The Bennett Family

My mom was my first hero. She chose to give me life instead of taking the easy way out, and this was the first of a long list of things for which I admire her. She is a great mother, and I hope to be like her someday.

My brother Tyler is also my hero. He's protected me at a high cost to himself ever since we were little. He's still doing that as a U.S. Marine. I admire him more for that than I think he'll ever know.

My sister Dallas has always been a peace-keeper. Now she follows in Tyler's footsteps as she plans to join the U.S. Army. She is strong in ways that I don't even think she realizes.

My baby is my newest hero. She said "Mama" the other day. It felt so good to hear from this little person who has completely changed my life. She's still only said it the once, but my heart just melts remembering it.

Her daddy is also my hero. He is an amazing husband and father. I wish sometimes that he knew it, but I suppose it's part of the charm.

I love all the heroes in my life, including these... and I am missing the ones who are not with me.

Yesterday, in a McDonald's in Las Vegas a half-mile from where my brother Tyler and his wife Nicole live (along with new baby Carter), Lorelei said her first word.

"Da-da." Joey and I looked at each other, as though it were a fluke and we were trying to see if the other person heard it.  Since then, she has said it several more times, probably since she gets such great attention when she does.

In other news, I have finally seen the teeth that she's teething on... the middle two teeth on the bottom, with promises of more soon. They haven't broken the surface, but they are noticeable.

And in still better news, she met her cousins this weekend. She got to meet (and take pictures with) John, Caleb, and Madison (who are really mine and Joey's cousins) on Saturday and then her newest cousin Carter on Sunday. Cute babies all around!

This morning, at about 10 minutes after midnight, my sister-in-law Nicole gave birth to Carter William Idland. Carter was 7 lb 4 oz and 20 1/2 inches. After many trials and tribulations, both mom and baby are doing fine. I'm also told that my brother is ecstatic to be a daddy (and he'll make a good one!).

When John was born in December, Joey came home and proudly proclaimed, "I'm a cousin again!" Since then, we've welcomed our own Lorelei, but more recently been made cousins again twice over... with Caleb coming to Brian and Jenny a few weeks ago, and Madison to Bruce and Becky yesterday.

Congrats, you guys... we're so happy for all of you, and so excited to meet our new cousins!

After being asked by several people, I have finally put the time in to post some pictures. Since I'm still not 100% ready to do it the fast and easy way, it took the better part of the day... but the pictures are here. I believe there are around 90 different pictures in all.

It'll probably be about a month until I do this again, so I hope this will help tide everyone over until then.