Time With Grandma

"Mommy Dearest", as I call her, came to visit for a few weeks! Hope has asked pretty much every day since she left, almost a year ago, when she was coming back so she was very excited to get to spend time with Grandma Bosley! We are so proud of her butterfly journey and her weight-loss and healthy life-style and we enjoyed many things we couldn't before it. Such as...

going to the park...

and to the zoo...

Eden taking a picture with her little toy camera.

and playing in the backyard.

We get to spend a few more days with grandma. We sure love having her around.



Giddy About Ben

Ben was gone for a few days on a business trip. I started missing him before he left. I watched him rushing around the house placing things in his suitcase and felt sorry for myself. I wondered if pouting would make him stay. Of course not. His work ethic is too excellent for that, plus I am very proud of how hard he works and so thankful that he has a job that provides for us. Still, my heart started to hurt thinking about how it would feel every evening knowing that he wouldn't be coming home that night and I began dreading the coming days.

On a normal day I think about Ben probably at least 3-5 times an hour. The closer it gets to 5:00 the more often I think of him and the more excited I get for the little hand on the clock to reach the 5. When he comes in the door the day is whole and my soul feels peaceful despite what ever chaos has occurred earlier in the day. In all honesty, I am not always completely rid of any bad mood that I may have been in earlier in the day when he comes home, but I still feel relief when I see him, and no it isn't because he can give me a break from the kids. It's just the way he is.

 Ever since I met Ben he has had that affect on me. I remember one day in particular when our wedding was approaching. I had been rushing around all day people were everywhere and it felt like time was slipping through my fingers. Ben walked in the door and hugged me. I immediately sighed with relief. Not dramatically or even on purpose, it was just a natural reaction. Everything is better when he is around.

Back to now...Ben came home late last night. All day yesterday from the moment I woke up I felt almost giddy. A couple times I actually got on my nerves I felt so giddy about Ben coming home. I couldn't help but smile and be in a good mood and I had butterflies in my tummy. When I heard the car pull into the drive way I practically skipped to the door to open it.

This is all probably very sickening to a lot of you, to hear me go on and on about how much I adore this man and how wonderful he is. I understand that he is not perfect. I am not trying to pretend that he is. I am not trying to say that we have a perfect relationship and our life is perfect. There are many things that Ben and I disagree about. Just a few and less significant things are food (I LOVE Mexican, he hates it, I love creamy stuff, he is lactose intolerant, etc.) it makes eating together every day very "interesting", music - we have very different opinions about music, entertainment...he loves WWE, I .....don't. I can't stand watching people argue and fight and that is essentially WWE.

 Ben is not perfect, he wouldn't be on this earth if he was, but he IS perfect for me. I have believed that just about since day one with Ben and it has been reaffirmed to me through personal spiritual experiences that he and I were meant to be together. He is a part of me, a part that no other human being could ever compare to being. When I think about this and how lucky we were to meet each other in the first place I realize just how blessed I am and life doesn't seem quite so blurry.

I am not writing this to make any readers nauseous or to brag or to make it sound like everyday is sunshine and rainbows in our home. Ben and I do have disagreements. However, we are both very careful with how we speak to one another. We never yell at each other when we "argue". We have discussions to try to understand the other's point of view so that we can reach a compromise that will work for our family and our life together. There have been some things that Ben and I have really struggled to understand about the other, but he is THE only person that I trust my deepest darkest secrets to. I can tell him anything and know that he will not judge me or view me differently. I know that he will use the knowledge of whatever secrets I disclose to him to love and understand me better.

I know how the opposite kind of relationship feels and I am so grateful to be with someone that I respect and look up to. To be with someone who will carry you when you fall despite the heavy load they are already burden by is a wonderful thing to be. I have no doubts about him and where he is taking our family. I fully expect to stumble many times along our journey together but I also know that each time we get back up we will be stronger than before.
 Not long after I met him I had this vision of him and me, old and happy, sitting in rocking chairs on our front porch somewhere surrounded by beautiful trees and watching our grand kids playing in our yard. I look to that vision quite often. It makes my heart happy and I get so exited for what is to come of our life together because when we were old sitting there in those rocking chairs we were very happy and it was largely because of each other. I honestly believe that no other man on this earth could love me in spite of my imperfections the way he does. No one else. I can't imagine that there is another man worthy enough to be loved and admired the way I love and admire Ben, but I sure hope that there is. I do have two daughters that will hopefully have families of their own one day. I pray that they find men like their father, and I pray that Noah will be like him as well. That is really why I am writing this post, to let them know how love and marriage should be. I think it is every parents' greatest hope for their child to find a companion who is all of these things, it is mine for my children anyway.

First Trip to the Park of 2012

On Eden's birthday we met some friends for a pic-nic at the new park down the street. The weather was perfect park weather and Hope got to play with some friends for a while. Eden took right off to explore the playground. She didn't seem afraid of anything and even climbed up and went down the big spiral slide all by herself. I'm very excited that she is at the age where I don't have to hover around her constantly and I can give her a little freedom to explore on her own. Of course, I am not far away...I'm not brave enough to let her get to far from me yet. The swings still seem to be her favorite. I pushed her in the swing for quite a while and every now and then would ask if she wanted to get down. "No thanks." she'd reply. What good manners she has. :)

She also enjoys this xylophone, but can't quite reach it yet.



Hope has started making very vogue-esque poses for the camera now. Reminds me of when I was Hope's age and Donna would dress me up to take pictures.

We are going to enjoy many more trips to the park this year!



Say What?

The tail end of a 15 minute conversation between Ben and Hope about why she shouldn't rely on toys to make her happy...
Ben: Is grandma a toy?
Hope: No. But I miss her.
Ben: Are you happy she is going to visit?
Hope: Yes.
Ben: See. Grandma is not a toy but you are still happy.
Hope: I wish we had a toy of her so I wouldn't miss her.

Referring to the lotion that is being applied following a bath.
Hope: I think this motion is called, SLLLOOOOW Motion.

Eden closes herself in the pantry and proceeds to say: Knock knock, who's there? Knock knock, who's there?

After Eden falls off a dining room chair and gets a big bump on her head, Hope paces back and forth with her finger on her chin: Hmmm....we need a plan. I know! A helmet will keep her from hitting her head!

Hope: I miss dada. I want to snuggle with him to make me happy.

Hope: Mom, do you need some quiet time?

Miss Chevious Turns Two!

Yep. She is TWO!
We celebrated her birthday last night because daddy had to leave this morning for a business trip.

A few fun facts about Eden:

*Happy Birthday is one of her favorite songs to sing. She will randomly break out singing it at any given moment. In fact, she sang along with us during her Happy Birthday song.

*As you know from many, many, MANY of my previous posts, the child is a firecracker. She is constantly into something and I really don't think it's because she's curious. I think it's because she likes seeing me and her dad freak out. Hopefully this will change before she can do some major damage in her teenage years. Oh....teenage years...I don't even wanna picture it.

*Part of eating is crumbling up whatever is left from what you want and spitting/throwing in many different directions, sometimes including at other people.

*She could sing her ABC's perfectly before she was 18 months old. She still sings it, but somehow it is less clear now that she is older.

*She loves to rub my arms. For about a year now, she rubs my arms to comfort herself or when she is tired. Lately, if I am wearing a jacket she tries to take it off so she can get to my arms. I love this about her.

*She loves to snuggle and give kisses.

*Her favorite things are Mickey Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh.

*She asks "Why?" all the time. I thought that wasn't supposed to happen for another year or so, but she seems to be ahead of the game.

*Another of her favorites: drinking from her sipping cup only to spit it into one of her tea cups to drink it. Gross, I know.

*She has stopped nursing finally! This is a very recent thing. She was only doing it at night, but the past couple of times I've offered she hasn't been interested. She does still seems to be fascinated with my cleavage though and will try to play with it in public, which is very embarrassing. Well, when I realize what she is doing. I am so used to being grabbed and climbed on by my girls that sometimes I don't notice it until I see a stranger staring or feel a breeze tickling my chest from my shirt being pulled down.

*She still has no fear of getting hurt. Even after falling off a chair, she will almost immediately get back on it. I view this as a good and bad thing.

*She seems to have my knack for memorizing movie quotes and although she hasn't started applying them in daily conversation she can quote right along with a movie.

*She loves to sing and dance. She knows the words to many songs, including popular radio music. Her favorite is probably Adele. She has good taste. :)

*She thinks it is funny to run around naked after her bath, but she thinks it's even funnier to pee on the floor.

*She is very artistic. She draws on any surface and will try to use anything as a drawing tool. Her art adorns many of our walls, and furniture.

*She likes to hold hands just to walk around the house.

*She yells at her sister in the car, "STOP CRYING!!!" if she is crying or whining. Usually, she sympathetically asks, "What's wrong?" first though.

*Her favorite part of any visit to anyone or anywhere is leaving. She yells "Bye!" and waves. She also does this with "Hi". And if you don't see her she will change her position and continue saying it until you do.

Happy Birthday You Little Monkey! We Love You!

Wednesday With Noah

As part of the new mediation agreement, Noah and I are able to spend every other Wednesday evening together. It isn't the easiest thing to get out there though being that Tooele is over an hour away, gas is expensive and I have two other little ones to consider. But every once in a while the stars align and I am able to make it.

So yesterday Noah wanted to play laser tag. It was so cool. I didn't play with him because there were enough other kids that he was able to play with, but I stood in the laser tag room and watched. Each game last about ten minutes and all the kids ran around shooting at each other and hiding behind walls and glowing barrels of "Ammonia". Ironically, Noah grabbed the gun that was named "Monkey". Fitting. :)

Then we went over to the movie theater in Tooele. Usually, they don't have great kid-friendly movies there and if they do they are playing at times that just don't fit with our schedule. This week they were showing Journey 2 The Mysterious Island. Noah has been wanting to see it for a while, so off we went. We saw it in 3D, which I hate. It always gives me a headache, but Noah really enjoyed the movie so it was worth it.

Noah wearing his 3D glasses.

He was great sport about me taking pictures. When we got out of the movie we walked out into a blizzard! Since it was snowing so hard I needed to drop him off a little early to hopefully make it home in one piece. We ended the night with Taco Bell. Glamorous I know. :)

It is difficult to describe what it is like to be away from your child so much. I still have a very hard time with it, especially when it seems that Noah has a hard time with it. These little visits definitely help. I am so grateful to get this time with him.