Benson's 9th Birthday

Benson LOVES Banana Bread so this year he asked for a banana break cake instead of a birthday cake(: Fine by Me! I love this stuff almost as much as he does. 

Benson is someone that is pretty easy to please. He is always happy with what you give him and even if it's not Lego's you can expect a big hug. He had really been wanting a Gnome to add to our yard this year. I couldn't believe when Beetle sent me a pic of this one and said "found him a Gnome!" Wal-Mart of all places.

 Beetle was pretty excited to add a can crusher to his gifts. Benson collects soda cans at the Smart Family gatherings and takes them to recycling. The can crusher is saving our shed a lot of space. I'm pleased to report that Benson just earned $13.00 at the recycling center last week from collecting cans since April. It really motivated him to keep up with can crushing.

Benson was MORE than pleased to receive Rachel and Danny's Birthday Gift! He loves little Caesars Pizza. 

         Benson Loves his Grandparents and loves to give them hugs.

              I love it. 

Charlie Farley is always up for a party!

 Benson also graduated from a wolf to a bear in cub scouts!

We were lucky to have Tater here visiting for the special ceremony.

Such a fun week! We Love You Benson.

Beetle's Tree House Slide

Beetles tree house slide project began early spring of 2013. We had been shopping for slides for about a month and when we saw how much brand new slides were we decided to look on ksl for a used one. Beetle called me and said he found a really good deal. "It's kinda big but its only one hundred bucks." "How big?" I asked. "Well I think we will need Palameno Thunder (Danny's truck) to transport it." I told him we should keep shopping around. He convinced me that we weren't going to get a better deal and he was on his way to pick it up.

 I am really sad I didn't get a pic of Beetle pulling up in palameno with the slide hanging half way out of the bed of the truck. I couldn't believe he made it from Riverton to Orem on the FREEWAY with out getting pulled over. It did not look safe!

                                              Rangi chose a good weekend to be in town.

                   
                           This slide would still be in the driveway if it weren't for Danny and Rangi.

                                                                 
                                                                       And Myself(;
                                                                     

 Beetle had worked so hard building our fence, I was worried they would have to take it apart to get the slide in the back yard.

   Nope! These three lifted it over the fence, or should I say threw it over the fence! I was pretty impressed.

                                             
                                                 Beetle went to work building the tree house.

            With a pretty cute little helper! I cant even believe how little Simon looks in these pictures.

                                                   This is the first floor of the tree house.

               
                            The next phase was another phase we couldn't believe worked out so well.

 Beetle and I were both crossing our fingers this would work out. It wasn't looking good for a while.

Ricker, Roman and Danny were there to help for this phase. Ricker was so proud of the good deal Beetle got on this slide. "Can you believe you got a twelve hundred dollar slide for a hundred bucks?! Your kids are gonna have so much fun on this slide!"

Dang, we miss him! I hope he knows how much we miss him. He was so much fun to have around especially with projects like this. He knows so much about doing any project and any time Beetle starts one he is telling me he wishes his Dad was here to talk to him about it.  Beetle is so handy and I know it is because of Ricker.

                                                                  The slide is up!

                                                     Ricker was right, our kids do love it!

  and so do our neighbor kids(:

and cute Pearl Girl

                                               Part 2 of the tree house coming soon (I hope)