Caution Tape

I went off to an Enrichment activity at the church the other night. That means it is Daddy/Daughter night for Marty and Celie. They decided to run a few errands out on the town. They went to rent a movie at the end of their errands. Celie was privileged to walk next to her father instead of being carried. This store, unfortunately, was under construction. They were laying new tile to be exact. So naturally the wet glue areas are marked off with caution tape. As soon as Marty says “Stay close to Daddy”, Celie takes off in the opposite direction. Just for fun, right? She darts under the caution tape and, of course, onto the wet glue she slides. Marty says that she fell and got glue all over her clothes, tummy, legs, etc. Now this isn’t sweet old Elmer’s glue, we are talking sticking-tile-to-the-floor glue. A bunch of the workers rushed to her aid as she screamed in surprise. I think at that point she realized that Daddy’s rules may be worth listening to. Marty picked her up, and while getting glue all over his clothes, he scrubbed her down in the bathroom. An exit solely in her panties was made shortly after; without the movie rental. After soaking in the bathtub and multiple scrub downs to get the glue off was all done, I walked in the door greeted by a stressed husband and happy daughter. She told me the whole story (with Daddy’s help) and even showed me how she slipped, “like this” she said as she jerked her body to the side. All with a big grin. I have to say that I had a good laugh and I’m sure it will be a memorable experience for poor old Daddy. I blame this all of myself of course. I never did give Celie the lesson about what caution tape means! No worries, we did get all of the glue off.

Embarrassing Moment

On a Sunday evening we had a church gathering for some occasion for instruction. Marty, Celie and I attended this meeting and planned to bring some treats to a friend’s house afterward. I put the treats in the church fridge right before the meeting started. The meeting went well and we enjoyed ourselves. As everyone gathered into the cultural hall to have refreshments I went to the kitchen to pick up the goods so we could be on our way. Of course I had a quick detour to the restroom before I made it to the kitchen (being in the 9^th month of pregnancy).

Before I tell you what happened I must set the scene first. The double doors opening into the cultural hall are wide open and directly across from the opening of the bathroom and kitchen doors. People were going in and out and standing near the doors, not to mention the whole crowd of people with visual capabilities that were in the large cultural hall.

Anyway, I of course wash my hands and head out of the bathroom, saying hello to few people as I pass into the kitchen. I had thought I got a deer in the head light look from and older gentleman, but didn’t think much of it. I entered the empty kitchen to pull out my treat and as I reached into the fridge I felt a tug on the back of my shirt. It was unfashionably tucked in my skirt, but more surprising was the fact that the whole back of my skirt was tucked up too, revealing the whole backside of my undergarments!!!

As I quickly fixed the mistake I started laughing hysterically, feeling truly sorry for the how-ever-many-people saw this sad sight. I laughed so hard that I had tears running down my face while my head was stuck in the fridge. A good friend came in the kitchen and asked what was so funny about the fridge?

I then knew why I got the blank look from a poor man who saw more than he wanted to see, at church none the less! I must say it has been a long time since I have been that embarrassed. I guess we have got to have these events every once in a while to keep us on our toes!

Temple

Today I am babysitting for a friend so her and her spouse can attend the temple. It is about 1 hour and 45 minutes away so it is kind of a half a day thing. It is always nice to have friends over so Celie can learn more social skills (sharing !!!). They both have strollers to play with today so they pretend they are headed off somewhere – cute! Today of course they are headed to the temple. It seems like the theme of today’s play is “temple”. I think it is so important that kids know and see that their parents make a priority to attend the temple and it is a special thing for them and the family. They might not get the real meaning of the temple, but they know that their parents cherish their time there. Celie calls every big building we drive by “the temple” so I am constantly trying to correct her and teach her the difference between a temple and a building. It is kind of funny. What a special thing to show our children that the temple is a desired place to be and being worthy to enter is our utmost goal. Thanks to my friends for setting a good example to me.

The things we teach our kids

Since I am getting to be quite the prego mamma, I have become much more lazy. I blame this, obviously, on the fact that I am carrying a baby inside of me. When Celie asks me to dance with her I respond with a hesitated sigh telling her that I can’t because my belly is too big or it hurts. I respond this way when she asks me to help clean up or push her in the laundry basket (which she is currently asking me to do) or push her on the swings in the hot hot sun. Today it was clean up time in her room and she had just been reprimanded for scraping crayons (with her fingernails – read my previous posts). I told her it was time to pick up the crayons and put them where they go. She replied, while griping her belly and pulling a sickly face, “I can’t, my belly hurts”. Ya, I know, I brought it upon myself. I think I will stop the laziness and work a little harder now.

Slide

Celie actually had fun going down the slide today! You don’t know what a milestone this is for her. For some reason she would climb up to the top of the slide, start to whine and then climb down and be done with it. She would then hit the swings and never want to leave. I think maybe the summer break from playgrounds helped her relax about the idea of going down a slide. She was so cute today. I saw her go down the first time and her face lit up as she got to the bottom. She came running to me telling me that she did it. I was in shock at first, but then so happy to finally see my daughter feel the joys of a slide. She of course went running up the steps to do it again, and again, and again. I love to see her happy and proud of her own accomplishments. We were both giggly and excited about it on the drive home from the park. She’s my best pal. For those of you that know Celie this news that Celie wouldn’t go down slides my have been a shock to you, but we all have our strange quarks.

Silly Sleepers

Yesterday Marty came home from school a little tired. I let him take a short nap before he had to watch Celie for the evening. When I called his name to wake him he jumped up and said “there’s a bug on the bed!”. In horror he started to swipe the bed with his hands to find it. I looked for it as well. He said it was a big bug. I looked at his groggy face and asked if it wasn’t just a dream. “No, No” he said. I just laughed and figured it was. It wasn’t until late last night before bed when he started laughing and asked me if he had thought there was a bug on the bed. He realized it was a dream and we had a good chuckle.

In the middle of the night Celie was wandering around the house crying and saying she needed to go potty – again. I was just up with her a few minutes before on the potty. I told her to go back to bed. She whined a little and then she was quiet. We all slept in this morning! Yea! It was nice. Marty got up to check on Celie because she doesn’t usually sleep that long. He found her curled up on the bathroom floor! She has such dedication to making it to the potty that she sleeps there! So, I enjoyed my two entertaining sleepers this week. What good memories.

Busy

I feel so busy! I like it. I believe I am happier when I stay busy and Celie as well. I actually have Marty babysitting 3 nights this week. Can you believe it. And he agreed. I think he is starting to regret it though. It is a little much all in one week. “MBA mom’s night out” is tonight and I am so excited to go. We get to finally be with each other without the kids. I wonder if anyone will act differently. He He. I will be starting institute class, library morning, continuing two playgroups, Relief Society activities, doc visits, prenatal classes, yada yada yada. Yea, I know, it’s a lot. I love it. Of course all of the at home activities and chores weren’t mentioned, but they are there. Just so you know; I made a peach cobbler (yes fresh peaches) the other day thanks to my SIL's easy recipe. It was very good! I feel proud when I make a good dish!

It’s a Boy

When I got back to Texas I was lucky enough to get another ultrasound to check gender, positioning, and all that stuff. I found out that it was a boy back in May when I was 17 ½ weeks along, but we just got a double check the other day when I was 33 ½ weeks. For sure a Boy! Marty and I are so happy to be having a second child. I have been lucky that this pregnancy has been good and I don’t have much to complain about! Sorry for those that have it rough. His head is down and nothing is missing in his little body – what good news. I am so relieved that everything is well right now. I am going to try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and I have only positive feelings about it. This boy is due October 13, 2006, yes, I know, Friday the 13^th! No worries. Babies don’t come on their due date anyway right? This picture we have is of the face, chest and arm. His forehead is in the top right corner and his chin is in the center of the picture. His chest is the white spot; bottom center. His right hand is resting on his cheek so his arm is bent and towards the top left side of the picture. If you still can’t see it, then oh well. You can wait to see him in real life. It is fun to get ultrasound pictures. I was so happy during the session that I was giggly and teary eyed. Oh what joy babies bring.

Potty Trained

Yes, it is true. Celie is potty trained now. I am so proud of her. As soon as we got back to Texas we let her run around the house “bottom-less” and that seemed to seal the deal for her. She is great and such a big girl. She is still a silly thing too. Her way of dancing to music now is either having Daddy throw her around in the air or walking in circles with her eyes closed hoping she doesn’t run into anything. Though, I have to say that it is funny when she runs into a wall or a couch. Celie has also adjusted to moving home very well. She had fun playing with her old, left behind toys and when she went to our first playgroup she walked into the house and said very loudly “Hello Friends”. She walked around to each baby and kid to touch their shoulder, greet them with a smile and say hi. All the moms got a kick out of that.

Back Home

We made it safely home to Texas! Celie did wonderful on the drive again. We are really being watched over. Marty was the one that had to endure the pains of the trip. Although I did get swelling in my legs and they hurt a bit. Ok, that is nothing compared to what poor Marty had to deal with. Since the car he drove was without air conditioning he was in the humid heat the whole time. Dehydration! He would barely eat food because he felt sick from the heat. I’m not sure how hot it really was, but we heard that in Oklahoma the heat index (humidity included) was around 110. He was literally fried. Well half of him anyway. We forgot to prepare him with sun screen so his whole left side of his upper body was burnt. It’s pretty funny looking actually.

We also ran into an accident that held us up for a while. With out the wind from the car moving, Marty got extra hot. We did, however, make good time. We left Sat. morning and made it to Oklahoma City that night. We then arrived at home a bit before 3:00 pm. Wow, I was surprised. A day and a half, I can do that. I probably could have made it to Lake Powell for the family vacation with out too much whining, but I have to admit that being with Marty for a nice relaxing week was nice.

Marty’s classes started up and he has taken on running in the evenings. What a motivated guy! I sure am proud of him. He has a good group to work with in one of his classes; which means that the class will be significantly less stressful. I am getting back to my playgroups and projects and I am enjoying it a lot. I missed my friends during the summer, but I guess it just makes me appreciate their friendship even more having been away from them. I am also more grateful for our furniture and the comforts of our fully furnished apartment! Being “without” for a while always helps humble a person. I am glad to be home and healthy. Good luck to Marty as he finishes his last semester! I am sure he will appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.

Internship Frustration

Marty has impressed his supervisor with his many workplace talents, of course. He has learned a lot about the auditing of controls for a large project called SOX for the company he is with. The other day they had their normal phone meeting from the SOX head honchos to see how their progress is going. There are hundreds of people listening in on this meeting even from a bunch of different countries. Marty said that they were requiring everyone to go back and redo all of their work because they wanted extra data. They blamed it on everyone else for not having it done already and were rude and unreasonable with their due date for the project. Poor Marty, and everyone else working on SOX, has to go over all of their previous work and do it over again. Of course he doesn’t have time to do this since we leave soon so the problem is on his supervisor. What a frustrating thing! I am so proud of the work Marty is doing so naturally we are frazzled about his internship ending on a sour note, but at least he was able to learn a lot about the workplace and handling this big project when knowing nothing about it. On the more positive side, we are able to stay a week longer so he can work. This will be good for us and it will obviously help out the company as well. We will be heading back to Texas on the 19^th of August to start his last semester of school. Yea! Wish us luck with the move.

Funny Habits

Celie has been developing these very distinct and compulsive habits lately. Although sometimes it makes me upset when she does them it does make me laugh and remember how funny this mortal life is. The first compulsive habit I noticed was the “crayon scraping”. Instead of coloring with them she hides in a corner or under a table and scrapes the tip of the crayon until all her fingernails are full of vibrant colors. She has taken this tendency even to another level. I have to constantly remind her in the car “no scraping the seat”. I know I am not the only one with crumbs in the car seat corners so don’t be so appalled at the thought! She knows very well that she shouldn’t be doing this. She even tells me after she has done it saying “Oh no, mamma, I scrape”. Yea, that makes everything better.

Another funny habit is that of the toilet paper routine! We have been potty training and she is doing well. At home she will go when she needs to most of the time. She can even go by herself as well as wiping, flushing, and washing hands. After I started to let her wipe by herself I noticed that she would, with out thinking, pull the toilet paper down a bit, tear it off, and throw it in the potty. Then, she would do it again, but this time use the toilet paper to wipe. I tried helping her to understand that the first piece was as good as the second, but she reacted terribly. It was like the disruption of her routine would simply destroy all comfort she had in life. I think she is getting better now.

My favorite one happens in her daily prayers. This is partly our fault by unknowingly teaching her, but I think she knows better yet does it anyway. She used to give prayers very normal, starting out with Heavenly Father, thank yous, bless this and that, and the name of Jesus Christ Amen. She started to skip saying Heavenly Father and go one with the rest. So as parents do, we told her to remember to say Dear Heavenly Father. Unfortunately we told her after she had finished her prayer. So now she begins her prayers: Jesus Christ, Amen, Heavenly Father and on with the rest. She says it so fast so we aren’t able to catch or correct her, she finds that funny. Just thought I would share some sweet things about our sweet Celie. She is a funny girl and I love her oh so much.

Nauvoo

We were lucky to have Marty’s sister and her family visit from Wisconsin this last weekend. We spent Saturday in Nauvoo. Aside from the tantrums Celie threw all day, we had a great time. It was so good to learn more about the history of the church as they settled and were driven out of Nauvoo. We went on horse wagon rides and tours of the marvelous rebuilt homes and learned about how they made things and supported each other. The temple is beautiful. It stands majestically at the top of the hill and reminds us all about the struggles the saints went through to build it the first time, years ago. People are friendly and giving and I was even able to see some people I knew from Utah. Marty tried a hand at the stick pull and Celie and I danced to the pioneer music. It was fun to be with baby Dallin and be with family at this wonderful historic site.

The pageant was incredible. I felt that the script was perfectly done. Completely informative of church beliefs, full of the spirit, and plenty of real stories to help us understand the saint’s struggles and joys. Even though we got home around 1:00 a.m., we appreciated the opportunity to be there. It was overwhelming to see that sacred place were our church leaders of old walked, talked and built up the Kingdom of Heaven.

Ohio

Marty, Celie and I went to Ohio to visit my Grandparents for the 4th of July weekend. We had a wonderful time. It was good for all of us to get to know each other better and I am so proud to have them as Grandparents. Celie was fairly obedient in their home, which I was thankful for. She did however spend most of her time telling Grandma Doe, as she called her, to come here and go there. Obsessively going over to pet the fake pigeon in their sun room and of course taking Grandma with her. They were patient with her and we all loved to see Celie love her Great Grandparents even as soon as we got there. Visits like these help me remember how important family relationships are. These relationships and our knowledge are the only things we can take with us after we die. I am so glad we had the chance to be fairly close to them so we can learn of their life and their joys. They do a beautiful job of putting new fabric on old furniture and wow are they good at it. Marty and my Grandpa were able to go golfing, which is one of their favorite things to do. We love them so much and are glad that Celie was able to meet them. Families are Forever!

Purse Theif

Marty and I were making our first trip to a Super Wal-mart a few weeks ago to have a look around. After we purchased a few things and were getting in the car I noticed two teenage boys suspiciously pushing at one another like there was something they wanted done, but neither one wanted to do it. They were two or three cars away from us standing next to a large, older car with all of the windows down. Marty was busy putting Celie in the car seat while I watched one of the boys finally reach in the car and pull out a black purse. I had thought that we made eye contact earlier (during their pushing) so I was astonished that they went through with it and then made eye contact again. I wanted to yell out "Did you just steal that purse right in front of me?", but I was too surprised at what just happened that I watched them walk away. To my greater surprise they walked straight over to an expensive, red sports car opened the door, put the purse in and went in the store to shop!! Like I said, they were young teenage boys. Not smart on their part.

It took me a while to convince Marty that I just witnessed theft in the parking lot, but he acted quickly and caught sight of the boys walking into the store. He quickly went to the service desk and told security what had happened. An undercover-looking guy came out to look at the two cars involved and called police, meanwhile the boys are still shopping. Marty went in with the security guy and pointed the boys out in the store and they even made eye contact a couple of times, I think they were starting to realize that we were on to them. They came out of the store shortly after and I watched them walk to the red car and pull out the purse like they were going to put it back, but as soon as it was in their hands and the car door was shut, the police showed up! They weren't very gentle either. They were hand cuffed and put into the police cars quickly. The Wal-mart security says that this has been happening a lot lately, so lesson learned: Roll up windows, lock doors, and just don't leave your purse on the front seat!!!! We felt proud of our little service to the community!

Scary Bags

Celie is so funny some times. Lately, when we are getting Celie dressed for the day near her closet, she will scoot far away from the closet and act like there is a monster hiding in there! It took me a while to get her to show me what was so alarming to her, because she couldn't describe it to me in words. She wouldn't get close enough to the scary object for me to know and she was so traumatized that she wouldn't answer me when I would point to things. Crazy! I thought maybe it would be some bugs hiding in there that she saw crawling around during the day (which would be something I would be afraid of). Finally I decided that it was the pile of bags in the corner of the closet. Bags! Not the metal parts or the mouth of the bags, but the bags as a whole. I hope she doesn't go to sleep scared every night. Also, in the morning when the lights are dim and she is eating her breakfast I will hear a gasp and perhaps a drop of the spoon in her cereal bowl. Of course I come running, only to see her staring wide eyed at my purse which is set on an end table by the door. She gets over the shock very quickly and gets back to life like nothing happened. Now, when she is caught by surprise from these monsters, she tells me: "Mom, I scared. Scary bags!"

Two Year Old Celie

Yes, Celie is two already. Time has flown by. Back in Texas her favorite things to do were play with Savanna, Jay, or other friends (and their toys), go to the park and swing, and dance class of course! She loved getting on her leotard for dance class. She would help everyone do what the teacher said (me) and it didn’t always turn out pleasant. Here in Peoria, Celie doesn’t have as many friends or places to go so she finds friendship in her library books, all 40 of them. New ones each week! She carries them all through the apartment. It is sweet to hear her read out loud. She loves to talk, a lot. I get told about every sound she hears, every sight she sees, and every tummy rumble she happens to feel; which is every few minutes. “I’m hungee mommy!”

Celie is one of the happiest kids I know. She handles “owies” very well and disappointments with fair understanding. She will be a helping hand with her baby brother that’s on his way. I know this because of the care and consideration she offers her baby Cella. Potty time is going well. She is staying dry most of the day. Today we were at the pool and she even held it until I ran her inside to go on the potty. Impressive! She can do anything she sets her mind to. I’ve even seen her clean up (correctly) all of her toys and messes in five minutes or less with out help. Of course, the reward was to watch 101 Dalmatians, the movie.

We are so proud of Celie and we feel so lucky to have her in our family. She keeps us laughing and corrects us when we fall short of our duties. Her prayers are sincere and sometimes very long. Blessing the bunnies, stickers, pool, doggie books, creams (ice cream), hopsicles (popsicles), movies, daddy wok (work), friends, bugs and the list goes on. We love her so much!

Trip to Chicago

On the weekend of our anniversary, May 29th, Marty, Celie and I went to visit JR, Shanna, and Karlie Benson in the Chicago area. This was the first time for both Marty and I to visit Chicago and actually remember it. We had so much fun. Mostly because we were with my brother and his family, of whom we don't see very often.

Our first train ride was a lot of fun and Celie seemed to enjoy the protection of her Daddy through the whole ride. We took a trolley everywhere to see the sites. We saw the main shopping strips, went up to one of the tallest buildings to look over all of Chicago, and saw the Bean of course! This thing is crazy. I don't know why they chose the bean shape, but they did. I think they redid the surface so the metal would be seamless. Amazing! I don't have a picture of what it looks like at a distance, but here are the Bensons in the midst of the reflection of Chicago. This next picture is from underneath the Bean! Pretty cool.

We also went to Navy Pier and saw the lake, a lot of boats and of course a great view of the tall buildings in Chicago. We had a great trip!

The rest of the story

Peoria! Yes, the biggest noise in Illinois (you'd have to have seen Calamity Jane to understand that joke). We packed up two cars full of what ever we thought we would need for the summer and left directly after Marty's last final. We did his incredibly stressfull thing because we wanted to make it to Ken's Law school graduation that weekend, and we did. It was good to visit Ken, Kristen, and sweet Ella in Indiana as well as Richard and Cleone. As Ken's family was moving back to Utah we were on our way to Illinois.

Now that we are here and Martys internship has started we feel settled and happy for all the time we have together. Marty loves his job so far and is learning a lot. I am finding my way around town, sun bathing at the pool, and getting a lot done on my scrapbooking (I'm starting to run out of supplies). Celie has had a bit of a harder time than the rest of us. She misses her friends and many activities she had in Texas, but she has found comfort in popcicles, wading in the pool, and library books!

We have already been to Chicago to visit JR, Shanna, and Karlie and to see the sites. We had so much fun with them. We also have been to a few BBQ's (or Grill-Out's as they say here) and I have even been to a baby shower. We are getting along just fine here in Peoria!

What state are we in now?

I decided to follow in my sister in-law's advice and start my own blog. I think this will work well for my journal writing for now since I have not been doing well at that lately.
First I'll write about our activities for last year or so. When Marty and I graduated from USU in May 2005 Celie was about a year old. We picked up from Providence, Utah and headed to Seth and Becky Allsop's house in Casper, WY for a summer internship in accounting with PMCH. We had a wonderful time the three sweet girls and getting to know the Seth Allsop family along with Becky's extended family. We went to the Billings, Montana temple, the Homestead (Burton's cabin), Mt. Rushmore, Martin's cove, boating, and much more. The internship was a great opportunity for Marty to learn about the auditing processes and it was wonderful to have a break from school stress, but not for long.
Richard and Cleone packed up our belongings that were left in Utah and met us in Casper to head off to Texas! Marty had signed up for more school. He is to get his MBA from Texas A&M in College Station by December 2006. We are loving it in Texas even with the heat (as long as our air conditioning works). The people are great and Marty is learning so much in his Masters program. We struggled through three intense, compact semesters and now he gets a summer break.
We were able to get a great accounting internship with Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois. So finals came and went and we were off again! This time to Peoria.
To be continued . . .