January: Two Babies, a Transplant, and a Funeral

My sister in law Lisa, her husband Luke, and their two girls, Kiersty and Audrey welcomed
a new member to their family, Jamie Lynn
Sutton. Another niece to spoil, yeah!! She has
such a cute little face and we are excited to
visit her soon.
























WE'LL MISS YOU GRANDMA BENSON


My Great Grandma Benson passed away
on Jan. 25,2010. She celebrated her
ninetieth birthday in August of last year.
We had a wonderful funeral for her last
Saturday at the old Lyman church just
outside of Rexburg. I was able
to play the piano and participate in a
musical number. It was fun to hear stories
about her, told by her children and grandchildren.
She was the mother of nine children, the grandmother
of 51,the great grandmotherof 80, and the great-great
grandmother of 6. We love you grandma and will miss
you greatly.

There can be Miracles... When you Believe

Chad's father finally got the liver
transplant he's been waiting fifteen
long years for. Jeremy Rose was the man
who donated his liver. He was in
an accident while working for a
steel company, and his gracious
wife and family wanted to
donate his liver, which in turn, saved
Rob's life. We are so grateful
for them and the selfless act they
did for the Parkinson family. We were
able to attend Jeremy's viewing and
thank his family in person.
The surgery was a long
twelve hours and quite extensive.
Rob is doing well with the new liver
and we are all very grateful for this
miracle. Chad has been a great support
for his dad. He went to the Univ. of
Utah hospital last weekend, where Rob
is staying, to be with him and help him.
He was able to help Rob go on a walk
around the halls of the hospital.

Britt and Kenton had their baby! (Britt is Chad's
younger sister). A darling little girl they named
Afton Cole Anderson. I am one proud aunt!! Chad's
other sister is having a baby in a few weeks, which
I am so excited about. Bring on the babies!!

This k'nex contraption was completed by Chad
and I during the Christmas break. It honestly
took us about fifteen hours from start to finish.
Chad couldn't get enough, while I on the other hand
was ready to call it quits by hour four. It turned
out to be a pretty cool roller coaster though.

Question: Does anyone know how I can
center this picture right above? Any
suggestions would be much appreciated.
I'm still new at this blogging thing.. as you
can tell.

Post Christmas Partying

Keaton with his bad boy look

Every Christmas break the Parkinson family
has a game night and this was the first year Chad
and I had the privilege of participating. We had a
variety of competitions and a bracket set up so we
were matched with different members of the family.
The competitions included darts, ping pong, air hockey,
basketball, and guitar hero. The winners won i-tunes
gift cards. It was seriously a riot.

Chirstmas Morning

All new clothes that were color coordinated
and matching!! Mom and my awesome
sister-in-law Aubrey.
Jake just being his usual self.

Christmas this year was at the Fullmer
household. Car and her family weren't
able to come, but everyone else was there
besides missionary Treag.
It was so fun having Ben and Aubs and the
kids up. Christmas morning is so much more
exciting with kids around.

Mom and Dad's gorgeous real
Christmas tree. We open presents
one at a time so we can see what
everyone else is getting. I like it this
way because the presents opening
lasts a few hours. We got the wii as
a family gift with wii sports and wii
fit.

Christmas Eve

Chad and I played a piano duet as part of the
program. We both love music a lot and were
excited to play together. We don't have a piano
in our apartment so we would go on campus and
practice in the snow building about three times
a week. We played "still,still,still.

Dad and T reading the Christmas story.
Austin sang some Christmas songs from his
dad's laptop. He didn't hold back at all.. screamed
actually at the top of his lungs.

Our wonderful Christmas
tree. We picked up this beauty
from Broulim's in Rexburg.
It's quite the improvement from
last year's tree but still a little
homely. We love it though and
enjoyed decorating it together.
We hoping and praying it stays
alive until Christmas. (some days
I deprive it of water..oops).

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving this year with the Parkinson
family. We had dinner at grandpa and grandma
P's house with a few aunts,uncles and cousins.
We had a good time relaxing and playing games.
We went to the Forgotten Carols the next night
in I.F with Chad's whole fam. It was a fun way to
start off the Christmas season. We went to blindside
one night, and had a baby shower for Britt who's
due in the middle of Jan. I love this time of year!

Spokane, WA

We took a little trip to Spokane to visit
my sister Carly. She just had a baby two
weeks ago named James Michael Dunn.
He is so handsome and easy going. I wanted
to take him home. Savannah and Hallie are
good little sisters and are excited for a boy
in the family. Chad and I took a little drive
to this gorgeous river, only a few blocks
from their house. What a beautiful place!!

James Michael Dunn

A Time of Thanks

Some things I am grateful for:

My amazing husband
Supportive Family
Loving Friends
Newborn babies
Snow covered Pine Trees
The Holidays
My Church
A Missionary brother
Rexburg sunsets
Good Health
Music.. all of it
Being able to sleep in once in while
Dry roads when Chad's behind the wheel
A good chick flick
Chocolate everything!!
A good, long Run
Having time to read a good book
Setting a goal and achieving it
My primary class
A good job
Surprises

INTERNSHIP EXPEDITION: NYC

Chad went with BYU I on
an internship expedition to NYC
with a few other accounting majors.
They went to the Manhattan temple,
times square, site of world trade center,
the CBS early show (he was on TV!!)
and a few other sites. He claims it was
to check out firms but I'm pretty
sure it was a mini-vacation.

The Game we are Addicted to!!

Happy B Day Mom

Mom wanted to go canoeing for her

birthday. We loaded up into three

canoes and floated from the BYUI

livestock center to Beaver Dick.

We packed lunch and had such a

fun time. We couldn't have asked

for a better day. The weather was

absolutley perfect!

Ben and Aubs and the kids came to

celebrate Mom's birthday with us.

We ate at Pizza Hut, went on a

canoe trip, and had a backyard

volleyball party with the Fullmer

cousins. Mom loves her parties!!

Birthday Time

I had a wonderful birthday and many friends
and family around to help me celebrate. We went toRed Robin (my new favorite place to eat) as
a family and of course was embarrassed to death
by the singing waitresses. On the day of my b day
Chad and I met my parents at Rigby Lake and
spent some time soaking up the sun. Chad and I then headed to West Yellowstone to the playmill theater and saw Footloose. The trip there was quite the adventure because 1. we got trapped in an automatic carwash 2. I was way way nauseous 3. our car quit and we had to turn around to find a gas station quick 4. we were already running late and almost missed the entire show. "It's my party I can cry if I want to" actually became a reality. Those kinds of things are just not supposed to happen on my one special day of the year. In all reality it wasn't that bad. I still had a really good time and I'm just grateful to be alive.

Happy 90th Grams!!

My Great Grandma Benson turned 90 years
old on Aug 31. We had a big party at the church
where friends and family could come wish her
well.
Four Generations
We love you Grandma!!!

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!

Aug 30, 2009 Our first anniversary
Yep, we made it through our first year of marriage!!
It's been the craziest but best year ever. I'm so
grateful to have Chad in my life and quite often
catch myself thinking "how in the heck did I get
lucky enough to be married to him?" I love you so
so much Chad!!

Since our anniversary fell on a Sunday this year,
we decided to celebrate on Saturday. We went on a
really fun canoeing adventure, watched our wedding
video, and went out to dinner. It was relaxing and great
just being together.

The Lovely Canoe that we adventured out in.
Yep, a real moose!! We saw this little guy about
an hour into our trip. There were two of them
but they were far enough away that I could only
fit one in the pic. They were on one side of the bank
drinking some water and right before we approached
them, they decided to cross the river right in front
of us. It was seriously the coolest thing ever!!!

This guy we saw about five min into our trip.
I had visions of him attacking us because of all
the horror stories you hear, but he stayed in this
position for seriously five min without moving!!
I thought he'd act a little scared that we were there,
but he didn't even flinch one bit.

Chad had a great idea to canoe down Henry's Fork
starting at Fisherman's Pasture and ending at Beaver
Dick. We wanted to do something active and outdoors.
Don't be deceived by these pics, we rowed pretty
hard to get that canoe moving. The water was nice
and slow most of the way with just enough of a
current to move us along but at some spots we were
standing still. The ride took us about two and a half
hours total. The weather was perfect and no one
else was in sight!!

Happy B-Day CHAD!

Chad turned the big two five on Aug 13!!
The night before we went to dinner w
Chad's parents and sis and her husband.
Chiz's is Chad's all time favorite and Chantelle
has a b day just three days after Chad.

I woke up in the middle of the night to
blow up balloons and hang up a b day
sign that was always a tradition growing
up in my family. One of the balloons popped
so loud but luckily Chad slept right through it!!
We both went our separate ways to work but
Chad was able to get off a little early and
do some golfing w his friends. My fam gave
him a golf pass for his b day. I made his fav..
german choc. cheesecake, we went to
Applebee's for dinner, Chad soaked in the
hot tub (while I watched cause I have to
wait a few more days til my incisions heal).
We watched a movie and called it a day!!
We're hitting to mall though to find Chad
a few new things to wear. I love you Chad!!
Can't wait to spend many more b days with
you!!!

Chad and I decided to spend our tax
return money by going on a little vacation
to Las Vegas!! We stayed at Southpoint
casino just off the strip and spent our
days soaking up the sun, swimming, eating
out, walking the strip, sleeping (lots and lots
of sleeping), and going to a show. The best
part of the trip was the show. It was
a cirque du solei show called "O" shown at the
Bellagio. I've never seen anything like it!!
It was an acrobatic show with divers, synchronized
swimmers, fire, etc. By the end of the vacation,
we were NOT ready to come home.

LAS VEGAS VACATION!!

SURGERY!!!

Well, I don't have any pics to prove it
but on Tues of last week I had my gallbladder
removed. I've been feeling pretty sick for the
past six months and really sick for the past
two. I saw the doctor on Monday, who told
me I'd need my gallbladder out, so me and
Chad decided to waste no time and scheduled
it for the next day. I was a little nervous but
mostly excited to start feeling better again.
I went in to the surgery center and 9:30 am
and didn't leave until 3:00 pm!! The surgery
itself was only an hour long but with pre op,
post op, and coming out of the anesthesia,
time added up. I was so grateful to have
Chad there with me and he was such a good
support. As soon as I got to my apt, I
had Chad's family and mine bringing food,
jambas, etc. I feel so lucky to be close to both
families. Well it's day seven now and things
are going well with the recovery. Let's hope
that it did the trick!! Thankyou for all the
phone calls and visits!!

Chad and I met my parents and
Carly and Jimmy and their two
girls in Superior, Montana at the
Trout Creek campground. We were
surprised to find no mosquitoes there!
For those of you who saw the post of
our first camping trip, it was a night and
day difference, in a good way!! We
went on an amazing thirteen mile
bike trial called the Hiawatha.
We even found a tennis court
and played a little tennis. We had
such a good time and enjoyed being
in the great outdoors. The weather
was perfect and the food even better.
We made tin foil dinners and dutch
oven peach cobbler, mmm. Grandma
gave Hallie a new fishing pole and we
attempted to teach her how to fish.
It was a great weekend!!

When asked what her favorite part
about camping is.. Hallie's answer,
"all the pretty flowers!"

HIAWATHA BIKE TRAIL

This was an amazing bike trail
near Superior, MT where we
rode through ten tunnels and over five bridges. It was an old
railroad track built in the early 1900s. The first tunnel was 1.6 miles long and completely pitch dark. We had six bikes total and only two of us had flashlights tied onto our handlebars. It was such an adventure and definitely one of the prettiest trails I've ever been on.

OUR FIRST CAMP-OUT

CHAD and I were excited to try out
our new TENT that we were given
as a wedding gift. We ended up just
making it to Beaver Dick Park ha
and we had quite the EXPERIENCE.
Let's just say the baby that cried
for an hour at three in the morning,
the group of college kids that talked
for all hours into the night, the swarm
of mosquitoes that attacked us the
second we arrived, and the herd of
cows that welcomed us the next
morning all contributed to
making this camping experience
one we'll never forget.

Talon and Austin came to visit for the fourth of July weekend.
They are seriously the cutest little boys ever!! Me and Austy
had so much fun playing baseball, playing chase, and picking
leaves off of all our neighbors trees while walking around the block.
Talon is the most smiley, good natured boy I've ever seen. I love
you Talon and Austin!!

This is the result of Chad
riding his bike after one of
the infamous rain storms
that overtook Rexburg
during the entire month
of June.

My first post!!

Well, I've finally been converted to this thing called
blogging. And I was surprised to find out, it's kind
of fun!! Chad and I have been happily married for
nine and a half months now. Wow, how time flys
by. We are both busy with Chad in school and me
working two jobs. Chad will be done with classes
this Dec. then off to someplace for his internship.
We are hoping either Dallas or Denver but we'll have to
see when that time comes. Our new favorite obsession
is TENNIS!! Chad is addicted! I've been playing for
almost ten years now and Chad for almost a year.
At first I was beating him every single time we played
but now it's getting super competetive. I love that
Chad loves sports. We are excited for the warm
weather that is hopefully on its way!! Yay for
summer!! We are currently primary teachers
for the four and five year old class in our ward.
We are entertained every single week with something
one of them says or does. Kids are so funny and
so fun. Life is treating us well!!

The Best Days of our Lives!

We had a beautiful reception in
my parents backyard. We had
so many friends and family there
to support us!! Thankyou