Happy 30th Birthday Ben!

Yesterday, we celebrated Ben's 30th Birthday. Birthdays, aren't a very big deal to Ben, but my Mom always made birthdays special for us, so they are a big deal to me. Naturally I love it when birthdays roll around. I love being sneaky and planning little surprises.

Hyrum insisted that we get balloons, party hats, and streamers. I started to decorate the house the night before and realized I couldn't reach the ceiling without a chair, which I knew Ben would be mad if he saw me climbing on chairs when I was pregnant, and I always have trouble blowing up balloons, especially when I'm pregnant. So, I had a bit of a dilemma since I knew Hyrum would be expecting to see the decorations he picked out. Ben therefore insisted that he put most the decorations up, despite my protesting. So, Ben decorated the house for his own birthday.

I tried to redeem myself a little bit though, by getting up early and popping some cinnamon rolls in the oven for breakfast.

I love surprises, but surprising Ben is really hard to do. He's just too darn observant. However, I totally got him this year. The day before his birthday I had made 3 loaves of pumpkin bread to bring to his work. When he got home, he asked what all the bread was for and I just lied and said it was for the people I visit taught (convenient since I visit teach 3 women.) He was so surprised when we showed up at his work yesterday morning with the bread. Needless to say, everyone liked the bread. Ben admitted to eating half a loaf by himself.

After work, we had another surprise, Ella was running a temperature, so we had to run her to the instacare and sure enough she had an ear infection (we had taken Hyrum just the day before for an ear infection and pink eye). Fortunately, we were still able to go to dinner and gorge ourselves with chinese food. Afterwards, we came home and opened presents.

Again, it's really hard to surprise Ben. He'd been asking for the Transformers Movie since he first saw it in the theater, but I didn't just want to wrap up the DVD or he totally would know what it was. So I was sneaky and put it in a shoe box. He had no idea what it was.

I also was able to get him his favorite game, Risk, but it was actually a Transformers addition, so he totally loved it. Now I just have to avoid him asking me to play.

The last present was a little unusual. A bunch of guys at work have nerf guns and they are always sneaking around and shooting people. So I got him the biggest one I could find. He looked like a little boy on Christmas. He was going around the house like a maniac shooting everything. I may have to take the toy away and hide it.

After presents we had one of Ben's favorite desserts, homemade apple pie. All I can say is he better love me, because pie's take forever to make.

Hopefully, it was a special day for Ben. We just can't show him enough how much we love and appreciate him. Happy Birthday Ben!

Another Side of Hyrum

Best Friend Babies

We are so excited because Ben's best friend in Ohio called yesterday to tell us that they were expecting their second child. The funny part was Ben hadn't told him that we were pregnant, because we were going to surprise them next week when we go to visit. So Ben decided he should probably just say something and was like "oh yeah, Arin is 13 weeks pregnant." Of course his friend thought he was totally joking and was so surprised when Ben finally convinced him he was being serious.

The coolest part is that this same thing happened when we were pregnant with Ella. Ben's friend called to tell us they were pregnant and then like 2 weeks later we found out we were pregnant. Since I have my babies so early, Ella was actually born first and their daughter Mallory was born 4 days later.

I just think it's so cool that you and your best friend would have kids almost exactly the same ages. Hyrum, unfortunately, is the lone ranger. We are hoping for a boy so that he isn't too out numbered. Ben's best friend has one daughter and his other best friend has 2, so Hyrum is definitely out numbered when we go visit. He doesn't seem to mind too much though. I'm sure he'll appreciate those kind of odds about 12 years from now.

More Baby Pictures

I had my second doctor visit today and it was a little nerve racking at first because they couldn't find the baby's heartbeat. Now granted, that was typical of both my other children at this phase, but it still worries me every time. My kids just kind of burrow down and hide until they get to big to play that game. Anyways, the doctor sent me over to get an ultrasound just to make sure and the baby was doing fine.

It is so weird to see how much the baby has changed in just over a month. The last picture was just a blob with some arm and leg buds, but now I could see fingers and toes and a nose and mouth, and the baby was just kicking and stretching away. It was so amazing!

I just think it's crazy that by 12 weeks, all the baby's major structures are formed! The skeletal system now has centers of bone formation. Fingers and toes have separated and nails are growing. Bits of hair are appearing on the body. External genitalia are beginning to show. (although I didn't see anything) The digestive system produces contractions and can absorb glucose. The brain is beginning to make hormones. It's just so cool! I'm looking forward to when I can actually feel the baby, although I'm not too excited to jump into maternity clothes again.

Halloween

I love Halloween! It's been my favorite holiday for as long as I can remember. I love any reason to dress up and pretend to be someone else. Maybe that's why I love theater so much? Although, it isn't always comfortable when you have a million layers of petticoats, lace, and a corset, and then are expected to sing a dance. But just dressing up to stand around and look pretty is fun.

My kids have been looking forward to Halloween for a long time. Probably because I decorate the house the first day of October and then talk about it nonstop. This year my kids' costumes actually got worn more than a few hours. Someone actually asked me if I made them. Ha, ha, ha. I would have to be one amazing seamstress to get it to look that good, not to mention I would actually have to know how to sew. So my kid's can thank Grandma and the Disney Store for their costumes.

Last Saturday, Hyrum had his sunbeam party. It was so cute! They had all the fun games I remember playing like bobbing for apples, a fishing pond, and decorating Halloween cookies.

Then on Monday, Ben's work did a trick or treat thing at his office and the kids got tons of candy. It was kind of nice to just go around to cubicles inside a warm office and get candy.

Wednesday was a busy day! Hyrum had his pre-school party where he got more candy! Then our ward had trick or treating and games at the church from 5-7. So we hurried over there and let the kids get even more candy and play some games. Then we headed home for some homemade chili, and re-dressed the kids for the 3rd time in their Halloween costumes to go trick or treating.

We decided to go up to our old ward in Springville, since there wasn't a soul outside in our neighborhood. WOW! It was like a full out carnival. Every single house had over the top decorations like, actual graves dug out, moving monsters, flame torches, gigantic screens showing movies, you name it. I think the kids enjoyed looking at the houses as much as they did collecting candy. The really nice thing is our old ward had really small boundaries, 3 streets actually, so it only took us an hour to walk around and say hi to everyone.

Then we came home and let the kids pig out while we watched Hocus Pocus. We watch that movie every year on Halloween. I totally passed out on the coach, but Hyrum stayed up and watched the whole thing. Now is the sad part when I have to take stuff down. It's sad, because I don't really have any Thanksgiving stuff to decorate with , which means I have to wait until Christmas to decorate the house. I tell you, I just love dressing things up.

( I actually convinced the kids to dump all their candy into the treasure box. Now I can just put it up high somewhere and use it as bribery!)