First Day of School

The first day of school is always a fun and exciting and apprehensive time for a child. Believe me--it's no different for an adult child starting his first day of school.

These pictures were actually on the day Ben and his roommates were leaving to head off to Provo to get set up in their apartment. Their other roommate, Austin Nichols from Colorado, was meeting them there.

They were all a little nervous about the whole experience. Ben managed to eat most of his breakfast that morning.

The guys--Zac Hill from Vegas, Benjamin Pingel from Ohio, and "the blond Benjamin" as Zac's father called him--consented to take a photo, but refused to put on their backpacks for me.

I always loved taking a picture of all the kids with their backpacks on each year on their first day of school.

After loading up both cars, there was still room for more stuff. It's a lot different sending a son off to college than sending a daughter off. The girls need two cars for one girl. These three boys got all their stuff in two cars and had room to spare.

They got all settled into their apartment without a problem. They made it to church on Sunday and started checking out the available girls. Resumes have been printed, job applications have been filled out and a couple of companies seem interested.

Here's hoping the first day of school today at BYU was a good one for Ben and all his roommates!

San Fran Again

It hadn't been too long since we spent time in San Francisco, but when a son calls and asks for help, we just had to go.

These were some unique palm trees we saw when we stopped at In-N-Out on our way there. (Just a bit of trivial information--we stopped at a different In-N-Out on the way home.)

We helped Abe make a Costco run. It saved him having to pay for a zip car and it sure helped to have extra people to haul the stuff into their apartment building, load it into the elevator, unload it outside the elevator and then carry all the goods down the hall and into their apartment--all the while trying not to get a ticket for having the car in a no parking zone during the process.

Yes, that was a big help for Abe and Klarissa. She got out of the whole Costco experience because she was attending two baby showers during the shopping excursion.

Abe always enjoys having someone around to help him have some fun. We were willing to help him have a good time that afternoon and evening. First on the agenda was going to see the movie "Buck" which is the story of the man who inspired the movie "Horse Whisperer".

We had to laugh when we saw the name of the restaurant Abe and Klarissa took us to for dinner--Buckhorn Grill.

Abe and Klarissa just knew Glen would love the sirloin tri-tip meal. Looks like Abe is enjoying taking a big bite out of Klarissa's tri-tip sandwich.

We continued on with the Buck theme when we learned that the mean gorilla in "Planet of the Apes" was named...what else but Buck!!!

And the picture hanging by the elevator in our hotel reminded us of Buck.

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Doesn't Glen look nice in his suit and...sandals??!!??

Let me explain!! He got his other big toenail yanked out and he's been in agony ever since. That poor toe is taking forever to heal. He likes to air it out as much as possible and so he was airing it out on our drive to church.

Rest assured that Glen did not bare that big, nasty toe in public--well at least not in public at church with his suit on. He didn't seem to have any trouble displaying it to the general public the rest of the places we went.

Yes--this was the place where Abe needed Glen's help. At church. He needed Glen's help to clean up the sacrament table after church. He needed Glen's help to get his wife to church because he was already there. He also needed Glen's help to pick him back up after church since he had to stay after for a while. But most of all, he needed (or perhaps the word should be wanted) Glen's help in ordaining him a high priest.

Abe got sustained that day to be second counselor in the bishopric. He got busy reading the handbook to try and figure out what he's supposed to be doing.

It is always a pleasure to go to our children's homes and that was the feeling we had as we were able to spend the rest of the Sabbath day at their apartment.

Klarissa cooked us up a very delicious dinner.

Glen loves having a popcorn snack every Sunday and this day was no exception. He went a little overboard on the cheese popcorn that he had bought at Costco the day before. We kept reminding him to not mess up the Rummikub tiles with those cheese-covered fingers.

We were certainly glad we had been able to get away on short notice to go there and Glen was very happy to not only help Abe with shopping and with having fun, but also to help with the ordination.

My only regret is that I did not get a picture of Abe in his suit. He looked very handsome!

Painting Project

Our perfect post-mission project for two of our three boys has been to paint the trim on the house. It has been a while since Abe painted and the project needed to be done again. Ben was happy to oblige.

Sarah wanted in on the project as well.

And look who else wanted to be part of the project.

Eli didn't get the chance to use a paintbrush, but he quickly discovered how to unroll the painter's tape.

We are happy the kids were so happy to paint.

Feeding and Entertaining Kids While Jacob and Laurie Were Vacationing

So Jacob has been threatening for nearly a year now to go on a vacation alone with his wife.

He enlisted the help of his youngest sister--after all, she just has one baby of her own to take care of and so what's another four children?--and made it happen. Sarah then enlisted the help of her able assistant--me--to help her help Jacob pull off his perfect plan.

It was four days of fun.

Coloring pictures with Logan and Eli was fun.

Reading bedtime stories to the little boys was fun.

Taking the kids to the park was fun.
Playing in the neighbor's backyard playhouse was fun.
Exploring Roger's yard was fun.
Playing with cousins was fun.
Taking a walk was fun.
Eating snow cones was fun.
Playing in the park was fun.
Going grocery shopping was fun.
Watching movies was fun.
Having baths was fun.
Playing games and toys was fun.
Having pajama parties was fun.

It was all so much fun for the kids.

Now, let's talk about feeding all those kids.

The taco meal Natalie suggested was a big hit with the big kids (we've never seen so much cheese loaded into a taco shell before), with the babies (what a mess) and even with the adults (Ben and his friend, Adam, ate the taco leftovers when they got home).

Success!!!

Halfway through our babysitting week, a 4-month-old baby entered the scene. Sarah so kindly consented to watch Jeff's nephew for a couple of days so his brother and sister-in-law could have a little vacation, also. Jeff's brother has just recently returned from Afghanistan and we could appreciate their desire to want some time to themselves as well.

Bring it on! Sarah can handle it!!

Good thing we had a little baby-holding help now and then from the men who were lingering around the house.

Wish we could say all the meals we served the children were a big hit. It seems that no amount of coaxing or telling the children the Ritz Poppy Seed Chicken dish was Jeff and Sarah's favorite meal would convince them to eat it.

Strike out with the older children--but we adults enjoyed it nonetheless.

Success with the babies. They loved it. And yet another monumental high chair mess to show for it.

I'm not sure, but I think Ben appeared super happy when his friends, Adam and Collin, came over so he could play big kid games instead of do little kid activities.

We all did our part and made it happen for two couples to have some time away from their children.

I well remember what a welcome experience it was for us to manage a little getaway, leaving our children in the care of an able caregiver. I also remember that I always felt more sorry for the babysitter than I ever did for the children.

Here's a shout-out to all the people who have ever watched our children while we went on a vacation alone together. Babysitters are awesome!!!

And Sarah definitely falls in the awesome category as far as these two couples are concerned!!

Congratulations, Jacob, for finally making your dream vacation come true! (You do consider going to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone a dream vacation, don't you??!!??)

Family Fun

It's true Abe joined us for the day Ben arrived home from his mission, but he had to go back to San Francisco that evening.  We were looking forward to having him come back again with Klarissa over the weekend to spend some quality bonding time with Ben.

Since it was Klarissa's birthday the day before their arrival, Natalie got busy making a cute birthday poster for her.  And Emma made a birthday card for her as well.  I think it's safe to say Klarissa appreciated the efforts of the girls to make her feel special.

 

 

 

Abe and Klarissa were happy to see Ben and to see him wearing the shirt they'd sent to him for his birthday earlier in the month.

That evening we went to the canyon for a cook-out, just like we did right before Ben left on his mission.  Natalie tried to console Spencer while waiting to leave for our fun activity.

At the campground, Spencer covered up his ears and soon went right to sleep while Dallas got busy building a fire. 

The kids could hardly wait to get down to the river to start throwing rocks in the water and finding branches to dangle in the water to pretend they were fishing.

 

Great fire and then too much smoke!  So the kids played games, snacked a little and went back down to the river while waiting for the fire to get just right for cooking.

It was determined that more fuel needed to be put on the fire to get it burning once again.

No mosquitoes welcome at our party.

Finally!!!  The fire is right to cook a hot dog.

It was a lovely evening we spent out in nature and we all came home smelling like a campfire.

Jacob and Laurie were looking like a lovely couple the next day when it was time to go to church to hear Ben's talk.

Ben did a great job speaking and and look at all the good food we had to eat when all our family and friends came home to eat with us.

The following day the kids went to see a movie like Abe has been waiting to do with Ben.

Rebecca challenged Ben to a game of Set.  Those two are the best at that game and Rebecca's been bored with it since Ben left.

It's super great to have Ben home and be able to all be together again!!!