Spring Time...Sort Of

Utah's Spring weather is ridiculous! Just when you think it's starting to warm up, it snows again. Ugh. Our usual spring time activities this year have been a bit dampened by the rain and cold. Regardless, we've been super busy and having a lot of fun hanging out with friends and family. Most of these pics were taken with my phone. I've been too lazy to get out my real camera. I need to be better at that. Oops. Here's a post of what we've been up to during this not-so spring time...
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Coloring Easter Eggs
Erica came over the night before Easter to color eggs with Zach and I. We wanted to decorate a few eggs to add to Zach's niece and nephew's Easter Baskets. 

Zach had to draw an Elk on one of the eggs. Will this hunting obsession ever end!!?? :)

Tiger was interested in what we were doing. He loved to sniff the eggs. We also rented "Tangled" that night. Such a cute movie!
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Easter Dinner
The next day, we had a lovely dinner with Zach's parents at his sister's home in Draper. We also celebrated Mia's 4th birthday. Riley was cute and played a trick on Zach---he colored and decorated an egg for Zach that was NOT boiled. Ha ha. Love those kiddos. They are too cute.

We finished up the night at our house with my siblings and cousins and watched "The Ten Commandments" on TV---an Easter tradition in my family. And Zach finds his lost sheep. :) Happy Easter to everyone!

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Johnny Carinos

I LOVE Italian food. It's my first pick for any meal. We went out to eat with some friends for Jeff's birthday. I ordered a delicious lemon chicken pasta. Soo good. Happy Birthday Jeff!

My lovely sista.

Jeff has some great roommates. Awesome guys.

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Open Mic Night
Our friends Ashlee and Ben recently moved onto our street and attend our same ward. They are quickly becoming great friends of ours. In Ben's free time, he plays in a band with his brother. They invited us to attend their show at Wingers in SLC. They were great! We chowed down on good food, enjoyed great company, and listened to several talented artists. We're excited to see them again. Great job Ben!

The beautiful Ashlee and her husband Ben. Love this couple!

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Sara's Goodbye Dinner

Sara and Cody are moving to North Carolina for the summer to sell with Pinnacle Security. We organized a small goodbye dinner for Sara to wish her luck on their summer sales adventure. We sure do miss her already. I'm looking forward to her visit in June! Along with Tianna!

We ate at the Blue Lemon in Alpine. Scrumptious food. We stayed and chatted long after the place closed. I love gabbing with these girls. We could talk forever!

Goodbye hugs!

Good luck Sara and Cody! Miss you guys!

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Mother's Day

Though it was cold and rainy, Mother's Day was awesome! My family conference called my little brother Phil on his mission in Denver Colorado. He is the last missionary to serve in our family. For the last twelve years, my parents have had the opportunity to look forward to Mother's Day and Christmas Day phone calls from all of their missionary children. Since Phil will be coming home on July 27th, this last Mother's Day phone call was the final call they will receive from one of their kids. It was bitter/sweet. 

Phil is doing incredibly well! He's had nine convert baptisms in the last six weeks that have come mainly from street contacting and tracting! He's doing amazing. He's in leadership and enjoying every minute serving the people of Colorado. We're so proud of him. It was so much fun talking to him. We can't wait to see him in July.

We spent Mother's Day morning being lazy and lounging around. Tiger loves to jump in bed with us in the mornings to cuddle. He climbs under the covers just like a person! ha ha. It's soo cute!

Our ward is awesome! The Bishopric set up an incredible brunch for Mother's Day. During the entire last hour of RS, all of the women in the ward relaxed, chatted, and snacked on fresh fruits and chocolate fondue!!! It was so delicious. I appreciated the time and effort the men put into thanking the mothers...I got to enjoy the perk and I'm not even a mom yet. :)

This is a picture taken a year ago, but here are my two lovely Moms, Kathy and Julie! 

My mother-in-law, Kathy, has been good to me. She has welcomed me into her family from the very beginning of Zach and I's relationship. I can still remember the first time I met her back in the Fall of 2002. We attended Zach's little brother's football game in Salt Lake, and then went out to dinner with his family afterwards. It was then that I got to know Kathy personally. From then on, as Zach and I continued to date, she was always proactive in making sure I was invited to all of their family functions. I've always felt comfortable and loved around Zach's mom and the rest of his family. A fond memory I have with Kathy happened when Zach and I had only been dating a few months---she asked me if I wanted to go for drive and get a "treat" with her, just the two of us. I had no idea what she meant by "treat," but I accepted the invite. While driving to Park City, we chatted about the Benedict family history, about Zach's life and how glad she was that we were dating, and just about life in general. It was a nice drive. Once we got to Park City, we pulled up to a McDonald's drive-thru. Kathy ordered two large Cokes for us...two "treats!" I laughed and LOVED it. From then on, the nickname "treat," in replace of Coke, has stuck. Zach and I call it that all the time now. Happy Mother's Day, Kathy!

My own mom, Julie, is one of my best friends! She and I have some of the funniest conversations. My mom has a contagious laugh and likable personality. I appreciate that she makes her own family a major priority, yet, at the same time, she also cultivates her own social life and career. She has a great balance of both! She has a lot of wisdom and knowledge when it comes to people skills and the gospel. She's a great role model for our family. I have many fond memories with my mom, but one in particular happened when I was a senior in high school---I was the Laurel President in Young Womens, and my mom was serving as a counselor in the Presidency. The entire YW were asked to help clean a needy lady's house in a nearby neighborhood. Well, this house wasn't a typical cluttered messy house, this was like one of those houses you see on that show, "Hoarders: Buried Alive!" We walked in and immediately looked at each other with wide, surprised eyes! It was disgusting! This lady owned at least 10 cats, all of which pooped everywhere!!! There were dried boogers on the walls and trash all over the floor. You couldn't even see the floor. Junk was piled everywhere! We both went and found a little corner together to start cleaning, but all we could do was laugh hysterically as we scraped off dried boogers and picked up cat poop!!! Ha ha! We were laughing so hard we were crying!! Call us immature, but it was the only way we could get through that morning of cleaning without gagging or passing out from the smell! :) We had to make the best of a nasty situation. It was a day I will never forget! We laughed for hours, even after we were finished! It is a memory we still reminisce and laugh about to this day. My mom is great. She has taught me so many wonderful things over the years. I love her so much! Happy Mother's Day, Mom!