Thanksgiving story

This story has a very personal meaning for our family as six of your ancestors came on the Mayflower in 1620. Anthony Ivins Bentley Jr.—Anthony Ivins Bentley—Margaret McKean Ivins—Israel Ivins—Anthony Ivins—Margaret Woodward—Deborah Tilton—Miriam Allen—Ralph Allen—Elizabeth Howland—John Howland passenger on the Mayflower who married Elizabeth Tilley, who came with her parents, John Tilley and Elizabeth Lancaster, on the Mayflower. ________________________________________________________ More can be found on the internet: http.//members.aol.com/calebj/howland.html  and www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4803/tilley.htm?220058   Wendy Whiting—Johanna Jeanette Cook—Ella Call – Anson Vasco II—Anson Vasco – Anson Call – Sally Tiffany – Rebbeca Ellis – Zilpha Hammond – Jedediah Hammond – Seth Hammond – Mary Hathaway – Sarah Cooke – John Cooke who came on the Mayflower with his father, Francis Cooke. ______________________________________ More can be found about Francis Cooke at www.pilgrimhall.org/cookefrancisrecords.htm       Thanksgiving:  A Bentley Family Tradition. Told by Wendy Whiting Bentley each Thanksgiving as Family and Friends unite to give thanks for their bounteous blessings.     Thanksgiving is a wonderful day.  A day for greeting loved ones and friends, for family, delicious food and football games.  It ushers in the festive holiday season, and how fitting it is that we begin it by setting aside a day to give thanks for our many blessings and by remembering our heritage and forefathers.  Nearly four hundred years ago a group of 102 people set sail from England for a new life in a new world.  They would become known as the Pilgrims, and be remembered long after many other groups of pioneers and settlers had faded into histories pages.  Why?  Because they came to America not as fortune seekers hunting for adventure, wealth or land.  They came with a dream and a vision of a land where they could be free to worship God according to their own beliefs, establish a permanent colony under a democratic government, and live in peace with their Indian neighbors.             The Pilgrims, or Separatists, as they called themselves, had broken away from the Church of England over differences in beliefs.  For this they were persecuted, not allowed to hold meetings or pray publicly.  They sought freedom first in Holland .  However after living there eleven years the Dutch government, with pressure from London , began to make their life difficult.  This plus the fact that their children were adopting Dutch customs and language led them to seek a home elsewhere.  They had listened to the tales of those who had traveled to the new world, and after much debate they decided to settle in America where they could be truly free.             They set sail in September 1620.  John Carver, William Bradford and William Brewster were their leaders.  Only forty-four of the 102 aboard were Separatists.  While at sea 66 days one man died, and one baby, Oceanus Hopkins, was born. On November 11th land was sighted at what today is Cape Cod , Massachusetts , and the Pilgrims knelt to thank God for their safe arrival.  However, it wasn't until a month later, on December 11th that they were able to find a suitable place to settle. They picked Plymouth because it had enough fresh water for a colony, trees enough for building; land already cleared where Indians had once lived and a deep safe, natural harbor.             Before the men left the ship they signed what would become known as the Mayflower Compact.  In this document they pledged to obey their Governor, keep the laws for the good of all, practice religious freedom, and work together in peace to establish a new colony.             One common house was built that December.  They winter was bitter cold, and the ground was frozen hard.  In January there were only seven people well enough to care for the sick and bury the dead.  Over half of their group died during those first few months – only four married women survived. Fortunately during one exploring party they had found an abandoned Indian village and some baskets of dried Indian corn, beans and tobacco.  These they took promising to repay their Indian neighbors if they ever had the opportunity. They had hoped to save it for spring planting, but to keep from starving when supplies grew scarce they rationed themselves five seeds of corn a day.             The situation turned desperate, and then one day they were surprised to see an Indian approach their settlement.  In English he greeted them with "Welcome Englishman."  His name was Somoset; he had learned English from Squanto who had been kidnapped by white seamen years before.  He announced that the great Chief Massasoit would be coming to visit them.             Massasoit did come and the Pilgrims presented him with gifts. They explained that they had come in peace, and a treaty was signed.  Squanto came with the chief, and seeing their desperate condition stayed to literally save their lives by teaching them how to hunt with bows and arrows, tramp the mud driving out the eels for cooking and how to trap small animals and spear and net fish.  In the spring and summer he taught them how to raise pumpkins, squash and to plant corn using 5 herring fish in each mound for fertilizer, gather wild berries and literally how to survive in this new land.  Squanto had been born at Plymouth , and his own people all wiped out due to a disease passed to them by white sailors.  His life was spared because this plague swept through his village while he was a slave in Europe .  He spent the rest of his life with his Pilgrim brothers.  Certainly one can see the Lord's hand in preparing Squanto for his great mission in saving this little band of men and women, they who would establish a heritage and atmosphere of freedom for all who would follow them to America .             At the end of that first summer the Pilgrims had a wonderful harvest.  They invited their Indian friends to join them and 91 braves, squaws and children came, including the great chief Massasoit.  The celebration lasted three days with religious services twice a day during which thanks was given the Lord for their blessings of freedom of country, religion, family, health and friends.             Beside your plate you have 5 kernels of corn which represent these blessings in our lives today.  I am humbly grateful for my Pilgrim heritage, and the legacy of faith, integrity, hard work and courage they left for each of us.  Happy Thanksgiving! (Sing "The Pilgrims Held a Feast" and "We Gather Together." FIVE KERNELS OF CORN   The Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Bay on December 11, 1620.  The winter was bitterly cold.  Sickness and starvation took the lives of nearly half their number.  Fortunately, in an abandoned Indian village they found a few baskets of dried corn, beans and tobacco.  These they took with the promise to repay their Indian neighbors if ever they had the opportunity.  The story is told, that to keep from starving they rationed themselves five kernels of corn a day. These five kernels of corn remind us of the Pilgrim's legacy of faith, integrity and courage.  They represent the blessings the Pilgrims were so thankful for that next autumn after a bountiful harvest: Family, Faith, Freedom, Friends and Food.  May we too be thankful for these great blessings on this Thanksgiving Day.       FIVE KERNELS OF CORN   The Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Bay on December 11, 1620.  The winter was bitterly cold.  Sickness and starvation took the lives of nearly half their number.  Fortunately, in an abandoned Indian village they found a few baskets of dried corn, beans and tobacco.  These they took with the promise to repay their Indian neighbors if ever they had the opportunity.  The story is told, that to keep from starving they rationed themselves five kernels of corn a day. These five kernels of corn remind us of the Pilgrim's legacy of faith, integrity and courage.  They represent the blessings the Pilgrims were so thankful for that next autumn after a bountiful harvest: Family, Faith, Freedom, Friends and Food.  May we too be thankful for these great blessings in our lives on this Thanksgiving Day.

Gehring's Greetings

Greetings all! This week started out a bit rocky, stoney to be exact, as Monday I was diagnosed as having four kidney stones, two active, two dormant. While in the emergency room, Sharon and I received a phone call from mom and dad. During our conversation, it was hinted that were the Utes to win, I, in celebration - tasteful of course - might raise a red and white banner over the Bentley rooftop. Well, though dad gave his blessing , no banner has been or will be raised. As far as the stones are concerned, the progress is best compared to the current state of the Mountain West Conference teams' BCS race - one is in, one is out, while the rest wait patiently.

Turning to less traumatic events, the balance of life for the Gehrings is going well. Actually, Sharon has been acting a bit strange of late. As most of you are aware Sharon is a great advocate for the Thanksgiving Holiday. This advocacy includes the annual reading of, and hommage to "Squanto", five kernals of corn at the table durning T-day dinner, and the dictator like censorsing of Christmas music before Thanksgiving. However, this year has been different. Since the early days of the month, though putting up an almost non-recognizeable objection of listening to "yule tide carols being sung by the choir" has outright abandoned all self-restraint and frequented the airwaves of FM 100 and Kozy 106.5 for their million hours of Christmas music. Likewise she assisted with the exterior lighting decorations in that she took down an entire Saturday's worth of lights after we discovered they did not work (yes we tested them before stringing them up) and restrung all new lights the same day. Regarding the interior decor -yes the tree is up. These latter two actions she justifies as "forethought and planning" as we will not be here after Thanksgiving as we would be normally. While her behavior is atypical for the season, thus alarming, not all hope is lost...we finished Squanto late last week.

We wish you all a happy Thanksgiving and look forward to seeing the Colorado Bentley's this week!

Good news, bad news

Good news: Steve and I are expecting a baby   Bad news: I am pregnant   There is a lot of moaning and groaning around our house.  I think most of it is coming from me as I sit around the house trying to live through the horrible yucky part of pregnancy.  Occasionally, I think I hear some coming from the kids or Steve as they forage for food and clean laundry.  I think the only reason that we are surviving reasonably well is that Marisa has been our angel who comes over once a week and cooks and cleans.  I personally would guarantee her a place in Kingdom if it was mine to give.  (Too bad it's not.)    Steve starts tithing settlement this next week and so his life will get even crazier for a while.  I am always amazed at how much he manages to do.  He has a lot of days that start at 6am and finish around 10pm.  But I know the Lord has always blessed our family for his willingness to serve.   Sorry we've been so remiss in keeping up with everyone lately, but we love you, and think of you all often.    Love,   The Colorado Bentley 2+6= 8  (coming May 12th...ish)

fotos

Mom's bbb

The Rededication of the Mexico City Temple, November 16, 2008 We, along with the other 11 temple presidents and directoras (matrons), from Mexico were invited to attend the rededication of the Mexico City temple.  We felt so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to be part of this historic event, and to return to our beloved Mexico City. We got a late start from Tampico (10:30).  Two hours later we were in Vales and ready to start our climb up into the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains.  Toney wanted to take a new way through the mountains, and thought this would be shorter than the one we took last January to Mexico City.  It wasn't.  Twisty two lane highways with trucks, buses and occasional cows, burros, goats and pueblos with their ever present "topes" (speed bumps), don't lend themselves to fast travel.  In one town with a population of perhaps 50 residents (if you count the dogs and donkeys) we counted five topes! This new route however, was beautiful.  And with spectacular vistas and deep gorges it kept things interesting.  After five hours of lush, verdant mountains we immerged into high arid plains.  Mountains still loomed as we descended, but they were rocky ridges covered with cactus and cedars instead of banana, citrus and tropical pines. As Dad is fond of saying, when one of Cortez' conquistadores returned to Spain, he was asked to describe to the King of Spain (Philip I believe) what Mexico was like.  He asked for a piece of paper, wadded it up in his hand and threw it on the table. Eleven hours after beginning our trip (it took us ten last January) we pulled onto "temple square."  It felt good to be "home" again.  Nancy had arranged for us to have a room in the dorm designated for temple patrons. Saturday:  We enjoyed talking to Pres. y Hna. Cruz of the Tuxlua Temple, and Elder and Sister Waldo Call, who are our neighbors in the dorm,.  After breakfast we had hoped to go to the Visitors Center, Distribution Center and Zarahemla (the local Deseret Book Store).  To our disappointment, everything was closed.  So we headed down to the Zocalo (downtown) area.  We went to our favorite market and wandered around.  To Dad's joy, and my amazement, we didn't even find anything we were interested in buying!  We already have everything we want or need! We ate at a restaurant advertizing "Argentine cuts of beef."  Ours was not an Argentine cut, nor an Argentine meal (with the steak came refried beans and enchiladas).  By three o'clock we were on our way to Aztec Stadium which holds 100,000 people.  It was a good thing we had three hours before it began because we sat in traffic for two hours, and once we arrived we walked kilometers trying to find our seats.  In the process we did see the Littlefields (mission pres in the city until a year ago), Doxies (doctor with the embassy), Hna. Ivonne Riiz (one of our instructors), Hno Lopez (CCM administer), and five or six returned missionaries who came up to us and said they had been in the CCM with us. We thought we would be sitting outside like the rest of the people and I had dragged two coats (it is cold here).  However, our tickets were to sit in the glassed in restaurant area with the general authorities!  We were even served soft drinks and nuts!  It was fun to see the Machucas (an area seventy who was one of Dad's counselors in the CCM), the Taylors (who were the temple president and our neighbors when we lived here) the Elder Cardenez, Elder Alanzo, Elder Torres, and other Mexican Seventies and friends we have known over the years.  Tom Colburn and Kent Arrington were also there from the Temple Department. Because of the heavy traffic, Elder Mickelsen with President Monsen and Pres Eyring were about 25 minutes late in arriving. When they did walk in a cheer went up, and white handkerchiefs waved. Meanwhile the youth had lined up about 10 minutes before 6:00 to be in position for the prophet's arrival.  The temperature was nippy and some of them were in scanty Aztec costumes and clearly very cold when things finally began.  The program tried to cover the Book of Mormon, colonization, revolution down to the present day.  It was obviously too broad, but the dancing was wonderful and the costumes were gorgeous.  According to what was printed there were 7,000 participants!  President Monsen was darling when they did the "old man dance"(where the boys with canes dance) he got up and did a little jig with them which of course brought the house down. The most touching moment for us was at the end when first the girls, and then the boys of the church school, Benimerito  come out singing Michael Hick's arrangement of As Sisters in Zion, and Armey of Helaman.  They were joined by the full time missionaries walking on singing Called to Serve.  A sea of white handkerchiefs waved as President Monsen and Eyring left with the area presidency.  Ann Dibb was accompanying her father, and I would have loved to have said hello, but we were behind them two rows and over to the side. Leaving the stadium we got completely lost.  It took us an hour to find our little white car in the sea of hundreds of busses.  At least as we walked around and around we kept hearing, "President Bentley, you were my CCM president."  All total there were an amazing number of people who recognized us.  Once we found the car, it took us another almost two hours to get back to temple square!  This is a BIG city, with too many cars for the road system; and it didn't help that we were on the opposite side of town and made a few wrong turns. Sunday:  What a wonderful day! We visited in the morning  with the Cruz' and Calls,.  All of us had our tickets for the second session at 12:00.  We were ushered into the waiting room of the temple at 11:00.  After a few minutes in walked Alfredo and Amada Miron!  What a tender mercy.  We had tried to call them without success, and thought perhaps we wouldn't have the opportunity to see them.  After the session we invited them to eat lunch with us at the cafeteria which they did and it was so nice catching up on their family, talking about the temple, family history etc.. But, back to the dedication.  About ten minutes after our arrival, we were escorted to the celestial room and it was filled with mission and temple presidents, area seventy, stake presidents etc..  We sat quietly until 12:00.  It reminded me of the powerful lesson on reverence we were taught in our temple training.  As I sat there I thought of all those on the other side of the veil who might be in attendance, Dad's ancestor's who settled in Mexico more than one hundred years ago, Spencer W. Kimball who loved these people, and the many Book of Mormon prophets.  This temple is such a great heritage and blessing for these people.  They had a fabulous organist and music conductor.  Nancy (our secretary in the CCM, and one of our "daughters") was singing in the choir.  Their hymns were memorized, perfectly on pitch and were absolutely beautiful. When they sang the Anthem and the rest of joined in the Spirit of God  it was so powerful, I am sure the angels of heaven were singing with us.  It was glorious and I think the best music I think I've ever heard (including the Tabernacle Choir). As we walked around temple square we kept running into people who remembered us and greeted us with fondness, our missionaries three of our instructors who had been with us at the CCM (Hno. Lopez, Hno. Vazquez) In the evening Nancy (the CCM secretary) came over to visit, and then we walked her home.   Monday:  We woke up at 2:30 and left by 3:00.  There were some "white knuckle moments" as we crossed foggy mountain passes, but we may good time and were in Poza Rica by dawn.  Now we are on a familiar highway and this time Dad was correct we did find a shorter route (seven hours).  It is nice to be home in time to unpack and get cleaned up before needing to be at the temple at noon. Great trip and the only loss was leaving our strong, good black mesh bag with our food at one stop.

Blast from the Bentley Reunion Past

This Movie CRACKS me up. I've meant to put it on for all of your enjoyment for 5 months!!! if you miss the comment from Caroline at the beginning, RE-WATCH it's the best part.

I wish I would have more movies of more cousins, but these ones are so funny to me. HOPE YOU ENJOY.

Colorado Reunion?

Rick and Steve (with the blessing of Marisa and Rachel) have suggested we have our family reunion in Colorado next summer.  It would be the second weekend in Aug.  The temple closes the 2nd of Aug and we will fly into SL have our doctors and dentist appointments and then that first weekend and then would head to Colorado for the reunion up at the Air Force Academy property.  There are cabins and a lake stocked with fish.  I realize there may be babies being born, people (Steve and Rachel) moving etc..  BUT, Rick needs to make the reservations soon if we want to do it. Dad and I think it sounds great and we should go ahead with the plans and hope most of you can make it.  I figure Dan and Rachel can drive to Salt Lake and then we can car pool with SL clan.  FUN!  Please respond soon

Fw: 8 minutes of your time please? Dan's BBB article

--- On Mon, 11/10/08, Daniel Bentley <dfbentley@gmail.com> wrote: From: Daniel Bentley <dfbentley@gmail.com> Subject: 8 minutes of your time please? Dan's BBB article To: marisabentley@hotmail.com, stephen.a.bentley@intel.com, bstephen_2000@yahoo.com, bentleybunnies@yahoo.com, danielfbentley@gmail.com, david.bentley@autodesk.com, jbentley@unitedfirstfinancial.com, bentley.anthony@gmail.com, richard.bentley@usafa.af.mil, rachelbbentley@gmail.com, mtckathy@hotmail.com, gehringms@yahoo.com, zachandmary@hotmail.com, mtcwendy@yahoo.com, "Toney Bentley" <tbentley@kmclaw.com> Date: Monday, November 10, 2008, 3:39 PM Hello everyone, I am writing my BBB article. Hope all is well. We really like our new Violet. She is roughly the same size as a sloth I recently saw (on TV) get plucked from a tree branch by a Harpy Eagle in eastern Peru. Anyway, I know there are more important things going on in the world, but if you have 8 minutes to waste away at work or if you have no good idea of what to do with the kiddies tonight for an FHE activity please watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9z76i3886w   James would be most happy to see this one as it was with him that I first saw it at the Lander cousin's home when I was 7 or 8 years old. To put it mildly it changed my life (and possibly young Jim's too) forever. One perk of watching is that you will no longer have to think much about that classic common question of "if you could be an animal what kind would you be?" In addition, I did a massive research paper on the subject in college.   Love Frank   p.s. Mom can you add this to the blog please?

Fw: Tampico Tidbits mom's BBB

--- On Sun, 11/9/08, Wendy Bentley <mtcwendy@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Wendy Bentley <mtcwendy@yahoo.com> Subject: Tampico Tidbits mom's BBB To: "Marisa Bentley" <marisabentley@hotmail.com>, "Stephen Bentley" <stephen.a.bentley@intel.com>, "Rachel Bentley" <bstephen_2000@yahoo.com>, "Karalee Dave Bentley" <bentleybunnies@yahoo.com>, "Daniel Bentley" <mountdfb@hotmail.com>, "David Bentley" <david.bentley@autodesk.com>, "Jimmy Bentley" <jbentley@unitedfirstfinancial.com>, "Toney Bentley" <bentley.anthony@gmail.com>, "Rick Bentley" <richard.bentley@usafa.af.mil>, "Rachel Brady" <rachelbbentley@gmail.com>, "Charlie Crump" <charles_crump@hotmail.com>, "Kathy Crump" <mtckathy@hotmail.com>, "Sharon Matt Gehring" <Gehringms@yahoo.com>, "mary Zach Williams" <zachandmary@gmail.com> Date: Sunday, November 9, 2008, 9:10 PM NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS Madeline Lee turns 8 on the 12th and will be baptized on the 16th! Congratulations Maddie Emma Josinette turns 7 on the 13th Richard Whiting turns 39 on the 28th We just got our tickets for the Mexico Temple dedication! All 12 temple presidents from Mexico have been invited, and we will be seated in the celestial room! Kar tells me that the dedication will be broadcast. Maybe you'll see us. What a historical event to be part of. We also have tickets for the spectacular in the huge stadium on Saturday evening. Nancy has fixed us up with a room in the CCM dorm. We will leave about 2:00 A.M. Mon morning to get back to Tampico by noon as a temple supervisor is coming from SL to spend Mon and Tues here and we also have the Bosque Stake who have scheduled a special session at 1:00 Monday. Sat: Today I am feeling especially thankful for good health. We opened the temple this morning and shortly thereafter the saints from Poza Rica Palmas began to arrive. One aged man entered with difficulty. Bent at a 45 degree angle he inched his way forward with the help of two canes. Another sister, clearly in pain, slowly maneuvered herself with a walker. It was sweet to watch our dear workers move forward to help them. Our paralyzed sister, Marialena, who comes so faithfully a couple of times a month to the temple was at the 10:00 session. Each of these three who struggle physically, made me realize how very blessed I am. We left the temple and drove two hours to Mante to attend their stake conference. Elder Morales of the Seventy and his sweet wife, Antonia, as well as the Moss' were also there. It was a wonderful conference! We ate together after the evening session in the hotel we were all staying in. Sun: While Dad was at priesthood meeting I had the luxury of lounging in a bath tub! Oh I hope the new apartment the Church is building for us has a tub! Dad and I spoke both last night and this morning in conference. Elder Morales told us about the growth of the Church in India and China and other lands, and that President Packer had shared with the Seventy that the Church would rely upon the Latin missionaries to take the gospel into many of these countries where Americans would not be accepted. He spoke about the responsibility Mexican Saints have to raise their children in righteousness and prepare their sons to serve missions. Afterwards the Stake President and his wife (Pres. Dennis and Patricia Guerra) invited us, along with the Morales and Moss' to their home for dinner. After my e-mail last week in which I was so shocked to see where our counselors live, I'm happy to tell you that the Guerra's live in a beautiful home (notice the picture below)! This is the family who's seven year old, Sofia, died on her way to the hospital seven or eight months ago. They have a five year old girl, three year old boy, and a three month old baby girl I fell in love with (I just kept picturing all my darling grandchildren). We enjoyed such a lovely afternoon with everyone. Well, I had better end this (I've heard from some that my entries are so long they don't read them). Love to each, Mom p.s. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but after an hour of trying to post this with my pictures on the blog with no success I'm just putting this on my e-mail.  WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?

Jingle and Jangle The Mischievous Christmas Elves

The following is a fictional work. Any similarities to persons are purely coincidental...well actually, it was inspired by my own experiences as a child and again as a mother. I was asked by the Relief Society to write a Christmas memory and mom thought you'd all enjoy reading it. I really am grateful to be part of such a big, awesome family. I was reading this story to Will this morning and he said, "you had eight brothers and sisters! That would be like having a cousin party every night!" Thanks big brothers, Steve, Rick, and Dave, for making Christmas magical for me as a child and never letting me in on the secret until I was old enough to be the elf myself.
p.s. I will miss being all together this Christmas!
****

As soon as the snow began falling and the smell of Mom's gingerbread cookies was in the air, we Bentley children started catching glimpses of Jingle and Jangle, the mischievous Christmas elves. Sometimes I would spot the tip of a bright green hat flying around the corner, other times I would see tiny footprints under a tree, but most of the time I would have just missed the illusive little creatures and I'd have to hope for faster eyes next time.

All eight brothers and sisters got to sleep together in one room on Christmas Eve. The excitement and anticipation in the air was immeasuable as we contemplated the happy possibilities that Christmas morning held for us. Quiet would finally settle aroudn us with the promise of a story about Jingle and Jangle, the Christmas elves. As we lay down under a pile of thick pile of blankets in the middle of the floor, my older brother Rick spun the most fantastic stories.

Jingle and Jangle were always getting into some mishap or another as they went to and from our house checking to see if we were eating our veggies and minding our mother. There was the time that they narrowly escaped death when Giles, the neighbor’s straggly-haired cat mistook them for mice and chased them viciously until they managed to outsmart him with only a roll of toilet paper and some spatulas. Another time, they had too much eggnog and took a wrong turn on their way to the North Pole, ending up in Bermuda. They happily exchanged their pointy elf shoes (which were rumored to pinch like crazy) for a pair of flip-flops and sat on the beach drinking pina coladas for a whole afternoon until at last, they unselfishly decided to live a life of sacrifice “for the children’s sake” and return to their elfly duties, putting off their dreams of comfortable feet until retirement.

It was about two-thirds of the way through the story when Steve, my oldest brother, who was a teenager by now, would say, “I can’t believe you guys still believe in elves!” “If there really is such a thing as elves, how come I’ve never seen one?” “It’s because you don’t believe as good as we do,” little Jimmy would pipe up matter-of-factly. Then in his most disgusted teenager voice, Steve would say, “I’m going to my own room to get some sleep.” Slightly disenchanted, we’d return to our story until a few minutes later, we’d hear the magical sound of jingle bells! Screams of pure joy would erupt through the air as we hunted excitedly for the elves annual Christmas Eve surprise. Soon we’d find a stash of candy or seven cups of hot chocolate (Steve was overlooked by the elves for his lack of faith) and we’d finish the night, evermore convinced of the reality of those mischievous Christmas elves. Returning from his stealth mission, Steve would tell us it was time to go back to bed as we’d proudly inform him about what he’d missed out on.

So every Christmas Eve though I am sleep-deprived an weary, I take the place of my big brother and spin the enchanting stories for my own children until one by one, they all fall asleep, dreaming of Jingle and Jangle and the magic of Christmas as only a child can experience it.


Kathy

whoa dan

I am backing up the laptop and finding photos from summer!  Thanks for the excellent adventures!

 

 

Dave

 

Family Quotes

Caroline: Let's go to a Chinese restaurant and eat with "fork chops" again.

Charlie: Thanks for putting the kids away tonight, hun.

Emma (in her prayers): Please bless all the robbers that they will be able to get some money so they can buy food and they won't have to steal anymore.

Will (who is supposed to be sound asleep by now but is instead running around like crazy upstairs and jumping on his bed) I couldn't fall asleep so I was just trying to get myself tired.

Peter has something to say

Spiderman, Football Jock, Pumpkin, and Princess

We love snow!!!

Our snowman that fell down 10 minutes later.

Coming fun June 2009!

Just thought you would want to know what was happening with the

Gehring 6

October Halloween Spookiness

We're trying to do this the fancy schmancy Steve way.  We'll see if this works. 

Quotes: 
"I lost the baby!" -Dave sitting in church (Jacob had escaped under the pew in front of us)
"Just feed him whatever's under his chair.  I'm sure that's fine.  Just .. DO SOMETHING!" -Anonymous parent (driving and getting desperate)
"Let's go home Mom.  I've got some dreaming to do." -Josh
"Rats!"
"Do you mean the expression, or the noun?" 
"Noun, peanut butter brain!" -Josh's book characters
"For your information, kid, my name is Peanut." -Maddie's book character
"RARRRR!" -Jake, all the time, especially in costume

Halloween update:
Captain Socks, the human sock puppet with superpowers (Maddie), along with Agent Socks (Dave, Captain Sock's sidekick) and a Lion from the land of Costco (Jake), waited patiently.  Ever so patiently.  Then they moved to the side of the road to flag down potential trick-or-treaters.  They called out to passers-by, "Hey!  There's candy!  Get over here!  HEY!"  Puzzled as to why people ran screaming from them, they switched tactics.  Captain Socks launched into a full song-and-dance routine.  In the end, Captain Socks allowed costumed folks two pieces of candy each, unless they were big people ("Big people have big stomachs").  The clone trooper (Josh) and his camouflaged Endorian mommy went out amongst the rats.  The clone trooper made a haul, and was reminiscent of Santa Claus as his pillow case got larger and larger, and finally was too much for him.  He went down screaming in pain, then collapsed.  Deep in a sugar-induced coma, he had to be dragged home on a makeshift bed of twigs lashed together with empty pixy stick wrappers.   Later stating, "I'm probably going to throw half of this away."

Weapons report: 
Clone trooper was sporting a replica of a black powder two shot from Mackinac Island ca. 1880.  Captain Socks was armed with sock grenades, sock blaster, stinky socks and a surprise weapon called a knockout bachau (That's how Captain socks says it's spelled.  It's a spoon with suction darts on it that makes the sound, "bachau!  Bacahau!")

Random Facts:
The kids also had stores that they set up which stocked the following wares (I forget specifics, but I was charged over a million bucks.  I wouldn't necessarily recommend shopping there but it was quaint)....

Josh:
- a tour of the shop
- advice ("Go soak your head!") ("Buy some more!")
- stinky socks
- information (Josh said, "there's over 50 adventures on foot in France!")
- movie
- Starter's kit
- game boy (out of stock)
- surprise
- great product (pumpkin)

Maddie:
- Yelling
- Nothing
- Knuckle sandwich
- Toe ice cream
- Health Insurance
- Air
- Hug
- Kind words

Also, Kar got to go to Canada where there was way too much snow to hang with Mauz, Zach and the little women.  Thanks for the hospitality amigos. :)

We love you.

The Deranged in Detroit 5

The deer story is true....except...

Everything that Rick has said is true except that what he FAILed to mention is that HE bought the food. I don't think it coincedence that James and I both managed to get sick on the same day. The real story is that R was looking to take all the glory of the "first kill" by poisoning his brothers. It would have worked too if the deer had not let Jim and I onto this early. In exchange, I made a deal with the deer to "convieniently not show up". Yes, deer are smart. -S

The Tale of the Hunt

Dear Family,

I told Mom for her birthday I would write in the BB. I would like to explain how we were out-performed, out-manuvered, and out-thought by simple deer.

My 1st excuse for the lack of success on the hunt is illness: Our first night Steve turned white during dinner and didn't want to eat any food. He went to bed and slept until about 2 o'clock in the morning. He woke up, and tried to stand up. He felt dizzy and had to lay down in the back of the truck. He finally got up and tried to pee and promptly passed out.....he woke up some time later with his pants down and "wet". Jim had a bad head ache and thought it would be a good idea not to get out of his sleeping bag to pee. He hopped to the edge of the tent and began to void only to fall over in mid stream.....wetness was again the end result. Let's just say the next morning the deer that were down wind knew we were coming.

Excuse number 2 deer are smart.

Excuse number 3: we know almost nothing about hunting, I fear for our families if we are ever in a Nephi/steel bow scenario.

Truth be told we had a great time. We would stay up every night playing stupid games like "War" with cards. We did see a few deer on private land. (A cabin must be obtained in the future.) There was nothing on public land but chipmunks. Steve and I thought about popping one with a 30-06, but weren't certain how much of a trophy we would have to bring home.

Anyway hope springs eternal. We'll get them next year. I'll leave it to Steve to make up a story about how there were bears that attacked us.

love,

Richard

The Good Citizen Award

Well, Eliza, Peter, and I just voted. As I left the one hour process and was getting my kids into the car a gentleman said, "You deserve the good citizen award." We were fine waiting in line, but during the actual voting part Peter was wailing and bending backwards in my arms and Eliza was trying to escape with the stroller. Thanks to a nice lady with "I voted early" stickers, and me knowing exactly what I was going to vote for - we made it. It also really helped that I get a lot of satisfaction out of voting. I do think I will look into mail-in ballots like Kathy has used for the last couple of elections.






In others news we carved pumpkins last night and went to the Wheeler Farm and Lagoon during the last couple of weeks.

Hope you are enjoying your fall season.

Sharon

Recent kid quotes...

""What language do babies think in? I can't remember." -Maddie

"When you're all alone in the garage, and you're hiding in the van, laugh ho ho because you know there's no such thing as a killer soccer ball." -Josh (gotta love 9-year old humor)

"Did you know that my teacher said that you can't use 'That's all, folks!' as a concluding sentence?"
"That's too bad. What would be a good example of a good concluding sentence?"
"'From that day on, I decided never to mess with snails again. Especially the Apache snail.'" -Maddie

How do babies get to school? They go on the Drool bus. - Josh (original jokes)

We love you guys. :)

DKJMJB

Hi from the Colorado Thompson-Bentleys

For the record I love the blog, Rick, not so much.

We had such a fun overnighter with Steve's family last week. We went to a place about an hour east and stayed in a cabin. While there we were scheming trying to think how to get the rest of you to come and do a family reunion in these facilities. It could be fun ... think about it.

The kids had so much fun and were up by 5am laughing and running around. Why would you be quiet at 5 in the morning when you have cousins around? We love having Steve and Rachel's family in town.

Rick, Steve and Jim are going hunting this weekend. Each night Rick comments on how cold it is in our house ... how cold is it going to be outside? Colorado is not a warm place, especially at nights. Hopefully they will all return with all their digits.

We still have an open invitation to anyone who wants to come to Colorado for Thanksgiving. Just start thinking about it and let us know sooner rather than later so we can make the appropriate plans.

Big kisses from all of us, Rick, Marisa, Cora, Lincoln, Brigham, Lydia and Clyde

We do exist and are excited for the great additions to the Bentley Clan. Yesterday Sister Moss the Mission President's wife in Tampico stopped by bringing gifts for the grandkids. It is obvious that she loves Dad and Mom and even more obvious Gpa and Gma love their grandkids. I think the gifts are for Easter or something.

Some of the events that have caused a bit of commotion this month have included: Peter burning himself with my curling iron on the back of his neck. Eliza splitting the back of her head open about 1 inch when she fell backwards on her highchair and hit the corner of the cubbyhole. Sharon's eye repeating its iritis and deciding not to get better. Matt starting doctor's visits to hopefully get rid of the back, wrist, and other pain he constantly feels. Sam having no health problems.



Matt has also been called to be the Deacons advisor and assistant Scout Master. The first major planned activity is to go camping at Crystal Hot Springs using a motor home. I think Matt will have some opinions on what will be future camping trips. In fairness, this is an annual event that has been very successful with the Deacons. Even though many of them will get to sleep on the floor of the motor home. It beats freezing in November.

Why do people have to be in the background of this picture. AAAAH!

Sam's usual camera position for family photos

We are loving the fall season and our surprise snow storm that occurred last Sunday. Peter woke up and looked out the window and was practically screaming. He couldn't believe the world was white. It was a really funny reaction.



The Gehrings

News you certainly can't use

...But that's all we have to offer. :)

Jakey: Thinks that foam is a food group. Has taken serious bites out of anything nerf, including swords and footballs. Now likes to "discuss" things at length and is frustrated that we don't speak his language. Obsessed with horses.

Maddie: Creative to the max. Is decorating a pumpkin for a school contest where they're not allowed to carve it, so she's used a rotten part of the pumpkin for an eye. It's amazing. Is creating a seriously cool human sockpuppet costume for Halloween, if Dave and I can jimmy rig it. (We seriously could use Jimmy to rig it. Where are you when we need you, Beans?)

Josh: Was one of only 20 kids in the entire school who was invited to be in the Academically Gifted and Talented group. Quite an honor, but they meet every Tuesday for two hours. I asked him if he wanted to pray about it, seeing as how he is already doing piano, Cub Scouts and iceskating. He opted out. When I asked him what made him decide, he said that he had prayed about it, and that he had discussed it with Jakey. "Jakey's a good listener."

Kar: Chopped her hair off. Dreaming of a house in the Hamptons with a personal maid, cook, and masseuse. So happy that we live close enough to Mary and Zach that we could drive over and see our newest little neice (who is beautiful, by the way! Good work guys.)

Dave: Learning to do the whole High Council thing. Gone most Sundays but looking quite smashing in his suit and clean shaven. Blessing people's lives right and left (although he'll never tell you that. But I'm onto him.) Super busy with work and traveling again.

WE love you, even though we stink at posting on time. Thanks for keeping in touch, everyone. :)

Love,

DKJMJ

the guilt got to me

The guilt sent my way has convinced me to write.

Hey fam,

Lets see, what’s new? I’m going hunting with Steve and Rick this weekend. I’m convinced that the reason they really want me to come is so that in the event of a Donnor party scenario I will be the first to go. Although Steve has the most meat on his bones. It should be fun really unless we forget matches, tp, or other essentials for survival. It’s about mid-term time in school but all is well and work is good too. Mandi is nicer to me now as well so I’m pretty happy. Jk. Big gulps huh? Well have a good one.

Jim Bean and Mand

Ps. The blog is way better than the old way. Who started the mutiny?

So we were going to wait until Rachel had our baby, but since that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon, I guess I will report. Life is more complicated lately as I ended up spraining my ankle playing hoops. Luckily I didn't break it because it was a bad one, and quite painful. Rachel is ready to have our little Violet, but nothing is happening. Josie has learned how to say "baby," but I'm sure has no idea what is about to happen in her life. I think she'll like her, she seems to like small furry things. Speaking of furry things, Keena tolerates Josie and is actually quite kind considering the abuse she receives (from Josie, not me of course). Josie is going to be Little Red Riding Hood for Holloween. I am going to borrow my brother-in-law's wookie suit (yes, he has one too), and go as the "Big Bad Wolf." Not that my "silver-back" gorilla/abominable snowmanster suit that Mom made me wouldn't do the job swimmingly, it's just that this one is more wolfish, which is important. I tried to convince Rachel to where my suit and go as an abominable pregnant womanster, but she declined. Maybe if the baby doesn't come she'll give in and play the womanster role. I'm not getting my hopes up though. Hey, a man can dream can't he. Happy Holloween!

Dan, Rach, Josie, Violet and Kee

more fairy castle fun

Feelin' hot?

Last weekend one of my friends invited my family over for dinner. She has a big yard with all sorts of vegetables growing, including jalepeno peppers. The kids were goofing around while the adults talked away when Will got the bright idea to make Emma eat one of the peppers. Well, Emma, being the trusting little soul that she is, took a big bite at Will's suggestion. Pretty soon she was tearing up and waving her hand in front of her mouth because it was so hot. Will just thought that was so funny and was giggling in the corner as she drank glass after glass of milk to chase the spiciness away. Soon it was time to go and we all hopped in the car. We were a couple minutes into the drive home when Caroline started screaming. I looked back to see that her eyes and entire face were red and swollen. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I remembered the jalepeno peppers. It seems that the kids had stuffed their pockets with them and Caroline must have touched her eyes and face after having touched the peppers. As it always is after a long car ride home, the kids and Mom, all raced into the bathroom to use the toilet first. Will was the fastest but before long, he came out of the bathroom, jumping up and down and holering in agony. It seems he must have had some jalepeno remains on his hands too!

This is my BBB for the month and also a vignette from my memoirs: Although I will also post this so of you have said it is easier to print it off from e-mail. So I'm sending it both ways. I figure when I can't sleep and start remembering things I might as well get up and write them down. Enjoy!

Wendy Jo slid off the bed and made her way into the living room where Douglas and Bruce were still arguing over something that had begun at the dinner table. “Get the gloves and let’s fight it out,” said Bruce. Douglas gladly obliged and the boxing match began. Wendy Jo hated it when her brothers fought. It scared her and she began to cry. Gordon was sitting on the sofa. He picked her up and swung her onto his lap reassuring her with, “They aren’t really going to hurt each other. They are just having fun.” Wendy Jo wasn’t at all convinced, but after the first punch or two were delivered, the dispute was settled and the gloves were thrown off. “No, not so high!” Wendy Jo shrieked as she found herself being lifted over Gordon’s head so that she touched the ceiling. Taking turns the boys passed her from on to the other, until Bruce perched her on his shoulders and headed towards her bedroom.

Tonight it was his turn to put her to bed. He was anxious to get down the alley and play ball with the Giefer brothers, but dutifully, he listened to her prayers and tucked her into bed with one of his famous Sweet Fanny Goonie adventure stories. “Remember to leave the closet light on and don’t close the bedroom door all the way,” pleaded Wendy Jo. “Okay” he agreed and Wendy relaxed.

She awoke when a wind from the open window blew the door close with a bang. She got out of bed to open the door again when to her horror she noticed that the rest of the house was dark. Was she alone? With eyes wide with fright, she popped her thumb into her mouth. She clutched her threadbare, small, green wool, blankey with one hand, and inched out of her room and up the staircase to where the big boy’s rooms were. By now her imagination began to conger up all sorts of dreadful images. She loved make believe and stories of princesses and castles. Unfortunately, a lot of them included evil stepmothers and ugly witches. She was alone, and maybe something awful was lurking down the long hallway. Then for a second time that night she was lifted into Gordon’s reassuring arms.

October's Birthdays

With the births of Liza and Violet, October is now in second position next to May as our biggest birthday month. Here they are:
Oct. 5th Elizabeth Ivy (Liza) Williams welcome to the family!
Oct. 12th Levi Aaron Bentley turns 9
Oct. 13th Violet Bentley is due
Oct. 14th HORRORS Bishop Stephen Anthony turns 40
Oct. 24th Marisa Lee Bentley celebrates her special day
Oct. 27th Mom Bentley is another year young

Are you an orphan this Thanksgiving?

Dear Family,
Aunt Bev and Uncle Bruce wish me to extend an invitation to any and all of you who are without family this Thanksgiving (or who just don't like their family) to come to Wyoming! We all know from first-hand experience that Aunt Bev can cook and the company is great, so this is an offer that you would be wise to consider. Eric and Michelle and Pete and Natalie will be there too. Love, Kathy