like an extension of all the celebrations. Benjamin is a pro at opening presents. In fact, he thinks he should be the one opening all the presents. Good thing none of the adults really mind a little help.

We were all WAY too spoiled. Cameron and I got all kinds of fun stuff but I'm really excited about my new cookbooks and sewing things. I can't wait to use them.

Benjamin got all kinds of fun presents - trains, tents, tools and a whole bundle of clothes.

He loved playing in his fort with uncle Rhett and Dad.

(More fort pictures later. It turned out really cute.)

And he got to help Grandma Pace eat her Birthday cake.

But no presents or goodies could come close to our best gifts: Remembering the birth of our Savior and spending time with our families. It truly made for a wonderful Christmas.

A Dose of Holiday Cheer

My mom and sister had a wonderful idea to blog about how we've decorated for Christmas, so here we go. We decided not to do a tree this year since A) Benjamin would be constantly tearing it to pieces, B) I'm not sure where we would put it, C) We won't actually be here on Christmas, and D) we don't have a tree. So instead we hung our ornaments from the ceiling and I LOVE it. It feels nice and festive without things being in the way or accessible to little hands.

And just in case you were worried that I actually made it through a whole blog post without a picture of Benjamin, here's one I got this morning when he was hamming it up for the camera.

Mommy's Little Helper

Benjamin has been quite the little helper lately. He insists on throwing his diapers in the trash after a diaper change and even went over and got a cloth to clean up some juice he had spilled on the table.

The other morning we were getting ready to go to a playgroup. Benjamin was dressed and all set to go so I told him that "Mommy just needed to put socks on." He quickly ran into his room and came back with a pair of his socks which he proudly handed to me.

Do we have the perfect son? I think we're pretty close.

Fall Photo Shoot

Our good friends moved in just down the street from us. Benjamin loves playing with their little boy. The other day we went to the park behind our houses and enjoyed the last of the beautiful fall leaves.

Happy Halloween

We had our ward Halloween party last week. It was rather chaotic but lots of fun. Benjamin sure made an adorable Bam-bam.

Enjoying his candy stash with our friend, Darth Vader.

He ran around with chocolate all over his face and shirt and 2 dum-dums in each hand.

I think this picture is headed into the post-candy crash.

Just a Wii Baby

Benjamin's Artwork

In all the hubbub of moving in we accidentally left dry erase markers and the dry erase board on the ground. I came back from doing the dishes to find this beautiful work of art. Amazingly, there was no marker anywhere but on the board.

And here are some silly moments.

Just a Little Move is Still a Lot of Work

At the start of October we moved across town, and while it was less than 5 minutes away, it still required a lot of work. Good thing we have such great friends and family to help us out.

One friend stopped by his old job at the liquor store and got a ton of boxes for us. Turns out liquor boxes are the best for packing up the kitchen. I just felt funny with piles of Jack Daniels and Budweiser boxes all over the apartment.

Cameron's mom came out and helped with the move and most importantly with watching Benjamin. Benjamin had fun playing in all the empty cupboards.

Our new place is a lot more spacious, here's looking into the dining room from the living room (excuse the mess).

My favorite part is the view out back. Here's what you see from the master bedroom, kitchen and dining room. The other day I just sat at the table and watched squirrels gathering up acorns and the beautiful leaves.

Falling for Fall

Fall Festivals,

Football,

Changing Leaves,

Weather cool enough to want a sweatshirt but still warm enough to play at the park . . .

We are loving this Indiana fall!

Benjamin riding the train at the fall festival with our friends from the ward.

He has a whole host of new funny faces to make us laugh and he loves to play ball.

Slides are the hot commodity this fall.

I Can Feed Myself!

Benjamin's love for independence often makes me sigh with exasperation. For the past few months he has insisted on feeding himself so I have tried to stick to somewhat clean finger foods - pasta, fruit pieces, bread, small pieces of chicken or cooked veggies, etc.

After returning home from Utah I decided it was time to be brave and let him start practicing with his own bowl and spoon. I cringe each time I set it down. I have to remind myself that the mess is part of the learning. Our floor and his high chair have been scarred indefinitely, but his little smiles sure are worth it. Plus, this means that I won't have to feed him his cereal when he's sixteen!

Our Trip To Utah

We took a whirlwind trip to Utah. It was more fun than a barrel of monkeys and went by way too fast. We got so many great pictures on this trip - but also missed a lot of great camera worthy moments as well.

We went down to Southern Utah first to visit Cameron's family. It was a blast! Cameron loved helping on the farm and working on the boat with his dad.

Benjamin loved exploring new things and I loved relaxing a little more and watching Benjamin discover new things.

The highlight of the trip (besides being with family, of course) was our two day adventure at Lake Powell. Jessica came down and went with us and it was wonderful. We swam and rode on the boat and hiked around and just had a great time.

We celebrated Benjamin's 1st birthday! I can't believe this little boy is a year old! His grandparents spoiled him of course. He had more candy and sugar in the 10 days we were there than he has in his entire life. He also received 2 different baby laptops and some other toys and clothes.

We headed up to Providence and had a fun get together with the Briscoe family. It was great to see all the cousins who recently returned home from missions or had babies.

We also spent a day at Hyrum Dam on some wave runners. None of us bothered with sunscreen and we all came back pretty fried.

We got to visit with friends and grandparents and had a wonderful time all around.

(I've been meaning to post this for a few days now but there were so many great pictures that I couldn't choose which ones to include. The rest are located here Trip to Utah - Summer 2011 )

Playground

It finally cooled off enough for us to enjoy the park.

Benjamin has become quite the little explorer.

His Father's Son

Benjamin is definitely his father's son.

He loves to wrestle.

His favorite toy is his stick horse.

He loves pickles and any kind of meat.

If that isn't evidence enough, just look at these pictures.

Cameron at 4 or 5

Benjamin at 1

Camping with an almost One-Year-Old

So we went on our first overnight camping trip with Benjamin. There were definitely some highs and lows.

High - Some good friends of ours came along with their two little girls which made it a lot of fun. We ate and laughed and played games and the kids all played in the dirt together.

Low - I forgot to take the camera so we have no pictures.

High - Benjamin LOVED playing with the shovel, sticks, and rocks. He also loved setting up the tent and wandering in and out of the tent.

Low - Even though it wasn't too hot it was super, super humid so we all just felt wet and sweaty the whole time.

High - We went on an awesome hike along this river with huge limestone cliffs and waterfalls.

Low - We slept for maybe 3 hours because Benjamin figured that as long as we were in the tent with him it must be play time and didn't go to bed until 3 am which was when a raccoon decided to check out our camp.

Hot, Hot, Hot

I thought I knew what hot weather was when I was 16 and used to sit up in my un-airconditioned room and sweat.

Then I went on a mission and realized that that wasn't all that bad. On the mission all I wanted to do after coming home some nights was lie on the cool tile floor. Even dumping buckets of cold water over my head didn't seem so bad.

But now there's Indiana and I am starting to realize how hot things can be. The humidity turns those mid to upper 90s temperatures into the 105-115 degree range and it's just too hot to want to do anything. We went to the pool but the water was too hot to be enjoyable for very long. I overheard some people saying as they left the pool, "It's too hot to go swimming." and I had to agree with them.

So, we will continue to stay inside and be extremely grateful for our air conditioning and in three more weeks we will be in Utah enjoying the much more bearable hotness of summer.

Walking

Independence Day

Hooray for holidays! We had a ward breakfast, softball game and primary parade in the morning; went on a hike and had a picnic lunch at the park in the afternoon and really had a wonderful day.