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I was really hoping to be able to cut out the diaper expense for a few months before the new baby comes, and Sabrina made that dream come true. She is so potty-trained she won't even let us come in the bathroom to help her...which can be a little scary, but I suppose in the long run it's a good thing. It only took her a day or two to figure it all out, but then we had to find the proper motivation and for Sabrina it was peer pressure. All it took was Grace or I going to the bathroom and she would want to go too. Whatever the reason, I am a very happy mommy. And feeling a little richer too. :)

Seven

Yesterday Mike and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. And since we had known each other for almost exactly 7 years when we got married, that means we have known each other for 14 years. That's almost half of our lives.

It was kind of fun to think back and talk about the last 14 years and how our relationship has evolved over that time. I don't think either of us really gave the other much thought when we first met as freshman in high school, but eventually over time as we became better friends and spent more time together we each stood out to the other.

To celebrate, my mom drove to Manhattan for the 3rd time since we moved here (isn't she awesome?) and took care of the kiddos so we could sneak up to Omaha for a night away. We went to the Winter Quarters Temple, ate at PF Changs, shopped, and most importantly SLEPT IN! It's nice to have a weekend away every once in a while to reconnect and recharge and with a new baby coming we probably won't get the opportunity again for a while.

The kids were well taken care of (they always are) by Grandma. She took them to a gymnastics place for free gym time, swimming, and then played outside with them for several hours all on Friday. Anyways, we really appreciate her help!

Who knows what the next 7 years will bring to our family?? We definitely couldn't have predicted everything that has happened the last 7 years. But come what may, I can be happy and will always be grateful with my eternal companion and best friend by my side.

Note: we aren't really standing that far apart for a picture on our anniversary. These were photoshopped together from 2 different pictures...since there was no one else around to take a picture of us together.

Hard Working Man

Mike found out yesterday that his branch got branch of the month in their district of 8 stores. Which is pretty impressive since this is only his second full month as a manager. He got major props from his district manager and the regional manager.
I really appreciate all the hard work Mike puts in to support our family. Congratulations honey, we are so proud of you!

Sunset Zoo

On Thursday we crossed another item off our MUST DO BEFORE BENSON STARTS SCHOOL list - a visit to the Sunset Zoo. The weather could not have been more perfect. As we were driving to the zoo at 11:30am the temperature in the van said 68 degrees. I was actually really impressed with the zoo especially since this is such a small town. The animals were so close to us and were all out walking around, I'm sure partly because the weather was so nice. I intended to stay for 2 hours but we ended up being there for almost 4! The kids had a great time and loved seeing all the animals. The first animals we saw were the chimpanzees and as we were walking out of the building where they were kept, Benson caught a glimpse of the next animal and said, "Is that a colobus monkey? Oh it is a colobus monkey!" I thought he was making up a name or something, but sure enough when we got over to the plaque its said that the animals in the cage were indeed colobus monkeys. I don't think I have ever seen colobus monkeys before and I definitely couldn't have identified them. I kept asking Benson how he knew that and I think we determined that he learned it from a library DVD we checked out earlier in the summer called Really Wild Animals.

Colobus Monkey

Going to the zoo with Benson is always lots of fun because he throws out all sorts of random animal facts as we walk around. It was a really fun day and we all came home worn out. We were lucky to be able to fit it in this week since all 3 kids were running a fever a different day this week.

Building a birdhouse

When we got back from Oklahoma, Mike wanted to do some "projects" with the kids. I guess he must have missed us while we were gone. So on Saturday, while the girls were napping, Benson and Mike headed out to the garage to build a birdhouse. Benson did a great job hammering and glueing. They even put the side with the door on the wrong way so that they would have to use Daddy's newly purchased power drill. Benson was very proud of the finished product. Too bad we don't have any trees to put it in. We had to settle for hanging it from the light on the back patio.


You might notice in the first two pictures the sweet bandage Mike has on his right leg. While helping with a move earlier that morning Mike ran into a ramp while carrying a piece of a sectional. Since we live so close to Ft. Riley, lots of people in our ward are in the army including several of those helping with the move. When they saw Mike's wound they "mobilized" and bandaged him up with their military grade medical kits they had in their cars. They were joking that they might even have some morphine in them if Mike wanted it. Mike assured me that it wasn't going to need stitches until after he took a shower SEVERAL hours later and the cut was still bleeding and looked like it was splitting open more. After 6 stitches and a tetanus shot he was good to go. If going by number of stitches, this is his worst injury yet.