Christmas 2007

This Christmas was great! Michael got the Dance, Dance Revolution for Wii and has really enjoyed playing with it. Michael was so excited for Santa to come. He left the reindeer celery, carrots, and oats on the front lawn and cookies, M&Ms, and a Diet Pepsi for Santa. I thought he would NEVER go to sleep that night! On Christmas Day, Granddaddy, Gena, and Jesse came to eat with us and spend the night. It was a really nice day and we enjoyed their visit. We look forward to next Christmas when everyone can be home again. Happy New Year everyone!

Halloween 2007

This Halloween was great! Before we went out trick-or-treating, we had our traditional Halloween dinner- Taco Soup! Kris & Nick and the Simpsons came over to eat with us.

This year for Halloween, Michael decided to be Boba Fett, from Star Wars. As you can see in the first picture, his friend John also decided to be Boba Fett! We had the twin bounty hunters trick-or-treating together. Of course, they didn't wear the helmets very far; they were too blurry to see out of, which impared their running from door to door! It was a great night to be out. It wasn't too cold or hot and the boys got a lot of candy. What a fun night!

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend Michael and I went to a pumpkin patch with Kris and his son Nick. The boys had fun picking out pumpkins to carve. We ordered pizza, carved pumpkins, and made sugar cookies. It was a fun night. Kris put the pumpkins on the front porch and put candles in them. They looked great! I love fall!

School Walk

On Friday the 5th of October, Michael participated in the General Greene school walk. He was awesome! He decided to run instead of walking, and ran 26 laps (which is equivalent to almost 4.5 miles). He definitely has the Benson "Track Star" blood in him! It was amazing to see him keep running, only stopping after each lap to have his card marked. All that running and his hair still looked good! What a cutie! 3rd grade is off to a great start!

A day at the lake

I haven't taken many pictures lately, but this is one I got with my phone when we were at the lake last weekend. This is Michael and Nick (Kris' son). This is not long after Michael and Nick had tried to share the tube and ride together. Let's just say the tube isn't designed to have two people on it! Michael slid off the side and was holding on for dear life and his dignity (he was holding onto his swim trunks with his toes)! It was funny only after the event was over!

School has started and Michael is enjoying 3rd grade. He has a great teacher, Ms. Ralston, from Scotland. Michael loves her accent! Scouts has started back and Michael is enjoying that each week. Not much else is going on here. I will try to take more pictures soon!

A Harry Potter Night!!!

On Friday, July 20th, Michael and I went to Barnes & Noble for the biggest night of the year-the Harry Potter book release party! It was so much fun! We both got "sorted" and found out in which house we belong. You can see the picture with Dumbledore, who did the honors with the "sorting hat." We ran into Haggrid during our scavenger hunt and Michael got to see Snape (obviously in his younger years) at work during his "potions class." We also had our palms read and couldn't believe how right the fortune teller was! She had us both pegged! Apparently we missed Voldemort, who showed up around 10:00. But we did see Ms. Umbridge, pink-pink-pink, on our way out! It was a fun night and no, we did not stay until midnight for the book! We are still on #6, so don't tell us how #7 ends!!!

Aloha!

Well I am back from my Hawaii trip! It was wonderful! Even with a little work to do while I was there, I managed to sight-see as much as possible! I went to Waikiki beach, shopped at the International Market, hiked Diamond Head (amazing), went to the Polynesian Cultural Center (absolutely wonderful-you can see me trying to learn the hula!), attended a luau (of course I didn't eat the pork!), and went to Pearl Harbor. I even attended church on Sunday morning (since I was still on east coast time and I was wide awake by 5 a.m.)! It was interesting to go to another ward so far from home. It was a beautiful old tabernacle-style building. That day there happend to be a missionary farewell. After sacrament, the whole ward went out in front of the reflecting pool and sang a song to her and put leis on her up to her nose! It was very touching to see. It was a packed week and I am finally getting over the long plane ride and readjusting to the 6 hour time change. It was much easier to get on their time zone than to come back to mine! I met a lot of great people while there and would love to go back really soon! Enjoy the pictures!