Jared and Susan Benthem

Julia's First Birthday

2009-04-08T10:42:00.005-05:00

Julia turned one on Sunday! Here are a few pictures from her party with our families on Saturday. More to come...

Recent Pictures

2009-04-08T10:30:00.003-05:00

Here are some recent pictures of Julia. Sorry about my lack of posting!

January

2009-01-24T11:25:00.004-05:00

Julia loves the activity table she got for Christmas.

One of her favorite activities is watching Jared shovel the driveway.

Bedtime story!

November

2008-12-01T20:10:00.004-05:00

Here are some pictures from November. Julia now has two teeth and is learning how to crawl. She mostly just scoots around on her belly, but is trying to coordinate her limbs to crawl on all four.

Hoffmaster State Park

2008-10-18T20:04:00.004-05:00

We spent the day today at Hoffmaster State Park. We hiked along the beach and in the woods. It was a great way to spend a beautiful fall day!

Julia Update

2008-09-15T20:45:00.002-05:00

Julia is growing quickly and seems to learn something new each day. She has learned to roll from her back to her front, but gets stuck on her front. She screams until one of us comes to rescue her. Hopefully she will learn to roll back over soon! She is getting better at sitting up, but eventually topples over. We think that Julia has enjoyed going to Pat's while we are at work. She comes home with a craft each day and seems to be very happy. Some of her favorite activities are taking walks around the park by our house, pulling on her mommy's hair, and putting everything in her mouth.

More Pictures

2008-09-15T20:26:00.003-05:00

Cousins!

2008-08-22T14:50:00.003-05:00

Katie, Anne, and Nicole were all in Grand Rapids last week, so Julia finally got to meet her aunts and cousins!

Addison, Julia, Quint, and Naomi with Grandma

Quint and Julia shared the bouncy seat for our photoshoot.

Future volleyball player?

Naomi with her Aunt Nicole and (future) Uncle Justin

Family Reunion

2008-08-22T14:36:00.003-05:00

There was a Benthem family reunion in early August at a campground in Cadillac. We had a great time with Jared's family and Julia got to meet lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins!

Jared's aunts had a shower for Julia. She got lots of cute clothes, books, and baby stuff!

There was also a bridal shower for one of Jared's cousin's fiance. It was raining in the morning, so all of the women drove to Goodwill and found crazy outfits to wear for the shower.

Vacation

2008-08-02T14:12:00.004-05:00

We went on vacation to Pictured Rocks in the UP this week. Julia did not enjoy all of the car rides and one of us sat in the back with her for most of the trip. Other than that, she loved being outside and hiking with us and she got tons of attention from many strangers.

It started to rain during one of our hikes, so we put Julia's hat on so her face didn't get too wet and covered her shoulders with a blanket. She didn't mind the rain at all and fell asleep shortly after this picture was taken.

We spent a night in Charlevoix on the way home.

She's a Calvin fan who loves her Grandmas!

2008-07-02T10:09:00.002-05:00

Family Reunion

2008-07-02T10:05:00.003-05:00

We went to a family get-together this past weekend in McBain. Julia got to meet more of her extended family.

Here she is with her second cousin Ella. You can tell that they are friends already because they are holding hands!

Two Months Old!

2008-06-12T16:40:00.005-05:00

Smile!

2008-05-29T09:59:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I put Julia in an outfit that her cousin Addison let her borrow. She looked so cute that I had to take her picture. While I was taking pictures, she starting giving me tons of cute smiles!

A New Cousin!

2008-05-29T09:58:00.002-05:00

Susan's sister Anne and her husband Gabe had their baby boy this past week! His name is Gabriel Bethel Williams IV. They live in Columbus, so we haven't seen him yet, but we can't wait to meet him!

Aunt Stacey Visits

2008-05-29T09:37:00.002-05:00

Jared's sister Stacey came to visit for the holiday weekend. We had lots of fun together and Julia loved spending time with her!

More Pictures!

2008-05-19T12:50:00.002-05:00

The whole family!

Here's Julia on a trip to visit Daddy at work.

Rubber Ducky Race

2008-05-19T12:38:00.003-05:00

Jared's school had a rubber duck race fundraiser on Saturday. There were prizes for the first three ducks that crossed the finish line and for the last duck to finish. None of our ducks won any prizes, but we had fun cheering them on!

Mothers' Day

2008-05-19T12:34:00.003-05:00

Graduation

2008-05-19T12:22:00.003-05:00

Susan graduated from Cornerstone last weekend with her masters in TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages). Julia was so glad that she could be there!

Family Picture

2008-05-05T10:19:00.003-05:00

Pictures of Julia

2008-04-23T10:50:00.002-05:00

Here she is asleep in her new bouncer seat.

A visit from Aunt Nicole and Justin!

Back Blogging

2008-04-10T20:52:00.007-05:00

After a long absence we are back with updates and pictures. Mostly because of our recent addition, Julia Mary Benthem. We welcomed her into our family on Saturday, April 5 at 2:50 pm. She arrived healthy and strong after an emergency c-section. The labor was going fine except for the baby's heart rate would drop during stronger contractions. After a couple of pushes Dr. Olsen decided that a c-section needed to be performed. It took only 5 minutes for the baby to be out and in 10 I was holding our little girl in my arms. We spent three nights in the hospital and came home on Tuesday afternoon. Now we are adjusting to life together. Thank to everyone for your prayers, emails, calls, and cards. Susan and I will work at posting updates and pictures as we can.

Jared

New House

2007-08-06T18:10:00.000-05:00

Last week Monday we moved into our new house in Wyoming, MI. It is a three bedroom ranch on a very quite street. Susan and I have been very busy unpacking, assembling furniture, and painting our living room. We are excited to have this new home and look forward to many years here.

River Bank Run

2007-05-19T14:59:00.000-05:00

Jared and I ran the River Bank Run last weekend. It was a lot of fun, although the training wasn't that enjoyable. Here are some pictures of us with our adoring fans. Jared's parents, brother, and sister were also there, but we didn't get any pictures with them.