Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas although we missed spending it with all of you! It's been fun catching up with most of you via Skype.

These are the boys' new PJs courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Bennion. As soon as Will put them he shouted,"These look so cool!" We couldn't agree more. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

We made a traditional Christmas dinner. This is the flaeskesteg (pronounced fleskuh-sty). It is basically a pork roast with the skin still on. You rub in a lot of butter and salt and the skin bubbles and gets really crunchy. Mmmm. We also had red cabbage, caramelized potatoes, amazing gravy, boiled potatoes, veggies and a Danish rice pudding dessert.

Don defending himself from William's new sword.

Soren's Blessing Day

Some pictures from Soren's blessing day

Don with the friends who participated in the blessing. (L to R: Andrew Paulsen, Mats Lindberg, and our neighbor John Leit)

Amy with Yvonne Andersen who made the blanket and gave it to Amy at Amy's baby shower. AMAZING!

Happy Birthday, Grandad Dunlap

What a great day December 27th has always been for the Dunlaps. That's the day that our dad was born in 1927....we are so lucky to be the children and grandchildren of Bob Dunlap. The day was made more special 2 years ago when Burke Robert Bennion came into the world. So today we celebrate the 81st birthday of Dad/Grandad/Great Grandad Dunlap and the 2nd birthday of Burke....happy birthday to two of the most wonderful "boys" I know!

I love Dad because:
He taught me to work hard
To meet challenges head on
To believe in God
To see the good in people
To love baseball and all sports
To be honest
To live within my means (I'm still workin' on this one)
To do my best
To never give up
To question ideas
To love good books
To think hard
To enjoy the good thoughts of others
To stand up for what I believed in
To love America and freedom
To believe in ideals
He gave us a happy, sound and solid family life
He planned and carried out (with Mom) great vacations
He encouraged and rooted for me and made me feel I could do anything
He let me cry when I was hurt, but insisted I try again
He expected me to make good decisions and gave me the trust to do so
He supported me through college and gave me the freedom to give it my all
He is smart and wise
He is just an amazing Dad who has had the profoundest effect on my life
Happy Birthday, DAD!

Christmas Update from Beaverton Pt 3

This is Nathan playing Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip. The video is complete with commentary from the game and screaming from William, and tips from Dad... but I couldn't resist posting just the same.

Christmas Update from Beaverton Pt 2

The Taylor's sent a Panini Grill. Last night was Turkey Bacon Paninis with Pesto Mayo! This morning was Grilled Paninis with Bacon, Eggs, and Cheddar Cheese! Not too shabby!


The was definitely a vehicular themed Christmas. Below is William and his new trike.

Grandma and Granddad Dunlap and Daddy and Mommy delivered the good with two Kettcars and a bike for Greg. The top photo is taken as the kids come in to see them for the first time. The second photo is of the vehicles themselves.

Christmas Update from Beaverton Pt 1

This was taken as the kids arrived downstairs to see the the gifts for the first time.


The annual lineup is a Taylor family tradition. Shortest to tallest (with a few behavioral exceptions).

True to both Bennion and Taylor traditions, we start with stockings.

Williams chief interest was in any present that someone else liked. This one happened to be his that Greg said he liked. William promptly grabbed and said, "Me! Me!"

Greg and Nate admiring Greg's Chariot Race and Coliseum.

May you find the same blessed rest

Merry Christmas to each of you. We love you all so dearly and pray that you may enjoy the peace and love that Our Savior brought to our world so long ago.

Merry Christmas to All. You wore him out!

All our love and prayers are with each of you as always, but especially at this time when we try to understand how good God is.

Merry Christmas from Bob, Rusty & the Fam

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Picture of the John and Wendys from Hurricane Ridge, WA

I love all the faces here... but especially Greg's.

Also, whenever William sees this photo he yells "Blue!" It is his word for his pacifier. Too cute.

Bask, everyone, in the joy

of not being in the middle of finals week. I've been awake for 24+ hours working on a paper (and it's finished! more or less!). I have 2 papers to go and a whole load of grading. My sympathies to David. We can make it through!

Anyhow, I thought I would just take a moment to share this special picture with you. I do a double take every time I drive by:






Yep. It's flying at the state capitol.

Go finals week!

I'm dying for a little family and a little hot tub time. :)

Tur-Duck-En

Happy Thanksgiving all. This turkey day, Dad and I have decided to cook a Turducken. Now for those who are uninitiated a Turducken is a rather simple design. You take a boneless chicken, stuff it and put it into a Duck that is also stuffed, and then you take that Duck and put it into a Turkey which is also stuffed. Here is how it went for us.

What we did was take a de-boned turkey (we kept the legs and wings) and added spices on the Turkey.

We then added a layer of Andouille Sausage stuffing into the turkey.

After adding the Sausage, put the Duck on top of the Dressing, and ...

Add the Cornbread Stuffing.

Put the Chicken on top of the Duck's Stuffing

Then Put your last stuffing

We then moved it to its baking dish but now we need to:

Sew it up

We needed a little more help so at 1:00am we called in Mom

We finished sewing it up and then we flipped it right side up. And now we have to cook it!

We are cooking the Bird for 12 hours in a 190 degree oven. The smell is fantastic

Charleston, SC

My dear friend Elisabeth came to visit me a two weekends ago and we went over to Charleston for the day. When I think of historic America I usually think New England, so when I visited Charleston for the first time, it blew me away--and I totally have fallen in love with it. They do a great job preserving historical sites and buildings--several that predate the revolution. To generalize, the south is very proud of their heritage. Being in Charleston is like going back in time to Gone with the Wind. It's even still lit downtown by gas lamps. Anyhow, here are some pics. This city is more than worth a visit.

Mom's quilt

I used one of the quilts my mom made in a recent photo shoot. Take a look, I think her quilt looks gorgeous!

Happy Birthday DDB

Wow! The big 3-0!! I like Don because:

*He is so funny--makes me laugh more than any other human being.
*He is great at accents/impersonations
*He sends me Brian Regan videos
*He has such a phenomenal wife and boys.
*He is so fun to talk to--very insightful conversationalist
*He has great opinions on movies/books/music/life--always love hearing what Don has to say.
*He was so fun to live near in Provo--I loved hanging out w/ Don, Amy and Joe--certainly the highlight of my MA. He took great care of Joe and me.
*He is intelligent
*He is handsome
*He taught me how to ride my bike with the clip in shoes, and was so fun to go on bike rides with.
*He is fun to play games with
*He is a great example--his strength in the gospel strengthens me.
*He and Amy flew me over to Denmark and showed me a great time--they are SO hospitable.
*He has a great love for all things humanities--love talking art and books with Don. He has GREAT taste.
*He is fun to shop with.
*He gives great advice and is a great sounding board.

And I love him! Happy happy birthday! I look forward to the time when we all migrate to Portland :)

Anna

William Birthday Presents Photos and Video

A new ball!


Cowboy/Indiana Jones Hat (see video). Flashbacks of Greg here.

Maybe a bit too much Wii for this one?

Beaverton Halloween Photo

qualified

I passed my PhD qualifying exam and am now officially a Phd Candidate. Booyah!

Also, I think I figured out my dissertation topic this week--I thought I was a million miles away from any kind of topic and it just came to me!

Boy

Well, we just had our ultrasound and will be adding one more boy to the Bennion ranks. This takes the Richard and Linda two generation total up to 12 boys and 2 girls. Way to hang in there Anna and Katie!

The baby looks perfectly healthy and we are thrilled!

Love to all,
Wendy

apparently they were serious

when they said not to put this sweater in the wash:



I don't think these pictures do it justice, but when I pulled this sweater out of the wash I laughed and laughed--tears were streaming down my face. I tried to leave mom a message about it but couldn't stop laughing. Maybe it was stress, but I found this beyond funny. Just wanted to share.

i, for one,

love seeing pics of soren, william, and burke--keep them coming!

and i'm also DYING for some pics of nate, katie, greg and william! can we see halloween costumes?

New PJs

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the new PJs. We thought that we'd post some pictures from tonight. Sorry about hijacking the blog. We've been on a photo and blogging streak. We love you all!!