So Proud . . .

We . . .

 are proud of this man . . .

 Why? Because as you can see Shane graduated! He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a bachelors degree in business administration, with a concentration in accounting. It was a couple of weeks ago (December 15th . . . so behind in blogging). I think I smiled all day. I am so proud of Shane and all the hard work he put into obtaining this degree. It has not been an easy journey, but I've never met such a determined person with such perseverance. I'm so proud of Shane and so grateful for such a hard working husband that puts his family's well being and happiness before his own. We are definitely glad this stage in life is behind us, but grateful for where it has taken us and the lessons it has taught us.

Switching their tassels

The Smith Gang showing their support

The Bennett clan that could come

Shane and Hayden . . . our future graduate

Remember what Hayden looked like last year? The cap fits a little better this year. Our little boy is growing up!

 

Just in case you ever wondered . . .

I was checking the weather a few minutes ago (we are expecting a snow storm . . . I'm hoping for a snow day!) and came across this article on our local news channel's website. I decided to check it out. The title is "13+ Things Your Child's Teacher Won't Tell You". It obviously grabbed my attention. I wanted to see if it was right. And it was. I mean I don't deal with some of the things that deal with the older kids, but I would say most of these things are spot on and most teachers would agree.

So in case you ever wondered what your child's teacher was thinking . . . here you go!
http://www.rd.com/slideshows/slideshow-13-things-your-childs-teacher-wont-tell-you/?trkid=outbrain-all

Before and After . . .

I have FINALLY finished my hutch! Last spring I found a sad looking dresser on the side of the road in my neighborhood. Other people would have left it on the side of the road, because it was missing drawers and was banged up a little, but I saw it's potential :)

I have been wanting a hutch to display some glasses I got from my grandma and other dishes I've collected. I found several that I wanted, but they cost way to much. When I saw the dresser I could see it as a great hutch. All I had to do was take out the drawer, add some shelves and glass cabinet doors, throw in some bead board and you got a hutch!

Well it took me all summer and fall to finally do it, but it's done. Shane did the building and prep work and then I painted it. I think it looks pretty good! Just don't get too close or you'll see it's flaws :). Oh well, it's fun to say we did it and turned something ugly into something that looks pretty good . . . if I do say so myself.

Before . . .

After . . .

Family Pictures . . .

We got these taken a couple months ago. Our friend started a photography business a couple years ago and took these for us. He did awesome! We just love them and love even more that he did them! :)

I can't believe I haven't posted some of my favorites but here they are . . .

love love love these two!

will always love this picture!

This picture totally captures my Hayden . . . stinker!

Grateful . . .

Couple nights ago I got frustrated! I mean really frustrated. Life has been crazy! And I feel a little out of control. Not a feeling I like to experience. Nothing bad is happening. Just crazy! I feel like I have WAY to much to accomplish in a single day. I know many people feel this way, but I feel like I have two normal people's lives jammed into 1 . . . mine. I mean I work full time, meaning I am away from home about 10 hours a day. This doesn't excuse me from all the obligations I have being a mother and wife. Which include all the normal things like laundry, keeping my house in order and clean, cooking a meal for my family each night and all the other things. What I feel frustrated about (especially last night) is not in doing all those things (I actually enjoy them), but in finding the time to do them. I mean I work all day and then when Hayden goes to bed around 7, my second job starts and I have less time to do it in than most. I may be way off, I don't mean to offend any one out there reading this. It's just really hard being a working mom and finding the time to do the things that are important to me. And on top of it, I have this side business that keeps me busy, trying to make extra money for my family. It's just all too much some days!

Well, going back to the other night. I totally lost it! All these feelings of frustration boiled up and exploded! And I said something I regret. I said to Shane, "I hate my life right now!". I instantly felt horrible. I knew it wasn't true. I don't hate my life. I'm just frustrated. I realized right than how ungrateful I sounded.

So, to turn this sad, pity party around :) . . . since that night I've been thinking about all the things I have to be grateful. Here are just a few of the major ones (in no particular order) . . .

1. Shane . . . My life would not be complete without him. He puts up with my craziness without thinking twice. Seriously he is a saint. I couldn't get through my day without him. He is my best friend and the love of my life.

2. Hayden . . . He is the light of my life and the reason I get up every morning and do what I do. He has given my life a new purpose. He adds excitement, challenge, and growth to my life.

3. My job . . . now saying that I am grateful for my job, really shows growth :). People that know me well, know how hard it is for me to go to work every day and leave Hayden. But over the last couple of months I've realized that I need to be grateful for my job. I still wish and pray that I will be home some day. But I am grateful for a job that allows me to do something that I am good at and take care of my family without depending on the government or anyone else.

4. The gospel . . . I am grateful for the truth and light it brings to my life. Everything good in my life started with the gospel. I am grateful for the opportunity of an eternal family it provides me and how it pushes me daily to be a better person.

5. My home . . . it's not much but it keeps me warm :)

6. My family . . . I am so grateful to have so much family so close to us. Both Shane and my family live only an hour away (except my mom and dad). And they are such great supports. I have to give a shout out to my mom and dad who are so selfless and will come all the way from St. Louis at the drop of a hat if we need them. We would not have survived when Hayden was so sick for those weeks without my mom coming to help. Love you!

7. My health and the health of my family . . . a few years ago (coming up on 5 to be exact) I found out I had melanoma skin cancer. I was terrified! Everything is fine now, but ever since then I HATE going to the doctor. I've had a few scares since then, but all in all things have been good and I am grateful! Hayden was sick a couple weeks ago, throwing up every 24 hours and we didn't know why. When you hear MRI and brain tumor associated with your baby you start to freak out. Again, we've figured out the problem and everything is fine and I am ESPECIALLY grateful for that!

These are just a few of the things I am grateful for. I love my life and have many things to be grateful for. I hope this next year I can keep focus on those things and not let the day to day stresses affect me so much.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

First Hair Cut . . .

I no longer have a baby :( Hayden got his first hair cut today. He's been needing one for awhile, but I did not want to do it. I've always heard that as soon as a baby gets their first hair cut, they really look like toddlers. I'm not ready to have a toddler. It's true, he doesn't look like my baby anymore. I probably should have had more cut off, but I REFUSE to cut his curls. I told Shane before we had Hayden that if our little boy had curly hair I was NOT cutting it. And I'm not :). Our friend Angie cuts all of our hair and she did a little trim on Hayden's bangs. He did great. It helped that he trusts Angie and he had just woken up from a nap :) I'm sad my little boy is growing up, but it's sure fun to see him grow and change :)

Before . . .

 During . . .

 After . . .

Halloween 2012

I figure I should put up pictures of Halloween before Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around. Because they will be here before I know it!

We had a GREAT Halloween! Our celebrating started at our ward's trunk or treat. My mom was here for that, so that was really fun and special. Hayden did great! He wasn't quite sure about all of it at first, but after watching the kids for a few minutes, he was all about it!

Then on Halloween, we decided to stay home and walk around our neighborhood and trick or treat with our friends Angie, Tyson and Kayda. It was a lot of fun!

In my opinion . . .

I know, I know, I have lots of them. And usually I'm not afraid to voice them. But when it comes to politics, I only share my opinions with a select few. Not because I am ashamed of my views, I just feel like everyone has the right to make their own decisions when it comes to politics and people feel really strongly about them. And it's not very often that people can have a civil discussion about politics. It always turns into one person trying to convince the other person that they are wrong. No thanks. My solution, avoid the conversation.

You may be saying to yourself, "You aren't doing a good job of avoiding the conversation right now JJ!". I know. Last night was obviously an important and historic night in our countries political history. And I feel like I need to mark the occasion with a post :)

I am not saying who I voted for. It doesn't matter. And I feel strongly that who you voted for should not be shared with others. That's why we do it in secret in the first place. I respect everyone's opinion and why they voted for whomever they did. I have no problem whether you voted for Romney or Obama. What I struggle with and what I do have a problem with is reading Facebook and the news and everywhere else where everyone is spewing their hatred towards Obama and how "the WORLD is ending". Really?! REALLY?! Again, I'm not saying I'm a fan of Obama, or Romney really. I struggled on coming to a decision. They both are flawed in my opinion. But the decision has been made. And now, we need to come together as a COUNTRY and support our leaders. In my faith, we are asked to support our church AND civic leaders. It makes me sad when I see people that are so quick to be critical and not support their civic leaders. NOBODY has all the answers, but talking badly about our president and not showing support just makes us as a country look like idiots in my opinion. How do we expect other countries to respect our president and our country if we don't. Not to say I am perfect at this, don't get me wrong, but again my opinions on most matters dealing with politics are not shared with others. I don't spew them all over social media!

Anyway. That's my opinion. Agree with me or not. Just don't hate me or talk badly about me because I have an opinion. Just respect the fact that I have one. Because I respect the fact that you do. I think the world would be a better place if people would stop worrying about being right and worry more about respecting each other and working together.

Pumpkin Patch . . .

I love the fall and I've been looking forward to experiencing fall with a little one for awhile. It's so fun having kids because you get to experience things all over again through them. We have had a very busy fall, but I couldn't let this fall pass without taking Hayden to the pumpkin patch. Because Hayden is so young we didn't feel like it was necessary to take him to a HUGE, local pumpkin patch, because he wouldn't remember it and there are always just a ton of people there. Instead we took him to this small little farm not far from our house. It was PERFECT! We went later in the day so there were very few people there, Hayden could just run around and we just enjoyed watching him have fun. Here's what we did . . .

Walked through the corn maze

Took a ride on the slide

Played with the trucks

Sat on the old tractor

Took time for photo ops :) I love my boys! Aren't they the cutest?!

Picked out pumpkins

Finally find a pumpkin for mom and dad and a little one for bub :)

3 years . . .

I'm so behind in blogging. Life has been crazy around our house! Between poison ivy (going on week 3), busy weeks and weekends, Hayden being sick for a week straight, work, and everything else, I'm just trying to survive each day. Taking time to blog about the craziness would just be . . . well crazy! :)

But I do want to take a minute and blog about Shane and I's anniversary. We celebrated our 3rd anniversary last week. October 16th. Fitting to our life, we were super busy. I had parent teacher conferences, so I didn't get home until 8:30 that night and my brain was done! Shane wanted to watch the debate and I was done thinking for the day so I went downstairs and watched some trash on tv while my intelligent husband watched the debate. We didn't even cuddle on the couch on our anniversary! Sad, I know! Well, we knew we would be busy on our anniversary so we planned something for that weekend.

With the help of my AMAZING sister, we were able to go to a bed and breakfast just outside of Lincoln. Maggie and her crew watched Hayd for us for the night, while Shane and I went to dinner and had a night alone. I of course talked and worried about Hayden too much, until Shane said, "We will see him tomorrow!". After that, we had a really nice dinner and night way. I think the best part was waking up the next morning without having to entertaining a 1 year old :). We then just bummed around for a couple hours and went shopping. It wasn't much, but nice to just slow down and spend some quality time together . . .alone! Quality time alone is not something we get to do often.

I always tell Shane that he has made all my dreams come true. Our life together has been full of ups and downs and stresses, but to me it's been perfect. I feel very grateful to have Shane as my husband. I know it sounds weird because I wasn't that old when I got married, but there were times I wondered if I would ever find that perfect person for me. I feel so blessed to have found that perfect person for me. I love Shane so much and I am grateful he saw me as his perfect person, because heaven knows I am NOT perfect!

Shane and I laugh when we think about all that has happened the last 3 years. I guess we met 4 years ago and since then we bought a house, got married, earned a masters degree, earned a bachelors degree, had a baby and TONS more! We've never just had a slow life. We look forward to the day when that will happen . . . knowing it never will :) Each year we look back and see how we've grown and changed in our relationship. I think this year has been full of more growth than any other. Having a baby definitely changes your relationship with your spouse. Having Hayden has made Shane and I work together more and support each other more. I feel closer to my husband than ever before. Our lives have truly become one. In my experience, when you get married, you obviously share a life with someone, but in a lot of ways you still kind of just do your own thing day to day. But having a child, your life really joins with anothers. Does that make sense? Maybe only to me. I'm a pretty independent person and before having Hayden, I could take care of myself. Well now, I could not do all that I need to do each day without Shane. We NEED each other in order to survive the day. If I had to choose 1 word to describe this last year of marriage, it would be TEAMWORK. I would not last one day without my teammate.

Our Wedding Day -- October 2009

Another sleepless night . . .

Well it's true. I'm awake again and it's 2 a.m. But this time I'm not awake because of my own issues, no instead I'm sitting here waiting on some laundry. Why would I be doing laundry at 2 a.m.? Well I got a sick baby. I woke up to my baby throwing up. Boo. Luckily I have the best baby in the world and he didn't even cry, I just heard it. Yuck I know. And once he woke up a little, totally threw his daddy and I a great big smile. And luckily I also have the best husband in the world and we both jumped up and worked together to take care of the situation. And LUCKILY I have a stronger stomach than my husband and was able to clean it up all by myself while he snuggled with Hayden . . . wait how is that lucky for me? :)

I was not totally surprised when Hayden woke up sick. He has actually thrown up 3 times now in the last 3 days. But he's been acting totally normal, other than the 3 random times he threw up. The worse part about all of this, is that he spent the night at Maggie's with her girls on Friday night and threw up there Saturday morning. Again, he acted totally fine before and after, but I feel bad that I exposed her family to whatever bug Hayd has. But on the other hand, it was Maggie's girls that had the flu at my house the day before my wedding and than I got the flu the night of my wedding. Karma? NO! Totally kidding Maggie! We do what we do for our family because we love them!

Well, the washer beeped. Time to go to bed. Here's to hoping for a restful rest of the night. Sick babies are no fun. And after the last couple of weeks we've had around the Bennett house, between poison ivy, colds and now the flu . . . it's gotta get better right?

Wide Awake . . .

I HATE not being able to sleep!

I have been lying in bad for the last 30 minutes WIDE awake. It's 3:45 AM people! No, it's not because I get so much sleep that my body doesn't need any more sleep. No, I think I could go to bed at 7 most every night. Why am I wide awake you ask? Well it all started almost 2 weeks ago. Our friend  Vince took some family photos of us in this great field by a local lake. Well, I consider myself a pretty outdoorsy girl. I know my poison ivy and oak and know what to stay away from. This field looked completely harmless. Boy was I wrong. On Monday (2 weeks ago) Shane and I both broke out in these horrible rashes. Apparently some prairie grasses are sister plants to poison ivy and cause the same HORRIBLE, itchy rash that poison ivy does. We went to the doctor on Tuesday just to make sure it was in fact poison ivy . . . it was. At this point Shane had it WAY worse. It was covering his entire neck. I only had a small patch. And THANKFULLY Hayden had nothing. Apparently children have to be exposed several times before they show any reaction. THANK GOODNESS! Because I do not know if I could handle  an itchy 1 year old. Well life went on. I put up a good fight for a few days just using topical creams. Shane was put on a steroid right away and started to improve. I on the other hand kept getting worse and worse. Eventually, my entire neck (front and back), part of my chest and my hands were covered with an itchy, blistery (yes blistery), bright red rash. My kids would come into school every morning and tell me how my neck looked worse. Thank you children for pointing out what I promise you I was feeling. Well, I had reached my point of being patient. I would wake up every morning (after a restless night of itching) and hope that today was the day it would be better. Finally, I called my doctor and said, "HELP!". They put me on a mild steroid, but it did NOTHING! After 6 days of waiting for it to work, I had to go to the doctor for my 6 month melanoma check up and my doctor saw how horrible I looked and put me on a stronger steroid, that I have to take for 21 days. Yes, that was not a type-o . . . 21 days! I guess poison ivy can stay in your blood stream for 3 weeks! This stuff is NOT to joke with. Well I started it yesterday and they warn you to take it by noon, because it makes you jittery and stay awake. I followed orders, even though I figured I would be fine. I took this same steroid all through college for injuries and let's be honest, I'm a working mom with a 1 year old. . . I'm EXHAUSTED! Not much keeps me awake. Well here I lay, wide awake at 4 am with no hope in sight of falling asleep. With a runny nose (yes I also caught a cold this week) and I know Hayden is going to wake up in an hour because that would just fit how my life has been the last 2 weeks. Like I told me sister yesterday, "I'm just a hot mess!". Here's to hoping my body becomes accustomed to this medicine and I'm not wide awake at 4 am every day, or this could be a LONG month. I look back at this and laugh someday right? Let's hope so! 

Happy Birthday Hayden . . .

Hayden --- 1 year

 I can not believe it has been 1 year since I first held my baby boy. This has been the best and hardest year of my life. I fell in love with my sweet baby boy the moment I held him. I can still remember that day like it was yesterday. I love being a mother and I love my bubba. There are a couple of things that I have especially loved this last year.

First, I've loved how much closer Shane and I have gotten this year and how much stronger of a team we are. When Hayd was first born it was like falling in love with Shane all over again. We were so happy and in love with everything that we had just experienced. Then a few months later, reality had set in and the stress of taking care of a baby and working full time starts to take it's toll. Shane and I had to work together to keep our relationship strong and to work together to overcome our stresses. And like any trial we came out better people and a stronger couple because of it. I can honestly say that I love and respect my husband more now then at any point in our relationship.

The next thing I've loved this last year are the changes I've seen in myself. I don't mean that to sound like I'm some amazing person now. . . far from it. But becoming a mother definitely changes you and I'm grateful for that. I am much more selfless then I was before. Again, I wish I could say that I learned this on my own, but I was forced to become selfless when I had Hayden, but I'm grateful for it. I also feel like I've gained A LOT of patience. I've learned to put things in perspective and to remember what is really important. And I've learned that I have no control :). If you know me, this is a huge lesson learned. I'm just really grateful for the growth I've undergone this year.

The last thing I've loved about this last year is watching my beautiful little boy grow and develop. From day 1 we knew we had a happy boy on our hands. We also knew we had a stubborn boy on our hands. I thought I was going to be able to determine how our day went and what kind of baby Hayden was. Boy was I wrong. I quickly learned that we come into this world with a personality and Hayden showed his quickly. I stopped reading what all the books were saying and just got to know my baby. Even though it's exhausting chasing him around and wrestling him to get his clothes  on and diaper changed, I love my stubborn, strong willed boy. I can only blame myself for that trait :) I love how aware and investigative Hayden is. He is constantly examining the world around him. I love how big he is! :) He is so fun to wrestle with and play. I've loved watching him learn new things, like rolling over to crawling to walking and pretty soon running. It just amazes me. I love our little babble conversations we have when he wakes up in the mornings or after naps. I love his facial expressions! Oh my goodness they are hilarious! I love my Hayden. I think my favorite thing, is how he just knows how to melt my heart. He will put up the biggest fight and tantrum and I am about to lose it, then he will look at me and give me one of his smiles and I'm done! :)

Thank you bubba for being my son. I don't how I got so lucky to be your mama, but I am grateful for whatever I did. Your daddy and I love you so much and feel so blessed to have you in our family. We can wait to see what the next year brings us.

Below are some pictures of Hayden's 1st birthday. It was a great day! We had family and close friends over to celebrate with us. Before we ate cake I spoke for Shane and I, expressing our love to everyone who was there and told them that we wanted them there that day because each of them had been such a big part of Hayden's life and had helped Shane and I figure out this parent thing :) We are grateful for all the amazing examples we have in our life.

The monster table

I made fruit kabobs with monster eyes on the end :)

A banner with pictures of Hayden from birth to age 1

His cake! My favorite part. Not to bad if I do say so my self :)

When I found these monster pants I had to get them for him for his birthday!

Hayden didn't quite know what to think about everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He looked like he was about to cry the whole time!

Testing it out . . .

Now he knows what to do!

He didn't get too messy, enough to get a bath right after :)

He knew just what to do with his presents . . .

. . .  Like eat the paper!

This was his favorite toy. Unfortunately it was the 2nd present we opened so he wasn't really interested in opening anything else. So we took it from him and this was the result . . .

Sad baby! He got his pacifier and all was well.

Checking out the new toys with his cousins. As you can see from Ada's face, the fighting had begun :)