ringing in the new year!

So...it's been a awhile.

can you guess what one of my new year's resolutions is?

this will be a long post.
summing up the best of 213.
it'll be a long sum-up, so sit tight.

it's really crazy that this time last year bence was so small.

he was (literally) half the size he is now.

he was a ham even then.

 in march he was blessed....

 and met his cousin Peter,
(and lots of other family.)

 We had lots of snuggles with daddy.

and bence figured out how to roll over before he was three months!
he just kept getting bigger.

 and bigger. 

and bigger...

 and BIGGER!

While we were still in utah we had some great visits with our family out there.

Bence met another cousin, ruby!

 And he got some lovin' from great grandma. 

in July we flew out to visit our west coast family.

it was bence's first flight.

It was rough.

We'll leave it at that. 

But once we GOT there, bence was loved up by so many people, 

he didn't have time to get bored.

 He hung out with papa.

 and nana.
who fed him all sorts of yummy treats. 

(He wasn't as miserable as he looked.)

 he got to meet pappy and GG....

 and he hung out with poppo!

and we can't forget all the fun we had in nana and papa's pool.

 He didn't like the water at all....

can't you tell how miserable he is?

(he had the time of his life if you can't tell.)

While we were back, bence also learned how to crawl and walk.

basically one led to the other within a month.

crawling just wasn't fast enough!

we also got our family pictures taken.

 and we can't forget about this guy. 

we dropped him off at the MTC right before we left utah for good.

he's finally in brazil after waiting a good month or so for his visa.

we kept telling him he was going to be stuck in new hampshire for the duration.

we discovered bence's hatred of grass...

 we also went to a birthday party for one of those sweet cousins mentioned before.

Bence didn't notice ruby (the birthday girl) but he did notice the cupcakes.

this boy has turned out to be quite the eater.

for a baby that was early and so little at birth (5lbs 3 oz!)

he sure caught up fast. 

to be honest, he's a porker.

but we did eat lots of good food this year...

then came the moving crates....

we moved!

this was probably the biggest change we made in 2013.

we packed up all our stuff,

loaded it all into two of those crates,

and drove east.

for 2000 miles. 

Bence was a champ. 

He did a lot of this....

 and this....

 and this....

(i.e. tired pouty faces where he would stare me down until falling asleep.)

when we got back to Pennsylvania (this time for good!) we had some fun while the weather was nice.

we took bence to his first amusement park.

he was a little apprehensive.

henry and sawyer went to a couple ball games. 

 and then the amusement park again.

bence wasn't sure if he liked the rides or not.

 we also had a lot more visits with aunts and uncles and cousins.

"outta my way!"

 and we got to go to the beach in october.

 we drove down for a weekend and had a blast.

 papa lugged around B in the backpack.

i'm not sure who loved it more, 

bence or papa?

being carried around is harder than you think. 

 we also celebrated someone's first birthday!

 he had a good time....

and I think he liked the cake.

 and then it was halloween!

uncle cory titled this picture "darth taters."

it kind of stuck, even though he's eating apples.

 he was the cutest darth vader ever.

 in a reversal of roles, bence was my father for the trunk or treat.

Henry was wolverine. He did the beard and everything.

it was pretty awesome.

he looked like a real lumberjack.

 once bence got the hang of walking 

(around ten months)

he started getting into everything...

..and he broke more than one of mommy's things.

we lost a wreath,

and a pretty ceramic bowl uncle cory made,

and one of mommy's necklaces.

but we love him anyway!

(this is why you can't have nice things, right?kids!)

 I went to the temple with my mom over a weekend in november.

 we were bad parents and let bence eat a foot long twizler.

and we went to the park a few times.

 and once the weather cooled off and wasn't so hot and sticky,

bence and i started going on walks everyday.

 we learned how to bundle!

 and layer!

bence puts up such a fuss getting ready to go out.

he thrashes.

and screams.

and kicks his legs.

and throws a right little tantrum.

it's almost not worth the hassle to go outside.

but once we get out the front door,

he turns into a different baby.

he doesn't make a peep on our walks.

he's so observant and loves to look at everything; birds, trees, squirrels.

and when we put the stroller back in the shed,

and we walk up the staircase to our front door,

he writhes,

and pretends to be a limp noodle,

and does everything in his power to NOT go back inside. 

even if his little nose and cheeks are frozen.

 after thanksgiving henry and sawyer went hunting up at

poppo's cabin.

 they were lucky enough that they went the same weekend

we got this awesome storm.

i'm glad i didn't go.

unfortunately, it all melted before christmas.

but it was still awesome anyway.

 bence got to see santa for the first time.

he recently started crinkling his nose when he smiles.

he's not actually demonic.

bence knows how much i love putting up christmas decorations,

so everyday he would take the tree apart for me so 

i could redecorate.

he's so thoughtful. 

 he found the snow globe aunt pammy got him last year!

 When we went up to the coppersmith's on christmas eve, 

uncle cory was full of great stories.

 they held bence mesmerized.

at least for a minute.

 bence was also memsmerized by uncle cory's earings.

this boy loves jer-ly.

and then on christmas eve, santa came to visit!

(i.e. nana and papa!)

 and boy, did he spoil us.

(those gifts weren't all for bence, but he did 

have a disproportionate amount of presents 

compared to the rest of us.)

 this isn't the best picture.

but it was henry's big gift this year.

i made this huge map for him.

it's a map of budapest during a siege in 1684. 

henry lived in hungary for two years while serving a mission for our church,

so he loves all things hungarian.

it turned out so cool.

 anone else remember that cartoon, wayne-head?

 we also went to poppo's cabin the weekend after christmas.

 bence went sledding for the first time!

 he didn't quite get how to sit and hold himself upright

on a moving sled,

so we just laid him down and he just stayed there.

 daddy was pretty sweet and pulled us both around. 

 over christmas bence also learned how to climb. 

he can be a little stinker.

when i pull him down/off, he makes sure i know how mad he is.

i'm sure our neighbors know that he's mad too.

our new year's was pretty low key.

we're still of the mentality that we should be sleeping whenever bence sleeps.

so we were all in bed by ten.

it was so much better than staying up till midnight.

it's been a pretty good year.

we've seen a lot of changes,

and have a lot more coming,

but we're excited for the new year!

bring it 2014!