Stamping

Liz has caught the "stamping bug" from our friend Dedra. Ben decided to have some fun and teach them about stamping - even though he actually has no idea what is is doing. You can enjoy the instructional video below for free.



Ben later learned that you're NOT supposed to rock stamps back and forth to cover them in ink. Instead you're supposed to use ONLY up and down motions. At this time Ben would like to thank Dedra for not killing him after he "damaged" one of her stamps.

Since Dedra's husband, Ken, wasn't home to play with, Ben left Liz and took the kids home so the ladies could enjoy a girl's night out. Liz had a good time, but called it a night at around 11:30 p.m. Unfortunately, Liz accidentally left her camera behind. Chaos then ensued (which apparently was well-documented):









And then there was this less-than-logical decision, by Jessica, to put an embossing heat gun to her face. The results were pretty much what you might expect:

Vera - The Newest Member of Our Family

Our good friend, Dedra Cheney, gave us an aloe vera plant. We've named her Vera. Creative, huh?

Liz's Creations

If you ask her directly, Liz will deny being a skilled seamstress - she gives all the credit to the pattern. However, in spite of her modesty, Liz can do some great things with a sewing machine. Today she finished off a purse. Check it out:

M&M Eyeshadow

Once each month, Ben's work hosts a birthday potluck for employees. Since Liz usually ends up making whatever Ben ends up bringing, Ben invites her and the kids to join the potluck festivities. This month's theme was to bring items that started with an "M." Someone decided to bring M&M's.

Although M&M's have probably been used in a variety of creative ways in the past, we're betting not many people have thought to use it as eyeshadow - which means David is a very creative child:

Look Who's Walking... Better

Analeigh is walking much better now - having only practiced a few weeks. So, here are a couple of videos for you to enjoy.

Congratulations Doctor Draper

Well, at least one of Ben's brothers has finally become a doctor. Ben's younger brother, Tom will eventually earn his in a few years. However, this day belonged to Ben's older brother Geoff, who officially graduated from the University of Utah today with his doctorate in computer science. We were able to drop by to watch the ceremony prior to driving back to Kansas.

Here Geoff is in all his splendor. And, as part of the celebration, he got to dance with his daughter, Marisa:



And, to prove we were actually in attendance, here is a picture of all of us with Geoff; followed by a picture with him, his wife, Maria, and their daughter.

Big Jud's Country Diner

Big Jud's is a time-honored tradition for Ben. When in Rexburg, Idaho, he is compelled to stop by the town of Archer, ID to eat at Big Jud's Country Diner. Since Liz's sister, Tessa, is attending BYU-Idaho and had never been to Big Jud's, we decided to show her what the fuss is all about. A menu is available here, but the focus should be made on the Big Jud Special - a one pound hamburger with all the trimmings (the size of a plate), a basket of fries, and a drink. If you eat it all, you get your photo on the wall. Ben has completed this task twice. He has also polished off the two-pounder twice. Today, though, he shared a 1/4 of the hamburger with David and Analeigh - so it doesn't really count.

There is a three pound option on the menu, but Ben realizes his best metabolism days are behind him, so that is just not an option. As we left, the man at the register explained that someone had recently finished a four-pound version (not to be found on the menu). Also, a five-pound version (definitely off-menu) had recently been attempted - with no success. Oh well, there should probably be a limit to the madness at some point.

David's Three-Year Photos

Being on vacation has delayed us from taking pictures of David nearer to his actual third birthday. Fortunately, while we were at the Rexburg Temple for Ben's mom's wedding, we were able to take some pictures of David. He wasn't in much of a mood to be photographed. Luckily, we were able to find two decent pictures. We had to crop the first to make it look nicer - as David was making an effort to get out of the frame. The second is one of those more "artistic" profile photos. Enjoy!

Congratulations Mootee and Stan

Ben's dad died back in 1999. Since then, his mom (affectionately called, "Mootee" due to a warping of the German language) moved to Idaho and started life as a single woman (who will forever remain 39 years old). Prior to the dedication of the Rexburg Idaho Temple on 10 February 2008, Mootee was called to be a temple service worker. She enjoyed her work there and eventually (as in 6 months ago) met a man named Stan. Ben never knew Stan's last name until just yesterday (it is Clark, by the way). Anyway, to make a long story short, today Ben's mom was married to Stan for the remainder of their mortal lives. Here they are exiting the temple.



And here is Liz, Analeigh, and David, outside of the temple, waiting patiently for Mootee and Stan to eventually make their grand exit (as seen above).



And finally, here is an impromptu family photo while waiting outside the temple:

Welcome to Rexburg!

We finally reached Rexburg safely. We got to Ben's mom's house and found a note saying everyone was at Ben's sister Lauri's house. So we drove there. This picture was taken by Ben's sister-in-law, Maria.

Doesn't Ben look so happy to be in Idaho?

The Reunion

Ben flew back to Michigan today. Tomorrow we will be piling in the car early in the morning and blazing our way through a two-day trek to Idaho for Ben's mom's upcoming wedding to a guy named Stan (seriously, that's about all Ben knows about him). Since we have no picture of this joyous family reunion, enjoy this picture of an airplane instead.

Detroit Zoo

We went to the Detroit Zoo today. David loved seeing all the animals. It was almost as good as the zoo we have in Great Bend (actually, it was possibly better).

David loved sitting on the turtle statue outside the zoo with Parker and Makenna (and also his Uncle Joe). Uncle Joe seems to have become something of a pied piper, as David and Parker follow him everywhere.



David also enjoyed posing with a wood cutout of a rhinoceros. We find it interesting that Grandma has chosen to wear a hat that reads, "Greatest Dad" and Uncle Joe has chosen to wear a hat that reads, "Greatest Grandpa." Oh well, perhaps they were in a previous life.



The animals inside the zoo were wonderful to look at too.




Towards the end of the day David was getting so tired he needed his grandma to carry him everywhere. And Makenna needed to be carried around by Megan (her mom) too (in the foreground of the second photo).



However, David was soon able to forget how tired he was once he saw that the zoo had a train for him to love.

Football with the Cheney's

Ben was invited out to dinner by the Cheney family this evening - since he is all alone and obviously can't fend for himself. After dinner, Ben, Ken, Ken's son Matthew, and a little neighbor boy played some interesting 2-on-2 football. Matthew initially chose very lopsided teams (adults vs. kids). As you can see, the results were pretty much what you might expect them to be. Later, teams switched so that Matthew could be with his dad. Ben designed some awesome plays to involve the neighbor boy (the golden play is included in the highlights below). However, when the boy runs the wrong way, you'll just love Ben's reaction.

At around the 2:30 mark, Dedra Cheney argues that this isn't really football. Ben then compares it to Facing the Giants. The only difference is that the underdog team didn't win tonight.

You may also enjoy the after game interviews with the winning team (beginning a little after the five minute mark). There are some interesting points about how nature can triumph over steroids.

The following edited highlight reel was provided by the Cheney Family:

Going to the Park in Ypsilanti

Today was all about having fun in the park. David used to love coming to this park when we still lived in Michigan. Now that he is more agile, it seems to be increasingly fun for him. That may also be because he gets to play with his cousin and sister - which he didn't have the option of doing when we were last living here.