8 Months

He just keeps growing!
In the past month he...

-fully crawls, everywhere
-pulls himself up on everything
-was sealed to us and blessed
-loves to eat whatever we're eating and hates baby food
-puts everything in his mouth
-went to the aquarium, saw a dolphin show and was scared whenever they jumped out of the water
-loves swimming (we got a little plastic pool)
-loves to turn off lights (we're working on learning to turn them on)
-loves to play with dad after work
-gives everyone we meet a super cheesy smile, such a flirt
-can have really poofy hair when dad combs it out
-is as big as most 1 year olds (has size 4 feet)
-still loves to bounce, be tickled, be read to and sung to

How I found him after a nap one day

New church shirt and tie from Gma Vance

We love you Benson and are so happy you're part of our family!!

FOR-EV-ER

This past weekend was everything we could have hoped for and more!! Our family came into San Antonio Thursday night and we went up on Friday. We got to enjoy the sites, good food and of course just being together!

Playing with cousin Adalaide

Saturday was a wonderful day! As Benson was sealed to us I felt an overwhelming feeling of completeness. He's been ours for 7 1/2 months but to know we are bonded eternally, makes a big difference! During the sealing Benson looked at Anthony and then smiled and then at me and smiled and then at the sealer and smiled. He was such a happy boy! We took a few pictures outside the temple and then headed to Pappasito's for lunch. (Saturday was my mom's bday so we sang to her at every opportunity!) After lunch we all started the long drive to Corpus.




Once in Corpus Anth's brothers helped install a few appliances (more on that to come) and then we headed to the beach! Some great friends left us their boogy-boards when they moved to China so we had enough for everyone! The water was great and we stayed out there until it was pretty dark (that's what's nice about living in a place where it never cools down at night).

Going on a walk and sharing a stroller (Adalaide wasn't too happy)

Anthony gave Benson a name and blessing on Sunday, with his dad, grandfather, brothers, my dad and bro-in-law to help. It was a neat experience. Usually blessings are given when the babies are smaller, like around 1-2 months old. So it was pretty funny with a 7 1/2 month old. Benson fussed for a bit until he found the microphone and then loved trying to eat it.



It was really a wonderful weekend!! I know it was far for family to come and would have been cheaper if we'd just flown up but I loved that they got to see our life here. We really love our ward and wanted to share this weekend with them too. It was just really fun having everyone here. Thanks for coming and for all the support! It's fabulous to be a forever family!!!