An Angel touched our Family

On Christmas eve, my son's "best girl friend" (as he calls her) passed away. She was skiing with her mother and they were both hit by a snowboarder. It killed her instantly. The snowboarder died as well. The mother is still in the ICU and no one is sure as to the extent of her injuries. There are more details, but I feel it's not my place to post them on my blog. The story has been on national news, and I'm sure it's been hard on both families.

The little girl was, like I mentioned previously, our son's dearest friend in kindergarten. They are in the same class and are both half day kindergartners together. She came over to our house at least once a week, if not twice. The picture posted above is of my son and Elise making Christmas cookies, just about three weeks before she passed away.

Our son, and our entire family have been so sad from this accident and for the family. She was such a sweet, beautiful girl, and she will be missed greatly.

Even in the middle of such a sad tragedy, I am amazed at the miracles that Heavenly Father puts in our lives. My husband was the one who received the call about the accident. When he told me, we just cried together. After awhile, I remembered that the day before Christmas vacation (three days before she passed away) Elise had given my son a picture that she had drawn and signed her name to. I told my husband, "I have to find that picture." I knew I had thrown it away, and was afraid I wouldn't be able to find it, or that it would be ruined from food stains.

I went out to our garbage and after digging through four sacks finally found the picture. Tears filled my eyes as I looked at the picture. There was not one wrinkle, and not one stain from being in the garbage for three days. More touching than that was that it was a picture of an angel. Elise had colored so beautifully a picture of an angel for my son.

That picture hangs above my son's bed. It's a reminder to all of us that miracles do happen and that there are angels all around us.

Elise, we love you and will miss you more than you will ever know. Thank you for sending us a note from heaven and for being our angel.

Praise to the Man

On this, Joseph Smith's birthday, I feel it's only appropriate to express appreciation for this great man, his faith, his family and all he stood for. How grateful I am for the modern day prophet Joseph Smith. I know that he truly saw God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and he indeed did restore their church to the earth. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is still here today and it's penetrating every climb. How grateful I am to be a member of Christ's church. I will be eternally grateful for the prophet, Brother Joseph and all he did to help the work of the Lord go forth. May his name be praised forever! How wonderful the day when "millions shall know Brother Joseph again."

Caroling Fun

Caroling with the Bennions

We had a Bennion Christmas at our home last night (Bennion is my maiden name.) It was so fun. And I thought it only appropriate to post a video of my great family singing the holiday hits! Take it away.....

Disney Said WHAT??

So, I am still rolling about what happened today. Disney was about to feel of the wrath of "Erin the Mother"....but let's start at the beginning, shall we?

My daughter loves to play on disneyprincess.com which is a cute site for little girls. It's basically paper dolls on the computer. You pick your princess, she talks briefly to you about what "event" she is needing to get dressed for, and then you are taken to her palace to help her pick out her outfit. Innocent enough right?

Well...YOU'D THINK SO!!! Today, I was walking passed our computer and over heard Jasmine say, "We are going to a booze first tea party." I whipped around, and thought.."Surely, that's not what she said!" I couldn't believe it! What is a Disney princess doing talking about booze???!!! Has our world gone completely idiotic????!!! I didn't even take the time to hear the rest of the story. I was all a huff trying to figure out what the heck I was suppose to say when I called the Disney company and chastised them for the lack of respect for childhood innocence! Have you no decency?! Where are your values, Man?!

My husband came home for lunch shortly afterward, and I told him of the devastating tale. "She said, 'A BOOZE first tea party!!' What in the world is a booze first tea party anyway??!! I mean, you drink shots or something before tea??" He was a bit skeptical and said, "There's no way she said that." I threw back at him, "Oh yes she did! I heard it! You check it out! You'll see."

My husband left from lunch and shortly after I got a call from him, in the which he laughingly said..."Erin....it's ABU's first tea party! You know! Aladdin's monkey?! It's ABU with an apostrophe 's'! ABU's!!"

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Again, I am still laughing! Honest, I was about to bring Disney down! How funny!!! I guess it just goes to show, you never know what someone got out of what you said. Perception......

HA HA HA HA I'm happy to report that after investigation, the Disney princesses are not sneaking down to the local pub.

And once again, we can all live happily ever after.

O Christmas Tree

It's that time of year again when millions of families around the globe open their doors wide and anxiously welcome none other than a tree into their home. My husband and I joke every year as we strap a tree on top of our car, haul it off the car, cut the truck to "revive" it and lug it into our family room to be hoisted up and adorned with lights and bulbs, as if we are honoring it. I mean, isn't that as funny a tradition as we have? It's pretty comical to our family, but nevertheless, we do it because we love it. Now, some of you may be saying "Buy a fake tree. Then you don't have the hassle." Oh, but then, you see, I'd REALLY be laughing because for our family, it's not really the end product of HAVING a Christmas tree that's the magic. It's the selection process...the challenge of finding that perfect tree each year. And THAT, my friends, is why we continue to put a living plant the size of a car in our home each December.

This year, the experience was just as fun. Even our little baby, (22 months old) knew that something fun was going to happen. The older two had been waiting on pins and needles for Dad to come home. As soon as he did, and we shoveled down a meal, we piled on our coats, hats, gloves, and boots and climbed into the car. We started at Wal-Mart. Our oldest son immediately knew that this place would not do. "They are too short," he exclaimed. So, we piled back up and headed off down the road to look for another Christmas tree lot.

The second one was different in the fact that they were natural trees, not farm grown trees, so they weren't that perfect triangle shape that we are all accustomed to. The girls were happy with any tree really, and found quite a nice one. But our son was more picky. He would look over each tree held up for him, study it and eventually shake his head and say, "It's not the one." So, down the road we continued.

At the third place, we were greeted by a man dressed as Santa in full beard and Bermuda shorts. He handed each of us a candy cane. Well, as luck would have it, Nicholas immediately spotted "the one", to the delight of the rest of the family as we were frozen by now. After paying the man, loading it up on the car, and tying it down, we were headed home.

Now...we have had beautiful trees before. Honest! I don't think we've ever had a tree that I think, "Man, that's an ugly tree." And this year is no exception. And not only is our tree a beautiful tree, it is the BIGGEST tree we have ever had in our home. I don't think one can really tell how big it is until you see it, so...I included a picture.



Which brings us back to the beginning. Don't you find the tradition of a Christmas tree comical? HO HO HO.

Cars Movie Soundtrack (Sheryl Crow - Real Gone)

Racers...Start Your Engines!!!

Okay, so I am stilling kicking myself that this weekend, on my trip to Arizona with my wonderful husband, I forgot my camera at home, and now I have nothing to show people exactly how cool the trip was.

My husband sells insurance for a company, Allied, and they invited him and me down to the NASCAR race in Arizona that they were sponsoring, (the Nationwide series). So, we went, but I did have my doubts. My husband and I are not even close to racing fans. I've never watched as much as a race on tv. Plus, I really didn't know what type of crowd to expect. I mean, I have no tattoos, body piercings, (including my ears for that matter!) and I typically prefer not show my stomach in public settings. So, I thought we might stick out like a sore thumb. Nevertheless, we decided to go...

And boy, am I glad we did! NASCAR is an experience! Something everyone should go to once in your lifetime. Picture with me 43 cars racing around 180 mph all at once. It's MADNESS!!! And it really is just indescribable. You can't help but catch the "car fever" as you walk around the arena, watch the pit crews, see the fancied up cars, and hear the roar of the engines. If all that wasn't enough, my husband and I were given the rare opportunity to wave the official flag for the qualifying laps. Before each race, every car has to qualify for their spot by doing two laps at their top speed. Kyle and I, separately, got to wave the flag for the cars as they did their qualifying laps. Which again....CRAZY!!! Picture, if you will....(since I don't have a picture to show for it!!! ARRRGGG!!) standing up in a bucket area of sorts directly above the finish line of the track as a car speeds right underneath your feet at 130 mph! It was HOT, for lack of a better description. It really sends chills down your back to watch.

All and all, NASCAR was awesome! The remainder of Kyle and my trip was absolute heaven! We lounged by the pools, actually slept in until 9:00!!! It was GREAT!! Thanks grandma and pa for watching the kiddos and thanks Babe for being my everything.

(Because I didn't have my camera, I posted the next best thing for ya....a clip from CARS the movie. ha ha)

Sneak Peak of James Blunt on Sesame Street

Sesame Street: Smell Like A Monster

Pictures Below

So I'm not very savvy when it comes to computers. The pictures below are really cute, but you have to click on them to see them in full. I'm sure there's a way to post them normal size, but that way I sadly know not. ha ha They are pictures of a birthday party we went to for a friend, and a recent trip to Billings Montana when we stopped at the Corn Maze. We went with some friends, the Longhurst family. It was great fun!

Mean and Lean!

My husband might hate that I post this on my blog, but I am just so proud of him and so excited for him that I had to share with the world. (or at least to those of you who continue to read my blog!) My husband started a very strict diet called Ideal Protein last week. He had his first weigh-in today and guess what? Superman has lost 11.2 lbs!! Can you believe that?! I knew he was losing weight cause I can snuggle up close to him when he hugs me, but I was absolutely thrilled for him that he's lost that much.

WAY TO GO BABY!!! You are one mean, lean, fighting machine. And you look amazing! Proud of you! I love you! XOXOXXXX

Decorating Bedrooms

As my husband can testify to, I take a long time to make up my mind. There was no exception to decorating my kids bedrooms. In my defense, I never have been a huge fan of decorating for the baby bedroom. The babies grow up so quick, growing out of their cute things you've bought to decorate at the same time. Seems like alot a wasted money to me. Between that reason and the fact that I take a long time deciding what to do, I just barely finished painting and decorating my kids rooms.


My daughters of course love princesses and TinkerBell. So their room is decorated as a fairy tale land.

My son loves space and so, his room is as close to NASA as you can find. I think they turned out pretty well. What do you think?

Parenting

Parenting

This is AMAZING!!!!! Worth watching!

First Week Complete

The first week of school is now behind us, and we made it though with minimal bumps in the road. The first day was great...for my son. He was so excited and he hardly even noticed that his family was leaving. Mom made it to the hallway until I started to cry about my baby growing up. Thankfully my husband was there to cry on his shoulder. My little daughter, whom I thought would have a tough time having brother gone had no problem whatsoever. In fact, when I asked her what she wanted to do now she said, "Paint fingernails and have a tea party!" ha ha

The "excitement" of school is already starting to wear off. My son is beginning to realize that school is everyday. "You mean we do this everyday?" But thankfully, he still is enjoying it enough to go with a half smile on his face. He's still a little nervous.

Heavenly Father truly helped us have a successful first day and I know the school year will be great. Little details were perfect that made the day that much more bearable. For example, each child in the class gets a number and that number coincides with their mailbox and papers etc. And Nicholas got his favorite number 5! He was thrilled with that! Many little things like that happened, and I thanked my Heavenly Father for paying attention to the details that matter to a child.

Summer Summary

As the Summer draws to a close, (yes, our school starts August 18th!) I wanted to quickly recap all the many things we've done for it has truly been a wonderful Summer for our family.

Summer started off with a bang! Kyle and I went to Las Vegas on a couple's get-away trip. My parents watch the kiddos (thanks a million!) and we just had a blast. It was so nice to be with my best friend for four days and be able to focus completely on him. Love ya Babe!

Motorcylce rides with my husband are the best!! I love having a Harley! (I can honestly say I never thought I would be saying that.)

Swimming lessons began, and we had our own little miracle as our little daughter was saved from drowning. How grateful I am for the Holy Ghost!

We had many Mommy (and Daddy when he could come) Field Trips. Some to them included going to the parks, Pathfinder Dam, Planetarium, bike rides, watching the stars come out, movie night, out to the movie theatre, swimming at the pools, running through the sprinklers, baseball games, bug finding, and concerts in the park.

My husband had his tonsils out. The recovery was slow and he didn't say or eat much for awhile, but he's doing much better now. We are so grateful for good health!

Mommy had lots to do for Young Women's Camp and Youth Conference. Both were very successful and the kids loved the extra time they got to spend with Daddy.



We had a family trip to Utah which was wonderful! It started with my 1/2 marathon run (which was great fun!) and ended with a family visit to Lagoon, an amusement park which the kids loved. My husband and I even got to ride the "adult rides" while Grandma C took the kids for awhile. (THANKS!) In between those two events, we had tons of fun with cousins and family. It was a perfect Summer vacation! ***Notice in the pictures the "solution" that the men came up with for making the children not go into the street with the slip and slide! I love men! They are so great!****

We had our own share of company at our house which kept us busy and entertained. It was nice to see so many of you and to be able to open up our home!




My husband and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary! He made it extra special with flowers and a quiet walk by the river. We also went out to Oliver Garden, where we learned to have patience. ha ha I LOVE YOU HONEY!! Thanks for the many memories.

BBQS! Need I say more! YUMMY!! It was great to have so much food this summer. We had our annual block party as well, which was a great success. We have a great neighborhood.

We enjoyed the gorgeous evenings! What a beautiful world!

Overall, the Summer was absolutely perfect. Thanks family for a beautiful Summer. Daddy, good luck with Seminary! You'll do great! We love you and are cheering for ya! Little NTC, go get em at school! You'll be awesome! And my little girly girls, break out the dress up clothes, music and fingernail polish. Girl time...here we come!

Flying Lesson

My Heavenly Mother sent me a gift this summer. (Yes, my Heavenly Mother.) I didn't recognize it as such until just this morning; flying day.

This summer our family has been very fortunate to have a momma bird build her nest right above our front door. It has been so fun and interesting to watch her efforts, see the three little baby birds hatch, and to see them growing and learning from their mother. Today is flying day, and even as I type this, I can hear the momma bird chirpping her encouragement to have her children follow her out of the nest for a flying lesson. So far, her efforts have been in vain. The kiddos aren't quite sure they are ready for such adventures. But, the mom is persistent. She continues to coax them and to encourage them to leave the nest and to try out their own wings. She seems so calm and sure on the outside. But I'm sure inside, she is nervous for her children's first time out of the nest and even a little sad at the thoughts of them leaving her.

As much fun as my kids have had watching the birds, I believe Heavenly Mother and Father sent this momma bird to me to teach me a valuable lesson about my own three little kids. I've been so worried about my son going to Kindergarten. It's been in the front of my mind for honestly a good year now. I keep thinking about all that "could happen", all that he might need me for, and I won't be right beside him to help him like I always have been. In my mind, nothing good could possibly come from kindergarten. (ha ha)

I now see that my son has to leave the protection of my wing and my nest to stretch out his own wings. Only then will he learn to fly. What a beautiful reminder my loving Heavenly parents sent me. They have also reminded me that I too, not so long ago, left their nest to test my own wings. And they have still been with me. What a comfort it is to know that they will be with my son, Their son, even when I can't be. And I can't think of a better wing to be under than heaven's.

View Photos from Hobbler Half Marathon

View Photos from Hobbler Half Marathon

The Road was Sweet

I finished my half marathon this past weekend, and oh how sweet it was! I hope this post doesn't come off as a "brag about myself" post, because it's not meant to be that way. I was just so thrilled that I completed my goal of running 13.1 miles! It was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. There were 435 people who ran, and I came in 202nd. My time was 2 hrs and 2 minutes. There were 85 people in my age division and I finished 30th. I was pleased with my results. Honestly, I am excited to run it again to try to improve. I held back a bit because it was my first and I wasn't sure what to expect. I was very nervous...ask my husband...and I wanted to be sure I had enough energy to cross the finish line strong.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. I knew that my family and friends were cheering me on, and I could really feel there prayers. Literally feel them! It was a miracle. I remember specific times during my race where I felt like I was "on the wings of eagles." It was a really neat experience, and I'm grateful to have had the chance to run.

It was so awesome to see my three sweet kiddos and my handsome husband standing at the finish line cheering me to the finish! It gave me that extra push to finish strong. They have been so supportive of me and my desire to do this. My husband deserves specially recognition...for cheering me on not only at the race but through all my months of training. He made me believe in myself. Thanks Babe. I love you forever!

More photos from my race posted above.