NEWSON FAMILY UPDATE:

We are coming to the end of our winter semester and thought we would update you on our lives. We have been married for 8 months now- we can not believe how fast the time has gone. We are living in Rexburg (Idaho) in a small apartment. We are enjoying having our own place (with our own stuff) and pretending to be all grown up. We are both very excited for the snow to melt and winter to be over.

Both of us are in our senior year at Brigham Young University-Idaho. Ben is studying Organizational Communications (consulting) with a minor in Spanish. He will be graduating in July (but he might wait to graduate and take pre-reqs for his masters). He is looking into different major programs and schools but he is also considering going back to work for a couple years to get experience. Breanne is majoring in Health Science with an emphasis in Health Promotion and Lifetime Wellness. She is getting two clusters (two clusters= minor) in Business and Ballroom Dance. If all goes as planned Breanne will be graduating in December and then do her internship next winter (wherever Ben’s schooling/job takes them).

Breanne’s health is doing much better- thanks for all the prayers and warm wishes. Breanne had a seizure at the end of January and was hospitalized and very ill. We had some tests done, but they all showed no problems. She has been seeing a neurologist and chiropractor and has improved immensely. She has caught up in all her schooling and is back to her normal (loud) self. April 10th she hits her three month mark and is off ‘seizure watch’ (meaning she can drive, lock the bathroom door, climb latter’s and swim alone). She is very excited to be able to drive again and is counting down the days.
Ben is teaching Career Workshops on campus and is getting a lot of experience teaching different groups of people. He is getting more responsibilities this summer, so he will be working more and he is excited for the experience he is gaining. Ben is taking a golf class in the summer and is very excited to have an excuse to go out often. He is also planning numerous camping and biking trips when it gets warmer.
We hope you are all doing well and we would love to hear what’s new in your lives.

Dinner at the Arizona/Idaho Stones

After the last session of conference we went to dinner at Rachel and Curtis’ house (Brea’s cousins) with Ally and Ben. Bailey and Avery were adorable and warmed up to us in the end. It was fun to get to hang out with all of them. The food was great, the company was great and the games were fun (we played a men vs woman trivia). It was an enjoyable evening.

Weekend at Benson's Cabin

Friday night Ben and I went with our friend Brandon to the Benson’s cabin (Brandon knows the Benson’s from his home ward in CO). The cabin is in Driggs (about an hour from Rexburg) in the Teton Mountains. To call this a cabin would be an understatement; it is like the castle of cabins- with two kitchens, heated floor tiles, a walk around deck and imported furniture from Israel. It was beautiful. We decided that it would be a night for relaxation- so I took a bath.

Yes, it sounds weird but they had a HUGE bathtub with jets and bubbles. I am not really a bath person, but after that bath I have decided to join the realms of Ernie and Rubber Ducky. I felt like I was 4 again (although at the age of four I never had a bath like that). When we turned on the jets it mad the bubbles puff up…a lot. Ben thought it was hilarious and took pictures (don’t worry I was modest, there are so much bubbles I could be in an Eskimo suit and you wouldn’t even know).

When we woke up this morning the boys made a big breakfast (bacon, pancakes, orange juice and eggs) and we got ready to go to conference. After the first session we decided to drive up (in the jeep) to Jackson Hole, WY (only about 20 minutes away-over the pass) to explore. As we started up it was beautiful and so wonderful to be in the mountains, about half way up it started snowing- hard. We had no place on the narrow winding mountain pass to turn around so we had to press on. We got to Jackson and the boys decided that we should just turn around and go back- because they were worried the pass would close. So we got behind the gravel layer and followed it back over the pass- at times we could only see the blinking lights of the gravel layer through the blizzard (yes, and its April). We decided to go straight back to the cabin and listen to conference (which put me to sleep- ugg I know I am bad).
That night we watched movies (well I did while the men-folk were at the Priesthood session) and we played dominos all night (which made me feel like an elderly person in a nursing home- we were bad). We came home Sunday between sessions. It was so much fun to be up there and have a relaxing weekend.
Thanks Benson’s!!