thanksgiving was full of thanks, as usual

Well this is pretty much the worst photo ever, but we were too excited to dig in to worry about picture quality! Aaaaand this is the only photo we have. Awesome. Anyway, Thanksgiving was lovely. We had our local missionaries over to attempt to stand in for their own mothers and families. I'm sure it wasn't the same (well and one of them is from Canada so it would be pretty hard to compare), but we had a lovely day just the same. No tragedies or even funny stories from the day to share... just a nice, simple Thanksgiving. I sure missed being with family though.

Knives sharpened, new flatware arrived(!), whole nutmeg ready to be grated into delicious oblivion...

Ready, Set, Cook!

very very first

Moments ago, Benson grabbed a pen from the pen holder, tore off the lid, and proceeded to sound out and spell his first word. I'm so shocked and amazed and proud and excited! I was quietly folding laundry on the couch, listening to his sounding out, and wondering if he was actually going to do it. And the cute part? He was adding "family" to our big family list of things we are thankful for. It's already on there 3 times, but I guess we are really thankful for each other.

F16

That little clip was Ben doing a barrel roll in an F16. Uh, wow. Ben was rewarded a flight for being Airman of the Year at his guard unit. What a crazy cool experience for all of us! We got to stand right on the runway when he took off, and even narrowly escaped the jet wash blow over. So so so cool. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Oh and we are really proud of Ben for not puking or passing out, even while doing loop-de-loops, barrel rolls, and drop offs at 8.5 G's (that's a lot).

if you can't say somefin nice,

Macro-Bunny, originally uploaded by Danz in Tokyo.

then don't say nuffin at all.

Which is the reason for the extreme lack of posting right now. I'm having a hard time learning some important lessons about charity, but I'll come back when I learn to be less like Lamen and Lemuel, and more like Nephi.

potty time

Banks has found a new potty. Everyone should have boys.

preschool farewell

It has been the best of times, and the worst of times. I love time alone with Banks, and Benson loves to play with the legos at school. But I hate how there are really really mean kids at Benson's school who punch him and steal his toys. And most recently, I hate how he's taken these habits and brought them into our formerly peaceful home, kicking his brother (and the dog!) and calling everyone names. Yesterday we preformed an experiment to see if we could find my sweet and loving Benson again, and lo and behold, one day out of school and he's back. And so, without further ado, Benson's preschool experience is coming to an end. Today I am making caramels to put in monogramed mugs to say thanks and farewell to his teachers and tomorrow we will deliver them with the bad news.

And I feel so much better. What I've learned from this experience: trust my instincts. Mother's hearts just know.