TEB

Just as Kaia's birthday season ended, Tristan's began, and all the while we were celebrating Gram's bday too ("birthday season" is a term coined by Gram, her's lasts pretty much all of July).

A horse drawn carriage ride at White Fence Farms.

A trip to Elitche's with friends (using the "free" summer library program tickets).

Our first family bike ride to the gym, 11 miles.

Our first family backpack trip, 3 or 4 miles.

It POURED on us, so grateful for this shelter!

Tristan had several days worth of "treasure hunts" to find all this presents.

Yesterday he came upstairs and said, "Mom, I have a problem". He fell back and hit his head on a rock that is in our basement in front of the fireplace. One staple in the head and now he is fine.

UPDATED REUNION SCHEDULE/ Weekend

There will no doubt be a few of these updates!

Has the room situation been worked out to everyone's satisfaction?

Looking forward to Cobb Salad Tues night. Yeah! THat would mean we are not doing it exactly by condo. You guys work it out so no one does it alone and everyone gets a chance to feed all of us. Don't want to leave anyone out of that opportunity!

So now we are in SLC Wed. morning for pictures, Museum, and Welfare Square, correct?

Went on a beautiful 3 day backpack. Complete change of plans because everything was snowed under. We are about a month behind schedule as far as weather, but we found someplace fun. It was supposed to be relaxing...hike in 7.5 miles and set up camp. A little day hike the next day, some reading, some relaxing and then hike out the following day. Again not exactly as planned. The most spectacular thunder and lightening storm Thurs. night, torrential rain. It was Awesome! It wasn't supposed to rain. The relaxing/reading/easy day hike day ended up being 14 miles round trip. Oh well we made it and it was fun!

WE hurried home so I could quickly get ready and drive 3 hours to Hannah Stevenson's wedding. She is Scott and Francee's daughter. Francee out did herself once again. It was at a bed and breakfast there in Redmond. The flowers were beautiful with peacock feathers in the arrangements. She had all these old typewriters set up on little tables so the guests could type messages to the bride and groom. There were questions like; Where should they go for their 10th anniversary? What is the most romantic place in the world to visit? etc. Just fun! I couldn't remember how to type!!! No surprise there!

Got see Chris and Sherry, Jorli, Aunt Mardienne, all of Scott and Francee's family. Ashlee is due next month on Aunt Mardienne's birthday so she won't make Dane's wedding. Uncle Sharm couldn't make it. He has been in the hospital. Greg's wife Christine is very frail now. The cancer has come back with a vengence. And Brad has had some health issues. It was so fun to visit with them and get caught up! Looking forward to Dane's wedding. After the reception we have plans to go out to eat Korean!

All in all a good weekend!
Love You,
Le Anne

Bennett Family Reunion Schedule

This schedule is not set in stone. There are some details that still need to be taken care of but...

Condos available the 17th. Your dad flies in 7:30pm. I will pick him up and we will stay in Salt Lake that night so we don't have to drive back for the golf game and there may be a get together with the brothers and sisters that night.

Brooke and Ellynn's families are sharing a 1 bedroom condo
Adam and Meagan a 2 bedroom.... Any questions, do the math.
Brind and Jules a studio
And poor Geof./Darla with Mom and Dad, a 1 bedroom (Geof. & Darla drew the short straw)

Everyone will take care of their own breakfasts and lunches by condo and each condo will work together planning a dinner for the whole crowd.
Meagan has dubsed (has anyone ever spelled that word in their lives?)Sunday night...a potatoe bar. Hope that is what Mindi and Adam wanted to serve. Anyway that's their problem. See how it works? Put in your dubs now. Keep in mind your dad and I are doing Tri Tip one night so leave us a night.

Sat. Golf in Murray, 9 holes, 8:30am. We have the church reserved thanks to cousin Kathy 2:30 TO 4:30 for Kaia's baptism. It is close to the bowry where we will have the Bennett Reunion at 5. Perfect eh? Bring your own food.

Sun. We will increase some lucky ward's Sacrament Meeting attendence. Dinner and early to bed.

Mon. Salt Lake Temple 8am session....Yes they are open on Mon. mornings! Ogden Temple is under construction. Bountiful Temple is 59 min away. Salt Lake 64 min. and your dad and I wanted the Salt Lake Temple! Each of you are responsible for your own babysitters. We will need to leave by 6:15 or earlier for traffic, parking and getting dressed. This does not take into account the child drop off thing. BE WARNED!

That night, and really any time... all Aunts and Uncles and cousins are invited up. We are hosting a hamburger/hot dog BBQ. RSVP SO WE KNOW HOW MUCH TO BUY PLEASE. Bring a side dish!

Tues. We are playing in Eden. Ad says he is bringing mountain bikes. Maybe Jack can break his arm again etc. We want a movie night with "the Big Screen." Adam/Mike/Cory/Jason/Anyone can we do it? I have a white sheet!

Wed. Repeat of Tues. I think we need a night or 2 for Show and Tell with all these kids, big and little. Just an idea.

Thurs. PICTURE DAY WITH JESSICA HUNT (I have forgotten her last name now). ELLYNN SAYS black, white, gray, lime green, hot pink, or orange, brown, royal blue, yellow or denim shirts with levis, or flowers or plaid shorts....or not....this is all her fault for not answering her phone! We will be at the capital in SLC. Time and attire to be announced.

Then we are going to see if we can embarrass ourselves and get kicked out of The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum because we will all be hungry, tired, and kind of grumpy. Maybe a snack would be in order before the museum and then lunch somewhere fast and Welfare Square. Bennets go a lot of places but they rarely go hungry...too mean!

After a day like that I am thinking the Tri Tip...All in favor?

Fri. Pack-er-on-up and head for home after a quick swim. It makes me sad just to type it! But alwasys something to look forward to...May...Disneyland to celebrate Dayne's 8th, Ellynn's 30th, my 60th and your dad and my 40th Wedding Anniversary! Wahoo!

I love you all,
Come play,
Le Anne

It Is Great to be 8

Summer '12--I need some pic updates from all of you!!

Junie's five and boy does she know it! She keeps saying, "No, I'm the guest. I'm the birthday girl" whenever asked to do her chores.

Good sisters

Self portraits

June's always up for lazying around on a beach...she laid there forever!

Lake Sherando-Father's Day Camping Trip

Cole happy to be on fire duty at all times.

We made blueberry muffins in orange peels (thanks for the idea, Le Anne!). June's face can attest to her dislike.

 But this boy LOVED them.

Pretty Dayne. Only getting older. :(

I promise I did not plan this perfectly-posed picture.

Hurt feelings. Sometimes Cole has the biggest heart of all.

Bat Drac Alive and I Hope Well

I think of all these fun things to post and then never do. When I get on here I feel like I should start way back to when I last posted...That's daunting! I don't know how to do the pictures and am not funny, etc. etc. and so I am defeated before I begin.

So now, new tact....I will just do it and quit whining!

Today I worked for Gerda...just subbing.  It is fun because we get all caught up on things.  So I'm walking down the hall to the kitchen and I notice this dark brown furry thing up on the wall.  I take a closer look and sure enough it is a real live, sound asleep bat! No idea how he got in or why he stayed the night! Someone has to get him out and that would be me! And why not?

I carefully think the whole thing through. How intimidating can something that size be really.  I find a plastic glass big enough to cover the whole thing but small enough that I can hold the end in one hand. It is also just see through enough that I can see the bat but not so clearly that I can see its wee beedy eyes and sharp fangs. I cut the side of a grahm cracker box for a lid. I figured it would be thick enough to hold a scrambling bat for the seconds it would take me to jump off the step stool and run the thing out the door and yet thin enough to slide between the wall and the cup.

I carefully and quietly place the step stool, open the front door, mount the stool and quickly put the cup over the bat and slide the make shift lid into place.

I found out 2 things:  A. When surprised bats poop and
B. They do sound just like Ellynn mimicing them when she describes Brooke driving at night! He was not happy! I felt sorry for him because his one little claw was caught between the glass and the lid...sorry, best I could do.

I was going to gently release him into the wild near a big tree but he was getting ferocious with the-way-too-flimsy lid so I tossed everything into the air! All I saw was his 12 inch wing span and I ran for the house shutting the door firmly behind me before he could "fly into my hair and get all tangled up in it." (Old wives tale, if you are not familiar)

So there's my story! No Shame, You do it!
Sweet Dreams, Don't let the bed bugs or bats bite,
Le Anne

CO life

I was at the park with the kids a few weeks ago. I was pushing Ruby on the swing and looking at Facebook on my phone. Suddenly, a guy next to me (also pushing his child on the swing) said "Are you looking at Facebook?". I was embarrassed thinking I laughed out loud at a status or something (oh, and speaking of that...have you seen Alicia's status with a link to a pinterest post with kids plotting to drive their mother bat %^*# crazy, I thought I might die laughing). Anyway, this guy starts talking about how facebook is addicting and he won't put it on his phone. I started feeling guilty, put the phone away and went off to play tag with the kids (a great HIIT work out). Later, I was listening to a book Adam recommended, "Change Your Brain, Change Your Body", and the author quoted from another book (forgot the title) which talks about facebook, texting, etc. being addictive and messing with our dopamine levels. While we were at my parents cabin for the 4th I caught myself checking fb way too often. So I'm going to cut back and focus on other things...like blogging. Here are a slew of pics:

A friend of mine moved away to NE, so I got 11 other girls together and we all made a quilt square that reminded us of Erica. I put it all together, badly, but she loved it anyway.

I tried to have Kaia take a picture of us having a delightful family dinner, celebrating Adam being home after 10 days of work, but we had some photography skill issues. Our garden was suffering in the extreme summer heat (we've had the hottest June ever recorded in CO history, my car therm. read 108 several days!), but we had a few wonderful downpours the last two days.

June

This morning during breakfast prayer Cole said, "Thank you that Junie was born into our family and makes everyone so HAPPY.".  I can't agree more. 5 YEARS!!

Trek

Posting from my phone just isn't as good as my computer. Finding time to get out that old dinosaur is another story (I'm kidding..). But really, I'm finding it more and more of a hassle to use my laptop now that the iPhone has taken over my life.
Trek was great. They gave us an awesome family with three strong sons and one tiny (who was very content watching his big brothers do all the work) and 6 wonderful, spiritual, mature, and kind daughters who asked me to tuck them in each night (girl time, really..so fun!).
Physically, I wish we'd gone farther, like 2-3 miles a day..but we were all exhausted by the end of it, nonetheless. The time outdoors spent with these valiant (yes, valiant!) youth was awesome! Geof says he wishes we could go back. I'd love to be on the planning committee for the next Trek now that I've done it once--just to make it a little more "rough" and "pioneer"..but still SUCH a great experience.
My cousin's wife watched our kids (they're living in No. VA for 18 months) and I took her three youngest back to Richmond with me after Trek. Fun to have cousins around. Junie had her bday party today. She's not 5 for another two days but we thought it'd be easier to plan for a party before the 4th than after.
Caution: lots-o-pics (the usual!)