2006 Coming to a close

It doesn't seem that it is possible for only a few days left for 2006. Soon we'll be into 2007 whether we are ready or not!

We had a wonderful Christmas. One of the really nice things about Nancy's family and mine is that they are almost all close by. Nephew Duane and his wife Laura have been here since Dec 16. It was nice to see them especially since there is a good possibility that Duane will be deployed again sometime in 2007. His sister Carey and her two children Cody Duane and Amber were absent, living in California, hopefully they will be able to come and visit sometime in 2007.

Christmas began on Christmas Eve with my extended family hosted by daughter Jamie. Then Christmas morning, Jamie and her family and Joshua came to our house at 9 am. We first feasted on Jamie's cinnamon rolls - here is Ashlynn enjoying her plate of cinnamon roll bites:



We then proceeded to unwrap presents. Prize for the most sentimentally wrapped present went to Nancy for a package to Jamie. One side of the package showcased a page Jaedan had colored while the other side showcased one colored by Ashlynn.

Ashlynn's side:



Jaedan's side:



Nancy oversaw everything from her seat:



Josh trying to take a chinese puzzle apart. I don't which is more twisted, the puzzle or his expression:



Uncle Josh with the kids:



I could post many more pics and probably will, lol. But we had a great time together. We spent Christmas day afternoon with Nancy's extended family. Tonight (Dec 29) we are going to a church gym where as many of the Bennett family can get together will have a couple of tables of finger foods and we'll play table games or basketball, perhaps even some volleyball.

The merriment doesn't end there, believe me. Jaedan's birthday is January 2nd and we'll be playing hooky from church on Dec 31 to go up to Diamond Field Jack's for a day of sledding and hot chocolate followed by some more finger foods at Jamie's home later in the day.

Stay tuned, I'm sure there will be pics forthcoming, haha. Thanks for reading and sharing this with us.

Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa...

Clause..............

is the song we've been hearing for the past week from grandson Jaedan. Their daddy (Mark) has been on his week off from work (he has at least one full week per month that he is off, wouldn't that be nice) so we weren't needed to provide child care this week. But we had some Christmas treats that Nancy needed to finish for the Christmas gatherings this coming weekend and she had promised Jaedan that he could help her. We called Mark and asked if we could come get the kids for a few hours today so they could help make the goodies. Worked out just fine since the kids are out of school today.

Now the treats have been made, Nancy has plated them and wrapped them (to keep me from snitching any). Then following the kitchen session, the kids and I had our session of "rough me up" followed up with photo opportunity, of course!





Now here is the photo that shows the true way that they behave.



This one is sort of like a Christmas photo I took of our kids when they were a little younger then the two grandkids are now. Nancy was working and I was in a period of unemployment, so while I was home with the kids I thought that I'd dress the kids up, take a good photo and give it to Nancy for Christmas. I changed the kids outfits several times and got some pictures, but by the end they were about fed up with me. The last picture I took both Jamie and Josh were bawling and guess which picture I framed for Nancy's desk? Yup, the one that reminded her why she had to work so hard.......

The picture below shows that the kids can get along for at least a moment. Not sure what is happening in the last picture unless Jaedan's alter ego (Spider Man) is coming out and slinging silk.





Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Owen's Poem

This is an original poem written by my father-in-law about his late wife and Nancy's mom. Jo Ann loved to go camping and used whatever means necessary to get her children and grandchildren to go as well. Many, many hours were spent over camp fires, hiking through the trees and up hills and mountains, eating S'mores until you were stuffed and just watching the grands and great grandkids playing together.

In memory of a wonderful daughter, wife, mother, grandmother and mother-in-law!

Something About A Mountain
by Owen Bennett, Oct. 2006

There is something about a mountain
That reaches to the sky.
It speaks of a mighty loving God
Reaching down to even I.
Showing God's handiwork
Trees, flowers and majestic peaks.
I'm amazed at the multi colors applied
In formations guaranteed unique.

There is something about a mountain
That reaches to the sky.
Reminds me of my wonderful Jesus
Where in creative powers lie.
Skillfully showing His wisdom in nature
Every system hast to rely.
Impressing me with wisdom and power
I'll trust Jesus to supply.

There is something about a mountain
That reaches to the sky.
Stirs up precious memories of Jo Ann
When camping way up high.
It speaks of Jo's steadfastness
Planning, packing we did rely.
With her gentle arm twisting, you arrive
Finding a ample love supply.

There is something about a mountain
That reaches to the sky.
It points to Jo's permanent home
Eternal with Jesus on high.
She is camping with the many angels
With loved ones close by.
Beckoning from CANAAN's heavenly span
Come camp with me on HIGH!

The above pic is when our kids were young and with some of their cousins near Baldy up past Ketchum/Sun Valley, Idaho. Our son Josh is the blondy on the far left and our daughter is the tall girl in the back right. Wow, its hard to believe that our grandchildren are almost getting to the age of the youngest children in the picture.



This is the last Christmas that Jo Ann was with us at the extended Bennett Family Christmas. It is the last picture of Nancy with her Mom (Nancy is holding our granddaughter Ashlynn). By February, Jo Ann had gone to her Eternal home. We miss you Mom!

It's beginning to look like Christmas! We heard Santa on the roof?

Have I told you how good I am at de-construction but not very good at re-construction?

Several weeks ago I tackled the project of tearing out the lava rock that had been on the walls since we bought the place 20 years ago. We finished the interior, painted the walls and patched the ceiling. All that was left was the hole in the roof where the stove pipe chimney had been. I anticipated getting the hole patched fairly quickly so took out the flashing and chimney cap too, throwing them away.

Then I discovered I didn't have a clue as to how to proceed. After buying some man stuff at Lowe's, and then getting more, I realized that this project wasn't going to be done anytime soon. Do you know how easy it is to forget something when it is out of sight. The hole in the roof was certainly out of my sight so I didn't do anything more until it suddenly began raining on a consistent basis. Of course I didn't realize anything was amiss until Nancy noticed the rainwater dripping through the ceiling onto the top of the television.

How does she do that?

So I spent a couple of hours on the roof in the rain (Shhh! Is that Santa on the roof? No, it's just Papa). Cold rain, I might add. And again came to the conclusion that I wasn't up to the task. So I called my insurance agent and asked if my Homeowner's policy covered Homeowner Incompetence!

We should have someone here tomorrow to fix the roof. In the meantime, I have hopefully taken care of the drip...........................

Nancy has been keeping the grandkids busy today. They both got to spend the night last night and we got them up, fed breakfast and got Jaedan off to school. Been a while since they've spent the night so it was nice to have little voices and feet in the house over night again.

They decorated our three little evergreen trees in the living room. Here is Ashlynn proudly showing off their work:



She also wanted a picture taken of her giving herself a hug so here is that one:



I made a couple batches of lip balms (Huckleberry and Lickin' Cherry) while Nancy and Jaedan made some more treats for this weekends first holiday get-to-gether.

Jaedan is helping to make graham cracker crumbs:



Here Nana Nancy is pouring in the melted butter while Jaedan mixes it in:



Now Jaedan is tall for his age and to give Nancy credit for her stature, rest assured that her feet reach the ground. With Jaedan standing on a chair, Nancy does look more her size at about 5'2".

The Eyes Have It...........................................

Jaedan was excited to see Nana coming to the school yard to pick him up today. He was anxious to show her his shiner. It happened in PE under the watchful eye of Coach Wilford who also happened to be a teacher and coach when Jaedan's Uncle Josh went to the same elementary school. Jaedan's kindergarten teacher is the same teacher that Uncle Josh had when he was in kindergarten.

Anyway, as Jaedan explained to the FedEx terminal employee, "three guys, one of them a dude, ran into me and it was like a dogpile with me on the bottom"! Here it is documented for all to see:



Now when a camera is put into use, it causes an immediate reaction with Jaedan's tongue sticking out and wiggling and waggling!



That should be a pretty good shiner by morning.

Nancy and I've been busy with keeping the wholesale and retails orders going out the door to FedEx, UPS and USPS. We figure about another week or two and then we'll have a quiet couple of weeks to enjoy the holidays.

The kids love to play games on the game table we bought for them at Christmas last year. Here they proudly show off their winning glamor poses:



Nancy gave Jaedan a large box and some paper plates. Here is his concept of the next generation of car:





This is a hybrid, doesn't use fossil fuel but runs quite well on leftover Pizza Hut Meat Lovers and Pizza Hut Hawaiian with an occasional handful of dried fruits for good measure. These will be in limited supply so better get your order in soon!