At the risk...

Of losing important body parts by family members and friends looking for pics of our cute, pudgy cheeked, smiling little boy... Here are pics of our trip out west, and a bit of what I like to call, commentary. Or random blabbing. Whatever you want to call it, here it is:

This is the face of tired. Or more appropriately the face of "no, mommy, I'm not tired, I still haven't SMILED at EVERYONE in the waiting area yet..."
Benson's first plane ride! He did GREAT on the way out and while I didn't get the little old lady next to me EVER that I dreamed of, I was MORE than blessed at God's love throughout the trip. For starters, Benson did not cry once during the whole flight out, not the little itty bitty 20 minute one to DC and not the 5.5 hour one to San Diego. Not once. God did, however, show me my ick on the plane and proceeded to help me through it. I love how He loves us too much to leave us where we are... First flight was, as I said, SHORT. I got to sit next to a cool lady who, while we believe COMPLETELY different things about Heaven, etc... was awesome and kind. I still pray for her as she comes to mind :) The flight attendants, baggage people, even passengers were nicer to me than I ever imagined, and dare I say it may have been even COOL traveling alone with Benson. Isn't that fun? Sometimes the very things that make us so nervous are the things that surprise us and bless us the most? The second flight, when approaching my seat, made my heart sink a bit. Somehow I ended up with a "few extra inches of legroom" on my United flight, even though I didn't pay for it, thank you very much :) but a few, how do I say this nicely??? fewer inches widthwise... As I stood there realizing I would have a hard time sitting in the seat, let alone me and a baby, I was just praying that God would cover the whole situation and He did! The flight attendant asked the man in the middle to move back to a row behind (where he also had more room) and I got to sit with an empty seat between me and the nicest "kid" (who was incidentally an attorney for the defense department, but really, couldn't have been older than 10, how can they hire such youngins nowadays I ask???)... Okay, back to my story. He was the nicest kid. Really. He even MOVED HIS ARMREST TO THE UPRIGHT POSITION SO BENSON WOULD HAVE MORE ROOM TO SPREAD OUT (and yes, he offered - and even didn't mind when Benson kicked his very nice suit whilst falling asleep). I'm not kidding. Isn't God the coolest? Anyway, a row up and an aisle over, we had a crying 2 year oldish kid (poor thing as I silently prayed over and over and over that Benson would not do that). The woman in the same row as sad baby was clearly very, very aggravated, plugging her ears, shaking her head, throwing her arms up. Made me want to smack her repeatedly, but then about two hours into JUDGING her, God reminded me that a much more useful thing I could do is PRAY for her. Oh, yeah. Ha. About that... So I did, for her, and for the man who got moved due to his size... I was just BEGGING God to show them His love, to reveal it to them right there on the plane. Oh, how He does love them... And I have been praying for them, too. Isn't God so cool?

Ah, we arrived in San Diego, met up with my very best, longest running best friend from high school Christine and her new puppy London (who is incidentally just a few weeks younger than my little Hooverlet (my newest nickname for Benson - catchy, eh? Nate was raised on a farm where they raised pigs. Baby pigs are piglets, so baby Hoovers must be Hooverlets, no?). Anyway... We hugged and talked and got my MAMMOUTH suitcase and off we went to find her car. I like SoCal in a weird sort of "palm trees and sea air make me feel kind of at home" way.... We got Benson fed, changed, situated and began our drive. Not too far up the way, we stopped, at all places, MCDONALDs. Because that's how we do things. I can't tell you the last time I ate McDonald's. Oh, wait, it was probably the last time I saw Christine :) Or maybe a few times ago when I saw her. The last I can think of is at my friend Byron's wedding like six years ago. Yes, with Christine :)

Okay, so my ramblings have gotten the best of you and you stopped reading my blog. Didn't you? That's okay... I understand. For those who are DIE HARD, I'll keep rambling. For those less so, feel free to just look at the cute baby and pretty scenery in the pics.

We spent the next day, after a really, really WONKY night of sleep trying to have fun, just us girls while Adrian and Nate were at work and we had the day to play and hang out. Oh, the fun. I made her go to Trader Joes with me and she survived :) we did girl things, like buy stuff at Home Depot. Because we're cool like that. We went grocery shopping and prepared dinner and got ready for a visit by Christine's older brother Jeff (who I graduated high school with) and his NEW FIANCE! Sarah - how fun! Nate finally made it to us and we were all together again. Adrian works for Yamaha and blessed Nate with a really cool signed t-shirt by one of their racers. Sweetness! Anyway... Oh, the visit with Jeff and Sarah went well. It's always so fun to see how people have changed and the ways they have not. I think Nate enjoyed getting a greater glimpse into my weirdness :) Or at least I'll pretend he liked it.

At Trader Joes (which I love and FORCED Christine to go to with me.)
The next day we made Ado and Christine take us to Balboa Island, even though they told us it was a waste of time (yeah, we SHOULD HAVE LISTENED) and then quickly went back to their place when their brakes started sounding like, well, like they might not stop us ever again and picked up our Charger rental car. Which, by the way, I'm very grateful for our older cars we drive, thank you. We went to a couple other beaches and walked around, had a family photo shoot, watched a gorgeous sunset high on the cliffs, watched London get MOBBED by a gaggle of Brownies (the mini-version of Girl Scouts, I think...) And this westie gal is PROUD to say our son's very first ocean touch was on the Pacific, thank you very much!!!

Basically, we spent a number of days being SPOILED as usual by Christine. She's so good at loving on people :) And we love her! Benson enjoyed smiling at her and making her think kids are, afterall, not so bad :)

Laughing at, I mean with... Auntie ChristineAdo, Christine and London

Do you ever smile SO BIG that your eyes disappear? He does. It's nice.

Our beautiful sunset outing

London really liked to lick Benson's hands, toes, face, head, you name it... Benson was not quite as sure he liked it, but he put up with it well...

From Irvine, we drove a very long way to Sedona, Arizona to visit my mom and sister! The drive went as well as can be expected and Benson, aside from thinking he was being ATTACKED by an evil carseat, did quite well. We went to sunny... no wait, CLOUDY and SNOWY and RAINY Arizona. But the good news is, we got to see a sight not too many people get to see - the desert red rocks under some lovely snow. Pretty, I tell you :) There's just something about snow that makes me very, very happy, even if it was supposed to look like this picture the whole time, I couldn't help but smile and the big, fluffy flakes :)

Hiking on bell rock

At the Sedona History Museum

Yummy brewery we ate lunch at - isn't my sister SO PRETTY???!!!

It's actually a disease... See camera, make goofy face. I've been fighting it all my life :)Montezuma's Castle (even though Montezuma never made it that far north.) 35ish people lived in this cave dwelling - they used ladders to get up there. My carpenter hubby wanted so desperately to know why they didn't just build steps. We were laughing at my mom (who, even though it was only 50ish degrees, needed to wear her eskimo parka - the park ranger even commented on it. Isn't she cute, though?)
Cathedral Rock - Nate hiked WAY up there.

Snow on the drive to Flagstaff - how pretty!

Totally random, out of order pic of us trying to get Benson used to his high chair before the big food introduction - he does great!

We celebrated Christmas with my sister and mom the first day there, then went on a hike, ate too much food, hung out, left my poor sister with a crying Benson (bless her heart - she survived, just barely). Oh, ha. One of my favorite things about my sister. She says that diapers are difficult to put on. Well... That may be true, when you're putting them on BACKWARDS. So funny and cute. I can just see her wondering what was up with that crazy diaper! Speaking of diapers, I am officially, completely SOLD on our BumGenius 3.0's. On the trip, we were using a premium brand of DISPOSABLES and had no less than four blowouts. I lost count, to be honest, but four is the minimum. Since Benson's birth, we have had less than that by half and maybe then some with the BG3's. Yep, that's right.

We also got to celebrate Nate's birthday and my birthday about a month early :) with my mom and sis. That was fun and I felt sufficiently spoiled rotten between Christmas and birthday. They both love to give and have as much fun if not more than I do with it. I got a lot of cute things from Switzerland from my sister and from her travels 'round the world, so that was fun. I'd be much skinnier than I am today, however if she'd stop purchasing things like Swiss chocolate covered wafer cookies. Forget the fact that I should exercise self control! Who can be bothered with such trivial things when there is CHOCOLATE FROM SWITZERLAND in the house. Speaking of, before I birthed Benson, I could leave Swiss chocolate alone. For years at a time. Not anymore. If there is chocolate in the house, it will eventually, more quickly than not, be devoured by yours truly. The other day, in an effort to save myself, I made Nate PEANUT BUTTER (BLECK!) Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies instead of chocolate chip. I dislike peanut butter, so I'm hopeful this will help me lose part of my hips or tummy or well, any extra chub I might have souchered onto my body post baby. Speaking of being skinny. My sister brought me a cute pair of boots from Switzerland (oh, how I love Bata shoes...) and I just had to purchase a pair of skinny jeans. I'm that girl who "hates" something (like a new car design, trendy pants, etc.) and then eventually purchases said item. Can I just say that they are, in fact, my most comfortable jeans. They do have enough spandex in them to make an elephant comfortable, so perhaps that helps. Perhaps not. I just have to get over feeling silly when I wear them.

One of the gifts from my sis for Christmas was to get highlights at this fun Aveda salon. So from California on, the lighter shade is a result of this process... Thankfully my hair is none of these colors. They say this helps tone down the blonde, but, I think it's really just the hairdressers wanting to play fingerpainting. But that's just my assessment ;) My sister was with me and got purpleish hair. Pretty funky!

Does anyone else feel like I'm babbling too much here? Okay, I'll try to be a bit more concise...

My mom had a bunch of her girlfriends come over one night while we were there for dinner. Oh, how the cute ladies LOVED on Benson. They slobbered on him, played with him, and might I just add, that he LOVED them right back!

We spent our days eating, talking, driving a bit too much for our liking and seeing the pretty, pretty handiwork of God all around us. I didn't work too much, very little in fact. Which would make this the longest stretch of time since I began working full time 12 years ago that I've gone without working. It was so, so nice to just be with Nate for days and days on end. We were spoiled with his presence for sure! And it was WONDERFUL to be with my mom and sister again - I just love them. My sister and I get each other, you know? We giggled a lot and we had fun sitting around laughing. Nate and my mom were hiking buddies, and they both really liked that.

Mom, Gretchen and I painted pottery one snowy afternoon while Nate hung out in the car with a sleeping Benson. Isn't that love???

We said our sad goodbye's early one morning to drive back to San Diego. But on the way, this time, we got to have a very fun stop in Phoenix to meet up with an old friend Mike from Colorado (by old, I mean known a long time, not old as in age) and his new bride Jess. They are a cute as can be couple, and it was so fun catching up. Thankfully Benson was there, or I would have felt really, really short :) in the land of really, really tall people. Mike makes my 6'2" husband look short. How weird is that?

We stopped at In-N-Out burger one last time, where Benson decided he needed to help me hold my milkshake. Mmmm... Burgers, fries, milkshakes. If you've never been to and In-N-Out, it might be worth a flight out west to try it. It's inexpensive, super yummy, and they have Bible verses printed on their cup bottoms.

We had a free hotel room in San Diego at the Hilton on the Bay. How fun! It was a very tall (20 something stories) hotel, and a bit fancier than we're used to. By a lot. But it was free and very nice. We were able to take a stroll by the water and watch the sunset. We ate at Joe's Crabshack and I taught Nate to eat crab legs. Which, to be fair, I'm not any good at, so he'll need to learn again by someone who can actually do it :)

Our flight home was a bit harder than the one out there as Benson didn't appreciate the stifling hot airplane and having to wait to take off. He cried a lot on our second leg, but we were blessed by people around us who told us what a good boy he was anyway. Don't you just love that?

We had such a wonderful time out west. It was good for my soul to be in my "old turf" again and to introduce Nate to California and Arizona (his first time in either place). It was great to see my friends, my mom and sister (isn't it so nice to be with people who know everything about you and love you anyway?). But at the same time, it's so good to be home. I love our house, our friends and family here. I missed work and our routine. Oh, speaking of routine... Benson was waking up every 1.5 to 2 hours on our trip. Yeah, this was one tired mama - and I joked that I hope he was cured of that when we got home. He's been doing much better! We have had some nights of 6 hour stretches (two a night) since we got home, and I can say I think I could get used to this. Yesterday was his first really good day of scheduled naps and sleep and oh, the joy. I hope it continues :) I was also afraid that we made our child a hater of the carseat, but he's fine now, after a nice little break from it and not being forced to hang out in it every day for hours on end. Ha.

In a sweet God story, Benson got to experience his first car accident a few days after we got home. I was on my way to take a meal to a family from church who just had a baby. A gal in the lane next to me decided she would like to share a lane. Normally I'm all for sharing, but in this case, not so much. The really great news is, of all the things that "could have" been annoying about the situation have been so great. No one was hurt, the people who hit us were great about the whole thing, they have insurance (nice insurance, no less), the damages were minimal as we were similarly sized and even had the same color paint :) and it was fun to see God at work, blessing us even in the midst of it. Nate had sensed he needed to pray for our protection as we drove (more so than normally) and I even sensed I needed to be careful as I drove, even praying about the route to take. I love how God has given Nate to Benson and I to pray for us and cover us in that way. What a blessing!

It's great to be back at work, back at home, and asking God to use us, mold us, shape us. I feel like the past month has been a month of intense refining for me. I like that. God has been so gracious, showing me deficiencies and helping me work through them. I haven't felt condemned, but deep love not wanting me to stay the same tomorrow or even in five minutes from where I am today. I feel released of this funk I was in a couple of months ago, wanting to be perfect :) and upset that I wasn't, free to be who God is asking me to be... I'm still learning, still growing, and that's a great thing, isn't it?

Oh, and the East Coast has been PELTED with snow. THIS people, THIS is what winter looks like. I'm in my element. I love this stuff and there's more on the way apparently. We have prayed God would allow us to be a blessing in our neighborhood and we are grateful this snow is allowing just that to happen. I'm proud of my hardworking, loving husband who has helped a number of our neighbors dig out. And strangely enough, they all really blessed us right back. Isn't community fun?

Benson was a snow bear, and oh, how stinkin' cute he looked - I want to eat him up :)

For those who stuck this out, you deserve some sort of award. Or at least a pat on the back :) If you would like to see more cute pics, head over here. Many of the photo credits go to Christine & Adrian Limon :)

Blessings and love to you from us!