IN LOCO PARENTIS

So, the commentary below is lifted from George Pence's blog about Ben's campaign.  He nailed the description of a man's desire to do the absurd.  The whole post is funny and fairly accurate.  One point of correction, however, is the guess that I did little more than raise an eyebrow in response to the campaign buying a bus.  It seems that I am part of a very small minority (maybe just me), but I'm not on board with this bus idea.  I'm also not cool with Ben's idea of keeping it after the campaign, installing bunk beds and taking it on family vacations.  That said, for the sake of Ben's campaign, I hope I'm wrong on this one!  And, by the way, the bus is read today, but it's going to be wrapped/painted orange and plastered with Ben's campaign logo.  It's basically a giant, mobile yard sign.  I'm sure there will be more raised eyebrows than mine in the course of the next 9 weeks.


From George's blog: 

Our family has been in many parades and attended many community gatherings this summer.  Many.  And, we've been having a good time!

The candy in the picture below is what Kate and Robert collected along one parade route.  Some parade entries throw candy to the crowd.  Other entries collect what hasn't yet been collected.  Who knew that one could get more candy by walking behind a float or two than actually calling out for it from the side?

This picture was taken behind Ben's booth at a community festival.  We've been wearing and seeing a lot of orange!

Sen. Orin Hatch sought Ben out at one parade to tell him that he really liked the way he did politics and that he was the future for how it should be done in Utah.  Too bad he later hosted a fundraiser for Ben's opponent in the County Mayor race. 
Along each parade route, Ben's campaign passed out fans created from mini-Ben signs.  It's been a very hot summer and these little advertizements have been a huge hit at every parade!  Let's hope they have made some positive impact for Ben's name-ID around the county.  Our kids, and cousin Abby, helped make the first batch.  Dozens of volunteers continued to work on them throughout the summer.  Thousands have been passed out.
Abby walked with us in the West Valley City parade while she was in town.  She's a great campaigner.  We wish we could keep her around!
The Dew's dog has been in many of the parades with us and is wildly popular!  "Look, that dog is wearing shoes!"  I can't remember how many times I heard that line this summer.  That dog has been a trooper and made a lot of people smile. 

The Dew's also loaned us their Jeep for all of our parades this summer.  Joel was the driver.  The Jeep carried the fans, taffy, and campaign literature along the route and also provided a ride for the kids as they got tired from time to time. 
This was at taken at the end of one of the parades.  We sure know how to wipe out our kids!!!
It seemed like Mia Love's parade entry was near ours for nearly every parade.  And, both campaigns have used orange as its main color.  Good thing we get along - despite our disparate political opinions!
The booth in Taylorsville.
This is George Pence.  He's the volunteer extraordinaire!!! George is also the campaign blogger.  See that gash over his eye?  That's the result of tripping over James who was scooping up a piece of candy during the parade in South Salt Lake.  Jiggered up his glasses and camera as well.  So, what did George do?  Well, finished the parade and then joined us in Magna that afternoon for another one!  We have the greatest volunteers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuckered out from gathering all that candy, hot, and taking it easy in the Jeep for the rest of the parade.  See that splotch of pick behind his ear?  That's Kate.  She's playing my phone to pass the time until the Jeep reaches the end of the parade.  However, in other parades (most of them) that little girl was in full campaign mode.  She's a great fan passer-outer!
Another shot, at another parade, with the phone.  Love her!
Here's me in my parade uniform. 
At the end of the parade in Sandy.

The billboard campaign has begun!  I came up with the Eagle Scout version.  I have a few reservations regarding interpretation, but its been a favorite for many/most.  Here's what Utah Policy had to say about the latest step for Ben's campaign:

Well, I think it's been about 4 months since this blog got updated.  I'd give up entirely, except for the fact that it represents the entirety of my scrapbooking efforts.  Ben turns this into a book and we print up a copy for us and each of the kids.  So, I'm committed to keeping up the effort.  I think the posts below brings us into April.  Three or so more months to go.  They've been very busy months, with more busy months to come, so my expectations of actually catching up are not too high.  We'll see how it goes.  In the mean time, Ben's county mayor campaign has a blogger and I'll probably be borrowing a few of his posts anyhow, so you can see what we've been up to here.  Thanks George Pence, the blogger for "McAdams Apple."

Ben's campaign held a party in the office on the night of the primary elections. Party-goers socialized and watch the results of local elections roll-in -- primarily to find out who Ben's Republican challenger would be. As it turned out, the result for the Republican mayoral nominee was too close to call and would remain a mystery until July 10. Since I'm actually writing this post long after June 10, we know the Republican opponent is Mark Crockett (not Mike Winder). The kids were mildly curious about the election result, but certainly enjoyed their time at the party. They all arrived in pajamas. Robert brought light sabers and James brought a chess board. Many attendees battled a few minutes with Robert. James found a taker or two for chess. After we entertained everyone and were no longer able to contain our fatigue, we packed up and went home to bed. Let's hope the next election-results party is also a winner!!!

This was the beginning of a long line of house parties.  But this may be among the best. 
Norma Matheson, former first-lady of Utah, hosted a backyard party for Ben.  She was wonderful!  She has known Ben for quite some time.  She awarded him a leadership scholarship back when he was a senior at the U.  She's kept track of him ever since.  It was such an honor for her to host a fundraiser and to hear all the nice things she had to say about Ben.
Because it was a women's fundraiser, I felt the need to say a word or to.  I told about when I first learned, in the 4th Grade, about the political parties.  I'm not sure exactly why, but my friends and I concluded that one party had to be good and the other had to be bad.  As a youth in Davis County, we quickly learned that most of our parents were Republicans, which must mean that it was the good party.  Our recess jump rope game, originally called "angles and devils" transformed into Republicans and Democrats.  I was excited to share the new game with my mom when I came home, but then shocked when she told me at Uncle Jim and Grandma Judd were Democrats.  I quickly had to rethink a thing or two.  Both Uncle Jim and Grandma were at the fundraiser, so it was really fun to introduce them to the crowd.  Of course, most everyone already knew Jim, who is the President of the AFL-CIO and State Democratic Party Vice Chair - basically a celebrity among everyone Ben works with in Utah politics.
Here's a shot of the wonderful crowd that gathered in Norma's backyard and generously donated to Ben's campaign.
A couple of Sergent relatives came as well as Grandma Judd, Aunt Terry, Jim and my dad.  It was really fun to have my family attend and so nice of them to support us that evening!
Ben talking to an attendee.
Now, there's a handsome candidate!
SLC Mayor Ralph Becker has given Ben some fantastic opportunities to work on tough projects for SLC.  As a result of Ben's successes on those projects and the many people who got to know Ben while working with him on the various projects, Ben is in a position to run for County Mayor and garnering the support of leaders across the political spectrum.  Thanks, Ralph!
Some of the "Ben swag" that was passed out and worn at the party. 
Attendee writing a check.  It's amazing how willing and generous supporters are.  Ben can't win if he doesn't get his name out there and that takes a lot of money.  Thank you!
Check out the street in front of Norma's house!  Sorry, neighbors!

I don't remember "graduating" from kindergarten, but James and Kate did just that. And the pictures below are proof. Susan told me that it's more appropriately called a "promotion" because graduating implies that one complied with certain requirements. That's a stretch to say when talking about kindergarten, so I'm with Susan and titled this post "kindergarten promotion." Title aside, making a big deal about it was pretty fun - for parents and kindergarteners. Both Kate and James accomplished a great deal at school in the last year. They did learn a lot as far as reading a math are concerned, but they also, and maybe more importantly, learned that school is fun. Once we actually were successful in getting Kate out of bed, dressed and fed in the morning, we never had to fight either of them on the actual "go to school" front. They had a great relationship with their teacher, Ms. Reinelt. They made many, many friends. They lived for recess - especially for playing soccer and practicing the monkey bars. They also loved lunchtime. Often their comments from school were about conversations had during lunch, more often recess, and, occasionally, academics.

Each kid made their own graduation cap.  The top is decorated as they saw appropriate.  They also each won an award.

Kate was "the most creative" because she loved, loved, loved all the art projects and, during any free-time, had her own project underway.

Try as he could, Ben could not get these two stubborn souls to smile.  This will be a fun moment to remember, too!