Happy Birthday Ben

26 years ago, this handsome little guy was born:

Then Ben had a birthday:

And another one:

And a third:

And a few more:

He became a teenager:

 
And went on a mission the day after he turned 19:

Ben went to collage:
 

And met the love of his life:

(Only he dated my roommate first – I still love you Tessa!!):

But soon he only had eyes for me:

Then this happened:

And before he knew it, he was a dad:

(He was really good at being a Dad, too):

After a (very short) time, his mini-me arrived:

And he had to learn to juggle two at a time:

He’s pretty good at it too:

In fact, he’s pretty good at everything he tries:

So, three days ago, Ben had his 26th birthday, and now my handsome guy looks like this:

And we couldn’t be happier together! Happy Birthday Ben! Thanks for being the one who can always make me smile. I love you!!

Getting out of the rut

I’ve been in a picture taking rut lately. Also, a blogging rut. And I think they’re related. See, I’ve found so many wonderful blogs lately – blogs with really funny writers or inspirational people or amazing photos or all three plus more – that I’ve started to question why I was taking pictures or blogging about my life when I wasn’t nearly as good as these other people. I’m not really a writer and I still have tons to learn about taking good photographs, and so since I felt like I couldn’t compete (or something) I kind of gave up for awhile. I figured I’d just let everyone else do it.

But that’s stupid, right? Cuz the reason I started blogging in the first place was to let my friends and family see a little bit of our life, tell everybody who cares what’s new with the Lemmons and show off my cute kids. And who can do that better then me? I finally realized that I’m not trying to create a blog that has a thousand followers or hundreds of comments daily – that really doesn’t matter. And honestly, since all I’m really doing is sharing stories and pictures of my kids and Ben and I, it’d be pretty weird if I had tons of people I don’t know reading my blog. I’m not that interesting. :)

I feel so much better after realizing this! And I can’t believe I let it get to me so much. Silly, I know. So I’m really happy to be blogging again, without all these useless feelings of competing with people I don’t even know, especially when it’s not even a competition (I have too much of my Dad in me – everything is a competition!). And I’ve challenged myself (see, there I go competing again!) to get my camera out every single day and try to take at least one picture that’s different than the ones I generally take. Or if it’s not happening that day, to at least get my camera out every day and get in the habit of taking it with me everywhere. Cuz if I want to improve the quality of my pictures, the only way to do that is to practice more. So I am! And it’s so much fun! I’m really enjoying myself more, and I’m enjoying challenging myself to get lower than I normally do to take a picture, or higher, or closer or farther away, or use more light or less light. It’s only been a couple days since I started, but I’m really glad I did.

Without further ado or soul-bearing, my favorite pictures from the last few days.

  

 

San Diego Part 1

Ben and I went to San Diego for our fourth anniversary… for a week, sans kids. THANK-YOU MOM and ANNA (and the rest of my family)!! It was fantastic to have so much time without any responsibilities, to just focus on each other and have fun. And we did have a great time (except when Ben got tonsillitis… that wasn’t so much fun). We crammed so many activities into our 7 days there – the Zoo, SeaWorld, the Wild Animal Park, a couple’s massage, Disneyland, snorkeling at La Jolla, visiting Little Italy, Moonlight Beach, a sunset horse ride, visiting Ben’s grandparents – we were basically non-stop the entire time we were there. We had a really really wonderful time, and I would love to go back sometime. Maybe with the kids next time!

I really can’t pick one activity out as my favorite, but one that stands out a lot was when we went snorkeling. Both times, really, but especially the first day because we were swimming with sharks! Leopard sharks, and they’re really harmless, but it was quite an experience to swim with these big guys just a few feet or less below us. The second day we went snorkeling we saw more fish and no sharks, and we also got to see sea lions and seals. I wanted to stay out longer both days, but because it was so cold even with wetsuits, we only lasted about an hour the first time and 40 minutes the second time. I know, it’s California, it’s supposed to be hot, but seriously, it wasn’t hot, and the water was COLD!

I had a lot of fun taking pictures of all the animals and plant life we saw, but next time I’m gonna make sure I bring my camera to the beach with me! :( I don’t think I took a single picture of the ocean!! And there’s really only a handful of Ben and I. Too bad. I’ll do better next time. There’s way too many pictures for one post, so these pictures are all from SeaWorld. I’ll post again with more. :)

I love walruses! They make me think of my Grandma Sheila. Not for any mean reason, she just loved walruses. :)

Isn’t this whale so graceful?

  These empire penguins were so much fun to watch! The lighting was really funny in there so it was hard to get a decent picture, but I loved these guys.  There was a little baby penguin that was still learning to walk and we both looked at each other and said it reminded us of how Michael walks. So cute!

Manta Ray! They would come up to the surface and let us touch them. They felt so cool, not at all what I expected – it was a neat experience.

 

 

We sat in the splash zone for the Shamu show, but never got splashed. It was a great show, we were really glad we went.

She’s got style

Some of my favorite Lily moments over the last couple of months:

Tight, swimsuit, legwarmers (on her arms) gloves, and a sunhat. Oh yeah.

Please notice the huge jeweled ring on her right hand, and the thing in her left hand is a fairy wand.

Who needs clothes when you have the right jewelry?

My tank top, and my sports bra. She told me she needed to exercise.