The haps

Look at my baby all grown up. He will be 6 months old this Sunday

Jeff hiked to the top of Mount Nebo a few weeks ago with some friends and he took the camera and took this beautiful picture below. This is a view I will never see for myself because I could never (nor do I want to) hike to the top of Mount Nebo. Here he is with his ice pick.

Ben had carrots today for the first time. He loved them in case you can't tell from the picture.

Mr. Photogenic! Doesn't his smile just melt your heart?

His Grandma Young was here for a few days and bought him this cute hiking turtle. He loves it....especially the shoe laces. He likes to chew on them.

Smiling is what we do

I've been a little busy. Ben and I have been doing a lot of smiling. That is what we do all day long. My cheeks are exhausted from so much smiling. But man, I feel pretty good inside because of all of this smiling I have been doing. You should give it a try.

Photography

Ben and Erica received darling sweaters from their Aunt Nickie's family for Christmas and so it is photo shoot time because they look so absolutely cute. But getting a good picture of a baby takes patience. Even getting a good picture of a silly 8 year old takes time too. So here it goes. Ben looks a little uncomfortable. Erica had to take off her glasses. Ben looks VERY uncomfortable. Let's try the floor. Erica looks like she is on Nyquil or something.Let's try another blanket. Oops, Ben looked away. Ben is looking now, but Erica just remembered she has her glasses on. A little better but Ben looks like he is trying to tell us something. Aaah, very cute. Yeah! I got one. This is my favorite.

Mom and Dad, this is for you

Mom and Dad, Since you are so far away from your grandson, here is a video of him. Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you!

My little hiker

Erica has a goal to hike to the top of Timpanoogas with her dad some day. So Jeff has been taking Erica on hikes to the "Y" lately. I personally think she is pretty amazing for hiking to the "Y."I did it once a few years ago and I barely made it to the "Y." Then I tried it last week with Ben in a front pack all by myself one morning (because I'm trying to lose this baby fat) and I couldn't make it. This is a picture of Erica with her Grandpa Anderson, Uncle Steve and Jeff (doesn't it look like Jeff has a swimming cap on. :) He swears it is a hat to keep your head warm while you are biking and it was all he could find that morning.) They hiked to the "Y" with no problem but then they kept going higher and higher and made it up past the "Y" quite a ways. Isn't she a tough woman? I want to be like her.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holiday season to everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying this fun exciting time. So far I don't have a stitch of holiday shopping done. I hope I make it. I love putting up my Christmas decorations. I have 4 nativity sets in my house thanks to my two moms; 3 of them were from my mother and one was a gift from Jeff's mother. I guess it is the mother's thing to get their children nativity sets. The other day I noticed that Erica rearranged one of them to this. I thought it was so cute how they are surrounding Mary holding baby Jesus. I don't want to forget why we are really celebrating Christmas. It is so easy to forget because there are a million other things to preoccupy our minds in December. Thanks, Erica, for pointing out what this is all about. Ben wants to say "Hi" too. I am so lucky that I get to look at this cute face all day long. He loves to smile. It is so cute when he has been crying and then he gets a glimpse of my face and he gives me one of these faces below. It melts my heart. It is the most adorable thing to watch him try to talk to me and all of these different sounds come out of his mouth. I can see why several women I know have said to me lately that they are baby hungry. Nothing is sweeter than a little baby.

Dressed up

Look at my boy all ready for church.