Thankful

This year we had a smaller crowd in Park City for Thanksgiving, and I made my very first Chocolate Puddin’ Pie.

Chocolate Puddin’ Pie was one of my Nana’s specialties, I miss her the most at Thanksgiving. While we were cooking I couldn’t help but think of the sweet memories I have of visiting my Nana and Grandaddy. When we slept over Nana would come in our rooms in the morning and say, “Ya’ll get in here before these biscuits get cold!” with her Mississippi accent.

I seriously didn’t even realize how amazing it was that she made her own biscuit dough from scratch, rolling and cutting them out, and baking them in a greased cast iron skillet. To put on top? Jams made from the fruit of the trees in her backyard. For dinner she made southern fried chicken and the most amazing potato salad. At Thanksgiving she made cornbread dressing and homemade rolls and THE BEST pies. Everything was full fat, extra butter, no shortcuts. That’s the stuff of the Food Network, I didn’t even realize it was awesome at the time.

I forgot my dang camera, so IPhone pics/sister hook ups are where it's at:



The food was perfect, and the company even better.

Oh, and Benson? He ate stuffing. Literally, only stuffing. He has a one food complex. Those divided plates where you can give your kid three different things to eat? Not needed here.

We shopped black Friday (craaazy), played an obscene amount of Pinball and saw the lights at Temple Square. What a perfect way to kick of the Christmas season.


We’ve been decking the halls and Benson helped us pick out the perfect tree!

Brandon and I got crafty and made a cute family memory game for our nieces for Christmas:

Totally Martha, right!?

This season and always, I'm so thankful for my family, my husband and perfect baby boy, for my Savior and my knowledge of the Gospel and for my many, many blessings.

Oh, and just in case you feel like whipping up a Chocolate Puddin' Pie:

One for the Chubs

I plugged my camera in today to upload some pictures and found some serious gems!

Naked bubble time!

Naked pool time!

Lovin' the beach.

Four wheeling with dada.

Pinball Wizard!

Benson is getting ginormous and it's been an adventure learning the ins and outs of toddlerhood. As of late, his favorite word is dat! As in dat, dat, dat! I want dat! Usually "dat" is a light he wants on, or he wants someone to lift him up to turn the light switches on or off or pull the strings on the ceiling fan. When we get in the car he starts yelling dat until we turn on the inside lights. Yes, we drive around Las Vegas in the dark with all of interior lights on. We have complete control.

He is talking quite a bit but rarely will say anything on queue. I love it when he busts out anana (Banana) or wanna crackah (I want a cracker). Knowing what your kid wants and getting it for them ASAP makes you feel like super mom. It's pathetic. We also get an occasional papa, mama, grammie, all his animal sounds, love you, night night, all done, etc. But mostly, it's dada and dat.

We have a little issue because my mom and I don't really buy Benson "boy" toys. The latest addition is a shopping cart and play food. Benson loves pushing it around the house (and slamming it in to the base boards occasionally). My dad mentioned we may need to pick up a truck for him at some point.

Favorites at 20 months:

Food: Pancakes! I get up every morning and whip them up for him. (Um, don't worry- totally kidding. Yay for Eggo!)

Treat: M&M's

Toys: His shopping cart and schlide (or your kid may call it a slide.)

Show: Yo Gabba Gabba

Movie: Baby Motzart (Still??!! Won't be sad when he grows out of this one.)

Song: I am a Child of God

Big Boy Things: Brushing his teeth, learning to eat with a fork, "walking" (AKA running away from us) instead of riding in the stroller or cart and folding his arms for prayers. This kid has a serious case of the "I do its"!

Excuse the horrible quality pictures, some of his best moments and all we had is a phone to capture them! (Yes, he's holding a giant Diet Coke, is sitting in the Dryer, and has black tire marks all over his face. Don't call CPS.)

Even when he coughs so hard he throws up EVERY day for 10 days straight (hoping we get this little situation figured out this week), I still get excited to see his precious face every morning and just love him so much I could squish him. Little chubs, this one is for you!

Hard Knock Life

I'm just going to be real here. Law School was fun. Hard, but fun. I miss it. I miss our friends and I am horrible at keeping in touch. I literally think about everyone on a daily basis and can't wait until we all have babysitters and are on an adults only cruise to Hawaii in 20 years or so. This was the first year in my eight years of marriage to Brandon that he didn't start school. We rocked 5 years at UNLV and 3 years at MSU. Perhaps a PhD is in our future? I wish.

This summer will forever be known as the summer of the BAR. It was the worst guys, seriously. Benson was literally traumatized from never seeing Brandon. He starting saying dada like 200 times a day and became obsessed with the garage because he saw Brandon disappear out that door every morning. We've been working with a therapist and he's doing much better. (Please know that I'm joking, but I may have Googled "toddler therapist Las Vegas" in a desperate moment.)

Throughout the studying and adjustments to life at home, we made sure to enjoy life and our families.

We spent lots of time in Park City which has become a place of utter happiness for me. I love the mountains (I mean the view, not the actual mountains), I love the cool breeze, the space for Benson to run and play. Life is simple there.

We celebrated the 4th of July. Watching The Canyons fireworks from our backyard rocked my socks.

Obviously the most epic event of the summer, my oldest sister was married in the Draper Temple and had the reception of my dreams. It was really just an amazing event. My horrible snapshots do not do it justice!

It was seriously beautiful and Holly and Brett are perfect together. We are so happy for them!

After the wedding craziness, we headed to the beach for Brandon's annual family reunion in Carlsbad. Last year Benson was only 6 months and wasn't so much a fan of the sand. This year, he ran, and laughed, and played, and ran and ran some more. Up and down the sand he went. His listening skills have yet to be developed so we chased, and followed and chased told him to come back an turn around and he ignored us and ran some more. You're not really allowed to be in the family if you don't love the beach so I'm really glad he fits in.

Our cousin Missy took these pictures that should be submitted to some sort of contest where we would win lots of money for having the cutest kid, dontcha think?

Up next for the Wood Fam: find B a job, find us a house, find out the BAR results, find Benson the perfect Halloween costume.

We'll keep ya posted.

Things I Learned In Michigan...

It's okay to let people over when they need to change lanes.

It's okay to merge in advance when there's construction.

Grass is really green, in it's own. No spray paint required.

Things can literally sprout from the ground and live without any human intervention.

Barns are works of art.

Simple is okay.

Everyday is not a fashion show.

The most fun can be free.

Baked goods are meant to be shared, at least once a week.

Being independent helps you grow as a person.

Pot holes and mascara application do not mix.

Pot Holes make me angry.

Snow really isn't that bad.

Snow touching my bare skin makes me angry.

Uggs and leggings are in season October through April, and potentially May.

There are actually 4 distinct seasons in a year.

Don't eat Mexican food in the Midwest.

Living in a college town is fun, best people watching ever.

I don't want to raise my kids far away from family.

I can do hard things.

Go Green! Go white! Enough said.

I could eat Potbelly every single day.

Road kill makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit. Avoid looking at the side of the road at all costs.

I need sunshine (or Tanning Beds).

It's (semi) normal for ducks, squirrels, possums, deer, chipmunks, etc. to live in your backyard.

The feel/smell/energy of college football in a Big 10 stadium on game day is some of the best stuff on Earth.

The Izzone is legit.

Life can throw you a curveball at any moment...be ready.

How to be a mom, by watching some of the best moms I know.

Friends really are forever (I love you girls!).

It's possible to really want to be 2 places at the same time, Las Vegas is my home but a little piece of me will always belong to Michigan.

Things That Happened While I Was Running Around Like a Crazy...

Packing, moving, studying, finals, working, graduation, garage sale, parties, anniversary, Mothers Day...

This last month or so was a whirlwind. It's all sort of hazy, I'm not really a 4-6 hours of sleep kind of gal. But from what I remember, its been sad, happy, sad, stressful, fun, and a little sad.

Sadly, I only have a pictures of a handful of these events. The garage sale not being one of them. It was my first and last. People rummaging through my stuff trying to "barter" with me is not my cup of tea.

We had one last crazy outing with our friends and went to a Tigers game. I loved it! Comerica Park was so awesome. It's May and we're in coats and boots, welcome to Michigan. We got the kids cotton candy but none of them would eat it so we had to take care of it for them. No worries.





Brandon and I celebrated Eight Years at the beginning of May. I love what we've accomplished and where we are at now. He really is my best friend and the most amazing Daddy. In the middle of the craziness he planned the day and got some friends to watch Benson. It was so fun to be able to just talk and hang out together, I'm a lucky girl.

My mom and little sis flew in on Mother's Day to help manage the craziness. The next few days we packed as fast as we could while still following my "everything in the box must go together and be inventoried on a spread sheet" system. I'm not crazy. I really could not have done it without them and my neighbors. Moving is the worst, avoid it.

Speaking of Mother's Day, shout out to our moms! We have two of the best.

Brandon hooked me up with a new Timi and Leslie diaper bag, I'm obsessed!

Bob graduated too and is now an actual Doctor, wow. You would think I would have taken a picture of him, but no, only of the kids and us girls... look how cute. I miss them! Ugh.

Jamie and I planned a little party for the law school grads. It was kinda white trash but seriously so fun. We wanted to celebrate with the people that were our lifeline for the last three years, it was our last hoorah. Love them. I avoided saying goodbye at all costs, I think I only cried twice.

And the reason we're here in the first place...drum-roll please...GRADUATION!

He (we) did it!!

Something about the bagpipes and all the graduates marching in line made me super emotional. I'm so proud of Brandon. I know it wasn't easy having a wife and new baby but he rocked it. I know he'll do big things and buy me a big house. Kidding. I'm so grateful for his friends. I know they made all difference in this experience. They have been so good to us. I'm so grateful for my friends, this would have been all the more difficult without them.

Moving day! Wow, the logistics that went into this are crazy. Jamie and I nearly lost it towards the end, our stuff literally didn't fit, we were literally packing up until the last second, but in the end we survived.

The crazy part is, they try to trick you by saying, Yay! You graduated! You're done! But the reality is, Brandon drove across the country Friday, got to Las Vegas Sunday, flew to Utah Monday, drove the moving van here, unloaded, and started bar prep on Tuesday. We are most certainly not done. Bring it on.

Weekend Drama, Easter Fun

This weekend was mostly a disaster and still managed to be fun. My hard drive crashed Thursday night and I cried for 24 hours straight. Hopefully we'll have things back up and running by Tuesday. Most everything backed up, expect for the pictures I JUST uploaded that we took for B's graduation announcements. We spent 80 something bucks buying software and a card reader to get them back and now I seriously hate them all (of me) and don't want to use them. Our basement has a leak, our stuff got wet, oh the drama!

Our fun friends hosted an Easter Brunch- I made cute mini Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits- try to imagine them, I am pictureless due to the hard drive drama! Benson mostly ate the Cadbury Mini Eggs he found all over the ground...and got seriously fried. A few hours after we got home I noticed his bright red head. I felt so bad so I cried about that too. We haven't seen the sun for 6 months so I think we all forgot what to do!

Our other cute friends (we have lots) hosted Easter play group. Complete with lunch for the moms and fun for kids.


Kate was so cute and shared her eggs/let Benson rip them from her hands.


All the kids decorated little bunny cakes...Benson played with this pink cup.





Sunday Benson crawled straight for Easter basket- he's a tad spoiled and knows any new toy is of course for him.


His Easter outfit was ridiculously cute.




Ah-mazing Easter dinner. Even better company.