Merry Christmas to all!

Grandpa Jay reading the Christmas story and Aubrey acting out the part of the angel.
Caitlyn as Mary and Brandt as Baby Jesus...Brandt wasn't so sure about his part :)
Lining up.
Christmas Morning!
The Big Kids

We spent Christmas at Mom and Dad Benedict's home in Rexburg this year. It was so fun to be with family and enjoy the excitement of the children. We were so glad that Amy and Jason (and children!), Travis and Lindsey (and puppies!) were in town, and what's not to love about the locals (Dad, Mom, and Ashley!) Thanks for letting our wild bunch stay and enjoy Christmas with ya'll...Merry Christmas to all!

Jase is 3!!!

Jase with his artilary, mask, and birthday cake.
Back view :)
Jase helping make the frosting...notice the powdered sugar all over the counter.
Aunt Brooke and Jason making the "Super Jase" cape...isn't it amazing!
Uncle T carefully placing each M&M on the "Super Jase" cake...well done Travis :)

Our little man Jase is 3! We decided to have a "Super Jase" birthday theme this year and it turned out so fun! Because of the Christmas holiday we were able to be with most of the Benedict family which was wonderful. I do have to say it is really nice to have married into a family of artists...I can't take any credit for all of our "Super Jase" paraphernalia. Thanks Jason, Brooke, Travis, Lindsey, and Mom for making the cake and cape just perfect!

Cabo San Lucas

One of the amazing sights.

Our tour boat for the afternoon.

Sea Lions resting on the rocks.

The docks at Cabo.

The Golden Princess.

Our last stop was in Cabo, and unfortunately it was our shortest stop. We would have liked to stay here longer because it was really beautiful. However, while we were there we were able to go kayaking and snorkeling. It was an amazing experience and we need to send a BIG THANK YOU to all of our family who made it possible for us to go...Thanks Mom, Dad, Ashley, and Brooke for taking care of the children while we were away...you will never know how grateful we are for your help! Also, thanks to Trav, Linds, Josh, Nat, Sam, and Mal for making us feel so welcome during our short visits in California...it was so good to see you guys, we definitely need to do that more often! What a great trip we had!

Mazatlan

The cliff diver...crazy,huh!
Driving around the city.
Jason and friends body boarding at the beach.
Two whities on the beach...definitely not locals :)
I loved the bright colors of these homes.

Our second stop was in Mazatlan, Mexico. We had fun wandering around the town and playing on the beach with friends. It was a beautiful warm day, great for just hanging out.

Puerto Vallarta

Isn't this bird beautiful!
This is what we drove in...that was one wild ride!
One of our activities was a zip-lining and rapelling course in the jungle canopy, here are some of Jason's co-workers we did the course with.
In Puerto Vallarta.

This was the boat...our room was the top most room on the right side with a balcony.

Cruise!

It was so beautiful on the ocean
This was a putting contest that Jason won! He even got a metal!
Jason and I both read parts in a mystery readers theater, we both did our best Italian accents...Jason's was awesome and the crowd was laughing out loud.
Jason also enjoyed karaoke several times...he is so brave!
These were the group of friends we met while we were on the cruise...they are wonderful people, and they made it so fun too!

At the beginning of this month Jason and I were able to go on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera compliments of Jason's work. These first photos are pictures of some of the activities on the cruise. It was so fun, and as you can tell from these photos Jason took advantage of many of the cruise activities.

A "Brite" idea for a Christmas gift

Hey Everybody, do the words "I'm a VIP in my Family," or "Captain Dependable" ring a bell? Well, if your childhood was like mine then you are familiar with "Brite" music by Janeen Brady. I wanted to let anyone who is interested in purchasing Brite music for their families know about a blind couple in our ward who is selling it to help their family. Just a brief background on this family Sylvia (the wife) was born in India. At about two years of age she was attacked by a tiger which left her blind...to make a long story short, eventually she was adopted by a family in Utah where she later learned about the church and joined. Jason (the husband) has type 1 diabetes and sometime soon after high school he lost his vision due to the disease. One cool side note however is that they both went to the same high school and before Jason became blind he was able to see Sylvia...cool huh! Anyhow, Jason was baptized about 3 years ago (another cool side note my Jason was the ward mission leader at the time and asked him if he wanted to meet with the missionaries and the timing was just right so we were able to see him join the church and be baptized). Sylvia and Jason are also the parents of two children, a 6 year old boy and 4 year old girl (SERIOUSLY, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!) It is not uncommon to see them walking to pick up their son from school tapping their walking sticks the whole way to stay on the sidewalk...they are amazing. Anyhow they are wonderful people and they try to be as self sufficient as possible, and this is something they are doing to try to support their family. So with that said if you are interested in Brite music you can go to www.Brite Music.com and with any purchase other than the Music by the Month Program you can get a 10% discount if you enter their code number which is 2070904 when you check out. Thanks for taking the time to read this, hope you all have a great day!

Happy Halloween!

The kids with the huge pumpkin Bestefar grew!

Caitlyn the Witch

This is what Aubrey calls her "Mommy Face"...apparently that is what I look like when I am mad.

Jase as Blue.

Little Brandt as Eeyore.

Happy Halloween! We have actually had a crazy "HalloWEEK" at our home and although it has been a lot of fun celebrating Halloween, I am officially ready for Thanksgiving...so bring on the Turkey!

A few more photos...

Just a few more photos from the weekend...thanks again ladies, it was fun to hang out with you all!

Ladies!

I have to admit I'm not the most crafty girl west of the Mississippi, but that doesn't mean I don't like to hang out with people who are! This past weekend we had some Ladies time where everyone was able to come to Aunt Teresa's House and work on some sort of craft project. It turned out to be a great weekend...wonderful company and yummy food, what else could you ask for!

Snow storm!

We had a crazy snowstorm last Saturday that knocked the branches off of our front tree. What was even funnier though was that the weather two days later was in the 70's. Notice Caitlyn playing in the snow with no shoes on but ear warmers just in case of frost bite!