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...

*California Bound*

Hello to all of my California friends!! My family and I will be visiting!! I was really hoping to get together with at least some of you while out there. :) I have missed you all! The following are our travel dates...

Will be in California at 4pm on Wednesday July 25th and leaving Saturday morning July 28th. So, it's a *very* short visit, but like I said, would love to see you all! :) The girls are coming too. Angelina is thrilled, because she gets to see her big sister Sam, whom she hasn't seen in 2 years! Wow! Can't believe it's been that long!

Anyway. Let me know if you'll be around! :)

More later! Getting ready to go out to dinner. Mike just booked all of our tickets for the rest of our traveling this summer. So, I thought that I would pop in a message letting everyone know about our California trip. :)

Bye for now.

{Good Arizona Eats}

*Desert Daisy*

Now that we are home and all settled, I wanted to share some of the *good eats* we enjoyed in Scottsdale, Arizona. If you ever go to the Phoenix area, take the short drive to beautiful Scottsdale and enjoy some of these restaurants...

Blue Wasabi
The Gelato Spot
Cupcakes
Sugar Bowl
Cafe Forte
Baja Fresh
Nello's
Sauce
Z Tejas
Papa Murphy's (Best Pizza... well, not counting *Pizza My Heart*)
Yardhouse
U.S. Egg Their Protein Pancakes ROCK!!
Jamba Juice
Cafe Carumba
Trader Vics
PF Changs
Grazie
Rainforest Cafe
Piscky's


And... since we are talking about Arizona... here are more cactus pics I took. ;)


Night for now! Going to go enjoy the thunderstorms now! :)

.Hi.

We are going home tomorrow... I am not ready to go. Isn't that strange? I mean, shouldn't I be at that point of...OK. Tired of not sleeping in my own bed, or having my own things? Well. I am not. I do miss my parents and my friends. But, honestly? I have been so busy doing so much here, and learning to love Scottsdale so much that I don't want to go home right now. I told Mike last night that I *had* to go home, because Arizona is starting to suck me in. LOL. Mike LOVES Arizona, and he always has. Not sure why we didn't move here in the first place... but whatever. :) We still *love* North Carolina A LOT! Not to mention... my parents are there. :)
So, anyway. Going home tomorrow, and I get to sit on first class the entire way home!! SO SO SO happy about that! First class ROCKS! :)

Anyway. I need to get going to finish packing and getting things ready to go home. And, with 2 kids... there's A LOT to get together, pack, and bring! **Everything but the kitchen sick**. ha ha!

By the way... Zoe has tried and loved the following things... Avocado, ranch dressing, bread, cheesecake, gelato, sour cream, oatmeal (real... not Gerber), ice cream w/ fudge, pasta sauce, and pizza sauce. As she gets her teeth, and can chew, there will be more! ;) For now, letting her try things that she can swallow easily.
Zoe is getting *REALLY* close to crawling! She gets up on all fours, and rocks rapidly back and forth. She can go forward once or twice, and she goes backwards really well. Does the backwards army crawl *really* great! LOL. :) More updates to come! ;)

Angelina chillin' with daddy in Anthony's newly finished pool.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!!

Angelina and Zoe playing... Their shirts match! I will show their matching pics next post. :)

Zoe *loves* baby food!!

Her Favorite is .....

Happy 4th and Days *Thirty Eight -2- Fourty Three*

So, a lot has gone on for the past 6 days!! Monday I had a stress meltdown, and decided that I needed to not go for Scrapbooker of the Year this year. I will do it for sure next year. Since I seem to be an Olympic procrastinator, I still ended up having 5 pages left. And, it may not sound like a lot to most people, but when it takes me at least 2 hours to do 1 page... 5 is A LOT! I just felt that it wasn't fun anymore if I was crying over it. :) So, I will try for *Hall of Fame* in a couple months. And, if nothing comes of that, then I will try out for Scrapbooker of the Year next year. And I won't let my Gold Medal worthy procrastination get in the way. :) You can definitely say that this was a life lesson for me. ;) Anyway....
Over the weekend I got a new phone, which I am really loving a lot! You can see it here. :) Angelina went to a store in the mall which made her eyes pop out of her head and her mouth hit the floor. Which means, she was amazed and SUPER EXCITED all at the same time! Libby Lu is the name of the store. If you have little girls take them! It is an AWESOME place! Or, look forward to taking your daughters their when they get older, because it really is a cool place! She got to make her own lip gloss, glitter body spray and sparkle lotion.
Sunday we went to the Phoenix Zoo... which oddly enough is in Scottsdale. ha ha! Let me just say... going to the zoo in the summer here... hmmm. We must have been crazy!! LOL. Getting to the zoo at 10:30 am it was only 99 degrees. But around 3pm it was 110 degrees and by 4m it was 113 degrees! Fortunately, the zoo closed at 4pm, so we were leaving when it was 113, but still!! ha ha! I forgot to wear sunscreen, so of course I burned. :( Hate that! We had a blast, though! Saw lots of animals, and Angelina got to brush *the real* lambie. :) And, of course, I took a TON of pictures! 494 to be exact!! Too many to post here, but a lot of them will be uploaded to my flickr page.
I have realized since being in Arizona for the past few weeks what a great place it truly is! There is a *ton* of stuff to do, lots of really great and interesting restaurants, and in general just a fun place! We are going to buy a second home out here very soon, which will be cool, because it will be a home for Mike to stay at when he travels out here, and a home we can vacation to whenever we want.
Today is the 4th of July, and I honestly can not believe how fast it came!! I keep thinking about a year ago. Pretty funny how fast a year can fly on by! :) Seems like having kids makes the time go by faster. Speaking of fast... Angelina starts year round school on MONDAY!!! Pretty incredible that she will already be in Kindergarten. Year round! She is *so.so* excited!! She absolutely LOVES school, which is awesome!

**OK** Back from 4th of July party and fireworks show...

We just had a lot of fun at Anthony and Jojo's house. They just had their pool re-done, and their backyard worked on, so they had a bunch of people over to celebrate the 4th and to get some use out the backyard. It was fun! Food, beer, pool time in 118 degree weather (I opted out), and lots of FUN and talking. :) Today was much too hot for anyone! I don't even care if you have lived in Arizona forever! 118 degrees is just TOO HOT!!!! But we had fun non the less. It is currently 10:30pm, and the sun and heat has sucked most of my energy out of me.

All in all, our 3 weeks here in Scottsdale, AZ has been A LOT of fun!! :) I really like all of the people that I have meet out here. Everyone is very welcoming, and accommodating.

We only have a few days left! Saturday we fly home. And... Mike was upgraded from coach to First Class seating on the plane, and he is having me sit in First Class *ALL* the way home!!!! I got to sit in First Class from Houston to Phoenix, and it is AWESOME!!! So, I definitely won't mind sitting there again! ;)

Well after a fun and busy day, I am beat! Off to bed I go!! Enjoy the MANY pics below!

Zoe and Jojo

Baby Blue Eyes

SO hot at the zoo, but still having so much fun, and being SO GOOD!

Like I said, it was hot! That cloth on her head was soaked in water. :)

Wearing her cute zebra onesie, which couldn't have been more perfect for the zoo!

We call this man *Super Dad* But... in 113 degree weather... we call him *AMAZING Dad*

.Dragonfly.

::Cud::

*love* this flower! Called: Passion Flower

LOVE this baby orangutan.

She was *so* hot, but still willing to smile for her Mama.

Brushing the *real* lambie!!

Silly, right? She borrowed this towel from Zoe because she was Really hot!! ;)

One of Angelina's favorite things to do... ride the *merry-go-round*

Angelina playing in the water. Much needed cool down. *love* this pic.

looking at the turtles in the pond.

Conversing with a baboon, whom, I might add was *very* interested in her.

And, of course... another form of cacti!