Yep, we're the people with our dog in the family photo.

Our friend Noelle took our pictures last week, and we're in love with them. (Just a little plug for her, she's very fairly priced, and super speedy with the turn around. Plus we LOVE her work. If you are in Utah/Salt Lake County, you should look her up.) As my subject line mentions, we had Peter be in a few of our pictures. Yes, I am aware he's not an actual child. Judge us all you want, he's adorable. For your viewing pleasure:






In other VERY exciting news, Joe got a new job. He's been very happy at IKEA, but is also very excited about his new position. He will be a senior accountant for Murray City starting next Tuesday. This will give him the opportunity to work with a CPA and get his required work hours to become one himself, which is something that he really wants. I'm so proud of him, and so grateful to have a husband that is constantly striving to do better things for our family. Plus, now he has a 5 minute drive to work every day. I think I see a Vespa in our future...

Want some candy?

It's in the back of my van...

Easter and other things

Well, it's been awhile. See, we don't have any children. Without children, blog posts are just about me and Joe (and probably our dog). Too many posts about just the two of us, and we become the Utah County couple (no offense) that shares every second of every day, explaining why the cereal we ate for breakfast tastes SOOOOO much better because we're SOOOOO in love. Nobody wants that, especially not me. However, a few things have happened in the last 6 months that I feel are worth mentioning.


Back in October I surprised Joe with a trip to Denver to watch his beloved Broncos play their rivals, the Oakland Raiders. When I say I surprised him, I mean I really surprised him. He had no idea where we were going until we got to our departure gate at the airport. Here are the highlights: The stars aligned and one of my favorite mission friends had her reception in Denver the weekend we were there, our hotel location was perfect, we ate at some fantastic restaurants (my favorite being Crepes and Crepes), our seats were fantastico, and the weather was perfect for watching football. The Broncos got KILLED by the Raiders (I don't love the Broncos, so it wasn't nearly as painful for me as it was Joe) but it was still so fun to be there and see our first NFL (regular season) game. Joe may or may not have choked up during the National Anthem, I'm just sayin.



On a completely unrelated note, last week I ate what I believe to be the best tasting orange I've had in my near 30 years of living. So delicious.

My main reason for writing is to post about Easter. Somehow I convinced Joe to pack up and head to Blanding so that we could see family and help brand calves. I spent a lot of Spring days branding so I wanted Joe to experience it at least once. Joe is straight "city", so this whole thing was completely new to him. I tried to explain exactly what would happen so that there wouldn't be any surprises (although I doubt one can ever be completely prepared to witness the poor boy cows losing their manhood in front of everyone). I was nervous for Joe, but had already talked to everyone in my family telling them that we were just going to watch, and that maybe I'd sit on a cow. I should have known that wouldn't fly with my brother Steve. He was very nice, but kept encouraging Joe to get in there and sit on a cow. Well friends, my sweet city boy was very brave and sat on a calf while it was attended to (to ease some of the concern, I held the calf's leg in case it flipped out and tried to get up). He did so good, and remained very calm even when that awful smell of singed hair and burning flesh was blowing straight in his face. In that moment as we sat there with that calf I think i witnessed Joe being completely and fully accepted into the Bennett clan. They were so proud of him for being willing to get dirty and try something they truly love.


He also got the privilege of actually branding a cow. I'll admit it, I had my doubts but he did a great job with that too and made a near perfect mark on the cow.


So so proud of Joe for being such a great sport, and so thankful he was willing to share something that's just a part of our country livin. :)

HAPPY HALLOWEENER!!!

Love,
Mario, "your mom", and Peter the cow.

Oh that Marti Jo...

I am a little disgusted with myself. My sister's birthday was a month ago and I am just doing her birthday post. I had very specific pictures I wanted to use for this and kept hoping they'd appear. BUT, a month later I still can't find them so I figure I'd better just move on with my life.

Marti is the oldest, and I'm the baby which means there's a 7 (I think) year gap between us but it's never stopped us from being great friends. Even when I was a little girl I wanted to go wherever she was going. Once I begged long enough for her to take me with her to the store that she caved and let me go, but for some reason didn't make me wear shoes...our car (and by car I mean the giant white cattle truck we drove) broke down and I remember walking home, groceries in hand, and barefoot. I kept telling her she had to carry me because it was her fault I wasn't wearing shoes. She never carried me, but I forgave her and we continued on as friends and have only gotten closer as we've gotten older. Marti Jo is a GOOD mama to her 4 kids, and I'm so proud of how hard she works to give her family a good home. She works so hard and sacrifices so much to make sure that all of her kids get all they need (even when they clearly don't understand or appreciate the sacrifices she's made.) She also has the softest heart, and is always making something, or cooking something for somebody. She's the first person to offer help to anyone that might need it.


Marti and I have been through a lot of happy and sad times together. She's one of the few people that I can call any time night or day (whether it's to share great news, or to cry my eyes out) and know that she'll always be there to listen to me. I'm so grateful to have her as a sister and a friend. Sure do love you Mardith Jo Bennett Winn!!! Happy (super late) Birthday!!!

Days of our lives...

Some days are just meant to be. Yesterday started out perfectly with the sound of my husband screaming a high pitched scream when I poured ice cold water on him while he was in the shower. Work went smoothly with no major disasters, and mutual was a success with none of my young women arguing or making something into some sort of absurd competition. Best of all, for dinner I had macaroni with tomato juice that I bottled myself (with the help of my mom and dad)and for dessert had rainbow sherbet. Yes, yesterday was one of those days that was just meant to be. Today? Today I somehow convinced myself that it was possible to keep sleeping after my alarm went off and just wait for Joe's alarm to wake me up. Then when Joe's alarm did go off (a half hour before I should be at work) I was able to convince myself that I could sleep until his snooze went off. Once I was completely awake I remembered that I had a client coming into the office at 8:00 a.m. With the help of my husband, I miraculously made it into the office by 8:04 a.m. only to discover that instead of one client waiting to meet with my attorney, I had two. One client was supposed to be here to prepare for his arbitration that started at 9:00 a.m. but I couldn't figure out why the other client was here. Well, turns out that my sweet client and her husband drove up from PROVO because the letter I mailed her regarding her mediation on October 19th, told her that she should come to the office TODAY to prepare for it. Really? Really. She pulled out the letter and showed me. Directly underneath the wrong information was my signature. I begged for forgiveness, got that situation solved and moved on to continue my work day. Next I had to hand write a few things for one of our clients. First time, I wrote it wrong. No big deal, I just started over. FOUR TIMES LATER, after making the same mistake each time, I finally got it right. It's barely noon. Can I get a re-do?

Happy Birthday Joseph John!

Today is Joe's 32nd birthday. I thought it would be so easy to write a quick little post about how great Joe is, but I can't find the words to express how great he really is. There are just so many things I love about him, the best thing to do is probably make a list. A few things I love about Joe are:
1. How he has to google every new thing he hears about, or sees on TV.
2. How he tolerates my madness, and is always game for my last minute plans.
3. He wears bow ties to church 98% of the time.
4. How he FOUGHT getting a dog, then turned into a bigger dog lover than I am.
5. How diligent he is about paying all of our bills on time.(This is very helpful for me, as I am the COMPLETE opposite. Automatic withdrawals are my best friend.)
6. The fact that he uses words or phrases that only 80 year olds use.
7. How much he loves me. Ahh...sweet.

I've been feeling a bit under the weather and wasn't quite up to planning a birthday extravaganza; when I apologized to Joe for having a lame birthday planned all he said was "You feeling better is the best present I could have." Oooh, so cute, right? That's my Joe, always the nice one. I should take lessons. He really is the best, and deserves the best birthday ever. (Even if I didn't plan one for him.)

Happy birth moment Joseph! Love you! (If you don't watch the office, you won't get it.)