Peanut Butter!?

Never just assume that your 2 year old child has recently been in the peanut butter.

Assume the worst! Think how did he get into the peanut butter . . .or worse what is that!?!? EWE!

Yes, Ben just finger painted my arm with his fecal matter because we've been asking him to tell us when he's pooped. I have to say that I was grossed out, but had to quickly pull myself together because he was doing what he was told, in a way?!??

Parenting 101, any tips!

Like Son . . . Like Father

Where did he go?

There he is!!

Where did he go?

No really where is he!?

I guess that's one way to use the decoration pillows?!

Happy Father's Day!

Dear Dad,

I just wanted to tell you how much I love you. You have always been so good to me. You have always been quick to correct me and to teach me the right way. You have also been firm when I've done something wrong, but also just as soft and kind when I've needed to know that you love me.

Thanks for all the hard work that you do at school, work, and most importantly at home. You make my life wonderful! I hope that you like your new apron! Know that I love you and that I always will.

Love always & forever,
Ben

8 Random Facts

So Tiff tagged me for this. So here I go . . .

1) I love tulips! I can't seem to get enough of them and they never last long enough! I've told Dane that when we get our "Mansions in Heaven" we will plant Tulips everywhere and command them to bloom all the time! But that might not happen so for this lifetime I just take them in completely during Spring Time.

2)I also love Cherry's! It's funny that I think they are so cute and love products or "things" that have cherry's on them. But on the flip side. I dislike getting gifts with either Cherry's or tulips on them because I don't want to be known as the old lady with Cherry everything. I like them but just don't want them!? Strange I know.

3)I cannot stand to do dishes!! It's so hard on my sensitive hands and everywhere we've been we've had to hand wash!? We had a dishwasher in 1 apartment but it never drained well and so we always had yucky stuff stuck to our "clean" dishes. I will leave the dishes until we start to eat burritos with paper plates and plastic wear because there is nothing left to eat off of or cook with. I know this is a weakness and I am working on it. It's sad that i have to be the one that works on it!? Isn't this a family effort?!

4)I love to do laundry! I don't know why but it's relaxing to me to pull out clean laundry from the dryer and fold the warm clothes and put them away. I love to do it?! I don't know why but it has never bothered me. I'm always wishing I had more laundry to do.

5)Cheesecake! Is my ultimate weakness! I love the rich and creamy texture that just melts in my mouth! All kinds fruity, chocolaty, plain. You name it and I'm there. Other than the fake fast cheesecakes that aren't baked!? I hate those!?

6)I wish that I could get the recommended 8 hours of sleep a night. Period. But I guess that comes with being a Mother to a child with health problems. Sleep becomes a coveted luxury around our house! Those who have to stay awake and watch a little boy allow the "sleeping" to be awoken after a short period. Why? I don't know.

7)I wish that I could have better health. I've never been blessed with it and I guess that's my trial in this life. I can control myself in just about anything, but my health has had moments where is was out of my control. It's kind of scary, but I've realized that if I "Just keep swimming" through life I'll make it in the end.

8)I'm allergic to the metal in razors!? So shaving my legs has always been a dreaded and PAINFUL experience. I would go all week in High School without shaving my legs. But once Sunday came I would dread having to get ready because I knew I had to shave!? I've found that electric razors are my friend. I no longer dread shaving my legs. Someday maybe I'll try that Laser Hair Removal! I'll let you know how that goes!
I tag Mindy, Meg, Emily M., and Rogue!

Sleep for Lunch

Ben has never really slept in anything. . . but his crib. In Ben's entire life he has only fallen asleep in church twice! That was since he's been born. But we now have captured a moment in Ben's life that may never happen again!
We came home from church after the 3 hour block and several meetings. He ate one sandwich and asked for another one. Dane and I were discussing the event's for the week and looked over at Ben to find this.


Yes he was sleeping so hard he was snoring! May he rest in peace.

Homecoming

Sorry this has taken me forever! I love photography and you'd think I'd remember my camera at a time when it's most crucial! But I misplaced my camera when we picked Zach up from the airport! The only thing I can do now is write about it and hope that someone will send a picture or 2 so that I can post them on my blog!

So anyways, Zach came home and we were all so happy to greet him! He was a little emotional when he hugged us all. It seemed at times that he just didn't want to let us go. It was a bittersweet moment for Zach I think. He loved his mission and serving the people of Tampa, Florida. But we all had a wonderful time with Zach for the rest of the week.


Mom, Dad, Dane, Me, Ben, Meg, Breck, and Zach all went to Jackson Hole to go swimming! It started our VERY miserable!?. Ben doesn't like showers! Before you swim you are asked to shower. So Ben and I went into a cold shower and walked through the cold air wet until we could get to the pool. He bawled the whole time and wanted out! Dane was about ready to just dunk him under the water a few times just to see if that would change his mind! I was about ready to let him! But instead I suggested that Dane take Ben down one of the slides! So he did and it was like magic! The tears turned to joy and Ben wouldn't let us do anything else except take him down all the slides! He kept resting his head on shoulders and saying, "Pweese, swide!" followed by the name of whomever was holding him. He had a blast!


Then on Saturday we went to a 3-D archery shoot! Dane, Dad, Meg, Zach, and I all went and really had a great time. I felt like a slow poke because of my bad knee. But thanks to my wonderful family who were so understanding! I wish that I could have had something to help support myself and guess what I got for Mother's Day! A new hiking stick! It's awesome and I'm so excited to get to use it! Anyways, about the archery shoot. We had a blast and some of us got what you might call a "Red Neck" Tattoo where are arm guards were. Other than that I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed myself! Mom stayed home with the 2 boys and they had a wonderful time together too!

Ben loved playing with Breck! He finally got to really play with him! Last time Meg came to visit Ben was so sick with his health problems that he really didn't want to play with anyone. He was pretty grumpy the last trip!?
I must say that I really enjoyed the trip!It was so gratifying to spend several days with my family! I look forward to the next one, because Tom will get to come and be with us too!

Sorry so slow!

Just so that you all know we are still alive and well. I've been busy with family and new calling that I haven't had a lot of time to blog. I will get back and post pictures and story's from the last few months very soon.

Coming soon to a blog spot near you:
"A Homecoming", "Sleep for Lunch", "Flying Tigger", and of course "Favorite Cousins".

Return Missionary!

WELCOME HOME!!
Well I know it's a little early but I'm so excited to have Zach come home this coming Wednesday. We are very excited to say that he's served an honorable full-time mission in Tamp, Florida! Home of the Sun!
We are planning on meeting him at the Air Port in Idaho Falls and then spend a long weekend at my parent's house in SV. It will be so much fun to see everyone and spend time together with my family!
Meg is flying in on Sunday and I want to go early to be with her. But we get to stay here and be responsible for a few days and then we'll have a good ole' time! We'll keep you posted with pictures and of course story's!

Horray!

I am happy to annouce that I have officially finished my online courses and am now done!! Yeah!

Now the next step will be to complete me internship hours (180 hrs.) and than sit for the State Exam! We will have to see what our future brings to see if I am able to finish it soon or wait for a time before we know where we are going to settle down before I finish.

But I am very excited to be done and am grateful for all the support from Family and Friends! You guys are great Thank you!

We have Good News!

We are proud to announce that Dane is an official "Student Teacher" for the CES Program! We are so excited and happy for him! This is one step closer to becoming a Seminary teacher.

He will start teaching next year and is happy to start his new job. He may still work at nights but he will mostly be working for the CES program. Dane can't wait to start! But he doesn't have to wait long because there is Teacher training this summer during the mornings. It will be good for him to start head first and really to get into this!

We will keep you posted if we make it he makes it to become an official CES Teacher! Stay tuned . . . it will be announced next year at this time.

Happy Belated Easter!

Yes I know that Easter was 2 weeks ago. But my camera got left at someone's house and I didn't get it back until now. So here's our Easter that was spend in Star Valley. We had fun and Ben enjoyed playing with cousins!

Ben decided that he wanted to color eggs with the other kids! But than he decided that it would be much more fun to color himself and everyone else! Here is his hand. . . .


His thigh . . .
His leg . . .
. . . and last but not least his foot! Which was done in Pen not dye!


Here is his easter basket. He got "Peeps", garden tools, garden gloves, books, and Mini M&M's. All of which he loves!
Gathering of the eggs.
More gathering of the eggs.

In this picture you can see him shaking the egg! He had to shake every egg he picked up! The funny part was we unloaded his basket and showed him an egg and he went to town! Tayden and Alex had to quickly neglect their Easter Basket's and start gathering because Ben almost took it all!

Here is Cassity, Tayden, Shawnee, Alex, Cheyanne, and Ben.

Front: Scott, Alex, Ben, Susan, Tayden, & Shawnee.
Back: Mandie, Dane, Brittany, Cheyanne, & Cassity.

Front: Scott, Alex, Ben, Susan, Tayden, & Shawnee.
Back: Mandie, Dane, Cheyanne, Mike, & Cassity.
Oh yeah!
We just wanted . . .
to wish you all a Happy Easter!

Huntin' in Huntington

Spring Break! So where do you go? What do you see?! Well we decided that we wanted to see some old friends of ours from Snow College. We took a road trip to good ol' Huntington to see them, their new house, and their newest addition! Other than that there isn't much to Huntington! But the sun was shining and we were able to go outside and play.
Here are some pictures from our adventure's and the time we spent with them!

Dane has been asking to go and buy this "Buck Shot" BB gun and while we were there Dane got bored waiting for Tom to come home from work. SO I finally told him to go and get it. He was shooting birds and critters around their farm for hours. As you can see the boys wouldn't leave him alone and wanted to shoot it too.


Ben and Kaden crawled in the bed frame and sat down by themselves. Ben told me,"Mommy, Cute." Translation:Mommy take a picture so that I can see it. Who could resist. :)

This picture of Kaden was so cute. I love his BIG brown eyes!

Here is the newest addition! Isn't she a cutie! She is such a good baby! If all baby's are like this than I want a TON more!
All of the sudden we heard the music starting to play on the swing and were puzzled. We walked into the next room where Kaden had climbed into the swing and turned it on! He looked so proud, it was funny.

Here are the boys bright and early! Ben would wake up, run to Kaden's bedroom door, and yell, "Kaden! Ake up!" Kaden would reply with, "Yah!" It was soo cute!

Daner Man!

1. What is your husbands name? Dane Alan Hepworth
2. How long have you been together? Married 2.5
3. How old is he? 24, although if you ask him he might say, 21!
4. Who eats more? He does, all the way.
5. Who said I love you first? I don't quite remember!? But we say it all the time now. Even Ben says,"Wuv you"!
6. Who is taller? Dane, 6'1" and I'm 5'4"(pushing it)
7. Who sings better? I do, but he sings really well for a guy.
8. Who is smarter? Dane thinks he is book smart, I think I'm "Mommy Smary"!
9. Whose temper is worse? We are both pretty calm people.
10. Who does the laundry? Well we both used too, now that he works full-time, I do.
11. Who does the dishes? Me, he occationally steps in to help, when he's home.
12. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Depends on how you look at it!? Say we were both laying down in bed than Dane's on the right. I'm always the one closest to the door so that I can get up and take care of Ben during the nights.
13. Who pays the bills? We both do, Dane brings home the bacon and I spend it on the bills, groceries, clothes for Ben, the usual.
14. Who mows the lawn? The USU Gardener!
15. Who cooks dinner? Me, if I ever leave Dane in charge of dinner it would be hot dogs and Mac & Cheese,Or HotDog, tortilla, with cheese,Or Frozen Pizza. Yeah I cook.
16. Who drives when you are together? Dane.
17. Who is more stubborn? Dane tries to be tough but I win.
18. Who is the 1st to admit when they are wrong? Dane, than me.
19. Whose parents do you see the most? Dane's, no mine, No DANE'S, NO MINE. We try.
20. Who proposed? Dane, sigh.
21. Who is more sensitive? Dane is pretty tender, but I cry more.
22. Who has more friends? Dane sees more people at the college, but we are about equal because we have the same friends.
23. Who has more siblings? ME!(2) . . . ok Dane(8)
24. Where did you meet? In High School, but we got to know each other more after his mission. I babysat his nephew and he was always over at their house.
25. Who wears the pants in the family? I try, but they just don't fit, so Ben wears them. Than Dane usually is next in line.
26. What was the 1st thing you said to your husband? Hello!? I don't remember.
27. Where was your first date? Going to an Adult Institute class in SV.
28. Where was your first kiss? In the park while it was raining. sigh.
29. Where did you get engaged? In Salt Lake at Temple Square when all the spring flowers were in bloom, and it was raining. Ok, it was pouring.
30. Where were you married? In the Salt Lake City Temple.
31. Where was the honeymoon? What's that!? We were married on a Friday evening, reception on Saturday, moved down to school on Sunday, started school the following Monday morning! Someday we'll get away.
32. What would you have changed? My wedding bouquet was HUGE. It really wasn't what I wanted. Also a real Honeymoon would have been nice.
33. Why do you love him? The way he gets down on the floor and plays with any child no matter what age. The way he picks up a crying baby and wants to see it smile and giggle. The way he tenderly kisses a little boys tears and fears away. The way he loves and cares for me so much. The way he is always looking to make himself a better man. The way he loves the gospel. The way he smiles, smells, and talks. He is so wonderful and kind even though sometimes he needs to be reminded how wonderful he really is. I'll love you forever and always!

The Snake, with a butter knife, on the kitchen table!

This last weekend we made a random trip back to SV to visit our family's. It was nice, quiet and relaxing. Ben had a blast playing in the snow and with "Moma's" homemade playdough! I decided to join and found that I did a pretty good job at making a cute little snake! Once I finished him I went to get the camera to take some pictures.

That's when I found him . . . . dead.


Here is the evidence, the snake, with the butter knife, on the kitchen table! At least there wasn't any blood.

I only turned my back for a moment and Ben killed my snake. He is obsessed with cutting things up ever since he got his food set that he cuts apart!(They are put together with velcrow and he has a knife to cut up the food.) Anyways the playdough was a hit and he really enjoyed it! Thanks Mom!

Oh and here are some pictures of Ben playing with his beloved train! He just can't seem to get enough of it!

Bubble Baths with a "Yes Sir"

So Ben was having his regular bath tonight, you know the usual warm water mixed with soap suds that most people call "bubble baths". He was being really cute and playing around. I'll occasionally pull out the squirt bottle and we'll giggle and laugh together as we slowly slaughter the bubbles! So we decided to do it again tonight. In the middle of our laughter Ben asked if he could try! He's never asked before, just always watched! So I said surehe could and let him give it a try. He promptly grabbed the bottle and was squirting all the bubbles!! He was really doing a wonderful job! He than panicked and grabbed his foot (while still holding the bottle) and said,"Dirty!?" He grabbed his little toe and with his other hand maneuvered the bottle in his remaining hand and started squirting bubbles off his toes and feet! I was shocked!! I couldn't believe the balance he had in a slippery tub full of bubbles, holding a bottle and squirting his feet, while with the other hand holding his toe!? What 18 month old can do that!?!? I told him that he was doing a good job and that I was surprised! He just giggled and said,"Yes, Sir!". I couldn't stop laughing!
Just so you know I don't have anywhere near the talent that my son does! But Dane and I occasionally will have the humor!

"Mee Mee" Problems!?

So we are finally weaning our child from his beloved pacifier!? We have tried everything from cutting them up one by one to having him throw them away! But because of our circumstances,(Ben's health problems) he has used the pacifier as a comfort for when we(Dane and I) are not able to accompany him into medical testing. He also has used it to help console him when he has been very ill. To start off with we never wanted him to have it in the first place. But the first night we gave it to him he nearly slept through the night by himself! WHY NOT!!!? When he was a month old he ended up having surgery because of his stomach problems. The Dr's told us because he had a pacifier it saved his life. We were very grateful for that at the time.

Since than we have had several attempts to wean him off of it. At 6 months we decided that it was no longer necessary for him to have it. Now here we are a year and a month later and we are still unsuccessful because everytime we tired to take it away sometime terrible happened! At 7 months he had an allergic reaction to a flu shot and had the flu really bad for about 10 days. He became dehydrated and had to have IV's. Than when he was starting to get better we moved across states to another time zone and were trying help him adjust. When we had been there for 4 weeks Ben broke his arm and because he was immoble was only comforted by the pacifier! We were starting to break through with him when he was a year old and we moved again to a new school, house, and town. So he was seeking comfort once again. A few month's after we got here in Logan and Dane started school Ben started to become very sick. He stopped eating and drinking, the only thing he would take was a bottle twice a day. He was loosing weight and stopped growing!? He found once agian his pacifier to be the most comfort. We now have his weight under control and he is on medication that is doing wonders for him! Nevertheless he is still attached to his pacifier.

About a month ago we cut up 2 of his 4 pacifiers and handed them back to him. I have never seen a child MOURN!! He sat down in a corner and bawled,"MEE MEE!! ALL GONE!!" over and over again! He cuddled his pacifier. He patted it. He held it close and tried to rock it! He was so devistated. So we were down to 2 and we cut part of the tip off of one. When it's time for Ben to go to sleep he always has to hold a "Mee Mee". This was working! He knew that they were going away! Well the last 2 weeks haven't been quite as successfull. Ben got the flu and again was stuck to his "Mee Mee", than this last week he was starting to do better and got a terrible cold! Once again, "MEE MEE!!!". So tonight I brought the pacifier's to the table and told him that they were going bye bye! I cut the end off of the last one and he laughed! That was until he went to bed and it dawned on him that it was gone. I put him to bed at 8:00 p.m. and he didn't stop crying until 9:15 p.m. I went to him once to wipe his nose, teary eyes, and tell him that he was ok, I still loved him and if he needed me to call me and I would come. I left hearing these words, "MEE MEE!". Nope that's not me.


After the hour and 15 minutes of crying he stopped. I was worried and wanted to make sure that he really had gone to sleep. I went into his room and found that he had been standing up before he fell asleep. I found him crumpled up in the corner of his bed. His head was squished in the corner, a foot was hanging through the rails, a hand(holding a "Mee Mee") was also dangling out of the bed, and he was snoring. I figured that he wasn't going to be very comfortable in that position and so I gently lifted him up and laid him back down on his pillow. He woke up and started softly crying,"Mee Mee". I gave him a kiss and told him good night and covered him up with his blanket. He hasn't moved since. But he is still breathing!

I can only hope and pray that this is the end of our "Mee Mee" problems!