Hanging out with the fam...

Here are a few more pictures of the fam. One is of Carter and I at our "Mommy and me" gymnastics class (he's walking the balance beam way up high!). He loved the class, so much fun. His favorite part was the 30 foot long trampoline he got to bounce down over and over and over...:). Carter has finally (about 2 months ago) discovered television. Only elmo and not for very long at a stretch (about 3 minutes, then trucks, then another 3 minutes, then more truck time). Also Carter INSISTS after each bath on sitting on the counter and making eyes at himself. He loves his new alligator (pronounced aw-i-ga-to). They have these great indoor blow up toy play places (because it is TOO HOT to be outside) and Carter thinks the place is one big trampoline. He is sometimes over 2 feet in the air! Joe and I have recently had some moral struggles with house-sitting. We are taking care of the families 2 snakes and yesterday we had to feed them live mice. It was TERRIBLE! The little one at 2 little baby mice and the big one at 4 big mice. By the end we couldn't handle it anymore and we spared one of the big mice. We fed him cheese and strawberries and set him free in a field. At least now he has a fighting chance!

Our home...

When we took pictures of our house we didn't take any great shots of the exterior, this is the only one I've got. The house has great bones, but we are putting in new floors throughout, painting every wall, gutting the kitchen and bathrooms and we hope to have it done in three weeks. Did I mention we are doing most of it ourselves. You can stop laughing now. But we have been somewhat realistic- we are saving the yard work for next year:). Demolition starts next week and will culminate with my Dad (Mr. Fix-anything) coming out to help with the hard stuff. We are so blessed to be in a ward with wonderful people who are letting us house sit during all this chaos. Atlanta is humid, but other than that we can't complain. The people are so kind, it's beautiful and green and there are things to do and see. We'll keep you posted on the chaos, we're hoping for some great before and after photos. My sister McKenna is coming out on Monday to stay for MONTHS and MONTHS. Without her none of this would be possible- thank you McKenna! I love checking everyones blogs- I hope someday ours will get a facelift and regular updates too. And music, how do you do that...?

Moving Day!!

Yesterday we closed on our house, and today we moved all of our worldly posessions into it! Doesn't seem quite real because we aren't living there yet, we are house sitting for some great friends while we do some projects on our new home (you know Joe- he's all excited with big plans to knock down walls,etc.). I don't have pictures to share because we are STILL (4 months now) living out of boxes with no idea where the camera cable is. But we should be up and running smoothly again soon. Carter has been a trooper- all day as we moved he would say "me help too" and then he'd pick something up and carry it around for a while. We'll keep you a little better updated on the Bensons from here on out!

Alive and Adjusting in Georgia...

Hello friends and family! I've gotten a lot of flack for being a slacker so I am updating our blog. Carter and I went on a 3 week trip to visit family in Kansas and go to my sister, Bonnie's, wedding in Utah. We are now back and my sister McKenna is staying with us for most of the summer (yea!!). We are going to become civil war buffs so feel free to come to us with any questions you may have:). Also, on monday we made an offer on a house and are just waiting to hear back but we are optimistic it will go through. We'll keep you updated. Smarty pants Carter is really growing up- he can count to ten and sing the birthday song (I turned 27 yesterday!). We are FINALLY taking way the bottle and starting really parenting because he turned 2 last month and has started acting like it. But he is a sweet boy at heart. Joe is loving his new job, he has great co-workers but a long commute. Our new house would fix that problem. We are still living out of boxes until we get a house but I'll try to keep in touch better. Here are some recent Benson snapshots. Hope you are all well!

The good, the sad, the new...

A lot has changed with our family in the last few weeks. Mid-March Joe accepted a job offer in Atlanta Georgia and at the end of March we packed our stuff and hit the road. On the day we left California we found out that the baby Dawnelle was carrying (about 10 weeks along) no longer has a heartbeat. And since things aren't progressing along with the miscarriage as they are suppossed to Dawnelle will have to go in for a procedure that will clean everything out. It hasn't been easy with all the chaos in our lives right now but we are coming to terms and we have faith that everything happens for a reason. We are so grateful to so many of you for your love and prayers for us- we are so blessed to have you as friends and family. We spent a week in Arizona with Joe's sister and her family. With three cousins to play with we have never seen Carter happier (Brandon, Matthew and Andrew- CARTER MISSES YOU)! We arrived in Georgia earlier this week and have been busy finding a temporary apartment, house hunting, getting to know our area and driving each other crazy. Joe starts work Monday and a normal routine should ensue. We will keep you all updated and we will send you pictures of our sweet Carter and his buzzed haircut as soon as our stuff arrives (we're hoping for Monday...). Thank you again for your love- Happy Easter.

The guys...

So Joe left yesterday for a business trip and Carter insisted on bringing his luggage to the car too- SO CUTE!! Carter loves to pull and push things around, every night we play "follow-the-leader" which basically involves Carter with his lawn mower, Joe with the vacuum and Dawnelle with the popper. We go up and down the hall until Joe and I can't take it anymore!!

Even though Carter has a cold we took him to the Steinhart Aquarium on Monday (we LOVE three day weekends when Joe's home!!) and he was enthralled with all the fish! All he wanted to do was stand in front of the big fish tanks and wait for the fish to come to him. Today is day 8 of our little germ magnet being sick (first the flu and now a cold)- he isn't sleeping well at night but he does sleep in my arms which I do love. Be well everybody!!

Our little man...

Just some of my favorite recent pictures of our little man. He is feeling much better today, we even got really ambitious and went to see a movie together (just me and Carter). We saw "Music & Lyrics" and just a tip- it's a little too risque for children (and possibly adults for that matter). I don't think Carter even knew we were at a movie though, he was just happy to have popcorn and soda (and I'm just glad he's finally eating again)!