Happy Birthday Sweet Wife!

This is an overdue birthday shout-out to my sweet wife. She is 25 years young today and aging beautifully (like a fine non-alcoholic wine or an expensive cheese), if I must say so myself. She continues to be the greatest blessing in my life. The best in life began the day I met Samye and she continues to bring such a warmth, caring, and love to our relationship. I am thankful for her! We have had a great couple of days that I'm sure she will post about in the future, but until then, happy birthday, Sam!

Love,

Dustin

Heard the news?

Some of you may have already heard about the leak of this much anticipated novel by Stephenie Meyer. I feel really sad that someone leaked a partial draft of her book on the internet. I am even MORE bummed that she has put the book on hold indefinitely because of this leak.

I am thrilled, however, that she has made the partial draft available to us her fans who wouldn't go read it illegally on the internet. If you want to download it go see her site here ( http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html)

I am excited to read this...hopefully one day she will go back and finish it!!

Premier Night

We went to Premier night tonight (back to school night at UNLV) and it was a blast! They had a band, dj, dancers (who were really good), free food, and lots of fun people there to talk with! The kids loved seeing everyone and Bennett enjoyed it so much that he decided to take his first step tonight! (Watch out world here he comes)
Eating dinner- Bennett would not touch the grass (you can tell how often we see it)!

Halle contemplating dancing... she wanted to but there were SO many people there!

Bennett had already taken his first step, so you can see that he is refusing to be held and just wants to walk.

We had such a blast!!

Ward Party

We had a church party the other day and it was so much fun!! They had carnival people there teaching you how to do tricks, a bouncy house, face painting, a train, cotton candy (my fav) and the best was the missionaries were dressed as clowns!

First Word!

Bennett said his first word today...well besides the occasional "mamma", "dadda" or "ball" (but ball really isn't very clear). I figured his first word would be something interesting seeing as Halle's first word was "duck". Well it was out of the blue to me, we were sitting there when I asked him if he wanted more juice, he said "juice". Then continued to repeat it up until I got Dustin on the phone to hear it and then he stopped. But hey- we got a word! He turns 1 next week...amazing how fast time flies by!!

Going potty

We went out to eat the other night (you know the whole family) when Halle decided that she needed to go to the bathroom. No big deal. So we (Halle and I) went to the bathroom where she went. I figured while we were in the stall I would go also. So, I put Halle in the corner and told her not to touch anything. (Anybody know where this one is going?) So I am going to the bathroom when Halle notifies me that she is ready to leave, unlocks the bathroom door, swings it wide open, and walks out to wash her hands. MEANWHILE I am sitting on the toilet trying to get Halle to come back in and close the door (not happening). So I have to stand up, grab her, smile at the three other women in the restroom, and close the door so I can put myself back together.

Next time I am going to the bathroom by myself.

Freemont Street

First off, I am doing the triathlon! Thanks for all the love and support- if training goes smoothly (no injuries) then expect a complete review of it!!

NOW- we got to meet a dear friend of mine on Tuesday night at Freemont Street (the old part of the strip) and we had a blast. Becca was in London with me almost 4 years ago for a study abroad program.

Her dad was a professor and she had the opportunity to come and study there with her family (how fun would that be?)! Becca and her husband are in Provo doing the school thing and they came down to Vegas for a little break so we just had to see them!! We ate at one of the best restaurants (thanks Jacob) then went out and enjoyed their nighttime light show. The kids loved it... Halle was dancing all over the place-

and Bennett's chubby self was mezmorized by the lights!

We enjoyed it alot, although we thought it was a little trippy but definetly worth seeing!!

To do or not to do??

The debate is on. I have been wanting (for some time) to do a triathlon and finally since I don't have a baby (well really little baby) I have the opportunity to do one! There is one coming up on Saturday, October 18th 2008. It seems like a nice distance with a .75k swim, a 20k bike and a 5k run. It seems doable right? The only thing that I am caught up on is all the rules they are stating on their website...all the things that you must do. Here are some of them:
1. This is a point to point race. October 17th, at packet pick up, we will have a MANDATORY run gear bag drop off for T2. All of your gear that you want waiting for you at T2 (bike to run) MUST be dropped off with us at this time. We will provide you your gear bag inside your race bag kit. If you do not bring this on Friday, we WILL NOT guarantee that your gear will be waiting for you at T2. YOU MUST BRING YOUR RUN GEAR ON FRIDAY.
2. You will be responsible for packing all your own swim gear in your swim gear bag that we provide. We will be bringing this up to T2 for you. You will NOT have to come back down to the lake to get your belongings. Please do not bring a ton of "extra" stuff down to the lake for volunteers to load. DO NOT GIVE YOUR SWIM GEAR TO A SPECTATOR TO PACK AND/OR BRING TO THE FINISH. This could result in a time penalty by USAT officials for outside assistance.
And then they have timing mats...I have done some running but I have never had these! I mean not like I will be running to win by any means but the last thing I would want is to be DQ in the very beginig (that would be a real bummer). They say "Electronic timing for this event is AMB Timing. There will be timing mats at ALL bike and run turnarounds! PLEASE BE SURE YOU GO OVER THE TIMING MATS AT YOUR TURNAROUND! FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN NO TIME and may confirm course cutting, resulting in a DQ. On the bike course these mats will be in the bike lane at the turn‐around point.

And THEN there comes the expense of begingin traithlons- I will need an outfit, helmet, bike, and the registeration fee for this race is $95! Maybe I have chosen the wrong sport to get into?

That being said I need help deciding if I am going to do this. If I do training will start relatively soon and I will just ask for gear etc for my birthday... what to do what to do...any ideas??

FACEBOOK CRAP

Ok, So I enjoy the occasional catching up with friends via facebook. It is a great way to connect with those that you haven't seen in awhile! Well, all this enjoyment ended tonight when I saw that I put a link on every friends' facebook for mobile ring tones. Yep, I got phished. Phishing is when someone comes in and tries cracking your password- and they succeeded with me! SO needless to say passwords are changed and i apologize for the inconvenience!!

Catch up

So for some reason my computer isn't letting me download some pics and video that was taken this week...i will have to get my husband right on that...I mean EVERYONE wants to see Bennett hog down his 8th chicken nugget (my kids love to eat)!

We have finished painting the kitchen and dining room- and are about half-way decorated. I am searching for a hutch and have yet to find something that I really like...we are going to start painting the family room this week and hopefully finish it! Then I can start buying decorations/furniture for that room. Everyone says it takes time but do you ever wish that you could wrinkle your nose and have your home completely done and decorated just how you picture it in your head? That would be nice.

Anyway- on another note Bennett is turning 1 in less than a month which means I have ALOT to do before that day comes! First thing on the list is to find some place to take pictures! I figure the best place to get the word out is on the blog so here we go- I want to get his 1 year old pics taken...any suggestions?? I would love to do something outside, but don't want to pay 2 arms and half a leg for them. So- If you have any ideas let me know!!! (Any hook-ups here???) Also- we are going to be hitting up the outlets here in Vegas next week...anyone interested in coming? Let me know so we can set up a day that works-I figure I will shop from 10-12ish... any takers?

Swimming

This is what Halle got for her birthday- and on days that we don't have time to go to the pool we LOVE playing in this!

And here are the boys... such studs!

Welcome to home-ownership

We "got" to replace our AC this morning...

it went out on Saturday night...

welcome to being a home-owner.

Home Depot Class

The first Saturday of every month Home Depot offers a free class to dads and kids- this is Halle and Dustin's second class ( the first one they built a birdhouse) and this one they built a flag and pole! What a fun daddy daughter thing!!

Breaking Dawn

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the book as much as I did...took 2 days and I am done!! We met on Friday night for a little party at Kate's house and just had a blast!! Then we went to Walmart where there was a line of... 2 people to get the book! (Score for us, I heard that there were horrid lines all over the area!) Started reading there and continued during all times of naps and evenings (yep Dustin got ignored all weekend)!

Playing at the park

Just pictures of our recent park adventure- this is right down the street from our home!! Halle is slowly starting to get wet...little scared of the water (we think it was due to our blowing in her face and putting her under water when she was a baby)!