The West Side Bengtzen's

Hi everyone!
We finally decided to get on here. Life is crazy as usual with us. We never slow down. :)
I will start from youngest to oldest and let you know what everyone is up to...

Ian- is 11 now. In the 6th grade and would rather stay home all day and play video games. He only likes to go to school on band days (he is learning the saxophone). Ian loves reading and minecraft. He is helping us teach Sami how to be his service dog and next to Matt, Ian has the most patience for her.

This is Sami not long after we got her. She is half German Shepherd and half Malamute. She is now 6 months old, weighs 50 pounds and pretty much destroys everything in her path. Our house is sooo not big enough for her. She is just recovering from major surgery as well. Let's just say that we no longer have stuffed toys in our house for dogs. Parts come off and puppies swallow them.

Jordan is 14 going on 30 and in 9th grade at AMES (Academy for Math, Engineering and Science.)He loves it there. Some of his classes are with Cottonwood, like all of his band classes. eHE has 2. And right now they are getting ready for the the musical (Tarzan) in which Jordan gets the chance to play percussion instead of the clarinet, and they are getting ready for the Christmas concert.

I think Jordan has grown 3 inches just since school started. He never stops. He is really coming into his own in school this year. He has lots of friends and is always involved in some activity or another. He never stops reminding us that he gets his learners permit in July.

Alex is a Senior at Murray. He will be 18 in March. It is crazy that he is so close to moving out, and keeps trying to get us to let him move in March. I want him to graduate first. Silly me. He loves his car more than anything else right now. And has to work hard to afford it. But he doesn't mind. He still keeps us laughing.

Alex is always busy as well, between work, his girlfriend and practice for lacrosse, we hardly ever see him. But he loves his mommy and always comes to tell me goodnight when he gets home so that I know he made it in. He is a good kid.

Alex and his Firebird.

Matt is busy with work and taking pictures. He is still working hard with school and his choir. He gets to sing in a big concert tomorrow, but I will let him tell you all about that. And I will let Matt post about all of his pictures. He takes a lot.

I am finally done with school (for now) and working  with my clients. I work with disabled adults in supervised housing. I love it. I am still trying to figure out what I am supposed to be doing now that I don't have to juggle school in with everything, although magically it seems that I don't have any more time than I did then, which only cements my belief that it was through the grace of God that I got through school in the first place.  We are still crazy busy with running kids everywhere and training a puppy into a service dog, but honestly, I don't think we would know what to do if it ever slowed down.

We love you all and think that reading through all of these posts is so much fun!!!