So a couple of days ago, we were having Sharlee over for dinner and her and Nathan were talking and joking around. I was in the bathroom getting something and I could hear everything they were saying. In the course of the conversation, Nathan sarcastically and jokingly said "get outta my house" to Sharlee. I then I heard Benny, who was in a playful and happy mood, say to Sharlee in an excited voice "Get outta my house!" Sharlee instantly said "That's rude Benny!" Nathan who hadn't heard Benny, asked what he had said. When Sharlee told him, he got up and uprooted Benny from his chair and dinner plate telling him that he couldn't talk to Sharlee like that and how mean he had been. Benny who was confused by the sudden mood of things and why he was being taken to time out began to cry. It was about this time that I finally came out of the bathroom. As Nathan was walking out of the room where poor Benny sat crying in his confinement, I told Nathan "you do know that he was just repeating what you said don't you?" He then said "what?" It turned out that neither Nathan nor Sharlee had realized that Nathan had said "Get outta my house". Which is really funny since they were in a conversation and they weren't even paying attention to what they were saying or hearing. Anyways, when we realized, Benny was apologized to and restored to his seat at the table but I felt for poor little Benny. So many injustices and misunderstandings happen when you're a kid. It's hard to avoid them. It brought me back to some of my childhood days when the same kind of things happened. I remember one time specifically when my sister Julie was not getting along with mom and dad and I guess they had had an argument. Julie, to get back at mom and dad, wrote a sign and stuck it on their bedroom door. It said something like "Beware" or "do not disturb" but she drew blood dripping down from the letters. It was her way of saying mom and dad were being mean. Anyways, when mom and dad found the sign on their door, they thought it was so funny and were laughing. So as a kid, I thought I would be so clever and make mom and dad laugh by writing the same kind of sign but since mom and dad had already been done, I decided to do it on Julie's door. But when mom and dad found the sign on Julie's door, instead of laughing, I was scolded and punished for being a mean sister. Talk about confusing. Childhood seems full of these moments. They're funny though later.

We've also been talking to Benny lately about baptism and even though the idea of going under the water was very unattractive to him, when daddy mentioned he would get the gift of the Holy Ghost, he enthusiastically replied, "I want the goly host!" So cute, I love the way he pronounces everything. I'm also learning that he must do things his own way and with his own style. For instance, he's refused to say prayers for awhile now, but one evening he mentioned that we forgot to pray for the dinosoars. So I asked him if he would like to say it. He readily agreed and then bowed his head and said, "Thank you for mommy long neck. Thank you for daddy long neck. Thank you for little foot. Thank you for Pee Tree. Amen" I thought it was cute but I didn't realize the significance of the prayer till later. Benny loves the movie "The Land Before Time" and he loves to pretend that he is little foot. When he turns into Little Foot, I become the mommy long neck and Ephraim becomes Pee Tree. We sometimes go to the great valley even, which is the playground. Anyways, that was his way of praying for Nathan, me, Ephraim and himself. He was saying thank you for his family. We all just had code names. What a sweet little boy prayer. I love that little guy.

This is the snowman we made before it all melted. Benny decapitated it and loved stomping on it. Such a boy.
visiting the great valley