Benhameen

Only tonight, Benjamin David Newton told Erin, "Be careful what you say- it'll end up in the blog. So I told him he'd better be careful because I haven't written his section of the blog yet. In the aftermath of all that hype, I am left with a computer and nothing to do. What an opportune time.

 Benjamin is Erin's fabulous husband. Every time I spend the day with Erin we end up saying "Ben is a keeper" at least twice. He is one of my favorite people. And some of my favorite things about him are....

 - Ben sings, and he doesn't bother doing it halfway either.  He and Erin met in the U's A Capella Choir and once when we were at a concert, Dad leaned over and asked "who is the guy who looks so excited?" Mom told him that was the guy Erin would marry. Ben is an animated person. Always. Especially when he is using his tenor talent.

- Ben is a genius. He has a master's degree in computer programming. What may be even more impressive is that he helped me pass Algebra 2. That takes talent.

- Super enthusiastic. Oh Gosh. Ben gets an idea and runs away with it until its perfect. He introduced the whole idea of Newton All day birthday Bashes into the family, and he can sure pull off a party. He is the kind of guy who will design  Monkey posters for his daughter's third birthday party during her Curious George obsession, or write a computer program for the sole purpose of doing the Christmas name drawing so that nobody will actually know who all has what names, or a million other awesome things he does on a regular basis.

- Ben doesn't do anything half-way. He is super committed to doing everything he says he will do. But he also volunteers to do quite a lot of random things and goes all out doing them. That enthusiasm thing again.

- Ben (and erin) are exceedingly service-oriented people. Too many examples to name. But here are a few- They brought the Newton's truck and their car and moved all my stuff to Logan. And Ben was really nice about the bookshelf that I brought with me that was annoying but really necessary for my mental well-being. They are also quite generous with their cars which is nice because I am carless. They usually head up the combined family gifts like cruises for mom and dad and a laptop for me, on top of doing fabulous things like kidnapping Rose and I and driving to Denver to see Wicked. Could there be a better birthday? Confucius say... not a chance in a million dynasties.

-Ben takes really good care of my sister. Which makes him a winner in my book. He is always trying to find ways to help erin and make her life easier. They are a good team and fabulous at serving each other, which is definitely something to shoot for in a marriage.

- Dad. He's great at that. Just great. And he has some kind of magic with Emma.There are times when she cries hardcore and will not calm down for anyone you give her to no matter what and the panic starts to set in and you think, " Oh gosh. I broke the baby!" and you're just about ready to give up at figuring out why she is so upset or even being good with children because her diaper is changed, she is warm, she won't eat, doesn't want her binky, doesn't like being held in any position you try, and you just have no idea what else to try and then.....Ben comes home. And suddenly all is well because Dad is here. Ahh.... tender.

- Ben makes the best dang waffles this side of the Mississippi. (Not that I am learned in the art of waffles on the other side of the Mississippi, but you get my point) Ben is also partial to pizza and root beer, which I appreciate because his mommy taught him to share.

 Ben is a keeper. 'Nuff said.