I dreampt I went to church in my slippers. I didn't realize until the end of the 3rd hour. Mortifying!

Chicken Pox and a little fun

Porter got them from Samuel who got them from who knows where. Poor kid had them over Christmas. But lucky for us, we were there for his entire run and broke out a couple days after getting back to Milwaukee.
Audrey's were mostly on her head. All together she had about 85. We had 2 nights of restless sleep, but otherwise she was just a bit more clingy than usual.
Jane just had one on her chest for a few days, but ended up with 6. Even while Porter had the chicken pox she insisted that she had two "picka pox"...horizontal from each other and the exact same size...positioned on her chest a few inches down from her shoulders and more medial...and you can see them in this picture as well.
And now for that little bit of fun. Check out this person who walked into our office!










Just kidding! It was Adam and Jane!

Faces to go with the row of cups

Christmas in California

Christmas was wonderful! Everybody was home on the Bennion side, including the newest in-laws, Krissy and Ida. Cute place settings, Mom!

Well our Christmas was full of comforting traditions. A little backgammon...

A dozen artichokes...

Lots of family eating...

A couple hidden almonds in the tapioca...
And a long row of cups with our names on them.

Jane had her "comfort" belly button. She introduced her ring to it quite nicely.

Jane got lots of things to wear for Christmas. A tiara, sequin purse, tu-tu, shoes, boa, Princess pajamas, and the lovely ring. She's in heaven.

Now for this sweet little Audders: Doesn't she look sweet? Well, she is! But she is also very strong and very into chomping her little gums into everything that comes along. See how discombobulated my hair is? Audrey. See the bruise on my chin? Audrey's mouth. (Side note. See also the black pearl earrings? Adam!)

Here is Audrey's process in action:

I love how we are all just watching like it's a boxing ring. 5 bucks on Audrey! haha. Just kidding, I rescued Jane pretty fast.

Sunny Cali

Our stay in California was beautiful! Yes, it was rainy and a bit overcast some days, but we really had some lovely days as well. I took a few pictures of one of our walks. Jane is crying after Uncle Porter and Uncle Samuel because she wanted to ride a bike like they were. Isn't that truly the worst moment as a child--being left out? But Uncle Richard let her help walk Jens (their Cockapoo) and the world was sunny again (metaphorically speaking).

First time for everything

Hi there. So this is my first time contributing to my own blog. I think it's been running for about 8 months - but whose counting. Laura does a wonderful job posting cute pictures and eloquently writing about why we are "lovin livin." I sure do love her.

I've been somewhat busy as of late. I am actually too busy to make this a long blurb about how I would rather be oil painting, horseback riding, finishing my basement, starting my cedar wood strip canoe, buying a 4-plex, and buying an ice-cream franchise. Instead I just want to say thanks to my wife for doing a most amazing, selfless, and loving job raising our girls. Sometimes I feel like she is raising me :). The little ones are obviously cute and adorable, but that's because they got their mom's charm. The girls got all their good looks from me since Laura still has all of hers.

Thank you all for writing comments and keeping in touch. You make it all worth it!

Louisiana

Doubtless there are many more pictures to come of the Marriott Boys' trip to the Sugar Bowl this weekend, but for now let 's just marvel about these. One night Adam was at Gram and Judge's house (they live right on the bayou) and went outside for a gander (which means for a look-see) but couldn't really see much since it was almost pitch black. I don't know why--neither does Gammie--he decided to even take a picture, because I wouldn't have expected anything but black. But look what he got!

So if it had been me I would have thought, "Oh wow, cool! That was an awesome fluke of nature." You photographers out there would understand how this all happened, I guess. Adam understands a bit more than me, too, which is why he thought he could do better and changed a few settings. Here's what he got next:Looks like pixieland to me. Isn't that awesome?!?!