WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!

DAN GETS HOME IN 1 WEEK AND 3 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7.5 months went by fast, but just NOT FAST ENOUGH. The old saying that goes, "SO CLOSE YET SO FAR AWAY," has a brand new meaning in my eyes!
Thanks for everyone for being so supportive while he has been gone!

YEAH YEAH YEAH

AND THAT IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Celebrating things early

Today we are celebrating Benson's 5th birthday! It is not actually until the 27th but I need to make sure we get both of the boys' birthdays in here before we leave (and next weeks the boys will be heading to Utah to spend two weeks with their buddy Steve and Grandma and Grandpa Fox).
So everywhere we have gone today Benson has let everyone know it is his 5th birthday and follows that up by saying, "If you wnt to sing Happy Birthday to me, my name is Benson." So he has been sung to at least 5x today already and he is loving it!
So here are some high lights of our Benson from the last five years....
Since the time he could walk he has been called by most either Dennis the Menace or Mini-McGyver. He is just SO CURIOUS about the world around him and how everything works. He is able to take things apart (i.e. vacuums, cameras, etc) and then put them back together just like they were. There is no use in trying to lock this boy in or out of anything because he will pick the lock in 30 seconds flat... he has even helped me pick the lock on my old car when I locked the keys in it.
Nothing scares him, from the time he could crawl and we would go to the park, he would climb the stairs to the slide and while all the other moms were freaking out that a "baby" might fall off, I was secure in the fact that he was on top of things! From there he graduated to the monkey bars and then the jungle gym... and still the moms freak out at his DARE DEVIL tactics. But to him it is nothing but fun and he knows he can do it! And when it comes to trees there is no tree too high... I find myself having to constantly tell him to PLEASE stay out of the trees, but he assures me every time, "Mommy I can do it better than anyone." Yep he thinks he is soooo good!
He cannot be away from Britton for a long period of time other wise he turns very emotional (sweet, but then I don't get why they are always fighting). He is VERY independent and does not want help with anything - he wants to do it all himself - which is why now he cooks dinner once a week for us... Nothing fancy, but he loves doing it and we eat whatever it is!
And the funniest thing he has said recently is... We were at his cousin's, Aidan's, baptisim yesterday and while we were waiting to go into the baptismal font they were showing pictures of Jesus on the overhead screen. It came to the last picture of Jesus where it is a portrait of him wearing the white robe with the red robe over it and Benson turnes to me and says, "Mom he sure doesn't change his outfit a lot, huh?" OH GOODNESS, my brother Chandler and I were laughighing so hard.
Well I won't have his birthday pics up for a while because all of the cords to transfer photos and video to the computer are all packed up, but I am sure he will have a blast.... His present of choice.... COSTUMES of any kind. My favorite one we got for him is Prince Caspian from Chronicals of Narnia and we went ALL OUT on that costume. I cannot wait for him to open it (along with the others). This will be his last COUSINS birthday (all of the Pearce cousins do a "Cousins' Birthday" on the Sunday of their birthday) and I hope he remembers if for a LONG LONG time.
He truly is an amazing boy whom we love so much! I can honestly say if not for my Benson I would have been on a path that I am sure would have taken me down a road that I would have never been proud of. It is amazing how God knows us so well and even though we don't understand sometimes why things happen, they ARE all for our Benefit and learning. Benson had so much to do with me becoming active in my church again, turning my life around, and truly being the person that my Heavenly Father knew I could be. I am so grateful for him and that it has been five years since God has blessed us with him!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENSON!!!!!! MOMMY AND DADDY LOVE YOU!

THE START OF THE END FOR AZ

When you get 14 cousins together it is not going to be a great picture of everyone....

We have already started saying the "Goodbye" process to our Arizona lives, and the lives we have known since the boys were born, to the life we will soon have in North Carolina.

The BIGGEST thing the boys will miss is their AMAZING cousins here in AZ. All of the Pearce side lives here and the connection they all share to each other is so strong. Britton's best friend is his cousin Breck (they are 7 months apart) and Benson's best friend is a different cousin every week. Right now he is pretty focused on his 8 year old cousin Jace who is extremely sweet to Benson.

My BIGGEST thing will also be family: My Sister, Brothers, Mom and I cannot leave out my friend Jessi B. These are the people I have relied on for everything and who have stregnthened me, taken care of me, believed in me and have loved me through everything. It wlll be hard to be away from them, to not go to Sunday dinners at Mom's, to not have Mine and Jessi's weekly get togethers, to not have Shiloh there to fix my car whenever it breaks down, to not have my sister 5 minutes away to call when I just need to be near someone and need justification that I am not going out of my mind.

Now DON'T get me wrong..... I cannot wait to be with my husband and start the new life we will be able to FINALLY share together and with our children. The boys cannot wait either. Benson constantly makes the comment, "When can we go live with Daddy?" or "When is Daddy coming home from Afghanistan and stop being a Wolverine?" (Wolverine = Marine who is away from home in Benson and Britton's language). The bond that the boys already have with Dan (who they have come to know as their Daddy) is something I am so grateful for.

Dan gets home in 2 weeks and 5 days.... it has flown! THANK GOODNESS! The official move will not happen until October 20th, but until then we will be here and there and everywhere! THANK YOU to everyone for the love, prayers, support and love while Dan has been away and the ones we continue to receive as we set out on our new adventure.

Our Little Benson

We recently found out that Benson is VERY allergic to animals. A couple of months ago he had an allergic reaction to our (then) dog Saturn that kept us in the hospital for half a night and us praying that his little body would pull through. Which it did! Since then I have taken extra precautions to make sure he is on allergy medicine and his inhaler that they gave us a prescription for is always handy.
Well we just moved into our "in between" house that we will be in for a couple of weeks while we prepare for Dan to come home. I did not realize the people who lived there before us had cats and dogs. We moved in Saturday, Benson had a coughing attack Monday morning and by Monday afternoon was not acting like himself (keep in mind at this time I did not know he had been around any kind of animal exposure). It was Labor Day so we were Partying Pearce Style at Buffy's (my sissy's) and Benson spent most of the day napping. By the time we left he was wheezing and telling me he did not feel good. SIDE NOTE: Benson is ALWAYS on the go, and to not be playing with his cousins swimming and laughing is a pretty big deal. He fell asleep on the way home so I put him into bed when we got home around 6:45 and Britton and I fell asleep 15 minuets later.
AND THEN....
I SWEAR that Heavenly Father woke me up. It was only 8 o'clock but I opened my eyes and above me I saw a spider web with a spider in it. I thought I might be sleeping, so I closed my eyes and opened them again and it was still there RIGHT ABOVE ME! I slid down in the bed and then sat up so I could turn around and look at how exactly this spider was able to build this web right above me (I am talking like a foot above me) and when I turned around... IT WAS GONE, but then I heard it... Benson's horrible gasp for air. It was the worse sound! I could hear my baby gasping for any air he could get. I grabbed him and Britton and ran out the door to my Mom's. On the way there I had Benson using his inhaler and Britton telling me if he could see his brother's eyes. As soon as we got to my mom's, Skip, who is my step dad gave Benson a Priesthood blessing (which I truly believe helped Benson's lungs stay open until we got to the hospital). After the blessing I ran Benson to the hospital. As soon as we walked in the door I let the nurse at the desk know he was having a hard time breathing so she took us straight in and then he just swelled up and broke out in hives ALL OVER HIS FACE. They were able to get him on the Nebulizer and open his lungs, then the steroids came, and while he was getting them he was telling the nurse, "Please don't poke me (he remembered his last experience all too well)." Finally his breathing returned to normal and he fell asleep. They monitored him until 2 in the morning and then finally let us go home. When I woke him up to leave he asked me, "Is Daddy proud of me for being so brave (Dan's opinion means the world to him)"
Needless to say he has been on breathing treatments every day since, but is such a little trooper! I cannot even begin to explain how grateful I am for his life. I truly thank my Heavenly Father for the Priesthood and for His love and mercy. Benson has given me THREE serious scares in his life time, but I do believe this one topped them all. I don't know if it is because it is the most recent or because it was the worst. I just know that as a mother my children are so sacred to me. I love them so much and am so grateful that God trusted me to be their Mother through this life time.
We will be taking Benson to an allergist soon to run every test possible and get him on whatever he needs to be on to make sure his body fights off EVERY thing that may be thrown at him. He is such a trooper and we love him so much!