Lucky number SEVEN!!!

Caitlyn turned 7 on August 23 and for her birthday we were lucky to have Grandma K come have dinner and help us make Caitlyn's Barnyard Birthday Cake. The kids had so much fun making the pigs, chicken, and sunshine cupcakes and Grandma's art skills came in very handy with the barn...if you look closely you can see the different textures she gave the sky, the barn, and the grass. However, we do have to give Jason credit for the spider and the spider web...it took one steady hand to pull that off :)

2nd Grader

Our little Caitlyn is now a 2nd grader! She was so excited to begin school again and it was extra special because Mormor and Bestefar were here to wish her luck on her first day of school.

More of our vacation

Aubs and I at Mesa Falls
Cave Falls...this is incredible!
This is just to the right of the cave we were standing in.
We were so glad Grandpa Jay could come up too.
Brandt is teething, can you tell?

Just a few more pictures of our vacation. By the way if you have never been to Mesa Falls and Cave Falls I highly recommend it; they were amazing!

Our Vacation

We saw a moose in Island Park

The Hot Pots in Yellowstone...stinky!Old Faithful
The waterfalls in Yellowstone
The kids playing in the Snake River

For our family vacation we stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Craner's cabin in Island Park (THANK YOU!) and visited the local attractions which included Yellowstone, the Snake River, Mesa Falls, and Cave Falls. It was wonderful!

More of the Reunion

Here are a few more pics of the family.

Benedict Family Reunion

Dad and Brooke on the water slides

A game of kickball

Captain Greg and the Crew

The egg hunt...can you see how many eggs!

Cousins!

We had our Benedict Family Reunion a few weeks ago at Mom and Dad's home in Rexburg. Brooke's family was in charge of planning the events which included a pirate treasure hunt with Captain Greg and also an egg hunt with 100's of easter eggs! It was so fun to see the excitement in all of the children's eyes during each activity. So fun!

Aunt Brooke Saves the Day...AGAIN!

In the past few weeks our family has been faced with a few challenges and each time we have not known what to do Brooke has stepped up and saved the day for us. Let me explain...

1. Our 2 kitties (Bunker and Shaye) wore out their welcome with our neighbors because they kept running under their deck. Jason and I decided it would be best to keep our relationship good with our neighbors and therefore told the kids that the kitties had to go. However not wanting to cut their lives short we weren't sure what we could do for the kittens. Well, hearing of our dilemma Brooke invited our kitties to come live at her animal paradise in Dillon, MT. This news made all the difference for our children and instead of it being a terrible end to our kitty experience, Caitlyn and Aubrey were so happy that Bunker and Shaye could run happy and free on 3 acres in Montana ( as a matter of fact I think they were just a tad bit jealous that the kitties got to go and they didn't!)

2. During our Benedict Family Reunion are aqua blue mini-van died suddenly. This seems to happen at least once a year and we end up juggleing everything with our one car. However, with the addition of Brandt we can no longer fit all of the kids in our sedan, especially with the carseat laws. Well it just so happened that the van broke on a Saturday and we were leaving Monday for our week long vacation in Island Park. Realizing that we didn't have enough room for everyone in the car I mentioned to Jason that we would just have to stay home instead and try for Island Park next year. Hearing of our new problem Brooke without hesitation spoke up and said "You can take our van." I don't know about you but lending out your vehicle isn't exactly an easy thing to do and as of right now Brooke has not had her van for 2 weeks. This was one of our best vacations ever and we owe a HUGE thank you to Greg and Brooke for saving the day...again! WE love you guys!!!

Happy Pioneer Day!

My little pioneer children

The girls got to carry the sign for our ward

Our Stake has a little parade each year in honor of the 24th of July where the primary kids can dress up and walk around in the church parking lot...it may seem small but to all of these little children it was a BIG deal!

Elder Tessem

I can hardly believe it but my little brother Troy is a missionary. He entered the MTC on July 18th and will be serving in the Oslo, Norway mission in a few months. We were so grateful to be able to see him one last time before he left. We were also glad we could see some extended family while we were in Utah.

4th of July

We spent the fourth of July in Rexburg with family. We had a wonderful time visiting with Damon and Emily and also Jared and Liz while they were in town. By the end of the day the kids were completely exhausted...and the adults were even more tired!