Letters to my darlings:

Friday, March 18, 2011

1st Annual Bente Vaca

Wow! Is all I can say, we had an absolute blast. Henry was amazing through out the entire trip, did not complain, listened, and enjoyed himself to the fullest. Jayce on the other hand, struggled with being off his routine schedule. He was a bit too young to travel like we did, but we still had a wonderful time. Especially in Colorado thanks to Our wonderful friends Tarrah and Ronny Brown! Love you guys and miss you already. I cannot even start to decipher through the many pictures that were taken, but I will do my best to show only the great pictures, but you might want to grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable.

This was our first morning in a hotel, isn't that just precious!?
We made this stop in OK, Henry and his Pa-Pa are in to petrified wood (or as Henry calls it Pepperide Wood!)
Jayce was ready for cruising (for a little bit that is...)

 

We saw so many windmills, it was neat to see a blade up close.
We were on this 70 miles of no service stretch, we saw snow on the side of the road and decided to take a snowball break!!
Our first view of the mountains!
We met at The Brown Household and picked up Tarrah & Kyle and then met Ronny in Denver and off to Estes Park we went!

This was the next day, it was so cool!
Our view from our cottage!
Henry ready to go sledding!

Jayce and I sledding!
Henry & John having a blast!

Okay, we need to pause for a second, this one is for you Tarrah! ;) So, early Saturday morning I am awakened by that terrible nauseated feeling, the next thing I know I am sick for the next 3 hours. By the time everyone woke from their slumber, I had nothing left in me. I say food poisoning, they say altitude sickness; we will never really know, I believe it was a combination. I was DETERMINED to have fun, so 11,000 feet later I am trying to sled and climb the hill, it got the better of me and I decided I needed to lay down, so I did. Tarrah thought it would be fun to capture the moment, too bad she made me look like I have no head!! Some old lady gave me some dramamine (man I was glad it was dramamine, because I did not even hesitate!) and prayed over me and by the next day I was as good as new, but it was rough and I was soooo worried I was going to be sick the entire time!

Henry made the comment "Man! I could live here!" Now that I am home and it is 80 and muggy, I am starting to agree with him!

That evening it started really snowing, what an amazing scene!


The boys! What a motley crew!! Jayce is like a flashback from the 80s! The sun glasses are a whole other story!
I love this picture of Henry and Kyle, this is about the age that Tarrah and I met and we became friends for life!!
Our view the next morning!
With me feeling better, lots of water, and dramamine, I was ready for some sledding. I have to admit that brought the kid out in me, I had so much fun, I am ready for the next trip!

Where is Jayce you may be asking yourself?? He freaked when he saw the snow the next day, Aunt Tarrah was kind enough to watch the little rascal in the warming hut! This is one in a sequence of pictures that Tarrah took, there was a family in the warming hut eating and Jayce was making his way closer to them. He has the same look in every picture, he is just in a different position. (Can I have some please??)

Family snow picture!
We finally got Jayce to wear his beanie!

We decided to stay one more day in CO, Tarrah and family live in Colorado Springs, she took us sight seeing. First stop: Garden of the Gods. This is an amazing place and there were tons of pictures, I picked the best for the blog!

I love this picture of the 3 boys!
Jayce found his shadow! It was amusing!

Then, we went to a park so the kiddos could burn some energy!
Who knew after all these years, we would be taking this picture! I love you Tarrah, you are my oldest friend and I am so grateful that we still keep in touch. It was so neat to spend this time with you and your family. Here is to many more years!!

After we left CO, the trip got a bit chaotic, I think Jayce was sick and tired of being in a car and not being home with his stuff. We made it to Santa Fe, NM then went to Lubbock by that morning, Jayce melted down and we drove 10 hours straight home!! These were the best pictures after that!

Somewhere in NM!

This pretty much sums up NM for us!

Hello home!!!!


It was a wonderful trip and I am so thankful that all went smoothly. Thanks again to the Brown Family for taking us around CO and giving us the full experience. Can't wait to see what we do on vaca #2!! Ha!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Wanted: Henry Allen Bente

FOR: Grand Theft Auto
LAST SEEN: 2/26/11
REWARD: 1 Million Dollars

Henry had a project this weekend where he had to make a wanted poster since they were learning about cowboys, etc. I know it is not very cowboyish, but this is how we roll in the Bente household.We mohawked his hair and put him in a leather jacket and boots and headed outside for a photo shoot. I told him to look "tough", this is what I got.

I love this one!
He is really my little softy...
"Stealing Mom's Ride"
Outlaw, his partner in crime!
This is the start of his project for school:

I think I am having more fun than Henry is. ;) The pictures turned out so cute tough, I had to share. Have a nice weekend. XOXO


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Working in the Yard:

We have been laying low saving $$ for our trip in a couple weeks, this past weekend, it was yard time. Henry has so much fun because John lets him drive the lawn mower while John rakes leaves into the trailer.


Jayce became distracted fairly quickly...
Then he found the saw dust from the tree Daddy and Pa-Pa just cut down and decided that Outlaw needed a bath in the saw dust...
Henry stayed focused on the task at hand...
Jayce then felt that Pa-Pa needed a sawdust bath...
But Pa-Pa was surprisingly quick, so Outlaw got the worse of it.

Awww, the joys of boys!!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Time Together

Our unexpected snow ice day, turned into a family day that was full of fun. After convincing John there was no way he was going to work, we settled into doing odds and ends around the house. We played Go Fish, Wii, baked brownies,coloring, played in the ice, and even went and did our taxes,  that was a whole lot of fun with all four of us in the cubicle...Though the weather is nice today, we are in chill mode, John went to rent some movies and get some snacks, and we are here lounging around. *sigh*, I love these days.

{Henry testing out his CO jacket and boots}
{Jayce and Daddy looking around}
{Ice with snow flecks on the base of the tree}
{"Snowball"}
{The boys showing off their masterpiece (your going to need a magnify glass}
{Jayce testing his snow suit & boots}
{Ready to get out of the house for a bit}
{Me & my boys!}
John is on his way home and we are going to have an afternoon full of movies and homemade chili!!! Stay warm and we will blog soon. XOXO

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

I slacked off...

I did not realize I have been so busy until I slowed down and thought of things I needed to do. I cannot believe it has been weeks since I have blogged, maybe that is why I feel slightly off today. I went to my camera and only had a few new pictures, nothing huge to blog, so I went to my phone and I found a few pictures that are sharable. I hope everyone is staying warm in this weather, I love this weather, I would just rather be at home...

We have been preparing for our trip in March...
Henry wanted sunglasses for the trip
Then, of course, so did Jayce!
Finally with some doubt, they are ready for the cold at a decent price!!
We were able to borrow Jayce's outfit! He has boots too, that once on, he is hard to convince to take them off!

Sorry about the quality of pictures, but it is all I have to work with. If you have time, check out the link bar at the top of the blog. It is labeled: Home, Dear Henry, Dear Jayce, and Whatcha Cookin'. These are pages I have added to the blog. The first two are running letters to the boys, something I have always wanted to do, but could not figure out what worked for me, I figured it out. The other is some recipes I have tried that is kid/hubby friendly and helps me achieve the goal of getting some good food into the picky eaters, John is included in that category. Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures worth sharing next week. Until then, have a nice week and stay warm peeps!
XOXO