Lots of Photos

What a fun month we're having!  Actually it started at the end of March when the Roach family visited, they are great kids and ours loved spending time with them.   We went to a park one morning for a bit and Paxton loved this group swing.  He refers to his cousin Davis as "the boy who is faster than me".  Hopefully they had a good visit, except for that late night at the urgent care clinic : (  To be honest, we felt like we didn't get enough time with the Roaches...they were often coming and going and yes, they have many places to go and people to see.  But, as Dave put it, that's just how they roll.

Paxton likes to spin until he can't stand up anymore.  I get sick just watching him.  He has always liked this kind of thing, as well as swinging and just plain running around.  We have considered a big swing set in our own backyard but with so many so close we may just keep the open space and have an excuse to visit everyone else's yard.

Easter was a fun morning, we managed to get the kids ready for church before they opened some gifts.  This year Paxton chose his from the toy store, a stomp rocket so he can put his energy to work.  It's pretty fun, except that the rockets have made the roof their landing pad a few times.  With the help of the wind and a very tall dad, Paxton has gotten most of them back.  Later we also had an egg hunt as part of Bennett's birthday activities.  Even though eggs and hiding eggs have absolutely nothing to do with the real reason for the holiday (in our religion) it makes a nice activity for the kids!

Bennett here is tackling his Oso bear which he got for Easter.  He loves to cuddle with anything soft or furry...pillows, stuffed animals, and live animals. Our neighbor has a very large fluffy dog and Bennett is happy to try to bury his face in her fur.  It's so cute, if we toss a blanket over a pillow he just falls on top.  He enjoys the simple things in life!

 

It was really special to celebrate Bennett's birthday and Easter on the same day. Here's the before with a clean baby and an angel food Easter egg cake for him to destroy. He was pretty careful at first, then he realized we really were going to let him have at it....you can see in the next photo that he needed WATER.  He isn't used to a lot of sugar and I paid the price in diapers the next day.  But, it was fun to get the photo opp that everyone seems to have.

A strange but fun tradition. But at his 12 month Dr checkup, I was assured that a little cake here and there is okay.  Bennett has always had a healthy (by healthy I actually mean larger and almost off the charts) weight but he is finally falling back within the "normal" range, though he is near the top of that.  It is amazing how quickly these tiny humans change, his head size started out smaller than average and now it's bigger than average. No wonder he leads with his head!

We bought a big balloon bouquet, this is just part of it even after giving them away to cousins.  Paxton has fun with them too...like every boy he seems to want to pop them more than anything. Speaking of boys, of the family members we had at the party, there was only ONE girl there and 9 boys.  The other 5 girls in this group of cousins couldn't be there, one is just about a week younger than Bennett.  She is a doll, and we were sad not to have her, her family, or the Roaches with us that day.  It's exciting to have another girl coming very soon...hang in there Jen!

Here's Bennett's first professional haircut.  I learned a lot about how I might be able to do it in the future...I won't be as good or as quick as Jen here (who is indeed a pro) but by the time he is old enough to be laughed at by his friends I should be able to do an ok job. Then again, by then maybe he won't let me cut it!  What a difference a great haircut can make - he now looks like a little boy instead of a baby.  Aww.

This is the big birthday gift, it took a day to get some sand in it and he and Paxton enjoy it. The little area around the edge can be filled with water which we'll do when the weather turns really warm.  

 

Just thought some of our day to day pics would be good.

Now, one more SWEET day to talk about.  Friday, we were able to join Jaylene in receiving her Endowment. She is going to be a married woman in less than 3 WEEKS! Wow.  It's been sooo nice to see her so happy and engaged to a great guy, she deserves a beautiful life and we feel privileged to be a part of it. So Jared's mom and I attended a bridal shower on Saturday and we got a special preview of her dress...VERY LOVELY. Thanks to Sis. Johnson for all her love and hard work.  This flower - it's called a Fritillaria, it happens to be in our yard, and at the temple on Friday we noticed them all over in their planting beds with tulips.  That's the connection.