Baby Benton = Worst Birth Control Ever!

I'm not going to lie, I have had babies on the brain recently. It seems like everyone is having a baby except me! My boss is preggers, and so is my co-worker Teresa, my favorite cousin Shelby and at least a dozen friends on facebook are currently expecting, plus another dozen facebook friends who have had babies this summer alone, and I'm being overwhelmed with all the ultrasounds and cute pictures!

That's why I jumped at the opportunity to watch my best friend Chelsea's baby ALL day on Saturday. I watched him from about 9:30 AM until almost midnight, and even took the cute little bugger with me to my friend Emily's birthday dinner at Tsunami. He is not the best birth control in the world, since he is probably the cutest, happiest, most well-behaved 10 month old I have had the privilege of being around. He took all his naps like a champ, ate everything I gave to him and had a smile on his face the whole day. There was a brief moment of fussiness at the restaurant because it was his bedtime, but Bob took him out to the car and drove around for a minute and he fell right to sleep.



He isn't actually sad in this
picture, he's just woken up from
his nap

Now he is waking up and playing, sorry it's blurry

This is his worried face because he knows another tickle attack is coming



I don't know what face this is, but it's easily the cutest
picture I took of him that day

My favorite part was watching Bob with Benton. He is going to be such an amazing daddy someday! He played with him, carried him around, bounced him on his lap and even jumped at the opportunity to sneak away from dinner with my friends to change his diaper! While Benton is the perfect example of what all babies should be, he did help fend off the baby hunger a little bit by letting me have the baby time I so desperately needed (I will still play free baby-sitter any time you need me though Chelsea, I'm always willing for another dose!)

On another note, Happy 21st Birthday Emily! Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day even though I was dragging a squirmy little munchkin along with me!

A Scaly Photo Shoot

On Sunday Bob and I took some of our scaly babies out for some fresh air. My friend Emily is a photographer and she is currently working on a photo series called "Wild Flower" featuring her models posing with exotic animals. Naturally, I was the first place she turned, so that's how Hercules, Aries and Dionysus turned into props/models for a day. All the snakes did great, and gave her some great shots and even helped Emily and her model both overcome a small fear of snakes! Here are some of the best shots she got:



Josh behind the scenes with Hercules



Hercules, always ready for a close up

The model was not too sure when we originally got Hercules out,
now she looks like this is part of every day life.



This is more of a behind the scenes shot, while the model was still
getting used to Hercules



I love this shot

Emily the photographer holding a snake
for the first time, Hercules was pretty tired
after all the modeling at this point so he
looks all droopy



Another good shot of his bright colors

I think by this point, they were pretty buddy buddy.



Bob and I behind the scenes holding the snakes not currently being used

Then it was Aries' turn

Aries is a natural, then again I've been shooting pics of him most of his life,
so this was nothing out of the ordinary.



If you look closely, you can see his tongue flickering
and even see the fork in it. My camera isn't fast enough

Aries sticking his tongue out at the camera again....



He didn't want to stay on her head

Aries is yawning in this shot, not trying to strike at anything. It does look
pretty ferocious though!

At this point I'm crouching behind the model holding Aries on her head,
while trying to keep my arm hidden from view behind her neck

Dionysus' big break in the modeling world

He was pretty content staying there instead of doing anything exciting,
so we didn't take as many shots of him

Dionysus playing cowboy...

Relay for Life and Parade of Homes

I'm exhausted just thinking about this last weekend. Friday, I got off work at midnight and headed straight over to the West Jordan Park to support my cousin Tiffany and her Relay for Life team. Tiff was diagnosed with cancer at only 18 years old last year and spent the entire summer suffering through radiation and chemo treatments. She spent most of the last year in remission before cancer reared it's ugly head again. She just finished another round of radiation treatments and now we are waiting on the word that she is back in remission. Until then, I want to show my support for her in anyway I can. I stayed up all night with her and the rest of her team walking and just hanging out with everyone. Finally the sun came up, breakfast was served, and the relay for life was over.

Kelsey and I at Relay for Life

So we make funny faces....

Don't judge!

We are besties!

Finally a decent picture

I didn't want to spend the whole day sleeping so instead I went to my parents house to bake zucchini bread with my mom. While the bread baked, I took an hour long power nap before going with Kelsey and my mom to the Parade of homes. Kelsey and I saw a lot of normal houses, but my mom and I went to check out the mansions that we will never be able to afford but can still dream about! After an all day search, my mom and I found our dream home.... Only a few million dollars more than we can afford! Finally all the homes closed for the night, so I went home to eat dinner and hang out with my husband for a few hours before passing out for the night (only 1 hour of sleep in 38 hours!). I'm sure you can guess I slept in the next day, and Bob and I spent a quiet day at home relaxing and hanging out with family. Here are some of our favorite pics from the Parade of Homes:

Cute little family room area

Don't let the size fool you, every nook
and every cranny is secretly a drawer or
cupboard...




Another pretty fireplace

See?

I want this pillow for my future daughters!

This is actually a pic for Rachel...
"Lookie, it's a hippo!"

Yes, I'm playing on a baby bunny rocking
horse

Anyone for some pool?



I think I can make this closet work! There's
a different one for Bob right?

Now this is an entryway!

Finally, a comfortable way to shave my legs

And a proper bathroom!

What was that closet before? Scratch that!
I want a clothes room!

A boy's dream room. You know, just in
case I break my dad's girls streak

What if he doesn't like space?

and a matching locker room in his bathroom

Or if he likes dinosaurs. He can hang his
towel on a dinosaur butt...

The great outdoors, in a state with winter.

Secret Bedroom hideaway with a tropical twist

The rest of the tropical teen room

What is a house without an indoor basketball
court?

Unless your partial to playing out in the
sunshine

This would naturally be for Bob to use to cook me dinner

And of course I had to save the best for last! Here are some highlights from my (and my mothers) dream home:

The front of the house

Of course my mom can't own a house
without a waterfall

And I want a green house...

Another view of the outside of the house



The back of the house with the giant deck

This is just the detached garage (There is
another 3 car attached garage in the house)



Another view of the detached garage



The entrance to the entrance

A house needs a court yard

My new knight in shining armor

One of my mom's favorite parts of the house



My mom is literally standing in awe at the
master bedroom's balcony

And again at the gigantic jetted tub in the
master bathroom

And again at the master bathroom shower....

And of course the master bedroom's
walk in closet. She kept repeating
"There's a chandelier in the closet..."



The rest of the master bath

Sitting room #1

Sitting room #2 (the stair case leads to a music
room)

The main kitchen

With Breakfast Nook (and sitting room #3)

Another view

Another view and close up of the dream
stove and ovens

Kitchen #2 (for catering that you want to hide)

More of the Caterer's kitchen



Last one on this kitchen



Kitchen #3



With a cotton candy machine

Snack bar

Of course a snack bar means you need to have a movie theatre

No, that look of awe never left her face...



That is the view from one of the bedrooms to the indoor pool

The lazy river in the indoor pool

The whole indoor pool, I'm a water baby,
I had to take all these pictures...

These are the cabinets from the inside of the attached garage

This is the back patio

The back patio

My mom wants it...

Patio #2, next to the....

Outdoor pool!!

 I could definitely get used to this...

I think my husband could get used to it too,
(Rumor was there is a full sized basket ball
court above the detached garage as well,
but we didn't actually get to see it...)



Sorry for the overwhelming amount of pictures... It's just fun dreaming of the future, and dreaming about homes I will never be able to afford (and would never want to have to clean anyway)