Pinewood Derby time!

The smile on Taylor's face says it all. He won 1st place at the pinewood derby this year. Last year they had a raingutter rangatta instead of a pinewood derby and he didn't even make it to the finals. He said "dad isn't very good at helping me with boats but he is really good with cars!" Lynn is amazing when it comes to pinewood derby cars. We had just watched the movie "Down and Derby" last week and had a good time laughing about that funny movie. Lynn didn't have a lot of time to spend helping Taylor but I guess it was enough! Taylor was disappointed when he found out his trophy was made of plastic and not real gold but it is still in a coveted place in his room for him to enjoy.

Bear Lake 2009

We are so grateful to Lynn's boss for letting us use his boat this year for Bear Lake. It spoiled us rotten. Robert was pretty stressed out when he had to help launch the boat but he did great! No scratches, Craig!

It was different this year to be at Bear Lake without Bob and Vickie, Rick and Teressa, Dave and Amy and kids. We missed them. Grandpa, James made sure Lynn flipped the pancakes the way you taught him too and we made Bear Lake toast. We had fun with some one on one time with Lynn's brother Kent and Janie and their kids. We had a blast and was grateful for good weather. This picture is a bike we rented at the Koa in Garden City where we stayed.

All the kids enjoyed the boat, the beach, and the Koa cabin that we stayed at. We hadn't prepped them as good as we should have about the cabin, however, as they commented they thought it was going to be like Rick and Teressa's cabin in Timber Lakes! No, it was a cabin with enough beds for most of us to sleep on, the other two slept on the floor and that was it! It beat tenting it by far and I loved that there weren'tany mosquitos or flies. We had campfires every night which is my favorite.

We had a blast going to the pickleville playhouse play entitled "the Hanging of Bandito" It was hilarious! I didn't get any pictures of it but it was one of our highlights.

This is a random picture of when you get to the end of summer and you are so bored you start dressing up and being more creative! Thank heavens for Joanna who instigated this but is old enough she doesn't have to dress up.

The Big Race

Here is a picture of us after the race. There were around 50 of my family who ended up running in the race. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705317819/Lee-Benson-On-the-run-in-honor-of-Grant.html This is an article written about the race we ran on the 24th of July. I was so proud of everyone. Robert ran the 10k with me and even though he hadn't trained at all was able to go the whole time without stopping. James had to work hard to beat Dallin who we are finding out is quite the jogger! It was a fun day and I was happy to be a part of getting my family in shape as well as honor my nephew Grant (and my dad Grant)

Lynn and Emma would rather ride motorcycles than run!

Iam planning on doing the Provo trail half marathon tomorrow and I am scared and wondering why in the world I caved to actually paying money to run? I can't figure it out but maybe after tomorrow I will.

summer is flying by

Family picture are getting harder and harder to come by with everyone going a million directions. We actually all went together to the Manti Pageant and took my mom also. Everyone was excited except for one person. (I'll let you guess who from looking at the picture). We enjoyed it even though it rained during the pageant. It was funny watching the performers slip on the slippery, wet, hill.

The kids are enjoying the motorcycles that Lynn borrowed from Craig for the 4th of July. When I get tired of mowing all this grass I remember that a big yard is nice for other reasons. The kids have been riding in circles in the backyard and so far the fence has survived!

This little green bike was given to us from Lynn's sister Teressa after her two boys learned to ride bikes on it. It has now been through each one of our kids and was an emotional moment when I realized my baby knows how to ride a bike. He is a crazy man and the tires on this bike are pretty bare after going through that many kids!

Joanna has her smile back after getting her cast off and turning 14! She is super excited because she found out she gets to have a cell phone soon.

After going to physical therapy for her foot the Dr. said she finally has full motion in her foot and she is hardly limping anymore. Good News!

Finally, Midway is hot enough to have water parties. It's about time!

Back to teaching (for money)

After hanging up my teaching career for a stay at home mom it is hard to believe that I am at a stage where I can teach again. I decided to apply for a preschool teaching position so that I could get Kyle into a preschool and earn a little money as well. I found out yesterday I got the job. It is an ideal situation as Kyle will go to school the same time I am teaching but he won't be in my class. It is 3 times a week and I think will be perfect. I am excited and yet scared after being out of the work scene for so long. The lady who hired me was Taylor's preschool teacher and he really loved her. She is a very nice lady and I am excited to work with her. I feel lucky to have the job in this economy. I think Kyle is going to love school. He always wants to go when I drop Dallin off for kindergarten.
I am recovering from my nasel surgery and had my follow up appointment today. It is still too early for me to know if I'm glad I didn't it yet. I have been given the ok to start jogging again and after 2 weeks break I am scared to see how much harder it is going to be.

Poor Joanna is getting sick of crutches and was very disappointed when she found out she has to go into a walking boot for two weeks after the cast gets off. I guess we were both a little naive to think she was going to walk out of the office with her shoes after getting her cast, when she hasn't used her foot for that long.

Its hard to believe it is that time of year where it seems like I'm packing a lunch for my kids every day for a fieldtrip or I am going to a program or I have to feed good breakfasts because of core testing! Now we also have to start mowing the grass and taking care of the yard but the thing I hate most about May is the stress Lynn is under to get all the pools up and running by memorial day. He is swamped but handling it ok so far.

Easter

Our digital camera is broken so my blogs are very boring without pictures to accompany. Sorry. Hopefully we will get a new one soon. Easter was fun this year. Kyle was so excited about getting candy that he couldn't get to sleep until after midnight! The easter bunny hid everyones baskets this year and it was fun watching the kids running around trying to find them. Roberts was hidden in a place that was hot and his chocolate bunny was melted. He was ok with putting in the freezer and eating it later but he wasn't too happy with the Easter bunny when he realized the solid chocolate bunny was sugar free! The Easter bunny must have known mom is stressed about dentist appointments coming up. That was sure nice of him to think of that! The kids weren't happy about having to put the candy away and have to go to church on Easter until I reminded them about what Easter was about.
We had a nice Easter dinner and egg hunt at my moms house after church with a lot of my siblings and their families. It was fun and an enjoyable day and very hard for the kids to have to face school the next day after having a week break. Joanna was especially stressed having to go with her crutches but she survived and is relieved she doesn't have to keep telling everyone what happened. She doesn't like attention.

B-day

About 8-10 years ago Lynn gave me a coupon for a professional massage . When I got done I knew that he had made a mistake because I loved it and would forever want one. My massage lady offers a discount during your b-day month so for many years that is what I have gotten for my b-day. When I leave she always says "see you next year!"
Well, a few weeks ago I bought myself some new summer pajamas so Lynn wouldn't tease me that I go to bed in my armour all year long. I was going to just wear them and then I thought maybe the kids would like to give me something for my b-day since the massage isn't a present that you can open. So, I put them away. I have bought myself a present before and told Lynn that if he wanted the kids to give me something I bought myself something and showed him where it was. It has never actually made it into a gift bag and been given to me so this year I put the pj's in a gift bag and handed them to Joanna saying that she could tell the kids these are from them and give it to me for my b-day. She ended up having her cousin come over and she forgot all about it. A few days after my b-day she all of a sudden said, "Oh, I forgot about that present." My question to everyone is this? Am I the only weird person who buys themself a b-day present year after year and a few days after their birthday pulls it out to use it, promising themself they will not do this again and then next year does the same thing? Please tell me I'm not and next April will someone please remind me NOT to buy myself a b-day present!

I fortunately didn't even miss the present as I had a wonderful b-day because while I was getting my massage Lynn and the kids were home making dinner and a cake. We ate dinner all together as a family (miracle) and though Robert told me he was going to leave after dinner to play with his friends he actually stayed and did the thing he hates the most and I love the most which is play pictionary! He was obnoxious to the bitter end and even I was glad when the game was over. But it was the best present I could have been given, to not have to make dinner and to be together with all my family playing a game.

I've got to go as I lost track of time and forgot to pick up Joanna at the bus stop and so she had to walk on crutches in this blizzard. oops. Luckily she was smiling as she walked in the door covered in snow.