Temple Square Adventure

We scored some tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert featuring David Archuletta. We left Benjamin with a sitter and met up with Dennis' sister Kami. Our 4th ticket went to Emily Velasquez, a youth in our stake who is a very good sport and who was a lot of fun to have along. The concert was full before we even got to Salt Lake City, as we found out later, but that didn't stop us from having a good time! Our parking pass was for the Church Office Building, which had some interesting things in it...


That's right - there's a CAR WASH in the Church Office Building parking garage.

complete with vacuum and garbage area.


Classic shot of the Salt Lake Temple


Nativity in the middle of the fountain - it was beautiful and there were a lot of (more) professional photographers there taking pictures of it. I felt the sudden urge to purchase a tripod.


Cute Kami at Temple Square


Kami at the Family History section of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. While we were there we saw a few geneology charts that started with just a poor couple in England. One family ended up with 5 Presidents of the US in their lineage and another couple had Shirley Temple, Steve Young, Joseph Smith, Emma Smith, Philo Farnsworth (he invented television), and Lucille Ball.



Rachel and Dennis in front of a really pretty Christmas tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

We walked downtown in Salt Lake and saw an historical landmark - the building of the Salt Lake Tribune. According to the plaque we read, the Tribune actually started out as a very anti-mormon newspaper, but it has obviously changed its ways since the beginning. The building was pretty boring so I didn't bother to take a picture. :-)

After we left SLC we went to Burger King for dinner and still made it home by 11. We had a great time with Kami and Emily!

Cute Boy

It seems like Benjamin is getting cuter by the day. His most recent accomplishments:



He learned to shake his head NO. Now every question he's asked he shakes his head no. It is much easier for him to resist bedtime now that he can say he's not ready for bed yet.

Benjamin climbed up on his "dresser" so he could snuggle his snowsuit. He stayed up there for about 1/2 hour and insisted I stay there the whole time. I snuck away just long enough to grab my camera!

Benjamin is learning so quickly! As you can see from this video he loves singing songs and picks up on the motions to songs almost as fast as I sing them. After hearing "Monkeys on the Bed" about 3 times and seeing the motions, he all ready knew how to do the motions.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

TRIMMING THE TREE

Helping Daddy untangle the Christmas tree lights

Benjamin's tree trimming technique was to basically create a pile of ornaments on one section of the tree. Once all the ornaments were on Benjamin wanted to clean them off. As a result there is a very large bare spot on our tree the covers the entire front of the tree within Benjamin's reach.

CHRISTMAS CRUISE

There's a family in west Provo that has the Provo River on their property. They decorate all their land with lots of Christmas lights and boat people up and down their section of the river to look at their lights. We went with Kami and Samuel and it was lots of fun!

Waiting for the cruise to board!

Only in Utah...

BAKING DAY

Kami came to our house and she and Rachel baked ALL DAY. Benjamin helped here and there, mostly with tasting and distractions. However, when it came time to frost cookies Benjamin was right there the whole time with a spoonful of frosting and a very messy face.

Helping Kami make frosting

Frosting cookies

A very messy boy after frosting cookies

The fruits of our labors: Sugar cookies, peanut butter cups, peanut brittle, Kisses pretzels, chocolate dipped pretzels, and chocolate dipped wheat-thin peanut butter sandwiches. Kami and Rachel agree that this display is Martha Stewart-worthy.

After such a long day of baking Rachel was done with cooking so Benjamin had to fend for himself for dinner. Just kidding. In the commotion of dinner Benjamin climbed up on the table and grabbed a frosting knife and a tortilla chip. So cute.

VISITING SANTA AT THE MALL

Basically it was a disaster. Benjamin cried before Santa even touched him. Ben was so upset he did not want ANY pictures with the scenery. This was the best picture we got of him that day.

Thanksgiving!

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Idaho to Rachel's aunt Donette's house. We ate some good food then had time for playing. It was about 2 degrees outside but I really wanted Benjamin to see the cows. The cows liked seeing him too.

Getting cow kisses




Benjamin, the rough rider

The day after Thanksgiving Rachel and her mom and dad went to see the new Harry Potter. Dennis was all ready back at work and Benjamin had to stay at Great Grandma's house with Aunt Liz and Great Grandma so we thought we would bring home a treat for him. As you can see Benjamin thought that was a pretty good deal!

He stopped even looking at the camera; he was totally absorbed in the popcorn.

We all had a great Thanksgiving weekend with family.

Halloween Pictures...Merry Christmas!

Before Halloween Rachel and Kami spent an afternoon at Gardner Village, basically a bunch of boutiques and cute shops where the area is decorated for Halloween. Even though this is only the second year we did this, we've decided it's now an annual tradition.

Benjamin was the cutest duck! He had lots of fun trick-or-treating and much to his parents' dismay he enjoyed eating his candy this year, especially the chocolate. Thank goodness we took pictures at the beginning of the night because by the end of the night the white part of his costume had lots of brown marks from Benjamin enjoying his spoils.

Since Halloween was on a Sunday this year Kami had a Halloween dinner at her house. She made an amazing dinner and Dennis, Benjamin and Rachel all had the stomache flu. We went to Kami's but we didn't really get the most out of our dinner. We dressed up but none of the pictures were post-worthy. We really did appreciate all the hard work Kami went through though and it was still the best Halloween we'd had for years!

Fun Times with Benjamin

Benjamin is such a joy in our lives. He has a very playful personality and is always coming up with something cute to do. He still only says Mama and Dada, but he jabbers non-stop so we know once he starts to talk he will catch right up. He has great motor skills and can all ready walk down stairs (most kids just scoot up and down). We love making Benjamin giggle and playing with him and he loves spending time with us too!





Playing an off-duty fireman



There's nothing like child labor! Benjamin feels like a big boy when he helps sweep and I get a clean(er) kitchen floor.





One of Benjamin's favorite costumes - pantless firefighter with flashlight and drum.

He's even cute while he's sleeping! Dennis went in to check on him during his nap and Benjamin had stuck his foot through the bars of his crib.

Shopping with Uncle Sam. Benjamin loves having Samuel and Kami so close-by.

A typical Friday night - a mostly-naked baby climbs up on the back of the couch all by himself.

Benjamin loves his toy basket, even if he doesn't use it for its original purpose - to keep toys in it. To Ben the basket is more like a wonderful plaything that inspires all kinds of creative uses and is usually a type of fort in which to watch cartoons, pile up diapers, climb in and out of in various positions, and to stand on top of.

Oh no! Sucked in by the couch!

I bought Benjamin some mittens because the weather is getting colder and Ben needs to keep his hands warm. Benjamin loves them so much he brings them to me to put them on his hands even when we're not going outside!

The Rest of Summer

I must have realized I would miss summer at this time, which is why I waited until November to blog about summer vacations. See? It was part of my plan all along to wait this long!


Eastern Idaho State Fair


All set for a day at the fair!


Testing the hot tubs

Riding the Carousel. Benjamin loved it so much he actually started crying when we had to get off.

Driving the boat; Benjamin comandeered BOTH steering wheels!

Riding with Aunt Liz

Visiting the big horses in the barn with Grandpa

Benjamin preferred playing in the sawdust to riding horses though.

The only fun part of the fair I failed to capture is the vast amount of fair food we consumed while we were there. We love going to the fair every year!


Pirate Island Pizza

Pirate Island Pizza - Me, Dennis, my sister Liz, Dennis' sister Kami, and Dennis' brother Samuel took on the Kracken - 2 feet in diameter of meat-lover's paradise in pizza form. Benjamin liked the crust the best.


Benjamin didn't get to play any games at Pirate Island (they have an arcade), but he got to ride a little merry-go-round they had and he LOVED it!

Mecham Family Reunion

Woohoo! A family reunion with a trampoline! They also had a bouncy house but I didn't get any pictures of it.

The Joe Mecham Family: Samuel, Rachel and Benjamin, Dennis, Joe, Darlene, Korissa, Kami and Conner, and Devin. What a good-looking group!

Settling down on Grandpa's lap after a long day of reunion.



Thompson Family Reunion

We went up to Dubois, Idaho to put in Great-Grandpa Thompson's military headstone. While we were there we decorated his grave with some flowers.


Of course, whenever the Thompsons get together there is plenty of good food! At the cemetary we had Rachel's Aunt Donette's famous Fudge-filled Cookies, soda, water, candy, cookies, and crackers. Don't worry; after we were done at the cemetary we went back to Idaho Falls for lunch. :-)


Feeding the ducks by the falls in Idaho Falls. Most of Benjamin's bread ended up on the rocks below his feet, but Daddy helped him get it to the ducks.

We love to see the temple!