Jane in June

Jane has blossomed into a dancer in the past few weeks. She sees me giving myself barre and then we take turns dancing for each other. Here are a few occassions of Jane's work. After each episode, she always takes a bow.

She also likes to sit at the piano and sing, wear this sunflower dress, and use whatever she can to quench her thirst.

Jane made this face at a birthday party, while with Adam on a canoe. I don't think I've ever seen her express...I don't really know what...excitement and fear? But it does show her personality. Voted best picture of the party by the hosting family :)

Utah trip for Christian's wedding (long post!)

FIRST WE...

had a bbq in the backyard. Neill and David made some delicious burgers (I LOVED not having to cook while we were on this trip. I mean, LOVED it. I was in such a foul mood my first dinner back home...) and the weather was amazing. My family made it just a little bit late. A HUGE thank-you to the Marriotts for having the Bennion crew over the wedding weekend! We also got in a couple visits with the fabulous Hanks family. Here are Audrey and Audrey. Aren't they lovely? The Hanks boys and Marriott girls got along really well, which is exciting for the parents :) Jane was loving all the cousins, too. In fact, the "bedtime story" for the trip was basically a list of cousins and she was happy with that!
THEN WE...

had a wedding at the Timpanogos Temple! This was the main event, as Christian tied the knot to Stephanie Raleigh, with whom I'm sure I will eventually talk for longer than 10 minutes. I can definitely vouch that Christian is head over heels. I am so excited for them.

Jane was a big fan of the candy dishes at the reception. Well, so was I!

FINALLY WE...

Marriotts and Bennions went up to the Marriott cabin for Memorial Day. Besides Audrey staying up all night growing some teeth, the cabin over-nighter was great. Jane (and Grant and George) and Adam rode horses. Audrey wore a cowboy hat. I made bean bags. No picture of the beauties. Marian had a birthday. Baby Grant got his first shoulder ride. Not sure if he liked it.Jane loved the slide. Adam and Will zoomed around on the revolving see-saw. Adam misses the mountains now.

We are totally out of focus. SLRs pose problems of their own. But I still like it.

I loved having both of my families together and am grateful that we all get along so well. We had a great trip. Thanks for getting married, Christian and Stephanie, so we could have a fun vacation!

Audrey's 1st steps

These are literally her 1st steps ever. She did this once before my turning the camera on. I just have to thank Adam for pushing her over on Sunday when she was about to do this during his Young Men's class.

I have a soft spot too...

Though I do appreciate good feet too (I guess) my soft spot is located around my waist. This desk job thing is way over-rated! One conversation we had today in "the cube" (workspace shared with my buying team in the midst of miles of gray, leopard-print cubicles) was about how much we weighed. Three were impressed that I am packing 175 pounds and still look like I haven't broken a buck fifty. The sad truth is that around my 27th birthday I noticed a strange vibration around my abdomen as I jaunted down the stairs for lunch. Could it be? I have been trying to fill our house with more love, but didn't expect to find it filling my shirt too! Love handles and a spare tire. It was like receiving the ugly, hand-woven, wool sweater from your aunt on your birthday...the one you have to wear with a smile at every family function. The only difference is that I can't take my handles off... or use my spare tire in a time of need. With 9 months of winter, a soft chair from which to allocate Britney Spears dresses 8 hours a day, and the best root beer on the market (Sprecher), what else am I to do but grow my very own root beer belly. Laura, on the other hand, has stayed thin as can be and continues to impress me with her fantastic figure. I am proud of her for doing so much. She is a wonderful, and active mother to our darling girls. She has a positive attitude despite all the frustrations of motherhood and being married to me (sometimes I'm the one needing mothering.) I am always impressed with her perspective - so often I am caught in the short-term worries and am soothed by her wisdom. I admire her passion for ballet and am excited to support her while she teaches ballet every Saturday afternoon during the summer. I love her so much. I hope to someday get in shape physically and spiritually just like her.

I have a soft spot for...

FEET!

Sorry the picture is so dark. I've been a horrible photographer lately.

Just look at that bevel!!!! One of Jane's friend's, Carter Hanson, happens to have the most gorgeous feet. I keep telling his mom he's got to put them to use somehow. Diving, swimming , gymnastics, flip flop modeling, ballet (where they would be most appreciated, but I don't know if Dad would go for it...), anything! Or, when they have a girl eventually (?) they should give her the same feet and definitely put her in ballet. Or any dance. These are the two best shots I was able to get, but this second one especially doesn't do his feet justice. But I can't help but post. When I see his feet on releve--he sometimes walks around this way--I literally feel myself start to drool. I'm jealous of a little boy. Do you know how much I stretched my feet to get a fraction of what he has naturally? I made my Dad stand on them! (Thanks, Dad, it really did help a lot.)

Another terrible, blurry, cute photo of that day:

Beach Day!

Ahh. Yesterday was, well, the only word I can think of is AMAZING, or perhaps FABULOUS. 85 degrees in Milwaukee (I wore my winter coat the day before) had everyone out in capris and short sleeves. I noticed that, with 2 exceptions, everybody had pasty white skin. Myself included. So we headed to the beach for a picnic and met the Hansons there. Audrey didn't know how to crawl around in the sand so she just sat there and every so often whimpered to be held or to get food. Jane knew exactly what to do. Thanks for the cute suit, Mom! The water was still frigid but it felt great to be in summer weather, soaking in some Vitamin D.

That is not a beer bottle. It's Sprecher's 10 calorie Root Beer. I didn't even see it in the picture until I showed Adam and he thinks it looks like the kids are passed out from drinking. NOT SO! They are just cold!

Is is safe to take a shower?

I honestly have to ask myself that question when I get out of my shower to find Audrey's face looking like this, thanks to Jane.

I'm not 100% sure...just kidding, I am.

I was going to say "I don't know where Jane came up with this!" But the truth is that I do.

Every once in a while I'll be sitting here at the computer and turn to Jane and say, "Oh! We've got to get downstairs FAST! Hurry, hurry!" And without missing a single syncopated beat she'll exclaim, "Oh! Hurry! It's burning!"

Now where would she get that idea?

Easter Eve

We had our egg hunt with the Mitchells on Saturday, Easter Eve. Jane and I colored eggs, which she loved. Then I told her I saw the Easter Bunny--I think we'll change his name to Spring Bunny next year--come inside and take our eggs away! (It helps to have bunnies all over the neighborhoods here.) She was really excited to see where he hid them.

One skill Jane has been excelling at is "matching." She can match colors, shapes, and things-of-a-kind. She got distracted during the hunt by the chocolate soccer ball.


Winfield, Jack, and Jane

I couldn't decide which picture of Audrey I liked best. She loved her PEEP.

Queen Jane

Unabashedly, I have purposely helped Jane develop a love for all things ballet, princess, and pink. Remember the "girlie house" post? We are reaching a new level, however, as Jane is getting better at imagining scenarios and learning how to take on a character. I set up a little Ikea tent for her which she refuses to acknowledge as anything but her "castle," and Adam suggested the idea of him being the King and Mommy being the Queen if Jane was going to be the Princess. He also showed her how to kiss my royal fingers. I was loving that for about a week until today she switched things up on me and now I'm the Princess and SHE'S the Queen.

How can I be surprised about this after Stake Conference yesterday? I took her out to have a chat about being reverent. She pretty much seemed to be ignoring me until she put her hands on my cheeks and said, "Ok, sweetie. Ubuh dub hertie QUIET mah nanabittie SHHH. Okay? Be nice. Okay, Sweetie?" What else could I do but comply after that lecture? With her royal permission, we did a little bit better for the rest of conference.

Workin the brows

This first picture show Audrey's normal eyebrows, as well as the joy she finds in her dexterity at the dinner table. And here she is displaying her new ability to raise her eyebrows. She lowers and raises them several times while arranging her next bite. It is so precious!