WEST FAMILY ADVENTURES

Little Bambino turns 6 months old!!

2010-05-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that Graham is already 6 months old.

It seems like yesterday that we were at the

hospital for only 18 minutes before he arrived.

(That was awesome by the way)

He is an extremely happy baby.

That is the first thing that everyone always says about him.

He has huge dimples.

I cannot get enough of them.

Seriously.

He loves Benson and is always laughing at him.

He can roll over both ways.

Has been sitting up for almost a month now.

Sleeps...occasionally. We are working on that one.

(Both the boys have had croup twice this month)

Started rice cereal this week and LOVES it.

I can't believe how well he eats from a spoon.

He is a big baby.

His 6 month stats...

Height: 28 inches (95%)

Weight: 17 lbs.

The kid is huge.

Happy 6 month birthday!!!

We love you kiddo!!!

What was I thinking??!!!

2010-02-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

Preparing for our race. We didn't get the memo for gloves, hats, water bottles, etc.

I look too excited to be going on a race...Kent...well, he's Kent.

This year I thought it would be fun to do a
5K Cross Country Ski Race at the Winter Festival.
Come on. Really Anna?Me again, excited. Kent trying to tell me our game plan.
But I didn't want to do it alone
so the hubster said that he would tag along with me. Practicing.In other words, trying to remember how to X-C ski.:)
He literally tagged along with me.
First of all, I was already dehydrated,
and I only had 4 bites of my granola and yogurt
before we had to go stand in line for the race.
As soon as we started, I could tell that
my boots were rubbing
and that I was extremely thirsty.
Running a 5K is one thing
but cross country skiing one...
especially when you haven't been in a few years. :) Almost to the FINISH!!!
I had a great time out there with Kent though
and he's a stud for going and hanging out with me.
When we got back to the hotel,
I tried showering but I was in pain.
I got two huge blisters that were already worn off.
The picture doesn't even do them justice.
Thanks again race!!Ouch!!!
After the race, we packed the car ASAP
and had lunch so that we could get on the road.
Kent and I were also both dehydrated
because we had severe headaches
and I was nauseous. We headed back through Zion and went on to Primm
where we got to use our CDL's
to get our hotel for $14.95.
That's right. $14.95!!!!
Booyah!!!!
Another advantage for driving buses in Alaska.What a great day and weekend in Bryce!!

Snoeshoeing. It can be romantic when you bring your kids...right?!!

2010-02-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

(Graham- chillin in the hotel before church)

We started the day out by going to church in Tropic.

If you have never been to church here,
it should definitely be on your bucket list.
After church, a man that had beads in his beard
left the church parking lot on his decked out four-wheeler.
A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!
I am still trying to convince Kent
that we should we move here.When we got back, we decided to go snow shoeing to
Paria View.(Graham slept the entire time...and I definitely did not get cold!!)
It was beautiful with all of the snow.(Kent would toss Benson in the air and he would get stuck
in the snow when he landed. All he could keep saying
between his laughs was "Again...Again...")
We went with Jeff and Colleen since Shane and Joanna
decided that they weren't leaving the hotel that day.
Can't blame them.
Grandma had both of their kids for the entire weekend.(Benson struggling to climb up this hill...kinda funny to watch)
I tried to take Benson to the pool that night,
but we both froze once we got in.
The poor kid was shivering and could barely talk
but didn't want to get out. Crazy kid:)
Oh yeah...and Happy Valentines Day honey!!

Hiking Navajo Loop Trail

2010-02-13T23:43:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of pics on this one...I had too many to choose from.
We decided to hike Navajo Loop trail this morning.
It starts out as a series of switchbacks
which drop 520' in less than a mile.With all of the snow and babies in tow,
it was a lot of fun trying to
navigate down this area.
Some chose to slide down the snow even,
Kent and Shane to name a few.And yes. Benson is still inside the carrier.
The sky was amazingly blue against
the snow and the red rock.It felt so good to be out with everyone hiking.Of course, there was a lot of laughter
with the Wests and Vests.The hike was great until we had to
pack our kids out of the canyon as well.
I felt like I had an extra 200lbs.
on me while I was sitting in a furnace.At least I had Graham. Sorry hun.
You get the bigger kid. We came back later
in the afternoon so that Colleen
could go teach her western dance class
for the first time at the Winter Festival.There was a huge turnout and everyone
was raving about it.
Of course they would though.
Colleen's fantastic!!
Then it was off to bed with the kiddos for us.

St. George, Zion, and ... BRYCE CANYON!!

2010-02-12T10:02:00.000-08:00

We arrived in St. George and visited

with Kent's mom for awhile. This morning we ate at
Twentyfive Main.
Our 2nd time...amazing...delicious...could not ask for more.
We only have 2.5 hours of driving today to get to Bryce.
So we decided to go the scenic route.Then off to Zion National Park. In the winter.Park is still the same. Just in case you were wondering.
We drove through the east entrance where all the snow was.
Completely different from the scorching
hot weather that usually accompanies
us in Zion. Bryce Canyon was only
1.5 hours from Zion so that was a quick trip.
We arrived in Bryce with lots of snow.Can you guess who loved it??!!!(Benson would laugh so hard every time Kent
landed on the snow next to him. Probably my favorite pic of the day.)
That means our winter festival would be a
winter festival after all.
The boys were definitely excited to stretch their legs.
They were both amazing as usual in the car.
How did we get so lucky to have 2 laid back kids?We met up with Kent's parents and sister Jessica
to go watch the sunset at
Sunset Point.It was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L with all the snow.
Shane and Joanna Vest (Kent went to school with him in Hawaii)
showed up that evening. It is always a good time with them.
We sat around and talked for while before
we were off to bed to get some rest
for our weekend in Bryce Canyon.

Bryce Canyon...Here we come!!

2010-02-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

We are starting our 10.5 hour journey to go to
Bryce Canyon
for the Winter Festival that they have there every year.
Kent has been going since he was young
and I started when we were dating.
You start to recognize the same people every year
so it may seem like an over sized family reunion.
Kent is working in the car today
and we will drive to St. George.

Another road trip under our belt!! Whoooeeee.
Bryce...Here come the Wests!!!

Boys are great!!

2010-02-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

So last week Benson sang his first song to Graham last Tuesday, January 26. It went something like this.

"Itsy, itsy, itsy... down, down, WASHED... sun, itsy, itsy"
LOVED IT!!!

Benson also said his first prayer all by himself at lunch last Wednesday, January 27.
It went something like this.

"Father,
thank you...dad, mom, bam (that is Graham)
Jesus,..Amen"

He was so excited that he said it all by himself. I was too.
Graham is still smiling like crazy and getting better
holding his neck up. Whenever he sees Benson,
he will just watch and smile at him
the ENTIRE time. It is so cute to watch them.

La Jolla Big Waves

2010-01-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

Kent woke up this morning at 6:30 to get

some pictures of the big waves. He came back and said
that they were huge. We all went back in
the afternoon to watch the waves. They were a lot

bigger than last week. It was amazing to see
them so close and to watch the crazy surfers riding them.
I wouldn't even stick a toe in the water.
We love living so close to the water so that we can
go do things like this anytime we want.

Life is great!!!

Cabrillo National Monument

2010-01-16T15:56:00.000-08:00

Another day out with family and friends. It took us awhile to get in touch with the Boggs. They turn their phones off now on Saturday mornings because we always call them early to go do something with us. Our first attempt was only at 8:00 a.m. so I don't know why they turn their phones off. :) They ended up coming with us along with Ryan and Jen Sumner and their son, Sean.
We went down to the tide pools first to play a bit. Benson and Sean threw a ton of rocks into the water, along with Kent, Ryan, and big Sean. They had a great time of course. We were also able to see and touch some sea anemones. A little freaky I think.
Then Kent and Sean decided that they needed to go over to the secluded beach. So in between sets, they ran threw the water and made it with only getting partially wet.
We went on over to the other side of Cabrillo to go for a short hike. We couldn't stay too long because we all had to get back for the Saturday session of Stake conference, which was amazing!! What another great day we have had together.

Big Waves & Organic Dudes

2010-01-14T14:56:00.000-08:00

The kids and I went to the beach this past Monday. The waves were big so Kent has been checking the surf reports since. There were some waves yesterday that were up to 28' high. So we decided that we better go check them out. We arrived a little after high tide, but we were seeing waves between 19'-23'. Amazing. The waves were crashing over the O.B. Pier.
Of course being in Ocean Beach (O.B.), you always get the fun crowd. As we were walking past this group they pulled out a huge bag of weed. I quickly turned my head and Kent of course looked a little longer. The guy just looked at Kent and said "Don't panic, it's organic." Huh??!! I guess since it is organic weed, it makes it all okay. This is also at 9 in the morning. They are CRAZY!! At least they made it on our blog.

Sailing

2010-01-11T17:23:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, we went sailing with our good friends, Darrell (a.k.a. 'Papa D') and Wendy Peck, along with their son Jamon. We love hanging out with them because we always have a good time. They are also Benson and Graham's surrogate grandparents since they don't have any here. :(
On our way out, we saw several dolphins. We went all the way to the Coronado Islands, off of the Baja coast to look for whales. We didn't see any but we still had a lot of fun. The first time Graham went sailing he was only 3 weeks old. This was his second time. Benson has been sailing for over a year now and loves it. This was the first time he got to stand behind the wheel though. Doesn't he make a great captain. Then to end a great day, we watched this amazing sunset near downtown. A day like today is why we live in San Diego.

the boys

2010-01-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

Benson just turned 2 and Graham is 2 months old. We are loving every minute of it!!!!!

Kent goes to D.C.

2009-08-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

It has been nice seeing Kent on the weekends. Benson is sooooo excited to see his dad when we pick him up from the airport. He almost doesn't know what to do. This weekend though, Kent went to visit Neal and Hannah out in Washington D.C. It was also the same weekend of Ted Kennedy's funeral so they were able to see that. He had a blast so thank you Neal and Hannah for letting him crash with you guys.

Our life...

2009-08-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

On August 1 we moved into our new apartment. It is only a block from the San Diego Temple so we are excited about that. Then on August 4, Kent came home from work and told me that he had to go to Detroit to work on the GM bankruptcy for 2 months. So instead of unpacking all of our stuff, we packed our suitcases and drove to Utah on August 7. Kent flew to Detroit and Benson and I drove to Idaho to surprise my grandpa for his 80th birthday. That was awesome. He didn't even know what to say. So for two months, Benson and I will be staying here in Idaho and visiting Utah to see family there as well. Kent gets to fly back on the weekends or we can fly out there so at least we get to see each other which will make time go by faster.

ROAD TRIP !!!

2009-07-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Our road trip is going to be posted chronologically. So feel free to read if you want but it may be long. We never had a plan to start with so we didn't know where we were going to be from day to day. That doesn't sound like us :)
June 27, 2009---Today we started our 2 week long roadtrip up the west coast. All I have to say about the long drive was BORING. We woke up early that morning and drove from San Diego up to Santa Rosa, CA. We arrived around 8 or so and visited with everyone. It is great to see family and to see how the little ones have changed.
June 28, 2009---The next day was Sunday so we went to church with all of them and then came home and had a BBQ. Kent's cousin Ryan and his wife Cazra came over as well with their two children, Ava and Teegan. Benson and Ava played in the pool together that afternoon and had a blast. Ava kept pulling up her grandpa Ron's flowers out of the ground so hopefully Benson put that idea into his short term memory. I hope.:) Kent also took pictures of Teegan for a birth announcement and Teegan peed on Kent. That was awesome.

ROAD TRIP

2009-07-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

June 29, 2009---Well we have officially started the roadtrip by camping the rest of the way. We left Santa Rosa,CA around 11:00am and headed to the Humboldt Redwoods. We saw a lot of vineyards and redwood trees along the way. When Kent was 13, he came to California to go to scout camp with his cousin Ryan. They went to camp Navarro which we were able to pass through. We even found the rope swing that they played on when they were there and picked a few berries. We then drove along the coast for awhile as well which was beautiful. It reminded us a lot of our trip last year to Big Sur. It was a day full of sightseeing and around 7:00 that night we decided that we needed to find a place to camp. So we stayed in Myers Flat. It was our nicest camping spot the entire time. We tried going for a bike ride but we only made it 2 spots down the hill from ours. We were laughing so hard at who knows what and decided that we would not make it back if we tried riding to the river. So we turned around and I had to run my bike up the hill because I was laughing at Kent trying to make it up the hill with Benson. Good times.

June 30, 2009--- We made a good breakfast this morning and started on the road to finish California. Driving through the redwoods that morning was amazing. The sun's rays that would peep through every so often was a sight to see because the forest is so thick. We made a lunch break at this lake outside of Orick,CA where Benson was able to play in the water for awhile. The lake was on one side and the ocean was on the other side of the sand barrier. We saw some Roosevelt Elk along the way to the Jedediah Redwoods, which is also where they filmed part of Star Wars. Who knew? We camped there and went swimming in the Smith River. Benson had a blast of course throwing rocks in the river. It was surprisingly really warm since it was shallow in most parts and it had been a really hot afternoon. That night we had the crazy redneck family next to us. They had a baby in their carseat sitting right next to the fire and they were just weird.

ROAD TRIP

2009-07-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

July 1, 2009- We knew today was going to be a fun day. We had heard so much about Crater Lake in Oregon and we were finally going to see it. We drove through the rest of the redwoods which led us into Oregon. Right across the border we kept seeing signs for a world famous cat exhibit. When we were driving past, there was just a fence around a dirt baseball diamond. WOW! World famous. Then we stopped because being pregnant you take every chance you can get to go to the bathroom. Check out the fly on top of the bathroom along with the massive fly swatter for the little key. What a nice welcome to Oregon. We continued on to Crater Lake. There was still a lot of snow up there but the weather was perfect. We could not believe how beautiful it was. The mosquitoe population was just as intense as the blue of the water. We hiked around for awhile but Kent had bites all over that looked like little welts. So we called it a day and went to go find a place to camp. You can camp anywhere in a National Forest so we just kept pulling over trying to find a good place. The problem one may ask...mosquitoes had multiplied and replenished where we had been looking. We finally found one after awhile but wouldn't let Benson get out of the car. Trying to cook our chili dogs, which we thought would be fast, seemed like an eternity. I put our drinks in the car to grab plates and get back in real fast but Benson allready had taken a drink of the grape juice and the cup didn't make it all the way back in the cup holder. When Kent got in the car as fast as he could since he had even more bites now, he turned the car on, and a bag of all our stuff went flying all over the ground. Benson had turned on the wipers while sitting in the car. We never did finish dinner because we were laughing and going crazy over the mosquitoes. Chemult,OR...never again.

July 2, 2009- We woke up with surprisingly no mosquitoes but still decided to pack fast to avoid a problem later. Bathing with a tub of warm water was interesting to say the least. We drove past Mt. Hood, OR to get a glimpse of another volcano and ate lunch at a park off the side of the road. Benson had a great time. We then made our way to the Columbia River Gorge. Definitely made it to our top 10. There were a lot of waterfalls in that area so we went on a few small hikes then made our way up the 17 miles of winding road for another hike to see 5 volcanoes at once. They are Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, and Mt. Rainier in Washington. In Oregon, they are Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson. We were actually able to see all 5 because the weather was perfect. Finding a camping spot near Vancouver and Portland was going to be hard so we decided to try Paradise Point State Park. We got there 5 minutes before they closed and they had a primitive site available which is exactly what we wanted.

ROAD TRIP

2009-07-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

July 3, 2009- Since we missed the Oregon coast we decided to try driving along the Washington coast. We added 6 hours of driving to get to Olympic National Park and we only saw the coast for literally a mile or so. Along this stretch of road there were a lot of salmonberries and huckelberries though. They were good. We went on a hike in the Hoh rainforest. There was a lot of moss growing down from everything. Then we set off to find our camping spot for that night. We tried several spots but they were all full since it was the day before the 4th of July. So, we started down our dirt back road trying to find some hidden spot. Kent tried to go up a hill in our car but the wheels were just peeling out. I laughed.

July 4, 2009- Happy 4th of July!! Where am I again? The birds woke us up at 4:30 this morning because it was allready bright outside. Dumb birds. Then, when we were packing up the tent, we noticed that there was poison oak all around. I was also not as fast as Kent on my end of the tent and when I pulled my tent pole out, I got wacked really hard in the chin. I thought for sure that there would be a bruise. Thanks Kent for laughing at your pregnant wife in pain. :) I was determined to see a parade. Mostly because of Benson...well that's what we are going to say anyways. So we hurried out of there to the next biggest town, Port Angeles. We found out that the parade didn't start until 6pm. We couldn't wait that long so we decided to go on a hike where everyone said that it looked just like the Swiss Alps. It was a 14 mile drive to Hurricane Ridge. Then we made our way to Port Townsend to catch the ferry over to Whidbey Island. On the island we saw Deception Pass, which was beautiful. Then we headed out toward North Cascades National Park. We found a spot to camp outside of Concrete, WA. It was next to a river and the only spot left. Lucky us.

ROAD TRIP

2009-07-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

July 5, 2009- To start the day off Benson took one look in his cup and dumped the entire glass of milk onto himself. Not sure what he was thinking. Then when Kent was getting his breakfast, he dumped all of his potatoes and pancakes onto the ground. Before the trip, I measured everything into bags so that we knew exactly what we had for food. So we didn't have a lot of extras. We went on to see North Cascades National Park. It is one of the least visited parks in the U.S. and one of the best in my opinion. They have a lot of glaciers, bears, hiking, etc. Everything you want to see in one trip. After spending the afternoon there, we went on to Winthrop. It was a quaint, old town so we decided to stretch our legs for a bit. Benson loved the gold mine water exhibit they had so of course he had to get wet. There were a lot of people around watching him and what does he decide to do now? He walked over to the dog bowl, looked at it, and decided to put his entire left foot in the water. Everybody laughed, including us of course. Kent had placed some of our towels and clothes on the bike rack to dry while we were walking around. When it was time to go, we forgot about them. We drove down the road a few miles when we decided to stop for a bathroom break. Wandering from store to store to find one, I finally noticed them. Surprisingly, they were all still there. We got back on the road to head towards Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. When we arrived, it was pouring down rain. There was a lot of thunder and lightning as well which scared Benson. We don't see too much of that in San Diego. To camp that night, we found a picnic shelter and put our tent up under that. Quick thinking on the husbands behalf.

July 6, 2009- Well there was a lot of wind and thunder last night and we were very surprised that Benson slept through the entire night again. Kent and I woke up a lot because of it. Glacier National Park is only about a 4 hour drive today. We have always wanted to see it and have talked about it as far as we can remember. With our maps in hand of the park, we debated what would be the best hike. So that night we went for a bike ride down to the glacier fed river, and let Benson throw rocks in it. He could have stayed all night just picking up one rock after another. We headed back to cook dinner and to make sure that nothing was left out. The campground where we stayed in the park had the most bear warning out of any of the places that we had been. It is one thing seeing them everyday in Alaska to seeing one while you are camping or hiking.

Last Day

2009-07-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

July 7, 2009- So we woke up to another beautiful day. We decided that we were going to go on a hike up to Avalanche Lake. It was 5.7 miles round-trip, but the elevation gain was only about 500 feet. Everybody said that it was a great hike so we loaded up our tent once again into the car and put Benson into his backpack. The rangers said that there were bears up this hike the day before so we just needed to make sure that we made a lot of noise. It was beautiful and not that bad of a hike being 5 months pregnant. Benson again loved throwing rocks and sticks into the water and we just enjoyed everything around us. Benson was obviously tired on the way back. The drive out to the east side of Glacier National Park was amazing. Rocky peaks and deep valleys were on every side of us. As we were driving trying to figure out our next place of rest in our tent, we decided to just keep going and drive all the way to Idaho Falls. My grandparents are amazing and stayed up until we got there around midnight. Thanks grandma and grandpa. :)

July 11, 2009- Idaho rocks! We went four wheeling up in the mountains with my family. On the way there, my dad's truck got a flat tire. When my dad and Kent were done fixing it, they were putting all the stuff away when my brother Robert and his family pulled up next to us in his truck. We could hear his back tire leaking air. We just laughed. So they pulled everything back out and fixed his tire. We then headed out to our destination to go four wheeling. We had a great time and on our way back home, my dad got another flat tire on his truck. So we had two trucks with no spare. Luckily my dad's brother has a truck and he happened to get in town from Oregon when we were leaving. So he drove out there to meet us and brought us his spare. Awesome!!

Half Way There!!!!!

2009-06-17T22:18:00.000-07:00

Well today officially marks my half way point which is very exciting. Everybody always asks for pictures of my belly so I am attaching one today. Kent took a picture today before he left to Zion for 5 days with all of the Young Men in our ward. They will be doing several smaller hikes including the Narrows and then the big one will be a 16 mile one where they camp out a few miles in. They will finish off be doing Angels Landing. Kent and his dad did this hike a few weeks ago and loved it.
Kent had most of his stuff packed about a month ago. Talk about a little kid waiting for Christmas to come. He also went to the REI garage sale this past weekend with our friend Sean. They camped out in front of the store and went running in when it opened. There were at least 200 people waiting in line but since they camped out, they were in the front. Kent found lots of treasures that of course he 'needed'. :) I just showed up when it opened with breakfast and smoothies for them.
Benson is doing great. He thought is was hilarious to blow all of his spaghetti out of his mouth when he took a bite at dinner tonight. I told him not to do it. So of course he tried again. He was laughing so hard though that he couldn't blow anything out of his mouth which made me laugh. We were both laughing so hard that I was crying and he got the hiccups. How will I ever discipline my children when I just laugh at everything?

IT'S A ........

2009-06-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

Well today will be my first post. And what a better way to start than to say that Benson is going to have a little brother. :) We are due November 4. Kent is especially excited so that he can take his 'boys' camping. Another easy pregnancy on it's way. Hopefully this baby is as half as good as Benson. We could not be any happier.