Babies Under the Sea

Ben turned one for real last week. Luckily all the practice partying at my mom's house last month had me prepared to throw THE MOST AWESOME ONE YEAR OLD PARTY EVER! Maybe it wasn't the most awesome, maybe I just spend way too much time online finding other people's ideas to steal.

Let me get the decorations and food out of the way first, since they were responsible for 3 nights of very little sleep and for me saying a few pretty serious swear words while we were setting up.

I'll give you the same warning Devan gave our guests before eating, "Although it all looks like sea creatures, don't be confused, it's food."

We ate normal hotdogs for lunch, but these "octopus hotdogs" were too cute of an idea to not make a few.

Peanut Butter and Jellyfish sandwiches!

 Fish food. You can't tell, but the blue jello has a little toy fish suspended in it. Also featured are Swedish fish and goldfish crackers in a fish bowl.

Shark Chow

Sea Vegetables, guarded by a bell pepper octopus

Sandcastle cake surrounded by an ocean of fish cupcakes.

And lest we forget, the water bottles reminded us that it was Ben's Baby Beach Party. And I made sure to put some sippy cups in the cooler too so all the babies would feel comfortable.

The kids had a fun time playing in the sand...

and in the surf.

We had a cooler full of ice, which is guaranteed to keep me and Ben happy no matter what's going on.

Ben got very serious when everyone started singing to him.

We couldn't get the candle lit, so we faked it.

Ben was enjoying his cake, but, like the meanest-mom-in-the-world I am, I pulled him away to open his presents.

When all the presents were open, the party got much more peaceful. The babies all played with the new toys...

And the big kids took the goodie bags and played with their new sand toys.

And I sat and talked to my friends.

Fun Stuff

One night I was home alone with the kids and I was exhausted. It wasn't bedtime yet, but for some reason that I can't remember, I felt like I really deserved a 20 minute nap. I dozed off to for a couple of minutes and when I woke up I discovered they'd gotten into the cupcakes. I'd wondered why they were being so quiet...

It was so worth it to get those 10 minutes of sleep though. I've become a huge believer in power naps the last few months. I've learned that if I can just get myself fall asleep for even 3 or 4 minutes, I can last for hours after that.

Two Saturdays ago we took our kids and Hannah's friend from across the hall to the zoo.

Hannah keeps talking about the "dinosaur rex" at the zoo.

I just realized there aren't very many pictures of the girls. They were all over the place and wouldn't stand still for a moment. I think next trip to the zoo we'll bring leashes. It was a fun day, but it was in the high 90s and I was dying. I'm too pregnant these days!

The next Friday I was still cranky from the heat, so the minute Rebecca got picked up I got everyone in the car and made Devan drive us somewhere cool. We drove up a canyon and ate a picnic dinner.

It was maybe a little more stressful than it was worth. Both the kids pooped 2 times in the 45 minutes we were there and I got 5 mosquito bites despite using large amounts of bug spray. But it was so nice to get out of the heat. And I greatly enjoyed  the 30 minute drive each way. How wrong is it that sometimes I like the children best when they're strapped in their cars eats not making any noise? But getting out of the house dramatically helped my mood.

Sunday was Pioneer Day, which is a state holiday. Everyone with good jobs got Monday off, so I didn't have to babysit and I refused to let Devan go to work. I was, surprisingly enough, too hot, so when Hannah asked to go to the park, I insisted on a park with water.

It may not have been as hot out as I thought because neither of the kids wanted to spend much time in the water. I'd walk Ben in and as soon as he started to get wet he turned right around.

That night I had Devan blow up a ton of water balloons and we went outside to play with our friends. This is how he repaid me for planning a fun evening.  

I was angry in that picture. He hit me HARD in the STOMACH.

Hannah and her best friend!

And that was July.

Behling Family Reunion

The second weekend of July we went to Devan's mom's family reunion. It was at Sunnyside Days in Carbon County, about 2 and a half hours away from home. I swear the whole town was there. We had a great time.

Ben loved Devan's uncle's little dog.



And our neices got a chance to get their frustrations out on eachother.

Hannah and Ben tried their first cotton candy. Ben loved it, but Hannah didn't care for it. She just kept rolling the cotton candy into little balls and feeding it to us.

Then the kids got their hands on the camera so the next few pictures have sticky fingerprints on them.

I don't know how I failed to get any pictures of any of the extended family, but they were there and it was fun. After the reunion, we headed up a canyon and went camping. We found a great site with a picnic table and benches around the fire for only $5!

The only downside was we were this close to the river, so we had to spend the whole trip chasing Ben between the fire and the river.

Hannah cried a lot. I'm not sure why.

We had such a fun time! I wish we could go camping every weekend...