Halloween

Halloween, as usual was filled with candy and friends, followed by exhausted cranky kids thrown into bed. At least I was able to raid the candy after the kids were eventually in bed as reward for dealing with the gremlins. I decided that candy will do to a two year old what water does to a gremlin. You have a sweet little boy, but after that taste of candy they turn into sugar craving ... well monsters. Okay, it is not quite that bad, but we sure were grateful for bedtime after we discover Tate inherited my sweet tooth.

Bentli and Tate were both adorable this year. Tatum was a puppy and Bentli was a beautiful ballerina. We had fun trick or treating with some friends, Tate was pretty excited about people actually giving him candy at every door and clutched his candy-filled pillowcase with a death grip. Bentli was charming as every and loved all the attention she received. We were able to end the night at a friend's house with chili and cornbread.

Tatum wasn't crazy about wearing his costume or about getting his pic taken.

Bentli was pretty proud of her ballerina spins and practiced everyday all week long.

Trick or Treating with the Wards. Sadie (Snow White), Sawyer (dragon), Cosette (pumpkin), and Nicole (punk rocker).

Its a small world

It was a typical Sunday, you know, walking into sacrament meeting during the opening hymn. For us, that is pretty good. However, this last Sunday we were excited to see some familiar faces sitting on the stand, Brother and Sister Winegar, from our ward in Pocatello! Pres. Winegar is the mission president in the area. We had a great time catching up and talking about home.
I also was able to meet a new friend that I found out was from San Antonio! It was a good day, but I went home with a twinge of homesickness for both Idaho and Texas. We love and miss all of our wonderful friends and family!

Ocean City

Last weekend jumped in the car and hit the beach! We decided we better take advantage of the nice weather while it lasted. Ocean City is only about an hour away from us, a pretty easy drive, but I don't think that I will ever get used to toll roads. It seems so foreign to have to pay to drive on the road. Anyway, I guess one of many things to get used to, but it was a small price to pay to enjoy the ocean and beach.
The weather was still kind of cool, so we didn't put the kids in their swimming suits. We waded in the ocean, chased birds, and played in the sand... ohh.. and mom got a nap! It was awesome, I could hang out there everyday all day. They were having an airshow there the next day and all the planes were out practicing for the next day, so we got a little bit of an airshow too. But, of course Jared can't sit still for too long, so we took a stroll along the boardwalk. We enjoyed so soft pretzels and water ice (it is similar to a slushy but not so watery, you can swirl it with ice cream and it is pretty dang good). We also had to get some salt water taffy that I must say was the best taffy I have ever had. Needless to say, you can eat yourself sick if you want to. The kids were exhausted by the time we left. It was a fantastic day trip and I left wanting to buy a beach house!


Jared and the kids on the boardwalk, it is off season so it wasn't very busy, best time to go.

This scenery makes me feel like I should have the kids dressed in sailor outfits, okay I wouldn't do that to them. But I really did love the fence!
After watching me squat down to take pictures with them, Tate feels like he should too.
Bentli enjoyed writing her name in the sand and collecting sea shells, she was pretty pumped when I told her she could take some home.

Our sandy little boy, it was when he sat down in the water that I decided we probably should have done the swim suits even though we weren't getting in. His shorts were drying and he ran around in a diaper. I guess that is how our parents did it, right?

Philly

During our first week here, between unpacking, we were able to go and see a few sites with my mom. Bentli and Tate loved hanging with Grandma, she is so much cooler than boring 'ol Mom! One of the days that Jared spent at orientation, we took the train into Philly to see some sites. Bentli and Tate loved the train, especially when it crossed the Ben Franklin bridge over the Delaware River. Bentli is pretty jealous that Jared gets to do this everyday.

Of course you have to see the Liberty Bell, Bentli was fascinated with the story of the crack! (you have to smack your hands together when you say crack also) Independence Hall was right there also. We decided not to tour it, the kids were getting hungry so we went to a farmer's market called Reading Terminal Market to get some lunch. The market was awesome, they have anything and everything.

On one of Jared's day off we went out to Amish country. We ate at a Amish family style restaurant, Good and Plenty (thanks for the tip Tif) it was fantastic... homemade everything and all you can eat! We took a buggy ride and learned more about the Amish and Mennonite people. Needless to say the kids loved it.

We had fun just hanging out with Grandma! Grandma treated us to burgers and shakes a couple nights. The kids especially loved the shake part, as you can see, Tate was pretty serious about the shake. I felt pretty empty handed without two kids hanging on me constantly, it was fantastic. Bentli had a hard time when Grandma left thank goodness for cell phones, we can't wait to see her again!

Eleven states and 1780 miles

Wow it has been a whirlwind of events these last few months! I always had a ready excuse for not posting on the blog, but now that we are moved and FINALLY have Internet, I am out of excuses.
Our family has, as Bentli puts it, "been on an adventure." Jared got into Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine (located in Philadelphia). We are excited to embark on this stage of our lives as we enter back into the poor student category. It was hard to move from San Antonio and all the wonderful friends/family we have there! Texas has a way of working itself into your heart. So, after many tears, we packed up the Uhaul and made the "adventure-journey" to the east coast.
We drove through eleven states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey) granted a couple states we were in for only a few miles, totalling 1780 miles. My mom helped us make the drive and stayed for a week to help us get settled in, it was wonderful having her with us. The drive was long and Tate learned a new word- "moooooov" which is movie, he really drags out the "o" sound. He also learned "stop" for when Bentli was annoying him. It was pretty funny, when Bentli would mimic his yells he would point at her and yell "stop, stop, stop!" They did really well in the car, thanks to Grandma and the fun games and surprises that she brought.
Although Jared goes to school in Philly, we are living in Lindenwold, New Jersey. After living in the vast state of Texas it is weird to live in a place where Jared crosses the state line daily. He is able to take the train into school so it isn't to bad of a commute. We are renting a townhouse and the kids are loving the extra space. After a couple days, we went and bought a GPS, it is great to have! And I don't think I will complain about Utah drivers again, people here drive crazy!
I will try to get some pics from everything up on Sunday. We are missing everyone and are ready for any visitors!!

Aunt Michele!!

We have been so lucky, my sister Michele decided to come and visit us after spending a month in Europe. I am so glad she made time for us in her vacation plans, otherwise I would have had to hunt her down! We were so glad that she came, we had so much fun. We began her visit by going to Sea World. Which is always fun, but it was a blast with Aunt Michele. We got to see all the shows, see all the exhibits, feed and pet the dolphins, play on toys, and Bentli was just tall enough to go on the Shamu Express (thank you for big shoes). To top off a perfect day, we ate dinner at Rudys!!

And of course we couldn't let the trip pass without taking Michele to the Alamo and Riverwalk. We enjoyed a beautiful day downtown, getting ice cream and hanging out. After Jared got off work we grabbed some burgers at Chris Madrid's, it was delicious!!

The next day we just hung out around the house. Michele dyed my hair (woo-hoo), its nice to have some change. We went to Toys R Us to pick out the kids' birthday toys from Grandpa Chris, a dump truck and My Little Pet Shop set. Michele made a birthday cake for Bentli so she could have a little early celebration with her. Bentli opened some presents from Grandma Connie, a wedding dress dress-up that was mine when I was a little girl, memories... Bentli liked it, but wouldn't wear it because it was too big, I tried to explain that it was okay, but she is as stubborn as her mom. We had a fun celebration day.

We were sad the day Michele had to leave, we got in a little bit more fun though and took the kids to Dynamoze in the morning. Tate had a blast playing basketball with his aunt. We were so glad that we got to spend some time with Michele, she is so much fun to be around. The kids followed her everywhere, they sure do adore her. I loved having my sister around and loved all the late night talks and all the great girl time!! We love you Michele and can't wait to see you again! Now if my other sisters love me as much as Michele does... they will come visit too! hahaha

One Year Old

I can't believe that it has already been a year! Tatum is such a joy in our lives and we are truely blessed to have him in our family. He is a happy and cheerful little boy. He is growing up so fast that we can hardly believe our eyes. Poor Tate had to start his birthday at the doctors office for his check up (his mean mom wasn't really thinking when she scheduled the appt.) He took his shots like a champ though, he was more upset about having to hold still than the shots. We had cake and ice cream at the park when Dad got home. We made it home just in time for presents before Tate crashed. Here are a few pics of Tate's big day.

Tate's Golf Ball Cake. Modeled after Dad's golf balls with two blue dots, just how Jared marks his golf balls.


We love our Tate!

Tate liked the icing, but didn't bother to dig into the cake.