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!!

Happy Halloween!!

After weeks of planning and hours of sewing and creating we finally made the boys costumes. In reality, we were recently invited to come to our home teacher's home for a halloween party that their kids were putting on so we threw some costumes together and had a great time. I couldn't stop laughing when I first saw Clark Kent's glasses.

We went door to door in their house for treats and prizes. Amy made the boy's baskets out of cereal boxes and construction paper :)

We decorated cookies the night before.

Happy Halloween!