Ben's 2nd Birthday Party!

Welcome to the main event!! How is it possible that I have a two year old?! Time shifts into hyper-speed once you are a mom. You try not to miss a single second of their little lives and then you blink and they are two stinkin' years old! In doing this party I learned a lot about myself. I thought I was a good multi-tasker. Turns out that I am horrible at being a hostess, cook, server, event planer, photographer and mommy all at the same time. I did the best I could. At least I can say I enjoyed celebrating the day with Ben.

This is Ben right before the party started. He is about .2 seconds away from an absolute, total and complete meltdown because Daddy told him Uncle Jason was coming. Unfortunately, Jason was not the first one through the door. Which resulted in tears every time a guest arrived. How nice is that? Welcome to the party!





Our menu included: Hubcaps (buns), Spare tires (hamburgers), Parts (burger toppings), Coolant (drinks), and Dip sticks (french fries).

This is Ben and his buddy Brynner who came to the party to play. They had a great time, although I think Brynner was more excited about Skype-ing with the Texas grandparents than Ben was. It was fun to have another little person there. Ben is the only cousin in Utah currently. But not for long! (Hurry up and get here Sally, Adri, Weston and Calvin!!)

The famous Uncle Jason. I don't think Ben left his side for more than two seconds all night long!

This is Aunt "Chicken." Yes, you read right. Aunt Chicken. Ben can't say Kiersten for the life of him, and who can blame him. Kiersten couldn't say her own name until she was almost three! He LOVES playing hide and seek with her. In the above picture they are in one of his favorite hiding spots behind a chair.

Mommy and Daddy bought Ben a play rug with roads on it to drive his cars on. He is a very cautious driver and makes sure to stop at all the traffic lights and asks me when the light is green, "toon gween," so that he can go. He was sorely disappointed that the mat didn't come with a car wash. So we had to fashion one for him out of cardboard. So classy, but functional. (It doubles as a slide for his cars to go down too!)

Grandma and Grandpa Richens gave Ben a Mud Pie Mixing Station. It is awesome. The sink pumps water and he has his own mixer! Girly? Maybe a little. But now he can mix stuff in his very own mixer instead of trying to stick his hand in my KitchenAid!

What is a cake without some sprinkles?

Apparently we need to hone in our cooking skills. Looks like it didn't pass the taste test.

Scott is a major Jazz fan. So when we found a Korver jersey on clearance, it was a must have! Ben thought it was great to play "bath-ket ball" in his new jersey.

My baby is so grown up. It makes me happy and sad at the same time. He has been such a joy and such a trial at the same time. I know that I am a stronger, more compassionate, more loving and patient person because of him. I don't know how I will ever be able to thank him for helping me become the person I need to be in order to be his mother. I am so excited to see what our future holds and what adventures we have in store together. I love you with all my heart little man!

Ben Stories

Ben loves to "read" me the grocery list when we go to the store. We were at Costco over the weekend and as usual he reached for the list. So I turned it over to him and said, "What's on the list, Ben?" He scrunched his eyebrows, and pursed his lips into a very serious and concentrated face. He looked at the list and said, "Hmmmm . . . . French fries, Donalds." My jaw hit the floor and I started laughing out loud and said, "Oh really? Is that what my list says?" He looked up at me totally innocent, looked back down at his list and said, "Hmmmm . . . French fries, Donalds." I almost died. He was totally serious! We don't go to McDonald's very often, usually it is a treat to go with Grandma, but apparently it has left a lasting impression. ( I guess I can't give my mom a hard time about me asking for "fries, coke please" when I was 18 months! )

Last night when we were eating dinner I hit my hand on something and said, "Ouch." Ben looked up at me and said, "Mommy sad?" I said,"I am sad can you give me a kiss?" He paused, looked at me with a mischievous grin and said,"Toot?" and then started laughing hysterically. "I funny" he says. Well I guess he cheered me up, but he also proved that he is a boy through and through. How does he know that toots are funny?

Ben is 2!!!

How did this happen? Part of me can't believe it has already been two years since Ben joined the family. The other part of me says, "Of course it has been two years! You have done every single day of those two years with Ben. Good and bad!" But either way, he is growing up and I can't stop it! He talks up a storm all day long about everything. He learns new words all the time. I thought I would be able to know all of the words he knows how to say but he just keeps throwing new ones at me. I wish I had a recording device in my head that allowed me to recall all the things he says during the day so that I could replay them over and over as he gets bigger.

For his real birthday daddy had to work so Ben and I went snow skiing with Grandma Gwen and Great Grandpa Duane. (That is four generations on the mountain skiing together!) We took Ben skiing at the very beginning of ski season and I wasn't sure he would remember it, but sure enough as soon as we pulled up to the lodge he started yelling, "Ben skis, Ben boots, ski-ning, please, my turn!" We just couldn't get him ready fast enough.

We tried to get him to ski by himself with one of us skiing backwards to hold the front of his skis. He made it half way down the bunny hill all by himself! But he preferred, of course, to ski in between my legs with me holding his arms so that we could go fast like a jet and he didn't have to do nearly as much work.

He kept saying "ski-ning fun. again!" He got to have french fries for lunch, which is his favorite food of all time because he can dip them in ketchup. After lunch Ben and I went outside to play in the snow while Grandma and Great Grandpa went skiing. Of course he mostly wanted to eat the snow. We did throw a few snowballs however.

Then Ben was cold so he went back in the lodge with Grandma and begged his way into a package of peanut butter m&ms. Spoiled, spoiled. After an m&m break we went back to the bunny hill for a few more runs with Ben. He made it down twice, but fell fast asleep on run three!

When we got back to Grandma's house Ben watched Wall-e (another all time favorite) and then grandma made him a birthday cake!! What a great day to be two! We love you little man!!

free at last!

Poor Ben has been stuck in the house with his sick mommy for almost 3 weeks! It is still so stinkin cold outside, but Ben saw an opportunity to chase Daddy outside on his way to work and there was no way he was coming back in the house. So we played in the sub 30 temp for over an hour! Mercifully there was a non frozen patch of dirt that Ben could dig in for a while. After a while he looked up at me almost confused and said, "cold?" I said, "Yeah it is really cold. Do you want a warm bath?" He said, "House, bath, please" and bolted back to our house. We were both popsicles!

making chocolates

This my amazing Grandma Richens. She makes chocolates. But not just any old chocolates. Hand dipped pieces of chocolate goodness from heaven. For those of you lucky enough to sample them, you know what I mean. I literally cannot eat another other chocolates that come in a box. Only hers will do. She has spent years perfecting this art. I am so happy I could be a part of it this year and spend some time with her doing something she loves.

These are the beginnings of what is to come. I believe these are the almond joy and cherry nut insides. The almond joys are unbelievable. I can't eat an Almond Joy candy bar now. They just can't compete.

Yes, that is her hand covered in chocolate! How divine! I took a turn to give her a break. It was the best time of my life. It is like finger painting for grown ups! It was lucky that I was good at dipping because I did it the rest of the day.

Surrounded by chocolate. Tons and tons of chocolate. My little vision of heaven.

The chocolate has to stay right around 80 degrees otherwise it gets too hard or too hot and when it cools it turns white. We can't have ugly chocolates!


The process from beginning to end.

My grandpa has always been my grandma's right hand man. For those of you who don't know he is a tough guy: still rides a motorcycle, snowboards, snow skis, water skis, goes camping, the usual grandpa stuff. But I love him best when he stands by my grandma and smiles and helps her do the the things she loves and needs help with. He is not below putting sprinkles on the chocolates and I love him for it!

Oh my mother! How I love her! My grandma and my mom are two of the strongest women I know. They have overcome so much in their own lives and they are always there with support and love when I need them. I have a lot to learn from them.

Taking a pizza break. He bought the garlic chicken pizza just for me because I told him it sounded good and I like things spicy.

The end.

highlights continued . . .

Let's just say Ben wasn't a fan at all of ice skating! We made it once around the rink by sheer willpower of his mother. He screamed the entire time! Don't worry he found a loving grandma who took him inside to buy him french fries. So spoiled.

This picture is proof that I still exist and that I do in fact interact with adults too!

Ben got a Lightning McQueen bike for Christmas (no worries Christmas post is coming!). He loves it. The only downfall is that it makes lots of sounds, but it is great entertainment when we are stuck inside on cold days.

How do you resist mini converse shoes? You don't! You simply buy them and smile every single time your wrestle them onto little feet.