Healthy News

OK, I try not to do this very often, but this week was pretty slow for Matt and me, so I am dedicating this blog completely to Bennett. Lucky you!

Well, we can officially consider ourselves somewhat good parents. This Wednesday we finally took Bennett to the Doctor's since he left the hospital almost four months ago. I know, I know...what kind of uncaring, inhumane people are we? And trust me, I feel pretty guilty about it. Things just got a little crazy after his birth, what with moving to a new town, trying to get him in the system (SS Card, Birth Certificate, Military Registration, etc.), waiting for our insurance to pick him up, and then actually making an appointment, time sort of got away from us.

But before you call the CPA, just know that he is a completely healthy little boy. Bennett weighed in at 16 lbs. 1 oz., and measured 26 inches. Not bad. He also got a complete check-up and plenty of shots, which he totally hated but recovered from quickly. All in all he was a great patient and we are all breathing a sigh of relief that he has finally got the stamp of approval from an actual Doctor.

Ya, I know we just put a video up of Bennett last week, but this week he started making a completely new sound we couldn't pass up posting. We call it his "Ernie Laugh" because it is just a funny little gurgle in the back of his throat. He does this almost constantly, but especially if you do it back. We love this little guy.

Another fun Bennett Fact is that he went to his first ever movie in an actual movie theater! Me and Matt wanted to see the new Harry Potter movie but felt bad leaving Bennett with yet another babysitter, so we just took him with us. It was a risk, I know, taking a four-month-old to a three hour long adventure film, but Bennett was quite content to sit on our laps and watch the movie right along with us. Needless to say, we were very pleased with his couch-potato ability, but we won't be doing it again anytime soon.

Anyway, I promise that next week I will have more to post. However, I personally think this post was incredibly cute. :)

Battling The Bugs

This week Matt and I have been excited to welcome a whole slew of new neighbors onto our little empty street. There are about three houses going up to the left of us, and two more to the right. I am happy we will finally have neighbors for real!

However, thanks to all the digging going on around us combined with the excessive heat of dear old Texas (not a day under 101 in the last two weeks straight), the ants and spiders have sought refuge in our home and I have officially declared war on anything with six or more legs.

I started out just smashing, but we quickly realized we were incredibly outnumbered and advanced to poison, traps, and sprays. I think we are starting to force a retreat, and I cannot tell you how happy I am! One plus though is that our house has never been cleaner, since I am not allowing anything on the floors or counters...at least for awhile. :)

While I was battling insects Matt was busy fighting off his own bug in the form of strep throat. He was out for a couple of days, but we quarantined him pretty well in the guest bedroom and got him some Penicillin and now all is well. He is back at work where, believe it or not, he is actually WORKING for the first time in over a year! It is weird that he leaves in the morning and then doesn't come back until 5:00pm, instead of any time he wants like we are used to.

Even with being sick, Matt got a lot done this week (of course). A friend gave us a TV they didn't want anymore, and Matt decided it would be perfect for our bedroom. Little did I know, this TV was like, three times bigger than our main TV in the living room. Honestly, I hate it, but Matt really wanted it and he promised he would do his best to make it pretty for me. Anyway, this is a stand he built to put the monster TV on, and I have to admit, it does make it a little better...but only a little.

My Vanna White pose with the giant monster TV from you-know-where, and Matt's beautiful stand.

Also, this week while I was running errands I looked down and realized I was missing a diamond from my wedding ring! We called the jeweler in Rexburg and told them what happened, and they said to just send my ring in the mail and they would fix it and send it back in a week or two. However, I felt naked without something on my finger so we picked up some eight-dollar bling at our local Wal Mart. It's kind of fun to have a big old ring, but I miss my real one.

Bennett had a fun week, too. We did A LOT of swimming this week with all the heat, and he is getting pretty good at it.

These are Bennett's "Bedroom Eyes" in his cute little swimming suit we finally pulled down from the attic. What a stud!

I don't know if this is mean or not, but we also "encouraged" him to go all the way under the water, and he doesn't seem to mind it too much. I think we might have a little swimmer on our hands in a few months...that is, if he doesn't need therapy because of his mean parents.

After all that swimming we are a little tuckered out.

Besides this, we also went to a work party for Matt's unit, several baseball games, dinners at friend's houses, lots of scouting and achievement day activities, and a ward party. Busy, busy, busy!

And last but not least, Bennett has started making all sorts of noises and facial expressions lately. It is so funny to have conversations with him and watch him learn new things each day.

Baby Clothes and 80's Fashion

For those of you who have seen Bennett lately, it should come as no surprise that he has officially outgrown all of his newborn and 0-3 month cloths. So even though he is only one week past the three month mark, he is now wearing 6 month clothes, and outgrowing those fast. I really don't know what I am feeding this kid. It was a little sad to have to pack away all the teeny little onesies and say goodbye to the tiny baby Bennett for good. It is a good thing that he is growing so well though, I know, I know...

This is the itsy-bitsy outfit we brought Bennett home from the hospital in. It is amazing that this was baggy on him only a few months ago. I saved this, along with a little size one diaper and the beanie the hospital gave him to wear over his incredibly misshapen head after he was born. My, how time flies...
My little Bennett-Boy looking all grown up and playing with his bestest buddy, Mr. Lion. (We are not too creative in the naming of stuffed animals around here.)

Matt and I also had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the Youth this week. Thursday we had a speghetti dinner with a silent auction for the scouts, and Saturday we chaparoed a room full of awkward at an 80's-themed dance for the 14-17 year olds. I also need to mention that I have been called to the Primary as the 5-6 year-old teacher, and also as the Achievement Day leader. Between Matt and I, we are spending a lot of time with kids. It is a ton of fun! :)

This is a way cool candle-holder thingy I got at the silent auction during the speghetti dinner. We also got a bunch of baby-sitters for Bennett (date night, here we come!), lawn mowing services, a free haircut for me, and yet another baseball hat for Matt.

Here we are all dressed up for the dance. Matt had a sweet costume too, and I was going to get even a little more crazy with the hair and make-up, but apparently there are some restrictions for church dances and we had to set a good example for the kids. Sometimes being a grown-up is boring.

I cannot even describe how hilarious it was to see those kids dancing around. Watching them made me realize that you are never as cool as you think you are when you're 14. :) I have also decided that they should change the title of "chaparone" to "cheerleader/coach". I think there may be a future in matchmaking for Matt.

Fourth of July Blast!

I have found that when you are married to an American solder and live 10 miles from the largest military base in the world, Fourth of July is a pretty big deal. However, it was a big deal at our home for another reason, too.

Matt and I decided a couple of months ago that we wanted to have a few people over for this holiday. Maybe his mom and dad, a few friends, whatever. Well, as time went on, that number grew and grew, until the doorbell rang this Saturday morning and in walked 20 people!

It was so fun! We had most of Matt's family drive up from San Antonio and Fredericksburg, and some friends of ours from down the street. We had a huge BBQ, water balloon fight, birthday party for Nathan (Matt's sister's husband was born on the 4th) and went to a carnival and one of the most fantastic fireworks shows I have ever seen. Even though it got pretty hot--around 103--it was so fun to be with everybody and just enjoy our freedom to party! :)

Matt's little sister, Sarah, enjoying the plethora of food. Everybody brought something with them, so there was plenty to eat. Yummy!

Some of the cousins.

Bennett in his Fourth of July outfit with his cousin, Kendall. Looking at this picture, you would never guess that Bennett is actually a week and a half younger than this petite little girl! It brings to mind Jaba the Hut...

Eating on the back patio.

Matt and I rented two long tables and a bunch of chairs for everybody to use. We also had a blast buying out the Fourth of July isle at Wal Mart. I justified the money we spent by telling myself I was just being patriotic.

We all had hamburgers and hot dogs, but Matt insisted Nathan have a steak for his birthday. I also insisted he wear a sash and a crown all day. I tell you what, he must really love Bekah to have married into this family. :)

Cousins in the pool...each with their own little personalities.

Bennett escaping the heat in his turtle.

Matt has also been working and working on his "secret project" all week to get it ready for this day. And although it's not quite done (we still have some of the roof and the painting to do) the tree house was a huge success among the little guys. I will post more stuff about this later.

Wayne helping the girl team during the water balloon fight. It was girls (and Matt) in the tree house vs. boys on the ground...the boys didn't stand a chance, but it was pretty entertaining to watch.

Sarah, Matt, and Jake at the carnival on base. (Oh-My-Goodness, was it HOT!!!)

Me and one of my cute nieces, Emma, rode the merry-go-round together. This was her first time doing it "without help" and she was very proud of herself.

After the carnival we celebrated Nathan's birthday with presents and cake. Here he is blowing out the candles on the cake Mary made for him.

Most people who came left around 5:00 that night, but Bekah and Nathan decided to stay and we went to the fireworks show on base together. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen! They know how to put on a show here! We could have gone to a Derk Spently concert too, but we were all a little too tired to fight the crowd, so we just parked in the truck and watched and listened from a distance.

It was a fabulous weekend, and I was so happy everybody could come! Sunday afternoon I think it all caught up to us though, and me and Bennett took a long nap while Matt, who never stops, made banana bread. What a great life! Happy 4th of July!!

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. :)