A Benny Update.

 Remember this little dude?

He ain't so little anymore.

Benny has doubled in size in four weeks. He now weighs a whopping 20 pounds.

I can't even believe it!

Here's some pictures documenting Benny's climb from infant to toddler.

Ever seen a more adorable little nose?!

He still loves taking naps and sleeps quite a bit throughout the day.

 He continues to take said naps in the most awkward positions.

He has turned into quite a little acrobat and loves to play rough with his Daddy.

Well rather with his Daddy's leg hair.

This picture shows his incredibly cute head-tilt that he does when he is curious about something.

We can't help but laugh at him when he cocks his head to the side!

Speaking of being curious, Benny out-smarted us one night and learned how to 

climb up the side of his little play pen gate and escaped. 

So we have had to resort to keeping Benny in the guest bathroom while we are at work during the day.

Needless to say, he wasn't too thrilled.

(That's a shredded pee pad. A shredded peed on pee pad.)

He also has learned to climb up his crate. 

The other day we came home and he had pushed his crate over to the cabinets, climbed it, 

and was hanging out on the counter, waiting for us to get home.

He is WAY too smart.

He is so smart, in fact, that he likes to watch documentaries on Netflix in his spare time.

He is quite a playful little buddy.

He loves to wrestle and chew on his sister Bailey.

He also loves to run around the backyard as fast as he can, chasing Uncle Brandon and trying to eat him. 

He is now big enough that he can eat an entire small-sized rawhide in one sitting.

This is his usual position when doing so. 

Our big guy continues to be super loving and playful.

Every day when I'm making dinner, Benny comes and wedges himself between my legs and the counter and lays on top of my toes. It's his favorite spot in the house. While it's super inconvenient for him to lay on my toes while I am trying to get things done all over the kitchen, I can't help but adore the fact that he loves to be near me!

Our cute dude is getting so big!

Stud muffin.

Old Fart.

Well my cute hubby turned 25 last Friday.

He's growing up so fast.

This year we realized that DJ is half way through his twenties, five years away from being 30.

Then we realized that I am still a decade away from being 30. 

And we awkwardly looked at one another and I assured him that he really isn't a cradle robber.

.......**crickets**.......

He's the Old Fart and I'm his Kid Wife.
But we're cute so who cares.

To celebrate DJ's leap into Old Fart-hoodom, we drove to the cabin on Friday afternoon after work.
Just me, him and Benny.

This is the cute puppy monster snuggled in my lap on the way to the cabin:


He doesn't really like car rides, so instead of coping with his emotions like a big boy
he just falls asleep whenever we drive anywhere with him.
Although I am a believer in facing your fears and giving them a round-house kick in the rear, I cherish Benny's car-ride sleepiness because it's the only time our snuggles aren't forced.
Isn't he absolutely a peach?
Too bad he also happens to be a very, very small terrorist who loves trying to eat people.

We arrived at the cabin around 8:00PM and for the first time in a couple of weeks we did nothing.
It was heavenly.
DJ cleaned his guns, I did a word search, Benny munched on a rawhide.
 No plans, no pressure, just relaxation.

This trip was Benny's first to the cabin.
I'd say, overall, he had a blast! DJ and I sure had fun watching him explore.
We threw him in the water at the Blue Hole and for a second we weren't sure if he was going to come back up. DJ was ready to jump in after him when he finally surfaced and swam back to the shore.
A little while later, after we had hiked a bit more, we went back to the Blue Hole and DJ jumped in with Benny. DJ pretended that the water felt great and totally convinced me to jump in with my clothes on, too.
Ya, it was freezing.
I totally understood why all Benny wanted to do was get out.
For the first time ever I actually found it difficult to breathe in the water because it was so cold.
That was a little bit scary but thankfully I didn't panic and was able to get out of the water.
Benny did NOT appreciate being tossed in the water against his will twice. We learned this when we passed some other hikers going the opposite way on the trail back to the cabin and Benny made it abundantly clear that he would rather stay with them than with us. We sort of felt bad, but at the same time we were really excited that he knew how to swim. Also he looks pathetically cute when he is wet, so dunking him in the water was totally worth it.
This picture isn't from the cabin but it captures just how pitiful Benny looks when wet:

Melts your heart, huh?

Well we came home from the cabin on Saturday afternoon and spent some time with friends later that evening. Sunday came and went, but on Monday we did something really really cool.

As a birthday present, I bought DJ concert tickets to one of our favorite bands, Imagine Dragons!
The show was AMAZING, like I can't even stress that enough.
It was my first concert (DJ's, like, bazillionth concert), and it was such an awesome experience.
The band is super talented and they create incredible, unique music. I really appreciate that they create that amazing music and leave all the unnecessary profanity out of their songs. I have pretty thick ears, but I respect them more because they maintained their standards on stage, unlike most other popular bands.
They did a great job connecting with the audience, and I think that DJ and I had a ton of fun.
I would totally pay to see them again.

So that was the birthday weekend for my Old Fart.
He truly is the greatest blessing in my life.
He's my biggest fan, and I truly believe that I could not face many of my trials without him.
I don't think I could walk through this life or the next with a better man by my side.
I'm so lucky that he is mine forever, and I wouldn't trade a single day with him for 100 years the other way.
He's my main squeeze, my home-skillet biscuit.
I love you, Dougy.

Benny.

DJ has four sisters, and is the only son in his family.

When his mom was pregnant with their last baby, 

DJ's parents told him that if this baby was a boy, he would get to have a little brother, 

but if it was a girl, they would buy him a puppy friend. 

Well, due to many unforeseen circumstances, 7 years have passed and still no puppy.

Until now!

Basically I am the best wife ever and arranged to adopt this little buddy to celebrate DJ's graduation!

Meet Benjamin Franklin "Benny" Odom, our new little lover boy!

We can't even handle how adorable he is. 

He is a 6 week old Border Collie/Labrador mix.

We were given him for free from some great friends up in Snowflake.

He is unbelievably patient (which will be great when we have kids), 

but is super playful and energetic at the same time.

He is still getting used to being away from his litter mates, 

so nighttime has been challenging the last few nights. 

Fortunately, we brought two of his sisters back to the valley with us, 

and one of them is with DJ's parents, so he has friends to play with. 

He is such a peach and watching DJ interact with him is the cutest thing I have ever seen. 

Like major swoon.

I love my boys!

This is Benny with his two sisters that came back to the valley with us,

 Callie (the fluffy grey beauty on top) and Bailey (the sweet fatty on the left).

We had a three hour drive with three pups. Talk about an adventure!

They all did so good on the ride home, they mostly snuggled up with each other and napped. 

Baby Benny's favorite thing to do is nap.

When he is all finished playing, he will curl up wherever he wants and it's about impossible to wake him up.

He's such a snuggle bug, he loves to lay chest to chest with his nose nuzzled up in your neck.

We love our little guy and we couldn't have gotten a sweeter puppy!

Welcome home Benny!