Hooray for Summer!

If you can't tell by the picture, Benjamin LOVES the pool. It's nice that we have free passes to go swimming any time we want too!

The Zoo

We went to the zoo a few weeks ago. Benjamin was fascinated this time by all the animals, and wanted to climb over the cages and fences to touch them. After our trip, he's also taken a greater interest in his animal books, which he has me read to him repeatedly every day.

Here he's looking at a snow leopard, trying to wake it up. But it never even twitched.

Benjamin's favorite animal was the Meerkat. They were giving him high-fives!

It was a beautiful day, and all the animals were out, including the girraffes who posed nicely for the camera.

California Trip: 10 Months Old!

We had a wonderful trip to California for our "Spring Break" and met up with Mom, Dad, Michelle and David at Bryan and Jenilee's place. Benjamin was a champ in the car, especially considering the trip home ended up taking a lot longer due to LA traffic. He and Sarah got along splendidly, and by the end of the week were comfortable enough to steal eachother's toys. Unfortunately, we were not welcomed by balmy California weather that week, but it was still beautiful and green.

The crazy guys taking a dip in the freezing Pacific Ocean.

The rest of the gang was cold enough, even without getting in the water!

Benjamin enjoyed walking in the sand, and especially following the seagulls and pigeons.

During this trip, we had the opportunity to go to the LA Temple. We had a wonderful experience there, and Jeannine, Michelle and David were nice enough to watch the babies during those couple of hours. Benjamin wasn't too happy with us for abandoning him, hence his forlorn look in this picture.

Benjamin loved the hike in his backpack carrier. It was a beautiful trail!

We got to go to Disneyland on the trip, where Benjamin met Pluto and rode a bunch of rides. Paul was an excellent guide to the park, as the rest of us had never been there before.

Daddy's Mission Reunion

On Friday March 30, we got to go to Paul's Geneva, Switzerland Mission reunion, which also happens to be my brother, Bryan's. It was wonderful to see Bryan, Jenilee and their baby Sarah, who is just 2 weeks older than Benjamin, again. They now live in California, and we'll be going out to visit them and my parents this week! We're so excited.

Walking at Nine Months!

Benjamin took his first steps yesterday with the longest string being about 15 in a row! We were so excited, but havent' managed to get a good video of it yet. He is in a big hurry to grow up!

Benjamin had fun unrolling all the toilet paper as soon as Mommy wasn't looking!

Benjamin, James and Emma here are becoming good buds. We have play group once a week now at eachother's apartments, and are gradually expanding to include many other babies in our neighborhood who are 7-9ish months old.

8 Months Old

Eight months old and walking...I mean crawling like a champ! Here he is outside our apartment on a particularly warm day walking his new walker toy. He just gets more and more fun.

He's Crawling!

Benjamin is a great little crawler now and can get wherever he wants, though I don't think he truly appreciates this new-found freedom. I'm still waiting for him to pounce on all the hot spots when Mommy's not looking. But he's still a little slow, and knows without question that grabbing Mommy's hands and walking is always a much quicker option.


Benjamin liked making a mess with the carrots more than he did eating them.

Stylish little Ben in his brand new car seat (he grew out of his last one) and new crawling/walking shoes. Yeah, they have dragons on them, and yeah, he feels pretty cool.