Going on Sixteen Years!

Sixteen years ago Craig and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple.  This was such a wonderful day.  It is also a special day in that we had Britton sealed to us at the same time.  I had waited so long to go to the temple and to be able to be sealed to both Craig and Britton the same day was really special.  This day is always extra special to us.

Great Grandma Jolley bought a little white tuxedo for Britton to be sealed to us in.  Craig's Great Uncle Joel Jolley was the sealer and then after we had been sealed they brought Britton in. He screamed the entire time, true to form.  He was ten weeks old.  Here he is with my mom, Grandma Benson, still screaming!

Britton and me outside the SLC Temple taking photos.  I think he had finally cried himself to sleep!

We had our wedding dinner at "The Inn at Temple Square".  Here I am looking thru the window and Craig's dad snapped this photo of me.  It's one of my favorites as it reminds me of how happy I was that day!  

Enjoying a moment together during the dinner.  We then left to go to the Little America for our honeymoon and then headed down to Farmington NM for our reception there.  

I'm so glad that we found each other!  Our story of how we met is like no other.  I'll save that for another post!  Craig is like no other!  Today, I woke up to roses and a funny (okay, inappropriate card!) then we went to dinner at Jak's and he had a gift certificate for a facial and then took me down to costco to pick out a piece of jewelry.  I know, that is not terribly romantic (the costco part) but at least I picked out what I wanted.  I avoided the $158,000.00 4 ct. emerald cut and went with a simple pearl ring.  He jokingly told me that instead of a huge diamond, he bough a dental chair for me!  Ha Ha!  

Really, Craig is the real Diamond!!  

Britton Jolley Headlines in the Seattle Times HS sports!!

SPSL 4A Britton Jolley's three field goals lift Tahoma

MAPLE VALLEY --   For the third consecutive week, Tahoma (5-2, 5-2) did not score a touchdown, but it didn't matter as sophomore kicker Britton Jolley hit three field goals as Tahoma beat Kentlake for a 9-7 SPSL 4A North Division win.

Tahoma was shut out last week, and scored three points the week before.  The last time the Bears scored a TD was in Week 4 in a 48-13 win against Kent-Meridian.

Jolley hit on field goals fo 21,23, and 27 yards. His 23 yarders in the thrid quarter proved to be the game-winner.  Kentlake (3-4, 3-3) had the ball at midfield with 2 minutes left but a bad snap and a couple of sacks stopped the drive.

Benson Family Reunion 2008

Benson Family Reunion 2008

Holly, Cheryl, and DeAun, two of my sister-in-laws.

Holly with sister Suzy

Me and my Mom!

In August, we went to Island Park, Idaho for my family reunion.  This was the 3rd Benson Family Reunion.  We rented a cabin and had a great time.  We floated the Big Springs Outlet, hiked up to our family tree, celebrated Britton's 16th Birthday and my Mom's 60th Birthday.  We decided to do a family reunion this summer so that we could honor our Mom on her big day (even though it was in February!)  It's hard to get us all in one place at once so the fact that we were finally able to get a date that worked was a miracle in itself! 

Floating the Big Springs Outlet

Brinlee, McKayla, and Maddy

No family adventure is complete without our Mom.  She is the free entertainment and keeps us all laughing.  This is before she fell into the water.  

Here's Jack, the best little dog anyone could have.  He enjoyed the raft trip too!  

Grandma Benson with all 17 of her 19.  I don't know where the other 2 kids went?

Almost There!

I have gone back to my old ways lately of not posting much on the blog front.  I do have photos of the last months events but I've been too busy to find the time to download them and get them on the blog!

We are just in the final stages of completing the build out and move to Craig's new dental office.  It's been a long process but we are in the final stretch and are so ready for this part of the journey to end!  The last 2 weeks have been unbelievably stressful but so far, we are hanging in there and the new office is incredible and worth the stress.  I have to say, I'm very pleased how its all come together.  The colors are warm and inviting and the layout is double the size of what he was working in before.  He even got a couch and TV in his office and we got this cool video arcade game for the kids waiting area that has all the video games from our younger days on it....pac man, donkey kong, centipede...etc. on it!  I think the adults might be in the kids waiting area as much as the kids are!  We also put in a refreshment area for the patients where they can get a cup of coffee, tea, cocoa, juice, water, etc. and have snack.  I think it's so cool!

We hired some really great people that know what they are doing and they have guided us all the way.  They were even there on Friday with me helping to hang the artwork and seeing to all the details.  They are as picky as I am about the details and it was so nice to have them there to assist us thru this process.  I'm so excited for Craig to be in a new, state of the art facility that is representative of him, not the dentist we bought the practice from 6 years ago.

We were supposed to attend Craig's brothers wedding in Sun Valley this weekend and unfortunately things were so far behind schedule that we had to cancel our flights and not go.  He got married today and we are really sad we were not able to go.  We hope it went well and that they were able to find someone to sing....I was supposed to sing and I felt terrible that I had to bail on them at the last minute.  I hate letting people down when I know they are counting on me.

It will be fun this week to see the new office up and running and I still have a lot more to do to finish the decorating side but I'm sure after a couple weeks, everything will be done and we can relax!  

Happy 16th Birthday Britton!

Sixteen years ago, Britton was born.  He was due August 30th but was born 2 weeks early on August 15th, 1992. He was 5 lbs, 15 oz.  Little did we know how hard the next year would be.  He was a colicky baby and cried 24/7 for the first year.  He had a lot of ear problems and had his first set of tubes put in at six months old.  Can't believe how fast the years have gone and today, he drove out of the driveway alone for the first time in his life.  It was a weird moment for me!  I was happy, scared, sad, all at once!

Here is Britton the night he was born.  We thought he was such a good baby when he first arrived.  We didn't know what lay ahead two weeks down the road.  The family still talks about the Britton baby days!  It was a family effort to keep him happy for the first year of his life.....not that anything we did worked.  It's a wonder we had any more kids after him.  Most would have said that was all they could take!

Britton at our wedding reception.  Since we had the entire family together, we decided to bless him that day so this was also his blessing day.

Britton at four months old.  Guess we should have had him in a soccer outfit as he thinks baseball is boring!  

Britton and Jordan in Hawaii during Craig's dental school and Army days in 1997.  I dressed them the same head to toe for years.  They finally put a stop to it when they got older.....it was easier to have two of everything.  Jordan had to do everything the same as Brit.....saved me some major temper tantrums from Jordan.

Britton in Hawaii again in 1998, our second summer in Hawaii courtesy of the Army.  We went on a horseback ride and had a miserable time!  It rained on us the entire way and we were with a bunch of japanese tourists that did not know how to ride horses.  This horse kept trying to buck Brit off.  I was so glad when it was over and I think he was too!

First day of kindergarten in Portland.  He had just turned 6 here!

Current photo with Jordan in Florida at the pool.  Nice glasses!

With cousin Clara 2007.  Clara LOVES Brit.  She calls him her boyfriend.  In fact, at his birthday party, she gave him his first kiss.  Not to be outdone, Uncle Shawn gave him another one.  It was a long and juicy one!

We celebrated Brit's special day in Island Park, Idaho at our family reunion.  We didn't have a cake so we used the costco brownies and cut straws up and put tissue paper on the top end and lit them on fire.  We had strawberry pie and hamburgers too.  Brit got a new banjo and a letterman's jacket since he lettered in soccer last spring as a freshman.   The entire family all took turns saying what they loved about Brit.  It was a fun night.  

Britton has been such a fun kid.  Always keeps us hopping and going, going, going.  He's accomplished a lot this year!  He's been playing on the Eastside FC soccer team for two years now and they are one of the the top 4 teams in the state.  He is playing football for the high school and has a good shot at being the Varsity kicker.  He has mastered the guitar.  He's learned to play the accoustical, classical, bass, electric and now is tackling the banjo.  Wow!  He also loves doing things with his hands, fishing and dirt biking!  We are so proud of him and all he's accomplished.  Happy Birthday Brit!

Flashback Friday

Here is Britton and me in Moab, Utah three years ago. We took a family vacation to Farmington NM to visit Craig's Dad.  We stopped along the way and went to Arches National Park.  The kids had a great time.  This is one of my favorite photos of me and Brit!

Rainier Valley Trail

Saturday I decided it was finally time to take a break from the yard and the house and take the kids to do something fun.  Last year I bought some books that tell where you can go to hike some good trails.  One of them is called "Day Hikes for Kids".   The book is great and it tells you what level the hikes are so you know if your kids can handle it depending on what their ages ares.  I found one that was not too far away and we headed out.  

We stopped and got some subway sandwiches along the way and then made our way up to the turn off.  This trail is called the Rainier View Trail.  You head past Enumclaw about 31 miles and then take forest service rd 7174 to the left.  You have to drive up a dirt road about 6 miles and then you come out in a clearing where there is a parking lot.  You can camp up there as well but we were just there for the day.  The trail is about 1 1/2 miles up so a round trip of 3 miles.   The view is amazing when you get to the top!  It is well work the hike up.  It was not too steep but Maddy, my 8 year old wasn't liking it towards the end.  There were lots of wildflowers to pick, snow mounds that still had not melted that the kids could slide down.  Who would think you'd find snow in July?

You could also see Mt. Adams off in the distance and the panoramic view of the Rainier Valley was amazing.  Even the dogs had a good time, including Peppy, my parents dog.  Jack was a looking more like a brown dog though by the time we got back to the car.  It was a bit dusty and he's pure white, not a good combination!  

My kids have asked every day this week what new hikes we can go on.  I wish we had more free days to just take off and explore.  There are so many beautiful places here in Washington to see.  I've lived here a good chunk of my life and I'm still awed by how many places I've come upon that I didn't know existed!  

My kids had a great time, got some exercise, and this was my first hike since my knee surgery in April!  Funny thing was, my left knee hurt more than the knee I had surgery on?  Weird huh!  I recommend this to anyone who wants to get an awe inspiring view of Mount Rainier!

Cameron by a little stream at the bottom of the trail.

Maddy on top of a huge snow mound!

Jordan with Mt. Rainier in the background.  I was terrified he was going to fall off the cliff!

Cameron, Jordan, and Maddy with Jack and Pep.