Benjamin and Seth

Benjamin and Seth are having so much fun being brothers! Benjamin has always loved holding Seth and is so excited that he doesn't have to use pillows anymore to hold him.

Here are some photos of them enjoying themselves on the floor.

Christmas Tree and First Snow!

My decorating helpers!

Such concentration! (This was the first photo I took, and so he didn't realize I was taking pictures).

This year Benjamin helped decorate the Christmas tree. He was so careful and loved being able to help. (Though now he is asking me when we get to take the ornaments off!) If you look at the above photo you will notice the green grass out of the window. We decorated our tree yesterday, November 29th. Today we woke up to snow! Benjamin has been wanting to build a snowman ever since we mentioned the fact that it would be winter soon with snow. He helped Justin take out the trash and then started in without even having gloves on. I hurried and found his and took them outside. His hands were already very cold, but he didn't want to come inside; he was having too much fun playing outside and building his snowman. Justin found his gloves and went back outside to help him. Our neighbors came over to see the snowman and watched until they got too cold and went home. Benjamin however was having too much fun to want to come inside. I finally had to persuade him to come inside because I was so cold (standing on the protected porch and I hadn't even been outside the whole time Justin was helping Benjamin build the snowman).

My cold boy who still didn't want to come in he was having so much fun!
Here it is with the face and arms! (He had various hairdos throughout).

Fire Station Trip

The new preschool playgroup Benjamin just joined went to the fire station November 18th. This was Benjamin's second time, but he still had a blast. Unfortunately they were out of plastic helmets this time, but he got a coloring book. He wears the first helmet he got a lot and I have had to mend the breaks with red tape.

Laughter

We were just sitting down for family scripture study, and Benjamin hopped off the couch to get something. Seth was on my lap and started laughing his head off. Benjamin kept dancing, Seth kept laughing, and Justin captured it on camera. Enjoy!

Halloween

Benjamin and Seth were both pumpkins for Halloween. We went to our ward's Halloween party complete with trunk-or-treat. Grandma Clendening was visiting and helped Benjamin carve pumpkins. We had a lot of fun. Grandma Clendening got a few photos fun photos posted below.

We are on our porch with one of the jack-o-lanterns. It was a beautiful day.

Grandma with Benjamin while carving pumpkins.

My two pumpkins with the jack-o-lantern.

Here is one of the jack-o-lantern's Grandma and Benjamin carved.

Here is Seth in the same pumpkin outfit that I made for Benjamin three years ago (yes, I suggested Benjamin be a pumpkin again this year, so I wouldn't have to make two costumes, but my boys could match).

Grandma Clendening holding Seth.

Here is a picture of us at our friends' house where we went to trick-or-treat and show off costumes. Nate took the picture but Benjamin refused to smile for it. I couldn't find Seth's hat for the picture. I later found it on the floor of the van. I am dressed as a farmer (Justin was too tired to dress up).

Here is a really cute photo of Justin and Seth I couldn't resist posting. :)

Catching up--Trip to Idaho

We made sort of a last minute trip to Idaho over Labor Day weekend to see family (During the first week of Justin's semester--not the best idea). While we were there we took a trip up to Rexburg to see the temple. It was being built while we were there but we moved before it was finished and missed the open house. The photo above is a favorite picture of Benjamin with the tower of the temple in the background.

This is Benjamin getting to drive Grandpa Jorgensen's backhoe. He LOVED it!!

We NEVER want to make that drive again though (we drove straight through on the way there--ouch!). Benjamin cried for the last two or three hours because his legs hurt from sitting in his carseat--I felt so badly for him. But it was nice to be able to visit with family and show off Seth.

Family Vacation Photos

Here are some photos of our vacation.
Benjamin at a cheese store in Wisconsin

Benjamin at the zoo in Madison.

Benjamin at the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Benjamin and Justin in front of the Senate in the Wisconsin Capitol.

Justin and Benjamin at the Field of Dreams.

Catching up--Wisconsin!

With some of the next few posts, I will be playing catch-up with what our family has been doing this summer. We took a family vacation to Madison, Wisconsin in August. On the way, we stopped at the Field of Dreams. We walked into the corn field, and Benjamin got to run the bases. It was beautiful and very well kept. In Madison, we went to the zoo and the capitol building. The capitol was absolutely gorgeous! Justin tells me that the dome is the largest in volume in the whole United States--even bigger than the U.S. Capitol. Benjamin got to sit in a desk, and we all enjoyed walking around admiring the beautiful murals and woodwork. At the zoo Benjamin decided not even halfway through that he was done, so we had to leave without seeing most of the animals. Even with all the little things that went on just because we were a family on vacation, we had a great time and loved Wisconsin. It was so beautiful. We drove home through Minnesota (also gorgeous) and stopped at the Mall of America. Aside from the fact that it was incredibly huge in and of itself with an amusement park inside the middle of the building, they had to have two separate seven level parking garages that each had a bigger footprint than many regular malls do.
Okay, so I just tried to get the pictures from our vacation uploaded, but our computer isn't registering the drive that I put the card in so.... enjoy this picture of Seth taken just after his blessing on the blanket Justin crocheted for him.

It's here!

Okay. Justin and everyone have wanted me to start a family blog for a LONG time, and I finally made the time. We just enjoyed a visit from Marianne and Eric (their blog was the final nudge in getting me to create a blog). We had so much fun with them: playing Settlers of Catan, going shopping, and just hanging out. We are looking forward to a visit from Grandma Clendening in about a week and a half. Benjamin and Seth are both going to be pumpkins for Halloween this year. I will post pictures after our ward's Halloween party. We started attending the Iowa City 4th ward in September because Benjamin is three and will be starting Primary in January (our previous ward didn't have a primary). Well, I'm excited about this blog--we'll see how well I keep it up.