Anniversary gift . . .

As promised, here is a picture of my new bling! For our 5th anniversary, Ben got me the top band to my ring! I have always wanted it and talked about it, but he totally surprised me. He asked what I wanted for this anniversary and I told him my hair done, a pedicure, or maybe some new pots and pans. And, later he said we should go out and find my ring, which was an adventure all on its own. Five stores later, we had the exact band as mine, sawtered, and my ring looking like new. It is a bit heavier now, but I love it!

On Thursday night, we celebrated by dropping B off to my mom, and going to dinner at Chili's (where we had our first date) and then to see the movie, The Proposal. It was such a fun night, and I would recommend that movie to anyone, it was so cute! Yay for five years!!!

5 years of wedded bliss . . .

Yep, that's right, today is our 5 year anniversary!!! It really is crazy how fast time goes by. We have accomplished so much in our 5 years together; starting a new life in Colorado, Ben starting his career at Lockheed Martin, me working and finishing up school in Colorado, getting a teaching job, having our first baby - Brooklyn, moving to Idaho for a job at the INL, trying to figure out life, etc. We have lived in 3 different apartments/cities together, and are ready for the next stage in life!

I am so lucky to have Ben as my husband, he is so wonderful to me, and is such a great daddy to Brooklyn! We love you, Happy Anniversary honey.

Here are five things I love about Ben:

1. He is so thoughtful and giving. He wants to help everyone he can, and will do everything in his power to see that it happens.

2. He has always worked so hard for our family, and makes it possible for me to stay home with Brooklyn. I am so lucky, even though there are days I am just "done." : )

3. Ben is so creative. He has so many ideas, and is currently working on a new snowmobile product. He is so talented in design and computers, thank goodness, because I am not so talented in those areas.

4. He usually helps me cook dinner, and always puts his dishes in the dishwasher when he is done. And, I can usually talk him into vacuuming for me, and ironing sometimes too! Oh, and let's not forget that he takes care of the cars, I have only had to wash our car once since we have been married. I am always driving a nice, clean car. Love it.

5. He just wants to make me happy. He does everything he can to make that happen, I mean, he did move to Idaho with me. : ) And, you just wait to see what he got me for our anniversary present, pictures to come, it should be here on Friday. I don't know how I am going to lift my hand anymore. : )

I love you Ben! Happy Five Years, and here's to forever more!!!

One of our engagement pictures:

One of my favorite wedding pictures:

Our little family last summer:

Progress . . .

Nursery, at church on Sundays, for Brooklyn up until now has not been good. When I would take her, it would take her forever to warm up and when I finally was able to sneak out, she would realize it minutes later and LOSE it. We've had a major break-through!!! I was called to teach the 11/12 year old kids in Primary, so that left Ben with the task of dealing with Brooklyn and nursery. It doesn't help that our church is from 1 -4, right smack in the middle of B's normal nap time. Anyway, Ben took her last week and yesterday, she went right in, got occupied with the babies, and Ben was able to leave very quickly (and, I'm pretty sure it was harder for Ben than her). No problems the rest of the time. Wow, why didn't we try this before? She LOVES it. I guess the first week, she kept telling the nursery leaders (who happen to be our upstairs neighbors) that, "Daddy be right back." But, she did great. When we pick her up, she is so excited to tell us everything she has done; "play babies, play blocks, blow bubbles, eat fishes and water, color pictures, my friend Wyatt, etc." Our little girl is growing up!

Garden Valley 2009 . . .

Last week, my mom, Brooklyn and I headed over to Garden Valley, Idaho to visit my grandparents for a few days. They live about an hour out of Boise, in the mountains, with all sorts of fun animals around, and with no cell phone service. : ) We had such a fun time.

Brooklyn kept everyone entertained the whole time, and surprised my grandparents with her vocabulary. She would soak up anything we told her and repeat it over and over to us. She kept telling us about the fire pit outside; "Grandpa make fires. Cook marshmallows." She also loved their camper, she told my mom, "I love this trailer, I sleep in here." She also found a new best friend, a dog that lived up the road. She was so funny with it, I was petting it and I said, "You're kind of a stinky dog." Brooklyn knelt down to it, put her hand on it's neck and said, "Need to go inside and change bummy?" She is so funny!!!

We spent our time swimming, visiting, going to the plays at Starlight Mountain Theater (an outdoor theater my cousin's run), eating, playing games with Brookster, and we did find time to run down to Boise for one day of errands and shopping. Brooklyn told us, "I love Boise!" We had so much fun, and Brooklyn now tells us, "I leaving, I going to see Grandpa and Grandma Fowler. Be back soon" : )

Four generations of fun ladies : ) . . .

Brooklyn in her car at the mall. Note to self - always remember the stroller. : )
Brooklyn and her new best friend, Shawntae, seriously, what a name for a dog.

Feeding her bread . . .

Blake Shelton/ Julianne Hough Concert!!!

Last night, (July 16) Ben and I went to the Blake Shelton/Julianne Hough concert. I love Julianne (I think Ben is a fan too:)) on Dancing With The Stars, and I like her music too. She just has the cutest personality and I think she is a genuinely nice person. Anyway, so our motivation to go to the concert was probably to see her more than Blake Shelton, even though I don't mind him either. : )

The concert was outside, and you had to sit on the grass which was not so comfy for my hubby with a ruptured disc in his back. : ( We did meet up with one of my friends and her husband, Erin and Todd, so that was even more fun. Julianne's grandparents and aunt and uncle live in here in IF, and so she kept saying things like, "I think about half of you are my family." She was fun to watch, and so was Blake. One of the negatives- the six drunk ladies in front of us who were out of control. We felt so sorry for their kids having to watch them act like that, seriously they were BAD!!!

So, here are some pics from the concert. I wonder why there are no pictures of Blake Shelton . . . hm mm, maybe Ben had the camera?!! I have to agree though, she is a cute girl!!!

Donald and Elaine's IDAHO adventure . . .

Donald and Elaine came to visit us for about a week and a half. We had a blast visiting, going out to eat, checking out the local sights, going shopping, and Brooklyn LOVED all of the attention.

While they were here, we kept them pretty busy. Here are some of the things we did:

We went to the zoo. . . sorry, no pictures of those adorable sloth bears, I dropped and broke our camera that day. Not to worry, we are back up and running now. : )

We hit up all of the boutique stores Idaho Falls, Shelley, and Rexburg has to offer. Elaine is now set with enrichment ideas.

We went to the river and fed the ducks and geese, more like we were swarmed by the ducks and geese. : ) Funny Brooklyn story; on the way to the river, she was holding the bread for the ducks in a bag. She smelled it and then told us, "Smells delicious!" Delicious, really? That is quite the vocabulary for a two year old. : )

We went to Rexburg and let Miss B run wild at the spray park! She LOVED it. She had no fear and was in heaven. We also rode the carousel.

Little Miss getting wet, with the help of Grandpa!

She wanted to go down the slide, but I wasn't about to hike up there with her. : )

So happy!

We visited the Parker Cemetery, so beautiful and so peaceful.

We found a bow makers/hat dream store in Shelley. The Ribbon Retreat - so fun. I will be back there soon. See what I mean? How adorable is that?!

We saw Transformers - The Revenge of the Fallen. Very good, LOUD, but very good.

We ate at about every place you can imagine; Puerto Vallarta, Taco Time, Tam's, Iggy's, Chili's, Stockman's, Reed's Dairy, and Jaker's. Yummy!!!

We visited Bear World, and actually really enjoyed it. I was surprised at how many bears there are - a lot!!! The bear cubs were so cute and so fun to watch, and we loved walking through the petting zoo being followed by deer, fawns, goats, baby goats, and all sorts of birds. It was a fun time!

Brooklyn, I, and Suzie the moose.

Our very own little bear cub!

Our little family of bears. : )

She finally decided it would be okay to touch it.

Enjoying Bear World with Grandma.

We had family fireworks on Friday night. Unfortunately, B was not a fan, so we spent some quality time in the car watching DVD's.

Saturday- July 4th, 2009, we got up early and headed to the IF parade. After that, we had 2 family BBQ's, and then the fireworks. We watched them from farther away this year, so Brooklyn wouldn't freak out. It worked out well. B and I sat in the car, and the others enjoyed them from outside.

Totally content inside. : )

Kind of crazy pictures with the firework lights shining in. . .

We loved having Donald and Elaine visit us! Thank you again for everything, and we can't wait to see you again soon! We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!!!

SLC revisited . . .

We're back!!! We have had quite the vacation. The last part of June, we went to Salt Lake for Ben's cousin - Jon's wedding. We met Ben's parents (Donald and Elaine) there. We had a blast staying at the Little America, little miss B LOVED the pool and loved swimming with her daddy.

Jon and Shelley's reception was held outside at Ben's uncle's home, and it was beautiful. Perfect weather, yummy food (Mexican and yummy Red Mango frozen yogurt) and wonderful company. We had a blast!

The next day we got up for some shopping at -Pan Trading, The Wood Connection, and one mall stop. We had a late lunch at The Cheesecake Factory before heading back home to Idaho with Donald and Elaine following us, stay tuned for that adventure . . .

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