guess what?

I am moving!!! Blogs that is... :)

Please come see!! My husband made me my new blog!! Click here. I am so excited!! I know that I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was going to move my blog soon, so now it's time. Mike just turned it "on" today. :) ***Note: If you are trying to comment on my new blog, leave out your blog address... just for the time being. There is a bug in the code that won't let anyone comment if they have a web address. i.e. blog address.***

**I am leaving my old blog up so you can still check back here for my archives.**

See you at my new place! But first, check out the new blog post below. ;)

It's Wednesday. How are *you* today? :)

So, I totally forgot to write about -A Thousand Splendid Suns-.

I don't want to say too much, because I really hope that all my readers will read this book. I will describe how I felt throughout, though. I felt several emotions throughout this book...

Appreciative, Thankful, Sadness, Shock, Happiness. Without giving anything away, you do learn the life of Afghani woman as wives. How being a wife there *can* be scary, and horrible, and so unsettling. This book made me cry in parts of it, which is extremely rare thing for a book to make me cry. I didn't only cry at sad moments, but I also cried at moments where there was such surprising joy that I immediately teared up, and tears were just pouring out of my eyes. Khaled Hasseini knows how to draw in his audience, and leave them wanting to read more. I love writers like that. I love that from start to finish the book was great! It started great, and ended great. With just a little bit of mystery to make you wonder how the character's lived on, and what happens down the road. I give this book and The Kite Runner a standing ovation!!

If and when you finish reading these books, please tell my what you think! I am interested in hearing what other people think of them. :)

*************************************
Went to the gym this morning, but other than that not much else is happening. It is SO hot here that all you can do it avoid going outside. "Who wants to get the mail?" Seriously! It's that hot! Today it is supposed to be 101 degrees. Not only that, but I think 75-80% humidity, which is what makes things miserable here. The air is so thick you can almost eat it! SICK!

Here are a couple pictures for you all!

HOLY COW! An unexpected picture ... of ME!! [gasp] ;)

Always lookin' cute!!

Waiting to get her ears pierced. Full of anxiety!

Playing with her dolly.

This is Zoe right after she pushed herself up from crawling to sitting... and all while clutching that baby doll! LOL.

WHOA! ME again!! *alert the media*! ha ha!

Have a great Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Whew! What a weekend!!

We had a busy, but *great* weekend!!

Saturday morning we all woke up and went to the North Carolina State Farmer's Market. *Love* that place!! We bought a lot of fruits, veggies, and the best homemade baguette! Yummm! I brought my camera along to the Farmer's Market, and took some pictures of the great produce! The fruits and veggies (and bread) look fantastic and taste even better!! It's always a team effort picking everthing out... And this is the reason I hate cooking, don't usually have to cook, and why my wonderful husband cooks 95% of our meals....

Brushetta Caprese

Chicken Caprese Salad

Baked Spinach & Cheese Ravioli

You see? See why my husband cooks? I cook *average* homemaker meals, but he makes GOURMET! I choose gourmet please! :) My husband is a fabulous cook, and really should consider opening a restaurant someday! :) I am a good baker, so, honey... when you open this alleged restaurant someday, I will make all the desserts. :) LOL. So, the above... that was our dinner last night. :) Yum. Made so lovingly by my handsome hubby!

To see more of my pictures, click here.

Anyway. After the farmer's market, we went hiking a little bit (pictures I took while hiking are below)...

ROBIN... you asked me to photograph a leaf for you... does this work? ...

and then we took Angelina to the mall, and... she got her EARS PIERCED!!! Pictures coming soon! She was *so* brave!! Immediately following that, Angelina and Zoe spent the night at grandma and papa's house (my parents). Mike and I had a date night. I absolutely *love* date night!! We went to a place called Five Guys Burgers & Fries... best burgers EVER!!! Better than In N Out hands down! Then we went to R.E.I. to get a hiking backpack for Mike to carry Zoe in. Went to Starbucks, came back home, and relaxed. :) It was nice.

Sunday, I slept in while Mike mowed the front and side yard.
The back will be finished when this 100 degree and 90% humidity weather goes away! :) Living in NC, it can be hard to get the yard mowed in under 2-3 hours. And that is ONLY mowing. :) I got up and watered some plants, and ended up spending the majority of the day outside while Angelina played with some friends on the slip n slide, and wading pool. It was was TOO hot!! But, I ran through the sprinklers on occasion with Angelina to cool off. ha ha! Zoe napped most of the afternoon. Then Mike made that amazing dinner, we gave the girls baths, they went to bed, and we chilled out! :)

And... this is why I can't stand Japanese Beetles!! Look what they did to my hibiscus' leaves!

Friday Zoe decided to add to the list of things that she can do... she can now go from the crawling position straight to the sitting position! BIG milestone! :) I was a very shocked and proud mama! :) You go Zoe. Mike keeps swearing that she said *Dada* this morning, but I am not so sure. ha ha! We'll see if she says it again. Zoe's 2 teeth are coming in like crazy! She shoved my finger in her mouth earlier, bit down, and for the first time I yelled "YOW!" She looked at me with a perplexed look, and laughed. ha ha.

Here are some pictures of my girlies from the weekend. :)

Hiking.

Zoe looking a lot like Mike in the below picture...

And, this is only half the bags from the Farmer's Market! :)

Just after eating her breakfast this morning. She had Beech Nut's "Good Morning: Country Breakfast". And, of course... loved it!

Buying mommy flowers at the farmer's market

Looking adorable... as usual!

Lashes.

A blanket in AUGUST!?!

Girlie Girls

Girlie Girls, originally uploaded by *We* are the {Benners}.

Lots to post, but too tired! Will post tomorrow! Enjoy Friday and Saturday's pictures! ;) Hope you all had a great weekend!!

**Oh, and by the way... FINISHED IT!!! What is it? *A Thousand Splendid Suns*!!!! It was EXCELLENT!!!!!! I even cried in parts! It's a fantastic book if I cry!! READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!! :) I will write more on it and Kite Runner tomorrow!!**

See This Movie...

Ok, so tonight Mike is out with his friends, which leaves me home with the girls alone... obviously! ha ha! Anyway. I rented this movie called, Broken Bridges. I declare it a *must see*!! :) It's really good! Not sure if the men would like it, but I know that many of you have husbands that go out of town... so see it then, and keep a box of kleenex handy!! Great Movie! ;)

Girls Just Wanna Have Fu*un!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fu*un!, originally uploaded by *We* are the {Benners}.

Here is a different approach to featuring my daily photos. :) If you have a flickr account, you can go to Big Huge Labs, and make some really fun stuff! :)
Today has been pretty low key. That's just our life, I guess. :) Mellow, and scheduled. ha ha. We go crazy on the weekends, though!!! ha ha ha!
I forgot to mention something that happened the other day while I sat in first class by myself. I emphasize *first class by myself* because I am the only one who witnesses this happen... I am sitting in my seat and happened to take a break from reading my book (this is before we take off). I look out the window, and watch the people loading up the plane. As the man pulls the conveyer belt "car" away, I notice my stroller that hasn't been loaded... instead, it was set aside, and then the guy RAN IT OVER!!!! I am yelling in first class (where all the rich people and frequent flyers sit... LOL). "MY STROLLER MY STROLLER!!! YOU JUST RAN OVER MY STROLLER!! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING???? HELLO HELLO!?" ha ha. Like the guy could hear me! And everyone in first class was just staring at me like I was mentally ill. ha ha! I laugh now. But, I was SOOOO MAD!! Mike had no idea! He was sitting in coach blissfully unaware of the terrible thing that I just witnessed! Fortunately Continental ROCKS, and they are reimbursing our money no haggling no nothing! Just, "We are so sorry about this Mr. and Mrs. Benner!" :) Seriously love that airline, even though they RAN OVER MY STROLLER! ;o)

Anyway... how was your day?

Well, must go! Getting ready to watch a movie with Mike... Yes, we watch A LOT of movies! :) We got Blockbuster Total Access (like Netflix, but WAY BETTER). We got it a couple of months ago, so needless to say, we watch lots of movies.

More tomorrow.

::good day::

So, today is a good day. :) Nothing crazy has happened, it's just a good day. :) Mike took Angelina to school. I went to the gym with Zoe and worked out. (lost 1.5 pounds...yay). Came home, put her down for a nap, showered, ate lunch, and right now I am blogging, and watching a movie called Premonition. This movie is turning out to be *very* good. So good in fact that it is taking me too long to write this entry. LOL. Good thing I can type without looking at the keyboard. :)
Last night Mike and I watched the movie 300. Outstanding!! Mike immediately went to Best Buy yesterday, and bought it in Hi Definition. Must see this movie! :)

Oh, and A Thousand Splendid Suns... turning out to be a great book!! Khaled Hosseini is a great writer! If you have read *The Kite Runner* then definitely read this one too! :)


So, check out Zoe's new Jumparoo!! She got it yesterday, and she *loves* it! She was a little tired the second time I put her in it... hense the thumb in her mouth. It's really great seeing her in it, though! She gets so excited everytime she pushes off the ground herself. I would assume she is proud of herself. LOL.

Acting silly on the plane.

Angelina & Sam on *Small World* at Disneyland

OK, off to finish watching this movie!! More later!

EDITED: See the movie Premonition!! Just finished watching it... it's awesome!!!

.2 California *n* Back.

We got back from our trip out to Cali on Saturday night late. Been getting back into the swing of things. Aren't you amazed that it has been a WHOLE WEEK since my last post? I am kinda OCD when it comes to blogging, so going an entire week with no post is pretty incredible. Not that everyone out there is waiting on the edges of their seats for me to post a new entry. lol.

Anyway. Our trip to California was really short, but a lot of fun! Wish I could have seen more of my old friends while out there, but I am guessing most were unavailable or out of town since I only heard from a couple people. :( Maybe next time, though.
We arrived in Cali on Wednesday at 4:00pm and went to dinner at Lucille's Smokehouse Bar B Que in Brea (YUM YUM YUM! If you haven't gone... you are TOTALLY missing out!). Their BBQ *rocks*! We meet Mike's great aunt and uncle there. We haven't seen them in over 2 years!! It was *so* great to see them!!! I would say that I was posting pictures of our dinner with them, but I ERASED MY MEMORY CARD from that night!!! I cried! :( So sad! Just remember to verify that you aren't telling your camera (DSLR Camera) to format... Format = Erase which = BAD BAD BAD! Thanks for dinner Jack and Jan!! It was so wonderful to see you!
Thursday was my only free day! And it was only free during the day. So, I meet my friend Nikki and her husband for lunch. Nikki and I haven't seen each other since Angelina was *3 weeks old*!!! Whoa! It was SO great to see her! Since seeing her, she has gotten married, and had a baby girl (Hailey) who is a month younger than Zoe. They got to meet each other. It was a typical meeting for babies. They stared at each other for several minutes, and then when on to whatever else distracted them. LOL. Hailey is so cute Nikki! :)
After lunch, the girls and I drove to the beach. It was nice! Zoe *loved* the water! As soon as she saw the ocean, and heard the waves crashing, she couldn't stop staring at it. I put her feet in the water, and she giggled, and smiled the whole time. Angelina looked for seashells and got soaking wet. After the beach, we drove around for a bit. I showed Angelina my parents' old house, where I went to high school, the park she used to play at with grandma and papa all the time, the hospital she was born at (Mission Hospital), and I was even able to show her the apartment Mike and I had while I was pregnant with her, and told her that she lived there for 1 week of her life. :) It was neat to *drive* down memory lane. :) Thursday night, we went to Mike's oldest daughter, Samantha's dance recital. She takes tap dancing. She did really great. Angelina was ecstatic!! Angelina hadn't seen Sam in more than 2 years. After Sam's recital, we went to Buca di Beppo for dinner, and then went back to our hotel.
Friday we surprised Sam. We picked her up, and told her we were taking her to.... DISNEYLAND!! What a day! It was exciting, fun, and tiring! :) Angelina went on *every* ride there!! First time she has shown interest in going on rides. She even went on Splash Mountain, and promptly decided while crying that she would *never* go on that ride again! Ha ha! She even went on Space Mountain, and *loved* it!! I was pretty amazed! :) Zoe went on a couple of rides too! She went on Snow White's Scary Adventure, Small World, and Pirates of the Caribbean. She loved all of the rides! It was so cute to see her laughing during each ride. The look on her face was cute too. She was amazed at everything going on. :) So, needless to say, everyone had a great time!
Saturday morning we meet Sam and her mom for breakfast, and then headed to the airport to come home. It was a whirlwind trip, but it was full of fun! :)

So... Zoe's bottom front teeth *finally* poked through the skin!! YAY! She has been a tad bit cranky, so I figured it was time the teeth came through, and we discovered them Saturday night! :) She wasn't as cranky as Angelina used to get, but she was a bit cranky on the airplane, which made it a little tough for Mike, because she wasn't wanting to relax. My husband is so wonderful! He got upgraded to first class, and once again let me take it! So I got to sit in first class. :) Thanks babe! All in all, both children were fabulous! I flew alone with both kids from NC to Cali, so I was a bit stressed, but we made it! :)

Being in California made me realize how much I do not miss it there. The amount of time it takes to get places at 5pm or 8am is absolutely insane! I had forgotten just how terrible the traffic is. Our hotel was 11 miles from Mike's office, and it literally took us 1 hour or more to get from one to the other. Ridiculous! It's crowded, and stressful. But, we still had fun. But I wouldn't want to live there again.

Anyway, Mike and I are watching a movie. Will write more later. ;) night. Below are picture #'s 64-70.

Pictures from up in the air.

So many houses crammed together in Cali. (taken from the plane)

Her first ear hat!! It also says "Zoe" on the back. :) Thanks Daddy!

Where'd you go Zoe?

Daddy Kisses!!

Trying to pull out the sword in the stone. :)

Angelina and Sam at Disneyland together. :) SO cute!

Beauty.

In line at Pirates of the Caribbean.

Getting dizzy on the teacup ride.

Disneyland makes babies tired!

Angelina playing at the ocean's edge.

Finding Seashells.

Happy at the beach.

First time at the beach, and *loving* it! Little toes in the water.

Can't take her eyes off the ocean. :)

Water's Edge.

.The Pacific.

Tire Swingin'.

I often wonder what she is thinking...