Back In The Saddle

The old saying goes "if you get bucked off your horse, get right back in the saddle." I have been a bit derailed lately, blog-wise with my actual life :) I think the month of May has to be the busiest next to December. I rarely have time to think, let alone do extra projects. So here is a quick run down of what I have been up to:

Taylor turned 6... She is growing up WAY to fast.



Kaylee and Taylor graduated to the next grade, Yeah!


Kiera took all first place ribbons at the last show in Logan. Still no points....



Taylor gave me an awesome plate she made in school that matches the one Kaylee made me when she was in Kindergarten.


I was released from teaching Sunday school to being a Relief Society "Self-reliance" committee member. I get to coordinate the Health and Nutrition aspect. (More about this later.)

Business has picked back up some so I have been working more of the day. Unfortunately, it is a ton of urgent care since everyone seems to have put off routine preventative care or coming in early in a problem situation.

Chris' grandparents, Charlot and Noble came to visit.



We had our first camping trip of the season up to Mantua. It was fun to get out and get into nature, even for a short while.

Our whole family got together at Hill Air Force Base for the spectacular Air Show.



I tweaked my back and haven't been able to work out for a few weeks... hoping to get back to "feeling the burn" soon.

Planted all my flowerbeds, but the weeds are going to take over the lawn since it has rained every day and I haven't been able to spray them yet. The sad watermelons have been dug up by the hail several times. We are down to two in the ground and one on the kitchen counter.



We finally finished the basement projects! I am so excited every time I go down there now. :)



And to finish it off... Cheryl and I had a pedicure with the cutest toes EVER!

Moms, Grandmas and Greatgrandmas

This Mother's Day had me thinking of all the great moms I have in my life; as well as the great ones that have passed away into the next life.

Grandma, me, Taylor, Mom

When I went to visit Brian on the Army base with the girls last weekend, I lost an earring when speaking on the phone. It really made me miss my Grandma Call. Why? Well... every time she would take a phone call, Grandma would take off her clip-on earring so it wouldn't clatter against the phone. We had a spot in the drawer for all her lone jewelery. I know everywhere she went, there must have been dozens of earrings left all over the country. My Great-Grandma lived to be 103 years old and still worked the farm well into her 90's, so when Grandma Call passed away a few years ago from a sudden stroke, just as I was beginning to appreciate all that she had done and what an amazing lady she was. Grandma was never afraid to try just about anything; from riding a Harley to every shade of hair color known to the rainbow. She was a great cook and singer, she loved to camp and play card games and stay up late telling stories.

Grandma Call on her horse

Thinking about her cooking made me think about my Abuela Rincon, who lives in Mexico. I was so glad to get to see her last summer, and although we can't communicate very well, the love she feels for her family is amazing. She has always shown the love she has for everyone by cooking, A LOT, All the time :) It never fails, as soon as you walk in the door, she is in the kitchen making something to fill your belly. Abuela used to live with my parents much of the time and so there was never a reason to go hungry. She is so amazing to still be alive at 92+ years and really still going. Mom goes to Mexico for several weeks each year to stay with her and take care of her since Abuela and Abuelo are too old to travel safely anymore.

Abuela helping feed calves

That brought me to thinking how wonderful my own mom is. Here she is, giving up her hard earned vacation and leaving Utah during the only time of the year that she is not cold, to go and take care of her parents. Not to mention, the years and years that she would have them stay with her at our house for three to six months at a time. My mom follows that same cut of fabric in trying to feed everyone who wanders by or suggests that they might come to the house for more than 10 seconds. Again, no reason to go hungry or be without friends when my mom is around. Mom is great to come over to our house a few days each week after she gets off work and help my girls with their homework and extra learning, reading, and play time. It means so much to me to know that she wants and takes an active role in their lives. It makes me a little sad that I didn't get to know my grandmas as well as my kids know theirs.

Chris' Grandparents came out from Wisconsin this weekend and all the kids and grand kids got to spend a little time with them the last few days. It was a little hectic, but well worth the effort to get to see them again, hopefully they will be able to come out again soon.

Four Generations of Bensons

That said, I think all the Moms and Grandmas in our family had a pleasant Mother's Day this last weekend, and if I haven't said it enough; THANK YOU for all that you do for us and WE LOVE YOU!

Beehive Cluster Dog Show

Kiera did much better on Friday and Sunday. She did not like the scary old man judge on Saturday. She was ready to leave the table when he went to look at her. So we got dismissed... We did take ribbons the other two days! Even a "Best of Breed" ribbon. Too bad she didn't get any points for this one. Perhaps there will be more competition at the Logan show. If you would like to come watch and cheer us on just let me know and I can get you the information.

Happy Birthday Taylor!

Taylor turned 6 on May 1st. She had a blast this last week with Grandma Glo and Grandpa Steve taking her to the circus to see the elephants, ponies and dogs. She was very impressed with the ponies and the cool tricks they could do :) Then on Fri-Sun she came with me to the dog show in So. Jordan. She is definitely going to be my next professional dog handler... She kept trying to help with EVERYTHING. Sprayed water on Kiera, brushed her out, wanted to scissor her (NOOO). Stacked her on the table about fifty times and free stacked her on the floor every time anyone so much as looked in our direction. It was a hoot to watch. Taylor was loving it. She told everyone she was six now and was old enough to do all the dog show stuff. Maybe I will let her try the Logan show.

We had a little birthday dessert at a cute mexican restaurant in Orem, she had fried ice cream but scraped everything off of it and just ate the plain vanilla middle... So Chris bought her an icecream cake for her family birthday dinner, but she would not even try it because she thougth it was just regular cake, I had to about shove some in her mouth before she would believe me. She liked it okay, but I think she would have just rather had ice cream without frosting. She is so funny sometimes!

After the show was over, we stopped by Brian's Army base where he gave us a tour of the helicopters, talk about impressive! They are so much larger in real life than on TV. I think the Apachies were the coolest :) Thanks, Brian!

Bruises worth pictures

I have started working out at CrossFit this last week. I have successfully made myself sore from head to toe and had my heart beating for all that it is worth. So far, so good. I feel like I am starting to make some progress in my flabby to fit goal. I am hoping to do a month of this program (boot-camp like) and then continue on my own with better activity levels.

I don't mind the sit-ups even though I have yet to finish an entire set, the lunges and squats are killing me, but I can do them. Rowing is about the most taxing thing I have done in a long time and I trip on the jump rope more than I hop over it. However, the one thing that may actually kill me is the jumping pull-ups. Basically, you hang forward of the bar on a wooden box and then jump and pull yourself around to above the bar. Sounds easy right? (Okay, not the actual pull up, but the idea). For some reason, I can't seem to make my feet land where I jumped from. I have fallen a couple of times, but Saturday was a doozy. I fell all the way off and skinned my shins and knees and bruised my thighs something awful. Take a look:

The pictures just don't do the bruises justice, they are all swollen and very beautifully purple....

Chris' BBQ
For everyone who has not yet been to one of Chris' work cook outs, you are missing out! He decorated his store all festive and put on a great luau for all the painters and customers. Don't they look great? And who is that girl in the bikini?

What?! Twenty days went by?

What happened? I swear I only missed a few days of blogging, but all of a sudden, the calendar says it has been three weeks! Talk about time flying. There is a mini gym by my house that I drive by everyday, and it has a count down to summer vacation sign out front. I am pretty sure it went from 12 weeks to 5 weeks all in an instant. I am pretty sure that when I was younger, it seemed like spring lasted FOREVER. Now, I am just scrambling to get my yard mowed before June :)

Anyway, we have been working like crazy to get our basement finished (YIPPI), the carpet is supposed to be installed Thursday. We are also getting our attic re-insulated so we can take advantage of the rebates this year. BTW, you have to get it done by May 1st to get the most money back. Hopefully, we will get to the windows this year as well. Might as well take advantage of as many energy rebates and tax credits as possible, right?

The girls have started soccer, Kaylee is doing pretty well; Taylor and her team run around like a flock of lost chickens. I was really impressed with Kaylee, when she was playing goalie, she dove onto the ball to stop it! Way to go!

We had a ton of fun over Easter, with three dinners and plenty of time spent with family and friends. (At least plenty for the adults, the kids would have taken more!) We are finally out of boiled eggs... I think we can wait another few months for summer egg-salads. The girls had a blast playing with Zeb's new rabbit, they haven't stopped asking for one of their own. NO IDEAS, Y'All. We have plenty of pets with the two dogs, thank you.

To top it off, it was Jody's birthday this last weekend. Happy happy birthday Jody! We really enjoyed getting together with the gang at Ruby Tuesdays. I always feel so much better after laughing for hours on end, I hope everone gets to do that once in a while.

Be sure to soak up some of this great sunny weather before it gets too hot and dry!

Another week flies by!

Wow, can you believe another week has gone by?!! I had to take my computer in to the shop because it kept freezing up (maybe it is tired of winter?) and after 2 days, they said: "There's nothing wrong with it." Hmmm. Seems to happen to everyone right? You make an appointment for your dog because it's been hacking all week and when you get it in to the vet; he acts just fine! Oh, well. At least it seems okay now.

Just a quick run-down of the last week: Chris took the girls to Jackson Hole with his parents to the snowmobile hill-climbs, they all seemed to have a blast!
I had to work :( but at least it was steady busy all day.

Since I didn't get to go to the hill-climbs, I did manage to watch a good movie with Cheryl and family.... Twilight! I can't say I was super impressed the first time I saw it, but it definitely has grown on me. The books were a bit drawn out so I figured they would have to seriously compress the story to fit in 2 hours, but they did a good job of it. I do really love vampire movies, Interview with the Vampire being one of my all-time favorites.

Going along with the movie theme, we also watched Fast and Furious this weekend. It was our date night, and we doubled with Cheryl and Jason. I thought it was better than the reviews, but you probably have to like cars to get the whole experience. But I would think anyone can appreciate Vin just standing there being cool and muscled. It was cheesy, but so are all his movies ;)

Kaylee and Taylor start their spring break this weekend. 10 days off school! How would it be? I don't recall getting more than 2 days off for anything other than Christmas all through school, including college. Not fair. They are SOOOO excited. Too bad it is still so cold.

Kaylee had her first soccer practice this week, it has been so wet that they had initially cancelled practices and games, but her coach set them up in the church gym to do a little practice inside. She had a ton of fun, but apparently we need to go over the rules a little more with her; she is all over the place. I wish I had a picture, she is so cute in her uniform! Taylor's coach is going to wait out the weather, hopefully they have a practice before the first game!

And because I am not busy enough, I also attended a gardening class taught by none other than Mark Anderson. He was great! I really learned (or remembered? since I took horticulture in school) quite a bit about gardening, fertilizing and soils. Wow! So much to think about, yet very exciting. I hope to get out and start on my flowerbeds this next week if it will stop raining and snowing for a day.... Is that wishful thinking or what?

Sorry for the super long post, that's what happens when the computer is gone. Maybe I will have to get a backup or fix that dinosaur cluttering up my desk!

Enjoy conference weekend, may the Lord be with you!