HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA

This is Linda at the age of two.
She was on her way to an unbelievably meaningful life.


This is my darling Linda at age 5. What a great start to a truly inspiring life.


This is Linda a few years ago here at Casa.

Linda exceeded every expectation her Mom and I had for her. She was a success in every endeavor including selecting a fantastic husband with whom she raised six of the most wonderful children. I love Linda for all that she represents. A father and mothers dream come true.

William's birthday and more

William chose this cake out of my party cakes book, hence we had a pirate themed 6th birthday party for him a couple of weeks ago. It was the first time we've done a friend party for any of our kids, and I think they all had a great time.

"Arrgh!" Captain Will and crew. Notice all the mustaches on these six year olds :)

William is in tee ball this summer and really loves it. He has his last game 2 days before we come to Portland!

All the boys came up from the basement like this one day. I love my cowboys! And I love that they all play together so well.

Sorry this pic is a bit blurry, but I thought it was a great one to commemorate one of our last days with David and Joc living nearby. We miss them!

Adam is eating solids, and loving them!

At my sister Amber's wedding.

Williams kindergarten class put on a little musical play called the Three Piggy Opera. Will was Father Pig. I just wish William didn't have to grow up.

I love this picture.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAIMA

Happy Birthday Nai! I love Naima because she is everything that you would hope your granddaughter would turn out to be. I remember her as a tiny baby sleeping in grandma's and my bedroom on Nawiliwili Street pleading after we were all tucked in for the night, "Juice Grandma" . Up without a moments hesitation would be grandma to bring a bottle of juice to our first grandchild. She is beautiful, loving, talented, inquisitive, supportive, and beautiful in all respects.

Grandpa

Seattle!

This is the before picture... just about the only thing we own is books (8 boxes of books!)
Our Master bedroom
Our spare room (That is Anna'a bed so we have started calling it Anna's room but anyone is welcome to come visit it!)
Our main room with deck
The books are now contained
Our deck view of Lake Washington.

Dave and I have made it Seattle and are all unpacked and organized so we thought we would share some pictures. We would welcome visitors anytime! We are loving our new home, neighborhood and ward. We are Bennion Family number 7 in the ward! And Uncle Lynn's sister-in-law, Ann Hinckley Romish, is our RS President. Small World! Dave is in SF and Atlanta this week for training and my project is to redo our kitchen table by the time he gets back... good thing he is gone the whole week!

SLC Cemetery

(The gold plaque means they crossed the plains... there were a lot in the cemetery)

Dave and I spent quite a while at the Salt Lake City Cemetery today and had a great time. We saw every LDS prophet's grave that was there plus a lot of Bennion graves. Mervyn, Adam, Samuel, John and Mary Turpin being the highlights.

If you are ever in the area I highly suggest stopping by and wear your walking shoes!

Happy Birthday, Rich

Big Thunder Ranch Dinner and Show

One of our highlights at Disneyland was dinner at the Big Thunder Ranch. Dinner was served family style in buckets. Buckets of ribs and chicken, buckets of smoked sausage, buckets of coleslaw, buckets of beans, buckets of corn, and baskets of corn bread. Drinks were served in jars. A great place for a family din-din.

There was music thoughout the meal, and the kids performed with the singers. This is the kids all performing on stage at dinner. The video is about 3 min, but is so cute of Hen. Also check out Greg on the right side.

Will and Hen at Disney California Adventure

This is like the teacups, but bumps as you move from track to track.

Pure happiness.

Beach

Well, after a marathon drive straight through from Garden Grove, California to Beaverton, Oregon, Wendy and I crawled into our welcome bed at 4:15 AM this morning. We took a long nap this afternoon, so I feel ready to post some photos of the past week. Monday we headed to Newport Beach on the 45th Street beach (where the JEBs stayed last year). We met up with the Taylor family for some sunny play time and some body boarding.

Back row: Sydney Willis, Henry, Hillary Taylor, William, Aubrey Taylor, Alexa (friend of Aubrey), Nathan
Front row: Katie, Taylor Willis, Devon Taylor, Greg (gotta love that kid)

Wendy caught this shot of Henry.

Nathan's fanny is on the left as he is digging a hole. Taylor is coming up out of the water.

The cousins in the water. It was cool water, but you got accustomed to it quickly.

Will and I were buddies for most of the week. We had a great time together.

Weekend in San Diego

Wendy and I took the kids down to San Diego this weekend. We had a great time with Grandpa. We got into town on Saturday afternoon, and had a low key Saturday playing at Rancho Bernardo Community Park. The kids had a great time, and Henry gave Grandpa a welcome hug (A wow for that normally shy guy!)
Sunday we headed to Fort Rosecrans and visited Grandma's grave and Uncle Burke's grave. After visiting the cemetery, we grabbed lunch and headed to La Jolla Cove so that Grandpa could run around and scream and yell. :) It was a smart decision, as we got to do some incredible tide pooling and saw the seals/sea lions. The kids played hide and seek, and the grown ups had a great chuckle as William peaked repeatedly while counting to 20 during his turn as 'it'.
After the park we headed back to out hotel for some dinner and games. Katie was our "Watchdog" champ. Nathan won the award for best passer in "Who Has the Button?". And Greg took the cake in "Mother Hen". Anyway enjoy the photos (in reverse chronological order).
We love you all!

Happy Birthday, Rob

Gorgeous from the minute he entered the world!

Happy 11th Birthday to Nathan!!!

Best Wishes and Congratulations to our wonderful oldest son.

I love Nathan because he is:

• kNowledgeable - Nathan is a great reader and is very smart.


• Always doing his best (in school, work, and friendships)


• Tough - he does things that are difficult and tough without complaining.


• Handsome - Nathan is good looking but never lets it go to his head


• Athletic - he is doing spectacularly in Lacrosse by practicing every day


• iNventive - Nathan is creative and has a great mind. He is fun to play with and is a great friend.

Happy Birthday Nathan! Mom and I love you very much.

Pictures up FINALLY!

Thanks to John I got busy and hung the pictures with great help from the Casa staff.

Truth be known I indicated where and what height and the Casa staff person did the rest.

This first picture is one end of the living room.



This is the pen and ink picture we received from my Mom and Paul. Mom and I always treasured it since it was our first piece of real art.



These are pictures in the corner of the living room going into the kitchen.


These are the pictures opposite the conversation area. These picture also came compliments of my Mom and Paul. The one on the right was painted on a piece of plywood and was a bone of contention between Mom and me. She hated it and I loved it.



This picture is from Kauai coastline and is on the wall at the entrance to the kitchen from the dining area.


This picture was one of Mom's favorites. We acquired it after a visit to the renuncula (spelling) fields in Del Mar.

This as you can see is my bedroom computer center. The painting is by a University of Hawaii student of a house in Waikele valley on Oahu. The two to the right are a picture of my brother Burke and his wings and dog tags.


This is the group of paintings in the dining area. Burke painted the two on either side of the scene from Maui.

I hope that you can come visit sometime to see my new apartment and to provide great pleasure to me.

Happy Birthday, Dear Anna!

This is a picture of Anna and Don. (Don didn't turn out so good so I had to crop him out.) We were at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake. This was at the Yert restaurant. We had to cross country ski to get there. Good Times! And more good times to come!!

Pics of New Digs

I don't know how to get out of the under line, but here are pictures of my new apartment so on with the show.
This the west side of the living room with Mom's breakfront in the foreground. Mom's cedar chest wouldn't fit in the bedroom so it was placed here .The lanai is just beyond the television and faces north.



This is the living room conversation area. You can see the carpet that we bought so many years ago that both of us loved so much.




This the dining room and just a smidgen of the kitchen. The kitchen is very, very small, but meets all my needs .




This the computer set-up in the bedroom. You can see one of the pictures of Mom on the screen saver while she was in the Health Center early last year.




This is Mom's dresser and mirror making a very tight fit with the queen size bed, You can see the corner of my dresser to the left. The stuff on the bed is print outs of our trusts.

I recognize my limitations as a photographer, I'm all you have. My love and prayers are with you all.