Daddy-daughter date

For the past several years, whenever the Irish dance troupe comes to town, my dad has taken me to see Riverdance and this last weekend we saw Lord of the Dance. We both absolutely love celtic music and the unique and wonderful Irish dancing!

But mostly I love the time I get just with my dad. We share dinner together before and talk about all the things going on in our busy lives. We have such an amazing relationship, and I feel like we can talk about ANYTHING at all. He is such a great listener, gives me perspective and advice or whatever I need without sounding preachy or telling me what to do. I look up to my dad and hope I can be like him with my kids. I love my dad and he is my hero!

Are we crazy or what?

So, instead of bringing home one puppy, we brought two! We loved Coal, but then this sweet little girl, Zoe, melted our hearts too, and we couldn't decide- so we now have two puppies at home! We thought they could keep each other company- and they certainly do. But they are sure keeping us busy, and sleep-deprived! It's a lot of work, but also lots of fun. They have very different personalities and Zoe often picks on Coal (I think she's trying to make up for her small size in attitude).

Our little buddies make us happy and we look forward to the days when a.) they are potty-trained b.) they don't need to be let out every 2 hours and c.) they are trained and can come on all of our adventures with us.
If you want your puppy fix, come on up and play with us!

A new addition to the family coming soon...

No it's not a baby, it's a puppy! Knowing me, a dog is the last thing anyone would ever expect me to have, but I couldn't help falling in love with this sweet little thing when we were visiting my in-laws at Christmas time. Brandon's mom has a black lab and she had a litter of 6 puppies on Dec. 18. When I was down there I couldn't put this puppy down- I was always holding him and it was no different when we were there last weekend. So we decided that we were really going to do it. The puppies are already being weaned by their mom and so by this time next week, we'll have a new member of the family! The other exciting news is that Emily has decided she wants one too, and so she'll come down with us to pick one out for her!

I am very excited, but mostly nervous. I am a freak about cleanliness, so this will be really hard for me. I have no experience in owning or training a dog, and I am pretty much allergic to dogs! So why are we doing this? Well, Brandon has always wanted another dog and I have started to warm up to the idea over the past little while. We think it will be fun whenever we are hiking, climbing, camping or even just out running around. So here we go!

Happy New Year!

I had a very long, exhausting week at work, my last night being New Year's Eve. Let me tell you, that is hopefully the last time I ever work that holiday in the ER! I took care of more drunks and crazy people in one solid night than I have in several months all together. It was not fun. So the rest of the weekend we just kind of took it easy. New Year's Day was fun- (for me anyway, Brandon was sick and confined to the bedroom) we had some friends over for dinner and games that lasted until 2:30 am! We did go to the climbing gym on Saturday, and realized how out of shape we are! This membership was our major Christmas present, which also ties into our New Year's resolutions.

1. More exercise! Whenever my schedule allows, we will go to the climbing gym together. When I am working at night, Brandon says he will go there on his way home. In addition to climbing walls and bouldering areas, Momentum also has a weights/ cardio area and offers Yoga classes! We want to be in good climbing shape (for ice climbing this winter and rock climbing when it's warm outside again).

2. Less TV time. This can sometimes take over a lot of our time. Because I work nights, I stay up very late when I am off work too. And since Brandon is naturally sort of a night-owl, he stays up late too, and a LOT of that time is spent watching TV. I would probably be sick if I calculated the hours spent watching TV this past long weekend. We need to pledge to more time reading, organizing, getting projects done around the house, etc.

3. Getting out of debt. This is not really a new goal, we have been working on it for a long time, but this is the year that we will eliminate pretty much ALL of our debt(except for house pmt)! We will get both our cars paid off, the last of our credit card debt and some other miscellaneous payments out of the way. Brandon is the one who is VERY conscious of this goal, and has to remind me a lot of the time why we have to sacrifice a lot of things that I WANT to do, in order to be in a better financial situation. This is definitely hard for me because before I got married, my money was mine to do what I wanted with, and I had very little to pay for in order to live, the rest was used for PLAY stuff! But when all is said and done, we don't lack anything we need, we are very blessed, and we both say to each other all the time- all we need is each other!

4. Church. I haven't exactly been very regular in my church attendance, especially with the 9:00 am start time, and me working nights. Well this year our ward meets at 11:oo. That's much better! I am getting to know some people in the ward, and everyone there is very welcoming and nice. It just feels good to be there.

Well this is just a start. This morning I woke up to a gorgeous sunrise over Mt. Timpanoogas and I felt it was symbolic of the new beginning I hope to have this day and this new year. Happy New Year everyone!

Home for the Holidays

Even if it meant not getting any sleep for work that night, I had so much fun getting together with my friends who are in town for the holidays. Both of these girls are my good friends from college and we have shared so many good times together! And now they both have adorable kids and I was happy to get to see those little ones too. 

Andrew is Aubrei and Blake's 2 year old and his big beautiful eyes and long eyelashes are to die for. And speaking of beautiful eyes, Sammie's new little guy Ryker has those too! He is a perfect hybrid of Sammie and Joe, and he is the happiest little chunk ever! Even if we only see each other a few times a year, I always feel like we pick up where we left off. I'm lucky to have such good friends.

A Christmas Poem

One night a couple of weeks ago I couldn't sleep (which is just about every night/day). So by the light of my cell phone in the bed, I came up with this silly little poem, which is an ode to my family.

A Christmas Poem

As we come to the end of 2008,

We look back on a year that we thought was great.

In June Britt and Brandon tied the knot,

In May Em decided bravely to "not."

Em loves her yoga, she's become quite a pro,

In Park City she lives and plays in the snow.

The Emergency Room is where she works nights,

Being a nurse is what Brittany likes.

Brandon sells software at Go Engineer,

He's learning and loving his new job this year.

Chris and Wendi made plans to adopt,

While working with books and all things posh.

Landon sold books to pay his tuition

Some day his hard work will come to fruition.

Research and writing was quite a production,

Last month dad finished another introduction.

Although she thought that she had retired,

Mom went back to work when someone got fired.

The economy stunk after the stock market crash,

Our 401(k)s went right in the trash!

For Christmas this year instead of many gifts,

We're donating our clothes and shopping at thrifts.

But what better way to feel the Christmas spirit,

Than to give to those that really do need it!

No we don't need presents under the tree,

We have all we need- the Bench family!

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...

The one day I look forward to the most during the holidays is Christmas Eve. There is something so magical about the lights, the cozy family time, opening the "Secret Elf" gift, reading the Christmas story from Luke II and all that yummy food of course! Also I think I like the anticipation of Christmas and being together with my family who I love so very much! This year was especially great because Brandon could finally spend the night with me on Christmas Eve- now that we are married of course. (Thanks Landon for cleaning your room so we could sleep there, sorry that you got "taco'd" on the blow-up mattress.)

We had planned to spend the evening serving dinner at the homeless shelter, but apparently they "double-booked" us and called to say they actually had TOO MANY volunteers that night. We wished we could have been part of it, but it's nice to know there is actually a surplus of volunteers, especially this time of year. So my dad will reschedule our family for another time, and we will take our collection of clothing and blankets to donate in a few more weeks.

Although we decided that we weren't going to have a lot of presents this year, we still woke up Christmas morning and felt very spoiled with all the things we got. My mom is so thoughtful and creative, she and my dad gave us all gifts of "time." A month ago she asked us to write a wish-list of  "time." For instance I wished for people to help us with putting in our yard in the spring, so she gave us a pail with shovel and rake and gloves, and we scheduled a day that the whole family would come and help us do our yard! Everyone's gifts were all a little different and symbolic. Chris and Wendi got some painting supplies, and a date that we'd all come help them paint their nursery! What a great idea, right? We also got some "bare essentials" and some other great gifts. It was our first Christmas together being married, and I think it was my best Christmas ever!