Jaden's buddies :)

This past month we've been able to help some friends out by watching their cute boys. :) Cooper is in our ward, and Riggs is one of my friends baby. :) They're both such cute boys and Jaden seriously has so much fun with other kidlets... I obviously need to do some more play dates. He just wants to snuggle the younger babies and tag along behind the older ones. :) It's fun to watch them play. 

Jaden and Cooper

Jaden and Riggs

(Also, side note... the twins and I wanted to practice making a cake for Jaden's birthday. 

I made the marshmallow fondant, and buttercream frosting. It turned out much better than I thought it would, and we had fun covering my kitchen in powdered sugar to do it! ;) Now I just have to decide if I'm going to attempt fondant again on Jaden's actual birthday cake.)

24 Weeks

A cantaloupe seems pretty big, doesn't it? I guess that would explain the stronger kicks and bladder tap dances. ;)
I don't have a bump picture (again), but we did take some family pictures on Sunday so when we get those back I figured that could count. ;) They were pretty fun to take, she had Matt and I do some maternity type poses and I feel like a couple of them might qualify for awkward family photos... bonus! ;) But really, I'm sure they turned out great! All my sisters are so stinkin photogenic, it'd be hard to have bad family pictures!

So. Onto this week.

Cravings: Steak. I just want a big juicy steak so bad! Ooh, and some serious A1 sauce and horseradish? I'm dying now. :p (And popsicles but hey, I had an addiction way before Jaden started making orders.)

Aversions: Still not really anything besides granola bars. :p

Hardest part of this week: More back aches, and my feet are starting to not like me by the end of the day. But really it's not too bad. Matt's nice to me and rubs my back all the time so that's more of a bonus than a hard part of the week! :p

Best part of this week: It's been so much fun to keep feeling him move more and to feel him get stronger. :) It's to the point that you can really see my belly move if he's kicking up higher (rather than straight down to my bladder, which still seems to be his position of choice.) Sometimes I just stop and think about how crazy and miraculous all of this is. Heavenly Father is basically a genius. It's amazing to me how our bodies work and how they develop. (Not to mention how women's bodies just know what to do to grow and have babies. It seems like such a major thing, but it just kind of works out and you're out of the hospital in a day or two. Crazy!)

Some funny things from this week, I got to babysit for the cute family I babysat for last year a lot and the oldest, who is 4 has been pretty baby oriented with the past couple of times I've seen her. :)
"Can I hold her?"
"Well, it's a boy, and you can't hold him until he's born! :) He's still in my tummy."
"Oh. Ok."
A few minutes later, "Can I hold her?" :p

She got out her and her little brother's baby books (which are adorable p.s) and wanted to look through them. When she saw the umbilical cord, she was a little concerned though. So we talked about how that's the way the baby gets their food when they're in their mommy's tummy. She asked me several times throughout the afternoon if I had fed my baby yet. :p Yup. I sure did.
I was kind of worried that she'd ask some bigger questions that I really didn't want to have to explain. Haha, but luckily she was content just knowing about baby belly buttons and didn't want to know how the babies got in there or how the babies get out of there. (Phew!)

She's really liked to 'feel the baby'. He's never kicking when she asks to feel, and when he does start kicking she hasn't been patient enough to keep her hand on my belly long enough to feel him. :p But that's ok with her! She just gets these huge eyes and says, *gasp* "He didn't kick me! That means he loves me!"
That is exactly what that means. :) Haha I seriously just love kid logic. Makes me giggle.

Finals week for one, procrastination for the other...

I'm feeling a little done with school, mostly because my hubby and our friends are all going to be done for summer in a week and I'm still in classes until the end of June. :p I'm a jealous little green monster. Soo... that makes me the procrastinator. Ladies and gentlemen, our house has been pretty sad looking for the past week (read as two weeks...ish) and I just barely got around to cleaning it all up this morning. I then got ready, actually did my hair, and finished my report for class tonight and then... sat down to clean out my ipod memory. I ran out of videoing room last night when we babysat! That just won't do, obviously, so I went back through to delete old pictures and videos and found these gems. You're welcome. :)

Matt's swing stunts ;)

dance practice while baby sitting! Great entertainment on both ends! 

Playing outside 4.25.13

Bubbles! 

No big deal... just sand dandruff :p

Aaand dance parties galore?

Ok, if you haven't seen the ermergersh meme
things before this isn't as funny...
but for the record it's carrot cake.
Which explains the rest. ;)

I personally think he was hiding from her...
but there is no hiding from admirers! ;)
And being squished by them. :p

I know... right?

Tea party anyone? She even wore a tea party
dress for the occasion!

Woody didn't have a cute dress, but he got
to come anyway. ;)

This is the famous Alida fan. Four fingers and
fluttery eyelashes!

This one seems random in the middle of all
the others! But I thought it was a cute picture
of Kennedy's note on her door. :)

Aaand this is what happens when you blink.

This would be Robin Hood, can't you tell?

No that's not chocolate, it's mud pie.

Ok... brace yourself. This blog might suddenly be destroyed after this, but I can't resist showing you these pictures of my cute husband. :) I think he's stinkin adorable!
(Also, pretend these are better quality than my ipod taking pictures of pictures... I do what I can. :p)

... right??

This one is Grandma Benson's favorite. :) I guess she surprised
him with a camera after he got out of the bath tub. :p
She loves telling you about it because his face looks like,
"Grandma, Grandma! NoooooooOOOoooOOOO!" :) And it
cracks me right up.

I die. Every. Single. Time.

Grandma Benson and her stud of a grandson :)

He's a handsome little football player huh.

Ok. Can we talk about that fabulous hair swoop?

This is Matt's favorite toy from his child hood.
He told me he used to come home and the first
thing he'd do was get out this air plane base.

That time we faked getting a puppy? Matt
really wanted one!

Yeah... I feel like he looks a little bit goth.
He thought it'd be funny to make my key
chain into a choker chain necklace. :p

This was from our Yellowstone trip, and
Matt's roommates were T and Jackson.
And their stylish hat. :)

"Happy Valentimes!"

Welcome to the day of love, chocolate over doses, obnoxiously priced flowers, and fun fancy dinner celebrations!

Happy Valentine's!

(or Valentimes in the words of small children?)
So... since there haven't been celebrations yet (besides me being a slightly less lazy bum, and making a hot breakfast for Matt) I don't have much to say about Valentine's. Maybe tomorrow. :p

However, I did get to baby sit this week, and this time I wrote down some of the little gems Alida says. She's such an entertaining kid!

"Baby Jesus was born when my friends were all singing songs together! And everyone was there. ... but only one donkey."

"You can come on the Ariel ride with us, is that ok? ... Maybe Matt can come too!"
(me)"Do you like Matt?"
*she nods grinning*
(me)"How come?"
"Because he's really silly and nice! And he lubs lubs lubs LUBS fireworks!"
(Truly, I have no idea where that one even came from. But apparently my husband loves fireworks?)

"Mommy's gonna know a baby- you know what his name is gon be?"
(me)"No, what is it going to be?"
"Chiiiild"
(me, trying not to laugh)"Why?"
"Because he will be a child of God!" she thinks for a minute, "Are you a child of God?
Is Matt a Child of God?"

She's been on a kick where she likes to say everyone's 'whole name'. Hers is "Anida, Marie.... WUNZABERK!" So as she was trying to say her mom's name, Harmony, it ended up being more like 'Hamerny'. :p

"Ryan's a Child of God. But he can't prayer. And he can't fold his arms. But he can close his eyes and go to sleep!"

And then later when I was trying to get her attention by saying her name she turns around, "Is that my name?"
(me) "Yes?"
"Thanks!" and then she turned back around and ignored whatever it was that I was asking her to do. :p

Oh small children. Fun stuff. :)

(Cutest thing ever, right?)

you know what's coming...

Yup. Picture dump. As usual. ;) 

Over Christmas Break/possibly after New Years, the twins and I had a random picture taking party. Meg got a freakin sweet DSLR camera for Christmas (yes, I drool over it. yes I'm jealous. yes, I may have been a little devastated that I'm too poor to get one too. :p) and so we let her practice on us. 

Obviously we should audition for ANTM. ;)

 In other news... I'm still baby sitting every chance I get. Not necessarily for the thrill of it all, but for the thrill of being able to buy groceries. ;) I have found a renewed respect for mothers everywhere. I love small children, but it takes things to a whole new level of tried patience when they're little sickies. So mom, thanks for being nice to me and taking care of me when I was sick. :p
(Also, they're still adorable small things.)

We're princesses basically every day.
But it's very important to be sure you
have the right color dress to be the
right princess. 

Seriously. So stinkin cute.

Also. Matt has been at an Ambassador thing for the past 36 hours. (ok slight exaggeration. but only slight.) Yesterday, he was there until midnight, so of course I kidnapped my sisters for a party. We watched Pitch Perfect (which is hilarious and has amazing music (i'm totally buying the soundtrack... after i sell some plasma or something.) but it is on the inappropriate humor side of things.)
Before that, though, I took full advantage of Megan's offer for her and Miss to help me clean (so we could watch the movie. :p I guess some things never change. I think Erin and I used to pay them a variation of small coins to clean our rooms for us. ;p ) We vaccumed, laundry-ed, and re organized book shelves like pro's. As a reward, we experimented and made creme brule. It's been on our baking bucket list for a while, so we found a recipe on pinterest (see? it's good for something) and went to work!

(Here's the recipe source, if you wanted it!)

Miss helping me organize the spare bedroom. ;)

Isn't she gorgeous? Like, seriously, all the time!
(sometimes it inspires me to actually get ready. She always
looks cute! and i always look like a bum.)

evening out the levels

pretend it doesn't look burned. We misunderstood the recipe
and put too much sugar on top, and so it took forever to get
it melted, so it burned the middle.
But the rest was delicious! I want to try it again!

picture dump

(again)
It seems like most of my blogging these days goes a little like this:
boring, wordy post about... well. nothing in particular.
followed by an overwhelming upload of pictures that sort of (sometimes) go along with the previous boring post. however, because they're pictures it seems less boring? maybe?
Oh well. The main point of this ramble is my apology for being a stinky blogger these days. Not to point fingers, but our laptop is well beyond gently used and it probably has every computer disease known to cyberspace. In short- it's slow. :p So I don't blog because my complete lack of patience intervenes every time without fail.
Anyway.
Rambleramble... here's the pictures.

Thanksgiving:

Bull Valley Gorge. Can you see the bottom?

This kinda makes me think of Lion King a little? Not
entirely sure why. Ya know the stampede part? And
Simba hangs onto that tree in the middle of it?
Maybe it looks kinda like that? anyway.
Lion King shrubbery.

Waaaay up there, right under the dirt road bridge if you look
super close you can see a small glimmer... kind of.
That's a truck that fell into the slot canyon years ago
and they just built the bridge over it. Crazy, right?

The fam

I've decided we're not a very enthusiastic looking couple.
But I like us anyway. :p

Pretty much I love this man a lot!
Cute Grandpa Barton always has stories
about the places we go adventuring in.

This was the best one we had... :)
Left to Right:
Mom, Megan, Marissa, Uncle Jared, Aunt Mindy
Rhett, Matt, Me, Brianne, Grandpa, Caleb and Tanner

We occasionally like to participate in awkward family photos

It's a tiny caveman for the tiny cave! 

For the record, this and the next picture were of us standing
on a ledge thing about half way up the canyon wall...
so it makes this more impressive, right? ;)

Rhett, Uncle Jared, Aunt Mindy and Caleb

We love Grandpa!  (And secretly he likes posing for pictures!)

(It's because he's so handsome.) :)
(and adorable.)

It's not fair that my little sisters are more gorgeous than me! :p
... but really. I have four BEAUTIFUL sisters.
That's what happens when you have beautiful parents. ;)

Caleb

Tanner

Matt, the waterfall model :p

said waterfall

It took serious yoga moves to keep shoes dry... but we did it!

The top of the waterfall

The boys thought they should show off their mad hops and leap over the 'tiny slot canyon' ditch thing right below the waterfall. ... I have to admit, it looks pretty impressive!

                                     

                                                        

 That one time I made dinner and was almost domestic.

Thank you homeward Relief Society. I went with my mom
once and they taught us how to make homemade noodles. 

Yes. They were delicious.

(i so love our little soup dishes! thanks aunts!)

Matt set the cups out.... he was feeling fancy? I just love
how disproportionate it looks. I laugh every time. :p

Sometimes we look drugged in front of our Christmas tree
but we post it on the blog anyway so we look like we like
Christmas. :)

My cute through-the-kitchen neighbor, Megan,
planned a craft day. It ended up just being her
and me, but it was super fun!
We (and our husbands) were covered
in glitter for the next two days. At least. ;p

Finals week de-stressing?

Matt has a sling shot from Brazil... 

And he tried to teach me how to use it. 

Clearly I'm great. 

Matt's birth-week! 

(Matt had finals on his actual birthday- Wednesday- and I had a mandatory orientation for the Pharm Tech program so we had dinner with  my family on Monday and then partied a little bit Tuesday, aaand a little more on Wednesday, and tonight we had his birthday dinner. Birth-week seems more fitting than birthday. :)

Monday's Dinner

Before going to the Messiah at the Heirtage Center. :)
P.S I dyed my hair, but you can't really tell in most of these
pictures... I'll have to find a good one. Matt talked me
into doing a red-ish color again. (and it ended up lots darker
and more red than I anticipated. I think I'm past being in
shock, and I think I like it! At least Matt does. He has to see it
more than I do, right? :p)

Wednesday 12.12.12!

Ok. Here's the story. Matt was supposed to be gone all day Wednesday studying in the morning and then taking his final, and then going to his ambassador party. So after making his birthday breakfast of choice: omelettes (which by the way, I don't know how to make. I know, I know. So I googled it... and found on allrecipes.com that you could put it in a baggie and boil it for 13 minutes. Don't do it. Just don't. So when that didn't work we plopped it into the skillet... and burned it a little... and had more of a scrambled eggs breakfast.) I got ready and hit Deseret Book and Walmart. After I had all the notes in all the balloons, ready on the bed, I got a call from Matt saying he was coming home to wrap his white elephant present. ... Crap. So I gathered all the papers and balloons and stuffed them in my trunk. Did I mention it was super windy outside? It's quite an adventure to carry bags of balloons outside while gusts are trying to scatter them all over the parking lot. :) But! I got everything hid and he didn't even suspect anything! The funny part of all that was his reaction after I told him about it later. He just laughed and asked why I didn't just hide them under the bed or something. I didn't know if he's a snooper or not! It was too risky. ;)

I had it set up before I went to my meeting in St. George, so he
would have some sort of celebrating between when he got home
and when I got back. :)

Ooh. Another birthday adventure... deciding whether or
not our wall furnace would blow away the birthday
message. I guess they were as determined as I was
that they'd stay because it was all in tact still
when I got home!

Aaand layer two of wrapping paper... 

Meet my husband. He's kind of always full of it. :) He's
always pulling faces, or saying obnoxious things.
He seriously always has me laughing at something he's
doing. Life is pretty great with this guy. :) I kind of like him. ;)

Babysitting!

Ok, so I can't really remember all the funny quotes I was going to tell you about... so you might have already heard these. 

The other day when it was raining Alida looked over at me between bites of mac and cheese (which I'm now a total professional at making ... as if I wasn't already a pro from college life) and asked, "Is it raining?" so I said yes it was raining, to which she responded, "Big droppings or little droppings?" "I don't know, Lida, should we go look?" She nodded, "Later it will be big droppings and we will run in it with a rella. Ok? Is that a good plan? Not now, later. Ok?" 

She says that a lot, "is that a good plan? Ok?" It gets hard to say no to that. :p 

And she's been on a 'probably' kick. We probably can do everything, and everything is probably good... I love little kid conversations. It's super entertaining!

And then there's Ryan, who is one of the happiest babies I've ever baby sat. He's stinkin adorable! It's funny to get him pulling faces when he's in his high chair. It's been so awesome to have the chance to baby sit for these guys, it's been a much needed income, but also a really awesome alternative to sitting at home all day figuring out what to do with all the time I have on my  hands before I find a job and start classes. Thanks guys! :) 

Oh, hello brown eyes. Cutest kid ever!

This is one of his famous faces. :)

Feel free to admire Alida's and my fort building skills. :)
She was in a reading mood the other day, so we read lots
of books in the squishy cozy fort ;) (it was tricky to get
myself in that thing.) And then we watched a
'Clues Clues' (blues clues) episode on my ipod, which was
pretty cool. :) A tiny TV! ;)

The past couple of times I've baby sat Meg wanted to come
play with the cute kids, and it's been so fun!
She's seriously so cute with them. (Meg, please
don't hate my guts. :) This is a good side of you! Promise! ;) )