Savannah's first birthday

Here is Savannah on her first birthday. The brown blob on top of her cake is suppose to be an ice cream teddy bear.

Sunday

This was just a cute picture of the kids. Dallin is wearing his first suit.

Pumpkin Patch

Halloween

This year for Halloween Brianna was a witch, Emily was Tinkerbell, Dallin was Batman, and Savannah was a bunny. We had fun hosting a Halloween party at our house.

Playhouse

Jason built this playhouse for the kids this summer and they have been having a fun time playing in it.

Dallin's first day of preschool

Here is our handsome boy on his first day of preschool

baby horse

A family in our ward owns miniature horses and one had a baby. The kids had fun coming to see this tiny newborn horse.

First day of school

Brianna and Emily had their first day of school today. Brianna is in third grade and Emily is in first. They came home really excited, so I guess it was a success.

More trip pictures

Trips continued. . . (we all survived and even had some fun!)

We had one day between coming home from Tucson (see previous post) and Kara, Dallin and Savannah leaving for Montana to visit family. It was really fun to visit since Krista and Kenna were also there that week. After a few days of fun, Kara traveled home across the country with the two little ones and again only had one day until leaving for our family trip to Disneyland. It was a long day of unpacking, repacking, laundry, cleaning and organizing but by that night she had everything packed in the van for an early departure in the morning. Unfortunately, a half an hour after going to bed she had a kidney stone attack and ended up in the hospital. After an all night stay and an early morning procedure we went home for a little rest and still left for Disneyland only one day delayed. We had a great time. This was over 4th of July weekend. The first two nights we stayed at a hotel right on the beach and spent our time playing in the sand. Jason's sister Megan came with us to help with the kids. This worked our great since Kara was on a lot of pain medication and a little "out of it." On July 5th we went to Disneyland. The kids loved all the rides and meeting the Disney Princesses. The next day we drove home. After we got home Kara underwent a second hospital procedure, but this time we had an entire week before our next trip to Utah where we had our official Bennion family reunion in Salt Lake. The time went too quickly but we savored every second. The first day we visited Temple square and the second day went to Lagoon. We got to meet Tanner's fiance Jenny and are looking forward to another trip to Salt Lake in November. Kara's glad we have a few months to recover before packing again!

Trip to Tucson

This summer feels like a whirlwind. The kids are starting school August 6th. We had a lot of places to go this summer. Our first trip was to Tucson for a business meeting that Jason's company has every year and the families are invited. They put you up in a nice resort and have a lot of activities so it's usually pretty fun. This year they had a 70's and 80's theme night. We found an awesome baby blue polyester bell bottom suit for Jason for only $1. Kara's style was a little Napolean Dynamite, but it was fun!

Brianna's Piano Recital

Brianna did a great job at her recital. Her teacher's name is Miss Roxie. She has the kids all sing a song as well as play a piece on the piano. Brianna loves doing both.

Brianna's Baptism

Brianna turned 8 on May 30th. She was baptized the next day, Saturday, May 31st, by her dad. It was a very special day. Thank you to everyone who traveled to share the day with us. We had a nice meal after the baptism with all the family and Brianna opened some presents and had cake. Grandma Bennion made her a special quilt to remind her of the warm feelings of the Holy Ghost. The quilt also had 8 squares across and 8 squares down to remind her of her 8th birthday and it even matched the colors in her room. What a great idea mom!

Emily's Kindergarten Graduation

Good job Emily. The last day of school this year was May 22nd and it snowed!

Emily's 6th Birthday!

Emily wanted to have a Hawaiian birthday party so we did it luau style. The girls made their own leis, learned how to hula in their grass skirts and had a hawaiian themed cake. I think they all had fun! Her birthday was on April 6th.

Trip to New Zealand

We had a wonderful opportunity to visit Queenstown New Zealand. We got back a week ago and here are some of the highlights. After traveling for about 35 hours we arrived on Monday in time to eat dinner and go to bed. Tuesday we went on a bus to see the town and all around the surrounding area to get a feel for where we were. Wednesday we took a steam boat called the T. S. S. Earnslaw that was almost 100 years old across lake Wakatipu (the lake was about 53 miles long) to Walter Peak. This is a historic English sheep station. They have restored the farm house and it is surrounded by gorgeous English rose gardens. One thing I found interesting was that besides sheep they also farm deer and the cattle there are very different looking. That night we visited Arrowtown which is a nearby historic mining town. We went to a theme dinner where the locals put on a show. There was this man who had to have been pushing 70 years old. He was playing in a band with some other folks about his age. You know stuff like She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes ye ha! Anyway, about the time it was getting really boring there was smoke and the curtains opened and this young band of 20 somethings started rocking out on popular songs. This old guy gets an electric guitar and starts rocking out with them. It had to have been one of the funniest things I have seen to see someone in that generation playing rock music and doing it very well. It turns out that the whole band was made up of his kids and the show ended up being quite entertaining. On Thursday we visited Milford Sound. It was about a 4 hour drive from where we were so we rented a car and Jason got to drive on the wrong side of the road. Milford Sound is a place where glaciers have carved an area out of the mountains and the ocean comes in. We took a cruise to see it. There was a lot of spectacular scenery and waterfalls. New Zealand is where a lot of movies are made, the most popular being Lord of the Rings because of it's stunning scenery. On Friday Jason went fishing on a river with a guide while me and Savannah did a little shopping. Jason caught a good size trout and he was able to take it to a local restaurant and have it cooked for dinner. That night we took a ride up the gondola where you can get a nice view of the city. There is also this luge ride that Jason tried out and said was fun. Saturday we drove the car to a place called the puzzling world. It is this place that has a bunch of rooms and each room is a different optical illusion. It was really interesting. But the big finale was Jason went bungy jumping. New Zealand is the capital of extreme sports and there was a lot of crazy stuff to try out. Jason said it was fun but I was so scared I could barely take the video. Anyway, it was a once in a lifetime experience and we were very grateful to be able to go.