THE TRAVELING GARDNERS

One of the many new cute shirts that Grandma Sue sent Benjamin.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN! ENJOY THE CAKE AND ICE CREAM! Ready for cake...I think????? Hehehhehe gotta ya...of course I'm ready! And Thank you Grandma Reva for my 1st Birthday bib!!! Most children, when eating their very first birthday cake, smear it all over their face, eat with their hands and make a huge mess. Well, Benjamin of course made a nice mess, but our little man decided he wanted to eat his birthday cake with a spoon! WHAT?!?!? So proper...who is this kid? Nothing extravangant, just simple and tasted really yummy! My domestic skills are coming out little by little.... Here comes the good stuff..... Up close shot of Ben's first piece of big boy cake! Diving right in....or should I say...scooping right in..... Pointing to the yummyness! Taste like.....chicken! Woopie time to dump my plate over! Bombs away! Ben loves throwing his food overboard lately. I thought the cake would be different...guess not... PLOP! THE END!

Well, yesterday I saw my dermatologist. Since having Melanoma in the past, I have to have a check up every 6 months for the rest of my life. I wasn't really expecting anything. Yes, there were a few spots my Dr has been watching, but nothing more than a quick 10 minute visit, right? Oh that I would be that lucky....... The scars on my shoulder from my last surgery are not healing right. They have made keloids which are basically masses of scar tissue. And they are not getting any smaller. They are actually growing bigger. So my Dr says that she wants to go at it agressively and scoop out the old scar tissue (in two different spots on my shoulder) in another surgery, and then send me to the Onocology department and get radiation. Yes....radiation. But then she says she is going to get a second opinion and brings in another Dr. Who then suggests injecting my shoulder with steroids once a month for 6-8 months and then doing laser surgery. And then if that doesn't work, then try th...

So I have always wanted to write a book. It would be titled, "I don't have a life, I have an adventure". Many of you have heard me say this before. Megan, my good old buddy once told me I shoud write a book. It was after she attended my wedding. She said she got a kick out of the craziness that happened that day. What? Everyone has a bum steal there wedding cake, after the baker has it fly all over her car in mid delivery......right? So it just feels like my life is literally a TV show sometimes. Well, here are the latest characters in my book/TV show/Real Life Adventures. Across the way from us lives a husband and wife. The husband is a serious vegetarian. The wife is a closet meat eater who eats meat....no no wait...shovels meat in to her mouth when the husband is not looking. I give everyone a nick name....it makes life more interesting. The husband has been nicknamed "Meatless Man". In the next set of apartments to the left of us lives, "Evil Clown lad...

Caught ya! Guess who learned to climb? Here is a picture of him sitting up in the comfy chair just like an adult! What a little poser he is! Since birth Ben has been a camera ham. Can you tell? We recently bought a blow up matress to use for camping and house guests. It can also be used as a "raft" when we watch all of the LOST episodes and get caught up. No matter what the use - Ben decided he LOVED it! Here are some random pictures from the past couple of days.

So our little man is officially 1 years old! He melts our heart every day with his cute smiles, giggles, his own language, learning to high five, and his Frankenstein walking. We love him so much. Enjoy a few pictures from last night. It just seems as though he has grown up over night. Also, not shown is Benjamin drinking his first glass of chocolate milk! He really loved it. And just so you know the cake pictures are not featured here yet. On his actual birthday night, Ben got really sleepy and feel asleep early. We will be doing cake tonight, and we will post the pictures as soon as we can! And his big 1 year old birthday party with friends will be at the end of the month. We are waiting till Daddy finishes his training he is doing for the next few weeks and then we will party it up 1 year old style! But when we do it will be a fun CARS themed party! Notice his special outfit he is wearing for his birthday outfit??? Gimme a hug! Daddy and Ben Up close on Ben and Mommy! Birthday dinne...

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Benjamin turns 1 years old today!!! WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ENOUGH SAID....

So along with Dan's finals and my mid terms, we have kept busy with projects around the house. I have been wanting to create a "Love wall" in our house for awhile now. I just now got around to it. If you don't see you and your "Love" up on our wall then please send us a picture through e-mail or snail mail! Feel the LOVE! Leah's "Love wall" project Dan's painting frames project

So I just read a baby bulletin that comes to my e-mail once a week. It usually gives me updates on babies that are Ben's age. And developmental milestones to look forward to. But today I received an e-mail that reminded me to focus a little more on myself. I think in our daily lives it is so easy to focus on your children, your hubby, bills, the home, cooking, cleaning, school, church callings, relatives, keeping in touch with friends....that we sometimes forget about ourselves. So today the e-mail said work on focusing on the following three things for the next couple of weeks....FITNESS SLEEP AND FREE TIME. My own personal goal is to stick with my new goal of starting up with weight watchers and get to bed earlier!!!! Oh yeah and my hair is in dire need of a cut and color, my eyebrows need a good wax and shape. So me - focus on me...that's tougher than it sounds. So here's to focusing on us! And on a side note - So I read in a Cosmo or some high fashion magazine that writ...