Cowboy Up!

A Benson phrase that we have picked up that we love is Cowboy Up. When there is a job to be done that nobody wants to do its "Cowboy Up." It's similar to one of my favorite phrases "Bear Down" and not as crass as "Suck it up."

When I asked the kids to collect the eggs there was a lot of shifting responsibility. Quietly Holman got up went to his room and "got suited up" for his rodeo. He Cowboyed Up, put on his armor and walked out to the pen. He doesn't like his feet getting pecked at so he made sure to put on his sisters heels. We love our warrior!




Parkin is looking on very impressed with his big brother. Man those chicks look afraid.....

New York and DC with my fabulous sisters

The lady herself.












Central Park with two cute tourists :)














We always take pictures of our feet.....why?











Arlington was awesome specially on Sunday, there is a special feeling there.


















Who is that other girl in the photo, she is taking away from my moment with Honest Abe!
















I love my sisters! We had such a great time, up till 2:00 am every night, we were all exhausted but didn't want to waste a moment. Next time maybe Oprah or Finland :)

Puppy Parkin

I love this boy, he brings me so much joy. He truly is a puppy, who doesn't love a puppy?!

Living on the upside of down

The downside is that my 2 year old is not potty trained. I had begun the process about a week and half before we moved to our new place, that way all the accidents could occur at the land/trailer. He was doing pretty well until the Father Son camp out. I do not blame Benjamin for wanting to put him in diapers for the camp out, but you can't go back and truth be told he was doing ok, not great. Back to diapers, sigh. But the upside is my darling daughters have taken to changing his diapers, in fact I think they enjoy the challenge. Bella always says, "Man I should be on Dirty Jobs for this." Whatever gets her through.

My second thing to note this week is about frugality. Wanting to keep some of the skills I have learned on our extended "camp out" I decided that I didn't need a dryer. Our friends gave us their old washing machine, and our old set is back at our rental, so all we were missing was the drying machine. I thought hey I don't need a dryer, I don't need to waste the money, when I have a perfectly good hot sun that zaps moisture in seconds. So alas I went without, I purchased a drying rack for outside. There are two reasons why people back in the day did not use drying machines: 1) they were not invented 2) they only had one day outfit and one Sunday best. Maybe I should just pare down the amount of clothes we have to two outfits a piece, then I think I could handle the line drying, but we don't. The kids need to change five times a day and dirty each piece of clothing, right? Maybe if it were just Benjamin and I, I could handle it. But distractions happen and rather than chucking the wet clothes immediately in the dryer I think oh shoot I have to hang each piece and oh wait Parkin has the jam and is spreading it on the floor. I get to distracted by my lack of desire to hang the clothes and trying to make sure the house doesn't get burned down. Bottom line I am in the market for a nice used drying machine, bless this modern world.


This picture is shows an easy load just towels!

Benson Barracuda's

Suzie and I had been driving our kids into Tucson every day for swim team. It is a long drive for a sport, but this is southern Arizona in summertime, if your kids aren't swimming what else are they doing for exercise? You can't very well send them out to play a game of soccer when the heat is in the 90's (ahh Benson is at least 5 -7 degrees cooler than Tucson, let me tell you it does make a difference!). We had hopes of starting a swim team in Benson next season when we could learn more about the surrounding communities swim team league. I had made a serendipitous call to the Cove in Sierra Vista to find out who they competed against, I was shocked when they listed Benson as one of the swim teams. I then called up the city of Benson to find out about this team that never was listed or advertised. The lady in charge said they were trying to start up a team but nobody had done a swim team before and weren't sure how to start. I asked her what she needed , a coach, and swimmers. Done. Between Scott and Suzie's 5 swimmers and our 2 we had seven willing kids to start the Benson team. Suzie's and my goal was to have a least one other kid who was not a Howe on the team. We accomplished it, there are about 13 kids on the team and we are hoping our numbers will grow when word gets out. The city of Benson's pool is 25 yards so smaller than competition sized pools (25 meters), but there are plenty of private leagues in Tucson that use that size pool. Unfortunatly the pool doesn't have lane lines or hooks in the pool to string lane lines, but after brainstorming with my Father and sister Hillary we came up with a plan. We got pier blocks, rope and fun noodles strung them together and voila, lane lines. It's been a lot of fun starting the program, the kids love that their Mom is the coach, and it is great that we have Scott and Suzie's teenagers to help out (and score points) for our little team. The meet was awesome we had several top places. The first video is of Bella doing her thing in backstroke, she got first place, not that it maters ;) The second video is of Olivia, Sydney and Bella swimming free style. Bella and Sydney continue to touch the wall simultaneously as 1st and 2nd. Olivia is in the far lane plugging along like a champ, we are so proud of her, bless her for being born in a swimming family. She will learn to love it, yes she will :)

Our New Castle

I am living in my dream house! No our house has not been built. We have decided to rent a place (or rather i encouraged Benjamin). There was no way i could endure the summer with four children in a small travel trailer. At Least during the school year the girls could escape, I mean go to school, and the boys and I could have a little more elbow room, but the summer would have been too much. I know my limitations and I had passed them.

So what is this dream house..... A double wide! We now not only have one bathroom but two! The master bathroom even has a garden tub to boot! No more port-a-potty...... It is grand! There is a boys room and a girls room and an awesome wood paneled kitchen, oh yeah! But the laundry room is my personal favorite. Having used a laundry mat for ten months, it is so nice to pop in a load at will. It sits on an acre with mature mesquites and a fenced yard, a must for my escapee Parkin. It is amazing how when you go with out how appreciative you become ( I know their are people who have lived in worse, I can empathize on my own scale). So here is a list of forgotten comforts.

10. A sink large enough to wash dishes without flooding anything.
9. One step better a dishwasher!
8. Room for everyone of my kids to have a bed (instead of 6 people to three beds).
7. A normal size fridge!
6. Room for toys indoors.
5. A vacuum. My favorite chore, little effort with amazing results.
4. Couches!
3. Elbow room at the dining table, a dinning table.
2. bedroom doors
1. Indoor toilets, did you have any doubt that wouldn't be number one!

We are at this rental for a year and the way things are looking with the bank, our future build is uncertain to say the least...... My new phrase has been, "The lord giveth the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord." We may not get our "dream house" but for right now I am so grateful for the comforts we are enjoying.

I thought of putting in pictures, but I thought it best for your mind to imagine how cool the house is, because its just so great!

Bella's Baptism

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this yet. Thanks to Kim for posting about Kaylee's she reminded me to do it :) Crystal too is on the ball with writing about her son, I will get there.

It was so neat to have family and friends come down for the special day. Bella has been waiting for this day for a year. Benjamin and I have also been doing last minute cramming making sure Bella remembers everything that she has learned. First and foremost that after baptism she can always repent when she does something she knows is not right, and that those mistakes can be forgiven too. What a comfort that it doesn't have to last only a day.

Bella was baptised in the dress that I was baptised in and she and I made the dress she wore afterwards.

After the baptism we went over to Kartchner ponds for a barbecue, and thanks to cousin Madison a swim too. She went in the water and started the trend. The kids had a blast.

Mothers note to Bella:

Bella we love you so very much! You are the perfect older sister, always lovingly helping your younger siblings who adore you and you genuinely adore them too! Thanks so much for being an awesome example of always looking on the sunny side of life, your attitude is contagious! Keep up the great job we have all the confidence in you! XXXXOOOO