Happy Halloween!

Today was Nayeli's first Halloween. She was so cute dressed up as a strawberry. We went to our ward party earlier in the evening then came home to be together. Side note: Ben won the Chili Cook-off in our ward! When I groaned to him yesterday that I had to make a pot of chili for the ward party, he was more than willing to make his famous Taco Soup. And then he won. I'm so proud.

In other news, Nayeli recently turned seven months and is getting so big. Being her mom is wonderful. If I had to use one word to describe her it would be intense. What I mean is, she loves to be part of the action. It always seems like her mind is going 100 mph and she wants to discover everything. We love it.

A few days ago the weather was beautiful, so she and I went outside to take some pictures of her in her costume. Most of the pictures involved her eating the leaves, but I got some cute ones nonetheless.

 Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Family Pictures!!!

Last night we did something I've been wanting to do for awhile. We got professional family pictures taken with Nayeli. We'd gotten plenty of amateur ones but something inside of me really wanted to go to a studio and get nice pictures. And I'm really glad we did.

I had a friend recommend Camera Shy to me. It's a studio in Lehi that give you 45 minutes with a photographer and then a CD of all your images. We had a really great experience there and would highly recommend it.

Well all of us except Nayeli. She was having a rough night. 

But luckily she wasn't sad the whole night and we got some good ones (sorry in advance for the picture overload. It's more for my mom and sisters than anybody else).

 

 

Initially I put a pearl necklace on her but all she wanted to do was suck on it.

This is what happened when I took the necklace away.

But she's so cute; it's so easy to make her happy again.

 Until I put a hat on her. Then I was subject to her wrath once more.

 But once again, she's easy to cheer up.

I love these pictures. In fact, it's almost 1am and Ben and Nayeli are already asleep. I haven't gone to bed because I can't stop looking at these pictures over and over and smiling. How did I ever get so lucky?  I can't believe I have such a wonderful family. Really, Heavenly Father outdid himself when he gave me Ben and Nayeli.

Facebook vs. Blogging

As of late, I've had a personal dilemma.

Until my last post I hadn't updated our blog for 6 weeks. Why? Well I've been having an internal debate lately about whether to put photos and updates of our family on Facebook or on Blogger. I know, I know, this really isn't a serious problem (a first-world problem, as my brother-in-law Darren would say). However I don't have the patience to do both and I feel like I'm not pleasing everyone (including myself) if I only do one.

Obviously I enjoy the space I have to write on Blogger.  However the picture upload on Facebook is much faster.  Also, my family tends to check the blog more while most of my friends keep updated on my life through Facebook.

Any opinions from you fellow Facebook / Blogger users?

Brigham City Temple and Willard Bay

A few weeks ago (okay, maybe more like months ago) my sister Julia invited us all up to her house in Perry, Utah for the Brigham City Temple Open House. We drove up on a Saturday and got to spend time with my parents, Julia and her family, Laura and her family, and my brother Mark even came down from Idaho.

Of course the temple was spectacular and beautiful. Because Nayeli doesn't take a bottle, it was the first time I'd been in a temple since she was born. I love the feeling inside of the temple. There's nothing that compares to it.

All the grandkids that were there

Showing Nayeli the fountain

She wasn't sure what to think about it

With my sweet niece Makayla

Our family

Our whole group together

After the temple open house, we went to Willard Bay, a small beach by Julia's house. It was so much fun- Julia and Terry had brought all kinds of water toys and even a jet ski. It was a blast.

One of my favorite pictures of Nayeli... ever. She was trying to be brave and not cry when I put her in the slightly cold water, and this is the face she made.

With my brother Mark and his wife Malinda

Nayeli with Aunt Laura

After Willard Bay, we went back and had a barbeque at Julia's house and then drove home that night. Thanks to Julia and Terry for hosting us. It was so much fun.Who knew you could have such a fun time spending a Saturday in Perry, Utah? :)

The Ugliest Gift

What you are seeing Ben proudly display is the gift my sister Laura got for him for his birthday. It's a flowerpot. A bona fide, hideous flowerpot. Yeah, I couldn't believe it either.

After the initial shock wore off, I told Ben I couldn't handle waking up every morning to a man who owned a flower pot like that. Luckily, his friend Lori was getting married the next week. We threw it in a bag with plenty of tissue paper, shoved it in the middle of all the gifts at the reception, and conveniently forgot to mark it with a card.

And the legend lives on.

Three trips in one

On July 20th Ben, Nayeli and I all embarked on three trips in one. It was a good adventure and though I didn't take very many pictures, I wanted to record what a wild ride it turned out to be.

CASSIDY AND MATT'S WEDDING

 Cassidy and Matt with her parents

Our first stop was at one of my best friend's (Cassidy's) wedding in the Bountiful temple. Even though she planned the wedding in only a month, it turned out great! It was especially special because since she's a convert to the church and the only member in her family, I was her escort. It was such an honor and I was so happy to be there. My awesome sister Christina even came up to watch Nayeli so Ben got to attend the sealing as well. I love attending sealings with Ben and this one was good for Ben to be at since Cassidy was instrumental in setting us up. She was the one who gave Ben my phone number.

With Nayeli at the wedding. Ben objected to me putting this bow in her hair because "It's way to big". I'm sad to admit he was right. It was a little over the top.

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen

Yep, one of those pictures

MONTANA

After the wedding festivities, we slept the night at Ben's mom's house and then drove to Montana the next day. We had so much fun relaxing in the cabin, eating until our stomachs were going to burst, and getting out. We hiked, had a target-shooting competition with our new gun (yeah, we bought a gun- future post to come) and explored the big-sky country. And I only took two pictures. Lame.

We hiked with Emily and Laura's families to a beautiful lake. It was seven miles but all the grandkids did it, even my four year-old niece Bridie. 

So Montana was a blast (like always), and we loved it (like always). And Ben, thinking that it would be fun to film his friend on the Snake River, decided he would take a day of work while we were on vacation. And that's how we ended up in...


JACKSON HOLE

We arrived in the afternoon, and Ben filmed all day while I shopped. Let's just say shopping in Jackson Hole has gone to pot. When I was a kid they had a Benetton and J-Crew outlet, as well as a Gap. Now it's full of designer boutiques and souvenir shops that all carry the same things. What was foreseen as a fun day of shopping ended up being a day of walking from souvenir shop to souvenir shop, trying to entertain a three month-old and myself. And just when I thought I'd found a safe haven in a designer pearl boutique that was very interesting (I struck up a conversation with the owner who was wearing a $10,000+ pearl necklace), Nayeli had a blowout onto my shirt. Yeah, it was one of those moments.

By the time Ben was done filming at 8 pm I had hit my limit. We had agreed to go camping (to save money on hotels and because Ben LOVES camping) so we rushed to get to the campsite before dark. As soon as we got there, we began unpacking and realized... Ben had forgotten his sleeping bag. 

I had a severe moment of "we are getting a hotel room and don't think you're going to talk me out of it", but Ben calmed me down and told me that he had the perfect solution. He said he would sleep in his clothes, wrap himself in a blanket, and stuff his feet in my partially unzipped sleeping bag. So the two of us shared the sleeping bag until about 3 am when Nayeli got cold and I put her next to me. By the morning, all three of us were sharing one sleeping bag. Yeah, it was one of those camping trips :) 
 
 

 In actuality, it didn't turn out awful. At least we look like we're mildly enjoying ourselves here :)

Our little monkey

And in the end, it was probably worth it. Most adventures are, right? At least we got a great YouTube video to show for it.

A Story About the Garifuna: Trailer

Some of you already know this, but Ben is making a documentary. It was going to be a senior project but then after receiving funding he was told he couldn't get school credit for it. Despite that, we decided he should do it. Why that was our decision is beyond both of us at this point.  On one side, it's been a nightmare. Who knew making a documentary could take up so much time? And money? And be so much work?

But the upside is it's helped Ben hone in on what he wants to do as a career. When I married Ben he had the dream of becoming a documentary film maker. Surprisingly, making a documentary has made Ben... not want to make documentaries for a living. So it's a blessing he made the discovery now, instead of ten years down the road.

So without further adieu, here is the trailer of the movie we wish we'd never started, but that we're happy we're going to finish.