my best friend...

This is Jacie Bowen. She is my best friend, besides Chad Bennett (of course) and I just want everyone to know how great she is... pretty much my favorite. I think this picture tells it all: she has a passion for eating abnormally large vegetables and is not afraid to eat it right off the vine! Way to go Jacie!

Shooting: In the Dead of Night

Two weekends ago, we decided that for date night, we would do a group date shooting up at Hobble Creek Canyon. Unfortunately we didn't plan far enough ahead on the whole timing thing and we ended up having 15 minutes of dusk before it got to be dark outside; not exactly the most conducive environment to shooting firearms, but we made the best of it!

Hawken and Jacie... she was seriously frightening with the gun when she wasn't dropping to the ground everytime she heard a gun shot. I guess that's just what happens when you grow up in LA County!

I love shooting guns!

The other reason we wanted to go out shooting was to try out Shane's new "Clay Pigeon Shooter Thing" ( have no idea what the real name is). It was pretty awesome. We can't wait to go out again, this time when we can actually see the flying pigeons!

After shooting, the boys all made up a fire, and we got out our roasting sticks to make some Pigs in a Blanket. Yum!Jacie was pretty impressed.
This is a picture of the bullet that exploded in our fire and shot burning embers onto my arm. Good thing Hawken had the good sense to brush them off and only a 2nd degree burn ensued.

Kenzie Shae turns 1!!!

My favorite little niece, Kenzie Shae, turned one year old this September! Kaitlin, Courtney, Johnny, Luke, and Mommy Bennett seized the opportunity and roadtripped it back up to Provo for the occasion! It was quite the party, and Kenzie impressed us all with her new walking skills, sign language, and then stuffing large amounts of cake and frosting in her face. It was pretty great. It was fun to spend another weekend with the Bennetts, even if it was a little bit shorter now that school has started and everyone had to be home by Monday.

Extreme cake eating:



I got to hang out with Luke during Kenzie's birthday party, and after a little bit of crying, he just kind of passed out for an hour or so. The kid was totally asleep and adorable...


Still sleeping... But this time, with a party hat on!
Unfortunatley, Chad had to work during the birthday party, but he was still able to hang out with Luke doing what they both do best: sleeping!

Mini-golf!

A couple of weeks ago on a Friday night, we hopped in the car and headed to good 'ol Trafalga for date night. With our schedules so crazy, and Chad working every Saturday night, Friday nights have become the official night to take time off of school and do whatever we feel like doing. Apparently Trafalga has a date night package where you can get mini-golfing, a couple of game tokens, and (Chad's favorite) Dippin' Dots!

He was pretty stoked for this whole Dippin' Dots business... I pretty much don't see the point, but to each their own.

We're pretty hardcore golfers, I mean look at that stance, we mean business!This is me when I thought I was going to win, turns out we tied... exactly the same score!
After an exciting 18 holes, we went inside and played a few of the arcade games. I haven't done that in so long, and it was oddly entertaining. Chad was dying to play the skiing one; he's just practicing for the winter when we get to actually go ski/snowboard!

Back to School!

So September has finally come and our amazing summer has come to a close... back to reality. It's time to go back to school.

We've been through the first week of the semester, and our classes are going well so far. It's tough having to work while still being a full-time student, but we're both handling it, and I think it's going to work out okay.

As the picture shows, Chad was pretty excited on the morning of our first day. He was all geared up and ready to ride his bike to school at 7:30 a.m. Chad is taking 11 1/2 credits this semester and working about 35 hours a week! (talk about a full schedule) Good news though is that he really enjoys the classes he is taking: Acct 200, Hist 201, RelC 324, ISYS 100, and BIO 100.
I was also pretty excited for school to start, especially now that all my friends are back up in Provo! I'm taking 15 credits this semester while also working 20 hours a week. My classes are: Nurs 294, PDBIO 220, MMBio 221, MMBio 222, RElC 324, and Hum 201. The biggest news for the semester has been starting the nursing program; I have already got to bring my stethoscope and blood pressure cuff to class!

It's going to be a busy semester here at the Bennett home, but we can handle anything!

Labor Day Weekend- Saturday

For Labor Day weekend, Chad's family decided to come up to Utah for a visit! It all started with Kaitlin planning to come up for the BYU football game, and by Friday afternoon, it turned into Mommy Bennett, Courtney, Johnny, Luke, and Kaitlin! Chad and I were excited for the chance to have house guests, and enjoy the weekend before school started spending time with family.


Saturday morning, we all hopped in the car and headed to Kneaders for a breakfast of their legendary French Toast. We got there a little later than planned and they actually had run out of french toast! Although being a little bummed, we still ate some yummy food and let all the kids entertain us throughout the meal...


After breakfast, we all went back to Kimber and Jason's house to decide what we wanted to do for the rest of the day, and got to play a little bit of Rock Band.

Kenzie enjoyed meeting her new cousin Luke... she decided she wanted to give him a hug.

Luke was a little bit more unsure of Kenzie.

But she still thought he was pretty cool.

Johnny was practically a pro on the drums!

Having house guests:

Johnny was the most squirmy sleeper I've ever seen...

Labor Day Weekend- Sunday

Luke Pickrell is quite the expressive baby... I asked him to smile for me on Sunday morning, and this is what happened:

... And then a good "big eye" picture

Sunday afternoon after church, we all hung out at our house for a couple of hours before making some delicious chicken cabobs (sp?) for dinner.

In the afternoon, the sun came out and we all took the opportunity to go on a walk with the family. We told Johnny we were taking him to the "Secret River" (aka. Provo River) and spent an hour just strolling down the path. With Courtney still recovering from her C-Section, we took our time, and had quite the enjoyable afternoon.

On Sunday, Luke fell asleep whenever he possibly could...

Apparently they were both really happy to be there.

Kaitlin and Danny

The whole group

We have the cutest niece with her beautiful, rosy cheeks.

That night we all sat down on the back porch to try and take an entire family picture (with both cameras on timers) and had to take about ten of them to get everyone looking at the camera. Johnny decided he really didn't feel like taking a picture.

We were supposed to be taking a goofy-face picture... apparently half the group missed the memo.

Johnny Photo-Shoot

Now give us blue steel!

All of the kiddies.

Overall, it was a great Labor Day weekend for the Bennetts! Not only did we have Monday off of work, but we got to see and hang out with our family and get ready for school to start on Tuesday!