Whenever I see a movie I love, I just have to tell everyone. Last night, I watched the cutest movie!! If any of you are wondering what to watch on the weekend, watch "Flipped". I loved it. It is a definite for my future movie collection and I don't have a lot of movies in my future movie collection. You can get it at a red box too. Hope you enjoy it.

P.S. Nathan liked it too

Nathan got accepted to the Spring/Fall track at BYU-I! So we head off this September. He was a little bummed at first because he wanted Fall/Winter but he's starting to like the idea now. I love the idea for a lot of reasons, first of all, we don't have to be in Rexburg for winter!! That not only means we avoid the really cold temperature but we don't have to haul our big box of Christmas decorations back and forth too. Second of all. We get to come home twice during the year because we'll have to come back for the winter and then we'll have to come back for the summer too. So we'll pretty much come back after each semester. I really like that because then Benny and Ephraim will have more memories with their grandparents and stuff. Second of all, it mean me and Nathan only have to save up for 4 months of schooling instead of 8 months before we can come back and replenish our savings for the next semester. That is a big relief. Also since we'll be moving back and forth so much it doesn't make sense to take all of our furniture back and forth so that means we'll just leave our furniture here and get furnished apartments so a lot less packing up for us!!! I've been looking at apartments already and found one that seems like we can get and they also say they have some furnishings that they won't charge us for and it sounds like they have the basics we need. I've already applied and am just waiting for a call back. Anyways, here's a link to the apartment blog so you can see some pictures. We would be getting the Tri-plex basement apartment. Not luxurious but it has two bedrooms and that's what really matters.

http://academyapts.blogspot.com/

Lots has happened of course, but I'll just give the highlights. First of all, Nathan passed all of his classes from last quarter!! As usual, he didn't think he would pass, but he never ceases to amaze. Math was his big worry but all was well. The exciting thing is that now, for the first time, his math classes will count for college credit. He finally finished doing all of the preliminary classes and this will be his first and last college math class. Nathan will only have had one math class free quarter. I'm proud of him for sticking with it to the end. Actually, maybe it won't be his last math class. Just yesterday, Nathan started to talk about maybe not getting an art degree. He's wondering more about exploring a degree that has more to do with building things, like houses. He's not sure yet. He's thinking about talking to a counselor and taking one of those tests that helps you determine what kind of jobs you might enjoy.
Another thing we're really into right now is Dave Ramsey. For my birthday, I got a little birthday money so I decided to take Financial Peace University with Nathan. It's been the best thing ever. For the first time, Nathan and I actually have a budget system and we're practicing the habit of trying to put a name on every dollar and taking the class together helps us be on the same page when we talk finances. We love it.
Benny has been blowing me away with his talking. He's starting to use sentences!! and he loves to repeat me and learn new words. One day, I was eating something and he points to what I was eating and says, "I want that too". And when he's thirsty he says, "I want a drink". And he can point at a lot of objects and say their names. He's just taking off and it's so fun to see him learning. Ephraim is also progressing a lot. He can sit up really well and roll to his hearts delight. He's also pushing himself up on his arms and scooting backwards sometimes which is preliminary steps toward crawling. I think Benny started crawling at 9 months so I'm predicting that Ephraim will be crawling in just two more months. Wow, that's not long at all. It's funny how opposite both of them are. It seems like if Benny likes something then Ephraim won't and vice versa. For instance, Benny loves taking his fluoride and hates it when I dump water on his head to get the shampoo out during bath time. Ephraim on the other hand, hates taking his fluoride and could care less if I pour water over his head. Benny is Skinny and Ephraim is thick and burly. Benny came out with black hair and a lot of it and it just kept growing. Ephraim came out with the tiniest hint of light blondish hair and lost what little he had and is still trying to grow it back. Benny is blue eyed, Ephraim is brown eyed. The list goes on, they are just opposite is soooo many ways, it still surprises me. One thing that they do share in common is that they seem to like each other. Benny loves to make Ephraim laugh and Ephraim loves giggling at Benny's little antics. They make a good pair.















Benny's 2nd birthday!! We decided to have a breakfast dinner because he loves breakfast foods and it was a hit. He has now entered the "curious twos".















Now that's a proud star fleet officer. Nathan strutting a Christmas gift
















brothers snuggling on the couch together
















Oma and Ephraim getting their beauty sleep
















I love that smile!
















I thought this picture was funny because as soon as Benny saw the camera, he covered his face. Silly little squirt!














































I looked up one day and Benny was doing this balancing act and so proud of it































We don't have fancy computer programs so this is the poor mans way of projecting what Ephraim will look like 20 years from now.
















If Ephraim could grow hair, or if he was a girl this might be what he would look like

So I know that I already posted some pics of Ephraim eating solids for the first time but I gotta post more because his expressions crack me up so much. He's hilarious! He always looks like I just stuck a lemon in his mouth when I feed him. It's funny because whenever I hold him while I'm eating he's always lunging forward trying intensely to reach my plate so I thought he would love solids but I guess not. Still, its fun seeing all his faces.
















































Ah, no food, just toys














Nathan and I were in charge of decorations for the ward Christmas Dinner and with a lot of help from others we hung up these little flowery puffballs in the gym. It looked a lot better in real life. We were very proud of the results and I'm glad its over now. It was a little stressful. Thank goodness for my sister Julie. All the decorations wouldn't have looked near as great if she hadn't swooped in and helped out. She even changed Benny's poopy diaper in the middle of all of it. Blessed saint!















Uncle Ben!!!















Daddy and naked babies!! Ephraim kinda looks like he has a gorilla chest in this picture.

So it's officially the Christmas season and I decided to try and make some effort to make it look Chirstmas-like around our house. Before I was married, I loved to think of all the cool family traditions I would have in my family and how fun all the holidays would be and now here I am with a family and I haven't done a really good job of setting up family traditions so I thought I better get on the ball so I don't regret it later. Since I'm half German, I really wanted to have a German tradition in there, so this Christmas we're doing the advent wreath. We've done it in past Christmases but only half-heartedly and kinds last minute type of thing. I'm trying this year to prepare for and plan it better. For this tradition, we have a wreath with five candles in it (it's on the fireplace in one of the pictures)and starting on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, we light a candle and gather round it while we sing Christmas songs and read Christmas stories and eat treats. We do this each Sunday, lighting one more candle each time and then we light the last and middle candle on Christmas eve. During one of these advents we also write a gift we want to give to Jesus on a piece of paper (like, "I will be better at giving to others") and then put it in a little container and then we can open it next Christmas and decide if we did a good job or not. So for the first advent, I made these German cookies for the treat and they turned out pretty good but man are they are real mess to make so I'm pretty sure they'll only be a once-a-year thing. We're doing the advent calender this year but it's been kinda hard on Benny. He was really happy about opening the first chocolate of the month but he didn't understand that he had to wait till the next day to get another chocolate so he'll sometimes go over and point to the advent calender and say "more". It's cute, and it gives me something to look forward to for the next day, to see him pick out his chocolate. I was thinking about starting that one Christmas tradition where Santa puts something in the kids shoes but I'm not sure what to put in the shoes and it kinda sounds like stockings. Anyways, Christmas is still in work in progress, but I'm way excited!

Ephraim is eating solids now. This was his first time and I don't think he liked it that much.


















































Big brother tried to get in there with Ephraim














Great Grandma gave this chair to Benny but we use it too
















Both Bens together















Benny doesn't seem too concerned














Christmas decor































The German cookies I made
















Benny loves helping Oma with dishes














Benny is wearing four or five layers of pajamas and can't even put his arms down. He loves doing that

Miracle of Miracles, wonders of wonders, It snowed!! It's not even Thanksgiving yet and we already got a large amount of snow. I'm really excited this year about the snow because this is the first winter Benny can actually walk and run and jump in the snow and it will be so fun watching him play in it!! He's not really that used to it yet. I took him out in it this morning and it was cute watching him lift his little legs up high every time he had to take a step in the snow. It came up to about his thighs. He seemed to enjoy it because it was so new and different and he even laughed when I threw a snowball at him. I hope we'll be able to go sledding soon. Can't wait!!




















































Benny's coat makes a nice head warmer































Nathan helped my brother make a movie and here they are in costume

Nathan got accepted to BYU-I!! He hasn't found out about Provo yet. I guess they haven't made their decision yet, but anyways here's some pics to show what's been going on.

















Ephraim learned how to roll!! Look at that proud face!

















Everybody down! I got a baby and I know how to use him!

















Daddy is never alone when he is studying.
















Kinda scary I guess
















He was surrounded by dragons on every side!
















I found a little laundry gnome in my laundry!
















Ephraim is so ready for solids
















yummm, books