-lyd

holy devil, thanks for posting! please keep it up! drop what you're doing and blog, baby blog!

Pics from the Allens

Hey all. Here are some pics. Hazel with a hoody. Jackson cleaning the car (and doing a great job too! Oh the joys of parenthood!) And finally, Benny opening some stuff at the par-tay last night. Woot woot. Love you all, bye.


 

battle ground update

Yesterday was Benny’s birthday.  I can’t believe that she is 5 already and wil will be 3 on Sunday.  Cory thinks we should have thought things through a little more before having two birthdays in a week’s time.  Mom bought her the cutest little jeans you have ever seen and when you tell her to turn around she sticks out one hip just like a model would.  She is so dang funny.  She and Jackson were wrestling around, being wild as can be with a house full of people so I told them one million times to knock it off.  Benny jumps up a kicks Jackson in the face and he says, “I deserved that”.  He is so sweet.  Ellynn was giving wil a shoulder ride and he calls out, “wee haw cowboy”.  I thought we were going to bust up.  Hazel claps all the time and the other night she waved bye-bye to danna.  I thought mom was going to cry she was so excited.  When hazey gets really going she kicks her legs and flaps her arm like she is ready to take flight.  She is the sweetest little, well not little as much as incredibly chubby baby.  

It’s still raining, I have to admit we did get a week off but it was so cold we could hardly go outside.  We did however have a picnic in the snow.  It was great.  Heaven forbid we wait until it’s nice to start picnicking.  I’m starting my light therapy again and I stare at the light reflecting off my new ring and that seems to help.  Yes I am now on my 5th wedding ring.  The last one, one of the diamonds came loose and my friend’s mom with the same ring had the same thing happen twice, so we decided to try something new.  I am becoming the joke of my family and friends.  But what should I do, go without a ring? That just wouldn’t be fair to cory, guys would be hitting on me all the time.  No I think dragging four kids around pretty much takes care of that problem.  

I wish I had more to say, but we haven’t been to the dentist or the er this week so it’s been pretty uneventful.  But I’m sure my kids won’t keep you hang’n long.  

                         Blog on……..me

ColoradoBennett

Brooke,
The post from Mike's cousin was hilarious. It is so funny that we mothers think that every other mother has it all together and we are the only ones who lose the laminated folders and arrive late for everything. And dentist appointments...well, that's just the scarriest thing imaginable. I've been effectively avoiding ours for way too long now. I finally found the time to call and get a dentist appointment for Sierra and I last week. They were booked until April 27th and I figured I could use another two months to prepare (sitting on my children in order to brush their teeth and reading the Berenstain Bears book about the dentist over and over is my idea of preparation). But perhaps two months is too far away, seeing as I have been trying to ignore a toothache for the past few weeks. I guess I'm permanently scarred from Meagan's last dental blog.
I started a blog for my side of the family last night. My grandpa's last name is Gurr, so we named it the gurrblog, best said very quickly. Brooke and Cameron, I need some tips about getting people involved.

Mike's cousin's blog

Okay, I know I haven't posted. I'm not even going to right now. I have four more days with Mike and I there is enough that keeps us busy as it is. However, I did want you all to read the blog from his cousin Paige. It is the funniest thing I have read ever. Love you all. I'll blog soon.
Love , Brooke

I have enjoyed all the blogs in the past few weeks and apologize for my lack of participation. The first 3 months of the year are my "life is a long dark tunnel" months and so have few small blasts of interest in human interaction outside of my immediate obligations. (Upon reading this years down the road I am sure my children will be re-evaluating their own social inadequacies as I refer to them as obligations) I bottomed out this morning after having gotten two of them showered, dried and dressed to find several homework papers not done, a winter coat had apparently vaporized over night somewhere in the house, all the teachers valentines sealed tightly shut with no names on them(I have no idea how that ended at school)and then I remembered that all 4 of them had dentist appointments um....right then. So out the door, drop off Caroline who can't miss her party at school and a 4 minute ride to one of the people who takes my pampering money away from me. Enough time for a 3 minute 45 second silent cry down Woodward in which I tell myself that every other mother in the world has ALL her kids clean, all appropriately dressed for the weather, homework crisp and finished in the laminated folders that I lost 4 months ago, valentines printed in pink italics with a full size candy bar attached, and no one has cavities so she is off to get her weekly detox massage to get rid of any negative energy she may be holding in her 123 pounds of perfection. I pull into the parking lot, shake it off, tell 2 of them to jump as we are late, and instruct them to speak clearly when they apologize for being late. They respond in unison with "We know." As in, we do it all the time. I follow them in and look for a table to crawl under as I know I have just thrown them off schedule for the whole day. I also scan the magazine rack and grab the recent People and begin to deteriorate my already questionable intelligence. Same faces, same faces, same faces.....oh, I recognize a face in an article about one of the girls from that sitcom Full House. The middle one. Yeah, whatever happened to her? Apparently, she was humming along life, graduated from college, married a California cop and then became a crystal meth addict. Unexpected, I know. I have often wondered at what point someone decides that something like crystal meth would be a great idea so I continue reading, perhaps she will shed some light on it. She describes the feeling as immediately wonderful. And not only that, you have tons of energy, lose weight AND crave doing things like organizing your drawers and closets. So I am thinking about this. Then she goes on to say that at the low point she was just locked in the bathroom alone for hours. I am no longer reading the article. I am starting to inventory the amount of cold medicine that I have on hand at home and which bathroom I will live in. And I am thinking about other articles where it sites many homes being burnt to the ground due to meth labs. My house needs a lot of work. What IS the down side? I mean, I am currently paying the man in this very office to systematically pull my teeth at a premium and as a meth-head they would fall out on their own. Cash for more Sudafed. I am in deep. "Paige, are you doing okay today?" The receptionist pulls me out of my dark fantasy. I lie. "Great. Just fine." If only she knew where I had just been.
Well, that 30 minutes in the dentist's waiting room got me through the rest of the day and I even made a few cameo's at the kids parties - no small feat for me. Gotta love that People magazine.

lyd

quick sidenote (ellyn glad to see you on the blog, hopefully i can talk to you one on one in the near future!) Dear dear ruthie is en gaged, that's right, for those who didn't know!

ColoradoBennett

I thought I'd post pictures of Ellynn's new car to prove that she's not rolling round like a granny, rather like j.lo.

Adventures in Parenting episode #178: Sierra hates to have her hair washed. The washing isn't so bad, I guess, but during the rinsing stage she really flips out. So today we were showering and I picked up Sie to rinse her hair. I had my back to the shower curtain and during the flipping out process Sierra pushed her feet against the shower wall. The force of those little legs sent her and I flying out of the shower. I hit my back against the toilet and Sierra landed safe and sound on my lap, except we were pinned between the toilet and the shower. The shower curtain came down too and water quickly pooled up around us and the bathroom floor. During the process Sierra's foot must have hit the water control and turned it to hot hot. So poor Kaia was left alone in the shower with the water way too hot, crying her guts out. The curtain is broken, but amazingly none of us are hurt. I sure wish these kids arrived with handy dandy warning labels. Warning: can throw you off balance at any moment in the shower. Warning: throws solid objects at your head with amazing accuracy. Warning: can vomit any time any place without notice. Warning: gives great hugs and kisses to melt your heart thus changing your mental capacity to want to produce more and endure all above (and a plethora of unmentioned) warnings.

Oh, and speaking of cars....I heard that Brooke and Mike are driving around the San Juan Islands in a little yellow corvette! I'd love to take that kind of trip. Brooke, please blog most of the details about your romantic getaway asap.

PS

I'm starving too! It's ridiculous. I ate really good for myself yesterday. I also did not have any caffeine yesterday. A big step for me. I'm not messing around anymore. (ellynn, while researching the blogs....count how many times i've said this.) ha ha, just kidding, but i'm serious this time. summer is right around the corner!!!

wonderful!

Jess, I will try and see if we can make Sunday afternoon work. I wanna see the home! American Idol is pretty great. I have a few that I LOVE, but I'm not set on a single person yet.

I'm getting my hair done tonight, finally!!! It should be great. I might go even darker, we'll see. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Chels

P.S.

Anyone and everyone is always welcome to come see the house anytime.

Oh Martha...Oh Christmas

Elly, sweet Elly, I couldn't be happier that you are home and able to blog. Already I can tell you are going to be a great addition, you are so funny. A Lexus eh? You are riding in luxury.

So on our anniversary Tony DID have something up his sleeve. On my way home from work mom called and said, "why don't you come over to my house after work." So then I really thought something was up. When I got there she told me I could use her minutes and call Elly, which I did, which was great, all the while mom and Tony are conspiring. So when I did get home Tony had prepared a home made candlelight dinner. It was adorable. It was a full on meal including appetizers. What a guy and what a great anniversary.

American Idol rocks, I seriously love it. We don't have our TV hooked up yet so we have been going to mom and dad's to watch it. Leash, Kev and the girls come too, it is our AI party. It monopolizes most of my week with it being on 3 nights a week but what can you do, I am hooked.

I am at work right now, I have only been here for 21 minutes and I am already starving. I should've brought a bigger lunch! Well I better run. Love you all and love the blogs.

Jess

joining at last

What up krew? It’s true, all the rumors are true I’m finally home. It’s been about a week now. A week tomorrow to be exact. Don’t worry, I’m not weird like geof. was and I’ve already watched Pride and Prejudice so I’m all desensitized and stuff. I don’t yet have my room put together, but I did buy a car today. I am the proud new owner of a ’91 lexus LS 400. yeah, it’s a sweet machine. So I look like a grandma driving down the road but I’m riding in luxury! It’s got seat warmers and a sun roof so I’m cool with that. no job but that’s to come this week. I’m just living off the skrilla I gotst in the bank. It’s great to be back with my children are beautiful and ginormous! I rarely have a moment without them and I like it that way. Just now Jackson tried to kick me in the butt and slipped and fell spilling all of his apple juice. But he didn’t break the glass. It must be the tae kwon do. I don’t even think I spelled that right. Well I don’t have much else to say, other than it’s great to finally be on the blogg! I feel like a member of the family now. I love you all and I can’t wait to spend the next 20 or so hours reading these suckers to get caught up on your lives. Okay take it easy team. Love you.
Ellynn

wow!

I LOVE all the blogs, that was a wonderful surprise. Happy Everthing to everyone!!! Jess, when can I come see your house??? I'm glad Ellynn is home safe. I only have a minute, so gotta run. Keep up the blogs.

Wait....Lyd, can I come visit you tonight? What's your schedule??? Let me know.

Chels

ColoradoBennett

Today it hit me that I'm doing a terrible job of balancing things in my life. I spend so much time with my calling, the kids, driving around to visit my mom and grandma and Janelle, etc. ect. and poor Adam seems to be on the bottom of the pile. I started crying while reading the birthday blogs for my sweet hubby. I'd wanted to write a big, loving blog first thing this morning, but so many things got in the way. Even now I have to cut this short because I have two fighting, crying, hungry girls on my lap that are pulling my hands off the keyboard. I am so grateful that Adam puts up with my neglect and still shows an outpouring of love for me. He is strong and steady and an amazing source of love and understanding. I LOVE YOU, ADAM.

happy birthday big ad!

i am as usual short on time and engenuity however i am smart enough to surround myself with incredibly clever people. elly helped me get on this thing so i could surprise adam with a happy birthday blog. next, as amazing as it sounds for those of you that know my filing skills, i actually found this e-mail that mindi wrote to cory 24 nov 2002. rarely am i smart enough to save something i like where i can actually find it again when i want it. this truly is a red letter day. by the way--congratulations to all on their anniversaries!!!!!!!!!!!!
ok back to this e-mail. i think you will love it as much as i do. i love the players and the story

cory,
so i hear you've been hit pretty hard with school/work stuff these days. sorry man, i hope you find a way to sleep someday. well here is a little story to make you laugh in between studying. as i type this i know adam is going to call you guys later today and tell the story over the phone, but maybe you'll read this first and when they tell you the story you'll be like, "bah that's old hat man, i've already heard it." so yesterday adventurous scoutmaster adam and his trusty sidekick brandon brave all the elements and take the scouts skiing/snowboarding. they left at about 7 a.m. and at ll adam calls me from the mountain. um, he says, i broke my key to the land rover can you drive up here with your spare (he was using the key to remove last year's ski tag (note to self, do not use cold keys as tools)). so i drop all my plans for the day and drive two hours up the mountain to the ski resort (it was a beautiful day and i can't complain one smidge about taking a mountain drive). when i arrived at copper mountain i found our disco but not adam. i waited in my car for an hour and a half with sierra, still no adam. i walked around and even worked up the nerve to ask someone if i could use their cell to call adam (please note that just talking to someone like that is way out of my social skill range and it takes a lot out of me). [where is darla when we need her?] well after all that i still can't get a hold of him and i go back to sit in the car some more (plus i'm hungry and i have to go to the bathroom). [that is so unlike our little mindi] finally i see the super-sidekick, brandon, and boy does he look mad. first thing he says, take me home please! he was fuming mad because he and adam only got two runs in all day because the scouts just gave up on the slopes. he and ad were helping a rollie-pollie style kid who claimed to have jurt himself but was truly just too tired to move another muscle. after forcing him to get up, then him falling over and bawling time after time, they decided to enlist the ski patrol. no sooner had the patrol guy loaded up scout #1 when adam looked over and saw scout #2 on a patrol guy's snowmobile hitching a ride down. after the snowmobile passes they get a call on their walkie-talkie that scout #3 is missing in action and scout #4 is at the top of the mountain, but refuses to move another inch due to imaginary pain and fear. apparently scout #5 had a good time, but he was the only one. by the time adam and his happy troop finished their rendezvous in the first aid office and made it out to the car the day was wasted. i handed sierra off to ad so i could find the ladies room and when i returned all hell had broken loose again. apparently he had decided that her diaper was wet so as he was changing her he broke the tried and true rule of putting the clean diaper underneath to catch any surprises. sure enough, she peed like a racehorse all over her clothes, her coat, and the land rover seat., when i got back she was wet, naked, screaming, and freezing cold in the mountain air. after that brandon and i loaded the baby and took off for home, leaving the "adventurous scoutmaster" to sort out whose skis go with which boots and who lost who's glove and who ate who's peanut butter and jelly sandwich and where the heck scout #3 could be???? so that was our weekend. can you beat that with a stick?
love mindi

can you all see why i love it? it is so quintisential ad--trying so hard to help someone out for their own good. kind of like helping his little sister find a car on his birthday. he is such a good man. he had the good sense to marry such a good woman and have 2 of the most beautiful baby girls in the world. i love him more every day!!!!! he's my boy and one of my best friends!!!!! have a happy birthday ad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love you, mom

Feliz Cumple Adam!!

Adam!! You're 30!! Happy Day to you. Thanks for sharing your day with the rest of us. I've been sitting by my phone with a book in my hand just waiting for you to call...still no call! (only Adam will get this one you guys). I'm soo glad to hear Ellynn is doing well. I'm DYING to see her. I wish we could head up there this weekend. I'm going crazy! We might just have to wait until Brinders is there too. Anyway, life is going well except for that whole winter thing. Is it me or is this the longest winter EVER?! Maybe it's knowing this could possibly be our last winter in Provo that makes it so hard. I don't know. Geof. flies and works all day and I wish any day that some awesome job would just land in our laps and we'd be done with this phase in our lives. Do I sound like a whiner or what? I don't mean to be. So the bishop's wife called me last Sunday and wants me to sing with her and another lady in our ward on SUnday. here's the catch: she (the bishop's wife) has an incredibly beautiful voice and the other lady sings in the Tab. Choir. No joke!! I'm freaking out here. And we're singing some song from the old hymnbook that has three women parts...acappella! I don't know what she was thinking asking me. I'm saying that in all honesty. Not for compliments (as Geof. would like to think). I rarely sing anymore and when I do it's in the shower or the car. So wish me luck 'cuz I might start crying half way through. Well the kids are adorable. Cole, as hard as he can be, is starting to talk so much more and he says the funniest things. A lot of the time he's just copying me so I feel horrible when he screams "get away from me!" which I tend to do to way too often when he can't stop climbing all over me. Dayne loves her voice and uses it often. I don't see her walking any time soon which I kind of like. She still just scoots around the house on her belly. Time to go. hope all is well. LEash!!! where are you?! can't you blog at someone elses house? and brooke? come on. we miss you. Congrats on the house Jess and Tony. what's it like? I keep imagining my first house to be in a cute little older neighborhood with fun things like built in bookcases and hutches and beautiful hard wood floors. I lay in bed at night imagining all the fun things I'd do to it. No worry. just another 10 yrs. or so. Darla

she's back

Elly is back and as beautiful and funny as ever.  Cory says he has never been so excited to see someone in his life.  I’m sure it’s only because he’s forgotten about when I came home from Spain after leaving him with an unweened wilohm for two weeks.  But elly is a close second I am sure.  Like I suspected, my children want to move in with her.  Every night they are begging to spend the night with her and every morning as soon as they wake they start begging to go up and see her.  I am not kidding, it is like she was never gone, except that she is totally holy, she even glows, that could be that she hasn’t seen the sun for 18 months, but I don’t think so.  And she can speak a whole other language.  She doesn’t quite know what to do so she spent the whole day at the temple yesterday, I can’t think of anything better.  We went on Saturday and it was so nice not worrying about the babies (cor stayed home with them), we had lunch and went the distribution and everything it was great.  I wish I were rich like I dreamed I would be 10 years out of high school, then I would pay her to be a mommies helper.  And by the time night rolled around we would be sick of each other and need a break and she could go hang out with other hip singles.  Instead now she will have to work all day and come home and play with me and she will have no time for anyone hip.  Maybe some hot, spiritual, wonderful guy will just show up on her porch.  And although he fits the description and Jackson thinks it would be a great idea, brind is not who I had in mind.

Happy day to jess and tony, darla and geof., man doesn’t time fly.  Cory and I are coming to the close of our 7th year, which is, I hear a big one, and we still love each other.  Definitely more now than we ever have, and Brooke and mike seem pretty dang happy too, so I’m telling you it only gets sweeter with time.  (I think that is from a song.  If not it should be.)  Alicia I miss your guts!!!!!!!!  Cameron I’m glad you still have a face, and everyone else keep on keeping on.  I love you all!!!

                              Love……..me

happy 30th

Thirty years ago today I am up in heaven with one of my best friends and all of the sudden the call comes that it is his time to go.  I am excited for him, but feeling sorry for myself knowing that I would have to live without him for two years until my call would come.  Now looking at the thirty years Adam has been serving this call I am grateful that he went before me and has set such an incredible example.  Look at all he has accomplished; he is a loving caring brother and son, he served an honorable mission, he was a rad roommate, he married the coolest chick alive, he is successful in his employment, and maybe most of all he is one of the most loving daddies I have ever seen.  Leading his two girls and little Josephine back to where this all started.  

I love you Adam, I am so grateful that you are my brother, and for the love that you give me.  Is there anyone cooler than you?  I think not.

                                               Love…………..me

Happy Everything Day

Happy Birthday Adam!

Happy Anniversary Geof. and Darla!

It is our anniversary too and Tonys moms birthday as well...what a day. I think Tony has something up his sleeve for tonight but we will see. I will let you know if he does anything cute.

Here is an update on the house...last Tuesday, Valentine's Day, we closed. We wanted to start moving Wednesday night but then there was the "blizzard". Thursday I didn't go into work and we decided to start moving. (That is why we didn't call you Cam, thanks for the offer to help, that was so nice of you.) For as tiny as the little house is we sure did have a lot of crap. It took us about 10 truck/van/car loads. It took me a few days to get everything put away but we are just about there. I have it narrowed down to one messy room. The house is great. I really love it. Tony says it feels like we are house sitting and anyday now we will have to go back to the little house. I will post some pictures soon.

Oh speaking of pictures, I couldn't figure out how to post our cruise pictures with an explanation by them. So I will explain them now: The first one is of the dolphins we saw at Catalina Island, that was amazing. Next was us getting ready to rock climb which turned out to be rather frightening. I couldn't look down because not only was it about 25 feet to the bottom of the rock but it was another 100 feet to the ocean. Next was us with our friends Neil and Allison at port in Ensanada. Next was me and Tone in Catalina with our ship in the background. The next one is a picture of our towel elephant. Every night the "stateroom attendant" would turn down our bed and make some towel animal, it was hilarious, one night he made a monkey and hung it from the ceiling with a hanger. The next picture is of the sunrise as we were arriving at Ensanada. The Los Angeles temple is next, doesn't that picture look fake or like a postcard. It was just beautiful there and it was great to be in such a nice place away from all the other crap of L.A. Next was us in San Diego which was my favorite stop. The last picture is of Tony "drinking" water from a fountain in San Diego.

Well I am at work so I better run. I love you all. Where is Ellynn? Does anyone know?

Blog out...Jess

"i wish i could"

No no it’s “I wish I could quit you” get it straight! Quite literally straight! Hehe, but really Geoff that was an amazing film. For some reason I couldn’t stop crying after I saw it or thinking about it! Well I’m glad to see everyone still bloging, keep it up please! -Lyd

chels

Hello. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine went by way too fast.

Cameron, I'm glad you didn't have to get a skin graph. That story was horrifying! I have to ask, why didn't you simply brush the snow off of the grill with your hands? Or better yet, leave it? Pretty funny.

Mindi, I'm sorry to hear about the insurance situation. That's intense. Having the child in your home is quite the brave idea! I can't imagine. I guess I'm a whimp.

Real quick, if anyone wants to go night skiing tomorrow night (Tuesday), let me know. Joey and I are going up to Wolf Mountain (formerly Nordic). It's $17 for two people on Tuesday nights. You can't beat that! Lyd and Greg are probably going to join. Jess and Tone? Leash and Kev? Cam and Monica? Jordan and Michelle? Jan? AJ? Kel? Geoff and Darla? Any takers???? Cortney and Rodger won't, party poopers. Maybe Ash and Linds will....(I hope I didn't forget anyone. I just felt like a won an acadamy award and regretted starting to name anyone in hopes that I wouldn't leave anyone out.)

Peace,
Chels

A good laugh at my expense.

I wasn't going to relate this story but my family sure thought it was funny and blog worthy.Picture this. Saturday afternoon I had cooked this delicious pork loin roast on our BBQ grill. It was so good and as we were eating this delicious chunk of pig it starts snowing outside. I love the snow, it's the 12 degree weather I'm having a problem with. Anyways, we finish dinner and sit down to watch a movie. Not that it matters but we watched "Zathura". A fairly good show, the kids liked it, but not really in the ball park of "Jumangi". The movie gets over and I go out back to put Kuya, my dog, in his kennel. When I walk out the back door I see that I left the lid to the BBQ grill open and there is about 2" of snow in my grill. Being the brilliant person that I am I think, "I'll just light the grill and melt the snow out of it". So, I turn the knobs to HI and push the ignite button. Nothing happens. Again, I push the button with the same result. A third time I lean forward just a little to see if I could hear the gas on and push the button again. Let this be a lesson. If you have a layer of snow on your grill it will hold the gas in and when it finally does light watch out. I don't know how high the flames went but they went higher than my face because it singed my eyebrows and eyelashes. I was pretty embarrassed and glad that it was late and nobody around to see it. I didn't realize that I had singed my face until I went back in the house and that burnt hair smell hit me. I normally fall right to sleep but that night it took be awhile because of the burnt hair stench infesting my nose.Hope you all get a good laugh at my expense. Keep bloggin.Cam

povo

Well it's started to snow so I had my student land early and I'm just wondering if it will stop snowing so I can get to work. Yeah by February I'm ready for the snow and cold to stop. Were I a ski bum I'm all for this crap but as it is no. Mindi tell Muhamad I'm sad he didn't write his Valentine to me but oh well. Why can't I quit you? broke back mountain moment.
Anyway this weekend was good. Darla and I celebrated Valentines day over the weekend. We went snow shoeing. First we went to the sundance nordic center cause we saw a sign. We start to walk around in our snow shoes and this girl asks us if we have a trail permit. I'm like what's that? She says it's 8 dollars to use the trails. Darla's like per person? Yes is the reply. I laugh and tell her we'll drive half mile up the road and walk around for free rather than 16 dollars. Well we found this beautiful area and tromped around. We found a snow cave and crawled around in there for a bit. Of course we'll do more Valentines stuff this week since I've yet to spend money which is the true symbol of love.
Cole has been held back from Sunbeams. Not really but his teachers had to chase him down as he ran out of primary five times, so seeing there fatigued faces I told them I'd ask the bishop if we could put him in nursery at least during singing time. He is doing well and loves being tickled. He names all the places he wants tickled to make sure we're thorough. eye lid, ear, hair, elbow, knee, individual fingers. The kids hysterical. Dayne loves grunting still and bouncing in her bounce chair. She just hops up and down blowing snot bubbles for 20 minutes at a time all the while smiling. What an athlete. alright team we'll talk soon. Jess I'm a big fan of the family cruise idea. peace.
p.s. Mindi I'm an EMT though it's expiring soon and would be happy to deliver your child free of charge. I've done it with several mannequins.

More Pictures

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Pics from the cruise

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Wow

It has been awhile since there has been this much activity on the old blog.
I have to 3rd that the traffic was horrendous on Wed. night and Thurs. morning. I ended up staying at work until 9:30 on Wed. I figured it was better to make money than sit in my car for 3 hours to go 18 miles. Thursday it took Jord and I 1.5 hours to get to work.
I have to agree with Lydia on the Utah snow being the best. If you don't believe us listen to the Olympians who have been complaining about the snow there and wishing they were back in SLC!!!
Not much new to report from our end. Did anyone hear about the tragedy in the Philippines? It was pretty sad but good that Brind was on a different island huh?
So, this blog has been such a good idea that I set one up for my family thinking that it would bring my cousins and I closer. It's worked, I know things about my cousins and uncles that I had never known before. The sad thing is that we have learned that my grandma is loosing her mind. She called my dad because she thought he was her grandson and thought that I was her son. It took my dad about 5 min to convince her that she had it backwards. It scares me to death to get old but such is life right?
Ok back to work. Keep em coming!
Cameron

oh and chels/cousin, no snow/resort will ever be better than utah's, just get that through your head right now!

?

How did that all happen so fast? I check the blog religiously at least every half hour, 3 posts in under 30 minutes, ridiculous. I’m so glad everybody started posting again! Mindi I almost starting crying at the fact your having the wee babe at home! I used to watch a baby story on tlc daily and I love that, good luck! Just a real quick “how do you do” from me but glad to see everybody up and running! Peace out Lyd

ColoradoBennett

Is Ellynn home yet? I feel terrible that we couldn't call her cell phone in Finland. Adam really did try fighting with the phone company to let us through. Brooke, get Ellynn bloggin' asap.
Our Valentine's Day was a dream come true for Sierra, much like Jackson. We were in charge of the V-day party for Joy School and that was crazy fun. Then we had a V-day party for FHE. Even Muhammad and Ali caught the spirit. They bought a rose for both Adam and I, a box of chocolates for me, and cute stuffed animals for the girls. Then we made valentine cards and since Muhammad doesn't have a romantic interest he wrote Saudi Arabia and his home town on his heart shaped card. Very funny.
So if you are ever shopping for health insurance, please don't go with Mid-West Life Insurance. Adam and I decided about a year ago to switch over to them because we were paying about $550 per month for the family for health insurance. We saved about $120 a month by making the switch and were feeling pretty smart. We knew that we didn't have maternity coverage right away, but the broker told us if we got pregnant we could just sign me up for another insurance for the duration of the pregnancy and all would be well. Or if we didn't get pregnant for 13 months from signing up, we would then be covered. What he didn't tell us was that we would have had to have signed up for a maternity rider from the get go and be paying into that inorder to get coverage. So blah blah blah and lie lie lie, here were are pregnant with no maternity unless there is a complication. I got turned down by another insurance because of my "pre-existing condition", and a friend said I should call her broker. This guy felt really sorry for me, told me there was no hope of getting coverage at this point, and that as soon as I have the baby the family needs to get new insurance as fast as we can. So I did a search online for our options and found something called Maternity Card. This company said they would talk down doctor, lab, and hospital bills and boasted a 60% savings. I fell for their spiel hook line and sinker, and signed up for a 12 month contract. After weeks of trying to get things figured out with these jokers, I realized I'd been lied to again. They don't cover doctor's appointments (which run about $3,000 for 7 months of visits), but they still insist that they can help with lab and hospital bills and get us a discount at the dentist. I'm just not willing to get a $14,000 bill from the hospital and find out that they can't really talk it down to $1,000 like they promised. So I talked Adam into paying the flat fee for the midwife (ultrasounds, labs, visits and delivery are $3,000) and we'll have sweet little Josephine at home (something I've always wanted to do--oh and Adam won't let me name the baby Josephine, nor do we know it is a girl, but that is what I call him or her). A few years ago a guy bore his testimony in church about how he made his wife have the baby at home because he didn't want to pay the outragous hospital bill, I guess we've turned into that guy. But I'm all for it. I'm going to go to the same midwife my mom used for Jay and Grace, a lady Adam calls "Mother Earth".

I know Jess!

There was nothing more horrible than the commute Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Within 24 hours I honestly spent 4 1/2 in the car trying to commute in the proximity of 40 miles. HORRIBLE!!! I wish I would've called into work as well, but I still don't get paid time off. Not working for my dad really has it's downside! I'm in the real world now, quite an eye opener. :) Just kidding, that's what I wanted. So I might have to freak out if everyone continues to avoid the blog as though it were a plague. For real!!!! This is my life-line while I'm at work!

I went to Jackson Hole last weekend and it was awesome! Utah's resorts were nothing compared toTeton Village. It was a small dream. -18 degrees though! You could literally feel the snot freezing in your nose, gross...but true.

Cort is now working part time at Alpine Dental with my Mother doing an internship. She does it every-other day (A/B Day schedule) for High School and gets credits. It's a pretty sweet set-up for her. She wants to be a dental Hygenist and the hours there will count as high school and college credits.

Ash went to Prom last week. I was in Jackson so I have yet to see the pictures of her, but I'm sure it was great. Her dress was very pretty. If I knew how, I'd post pictures....

Linds went to her Jr. High Dance after school. Aparently when my Mom asked how it was, she replied with, "Good...I got my freak on." Quite the character. Her and I have a small date planned tonight. She is grounded one night each weekend. I remember how bad it sucked to be grounded, so I have taken the liberty to entertain her as much as possible.

I finally talked my Mom into getting nails and she likes them too! She got me a toaster for Valentine's Day, which was great. I hardly have anything still!

Well, there's the update.

Jess, what's new with the house! I'm real excited for you. I need to come and see it.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Bus ride from H

Many, if not all of you have made the trek from Salt Lake to Kaysville. By car it is about 30 minutes, by bus it is about 40 minutes. You will never in your wildest dreams imagine how long it took me to get home Wednesday night...4 HOURS!!! That's right. A snow storm started early in the morning and continued all day. I waited for the 3:58 bus, which was late, for about 15 minutes while listening to others talk about the freeway being closed down because life flight was blocking it in Centerville and the snow was so thick people couldn't see out of their windows and they were getting in wrecks. There were 235 wrecks on I-15 and 550 total wrecks throughout the state (according to Deseret News) It was mayhem...absolute madness. So I finally get on the bus and the driver takes the back roads which are packed with snow and cars. I decide to take a nap and possibly sleep the ride away but much to my chagrin I awake to see we have only moved about a mile. By about 6 p.m. we are barely in Bountiful and I am nearly in tears thinking about how much further we still had to go. The bus driver kept heading away from the freeway thinking he would find an emptier road but I think every other Utahan had that same idea. One person actually got off the bus somewhere in Bountiful and started running...who knows where he went I just know he got there hours before any of us. So we finally head back towards the freeway but then suddenly the bus driver takes another side road. I thought the passengers were going to lynch him. We started getting news that the freeway was open so people were yelling to the bus driver to get back on the freeway. When we got to the on-ramp everyone started cheering...it was ridiculous. Some passengers, who crowded onto the bus had to stand for this 4 hour ordeal. I felt so bad for them. Finally at 8 p.m. I arrived to my snow covered car in the park and ride lot. What a day, needless to say I was in a horrible mood for the rest of the evening, all 2 hours of it. When I woke up on Thursday I watched the traffic and again the roads were horrendous so I called into work and told them I wouldn't be coming. If I had to go through that again I don't know what I'd do. Jess

happy v-day

Me too! I hope everyone had someone to love today. I have the five cutest little valentines ever. Cory made us all a candle lit dinner, with slide show, music and everything. Jackson had a great day, he started by getting to sleep in because of a two hour late start, then he got to talk to his finnish valentine and finally daddy came to his class to help with his party. The rest of the kids had a pretty good day too, but I think jack was the happiest.

Blog on……….meags

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!!!

Love Jess

Need Help?

Jess,

Let us know if you need help moving! I can probably get our delivery truck if you need something like that or I can get a pick up truck. Let me know what you need and we'll be there to help.

Cam

Update-Jessica and Tony

So the cruise was amazing. We started in Long Beach and went to San Diego, Catalina Island and Ensanada. I had no idea cruises were so fun and I think they are definitely the way to go. All the food and fun you can imagine in one place. I think it would be great if our whole family went on one together. I ate sooo much it wasn't even funny. The food was absolutely divine. I think we ate ourselves into food induced comas because we couldn't stay awake and had to keep taking naps. The quote of the trip came during the midnight chocolate buffet and my plate was completely full and my hands were full and I saw the ice cream and I said "Ice cream...how am I going to hold all of this!" Allie was laughing so hard. That is how I felt the whole time...like there was so much food and not enough places to put it.

Tony and I entered the ping pong tournament but to no avail, I got out in the first round to this little Japanese girl and Tony got out by this nerd from BYU who thought he was the ping pong king. Tony took fourth in the belly flop contest and 2nd in the free throw contest. We also climbed a rock wall. There was so much to do.

We saw about 100 dolphin swimming around Catalina which was one of the highlights. I will email all the pics soon and I will put some on the blog. When we were in L.A. we stumbled upon the Temple and we went to the new Joseph Smith movie which was really good. We absolutely had a great time and I can't wait to go on another.

So Tony's birthday was on Saturday and we went skiing with his mom and brother, Alicia, Lyd, Greg and his mom. It was a perfect day. The sun was out the snow was perfect. We had a blast except I forgot sunscreen so my face is fried. We went to Olive Garden for dinner. We had cake and ice cream at mom and dad's last night.

We are supposed to close on the house either tomorrow or Wednesday so we can move in pretty soon. I am way excited. I will post some pics of the house soon too. Well that is my update. Keep on bloggin' baby.

Love Jess

Touch Base

Mike is playing a quick game on the X box 360 so I have a minute to write. Yes Mindi, I know it has been a long time. My life has become very busy. Ellyn has started going to all of her therapy and that takes a big chunk out of a couple of days a week and then of course- Mike is here!!! I spent most of last week getting ready for Mike and then we got to pick him up last Thursday. We have spent a wonderful couple of days. The girls love having their daddy home. Ellyn has warmed up after a day of stand offishness and Sadie snuggles in just like she always did. It's been nice having the house to ourselves for a few days. Just a little family time. We are of course going to be more than happy to have the rest of the family return, especially with our Ellynn. Well Mike is done and we're going to watch a movie now that the girls are asleep. Take care. love, Brooke

ColoradoBennett

LDS Living magazine has an article called "Blogging for Beginners" that says, 'What's cheaper than a phone call, more thoughtful and intimate than email, and easier to create than an actual family newsletter? It's a blog! Short for web-log, it is essentially a glorified personal diary or log that is frequently updated." We are so ahead of the times, thanks to Brooke. Where are you, Brooke?
So I need some suggestions on how to get my teenage girls to play nice and like each other. I think there might be some race issues, there definitely is some "princess" issues, and big fellowshiping issues. I heard a great quote that I think I'll use on them on Sunday. Someone once asked someone really important, let's say an apostle, how you can tell if someone is converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His reply was something to the effect of "you can tell by how that person treats other people". So throwing a fit and stomping out of the gym when someone gets in front of you during a basketball drill might be an indication that we need to work on our Christ-like behavior.
Meags, I'm glad to hear the Hazy Mae is ok. That's just down right scary. I need to pull it together and make sacrifices to get my work-outs in like you do. I do just fine with early morning prego-yoga, but I just can't get a walk in everyday like I need to. It is either too cold to put the kids in the jogger, take Max, and take off for a walk, or we are sick, or I just run out of time, etc. I need to stop with the excuses and just find a way.
Lydia, I'm glad you are safe. Those cornices are beautiful and scary. But avalanches are just down right the scarriest things imaginable. I had to watch a video about them before going on a winter climb and I'll never forget a testimonial from a guy caught in an avalanche. He said the snow filled up his mouth, nose, eyes, ears, everything with such force that he almost lost consciousness, but luckily dug his way out.
Ok, so sesame street is almost over and I'm going to sneak onto the couch for a quick power nap. Happy Birthday tomorrow to the only-family-Man-who-never-blogs ( I guess that's not fair to Tony, because Big Daddy Boo never blogs either).

Sierra and Kaia

oh and megs thats a crazy story, -no good, but good that shes good!~

but just know i need it! oh and wait geoff and darla, what am i retarted! i need yours also!

oh wait wait that's right! don't post it over the blog i don't like that idea. didn't you say something about that megs? anyhow e-mail it to me at diver08@hotmail.com or call me or my mom or i'll be calling you! thanks

address -thanks lydia

Hey cousins real quick I need your address! Mindi’s please, and Megan’s, I know LeAnne’s. Oh and Cameron’s! Anyone else post your address for me please and thank you!

fun with kids

Lyd thank you for writing. Geof. is the funniest boy I know, but I read his blog like 12 times so it was time for I new one. Oh the days of skipping life to ski. How I long for those days again. Now my winter sport of choice is snow shoeing, where you can carry a kid on your back and drag a few behind you on a sled. Yeah that can be a rush too. I did have a pretty exciting night. I went to a baby shower, then planned to go to the gym. Half way through the shower cory calls. I think oh baby is hungry, so I ask if she’s being too fussy. He tells me that she has calmed down now, but she’s acting kind of funny. That’s the great thing about cory; he never comes right out and tells you the problem. “why is she acting funny, cory?” “benny dropped her and she hit her head on the bottom of the couch.” Babies bounce so I wasn’t too worried, but I rushed home anyway. She didn’t even smile when I walked in the door. She just laid her head on my chest and had no color in her cheeks. I finally got her to nurse and not three minutes after she finished, it all came right back out. Hazel has never even spit up before so to put it lightly I was a bit concerned. Cory called the advice nurse and by the time the conversation was over we were changing our puky clothes and headed out to the er. Jackson was so freaked out he was cleaning the whole house (he knows what makes me happy), he even cleaned up the throw up chair. I think they might have started a file on me. Anyone who has to bring their kids in twice in a month’s time is not really fit to be a mother. Hazel was acting pretty good by the time we got in there, but because of her young age they still wanted to do a cat scan. I guess babies that young can have bleeding on the brain and still act pretty normal. It’s a good thing it was my perfect baby that had to lie there completely still for 5 minutes while going into a crazy, huge machine. The tecs said she was their best patient all day. Every thing was clear and she is fab this morning, but it did make for an interesting night.

Elly and mom are having a blast. They went on a dog sled ride the other day, north of the artic circle. They even got to drive their own sled. It’s a good thing I didn’t go. They said all the dogs were fighting and coming out bloody. I’m sure they would have smelt my fear and all turned on me. next they were headed to the ice palace, where even the beds and lights are made of ice. But they weren’t going to stay because ellynn didn’t want to have to sell her alcohol free liver to pay for the room. As you can imagine they use a lot of ‘drink’ to keep the cold out. Benny has a count down going on the calendar. Everyday she writes how many days until danna and elly come home. I think she just wants out of the house. with both of them home we will never see our little princess.

Wil is trying to get Bennett to watch a knight’s tale with him, he doesn’t like to watch it alone because it has a naked part in it. “when that ‘dad’ as a naked bottom. I no like it”. He is such a modest little kid. Cory always says he is going to be our most righteous child. I best be getting my groove on, I am taking the kids up so cory can take them to the park during his lunch while I go running. An hour each way just so I can run by myself. I think the lack of sleep is getting to my brain. But the babies are excited to play with daddy and after I can take the three of them to the store by myself. Now does anything sound like more fun?

Loves the blog……….me

i tried -lydia

I tired I really did, I was probably the first one to try and call. I’m always checking the blog to see if anyone posted, so on my next break I tried, but dang that Jacki, she blocked my phone from making calls to China daily!
Anyhow a quick update for me! My friends flew in from Vermont and NEW HAMPSHIRE?!, on Monday night. I took work off except for today, and have been skiing everyday! Rough life eh! My friends however did try to kill me at Alta, I was scared for my life, if that’s possible while I’m skiing but they made it! There was a point when, I second guessed my motives for skiing, maybe it could have been the part where we had to hike for at least a half hour, (which really people isn’t my idea of a good time, hiking in ski boots!) and coming upon a cornice, which for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a place where the snow is deceiving and makes you think it keeps going, cause the wind has blown it over into like a wave! Anyhow they all just jumped up and over it, and bombed the hill through these shoots and what not, I call out to them “I’ll just do what you do!” and they mumble something back to me saying “just make sure you.….” And then they trail off, but luckily people I made it down the hill safe and sound and avalanche free! It wasn’t that risky but I’m just a beginner!
Anyhow keep on blogging please!

povo

I've gotta fly soon so this is quick. First off it has been a slow crawl out of the depression I was laid in after the hellen keller reffing of super bowl 40. Had I only known that Pittsburgh had signed the entire ref. staff prior to the game it would have made the game a lot easier to view. My poor seahawks will be back. So the weekend in Granby was awesome. I flew out there with two students and played with Adam, mindi, sierra, Kaia, muhammad and ali. The last two make great healthy food and mindi just tries to feed you cookies all day. On the flight back it got real dark so I decided we should land at this little airport in this little town. well it was like negative 30 and no one was awake at any hotel. Finally we call 911 and tell them we're just dying at the airport. They send a cop who drives us to the motel. I should have kept the cop around because we were robbed by the little motel. 75 bucks or sleep in the snow what a jip. Thankfully we flew out the next morning and I was able to spend the whole day with my family as part of the repentance process. Of course by whole day I still had to work but only one job. Darla dealt very well with the children. It was funny because after being with cole in public areas for a while I turn to Darla and ask her honestly if he's always like this. The rolled eyes tipped me off to the truth. She really deals well with the three needies as she so often calls us. Oh well things are good. Thanks for all the blogs. Chels you should just eat what you want and then throw it all back up. It's done wonders for me. Peace out team. mucho love from me.

more details

Ok I need to explain this more clearly.  The number that I have given is elly’s cell phone, which she has at all times and always has reception.  Also the number includes a cheap international thing at the beginning, it’s the 1010297 part.  If you have any questions call me.  Jess I missed montel it’s on at 10:00 am but I want to hear how it went.
                                                                Love………me

love her

Anyone who can should really call ellynn.  She thinks no one loves her because no one has called.  Hint, hint my brothers and sister!!  But remember the time difference, they are 10 hours ahead of us.

MONTEL

Hi everyone,

If you are interested, Tony and his family are going to be on Montel today. It is on at 2:00 in Utah on channel 14. Check it out if you want and spread the word to others too.

Thanks,

Love Jess

commercials - chelsea

Is it just me, or where the commercials just lame this year? I do have to admit, I enjoyed one of them. The one where the horses are playing football and then the "streaker" (shaven sheep) comes running through. That one rocked.

Well, I can't believe it's Monday again. The weekends always fly by. I'm not feeling up to par, but I think I'll make it through the day.

When does Ellynn get home? (I hope i spelled her name right.)

Doesn't Brind get home soon too? I'm so out of the loop, sorry...

anyone for an elly fix?

You all will be jealous; I just talked to Ellynn.  Yeah that’s right, little sisar Bennett is now allowed to receive phone calls.  So here is her phone number, just in case any of you are interested.  1010297011358449117933, now that’s a mouthful.
                                                
                              Love….meags

chels

Cameron, I was laughing and loving your blog. I'm so glad someone FINALLY posted today. I've checked at least a dozen times.

So, I didn't go to the gym this morning. I don't know what it is about Thursday's, but I just always sleep in. I had a fairly healthy lunch though, so that's good.

Today at work I went to get a cup of water from the breakroom. As I was rounding a corner, this little guy who works out back came zipping around in the opposite direction I was going. We both stopped abruptly and in the process, my cup of water was raised and then lowered at a very past pace. I didn't drop it, but half of the water plopped out into the air and then landed on the ground. The little guy was so embarrassed. It was pretty funny.

Tomorrow is Friday! For as much as I hate January, February, March and April, they seem to be going by pretty quick.

chels

cold and dark

Two days ago we get a notice at work from Utah Power that there will be a "planned power interruption" today from 8:00am to 12:00pm. So it had to be a Thursday. The one day of the week that I am without transportation. My ride on Thursdays is Jordan so I figure that I'll go in on time, (everyone else was coming in when the power was back on), and catch up on some much needed filing in the file room. I hate doing it because everytime I do the phone rings non stop and if you know me you can see my frustration level at being in the middle of something and being interrupted by a phone call. Anyway, I come in at 8:00 and wohoo we still have power. So I start entering a couple of orders and print out an invoice for Kerry when "POP" out goes the power, scared me to death. I waited just a minute for my heart to calm down then decided to go file, but to no avail. I walk into the filing room and it's so dark that I can barely see my hand in front of my face, I figure I can barely read the writing on the invoices in the light (the writing is too small) so there is no way I'm going to figure out what I'm actually filing and where. So I go back to my desk and decide to clean up. I take everything off of my desk and start to dust it using the little bit of light that seeps through my little window, which by the way has a great view of the snow cats, sewage treatment plant and a half dynamited mountain. Then a driver comes up to the door totally relieved to find somebody (he didn't think anyone was around due to all the lights off and no car outside). So I tell him to follow me and we will unload his truck. He follows me back through the filing room and when I look back he's taking little baby steps sideways because he can't see and he doesn't know where he's going. It was pretty funny. So I get him all loaded and come back in to finish cleaning my desk and realize that it's freezing. Well, duh, the fan to the heater can't kick on without power. So I put my coat on and reach down to lift up my little radio to dust underneath it. Just as I grab it "POP" the power comes on and the radio is on full blast, again I was scared to death. That was my interesting morning alone at work in the dark and cold. Now I will have to wait until 5:30 (after closing time for me) for my ride to pick me up and take me home.
Cameron

ColoradoBennett

Alicia, thank you for saying those nice things. I think all of us moms feel like we're barely keeping our head above water. But, seriously, you've got to stop taking Un-Yon to Walmart. The law of having two or more children is that you never go shopping without an armada of help. Take the entire Relief Society with you--or maybe just the fastest sisters--or just leave the speedy bundle of joy home with Big Daddy Boo (I've been laughing about that name all day).

So, girls basketball starts tonight. I've suckered my buddy Haylee into being the coach/taxi driver along with me again this year. Basketball is our golden ticket to get all the inactive girls back into the program. The trouble is that we have to drive all over NW Denver to pick them up and take them home, but once we've got 'em they have to stay for our YW activities too. If I can just keep them from fighting amongst themselves and from thinking that the rest of the wards in the stake hate our guts because we are the "poor, city ward", all will be well. The Bishop bought us basketball shirts that say "Denver 2nd..to none". Wish us luck...