Thursday, January 22, 2015

Olive's 1st Birthday

We were in Utah for Olive's 1st birthday. Due to the fact that she came the day after Christmas, Oh, and the fact that I was a bad, lazy, lazy mom we didn't give her the proper celebration! This called for a serious party to make up for the lack of. We celebrated with a few of our friends here in Yakima. We ate Swig Sugar Cookies, Italian sodas, Birthday Cake Popcorn, and Olive ate a cake, well more like played in a cake. Bytheway making cakes is super overrated and extremely hard. Like I would rather run a mile over make a cake like that again and that's saying a lot. I loathe running. I think I will vow to buy cakes from here on out. The cake was cute but was it worth 3 meltdowns over? ...possibly.
I'm supposed to write a post about how wonderful Olive is and how glad we are that she is apart of our family. But truth is i'm having a hard time wanting to talk good about her when all she has done is cry at my feet for 3 days. I'm so over this thing called teething. Who knew my sweet angel Olive would turn into a spawn of Satan. The whole day I spent making food and getting Olive's party ready while she screamed, if only she understood that I was ignoring her, FOR her!
She's a pretty big show off!
Despite the hardships and near insanity of teething I love my sweet, playful, brave, crazy, fun loving, friendly little diva. People are constantly saying to me how happy and friendly she is, that's what sticks out in her most. Example: We went to story time at the library and within 3 minutes of arriving she was already sitting in the story lady's lap. Didn't even have to warm up. I smell a possible kidnapping in later years...kidding. She is so smart. She knows her body parts and has started communicating so much the last month. She shakes her head yes and no for things she wants. Our lives are a lot easier when she can show me, and shake her head at me so I know what she wants! She recently has an obsession with kissing me. She thinks it's really funny and she literally kisses me 15 times over and over all over my face. Dance Parties: I made a resolution to dance more, not really good dancing but just crazy dancing with Olive randomly in the day. Olive has joined in. She stomps her feet and lifts her arms and giggles. It's the best. I can't believe how much she has changed my life. I'm so grateful for Miss Olive. She truly does bring me so much happiness, I didn't know it was possible to love a little human so much. The weird thing is my love keeps growing like a weed field, but love is a lot healthier for you than weed. Anyways, Glen was the hero on Monday because he brought home Olive the best present....dun dun dun A SLIDE! Here's some awesome pictures of our celebration.
 Olive checking her cake out!
Dad helps her blow out the candle and she digs in!
She resulted to rubbing it on her belly. Didn't take any bites, just bathed in it.

 Our cute friend Leah
 Our adorable friend Miss Roxy.
 Olive is super excited about the slide Dad brought home. Way to go DAD!

 More of our amazing friends, McKenna and Natalie.
Mom trying to help Olive open presents.
 most everyone!
 The After Party.
 She couldn't get enough of the slide.
 1 going on 13.
 Her dad tortures her. However he brings home slides so we still like him :)

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY OLIVE! WE LOVE YOU! XOXO







Sunday, January 18, 2015

Holiday Highlights Part l

Thanksgiving:

  •   Bennions fly from Pasco to SLC. Mom is glad that Dad is joining this time for Olives 2nd flying experience. Olive is exhausted on the plane. Cries and becomes delusional but also very snuggly. 


  • Land in SLC. Grandparents hug and love Olive, they forget about their child who yielded Olive. We eat at an amazing restaurant Cous Cous or something like that. 
  • Pie Night at the Harlan's Wednesday night. Olive attacks other small children, continues to be a show off but we take pictures about it so it's ok.
Glen & Douger
Grandpa Neal and Olive
Aunt Barb & Olive


 Doesn't Olive look like she just got done beating someone up?



  • Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Thursday is a gathering at a church in Lehi for a large Thanksgiving dinner with the Allen's for the first day of a reunion. 100 lbs of sweet potatoes are ingested...practically by one person who shall not be named (shifty eyes). Olive plays with cousins and meets her Great Grandma and Grandpa Allen for the first time. Olives Grandma Nae makes psychotic faces at the camera. :)
  

  • 2nd day of the Allen Reunion. Gather for a large family picture. The chaos is absolutely beautiful! Trying to get 1 child to smile nicely is hard let alone 30+! We enjoyed a day full of dancing, eating, watching family videos and catching up with cousins which has been long overdue. Grateful for a beautiful reunion!
  • Olive wears cute boots and a fur vest. She's a true diva.
  • Fly back to Pasco from SLC. Hailey heads back to Kennewick to babysit cousins for 4 days! Olive parties daily with her new friends! Glen joined us and brought the real party!
  • Watch Christmas movies and watch the Light Boat Parade in weather no one should endure. 
  • Rode the Carousel of Dreams or something or other... I remember it was an inspirational name. It was really truly inspirational and a blast! It even had the tokens you could try and grab while going around.
  • WE LOVE THE GOURLEYS!



 Watching Home Alone in the car!
 It was CHILLY!


Totally worth it!




Christmas Card 2K14

For those of you who didn't receive our Christmas card, don't feel bad. We are poor so we can't send one out to everyone and their dog.


Happy Holidays!
Another year is gone along with another ½ inch of hair from Glen’s receding hairline. This year has been the epitome of change for The Bennions. Our little diva joined us December 26th 2013 & since our lives have been a big carnival ride, stressful with the occasional throw up (we hate you returning stomach flu x4). Three days after Olive Rose Bennion was born we moved in with the Harlan’s. So much good food & sleep happened there.
Glen applied to Medical School this past year. He also received a few ulcers in the process. He received an interview & later an acceptance call to Pacific Northwest University. My favorite part of the story is when he received his acceptance call to Med School he was sitting on the toilet…true story ladies & gentlemen. When we found out we jumped up and down with joy, and cried. Glen had worked so hard. We sacrificed a lot of time & money and we were/still are so excited to be where we are at. We feel extremely blessed to have been accepted. We packed a trailer full of clothes, infinite amounts, & a few other things and headed for Yakima (gazoon-tight) Washington. We have had a busy and fulfilling six months here in Washington.
GLEN is the smarty-pants of our house! If he’s not talking about school then, well, he’s not talking, he’s studying. I once heard a quote “Medical School is easy, It’s like riding a bike. Except the bike is on fire and you are on fire and everything is on fire and you are in Hell!” Although this is one of the hardest things Glen has done I see his passion for medicine growing. His love for learning has deepened. He also loves “practicing medicine”. However, the last time he practiced the chiropractic part on me I got the wind knocked out of me and almost puked. But I think he will make an awesome physician J. In his free time, which is a rare commodity, he enjoys playing with Olive, eating good food (who doesn’t!), watching fail videos, playing videogames, and indulging in electronics and good style. I have to brag that he has done exceptionally well in his classes and has hopes of possibly honoring in a few. That’s impressive!
Hailey (ME) I have had a busy year trying to catch up with Olive. Recovering from childbirth is no joke and not for the weak of heart. I’ve stayed busy this year and between Olive, church, friends, book club, occasional housewife duties & shopping, I somehow fill the time. Notice there is NEVER time for making dinner. I’m looking forward to starting a Nursing Program this fall. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with Glen as he often speaks medical jargon. This year I enjoyed being a Cub Scout leader, diaper changer, cookie baker, bed maker, poop cleaner-upper, dessert eater, occasional exerciser, professional grocery shopper and Gilmore Girls watcher. Always remember, STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS and this is not a coincidence.    
Olive Rose is a busy little bee. If she’s not terrorizing my clean house she’s sliding up and down the stairs, climbing in boxes, cupboards, chairs, you name it! She recently excelled in pooping in the tub, scratching her loved ones, climbing on top of our living room furniture, dancing on the table, and yanking glasses off faces…she’s a charmer. She calls everybody “DADA” (You’re not so cool anymore Glen!) and has a few words down like “UP UP”, “BA” (bath) & she even head nods when she sees something she wants to eat. I think she should be considered a genius by now. She loves to cuddle up on her parents lap and read a book. She wins us over by her constant giggles, snuggles and her kiss blowing (It’s quite adorable, sound effects and all). Olive experienced Disneyland for the first time this summer. Her parents especially loved the “Infant fast pass”! She also experienced her first camping trip this summer with her mom at MOM CAMP (17 moms 40+ kids), no men allowed. She enjoyed her views from the pack-n-play, and she loved hiking in a backpack. However, her moms back did not enjoy the hiking as much as she did. We are blessed with a beautiful, funny, energetic, and healthy little girl. We couldn’t be more grateful for the joy & laughter Olive brings to us!
We are truly grateful for our friends & family this Christmas season, and above all we are grateful that Jesus Christ is the real reason to celebrate. Much love and well wishes.

Love Always, Glen, Hailey & Olive.