Esther As Both Hermione Granger and MLK (October 2020)

 Esther gives a book report of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as Hermione Granger:

"Go To Bed Better Than When You Woke Up"

NY Jets head coach Robert Saleh said something like that in the middle of an interview I heard today. Terrific! I think I may cheer for the Jets for the first time this year, with Zach Wilson and Tristan Hoge on the roster.

Other thoughts:

Remembering the Springville Art Museum Performance

I bumped into this today, and thought I should put it on the blog.

About 9 years ago, my mother asked us to perform at the Springville Museum of Art. As a family, we sang "Good and Kindly Parents". Miriam, Gideon, Isaac, Hannah, Susie and I sang "Lullabye", I believe, which is still one of my favorites. Lucy and up sang "Dynamite". Miriam played something on the violin. Did we sing anything else?

The Daily Herald photographer didn't make it to our little show, but came to Mom & Dad's clubhouse afterward, did a quick interview and took a couple of pictures. 

I have PDF files of the article and the photo and captions. I can't share the PDF on the blog, so I am taking images of the 5 pages and posting them here, which include some brief notes I added. 

Rachel's Latest Idea ...

... was to dress up Esther like Cindy Lou Who. I like the results! 

#givethanks

I just watched President Russell M. Nelson's message of hope. (President Nelson is the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a prophet, seer and revelator.) He encouraged us to #givethanks on social media and express gratitude daily in prayer. I will.

I have a few blog posts in unfinished states and feel extremely busy right now as I try to finish a project involving database development I am doing. I am not always filled with gratitude during such times. Instead, I think I often feel anxiety, irritation, disappointment and critical thoughts about myself and others. I am relatively certain that is quite normal.

21st Century Wows and Woes

I geek out about modern technology a lot. I couldn't really imagine a technology career when I was a kid in New Plymouth, Idaho. I remember creating a program on a TRS-80, a "microcomputer", and saving and running the program from a cassette tape. We created a white humanoid (that's as good as you do with pixels larger than the type you are now reading) on black field waving, with words of greeting. I was told it was the future. I couldn't tell how.

Buckaroo Benge in the 21st Century. And Related Chimichangas.

I've always wanted to watch a football game at Layton Christian Academy. It is on the edge of the ravine leading down to Hobbs Reservoir below, and I find it very picturesque. 

Footloose (Not Fancy Free)

The musical Footloose, starring the lovable, talented and hard-working Lucy Benge as whomever she needs to be for each scene the director puts her in, starts November 13th! Tickets here.

Weird times, so you may not be able to come. But, you are invited!

Storm of the Century, Again

When was the last "Storm of the Century", where we cleaned up all the fallen trees and replaced neighborhood roofs? 2010? So, I guess we now get a Storm of the Decade. 

I am very grateful wind doesn't blow any of our trees into our house. We lost a little roof cap, but otherwise our home itself is fine. And, unlike some, we measured our power outage in hours, not

Here are just a few picture at our place of the storm on September 8th:

Lovely Morning Cacophony

Yesterday morning I felt I need to record the sounds of the Benge household in the morning. It is pretty amazing.

The high school bus leaves before seven, so Lucy can't play her instruments Monday and Wednesday mornings anymore. But when she is around, we have five children practicing at the same time, and the neighbor girl that Susie is tending shrieks along with them. 

Wonderful.

Enoch's Gift

 Susie had to pay him a dollar, but I think this is a lovely gift:

Corolla, R.I.P.

On the way to work on August 28, Andrew had an accident turning left off of Antelope Dr. Most gratefully, Andrew and the people in the oncoming Toyota Sienna were fine. But, the Corolla has gone the way of all the earth. R.I.P.

Kwutisms

This morning, we were reading in 3rd Nephi, chapter 3. Esther read verse 11, and were it read that Lachoneus wrote an epistle, Esther made it sound like "latch-on-yous espittle". We couldn't help but laugh. Then, in the next verse, Joshua read that Lachoneus was "just a man" instead of "a just man". Good, righteous humor this morning!

A while back, Susie asked Lucy and Rachel to take a neighbor family some food, as the mother was bed-ridden. When they returned, Lucy said she hoped she took it to the right house, as she didn't recognize the family, and asked if the father had a beard. No. Susie had fixed some extra so I took Lucy to the Steed home -- the right one -- and gave them the food. I then apologized for the lack of dessert, and encouraged him to visit his neighbor as it had been delivered to him. 

Home Work

Like many, I now work from home. And, things have been going well enough that the presiding Bishopric has asked us to pilot some work-from-home patterns to see what works, and we were asked to submit a proposal, following some basic guidelines. Our team has proposed to work from home every day except Friday, possibly coming in on Tuesdays if we feel we need more face-to-face meeting time.

My desk is in the downstairs family room, and it is really noisy sometimes, especially when children come over. But, I hate trying to get everyone to be quiet when I am in meetings. And, my set up is pretty sloppy. So, I took some steps to make my "office" more conducive to work.

I started by purchasing a very expensive set of Bose noise cancelling headphones, with speakers that also block out most everything except my voice. So far, they have been excellent.

Nothing Is More Romantic than ...

 ... the Complete Calvin and Hobbs: 

Someone is gonna get anniversary smooches tonight!

I believe it was Isaac that gave the idea. Thank you, my friend! And thank you, Gideon and Regan, who will be here to help out tonight.

This afternoon we are going to watch "Mary Poppins" at the Hale Centre Theatre in Sandy and spend the night in a hotel there. 

Part of the reason we asked Gideon and Regan to come is because Andrew had surgery to fix a deviated septum just yesterday morning. He is doing extremely well, though, and is in good spirits.

Valentine's Day 2020

    

Here are a few photos and video from our Valentine's Day party this year. Click on anything to see it bigger. Well, excerpt for a couple of pictures above -- the new blog edit tool can be really hard to work with, and seems quite buggy. 

Esther's Birthday 2020

Esther is seven! She has a unicorn friend.

Some Things You Might Want to See (End of 2019, Early 2020)

In December of 2019, Rachel performed with as an ensemble member in one musical song, and was Pinocchio in the other:

Bengester's Dictionary Entry: Ingratitude

in·grat·i·tude

/inˈɡradəˌt(y)o͞od/

1. Insisting that your teeth are really really really crooked and you must get braces and so your parents shell out over $2,500 to an orthodontist to put them on you and after you get home you scream at your mother for ruining your life and making you get them.

2. What Andrew did today. (See definition 1.)

Abusing Charity

My parents bought a new car yesterday, and traded in their old one. I love it. I told them they should trade in both it and the CNG car I have been driving. But, Dad just wouldn't take it back. I think he feels like I have sorta-kinda earned it by not being a child that doesn't owe him money. 

Yesterday I mentioned that if he really wanted me to keep it, then I might want to trade it in, as there isn't a CNG station around here anymore, and I don't drive in to work. And, to top it off, it looks like I will only have to drive in to work once a week when the pandemic is over. So, I decided I would look to get something else. And I found a good deal on a 2015 Toyota Prius.