ColoradoBennett

Darla, my friend from high school took those pictures for us. She works at a media company downtown and has acess to all this fancy equipment. I wanted to make sure we had a family photo in front of the flatirons because it is my favorite spot. I also needed a picture of the fam to send in for my 10 year high school reunion which is tomorrow night. Yikes...I'm going alone because it was too expensive to bring Adam (plus, he doesn't want to go anyway). I only posted a few because we are going to use the best one for Christmas cards this year (which, just to spite Geof., I'm going to mail out next week, ha ha).
I just read a great article in this month's Ensign called "Let's Try Again". The author writes about concerns with diciplining her 2 and a half year old. After time outs she decided to say "Let's try again! This time we can do better. This time we can be gentle" or "This time we can be kind" She goes on to say, "As I pondered the dramtic effect this simple phrase had on my son, I considered the power contained in the words 'Let's try again!' I realized that God, the Father of us all, does not want us to dwell hopelessly on the mistakes we have made. Instead, He invites us to sincerely repent and focus on a brighter future where we can improve each day."
Well, every time I sit down Sierra grabs a brush and climbs on my back and wants to "do" my hair (which just means she undoes anything I've done to it, brushes it wildly, and stabs me in the eye with the comb). So I better stand up before I start yelling at her to stop and leave me alone.

Those pictures were absolutely precious! Who took them? i'm a little nervous because Brind and Ellynn have both asked me to take their engagement pics. Um...I didn't even GO to my Photography class in high school. We'll see how they turn out. You Colo. Bennetts are adorable! Darla

ColoradoBennett

Three kids + one dog + windy day = Family Photo

Seattle Bennett Living in Colorado

Hello my friends hello just called to let you know
September morn
just a little Niel Diamond for you
so Ive been meaning to blog this for a while because it is to dang funny
Sierra has a hard time saying Tristans name she always calls him Kristan, so Mindi tries to get her to call him little bubs and give her candy and puppies if she calls him Danger. Kaia on the other hand says Tristan's name just fine, However she has listened to our caoching of Sierra where we instruct her to say Ta Ta Ta Tr Tr Tr Trriisstan so now Kaia will come up and "hi Tristan" and then stop look at Me or Mindi and then say "TTwristan" it is a total crack up however with out her perfect little acsent that mimics Sierra's so well you may just have to come here to Colorado and see it for yourself.

Bavaria

Cory, those just don't seem that long ago. I was just looking at beach pics from our camping trip in the yurt. That was soo fun. By the way, I thought your FHE lesson was great. I'm so impressed. Meags, I'm glad your lesson went so well. I wish I could have been there. AND...You are all too nice. If I'm going to get all these wonderful compliments every time I complain I will be venting way more often. Thank you.

Cameron, I'm so sorry to hear about your house. What a mess. I do hope you get it all put back together before the wee babe, I imagine it's a bit of stress. I'm glad you had fun at Powell though, minus the stitches.

Nothing special to report today, Jane was up with stomach cramps last night for about two hours then Ellyn woke up at 5:00 for the day. Her service coordinator called this morning as I was leaving to take Sadie to pre-school to see if we could meet at 9:00. Ellyn fell asleep five minutes before she got here and slept until it was time to pick up Sadie so I'm pretty much a walking zombie today. Plus it's very overcast. We did a couple of errands, it feels really good to get my car back, and that's about it.

Um...I talked to Ellynn and mom last night. That was good. Well I'm very jealous of your Disneyland chain. The chain looks like almost as much fun as Disneyland. Well I'm off to "Floortime," I've only done about forty-five minutes today. I love you all. Love, me

Almost a year ago...

Wow. It's already been almost a year already. Remeber Brooke, when you were still rather fresh in your stint in BG and we hit the Pumpkin Festival? I found these pics. I find it refreshing that everyone still pretty much looks the same.
-cor

 
 
 
  

bg life

Brooke I have said it before and I will say it again:  you are a saint.  I cannot think of anyone who could do the things you do for Ellyn and still do all the other cool and outgoing things you do for your other girls, your husband and yourself.  Heavenly Father definitely knew what he was doing when He sent Ellyn special little spirit into your home.  I was just happy that I took all my kids to two soccer games and one set of pictures on Saturday alone while Cory played golf with men from the ward.  My lesson went well, I think.  But of course it wasn’t me, I just prayed that I would say what Heavenly Father would want me to say.  I didn’t have time to give Mindi’s one piece of advice, but I did use the story.  They told me I would have 30 mins and I only ended up with 15.  I did manage to bawl through 50% of it though.  There are two lines in his talk that address unmarried saints and through their faith none of the blessings of marriage will be withheld from them.  That God had His own timing and plan.  This was a part I thought about skipping over because of time, but as I saw Michelle sitting there as soon as I saw that part of the lesson I just started to cry.  So of course I didn’t skip it.  Mom was crying, Patty was crying Michelle was crying, it was a very good experience.  I think Michelle was the reason I was asked to give the lesson.  Heavenly Father wanted her to hear that.  I was suppose to pick, shuck, cut and freeze corn this morning, but when I got home from my run and the house was still a mess, Jackson’s homework was not done and Hazel had been up since 6:30 without letting Cory put her down, I decided today was not the day.  And now it is 10:45, the house still isn’t quite straightened and I am still in my running clothes I see that I made the right choice.  Of course I am doing this instead of showering and cleaning, but I can’t always make the most logical choices.  Mindi I think we are going to make a paper chain for family home evening, I love it!!  Your girls are so beautiful and Triston is such a handsome boy, thank you for the pics.  I have to learn how to post pics or talk Cory into doing it more often.  I better jet.

                                                               La’es……………..me  

Crabb's

I can't remember the last time that I posted on here. If I am repeating myself I apologize and you can just skip this and read the next post.

We are doing very well. We took the family to Lake Powell the first week of September and had a blast. The girls loved playing in the water and building sand castles. We even got Eliza to ride on the tubes behind the boat and she loved it. I think Harley was still a little traumatized from last year when her Grandpa threw her off the tube. We had a great trip even though it rained a couple of times and just like every time I have been to Powell we were able to help some people who were broken down and stranded. I guess if you want to play you have to put in the work first. We spent one night in Page AZ in the emergency room while my little brother and I got stitched up after a fun afternoon on the water-weenie. The next day we were taking the houseboat in and I was driving our car from Antelope Point marina over to Wahweep Marina. When my phone finally got service I had a text message saying that I needed to call my mother-in-law because our house had flooded while we were gone. We came home the next day to a house with no carpet pad and the carpet was all laid out with fans to dry it. Most of our furiture had been moved into different rooms where the floor was dry, and Jordans room in the basement had had the ceiling ripped out and about 1 foot up from the floor all the way around the room they had removed the drywall. So we are staying at Paula's while the try and get everything put back together. They still have to take out all of the door jams and the window frames downstairs because the water had warped the moldings. Good thing we had the brothers taking care of our dog or the water would have ran for about 4 full days. Instead it was only hours. So that is what is going on at our house right now.

Monica is doing really good considering she looks like she is about to pop. We went to the Doctor last Thursday and they figure Beck weighs about 6 1/2lbs. which is what our girls both weighed at full term. If she doesn't come on her own by Oct 17th the will induce labor but her dr seems to think she won't last that long. So we are really hoping that they can get our house finished soon so we can be home to prepare the house for a newborn again.

I got to go on a limited entry elk hunt with my dad on the 16th and it was great. The hunt started that morning and he shot him at 7:30am. It took us until 2:00pm to quarter him and pack him out to the truck. But we had a great time.

It's been good to hear from everyone - keep the blogs coming because we all check them often even if we don't write.

Here is a picture of little blue eyes, sitting in the driver's seat. We took the girls to a park in Golden where they just cut down this tree. It was rotten in the middle so they couldn't count all the rings, but they believe they have documentation that says the tree has been around since at least 1770. The other picture is of a chain we made last night counting down the days until Disneyland. It was Adam's idea and the girls woke up this morning very excited to take off a chain, Sierra even mentioned it in her breakfast prayer. Brooke, I get tears in my eyes reading about the challenges you face and what a WONDERFUL mother you are. I heard about a mother recently who spent hours a day in the playing in the bathroom (because small spaces work better) with her autistic child and the end results were miraculous. We'll be praying for you and Mike to have the strength excel in your parenting challenges.

Bavaria

I think I'm going to copycat and just name my blog the same thing every time. It takes waaay too much time to think up a title and mostly they're lame anyway.

So today is my first official day of our new way of life with Ellyn. That is, I will be doing "Floortime" with her for about four hours a day. It is 8-10 twenty to thirty minute sessions of keeping her involved and playing. Easy you say, but no. Mike and I are normally pretty excited if she'll stay interested in something we are doing for more than three minutes. Plus, I'm not one of those fabulous moms that love making big creative messes and thinking of fabulous ways to expand my child's mind. I like to read to them, stuff I like to read. I like to take them to the park, where I play with them for a few minutes and the rest of the time they play with their friends while I visit with mine. I like to set them at the table with paper and crayons while I go do laundry. I like to snuggle up and watch a movie together. I like to take them for strenuous walks or runs where I can barely talk because I'm out of breath and they veg in a jogging stroller. I like to make dinner while they happily pretend to be princesses and pioneers all around me but not with me, unless they are just visiting "Ma" or the queen for a minute. Not that I don't occaissionally do the other great things with my kids, but it's more like memorable moments from their childhood and not a way of life.

So...this morning I did three hours worth and I was very exhausted. I think I'm going to have to become a caffeine addict. We did playdough and stringing beads and chasing at the park and dancing and playing on the actual playground equipment and story reading in the car while we were trying to pick up Mike's car (I count that even though Ellyn didn't seem too interested in the icky bug alphabet book). I think Sadie thinks she has died and gone to Heaven whereas Ellyn could just possibly think the opposite. Meags, that chair that you think I stole works wonderfully for keeping her at the table and staying focused. I hope that makes you feel better, even though it shouldn't matter because YOU were the one that put it in the DI pile and I was the one that saw its hidden value. Anyway, now I'm supposed to be hurrying through my housework while my precious time consuming angels sleep but I am realistic enough to know that I will burn out very quickly if I don't get a little venting/blog time. I am now praying regularly that I won't be a grumpy mommy as I let my children help me with more and more of what I do in a day. Ellyn helped me make pancakes this morning and Sadie helped wash the dishes. Need I say more?

Jane is trying out for A Christmas Carol today after school. Because we need more to do in a week. However, if she doesn't get all shy and sings and reads her lines like she reads stories to her sisters she'll do great. Something I never mastered. We shall see. We should be picking Mike's car up after work today- the guy wasn't there at lunch. Just in time too because it's supposed to start raining soon.

Meags, how did your lesson go? Did you use Mindi's advice? Too bad Valone isn't pres anymore. She would have passed out in her seat. Thanks to whoever-I'm guessing maybe Jess- put the IKEA link on the blog. Jess, that store totally reminded me of you. The organizing queen. Most everything I got there was for organizational purposes. I have to be organized now, I don't have a choice. Organized for me that is. Alicia, Happy late Birthday. Cameron, how's the family and Monie and the soon to be born baby? Darla and Meags, I have a ton of baby clothes that fit Ellyn in the spring but don't fit this fall. I need to know what you need and how soon so I can divide up. I love you all. Thanks for the phone calls family, they have meant alot to me. It's soooo good to hear your voices again. I LOVE YOU. Love, me

this is IKEA, baby...

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/

now hang on to that credit card.

happy birthday darling

I know that Alicia doesn’t check the blog, but happy birthday anyways.  Maybe one of you sisters or local cousins could pass this little message on for me.  Ha ha you are almost 30 and I am a whole month and a half behind you.  I love you, hope you have a great day and you get spoiled rotten.  Oh and happy late anniversary.

                                                   …………meags

ColoradoBennett

Happy Birthday, Alicia!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, Brooke it was so great to read your blog. What is IKEA and why could you live there? “Herzlichen Glückwunch” on the German drivers licence (for those not living in Deutschland, that means congratulations). I’m so glad that your family is adjusting so well. Please keep us updated on all your Abenteurers (adventures, ok I admit I have the o’ German dictionary out).
Meagan, way to stay positive about your RS lesson. Advice on nurturing marriage: have sex every day. Can you say that in RS? I think you should. And mention something about not being selfish. Like this quote:
"Years ago, when it was common for a General Authority to tour a mission and interview all the missionaries, Elder Spencer W. Kimball, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, was visiting with an elder who was just about to finish his mission.

“When you get released, Elder, what are your plans?”

“Oh, I plan to go back to college,” and then with a smile he added, “Then I hope to fall in love and get married.”

Elder Kimball shared this wise counsel: “Well, don’t just pray to marry the one you love. Instead, pray to love the one you marry.”

We should pray to become more kind, courteous, humble, patient, forgiving, and, especially, less selfish."

Meags-You Dog!!! and other news

Meagan! I can't believe you didn't even tell me about your marathon. And...I looked up your time. You are AMAZING. I am so jealous. It was so good to talk to you, I miss my family oh so much. It is fun to finally have time to read the goings ons and write a bit. Yes, this means that we are on-line and rearin' to go.

Our Vonage phone #706-478-5369. We are eight or nine hours different. When it is 8 am there, it is 5 pm here. Or close to that. Meagan and I figured it out and now I can't remember. But the point is that we have a stateside number in case you ever need or want to get ahold of us.

Geof. and Darla, so sad to hear about our little Dayne. I hope she is feeling better. My nephew Parker broke his arm in two places two years ago I think and they only saw the one in the x-ray and so he had the whole weight of his cast dragging on his broken arm for I can't remember how long. It's so sad when she can't tell you where it hurts. Give her and Cole kisses for me. Did Cole get into the Developmental pre-school? I hope so. I bet he would love it and it would give you some one on one time with Dayne. Sadie started pre-school this week. She was so excited she wore her backpack to breakfast. She absolutely loves it and feels so grown up. She had her first soccer game yesterday. It was about the funniest thing I have ever seen. The kids, no matter what team, were kicking it to whatever goal was closest. Sadie and a little girl she didn't even know from the other team grabbed hands and started running down the field in a totally opposite direction of the action, just laughing and completely oblivious to what was going on. We yelled for her to get the ball one time and she reached down and picked it up. All the other kids were doing similar hysterical antics. The parents were all just cracking up on the sidelines. So fun.

Jane is becoming such a grown up. She wakes up totally early every morning and does her hair, which is absolutely beautiful by the way. We pick out her outfits with much care and she doesn't even argue with me about wanting to wear her favorite jeans and an ugly t-shirt every day. Her school is about a block away and every morning she leaves (also early Meags)on time and walks with a girl that lives just up the street. She comes home from school and works on her homework right away. It's pretty amazing and very welcome. She also just started soccer and has her first game(that she has been to) on Saturday. We told her that we are not going to be here every Saturday for games. We will go to all the practices and as many games as we can but this is our good weather until spring and we want to get out and see stuff. We should hit most of them though because we just bought a hoop-de (how do you even spell that?)AND it looks like we are going to have to re-carpet and paint the Oklahoma house and rent it out again. Now they are saying there are cracks in the foundation. Is anyone interested in a bit of arson? Kill me. But...there is plenty to do just around here.

Back to Jane, she has an absolutely fabulous teacher and she is really loving school. She says she is happy because she gets to be the class clown again, I hope her teacher is okay with that. There is an outdoor adventure club and next week they are going indoor rock climbing for $5. She's so excited. She just came home from school and told me about her whole day laughing and smiling the entire time. Too cute.

Ellyn is also doing well. I really think she is trying to say words on a regular basis. She is making very similar sounds to the words and using them at the right time. The day we got our furniture and put our couch in the living room she ran over to it laughing and smiling, climbed up and buried her face in the pillows. It feels so nice to know that we have a home in one spot for three years. Besides that Ellyn has developed a lovely habit of pooping right after she's supposed to go down for nap. Today as I was listening (because I put her down earlier than usual) to see if she was going to poop or nap she stuck her hand down her diaper, evidently having pooped the second I put her down. She really loves to check it out and so I've decided that for naps she'll be wearing overalls. Don't worry, I'll still change her, it's easy to tell. If she keeps babbling and isn't quiet we know she's filled her britches. Besides that, she is beautiful and happy. I met with the woman in charge of coordinating her therapy last week and they originally only wanted to do one hour a week of therapy. I just about died. I was so mad I started tearing up but...I also felt like I was able to talk to her in a logical way about what our family would need- at least the bare minimum. I also talked to her about getting a set of training dvds for all the parents of autistic children here on post (there are three other families)and setting up a lending library of sorts. It might take alot of work but maybe, if I stay rational about this, we can get a decent program going. They called me back and they are going to order the dvds and they are getting a list together of books from all the Army libraries in Europe for resources. The woman I worked with was wonderful, it's just dealing with the Army, insurance, early intervention, etc... It's a new, huge unit coming over and they are understaffed. We'll see how it works.

Mike is out registering his new beater car. It is actually a beautiful black 1988 525i series BMW. So funny that all the old cars around here are BMWs and Mercedes. It only has 100,000 miles on it and should be reliable for some of our trips. Thus cutting down on gas consumption. The German guy he got it from has an excellent reputation around here so it should be good.

I think that covers our whole update. Oh, I did get my German driver's license yesterday. Mike and I had a friendly little wager going that I wouldn't pass my first time around, because alot of people don't and I only started studying the night before. I passed with a better score than he did, but in all fairness he helped me study and practiced the insane "right always has the right of way" picture scenarios until I finally got it. I've been to my first coffee and all the girls seems really nice. We LOVE the brats and icecream here and all I can say is that I better keep walking everywhere or I'll be in trouble. I love you all. Tristan and the girls are beautiful. Went to IKEA by the way and I could live there. Love, me

bg life

I got to talk to Brooke today, she sounds great.  She promises to be on the blog soon, they have had a little bit of difficulty setting up their computer.  Last night Cory asked what was wrong with me.  The house is clean, things are organized, and the kids were in bed; he wanted to know what happened to his messing ADD wife.  I said I didn’t know what was going on.  But not to worry I’m sure it’s just a faze it will pass soon.  Talking to Brooke this morning made me realize what the problem was.  I have no life.  Literally every day Brooke and I would do something that would make it impossible for me to keep my house up, and make me run late for everything.  Now I wake up, go running (except for this morning because hazel threw up 10 minutes before the alarm), come home, finish getting the kids ready and out the door early for school.  I only have to finish because I have the best husband in the world, because he wakes them up and starts the whole process.

I get to teach relief society this Sunday (see how I am being positive) on nurturing marriage, so if any of you have any good advise, please let me know.  I expect lots of responses to this question, because most of you are in perfect relationships or at least you have an idea of what would make them perfect.  Hazel has my keys and is trying with all her little girl power to unlock the sink.  

                                                           Blog on……….me

Ps Adam thank you for the compliment, but really I was quite slow.  I love you!

bg life

Jackson had his first practice in the rain today.  I have to tell you I was a bit nervous.  He can be kind of a weenie, but I mean that in the nicest way possible.  So I run him out to the field then sit in the car for an hour with the rest of the monsters.  I took lots of funny pictures with my phone.  I want to find a way to get them off and on the blog.  Anyways after an hour Jackson comes running up with the biggest smile you have ever seen and jumps in the back of Cor’s truck (he had pulled in from work a couple of minutes before).  So when I get home I help Jack strip off all his wet clothes and he says he has never had so much fun and soccer is the best in the rain.  I am going to have to agree.  I remember practices in Issaquah when it would be so wet there would be huge puddles on our turf field.  We would slide tackle as much as possible just because we loved being in the water.  And I don’t know if Elly still checks this but I know she will never forget the day she almost drown in a mud puddle.  I’m not even kidding, it was so funny!!  

For family home evening this week Cory gave a lesson on gambling.  Jackson loves to get toys out of the machines at pizza hut, however 99% of the time he is ticked because he gets something crappy instead of what he wants.  So after spending more than he should have and hating it all Cor and I decided this would be the perfect object lesson.  Monday night Cory set out one kind of cool toy, two ok toys and two really crappy toys.  Then he set out one of Jack’s really expensive transformers.  He put two stacks of pennies in front representing how much the transformer cost.  Then he said that the other toys were things that he could get in the vending machine.  And as he tried for the cool toy he took the money away from the transformer.  After getting two crappy toys and two okay toys Cory showed how now all that money that could have gone to what we really wanted was now spent on something he really didn’t even care about.  He asked Jack and Ben where the toys were that they had gotten from pizza hut that weekend and by Monday they admitted they were already lost and forgotten about.  So Cory explained that really they had nothing to show for the money they had spent.  Not even the momentary pleasure of candy, because they were mad the second they realized what they had gotten they didn’t even like.  I’m not sure if that made sense, but the way Cory did it was awesome.  He is such a good daddy.  He told the kids that Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and that is why he gives us commandments.  That the commandment not to gamble is so that we don’t make ourselves unhappy by wasting our hard earned money.  The kids really thought that was cool.  

Well it’s almost 8, it’s dark and Cory is at mutual and then has a presidency meeting so I expect he will be home around 11.  All the guys in ym are BSers.  So I’m going to put the kids to bed and try to get something productive done while I wait.

                                                         Blog on little family……..me

Seattle Bennett Living in Colorado

don't be so modest Meags. you all need to check the race results for Meags last marathon http://www.runlakechelan.com/2006_marathon_ranking_by_age_div.htm see who finished first in her division.
love Adam

bg life

So the other day wil was really upset that we couldn’t go up to Dana’s and watch ninja turtles.  So I convinced him the dumbo was better anyways.  When we turn it off to go pick up Benny he asks if we can watch “dumbo in a half-shell” when we get home.  He is so funny.  Well I finished my third marathon and am still alive to tell the tail.  But barely, I got pretty dehydrated.  I don’t recommend the dehydration thing, it was miserable!!  I’m going to see if I can do better on October 21 in a Halloween marathon.  I’m not really worry about my time, but I want to figure out how to stay feeling good throughout an entire 26.2 miles.  Jack and Ben are doing some serious count downs to Disneyland.  They are so excited, but I don’t really want it to come, because then it will be over.  I guess after that I can start looking forward to brinder’s wedding.  Ok cor is trying to get all the kids in bed by himself, so I better go.  

                                                 Love to all….blog on………me

Ps I love you brooke, I can’t wait for the call!!!!

We are still alive!!

Hi family. I'm at the ACS center here on post to inform you that we are still alive. This will not be long however because Mike is watching the girls for a few minutes before he goes back to work. We were so excited because our modem came in the mail last Thursday. Mike spent quite a while trying to get it all set up, finally had to go see the tech and found out we have to have one more part that won't come in the mail until the end of this week. So sad. I was daydreaming about all the fun things I would be posting on the blog every day and dying of anticiptation for a call to Meags (I called mom already). But alas, it will be a few days yet. Just know that we are doing well. Our house is coming together nicely, the girls are making friends, etc... We spent the day Saturday in Nurenburg(sp?). It was so much fun. Alright, gotta go. I love you all. Love, Brooke

esposa de povo

Mindi, Tristan is beautiful! He's filled out quite a bit. Oh, I can't wait to see him (in October!). That's hilarious that Sierra found it necessary to put tp on a clean toilet. cole's so funny. I've made such a HUGE deal about public restrooms, not touching ANYTHING, they're "disgusting", etc., that everytime we go out now (even at friend's houses) he makes a huge scene about how gross everything is...even if they are relatively clean. Kids are funny. Has joy school started up yet? I've thought about doing that for Cole but I'm gonna wait and see if he gets into a certain preschool that we'd like him to be in. His evaluation is today in fact. Before Geof. left he told Cole to make sure he was on his "dumbest" behavior. It's PEEP (Provo Early Education Program) and it's actually for developmentally delayed children. He was in it last fall but didn't make it in for preschool at 3 because he was doing okay. Now, because of my concern with his "social" skills, I'd like to get him back in. They do such a good job, and he LOVES it. The teachers are great. Most of them are recent BYU grads or are doing interns which automatically makes me trust them a lot more. Dayne's a doll. LeAnne cut her hair when she was here a few days ago and she looks more like a toddler now with bangs. ): Kind of sad but she's still the cutest thing around. Alright. Gotta run. Cole's on the DISGUSTING toilet and needs to be wiped. I still haven't been able to let him do it on his own...Darla

ColoradoBennett

I finally got a few pictures from Gram from last weekend's campout. We had such a wonderful time, and it worked out perfectly that both Pop and Adam have camper trailers. Sierra still found the need to tp Pop's toilet before use, ha ha. Here is a picture of Mohammad and the kids. He bought this nice outfit that Tristan is wearing inthe next picture in Saudi Arabia. He also brought necklaces, earings, and bracelets for the girls and I and a fancy ring for Adam. What a swell guy.

Seattle Bennett Living in Colorado

So I thought it was bad when Brooke lived in Georgia and that time change and watching when I call I don't even know what time it is for them right now. Well work is starting to slow down for me now I typically have to meet 2 or 3 people a day and show them their unit or tell their contractor what they can and cannot do but none the less work is work and slow times can be worse than when when things are crazy fast. So 2 weeks ago Sierra and I drove through the ugliest part of the country Wyoming and eastern Montana it is a scary out there, there were towns every 70 to a 100 miles that consisted of less than a decent gas station sometimes without the gas and that's it I think if I would have driven my truck I would have had to bring gas cans to get between fill ups none the less I use to think there is urban, sub-urban, and rural I now know there is next-to-nowhere-ban and I would never like to be there ugly at least if you are going to live so far away from a city or major free way you should at least live where its pretty but sage brush and rolling brown hills are a cause for serious committable of suicide. However Sierra was a serious trooper she didn't whine or complain once she sat in the car for 30 hours of driving and one night of sleeping in 2 days.
Me trying to make the trip more fun for her would try to point out the fun things I could see along the side of the road like tepees and buffalo, she intern would point out to me the things she saw like a tree or a bush so much for trying to impress her. I think she was to interested in watching "van helsing" for the 6th time to look up.
well our annually camping trip to watch the elk bugle in rocky mountain national park was a success the elk were out the Dutch ovens were steaming and the weather while rainy at times was great, that perfect temp where you can choose whether you want to wear a jacket out just stay a little chilled.
well I have got to run love you all and am looking forward to Brind's December wedding and all the fun things we will do. Some one find a good snowshoe trail and lets all go.
Love Adam

disneyland anyone?

Chels, great to see you back on the blog!!  We have missed you and it’s nice to have a little Bennett girl update.  Well for any or all interested we are going to Disneyland the 29 of October to the 5 of November.  So if anyone is interested come on down.  Our whole fam will be there excluding the Germans.  Even the newbees, Kim and Jason are coming along for the ride.  However I have explained to all that this trip is all about me.  So they must at all times pay attention to my sweet children or me.  I am so excited, cor and I have planning this trip for two years now.

                                                                Love to all………..meags

Too Long! Chels

Okay, I've decided it's time I post...so sorry for slacking.

Joey and I have been busy with nothing in particular. Just playing and loving the summer. I actually took up golfing this year and I can't get enough of it. I need to get my own clubs though. I've been using my Mom's from 1982. Ha! Just kidding, it feels like it though. You know that Master Card commercial with the girl who chips in out of the sand? That is my goal. I'm really going to work towards it.

Joe has been really busy at work. He actually gets to go to New York next week to help with a huge project for Bill Clinton. It's a great opportunity and I'm trying to see if I can fly out for the 2 days of down time that he has. I don't know how I'm gonna make it with him gone for a whole week!

Joey and I joined my Mom and Omar for the U of U game on Saturday. They have great seats and it was a lot of fun.

On Sunday it was Rodger's (Cortney's boyfriend of 3 years) Farewell. He did a great job. It was really tough on Cort. Rodger leaves on Wednesday for the MTC. He is going to LA, CA Spanish Speaking. Cortney's Birthday is the day after he leaves (14th). Probably going to be pretty intense for a while. Not fun!!! She started school at Weber and is really liking it. She's got a full schedule and she's also working. She works at Zions Bank for close to 30 hours a week.

On Saturday, Ashley is going to her Homecoming Dance with her boyfriend Cole. He's a cute kid and her dress is absolutely wonderful. I will try and blog pictures. She's a Jr. this year. She is still working at the dry cleaners and she sorta likes it. :) Let's just say it's a good High School job.

Lindsey started softball up again and she's loving it. She's a 15 year old Sophomore who is pretty upset that she isn't allowed to go to any of the dances. Her Birthday isn't until July....oh well! :) I didn't get to go either! She really likes High School and she is so insanely social, you wouldn't believe it.

I actually started school again myself. I transferred my credits over to SLCC. I'm only taking one class, but it's better than nothing, right? Lydia is taking that class with me so that really helps. We are taking Credit and Business Principles. My boss at work is the teacher so my homework is always really easy. I work in a credit department here so I've got a pretty good idea of the stuff we go over. It's going well. Next sememster I will have full tuition reimbursment benefits so my schooling will swing into full effect!

I hope everything is going well with everyone. Congrats Mike and Brooke! My Mom was talking about how she wants to visit within a few years. Joey and I have already confirmed that we would join her. So prepare accordingly! :) It would be so much fun.

Gotta work, keep posting!

Povo wife

You were right Meagan. Hi speed internet does get me on here much more often. Probably too often. ANyway, I just looked up pics of Bavaria Germany and I'm so excited to go there I can't even stand it!! It's picture perfect! And Brooke and Mike are sure to find all the coolest sites which will be so great. We just got back from hiking Stewart Falls again...yeah, more like 3 miles (cough). I guess Geof. being there made it a lot more manageable. It was pretty windy and started raining on us on the way back. it's gorgeous up there though. My cousin works there so she got us a free lift ticket up and back. Cole loved it although we (esp. Geof.) were terrified he'd jump out. Well, I'd better go plan a meal for tomorrow. LeAnne, Ellynn, Kim (Brind's fiance), and some of my fam are coming for dinner. Fun! Love Daral

Safe and Sound

We have arrived in Bavaria!

Just a quick note here from the local library to let you know we have arrived safely. Our houshold goods have all arrived, and we should be in the Honda by Tuesday. We really love the house and the neighborhood. The playground is right across the street, which the girls love.

The guy chosen to be our sponsor when we arrived just happened to be LDS, with 3 girls. And that folks... has been an awesome blessing. They have been running us all over the place until we get our car. The branch has about 150 attending here so that is a huge deal.

I met my boss yesterday and I think things are going to be great. I feel real at home back in an Infantry battalion. Sounds like we are going to be freezing our butts off in the field all winter, but hey, that is what I get paid for. The area is really pretty and the architecture around here is just fantastic. We cannot wait to get out and see it all. We should be up on Internet and phone within 2 weeks.

We love and miss you all!

Mike, Brooke, Jane, Sadie, Ellyn

p.p.s.

Dayne's doing MUCH better now that she has her little sling and brace on. I think she's a lot happier now that her arm isn't pulling on her little collar bone anymore. Poor baby...):

best cookies EVER!

Cam and Moni, I just wanted you to know I did make your yummy yum cookies and they turned out fantastic! They made the hugest batch ever so I froze some it and have baked some more up recently. I don't grind up all the oatmeal 'cuz I like the tecture. So, it's a weekend. We were GOING to go camping and Cole was SOO excited but not surprising to me, Geof. has to go into work tomorrow. Dang it. Oh well. He told me there's a few "moms" that he works with and he's worried if he doesn't show up he might get told on and fired. So hopefully we can do some tinfoil dinners and smores tomorrow night. I just didn't have enough of those during the summer so we'd better take advantage of it before the weather turns too sour. Geof. also called Brind fiance Kim and we're excited to meet her...tomorrow maybe? Don't worry Brind, Geof. and I will be on our best behavior. Mindi, I forgot to comment on your email. Soo funny. Adam cracks me up. He told me about that book right when he was buying it. DId he mention the cost?...(; I'm sorry about the beetles. That sounds familiar. Like it's happened somewhere before that I've lived. Don't they eventually move on to infest some other forest? Lame though..sorry. WEll, I'm incredibly behind on my school work. I haven't opened my Communications book or my Biology book and we're almost in our 4th week of school. I just don't want to do it! I'll let you know how my grades turn out. Alright. Gotta run. It's 2:15 and Cole's out in the back in his Batman PJ's looking for our little pet gardner snake. Maybe I should supervise. Love to all. Darla p.s. how R you feeling Jess?

bg life

Mindi your blog was too funny, you slay me!  And you have a crazy husband to boot.  Triston looks like a perfect little dolly in that picture and as far as the trees go; well that is just a sign that you need to leave Colorado and move to the Great Northwest!!  

Yesterday we went up to Linda’s to pick green bean, tomatoes a various other goodies out of her spectacular garden.  It was dreamy.  Dreamy, because I am dreaming if I think I will ever have anything that alive.  I kill every plant I try to care for.  While we are there wil and Bennett are looking at a book about the letter B.  Bennett is saying ba ba baby,  ba ba butterfly, ba ba ball.  And wil says ba ba ba butt crack.  I was so proud, isn’t my three year old so smart.  

Today is Benny’s real first day of school, she walked right up a grabbed her teacher’s hand and after I gave her a kiss good-bye she gave me a little push, like ‘I’m fine, now go’.  It was pretty cute.  Wil and hazel are doing very well on their own and things are much quieter with my little jabber boxes gone.  I don’t think I will ever teach hazel how to talk, I think it will really keep the noise level down.  Bennett cannot stop talking about her ‘big’ game on Saturday, it is so funny.  Jackson got into trouble at school on his first day for swearing.  Apparently ‘oh my heck, oh my gosh, and it’s hotter than hatees’ are not appropriate.  I was cracking up and rose said her kids are dead.  

I hope you are all well.  I can’t wait to hear from Germany.  I haven’t even talked to Brooke since she left, but I am sure she is enjoying her time with love.  Darla I expect a lot out of you now that you have high speed Internet.  I hope dayne is doing ok!!
                                                        Love you all, blog on……me

povo

So i'll give the highlights of life over the past bit. Mucho has happened. A couple of weekends ago I took the schools nice new plane up to Washington with my lovely wife and another pilot. Well something started to leak and rattle and UVSC flew out a mechanic to work on it. That kept us in Washington an extra day which is not a bad place to be stuck. We had a ton of fun with the old man touring pikes place market and taking the ferry out to bainbridge island. Well on the way home we were about 8 miles east of Twin Falls and one of our engines decides its had enough. Well we shut that baby down and I start getting on the radios to make sure we can quickly turn and land. the other pilot takes controls and both he and the mechanic are telling darla that everything is okay. Darla took my silence as concern and decided we were going to die. Well eventually I got around to reassuring her that all would be well and it was. So i learned my lesson and waited a week to take another cross country. This one was to CA.. We landed outside of LA and went to watch UofU get beat up on by UCLA at the Rose Bowl. It was fun but I was excited to leave early in the morning to be home with the family. Next morning pre-flight reveals bad leak and we weren't going anywhere. So we had the day to burn and made good use of it. Dodger stadium for a sweet slug fest. Malibu and the beach with Brangelina (such a sweet couple). Got home the next day and have no desire to go out of state on a cross country. The week here has been busy. Dayne fell and broke her collar bone in the church parking lot but it took us two doctors appointments and week to figure that out. Poor little babe. Darla is busy with school and the kids. Life is good.

ColoradoBennett

Yesterday Adam came home with a book called "Manifold Destiny: The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine!" This morning he asked me to pick a recipe out of it and we'd try it on the way up to the camp ground on Friday. I'm thumbing through it now, lots of pictures of engines and diagrams about how you never put any food where it will interfere with the free movement of the accelerator linkage or how you should never use the air-filter housing as a warming oven. The recipes include "Upper-Class Roadkill (venison, shallots, gin, rosemary)", "Thruway Thighs" (leeks, fennel, oysters, chicken thighs), and "Cutlass Cod Supreme". With each recipe it tells you how many miles you need to drive in order to get 'er done. This book with surely come in handy when we take Adam's truck to Adam-ondi-ahman whenever the time comes.
This past weekend Adam took the "scout" camping (two leaders, one scout showed up for the camp-out) and the kids and I went up to my parent's cabin. Something horrible is happening to all the trees in the area around the cabin (I guess it is happening all over Colorado), beetles are killing the trees. Mountains that were once lush with green green forests (one of my favorite sights in the world) are now all turning orange. People have to cut down the trees to keep things looking nice and fight the beetles. My dad has been up on his property logging and last week a tree fell on him. A few days before my mom told him that she was really worried about him and that he should wear a helmet. Good thing he listened. Adam is seriously considering becoming a logger and moving the family to the mtns. Property values are sure to plumet as the area continues to die off. If only someone could come up with a creative use for all the dead trees, she'd be rich beyond her wildest dreams (can you tell I'm thinking). I've included a picture of us at the lake with the orangish mountain in the background (the nice lady next to me is my grandma's sister).
Tristan just started smiling on command. Just in time for the arrival of our first family video camera. I think I saw somewhere that I could put home videos on the blog, I'll keep looking into that (help, Cory?)

lonely povo wife

Brooke!! You're finally on your way! I hope the flight over goes well and you don't have too many crazy stories to tell about the trip. Geof. informed me that Mike was going to meet you in Chicago. Won't that be nice? Happy Labor Day to all of you. Geof. JUST got back from his trip to LA. He was supposed to be back Sunday at noon but once again the engine went out and he was stuck there until today. So Cole, Dayne and I went on a little hike up to Stewart Falls. It was probably only about 6 miles round trip but I thought I was going to die. The ultra high tech baby backpack my sister gave me KILLED my shoulders and by itself it probably weighed a good 20 lbs. So add that to Dayne's 30 plus (it seemed). Yeah, I guess I do need some practice with backpacking...or at least a better back pack. Did I mention that we have high speed now? And a new computer tower?!! Geof. felt so bad for deserting us all weekend that as soon as he came home he hooked it all up for me. This is heaven...not to have to deal with dial up anymore (: Well. I have to run. There's a ton more I can say, especially about our trip to Seattle last weekend, but that'll have to wait. We're going to the dollar theatre to see "CARS". ~darla

You're a dork

Cory, the title says it all. But I have to admit that I will miss you and the Northwest and Battleground and my mom and my sisters and my dad and brothers and my nieces and nephews and Mike's fam and I'm just trying not to think about it so thanks alot for bringing it up. However...if you need validation, I love you Cory and will miss you fiercely.

Love, the daughter of fish cook

ok, so it wasn't the last post from the USA...

I just wanted to let Cory know how much I'll miss him. I mean, Battle Ground is really great, the Northwest is beautiful, and I love having all of my sisters and brother and mom and dad around, but I'm going to miss that brother-n-law of mine like crazy.

Just wanted to let you know Cor. You're the best.

Love,
Brooke