Here's some statistics ... although some of the numbers had to be assumed. Benjamin wears an average of 8 diapers a day (not counting the times he had the runs). Which means we have changed approximately 5840 dirty diapers. and at an average of 30 cents a piece, we have spent over $1,800 just in diapers ... that's not counting the wipes. ...... Baby's are VERY expensive .... but we love him and he's worth every diaper.

Seven Peaks

Well ... It's really sad that summer is coming to an end. Our season passes to Seven Peaks Water Park will soon be worthless. But we did make good use of them though. We went to Seven Peaks many times this summer and we all loved it. Here are a few pictures of us having fun at 7 Peaks. You will have to ignore Benjamins pink swim diapers. We accidentely bought him girly ones .. and we weren't going to return them ... and he doesn't know that he's wearing girly swim diapers.

I really wanted to get a picture of him on the red tyre because I like the colours .... but the water was freezing cold and Benjamin wasn't very happy. Nevertheless, I had to post this picture of the red tyre because its the only picture that I got ... sorry that he doesn't look happy.

Here's Benjamin getting a kiss from his Mommy !

I like this picture .. its one of my favourites.

He likes to count ... 1 2 3 ... and JUMP. He will do this over and over again. He really loves the water.

A quick note. I finally learned how to get Benjamin to play with his toys ... it is so easy now. All you have to do is start putting them away ... and suddenly he starts screaming and decides that he wants to play with them. I calculated that 1 hour of play time for Ben takes us 2 hours to clean it all up.

That is a poor return-on-investment .... so why bother ?? !!

I was in the mood to put some more pictures up. So I found some pictures of Ben doing some gardening. The following 2 pictures is of him wanting to cut the grass. Of course the push-type lawnmower wasn't manly enough for him, so he wanted to use the high powered ride-on tractor.

And now he's watering the tomato plants. He knows he has to fill the watering can first.

And if you're really strong .... you might be able to get the water into the tomato plant .... otherwise you take the short cut and water the concrete walk path.

Gardening is too hard for Benjamin. He'd would rather now use his hammer and try some handyman work ... perhaps the dinning room table needs a beating ?? .... and everything else around it ??

I can't believe its been like 4 months since my last blog entry ... sorry family and friends! Anyway, I've slapped some pictures on here that we have taken over the last 4 months of Benjamin. He is growing so fast that we can't keep up with him. Most of you have probably already heard that we are returning to Vegas to take the next step in our lives. We feel that the opportunities are limited in Utah County, and we don't really desire to move any further North. Vegas is the most sturdiest stone to jump to.

Anyway, here are the pictures. The following one was taken on a hike that we went on, and Benjamin was sitting in the toddler carrier. It's really hard carrying him in the toddler carrier because he jumps around so much that it gets very uncomfortable. All he wants to do is be on the ground, running around, and pick up rocks. But this particular day the ground was very muddy and we didn't want him to get muddy ... he didn't like that he had to stay in his carrier. The smile you see in the picture is probably the only smile he made on the whole trip.

Oh ... here's Jen carrying Benjamin in the carrier. Jen gave me a break by taking him. When we made the deal, she strategically failed to mention that the backpack that I now had to carry was significantely heavier than Benjamin !

Here he is playing at the park. He won't go anywhere without is purple phone. He calls it his "hello". He likes to pretend that he is talking to someone. This has been his favourite toy since Christmas 2008.

We were outside blowing bubbles. Here he is running around trying to catch them. He loves bubbles and he will play with them for hours.

This following picture proves that Benjamin DOES have some Ashford Genes !! Just 10 more minutes and 3 more chapters, Benjamin will have broken Jerom's record.

Here's Benjamin practicing to be a big brother by feeding Jude. He loves taking care of Jude, and making sure that Jude always has a blanket. Whenever Jude spits up, Benjamin will say ... "Ewww Sick"



This following picture was taken at the 4th July party. He loves hats !





Oh .. haha .. this is him being an explorer. His name is Explorer Benjamin. He is scouting the Provo Valley before sending forth his troops.

Catch Up Time !

Hi Everyone! It's been a very long time since I have updated the blog. We have all been very busy, especially with school ending in about 2 weeks. I have a few projects that are due and I've been working very hard. Firstly, I must mention that Jen is the one who decorates the blog to make it pretty ... I got nothing to do with the girly ribbons and stuff !!

Our family is doing very well, and we are all very happy. Benjamin is growing so fast and he's learning knew things everyday. We love him so much. Here is a picture of him eating his breakfast.

Jen is doing very well at work, and she loves what she does. She has also been going to the gym a lot to work out. Her personal trainer has been working close with her to help her build muscle. She can now bench-press 90 lbs. When I saw her do that, I decided it was time that I started to work out too because she's going to over take me ! I been lifting iron since !

I finally graduate with a degree in Technology Management and Facilities Management. I am very excited to start working again, and begin providing for my family. I have applied for multiple jobs and haven't had much feedback ... I hope I can find a good job in these bad economic times.

Benjamin has a thing about shoes ... he has always loved shoes. We bought him a pair of green Crocs the other day and he loves them so much that he wants to sleep with them on. He also likes my snowboarding boots. Here is a picture of him getting ready for bed.

He likes to open the coat closet and pull all the shoes out. He then tries them on and walks around the house with them.

We went to the park last week to get some pictures of Ben. Here are a few of them.

He's good at walking .... but he's still learning how to walk up and down stairs. Here are a few slip-ups !

Sorry, I know its mean .... but I laughed when I saw these pictures. It never hurts him. He only gets upset when his hands get dirty, and he comes running to us so we can brush his hands off. However, when he fell this time, he got wood chips in his mouth ... and I don't think he liked the taste!

He loves to pretend he's talking on the phone. He would pick up random objects and put them to his ear and say .. "Hello?" and he will say "hello" over and over again. I don't know what object he is talking to in this picture. But obviously the other hand is an oven glove that he pulled out the drawer and put it on his hand.

You can't tell in this picture, but we have a baby gate that seperates the living room from the kitchen. He got smart enough to learn how to open the baby gate by jumping on it. It got very annoying, so we put the rocking chair in front of the gate to make it more difficult for him to open it. We later discovered that the rocking chair was a safety hazard because he climbed up on the chair and tried to go head first over the baby gate.

We wanted to drive up the canyon to play in the park. We have a special park we like to go. Its up in The Provo Canyon near the South Fork park. When we got there, there was still snow on the ground, and we weren't equipped with winter clothing. So we had to find another park. We randomly found this park that has nice walking trails along the Provo River and it was very pleasant. We went there to have a turkey wrap picnic, but we ended up eating in the car because it was windy and cold. Benjamin had fun playing with his soccer ball, and he has learned to throw it, and to kick it. The other day when we were in the cultural hall at Church, some other kids his age were trying to throw the basketball into the hoop and bouncing the ball like they should. Benjamin comes along and starts kicking it. Here are some pictures of our trip to the park.

This bridge is very old, and the planks of wood are poorly maintained. Benjamin kicked a plank and it knocked him off balance and he fell. He got splinters in his hand that we could never get out. It hurt him for a couple of days; I felt bad.

I think that catches you up on the last 2 months! The next 2 months will be adventurous too. We are going to New Jersey to attend my Sister-in-law's wedding, and a week after that we are going to Colorado for a family vacation. We are looking forward to it. When we get back, thats when I am hoping to have a job lined up, or continue to actively seek. Wish me Luck !! I promise I will update on here more often.

Benjamin doesn't like snow.

Today I took Benjamin to the park to play in the snow. I'm sure you can tell by the pictures ... but he hates the snow! He can't walk on it, and he just stands in 1 spot crying because he can't move. I know the family wants to see happy pictures of Ben, but thought I'd put these ones up so you can see his funny sad face.

Cowboy Ben!

Ben loves his cowboy hat he got from Grammy for his birthday. He'll only wear it for a long time if we put it on while he's looking in the mirror. My little cowboy!

Howdy!

Ben in his thinking pose...

This was at the park again! Now that the leaves are on the ground he stays very occupied collecting as many as he can.

This was another time at the park and all of a sudden he loved the slides. That made it extra fun to be at the park!

And he still loves eating the wood chips and digging his hands into the dirt. He's definitely all boy.

Halloween 2008

Hello! Its been a while and so we're trying to catch up. Here are some cute pics of Ben at Halloween.

Ben was a Knight and we did have a bigger candy bag for him, but he wanted the small one.

Look at that pose.

Here's all of us at Aunty Mo's ward Trunk or Treat. we had so much fun.

Ben loved the trick or treating. He caught on really quick and he loved the candy.

These are the pumpkins Ricky and I carved for Halloween.

Ooooo.... Scary!

Freezing October Park Visit

Here's a little Model!

This has to be the cutest picture taken so far.

He had a difficult time walking because we had him wear his snow boots. He was rather clumsy and kept falling down because they are much heavier than his real shoes.

Here's a picture that shows the Love !

And trying to keep warm too ... It was about 35'F.

Here they are rough-housing. He loves to rough play

The park is one of our favourite places to go. We try to encourage him to play on the toys, but he hasn't quite learned how to do that without our help. Instead, he finds it more fun to eat things that he finds on the ground.

In this following picture, he is running up the sidewalk that takes him to the park.

This must be a different day, because he's wearing a different shirt. But anyway, he really enjoys sitting on my shoulders and laughing out loudly. Sometimes he will hold onto my hair for extra support ... and it really hurts!

I'm very glad we got this picture. When Benjamin walks, He likes to hold up his arms like this and growl. We call him our little T-Rex !

Nothing makes him more happier than slidding down the slide. Of course he can't go by himself because he loses balance and smacks his head. So we have to support him as he descends.

This is a picture of Benjamin practicing for the Olympic Games

On your marks, gets set ... GO !!

He picked up a few friends at the park. He loves interacting with other children. Unfortuantely, he can't do all the things his friends can do, and he stayed at the bottom and looked up.

He couldn't make it up the red thing ... so he tried the stairs. He's very good at climbing stairs, but needs some practice getting down again.

Here's a flower for you Mom!
For some reason, he is obsessed with Marigolds. He picked this Marigold at home, and he held it in his hand almost the whole time.

Here, he's making a funny face with his mouth. We taught him how to do that. And look what he's holding in his hand ... the same Marigold !

Benjamins 1st Birthday

Hi Everyone! Sorry it has taken me so long to post pictures of Benjamins 1st Birthday. I've been so tied up with school and I haven't had much free time to update our blog. I hope you enjoy these pictures. We went to Vegas to visit family for his birthday, and we had a great time! We made him an Elmo cake ... neither of us have any cake decorating skills, but i think we did a really good job! Benjamin, of course, really enjoyed digging into it and destroying it. Well .. here are some pictures.

This is Jen decorating Elmo. (it doesn't look like much yet)

Here's his Aunts Shelley and Lindy playing with him.

It looks like they are playing "Pat a Cake" (if that's what you call it?)

Oh, Here's Benjamin and his Mom! ...

Look how cute they are !

Benjamin had great fun opening his many gifts given to him. He wasted no time ripping off the paper and digging into his gifts. He had lots of fun! And he loved all his presents.

Here's the finished Elmo cake. We were all surprised that it actually looks like Elmo.

We wrote "Happy Birthday" on the back of its head.

Here's a little family picture of us before Benjamin blew out his first birthday candle.

Needless to say, he didn't know what to do with the candle ...

so Mom cheated and blew it out for him before Elmo got candle wax in his eyes.

After we gave Benjamin his cake, it was almost immedietely unrecognizable.

Now it looks like Halloween Elmo

He loved his cake so much, we had a difficult time getting him away from it. Luckily we were able to save a little of it for us to eat.

Favourite Pictures

Mom has been encouraging me to submit a few pictures for a National Geographic contest.

These are my 2 most favourite pictures that I want to send in. I like this giraffe because it looks like it so relaxed ... and it looks like he's talking to you!

He's saying, "Uhhh are you looking at ME?"

This following picture makes me laugh. I've never seen a pilot hang out the window and clean bugs off before. I like this picture because it shows pride and quality in service and workmanship.

Tell me what you think ?? Do you like them ??

Ducks

They said that when a child is nearing it's first birthday that they will start imitating the people that they love. Well ... after looking at this picture ... i am unsure whether he is pretending to be a chef ... a construction worker ... or a soldier. Neither Jen or myself are any of the above .... so I don't know who he's trying imitate

We took Ben to feed the ducks with our bread surplus that we accumulated. We all had great fun ... except Benjamin thought that feeding the ducks was a waste of bread. He kept eating it himself.

Yeah .. I can't tell from this picture if he's about to throw the bread to a duck ... or attempting to put it in his mouth. I think the ducks got rather frustrated!

Oh here you go ... a picture of Benjamin and his Dad. Of course Benjamin is too busy eating the duck food to smile for the camera.

And here's Mom too !

There were these little ducklings too ... 12 of them total. We threw them some bread crumbs but they didn't eat it. They would look at it ... and ignore it. Then another couple came and threw popcorn at them and they chowed the popcorn as if they had never eaten before. I guess the ducklings are Gluten Intolerant

Stewart Falls Hike

We hiked to Stewart Falls with Jens friend Kira and her friends. We started the hike at about 7:30pm. As always, Steward Falls was just as beautifull as before ... except this time we got to see it at a different time of day when the sun was setting. Yes, I did say when the sun was setting. We had to hike back in almost complete darkness with a baby on our backs trying not to trip over surprise rocks and roots. The group was divided into 3 seperate groups and one of the groups missed the shortcut that takes us through Aspen Grove Lodge. Pitch black outside, we had a small organized search party looking for our lost friends. It was great fun ... and deffintely a new experience for us. This is the first time I've done night hiking. Next time I will take a flash light because our cell phones don't exactly light up the path very well.

This is the river leading away from the waterfall. It was relaxing to enjoy it.

Oh ... Here's us and Benjamin in his carrier. He loves his carrier because he likes to kick me in the sides to keep me walking ...... I felt like I was his personal donkey.

Here's Jen and her friend Kira from Calgary Canada. She was in town for an oboe conference and we all met up to go on the hike. (Thanks Kira .. The Hike was Fun)


And here is some evidence that Benjamin was having fun too ... He enjoyed it so much that he instantly fell asleep in the car after we put him in. Ben likes to express his fun by falling asleep instantly after setting him down. Benjamin didn't think the hike was hard at all.

When Pigs Fly ???

Ok .... out of all the thousands of pictures i've taken .... this has to be the funniest. One morning we woke up and we found a flying pig. All those times that i've promised Jen to do chores when pigs fly have now all caught up to me ...... This picture was taken from our porch.

I wish this picture was more crisp ... but it was taken through a window so its rather pale. I could've ran outside with my camera and snapped a shot. But if i did that ... we may have had flying deer to. Flying deer or perhaps a flying Ricky when daddy buck attacks me with his rack of sharp pointy head gear. Oh, i just remembered why I took this picture ... you can see a baby fawn. We gave him a very unique nickname of Bambi. The following day we saw this fawn and another one playing together in the yard. They were jumpin and a hoppin and having a good o' time just like kid deers should. This one in the picture has white spots on his fur, but you can't see them very well in the picture.

Alright Everyone ... This is the moment that we have ALL been waiting for. Benjamins First Steps have been caught on tape and we are thrilled to share the experience with you. He is a little twitchy at the knees, twisty at the feet, and a little bouncy on his bottom .... but he is learning really fast and it shouldn't be long before I post a video of him running around the house!

Hope you enjoy the video clip!

Hi Everybody!

Sorry its been a while since i've put anything on here but as you all know that life is really crazy now for us. Jen is working hard long hours at work and she is going to the gym to exercise. She is doing very well and has already lost a few pounds. We are also trying to eat more healthier. I am about finished with this summer semester at school. I have 4 weeks left and 8 tests left ..... 4 for Accounting and 4 for Business Law. I'm kinda stressing about it. Also, I will be having about 4 weeks off of school until the Fall Semester. During that time I will be searching for jobs and learning more about whats out there. Even though my major is Facilities Management, I think I want to focus on a Property Management career because there is no cap to income if I can establish my own business later in life. The only obstacle about Property Management is that I will have to get my Real Estate license in the state we end up moving to. Jen and I are excited for me to finish school so we can step to the next stone.

Here is a video clip of when Jed came to town this past May. We had tons of fun.ww As you can see in the video, we encounted an interesting animal. And our trip to Provo canyon. I hope you like my low cost solution for my windshield wiper repair.

Benjamin and Mothers Day 2008

Here is Benjamin playing with his new ball that we bought him. I really likes it!

Here are some pictures of Mothers Day. Look at Benjamins badge!

He really does love his mommy!

This is the Mothers Day card that Benjamin made Mom. He had great fun making it, and got blue paint everywhere!

And here is a close up of the card. I made the image a little bigger so you can read the writting. (hopefully)

Benjamin 7-8 Months

Alright everyone, here is another video clip of Benjamin between 7 - 8 Months. He's growing so fast! Sometimes I feel that we don't take enough videos and pictures, we can't keep up !!

(Press the play button on the bottom bar)

Me Again!

This is a picture of Benjamin and his favorite friend Elmo.

Can you see my drool?

Mom and Dad were laying out in the sun and I did a fine job keeping them active! .. Everytime they sat down, I'd quickly run to something dangerous so that one of them has to get up to save me. It's a lot of fun! .... But then they decided to tie me down with a piece of yarn and a burp cloth .... but even thats not going to stop me!





Haha ... this is the burp cloth harness before it failed in attempt to keep me still .... Mom tried to make me look like Goldilocks ..... HEY, look in my mouth ... you can see my 2 new teeth, i'll bite whoever laughs at me !!!

Cy's Birthday Party

Hi Everyone! Ben is having so much fun at Cy's 1st Birthday. He ate guava cake and watermelon. Yum!! He also got to dance to the beach boys and meet Elmo.

Ben loves his Mommy and Daddy!

Here's Elmo...Ben didn't know Elmo was this small...

Our Hiking Trip to "Y" Mountain

Yesterday we hiked up to the BYU "Y" up on the mountain. I took this picture from our house so you can see where we hiked to.

Here is a picture of at the Y. Some of us got very sleepy!

"If you want me to stop drinking your water .. you'll have to wrestle me"

Look how cute he is with his first sun-burn. We didn't think he'll get sun-burned becasue the hike was only about an hour .... and it was cold! Next time, we'll put some sun block on.

Well .. here you go. This is the view looking out from the Y on the mountain. There is no evidence of the Y on the ground, but I can ensure you that we really did walk to the top! It was actually a bad day to walk to the Y because we forgot that it's BYU graduation and there was SOOO many people. But we still had fun, and an occasional chat to the people anxious to take a break. In the distance, you can see Utah Lake and the Provo Bay. Hopefully in a couple months we'll have some visits to the lake that we can share with you. We haven't really explored the lake much, but we intend to! There is so much to do here in Utah that we don't know what to do first!

Well ... this next picture isn't exactly related to the Y mountain hike ... But i'm happy to see that it won't be long before we don't have to carry him all the way! I'm looking forward to the time when he can walk himself ... and when we actually have to chase him to keep up. (That would be nice!)

This picture was taken from our porch. There were 4 deer, although you can only see 3 in the picture. I love seing wildlife in our yard. We see alot of squirrels, birds, and even a racoon once. Its beautiful to see them so close.

Pictures

Hi Everyone !!

I found these pictures and I thought I'd share them with you !!

This is a picture of me hiking up at Rock Canyon. Although, I should probably say that this is us walking in the Rock Canyon. I wanted to go on a more challenging hike but Mommy and Daddy need more excercise before going on those. We saw cool things ... like rocks ... and .. well .. more rocks. But they were all pretty !

Oh ... This is me practicing brushing my teeth. You can't see them from this angle, but I got 2 very small ones in the front. So small that I couldn't find them with the toothbrush. But Mom ensured me that they are there, and that I musn't worry.

Wooo Hoooo .. I love to fly.

Here is a picture of Benjamin. This video clip was an experimental one, so I didn't spend too much time on it. The first person to find the mistake will get a pat on the back ! Click on the play button.