Party with the Perrys

The Perry family came to visit (back in October)!! We counted down the days to their arrival and we had a blast when they got here! We spent most of our time at the beach and at our neighborhood pool. It was soooo nice have great friends to talk to and kids for my munchkins to play with. For me, visiting in the evenings with Trent and Lichelle was the highlight of their stay.

On one of the days, we tried a new beach that the Ray fam had never been to before. We wanted to check out some tide pools and this beach delivered. Trent searched out starfish and crabs with all the kiddos. Then we found a nice spot on the beach to hang out for the afternoon.

Lucy and Zander doing some rock climbing.

Sweet Lindee Lou. I have a picture in my old scrapbook of me holding baby Lindee when we were partying at Bear Lake. I am so glad that we are all still friends and my little girl gets to play with Lichelle's sweet girl.

More rock climbing.

Funny Myra. She became one with the sand that day.

All the kiddos after having dinner at Yolanda's.

Lichelle and I have been close friends since 10th grade (we were friends before, but she was oober popular in Jr. high and I still wore my hair in braids and only liked boys from a major distance, so we weren't "close" friends until sophomore year). That's 16 years! I met Trent the same time that Lichelle did, so he and I go way back, too. I love that we have shared so many milestones in our lives together.

We love the Perry family! Come back soon!

Benny's Big Birthday Bash

Okay, so it wasn't much of a bash, but it sounded good for the title.

Isn't this the most adorable 2 year old you've ever seen? His birthday was actually back in October, but who's counting, right?

Benny's big day landed on "church day", so we put on his little outfit and pinned on his birthday pin so everyone at church would know it was his big day.

Sweet brothers......most of the time. Graham informed me just today that he had "great news". He said, "I love Ben now!" About two weeks ago he informed me that he had "great news", too. "I like Benny now!" It only took a little over 2 years, but oh well.

Here's my sweet boy with his birthday cake. I LOVE this picture. He always smiles so big for me. He was so happy about his cake.

Enjoying his cake and ice cream.

Not sure what he was saying here, but the kids always laugh their heads off when they see this picture on the screensaver.

Benny loves his Pillow Pet. He calls it "Piyo Pet". He has added it to his list of things he has to sleep with.

He was super excited about his new pirate ship. As soon as he unwrapped it, my friend, Laurie said, "Oh man! We just sold that exact same thing at our garage sale yesterday!" Bummer! We could have paid 2 bucks instead of $25!

I was so glad the Jarvis' family came to celebrate with us. We sure love their little family. Here's Benny with his best buddy, Caylee. They are so fun together.

This little man makes my life so much sweeter. There are moments when I don't think I can do another bedtime or mealtime on my own without Jason, but then Benny will say something hilarious or start dancing and I realize that life is good and his absence is only a teeny tiny moment compared to the eternity our family has together. It's rough, but it's okay. I can do hard things.

Conference Weekend

Conference weekend was different this time around without Jason. I was sad to not have church to break up my Sunday, so I invited some friends over for a little potluck.

This was the zoo we had as we watched. It was nice to have friends to spend the day with. My friend, Carrie, came over with her kids (her hubby is deployed, too). She also brought her dog, Velma, so that she could get to know my family because we were going to be dog-sitting her the week after (whole other post for that). Laurie came with Grant and Caylee and Cheyenne came with her son, too.

It was crazy, but fun to have the house filled with people. I get sooo lonesome and extra sad on the weekends when there isn't as much structure and places to be.

After the last session, the Jarvis' family joined us on a drive up to "The Cross" (that's what we call it). It's a little monument on the top of a hill in Ventura. There's a beautiful view and my kids love to run around.

Here's Benny with Lucy Goose.

I love living here.

Here's Graham with his best buddy, Grant. They moved to Huntington Beach last month. We are still in mourning.

Cute Benn-O