From the Mouth of a Child

David has taken a special liking to two particular Primary songs, which he requests during Family Home Evening, or any other time we feel like singing (like, bedtime). David will now sing both of these songs for you.

The first is, "I Am a Child of God" (lyrics are here and here).



The Second is, "I Know My Father Lives" (lyrics are here).



Why David chose to sing about letters in the second line, rather than, "and loves me too," we're not quite sure. Oh well, it makes sense to him.

Riding to Bethlehem

"And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city" (Luke 2:3).

We generally assume that, when Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem, that Mary rode on a donkey, being led by Joseph, as seen in this painting. However, Luke never actually says Mary rode a donkey - though there is some debate as to whether Rebekah was smoking when she saw Isaac and "lighted off the camel" (Genesis 24:64).

Anyway, back to the story at hand. Liz made a wooden nativity puzzle a couple years ago, which David and Analeigh thoroughly enjoy playing with. In fact, David may have stumbled onto how Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus actually got to the manger:

Daddy's Home

One of the wonderful things about Thanksgiving is that Ben's office is closed, giving him a four-day weekend. So, although he would have been home today anyway, there's just something nice about not having been at work the past two days either.

David and Analeigh have loved having him at home. They continue to utilize him as their personal beast of burden, getting him to provide them with horsey rides all around the house. As you can see below, Analeigh has become increasingly comfortable in the saddle since the last time we saw her (and, yes, Ben just woke up).

O Christmas Tree

Shortly after the untimely suicidal hanging of our last Christmas tree, we went to Wal-Mart for their After-Christmas sale and scored an awesome deal on a 6-foot fake tree. Today, we decided to put it up. For safety, we placed it inside of our Pack 'n Play. Our plan is to place the children's presents within the setup, thus preventing premature opening of presents, while also salvaging the tree from premature destruction. So far the plan is only partly going according to plan, as David and Analeigh are being sorely tempted by the lower-hanging decorations. It should be an interesting season of teaching them to look, but not touch!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving we stayed in Great Bend, as much or our vacation time was spent in April and May going to various weddings. Thus, we ended up at the Cheney's, enjoying every moment of the day.

The highlight of the evening was playing "Suck Fish," a game Liz learned from Jody Kitchen when we lived in Logan, Utah. The game is played with a pair of dice, a straw for each player, and a bowl full of Swedish Fish. Basically, you take turns rolling the dice until someone gets a predetermined number combination (we chose 3 or 7 - some people choose to wait for doubles to be rolled). When a player has rolled the number, they get to use their straw to try to suck up as many fish out of the bowl as they can - until someone else rolls the right die combination and gets to steal the bowl away. It is quite the lung-strengthening game.

Here is a picture of us playing. From right to left we have 1) Part of Nicole's face; 2) Ben's arm; 3) Brother Nelson; 4) Sister Cheney; 5) Matthew's arm and a hand.



Having no knowledge of how the game was played, Analeigh sat on the table sidelines, eating her mother's winnings. David, who was seated by his father, took the same approach to the game by taking pretty much everyone's winnings.

"I Will Go Before Your Face"

As a child, Ben always loved the song, "We'll Bring the World His Truth (Army of Helaman)." When he became a missionary, he loved the Lord's promise, "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up" (D&C 84:88).

When Ben went to the Missionary Training Center, he saw that someone had taken the time to combine two things he loved. The anonymous artist took the paintings "The Second Coming" and "Two Thousand Young Warriors" (both seen below) and cropped them to fit each other with an X-Acto knife. The person then laminated the pictures together and placed the finished piece on the door to their classroom.




Ben always liked the idea, but never got around to making one for himself. Since the images are now online and easily edited on a computer, Ben has created a digital version for everyone to enjoy. So, enjoy!

Counting Trucks

David has recently taken to lining up various toys and counting them out to us. Of course, he won't do this unless he has our complete attention - which involves us repeating whatever number he is on. In the example below, we counted to nine (the four in front and five behind him).

Preparing for Turkey Day

Today David and Analeigh drew turkeys on paper, using their hands. David felt he did such a great job that he gave his to his daddy to put on his work wall. Analeigh had no desire to part with her picture and cried when Ben proposed taking it away. So Ben's wall at work has David's turkey picture. Analeigh's remains at home, crinkled and torn by the child who made it!

Congratulations Tara and Luke!

Ben's primary co-worker (since he shares most cases with her), Tara, decided to get married today. The wedding was wonderful and David got a kick out of the vehicle they decided to drive off in:



Alas, the kids were getting tired and hungry by the time the reception got going, so we had to leave before getting any other decent photos of the happy couple. So, in lieu of sharing more pictures, we'll just provide them written congratulations - Congratulations Tara and Luke (even though Tara's honeymoon will leave Ben doing her job and his for the remainder of this month)!

Ben's Stunning Victory

Today is Veterans Day. For much of the world's workforce, it involves a day off. In Ben's world, his employer gave him the day off but made it mandatory for him to come in for the annual employee appreciation banquet. The banquet involves a speech from the agency president, some other things, and then an "Outstanding Service Award" ceremony. The ceremony is divided into two parts - one for "old timers" and one for new comers (those who have been employed less than a year - which gives you an idea of the turnover rate for the agency!).

The awards are based on nominations from your co-workers. For Ben's first banquet, he had been employed for less than a month, which was not enough time for him to make a positive impression. Last year Ben was sadly overlooked, which left him with little hope that this year would be any different.

So Ben did what any crazy person would when they have nothing left to lose - he nominated himself. Apparently, in the five years that Saint Francis Community Services has held the banquet, no one has ever thought to nominate themselves (which is why it was not a stipulation on the nomination form - though it is a safe bet it will be on the form next year!). Although the committee designated to choose winners allegedly threw out Ben's self-nomination, it seems to have kept his name in their minds. That, combined with the nominations of his co-workers, resulted in the following victory:



However, Ben was also slighted at this year's banquet. The company had proposed a talent show - which Ben signed up for with his friend Todd (to perform a comedy routine). Apparently only one other guy (also doing comedy) signed up, so the talent show was canceled due to lack of interest. This would have been fine, except for the other guy was invited to the stage to be acknowledged for entering as the ONLY contestant, while Todd and Ben sat in the audience with gaping mouths.

This resulted in Ben acting out to get attention. The award ceremony is a rather long and drawn out affair. In fact, it can really be quite boring to sit through. So Ben decided to liven it up by kneeling down on stage, as if to be knighted, to receive his award. That, and having a name tag that read "Captain Awesome," brought laughter to the show (although another employee opted for the name "Balloon Boy," which was really quite clever). However, no one else followed suit, so the ceremony proceeded as the long and drawn out affair it was meant to be.

Fruit Snacks

David loves fruit snacks. Especially since we hardly ever buy them for him - it makes it an extra special treat (ignoring the fact that he has persuaded Sister Carlton to bring a pack of fruit snacks for him every Sunday). So Liz decided to try making her own fruit snacks using gelatin and a few molds. The results, according to David, were delicious.

The Ultimate Cookbook

For years Liz has gathered numerous recipes. They've all been good, as she has excellent taste (though, when she questions this fact, Ben brings up one recipe from our newlywed days that we both agreed was horrible). So, with the exception of one recipe in six years, Liz has an excellent selection of recipes to choose from. Alas, there are many that we do not use, simply because they are time consuming(unnecessarily) or the ingredients are out of the normal budget. So Liz has recently purged us of our 3x5 recipe cards, typed up the ones that we are most likely to use (while saving some "special occasion" recipes), and put them all in an easy to use binder, with tabbed sections, as you see below.

Built in Harness

One of the many perks of having Analeigh in a crib is that the railings act as built-in harnesses when a child tries to slip out - like Analeigh tried to do tonight.



Alas, one of Ben's friends from work will be selling us a "big girl" bed, which we will put in the room tomorrow. Then will begin the task of trying to teach Analeigh to stay in the bed and not wander out and about. So, if we don't answer the phone some nights in the near future, it is because we're laying down with her, holding her down until she falls asleep (which we might end up doing as well).

Once we've set up the bed, we'll be kicking the crib to the curb (though we'll be keeping the mattress). As you can see in the pictures, the sides do not stay up unless you tie them to the ends. We bought it used at Deseret Industries a year before we had David. It did not come with the necessary latch bar to hold the sides up properly on its own. So we'll put it out with the trash (which means someone will probably come by and steal it - because it is what always seems to happen in this town!). We've been told by a friend that getting rid of our crib means we'll be pregnant soon. No, this is not an announcement - just a prediction from an outsider. However, when the time comes, we'll be sure to let you all know.

Animal!

We went to the Cheney's home for dinner this evening. We had a wonderful time, though we probably owe them some dog food. Analeigh adores their dog, Animal (named after the muppet). So much so, that she chose to share his food. We pulled her away multiple times, but she always managed to get some of the food pellets into her mouth anyway.



After a wonderful time of pretending to be the Cheney's other pet dog, Analeigh then serenaded us with song. It was quite lovely... we'll see if we're ever invited back again!