Taylor's Farewell

Taylor got his mission call!  To...(drumroll) CALIFORNIA!  San Diego to be more specific.  Crazy that now that we can't just hang out with him, he's closer than he'll probably ever be to us!  His farewell was December 9th so the Friday before, we hopped on a plane to Colorado.  We decided that this was something we could not miss - not any of us.  From the moment he woke up that day, Daniel kept asking if it was time to leave for Colorado.  We left right after I got home for work and Logan was fantastic for his first ever plane ride.  He fell asleep not too long after take off, slept until about 30 minutes before we landed (just enough time for him to eat) and didn't make a peep except to flirt with the flight attendant.  This picture is when we landed in Denver.

Daniel kept telling Logan how exciting is was that they were going to Colorado.  This is him telling him that we were in Colorado and how exciting it was.

 Since we are a family of 4 now, and a big 4 at that with the 2 carseats, we rented a minivan for the weekend.  While I was getting Daniel into the car, he asked why we had this car.  I told him we were just borrowing it for a couple days.  So obviously he asked "Cuz no one wanted to pick us up?"  Aww, poor boy!  We had to explain it to him and I think he got it.

Saturday night we had Taylor's open house so there were lots of people, yummy food, and good times.  I went around taking pictures so I don't know who many of these people are sometimes but that's all good cuz Taylor does! 

 Grandad came into town for the occasion so he got to meet Daniel and Logan for the first time.  It was pretty neat to see him and he even brought old photos and geneology for us to see.

 On Sunday, Taylor gave a great talk and our little Brinkerhoff army got up and sang a medley of "As Sisters in Zion" and "Army of Heleman."  He flew to Utah the next Tuesday and reported to the MTC on Wednesday.  He left the MTC and reported to San Diego January 1st.  We are so proud of Taylor and what an awesome person he is and the great example he is to everyone around him.  Way to go Taylor!  And enjoy the nice weather for the next 2 years!

A Thanksgiving Benjamin House

So apparently we DO need turkey because the Friday after Thanksgiving my mom & Rick made a whole Thanksgiving dinner and invited us over.  The Tows were still sick so they didn't come (bummer!) but we had dinner and dessert and hung out.  Brent went black Friday shopping at Home Depot (it was a little ridiculous how excited he was) and he found this gingerbread house kit that was there so he bought it to make with Daniel and Clayton that night.  Of course it turned into just Daniel since Clayton wasn't there and if we're being honest I'm pretty sure Brent wanted to do it anyways and used the children as an excuse.  It's ok - we do it all the time!  But before the contractors went to work, we sat down to dinner with the plate of turkey, legs and all, right in front of Daniel.  And the following conversation happened:

Becca: Daniel, you know that's a cow right?

Daniel: No it's not.  It's a turkey.

Becca: Nope I saw - it's a cow.

Daniel: FAB, it's a TURKEY!

Becca: Oh yeah, how do you know it's a turkey?

Daniel: Cuz it only has 2 legs.

Ya we'll mark that as a point in Daniel's column...

After dinner, Uncle Brent and Daniel started on the gingerbread house.  Daniel couldn't figure out exactly what it was called so he called it a benjamin house.  Rick asked him "do you mean a gingerbread house?" to which Daniel replied "uh, that's what I said."  And can I just tell you how frustrated Brent got looking at the directions for how to put the pieces together.  Now they weren't super or anything and there were no words so going right off the pictures was a little weird so in his defense, it was a little frustrating.  But here's a picture of them trying to figure everything out.

Brent of course is doing most of the actual construction while Daniel decorated it with the candy.  At one point though while Brent is using the frosting as the glue, Brent said "Wow this frosting sucks."  Without missing a beat Daniel says "But it's delicious!"  Way to see the silver lining my boy.

Thanks Uncle Brenty for making a Benjamin house with me!

Who Needs Turkey?

This year for Thanksgiving, my family decided to buck tradition and go to Disneyland for the day.  Let me tell you what a debacle it was convincing Matt and Jeff that it was ok to not have turkey and watch football. I'm way old school and don't like traditions messed with but I thought I'd try it this year though. It was fun but I'm not sure I'd do it again.  Anyways, Maddie and Charlie got sick so only Jeff and Clayton came from the Tows but my Aunt Sherrie and Dan came up from San Diego to spend the day with us.  It was not Logan's first time at Disneyland but it was his first time on a ride.  So there are mostly Logan pictures from this trip.  Oops.  We spent time in Cars Land and I went on the Racers for the first time.  It is way fun and I'm super glad I finally got to enjoy it!  Our first ride was Pirates - so now it is both Daniel and Logan's first Disneyland ride.  That's where this first picture is taken.  He was a little freaked out about how dark it was inside.+

 Then I realized that I had put Logan in his 1st Thanksgiving outfit and needed a picture so this is Becca's and my attempt at getting a Thanksgiving picture...in front of a Christmas tree...  Hmmm, maybe we didn't think that one all the way through.

 Honestly, Logan and I spent a lot of time together just hanging.  Although, when people went on Toy Story Mania, we decided to go on his first carousel ride right next door.  This is him waiting in line.  His look says "Just what do you think you're doing, young lady?"

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Then the pictures in front of the tree...

People waiting for Star Tours.  Yes, Lindsay is in a wheel chair.  We had the chair because of Rick and his gimpy-ness, but then we exploited it.  Note how Rick is not even in line.  I'd like to say I'm ashamed but I'm not.  While in the middle of the ride, Clayton was saying "I want to get off!!!!"  Jeff told him they couldn't and then after the ride, Clayton said "That was my favorite ride!"  What a nut!  We could not get Clayton to go on Soarin over California or Tower of Terror though.  Something for next time...