by Benton
I’m pretty sure Hallie is a super pooper. She must average at least 2 blow-outs per week. I have 4 younger siblings so I grew up around plenty of diapers. I don’t think any of my siblings had a blow-out rate even close to that. It might just be the proud papa in me, but I’m quite confident that Hallie is super!
Am I wrong? Anyone else have a super pooper?
Do any of you have kids that are attached to your hip? I DO!
Hallie and I are inseparable to say the least. We do everything together. We eat, sleep, cook, clean, go to the bathroom, shower, shop and hang out together. (I’m sure I left something out.) 🙂
Best friends after church.
Hallie giving me kisses. She grabs my face and lays one on me. So funny I LOVE it!
Cooking with my “attachment”
Ah I love her!!! I never knew I could love someone soooo much. Apparently she feels the same way about me. 🙂
I thought of a funny story that happened a few weeks ago and I thought I’d share. You know those moments where you think you’re cool and someone lets you know very clearly that you’re not. Well that’s what happened.
I am the Miamaids advisor in Young Womens. For one of our combined activities I had to drive the young women around to ward members houses to deliver Christmas cards. I had the David Cook CD in my car and I smiled as I envisioned the girls thinking and also commenting about how young and hip I was. (I was born for Young Women’s! haha)
I picked up the girls and as we headed for the car I casually 🙂 mentioned that I had the David Cook CD in my car and I hoped they liked it. The girls instantly moaned and groaned. They made several comments about how they didn’t like him at ALL. I was shocked! I thought all teenage girls watched and loved American Idol. Where had I gone wrong?
A few minutes later the girls started talking about David Archuleta. Then the light bulb went on. I asked, “Do you guys NOT like David Cook because you like David Archuleta?” They all looked at me like Duhhh.
I had blown it. I had the wrong Idol’s CD; the old people Idol. My bad!
Just as a disclaimer I loved both David’s. 🙂
Showers affect my mental health. Enough said.
P.S. Not my bathroom.
Last night I made BBQ chicken pizza and it was delish! Because I’m always in need of a recipe I thought I’d share this one. (I’m hoping y’all will post some recipes in return.)
SIMPLE and Yummy!!!!
More pictures of our baby. Ahh we love her!!!!
Hallie wearing her Sunday dress.
Naked play time is the best!
Last week we were on a soup fix. This recipe comes from Ben’s family. It is our favorite and it doesn’t take long to cook.
6 cups beef stock
2 cups water
1/3 cup Barley
1 diced carrot
1 T. dried green peppers (or ¼ fresh green pepper diced)
1-2 med potatoes diced (too many potatoes make the soup starchy)
1 finely chopped onion or 2 T. dried onions
1 ½ stalks celery finely chopped
1 T. dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic finely diced
¼ tsp thyme
1 ½ tsp salt
Bring beef stock and water to a boil, add barley and cook 15 minutes. Next add carrots and cook 5 more minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients and cook for approximately 15-20 additional minutes. Check vegetables (as soon as they are tender the soup is done). For extra flavor, add a Tablespoon or so of butter. This soup actually tastes better after standing in fridge overnight.
Well if you read the last post by Ben he mentioned our plans for the inaugration weekend. Because we live in DC the inaugration affected us in a drastic way. Our plans changed suddenly when Ben called me from work on Thursday informing me that road closers were forcing him to take the next Wednesday off. This meant he had a 6 day vacation from work. My parents are always talking about how much they miss Hallie and wish we could go back and visit (even though we were just there for Christmas). So after checking flight prices and yo-yoing back and forth whether to go or not we called my parents. They were thrilled and couldn’t wait to see their little princess.
Our trip started off before the sun was up Saturday morning and dragged on until the sun had gone down. Our first flight was rerouted and delayed. We waited in the DC airport for 3 1/2 hours. Unbelievable!! However the rest of the trip wasn’t bad, just long. We counted up all of Hallie’s plane rides and our return flights were number 11 and 12. She’s such a good sport!
Here are some pictures of the trip.
Hallie got her own seat on one of the flights
Looking out the window
Four Generations of Crane’s
Hallie got to meet her Great Grandparents
Hallie also got to meet my old companion Honivah Rafaranirindraibe
There were a lot of things that we did that unfortunately we didn’t take pictures of. With the help of babysitters Ben and I were able to escape and go to lunch and later bowling. (Our first date since Hallie was born.) Thanks mom for watching Hallie. We were also able to go to the Temple-thanks LaRae and Kyle. And last but not least Ben talked me into skinny dipping in the hot tub! Ahhh so funny, but also very enjoyable. Swimsuits are a pain! 🙂
I think that sums up our trip, except the fact that our flight home was also delayed but only for an hour this time. Lucky us! Ugghhh
Now we are home and oh so grateful we live in the DC area. It is home to us now and we love it. (Besides the missing family part.)
Thanks Mom and Dad for flying us out. We love you and miss you already!!
by Benton
I promise I’m not taking over Britt’s blog. It’s just that living and working in the DC area has exposed me to a bunch of wild facts about the upcoming inauguration and I want to share them. I keep thinking, “Wow! I should tell Dad about that.” or “Burt would find this interesting.” I decided I would write a quick post to share with everyone.
All 1600 Capital Police Officers will be on duty that day, but they will relinquish control of the building to the Secret Service and its roughly 5500 agents.
DC has roughly 50 different law enforcement agencies. Pretty much every officer/agent will be active.
Extra military and law enforcement are being brought in from states throughout the country.
All residents within a few blocks of the capital or White House either have to find remote parking or not drive for 36 hours before the inauguration. The Secret Service will use that time to sweep every building in that area for any threats.
Every storm drain and man-hole cover in the same area will be welded shut.
All major roads into the city will be accessible only by vehicles with permits. Buses, taxis, and limos all had to apply in advance to get a permit. Civilian cars will not be permitted.
The current attendance record for a presidential inauguration was set in 1965 at Lyndon B. Johnson’s inauguration. There were 1.2 million people in attendance. We’ve talked to friends who attended George W. Bush’s inauguration. They said it was insanely crowed and getting around was super slow. Estimations for this inauguration are over 3 million!
All non-security type federal employees (like me) get a paid day off.
Needless to say, we are staying home. Just me, Britt, Hallie, netflix, and redbox if necessary. 🙂
Hallie is now five months old. It’s amazing how much can change in such a short amount of time. We can’t remember our life without her.
