Benson's Gallery

Benson loves to take pictures, these I thought were especially fun. Keep it up Buddy!

Panguitch

Alan, Benson and Grandpa at Big Rock Candy Mountain!

Benson and Audrey riding Maggie at the ranch

Benson and Alan riding another horse at the ranch

Grandma snuggling in the bunk bed with Benson and Audrey while I looked for the van keys!

I love Panguitch/Bryce Canyon! This year at the last minute Alan, Benson and I decided to head down with my parents and April and Audrey for the Allen family reunion at the 'ranch' in Panguitch. My mom booked a KOA Kabin for all 7 of us to stay in. We left Friday afternoon in time to swim (freeze) before we went to dinner. Late that night, after we all settled down and everything had been quiet enough for long enough that I thought I was the only one still awake Benson whispered, "Alan!" Alan responded, "What?" "Just checking to see if you were still awake!" We decided that we wanted to get up at 5 AM and go see the sunrise at Bryce Canyon. After we woke everyone up and got ready, we couldn't find the keys to the van. After a lot of looking we decided I must have locked them in the van and called a lock smith, who came and unlocked the van, but there were no keys in it! We tore apart the cabin and found them, just in time to drive to Fairyland Canyon as the sun came up. It was 34 degrees. Very, VERY memorable! The reunion at the ranch was fun, there is always great food and it's fun to see my second and third cousins. The kids rode horses, skipped rocks in the pond and explored. My dad took the 'scenic route' home so we got to stop at Big Rock Candy Mountain and drive through all those small towns. What an amazing time together!

Millions of Peaches

Millions of peaches, peaches for me, millions of peaches, peaches for free! (Or twelve bucks a box)!

Peach season has started! People have been calling me who bought last year, which is a nice change from me begging people to come get some peaches (which I did last fall). They are sooooo YUMMY! During peach season last year I gained ten pounds, which I attributed to stress, now I think it may have been the routine of peach pie one night followed by peach cobbler the next!

All Things Summer

School starts tomorrow, TOMORROW! Everyone is excited, but it's hard to believe summer is over! Alan earned his bear badge this summer, we had 3 family reunions and a baptism/baby blessing we were able to go to in the past 4 weeks and we've had lots of cousins over this summer! I squeezed in another nursing prerequisite (A-! Hooray) and the next one begins Monday the 24th! Happy summer!

Pioneer Trek

If you ever want to have the greatest/most difficult time ever, say yes when your stake asks you to be a Ma and Pa on a Pioneer Trek! Neither George or I have callings with the youth so it was really a random opportunity we had to go on trek. We had the best 'family' with 2 girls and 5 boys as well as a "auntie" (a stake leader). We trekked with a handcart 26 miles! Before we left I worried that we would need a schedule of who would push and pull, but it was a chore to get those kids NOT to be on the handcart. We experienced a hailstorm that took out 30 tents and came with 50 mile per hour winds! It was a very building experience when our 'kids' commented that they couldn't imagine the pioneers being in that kind of weather in October and November. There were so many wonderful and spiritual experiences, but what I loved the most was that in the beginning our 'kids' would eat and hang around their friends when there was some down time, but by the end we were together all the time. I really do feel like I have 7 more children! One more thing, our oldest 'son,' Tiko, a talented Tongan athlete, called the Saturday before to say that the first USA rugby tournament game had been scheduled Wednesday afternoon when we were heading home, and since he was his team's captain, he felt that he needed to full fill this obligation and couldn't come to trek. We were devastated, but agreed that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for him. Several hours later he called back and said he would work it out to come and his bishop would take him home early Wednesday morning. About an hour after that he called again and said he felt strongly that he needed the whole trek experience and would stay the whole time. During a devotional where we were talking about sacrifice, George asked him to share his sacrifice. You could tell he was uncomfortable, but his willingness to share touched so many of the youth. This was an experience of a lifetime! We feel so lucky to have been a part of it!

So, we were going to paint the kitchen for the 4th of July weekend! It's something that I've wanted to do for a while (since we moved in 2 years ago) so when my mom asked what we were doing and I told her that she said she wanted to take the boys and go camping. Since I am not much of a camper I thought this sounded great. And since we wouldn't have our little guys around, our plans changed. We got to spend a night in Park City, and while Alan and Benson definitely had more fun, it was sure a nice 4th for us!

Benson Learns to Ride a 2-Wheeler!

Yep, My 7-year-old son has crossed yet another threshold, he has moved on to the two-wheeled bike. There were some things that I couldn't wait for my youngest to do, but most of those things happened before I realized he would always be my youngest! So when Benson didn't want to take off his training wheels, I wasn't too disappointed (yes, I also let him suck his thumb and baby him in a lot of different ways) although Alan had shown great enthusiasm at the age of 4 and insisted we remove his training wheels. But our little cousin Tyler came to spend the night and brought his bike-that did not have training wheels. Today Tyler taught Benson how to ride a two-wheeler and George removed the training wheels from off his bike! Good job Benson! You're still growing up too fast for me!