YIPPIE SKIPPIE!!!!!

So, we have two new additions to our family. One is our tadpole, which we have had for a while, but he now has sprouted legs!!! He was the weirdest looking creature ever and now he is just flat out ugly! His little legs are kind of cute though.
We were in Wal-Mart looking for yet another goldfish, and we found these cool tadpoles. We had to bring one home. It is pretty amuzing watching him mutate into all sorts of funny looking things.

We also have a gold fish in the tank, but he was camera shy. The fish's name is Raddy and the tadpoles name is Taddy. Yes, Mary named them.
The picture isn't the best, but you get the idea....right?

The other addition is our DOG!!!!


We have been waiting FOREVER to get a dog. Finally, we have a yard, so first thing first, we must have a dog to put in it. Our family is now complete. ;)
We looked at a lot of dogs but he was the one for us. We are sooooooo excited! Wahoo!
He is a lab/husky mix (isn't that a rad mix). We got him three days ago. We totally scored and got him for free. He is adorable and we love him!! His name is Chamonix (sha mo nee). If any of you have seen any Warren Miller movies, it should sound familiar to you.
We have really wanted a dog to take running, hiking, walking, swimming, ect. We are pumped! I took him on a 5 mile run this morning thinking that it would totally wear him out. After 5 miles of being drug all over town (he has the husky instinct to pull, and I am suprised my arms are still in the sockets), I came home exhausted and he was still ready to party!! Looks like we found the right dog.
Who knows, maybe we could hook him up to the car and save on gas. hhhhmmmmm
p.s. His eye was watering when I took the picture. That line going down his face isn't really there, it was just a sad little tear. Everybody now.....oooohhhh, poor pup! He was just pouting because he couldn't come inside and destroy our new home, nothing serious.

GOD BLESS AMERICA...land that we love

We are so grateful to be free and to be in this beautiful country. We won't forget all of those who have paid and currently pay a severe price to grant us our freedom and what we have today. We pray that the Lord will bless and keep all of us in the years to come. This is a blessed land and we know that it is only through the grace of our loving God that we have this amazing gift. From the bottom of our hearts...we are proud to be Americans.

WAY TO GO BEN!!! and another 24 quote for the day

The day after we moved here, we got word that Ben made Diamond level this year with his company, Cintas. This means that he is in the top 5% in his division in the country!!! It is a really bid deal. As a result of that, we get an extra day in the Bahamas!!! I am so proud of him and all of his hard work he has put in. He has really worked hard and put in a lot of time and effort. Go Ben!

We watched 24 the other night, and heard another classic quote...ready...

"Jack, I am sorry if I may seem a little distant, I am still just getting used to you being alive."
Yet again, I had to pause and laugh my head off. Great show!


p.s. for anyone who wants to get ahold of us our phone numbers are
208-360-0493 Becky
925-989-7759 Ben
runorbust@gmail.com Becky
maynard.ben@gmail.com Ben

Home Sweet Home

We are officially here in Colorado springs! We are done unpacking and are now just finding our way around and LOVING the scenery and the awesome town!
Our trip here took about four days. It actually went really smoothly considering we had two cars, two kids, and four days on the road. The only down fall was Mary getting bit by a black widow on our second night in the motel. She ended up throwing up for the next two days, and was very sick and miserable. Lucky for me, she was in the car with me, so I got to smell it and clean it up every hour our so. BLAH!! We felt so bad for her. She is a tough kid though, and she is o.k. now. We really can't complain, because the trip was way better than expected.
After just being here almost two weeks, I think it is safe to say that WE LOVE IT HERE!!! Holy smokes, we knew we would like it here, but this place is incredible! It is gorgeous! We are right next to the mountains and we can't get enough of them. Everyone is so friendly and our ward is great. What a place to live!
The elevation just about killed us our first few days. We have been living at sea level for 14 months now, so coming here to 6800 feet literally knocked us off our feet. The day we moved in, we just unpacked out mattress and put it in the living room. We spent that evening laying on it with headaches and trying to breathe. Not fun! We had some killer migranes and have been really foggy headed and tired. Going up the stairs makes us feel like we just ran a few miles. We are getting used too it though. I even went running the other day and didn't completely die.
We love our house and we feel blessed to be able to get the home in time. It was a close race. We are renting until we find a house to buy, but we really like this one and wouldn't mind being here for a while. The kids are totally loving having a yard, and so is mom.
Anyway, this is getting way too long. Just wanted to let you all know we are here and we are so happy to be here. Thanks to everyone for posting comments. We love them and it is so great to hear from all of you.

A shout out to 24..the best show ever created

As many of you know..I LOVE LOVE LOVE the show 24. AAAAHHHH, if only I were watching it right now. Anyway, we were watching it the other night (taking a much needed break from packing) and I heard the best quote ever. It is now my favorite quote, so I have to post it. Ready everyone...

"The only reason you are still conscious right now, is because I don't want to carry you." -Jack Bauer-



If you haven't seen the show, this may not be funny at all, but I about died laughing, and had to pause the show to regain my composure. Oh, the simple things of life. Aren't they great!

Bring on the chaos!!!!

So, as I said in our last blog, we had to leave Idaho early because of illness (Mary was sick with croup, and Ben's mom was sick). Little did we know...that was just the begining.
We got home from our trip Tuesday at 2:00am and by Thursday Sam was sick with croup as well. He was up ALL night Thursday night, and by Friday morning he could hardly breathe, and a little voice was telling me something was really wrong, so I took him to our pediatrician.
Right when we got there, she hurried and shot him in the leg with epinepherin, which is now a fat bruise in his thigh. Sam's was really struggling to breathe. That didn't work as well as planned, so she shot him in the other leg with some type of steroid. I was pretty freaked out by that point. She put him on a nebulizer for the next ten minutes and suprisingly, he sat still for that. After monitering him for a while, she didn't have anything else in the office that could help him, so she sent us to the hospital. We spent the next day and night there.
Poor Sam was poked and prodded for the next few days. He had an I.V. in one hand, a moniter on his toe, X-rays, ultrasounds, blood work, ect. It was an interesting night because Sam tosses and turns and he kept getting tangled in his I.V. and his moniters. It was nuts. We didn't really sleep.
To top it all off, he was not allowed to eat any solid foods. They were afraid that his throat was still pretty closed and the food would get stuck. The poor kid was starving by the time we got out of there.
When we finally got the o.k. to leave the hospital we went to pick Mary up at the Lupoi's house. (friends of Ben) They were so nice to let Ben and Mary sleep there and to take Mary the next day.
They have a lizzard there that eats red ants and Mary brought the container of ants over to me because she wanted to feed the lizard. As I was saying no and grabbing the container, it spilled and red ants went everywhere! We all flipped out!!! Mary cried, Ben tried to get some of them and ended up getting bit a few times (which is actually pretty painful), Sam was trying to pick them up, and I was staring in disbelief! We found the raid and finally killed all of them. We had to vaccum them up off the carpet and wipe down the desk they were running around on as well. We went on an ant hunt through the rest of the house and killed some stragglers. We felt soooooooo bad! It wasn't even our house! AAAGGHH!!!
We left the house clean, but smelling very strongly of raid. What a way to repay people who totally helped us out. Wow.
So, now we are home and furiously trying to pack. We are moving in a week and planned on using the weekend to prepare and find a house. Obviously that didn't happen, so now we are in crunch time and frantically trying to secure a house and get packed.
To top it all off, Mary woke up this morning with Pink eye..yippee, can't wait to see how quickly that spreads.
And there you have it...another Maynard adventure to add to the rest.
The End

Our rockin' awesome vacation

Our vacation to Idaho was a blast and we loved it! We planned on spending equal time with both of our families. Due to illness, we didn't get to see as much of Ben's family as we hoped. We did have a great time with them though and we love them just the same. Below are some pictures Lonnie took while we were with them. We aren't sure why they are small, but hopefully you can still see how good they are.

We love reunions

We must say, the reunion was a HUGE success, and we loved every minute of it. We went to the temple, went waterskiing, had lots of bonfires, I did a Mary Kay party (picture of us holding our Mary Kay "goods" is below), we attended the Academy Awards, visited with friends and family, celebrated my Birthday, shot stuff, did crafts, hung out with great grandpa,and a whole lot more. I probably posted WAY too many pictures than any of you care to see, but we had a blast and we love to share our good times with friends and loved ones. We can't wait until next year when we can do this all over again.

Sam a.k.a. toad

Sam had a fun trip too. He loved the slide, playing by the water, hanging out with his cousins and eating a lot of good food. He really liked petting the dog and following Bop around.

Mary!

Mary had more fun than she has had in a long time. We hardly even saw her. She played with Lilly, her cousin, and also got some good time in with Bop, grandma, and Kelsey.
She had tea parties with Bop and Lilly, made "bum" rolls with grandma, watched movies in the closet with Kelsey, fed Champ bones,played outside from dawn until dusk, and everything in between.
For those of you who know about my TRUE phobia of snakes, the picture of Mary holding one still makes me want to puke (and I have thrown up at the sight of snakes before) It must be the Ben part of her. She loved the snake. EEWWW!!!!

Boys will be boys

Chainsaw's, Guns with bullets...Guns with paintballs...Guns with marshmallows...wonder what the guys like to do?

Temple Day

We set a day aside in the reunion to do a session in the Rexburg temple with the family. It was an awesome experience and the temple is beautiful. Kelsey and Juliet's sister did a great job of babysitting. It was fun to be in Rexburg again and remember the good ol' days. Good times...good memories.

FOREVER YOUNG

Adademy Awards, tea parties in the fort, marshmallow gun wars....and that is just the beginning folks!

We're Back!

We just spent the last week and 1/2 in Idaho visiting our families, and we had so much fun!! We crammed a lot in and the time went by way too fast. We visited Ben's family first. We had fun being able to see most of Ben's brother's and their families, and we ate a lot of good food. The kids loved playing with JoJo and Papa. It was good to see them again.
Then it was off to the Belnap family reunion. We only get to see all of my (Becky) family once a year, so we really lived it up. It started off with the Academy awards night...it was a blast! We made home videos before the trip, then we all dressed up and watched them. We laughed so hard. It was AWESOME!!!









I was excited to be able to wear my wedding dress again...who says you just wear it once. I think my brother, Ryan, looks exactly like the Ryan in High School musical. Kelsey is holding a picture of Devin who is on a mission in Denmark. We put him on a stick and he is in almost every picture. Kind of like where's waldo, you have to really look to find him in the pictures.