Andrew is 13

 Our Christmas time baby is now a teenager!

Andrew requested a mint ice cream cake for his birthday.

We opened presents in the morning before he had to catch the bus at 7:30 a.m.

As soon as he got home he worked on his new Lego set for hours.

He requested Tony Burgers for dinner. 

Andrew is finding out that middle school is a lot different than elementary school, and working through finding the right tools to keep on top of his homework and classwork. Here's a picture from school one day when parents were invited to talk about planning for high school, college and careers.

While watching one of Ben's basketball games, James sat on Andrew's lap. Sometimes they are the absolute best of friends. Other times.... not.

Andrew loves his younger cousins and loves any baby he sees at church. Here he is with Lou.

And with Jack in Idaho for Harvey's baptism.

He went with JB to a Utah game on Nov. 4.

On Dec. 12 was his orchestra concert. (Ben had basketball practice)

He is clever, creative, funny, goofy, kind, smart and curious. We are grateful for Andrew!

Ben is 16

Ben is now sweet 16! He requested a red velvet cake for his birthday, and we sang to him at one part of the day and then ate the cake at another part of the day between school, work, basketball practice and a young men's activity.

JB took him out to lunch during the week for a treat.

And he got his driver license this week! Hooray for independence (but boo for the added monthly insurance cost).

 

Here's his official basketball photo. What a baller! He plays for the sophomore team and JV team.

JB was working at the scorers table and at halftime had a quick talk with Ben recently.

His 6'3 height is super convenient for trimming the tree or getting things down from the top cupboards. 

He teases Millie mercilessly (he'll come stalking down the hallway saying, "Rugus! Where are you? I want to eat you" and she runs and laughs). He babysits sometimes for families in our ward and those kids love him. One mom told me the kids told her, "Just call Ben!" when she was trying to figure something out. 

He is at a school dance tonight with a group and he wanted to make sure he would help his date feel comfortable and have a good time. He checks on how his friends are doing and he takes his priesthood responsibilities seriously at church, making sure to show up early and stay late. 

He is on top of all his assignments at school without any prompting from us. He's just so smart with math, too. 

I love watching him talk on the phone to Max each week. They talk about food and sports and he's learning a lot from Max's example as a missionary.

Happy birthday to our Benjamino Bennihana Bennyboy Ben Ben bo Ben.

"I've got plenty to be thankful for"

That song line comes from Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn. This is a month of pondering on blessings and gratitude.

We had a beautiful Primary program this month -- it really is my favorite Sunday. James and Millie practiced in the microphone at Church and practiced at home and I was proud of how they spoke clearly and slowly. I also loved their messages of Jesus Christ.

I helped one night with the Activity Days activity for the boys (ages 8-11). James and the other boys took flowers to several older women in our neighborhood. They were very brave as they knocked on doors and looked the women in the eyes and explained how they wanted to give them flowers because they were thinking of them.

We had two great meals with the Richards side of the family for Thanksgiving week. Turkey and mashed potatoes, etc, on Sunday (DELICIOUS), and smoked brisket and mac n cheese, etc, on Thursday (ALSO DELICIOUS). Max got to call on Thanksgiving day and talk to cousins and grandparents who were all around.

The kids table on Sunday:

Playing with Lou on Thursday:

Sewing a new Christmas hanging together:

Pretty soon I will have to stand on the front row as the short one!

Facetiming with Max. He and the other missionaries wore JustServe shirts as they helped clean up after the El Paso parade.

We raked up a lot of leaves this month.

The day after Thanksgiving it snowed and these kids scraped up every bit of snow from the front yard and the backyard to make a snowman that is still standing in the backyard even though we are back to grass.

This was for a sad occasion but I was able to see one of my five freshman year roommates this week. She came to Utah for her mother-in-law's funeral. We lived in the dorms together 1997-1998 and they had such a profound influence on my life for good!

At this time of year, I'm trying to remember from where all good things flow: I'm not only grateful for my blessings, I'm grateful to God for my blessings. I recognize His hand in my life. I'm also grateful to others for their influence, love, kindness, and gifts of time and service.

20 years together

 November 14 marked our 20th anniversary. Two decades together! 

I was reading Anne of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery out loud to the kids the week before and love this scene with Anne and Gilbert, on their 16th wedding anniversary:

“You do love me, Gilbert? You haven’t said you love me for so long.” 

“My dear dear love! I didn’t think you needed words to know that. I couldn’t live without you. Always you give me strength. There’s a verse somewhere in the Bible that is meant for you… ‘She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.’”

(I looked it up. It's Proverbs 31:12).

Twenty years ago, we entered the House of the Lord and made a covenant with God and with each other. I know that as we stay faithful to that covenant, we are sealed together for eternity.

To celebrate our anniversary, we did some proxy sealings in the Jordan River temple.

And we went to lunch together while the children were in school. JB was right, that spot did have good lighting! 

Running errands is also a fun thing to do together, and watching sports and movies, and taking walks where we hammer out all the world's difficulties. He makes me laugh every day.

My favorite thing I wrote was on our tenth anniversary:

"...seconds/years fly by of laughter, tears, joy, contentment and normalcy, and the next thing you know, it's evening, you are sitting on the couch ... and you look over and see him. And your heart swells with the goodness of it all."

Max in Texas

As he waits for his Bolivian visa, Max was reassigned to the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission -- which includes El Paso, Texas, where Max is serving in his first area. 

He is right on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

People often ask us how he is doing, and I think he is doing really well! He's practicing some Spanish, he gets fed by the local ward members almost every night, and has a nice apartment with a washer/dryer and nice kitchen. Seems like a really smooth way to start a mission.

We miss him around the house and though I thought I was used to it, sometimes it hits me with a pang that he is far away. Just last night when turning off lights and checking door locks before bed, I was thinking "But Max isn't home yet" and of course remembered in the same moment that he is in Texas.

I love talking to him every week. He sends pictures of some of the cool things he has seen. 

I jokingly apologized to a family in our ward that I should have asked them more often about their missionaries when they were serving. You don't know what it's like until your own baby is out there.

Halloween

 After many days (weeks?) of asking when they could carve pumpkins, we allowed it on Saturday Oct. 28 so they wouldn't rot before Halloween. 

JB spotted a new technique of carving the circle in the bottom of the pumpkin and then placing it over the candle. I think it worked well.

On Sunday, the Richards-side grandkids who could go to Sunday dinner came in their costumes. Millie had wanted to be Maleficent for weeks (months?) and I ordered horns for her. But then she found her Dorothy dress in her dress-up drawer and decided to do Dorothy before she grew out of it. Plus, she has been watching The Wizard of Oz more than Sleeping Beauty in her life. She may be Maleficent next year.

Cousin Spencer was a scarecrow and a perfect partner for a picture.

JB and I went to the Halloween parade and I helped in the classroom parties on Tuesday.

Killing time before trick or treating in the afternoon with picking up leaves on a beautiful afternoon.

I ordered James's Spiderman costume online, but if there is a next time I think I won't make it all one zip-up suit with the gloves attached. It made it a little difficult to do things. But he still loved it. And Andrew made his Mario hat here in this picture. They were ready to hit the streets!

I took James and Millie around, and they loved/feared this huge skeleton in our neighborhood.

Andrew was with his friend Jackson and we met them halfway. By then, Millie had ditched her shoes as they hurt her feet.

They still had a lot of candy left by the weekend and munched while watching a movie. But if I have to pick one more wrapper up from under the couch . . .