Toby's birthday video

So, I couldn't get this video to send for Toby's birthday, so I am posting it on here so he can see it, even though it is very late. We love you Toby!

KC, Kianna and I feed a spider

Watch the follow-up as we film a WASP trying to STEAL the spider's food!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a26YNbrjZ6U

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

There are two. the first was fine, but a little dark so we tried again. i just decided to share both.

KC's Haircut

KC has been really into to superman, and always made us slick his hair over to one side, with a 'superman' curl in the front. The other day, I was cutting my own hair, and I asked KC if we could cut his (it's been getting really long, but he wouldn't let us cut it because of the superman thing). KC agreed to get it cut, but said that he really wanted it shaved "on the top only, not on the sides." So I complied. After looking at himself in the mirror for a few minutes (with all of us laughing) he said we could shave the sides too! Thank goodness.

March

Hey, I was thinking about how March seems a bit anticipatory for spring, and it can be frustrating to be cold. Well, I wanted you all to feel better about your present circumstances. The last two days the wind chill has been -35 to -45. What fun for us! But hopefully it can help other people feel a little grateful. We are willing to sacrifice for all of you. :)

Thank you

Thank you, thank you, thank you all for taking time to see us! It was a real boost for us to come and see you. We love you. We had a wonderful time and I miss you terribly already.

Here's a remembrance for you. Grace eating the sour cream plate!

Something to Help You Feel More Festive

What gets you into the "holiday spirit"? Christmas music? Striped candy-canes? Setting up a tree? Teacher notes telling you that school will be out for the holidays soon, leaving you to deal with all the children all the time?

For me, I don't feel festive until I read Dave Barry's annual Gift Guide. It doesn't help me find anything to give, but I like it.

Star Wars

A friend sent me this link and we thought it was very funny. If you like Star Wars, you will enjoy this. Click on the title of this post to watch.

ND happenings

I thought I would post a couple of recent pictures. You can check out our family blog as well. We had a huge storm last week, which kept Ben in the capsule for a double shift. But then he got to fly home in a helicopter! It was his very last alert, and very exciting. He now will have a semi-normal job. We are thrilled.

It is definitely winter here. We have lots of snow and freezing,and even dipped below zero one day, temperatures. Anyone want to come visit for Thanksgiving?

one of your favorite nephews is now 1 :)

We celebrated DJ's first birthday on Sunday! If you go to my blog, there's a cute video of him eating cake :) http://daveandtaraplus7.blogspot.com/
David and Susan, it was great to attend the blessing and baptism and to hang out a bit! We love you guys!

Our Update

Well we survived our week. Bird was blessed on Sunday, we celebrated a 4 year wedding anniversary Wednesday, and we went trick-or-treating Friday. I posted an update and tons of pics on our personal blog. Rather than take up tons of space here, I request you click on our link on the right and visit. I think you'll be impressed with
Porter's costume!

Big Day for Miriam & Joshua

You are all invited to attend Miriam's baptize on Saturday, November 1st, at 12:00 noon in the church building across the street from our house. Following her baptism and confirmation, we plan to bless Joshua.

We don't have any definitive lunch plans yet, but are leaning toward going to a Golden Corral or something afterward for anyone that wants to come.

Chess Wizards

Well, it never ceases to amaze me as I watch how childrens' brains work. They are completely motivated on their own to do things they want to do, though at other times, if you try to get them to do the same thing it is of no interest and is like pulling teeth. Jeff, Will and Abel spontaneously cleaned an entire room, the dining room, on their own today. They swept, dusted, vacuumed, polished and decorated. Why? Because they were making a chess museum. Yes, a chess museum. Along with the seven chess sets they set up, one of which is the prized glass chess set grandpa sent, they spoke in quiet museum voices, listened to classical music, and worked like professionals. The only thing missing was them quoting Shakespeare to make for a truly remarkable scene to behold. Here is a video for your enjoyment.

Jeff's big day

Here are a couple of pictures of Jeffrey's baptism. It was a marvelous day. Jeffrey was so happy. We are sorry none of you could be there in person, but know your hearts are always with us. Jeffrey is an amazing young man. He is a great example to old and young alike. We are thankful for his choice to follow the Savior.

It's a boy

Hello to everyone. Hope you guys are well. We are too. I just had an ultrasound and we found out that we are going to have another baby "BOY". Everybody thought that the baby was a "GIRL" except KC. He was right. Kianna was kinda disappointed as well as nanay haha, but we surely are excited to see the baby in February. So far, the baby has two legs, two arms and one head hahaha.The baby is healthy. KC was funny because when they started the ultrasound, the first thing they did was to put the gel on my belly and KC saw it and he said really loud "Why are they putting HAIR gel on your belly Mommy?" (He cracked us up! ) Oh well, As soon as they touch the equipment to my belly the very first thing that showed on the screen was the baby's butt with a penis(titi) very obvious .Here is the ultrasound picture...You guys take care

PS. If you can figure out what you are looking at here, the "manhood" is apparent.

Why miss Fairview?

I had an interesting craving yesterday. I really wanted Iron port. Remember that? Then I got talking to Ben, trying to tell him what it was and we started talking of picadillys too. Picadillys and iron port. Yum. A couple of reasons to miss Fairview.

Joshua Franklin Benge

Joshua Franklin Benge was born at 7:19 tonight, weighing 7 lbs 15 oz. He is 201/2 inches long. Susan had an appointment with her doctor today, and he found that she had very, very little amniotic fluid and felt we should do the c-section right away. So we did. Mom and baby are healthy and happy.

(Sorry about the poor picture, but my phone has a broken seal and the camera part is filled with dust inside. I will get my camera later.)

News That Only Affects Me

The official announcement came today: our whole Church department will be relocating to Riverton next year. We intended our latest move to be our last--at least until Susan and I were empty-nesters. Now, I am leaning toward another move. But, at last count, I was out-voted 8 to 1 (no word yet on which way the unborn child is leaning). Maybe I will change my career to something that lets me be at home more, like driving truck cross-country or custodial work on the international space station. ;)

Super Funny SNL skit... Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

This is perfect!

E-bikes

I thought some of you might be interested in this. There is a guy up here in Minot who has started a new company that sells electric bicycles. You've probably heard of these. When you search on line for ebikes, there is all kinds of cool stuff, even a "pterosail", or a recumbant, street legal bike with a sail! The problem is a lot of this cost saving stuff is actually pretty expensive, some costing as much as cars. His prices are comparibly less ($700-$900 versus $1500-$6000!)
This guy says he's looking for distributors or "dealers". He's set up shop in Minot and has dealers in a few other states. He seems very keen on getting into Utah and Arizona (although I think he has one dealer in Arizona so far). So I'm including some links so you check this company out. If anything it's pretty innovative( Kristin and I actually rode some of his bikes and they were really fun, a combination of a good quality bike with moped except all electric. He has one that folds up which is really neat).
He told me (the owner) when he went to China to check out the electric bike market there, that over 20 million ebikes are sold in that country every year. In the U.S., the number is about 100,000. But consider, that number is up 6000%! Could this be the next CNG or Alternitive transportation craze? Check out some of these links and let me know what you think.

www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/515759.html?nav=5002
http://www.electraped.com/