July

Annika LOVES going to Heather and Nathan's house in Pasco. We went to hang out with them on July 3. We were going to spend the night. But, with the way Benson has been sleeping, I didn't want to spend a sleepless night away from home. 

Papi came to the parade with us. Annika loved it until the fire trucks came at the end. They were SO loud I wanted to leave too. She started crying, so we left right away. She collected a decent amount of candy for us. She was pretty timid about going out into the road to get the candy when the people threw it to us. We had a BBQ with my Dad and Keenan that night.

Keenan holding Benson on July 4th

After a night at Papi's house, we came home to get her into her pjs and found these dice that she had stashed in her onesie!

At the Woodland Park Zoo!

Our last night with Keenan :(

Bumbo babies

mittens on her feet. She has done this by herself once. I think I put these on for her though:)

Sitting with Grandma Beus. She loves running around in their big open living room.

At Pam' Playground. We go here several times a week.

Annika's first time in a dress up princess dress. It was at the Sorenson's when we went visit teaching.

Two cutie pies at the MTC. so fun that they were there for a few weeks together!

In her shirt papi brought from Fiji

Excerpts from Emails to Abby:

7/1 

Benson's sleeping was pretty bad for most of last week. He has been doing better yesterday and today though. He still wakes up every three hours to eat at night... it's getting old. But, he is happy for the most part when he's awake during the day. Annika laughs when he cries. I don't think she's fully developed emotionally yet :) Benson is just starting to smile every once in awhile. I think he will be smiling all the time within a week or two. He sure is cute. (and smart) I love watching A and B together. We've got some cute pictures of them, as you can see. 

Yesterday, I came out to the living room and she had her purse packed and ready to go. She waved to me, blew a kiss, and said "bye" in her deep voice. (she still isn't talking much- she says up, down, hi, mama, dad, ball) She had her cell phone, a jar of PB, trail mix, and hoagie buns. It was hilarious to watch her keep going to the kitchen to gather more snacks. I'm very proud of her for getting the essentials- snacks, cell phone, and purse. :) She has been taking 2.5- 3 hr naps every day for the last few weeks. It's been awesome! She still gets really excited to go for walks. She is also still obsessed with car seats. We just sold one of our old ones on the FB indoor yard sale and Annika was a little upset to watch the lady walk to her car with it and drive away. She loves to sit up on the twin bed in the orange room (Benson's room) and read books or just lay there. She usually wants me to put a blanket on her while she lays there. She is getting really good at unzipping her pj's and taking off her diaper... yikes! We have gone in to get her in the morning a few times to find her naked or nearly naked just sitting in her crib. Unfortunately, I don't think she's anywhere close to potty training.

7/8

We went to the Zoo today! A very fun, but long day!

Benson is sleeping a little longer in between feedings at night. He is still smiling about the same as last week and I haven't caught it on camera yet. On our way back from Seattle today, Annika had her hand on his leg for about 10 minutes while she was kinda falling asleep. It was so sweet. She really is already a sweet and good big sister. I have a Dr. appt on Thurs. so I will let you know his weight in next week's email. Did you get the package yet? Annika has really been getting into coloring so I will have to send you some more artwork. :) 

7/15

We are doing well, other than Annika being sick. She has a yucky cough and runny nose, and a fever of 100.2 this afternoon. She is still a sweet thing, even when she's sick. Benson is a cutie too. He has been smiling even more. He seems more like a real person now that he smiles :) David says we're 2 for 2 on having cute kids. I agree:) Cruz was supposed to clean our house today (gift from dad) but she forgot. bummer. She's coming on Thursday. 

We went to Tate's homecoming talk yesterday. He did awesome of course! He looks great and is very humble. It was fun to talk to him and think about how much you guys are going to change on your missions. 

7/28

Annika has sat on the toilet twice now (no pee/poop yet though). I got her a cute pink stool at a yard sale yesterday (score!) to use in the bathroom but I still need to get her a potty seat. I can't believe she's this close to the potty training stage!
I'm going to do something crazy this week. David is going to a YM camp out Thurs-Sat and then leaving for San Diego early Sunday morning and coming home Wednesday evening. Dad is going to the same training in San Diego and Glenn and Kathy are going to UT and Heather and Nathan have family in town. I didn't want to be home alone with the kids for a week.... so I'm driving to Debbie's with them! It might be a crazy drive. I'm going to feed Benson right before we leave and bring lots of movies for Annika. I'll let you know how it goes. :) It will be great once we're there of course. I'm just worried that I will have 2 screaming kids for a few hours. I'm planning to get into potty training more when we get back from OR.
Benson is starting to sleep longer at night! He usually wakes up around 2 or 3 and then sleeps until 6 or 7.  So it's almost like I just have to get up once at night. He is also staying awake longer during the day.  He is a very content and sweet little guy. Annika likes to hold him sometimes now.  But, only for about 30 seconds then she shoves him off her lap.
Annika has added a few words to her vocabulary: sit and stop. So she says: hi, mom, dad, no, ya, sit, stop, me, up, down, ball, this.  She jabbers all the time. Today at church, David was trying to help her get something out of the diaper bag and she said "stop Dad." Her "stop" isn't very clear. But, it's definitely stop. She says stop to the neighbor's dogs and to the sprinklers. She doesn't like to play near the sprinklers because of a few bad experiences of them turning on suddenly. :)