Just in case any of you thought we had fallen off the face of the earth, we are writing something. The Gehrings have had a lot going on. Not that that is any real reason to not have called for most of your birthdays or to send emails or BB posts. But I'll take the busy factor as my excuse and write this BB to let you know some of what has been happening lately.

We'll start with some of the obvious :) Jacob Frank Gehring was born April 2, 2010. He was 6 lbs 6 oz and 18 inches long. We blessed Jacob on April 18th. He is now 6 1/2 weeks old and becoming very alert. He gave us his first smile on May 11, 2010. Everyone loves Jacob and will do anything for him.

We moved here on April 24, 2010. Thank you Charlie and Will for coming up to help. We also had lots of neighbors on both ends and Matt's family. We couldn't have done it without everyone. The move doesn't even begin to show the service that was rendered. We had all day babysitting, cleaners, over 3 weeks of dinners, tons of manual labor both at Dad and Mom's as well as here. Basically, we survived April - only because of the generosity of a lot of people. Kathy thanks for all you did. Our new address and phone number is 381 W. Willow Wood Cir, Centerville, UT 84014 Our home phone is 801-296-5845. We are loving our house.

We did move in April to enable the renters moving into dad and mom's to move-in. Unfortunately, they decided not to move-in two days before their scheduled date. That was a huge disappointment as so many people had worked so hard to help us. With lots of prayers and mom and dad's faith, we found another renter within days.

Matt and Peter celebrated birthdays at the beginning of May. Sam switched to an elementary school here in Centerville and Eliza broke her arm last Thursday. We continue to drive to Salt Lake twice a week for preschool for Eliza. Our house is very livable, but still is missing a lot of the final touches like doors on closets, plates on electrical sockets, and the base trim in many of the rooms.

What we do love is meeting our neighbors. They have been incredible and are providing guilt as they are so amazing to visit and welcome us. I don't think we have ever visited anyone who is new. We are speaking this Sunday in Church and the Bishopric assigned us to speak on service in the kingdom. I think this ward already has it down. However, we do joke that they could be nice to us just because we are fixing up the house so much and it has been sitting as an eyesore for so long. They tell us awhile ago it had one of the prettiest yards in the neighborhood. Hopefully it will again :)

Thanks for writing such funny BB's they keep us laughing. Hope all is well with you.

Sharon and Family

p.s. Happy Birthday to all the May birthday people :)

May

Wow Rick, that was really nice. Makes me almost want to weep. Some people are so easily impressed. Seriously, we love having Rick and Marisa close too. It is so great to go to there house, dump the kids, play a game and leave the mess. The arrangement is really one sided.

I was just stewing over what is going on at the homestead and I am drawing a blank. Actually, we have had some pretty spectacular birthdays recently. Rachel's birthday was the same day as mother's day this year (talk about pressure). The kids all wrapped different items that Rachel wanted and ended up with some very creative packaging. The kids wrapped Cecelia and Levi in a big box on the table. luckily it was not too long before Rachel opened presents!

In other news I was recently made Scoutmaster I guess I really never appreciated how much work it takes. It's got to rank up in the top few labor intensive callings. On the plus side, working with the YM and my two sons is always rewarding to see them make good choices and progress.

We just finished our orchestra and band final concerts of the year. Both Israel and Elijah did a great job. Elijah is enjoying the Saxiphone so much I think we will probably get him a good quality one soon. The one he has been playing was mine in HS and has seen better days.

Man, I am really struggling for material here. I think I might have to do the lemuel bentley spotlight next month.

Much love from all of us, SREILCFM

Hello,

Thanks to others posts I feel we should do the same even though we have nothing to report. Instead of talking about my family I think I will give a testimonial on the merits of living by Steve and Rach. These are in no particular order.

1. Handyman stuff. I had a valve on my sprinklers bust, and wasn't sure how to get it off the easiest. Steve of course not only knew to cut through the copper pipes, but had the soddering equipment to reconnect things afterwards. I have yet to see Steve not have a tool that I need to fix something; it's like living by Uncle Bruce without the eyebrows.

2. Hurting Steve. Have you ever notice that Steve will not say Uncle? I'm pretty sure he would let me break a finger before he would say it. Along with that there are typically not a lot of friends who I would feel comfortable wrestling with or goosing. With Steve both come naturally. Every once in a while we will have a massive wrestling match with all the kids which is fun. p.s. Don't make Israel mad.

3. Settlers of Catan: Steve and Rach are exceptional "settlers" players. Despite the fact that we all feel very skilled, Marisa almost always seems to win.

4. Cousins, cousins, cousins. The kids have such a fun time playing together and never seem to fight or get sick of each other. The only trick is figuring out where the kids are hiding in the house or the car when it's time for one family to leave. Of note, the production quality of the kid's various plays/melodramas has improved dramatically over the time that we have been here.

5. Rachel. Rach will do anything to help at any time and for any time period. We try not to abuse the system, but she is literally always ready and willing to help.

6. Redneck Stuff. Steve and I have been buying guns ever since we moved to Colorado. (Okay each of us have only bought 2) We now have the firepower to kill any criter in Colorado. Steve bought a camper, I bought an ATV. All we need to do is start watching NASCAR races and the transition will be complete.

I could go on. Having someone strong enough to crack your back is huge, etc. Sorry to rub it in if some of you don't live close to a sibling. There is a connection that goes deeper than friendships. It really is nice. Steve and family we really feel lucky to live by you guys.

R,M,C,L,B,L,K

P.S.- Steve I need to keep your soddering stuff for another day or two. I found another problem.

Sorry...

I deleted the updated addresses post. I don't think we want all of that info online. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but could we just email this one?

Love ya,

Rachel

Hey, Hey, with Steve's coaching I finally did this!!! Okay I'm going to try to post some pictures of our adventure to the waterfalls and mountains, here goes:C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\2010-05-04\DSCF0307.JPG oka it didn't work I'll just send them the other way

The New and Improved BB

Hi Ho,
The guilt has gotten to me. Here goes. Life in Oregon is moving fast. There is way more things to do than time to get them done and for the last 6 months I have felt like I need another 8 hours or so in each day. I'm guessing this is what happens in your thirty's? Rachel and I are very busy with the girls and church mostly. This combines with my helicopter job and a geography class I teach at a community college. The class is map reading and interpretation. Which is something I like doing for fun. It is a fascinating subject and a real thrill.

Helicopter instruction is also great and quite rewarding. I have to stop and remind myself every now and again that I get paid to fly (with the birds!). The best thing about it is seeing my students go solo. Getting to this stage is not easy. Especially for the two 71 years olds I teach. One of them named Don (in the picture) finally soloed after about 80 hours of practice. This is roughly 60 more than usual and an additional $30K (mere pocket change Jamesies). He's put some serious work (and money) into this goal and he finally accomplished it last week. I am very proud.

The girls are doing well. They love their "Keedog" and love being outside. Josie and Violet are both in nursery and it's fun to spy on them during church. They are quite silly really. Josie is starting to quote some of the movies she watches. The best lines come from "Up" and "Robin Hood." My personal favorites are "Excuse me Buster," and "I can smell you." Violet is still mostly grunting, but has mastered "please" and "thank you," which sure helps to diffuse rapid descent to DEFCON 3 or 2 (we have yet to see DEFCON 1 thankfully). Rachel is always working on new projects like refinishing a dresser or making new pillows. She also finds jobs for me like repainting our bedroom and living room. Slowly, but surely we are making this place look good. Who knows how long we will be here for. We're not in a big hurry to leave, but I don't think we'll be in Oregon forever.

That's about it. Would be fun to do a video chat sometime with cousins if anybody is interested. Josie asks me to tell her "cousin stories" or "Uncle Jimmy stories" every night. I'm running out (of the true ones!).

Love Dan and Fam

Dave! and Kar! and Fam!

Hi all,

Rachel is my hero for posting a bb complete with pics at the beginning of this month. I've been letting my cursed perfectionism prevent me from sending something because I'm waiting for an ideal moment to craft something spectacular. No more!! I shake off those oppressive chains!! ...and dash off at least something. I so much appreciate it when all of you guys do.

Our biggest news is that Dave's contract with the College for Creative Studies was renewed for two years. Hooray!! So we can come out and see lots of you this summer. It has been so good to see how the Lord has blessed us with this job. We were so frustrated when we were out of work last year and didn't see how things would work out, but looking back we can see why we needed to have that experience in order to be blessed with this job. Dave is able to do character design, which is what he loves, have complete creative freedom, and have hours that still allow him time with the family. Plus free time so that he can do freelance work to provide enough income to have what we need. What a gift.

Josh is getting really old on us suddenly. He is way into bakugan, starting to take up skateboarding, and has started babysitting for us for increasing stretches. His sense of humor is becoming more sophisticated. He and Dave are designing a video game together in the mornings before school (he still gets up on his own at 5 am. He's like his grandpa and doesn't need much sleep).

Maddie dearly loves all of the flowers that make it so she can't breathe. Such a shame. She valiantly tries to rescue as many worms as possible after rainstorms, wants to grow her hair to her waist (it's almost there, actually) and is a total math whiz with amazing accuracy. Go figure.

We thought that Jakey had allergies too, until he woke up one morning with his eye crusted shut. Turns out he had pinkeye in both eyes and a double ear infection. Oops. He never complained. 3rd kid syndrome I guess-- you usually only call the doctor if there's lots and lots of blood. In more positive news, yesterday he broke his fruit and veggie record by eating an entire half an apple and four baby carrots in ONE DAY. Josh told him they weren't carrots, they were just crunchy water. And by golly, it worked!

At long last, AJ is recovered enough from his surgery to hang out on the floor. He is sprouting two upper teeth and smiles and talks to the pictures of Jesus that we have hanging up. He can only go backwards and in circles but wants desperately to crawl forward. I want him to but I dread it at the same time.

Kid quotes:
"I am Jacob 'handsome' Bentley!" -Jakey

Uh oh. My brain can't pull out any more. I need to write these down.

Love you guys--
DKJMJAJB

May 2010

Dear Family,

First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Kathy Today, and all our nine family members whose birthdays are in May: Matt on the 3rd, Peter on the 4th,Rachel M on the 9th, Mandi on the 14th, Maggie on the 18th, Rachel B on the 23rd David the 26th and Lydia on the 31st!!! PLUS Jimmy and Mandi’s 5th anniversary on the 5th, Steve and Rachel’s and Dave and Kar’s both on the 25th!!! CELEBRATE!
Sharon and Matt moved out of the house last weekend because the couple who was going to rent it needed to move in by the 1st of May. With a new baby Sharon wore herself out trying to move to their new home in Centerville. Friday she got an e-mail from the couple saying that they were backing out of renting our home. She and Matt were so concerned. But, it is another testimony to me that the Lord is so good to us. Within hours the perfect renter appeared. Matt and Sharon had just finished cleaning the house last night and so Matt ran next door (Domans) to ask the neighbors to keep an eye on the place since it was now empty. Sis Jones (we don't know them as they moved in just as we left on this mission) said that her sister-in-law had to move and had been praying to find a place. She is a single woman about our age and felt moving into our home was an answer to her prayers.
We will only get half the rent a month we did when we went to Argentina 18 years ago, plus we'll pay the utilities, but someone will be in the home and most of all we love being an answer to someones prayers!
We had such a sweet experience in the temple today. Toney sealed a sweet couple, Mark and Dixie de la Cruz Gutierrez. Dixie is the youngest of six children. Her parents and all of her siblings and their spouses were in attendance. After they were sealed, the oldest daughter and her husband, who had adopted a little girl had her sealed to them.
There were many tears of joy.
We are speaking tonight and tomorrow at a stake conference and then have conferences or firesides every week until July.
May 20th marks the 10th anniversary of the Tampico temple and judging from the six bus loads of people who came today, it looks like it will be a month of rejoicing. We have many youth groups coming for baptisms, children coming to the outside waiting room for us to talk with, extra sessions planned and a special one on Monday the 17th for our temple workers.
Much love to each of you, Mom and Dad



--
Wendy W. Bentley

HELLO Washington DC

This years Orthodontic Conference is in, you guessed it: Washington DC. We headed out on Wednesday and picked up Zach's mom from the airport and whisked her off to Kirtland, OH for a nights stay and next day tour before driving the rest of the way to DC. We are living it up in Suzi Foulger's appartment while we're here. She and her family are in Costa Rica this week and offered her home to us to use. Suzi lives 2 blocks from the capital building. THIS IS SO INCREDIBLE! We walked all over the national mall today and walked back "home". Wow, I love our enormous family, there is always someone living everywhere you might want to go. :O) Tomorrow we're going to Jamie's house for dinner with Matt/Anne and Jamie's family. it's a Foulger reunion around here. Boy it's nice to have Zach's mom here to help since Z is gone at the conference. Tomorrow will be a nice day of rest! My feet hurt. :) I'll send pics when we get home.

Kar and I have decided this is the month of pure family joy! Listen to this: this upcoming friday Kar and I are going to Time out for Women in Toronto!!! Woo Hoo! THEN, the next weekend I'm driving Mom in law to the airport and then staying over night at D&K's for more bonding. THEN, the next weekend we're going camping or maybe cheap moteling to the famous Michigan Sleeping Bear Dunes!!! Like I said, great family fun. We'll send pics and updates soon.

LOVE YOU ALL! Maria, Zacharius, Kaiteroo, and Liezee