What I'm All About Right Now

My Charlie :)

bike riding, the office watching (ben just recently helped me to realize just how wonderful this show is), reading EKGs (not cause I want to), picture taking, reading (I just finished 'Ghost Soldiers' SO GOOD), texting while in class to my friend who sits in front of me, trying to bake..., salsa, rewatching Alias for the...umm....4th time, taking Charlie for runs (he wears me out, who would have thought a pug would be an awesome running buddy?!), taking walks with my friend and my dogs, "that's what she said", coloring, wishing it would actually be cold so i could wear my fleece, short hair, wearing ben's clothes (yah, even to school...), braids, minute maid lemonade, playing with Spencer, the fray, gummy sour jolly rancher candy, laugh with school buddies despite school, and making lists!!

Happy Birthday Ben!! and Nicole!!!

TODAY IS BENNY'S BIRTHDAY!!! YAY!!

Since we are celebrating Ben being born I thought I should celebrate a few of the things I love about Ben! (24 since he is 24)

1. Ben is very unselfish.
2. Ben is freaking cute!
3. There have been times when I don't know if I can get through something and Ben has been right there by my side helping me through.
4. Ben always helped me with my math homework. I suck at math and he is really good so I would email him my geometry problems in high school and he would help me with them.
5. Ben is such a hard worker. I really can't even understand how he can get up everyday, go to work all day, come home ,and still be in a good mood. He has worked his butt off at United and keeps getting promoted. He has made it possible for me to go to nursing school without working too much.
6. Ben will sit down and watch a chick flick with me.
7. In our old apartment we only had one TV and on Thursday nights Greys Anatomy and The Office would come on at the same time. Ben would always leave and let me watch Greys, and he would go somewhere else to watch The Office. (sounds small, but meant a lot)
8. Ben is very supportive of me.
9. Ben is sooo cute with our dogs.
10. He makes me laugh ALL the time. I love that he can be dorky with me.
11. He can remember millions of movie quotes and always say them at the perfect moment.
12. He's not afraid to dance it out with me.
13. Ben will eat just about anything so no matter how bad I screw up dinner he still says "mmmm. good."
14. Ben has great taste in music so I always get awesome songs from him. He always used to make me CDs when we were dating.
15. Ben is one of the only people I know who can make me laugh when I'm really mad. The other day I was soo furious at him and he ruined it by making me crack up. You just can't stay mad after that!!
16. He has always been quick to say sorry.
17. Ben always calls me on his way home.
18. He always makes babies/little kids laugh. I don't know if its the weird faces or what but they love Ben.
19. Ben has hard core loyalty! He never talks bad about people. Even when I'm mad at someone and I'm trying to get him to agree--he sticks up for them. (can be irritating too though. haha)
20. Everyone Ben has ever met has loved him. Ben is really hard to not like. He's a people person for sure.
21. He gets more attractive every year.
22. Ben has an amazing testimony! When he tells his story of conversion everyone is always in tears. He can be so powerful!
23. He is always so comforting when I cry. I can be pretty dramatic, and I have a tendency to cry easily but instead of Ben getting annoyed he always tries to make it better.
24. I am so excited with the idea of being with Ben forever!!

(This picture was taken at Ben's 18th birthday party. This was the first birthday of Ben's that I was a part of, wow time flies!!)
I LOVE YOU HONEY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

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Today is ALSO my sister Nicole's birthday!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Let me also tell you some things about Nicole:

1. She is probably one of the most thoughtful people I know. She is always thinking about other people and doing things for them. I have even gotten a "sisters day" present from her! Who knew there was even a sisters day?? I also have piles of notes that Nicole wrote me growing up that are probably some of the sweetest notes I have ever gotten.


2. She can be friends with anyone! She is definitely one of those people that everyone likes, and she can make a friend anywhere!! This is definitely one way I wish I was more like her.


3. Nicole has always been a role model for me when it comes to faith. I can always remember Nicole being so dedicated to church and her testimony. She doesn't waver when it comes to hard choices.


4. Although Nicole and I weren't always super close as we have gotten older we have become a lot closer. Spending time with Nicole is so fun because she is hilarious, and easy to talk to. I also love my nephew Spencer SO MUCH so that creates more opportunities to see Nicole.


5. Nicole is a wonderful cook. The other night she invited Ben and I over to eat and we get excited every time! I have called Nicole so many times asking for her advice about food because I seemed to miss out on the talent she got. haha. Her Pampered Chef gig is great for her because she makes awesome food for her parties, and she is great at entertaining a crowd. She is a freaking awesome public speaker too.

(This picture was taken right before I left for Idaho 2004 at a party Nicole helped plan for me)
I am so lucky to have you as my sister! HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE!!!

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Ok so Ben has a twin,Rick, who ALSO has a birthday today!! (Crazy right?) SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICK! I love you, and I am so lucky to be a part of the family now! You are such an awesome person who has grown up to be quite a catch! Keep up the awesomeness and have a great birthday!!

Ok, I'm obsessed with my dogs...So What!

Another doggie post!!! YAY!
An update on Charlie and Gus is in store! The purpose of getting another dog (Gus) was so that Charlie would have a friend to play with, and it worked out very nicely! We were afraid that Charlie would always be mean to Gus because now he is in competition for attention, but Charlie slowly warmed up to Gus--now they are inseparable! In fact it can be annoying at times! haha. If we try to put one of them in another room or outside they cry at the door until they are together again! Charlie will also get really mad if another dog messes with Gus. Gus is just a big 'oofy' sweetheart and other dogs will get annoyed with all the attention Gus gives them so they will growl at him. Charlie runs right over to protect Gus. So Cute! They can get a little rough with each other sometimes, but I figure that's just because Charlie wants to be in charge and Gus is slowly getting a lot bigger than Charlie. Here are some pics of the cute doggies! (Some of them were taken on my phone so they aren't the best quality!

Here's Gus and Charlie sleeping together. Charlie opened his eyes for a picture!

One day I was at the computer and I look down to find Gus cleaning Charlie's ears. Gus is always cleaning Charlie and Charlie just loves it!

You can tell in this picture just how big Gus is compared to Charlie. Ignore the disgusting state of the glass door! That would be the dogs fault! Also, ignore the clothes piled up on the dresser, haha I was rearranging! (I promise we aren't trashy)

All in all, I am so glad we got Gus. He is just such a sweet, loving dog. I don't feel so bad about Charlie being at home anymore cause I know he has a friend. Also, there were a few people who expressed concern that we got a deaf dog. But I will tell you, we have not had a problem at all. Gus would rather be outside most of the time so we will just leave the back door open so they can go in and out. And if we want Gus to come inside we just tell Charlie to "go get Gus," and he will run outside and bring Gus back in. Charlie knows Gus's name so he is a huge help. Also, most of the time Gus will just watch Charlie and do what Charlie does. We have also taught him a few hand signals so he will obey those. Gus has been a great addition!

Yay for dogs!

the first day...blah

Ok so today was the first day of my last semester of nursing school!! Man was it rough! This semester is going to be a freaking busy one! There is just so much to do! Not to mention the lectures today were very intense! However, I am determined to keep a good attitude about this and finish feeling good about everything. When I look back over this nursing school thing it seems like I have been here forever but that time has flown by! Kinda weird! Oh well, I guess I'll just dedicate myself to studying and wait for May 29th! Of course then I'll have to take state boards which will give me my nursing license and that's gonna be a lot of reviewing and studying! It will probably fly by though and I'll be like whoa where did time go! Anyways wish me luck for this semester!!!

The Park!

We went to the park yesterday with Nicole, Jeremy, Spencer, and their two doggies. It was a little hectic at first because of all the dogs, but it ended up being a nice little trip. I brought the camera so that we could get pictures with our dogs, and we ended up getting some really nice ones! Ben and I took this first one before we left for the park.
Nicole snagged this great shot of us. Kuddos to her because she was trying to take care of her dogs while taking this!

Here's my doggies and me :) Benny took this pic.
Here is Ben and the doggies (it was hard trying to get them to sit still when there was so much going on around them)

This is a picture without caring what the dogs were doing. As you can see they would much rather try and play with Nicole's dogs than stay in the picture!

Ben took a lot of pictures of us walking around.

Here's the rest of the gang.

Spencer, what a cutie. He kept saying "puppies" (or his word for that which doesn't so much sound like puppies)

Here's a random picture of me and Nicole :) You can see their beagles in this one. Lucy and Barkley! (don't you just hate people with naturally beautiful curly hair?! i do.)

We should go walking with their dogs more often. Fun Times.

My Nephew is Adorable!

My sister Nicole asked me the other day if we could get some pictures of Spencer at Legacy and here are a few of my favorites:

He is sooo cute! I love him!

Raquel the Hottie

So my Mom has been asking me to take my sister Raquel's pictures

ever since I started this whole photography thing. Why? Because Raquel never got senior pictures for high school, and now that she is a sophomore in college we got it done (she also has been a few states away in school)!! I had a lot of fun taking these with Raquel! She is just fantastic...and she is pretty much a supermodel!

See for yourself!

Here are some of my favorites... I actually ended up with about 60 really great shots of Raquel. So if you want to see more go to my website @:

http://nsbenavides.shutterfly.com/

There aren't 60 pictures of her on there, but more of my favorites :)

Yahoo for fun pictures!

Tech Pictures

My family recently decided to take family pictures at Tech, and here is what we came up with....

It's pretty hard with this many people to find a good picture where everyone is happy with the way they look! I think all of these are cute though. haha. Ben and I both took turns setting up the tripod and camera so we both get credit for these pictures :)
The funny part was after we got done my Dad took us to breakfast and we all walked in the restaurant like this. We got a few joking"So are you guys tech fans or what?" har har. So overall it was fun, and I think we got some nice ones for my parents to send out. Hopefully we can take family pictures more often now.

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!