Erik & Julie Benson: a thankful thanksgiving

Yet another adventure has made it’s way onto the pages of the Benson Book of Life … Road Trip 2011: South Dakota was a success. We made it safely through a lot of snow, ice, flat land, mountain land, barren land, and so much in between {or rather, nothing in between}. We were so stocked full of energy drinks after the 30 hour drive, that everything was … well … let’s just say it was the same color ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Did you want to know that little fact? Maybe not, but oh well. {my apologies}

Down every last ice covered road, we laughed, slept, talked, sang, and loved every second. Ok, we might have complained and whined a little bit too … those seats are only contoured to form your body in ONE position, regardless of the degrees to which you can change the angle in which you are bent.

Now, I have to give extra thanks to my rock star of a husband … drumroll please … for driving through all the weather conditions I was too chicken to brave {aka MOST of the trip}. He is pretty much the most spectacular man in the world, if I’m not too bold to say. Basically, to sum it all up, we made it to Watertown, South Dakota at roughly 3am on Sunday morning {after leaving at 6pm the Friday before} with many miles passed and only one speeding ticket to mention. Who was driving when that dreaded scrap of paper was passed from the hands of the officer into our car, you ask? Certainly not the more patient of the Benson’s. {Haha!} Yup, it was that same cute rock star of a husband … the poor guy. When cops are disguised as regular, every day drivers, it’s hard to tell when you are speeding by, that they do in fact have the words “Wyoming Sheriff” printed on the side of that pick-up truck {or maybe it was the fact that you were speeding by that you didn’t see the big bold lettering? but we won’t go there right now!}. All in all, it was a great adventure!

happy thanksgiving

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The BEST part being: the longest period of time ever spent with the Benson Family {at least by me, the new comer}. We got to see the bro-in-law play guitar in worship, eat LOTS of ridiculously good food {homemade alfredo and spinach pizza being one of my favs}, family melodies, laughter, and of course: the cutest little niece ever. I even got to spend some time with Erik’s Grandpa Benson … who is quite possibly one of the most multi-faceted men I have ever met! {artist, baker, pastor, wood carver, musician, singer … you name it … he can probably do it!}. He was a joy to get to know … as was everyone we got to see! Although, I’m sorry to all the fully grown family members, Shalom beats you all when it comes to the cuteness factor. I must give a special thanks to her parents, grandparents, aunt, and uncle for letting me hog her {I really appreciate it!}

Anyways, without giving you a play by play of the entire week, we were truly blessed by the music, the stories, the old home videos {Erik was definitely the cutest little boy ever born}, the Starbucks, the drives through town, the 2 degree weather, and everything else we got to enjoy.

Thank you to Mom and Dad Benson for a truly wonderful Thanksgiving. And thank you to Sarah for feeding us, cleaning up after us, and then relaxing with us … you are a phenomenal woman!

Now, to sum up our Thanksgiving Trip with a few things I learned: