Family Time

I can't believe its the last week of July! This summer has gone by so fast! Scott's parents came to visit us this month from Hong Kong. It was so good to see them and we had so much fun! We got to celebrate my birthday, Benson's birthday and my graduation while they were out here. We took them to some of the sites and showed them where Scott works.

They travel a lot for Grandpa's job- so we got some awesome gifts from Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines.Here are a few highlights

Benson loves Chipotle as much as his Dad, can you tell?
One of the many presents from Hong Kong, I can't wait for him to wear it!
We went to this AMAZING restaurant called Akita, its a Japanese place where you pay a flat rate and get to order anything off the menu, they had great sushi, teppanyaki and teriyaki. It was so much fun.
Grandpa and Benson in their coordinating outfits.
We went to the pool for a bit and benson loved showing Grandpa and Grandma his skills of jumping in the water
Benson loved having Grandpa Berrett around, he always wanted to play and make sure Grandpa was watching him.

We also took them to Mall of America right before they left and there were hundreds and hundreds of girls.....and Zac Efron there. I'll admit I was a little excited hearing that he was at the mall but then hearing hundreds and hundreds of girls scream when he came onto the stage hurt my ears and I walked away.

Celebrate

Coconut Curry Chicken

This is one of Scott's favorite new meals. I'm trying to expand our dinners a little and he likes it so much, he told me I should post it right away. The only thing i change, is the amount of sugar - I just put a little less than it calls for. We have it with rice, broccoli and nann (i tried making my own nann but then found out that trader joes has them in their freezer section).

Coconut Curry Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, or to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed, diced tomatoes
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Directions

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil and curry powder in a large skillet over medium-high heat for two minutes. Stir in onions and garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add chicken, tossing lightly to coat with curry oil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in center and juices run clear.
3. Pour coconut milk, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sugar into the pan, and stir to combine. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

“We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith.”

the last few months have been really hard on me. being home is not as easy as i once imagined and dreamed. i was so excited to be home with my child once i was done with school and my husbands job settle down. Ive had this image since i was a little girl what a mom's life was like, and in this image, it was great.

life is great for being a stay at home mom but its nothing to sneeze at. watching my girlfriends who don't have kids yet accomplish things that seem so much more important than dusting, changing diapers and playing peek a boo. they are out fulfilling careers, traveling the world and furthering their education.

I've felt like what I've been doing at home is not important and has little meaning in the scheme of life. Ive thought on occasion that this life is maybe not what I want and that its not fulfilling. That i'm not good at it and I shouldn't of chosen this path. But then I realized that when you try something for the first time in your life, when do you ever just get the hang of it on the first day? Grant it, there are those women out there that as soon as that baby pops out look like they've been a mother their whole life. I'm not like that.

I've had to start making goals for myself and thinking about what things I want to fill my time and life with. Between the several emotional breakdowns to spending my hours with self pity I'm finally learning a little bit more about my role here at home. I saw this video today and it really put things into perspective...

Happy Birthday Benson

Benson turned one! We really wanted to get him the child size table and chair from Ikea but they are out of stock right now, so he'll have to wait. But he did love his cupcake, so much that the following day I walked in the kitchen and he had grabbed the cupcake wrapper out of the trash and was eating it and getting the crumbs off it.




He was so sad the party was over and time for bed.

The apple and the tree

Just after we got home from our big trip, Benson started taking his first steps. He's hasnt quite mastered the task but he tries. The only thing that can really get him to walk is if we pull out the bike pump. I think its genetic that Scott likes bikes so much and it has been passed onto our child. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Beach Week

My parents rented a house just across the street from the beach. I was so excited for Benson to see the ocean for the first time! Here he is with grandpa and me with his first trip to the ocean.
The day before we left he had woken up with some type of sores around his lips, he had three of them and i just knew they were cold sores. i panicked. there is something about having a first child that makes you so worried when they get sick. It a whole guessing game- does their throat hurt? do they feel achy? are they okay? why are they sick? where did they get it from? how long is it going to last? should i take him into the hospital? how much tylenol is too much? why wont he sleep? is he drinking enough? should i try to force him to eat more? is he eating enough?
i hate it. i dont handle it well at all.

The following day, he had more on his face and it made me more stressed. the first night at the beach house, Benson got up at 2am with a fever and didn't got back to sleep till 4 in the afternoon. When he first got up, I went and put a onesie over the lamp in the bedroom to try to keep it dim, hoping he'd go back to sleep. It was around 2am when all this commotion happened. i was holding him on the bed and i could smell smoke- like a bonfire. it really bugged me. Why would some idiot have a fire burning on the bay side at 2am. Then I realized it must be one of our neighbors because the smell was so strong. But normally at a bonfire there are people talking and some type noise. it was quiet. really quiet. The whole time I'm thinking about weird people who have bonfires at 2am and don't make a peep, I'm holding Benson and just looking down at him. My eyes started stinging and i look up and the whole dang bedroom is filled with smoke. I turn to the lamp with the onesie on it and its on fire. uuh-hu.

I woke my mom up in a panic holding the onsie that was on fire with my sick baby on the other side. the rest of the week my room smelled like smoke and i'm sorry to say that we are short one onesie. (sorry Kristie!)


The following night Benson wouldnt sleep unless someone was holding him, by this time his sores started to spread to his eyes and we were giving him medicine to keep his fever down every 4 hours. my mom and i took turns holding him through the night and the next morning we went to the doctors. He said he contracted the virus that causes cold sores and he'll be likly to get cold sores the rest of his life, espeically if hes in the sun too much or stressed. He said that the first time small children get the virus, it breaks out really bad but wont ever get like it again. I felt so bad for the poor guy.

This is the worst it got, but it takes about a month to heal. he has small red spots where the sores were, the doctor promised no scares would come from it.

Me and Dallin took him to the aquarium one day, and he loved it. you can see that Dallin is very sympathetic towards him.

The trip to D.C.

While out on our east coast trip, we drove up to Richmond to see my sister and spend the weekend and then we went to D.C. to see my brother and his family. They just had a new baby and it was so fun to see my new niece! I forgot how small newborns are! We also were planning on visiting my girlfriend from high school but the day that we were going to head over there she called and said her little girl got the croup. As much as I wanted to see her, I didn't want to have to risk Benson getting the same thing. So we ended our trip early and headed home.

The hard part of the trip was when we stayed with my parents friends and Benson was out of his schedule and screamed the first half of the night, and when the a/c in the car broke and it was 100% humidity in 95 degree weather and when the car suddenly died on 395 while everyone around is going 70mph.

We did stop by and see the Washington monument and went to the American History Museum. One of my favorite parts was the first ladies dressed. This one below is Abe Lincoln's wifes dress and then below that is Michelle Obama. The dresses were gorgeous.

They also had a child station me and Benson stopped by and played with the blocks and toys for a bit.
We went and saw Julia Child's kitchen, it was really interesting. I think I'm going to have this quote put up somewhere in my house to remind me that i should have a good time because that picture below of Julia is not the same expression i have on my face every time i make dinner, just ask Scott.

The trip to NC

Here are some random pictures from visiting my parents. They were able to get all the grand kids together for a picture (you can see spots on Benson's face- the story will come).
I think we might of found him a Halloween costume
You can tell he got to do whatever he wanted while he was at mimi's, including pulling off almost every roll of toilet paper in the house.

belated fathers day

While we were visiting my parents, Benson discovered his best friend was my dad. My dad is a professor and so has some extra time in the summer. The days when Benson would start to drive me crazy, my dad would take him out to the hammock and they would sit there and just spend time together. Their other favorite thing to do while at the beach was to sit on the porch that faced the bay and watch the birds fly around.

When we were growing up a lot of our vacations were at a beach and the best thing about the beach to us when we were kids, was boogie boarding. We would spend hours trying to ride in the surf. My dad would go out there with us to help and to celebrate when we got "the perfect one". It had been years since the last time i boarded but this trip to the beach, one afternoon me and my dad went out and caught some great waves. It was so much fun and although his brown hair is now gray and his wrinkles are becoming more and more familiar through his face, he's still my dad and he still knows how to catch "the perfect one".

We were away in North Carolina for Scott's first Fathers day (yes, i know- it probably wasn't the best idea to leave my husband alone on his first fathers day). We missed him terribly and the night that we got home, Benson was so excited to see his dad that he didn't want anyone else to hold him. Since we've been home and over the three day weekend, Scott has been able to catch up on some playtime with Benson and he loves it. Scott is a great example to Benson and we are so lucky to have him in our lives.

Scott is a great dad and husband, we're so glad to be back home with him!