February - Packer Super Bowl Party

 We had to have a Huge Super Bowl Party because the PACKERS were in it!!!!! We were soooo excited!  We made lots of yummy food and had several fun decorations. We made the cute pom poms and streamers on the front porch.  We invited lots of friends and family.  It was the best!  We had tons of people in our living room.  During half time we had some Packer trivia and people won candy for getting the correct answer.

The Packers played the Steelers.  This was the best Super Bowl ever because it was a big family competition as well.  Ben and Tuesdee (My oldest brother and wife) love the Steelers.  She's been obsessed with them since birth just like Steve has been obsessed with the Packers.  So, we sent several fun pranks back and forth in the mail.  We sent them a Black shirt with a Green Bay Packer logo in the middle of it, but the logo was only black and gold, so it was the Steeler's colors.  We sent a note with the shirt that said, "We sent you a little something to wear during the super bowl."  It was pretty funny.  Then they sent us a Terrible towel and a Steeler football player fan that spins around and says "Go Steelers!"  We made sure we had them showing at the party.  It was the best party ever.  We had so many people in the living room.  It was awesome!  Go PACKERS!!!!!

February - Trip to Idaho

      Andrea and I rode up to Idaho with Doug and Steph for her baby shower weekend.  We spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Kloepfer.  The next morning Andrea was so cute with Grandma.  She kept walking into her bathroom and tickling her and laughing.  Then she'd run out of the bathroom, down the hall, into the kitchen and give me a hug.  Then take off running back down the hall, towards the bathroom and start all over again.  It was so cute.  We had a lot of fun while we were there and Andrea knew who her Great Grandparents were by the time we left.
     The baby shower was great and had wonderful food and games.  I ended up winning the game of guessing the three closest statistics: date of birth, weight, and length of the baby.  I was pretty excited.  It was a fun trip with Doug and Stephanie.  We had a lot of really good conversations in the car ride up and back.  Thank you Doug and Steph for the ride and Grandma and Grandpa for letting us stay at your place.

Catching Up and Announcing Baby #2!!!!!

     Yes, I know that I am only 5 months behind on my blog. :-)  I have been so busy with being Law Partner President, teaching Zumba, Activity Days, Cleaning my house, making dinner, playing with and teaching Andrea, and having lovely morning sickness, so, yes, I have put off my blog and have been desperately trying to catch up.  However, I am now on vacation for five more weeks and I am determined to have my blog completely caught up by the time that we are done vacationing. Yea!!!!
      Steve is doing an internship in San Jose, California for 8 weeks this summer.  The housing prices are outrageously expensive and impossible to find for only 2 months out of the summer, so to make this internship worth it financially Andrea and I have decided not to go with Steve, but to spend the summer with family and take advantage of the last few months that she is able to fly for free. :-)  It's going to be hard, but are saving a lot of money by doing this and enjoying a lot of quality time with family.
       We are starting our trip in Arizona.  We spent two days with Ben and Tues and the girls playing in the pool outside, playing games, and playing the wii.  It was so nice to see them.  Andrea had a blast with the girls and loves Ben and Tuesdee too.  There will be more details and pictures to come later.  Now we are with the Bentz family in Tempe Arizona, but tomorrow we head out for the Bentz family vacation to San Diego, California.  We will be there for a week.  We're really excited!  All the kids and spouses will be there except Steve because it is a 7 hour drive and he would only get to spend a day and a half with us.  We will be Skyping him every day though, especially outside the condo so he can see the beach.
       Once we return from Arizona we will spend the morning of the 4th of July here, in Tempe for the ward breakfast and then head up to Sholoe (I have no idea how to spell it actually) and spend some time at Auntie Sharon's where it is nice and cool for Arizona. :-)
     Andrea and I will then fly to San Jose, California to see Daddy!!! Yea!!!! We get to see Steve for a weekend!  We're really excited to be able to see him at least once during the summer.  From San Jose we will fly to Texas to see Camille and her family and stay there for a week.  Then together Cami and I will take all the kids on a long road trip up to Utah to spend time with our parents.  We'll have about a week and a half to spend in Utah together.  Even though I don't get to be with Steve this summer, which really stinks, I get to spend so much time with family.  I probably won't ever have this opportunity again, so we are taking advantage of it.
     Now, for our Announcement.......   We are expecting another BABY!!!!!  My due date is the 17th of January (My brother John's birthday), but based on the ultrasound the baby is measuring a little ahead, so it might be more like the 12th of January.  Who knows, maybe the baby will come on my birthday, the 9th of January.  We really excited to have another child.  We'll let you know the gender of the baby in a couple months.  That's the current information about our lives.  I hope you enjoy seeing the pictures from Feb, March, etc, because that will be the next 20 posts. :-)  Here I go, wish me luck!

January - Tausha's 24th Birthday, playing in the snow, Packer Party and much more!

I am just learning how to use Photoshop. Yes, I know I am very behind on the times, but I guess it's better to be late than never.  So, here is my first attempt at making a collage without Steve being home. I have tried SEVERAL times before, but to no avail, so this time I finally persevered and have a finished product!  I was very spoiled by my sisters this birthday. Cami sent me two really cute Valentine decorations in the mail.  Kayla made me a cake and got me a really pretty necklace and earings.  My mom got me a beautiful dress (I just love to have an actual dress to wear to church instead of just a skirt and top.)  My Mother-in-law sent me money to get a nice pair of pajamas (which I really do need), and Steve got me a nice sport watch that is a pedometer, tells my heart rate and a bunch of other stuff.  It was a great birthday. I still can't believe that I am 24! I still feel like I am 18!

 We went up to Logan for the weekend and spent a lot of time out playing in the snow.  Andrea and Chancho were hilarious.  Kayla and Steve built this awesome snowman while I just tried to keep Andrea happy.  I think our snowman turned out pretty fun and spunky.  Tyson had to work a lot of the time while we were there, so we went and saw him at work one night and then went out to Aggies (a sport's grill like Iggies) for dinner, but mostly so we could watch the Packer Game another night.  Thank you Kayla and Tyson for decorating your house for my birthday and for making me a cake and getting me a present.  It was a lot of fun to see you guys.

 Andrea's new favorite thing is to help Mommy wash the dishes!  She fills up a cup then dumps out the water. Fills it up again and dumps out the water etc. It's so cute!

 We had Doug and Steph over for dinner and games.  It was a lot of fun and very yummy. We're so glad that we've been able to live in the same area as Doug and Steph for two years.  We just wish we would have taken even more advantage of it.

 Andrea loves to help Mommy do everything!  Mix the batter and carry ALL of the garbage bags out to the garbage.  It think these pictures are sooo cute.

We got a Fish Tank with FISH!!!! We already had a Beta Fish, so we really wanted to get a tank for our Beta as well as other fish that our Beta would be able to live with, so we built our tank and fish around the Beta.  We bought the tank with several fish already and the cabinet underneath the tank for a really good price from someone we found on KSL.  Everything was perfect until we bought some neon tetra fish and they brought the Parasite Ich into our tank.  All of our fish ended up getting white spots/bumps all over their bodies.  We started treating the tank right away, but after it was all said and done our Sucker fish and our Beta died.  I was so sad. I loved our Beta fish, but the other fish are lots of fun too.  We all really love the tank and we're glad that we got it!

 We had a fun Packer Party with Bill, MaryAnn, and William Boy.  It was lots of fun. Go Packers!!!

 Andrea loves to wear Mommy's shoes.  Super cute!

Printed our Blog

I finally printed our Blog!!!!  I was so excited.  Our blog book consists of almost 3 years.  It includes the entire life of the Steve and Tausha Bentz family through the end of December 2010.  The entire book ended up being 217 pages. :-)  It was a little bit of money, but well worth it!  I accomplished my goal.  I wanted to keep an updated blog so I could print it and have a journal.

Christmas Break and New Years in Utah

 We drove back from Arizona one day and the next morning we were packing to head up to the cabin.  Steve still wasn't feeling so great, but a lot better than he had been feeling.  We got up to the cabin and there was so much snow on top of the roof that the chimneys were covered and full of snow.  Steve and Elliott scraped all the snow out of the chimney and tried to get the snow to melt by putting a space heater inside of it.  We waited for 3 or 4 hours for the chimneys to break lose, but finally Steve and Elliott decided to fix the problem the dangerous way.  They climbed on top of the roof, which had tons of snow on top of it.  Then they used shovels and dug the snow off of the chimney so we could start a fire. They said there was at least 6 ft. of snow on top of the chimney.  We were so thankful that they did so were able to get a fire started and keep warm for the night.  Also, that same night mom and dad went up to the emergency phone in the snow cat to make sure that Ben and Tues, Scott and Steph, and Markell were ok and didn't try to come up to the cabin that day because there was so much snow.  While making their phone call they saw a bunch of snowmobilers.  It was a Mom and Dad and their two sons.  They had been out in the blizzard for at least 3 hours trying to find their cabin.  Once they couldn't find their cabin they tried to find the main road, but they couldn't see anything.  My parents told them to come and stay with us for the night.  So, Mom and Dad came back with four more people. We had dinner ready for them and played Charades that night and watched a movie. They were a great family and we were so glad that we were able to help.

 Andrea had a lot of fun playing with her cousins, especially Leah.  They are only two weeks apart.

 Brooke was such a good older cousin. She was trying to help Andrea read the book. :-)

 These next two pictures show just how much snow we had at the cabin.  This is the most we've ever had at the cabin since we've owned it.

 Scott expended all of his energy to make a path all the way to the shed.  He made it! It was pretty funny to watch.

 This is all of us gathered together to hear the Christmas program presented by all of the grandkids. They each took a turn at the piano, or singing, or just talking. :-)

 Aubrey

 William

 Brittanee

 And even Kaydence

 Then we opened presents.  We got Dad a mouse pad with a collage of pictures of him with the grand kids, but mostly him and Andrea.

 Grandma made all the granddaughters a skirt, so they could dance around in it.  It also came with a microphone, crown, and earings.

 Mom and Dad gave all of the boys play guns from Sportmans and the girls a gift card to Buckle. We were all very excited.  The guns ended up becoming the kids' toys and a chew toy for the dogs, but it was a lot of fun.

 Andrea loves Brittanee. She loved spending time with her on the cruise as well.  All of the cousins were so good with her.  Well, she had a little rough time with Kaydence, but it's just a stage she's going through.

 William and McKadee showing off their huge ice cycles.

 The three amigas holding their big ice cycles as well.

 We had lots of fun sledding in the snow, while it was snowing too. :-) Brittanee looks so cute.

 Bubba (William) looks like he's having a blast. He was one of the last ones to go in. He was quite the trooper.

 You can't really tell, but this is a picture of Cami, Kassidee, and Ben. We had a ton of fun in the snow. It was so fun for me to be able to play with my siblings again. Even though we are all adults and parents now, we still know how to play. :-)

 This is Ben going off the big jump that we made. Go Ben!

 I love this picture. I think the cabin looks awesome. Ben and Kassidee look back for one last picture before we have to go in for the night. So beautiful.

 New Years Eve just wouldn't be New Years Eve without a big family dance. Well, that's how Tausha feels and I was able to convince everyone else as well.  We had soooo much fun.  It was mostly Tausha dancing with the grandkids, but as you can see in this picture, Mom and Dad and Markell joined in too.  This is a picture of us doing the Macarena.

 We also had a Limbo Dance, Western Swing Line Dances, and a dance where we each took a turn super man jumping onto the bean bag with a different pose/jump each time. It  was a blast.

 Time for the celebration! Elliott really loves Steve's pose right here you can tell.

 We had a blowing war. :-)  Steve definitely won!

 Happy New Year Mom and Dad!

 It was soooo fun for me to get to hang out with Cami. She lives in Texas, so we only get to see each once or twice a year.  It was really neat to have daughters the same age, so now I can pick Cami's brain about parenting ideas. I love you Cami!

 The grandkids decorated a few hours before the party and fastened a sheet to the top of the stairs where we stored all of the balloons that were just waiting to fall down on us as the clock struck midnight. It was awesome! Thanks for the decorations everyone.

 Kassidee really liked the balloons.

 This was Andrea's first real New Year's Eve. Well, that she could move around and wear a hat and try to blow in a noise maker.  Super cute.

 Once we got back from the cabin we celebrated Aubrey's 10th birthday with cake and ice cream. What a great way to end a wonderful family vacation.

Andrea had a blast playing T-party with Kassidee and William. They were in there singing the Baby Bumble Bee song with Andrea. I tried to upload a video of it, but it didn't work. It was so cute though.  We were so blessed to be able to see almost everyone from both sides of the family over Christmas Break.  We also enjoyed both kids of weather, snow and sun.  Thank you both sides of the family for all of the love that we have between us. We are so grateful to have such wonderful families!

Christmas Break in Arizona including the Zoo

 The first full day in Arizona we spent baking.  It was mom's first time ever making and baking Christmas goodies with daughters before.  She was super excited. And, Melanie and I got to bake in our new winter aprons that Mom made us for Christmas. Even Andrea was joining in the fun.

 We got to use this awesome cookie gun thing. I can't remember what it's called now, but it was quite the adventure to get the cookies to look good. Melanie was definitely a lot better at it than I wan, that's why I decided to stick with putting the sprinkles on.  Even Grandma Boy was a big help.  She unwrapped all of the chocolate kisses.

 Definitely one of my favorite parts of Christmas, the amazing food!

 Andrea got to sit in the tall "Spinny Chair"

 She was so exhausted that she rocked herself to sleep in the super cute rocking chair that belonged to her Grandpa when he was a boy.  Mom just made a new pad for it, and it looks as good as new.  She loved that chair.  She would put the monkey in it, then she'd climb in it, then climb out, then grab a book and sit in it, then climb out, etc.

 One night we played this Ninja game where you only get one move to try and slap the hand of a person standing next to you.  Then you have to freeze. It was really fun.

 After the game the boys were chilling on the couches.

 Melanie and I chose the Rocking Chairs. :-)

 Andrea absolutely loved to go on a walk around the house every day with her Great Grandma Boy.  At first she thought it was so fun to help Grandma push, but then . . .

 She figured out that she could Be pushed and go for a ride.  She went up to the walker several times and tried to climb up to the seat.

 Andrea took the dog for a walk (well for a few seconds,) then she just walked with us as we took the dog for a walk.

 She LOVED playing outside, because we can't do that for very long in Utah in December.

 She loved sitting on the swing with Grandpa.

 She is a good little helper.  She wanted to help Mommy sweep the patio.

 Andrea is sitting on the kitchen floor talking on the . . . . "Mouse" Yes!!! Talking on the mouse.  Now days Cell phones come in all shapes and sizes, so just about anything can be interpreted as a phone. Really funny!

Our Day at the Zoo

 Andrea LOVED the Zoo.  She's pointing at a big Condore.

 This section of the Zoo was sooo beautiful.  They had a huge grass land area with several different types of animals.  It looked so homey.

 We actually got to go inside the cage with the monkeys.  Steve and Andrea are just feet away from those monkeys in the background.  We had a little scare however.  Andrea was chewing on a cracker and she had a cute bow in her hair.  The monkeys in the background of this picture were staring and her and the worker turned to us and in a little bit of a panicked voice said, "You need to take that bow out of her hair right now and you can't have any food in here, they might try and get from you."  That made me really nervous.  I didn't want my daughter attacked by monkeys.  We had that bow out of her hair and that cracker stuffed away in seconds.

 Andrea is posing with her Grandpa on one of the benches.

 This is what we looked like walking through the park.  No, Andrea did not ride in the stroller for very many minutes, she wanted to walk just like the rest of us.

One big group photo.  We had a blast at the Zoo.  I'm so glad that the weather was nice enough for us to go and that Steve was able to finish his homework so he could enjoy a few days in Arizona.

This video will show you just how much Andrea LOVED the Zoo!!!!!