Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas a little late everyone! Here are some pictures from Christmas for us (mostly for the grandparents!). This top picture is not from Christmas but it is funny because he is crawling through our coffee table. I apalogize in advance because the pictures are not in order due to my inability to plan while blogging.

Below is a picture of Hyrum with his new hat and mittens he got from Santa the morning after Christmas.

Here is Hyrum in his Christmas outfit.

This is Hyrum on Christmas morning after all the presents were unwrapped playing with his Noah's Ark set from Grandma Breese.

Mommy and Daddy got Hyrum a dump truck for Christmas that he can ride on. He loves it! He hasn't quite figured it out yet but he loves to be pushed while sitting on it.

Christmas Eve we decorated sugar cookies. Here's the gang after the chaos.

Hyrum and Uncle Nathan in their Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve.

This is Hyrum's Christmas outfit last Sunday. Thought it was cute of him.

We got DUMPED on this week with snow! We must have 2 feet in our yard and it is snowing as I speak! We decided to take Hyrum out in the snow to explore. He liked trying to lick the snowflakes. So cute!

So, this is a video of Hyrum opening Christmas presents from Grandma & Grandpa Butcher. Sorry it is sideways-I videod on my digital camera so I didn't realize it would turn out sideways. But, none the less, here you go!

We had a wonderful Christmas and are truly blessed. Ben got a Wii so that's what we've been up to the past few days...what did I do? Just kidding. It's really fun. I got a craft room (well, stuff to go in a craft room) which I love! Now I have my own space! Thanks Ben! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a safe and Happy New Year!

By the way- Happy 10 months Hyrum! We love you!

Happy Anniversary!

Time flies when your having fun! I just want to wish my sweetheart a Happy 3rd Anniversary! Can't believe it's been 3 years already! I found my best friend and I love having him in my life to share forever with!
Ben is so sweet and loving. We've had a crazy couple of days between me starting work and our Christmas party (thanks to all those that came it was great to catch up!). I got food poisoning from my own party and was up all Saturday night. Ben was gracious enough to be up with me and then take complete care of Hyrum Sunday and Monday so I could recover and work! What a guy! Not only that but he did our laundry and cleaned up for us! It's the little things he does to show me how much he cares and values me. I love you Ben and hope I do the same for you!

Tonight we plan on going out to eat with Hyrum! Horray. Our "plans" got snowed in last Saturday so we'll have to make up for it another time. We have to laugh that last anniversary it was just the two of us (although Hyrum was very present since I was 30wks then). We went to Squire Rockwells (Rob & Cari can appreciate this) which we happened to be the youngest people there by far. We felt like we were at a senior citizen center and everyone else was celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary-not 2nd. A few weeks later on the news we learned Squire Rockwells burned down and there were no plans to rebuild. Sad but funny. Hopefully tonight's restaurant won't have the same luck! Thanks for an interesting year last year Ben and hope tonights more lucky for us! Love you!

Let it Snow!

Well, I feel I've been slacking with the pictures of Hyrum. So, here are a few from yesterday. Here is our little man in his church outfit ready for church. We have church from 1-4 (only til January thankfully) and we actually survived yesterday. The first Sunday at this time was horrible for Hyrum but yesterday he made it through without too much crying. He got poked in the eye by a little girl at church who also tried to feed him paper, steal his cheerios, and take his toys. Where was this child's mother? We came home and Hyrum was in bed by 6:45pm and was out for the night! A whole 45 minutes extra of Ben & me time!

Below is a picture of handsome daddy and Hyrum getting ready for church.
It was beautiful before church yesterday so we went for our first walk around the neighborhood. Hyrum was loaded up in the stroller with hat, mittens, and marshmallow coat intact! He looks so cute all decked out for winter! He's still not too sure about the cold thing but getting used to it!

Today it snowed for the first time since we've been in Idaho. This picture was taken this afternoon though this morning the snow was more impressive before half of it melted. We had about 2 inchers before melting began-the lawn and driveway were covered completely! The best thing about this winter-A GARAGE! This is the first winter EVER for Ben that he has had a garage to park his car in. I told him it snowed when I got up this morning and he was like-who cares I don't have to scrape! It is wonderful! Love the 2 car garage! Never will go without one again!

I'm Back!

I'm back and I have internet at my own house! Horray! I've missed facebook and blogging! How lame! Well, not too much has been happening. Just settling in to our new house! We love it and love the space! We have 2 bedrooms with nothing in them! This is a failed attempt for one of our Christmas card pictures (above).
This is my living room/entry. We now have a Christmas tree up in the right corner by the window. Love Christmas. Ben managed to put Christmas lights outside for the first time and didn't fall off of the 20ft extension ladder! Scary to watch! I dunno if it is worth it! I prayed he wouldn't kill himself doing my request for Christmas lights.
Below is a picture of our kitchen. Simple. I haven't really cooked much yet. I've been spoiled but am starting to use it more.

Here is a picture from my mom's house after a chilling walk one evening. Look at my handsome little marshmallow (Hyrum).

I start my job Dec. 15th! Yeah- I think. I'm excited to work but not looking forward to all that comes with a new job. 4 days of daytime hospital orientation that I have to find baby sitters for. My mom works and so does Ben and we don't know daycare/babysitters yet. Should be interesting. Love the new job-hate hospital orientation! Ben is liking his new job but especially his new commute of 8 minutes to work. We are enjoying Idaho and so far no snow yet! Maybe for Christmas?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, so I know its lame that I'm blogging the morning of Thanksgiving but I haven't been to a computer with internet for a week (ours isn't hooked up til Dec 3). So, while I'm here I just want to express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for all of the blessings in my life-My wonderful sweet, very patient husband; my adorable healthy little boy; my roof over my head; to be close to family and in Idaho again! Also I'm so grateful to Ben's family for all of their love and support from a distance. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! (Ben is know perusing the ads to find what I should by at 4am tomorrow with the girls ha ha)

It's official!

It's official! We are now homeowners! Scary and exciting! Tomorrow we are moving some of our stuff up from my mom's house. Thursday will be our first night of fun and cleaning. Friday our stuff comes! So excited! More pictures to come once our stuff is a little settled!

Halloween Happenings

So these pictures are a little out of order, sorry, but here is a recap of our Halloween a few days late... Above is our little dragon after a full night of trick or treating (3 houses is pretty good for him). Below is a picture of his sweet rewards- one sucker which he knawed on until after we got home (wrapper still on).
Here is a picture of the quad before trick or treating. Uncle Nathan was Darth Vator (sp?). Ben & I were the Redskins- Cooley (Ben) and Portis (me). We actually found another Redskin fan in Idaho on Halloween. We were trick or treating in my mom's neighborhood and some guy called out to us "Go Redskins" and had his jersey on as well. Idaho is now approved of by Ben since other people like the Redskins here too. Too bad they lost last night!

Another picture of our Dragon. Isn't he so cute?

We had a busy week so we didn't get to pumpkin carving until hours before trick or treating commensed. Ben and Nate did the honors. Ben- a football of course, and Nate-your traditional pumpkin face.

We took some family pictures on Halloween because it was a gorgeous night. It was the warmest Halloween I can ever remember in Idaho. Guess I didn't need the extra padding in Hyrum's costume for warmth. Here is a picture that is funny of Hyrum flying.

Here is one of our Family Pics on my mom's couch! Thanks mom for taking some! It gets hard to take pictures of your family by yourself!

Here is one of Hyrum crawling around before trick or treating with his pumpkin hat on.

Hyrum posing by the uncarved pumpkins.

Pictures of Past and Future

So I thought I'd post some pictures now that I finally have a computer with internet and post some of our news. Here is a picture of Ben with our moving truck (your only seeing half the truck.) The first half was filled with some stuff going to Seattle, the rest was ours, including our Subaru! Hyrum thought the truck was pretty neat!

We traveled to West Virginia a few days before we moved to see Great Grandpa Butcher. Here is a picture of Hyrum with some of the beautiful foilage we passed.
Below is 4 generations of Butcher men! Ben's dad (Grandpa) Steven is on the Left, Then Ben & Hyrum, Then Great Grandpa Butcher Gail.

Our biggest news is we bought a house! YEAH! We close November 21st so we'll be in right before Thanksgiving! Oh, I also got a job! Back to the house...It is 5 bedrooms, 3 full baths and fully finished. It is a main floor with a finished basement. It is located on Hyrum street (funny but not planned that way). It should be a great first house for us! We have a 2 car garage that is extra deep for storage. The people before us could fit a boat in front of their cars and had room to spare! (Ben's excited) I'm excited I don't have to scrape my windows! The picture below is of our downstairs family room/theatre room. It has a bar (not shown in pic) with a sink and mini fridge. Fun!

This is a view of our back yard. No, the play stuff is not ours. In fact, all of these pics show the previous owners stuff! We have a field behind us which is nice for now. We plan on putting a fence up soon.

This is my kitchen. It has a nice corner pantry. On the side of the pantry is the fridge and another long counter with cabinets above and below.

This is a picture of part of the living room and hallway.

The last picture is of the front!

We are super excited to move in and enjoy the pleasures of owning a home! Now we get to be busy doing inspections and closing. Ben starts his job Monday so we are sad to have him back at work.

Hyrum has had is first real sickness this weekend. He had a fever of 103 starting yesterday and we took him to an urgent care facility last night. (don't you love out of state insurance..not). It was a pointless trip which included me teaching the tech how to take a rectal temp and the doctor saying we just have to wait and see what happens. Glad I will probably get billed $200 bucks for the advice I already new. We did find out no ear infection though. Today he is still sick with 103 fever despite motrin. He has been more snuggly than normal. It is like a different baby. Hopefully he'll feel better soon! We are excited for Halloween and the Holidays. Can't believe their here! Happy Halloween!

We Made It!

Greetings to everyone from our very first blog in Idaho! Already we have been busy! Last week was crazy! We had some fun though! Not last Friday but the Friday before our friends threw us a goodbye party which was nice for everyone who came. Sad that we were first to leave our own party (thanks Hyrum we love ya). Saturday ( a week ago) we spent time with Ben's brother Rodney and his kids. Fun to see them before we left. Sunday we went to West Virginia (my first time there) to see Ben's Grandpa and get a 4 generation picture of Butchers. It was a beautiful drive and I'm sad we didn't make this trip earlier. Monday we came home and got ready for movers. Tuesday movers came and packed our entire 8000 lbs of stuff in 2 hours! Fast! Tuesday night we spent in the dark because all of our lamps were packed...Wednesday we had people come to load the truck! That took most of the day and we cleaned our place the remaining hours. Ben and his dad left early Thursday and arrived Friday night at 11pm! Two days to get here from Virginia-fast-I didn't ask how fast...Friday Hyrum and I flew in. We barely made our connections and thanks to the SLC airport we got to be cool people who get to get driven around in the airport because you have 5 minues to make your connection! We made it safe and sound and Hyrum was a trooper! Saturday we went to Idaho Falls to show Ben's dad our dream houses and show him where we will be working. We also went up to Rexburg to drop Ben's dad off at Becky's house and see her family! I know...why would we drive any more? It was fun though. Today has been truly a day of relaxation! Horray!
This next week brings excitement as well. Tomorrow we look at houses and I have my job interview. Tuesday we are looking at more houses and getting financing approved. The rest of the week will be busy running errands. I'll post pictures someday of our 4 generation pics. I'm on my mom's computer so I can't right now. Hope all is well with everyone and wish us luck house hunting! We can't wait!

Our Child the Vampire?

Hyrum got his first tooth today! We've been watching it come in for a few weeks now but today it finally popped through! Pics to come once he opens his mouth for me.The twist-it is his left upper canine. Weird? His right upper canine is about ready to pop through as well. I thought babies were supposed to get their lower middle bottom teeth first, and then their middle top teeth, and then molars, and then canines. The only conclusion I can come to is that our child is a vampire. Must have been all those vampire books I read.

10 days and counting

We have been busy and not really that busy surprisingly. Finally things are picking up. Last week I spent most of the week at home enjoying the outdoors of Virginia thinking "there must be something I can do to get ready to move." Nope. Friday was Ben's last day of work and they had a lunch for him at Brio's Italian Restaurant in Tysons Corner Mall. It was yummy! Friday night I headed off to work for my last weekend.
Saturday and Sunday we attempted to watch General Conference. I must say- I think I got a lot more out of watching conference before I had a kid. It's really hard to focus when for 4 hours a day I'm trying to keep Hyrum entertained and indoors. I will have to review once the Ensign comes out! We split up for dinner Saturday-Ben & Ben's Dad for their traditional pre-priesthood session dinner. Marie (Ben's mom) and I went to Baja Fresh (Ben & Steve don't really care for it so we thought we'd indulge).
Sunday was last my night of work! Yeah. The girls at work threw me a surprise pizza party at 1:00am. How sweet! It was really fun but I ate way to much junk food! But-Ben & I are officially done with work! Horray! Let the vacation begin!
This week is a vacation for sure! After work Monday we ran around getting stuff ready for my Idaho nursing license. Today we went to Potomac Mills mall (outlets) and Ikea for some last minute good Virginia shopping. We also got an estimate on our moving needs. Looks like we'll weight in around 7,000lbs. Thats not bad considering we're allowed 30,000lbs.
Tomorrow we plan to go downtown to see the sites of DC one last time. Its always so fun to go downtown and have free entertainment. We'll take pictures.
Its so fun to have Ben home and have a little time together before we move. The truck comes to pack us the 15th then it leaves the 16th. Ben & Steve leave the 16th as well. Hyrum and I leave the 17th for Idaho Falls. So, 10 days and counting!

Update-Our Trip

I've been slacking on posting pictures from Idaho because things have been a little crazy! Above is my mom, Nathan, and Hyrum on one of our lovely days in Idaho. Hyrum adored Nathan and I think they will be good pals. Below is Hyrum with his great-grandmother reading a book. It was really fun to have my grandparents come to see Hyrum.
Hyrum had his first Haircut while out in Idaho. We put him in his highchair so he couldn't move as much (ha ha). This is a before picture.
Here is our handsome little boy after. My mom was the one brave enough to cut his hair. I saved some for my hope chest.
Here is a picture of the men. This is my grandpa (Hyrum's great grandpa aka Poppy), Nathan, and Hyrum of course.
Hyrum is rolling/scooting around like crazy. Someday he'll figure out crawling. We have been back in Virginia for a week now. Ben's cousin Lindsey, Adrienne, Jacob, Daniel came to stay with us a few nights ago to tour DC. They were kind enough to ignore our unsettled house (many thanks to Ben for getting it clean for me while working the weekend).

We had a fun celebration dinner last Saturday with Ben's parents at a yummy steakhouse called Mikes. It was bittersweet to be celebrating Ben's job and sad for them to say goodbye for a few years (hopefully they'll be in Idaho soon too).

This is Ben's last week of work! Yeah! I have just one more weekend as well! HORRAY! I will actually miss work a little and especially the friends I've made. I have an interview for a NICU position in Idaho on Oct 20th so I'm excited for that.

We are going house hunting as well on Oct 20! We are so excited! Can't believe we finally get to buy a house! Any of our east coast friends are welcome to come stay and visit!

No official moving date yet...INL is not fast with anything...We are hoping to move the week of the 13th but we'll see. If not that week than for sure the next because Ben starts the 27th. Hyrum and I are flying out but that date is to be determined as well.
Getting excited for Halloween already! And Christmas too! I can't believe the Holidays are here again but I love this time of year! We have so much to be grateful for!

Well, I'm slacking as a mother currently because Hyrum has rolled under his crib while I neglect him and update our blog...guess I better get back to my motherly duties!

BREAKING NEWS!!!

IT IS OFFICIAL WE ARE MOVING!
After 5 long months of waiting to hear from the Idaho National Laboratory, our prayers were answered today! Ben got the job and he starts October 27! We're moving quick! I'm still in Idaho and when I get home it will be a quick 2 weeks of work left and packing and then we leave! I can't believe it has finally happend but we are so excited and grateful! We will miss all of our friends and family in Virginia but are excited to make new ones in Idaho! We are also excited because the INL has offered Ben a generous moving allowance which will allow us to move for free! What a blessing! Grandma Breese and Uncle Nathan are very excited to have us near and we will probably be living with them for a few weeks until we find a house. We get to buy a house! Yeah! Okay, enough rambling on my part but we are very excited! HORRAY!

Greetings from Idaho...

We made it from Idaho last Monday. After working all night, Ben thankfully stayed home to let me catch 3 hours of sleep before getting on the plane. Hyrum fell asleep the first 20 minutes and I was so excited...then he woke up and was up the rest of the flight. Oh well. We luckily had nice neighbors on the plane that enjoyed entertaining Hyrum. It is so nice to be home though. We have pictures to come soon. My mom made me get Hyrum out of his carseat before I could even get out of the aisle in the airport so she could hold him. He loves seeing Grandma and Nathan. Hyrum's Great Grandparents arrived yesterday and he is enjoying getting to know them. Nothing too exciting is happening. Just a nice relaxing vacation. We are loving the cooler weather and how it cools off at night. It's nice to have some dry weather after the Virginia humidity. We miss Ben a lot and are grateful he is working hard for us while we get to relax. Hopefully we'll all be out here together soon! More to come!

The Perfect Day...

Friday night at work they said they were over-staffed for the holiday (labor day) and needed a few people to sit out(rarely this happens). I volunteered! So-I only worked Friday night last weekend which was heaven! Two whole days of no work and Ben home! The above and below picture is of Hyrum getting ready to leave for church.
Monday we decided to go swimming with Ben's parents. We tried this earlier this summer but the water was too cold so we tried again. We got Hyrum a floaty for the pool which he loved. We were only there for an hour but it was great and it wore Hyrum out!
Loving the floaty!
Mom and Hyrum sunbathing to get warm!
It was so nice to spend all day with Ben and Hyrum. We slept in, we played, we relaxed. It made me miss our former weekends together without work involved. Hopefully someday again soon we can enjoy this luxary! But for now, it was a perfect weekend!

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

I'm a slacker but was kind of busy yesterday but yesterday was Hyrum's 1/2 Birthday! He is 6 months old! Time flies! Above is a picture of his blueberry applesauce lunch! Yum! Below is another picture of it.
Our Birthday boy got a new toy- an activity center. More this is a toy for me because hopefully it will entertain him a little bit better. He seems to like it so far. He also got a high chair too (last weekend). Hyrum is a whopping 17lbs 12 oz (56%), 28 inches (93%)long. Big boy! He got 4 shots yesterday (on his 1/2 birthday how mean of me). He was a trooper though.
Here is a picture from this morning. It is rainy and cooler today and I've been wanting to put him in one of his new 9month outfits. I was shocked to see that it is already high-water pants him. Bummer! Good thing I only bought two 9 month outfits! It will work for now.
Last weekend Ben's parents took some pictures of us in our Redskins jerseys. Happy football season everyone and go Redskins! For some of you Redskin cards are coming in the mail! Hyrum looked so cute is his football jersey. Ben was a proud dad showing off his son in football attire.
We leave for Idaho in 2.5 weeks! Yeah! We can't wait to visit Grandma and Uncle Nathan and see Great Grandparents for the first time!