Are you Serious?

Let's be honest, I'm not very good at this blogging thing. BUT alas, I am here and ready to give you the biggest update yet. As it has been a year and a half.... whoops. So embarrassing. I started a post awhile ago and decided to just delete it and start over because I had no idea what I was in the middle of writing hah!

Well, the biggest news first. BENSON MICHAEL FLAKE was BORN! Baby #2 at 7 lbs 4 oz and 20.5 inches long in Peoria, AZ at Arrowhead hospital. Brayden had to be out to Ohio for dental school orientation on August 11th and I was due on August 9th, so we decided a VBAC wasn't the best option this time around and scheduled my second C-section on August 2nd. My oh my am I glad we made that choice! I don't know if I could have carried that little man any longer! Everything went as planned that day, and Kirsten took great care of Amelia while we were in the hospital. We blessed Benson at 6 days old in Kirsten's home and he was swimming in his Daddy's blessing outfit.

The next announcement (that everyone already knows since it's been over a year) is that we MOVED TO COLUMBUS, OHIO! Brayden is now finishing up his first semester of 2nd year and we are absolutely in love with this place! I am amazed by the amount of family friendly activities and events here. On a typical weekend, I have 3-4 things that I try to fit in, but the kids have so much fun that we usually only get to 1 or 2 of them. We also love the farms, seasons, parks and the fact that we can have a garden... WHAT?! So fun.

I guess I will just do a little update on each of us and hopefully pick up where I left off with recording our adventures....

Brayden is now 28, is about to finish a 27 credit hour semester and then take his board exams, is the Scout Master over 2 wards as well as the YM's Secretary, and still finding a ton of time for us somehow. He made a decision to get through dental school without worrying about getting straight A's and I have never been so grateful! He has had a lot of time to spend with us and I know the kids are happy about that decision as well. He is still obsessed with fishing ;) and has really come to love fly tying.

I am now 27, a stay at home Mama, a LipSense distributor, a nursery music leader (best calling in the world) as well as a member of the RS activities committee, a babysitter, a board member of 614 Moms and have taken up running as a hobby. I ran my first actual race since running the Ragnar and was surprised by my determination to make a certain time. It was nice to have something to work towards and to feel accomplished. It was a 10 mile race and I ran it in 1:34:00 which was 6 mins under my goal. I am signed up for a half marathon next! We get to watch a little girl named Ruth 3-4 days a week and we love having her around! I try to keep the kids busy each day and often fall short of being a good Mom, but the kids are alive at the end of the day and that's what matters! :)

Amelia is now 3 years old and asked for a pink pineapple (often called apple-pine) party for her 3rd birthday. She goes to preschool 3 days a week, has come to love singing and dancing, loves to use her imagination, is very social, likes to be the leader and has SO much personality. When this little girl puts her mind to something, it WILL happen. She can write her name and loves asking me how words are spelled. She is nice to her brother 70% of the time and nice to Ruth 100% of the time. Her best friends are Everett and Killian and she always chooses to play with boys over girls. She is just barely getting into the girly phase and has asked for a pink scooter, a pink watch and pink shiny shoes for Christmas. She decided 3 weeks ago that she wanted to get her ears pierced (again) and we didn't think she would go through with it... boy were we wrong! She had her little mind set on that. She finally got rid of her Paci completely, decided to wear panties and is doing chores daily to save up for a guitar she wants. She sure keeps us laughing, smiling and crying.

Benson is 16 months old today and is quite the BOY. He loves to destroy things, wrestles or tackles anyone on the ground, could live on the front porch watching cars, and climbs on anything he can walk up to. He has fallen off of the table, a chair and out the back door... in the last 2 weeks. He is definitely going to be the cause of my gray hairs. He is obsessed with animals, loves to go fishing with Dad and dances any time he hears a tune. He followed his sister's footsteps by walking at 13 months and his first word was Dada. He has a forced laugh that kills us all and smiles on command. This kid is going to be an exhausting toddler!

Ellie is now 7 and is still Ellie just a little slower.

We moved out here into a 2 bedroom place and lived there for 8 months until we decided to find a 3 bedroom place in hopes that Benson would sleep. One of the best decisions of my life! We moved about 800 feet down the road haha sound familiar?

We have developed so many great relationships out here and we love being surrounded by other students who are in the same boat as us. These friendships will be forever cherished! It's been nice to be able to have time together as our own little family, but we do miss being so close to everyone!

We have visited Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, West Virginia and multiple camping locations so far and can't wait to explore more!

Until next time! Hopefully not another year and a half ;)