Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we traveled to SE Idaho to visit Grandma Bennett and also to spend the weekend with Wally and Carolyn. It was really nice to see them again after their mission to the Washington D.C. Temple. The D.C. Temple has got to be one of the most beautiful buildings in this whole world. I am sure my friend Gail will agree with me since it has special meaning in her life. Thanksgiving was all about eating and spending time with family. We have decided that we love the Crawfords a whole bunch. They are a bunch of cool guys (well mostly girls). I am sad to report that I did not take any pictures at Thanksgiving. Posts are not fun without pictures....just like the books I like to read....."what? no pictures? this stinks!!" I'll stick a picture of a turkey in here somewhere. Enjoy.

Trick or Treat

I happened to be perusing the web and decided to visit my own writings. I last wrote of Halloween, and even then, my attempt consisted of 3 sentences; empty in content, so that post really didnt count.
Halloween was celebrated the Wednesday before the actually Halloween, which fell on a Monday. My church, in its infinite wisdom (this phrase is not sarcastic here, I really mean it), held the ever so popular 'Trunk-or Treat' along with some great games and activities, even a potluck dinner. It was wonderful. The kids had a blast. The 4 yr. old discovered the magic of the the words "trick or treat". He ran from trunk to trunk so he could get his bite-size chocolates. He had been sick with some type of tummy bug, but it did not stop him from getting his candy. The boy dressed up as Buzz LightYear and the young lady dressed up as Silvermist, one of the Fairies from Disney's Tinkerbell. On the actual Halloween we helped a friend from Star move out. That was an adventure, but it was great to help out. There is a family in Star that really stepped up to the plate and helped this lady out; the Hernandez family. I have never seen a trio of men work so hard and so steady. Also a couple of our old neighbors helped out a lot. There was a lot of work to be done, A LOT!!! I am grateful for hard working people that put their backs into it until the job is done.
So that was our Halloween. Because we were not home to hand out candy, we got to eat it all, wonderful! now I know why my pants seem to be shrinking on me. I just could understand why, but now, I see. It was a 3 pounds of Snickers, can really add up to about 10 lbs. of Sol.

halloween

Holy Halloween Batman! there are pumpkins and fake spiderwebs all around! I have already consumed way too many fun size snickers.

Monday Aug 22nd---FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

My girl has started 2nd grade in a whole new school. The 1st week was rough. She is a bit of a social butterfly but unfortunately she got to experience getting bullied. She has never had to deal with this sort of nonsense. The very 1st day of school she made a little friend in her class, when recess time came around, she tagged along with the new 'friend' only to find out she was going to play with her 'other' friend. My kid, being logical, said, I will play with you guys too...NO, the 2 girls said they had "their own business" when my girl asked "what is business?" the girlies were stumped and couldnt answer. The outside friend (Bullirina) said: "You can't play with us! You are being RUDE! and don't talk to my friend (the girl in the class). My girl told me she was sad and started crying. Welcome to your new school! What brats! I told her to ignore them and play with other nice kids. The week went by and my kid was just not herself. She mentioned more than 3Xs  "I don't want to go to school....the teacher is mean....I want to go back to my old school" I thought nothing of it until Friday when I asked her about her day in school, she replied very quietly "OK" and then she started crying....she told me that Bullirina would tell her everyday to stay away from her friend or else she would beat her up...when my girl tried to stand up her by saying "you can't beat me up, my mom with come and talk to you" she replied,,,"oh yeah, well my dad is going to beat up your mom!" My girl was just a bawling when she was telling me this. I went straight to the phone and called the office. Appearantly, they know about this brat and were going to talk to her.
That phone call was all it took. BullyBrat is no longer tormenting my kid. And according to mykiddo, she even wants to be friendly. I told her she can be friends with whoever she wants but not to let anyone make her feel bad, not to let anyone push her around. We talked about the word "confidence". 2nd week was great, we are currently on week 3...so far so good. I hate bullies!

We are fast approaching September 11th. I was living in Salt Lake City in 2001 on this date in history. My brother Danny and I had just gotten back from Washington; we went to go be with our older brother, and little brothers, our older brother got married the Saturday Sept. 7th, 2001. September 11th, 2001 was a dark day in the whole world.
 It's important to me to remember that day; the way I felt during the days that followed. I was very fortunate to have my brother living with me during that time, he was a great source of strength, also I had many good loving caring and honest friends during that time. Eventhough something horrendous had occurred, there seemed to be a spirit of love and friendship everywhere I went. People seemed more compasionate.
I hope that we all learn to be a better people. A better world.

longtime no post

I love these beautiful people. Somehow I know they love me too.

Bennett Family Reunion 2011

On Saturday, July 16th, a few of the Bennetts got together at Grandma Barbara Bennett's house for the annual Bennett Family Reunion. When Zach and I got there, we found Grandma sitting in the corner of her favorite sofa, the long one under the mirror. She looked very pretty. She was glowing, her cheeks were even rosy. She sat there as everyone that came, talked and ate. She was holding her right arm, and then she wrapped it with a dry rag. She said it was hurting and it felt really cold. She had a little bit of lunch and then took a long nap in her bedroom. When I took the pictures she was sleeping and then when I wanted to take her picture, the camera's battery died.
Here is what I want to say about Grandma Barbara Bennett. I met her just before I got married and everytime we visited her, she made me feel very welcome. She has been a sweet great-Grandmother to my 2 little monkeys and she is that way with all the children that visit her. This August she will be turning 97 years old. She is a living treasure. I love this great lady. Because of her, I have my little family.

Colleen and Pam smile for the camera....can you tell Colleen is a proud grandma of a gorgeous baby boy? Well she is!

Burke and Zach goofing around and having fun

Burke is a decent guy, he didn't let Zach get a feel for his bossoms.

Chow time: Chicken thighs and drumsticks and chicken tenders for Chester's along with lovely salads, and that sweet coolwhippy salad with the little marshmellows and jello and cottage cheese...oh yeah, and my salsa fresca with cheeeeeeeps.

Most of Burke's and Julie's babies....except for the 2 cute mexicans :) those are mine, all mine!

Uncle Lynn and his bride, Alice and their family.

say cheese!

Phyllis and Larry and Aunt Caroline...these 2 blouses I  thought were so cute, super cute!

Robert pointing at the yummy plate Zachy made..."this here chicken is the best Preston has to offer"

Stay Thirsty My Friends

Discussing the mission and the weather and Zach's videos

Smart idea to set the tables under the shade of those gorgeous big trees. Here's Chris enjoying the shade and the light cool breeze.

Cool Burke and Jaxon

Did Julie want to go outside with the others?

The livingroom was the hangout place for the girls

Burke and Julie's beautiful family just before they left to swim at Downata Springs, FUN!

This was supposed to be the 'silly' shot....not everyone got that memo it seems!

you can add your own caption here.................

This shot was to be the serious one.....good job Zachy!

Granny, here are your granddaughters from Idaho......wish Jackie was here! or is it 'were here'?

We were so happy to see Gramps again. Little Franklin bawled his eyes out when we left. He wanted to take Gramps home

The Traditional "Let's go See the Vacas Shot" They were specially stinky this day. But we thanked them for the milk and then my camera's battery died.

conversations

As we drove into work this morning, my 7yr. old was telling me about her 1st day of 1st grade. She said there was a little boy, who shall remain nameless here, you know, to protect his identity, this little kid sat by my girl and he looked right at her face and said: "you're pretty" I am sure m'girl smiled; who doesnt like hearing these flattering words as a young lady? then he proceeded to tell her: "you want to come to my house after school?".....whoa! was my reaction...when my girl told him no, because she didnt even know him that good, he said "if you go on a date with me I will give you a dollar". She still said no, but they became good buddies in the 1st grade.
Hey, I never had that good luck in school with boys!

Cherry Blossoms

My mother in law is one of the prettiest ladies I have ever met, that's her among all the flowers of that cherry tree. She and my father in law are currently living in Washington D.C. while they serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They sent us a few pictures of the area, the cherry blossoms are so neat, I can only imagine the aroma....mmmmm.

brick houses

I like brick houses. They remind me of old Mexico.