ACL Knee Reconstruciton

On last Thursday Benton had his knee operated on. He tore his ACL back in December playing basketball, it's such a dangerous sport! We went to the IHC hospital in Murray and arrived at 9:30am. My sister Chelsie and her little boy came to hang out with us around 11am. Benton didn't even get into surgery till about 1pm. I was glad Chelsie and Spencer came down to keep me company, we just hung out and ate at the hospital's cafeteria. Benton's surgery went really well and he got out at 3pm. The doctor said his ACL was torn and he had arthritis in his knee. He has to be in bed for 5 days with a cooler hooked up to his knee. The cooler is actually pretty cool, this way you just fill it up with ice/cold water and plug it into the wall for it to circulate the cold water, they use the cooler instead of an icepack now. It's kinda noisy, so it took some time getting use to it. Here is Benton right after surgery, he made me laugh when he was coming out of his anesthesia, he was talking nonsense.

Here is his leg hooked up to the cooler...

and of course Roxy by his side at all times...

He should recover in about 4-6 months, I know he'll push himself to get better as soon as he can. His doctor told him he could golf in 6 weeks, which he is thrilled about. Love you Benton!

Welcome Reid!

We're so excited to have a new little guy into our lives! On March 24th my sister Karly and her hubby Nick welcomed their 2nd son into the world, Reid Hewson Hodge. He was 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long, and he even came a week early. Benton and I were sad we couldn't be there with them, but hope to go see them this year! We love you guys, congratualtions! Jackie will be such a good older brother. Here are some photos...

TriP tO VeRnaL

Stephanie and I made a trip out to Vernal to buy my bike. Her hubby Tim found me a realy good deal on a road bike from his friend who owns a bike shop in Vernal. We left on Friday to get a head start. We had tons of fun, talking, singing, telling stories, and eating. Here we are overlooking Strawberry Reservoir, it's still frozen.

We stopped in a town called Miton to get a bite to eat for dinner. It was really strange, while we were eating I was telling Steph how surprised I was that it was still light at 8:20pm, we pondered on that thought and continued eating, about 10 minutes later Steph said "It's not 8:30 it's 7:30." For some crazy reason my phone changed time zones only in the town of Miton...kinda strange.
Here we are being crazy!!!


Saturday morning we went to Attitude Cycle, and bought my bike. Yay!!! I'm so excited, I can't believe I finally have one of my own! Steph and I stopped in Park City to go to Pearl Izumi to get some cycling clothing. Here we are in Park City.

Once we got home we changed into our clothes and hopped on our bike to go on a 20 mile bike ride. It was super windy, but we had a lot of fun.
Here I am with my new bike, it's a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 5 Compact, I love it!

Steph and I right before our ride.

I had such a good time going to Vernal with Steph, and know how hard it was for her to leave her baby Gracie, but I really enjoyed our time together. Also, thanks Tim for giving up Steph and being so willing to watch Gracie overnight and all day Saturday!

I have the BEST friends!

So today for my birthday (I know it was about a month ago)I went out to lunch and dinner with some friends. We always celebrate our birthdays together by going out to eat, I love food! My friends Kalene, Mandee and I went to Doolittle's in Ogden for lunch. We had a great time talking and catching up. I have known both of them for 5 years now, we worked together and have stayed good friends ever since even though we don't work together anymore (we are still all at America First, just different locations). I pretty much forced them to get this picture, since we don't have one with all 3 of us, so here we are.

After work I met up with some other America First friends, we've all known each other for about 8 years. We ate out at Chili's, it had been a while since all 3 of us had gotten together. Both of them have kids and are no longer at America First, so I love hearing about what they've got going on at home, lucky ducks!

After dinner I dropped Megan off at her house, I had to put this picture on here, because her little girl Ellie is so cute, she looks like a doll!

I just want to say, how much I love all of my friends and how well they treat me. I'm so glad I have worked at America First for all these years, because of how many great friends I have made, they are the BEST!

Shingles!!!!

Last Tuesday Benton woke up with a rash, I of course played it off as no big deal. When he gets stressed out he always gets a mouth full of cankers and once in a blue moon a rash. So I told him not to worry about it, but as the morning went by the rash started to spread. He ended up going to 2 different doctors and found out he did indeed have the shingles. I've never had the shingles, but they are suppose to be really painful. They are the adult version of the chicken pox. They say you can get them from stress or if your immune system goes down for a few days the virus could come out. He was suppose to get surgery on his torn ACL last Thursday, he was stressed out about working his 2 jobs, going to school full time and then having a big surgery on his knee. Since he has shingles they couldn't operate, so he has to wait till he gets better. It really sucks because he can't go around people, especially kids and pregnant women. So pretty much he just has to stay inside. Also we can't sleep in the same bed and he can't touch me either. I hope he gets better really soon, I miss hugging and kissing him.

I'm 26 years old!!!

A week ago I turned 26! I think this will be an exceptionally good year and am excited to be 26 years old. On Presidents Day, Benton and I went and celebrated by birthday by going to the Gateway and we ate at the Sky Box. They have the best nachos, and if you know me, I love nachos.

So since my birthday was on a Wednesday I didn't do anything too special. I worked and was able to go to my X-biking class which I really enjoy!
Benton sent me orchids while I was at work, aren't they pretty?

All in all it was a fun day and am really looking forward to this year!

Happy Birthday Chelsie

Today is my cute little sisters birthday! We are now officially 1 year apart, she is 24 and I am 25 for just 9 days. Every year she brings that up to me, tradition I guess. Any who, I just wanted to express my love for my sister Chelsie. Growing up we had our moments of hating each other and as we have matured we have gotten over that period of our lives, thank goodness! Chelsie is one of my best friends, let me just tell you how great she is if you don't already know for yourself. Chelsie is one of the most caring people that I know, she always is thinking of others before herself. She loves being a mom and a wife, I never hear her complain-she has it all. Chelsie is a very lovey person, she is so interested in others and you can tell she really is sincere when she talks to you. I know I can trust Chelsie with anything. She is always there for you, if you are struggling she genuinely will try to help make things better. She doesn't judge you and is very understanding. I don't know what I would do without her in my life. I am so greatful that my parents had us 4 kids, I love all my siblings very much and hope they all know that. Chelsie I hope you have a fantastic birthday, you deserve it. I love you very much!

Birthday Celebrations!

Chelsie came up for our weekly Friday girls night. Since it's both of our birthday's this month, we decided to go out to dinner and celebrate! We all ended up going to Gabor Bros in Layton after Taylor was done working. Here are some pictures from dinner...


Here's Spencer leaning in for a kiss, he just learned how and it is so cute!

After dinner we came back to our house, so we could watch the Jazz Game. Before that got started I danced with Spencer, aren't we a cute couple.

It was a great night, I love spending time with them and loved celebrating our birthdays together. Spencer fell asleep while I was holding him, and he got a little hot, so I gave him a new hair do, he is the cuttest thing ever! Love you guys!

Superbowl Sunday

Yesterday we went to Benton's moms house for Superbowl Sunday. We had so much fun. Linda made a bunch of yummy snacks. We enjoyed all watching the Superbowl together and just talking. Normally I fall asleep, but this game was a nail bitter. I wanted Arizonia to win, since they never had, but that didn't happen...oh well. Here is my lovely mother in law, Linda and myself...

Whenever Roxy is around her brother, she cannot leave him alone, he is the only dog she loves, we think they know they are related. Here are the crazy dogs...they actually are calm here.

My good friend Cortney

Since Benton went out of town, I decided to go visit my good friend Cortney. We work together, but she is off for maternity leave. I really talking to her at work, so I went to her house! She looks awesome, I'm so happy for her and her family. Here are some cute pictures during my visit.