Little Boy Weston- 28 Weeks in the Oven

How your baby's growing (According to Babycenter.com, of course all babies aren't the same): By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.
Can I tell you how cute that is?! The little "cabbage" can open and close his eyes! Cheesy as it is, reading that silly thing actually brought tears to my eyes. I'm in love.

Natalee may have caught something contageous

Here is the email I just recieved from my sister:

Lately I [Natalee not me!] have had some weird symptoms like swelling and such, so I went to my doctor and she thinks I may have caught something from the hospital when I went to visit Linc (my new nephew). It's kindof early to say, but she thinks it isn't curable and will just get worse. The good news is she said it shouldn't last longer than nine months....Love,Natalee

No wonder Nat looked especially pretty yesterday when Debbie took these pictures of us (it wasn't planned and we didn't feel like we looked good, but Debbie did a great job!) Natalee much more so- she had the advantage of wearing the pregnancy glow, but I'm wearing the Very happy soon to be a first time mom look and I think they fit us well! =)

Yesterday I went with Erin to her cousin's baby funeral. The little girl was stillborn- had the cord wrapped around her neck. She had the tiniest little white casket and they passed out pink balloons to be released. It was sad but also beautiful that her family feels she both came into this earth perfect and extremely loved, and was able to leave it that way.

Nat and I also went to Babies R Us because she needed diapers, that's how we got shananogenned (JK) into taking pictures because we saw Debbie who works at the adjoining Kiddie Kandids, and then we got completely carried away looking at darling baby clothes and gear and we completely lost track of time-it was so fun! We are so excited we'll have babies pretty much the same age, plus we have a nephew that was just born! How fun!

Husband Tag

Husband Tag- Nicole got tagged by Jess!
1- What is your husband's name? Brett Benar (last name has been witheld to protect the innocent. j/k)
2- Who said I love you first? Pretty sure he did
3- Who is taller? definitely Brett
4- Who is smarter? Brett!
5- Who is more sensitive? Me!
6- Who does the laundry? Mostly me. The deal is supposed to be that I do the laundry, he puts it away. And he does the dishes and I put them away. (We both think we have the better deal, so it works!)
7- Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Brett
8- Who pays the bills? Brett. I only pay one bill.
9- Who cooks more? I do.
10- What meals do you cook together? Spaghetti, pizza, BBQ stuff and chicken cordon bleu.
11- Who is more stubborn? Good Question!
12-Who is the first to admit they are wrong? I think we take turns.
13- Who is more clean? Depends. I'm cleaner as in keep things clean and sanitary, rinse my dishes, etc but he's cleaner as in he won't start a project and leave it out. I'm overanalyzing this though: overall, he's cleaner!
14- Who has more siblings? Nicky
15- Who wears the pants in the relationship? Both
16- What do you like to do together? Just about anything: Camping, hiking, going to the mountains, eat together, go on dates. snorkeling, nothing- it's all fun.
17- Who eats more sweets? Depends on the day
18- Guilty Pleasures? Video games which he voluntarily hardly ever plays because they suck him in.
19- How did you meet? Well, we met before there was any significant meeting, but when we really "met" and noticed each other was in Idaho on Labor Day 2002 when he was in a play and I was visiting a friend.
20- Who asked who out first? Brett- and he didn't hesitate to call me after we got back from Idaho. He called me the next day and I told him I had to go to work, so he offered to drive me there!
21- Who kissed who first? Brett kissed me.
22- Who proposed? Brett- 2nd time was the charm. =)
23- Best features? He has nice skin and blue eyes, tall and handsome!
24- What is his best quality? He's the best! He's loyal, fun, caring, full of love, patient, smart, warm and cuddly.
.I tag whoever would like to do this! You have 1 day.... (from The Office when Micheal says that and then says "You always give an ultimatum")

Through the Gauntlet

For the last 6 weeks, I have been going to school and working (both) full-time. I was taking a half-semester course at the UofU, "Managing Diversity Through Communication." It was an intensive course through which I wrote one 4-page paper by myself, 2 group presentations, and one 25-page group paper. On top of that I am taking 2 full semester courses for Finance and Intro to Probability.
Durring that time, I was gone from home from 6:30am until 9:30pm Monday thru Thursday & on Friday I was gone from 6:30am until 7:30pm except for date night would usually keep us out till 10:00 or later. With this schedule, I obviously needed the weekend to recharge. But I am finally done and have returned to sanity.
My first weekend was supposed to be one to rest. Instead, I did some cleaning, helped a friend move, went to my father-in-law's birthday party, and spent some time at Lagoon. Its never a dull moment for me and I like my life that way.
This week has been much more laid back and we are eating meals at home again. I so love a good, home-cooked meal. Nicky is the best cook too. She always knows how to put different dishes together to my satisfaction.
I am the luckiest man alive. I have such a wonderful wife. I have a great job that I love. I will finally be a father in the fall. And I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with school. It doesn't get any better than this.

-by: Brett Rich

Birthday X 2

Brett making Gracin Smile

I got a new nephew for my 25th birthday! We'll see what name Troy and Jodi go with after telling everybody names they're thinking were like Hoover Dan or Broch Lee. Ha,ha! They are so funny! Last night we went out to eat with Josh, Erin, her kids, Cam and my dad stopped by for a minute. Erin was sweet and got me "What to expect the first year," balloons and an ice cream cake and Cam got me some body wash stuff. Then Brett took me to the drive in movie even though he was running on little sleep and had to wake up early this morning. Thanks guys, you're the best- you totally made my birthday, even with short notice!

Erin, Kaiden, Josh, Gracin; Cam & Me Me; Me, Erin, Cam, Dad

IT'S A BOY!...Due Oct 1st

Well, it looks like the 64% of you who guessed our birth mom was expecting a girl were WRONG. The 35% of you who guessed BOY were RIGHT! Brett and I are nothing less than completely excited & OVERJOYED! The baby is BIG and the ultrasound estimated he's about 4 lbs! He should be growing eyebrows right now. Cool, huh?
We talked with the birth mom on the phone for the first time tonight. She is so wonderful and easy to talk to! Jarod and Christy also got their ultra sound that night and came over to announce they are having a girl!

We had fun Saturday buying our first baby boy outfit for a real, existing baby.

Ah, life is good.

We've been chosen by a birth mom!!!

We are excited to announce that a birth mom has contacted us and chosen us to be the adoptive parents for her baby, due in September! The email letting us know was dated May 2nd- the day we had our graduation and my grandma's birthday who I think has been working on the other side to get us a sweet little baby from heaven. We got the news the night before we wen to Maui. Hawaii was great, and the most exciting part may have been to think that this trip may have been a celebration of our last vacation as a childless couple- AND my last mother's day without being a mother. We are so happy with this news!

She finds out this Thursday if it's a boy or girl!

I was just telling a friend, this will likely be very hard on the birth mom and her family and friends, but for all of the people that it's hard on on her side of things, there will be at least that many on my side that are completely overjoyed with the gift and miracle brought from these birth parent's sacrifice. I know that for the birth mom, the most important part of making her decision was considering what was best for her baby- and for that I am truly greatful. We are so honored to be considered and chosen by her.

And suddenly, this picture has so much more meaning!

Happy Mother's Day!

"How thankful I am, how thankful we all must be, for the women in our lives. God bless them. May His great love distill upon them and crown them with luster and beauty, grace and faith." -President Gordon B. Hinckley

Aloha, I hope all of you mothers, and future mothers had a great Mother's Day- you deserve it! We went to church in Hawaii and there were some talks about being daughters of God and motherhood that were so inspiring, beautiful, and eloquently stated. It's looking like it might be my turn very soon and I am extremely excited and happy about that! Needless to say it was a fantastic Mother's Day!! I will post some pictures of our trip soon.

Graduation! Wohoo!

Today was really fun and exciting because me and my sweetie got to walk down the isle together...again. This time it was for graduation! We both got our Associate of Science in generals degree. If you were a full time student without any distractions, this might take you two years, but for us it took much longer due to both of us working the whole time, changing majors, and figuring out how to pay for our tuition and books, etc. So, I just feel so happy to have diligently accomplished this goal that we've had for so long- and doing it together. Brett will be getting his bachelor's degree in another year. I know associates isn't that big of a deal to very many people, but I just think back on all of the classes we've taken, the tests, the long nights, and finals weeks that Brett helped me through and I feel proud that we survived it all! I'm excited for all the other dreams that are yet to come in our lives! I'm also grateful for our friends and family. We really have a lot of support in them and we were given some sweet cards today. Afterwards we went to my brother's office and they gave us an awesome gift- 8th row NBA playoff tickets for the JAZZ game tonight!!!! YA, BABY-I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

School's Out!

I can't tell you what a relief it is! Last night was so stresssful!!! I had technical difficulties sending my final project to my teacher and sweet Brett stayed up with me 'till probably about 2AM with it. Meanwhile, we were asked to make a very big, possibly life altering decision that needed to be decided first thing in the morning. I couldn't sleep. BUT, it's tomorrow now, and we made it- I can breathe now, and our life so far, has not been altered, although we are hope it will be soon with a little one (one way or another) by Fall.
Now we can focus on all those little things we ignored during the semester (like cleaning, hair cuts, catching up with friends and planning for our trip to Maui!)