You are my Father

As I was searching for a poem to help me explain how I felt I found this and it explains everything so well. At the end I did change the author's name to mine.

You are my Father

I will not look at this as a goodbye.

I will not allow the sorrow of this event to destroy me.

I will embrace what you have taught me through the

years and carry that with me.

You have not died. You will forever be a part of my life,

and through me you will forever be a part of my

children's as well. We are your legacy.

I am proud to have had you in their lives.

I hope they inherit your charm, your good nature, and your

charisma. I know with your influence they will grow to

become good men.

You have raised me to the best of your ability

and for that I want to thank you.

Thank you for being kind, thank you for being stronger than

you know, and most of all, thank you for loving us.

You have inspired me to live life to the fullest,

and never back down.

I will not be taken over by the anger and

frustration of your loss.

Instead, I will remember the days when I was young

and you were my hero.

I will see you in my dreams.

There you will forever be healthy and strong.

In time, I hope to embrace your freedom, freedom from the

pain, and freedom from the weight of your illness.

Sorrow is inevitable, but I will face this with the same

courage you did, because I am you, and you are my Father.

Always your daughter, Emily

Dad with his namesake, baby James

My boys hiking in Vegas

As I sit here with tear streaked cheeks I think of how much I have loved my father. I feel so lucky to have had a father, to have known him. He was not perfect and we did not always see eye to eye, but nonetheless he always supported me. I will miss that support as I continue through my life. I only hope that I can give that same unwavering support to my children. No matter what I had chosen he was always there to back me up. He might not have agreed with me but he supported me. How I enjoyed staying up late with him talking and reading. How I knew no matter what time it was when I called that he was always ready to talk to me. He gave me great advice, he may not have been great at following his own advice, but he gave great advice. I will miss him calling and singing happy birthday and happy anniversary to me! I will miss his loud voice ringing through his office. I will miss his boxes of dollar store items for birthday gifts, the boys loved these by the way, wrapped in comics. But most of all I will miss his strong hugs. His hugs always felt warm and protective. Nothing could harm me while I was in one of his bear hugs. I love you Daddy and I will miss you greatly!

James Barry Juenger

July 15, 1950-November 30, 2010

James the Avatar

We went to a church halloween party and the sister missionaries did a face coloring booth and this is what they did with James. He picked it our cause it was his whole face, plus he thought he was super scary! They did an amazing job in making my boy into an Avatar.

Beautiful Autumn Trees

I just really loved the colors of the trees this fall in Ny. It was beautiful to see the bright oranges and reds and yellows. It was so beautiful! Being there in the fall and winter just let me know how beautiful Ny really is. I loved every season while we were there.

T-burg Mini Golf Fall Festival

Another one of the activities was the fall festival at the T-burg mini golf. We did this while Trent was there. They had this great apple toss, which the boys loved. I was amazed to see how far they could sling those puppies. It was a great autumn time. My boys don't get to do these type of things in Vegas so it was so much fun to share these activities with them!

James slinging an apple

Trent helping to put the apple in the sling

Lil'Will just let go of his apple!

The boys took a hay ride.

Will and James coming down from the bouncy house.

A night with the Dinosaurs

One of the halloween activities was a night at the museum. It was a wonderful night at the paleontology museum in Ithaca. They had the kids dress up in costumes and they had all these amazing science booths set up. The boys were in heaven. At each station they were handed more candy, which was awesome!

This is the bones of a whale that hangs at the front entrance

Will has a walking stick on his hand. He loved it!

Here they are petting the snake and lizard

Helping press some cider

This was their favorite station, the homemade ice cream! It was made with liquid nitrogen!

Pumpkin Carving

Its time to update the blog. While I was at Dad's I uploaded a bunch of pictures and was going to post and then he passed so I am working with old material but things that should be posted anyways. We really had the best time during Halloween in New York. There were all sorts of events for us to attend. Here are the pictures of the boys carving their pumpkins. I was shocked at how cheap pumpkins were in New York, granted we are in the country, the heart of the Amish, so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised by how inexpensive the pumpkins were. We bought them at my favorite Amish farm and we carved them a few days before Halloween. It was a lot of fun. Dad came out to watch the boys carve their pumpkins. He loved watching them squeal when I made them take the guts out and just how happy they were to be doing something that is so much fun. Aunt Amanda helped with the carving. After the pumpkins were all cleaned out the boys picked their design and they went to sleep. Aunt Amanda and I finished the process.

Wills completed pumpkin

Here he is taking all the guts out. He really didn't like that part.

James's pumpkin.

James taking his guts out. He also didn't care for it but didn't put up such a fight about it.

The pumpkin cleaners!

The hospice house

Dad went into a hospice house on Tuesday and here is some pictures of his facility. It is beautiful and the people are wonderful. They are so full of love and patience. I am thrilled to have him there and have him be taken well care of.

Dad took a stroll outside yesterday with his rolling bed. He loved every minute of it.

The sign in front of the facility.

The great room. When you walk in the front door this is what you see.

From the door looking into Dad's room. He is in room #2

Dad's room. The hoist is not usually there. They used it to get him out of his bed and into the rolling bed.

The view out of Dad's room

Looking from Dad's door. There is an additional living area out there.

The sitting area outside of Dad's room.

The kids corner of the great room. The kids love all the games and coloring.

William's Birthday!

Today we brought cookies to Will's class for his birthday. Here he is so happy to have brought snack.

Willam's Birthday Crown

Will was given a totally awesome crown to wear while at school today. Here the kids are singing happy birthday to him. He is just so happy to finally be five and celebrate his birthday!

James first day of Preschool

James was so excited to go to school this year. He watched very impatiently all last year while his brother went to school. He would cry when I wouldn't let him stay so at the end of last year I promised him that he would start this year. All summer long whenever we passed the CDC he would point and tell us it was his school. We laughed because we passed that school a lot, when I say a lot, I mean a lot. It is at the entrance to our housing development! Then when we went to orientation he cried when it was time to go because it was his school and he wasn't done yet. So yesterday morning when I explained he also needed to get ready to go to school and I got his special shirt out he was beyond thrilled. I didn't have to ask him twice to help me at all. He was so perfect and willing to help. Not the usual James. We get in the car and he sang all the way to school, we took some pictures and he continued to sing. He sang until we got on the play ground with the rest of the kids. Then he just smiled, gave me a hug and a kiss like he had seen his brother do and then he was off. I stayed and talked to some of the mothers and took a few pictures, but he didn't look back for me once! When I went to pick him up he was so content to stay and play, but went home with me willingly. He loved his first day of school. I am so happy. I was able to scrub the bathrooms and give them a deep cleaning while the kids were gone. It was fabulous!

His picture in front of the building.

Being so cute! He picked his own shirt out at the store and couldn't wait to be allowed to wear it. He was thrilled to put it on.

A picture with his teacher.

Riding bikes with the other kids in his class.

Then he found the sand pit! He was so happy to play in the sand with the bobs. He was very content when I left.

Lil'Wills first day of school

I can hardly believe that my baby is old enough to start Kindergarten! It is very shocking to me. This morning started without much fanfare, since he slept in until 8:20 and didn't really get out of bed until 8:30. Luckily I had set aside his clothes for today and we were able to get him dressed quickly and get some food in him before we jumped in the car. He was so sweet to me. At the door he gave me a huge hug and several sweet kisses and then lined up with his class mates and walked into the room. Mommy and Daddy had tears, but he did not! Lol! James also felt lost without Will and had to have his blanket with him until his brother came home. Will came home from school very tired and hungry. They don't give him a snack, something he usually has at 10. Needless to say he ate lunch chatted with Grandma and went to sleep. I am thrilled since he hasn't taken a nap in almost a year!! I am very excited for his kindergarten year and I hope he is too!

Our boy on the drive to school

Walking with Dad to the school. Look at how big that back pack is!

Waiting to get into the class.

The most handsome Bennett boys!

Walking into his class and leaving mommy behind! Many tears were shed here, just not his!

Williams promotion ceremony

I want to preface this by the fact that William works in a controlled building and so I am not allowed to bring a camera into the building. Now they had a wonderful man taking pictures with a camera that makes mine look like dirt, so there will be pictures, just not now. I wanted to write this now while I am feeling the glow from the ceremony and not trying to remember how it went and what we felt when we get the pictures.

William will sew on Staff Sergeant on Sunday, which by the way is our 7th wedding anniversary. Today at 7 am they had his promotion ceremony. We got up at 5:30 so we could be at his building at 6:30. William actually left before me and was practicing when I got there. Since his building is controlled, meaning you have to have a special pass to get in, this is only my 3rd time in the building. They practiced and then William and I met with the Colonel. He wanted to congratulate William on being such a great Airman and for being a good example. He talked to us about how proud he is of William and how feels it to be an honor to work with him. Then we went upstairs to the meeting room and they had all the great pomp and circumstance that is the military. A Colonel sang the nation anthem, a beautiful prayer was said, the colonel got up and recounted William career and then a they said the Non-commisioned officers creed. Then the Chief got up and shared his thoughts on William and how he now will have more responsibilities. It was wonderful. It touched me greatly to hear what these great men think of my husband. They are his examples and I know that he looks up to them for his work. Then the fun stuff started. The Colonel and Chief got the opportunity to slap the stripes on him. The Colonel got two Baseball bats to beat his old stripes off of him! They got a real cute picture of that. They put the baseball bats down and then slugged him as hard as they could in each arm at the same time! They wanted to make sure he got bruises! Then William got the opportunity to share his thoughts and gratitude to those who were there. He gave such a moving speech that I know I wasn't the only one who cried!! I saw the Colonel wiping away some tears. I really wish everyone got an opportunity to see it. It moved me and made me thankful to be part of such a great establishment. I am so proud that my husband is an Airman and that he serves his country. I am proud of his accomplishments and proud to help him along the way.

The new house!

The front of our new house!

I am trying to get the picture to upload the right way and not upside down. I hope to have a picture up soon! Thank you for your understanding though this technical difficulty.

Yesterday we were offered this house. Since it had everything we wanted we gladly accepted. We love how it has a two and a half car garage, it has a decent backyard and the walls don't connect! I am happy to be back to 1600 and some change square feet. This last weekend when we had Mom and Trent stay with us it seemed as if I was always running into someone. So this will be nice to have an extra 500 square feet. Plus I am thrilled to have an upstairs again! We move in the middle of September! Yea!

backyard

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Happy Puggies

Today we took a long walk and about 3/4 of the way home we stopped at a park and they found this lovely patch of grass. They were so happy. I really love my puggies.
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New housing offer

Emily and I knew that we would have to move, but we were worried about the new houses and if we would get a good one or the worst house ever. Well they gave us our offer today and it was for.... wait for it .... The house most likely to never get picked by anyone! It shares walls in three rooms with the neighbors Master bedroom, both upstairs bathrooms, and one bedroom, the living room and kitchen in it are so much smaller than we have now, and the back yard is a joke. It should not even be called a yard, when the 5 x 7 carpet on the ground is over half the size of the grass, if you do not believe me look at the picture. Anyways we are trying to look at some of the Pro’s and not only the Con’s before we make a choice, but I believe we will take another house on this side of base. It will be smaller, older, and comes without a water softener system or carpet. However the “older” home does not share walls in any of the living space only in the garage, and the yard is larger then the one we have now.

Manti

William's parents came into town on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday we headed up to Manti for William's cousin wedding. His cousin, David, got married on Thursday in the Manti temple. Their reception was held in Rexburg, Idaho, so our adventure just led us to Manti. The boys did well on the trip but weren't to big of fans of being in the car for a while. The Manti temple is beatiful. We got there as the sun was setting. We stayed at this super little hotel that was actually really nice. I enjoyed the opportunity to get to meet some of Williams family that I haven't met before. After Manti we drove down to Zion and spent the next couple of days there. We had a great trip.

The Manti temple at night. It isn't it just beautiful!

A veiw during the day.

A picture of the bride and groom, Ashley and David.

Our little family in front of the temple.

William entertaining the boys.

Carol and William. Aren't they beautiful.