The Bender Blog

Brynne's handwriting sample

2011-11-20T16:32:00.000-08:00

Brynne didn't get her handwriting ability from her grandpa or her mom!

Hannah's math award

2011-11-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

Hannah was invited to a dinner at BYU where, along with about 40 other high school students from the state of UT, she was presented with an award for excellence in math. Don't underestimate the brains in this ballerina's blonde head!

Anne at Kaitlin's graduation

2011-06-26T21:30:00.001-07:00

Dance Festival

2011-06-26T21:27:00.002-07:00

Keegan got to dance the Haka and Brynne did the traditional kindergarten rendition of "The Chicken Dance" for this year's dance festival

E's short hair

2011-06-26T21:27:00.001-07:00

Spring Break

2011-06-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

I got these a little out of order...Easter

2011-06-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

More Anne Pics

2011-06-26T20:55:00.001-07:00

Brynne's graduation

2011-06-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

Keegan at Hope of America ceremony

2011-06-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hope of America is a program that local 5th graders participate in as part of Provo city's annual "Freedom Festival" celebration. The festival culminates with a huge concert starring big name celebrities and a fireworks show on July 4th. We have yet to go to the July 4th event, in large part because the talent is usually made up of country music singers or because we have been out of town. We always attend the Hope of America celebration when we have a 5th grader in it. We love the patriotism on display there although some of the acts are corny. This year, Keegan's school was one of two on the floor of the Marriott Center instead of up in the stands making up the gigantic flag so we had a good view of him. He is the 2nd one in from the right on the white tape line.

Keegan's Arrow of Light Ceremony

2011-06-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

Grad pics

2011-06-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

With fellow BYU-H classmate for fall

With proud dad

With best friends Keley and Stephen

More friends

With elementary school friends, Tanner and Christie

With "short" friends, Emily and Julie

With the Fam

With the Urmston Fam

Hannah's Prom Pics

2011-05-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

Phantom of the Opera pictures

2011-02-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

Anne and Mr. Shelly, the phenomenal director of PGHS drama and this production.

Anne and Mr. Wilcock, the phenomenal PGHS award-winning choir director and musical director of this production.

Anne and Evan, aka the Phantom (sans mask and wig)

Brynne's 6th birthday

2011-02-13T17:33:00.001-08:00

Our dear friend, Leslie Urmston, took Anne's senior pics a couple of weeks ago. Here's an unedited preview.

2011-02-13T17:16:00.000-08:00

Feel free to vote on your favorites.

Christmas Letter

2011-01-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

2010 Bender Family Annual Christmas Letter
Our oldest daughter, Anne, will be graduating from high school this May. In trying to help Anne decide among the options open to her after high school, we sometimes feel overwhelmed by all the choices and wish we all could just do everything we love. Of course, life doesn’t work that way but it is still fun to dream! We would like to share some of our dreams with you.
Brynne (5): When I grow up, I want to be a mommy. I want to take ballet lessons so I can dance like my sister, Hannah. I can be a dancer for the Utah Regional Ballet. I want to be pretty when I grow up. I’m gonna be a missionary. When I am a missionary, I want to go to Paris. I want to go to the beach. These are the words I know how to spell: and, pop, a, to, the, we
Keegan (10): I want to finish The Lightning Thief books series. When I grow up I’m gonna be a football player. I want to build a robot and a go-cart someday. I want to invent something that people will use every day and that will make their lives easier like the gumball machine I made using a soda bottle, a toilet paper tube and popsicle sticks.
Elena (13): I started the violin 2 years ago and I want to get in first chair in a chamber orchestra for my school. I also have another orchestra that I am in and it is called The Utah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra and there are three levels to it. Right now I am in the youngest group, Sinfonia, but soon I want to be in the top group, Philharmonia. I would like to graduate from BYU with my undergraduate and then I would graduate from Harvard with my medical degree. After that I will go on a mission to Brazil (I hope) and when I get home I will raise a family in Santa Barbara California.
Hannah (15): After completing the home school program I’m in, I want to graduate high school early. I hope that all the money I’m earning to pay for ballet classes will have been a good investment and prepare me to attend Julliard on scholarship. In my dreams Merlin (our 10-year old lab) will live forever and I’ll get to take him with me when I move away. After completing my education, I will work with The Boston Ballet for several years before I start to raise my own family. After I retire from dancing, I will own my own ballet school and finish the cross-stitch I’ve been making for my mother since fifth grade.
Anne (17): You may think that my ambitions are unrealistic and un-achievable but, in five years, I plan to have completed a doctoral program in vocal studies at BYU-Hawaii (they will have instituted a doctoral program by then) and I will have a lavish and thriving career singing around the globe. Meanwhile, I’ll do screen-writing and directing jobs on the side for music videos and movies. During my college years, I will take a year and a half break to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The science-fiction trilogy I’m writing will be published and printed in all 758 languages for distribution around the globe. I will also run a comedy club dedicated to show-casing the humor of 5-year olds.
Alicia: I hope that my small-time tax practice will grow into a thriving enterprise that keeps me holed up in my office from January through April 15th and finances glorious gardening the rest of the year! I want to complete as much of my family tree as possible. If this last endeavor interests any of my relatives, I’d love to hear from you. I also plan to finish the quilt I started making for Hannah 13 years ago!
Lee: I have three teenage girls so I think, first, I just want to survive. Second, we just had a dump of snow, and two of those teenage girls are driving…. so my ambition is that I don’t have to engage my insurance policy on the car. Other than that, I am good.
May your dreams come true and bring you more happiness than you can hope for! Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Lee and Grammy

2010-12-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

Brynne and Chloe

2010-12-19T13:22:00.000-08:00

They made chocolate cream pies

Jack-O-Lanterns

2010-12-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

Elena and Santa

2010-12-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

Brynne and Santa

2010-12-19T13:19:00.000-08:00

Keegan's performance at school

2010-12-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

The fifth graders sang, "The Twelve Days of Christmas pain"

Kindergarten performance

2010-12-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

They sang, "Up on the Housetop"

Three goofballs

2010-12-19T13:14:00.000-08:00

Brynne jailed by Hannah's legs

2010-12-19T13:13:00.000-08:00

Chamber choir performance at Temple Square

2010-12-19T13:11:00.000-08:00

This was a beautiful performance in the stunning, historic Joseph Smith Building

Anne and Iniki

2010-12-19T13:08:00.000-08:00

Childhood friends from our college days in Hawaii reunited for the formal 'Preference' dance at Anne's highschool

The 'Sadie's' gang

2010-12-19T13:07:00.000-08:00

Anne and her friends before the Sadie's dance

Keegan the warrior

2010-12-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

he spent his week's allowance on a roll of tinfoil

Hannah's artwork: Can We Bridge the Distance?

2010-12-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

Keegan chops down his first tree

2010-08-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

Apparently the Lund logging gene runs deep. He chopped away with our little hatchet for a half hour. Keegan has been helping Mom in the yard including cutting branches off the very prickly blu spruce trees. We're making progress toward the yard we dream of-slowly but surely!

SHE had.....12 babies?!?!?!

2010-08-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

First of all-we didn't know it was a she. After her first night with them, we were down to 5. Apparently mommy garter snakes aren't very maternal.

Brynne in Vermont

2010-08-08T17:36:00.001-07:00

Grammy Tutu's descendants

2010-08-08T17:35:00.001-07:00

Lee setting up fireworks with the kids

2010-08-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

Brynne, Gilly and Jed

2010-08-08T17:32:00.002-07:00

Uncle Jed loves his little girls

Chicago Cousins

2010-08-08T17:32:00.001-07:00

Vermont Cousins

2010-08-08T17:31:00.001-07:00

Bryn(ne)s East and West

2010-08-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

Elena and Pops

2010-08-08T17:29:00.001-07:00

Greta jumping on Keegan

2010-08-08T17:26:00.000-07:00

Keegan's new suit

2010-08-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here's our future missionary.

Elena and Sophia after finishing the 5k

2010-08-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Elena came in 15th out of 24 in her age category.

Hannah's Award for High Honor Roll

2010-08-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

She had ordered us not to take her picture but being parents....

Elena's Coutry Report

2010-08-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

Elena loves The Beatles so she was happy to do her report on England.

Keegan earns his Bear award

2010-08-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

Mom missed this one so-no reminder to button the shirt!

'80s Hannah

2010-08-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Dressed for an '80s party with her dance studio:

The narrows at Goblin Valley's Carmel Canyon Trail

2010-04-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

Carmel Canyon Trail

2010-04-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hannah is the one scaling the cliff

Carmel Canyon Trail

2010-04-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hannah is the one straddling the rocks

Family shots

2010-04-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

Keegan and Elena amid the 'mushrooms'

2010-04-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

The Annual Christmas Letter

2009-12-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

For the first time since “Seinfeld”, I have found a sit-com I look forward to every week. It is called, “The Middle”. It’s about an American family who is average in every way. Last week’s episode featured the mother typing the family Christmas letter and attempting to make her oh-so-average family sound wonderful. It was hysterical.
It’s much harder to laugh at one’s own average reality. As I write this, the day-old snow that is waiting for me to remove it keeps pushing its way to the front of my mind and helicopter sounds coming from the laundry room remind me that I still haven’t called the appliance repairman to fix the washing machine. Today my children overslept and missed the bus and needed rides to lessons and practices and had to taste soap for mouthing off and had to do extra chores and fought with their sisters. Not every moment in our home is a happy one.
However, my children also did well in school today, played together happily some of the time, said ‘please’ and ‘thank-you’ and washed their hands before they ate. I actually am grateful for the snow that has been driven across so many times that it’s glued to the driveway. It reminds me that I have, after all, important places to go and precious cargo to transport to dance lessons and orchestra recitals and choir recitals and concerts and dance lessons and boy scouts and grocery shopping and church youth group activities and choir practice and dance lessons and recitals and dance lessons. (We have a lot of dance lessons.) I’m so grateful for the mundane miracle of a happy family.
Highlights of the Year
Anne (16) got her Driver’s license and hasn’t had any accidents-phew! She earned “Student of the Month” in November. She is in Advanced Women’s choir at school and plays guitar. She finished the rough draft of her science fiction novel and has received rave reviews from those lucky enough to receive preview copies.
Hannah (14) is on the “Teen” dance company at her studio. She will do just about anything for dance. She even went without candy for the entire year, in part to earn a new pair of point shoes. Anne teases her for her “blonde moments” but Hannah continues to excel academically with an advanced class load.
Elena (12) is a violinist, ballroom-dancer and a budding artist who specializes in cartooning but is starting to explore acrylic painting. She is a very conscientious friend which makes her popular with her classmates. She inherited a great sense of humor from her Grandpa whom she loves to entertain with quick-witted remarks.
Keegan (9) earned his Wolf Scout Badge. He participated in baseball and soccer this year and spent as much time as he could at our new city pool. He is a fish! Even though he consistently tries to get out of homework, he can do math problems in his head that would stump many of his adult relatives.
Brynne ( 4) insists that her outfits always look cute, that she has on the proper make-up and that her hair is just right. She wants to be a cheerleader and has requested a “car with no top” for her 16th birthday. She knows most of her letters and numbers. She loves to sing, especially songs she learns in church. In true youngest child form she all too often gets exactly what she wants.

Brynne visits Santa

2009-12-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

Our camera needs to be serviced, I think but you get the idea.

Hannah and team performing at the Utah Flash basketball game

2009-12-17T21:43:00.000-08:00

Hannah's dance studio had the chance to perform at the Utah Flash (the leader team for the Jazz) basketball game. Just look for the longest legs and you'll see Hannah.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2009-12-17T21:39:00.000-08:00

Merlin loves Lee

2009-12-17T21:36:00.000-08:00

Anne headed to Preference

2009-12-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

Anne took her friend, Steve, to her High School Preference (girl's choice) dance. She designed her dress. For the "day date" they went to the thrift store and picked out outfits for eachother to model.

Anne Viking of the Month

2009-12-17T21:29:00.000-08:00

Anne earned Viking of the Month for November. Each month at her highschool they choose one girl and one boy from each grade as a student of the month. It's a nice honor.

Hannah-Halloween

2009-12-17T21:27:00.000-08:00

Hannah was a lion for Halloween. She helped me make her dress.

Anne-Halloween

2009-12-17T21:25:00.001-08:00

Anne was Bella's (From the Twilight series) OB for Halloween.

Making Jack-O'-Lanterns

2009-12-17T21:21:00.000-08:00

Brynne at dance camp

2009-12-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

Brynne went to dance camp, a fundraiser for our highschool cheerleaders. She LOVED it!

Hummingbird in the garden

2009-12-17T21:12:00.000-08:00

Our pineapple sage attracts hummingbirds. They like it enough to get really close to us!

Hannah Back to School

2009-08-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

Everyone Else Back to School Brynne

2009-08-23T18:19:00.001-07:00

Anne Back to School

2009-08-23T18:16:00.002-07:00

Mom, Hurry up! I need to leave! She drove in style on her first day-the '89 blue? Isuzu Pupp, her truck.

Keegan Back to School

2009-08-23T18:16:00.001-07:00

He did get his shoes on before he left.

Elena Back to School

2009-08-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

Brynne posing

2009-08-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

Keegan at Jeremiah Johnson Cub Scout Day Camp

2009-07-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

Tying knots.

Panning for "gold"

Keegan hit the target in archery.

They made a rope and then played 'tug-o-war'

Keegan earns his Wolf badge!

2009-07-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

Angels Fans

2009-07-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

We saw the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim play when we visited So. Cal. a couple of weeks ago. Lee has a beef with the extended name and unforunately they lost at the game but it was fun and they had great fireworks afterward. As the sting of physical injuries fades, Keegan thinks he might want to follow in the footsteps of his great-grandfather and his dad and play baseball. He really likes the game and even mom is becoming more of a fan now that she understands game strategy better. It also helps that she had such a cute player to follow this past little league season!

Brynne sporting froggy swim goggles

2009-07-19T15:45:00.001-07:00

Forthcoming dance video

2009-06-07T16:45:00.001-07:00

Alicia is hoping for a new digital camera for Christmas but until that time she needs to wait for Lee to help her format a video clip of Hannah's spring dance recital to post to the blog. We will get it up ASAP!

Brynne and Hannah soccer fans

2009-06-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

Keegan and Elena had side by side games for the last day of soccer season so we sat between the fields and Hannah and Brynne played cheerleaders.

Keegan at soccer

2009-06-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

Mom likes soccer best but dad likes baseball. After all his injuries at baseball, Keegan is agreeing with mom. However, his dad was a great coach for his baseball team and both had some great fun, like when Keegan hit a double. These are his soccer pics.

Hannah and Kaitlyn at the Jr High Awards ceremony

2009-06-07T16:33:00.001-07:00

Hannah earned an award for being in the top 10th percentile on the IOWA standard tests in 6 out of 6 subjects! (She missed high honors for the year by about 2 points... she earned one 'A-'). She is a smarty pants but according to big sister, Anne, who made honor roll herself this entire school year, she is a true blonde.

Keegan playing baseball

2009-06-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

Keegan's first season of "real" baseball has provided fun, exercise, new friends, tears and a nice shiner. He has been brave and kept with the game despite being hit by the ball a couple of times. He is a good hitter and the team's fastest base runner!

Elena soccer pictures

2009-06-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

Elena's first season at soccer provided lots of fun, exercise and new friends.

Anne and friends jamming

2009-06-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Anne has some incredibly talented musical friends. She herself is a singer, songwriter and self-taught guitarist who has recorded her first CD. Copies are very expensive, due to their scarcity and Anne's shyness.

Here they are practicing in our music room with Anne on her new electric guitar.

Lee and Alicia 17th anniversary picture

2009-06-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

We had a fun anniversary date and came home to a "Happy Anniversary" sign made of chocolate chip cookies. This is a great picture of Lee and wouldn't have been too bad of Alicia if she could just keep her eyes open! She was 0 for 10 that night including the one where Lee is trying to hold them open for her!

Elena Arkansas state report

2009-06-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

She served skillet cornbread and taught visitors about Arkansas rich natural resources, like diamonds.

Easter outfits

2009-04-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

Elena after her orchestra concert

2009-04-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

Her shirt says, "Here comes treble"

Dad and Keegan

2009-04-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

We love taking "dress-up" family pictures with Keegan. He is always so cooperative!

Keegan and Dad

2009-04-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

Easter outfits

2009-04-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

Brynne twirling in her new Easter dress

2009-04-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

Anne and Brynne

2009-04-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

Keegan and Jim, his lizard

2009-04-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

Keegan caught his pet lizard during our visit to Claifornia. He takes good care of him by feeding him PLENTY of meal worms and turning his heat lamp on for him every morning. Also, Jim gets a lot of affection.

Gang at Zion's

2009-03-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

We stopped at Zion's National Park yesterday on our way home from our whirlwind trip to Vegas/California. Fun but windy-hence the tousled hair.

Anne and Brynne at Zion's

2009-03-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

Group shots

2009-03-22T20:48:00.001-07:00

Got them to hold still for a couple of minutes. Brynne lasted half the time.

Kids at the beach

2009-03-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

Brynne made soup (seaweed and sand varieties-yummy!-I tried them both). Keegan collected shells and rolled in the sand. The older girls braved the chilly water and jumped in the waves.

Dad's day at the beach

2009-03-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

Anne and Tiffany

2009-03-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

Another one of Anne's photographic experiments....with jaundice? Just kidding. It is a cool effect and I better post this before she presses the "delete" button and eliminates my clever comment.

Anne's new t-shirt

2009-03-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

Anne bought herself a new shirt which she loves!!! The rodent is saying, "Imposter!"

Church ball

2009-03-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Hannah playing basketball with her church young women's group. Anne was (fortunately, in her mind) absent on the day Lee brought the camera. We tease Hannah about her graceful basketball skills. She likes to pirouhette across the court.