Kinda funny

So Amber called me a couple of weeks ago, and when I answered, she asked what I was doing. I told her I was reading a book called "It's not Easy Being Big." She just started cracking up. I didn't know what was so funny. Then she asked me if it was a pregnancy book or something. Then I started laughing, imagining her imagining me reading this pregnancy self-help book called "It's Not Easy Being Big." The book was actually a Big Bird and Elmo book I was reading to William. Funny.

Happy Belated Halloween!

Here is the Bennion family Halloween picture. Will's costume was adorable (thank you mom!), and he liked wearing it...except the hood, which of course makes the costume. We could get him to wear it for pictures, at least, although not with much of a smile. Maybe we could think of it more as a growl from the lion. Don looked great as Clark Kent, aka Superman. I didn't dress up, really, although what you can't see in the picture is an orange jack-o-lantern face on my pregnant stomach. The Omniture party was a blast as usual. William would say "treat" to get candy, and had no qualms about going two or three times to the same person to ask for candy. Once he put it in his pumpkin bag, and his hands were free again, he figured he needed to get more for his hands to hold, so he'd ask again. It was cute. Hope you all had a great Halloween too! 

Halloween Fun at the Petersen's

I thought I would post a couple of pictures from Halloween. I haven't posted in way too long. Eleanor was the only one who stuck with the same costume at all four Halloween events we went to. She is a "ballerina witch" but lost her hat (when it is sitting in the middle of the family room it is quite hard to find)for one night. Mark was so excited to get the Jedi costume from the Whites (Thank you so much for sending that)so he didn't have to be the same ninja as last year. Bradley had a few costumes from Superman to Woody and anything else he could pull out of the dress up box. Luke got to be the standby lamb and also a dinosaur. Luke was in absolute heaven the night of Trick or Treating. He said it so cutely and thought it was fabulous that you could go from door to door and they would give you candy. With his eating obsession this was the best night of his life. Mark and Bradley figured out that if you ran the whole time you got way more candy. Thank goodness we went with friends and one of the dad's was willing to run with the older boys. Eleanor loved her costume and had a great time at all the parties and trick-or-treating. She did get her face painted at the ward party and it broke her out horribly. We will never do face painting again on her. Any suggestions Amber? We had a fun time this Halloween but I am glad to be done with it as well. I learned it is much easier to set out a bowl of candy than to constantly answer the door. Everyone was great about only taking a few until late at night and then, thank goodness, someone cleaned us out. I love that method. I would love to see pictures of your kids as well.
Amy

A Peek Into Cooper's Mind

Cooper is in second grade and they are working on writing. Every week the teacher gives them a topic and then Monday - Wednesday they write a sentence about the topic. Then on Thursday they have to write a topic sentence, copy their three body sentences, and write a concluding sentence. I thought this week's paragraph would be as interesting of a read for you as it was for me.

Three Wishes

It would be magnificent if I had a genie to grant me three wishes. The first wish I would make would be to have a giant robot to pick me up and throw me like a flying hog monkey! Then I'd wish that my giant robot had super strength and meat vision so in war he can crash through the walls and stuff the men with food. Finally, my last wish would be to have a robot dog as a pet for my giant robot and they can fuse together- they're invincible! Well you all know the rules of wishing- if my wishes all come true, don't tell anyone else!

Hope this made you smile! Ang

Tuesday Toothday

No this is not a picture of Alan choking Bradley. This was last Tuesday and as we all know Tuesday is Toothday and the tooth fairy pays out a little more on Tuesday so Bradley agreed to let Dad pull his first tooth. "It didn't even hurt that much." The tooth fairy came through and left quite a sum of money especially compared to the quarter she used to pay out. I'm not sure she is just sticking to normal inflation rate.

Hachiko

This statue is right outside a train station downtown. The story is of a man and a dog, named Hachiko. The dog followed his master to the train station every day when the man went to work, and came and met him in the evening when the man came home. The man was a university professor, and one day died at work. The dog came to meet him that night and stayed until the last train came. The dog kept coming every night to meet his master until the dog died too. The people pitched in to erect this statue for the dog. Thought it was a fun story. 

wedding day

At the Meiji Shrine, weddings are still performed frequently. We went last Saturday and saw three or four wedding couples in the hour we were there. This girl later took off the red coat and just had her white kimono on. I couldn't believe hair! How do you get hair to do that? We also saw some beautiful Japanese gardens that day, and went to Ginza on Monday, a national holiday here. Ginza is like downtown New York 5th Avenue...lots of stores. We ate at a really good restaurant, called shabu shabu. They give you really thinly sliced raw meat and each person has a pot of boiling water in front of them. You pick up a piece of meat with your chopsticks, swish it around it the water until it is cooked, and then dip it in one of two sauces. Yummy. We mostly eat in, but we have had a couple of really yummy dinners. 

Smile!

When we ask Will to smile now, this is what he does. Clasps his hands, squints his eyes...it's hilarious. 

will asleep

How does somebody fall or stay asleep in this position? I think only babies can do it. 

i have a request....

What is the quote from neverending story that is always said(i might be exagerating) that the turtle says to the boy? I guess while i'm on here i might as well say a little more. Some of you already know, but i have indeed recieved my license!!!! Very exciting. Now all i need for a perfect life is a job! i'm sorry i don't have any cute pictures of kids to post for i don't have any and posting pictures of myself is way too expected of me. Mom and I just went and got some village inn pie and rented a movie. We are bonding, george. We are watching Rope, a classic alfred hitchcock but i haven't seen it yet. i'll let you know if it's a good one. I think dad might even join us. oh boy wha a bwas! I love you all like a fat kid loves cake!!!!!!!--------------------------- Farethee well, amber michelle

Tallons Birthday

Well, lets just say it was an interesting day. We gave him his presents in the morning and he had the gimmy-gimmys (spelling?) the rest of the day. Can you see the joy in his face in the pictures? He didn't really understand the concept of a birthday and he kept saying "Happy Birthday Daddy" because it was Arics birthday the week before. We're hoping next year will be a happier day and we will definately be giving him his presents at night!

If there is one thing that Tallon does love its Desiree. I was worried that he would resent her but I was so wrong. He smothers her all day long, he even calls her sweetie and says "she's so CUTE" in the highest voice he can pull off. We'll see how long it lasts.

Can we own Andrew and Jessica and Jency?

Eleanor today out of the blue came up and asked me if we could own Andrew and Jessica and Jency and their family. I said what are you talking about. After a few more confusing statements and questions I think I finally got what she was asking. She wants to own them so that we can live in the same house and she can always have them around to play with. You have been reduced to just another toy or she just really misses you.
Amy

Tokyo

So here we are in tokyo. I can't believe I am so far away from everybody! It is 16 hours ahead of the time in Arizona, 15 hours ahead from Utah. William is really struggling with the jet lag. I can usally get him through the morning pretty well, but after he's taken a 3 hour afternoon nap and I try to wake him up so he'll sleep at night, he hates it. He fights waking up so bad, and then he is just a terrorl until I put him to bed at 8 or 9, then he wakes up at 2 and wants to be up for a couple of hours. Fun times. I can't wait until he gets adjusted.

The picture is from a little trip William and I took to the Meiji Shrine yesterday. Meiji was a beloved emperor in the 30's I guess. It was a pretty cool place and they were having this ceremony when I got there. You can buy these prayer poems, or get this wood thing that you can write a prayer on and hang it around this tree. People still go and bow and clap and pray in remembrance of this emperor. On the way back down the path, this huge group of people came by and all of them started talking to and waving at William. this one lady picked him up and all these other ladies crowded around touching his face and talking to him. People love seeing William. Everyone always smiles and waves at him and get a kick of him waving back at them. I hear this is how the Japanese are with children. I don't know if it is all children, or American white children or what, but he has never received this much attention in his life. It is funny.

Food is outrageusly expensive here. I went to the store the other day and apples were 2 dollars a piece! This teeny box of cereal was about 5 dollars. I spent 80 dollars the first time I went to the store, and all I bought was some sandwich makings that would make maybe 5 sandwiches, some fruit, some milk, some frozen garlic bread, a bar of soap and some shampoo. I think that is it. Anyway, I was shocked at how expensive it was. I found a more American store today where I actually recognized some of the food and was able to buy chicken and hamburger and pasta and sauce, even mac and cheese. That was nice. Another weird thing with the food is that it is all in such small packages. A pint of milk is the biggest milk I have seen anywhere. The biggest package of lunch meat I found has 12 pieces. The biggest loaf of bread has 8 slices. Strange.

We ate at an incredible restaurant the other night. Don had been there last week with a guy from work. This restaurant would do so well in the US. It is actually a Korean restaurant, called a Korean barbeque. You order cuts of meat, we got beef and pork, and they heat up this little grill that is right in the middle of the table. Then they leave you to yourself. You grill the cup up meat one at a time and they have 4 different sauces you can dip the meat in. Oh my gosh, I couldn't believe how good it was. You guys would love it. And I actually ate the whole meal with chopsticks. I have never been able to eat with chopsticks in all the times I have tried...it must be something in the water here that makes me able, I don't know.

Well, we are having a great time so far. Most everyone speaks some English so it isn't hard to get around. I hope everyone is doing well and that your kids are enjoying the new school year. Love you all.

Amy 

Happy Birthday Aric!

It's easy to remember Aric's birthday, cause it's exactly 2 weeks after mine. I just wanted to wish Aric a Happy Birthday and tell him I love him. Here's some fun memories of Aric:

--All the time, I would walk in a room and just find Aric sitting there on the couch or something, doing nothing, staring straight ahead. I'd ask him what he was doing and he'd just say "thinking." Aric "thought" alot more than most high school kids, and it looks like it has done him good, seeing that he is now in one of the top dental schools in the country!

--I remember this face Aric would always make where it seemed like he was trying not to smile. I would always call him on it. You probably remember that Aric. It brings a smile to my face just remembering it.

--Aric is always fun on family vacations. He loves to laugh, and so is constantly finding things to laugh at. He is positive-minded and fun to have around.

--One day when we were really little, we both had the flu and Mom had to go somewhere, so we stayed at a neighbors house together and she gave us 7-up. We thought it was pretty cool.

--Working at Skymall together...aah those were the days. Remember "I am Skymall"?

--going to Aric's band concerts, watching him get into it on the drums. It was fun to see how much he loved it and how good he was at it.

--Whenever I would ask Aric his opinion on something to wear, he would just say yes no matter what I asked. When I asked why he wouldn't give me a real opinion he said it was because no matter what he said, I would just wear what was best in my own opinion anyway. I had to laugh, because it probably was true. Not that I didn't trust his opinion....

--the jaw-dropped, shocked look Aric often puts on

--Aric and I were the youngest two for a long time and so we did alot together. Watching my wedding video after it was all done I realized that about half of my kid pictures are pictures of just Aric and I doing stuff together--playing Lincoln Logs, fishing. He was a fun play buddy.

Thanks for being a great younger brother Aric. Happy Birthday!

Konichiwa

Hajimemashte. Watashiwa Bennion Amy tomoishimas.

This is the first phrase of Japanese I learned today. I am not sure on spelling cause I just listened to the CD, but it should say, Pleased to meet you. I am Amy Bennion. Swift, eh?

Yes, Don and Will and I are going to Japan for a month. Don is actually on his way there right now, and Will and I will go join him on Saturday, after our passports come back. The nice thing is, they are flying Don back to meet me in San Francisco so I don't have to do a 10 hour flight by myself with William. We'll get to see Aric and Jessica for a while during the layover, too, so that will be very fun. I do feel a bad that Don will practically be flying for 20 hours straight, but not bad enough to want to fly alone with William! :)

We'll try to post some fun pictures. I'd love to hear any advice before I travel out of the country for the first time in my life! I am nervous, but really excited. I mean, I've never even imagined going to Japan of all places!

One fun story I thought you all would like. I've already told some of you, but this is from a little boy in our Primary class, 5 years old, and he reminds me of Mark a little. We were singing Popcorn popping on the Apricot tree a couple of weeks ago. He turns to Don and me and said "I feel deep inside of me that this song is millions and millions of years old." We can't stop laughing about it. This is the cutest little kid, really smart. We have a blast in our calling.

Well, love you all. Talk to you soon. Sayonara (I think that means goodbye in Japanese?!)
Amy

Happy Days

We have had a few very happy days lately. The latest of which was today when Luke turned the official "18 months" old and was finally able to stop terrorizing the adults and go play in the nursery. He loved every minute of it. No seperation anxiety at all for this kid. They give you snacks in there!

A few other days were of course the first days of school. The boys love being back in school and Eleanor just adores preschool. Mom of course is happy to have them back learning and making new friends and having some quiet around the house is kind of nice too.

The picture of Luke with his mouth wide open is something we had to capture. Any time he really wants a bite of something he opens his mouth as wide as he can and stares at you until you give him a bite. He loves to eat more than anything in the world. Most of his day is spent contriving ways to get at food.

We are already getting very excited to come home for Christmas. The kids talk about it on a daily basis. We can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa at Mark's baptism.
Love ya,
Amy and family