Holy Hannah ...

So yeah. It's been like a year since I've updated this thing. Oops. Go me! And would you believe it - I completely forgot my login and password for about 28 minutes until the brain fart went away and I figured it out. Whew. It was touch and go for a bit there.

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving. I have no clue where the time has gone. It's sort of sad - I feel that Thanksgiving sometimes gets put on the back-burner as the holiday stuck between Halloween and Christmas. But I love it. Really. Getting together with family at my Aunt Bernice's house has been a wonderful tradition that I look forward to every year. I have an AMAZING family and extended family and feel extremely fortunate that we are all so close. I'm so excited for Thanksgiving this year. Aunt Shanna has the best yams - I swear. I love them.

I've been thinking a lot about my brother, Ben, lately. Ben is serving a mission in Taichung, Taiwan. He has been out for just under 10 months. I can't believe that it's already been close to a year, but still - it seems like I still won't see him in forever. Ben is amazing. We have always been such close buddies (well, maybe not when we were younger - when we were both hitting and punching each other every 12 seconds) and if you know Ben, then you know he makes himself known. It's been pretty quiet around without him, but Sam has begun to step up to the plate with regard to the loudness level. Ben is a great missionary. His mission president loves him and he works hard. I can't believe that he will be fluent in Mandarin Chinese when he gets home. From what I hear, he's already got a pretty good knack for the language. That's just incredible to me. Missionaries are so special to me. I think of Ben and my other brother, JD, who have served missions and I think it's nothing short of incredible that there are guys who take 2 YEARS out of their lives and dedicate themselves to service and sharing their beliefs.

Love you, Benny.