The Butcher Family

Change Change Change

2012-01-22T17:49:00.000-08:00

As promised...I vow to catch up on the last 3 months! Hope the next 3 go this fast! Way back in November of 2011 we had Thanksgiving. I worked the night before so we stayed low key. We got all dressed up to visit Ben's sister for dessert that night and then chickened out (more like tired out). But, we took a few family pictures before we ate. Hyrum & Alison on Ali's first Thanksgiving (above). Below is our entire family. Ali welcomed Thanksgiving in by getting her 1st tooth! She then proceeded to get 5 more in the next week. Fun!
I love Christmas and was so excited this year. Hyrum is at such a fun age to celebrate Christmas. Christopher Popinkins stopped by and made sure Hyrum was nice every day. We had a great Holiday celebrating with family. My mom and brother Nate came from Oregon too which was great! Oh yeah...and we sold our house and moved during Christmas too! We literally packed up the Christmas tree the day of Christmas (so sad for me). But, we were so blessed to have the time off work and family around to help us! Thank You to everyone who helped! We couldn't have done it without you!
Anyway...one tradition I normally miss out on due to work is the kids acting out the nativity scene before Christmas. We did this a few days before Christmas with Ben's sister's family. It was great! So cute to see the kids. Here they are all dressed up!

Hyrum had his 1st preschool Christmas program this year! So cute!

We had to visit Santa at our ward Christmas party and we actually got a smile out of Ali. More than I can say for Hyrum at that age!

Our Beauty!

Back tracking (someday I'll get it in order??) Hyrum helped Ben put up the Christmas tree after Thanksgiving and loved it!

Forward again....Ben holding the littlest ones at our nativity night.

Loving Grandma! So grateful to have her here for Christmas and moving!

Christmas morning! We were spoiled as usual! The highlights: a kitchen for the kids, Hyrum got a fire truck, Ali got a bitty baby from Grandma Breese (love these!), Ben got a laptop for school. It was a great Christmas-not only with the material things but being together too! Wish every day could be Christmas!

Ali's 1st Christmas!

Beautiful Christmas Morning!

We had church that afternoon. Here we are all dressed up!

Maybe I should title these before: (morning)

And after...

Lately I've been trying to be better about doing Ali's hair because it is always in her eyes so here was my first attempt at pigtails. Pretty cute!

More pigtails, Alison Boo and a Hyrum doodle bug!

Really we have been so blessed this year and already can see the blessings coming for 2012! I must admit that I'm trying to remember the blessings of this house building thing as we live in a interesting apartment and I freak out about all the decisions for the house. It will be so nice to have it done!

Ben is doing great in his first 2 weeks of school. Back in the grind! Let the next 2 years fly for that!

We have started going to our new ward and so far love it so much more! People have been so friendly and it reminds us of our beloved Virginia ward.

I think I'm all caught up! Whew!

New Year, New Start

2012-01-13T03:45:00.000-08:00

Well a lot has changed in the last month and I haven't had time to catch up the blog. Surprisingly

we sold our house in 6 short weeks and have moved out! We close today! It is bittersweet but more sweet. We are so grateful everything happened so fast and its amazing how everything is falling into place. My mom and brother came out for Christmas and spent most of the time helping us pack. We are living in an apartment (already ready to be in a house again-forgot how much I hate appt living). The computer is in Alison's room for now so my time to blog when she's sleeping is non-existant. So, someday when life settles down I'll post pictures. For now Ben has started school, I'm back to working 3 shifts in a row every other week, and we are scurrying to get house plans done to start building. Hopefully by February 1st we'll have a hole in the ground!

Halloween

2011-11-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

Finish! Finally I can blog! Way back on October 15 we had a great day! I ran my 1st 5k and finished 8th overall for women! It was so much fun! This is me almost ready to cross finish line! It has me addicted to running and am planning on maybe a 10k or half next spring/summer. I gotta keep some motivation to keep running! Later that day...we went to a pumpkin patch with the kids. Hyrum had a blast!

Ben & Hyrum riding the train!
So Handsome!

I got this idea from pinterest...but we decorated our front door(frankenstein).

Since I have a nice camera now...I've been trying to take pictures of Alison for her milestones. This is normally how she acts! Mean mommy! I was really tempted to have the lady that did her newborn pics do a 7 month shoot for us...glad I didn't because Ali won't sit still long enough to capture!

Occasionally I do get a smile!

Hyrum helps a lot!

My 7 month old (almost 8 months now). She always has her finger in her mouth or her tongue sticking out! At 7 months you are crawling everywhere and can pull yourself up to the couch and walk along it! Watch out me! I'm going to have a walker soon!

Hyrum was a fireman for Halloween. He loved it and got to wear his outfit a few times.

This is his preschool class (minus 1 boy). So cute!

Halloween night: This is how Ali has to eat to avoid getting food in her hair!

Hyrum & Daddy carving the pumpkin!

We had to bribe Hyrum to pull out some of the guts! Funny boy!

All done!

Alison was a lady bug! So cute! I could barely get her to hold still for a picture!

Hyrum & the pumpkin!

I was trying to get a picture of the 2 of them....not the best but the best out of the ones I took. Yes, Ali is picking the pumpkins nose!

Above is a video of Hyrum singing some songs for Grandma and Grandpa to hear.

Well...some big news for us lately....1. Ben got in to the MBA program! Hooray! He starts in January! Goodbye husband for 2 years!

2. We are selling our house! Well...trying to. Interest rates are so good we really want to build a house so we are trying to sell. We have been deep cleaning to get everything perfect. It is kinda a pain to have to keep your house perfect all the time for a potential showing anytime! On the flip side...its nice to always have a clean house!

3. The holidays are finally here! I've been waiting waiting waiting for this! Love this time of year and can't wait for the extra family time we will get to spend together!

3.5 & 6 months

2011-09-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, 2 months has flown by! Things have been busy as we try to soak up these last few days of nice weather! In August, my sweet Grandpa Weatherford passed away. The kids and I flew out to say our good-byes before taking him off support and then Ben drove out for the service. Above is a family picture of all of us(that were able to come) at the service. So grateful for my knowledge of eternal families...and my knowledge as a nurse to help our family...and for my great bro-in-law who is a doctor and helped me muddle through what was going on with my grandpa. It was an unexpected passing but we know he is comfortable now!

2 days after returning from Portland...Hyrum started his 1st day of preschool! He goes 2 days a week. I thought I would be sadder...but mostly I'm enjoying my freedom to shop for 4 hrs/week with just Alison!
Beginning of August...my mom came out and took our annual Redskin family photo! BTW...tonight they play the cowboys for mnf...Go REDSKINS!

My Sweet Alison! The next are random photos over the month of September of my cutie! Yesterday she turned 6 months! Time flies! She is almost sitting up, scooting everywhere, rolling everywhere, eating some solids, and receiving loving from her family! (I inherited a dslr camera and have been loving playing with it so sorry for all the pics!)

Happy 1/2 Birthday of Pears!

Cuties before church!

Funny face!

The pears!

All dressed up for church on her 6 mo bday!

Smiling for Hyrum!

So sweet!

Look at those blue eyes and red hair!

Sorry, tons of the same but grandmas love that!

Superwoman!

Silly smile!

Not sure about the grass...

Handsome 3.5 year old!

Happy in her bumbo!

We have a crazy next 3 weeks...I have tons of extra work for education stuff the next few weeks....Ben is taking the GMAT (scarry) on Oct 10 for his MBA (hopefully starting in January)...and I'm running my first 5k on Oct 15! Wish me luck! Hope the weather stays nice enough so my lungs won't be burning in 30 degree weather at 8am!

Happy Fall!

Catching Up as Always!

2011-07-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

So much to catch up on! 1 1/2 months has gone by since last time I blogged and we have been busy! First off, Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful sweetie! He is the best daddy a kid could ask for and the best hubby! Love you! He got a wet/dry vac for the garage (how romantic I know?) but it came in handy because 2 weeks later we shot a rock through our windshield in the garage and got to use it!

Below: Hyrum has mastered pedaling and can now ride a bike! (with training wheels). He loves it! We all got bikes and have been enjoying riding together but I have no pics because who is there to take them?

Hyrum's wonderful speech teacher (who we no longer "see" for speech but see for fun now) was getting rid of her kids jeep and gave it to Hyrum! He loves it! So spoiled this kid!

My beautiful 3 month old! Time flies!

We had a FHE at the IF visitor's center and Hyrum loved the Christus there. They actually let you touch this one which is pretty neat for a little kid!

Alison can now sit in her bumbo and support herself. She likes it but I don't because she pukes everything up when she sits in it. Oh well!

4th of July! Not very exciting day because I had to work but the kids looked cute!

Ben's birthday weekend we went swimming. Alison in her swimsuit!

Relaxing by the pool!

Alison doesn't love the cold water!

Did I mention Ben turned the big 30! Yup, he's old now! J/k honey! He is so old that we had to have 2 ice cream cakes to fit all the candles!

Ben's special day!

My brother Nate came to visit for a few days and the kids had fun seeing him!

Ben's parents sent 2 new outfits for Alison so these next 2 are for them! Grandpa's pick:

Grandma's pick:

Ben's birthday present to us was a fence he didn't have to build! It looks great and we are loving it! So nice to have Hyrum contained! We got a fire pit and taught Hyrum how to roast marshmallows and make smores! He loves it!

Because she's so cute...

Miss Alison Ruth at 4 months! Can't believe its been 4 months already! At 4 months you are sleeping through the night most nights (except for when mommy's at work). Rolling over. Smiling and laughing! Grasping objects with your hands. Grabbing your toes and pulling off your socks! Getting tons of loving from your brother, mommy, and daddy! We love you!

Hyrum is finishing up 2 weeks of swim lessons this week! He is a fish!

All smiles!

We've been busy and having lots of fun! My mom and brother come out on Sunday for almost 2 weeks which will be great. Can't believe school will be here soon for Hyrum!

Below is for the grandparents! Alison laughing and Hyrum riding his bike!

Catching Up!

2011-06-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Feels like I never get a free moment sometimes and we've been having a few challenges with sleeping since we've been home from our trip...so I'm finally getting around to updating while Ben watches the kiddos! If you want...scroll down as I've posted 3 posts today! Hyrum was such an angel on the long day home from Portland that we rewarded him with a "wack weeder" (weed wacker). He love helping Ben mow the lawn and now can help him trim!

Below just my cute smiley girl in her jammies. Hyrum has picked up on our little baby talk we say to Alison and says "hi smiley" (which sounds like hi smelley from his words) and "hi cutie pie." I love seeing them interact!
Hyrum loved this play mat as a baby and looks like he still does! I've been using it with Alison the last few days and Hyrum insists on playing with her on it!

Going for a walk!

Yesterday we were invited to go to "Rigby Days" parade with some friends. Hyrum and Brooklyn and Tatum(the middle girl turned around) not happy as I tried to picture them in the sun!

And...because I can't resist showing her off...my darling girl this morning before chruch! Her hair is all curly and she's in this cute dress we found at costco in Portland! Love it!

Love those smiles! Now...if only she'd sleep!

Time is flying by...my baby is 11.5 weeks and I go back to work Thursday! Sad day! I have loved every minute of being home and find myself jealous of those stay at home moms! I do love my job once I'm there...its just so hard to leave!

I turn the big 25 on Tuesday. Not any big plans but just enjoying my last few nights before even less sleep comes! All I want for my birthday is a nap!

We are so happy and loving our kids so much! I love being a mommy and I love watching Ben be a daddy again and Hyrum be a big brother! My dreams have all come true!

First Airplane Ride...

2011-06-12T13:40:00.001-07:00

Ben had a short week so I talked him into taking the week off and flying us out to Portland to visit my mom and brother. The week flew by and we had a blast but it is good to be home...we're working on returning to normal. Traveling with 2 is hard!!! Above is my cute cousin Rachel holding Alison. She just graduated high school! Congrats Rachie!

Below is 4 generations on my side. I have a picture like this of myself as a baby with my great grandma so we couldn't pass up Alison's opportunity!
Cute picture of us!

My mom lives near a pond with ducks and we visited it a couple times and Hyrum loved feeding the ducks.

We also went to build-a-bear in Portland and Hyrum loved this. Here he is washing his doggie. We now have doggie#1, doggie #2, and puppy at our house that all sleep with him. (fyi...puppy is the biggest of the 3 dogs!)

Hyrum's favorite daily and sometimes twice daily activity was the hot tub! I need one of these!

On Memorial Day we went to the zoo...Hyrum and my brother Nate posing.

My mom, Nate, & Hyrum swimming!

Hyrum enjoyed his great grandparents.

Great Grandma holding Alison.

Nate & Hyrum playing lacross.

Nate holding Alison.

So fun to see everyone!

Meeting Family & Blessing

2011-06-12T13:27:00.001-07:00

On May 22, 2011 Alison Ruth Butcher was blessed by her daddy. Her Grandpa Butcher, Uncle Ian, and Cousin Matt were all present for her blessing. What a special day!
The kiddos with Grandparents on the blessing day.

Our family of 4!

Grandpa Butcher holding Alison for first time.
My friend's mom sent me the cutest outfit for Alison...I'll be so sad when she grows out of it! Such a cutie!

Another of my favorite outfits...from Hyrum's speech teacher. I love smocking!

Grandma Butcher meeting Alison for first time!

It was so great to have family to welcome Alison in to our family on her special day! Thanks everyone!

Too Cute!

2011-05-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

Just too cute not to share! My t-ball player and my smiley girl!

Awareness

2011-05-05T15:27:00.001-07:00

One of my room mates from college shared her story about infertility. Last week was National Infertility Awareness Week and I felt I should share our story as well for any of those who read this that might have to go through the same thing. (Thanks Krissy for being so inspiring!)

Overall, I have to thank my Heavenly Father for how He has blessed us. Over the last 4 years my testimony has been challenged and at time I didn't feel I deserved to have a baby...let alone 2 due to my lack of faith. We were blessed with Hyrum that after trying for 1 year we got pregant. It was a long year and towards the end of it we had started pursuing infertility help but got lucky! We now have learned what a miracle Hyrum was/is!

When Hyrum was 1 we decided we'd start trying again due to how long it took us the first time. 2 months later I was pregnant! Hooray and scary all at the same time ( I wasn't ready to have them so close.). 3 weeks later I miscarried. This was devastating to me but my dr told me this was normal...forget it and move on. 7 months later I was pregnant again but again lost the baby early on. Dr again said it was normal. Ben & I decided to take a little trip (Hawaii) and relax and give it a little more time. We tried IUI in the mean time with no success. Finally 14 months had gone by with no success. We decided to consult for IVF.

I have to say I had to eat some words when I decided to do this. My first REAL job in a big NICU in Virginia taught me that IVF was not a good idea and was pushing the limits. I saw premature after premature sets of twins or more born that eventually became blind, deaf, and had a very poor quality of life. Then a close friend had just gone through IVF and had delivered beautiful 37 week twins. My idea started to change. I saw some more success stories even here in our small NICU in Idaho. I was softened to the idea.

So we consulted and sure enough we would need help. One of us had an issue that prevents us from easily achieving successful pregnacy. I was thrilled that it should be an "easy fix" for us.

We had to go to Utah for about 6 weeks on and off to do this. Unfortunately it was a bad time for our families to help us so Ben & I really leaned on each other. We spent a week in Utah during the thick of it which was a really hard week but we made it! Shots, blood draws, and ultrasound every day for weeks were tedious and unpleasant but worth it in the long run.

We put two embryos in and 2 weeks later found out only 1 had made it. I was so grateful to just have one though and actually relieved...I was so worried about twins and Hyrum! We don't have many family/friends here to help us so 1 was great.

I can honestly say I've never been so happy. We had some scares during pregnancy but thankfully Heavenly Father pulled us through. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for letting me have such an understanding and patient husband that was willing to take this journey with me. I'm also so grateful for our two beautiful, healthy children! My heart is full! I'd love to have one more and as I relfect on the journey to get to here...I cringe. For now I'll enjoy every minute with my new baby and Hyrum!

I'm so grateful to be a mom and this is honestly one of those things I've always wanted to be more than anything. Happy Mother's Day!

Butcher Happenings...

2011-05-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

We're alive...and busy! But I couldn't resist posting some pictures of our family and especially Alison! Here are some pictures of our 5.5wk old over the last few weeks!
(I made her tutu)

Pictures of Alison's first Easter! Hyrum LOVED Easter this year! It was so much fun! First Easter as siblings! Hyrum was very helpful finding Alison's eggs!

We tried to take some Easter pictures outside...the best we got.

Right after her bath...check out her curls over her ears! Her hair is actually pretty curly if i don't brush it.

Last Saturday we went to Bear World! The kids did great and it was so much fun! We'll have to come back!

After Bear World we went to Gator Jacks for lunch..yum! Hyrum and the alligator!

More Bear World...the roller coaster rides Hyrum loved...oh disneyland we wish we could visit!

Petting zoo at Bear world....Hyrum petting the deer.

Our little bear cub!

Hyrum and I were bored and decided to start our garden...but it keeps snowing so we decided to start inside. Hyrum helping!

Last Sunday...my cute family.

Cute girl!

We've been enjoying our family of 4! May will be exciting with Grandma and Grandpa Butcher coming to visit in a few weeks, Alison's blessing on May 22, and us leaving for Portland to see Grandma Breese & Uncle Nate! Gotta pack things in before returning to work! 6 weeks down, 6 to go.. It's going WAY too fast!

Professional Pics!

2011-04-07T13:40:00.000-07:00

Alison had some newborn pictures taken professionally by Caralee Case Photography. Check out the preview at www.caraleecasephotography.com. It's under Alison!

Alison Ruth Butcher

2011-03-30T16:16:00.001-07:00

So today I'm finally posting about our newest addition. I'll also share with you my labor story...I like to read about peoples' stories but feel free to skip if you don't care! So, above...last pregancy picture. Huge, I know! I was scheduled to be induced on March 25th...I woke up about 2am that morning with contractions about 15 mins apart. I thought nothing of it but they kept coming all morning and eventually were 10 minutes apart and painful by 4:30am. Still...10 minutes apart I thought no big deal. They were becoming more painful so I got up and thought I might as well start getting ready since we had to be at the hospital at 7 anways. Through getting ready they got closer and worse but still only 5-7 minutes apart. I called labor and delivery and asked if we could come a little early...they said sure! We got there about 6:30am...not too early...and they had spaced back out to every 10 minutes. I got the monitors hooked up and my first dose of antibiotic in before they started the pitocin. The nurse started me at the very minimum dose and said she would not turn it up until the doctor came in to break my water and check me. Still contracting very minimally every 5-10minutes. Finally the nurse said "I think you should get your epidural before the doctor comes in to break your water.I called Dr. blank to come start your epidural." I was thinking...no I want to wait and see how far along I am. So, at 9am I got my epidural and at 9:30am Dr. O arrived to check me and break my water now that I was starting to get numb. He shocked me and told me I was 8cm and that he would go change to have this baby! 8cm!!!! Good thing that nurse got me my epidural! Below...laboring. After 10-15 minutes of pushing at 10:18am I had Alison Ruth Butcher. She was 8lbs 7oz and 21.25 inches long! HUGE! I couldn't believe she was BIGGER than Hyrum! I don't hear numbers like that very often where I work. 6lbs seems huge! Needless to say she still felt like my small little baby and we love her! Below is Daddy holding Alison for the first time. (As with Hyrum I seem to tolerate labor fine but get all sick afterwards so I didn't get to hold her for a while and had to have a fluid bolus and some oxygen afterwards.???)

In our postpartum room! First family photo!

Hyrum came to visit about 5pm that night and loved holding his baby sister!

First family photo of 4!

Our baby girl! She has a full head of auburn colored hair. We think she looks like Hyrum alot but also different in her own way!

I was spoiled tremendously by co-workers while at the hospital. She always had bows and her hair done and was the best dressed!

Hyrum looking at Alison.

He loves her!

We came home on March 27 and have been adjusting to life as parents of 2! My mom is here helping us and our other family around here has been great too! We had some newborn pictures of Alison and our family taken today so in a few weeks I will have those back and ready to post! I'll be a blogging slacker the next few weeks I'm sure because you forget how much work a newborn is! We love our little blessing and so grateful she arrived healthy and strong!

Welcome Alison!

Birthday Boy Turns 3!

2011-03-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hyrum the "snowmobile guy" as he names himself. His amazing speech teacher can attest to his frequent and long conversations about snowmobiling...so 2 days before his birthday she arranged for Hyrum to get to ride on a real snowmobilie. Her boss has snowmobiles and they invited us up for part of an afternoon. Hyrum was actually terrified once the snowmobile was turned on but after forcing him to take a ride with Alyson(the speech teacher) and daddy he loved it! Above is a picture of Hyrum on the kids snowmobile that was broken. He loved it...we might have to invest in one of these. Below is Alyson, Hyrum, and Ben on the snowmobile.
Hyrum sitting on the snowmobile before being brave enough actually take a ride!

We are so grateful to have wonderful people in our lives and Hyrum's to do something so special! It was so wonderful! The worst part is that next Tuesday is Hyrum's last day of speech...he tested at the level of a 4 year old and no longer qualifies for speech! While I am so grateful he has done so well we will miss his teacher so much!

So, this is a few weeks late but...My baby turned 3! Hyrum had his 3rd Birthday on February 27, 2011! I had worked all weekend so we did a small celebration on his birthday and then had the party the next night. I don't know why but we've started this tradition of taking pictures of him waking up on his birthday...so...while I was at work...Ben took pictures of Hyrum waking up for me.

Sunday night I had attempted to make this brownie/waffle idea from Rachel Ray...didn't work at all...but we still ate parts of it and put candles on top for Hyrum to blow out on his actual birthday! Can't believe he's 3!!

So, now we are on to the next night...his party with cousins/family. He wanted a truck themed party so we did dump trucks and stuff. Here he is in front of the construction zone!
He also is sporting his "snowmobile" shirt. He is OBSESSED with snowmobiles and so I found him this shirt for his birthday. He wore it 3 times that week!

Hyrum with the cake I made getting ready to blow candles out!

The decor...

Blowing the candles out!

Opening presents from everyone! (He loved the outfit G&G Butcher!)

Now a little baby update...March 5th my sister in law Becky and cousins-in-law Lindsey & Adrienne all got together and had a little baby shower for me. We went out to eat and I forgot to take pics but here is the diaper cake Lindsey made! So cute! We got spoiled with clothes for baby girl and it was so great to go out with no kids!

I'm officially 38 weeks! Hooray! I'm 3cm dilated and dr says any time now. If no baby comes by next week..we'll be having an induction on Thursday or Friday (24th or 25th). We're hoping for Friday because my mom flies in on the 24th...so we'll see! I am so excited to be a mommy again and finally meet this little girl we've been waiting what seems like forever for! I'm so grateful we have been blessed to go through IVF and have such success. I've taken care of a few patients at work lately that were IVF and have not been as fortunate as us. Here's to our last week as a family of 3!

All things Pink...

2011-02-16T14:03:00.001-08:00

As usual..my pictures are out of order but...Here's a quick recap! Well, since Valentine's was 2 days ago...we had a nice valentine's day...quiet and simple but nice. Ben & Hyrum surprised me with a hand made card... very sweet and crafty! We took home Panda Express and had strawberry pie and chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. Yum!
I finally have the nursery all put together so here are some pictures from it. My mom helped me recover Hyrum's denim blue rocking chair while she was here at Christmas and here it is in the room!

In January we tried to go bowling in Rexburg but it was too busy so we played some arcade games with Hyrum. He had a blast!

Daddy & Hyrum racing.

Okay..back to the pics. So here is the wall opposite the crib. We decided on the name Alison Ruth Butcher so I made some letters. I love the flower light too..thanks mom for dragging from ikea! Oh how I miss that store!

Some shoe hangers next to the closet.

The crib and the quilt I made to go above it.

The curtains I made. I must give a big shout out to my wonderful hubby and mom for helping do chair rail in the baby's room It turned out so cute and I don't think the pics do it justice!

A little quote/sign I made.

It has been so fun decorating the room and now I can't wait to get her here! I had my 34 week check up today and after weeks of her being breech she finally flipped! I'm so happy! So...as of now no csection! I so enjoyed labor/delivery with Hyrum and am looking forward to it again. 6 more weeks (hopefully less!)!

For the grandparents...Hyrum can now sing his ABC's so enjoy! This kid loves to sing...he now can sing once there was a snow man, jingle bells, old mcdonald, the wheels on the bus, abcs, I am a child of God, and probably a few more I'm forgetting. The sad thing is he learned most of them at nursery and not at home! Oh well, we now sing alot at home..something I'm not good at but he enjoys!

Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Happy Anniversary, Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-01-03T13:29:00.000-08:00

I am so behind on blogging but there has been so much more fun stuff to do!

First off, we're expecting a GIRL in March! We are so excited and I've been working frantically to get everything together for the baby's room! I'll post pictures of what we've done as soon as it's all together! Happy that tomorrow marks the 3rd trimester and we are getting closer to meeting this little girl! Traveling back to Thanksgiving...we got stranded in Idaho due to weather and did not make it to Portland. So, we crashed Ben's sister's house for Thanksgiving and had a great time. Above is Hyrum and his cousin Candace-they have become quite good friends lately and it is so cute to see them play together! Below is Hyrum helping shovel some of the snow we have received lately!
This is Hyrum Thanksgiving morning with our dog Chloe.

Daddy & Hyrum Thanksgiving morning.

Please excuse the out of order pics...here is from last Saturday night! We've enjoyed a whole week off with Ben between Christmas and New Years so Ben wanted to grow is beard! Here's what a weeks worth of no shaving is! Silly man! Yes, there is a beard but the camera doesn't do it justice!

Since we could not travel to Portland for Thanksgiving, and I had to work Christmas Eve...we talked my mom and brother into coming out for Christmas! Hyrum enjoying his new "snowmobile" (it's a sled that looks like a snowmobilie) on Christmas afternoon. He got so spoiled and it is hard for him to pick which is his favorite Christmas present...snowmobile sled, train table, or train tracks from G&G Butcher?

Hyrum playing outside/helping dad shovel.

I've been busy crafting lately...Ben's cousin Lindsay came up with this cute nativity idea and one cold December day Lindsay, Amber (Lindsay's friend) and I put these together! Thought they turned out so cute! Thanks Lindsay!

Not the best picture but I've always wanted an advent calendar and have never been able to find one that was also a nativity. I got searching online and found this pattern on etsy and bought it and made myself one! This is how it turned out! There is a different character for all 24 days. Hyrum really enjoyed it and I look forward to the tradition every year now!

Here is the Butcher Family Christmas morning. Please excuse me...I was up all night!

Hyrum going right to his train table! Thanks Daddy, Grandma, Dallas, & Uncle Nate for putting things together all night!

Hyrum on his snowmobile sled! Such a happy boy!

Christmas Eve our neighbors got home from snowmobiling and Hyrum happened to be out walking with Grandma and Uncle Nate. They asked if he could sit on the the snowmoblie...he was in heaven. This picture will soon reside in Hyrum's room and he asks to look at it on my camera every day!

Dec 23rd we decorated sugar cookies for Santa. I'm not sure how many Hyrum decorated versus ate?

The family decorating...

A few weeks before Christmas we had dinner with some family and I made baby Paige this tutu for Christmas. Thought it turned out cute and can't wait to make one for our little girl!

My work party had Santa visit and Hyrum did better this year. He loved that Santa gave him a monster truck at this party and until Christmas was convinced that Santa only brought monster trucks. We'd see Santa at th mall and he'd ask to go see him to get another monster truck. Now he has realized Santa brings other great things too!

Cute little snow angel!

Feel guilty about this but...Hyrum can sing Jingle Bells! We didn't figure this out until several days after Christmas because we've never taught him this song. He told us he learned it at nursery! Here's a video of him singing!

Also, for G&G Butcher, here is Hyrum saying thank you for his train set since he refuses to talk on the phone! Thank you!

I almost forgot to mention that Ben & I celebrated 5 years of marriage Dec 17th! Love you sweetie!

We had a very blessed holidays and can't wait for all the exciting things 2011 will bring. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a wonderful 2011 as well!

October Fun!

2010-11-02T13:35:00.001-07:00

October has been exciting for us! Somewhere mid month we went to Ben's sister's house for dinner and a halloween carnival at her kid's school. Hyrum was a dinasour this year (this was my little brother's costume when he was little). He loved the carnival and being with his 5 girly cousins! Above is Hyrum and Candace...the princess and the dinasour. Below is all the kids(except baby Paige). Kayla the nerd, Michelle was Jenny from Harry Potter, Candace the princess, Ashley the Cowgirl, and Hyrum the dinasour.
Tuesday October 26th we drove down to SLC and left for our trip to VA! Hyrum was so excited for the airplane ride! Thank goodness for portable dvd players or our airplane ride experience might have left us never wanting to travel again!

We did many fun things in VA-especially spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Butcher. Wednesday (not pictured) we went swimming at the rec center because it was raining all day. Thursday was beautiful and warm (I got sunburned) spent at cox farms. Cox farms is a not so little pumpkin patch with hay rides and farm animals and slides for the kids to play on. Hyrum was in heaven. Below is the crew getting ready for the hay ride. I had to stay behind and watch due to it being too bumpy for prego people.

Hyrum and the grandparents.

Hyrum behind the tractor picture.

They had goats that you could feed/pet which Hyrum loved. We opted out on spending the extra dollar to buy food for them which turned out to be a good idea because any kid that had food was being attacked by the goats! Hyrum wanted to touch all of them!

Hyrum chasing the goats.

The highlight of cox farms were the tractors you could sit on. We had a 2 year old melt down trying to pull him off. He was in heaven!

Family of 3 on tractors!

Hyrum on John Deer Tractor. Any tractor we passed he had to sit on and he still talks about the tractors from cox farms!

Ben took Hyrum down a rather large slide for a 2 year old and Hyrum loved it! He has no fear!

The one and only picture from Saturday...our day at the National Zoo in DC. This was probably my favorite day. We got to see all the animals and spend a beautiful day outside. No...we did not go to the Jon Stewart rally on the mall-but saw many rally-ers with signs walking downtown!

Back to Thursday...that evening we went to visit Ben's brother Rodney and his family. We went to Hyrum's only boy cousin's soccer game. Austin and Hyrum.

More of what Hyrum is used to...girls. Here is Jocelyn and Ella smothering Hyrum! He loved them and was sad to leave!

Friday we spent visiting our good friends the Freemans and their cute new additions (twins!). Cari was nice enough to take some family pics of us(will picture later). That night we ditched the kids and went downtown to a restaurant/miniature golf course in DC. I had to be carded to enter which was funny...Ben teased me that I wasn't old enough...j/k. It was fun!

Back to Saturday...we went to our old ward's trunk or treat and halloween dinner. Hyrum with our pumpkins from cox farms. So excited to get candy!

At the carnival he got a dinasour painted on his cheek. That is the most still I've ever seen him sit!

Hyrum loved trunk or treating and proceeded to say "love you bye bye" to everyone that gave him candy. He sure is a cutie! We are home now and happy to get back to normal...in come the holidays! Can't wait for the holidays and spending time with family! We leave for Portland in 3 weeks (unless a blizzard insues) for Thanksgiving. Time is flying by. We got a sneak peek of our baby but no revealing the sex yet...we'll have a 2nd confirmation on Monday and then let the buying begin!

Below is Hyrum singing itsy bitsy spider...twice. He has started trying to sing and it is so cute! Had to share!

Good News!

2010-09-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

So we've only been waiting forever to finally share but here we go! We are pregnant and it's just one! Above is the two embryos we put in at 5 days old. Only one survivied which we are super okay with so we're 12 weeks now and due March 29, 2011! We are so grateful! Below is at yesterdays dr appt! So cute and less bean like!

I've been waiting to share all of what is going on due to my trying not to spill the beans although most people we talk to regularly already know. It's hard to keep a secret when you've done IVF. So, here is a catch up of August and some of September. My mom and brother Nate came out in August for a little over a week. We went to Island park while there and took some fun pictures.

We also did our traditional Redskin pics so here is Hyrum this year!

These pics are all out of order but we went to the zoo too in IF and it was fun. Pigeons and bunnies at a zoo are a little lame though...

Family Redskin Pic.

Island park bear! Hyrum was a little scared at first!

Hyrum and I by the bear.

Hyrum and Nate on the bear.

Hyrum went four wheeling while I stayed at home being a good pregnant lady. Here is Hyrum all decked out! Thanks Patti & Richard for a great weekend and showing us around!

Ben & Hyrum on the four wheeler trip.

Grandma and Hyrum riding.

Hyrum fell asleep on the way home on the four wheeler. So cute!

The family!

Hyrum & Ben.

Grandma and Hyrum.

I cheated a little and took Hyrum for a ride around the cabin.

Grandma got Hyrum some new tools. Here he is showing them off.

This one is for grandma....the race car pjs.

Labor Day weekend we went to the Idaho State Fair. Hyrum loved all the animals! He wanted to touch all of them but the pig "startled me" as he says.

Hyrum and the goat!

I also gave Hyrum his first haircut by myself in a while. It looks not as bad as the ladies I"ve paid to do it lately...

Cutting hair!

So everything is going well. We feel so blessed and happy right now and Hyrum is convinced it is another boy!

Hyrum is doing really well with speech now. He has been going for 6 months and we retested him and he is age appropriate now! Yeah! We're going to keep going through the end of the year but we're really excited. The speech therapist told me the first day he would need speech until kindergarten. She was so shocked how fast he improved! Hooray!

Our next big adventure is Virginia in 6 weeks! We can't wait to go see our family/friends out there and all of us get to go! Hyrum is excited for the airplane ride! It will be a quick trip of 6 days but we can't wait!

Marathon Post Warning!

2010-07-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Too much has happened lately to leave out so pardon my really long post and feel free to rush through! My mother in law got diagnosed with Breast Cancer almost 2 months ago and has since had surgery but I made her a breast cancer survivor quilt and my mom quilted it for me! Below is a baby blanket I made for Ben's cousin Adrienne. My mom also quilted it for me!
Our lawn has required some extra watering lately so Hyrum has had fun running through the sprinkler!

So happy!

It took a whole week and with much help from our family the Lukes, we finished our rock project. This is the before....

This is the after. 2 dump trucks full of 2 inch rock and many wheelbarrow fulls later we are done and still have rock left over. Someday we will tackle the front flower beds but for now we are resting! To the left of the picture is a small garden area. We did this because we are sick of looking at weeds! What a project!

Just too cute in his hat! He wants to wear it every time he helps Ben mow the lawn. Yes, we are still obsessed with that around her. Although we have progressed to if we say no to mowin the lawn he says Wednesday...the day we normally mow!

So, after weeks of shots we got the green light to start stimulating the heck out of my ovaries! Due to daily doctor's appts (even on the weekends) we stayed at hotel for 5 nights. We tried to get out as much as we could to entertain Hyrum. Lets just say we won't be planning any long hotel trips in the future! Cranky 2 year old all week but we did have some fun! Friday July 2 we went to the zoo and saw the new baby elephant. Hyrum was impressed!

I think he was a little shocked how big the animals were since in books they look so small.

Included at the Hogle zoo is a carousel ride and a train ride. He screamed when he had to get off the lion on the carousel ride. He loved it!

Pictures are out of order for a few...but on Sunday the 4th of July we took a trip to temple square after or dr appt. It was a beautiful day (yes I took this pic). Can't believe its almost been 5 years since we got married there! Of course in December it didn't look so nice!

Hyrum on the platform where Ben and I had so many wedding pics taken.

Back to July 3 now. Ben's cousin Adrienne invited us to play with them for the day and watch fireworks at Thanksgiving Point(in ut they do fireworks on the 3rd due to Sunday). Here is a picture of us waiting 2 hours in the windy cold for fireworks to start. Hyrum loved them!

Earlier in the day on July 3 we went swimming at Adrienne's inlaws house. Hyrum is a fish(see videos below).

Another picture of mom and baby elephant at the zoo.

Family picture at temple square.

Hyrum standing in front of his namesake.

Closer up.

Monday (our last day before heading home Tues) we drove up to beautiful Park City. I have only been there in the winter for skiing but it was fun to go in the summer. We had to hit the outlets and Ben spoiled me by letting me try stuff on kidless while he played at various playgrounds scattered throughout the outlets. After we went to Olympic Park and saw where they did bobsled and ski jumps at the Olympics. Hyrum did not want to get out of the bobsled.

Ben & Hyrum in front of the practice ski jump. There is a swimming pool below that the jumpers jump into. Looks fun! Hyrum just wanted to go swimming in it.

Our IVF has been successful so far. On Tuesday they put me out to retrieve eggs! They got a whopping 27 eggs...17 mature...13 fertalized. The embryos are 3 days old now and all have made it and in 2 days we will go down to have 2 put in! We keep asking Hyrum do you want one baby or two babies? At first he said two...now he says one...I'm hoping for anything...in the words of my niece Jocelyn "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!" So we're hoping for a baby or two next March but time will tell.

Below are some videos of Hyrum swimming on July 3. Too cute not to show grandparents!

Butcher Happenings

2010-06-17T07:44:00.001-07:00

I've needed to update for so long but life had been busy and exciting lately. Way back when on Memorial Day we went with Ben's sister and her family to Mesa Falls. Ben & I had never been there before so it was really fun. Hyrum was a trooper and walked the whole way! Ben's mom has been here for about 2.5 weeks and recently went home but she was able to be here for this.

Above: Family pic at Mesa Falls
Below: The boys and Chloe

Grandma Butcher & Hyrum

May 17 we got a new little niece...Paige. Ben's sister Becky had her 5th girl and here is a picture of the new family!

We've had some fun outside whenever the weather has decided to stay nice. These are some pictures sometime in May of Hyrum having fun helping wash the cars.

His favorite part was spraying us with the hose. He would laugh and giggle so hard it was so cute!

Hyrum always points out bikes whenever we go places so we thought maybe he'd be old enough to try a trike! Well, lets say this picture is the most he's been on it total. He hasn't got the coordination figured out yet but we'll work on it! He does like it though!

Hyrum's most favorite activity right now is mowing the lawn. I do not exaggerate to say that at least 5 times a day I get asked "dad lawn" which means is dad mowing the lawn? How exciting is mowing day at our house! We got Hyrum a bubble lawn mower that he pushes around while Ben mows. It's pretty cute and funny!

Hyrum's 2nd cousin Karston came to play the other day and here is a cute pic of them.

Hyrum also loves to throw the football and we did not teach him this but he knows somehow he has to have his helmet on? Too much watching football at our house! He's getting ready to toss it here!

Our future football player (Ben hopes).

Hyrum is now in a big boy bed...in a big boy booster seat at the table (no high chair). He's getting so big...next big step will be potty training.So it's not a great picture of me but I chopped my hair off last night. I was trying to grow it out but decided I needed something faster so I chopped it. I love it though.

I turned 24 last Monday which was fun. Ben and family spoiled me which was nice. We went down to Sandy, UT for one of our IVF appts and it went well. I have started injections now in my stomach and it's not as bad as I thought. Even though I give many shots at work and start IVs frequently you just don't know how it will feel to do it to yourself! I still have to psych myself up for it a little but the pain is really minimal. It's more the idea of it than anything. I'm heading into my last 3 shifts of work this weekend and then will be spoiled with month off to complete our IVF stuff. We head down July 1 to stay for a week and a half. We have a couple day trips to make down there between now and then. It's getting exciting and nerve racking! I just want it to work so bad and we have so much invested in this! They gave us the lecture this past weekend of the risks of it not working and it felt a little discouraging. I'm trying to stay positive and have faith!

On a happier note...Ben is enjoying work right now and actually had been busy...He's having fun building models for the company but worries he will put his whole department out of a job because the computere is doing all the work! Just kidding! But he does laugh about it!

Happy Spring!

2010-04-19T12:52:00.001-07:00

Were to start? I've been thinking of blogging for weeks now but just haven't gotten around to it! But, today the sun is shining and Hyrum is napping so we are going to catch up! We just enjoyed a beautiful weekend of sunshine and outdoors! We took Hyrum to the falls to see the ducks! He loved it!
Here we are again feeding the ducks. I made yet another quilt (below) for a friend back east so here is a picture! So glad it is over! It was tons of work! She asked for these colors...

My mom and brother Nate flew out for Nate's spring break. It was so nice to have visitors and someone to help entertain us! We had fun antique shopping, celebrating Easter early, and visiting the dog museum in Idaho falls. Hyrum and Nate loved it. Here they are coming out of a teepee...this was the Idaho part of the museum...not the dog part. It was okay but maybe a little old for Hyrum still.

Hyrum and Nate counting their Easter goods! We had a nice day and really enjoyed remembering our Savior and his Sacrifice for us! Not to mention conference!

Hyrum and Nate in a cave at the museum.

I got brave while my mom was here and decided Hyrum was ready for a big boy bed. Yes, this is his same crib but we converted it to a toddler bed. He can now come and go as he pleases! This started off great but the last week has been a bit more challenging. Seems he has a mind of his own and doesn't like bedtime! We're working on it...

Grandma and Nate making pudding or cake or something black?

Hyrum with his Easter bunny from Grandma and Grandpa Butcher. It is well loved as it has made it into the crib for sleeping every night. This is a high honor only 2 other animals share!

A spring picture of us!

Below is a video of Hyrum saying mama. I know it is corny but he is in speech and I've been waiting for this for 2 years! He's really improving with his speech and I'm so grateful he has it! Anyway...here is my pride and joy of him saying mama. He says it all day everyday now but I'm not tired of it! I love when he is in another room and says "mama" and comes looking for me! Tender!

Ben and I had our big appt with the invitro clinic last Thursday. Ben's sister graciously watched Hyrum so we could drive to Sandy, UT and back in one day! We were welcomed there and very excited to find out we are not crazy and that we really have some issues going on concerning fertility. We were told we were excellent candidates for invitro so we will be starting that in a manner of weeks! We are waiting until family arrives to help out as the logisitics will be a bit harry for a few weeks. I have to spend about 2 weeks in UT for monitoring and the actual invitro. Our target date is July 5 for egg retrieval with later that week being implantation hopefully (if we have some good embryos). We are excited and looking forward to a light at the end of our fertility tunnel! It has been a hard 16 months as I have watched several people get pregnant and deliver and try not to be jealous! I am so grateful for Hyrum because the doctor said he was about a 1 in a million chance! We are hopeful this will work and are so grateful to the Lord for providing us with all the resources to do this and find a great place to do it! Wish us luck!

The Birthday Boy turns 2!

2010-03-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

As always my pictures are out of sorts. I made Hyrum's birthday cake and here are the farm animals. Below is the barn. It turned out okay for a first attempt! I was stressing all morning about it but got it done in time! The marshmallow ones are supposed to be sheep...

We had a great 3 day weekend spending time with Hyrum! He got spoiled by family and made out like a bandit! Above is actually a picture of this morning. He loves to push his doggies around in his new shopping cart!

Saturday-Hyrum's Birthday(above and below) Showing me all his presents.

Our Handsome 2 year old! I can't believe he's 2!

He's wondering why I'm taking a picture of him first thing in the morning. Have to capture every birthday moment!

Here is a video of Hyrum doing the cake and candles thing for the grandparents.

Hyrum got a golf set for his birthday and has been having a blast with it. Here is a video for the professional golfer. He is not my kid...mostly Ben's. Not only is he good at basketball and soccer...lets add golf to it! Okay...so he still has a little to work on with golf! Enjoy!

Update

2010-02-17T13:24:00.001-08:00

Nothing too exciting has been happening here. We had a nice V-day weekend together. I'm not looking forward to giving up my 3-day weekends with Ben for sleep but it will be nice to sleep after working again. We had a gift card for Hyrum from Christmas and we went browsing last Saturday night and found Hyrum these sunglasses. He always wants to wear my glasses but I can't let him. He also tries to wear Mr. Potatoe Head's glasses but they are too small. These are a little big but with room to grow. He prefers to wear them in the house...funny cute boy!

Here is our Valentine's Day picture of the three love bugs!

I made a red velvet cake and attempted to decorate it and we had yummy flank steak and mashed potatoes. It was a very relaxing day. Hyrum colored me a picture!

My two handsome boys!

I didn't know that a side effect of vacation was horrible child. We have been paying for our recent trips (especially me) with Hyrum. Bed time is all messed up and when Ben is home Hyrum wants nothing to do with me. Finally he will give me hugs and kisses again without being forced. He's making me pay for his lack of mommy time. Well, mommy is home and home to stay!

I had a dr appt today to figure out what we can do about having more kids. Thankfully the dr did not pushover my desire to have more despite our trying the last year and two miscarriages. We have a new plan which I'm hopeful and excited about. We are going to try IUI (interuterine insemination) and fertility meds. It can be done locally which I'm grateful for. If 3-4 months of this doesn't work then we will have to resort to going to Boise for their fertility clinic but I'm hopeful that this will work. It's just nice to have a plan. My fears keep growing as Hyrum is almost 2 (in 10 days!) that by the time the next one comes he'll be 3. Which is great. I just don't want them to be 4+ years apart. As I watch Hyrum wipe his doggie's nose and try to feed it I know he'll be a great help to a new little one. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this year will be kinder to us in our desire to increase our family.

I can't believe that Hyrum will be 2 soon! He has started counting "1.....2" and he's practicing blowing out candles. We must blow out about 4 a day! He'll be ready for his birthday. We are going to have a farm theme and I'm making the cake so it should be interesting. He's such a joy and I can't believe it's been 2 years already! Time flies! He is not my baby anymore...he's growing to be such a big boy!

From Hawaii to Virginia and Everywhere in between!

2010-02-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Can I just warn you that this will probably be my longest post ever! So much has happened and it is not in any kind of order! On a whim...this last weekend I flew to Virginia for a "me" weekend. My good friend Cari is expecting twins in March and my wonderful in-laws flew me out for her shower. The picture above is the whole clan at the shower. It was so fun to see everyone and catch up. Better yet was that she didn't know I was coming so it was a jaw-dropping experience for her! So fun to see her cute belly growing! Below is the mommy-to-be!

This is Hyrum's baby blanket...for those who wanted to know, and you know who you are.

Happily reunited after Hawaii! Hyrum has gone through a little separation anxiety with all of our traveling but we are starting to get back to normal.

Our last day in Hawaii we went to Diamond Head Crater and hiked up it. This was part of the hike...steep stairs!

Had to laugh because on the USS Bowfin there was this placard showing how to do CPR. On your tummy?

USS Missouri! We got to explore the boat! Ben was like a kid in disney land!

Me in front of the big guns!

Me driving the USS Missouri...kinda!

This is me in the USS Bowfin (the submarine). Small hallways.

Ben peeking through the same hole!

USS Arizona. What an amazing memorial. It was really neat to walk around on it and see the sunken ship and remember what happened at Pearl Harbor.

The view near our hotel in Waikiki.

The girl baby blanket I made for Cari. Just wanted to have some pics to remeber it by.

Ben on the North shore. We drove up to see the Big waves!

Us in front of the Laie Temple. Unfortunately its under construction so we couldn't do a session. It was still beautiful and we walked through the visitors center.

Our dinner at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Yup...thats a dead pig!

Us at the PCC eating dinner!

The USS Missouri again.

Inside the Arizona Memorial. It was beautiful but windy!

Us before we boarded the submarine USS Bowfin.

All the boys watching football in Portland after our trip.

Many thanks to my mom who watched Hyrum for us. He really enjoyed her hot tub and is not scared of water whatsoever. He loves to dunk his head and blow bubbles and even jump off of the step! My mom said she got the best sleep she had in a long time the week she watched him! Thanks!

Ben's cousin had her baby 3 days after we got home from Hawaii and 1 day before I left for DC. We watched her little boy (thanks to Ben you're the best) during the time and here are the boys in the tub!

View from Diamond Head.

Boy quilt for Cari!

Hyrum with Mr. Potatoe's glasses on.

A cool fish we saw snorkeling at Hanuama bay.

A parrot fish.

Hanuama Bay.

We went to Kailua on the west side to do some kayaking and snorkeling. This was probably our favorite day. Here is Ben eating lunch on the kayak.

How attractive!

Even more attractive right?

Me on Kailua bay. Yes, we were the whitest people in Hawaii. And no, we did not come back brown. Most our coworkers asked if we even went because we were still so white!

It was a great trip full of fun memories. It already feels like forever ago. We had a great January and are excited for Hyrum turning 2 this month! Two years flies by! Now it is back to work and reality! Can't wait until the twins are born for another excuse to go back to Virginia! Aloha!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Can't believe it's 2010. I secretly think how funny it will sound when we tell our kids we were born in the 1980s! It will sound more ancient than when my mom said the 1950s seeing how ours is in a new millenium! Nevertheless, here's to a new decade and year! My picture are all out of wack but above was taken today! Hyrum and our snowman. We got about 6+ inches of snow the last day or so and we've had fun playing in it. Hyrum loves the snow!

Sorry this picture is sideways...forgot to turn it. Cute though.
Here is our house all covered in snow. My mom gave us her snowblower when she moved. We happily used it once and then went to use it last night and nothing...its broken. It is old and we'll see about fixing it...guess tonight we're clearing the snow the old fashioned way...shoveling!

We sadly took down our Christmas decorations yesterday and Hyrum loved reading his books in the boxes!

Ben's been home this past week and we've really enjoyed it. We went to Rigby to see his cousin Lindsey and their new lab puppies. Only a week old! Hyrum loved them. NO we will not be getting one! I haven't forgotten the puppy stages yet!

This picture is taken from Christmas morning. We had a great Christmas holiday! This is the best present and probably could have been the only because he has rarely gotten out of it since Christmas morning. He cries when we pull him out! He proceeded to open all his presents in the car that morning.

I worked Christmas Eve so Ben kindly fixed breakfast for us Christmas morning. Here are my two boys Christmas morning. I then got to sleep for 2 hrs and then finish Christmas in Rexburg with Ben's family.

Ben's Aunt Colleen sent Hyrum this cute outfit! Such a handsome boy!

Ben's parents came for Christmas and it was great. They stayed with us a few nights and Hyrum really enjoyed being with them. We also appreciated the babysitting, date nights, and quality time with them. Some highlights included going on a sleigh ride/dinner/date show in Ririe. It was fun and a nice kid free adventure for all the adults!

I got brave and made sugar cookies with Hyrum one day before Christmas. He loved playing in the flour. Think he's a little to young for this tradition still!

Ben's parents and Hyrum!

Hyrum first thing on Christmas morning. Of course he had no idea it was Christmas and was probably wondering why I took pictures of him?

Handsome boy again.

Hyrum & I Christmas morning. Don't judge...I had just worked all night.

Here is a little video of Hyrum sledding yesterday in the snow. I was holding two cameras at once trying to film so sorry for the shakiness.

We're looking forward to the adventures 2010 brings. We are excited for our trip to Hawaii in 2 weeks! After living in cold a warm 80s sounds nice. We've got other little trips planned/scheduled too that we look forward too. Can't believe my baby will be 2 soon! Time flies!

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

2009-12-16T13:20:00.001-08:00

So I am really slacking with blogging...I've been wanting to post Thanksgiving for a while now just haven't got around to it yet! Well, so much has changed I have to remember what to catch up on. Mom and Nate came for 6 days for Thanksgiving and it was great. We miss them now that they are gone but excited because Butcher grandparents come tonight! Anyway, my mom helped me cook the big turkey dinner and it turned out yummy with lots and lots of food and leftovers. We put up our Christmas tree while they were here so here is Hyrum & Nate showing it off. Christmas is a lot different than last year. Hyrum is more into the tree than we'd hoped. Lets just say all the unbreakable ornaments are on the bottow for him to pull off and on all day. He loves to tell us the lights are "hot."
We've had more snow but this was our first big snow and Hyrum loved it!
Below is just Hyrum and Nate being silly.

We drove up past Ririe to a Snake River outlook and my mom kindly took Christmas card pictures. Sorry if you didn't get a card. Leave me your address and I can send you one if you want. Here is one of the ones we used.

My Cute boys Thanksgiving morning. Hyrum is really into "hats" right now.

Guess Ben was taking this picture but here is most of the Thanksgiving gang!

Grandma & Hyrum.

My sister-in-law Becky told me about a great find. Free pictures with Santa at BYU-I one night of the year! We hauled Hyrum up there to get our picture with Santa. ( I wasn't about to pay $30 like last year for 3 crying pictures of Hyrum). Here is 3/4 of Becky's girls with Santa.
I guess I just realized Hyrum's pic with Santa is lower...so keep scrolling.

My little boy loves to wear daddy's redskin crocs all around the house!

He is my child...he loves chocolate kisses!

Two years in a row...still doesn't like Santa. He was a really nice Santa though.

Lastly, tomorrow is Ben & I's 4th wedding anniversary! Can't believe how time has flown! I am so grateful for him and the wonderful husband and daddy he is. He is so selfless and helpful I couldn't ask for more. Since our anniversary is 1 week before Christmas we decided to celebrate a month late and go to Hawaii! We are dropping Hyrum off in Portland with grandma and then heading to Hawaii for 6 days. We are super excited and figure we might as well do it now...who knows when we will get another chance! After 2 weeks of -15degrees the peace of the 80's sound great! Already I'm missing Hyrum but it will be good for us.

We also found out the week of Thanksgiving that I have some genetic thing where I don't absorb folic acid properly and clot my blood easier. (MTHFR) Don't ask what it stand for cause I don't know! The doctor has given me a baby aspirin and 2 extra pills of folic acid to take for now. Heparin and more folic acid will probably be the prescript when I get pregnant again. Not looking forward to the Heparin shots...wish I still had a my nurse friend that lived across the street-why did we move again? Ben has already said he won't give them to me. Any takers? Really, this is a blessing to find this out and its a pretty okay thing to have instead of lupus or ms. Just makes me even more grateful for Hyrum- he is our little miracle. Hopefully next time we will have better luck! Hope to have some good news next year!

Ben's parents are coming for Christmas. We are excited to see them. Hyrum hasn't seen grandpa in 14 months! He's changed quite a bit! (Hyrum that is). We look forward to a week of family packed fun! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and I'll try to post Christmas pictures before Valentines!

Halloween Pictures

2009-11-03T10:04:00.001-08:00

So this is going to be another long post but there are too many cute pictues to choose from. I have been working on a baby quilt for my cousin-in-law so I finally finished the quilt top. My mom is going to help me put the rest together. Below is a picture of Ben & Hyrum before church. Too cute and hansome!

Handsome boy! I have to post any and all pictures that he smiles for because it is rare these days. I miss when he was such a ham for the camera and he could be screaming and then I pull out the camera and he smiles....gone are those days!!

My pictures are never in order so here is Halloween backwards! Here is our adorable litte frog with his loot! We wore Uncle Nathan's froggy costume from when he was this age. Now he is almost 12! Crazy!

We hiked up to Rexburg to be with Ben's sister for Halloween(they have a much better trick or treating neighborhood...rich houses). Here are the girls + Hyrum.

Cute froggy!

Frog & dog.

If we ask him to wave to the camera he will wave and smile. He loved the carved pumpkin!

Peeking under pumpkin's "Hat."

First time with costume on. He cried every time we took it off. He loved wearing it. Too bad its a little hot for the house!

Froggy boy!

For family home evening last week we carved our pumpkin. We did it close to bedtime so nothing extravagant was carved. Hyrum was disgusted by the pumpkin guts. I thought he would love them but instead he cried when I tried to make him touch them. We carved our pumpkin on old "Friend" magazines. He was more content flipping through the magazine than carving the pumpkin.

Before carving!

Here are two videos of Hyrum....one of him and the girls saying Happy Halloween. Another of him showing us the parts of the pumpkin. Enjoy!

Is October really almost over???

2009-10-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

So I realized I've been slacking in the blogging department but we've been busy...kinda. Ben finally got our gutters up on the back of our house and so the compromise was that if he did that we could paint and finish (kinda) our bedroo. So, we painted it tan and brown and I made the curtains (above). The are chocolate brown corderoy (sp?). I know its a weird fabric choice but being a nurse, I need something thick to block out the light during the day for napping! Below is our focus wall the dark brown. The camera put a weird dot on the wall that is not there actually.
This is the wall to our bathroom. Just tan. It was actually really fun and we felt like we did a better job than when we painted Hyrum's room. It took all week (working nights only) to finish but it is done and we like it!

I have been feeling crafty lately and actually went to enrichment and made this turkey. Don't know why its blog worthy but I thought it was cute!

Now to the main event. This is Hyrum this morning doing his "I'm too sexy for my..." pose. Yes, the dog scratched his face multiple times this morning. Like his pjs?

This is what entertains me all day! So cute and funny! Still loves the vaccum!

Last Saturday we took Hyrum to a great little pumpkin patch that Ben's coworker tipped us off to. It was really cheap and tons of pumpkins to choose from. Hyrum had a blast! Next year maybe we'll try the train ride and corn maze that went along with it!

Look at all these mom!

So it has been cooler (although this week it is nice) so on our evening walks we've had to bundle Hyrum up! Such a cutie!

We call it his marshmallow coat!

One night after our walk we took his hat off to find this...

He thinks mittens are pretty cool. Hence the thumbs up (although I'm pretty sure his thumb wasn't in the thumb spot)

His new thing in the bathtub is to eat bubbles. He had a bubble beard. Funny boy!

I just realized there were a few more pictures I wanted to post but I think this will due for now. I can't believe my little boy will be 2 in 4 months! How time flies! He is so fun and funny and we love every minute of him!

I've been filling my days with little projects to keep busy. I'm already dreading winter and the long days inside. Thank goodness the holidays are in winter to keep us busy!

To clarify...I am not pregnant. Yes I was, we actually lost another baby a few days ago and look forward to going to see the doctor next week to find out what is wrong with me! j/k. I just have to remember to be patient and try to be on the "Lord's time." It really is a miracle to have Hyrum and I can be happy with that...but I can still hope for more too! We are happy and doing well. Ben's excited to not have to mow the lawn anymore and we're looking forward to our families coming for the holidays! I love this time of year!

Long Post Warning

2009-09-22T10:35:00.001-07:00

Warning Long Post Ahead! Can't believe its been like 5 weeks since I blogged and we've been busy. Hyrum turned 18 months! (above picture on that day). He is 34 inches tall, 24 lbs 11oz, and a wild man! We love him! I finally got around to doing something with my blank walls and this is what I did on our wall in our living room. (below)
Here is my big 18 month old again!

Shortly before my mom moved to Oregon we got her to take a few family pics of us. Here is Hyrum not wanting to be piggy back anymore in our Redskin jerseys. Yes, he can still wear the same one from last summer (we can wear ours too j/k). He posed much better last year. He's too busy moving now!

Here is the best family pic we could get!

Ben's mom came from Virginia and visited for a couple weeks. We went to Yellowstone with the whole family in a 12 passenger van and what an adventure! It was really fun. We also stopped by the Tetons and went through Jackson on the way home. Here is us under the famous arches.

Ben & I with the Tetons in the background.

The beautiful Tetons. It was kinda smokey that day due to wildfires-so not as spectacular in photo.

Saw Old Faithful blow... Hyrum could have cared less about watching it blow but was more facinated pushing his stroller around and picking up little rocks and throwing them everywhere.

This is our typical lunch time. He loves to take the PB&J apart and smear it everywhere! So cute though, how can you get mad?

Just a cute picture. Love him!

Earlier in Sept we went to Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot and took Hyrum to see the animals. He loved it!

Here is with the horses. He wasn't too sure about petting something bigger than him!

So I messed up and this picture is crooked but Hyrum loves to vacuum! I was trying to get him dressed for church one day and this was his top priority. Funny kid. Warning, partially nude photo!

Here he is hard at work.

We've been busy having my mom move and then having Ben's mom come and now things are finally starting to settle down. Football season is here and fall is arriving.

I'm still trying to like our dog. What was I thinking? Seriously, anyone can HAVE her for free! I'm trying to train her but I feel like I have two 18 month olds-a baby would have been much easier-diapers and no movement!

No headway on the baby front either...we are going to be starting some tests in the next few months to find out what's going on. I know I got pregnant somehow before and hopefully it will happen again. Still have some sad days realizing I should be huge pregnant and having a baby this December but faith keeps us going! Wish us luck!

Meet our new BABY Chloe

2009-08-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

Meet Chloe Butcher...no we are not expecting, but we did jump ship and get a purebred black lab puppy today. She is six weeks old and TINY! Hyrum loves her and so far she has been so good. Knock on wood...she has not peed or pooped in our house yet...only outside. And she has only barked mildly and rarely. Here are some pictures of our new baby!
Hyrum loves playing with her.

Such a cute face!

Sleeps most of the day!

More playful this evening so far!

Figured this would give me something to do while I wait to have another baby. Should be intersting these next few days!

Vacation Adventures

2009-08-01T14:27:00.001-07:00

We made it to Portland, OR and back in one piece and had some fun along the way. It was really nice to get out of town for a few days though I'm not sure I'll drive 12 hours each way with a 17month old again. The drive there took many stops and frequent whinning and crying but we made it. The ride home was much more enjoyable and Hyrum did great considering it all. Above is a picture of Hyrum in my grandparents dog's bed (Lu Lu). He liked to sit there and read a golf magazine... Below is a picture of Hyrum in the bathtub. Every night we'd scrub him down from the days adventures!

Here is Hyrum and Uncle Nate having fun together. Hyrum likes to follow and immitate anything Nate does.

This is a picture of my mom holding a BABY bunny. Like 2 days old! My Uncle has a farm of sorts and had baby bunnies and ducks so we took Hyrum to see them. He had a blast chasing the chickens and ducks around.

Here is Hyrum hugging the bunny! Careful!

Hyrum thinking about touching the duck!

We got lucky enough to go to the beach for a day and escape the heat in Portland. It was kinda cold and misty (typical Cannon Beach weather) until mid morning where we got a rare sunny and warm day at the beach. Hyrum loved the sand and loved running into the cold ocean! Look at those blue eyes!

Hyrum walking on the beach.

What is this sand...think I'll taste it a couple of times.

So not the best picture but my grandparents have a hot tub and Hyrum LOVED it. He is so fearless of water and was constantly trying to dunk his head under. Must be my child cause we love the water!

Here is a picture of us from the beach. Not the best but better than nothing!

We had a fun time and got to eat at Chipotle, visit Ikea, see family and friends that we haven't seen in forever. Ben left us after a couple of days to come back and work but we enjoyed our mini vacation together!

The only downpointe to the vacation is finding out my mom will permanently move to Portland at the end of August! Bummer! At least we're a little closer but her close proximity will be greatly missed!

Summer Fun!

2009-07-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

We finally have had some warm weather and we've been enjoying the outdoors! Hyrum LOVES water! Not afraid whatsoever! We got him a little pool and he loves to play in it. Here are some picture of him in the pool.
This is his Redskin jersey from last summer...it still fits so Ben is excited to get one more round of Redskin jersey pictures! We'll post them after we take them!

There is a great pool in Pocatello called Ross park. My mom and I and uncle Nate took Hyrum swimming there a few weeks ago. He loved the water and kept trying to put his face in to blow bubbles. Here is a picture of him sun bathing and warming up!

Here is Hyrum with my cookie jar container aka his new favorite toy. He love to walk around with it on his head and talk into it. Funny the things get into!

It's July already! Can't believe it! We went to Pocatello for 4th of July weekend. My mom also has a little pool for Hyrum and so here is Hyrum and Pepper aka doggie in the pool. Hyrum love dogs still!

After we got out of the pool he loves to snuggle! I hope this continues forever!

My mom let Hyrum discover the hose. He loved it and got drinks from it! So cute!

We attended the parade on the 4th. Hyrum was a trooper considering you have to get there a little early to get seats and all he can really do is watch-not run for candy like everyone else. It was fun though!

Watching the parade-drinking his water!

Here's a little video for the grandparents of Hyrum playing in the pool. Hyrum has been sick of course the last few weeks so we are on the mend again. We are excited to celebrate Ben's 28th (wow thats old) birthday on Friday! In about 9 days we leave for Portland, OR for our summer trip! Can't wait to get out of town!

Dunk the Ball

2009-06-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

It's been forever since I've blogged so I have a lot to catch up on. We got our patio done a few weeks ago and my mom came up to watch Hyrum for us so we could get it done. Above is a picture of Hyrum in his swimsuit playing in the grass/pool with my mom.
I started a garden and Hyrum found it. Here are a few funny pictures of him in the mud. He LOVES mud! It was a fun bathtime experience after this...and yes, he ate dirt.

Hyrum had his first haircut by a professional. My mom and I have been attempting to do it but he is too squirmy. He sad perfectly still and was a little unsure of what was going on. So cute now that we can see his eyes!

Here is our finished patio. Yeah!

Ben's sister Becky and I took the kids to the IF zoo a week ago. It was fun and Hyrum called every animal a doggie. He wouldn't pose but here is a picture of him on a chicken.

Before going to the zoo I had to wake him up and just had to take a picture because he is so precious when he sleeps!

Sorry the pics are out of order but here is another one of him losing his hair.

We had an interesting week. Hyrum started the week of with a bang by falling out of the shopping cart at walmart-very traumatic experience and please everyone buckle your children in and don't be a bad mom like me! After a phone call to my mom, the pediatrician, and Dr. Butcher (my bro-in-law) we determined he was fine and not worthy an ER visit and the bill that goes with it! Thanks to all those that helped! The next day was Hyrum's 15month check up where the nurse totally laughed with me about the previous day events(fall). Hyrum is 33.5 inches tall (97%) and 22lbs 11oz (24%). He is healthy and strong and if he turns out bad its cause we dropped him on his head from the shopping cart!

We had a BBQ this week with some of Ben's co-workers which was fun and other than that we've been stuck inside because of the rain! Ready for summer to start!

Here is a video of Hyrum dunking the basketball in his hoop. Maybe he should play for the Magic and they would win...not that we're big Magic fans...just want the Lakers to lose! Anyway-Hyrum is his father's son so enjoy grandparents!

All in all we've been having fun and new experiences!

Memorial Weekend Recap

2009-05-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

So not all of these pictures are from the weekend but here we go! We had a busy Memorial day weekend. Ben flew to Des Moines on Friday for his brother's graduation and flew home Saturday night. Hyrum and I went to Island Park with family and friends Friday night and came home Saturday to pick up Ben. Sunday was church and work for me that night. Monday we washed cars and played in the sun and enjoyed a quiet bbq! Now we can rest! Above is a picture of Hyrum in his favorite summer pjs. They have "goggies" aka doggies all over them.
Above is a picture of Hyrum eating dirt in our backyard and playing with the hose (his favorite outdoor toy). He now likes grass which is fun!
Below is a cute picture of Hyrum smiling! Getting so big now!

Daddy and Hyrum going for a walk.

Here is my mom and Hyrum and I at Island park. We went for 4-wheeler ride to some natural springs and had fun.

Hyrum gripping the bars! He loved going for rides!

Mommy and Hyrum cruising!

Grandma, Hyrum, and doggie enjoying the morning!

The kids! From L to R: Braxton, Nathan, Hyrum, and Madison. (Tyler and Steph's kids on the edges). They were just waking up!

We had a great weekend and enjoyed the great weather! Happy late Memorial Day!

Below is a video of Hyrum and I four wheeling for the grandparents.

Dr. Butcher

2009-05-14T10:12:00.001-07:00

I forgot to put on my last post what we did last Monday night. Ben's brother Michael has been living on and off with us for the past 4 months and he is now graduating medical school and going to become a Doctor! Horray! He leaves this weekend for graduation (Ben's going) and so we had a little family party Monday night at Ben's sister's house to say goodbye. Of course, I forgot my camera but for part of his graduation present I framed these pictures of Hyrum for him. Michael is going to West Virginia to do his residency in urology and Hyrum has some WV attire (from his roots as Ben says, although I don't know I want to claim WV as roots due to the reputation-just kidding). Anyway-thought they were cute pics so here you go! We had fun with our family and seeing Michael one last time. Next time I see him he'll REALLY be a doctor-graduated and all. Congrats Michael! We proud of you!

Happy Late Mother's Day!

2009-05-12T23:44:00.000-07:00

We had a busy but fun Mother's day weekend. Not to bore you but I'll catch you up on our happenings...yes I'm writing from work tonight at 0100 so excuse my randomness.
Friday Ben had the day off so we headed down to Pocatello to stay with my mom. We had yummy pizza and quality time with family. Saturday we left Hyrum and Ben & I drove down to Utah for his cousin's wedding reception. We made it a date day and were spoiled with Chipotle burritos for lunch (I'm thinking of starting a chain in Idaho I miss it so much j/k) and then a session at the Bountiful temple. It was beautiful. I had been there once before but it was rushed so it was nice to take our time. We then made a quick pit stop at Ikea to pick up a few items- really miss that store too! We then headed up Provo canyon to the old Steven's hot chocolate guy's "summer home." Ben's cousin's husband is a family friend so they got this beautiful reception site-wish I had pics! It had 3 kitchens, a HUGE theatre room, multiple bedrooms very nicely furnished, hot tub, full play ground, tennis courts, stable aka arena, multiple laundry rooms..you get the picture. It was gorgeous for a cabin! We had yummy dinner and got to catch up with the bride and other family. We then made a long drive home and got in around midnight. Ben did awesome driving through the tight construction areas covered with deer! It was scary!
Sunday we spent in Pocatello with my mom for Mother's day. Ben spoiled me with a cricut machine so I can cut vinyl and dicuts now! Thanks sweetie! Mom spoiled us with a combo mothers/fathers day present- a bbq-a big one-not one you have to bend over to use! We love it! So-anyone up for grilling come on by! Now we just got to get the patio done!

Really- it was a great Mother's day weekend with beautiful weather. I'm so grateful to be a mother this year- I thought after trying to have Hyrum for 1 year that last year I would be more grateful-and I was grateful. But this year after losing a baby so close to Mother's day I'm so grateful to be a mommy at all! If he is our only I will be grateful but hopefully we'll get to enjoy more! I love Hyrum so much and he makes me laugh even when I should be telling him no or that he is doing something bad but he is just so darn cute! I love my husband for being such a great partner and helping me be a great mommy. I'm also very grateful for our two mothers who have been great examples to us and showed us love and support. Happy late Mother's Day to all the moms and future moms and new moms!

Bad things come in threes...

2009-05-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

Well I was planning on blogging on something completely different but then today happened. They say bad things come in threes and we've hit our three so we should be done now, right? First off, we lost a baby last month. Second, Hyrum had surgery on his ears last Friday. Third, Ben passed out today at work and we spent the last 4 hours in the ER trying to figure out why he does this every now and again. We actually have 4th bad news which is we can't refinance our house because thanks to the market it has dropped in value (but that is only minor compared to the others). So, WE ARE DONE!

Actually, Ben received a blessing tonight that said we are being blessed through our trials and that they come because of our faithfulness. I guess that gives me a little comfort when things aren't going as planned or I feel not faithful enough.

I should mention, Ben is FINE. They did an EKG (heart test) and he had a slightly abnormal thing so we will be following up on that but the dr thinks its minor.

Today is Monday! I hope the week gets better.

I was orginially going to blog about the show "What would you do?". It's a show Ben & I occasionally watch about people posing in different ethical situations and how the public reacts. I had an incident today at Walmart where a couple began fighting in the check out line behind me. They were supposed to be helping a lady in a wheelchair with her two kids grocery shop. They decided to start a domestic dispute...aka fist fight...right behind me in line! This happy couple also has a little baby (why can crazy people have kids but not normal ones?) which they begin pulling at the carseat to decide who is going to take the kid because the relationship's over. Talk about white trash! I immediately jump in and tell them to knock it off and leave the baby out of it. He proceeds to punch the lady and then they run outside with the baby-leaving the poor wheelchair bound lady with her kids running down the aisles. Finally the "bright" cashier decides to call security but by the time they show up the couple has fleed. I try and help the wheelchair lady but she insists she's okay. I head out to the parking lot to find the security guards talking by some carts-not even attempting to look for the happy couple. I kept waiting for the host of the TV show to come out and ask why I decided to jump in the middle and why the others decided to rally around me once I began (as this normally happens on the show). I was dumbfounded to find out people behave like that in public for real! Needless to say-I might switch to Fred Meyer after the way employees handled things!

He's Alive!

2009-05-01T15:02:00.001-07:00

Hyrum had a bilateral myringotomy (ear tubes) today (early this morning). We had to be there at 0530 and he did great. He was very snuggly before the procedure and did not want to get into his hospital gown. The anesthesiologist gave me a scare because Hyrum started acting like he was getting another ear infection yesterday and the anesthesiologist thought we should wait to do it but the doctor doing the surgery wanted to...anyway....we did it and it turned out fine. These pictures are of Hyrum afterwards (forgot to get some before). He didn't even cry when they took him and he was back within 30minutes. He snuggled with mommy after and only cried when he wanted his applejuice. He is sleeping great today and has been playing some. We are spoiling him with jello and applejuice. We are so glad he is healthy and everything went well. Hopefully no more ear infections!

April 2009 for the Butchers

2009-04-25T19:06:00.001-07:00

To start- sorry the pictures are out of order. I'm not a smart blogger. It's been a busy month. It has been really nice weather so we've been outside alot working in the yard and avoiding updating the blog. Last night we drove up to Rexburg-just needed a night out of the big city of IF. We haven't seen the completed Rexburg temple up close since we've been back so we walked around briefly in the frigid wind. It's beautiful though-someday we'll have a chance to do a session...
Here is Hyrum working in the yard. We got a wheelbarrow and Hyrum is so strong he can push it around the yard! (empty of course) Below is Hyrum riding in the wheelbarrow being pushed by daddy.

So fun!

Hyrum is TERRIFIED of the grass. We are working on it. Shoes on-off, doesn't matter-hates grass. He does love to walk on the pavement and play in the dirt and touch the prickily weeds-weird kid. Good thing he's so cute. It's making it hard to get much yardwork done. He also loves to eat the pebbles on our driveway. Whoops!

Hyrum diggin with his dumptruck!

Our big projects right now include figuring out how the sprinklers work and digging a dirt hole for our paverstone patio that we are making. It will be great! We'll take pictures when we're done. I'm also starting a garden which my mom is helping me with because I know nothing. She took us to the nursery today to get some essentials.

We celebrated Easter a week early due to me working all of Easter weekend. Here is a picture of the kids after the Easter egg hunt (Ben's sister's kids). Couldn't get a good picture of all 5 of them looking at the camera at the same time. Good enough for grandma to enjoy though!

Here are the Luke girls (Hyrum's cousins).

Hyrum loved finding the Easter eggs.

Here is him with his Easter duck that quacks annoyingly.

Just one last cute picture of Hyrum-it was obviously a little colder outside.

All in all we're doing well and alive and happy. We've had a few struggles this month but who hasn't! We're grateful for each other and for our small but thriving family!

Hard Week

2009-04-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

As promised but VERY late, here are the pictures of our new car-we now own two silver cars. We love our new car though and are grateful for it! I will spare you the haggling details and the frustrating car dealers but I must say-when we finally got to this car it was a piece of cake! It snowed like 5inches today so I was really grateful to have the 4wd! We glided across the snow!
Inside view and another side view. Check out the nav!

No-we did not get a dog. This is Hyrum with my grandparent's new puppy. My mom's parents came to visit and we went to see them at Grandma's house. Hyrum loved the puppy-sorry kid not getting one anytime soon! Cute pic of Hyrum though!

Well, we've had kinda a hard week this week. Between work and time off Hyrum has gotten another ear infection and has to get tubes put in his ears. I'm not excited he has to have surgery but I am hoping this will terminate our weekly visits to Dr. E. He must be sick of us coming and I'm sick of antibiotics! Poor Hyrum just got done with a 3 day course of Rocephin (antibiotic) shots for this current ear infection. We meet with the ENT in 2 weeks and then we'll set a date for tubes.

The saddest part of my week happened on April 1st. My grandpa (Dad's Dad) died at the age of 94. Now I know he lived a good long life but it is still very sad and I miss him and feel for my grandma right now. I feel sad that she has to be alone and go through this. They had 71 years together of marriage. My grandpa was an OBGYN and I loved to talk to him about medical things. Also, in his later years (like 90) he went back to college to take computer classes. He also was a craftsman and carved beautiful wooden birds that look authentic. I will miss him so much and can't wait to see him in the future. It gives me temple work to do!

Here is Hyrum walking...not doing it perfectly but he's trying much more now.

New Car Tomorrow!

2009-03-23T10:05:00.001-07:00

I finally convinced Ben that I need a bigger car after lugging Hyrum in and out killing my back. Ben's stipulation was that baby #2 had to be on the way first...no I'm not expecting...but the deals were too good to pass up so Ben gave in! Tomorrow we hit the road down to Utah to buy our SUV! Ben's playing hooky from work and Ben's sister Becky is graciously (sp?) watching Hyrum so we don't have to haggle with a fussy baby and car dealers. I'm putting my game face on and going to get us a good deal (I'm the negotiator of the two of us). We are probably going to get a Honda Pilot-the one we like has a navigation system, leather, heated seats, 4wd, moonroof! I've never had such a fancy car! The real incentive is the 4wd. It is snowing right now after being 70 the past few days. Yuck! Wish spring was here for good. We'll post pictures when our king car arrives!

Big Helper

2009-03-10T10:08:00.001-07:00

Hyrum is quite the helper when it comes to laundry. He has to be everywhere I am so naturally I cannot do the laundry in peace. I have put him to good use though. He likes to stand in front of the open drier as I put clothes in or take clothes out. He likes to help take the wet ones out too. I thought these pictures were funny though because he has never climbed in the basket to accompish this task before. Warning-laundry is in the pictures!

We went to the Jazz game last Friday night and it was a blast! The first half was shaky as the Jazz were down by 19 at one point. We had a huge comeback in the second half though! We got a free t-shirt at the game. They were parashooting t-shirts down from the rafters and one managed to float over to us. We weren't even trying too hard to grab it. I'm amazed no one around us grabbed it first! We had interesting company at the game. We had the two already drunk twenty somethings sitting next to Ben offering him a shot at every basket made! Then, on my side I had the old couple that was way too big for their seats that had who knows what all over them (stinky). We did have awesome seats though and we loved it! We went to the SLC temple the next day which was a huge session. Every other time we've gone it has been us and maybe one other couple! The room was packed and it was great! Well, Hyrum is awake so off I go!

Happy 1st Birthday Hyrum! (a day late)

2009-02-28T10:08:00.000-08:00

So I decided I'm a horrible blogger but bear with me because I don't want to start over!

Happy 1st Birthday Hyrum! We love you so much and are so grateful you came to us! You brighten every day! We had an exciting a fun filled birthday I hope. We are going to go backwards through the day because my pics are all out of order. Sorry! The top picture is Hyrum getting into the tub after a messy cake experience. Thanks grandma for washing him!

Below is a picture of Hyrum once the cake was gone! He DUG in! Not shy at all about it!

Here is Hyrum enjoying his car cake I made him! He loved the frosting!

Below: This is at the beginning of the cake eating process. Notice no frosting on arm or eyes yet!

Here is his birthday cake all lit up! I though it turned out cute. We ended up taking it away because he was showing no signs of stopping. I didn't want him to be sick to his stomach!

We opened presents. He made out with more stuff than at Christmas. Thanks to all our family and friends that contributed! Hyrum is grateful! He played with his new toys all morning (as in today).

Hyrum climbing on his presents!

This is the birthday boy first thing in the morning!

Can't believe he was this tiny a year ago! How he has changed! We love you Hyrum!

Ben had the day off for Hyrum's birthday which was an added bonus. We got pictures taken at JCPenny to mark the event. They turned out okay. Wish Cari was here to experiment with us! The family came for the big party-Ben's sister and her family, Ben's cousin and her family, and my mom and Nate. We had pizza, presents, and cake. Our brother-in-law Ian was celebrating his birthday as well yesterday so Happy birthday to him. Thanks for sharing your day with a one year old!

We love Hyrum so much and had a blast. I don't have pictures of it but he loved the balloons we got him. That and the cake were the best part!
Here is a video for the grandparents to see him eating cake. Sorry it is sideways but I'm retarded! Enjoy!

For the Grandparents...

2009-02-21T20:12:00.000-08:00

Hyrum has learned some new tricks this week that we wanted to post so Grandma and Grandpa Butcher could see. Hyrum is walking around everything and discovered walking with his dump truck. Ben took a video so here it is! Also- don't call the police on us but we moved Hyrum to his big boy carseat 6 days before his birthday! He loves it and loves to face forward and see us! We drove to Rexburg today to see Ben's Sister's family and he giggled the whole way there and back! Here are a few pictures of that as well!

Bye Bye Baby- Hello Big Boy

2009-02-19T09:59:00.001-08:00

So this is lame to post about but today is my last day nursing my baby boy. After this I consider him a big boy. After weeks of cutting down to this moment-I will be done nursing tonight and tomorrow we start cold turkey! Over the last 2 weeks Hyrum has had to go down for a nap without nursing or a bottle and we are finally to the point where he doesn't scream for an hour every time I lay him down. So, I'm off to work tomorrow night and Ben gets to see how the first night of no bottle/nursing goes! Hyrum is now drinking whole milk, eating half a sandwhich for lunch, and eating about as much of dinner as I do. He must be his father's child. Although it is sad to realize in one week one day my baby will be 1 and his baby days are over and toddler days are here, I decided I love him enough to not have him be a 3 year old nursing-I guess I can sacrifice my bond to not have a weird child and get weird looks in the nursing room at church for breastfeeding a 3 year old. Enough said.

I am however really looking forward to the FREEDOM! To celebrate, Ben and I are taking a late Valentine's trip to SLC (wahoo i know) to see a JAZZ game. Ben is super excited. We are getting a hotel for the night (grandma gets Hyrum)-going to eat Chipotle which we have been missing, sleeping in, and probably going to hit a session at the SLC temple where we were married. The game is March 6th and we are on the countdown! I could get used to this!

New Addition

2009-02-10T13:04:00.001-08:00

Nothing too exciting going on here. Here a few pictures of Hyrum in a cute new outfit Grandma Butcher got him for church. It really brings out the blue in his eyes! Only 2 weeks until the big birthday!
So handsome!
So our new addition is a brand new computer! We are sick of waiting forever for our old one and it was out of memory so I couldn't save any more pics of Hyrum-so we splurged with our tax return and got a new computer and love it. It is a HP Pavillion Elite and that's about all I know about it. It is super fast and great!
Hyrum and I go to the doctor later to see how the ears are improving. Hopefully his ear infection is gone. He has had to take this medicine twice a day for 10 days which I literally have to hold him down and close his mouth to get him to take it. I tried mixing it with all types of food and got nothing but him spitting it back out at me! I have to laugh because yesterday he decided he finally liked it and sucked it right out of the syringe! Of course-the last day of the medicine and he decides to like it!

11 months old!

2009-01-27T13:34:00.001-08:00

Today Hyrum is 11 months old! Can't believe I was huge pregnant this time last year and that my little guy is so big now (and so cute!). He still loves smiling for the camera!
Here is a picture of him in a football sweater Grandma Butcher gave him. Just wanted to post this so she could see.

All smiles!

I have to say how much I love my husband and all he puts up with. This picture is from the other night when Hyrum lost his dinner while ruff-housing with Ben. Ben survived and we laughed about it. He always seems to be the one to get the yucky stuff...like being peed on when he was a newborn. Thanks also to Ben for shoveling the 12 inches of snow we got in 2 days since I was working and tired! Love ya!

I forgot to mention some excitement that has been occuring around here. First, Happy 11th Birthday to Nathan (my brother) tomorrow! Second, Hyrum has had 2 ear infections in the last 3 weeks which might possible be due to news #3. Third, we got new callings at church- Sunbeam primary teachers! We have 10 kids and they are wonderful but I must admit that I don't recommend 10-3 year olds, an 11 month old, and 2 adults. The odds are not in our favor especially when nap time is missed for Hyrum. It keeps us busy and 3 year olds say the darndest things! Since I've been baby hungry this has curred all thoughts of wanting to get pregnant anytime soon. Fourth, Ben and I are finally looking forward to going to Lava Hot Springs on Friday night while Grandma babysitts for us. We're making up for our lost Anniversary plans. No-we will not be posting pictures from this event. Swimsuits in January is just not pretty-can't believe I'm even going to get in one-hope it fits! We are also going to celebrate Nate's birthday this weekend which should be fun.

The countdown to Disneyland has arrived. We hope to go mid June depending on work for me. My vacation request is in so hope it gets approved! Any input on other fun things to see/do there woudl be greatly appreciated.

Happy New Year...A little late

2009-01-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year... a little late. We have been busy but I'm back and updating! New Years day we spent painting Hyrum's room blue. Here are some pictures of it. Hyrum is standing and walking around things everywhere. He loves to open drawers and get into everything!
Here is his blue room! We love it!

Here are some cute pictures of Hyrum that we have taken recently.

Here is Hyrum in a Christmas outfit from Aunt Sheila.

Here is Hyrum crawling around our house for all to see. He's our big mover! He'll be 1 in 1 month!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-03T13:49:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-27T07:11:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-18T18:54:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-04T08:16:00.001-08:00

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

2008-10-25T15:23:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-10-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-10-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-01T07:23:00.001-07:00

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!!!

2008-09-18T08:54:00.002-07:00

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...

2008-09-18T08:54:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-28T07:24:00.001-07:00

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!

Couch Potato vs. Bon Bons

2008-08-14T06:18:00.001-07:00

Here is my little couch potato. Hyrum is always grabbing for the remote from me or Ben so I gave him the remote to our old TV (minus the batteries). He loves to play with it and push the buttons. I set him on the couch the other day to sit for a minute and when I came back this is how I found him. He is his father's child for sure. He had a bored look on his face until I got the camera out and then he smiled. He wasn't facing the TV though-no TV for this little guy yet!
The lazy picture of Hyrum reminded me of a conversation we had this weekend. We went down to Old Town Alexandria with some friends to play ladder golf. It started off well with Hyrum being good laying on the beach towel in the grass watching us play. Our friend made the comment that all moms have to do is read all day and lounge around (eat bon bons). I thought-yeah, he is just being good now, wait and see. For my negative thoughts I was rewarded during dinner. We went to a yummy Thai restaurant where Hyrum proceeded to cry through most of dinner and the dessert was prune juice colored puke on my white shirt. Yeah! How is that for bon bons! I'm pretty sure we were on the "do not call" list for our friends for a while since we had a kid. They decided to give us another shot with an outing with the kid. After Saturday, I'm pretty sure we're on the "do not call" list again.
Here is a picture of Hyrum eating carrots for the first time. He normally is a pretty clean eater so I have to take pictures when he's not just for laughs. I like the carrots on the forhead. He actually liked them though. Yesterday we tried grean beans which he also liked. Our big eater!
So cute! BIG NEWS: I am going to Idaho Sept 15-24th! Yeah. Hyrum and I are flying our for the week to see my mom. Can't wait! The countdown has begun! I wish we were moving but a vacation will hold me over for now! Something to look forward to at least!

Today marks 6 years since my dad died. My mom and I were talking how time flies but how it also feels like just yesterday too. This year I can say I've really learned to appreciate all that my dad did for me. My brother-in-law is in med school and hearing all his horror stories makes me so grateful my dad went through all that to provide us with a nice living. Wish he could have been around this year for the birth of Hyrum (since he was an OBGYN) and to ask him annoying questions about what is going on with Hyrum. I know he is watching over us and I miss him much! Love you dad and love you mom for holding us together!

What's new with us...

2008-07-29T13:08:00.001-07:00

This is our big 5 month old little guy! He know is very aware of the camera and smiles on occasion when looking at it. Most of the time he is too fascinated with the orange light that comes with taking the picture. But, none the less it is a cute one of him!

Below Ben turned the big 27 on July 10 (a while ago I know). Hyrum got him a Redskin's football and I got him a Redskin's sweatshirt. Football season is now here Ben has informed me since scrimmages (sp?) have started. Ben loved the football way more than the sweatshirt!

Hyrum enjoys the football as well.
Our little guy can now hold his head up (he has for a while now). He loves to eat oatmeal, applesauce, prunes, and pears. He sleeps on his tummy now (all of the time). He is mostly sleeping through the night now as well. YAHOO!
As for the Idaho update-we are still in Virginia. The latest news is that the manager hiring Ben is overloaded and understaffed and is having a hard time getting her part of the offer together. They say they still want him and that an offer will be coming any day-we have heard this for a month but are still hopeful it will happen sooner than later. We talk to them weekly so we are informed.

It is hot in Virginia-wish we would have been able to use our pool passes this summer! Work is going well-I'm ready to leave! Sunday night at work was chaos! We had 2 staff nurses in each of the 4 intensive rooms and 4-5 travelers to go with us. Talk about chaos when only the staff nurses can admit new babies and each staff nurse has a 1:1 patient! We managed to admit somehow though-no thanks to the travelers! I'm getting tired of them sitting around and not being team players! Thankfully the other staff nurse and I are good friends and a good support to each other-we managed to keep everyone alive for the night!

I got my Virginia car tax in the mail today. It is rediculous that in this state you have to pay taxes on your car every year-and when you buy the car. There goes another $300 we could have used! Can't wait to move to Idaho and not have things like that.

On a positive note-gas dropped to $4.04 today! Haven't seen it that low in a while! Maybe it won't be $4.50 when we move after all!

So everyone talks about the Twilight series. I'm seeking new books for reading at work and this is my new target. If anyone has the first book and would lend it to me that would be great! Library has a waiting list 20 people long!

Okay-I'm done babbling for another month unless something exciting happens with a job! Keep praying for us to move!

Our Update...

2008-06-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hyrum is growing strong. This was at 16 weeks. He loves to spit now and play with his helicopter. He can also roll over from tummy to back and from back to tummy! He is also beginning to teethe. We had our 4 month check up with lots of shots. He weighs 15lbs 8 oz (65%), 27 1/4 inches (99%). He also got to start rice cereal!
Here is Hyrum in a new outfit that Grandma Breese sent us. Cute!
We broke down and got him a bumbo to help him learn how to hold his head up. This was the first attempt. Not quite got it yet!
Here was another attempt and we are doing better. Still not full head control yet but we are getting there. He has also rolled onto his tummy a few times while he sleeps. We're trying to keep him on his back for SIDS but we'll see!
Here is how our first attempt with rice cereal went. He actually did great the first time!
The 2nd and 3rd time wasn't as successful. He spit most of it out and grimaced from the taste. Poor guy!
More feeding pictures!
Last night we had a thunderstorm and lost our power for 2 hrs. About 10 minutes after the power went out we saw fire trucks and ambulances all around our house. A few town-houses down a tree fell down into the townhouse! Here are some pictures of it! Scary! As we drove to church this morning we saw many more BIG trees down! (Side view)
Front view. All is well with us. Hope it is with you too!

Bad Mommy...

2008-06-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was feeling like a bad mommy. It was kind of a rough day for us. It started out with Hyrum tipping his bouncer over while he was in it. He was bouncing (strapped in) and it fell over backwards resulting in a large thud (his head) on the hard wood floors. I ran over to him (he was screaming at this point) and picked him up. He immediately calmed down so I think he was scared more than hurt but I felt really guilty. I was just about to get in the shower so good thing I wasn't already in it! The next mishap happened when I was unloading the dishwasher. Hyrum was laying on the floor on his play mat and was voicing his need to eat. He managed to scoot off of the mat and onto the rug in front of our back door (about 3 feet way). There he was laying on the dirty floor. Third, at about 7pm both Ben & I felt like he was warm so I had to take his temperature (not by mouth to say the least) and he had a low grade fever of 99.7. Paranoid I put him in our room to sleep since we have a fan. We've been in heat warning all week with temps around 100 and VERY humid! Can't wait to get to Idaho! Anyway, I warned Ben about the bouncer and now I have one less tool to entertain him while I try to get things done/shower. I'll let him sit in it still but not unless I'm right there.
On a happier note, this weekend is my birthday(the big 22). I work Friday night but Ben is taking me to Chevy's on Saturday and Ben's parents are going to watch Hyrum. (Our first night out together alone and Hyrum's first babysitter!) Sunday is Ben's first Father's Day so I'm making something special for him (it's a surprise). I'm debating taking work off Sunday to be with my men but we'll see. If we could get the official offer on this Idaho job it would be much easier to use my 28hours of remaining pto I have stored up!
References have been called and the background check is being done. Everything looks like it will come together. Waiting 2 months is really hard though! I just hope to know officially by the end of the month! We want to move before gas is $6 a gallon!