Memorial Day

I love Memorial Day. It always reminds me of my great-grandpa of course. I wrote a post about him last year with a poem called "As we stand here". I really liked the poem and thought that the meaning of Memorial day really shined through. Memorial day isn't about a day off of work, or time to go to the Lake... It's about remembering those before us... those who served this country and their families. I hope everyone took some time to visit a cemetery and honor those gone before. :)

My family gets together every year in Salina, UT on the Saturday before Memorial Day. My great-grandma grew up in the neighboring Aurora, and that's where all of her relatives are buried. Her sister- My great great Aunt Norma, still lives in Salina so we always meet at her house. I LOVE her home and her amazing back yard. That's the kind of back yard I want some day! :)

Jeff and I decided to venture over there this year, and surprisingly, the drive was great! We have great travelers! But I guess they have to be with the way we go... :) It was great to see family and have a fun time. The turnout was low this year because of the rain (we were the only ones with little kids! Crazy!) But it was still a lot of fun to see everyone!

This is my great-grandma Ilean, and then her sister Norma. They look a lot alike. They are so cute together :)

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. We went to Church and had the Home Teachers over. Allison looked really cute... (Although her dress was kind of up in this picture :)

Don't you love the socks? THANKS JESS!! :)

And Monday, Memorial Day was a great day too. Jeff, Dallin and I had a really yummy breakfast, and then we worked on a few things around the house. Jeff planted some of our garden... Hopefully we're around enough this summer to actually keep it going. :) We also took a walk up to the Orderville Cemetery and looked at some graves of those we knew or of family of those we know. Dallin didn't really understand what the graves are yet, and he took a car from a little boy's grave without us knowing. We had to search to try to find where it belonged! Some day he'll understand. :)

Look how big my baby girl is getting! We put her in the boppy on Monday and she's finally starting to really like it!

And Dallin wanted her to be fashionable...

Then Jeff's Parents and sister Laura came up again that evening and I made dinner. We had a good chat, and my father in law cleaned my whole kitchen! Including scrubbing my floor! :) It was awesome!

I hope to make it to my grandpa's grave while I'm in St. George this weekend. I'm grateful for him and MANY others who served their country and made their families proud. :) Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day!

Jeff took this picture :)

My Berfday...

Well... I'm getting old... Last week I turned this many:

Although it's kind of weird because I feel much older already! All of my friends here in Orderville are older than me, and have kids... And I already have 2 kids... I don't know. I just
already feel older than I am. Which is just fine with me. :)

My birthday weekend was great! On Saturday, Jeff's mom, dad, sister Laura, and our nephew James came into Orderville and took me out to Lunch! It was Yummy! (Well- mine was- everyone else's was sort of burned... haha). The boys (Dallin and James) were kind of crazy, but it was fun non-the-less. After lunch we came back and had cake and ice-cream, and they sang Happy Birthday to me. I was glad they were able to come up... It's always fun to have company! :)

Jeff and I stayed up that night watching a "Far and Away" until 12:20 (my time of birth) and then he gave me a beautiful book that I have wanted called Reflections of Christ, by Mark Mabry. All of the pictures of photos captured to recreate the Life of Christ. I loved it!
There's so many pictures in there that I just love!

This one is of Christ and John the baptist after Christ was baptized. I love how they just look so happy...

And this one is my favorite... It's so peaceful to me...

Then on Sunday the 17th (my birthday), it was Stake Conference. I was able to sing with the choir for a few songs, so that was fun. Trying to wrestle with Dallin for the whole 2 hours on the other hand was not so much... :)

We got home and my awesome friend Autumn made me, Jeff and Dallin a wonderful lunch at her house! I ate a LOT! :) Thanks Autumn and Bruce!

My other wonderful best friend Chantelle also came over to our house and brought a home-made birthday cake, and we made dinner. It's always fun to have all of their girls around! :)

We had to cancel a picnic I had planned with my mom and family on Monday, but I'm going in to St. George this weekend for a "Belated Birthday Brunch" with my family. So that will be fun. :) I also got a lot of phone calls on my birthday and fun cards in the mail. :) So Thanks Everyone! :) I really have amazing friends and family!! :) Thanks for making my birthday so great!

Seriously?

So... I got this back in the mail today:

It was my check and bill to Dish Network.

Apparently, the mail system and my bill had a fight, and the mail system won.
Nice that the part with my signature was torn off so perfectly eh?

Well, Since my bill was now two weeks late, I decided to call Dish Network to let them know about this little mishap that was not my fault, and that I had indeed sent the check on time. I didn't want to get a late charge.
So I call the number, and listen patiently while trying to find out which number to push. There wasn't any choices for "Mail system eating your bill", so I finally decide to just push "0" To talk to the operator so that I could explain my situation...

I was then told that there was a $5.00 charge to talk to the operator.
$5.00!
What... our society is so lazy that we get charged to talk to an actual human now?
Seriously??
The future generations have my pity...

My Boys...

On the way over to Cedar City for Mother's Day, Jeff decided to stop by Duck Creek and finally put his fishing license and fishing pole he got for Christmas to good use. :) My dad got Dallin a little fishing pole for Christmas too, so they both were able to have fun. No fish were caught, but Dallin Loved spending time with Jeff! He was so cute. He was his little shadow and was jabbering away about the fish. We decided we're going to have to do this a LOT more often since he thrives on this kind of stuff. I was watching him fishing and realized that he's growing up so fast! We need to take advantage of these moments as much as possible! :)

We might need to work on technic a little bit though:

And Allison and I hung out in the car and did a lot of this:

**********************

Also, Dallin loves Link from the game Zelda. He plays it sometimes with Jeff and on his own. He knows it all the Music and loves to pretend he's Link. Jeff has a little metal sword and shield that look like the ones Link has- they are collectibles. Dallin loves them and is so intrigued by them! But since they are metal... and collectible... Jeff and I really don't like him playing with them! :) So this weekend, we decided to make Dallin some of his own. Jeff printed out the Link shield and sword pictures and glued them to some really think poster board. Then used some cardboard for the handle on the shield. Dallin LOVED them and he hasn't really put them down since! He's been in Heaven! :)

This is my crazy son doing a "Link Pose" and dancing to the Legend of Zelda Music- haha
Can you tell he's a little excited? :)

Two Months!

Allison turn two months last week. I can't believe it! She's starting to outgrow a lot of her clothes! She's smiling really big a lot now, and has even laughed out loud a few times. She's rolled over three times... but just because she was too mad that she was on her tummy. Her kicking and crying was just enough to get her over... haha. She's really starting to find her hands, but is still trying to get them exactly where she wants them. She's not really too fond of the binkey anymore... but she's definitely fond of my milk machines! :) She's constantly eating all day long. But I can't really complain. She's been sleeping from 10:00 until 5:00 or 6:00 (NEVER FAIL!) for the last 6 weeks!! Yes... I know... I'm spoiled. :) I love it when we "Coo" back and forth, and when she's so excited that she can't contain her movement! She's so much fun!

2 Month Stats:
9 lbs. 9 ounces- 15th percentile
21.5 inches long- 25th percentile

She's a petite little thing...
But a darn cute petite little thing!



We love you baby girl... :)

Mother's Day Gifts

I thought I'd share the gifts that I made for all of the mom's and grandma's in our family. I had a lot of fun doing it, and it was super easy! Which was good because I made 7 different bunches of them!

I went with the same idea that a lot of people have done for magnets with the Clear pebble (The 1.5 inch ones), a magnet, and the scrapbook paper... but I used pictures in mine instead.

I cropped each picture to a 1.5 x 1.5 inch square on photoshop, then printed them all out to cut around the pebbles. This way I was able to the picture exactly how I wanted in sitting in the pebble, instead of too big or too small.

Then you paint a small amount of modge podge to the back of the pebble and place your picture on. Be careful not to get to much or too little. To much, your picture will slide and smudge... To little and you'll have air bubbles on your picture (Like the ones on Dallin's on the picture above). You will be able to feel it out. After they completely dry (Wait an hour or longer), hot glue a magnet on the back.

Sorry, I wasn't very good at taking step by step pictures, but you get the idea. :)
Super Easy, and my grandma's and mom's all loved them!

UPDATE!!

Ok everyone.
The Class of '04 blog has been updated with info on the Reunion!
PLEASE go check it out and let us know you have been there!
I'm so excited for the Reunion!
June 20th!! :)

To the Women in my Life...

Dear Mom,
I'll never be able to tell you how much you mean to me. You are the most amazing mother and grandmother. Thank you for always teaching me that you can be happy no matter what life throws at you... I look up to you so much and try to learn from you every day. Thank you for making me Smiley Face lunches, always dressing me cute, and having a play dough table when I was little. Thank you for sacrificing all to help us succeed in school, for knowing how much it meant to me to have a new dress for a dance, and for talking me through every boyfriend problem I ever had. Thank you for always answering my millions of phone calls everyday, and for helping me figure out recipes, what to do for crying babies, and how to get certain stains out. You are able to make something simple turn into fabulous just by taking a trip to the dollar store. You are able to calm down any baby you come in contact with. You are able to make an entire room light up just with your smile and laugh. You're beautiful. You do it all. I have no idea how you do it! Do you have a Wonder Woman cape in your closet? :) I'd seriously be lost if I didn't have you. I was serious that day that I told you I wanted to clone you and have you live in my closet. :) Then I wouldn't have to drive two hours to see you all the time... Mom... I really love you so much and will never be able to tell you how much you mean to me. I love you so much. Happy Mothers Day...
Love Jenna Benna

Also, To My Wonderful Mother-in-Law,
Thank you for raising such a wonderful man for me to marry! The reason I have such a sensitive, communicative, gospel living husband is because of you. You taught him how important the Gospel is, and how much better a life can be if you spend it talking to and serving others. I can honestly say that I've met very few people who have as big of heart as you do! You are amazing! You are always calling and checking on people- in your family and ward. I always notice that. You would do anything for anyone. I hope I can be more like that someday! You are such a sweet woman and I'm so glad that I have you for a mother in law! I couldn't ask for a better one! You are a wonderful, loving Mother and Grandmother! I love you Julia...
Love, Jenna

And to all of my grandmas:
I know that I am so Lucky to have all of you in my life! Great-Grandma Ilean, Grandma Apple Valley, Grandma Hefley, Grandma Gumball... You are all wonderful examples to me of love and amazing talents! I love you so much... Thank you for all you do for our families!

Grandma Ilean:

Grandma Apple Valley:

Grandma Hefley:

And Grandma Gumball (With her AMAZING mini quilts):

And to Jeff... The MAN in my life...
Thank you for giving me the biggest gift of all... for making ME a mommy... I love you...