A few F Words.

Finally.

Hooray! I have finally committed to the blog once again after a six-month (or more let’s be honest) hiatus! Hopefully the blogging readers/world/mainly myself who probably only reads this accept me with open arms!

A lot has happened so I can’t go into much detail? However, I can touch on the big notes of life as of late.

First.

It happened! We did it! We bought our first home & made the official signings on Friday, May 15^th! We finally have a place to call our own & it’s a big deal! We felt really good about the whole process and where we ended up. It was very time consuming but we had amazing help with Heather our bomb realtor, which was referred to us by my good friends husband. She truly made everything smoother & a comfortable process; less stressful than I would have thought. We are forever grateful for everyone who helped us in one way or another! Our neighbors are legit awesome & very welcoming. Our ward is massive, which is probably an understatement. It is very similar to stake conference every Sunday with the addition of five nurseries’, crazy. Sounds overwhelming, which it was at first, but we love it since everyone is in the same boat! We are all newbies! It feels great being in a place where you know you are supposed to.

I will post pics of the insides soon!

Five.

Ryan & I have been married for 5 years, on May 20th. Honestly has flown by! He is the most patient man I have ever met. It isn’t easy living with someone like me who worries about the little things too much, get’s frustrated easily, sometimes has too much to say haha, I can be a handful. However, he never forgets to tell me he loves me, he calms my nerves by his jokes & wackiness, he listens to me blab, he is a father I always pictured for my children, & I know that through our struggles & love of Christ we will make it. I am grateful I found him for my forever. (He actually wrote a freaking sweet blog post about our marriage the last 5 years! Here is the link if want to read about it:Five Reasons Why a Man Needs a Best Friend in His Life).

To celebrate we didn’t go on a wild crazy adventure, sorry, boring us haha.

Buying a house was a pretty sweet thing to do so that was our major gift to us. We did go out to dinner to Johnny Corinos since it was one of the first places we went on a date too. Also, thanks to some friends still watching the kiddos, we added grocery shopping on our date. Haha it was a perfect night out. 

My best Friend. :) 

We are so little! (Year 2010!) 

Year 2015. 

A lot can happen in 5 years :) 

Fertility.

We were blessed with another niece who graced our presence 4 weeks early! Ryan’s sister Danielle & her husband Tyler struggled with fertility for sometime. This past thanksgiving they finally told us they were going to have another baby! This is their second after Ellie who is 6! We all were so happy & crying of course.

She was supposed to be born June 19^th, but came the day after our anniversary on May 21^st.  They named her Isabelle May Thompson, & we all call her Izzy! She was 6 lbs & 19 inches. Which is awesome for a premie baby! She is currently still in the NICU with breathing/eating complications & other little things here & there. However, she is doing great & we love her to pieces! I was able to hold her & she was so tiny but so strong & perfect!

We love you Izzy! Congrats Dani, Ty & Ellie!

Frustration.

We have been living in our home five or six days & Ryan calls me. He proceeded to tell me that he was laid off from work. A lot of things were going through my mind. I kept saying “okay, okay….okay.” haha kind of awkwardly. However, I stopped & told him I loved him, it will work out, you are a great team player, it’s okay…okay… haha jk. But seriously it was a shock to us both. We had no idea it was coming, which was really hard to take, not really understanding why. I won’t go into all the details but you are more than welcome to ask me in a more private setting. For Ry, obviously the responsibility of taking care of the family, amongst other things were first thoughts, & the fact we now had a home to pay for each month. For me, the same concerns, but my heart hurt for him. He dedicates a lot of effort into work. He enjoys working & being in the position he was in. Not being able to be in control of that was again a major shock. We didn’t tell anyone except close family for a couple days. That actually helped, prayers were felt. Love & support were what we needed more than I think we realized at the time…

Our feelings about life for a couple days. 

Faith.

Now it being 2-3 weeks later, Ryan has had multiple interviews, second interviews & many options available open up. Right away, he applied, & applied, & applied, & applied. Non-stop. I admired him more these past couple weeks with his dedication to take care of us. His love is great, & we grew together much more in a sense. Mainly, it has been our faith in Christ we have been relying on, & dedicated prayers of thanks/help. To know that we would be okay, that buying a home was right at this time, that Ryan being laid off was a blessing in disguise, & other things were difficult to see at first. Over the past couple weeks we have felt more okay in our situation than we ever would have thought in that first moment of “okay…okay what next?” The unknown is frightening, but with the help/comfort of the Savior’s love we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else at this time in our life.

Lately, I have been hearing mission stories from my cousin in Toronto, Canada (which I love by the way, missionaries are the best). He is always telling us of people who need Christ in their lives & don’t have it, & the miracles that happen when they meet these people at the right time/place. I just keep thinking to myself how hard it would be for us right now if we didn’t have that hope. That love of Christ to keep us moving forward. He truly does love us at our worst/best moments in life. In all things. I am thankful for the knowledge we have to hold onto that faith & pray that others kind find it too.

Elder Cattelain! 

Fortunate.

Ryan and I truly are fortunate with the children we have been given. They are for sure busy, wild, but have a great love & passion for anything they want. BQ stops at nothing to get what she wants. I found out recently that she has a cognitive/speech disability right now. Long story short, we had a woman come in our home & do some testing. Mainly, Blaire doesn’t understand consequences & can’t express her emotions/behaviors in ways she should at her age. Now we have the opportunity to do more testing & to find solutions to overcome this disability. It was hard at first with everything going on & having to add this on was very overwhelming. Of course I cried off & on about it not knowing what else I could differently to help her. It broke my heart that she couldn’t understand me in certain areas. However, it made things more clearly as to why her communication was off & why Ry & I were having difficulty with discipline. Thankfully we are heading in the right direction, & will have answers overtime. Brooks was having a hard time sleeping through the night, but amongst the crazy two weeks, he had multiple ear infections, constipation, & was teething. Poor little buddy! However, he still laughed, smiled, & was nothing short of a good comfort we needed.

Date with mommy! 

Park time! 

Finale.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to dance again! It was scary, but fun, & exciting, however my body was so sore, yikes haha. DSDS had an alumni dance, so for the finale at the annual TDT concert (aka: Tullerettes) We danced to “uptown funk” and put it together within a couple days really. I loved seeing familiar faces, for sure missed some people, but really loved being in the studio again. It was very much needed after all our crazy up’s & down’s at home. Memories kept flooding back & I am forever grateful for the time & dedication put into something that changed so many lives for the better. Thank you DSDS! 

My little fans! Missing our Ry guy! :) 

Anyways, until next time & not 6 months later I hope!

(as I use to say in my dancing days)

1, 2…Love you!

JPB

there's no place like home...

Peace. 

It honestly feels good to be in a place where we feel comfortable. 

We finally have a place to call home again after living at Ryan's Stepfathers house. 

It was nice but really it is much easier living in your own life if you know what I mean.

We moved from across town. You can catch-up about the move here.

 We have realized more blessings since we moved such as our finances. Being poor is something everyone should experience because you learn a lot about yourself and your priorities.  

I've might of explained this before but it's hard saying no to a family/friend activity because you don't have any extra money. Or feeling like a pity party. haha 

Sometimes we have to make decisions that others might not realize why. I am constantly having to step back and understand I might not be seeing the whole picture sometimes. 

All in all, the above and other reasons showed that we needed a change and this move was our answer. 

Praise. 

We are happy where we are of course, no complaining! 

We live closer to more family {the leavitts-love these kids}, it's fun to decorate haha, Ryan is only 5 minutes away from work and not 20, we have an extra room, there is more space, we are out of debt {hooray!}, and we like our new ward, lots to be thankful for. 

I love having people over too. In our apartment before I felt like there was no room for people to visit and hang out. It seems more open where we are at, not gonna lie I like my space haha. 

Anyways, hopefully we will be here for at least a year. I don't want to move again until it's...

{somewhat} Permanent. 

Ryan and I are always saving for a future place to call home permanent.

Home to us is:

A place where the spirit is welcome

A place where others know what we believe and do is a high priority

A place where anyone and everyone is welcome

A place to feel peace

Of course we can and will carry these things wherever we go but finally feeling established in all areas of our life will be a neat accomplishment to see. {especially how big our family will be-I was an only child for sometime and it wasn't fun at times. I want my kids to have friendships within the home and not only with their stuffed animals. haha.} 

I am thankful for the blessings we have now. It truly is the little things that matter. If we do end up living here the rest of our life I am pretty sure I will still feel accomplished :)

With much love,

JPB

{I wrote a main blog page of what has been going on the past month of March. This post is 1 of 6 that I have written. I have posted this link as an easier way to find them. Enjoy!}

the D.I is truly a treasure.

I love making things out of well, things! 

The D.I. is my favorite place to go for just that. It is somewhat of a hobby I guess you could say in my spare time. I decorated my living room, bathroom, and baby Blaires room. 

I usually come up with the ideas myself but of course Pinterest helps sometimes :) 

Anyways I wanted to share what I have done recently and way back when. Please ignore my photo skills, not the best.

enjoy:)

gotta start sometime.

well its 2013 and I am pretty sure I should have started a blog a long time ago

This will be a somewhat short, haha ya right, post about who we are in a nutshell sort of speak

Let's start with the basics:

1. I am happily married to Ryan Gary Bennion of almost but not quite 3 years. May 20, 2010 is when we decided to seal the deal at the Timpanogas temple. Seriously ups and downs and all arounds but I am a very lucky girl to have Ryan. He is my best friend and knows all my deepest darkest secrets (don't really have any because apparently everyone thinks i share them :) )

2. We both graduated this past July from BYU-Idaho. I don't care what people say that school has given us more than we could have imagined! Our testimonies have grown so much and we have learned more about our priorities and whats important in life. 

3. We had a little suprise surprise (you will learn I can't spell the easiest words) come our way. 

Blaire Quinn Bennion was born October 20, 2012. SYKE (psyhce- seriously don't know how to spell that) October 29, 2012 she decided to be 10 days late. HOWEVER, we love her to pieces and glad she got here when she did. I am so thankful for the love and patience she has taught me. I can't imagine how my life was before she got here, have children, they seriously change your life. 

4. FAMILY ours is huge. that is understatement. Both our parents our divorced. My parents divorced when I was about 6 months old. My dad got remarried and divorced and now is remarried again to his current and forever together for eternity wife. :) They have 3 children whom I love! Hard because there is a major age difference so I like it now that they are a little older. 3 siblings now is better than being an only child haha. trust me. Hardly get to see them because they live in Washington but we talk when we can. By the way I am really bad at calling my relatives and talking with them. Probably never will haha.  My mother never remarried but has had boyfriends. MEN SHE IS SINGLE NOW AND A HOTTIE BO TOTTIE. She lives in POKY (ryan likes to call the armpit of Idaho) where i grew up.

5. FAMILY (cont.-see told you it keeps going). Ryan's parents got divorced right before we got married. It was a different experience than mine but that's for another day. He has 5, yes 5 siblings. I have always envied those who had bigger families so he is a lucky guy. Ryans mother didn't get remarried until a year ago this February. He is defineitly defineatly defineately (curse that word. Seriously the only word I can't spell) definitely a great man. They are polar opposites, quite and loud, mother-in-law is the loud one. BUT NO MATTER loud with love is what i call it :) They live in Idaho Falls, around the corner from us. Just laugh haha like I do. Ryan's step father has 3 children, all girls, way nice!!!! We don't really get to see them often. Ryan's dad got remarried to a sweet lady from Utah. She has 3 children, we don't get to see them often either haha. But when we do its a good time. 

(Little confusing, short and sweet maybe but I will get into more details later ) 

6. friends seriously can't describe the influence they have had on me. I have never met more crazy, loving, caring, generous, people who have shaped me who I am today. They have seen me at my worst and my best and never seem to leave me behind. I can always count on them. (THERE ARE MANY THAT AREN"T PICTURED!!! :) SEND ME SOME IF YOU WANT ME TO ADD YOU SILLIES!) 

6. With current news: We live in a townhome in Idaho Falls. Seriously a cute fun place, has 3 bathrooms which the hubby loves haha. BUT we are moving! Reasons being, we want to save more money which is the most important. Being self-reliant is always a goal for us. Also, Ryan works for a great company and has been there for quite sometime. And other opportunities have come our way so stay tuned for that...

7.  My Religion BEST for last. I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and love this gospel. I have a testimony that my Savior lives and changes me everyday. The Book of Mormon is a true word of God and keeps me close to the spirit as I read daily. Joseph Smith did restore this gospel by his action of faith and I admire that. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet today and all he declares is of truth. I am thankful for so many temples around us, they give families a chance to be together forever. Living up to the standards of the gospel is a lifestyle that I love and want to keep the rest of my life. Being a peculiar person keeps me happy. I have so many blessings in my life. My family keeps growing, even though we aren't perfect, we have met more people to love and have in our life. My friends have been my foundation and I am lucky to have not chosen differently. They have put a happiness in my life I won't ever forget. My testimony is constantly growing and I hope that I exemplify that and share that with you always, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Much Love,

JPB