Father's Day(s)

So as you all read, we spent the last weekend in Utah at Griffin and Ashland's wedding. And it was fabulous. However, because we were flying and driving home Sunday, we missed Matt's first official Father's Day! :( Well, this would never do! So we had to celebrate twice as hard the next couple of days!

First of all, can I just say that Matt is the easiest person to throw a party for. He practically does it himself! You see, I had plans for this Father's Day...BIG plans. We had been talking about getting a decent sized pool for the last couple of days, and I was going to surprise Matt by buying the pool and having it all set up when he got home from work Monday. However, when I got home from San Antonio on Sunday, Matt called (he was still driving home from Austin) and told me to check the backyard, and...

Surprise! What a guy! He had bought his own present! But I had to do SOMETHING for him, so on Monday I decided to have a special breakfast for him. I was pretty proud of my heart-shaped sausages. :)
We also made a D-licious dinner, with fresh green beans and summer squash, baked potatoes, rolls, and of course, steak...which Matt marinated and cooked himself.

We ate picnic style in the family room and watched Confessions of A Shopaholic (I kid you not, this was Matt's personal choice from the entire Red Box menu...what have I created?!)

Then he opened cards and presents from me and Bennett. They were creative, since Father's Day was over and Wal-Mart had already moved on to the Fourth of July. I thought they still worked out pretty well though.

And that was that! Overall I say it was a pretty good Father's Day...even if it did drag out over three days.

Besides that, I started my last class at CTC this week and it is going to be a piece of cake, so no worries there. Bennett also got his first head cold, so we have had a ton of fun with Salene Drops and the blue-bugger-sucker. (I am sure this tool has an actual name, but I don't know what it could possibly be.) He was a pretty good sport about the whole thing though, and is pretty much over it now.

In fact, we even left him with his first official, non family member babysitter while Matt and I went on a very fun date night to dinner and the new Transformers movie Thursday night. It was SO fun, but I have to admit I had some seperation anxiety over the whole situation.

And in developmental news, Bennett has learned how to hold on to stuff, and I think he is either starting to teeth or turning into a Labradore. He is always drooling and chewing on stuff...and look at that tongue!

Matt went on his first campout with the scouts this weekend. They went waterskiing, and I hung out with the other "scout wives" and cried over Marley and Me.

And finally, our garden is doing great. We have flowers on all the plants, and the squash is growing like crazy. Matt is an excellent farmer.

Utah Adventure

So the long-awaited trip finally arrived! Wednesday afternoon Bennett and I loaded up the Explorer and drove to San Antonio. We stayed with Mary and Wayne for the night, (THANK YOU!!) and then wonderful Mary got up at 4:00 in the morning on Thursday to drive us to the airport.

Bennett slept like a champ the entire way to Utah, and needless to say I was VERY happy about it. My mom, Courtney, and Becca Mills (Courtney's friend) picked us up from the Salt Lake Airport. It was SO fun to see them, and to see the rest of my family, too!

Matt caught a late flight Thursday night, and met us at our hotel just in time to get a couple hours of sleep before the wedding.

Griffin and Ashland were sealed in in the Salt Lake City, Utah temple June 19, 2009, and it was beautiful. I even shed a tear or two. :) After the ceremony, there were the traditional wedding pictures coming out of the temple and on the steps, but we forgot our camera in the car and were both too lazy to run clear across the street to get it. Sorry!

We did get it for the luncheon though, which was amazing! It was in an actual reception hall, the first I have ever been in in my life, with a harp player and great catered food and beautiful decorations. So fun!

This trip also doubled as a mini family reunion for us. The ENTIRE Hazard family was there, a lot of the Hill family (my mom's side) and all of my brothers, sisters, sister-in laws, and nieces and nephews...if you count the fact that Rachel is currently carrying two of them. :) We spent the nights at my Grandma Hill's house and the days at Aunt Jill's, and had so much fun with everybody! Bennett also loved getting to meet all his aunts and uncles and cousins for the first time!

Saturday we got to help Courtney move into her dorm room at BYU, where she is attending the Freshman Accademy. It brought back a lot of memmories for me of moving into my first apartment. It is wierd to think that my little sister is so old. My family is growing up!

We flew home Sunday morning, and Bennett and I had quite the experience, let me tell you. We sat next to a long-haired, heavily-tatooed, cigarett-smoking man...who was the nicest person I have ever met in my life! He held Bennett for me while I tried to clean up various messess (Spit-up, poop...you know) and we talked the whole way like old friends. The girl in front of me helped me change Bennett in the world's smallest bathroom, and the little four-year-old girl accross from us helped me give him a bottle and drew us all beautiful pictures. It was a very eventful ride home, but one I will always smile when I think about. There are such good people everywhere.

We got picked up at the airport again by Mary, who missed church this time to do so, (Thank you again Mary!) and then drove home just in time to meet Matt who had flown into the Austin Airport a few hours later.

It was one of the best, most fun weekends ever! Congratulations Griffin and Ashland, and thanks for inviting us! :)

Griffin and Ashland. This was actually my first time meeting Ashland, but she was so nice and so pretty. I am excited to be her new sister-in-law!

The reception hall, complete with harp player. Very fancy-schmancy.

Instead of cake they had fabulous gourmet cupcakes from the Cocoa Bean in Rexburg...I think Griffin really liked them.

The weather was beautiful. It made me miss Idaho summers and the Rocky Mountains. I like Texas too.

It's never really a wedding until Grandma Hill cries. :)

My cute, redheaded niece, Evelyn.

Bennett , just doing what he does best.

The new-and-improved Hazard Family

We all got into the wedding spirit...maybe a little too much! (Actually, this is my wedding veil Ashland used.)

One of the best parts of this weekend for me was getting to see everybody...even my bestest friend from Idaho! Amand and I have been friends since the eights grade, and she drove 400 miles with her cute, cute little girl to see me for one hour! What amazing friends I have! I love you, Amanda!

Courtney in her new dorm room. It is wierd that she is in college, but she will do great!

Babysit and Babysat

So what happened this week? Let me see...

We are getting new neighbors! It is fun to watch this house go up, because it is a little like reliving the building of our own house. It is pretty much the exact same floor plan, and what's even crazier is that the people building look just like we did when we were building ours! The wife is big pregnant, and the husband always wears a baseball hat...and is probably in the Army, since Copperas Cove is 89% military. :) You can see our house in the background here...not exactly CLOSE neighbors, but at least we aren't the only people on this street anymore!


Also, Bennett has learned to enjoy riding in his pack! I am especially excited about this development, since it is just in time to fly to Utah! I was wondering how I was going to transport him and all our luggage at the same time...


On Thursday night, Matt went golfing. Yes, Matt is required to become a golfer now. That is what happens when you are a professional, and as much as he hates to admit it, a Medical Officer falls into that category. :) The good news is, that he really actually enjoys it, and he is going back again next week.

When he came home he brought a Chicago Pizza with him...from Chicago! One of our friends has a helicopter and he flew to Chicago and picked up a couple of pizzas. He gave some to me and Matt, and it was SOOO good! It was a little like eating a pie made out of Italian ingredients, which, I know, sounds gross, but I don't know how else to describe it! It was super thick and really, really good. Yummy!!

When Matt was golfing, I was watching my Visiting Teaching Partner's little boy, Kaden. We had quite the time, playing with Legos and watching Cars. He wanted nothing to do with Bennett however, so I can't say anybody made friends. It was still fun to have an excuse to pull all our toys out.

And then Bennett had his chance to be babysat on Saturday by his Aunt Bekah and Uncle Nathan while Matt and I went to the San Antonio Temple! It was so fun to get out and just be together. Thank you Bekah and Nathan, for all you do!

The real reason we were in San Antonio is because Wayne, Matt's dad, got hip surgery. We had a good time visiting with him and Mary, and he is doing AMAZING in his recovery. It was a great weekend! There are no pictures as of yet, but I will post them when I get them. There are some really good ones of all of us swimming in the pool.

Here's just one of Bennett getting all strapped up to go out to play. I know, this looks really uncomfortable, but I guess he didn't mind it too much because he was smiling and cooing the whole time he was flipped over like this. Wierd little boy that he is, we sure love his guts!

And finally, I just have to post this fun video I caught. Every Sunday morning Matt takes Bennett so I can have my "Girl Time." This is pretty typical of what goes on while I am shaving my legs and such. I'm not sure who is cuter here. I'm pretty lucky. :)

Baseball Is Fun!

I learned something new this weekend...baseball is fun to watch! Up until Saturday I have always associated baseball with watching my brothers pick grass in the outfield. Of course this was like, seventeen years ago, and I have to admit, I have never really watched a game since then.

This week though, we had the opportunity to go to the game of our friends' little boy. He pitches for the Copperas Cove Cardinals, and he is pretty good. The fun part for me was just sitting in the stands and cheering, eating sunflower seeds, and avoiding foul balls.

Conner pitching. This was a strike out pitch, so pretty cool I got a picture of it.

My handsome hubby enjoying the game in his ever supportive Cardinals hat.

And here we have the Lake family...

Janette Lake (and Bennett)

Kevin Lake (and Bennett)

Camille Lake (and Bennett)

These guys really like Bennett. :)

And we really like them! In fact, I think Camille is going to watch Bennett for me for three hours a day, Monday through Thursday, while I go to my design class at Central Texas Collage starting June 22. I am really going to miss the little guy, but it will be during his nap time so I won't miss much. Camille is great with him too, so I'm not worried.

On the way home from the baseball game we stopped at this community garage sale thing randomly going on in the middle of town and did some second-hand shopping. I am now the proud owner of a near perfect Chutes and Ladders game, and some dang cute (and CHEAP) clothes for Bennett when he gets a little older. Yay for cheap stuff!


And the most exciting thing this week is that Bennett's hair is officially long enough to blow in the wind! (He was born pretty bald.) I don't know if you can tell, but this is the best picture of it I could get. Oh, the simple joys of life!

Megatron vs. Elmo

Monday night is Family Night around here, and although we are not the most consistent with that whole spiritual lesson thing, we are pretty diligent about making sure we have a lot of fun together. This week Matt came home from work with two kites and a container of red and yellow water balloons. Since I am terrified of water balloons, (actually, any kind of balloon tends to throw me into a panic,) we decided to just throw those at the fence and move onto the kite flying.

Anyway, here's some pictures and a movie...yes, the movie actually works this time. :)

The kites Matt brought home were Elmo for me, and Megatron for him. This is my kite.

Flying High!
As you can see, I have no problems getting Elmo up and going. What can I say? I'm a natural. :) Matt, on the other hand...

Try...

...try...


...again!

And once Megatron finally made it up, it was a challenge to keep him there! First he tried to break his string and escape to our neighbor's house...

Luckily they were in their backyard, so they caught him before he could make it to the hills.

Then Megatron thought it would be funny to dive-bomb a couple of innocent bystanders who were out taking a walk at the wrong time...The poor girls managed to dodge out of the way just in time, but there was a lot of screaming involved, and I don't think they will be walking past our house again for awhile.

There was also a close encounter with a car, (there are NEVER cars on our street...until we try to fly kites) but I was laughing too hard to get a picture of it.

It was pretty entertaining watching Matt, more so than actually flying Elmo! In the end, we decided that Megatron just wasn't made of the same tough stuff as Elmo, and Bennett had to agree. That's why, when it was his turn to fly, he chose to use my kite. And, like me, he is a natural. :)