Before and After

Before I left for work this morning:

After I came home and the boys had spent the day with Doug:

What happened to my babies??

5 Minutes

Most people think there's not enough time in the day. Apparently for Ben and Will there are about five minutes too many in the day. It seems like each night they get tired a little bit earlier. Which wouldn't be bad if they were getting up at the same time. Before the time change a few weeks ago I got them up around 7. They would be awake and talking before then, but I went in at 7. With the change they were supposed to get up at 8, which would have been great. This morning they were up and talking to each other at 6:45 and by 7:15 were getting upset they were still in bed. We'll see what happens, but I don't think I can keep on getting them up earlier. They'll just need to deal with it. Apparently they didn't get the sleeping in gene from mom.

On a slightly more serious note, we decided to start the adoption process again. It took over a year last time and who knows how long this time around. We decided to go through the county. One of the joys was going to a six week class on Saturdays. During the orientation, there were a lot of upset people who couldn't get six consecutive Saturdays off and while I took a lot of heat from work, we figured it out. They shared nuggets like a child who's been abused may have issues, you need to bond with your child, hitting your child isn't always the best way to discipline, etc. When asked how to deal with these issues there first preferred answer was therapy. Way to add some value guys. They even had a bunch of people who came in to tell us why birth parents were better parents than us simply because they could give birth. The curriculum hadn't changed meaningfully in decades and everyone in the class couldn't wait for it to be over. If this was a normal parenting class that people had to pay for there would be riots. I don't want to rant about this because clearly it's worth it to get a child. However, it shows how ridiculous and messed up our government is even when you're trying to do good. The only people who could change this have no incentive to because it would negatively effect their own jobs-they'd have nothing to do. They complain about the number of kids in the system and make it prohibitive for people to help out. Our own social worker from the class (who subsequently quit after umpteen years on the job) even told us how much she hates how she has to send foster kids back to awful birth parents. But no one does anything. Insiders have no incentive to and outsiders have no pull to make things happen. It's frustrating but what's a g to do? We'll write letters. Offer support. But we also need to find more ways to be have a more meaningful impact.

Limitless

As I've documented here and on Facebook, Will's new trick is his ability to poop only in a bathtub. He's like 4/7 this week. Like most of their tricks, we hope he stops doing this in about a week. Ben's new trick is a little funnier. When I get ready to walk out the door, he gives Tamara a kiss and then grabs my hand to walk out with me.

We saw limitless this weekend and it's an interesting movie because you think about what you would do with a sweet gift like being able to focus 100% all the time, instant recall of everything you've been exposed to, and the clarity to connect dots nobody else can. Spoiler alert. However, the movie fails pretty hard with that. Seriously, the best you can come up with is to be an investment banker for a couple months because he needs to raise funds and then be a politician. They show him gambling and daytrading where he makes 166X his money in two weeks to go from $12K to $2M. Yet somehow he decides being an ibanker for a couple months is the quickest way to raise funds? Not trading or gambling for a few more days? Then we're supposed to believe because he can think like no one else he become a politician? No curing cancer? Solving global warming (if it exists)? Developing systems to forecast natural disasters? Brokering peace in the middle east? It's kind of like Benjamin Button where he has this amazing stroke of luck and he can't come up with anything worthwhile to do with his life? This is sad for a few reasons. First, the creativity of the people who wrote these is weak. Second, the writers glorify what these guys did meaning they think that little of us or we really do glorify it and we are that lame. Third, the writers left ginormous gaps that they think we're stupid enough to not recognize. Whatever, it's just a movie but I thought it could have been really good and fell really short. But what would you do if you had that power? It's probably hard to know because it's been a while since I really thought I could do anything I wanted to. Let alone quickly. I'd probably work on things like curing cancer, increasing crop yield, water purification, and alternative energies. For fairly obvious reasons everyone would benefit and it would really improve the lives of the poorest people. If you have any ideas (especially you Jake because you might be the only one who still has us in their RSS feed) feel free to share.

Surprise!

So, we haven't blogged since November (and it was fairly weak before then) but I'm starting a writing project so I'm going to start blogging again as well. I could go through and update you on everything that happened over the last several months, but that'd take too long and be boring. If you want, you can email us and ask. I'll just give some of the most recent highlights. Ben started going to nursery and Will follows shortly. Will finally started walking after teasing for several months. While Ben like taking off his diaper under his pajamas to spread his poop all over himself, Will prefers pooping during bath time. Tamara threw out her back and has vowed to stop picking up the boys by bending at the waist. Matt and I are going to apply to the Amazing Race. We got a new minivan, much to Tamara's joy. Go team Odyssey!

Before I get going too strong, I'll end on this. I, and maybe Tamara, will be back blogging. Stay tuned.

USS Midway

We took the boys to San Diego and went with the family to tour the USS Midway. I have driven by the Aircraft so many times and have wanted to go in so I was so excited!! The boys loved being able to touch everything and Rob's kids like being able to explore. Some even got the chance to drive their own. I love how much more fun the boys get as they get older:)

Colton's Baptism

My nephew Colton was baptized recently and we were lucky enough to be there. I can't believe how fast all of these kids are growing up!!

Ben's First Haircut

Ben just got his first haircut and to me, he does not look like a little baby anymore. He is growing up so fast.

Welcome Home

We are thrilled that Doug's brother Peter came home from his mission this summer after serving two years in London. There was a lot of family here for his homecoming and Eric Bennion missed his Eric Sandwiches.

The boys were excited to finally meet their uncle. Speaking of my boys, look how cute they are!!

San Clemente 2010

Every August Doug's family has a family reunion in San Clemente, California and I look forward to it every year. I love how much fun the Bennion family is and getting to know my new family. This year was great for many reasons.

Doug's brother Peter was there just getting off his mission.

The boys love to play at the beach.

The boys loved to get to know their cousins, all of them were so great and helpful with both Ben and William.

Watching the boys of the family being silly.

Feeling like part of the family.

Griffith Park

Doug's brother Matt and Matt's wife Christa came for a visit this summer with their two adorable girls. We met up with them at Griffith Park and the boys had a blast.

We rode the train around


My favorite was when the boys were swinging in the park. Does it get any cuter then this?