Bennett and Averett children. So sweet and such stinkers as well!!














We had a short, but sweet visit up at my brother Bevan's house in Logan. Here's Cole and his little cousin North playing some monster video game that Cole was OBSESSED with. I was actually tempted to buy one. Probably not though.














June and her precious cousin True swinging at the park. They really loved eachother. It was soooo sweet!!

Derek and Emily had a fabulous graduation party Friday night. We flew all the way from Virginia just to eat their yummy food! They have to open a restaurant someday!! (:

UTAH

I just got back from Utah and although it's 10 minutes to midnight here, I had to blog. We had a nice visit. We knew there was about a million people we wanted to see, but we also knew we could only do so much. So sorry to everyone we missed! Geof. was with the kids and me for about 4 days which was nice. He's training in St. Louis right now and had a short break to come out. Perfect timing for me since I contracted strep somehow. Poor timing for Geof., however, since he had to play doctor and caregiver most of his visit.

We had some good visits with our good friends the Averetts who just finished law school at BYU and are headed off to Alaska for good!! I'm pretty sad since I love my dear friend Emily so much and now it'll be even harder to see her! Could we be any further from eachother??

Cole and Owen Averett. Their friendship has changed quite a bit from what it was 2 yrs. ago. (:

Geof. on the trail leading back to the car from Bridal Veil Falls. We miss our mountains in Utah!!

No pics right now..., only words. I don't do this often, but I guess since the blog is primarily for my enjoyment and personal record keeping, here goes....
We've been in Utah now since Monday. We flew in from Colorado where we were staying at Geof.'s brother and sister-in-law's. When I woke up Monday I just knew there wasn't something right! But I just pushed to get myself and the kids out the door and to the airport (thank you Mindi's grandma!!). I was in a complete daze the whole time. I don't even know or remember how we got through the airport. Fortunately, we got on a flight, and after rearranging other's seating assignments, Dayne, June, and I were able to sit together (Cole sat behind us, between two very patient passengers).
We took of and the achy, feverish feelings came on. I couldn't believe it! Here I was with a wiggly 9 month old on my lap and a 5 yr. old behind me yapping away as I tried to keep him in quiet and polite mode. Anyway, to make a very long story somewhat less lengthy, we arrived and were met by Geof.'s good sister and later cousins. I knew it just had to be the flu, and to make matters worse, Dayne's UTI had come back and her fever was rising. I was wrong..., well at least with me. After 2 more days of high fevers and a raw, swallowing knifes kind of feeling, I went in to a local clinic here, and they diagnosed me with strep. yuck.
I'm on an antibiotic now and lucky for us, Dayne's feeling much better (I don't have insurance and Dayne's insurance wouldn't have worked in Utah). So that's the story morning glory. Cole's been behaving a lot better than he did in Colorado. I think it must have to do with the fact that we've been alone as a family quite a bit. He really likes that. I guess it calms him somehow. We'll have to figure out how we can both visit family and friends and help Cole to be happy and obedient. }:

Colorado trip

Dayne suddenly burst into song while playing Hi Ho Cherry-O with Aunt Mindi.


Cole busts a move.

I tried scanning these pics of my good friend Emily and myself to send her for her birthday. I don't know what went wrong. How do you scan pictures so they actually look normal?? Not like you just stuck them in some old copy machine??

Here's a somewhat blurry self-portrait of how my day WAS going at the time. Things started out good today. I had the house nice and clean, all laundry washed, folded, and even put away by the time the girls woke up from their nap!! As the day wore on however, things got a little rougher, my smile faded..., and I wasn't such a happy mom by the time the kids went to bed. Dang it, I tried!

Geof. came home for a visit late Friday night, spent the day with us on Saturday, and flew back Sunday morning. It was way too short and sadly, wasn't the best visit for the two of us. I wanted a break from my kids, but at the same time wanted to be with Geof. And he wanted the whole package: me, the kids, and a perfect Saturday. We spent most of the morning trying to figure out what to do and finally ended it with me going out with June and Geof. taking the two older ones on a nice walk along the river. This is where (and how) I found them when I came to pick them up. Cole had found a deserted tractor (deserted for the weekend at least) to play in.

Naked Dayne (she fell in the river) deciding to join in the fun.
Cole trying to push Dayne out, which resulted in screaming that could possibly be heard by all Richmonders visiting that particular trail Saturday.
June and mom arriving at the scene, somewhat rested..., but not enough.

question......

In order for me to buy the yummy, healthy, somewhat expensive foods that I enjoy, I'm gonna have to start coupon clipping. Does anyone have an easy, efficient way of doing this (so that I don't have to spend hours on the computer)? HELP!

Thank you Shane and Aimee!!

Little Junie's elbow was dislocated tonight.., or yesterday. I'm not really sure when okay? All I know is she showed no signs of discomfort until tonight when she lay whimpering in my arms long after bedtime. So I called our good friend Dr. Shane, and he quickly came over and popped it back into place. Thank you Shane and Aimee for ALWAYS being so willing to help poor little Darla and kids who always seem to find trouble when Geof.'s out of town. }:

Cole and Geof. on a pretty walking bridge at Monticello. Sadly, they were doing construction and wouldn't even let us see the house without paying the $15 per person fee. LAME!

After 20 minutes of whining, Geof. popped Dayne up on his shoulders where she sat contently. Is Geof. content?

We wanted to take a pic together before Geof. left the next morning for training in St. Louis. Cheesy, I know!

Cute Cole. We always enjoy getting Cole out of the house because he couldn't be more excited about life!! He talks non-stop and sometimes gets on our nerves, but we sure adore him!!

I think I'll be blogging all night. I got the idea from my great sister in law Mindi to do a self portrait once a week to kind of portray how the week went. Well, as you can see from the pic, this was a tiring one! Poor Dayne had a UTI (urinary tract infection for any of you guys out there). She was MISERABLE all week. I didn't even know she had it until day 3 of high fevers (104) and not eating. I took her in and the dr. just happened to get a sample of her urine thankfully. The pic of her smiling was from yesterday when we went to Charlottesville. That was the first time we saw her happy all week. Unfortunately, her smiles didn't last long and our trip to Charlottesville ended pretty sorely...badly, whatever! Today has been better thank goodness, but I'm just now catching up on laundry from a week of Dayne's vomiting. Who knew UTI were so bad?!!

Go Forest Go!!

Geof. ran his first race since high school on Sat. morning. It was a 10K on a beautiful, historic street here in Richmond called "Monument Avenue". There's a monument every block or so and most (I believe) are erected to honor someone from the Civil War time period. Geesh, I feel like an idiot. I'm pretty sure that's what the monuments are... He did well other than rubbing his poor nipples sore. Afterward, we got pretty lost trying to find our car. Here's some beautiful pics of the homes on are way back. We lOVE how pretty it is here! It's such a great place to raise kids!

SORRY!! No pics!

Dayne has been sick with the flu for the last 2 1.2 days. Boy, are we going stir crazy!! Even she's asking to get out of the house! Whenever we go out though, she asks to go home and take a nap. I didn't get Cole to school either today because his pre-K program makes you sign him in to the office in the morning, and then from there we have to take him down to his classroom and sign him in there as well. It's a pain!! Maybe I'm a horrible mother, but I'd like to be able to just drop him off, watch him walk to his classroom, and leave! It's a little crazy to get 3 kids ready in the morning, and then to have to go in?? That means I should probably brush my hair, my teeth, put a bra on..., you know, be presentable. For those of ou who get up at 6 am to exercise and meditate, no.., i'm not there yet. Hopefully someday. As for now, I do what I can.