Playing Tetris with Mom...

I found these pics from a few months ago when Lydi pulled out the ol' Nintendo 64 and we rocked us some Tetris.

Indie just chilled in my "t.v. chair," nibbled on the cord and learned from the master.

I don't mean to brag but I play a pretty mean game of Tetris.  I guess I should've spent a little more time doing homework in Provo rather than Tetris-ing it up...right Elly?!?

Sadie's Dream

Meags- Sadie woke up this morning in a great mood and as she was getting dressed she told me "Mom, I had the best dream ever. Aunt Meagan was here and we were having so much fun." Thought I'd let you know.

You're never too old for this..

Henry W. Coe State Park Sunset

Near San Jose


-- Post From My iPhone

Half-way through Ellery's day of plumbing

What a mess!!

I can do that..

Former cheerleader Julia showing us that she still can do the splits at 6 months pregnant. wow.

Hi

Thank you all very much for all the Birthday wishes and songs! What a WONDERFUL family I have been blessed to be born into!!! When I talk to other people about their families, I feel bad for them that they don't have the relationship with theirs that I have with mine. I am truly blessed and I am thankful for everyone of you!!!! I love you all very much and I'm glad that you are a part of my life!!!! Love Aunt Jack

HI!!!

I am back to school now, after the wonderful weekend I had at the warm beach. It was SO hot today, I liked it though. I am more of a warm weather person. Tonight we are having the sister missionaries over for dinner. Today was not really that interesting, but I felt bad because I have not blogged in a long time. I am in MS success and tomorrow and this week we are talking about Autism and the six pillars of character. I am pretty excited about that,one day we have to be "handicapped". I am reading Gone with the Wind, it is really good so far. Well, bye.

Hello everyone this is your Aunt or sister Paula. I know, I'm the lame aunt, sister who has been awful at following the blog but Bill and I thought we would take a look today to see what is happening in the lives of our belov-ed family. When I decided that I should write something I found that I couldn't find a way to post so Cameron was kind enough to let me use his account. I want you to know how amazing I think all of you are by writing on this blog. The family history you have created is truly priceless. I am hoping to do better in the future because I can learn so much by your great examples and I know by taking part I will become a better person. I love you all.

Paula

bg now

Geof. is gone. He flew out to Richmond early Sunday morning. Our friend Seth called last week and offered Geof. a job. He's gonna train him to do home appraising. Exciting! Perfect for him. So, he'll be out there for 3 weeks and if it's all good.., we'll follow. He's so happy.
Wil lost his 2nd top front tooth Sat. night. What a cutie he is. Looks so young in this pic. Ellynn told me it'd been loose for a while but he didn't want to lose it because then he wouldn't be able to say "Wolf". And when it did fall out (don't know exactly how it happened), I guess Cory said the first thing he say, almost immediately, was "Wolf". Just to make sure...
We went up to Cory's parents house Sat. night. If any of you have NOT been there, it's time. It's heaven. Really, it is.
Jason absolutely loves it when I have my camera out snapping pics of him. Don't worry Jason, you'll be getting lots of pics taken of you holding that cute little bundle.

Bought a bag of balloons and my kids, I swear, couldn't be happier. Hours of entertainment!
Friday night was our 2nd (and last) performance of "Women at the Well". It was wonderful. Thank you, Le Anne for giving us the opportunity to do this!!

The Weekend

The Weekend

This weekend was heavenly. I mean it. I loved every minute of it. Friday night was date night and Mike and I opted to stay home for a change. We fed the kids dinner and then sent them all to the other side of the house. Rebecca was here to watch Ellyn and the girls had Sawyer. Luckily our living room and the little ones' bedrooms are all behind the family room door. Mike and I grilled steak and shrimp, ate dinner out on the deck, came in, and played three games of Pandemic. Here's a little plug for Pandemic, a great cooperative game where you work together to stop the spread of disease across the world. It can be very tense (I know- we are dorks. It is pretty much all Mike's fault). We won two out of three times, phew that we were able to save the world. Just call us "Legend." We finished our games and then came back to the living room and visited with the girls and Rebecca while we watched a short documentary about life in Iraq (I know the perfect ending to a romantic evening- it was fun though).

Yesterday we drove down through Big Sur and took the kids to Sand Dollar Beach. It was beautiful. It was an hour and a half drive, kind of a trek but we were also on a recon mission to check out a few campgrounds. We had a great afternoon and then drove home and grilled hamburgers, cooked up a batch of Danna's homemade cookies from the frozen dough balls she had left in our freezer, and then hung out in the living room reading, playing on the computer, and watching Hannah Montana, respectively.

Today we woke up to a gorgeous day, I believe we hit the 80s. It felt divine. We went to church, came home and grilled, hung out on the patio, and then played another board game (Jane, Mike, and I while Sadie played with game parts, Ellyn watched Robin Hood, and Sawyer napped). Tonight we read our book, and now the girls are off to bed and Mike and I get to hang out. I guess Sawyer is going to hang with us as well because the stern disciplinarian that is his father just came out of Soy's bedroom with the kid snuggled in his arms. You really can't resist when he goes to bed so well every other night and he is obviously hot and sweaty and having a rough go of the new change in the weather.

So there you have it, fabulous weekend. Life is good. Blog out.

DITTO

Aunt Jackie, I love you to death. I have to agree with everything that Joanie says about you. You are amazing in every way. I have such wonderful memories of our daily emails and once a week phone calls. You and Kev are so comfortable to spend time with, your house is like a second home. I love the girls that you have raised as well. They are beautiful and wonderful and I love them. We are all especially grateful to you for the emails with the body piercing and the extreme pet grooming. Those pics kept my kids entertained for about an hour last night! I love you. Happy Birthday.

Jo mamma...

"The Original Five"

(plus Indie, who wouldn't let me set her down)

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

We hope you are having a great day.  

I couldn't agree with Joan more, you and dad are the most helpful people I know.  Thank you for being a wonderful mom and friend and a great example of a wife.

We love you so much!

T, J, I and ?

Happy Birthday, Aunt Jack!

You are the greatest!  We love you and hope you are having the very best of days.

Love, Adam & Mindi & Sierra & Kaia & Tristan & #4

Happy Birthday Jack

Happy Birthday Jack.

As you all know, when it's our birthday we usually receive a phone call from Jack singing us "Happy Birthday"! I wish I could get us all on here and sing for her. I'm sure you all agree with me, that we would absolutely die without her! (Well of course, giving credit to Kev too, because without him supporting her she couldn't do all that she does for us!) Who do we always think of when we need some help? Who do we call if we ever need anything done? Who keeps the family together for both sides? I wish I was smart enough to post some pictures but I just wanted to say I have no idea what I would do without you! I mean honestly, her and Kev were at my new house the first few weeks, more than I was, getting me moved in! She shops for furniture for me, getting the best deals and keeps on top of me to get important things done. One last thing, she protects me. The other day she came to my house "packing" when she believed that I was in danger? She would do anything for me and my girls. I love you! I hope you have a great day and relax!

P.S. A.J., Happy Birthday to you too and of course my Princess Dog Annie

A Few Pics From Spring Break

Where have you all gone?

..Just wondering if we were ever gonna hear from Cameron, Jessica, Chelsea, Courtney...or any of the other previous bloggers!!

Slick Deal

Check out slickdeals.net today if anyone is looking for a new PC. That is a phenomenal deal for 499. Talking about the Dell Vostro tower with 22 inch LCD.


-- Post From My iPhone

Happy Birthday Jack!

You know what Jack? You are the coolest, best, most loving, funnest 10 year old nephew and cousin there on the planet. I LOVED having you come play at our house and I LOVED how good you were to Sawyer and all of the rest of us. You are such an amazing kid. I hope you had a great birthday.

Happy Birthday Jackson

Jackson is the sweetest, most lovable 10 year old cousin know to man. I do not know how I would live without you, Jack. You are so fun to play with and to just hang out around. Thank you, Buddy. I love you, Have a great birthday!!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

He's 10, already?!

Look at you, Jackson!! The big 1-0!! Can't believe it!! You have so much to look forward to..how exciting! Thank you for being such a good big cousin to all the little ones. We LOVE you!! Happy Birthday!

so Ellynn I think one of these pictures is the one Mindi was talking about I'm pretty sure its the bed head in the tent one. you know that its Jeep safari this week you can make it, I'll meet you there bring the boys.

Seattle Bennett living in Colorado

So its been a while but I am back on the Blog, Mom has always said I have a one track mind and yes, yes i do, and my mind has been on other things. I have been training for the Leadville 100 and I am starting to get more and more skeptical that I will not make it. Meags, Paula, Joan help!!! The job search has all but ceased I am finding that while no one is hiring there are people that are needing work done so as long as I can keep the side jobs rolling things should be good. In the meantime I am getting some serious skills in quickbooks and outlook, along with some odd manual labor skill sets. I am so excited for the arrival of spring its beehere n nice all winter and I have gotten out mountain biking a handful of times but it will be nice to hit the trails a few times a week.

Spring is here!

And we miss our cousins...

Colorado Bennett

Adam and I were able to go on a real date on Friday night. Gram and Pop had given him a Bone Fish/Outback Steakhouse gift certificate for his birthday and promised to watch the kids so we could go out. We went to Outback thinking we could eat cheaply and use our gift certificate more than once, but we were wrong about that. It all added up quick and we ordered enough desserts for 5 people. As we watched parents in the waiting area wrestle their kids, we thought "Let's never take our kids out to eat, this is so peaceful without them." One teenager was complaining that he didn't want to be there, a 3 and 4 year-old were purposely trying to drive one another crazy, and when I went in the restroom there was a mom in there cleaning up her kid who had just puked. I like eating out to be a rare occasion, and eating out with kids to be even rarer.
Then we picked up the kids, fed them our left-over desserts, put them in bed like happy little piggies, and watched Twilight. I haven't read the books yet, just waiting for a time when I can neglect all else in my life and read night and day. The scenery in the movie was sure beautiful, you can't beat WA for that. The plot and romantic notions really stuck in my head. I've decided what makes Edward so alluring is his passion for protecting Bella. That is pretty high on my list of heart-stopping romantic notions.
Right now I'm completely absorbed in enjoying Conference weekend. We got to watch most of both sessions yesterday (until my family showed up to visit) then Adam went to Priesthood and I took the kids swimming. My favorite quote was "If you think righteousness should prevent all suffering you should have a chat with Job." I just pulled rolls out of the oven and now we'll have some made-to-order sandwiches (pb&j for Kaia, ham & cheese for Sierra, a combo of everything in separate portions for Tristan, etc.)