Burke Robert Bennion

This is Burke right after they handed him to Amy.
Stats: 8 lbs 4 oz and 20.5 in
Will is figuring out how to share a Mom :). He loves to point and say BABY! or BURT! (working on the 'k' sound)
Nothing beats holding a sleeping newborn! 

Our Little Stunt Rider

William is getting more and more brave and adventurous, which is great in a lot of ways, but (as was proved the other night) doesn't always turn out well. He has this little bike/trike that he really has just figured out pretty well, and he rides it all over the house. The other night I saw him stand on the seat, trying to balance himself on the fridge. I told him he couldn't do that, and he got down. But sure enough, the next time I turned my head, he did it again. I saw him just as the bike went out from under him and he hit face first into the floor. Double bloody nose, bloody gums, and a Huge fat lip. Poor kid. I'm sure we have more adventures like this to come...

Why are the labels on my pants different?

Well, it has come to the time of year when the graduating class here is getting ready to leave. I have made some good friends, but I must take my rightful place at the top. It's a dog eat dog world out there, and I have one of those invisible shocking fences, so good luck. Anyway, we had our friends over for dinner tonight. I helped them pack their truck for a few hours, and we thought it might be nice for them to be able to sit down and have a home cooked meal with utensils etc. I promised them another delicious barbecue chicken meal. They think it's the best chicken, and they're probably right. I had timed everything (because that's what I do) to be done on time. I lit the charcoal, allowed time to burn down, and then placed the chicken on the grill. I then had what we in the barbecue world affectionately call a "flamey". Needless to say, I asked, "What?" as in what did I do to deserve this? Within a few seconds, Amy came outside to see what was the matter. Apparently, I exclaimed this to the entire neighborhood. She was concerned, probably one of those image things again. Boy have I got a lot to learn. The chicken turned out OK. No, who am I kidding? It was delicious.

I left school a little early today to help my buddy pack. We had a lecture from a guy who mistakenly thought I cared where he went on vacation last year. He also thought I was listening fifteen minutes later when the actual meat and potatoes began. Again, mistaken, for it was only the top of my head he did see. He went off on facial asymmetry, I went off on why they chose the always loveable Mark Linn-Baker to play Balki's cousin Larry Appleton in the late 80s hit Perfect Strangers. Oh the hijinks those two got into. Did you know that this show enjoyed 150 episodes spanning more than seven years? Anyway, two minds diverged in the lecture hall, and that is what made all the difference.

I am looking forward to spending some time with you all in Arizona. I can't wait to see the palm trees with Christmas lights. To close, I would also like to tell you that Amy keeps washing my shirts in hot water, and they are getting smaller. Some of my classic "blood donation" shirts barely reach the top of my pants now. Amy says I need new shirts, but they remind me of what I have eaten, and that feels good.
Later.

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

Old Fulton Street

Jessica asked for some pictures from New York. I didn't take alot, I was planning on getting pictures from everyone else, but here's a good sampling. I wish everyone else could have been there--the sisters and our husbands, and Dad. Think how much fun we would have all had there together. I can't wait for another Petersen vacation sometime!
The first night we were there, we tried to find a supposedly incredible pizza shop called Grimaldi's. We knew it was under the Brooklyn Bridge. So we took the subway to the Brooklyn Bridge and proceeded to walk around for about an hour looking for the restaurant. And, mind you, this was the day we all wore flip flops and our feet were killing us. And it was late, so it was dark out. We finally decided we'd rather pay a taxi to take us there than to walk any further. Plus, we found out that Grimaldi's was actually on the other end of the bridge, so we were really far away still. We stopped four or five cabs...when they heard where we wanted to go, they all drove away and refused to take us. So we had to walk all the way back to the subway station, another half hour walk probably. But we did find the restaurant on our last night there, and it was Yummy! Grimaldi's was on Old Fulton Street, and this picture was obviously taken in the triumph we felt when we finally saw this street sign.

Candy Shop

There was a really cool candy shop where Amy and Angela got some treats for their kids. It was two levels, and the stairs, as you can see, had all sorts of different candies in them. It was a fun place, but expensive.

famous NYC hot dogs

Angela and I tried the hot dogs from a vendor on the street. They were two bucks a piece, and nothing great. Actually, they weren't really even that good. Can you see how small they are? But it was still fun to eat them, and have that New York experience. 

Finding our way around the subway system!

It took some time, but eventually we figured out which subways to take where and it worked well once we figured it out! This was the first day...you can see we were all wearing flip flops. Our feet KILLED after that day, and we all wore more practical shoes after that! Sorry the picture is a bit blurry. 

deet deet

Well well, I was riding in my car today and they said today was August 24th. I then realized that yesterday was August 23rd. Happy Birthday Amy. The title, for those of you who do not know, refers to a game Andrew and I played with Amy's pony tails. We would maker her give us rides on her back, and we would hold the pony tails as reins. Sometimes we would just pull on them twice while saying "deet deet". Anyway, I remember Amy as pretty much an easy going little sister. I recall her running down the street in nothing but skin carrying her swimsuit with her to the White's house. I told her not to go. I love you Amy
Later, Alan

Very yellow

I thought I would add this picture so you can see how very yellow she is. She matches Arics shirt! She is doing really well, back up to her birth weight (5lbs) and bilirubin level is going down. She'll be out of the hospital Thursday or Friday! Yeah!

As you all have probably heard by now, Desiree Kya Petersen was born at 9:08pm on Wednesday Aug 9. She was born six weeks early so she is still in the hospital in the intensive care nursery. She is healthy and doing great. We're not sure when she will be released, but if she continues to do this good, she may only be there a week. We'll have more pictures and info soon.

More recent news

We had a great summer. We took a couple of trips to the cabin, which was fun-especially with cousins. We swam, watched movies, and tried to stay out of the heat. Our out of state trip was to Sea World with Andy's family. We had a lot of fun. We had all of the boys dressed in orange one day and everyone in red the next. It did make it easier to keep track of ten kids, although occassionaly we picked up one that didn't belong! We also spent about 4 hours at the beach late one afternoon. I think that was even more fun for the kids than Shamu. Jody bought a couple of boogie boards (?) and they had a blast. We always sat in the soak zone at the shows, and the water was a welcome relief from the hot San Diego weather that weekend. All in all, we had a fun summer. The kids start school tomorrow, and everyone at this house is happy about it!






We stayed until sunset. It was gorgeous.

Old News #3

This is Braelyn on her 11th birthday. I love this picture of Mom and Dad and my beautiful girl.

Old News #2

Cooper's Baptism Day

These days are always amazing as a parent.

Old News #1

After a less than stellar performance at the Pinewood Derby in '05, Jody was determined that '06 would be much better. He searched the web and found a site that guaranteed good results. I wish now that I could remember the site, because the info was pretty great. Both of the boys were 1st place in their dens, and Cooper was 1st place overall. It was a proud day for the White's . Cooper's car never lost to anyone, and Conner's only lost to Cooper's and one other boy. Of course every dad there asked Jody what the secret was, and he gladly shared. In fact, he said that next year we would hold a pinewood derby building night at our house so that everyone could share tools, tips, etc. In other words, '07 should be a pretty exciting pinewood derby. It was a fun day.

we're having a bbbbaby!

It's a boy!

Disney World or Disaster World?

We made a sacrifice by choosing to go to Disney World this summer instead of coming home. We really missed everyone but finally managed to have a good time. Tara,my sister was so awesome to come out and endure the chaos with us. Our 15 hour drive down there was just fine as long as a movie was playing. As soon as one got over the quarelling began. When we finally arrived at our time share we found out that our reservation was for 2007 instead of 2006. Thanks RCI for your great customer service. We did get that all figured out and were able to settle in. The place was great and had plenty of room for our family, Tara and another family of four that went to Dental school with Alan who is now practicing in Mesa. His name is Chad Caffall if any one is looking for a good dentist. We got tickets for three days at the Disney parks and three days at the Disney water parks. The water parks were a ton of fun and perfect for the hot weather. We liked Blizzard Beach better than Typhoon Lagoon. We decided to go to Magic Kingdom on Monday. This was our first mistake. I guess Monday just happens to be the busiest day of the week. We chose to not wake up early and try to be there right when it opened, mistake number two. We opted to take the ferry over to Magic Kingdom instead of the tram, mistake number three, it only added about an hour to our entrance time. We neglected to load up with water and snacks for the kids, mistake number four. We did not get a map of the park before hand and plan out what we were going to do in what order, you guessed it, mistake number five. By the time we finally got into the park everyone was hot, cranky, thirsty and ready to go back home. Luke started the first of many epic fits that were going to be thrown that day. He then stood up in the stroller and fell flat on his nose and forehead on the asphalt. He came up bloody with a huge bump on his forehead that looked like someone had kissed him with very red lipstick. The only good thing about it was he cried so hard he fell asleep and got a bit of a nap in. We trudged through that day with one fit after another being thrown by all four of the toddlers we had with us. We had a terrible first day but Mark and Bradley ended up having a great day. As we were first driving into the Disney World park area and Bradley saw the huge sign he was so excited he turned to Mark and exclaimed, "Hug me bruthah(brother)!" They then hugged and lauged together. It was hillarious and now we all love to say it. The boys absolutely loved Space Mountain. The first time we rode was awesome. Mark and Bradley screamed and laughed the entire time. At the end of the ride Bradley was getting off and yelling, "That was Awesome!" Some of the workers at the ride loved his enthusiasm so much they got the boys' autograph and then gave us fast passes that could be used on any ride at any time. We then told them to be sure and act like that after every ride. It didn't ever get us any more goods. Towards the end of the day we discovered the trick to making Eleanor happy. We bought her one of those huge round suckers and she hardly made a peep the rest of the time. It was all smiles after that. Our trip only got better after that day. We corrected all of our mistakes and ended up having a great time. We never made it all day and into the night to see the fireworks show. We were all just too exhausted. Alan, Tara and Chad all got to star in a show at MGM where they dump water on you and shoot at you and fire goes off. It was very exciting. Tara got completely soaked and Alan and Chad did a great job acting. It ended up being a great trip. We won't ever take such young kids again or go in the summer again. We hear February is the perfect time to go. No one under 44 inches goes to a theme park from our family again if we can help it.

Luke down for the count

Eleanor in sugar heaven

Lights, camera, Action...

The happiest place on earth?