We Love Visitors!

My mom came in town for a week to visit while my dad is in France for a couple of weeks. It was so fun to have her here, and to have someone to hang out with while Nate was gone during the day. We drove up to Idaho Falls for a few days lsat week to visit my grandparents (my mom's parents) and most of her siblings. We didn't do anything super exciting while we were there, but it was fun to catch up with everyone. We went out to lunch on Wednesday, then went and walked around the river down by the falls and the temple. We try and walk that loop every time we're in Idaho Falls - it's so pretty. We also helped grandma and grandpa with a little project on their porch, and Bennett had fun meeting his great-grandparents, great aunts and uncles, cousins once removed (I think that's what my first cousins are to him?), and second cousins.

On Saturday, we all went to the Farmers Market in downtown Salt Lake. We hadn't been there before, so it was fun to walk around and look at everything they had. We got some cherries, some peas, a zucchini and a squash, and best of all - an almond croissant to share. Yum. When we were done looking around, We went to the Gourmandise Bakery and got sandwiches for lunch, along with a delicious french-looking fruit tart. We figured if my dad is enjoying French pastries, we should be able to too! We took our lunch to Liberty Park and had a nice picnic.

The rest of the time, we mostly just hung out and mom spoiled me - changing dirty diapers, letting me sleep in after Bennett got up in the mornings, taking him when he was crying at church, helping me organize the basement and Bennett's room - it was great to have her here. I may have been imagining it, but it seemed like Bennett was looking around for her this morning. We miss you already mom!

Weekend Update

This past weekend was pretty low-key. On Friday night, we decided to relax and take advantage of the rare (as of late) not-raining weather and head to the park. We took our books and had fun hanging out with Bennett. The weather turned out great, and fortunately the storm didn't start until after we got home.

Saturday, we spent most of the day up at Nate's parents' house. We both had something to go to up in that area (I had a bridal shower, and Nate met with some people looking at a house) so we stopped by for a visit afterwards. It was a relaxing afternoon. The most exciting part (unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so no pics) was that a windstorm the night before had knocked a nest of baby robins out of the tree. Nate and I went out and dug up some worms, then put them in a box next to the nest. The mom came by a little later and fed the worms to her babies. When I walked up close with the worms, the birds all opened their mouths really wide - it was so cute! It kind of reminded me of Bennett when he's getting ready to eat :)

And as always, here are a couple cute pictures of Bennett :)

Air Show

This post is really late, but last Saturday we went up to see the tail end of the Hill Air Force Base Air Show. I hadn't ever been to an air show before, but it was really neat. We didn't go right on the base because we were a little worried about the noise being too much for Bennett's little ears, but we went to a little open area about a mile away where a lot of people were watching. It was amazing how the 4, 5, or 6 planes at a time would stay in such a close formation considering how fast they were going. We had to take turns walking around with Bennett because he was kind of fussy (not from the noise, he was getting hungry). But it was still fun. We had gone and played tennis that morning, and the weather held out for the air show, but a downpour started in the middle of the BBQ we were having at Nate's parents' house afterwards. It seems like we've had at least one thunderstorm every day the past week or so, but I still prefer that to 100 degree weather. Here are some pictures of the air show (these pictures do look cool blown up on the computer - not so good when they're little. see if you can find the planes at the end of the white smoky stuff)

And a couple more of Bennett, just for fun :)

reading a book with daddy, and all dressed for church (thanks for the cute outfit Elise!)

It's Official!!

After 51/2 years and countless hours, I am officially no longer an Ernst & Young employee. I haven't actually been working for the last 3+ months (gotta love maternity leave), but I had my exit interview today and turned in my computer. I'm a little sad that I won't be working with all my co-workers anymore, but so grateful that I can stay home full-time. When I started, I never imagined I would stay there this long - I planned on 2-3 years, and surviving until I was a manager was not in the plans, let alone working 2 years as a manager. But it worked out and I got some great experience. And now I get to stay home with this cute little guy all day! I'm pretty lucky.