Family Photo

Sometimes I just don't know how I feel about facebook. I mean here we go and try and take family photos and before anyone even checks to see if this blog is still alive, they have already seen said picture on facebook so what is the point of putting it in a post? So this post goes picture-less, but you can see the photo to the left.

Update:
-Andy is back in school. He is going to be an elementary school teacher in 1.5 years. He would like to be just an art teacher some day, but for now this is good.
-Kirsten is an intern in a 5th grade classroom and thinks it is very stressful! She will be done with coursework by December 16 and will acutally graduate in April. (yea finally a bachelors)
-Andy does sound gigs sometimes, and sometimes he even gets paid really good money to do them. His boss worked for really big record companies in the old days and they even went on the road to AZ this last summer to do sound.
-Kirsten got a summer job working with people with disabilities and really liked it. She still works 2 hours on Sunday before church and hopes to work for them again this summer.
-Andy finally quit the mall (yea) and is going to start working for his friends at Boomerang Bookstore.
-Kirsten is really looking forward to Christmas break.

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We were gone...

I’ve (we’ve) essentially disappeared off the face of virtual world. Ok I still check Facebook from Time to time, but I haven’t been writing or visiting blogs lately. I just can’t. If I am not in class or at work I am at home with the dogs studying (which means avoiding the internet) or helping family. Well that isn’t entirely true I have been watching some TV on DVD to try and relax after a stressful day or two. I’ve even stopped doing house work for the most part b/c I just don’t have time. Poor Andy has been put in charge. And lets just say house work in my opinion is really a two + person job.

But if you think I’ve neglected cyber space, it’s nothing in comparison to my dear grandmother. Well I hadn’t seen my grandma in like 6 weeks and she can’t drive anymore (she does have other family around who help though). She finally called me the other day almost in tears because her Sheltie (lula’s litter mate), Jack, needed to go to the vet because his skin condition had come back with a vengeance. In short I am now at grandma’s 2-3 times a week bathing Jack with special shampoo. Which I am happy to do… As long as the visit can be at like 10:00 at night or 7:00 in the morning. It’s been good to be with grandma again.

On a lighter note, here is a photo. It’s of me receiving a singing valentine at work. Andy totally surprised me! I thought it was simply brilliant and I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to top it. \

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Happy New Year/Happy BIRTHDAY FROSTEBITE

This is Frost Bitten Obsedian Gray his birthday was yesterday, New Years Day.  Saddly we did nothing for his birthday.  Eddie and I are both passionate Dog owners but we don't seem to go to the point that we give them human luxuries such as birthdays.  Though both of dogs deserve the best.  Especially FrostBite I feel blessed to know such a noble creature.  He was born deaf and eplileptic but it makes no difference to him he is still the most uncondiontionally loving dog you could ever meet. He is friendly with every dog and human he ever meets.  He is rather sensitive to touch and is easily frightened but he still loves us when we come up behind him.  

This year I hope to be a little more like Frost Bite; Loving of everyone, patient with his family, content with the simple things of life.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

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Charities

During x-mas a lot of people give to Charities. Some people even give to charities instead of giving gifts. I did this with my friends one year. We took the money we would have spent on each other and gave it to a worthy cause. My neighbor works at the women's shelter in our area. They receive enough donations during Christmas to last them the whole year. The women's shelter relies on these donations and consider themselves very lucky to receive them. With this in mind I was talking to a few ladies the other day and asked them: if some one wanted to donate to charity as your Christmas present, what charity would you want them to donate to on your behalf? what charity is your favorite? We all have a favorite. And there are so many out there.
one said operation smile
the other said the Utah Food and Care Coalition
I thought about this myself. what is my favorite charity?
Andy said his was the Perpetual Education Fund this gives education loans to people in poverty to help them end the poverty cycle. Since Andy served an LDS mission to Brazil, he knows how important a program like this can be in a person's life.
I've been involved in a number of things through out my life. I currently donate a small amount to the American Field Service (AFS) Student Exchange Programs every year. This is the program that I went to Belgium with my Senior year of high school. They gave me a big scholarship to go and I owe it to them to pay it back.
Every Christmas Andy and I give what we can to the Food and Care Coalition. We usually give a gift card to a local grocery store so that people in need can get produce and other things a Food Bank just isn't stocked with. This year I also gave a tiny amount, really only a membership fee, to Amnesty International. Issues they deal with truly sadden me-- I am very disturbed by what goes on in the world, in my own country.
I had a Teacher Assistant at BYU who is currently an activist for Burma. I read her blog and send emails to the UN etc. when US Campaign for Burma requests it.
So what is my favorite? I don't know. This is something I definitely want to find out.

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ahem....

It's come to my attention that Andy is less interested in blogging than I am. Or at least I am going to finally admit this out loud. He doesn't blog unless I bug him about it a couple of times, so I feel like I have "TAKEN OVER" our blog. It's ok, he is always welcome to post when ever he wants.

In the news: Andy's little sister is getting married!!! That entails a lot. Andy has been having to take hours off work so much, a blessing here, a baptism there, and he just can't take off work for all of the festivities. It's ok he'll be there for the important part. One important part being the family photo (which he wont have to take work off for)--- The ENTIRE Laurel and Ben Bean Family have not ALL been together in a while... so of course we are taking the opportunity to have a professional family picture done. I am a little worried about the stress of getting 5 small grand children to cooperate. I'll hope for the best and try to post a pic when we get one.

Of course during all this Andy says, "thanks for putting up with my crazy family." Which frankly I don't mind at all. I LOVE Andy's family. Especailly all the little grandkids and for the most part we DON'T have drama. I think moving would be harder for me than for Andy. I just don't know if I would want to let go to all the family that is around my side and his side. Oh, but we arn't moving, that I know of yet.

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Big Butt Bike

My Grandma got andy this bike for chirstmas (it's a little early, but who cares.)  We think it is soo fun.  

You can see out little patio in the other pic.  it was the patio that sold us on our little condo.  It is so nice to have a little private out door space.  

Tonight we are:

         eddie: trying to do ed psych homework     Andy: playing banjo with his little christmas band 

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where is cascade springs??

well to answer marie's question it's in the middle of no where between American Fork and Heber unless you were headed there you would probably never stumble across it.

View Larger Map

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