The Bensons ... and our Journey: August 2015

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Summer wrapped up

Finally. After years and years of looking and saving, we got just what we wanted. The kids are ecstatic. I mean, they say good morning and goodnight to the truck daily....so yeah.

Parker and mom looking at clouds

The neighborhood kids love washing Hilda's truck

Grandpa Alley

Ella and Nikki at tumbling

Parker as a sunbeam during scripture count

Cousins at 1st dam

Summer is hard

We love cars at our house. Parker packed my purse for me.

Grandpa Benson retires!!

Ella rocks at Monopoly

Parker had a tough night. I'm not sure what happened to him in bed, but this is how he woke up.

Pizza night while dad travels.

Dads souvenir for Ella

School shopping

County fair

Ella still has a little girl in her

Yum- Aggie icecream!

Friday, August 21, 2015

My little girl is not so little. She started 5th grade!! She is the ruler of the school. I am so happy we have another year in elementary school. I don't think I can handle anything other than that.

Ella sat down and made some goals for this school year. We want her to be motivated, pro-active and we want her to feel the satisfaction of reaching hard goals.

Family: Don't fight Parker. (This could be the hardest one of them all)
Dance: Perform a solo
School: Earn the Hope of America award
Spiritual: Memorize all 13 Articles of Faith
Self: Do all 3 aerials on the dance floor

Dustin gave Ella a blessing the night before school started. She had been nervous and not excited to start school. This helped calm her down and made her feel better about starting.

I took some quick pictures before school, but I made her face the sun.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

FAMILY

Benson Reunion- Heber City

Dustin's family reunion is one of the best parts of summer. Its hard to get everyone all together often. So this is a great chance to be together as a whole family. The kids love the activities and the cousins. There are 20 grandkids now....they have plenty of cousins. The adults love the company, the food, and the games. All of us love making memories.

THE HIKE
We went to Bridal Veil falls in Provo canyon.

THE ADULT NIGHT
This is the 2nd year to have an adult night at our reunion. The older cousins babysat the little ones while the grown ups go out to dinner- this time it was yummy Mexican. I won't lie, its a pretty awesome tradition we started.

THE ZIP LINE
Grandma paid for all of us to go zip lining! It was crazy fun. We did 5 different lines. I was sick to my stomach after the first line, so I forced myself to relax and enjoy. Ella had a ball. Dustin is fearless and did tricks upside down.

The youngest 6 (all boys) stayed behind with the grandparents.

THE SCAVENGER HUNT (need more pics)
The adults had a picture scavenger hunt. This family is EXTREMELY competitive. The "awards" got most people yelling at each other (nothing serious, just semi-friendly yelling)

My group: Grandpa Benson, Cody, Kurt, Bailey and Emily. We came in last, but we WON!

Dustins Group:

THE HEBER CREEPER

This was our first time on the Heber Creeper Train. There was another family reunion on the train with us and they were a bit chaotic. Which is saying a lot because the Benson family is usually the loud one.

Parker and Ella went up into the Engine with the conductor after the ride.

THE GAMES
Grandma is always prepared for the games.

THE NAOMI
If there is an Ella, there is a Naomi

THE CRAFT
We have so many great traditions for this get together. On Sundays, the ladies do a craft. The boys can go do whatever they want. This year we made this cute fall wood block. The younger girls made a bookmark.