Benj started his NEW JOB today!! He is a web developer for a pretty new small company in North Utah county, his brother Adam works there too. They have done well in the past and Benj will enjoy the work that he will be doing for them. He will also be paid more and we are excited about that!
Even though this new job is great, we had a really hard time leaving Eclipse. They have always been so good to us and we loved all the people there. Friday was Ben's last day there and they made such a big deal out of it! They had a big company lunch (Chili's-yummy), and we watched 'The Office' (Ben's favorite TV show). Then his boss gave a speech about how much they will miss Ben and how wonderful he was, then he whips out an XBOX 360! And says he just wanted to get Benj a little something!! Then a few hours later we all (the entire office and their families) met at Thanksgiving Point to see the new Indianan Jones on opening night!
That is Eclipse for ya, never do anything 'little'. They were so good to us when Samantha was in the hospital, giving Benj TONS of paid time off, visiting often, bringing several car-fulls of food for us to live on, are just a few things. We will also miss the annual cruises.... :(
We have been with them for so long it is weird to be 'moving on'. Thanks for everything Eclipse!
Ben and Jason (his old boss) with the XBOX360!
We have 'card night' once a month with these guys (and a few others) and their families. This is also the group that got me addicted to the Twilight series.
Here are some pictures of the gaming room we have to leave behind. Benj and Mantha have spent many an hour here. :) When we would go to his work she would always want to go up the elevator and through the door to this room.
Benj was so proud that she knew what to do with these.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
End of an Era
Friday, May 16, 2008
Good times
We went to a birthday party for Samantha's friend and had so much fun. I am so glad the weather is starting to get warmer so we can have more outdoor activities. Dad and Mantha enjoyed swinging, Mom and Mantha played baseball. :)
Playing in the dirt
We were out pulling weeds in the yard, which to Samantha looks like we are playing in the dirt so she joins right in and is so proud to be helping. Playing in the dirt is very messy!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Mother's Day
Enjoying the warmth
Here are a few days that have been warm the past week or two. Samantha loves swimming and playing outside! We spend a lot of our time at Ben's brother Adam's house (I just realized that ALL of these pictures were taken there, pretty sad).
Funny story:
I left Samantha in only her diaper one day while I got the phone, it was my Mom and I lost track of time talking to her. Samantha soon wandered out of her room completely naked and I said "oh, you took your diaper off all by yourself!" and kinda laughed while we went to find her diaper. It wasn't until I was putting the diaper back on that I found the poop on the floor..... My Mom was still on the phone as I screamed!........I decided not to post the pictures I took. You're welcome.:)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Colorado
Samantha, my Mom and I flew out to Colorado last week to see Jeff's new baby and the Colorado families. (My two oldest brothers Jeff and Brady live out there with their families). Marlee is so cute and so sweet! Samantha had so much fun with the cousins, she loved to play with them and all their toys. Jeff's birthday was while we were out there and he got Rock Band!! So we jammed out a lot! He is awesome on the drums and I am very good on guitar...if it's on easy :). Jeff and I would get laughing and not be able to stop, everyone else thought we were dumb, but we know how funny we are! I seriously haven't laughed that hard for that long in a long time. 
We miss our boys! We love you and thanks for letting us come.
Denver Zoo
We also went to the Zoo with Natalie while we were there. We left after Samantha and Abe took naps and took Ava out of school. So by the time we got to the zoo, we missed the crowds and it had cooled off. The kids loved it! We were there for 4 hours! Samantha only let me keep her in the stroller for the first hour, then walked/ran the whole rest of the time. I kept waiting for her to break down, it didn't happen until the very end, and Grandma carried her on her back for the last 15 minutes or so. Thanks Mom. We all had so much fun, but were pretty exhausted when we left.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Like Momma, Like Mantha
Samantha loves to do whatever I am doing: laundry, dishes, yard work, ect. Well, she is starting to copy me in her play too and I get such a kick out of it. She cracks me up. She picks up the phone now and says 'hey' instead of 'hi' because that is what I say.
Organizing my turn around is an almost daily chore for her. Oh, and she smiles now (eyes closed) when I get the camera out.
She also multi-tasks what ever she is doing with a phone in one hand. It is funny what she picks up on.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Babies, babies, babies!
We have had lots of babies born the past little bit! Congrats to:
Ben's sister Marisha and Chris! Baby Ayda
My brother J
eff and Ali and baby Marlee!
My long-time friend Chaysie and her Chloe!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Eye surgery
Samantha has had eye drainage problems her whole life (apparently lots of kids do). Well, it is supposed to clear up on it's own by one year and we waited til she was almost 2........and nothing, so she had the surgery. It is to clear out the tear ducts, they put a wire down them and then a balloon to stretch them out (usually there is a blockage at the end of the duct that needs stretching). They had to sedate her so we had to do the whole no eating for most of the night thing that really sucks for a short-gut kid who is starving by 2am. Well, we got through that then had to be at the hospital at 6am!! We are about an hour away so, we woke up at like 4:30am!
Then we wait in lots of waiting rooms and get vitals and measurments and stuff. (Still no food or drink for Mantha.) And since we were at Primary (where my Dad works) everyone gives us lots of extra attention. Doctors come in and check on us every step of the way and are so good to us. She was a little clingy and grumpy for the first part of the morning (no food, no sleep). But, when the anesthesiologist took her down the hall to sedate her for the surgery she was fine, that was a relief. The surgery went well, it was pretty quick and then we got to see her coming out of anesthesia, she was pretty groggy and confused and didn't like the breathing tube or the IV, but just cuddled with me. Her eyes had bloody tears coming out that was pretty creepy and her nose had lots of blood too . She was able to drink some apple juice and didn't vomit so before long we were discharged and went home. She was a little drugged for the rest of the day, and had some pain, by the next day we both just slept a lot! We gave her eye drops for a few days, and that was it. Pretty quick recovery.
We actually had this surgery done about 2 weeks ago, sorry for the late blogging. But, her eyes are still pretty bad. We have been in touch with the Doctor (he gave us his cell phone, pager, office phone, and home phone numbers and has been calling us every few days to check up on us). See what I mean about extra attention? He thinks it could still clear up, if not we will have to repeat the surgery. It is a pretty common surgery and about 10% have to get it done twice. So, hopefully we won't be in the 10% group. Fingers crossed.
So, you'd think we are used to all this hospital stuff, but it is seriously a whole new ball game when they are old enough to know what's going on. The whole time she was a in the hospital as a baby, I just felt bad and sad when she cried or they did procedures on her. Now, she fights it and it is so much harder. I'm glad we have most of her hospitalizations out of the way........knock on wood. :)
This picture is pre-surgery in a waiting room.
Sorry about the girl in the background, I didn't take many pictures that day and this was the best one.
These are post-op at home.
