Sunday, May 18, 2008 Happy Birthday to me AGAIN!

So on Sunday after church, we had some of our closest friends over for dinner. It is so fun to have a birthday because it is a good excuse to get everyone together. However, David and Tracie were going to come for dinner but they had sick kids. We want them to know how much we missed them. Although we still had a great time.

Ben is a real trooper as always. He was out in the rain BBQing great food for everyone.
Oh how I love my big "Nerd"
Josh and I shared our birthday today. He just turned 8. Isn't he cute? He is such a great good and we love him and his mom Nicole.
Me and Nicole. She is so great!
Me and Nathan. He is so cute and sweetness just oozes from him. I love being his Aunt Jeanne.
What a fine looking couple.
Ben and Brandon. I'm sure you can tell he is not into having his picture taken these days but as you can see from the food all over his face, he enjoyed eating.
Ben tried hard to get Brandon to pose but he wasn't having it. The funny thing is when we were done trying to take his picture, I sat the camera on the table. Next thing we knew, Brandon had picked it up and was holding it saying Cheese, Cheese. I wonder where he could of learned that from?
Aunt Jeanne let Brandon enjoy the spatula and as you can see, he really enjoyed it. However, I think he was a little confused because he kept trying to chew the rubber. It was cute.
Brandon and Mommy (Sommer)

Me and Sommer. She is one of my very BEST friends and I just love her!
Ben and I with Giles and Lani. We love having them stay here at our house. Lani is so funny and she keeps us on our toes. She especially likes to garden with Ben. One funny story about Lani was when they first started living with us. She picked up on the fact that I sometimes call my husband Benny Boo. (lame as it may be, that's his nickname) Next thing you know Lani needed something from Ben and she said "Benny" can you please help me. The things kids pick up on. We all had a good laugh.

I just love this picture. This is the mouth off of Josh's alligator cake.
Josh trying to be as scary as his alligator. He is one funny kid.

All in all, we had a wonderful evening. I sure did miss my family though! I can't wait to come see them all in July. Ben and I are so excited to come to Utah. It should be a great time for everyone.

Here's a fun little video so you can all be part of the Happy Birthday Song. Good thing everyone is familiar with the tune so you know what it is we are singing. (if you can call it singing) hehe.

So as I have mentioned before, My husband Ben is quite the gardener. He got a little frustrated last year because we have a big tree in our backyard that likes to shade the plants. None of the plants were getting enough sun and a lot of them died. So he got an idea in his head to build a planter box. When he mentioned this to me, I said sure no big deal. I was thinking about a small box but then he began to build and build and build.....

As you can see....There is nothing small about this box.
He worked and worked....
and enjoyed every minute he did it....
as you can see on the inside, it was very thought out. The sides are even slanted and there is a drain in the middle.
Ben loves his Full Throttle Slurpees. He needed one to help him finish the job. Isn't he handsome with his blue tongue?
Here is the finished project. Good thing I know he loves me or I might be a little jealous of this planter box.

The box holds over 1200 lbs of dirt. There is nothing small about this box. Let's just hope it with holds the dirt and doesn't end up broken. Wish us luck!

May 17, 2008 Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

My Birthday was such a wonderful day. To start off the day, Ben took me to breakfast. It was a lot of fun. We went with our friend Giles and his daughter Lani. They are living with us for the next few months as Giles prepares to move him and Lani to Utah.

The waitress asked me if I wanted my Birthday Sundae because it was 10 AM. I told her it was ok but Lani begged me to get it. She was dying for a bite of the rainbow colored ice cream. (she is 6, who can blame her). The only thing I regret about getting it was it came with a Birthday song by all of the waiters and waitresses working that day. I think my face was as red as my shirt. In fact I am sure it was because the lady sitting to the table next to us said it indeed was.
Lani enjoy the birthday ice cream
As you can see by her beautiful smile, it was well worth it to get the sundae.

Later that day, I went to a baby shower in Pennsylvania and then came home to take a nap. Ben and I went out to dinner later that evening and then stayed in to watch a movie. Since my birthday has been a marathon and there is still a party to come on Sunday. I enjoyed sitting with my husband on the couch and watching a movie. It was a wonderful day and I felt so loved. I received so many cards throughout the week. I received lots of emails and even more cards. Thank you to all who sent me a message. I felt really loved.

I love you all!

May 14,2009 Pre-Birthday Party

Being away from all of our family it has been such a blessing to have good friends that are like family. I have 2 friends that I adore. David and Tracie Pierce Family and Ben and Sommer Finnigan Family. I have have become "Aunt Jeanne" to their kids. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. I must say I couldn't love the kids anymore than if I were their real Aunt. Some of the pictures below are of the Pierce Family Kids.

This is Xander. He is so funny. I told him to smile for Aunt Jeanne and here is his perfect pose.
This is Noah. Xander's brother. Xander was graduating from preschool so I had Noah for a few hours. He is such a happy, funny baby. It was lunch time and I got everything ready for him on his tray. I went back in the kitchen to get him a drink and all of the sudden I hear him laughing. I went to see what was going on and to my surprise he had pulled his tray off his chair. He is one strong little boy
This is what happened next, he threw it right on the floor and was VERY proud of himself. This picture is not posed at all. I just caught him in the act and this was his reaction. He was so proud of himself. I couldn't help but laugh hysterically. Really, what are you going to do? How can you get mad at this face?
Noah loves to be a big boy, he is so happy he can sit on the bottom step of my house and sit down, then stand up. Seriously, I have never met a more happy baby.
I love this smile. He is so funny.
Later that night, we began the start of my birthday marathon. We had a BBQ at the house with some good friends. This is Ben with our "little nephew" Nathan Finnigan. He was not happy this night but he enjoyed being with Ben outside. My husband has a way with those babies.
Me and one of my dearest friends, Deb.
She is so fun to be around. I hate this picture of me but had to show off my wonderful friends.
Yeah, Happy Birthday to me! Deb brought an ice cream cake and it was SO SO yummy!
Thanks Deb, it was WONDERFUL!

May 14, 2009

Today Ben had a work BBQ. It is always fun for me to go and see him in his work environment.

This particular day was what I have dubbed "give Ben a compliment day". The commander of the band pulled me aside to personally tell me what an AMAZING job Ben did on his solo on tour. He told me Ben was a dedicated man and a pleasure to be around. He told me he works harder than anyone he knows and he is a very determined individual. I know many of you are not familiar with the Army and how things work but coming from the commander is a BIG deal! Another one of his band mates told me how much he appreciated being around Ben. He is always positive and has a way of looking on the bright side of things. He also thanked Ben for his good attitude and for making difficult situations a little better. What can I say? My husband is WONDERFUL and it is easy to go on and on about him.

This is Ben's Squad Leader, Sargent Avant who is leaving and going to Texas. He has been a great leader and example to Ben. He really helped him when he first got to the Band and we will always appreciate all he has done.

The Army honored him for his great leadership and service to this Unit

Ben and I in the Band Hall. Aren't we so cute?

Wednesday evening I went to find my husband in the garden where he usually is in the warm months. To my surprise this is what I found. All of the neighborhood kids had gathered around Ben to help him "Plant"
I think more plants got stepped on than planted but my ever patient husband allowed everyone to help. I think they all had a good time!Our Neighbor Nicole and Josh. She was playing around and had no idea I had already snapped the picture. hehehe
Nicole and Josh have been taking the missionary discussion and have a date set to be baptized in June. It has been so great to get to know them better. It has also been great to share the gospel with them. Ben and I feel so blessed that the Lord has chosen to use us as an instrument with missionary work. We have been able to share the gospel so much since we have left Utah and another baptism makes us truly rejoice. It is wonderful to see peoples lives become better as their understanding of God's love for them grows. We LOVE you Josh and Nicole!

May 9, 2008- Six Flags Maryland

So begins my marathon birthday week. We start it off at Six Flags! We woke up to rain and thunderstorms but it worked out perfectly. By the end of the day it was warm with sunshine. I think the rain scared most people off. It was the first day of the summer season and we walked up and got on all the rides. I think our longest wait was 10 minutes on one of the rides. I know, sounds rough.

We went with one of my best friends, Sommer and her husband, Ben. Sommer and I have talked about going for the last few years because we both LOVE amusement parks but she has been pregnant since I met her. So hooray for a reason to celebrate and hooray her mom took her 2 little boys for the day so we could have some grown up fun!

This begins a sad story of Sommer and her $12.95 drink. (don't worry, it has a happy ending) She ordered a drink with her lunch and thought it was only $2.95. Wrong!!!! Before you knew it she had a very bad lunch and a very expensive drink. The bright side to the story is that she got FREE refills all day! So we began the community drinking cup. We were all determined to get her monies worth.

By mid afternoon we had our 6th refill. Not really hard to do when you are sharing with 4 people.

By the end of the day Sommer and her drink had a real bond. She really felt like she got her monies worth. After 7 refills, lots of sugar and many trips to the bathroom the LOVE grew and will FOREVER remain.

What a SUPER couple we are!

I had to get a picture with my new friend Bugs Bunny! I finally figured out where I got my stand from.

The rides started out pleasant and enjoyable I don't know who is cuter, the couple of the penguin.

This is my model pose!
What a killer smile! One of the many reasons I married him!
My Ben had to sit this one out. His tummy was a little on the fritz. Here is where the FREAK OUT begins! I was SO nervous I almost didn't go.

Ben was trying to convince me it would be all right but I still wasn't sure. I obviously didn't die because I am here to tell you all about it. However, I am not doing this ride again. The Joker and I will never be friends. He is evil and so is his ride.

This is the Superman Ride. It was my FAVORITE! However, it KILLS your shins. I still have a bruise. You should do a close up on this one. You can see Sommer and I and our hair is sticking straight up in the air! It is worth a good laugh.
Sommer and I thought we were so funny!

We enjoyed posing with the signs of the Super Hero's. Sommer was much better at it than I.
We had fun posing in Loony Tune Village! I'm glad there weren't many kids there because we might have ended up being the big bullies in the little kids playground.
Isn't their impression of Taz good! This is one of my favorite pictures.
I love this picture! My husband is SOOO cute!
With all this posing I think there may be a photographer in the group.

All in all we had a GREAT day! Thanks Ben and Sommer for enjoying it with us. I wouldn't have wanted to have gone with anyone else (expect for including you Tracie). So, till next time.

That's all FOLKS!