Our First Christmas 2010

In southern Arizona you can wear shorts on Christmas Day without any fear of becoming cold! Sock monkeys are a little tradition in my family and this year my mom gave our kids their own sock monkeys- which they loved.

We put them by the tree not knowing how they would react- the needles can poke a little but Wes was very curious about it and in no time was diving in with both hands.

Sadie also really likes her sock monkey- the limbs are thin and easy to grab and it is soft- perfect for rubbing on your face or biting.

Sadie was also curious about the tree and wanted to put it in her mouth- she is so smart and quickly figured out that if she pulled or pushed on one part of the branch, another part would be lowered into her mouth- she is so clever!

The Spurgiesz family was so generous this year and we love all the gifts they sent- including this robot that they both really like. It is so soft and there are so many parts that are easy for them to grab and play with. We think we have the cutest and smartest babies! This Christmas was very different for us and we didn't even take a picture of us all together- we now know how to better prepare for next year and we can't wait to see what they think of the tree then!

James and Becky's Wedding

Liz and Wes at the reception- she looked lovely and I thought he looked so handsome in his look jacket!

Aunt Marcia and Sadie- we never did get a picture of Sadie in her new party dress- we will have to take one later and add it to this post.

Becky and her Grandpa Turley

Becky and Grandpa Beus

Chad is so handsome- he is in Utah working on his Master's degree and while we are very proud of him, we do miss him and selfishly wish he would move back to Arizona!

Grandpa and Maryjane- she took Wes out for a spin on the dance floor and while they both had a good time she was surprised by what a solid little boy he was.

Uncle Sterling and Becky

The moment of truth when you hope the little discussion you had about not smashing the cake really proves to have been effective. I was a little nervous because Becky wanted chocolate cake with chocolate filling and chocolate frosting- I had asked her about the potential for the cake to be smashed on her because white cakes doesn't stain wedding dresses quite like chocolate cake- she assured me that there would be no smashing and thankfully she was right!

Cutting the cake

I think moments like this are just as enjoyable as the big party itself. We were at the reception site early due to setting up the cake and Chad was there and then James and Becky came by for pictures and we were able to visit and watch the cutest babies on earth practice rolling over. With so many people wanting to celebrate with them I felt lucky to have a few moments with them all to myself!

The reception was so beautiful and there were many personal touches throughout the night- they had James and Becky's favorite candies for people to enjoy, pictures from their childhood on display, all the little girl cousins were in matching outfits and the hot chocolate and doughnuts were delicious!

This rug was great with the cake- a last minute idea by James' mom and it looked wonderful.

This is by far the best and hardest cake I have done and I am now retired for a few years. They were married on December 30th and I am still trying to find all the pictures at the temple, but there was a huge snow storm, many roads were closed and we were not sure that we were going to make it. Even the temple was closed that day but the temple president had called that morning to say that they would open for the two sealings only. We were so happy to make this cake for Becky and so glad that it could turn out just as she wanted.

Buck worked just as hard on the cake as I did and it was his wrapping and packaging that allowed the cake to arrive intact. Somewhere there are more detailed pictures of the cake- she has great taste and knew what she wanted- it was fun to make such a beautiful cake and was a good challenge for us both.

Just the Menfolk

You see a happy little boy and a happy daddy- they are happy because they just did this..

Which makes them both happy

Go up and be happy, come down and be happy- up, down, up, down- he could do this all day long!

And away he goes again! It might not seem that doing shoulder presses with a 20lb weight should become so fatiguing so quickly because it seems like people at the gym can go for much longer. I think it's important to remember that if suddenly the weights at the gym started to wiggle and move while people were lifting them, we would see a more fair comparison! We couldn't be happier to lift these little darlings all day long- or at least until our arms get tired!

December 2010 Sunday Pictures

You know family pictures are over when you get that face!

They will naturally grab hands- we are still not sure if they think they are grabbing their own hand or if they are aware that they are grabbing a different hand, but either way it doesn't bother them.

Dad and Wes on a Sunday afternoon.

Mom and Sadie- one of the best parts about having a girl is dressing her up!

Thanksgiving Day

This year was a Cotter Thanksgiving and after we took family pictures. We ended up using this picture for our Christmas card.

While we were at the Cotter lunch, members of my family were staying with us from out of town and went to another Thanksgiving. We were able to spend time with them the next day at my Grandpa's birthday celebration. The best part of visiting is holding the babies- here my mom cuddles with Sadie who promptly fell asleep!

The Ruiz family also stayed with us and I only have this picture to prove it. The babies loved Jennifer and Javier and Michael- it almost seemed like the day everyone left the babies were looking around for all their new friends. We are so fortunate to belong to such wonderful families.

Grandpa's 80th Birthday Celebration

Grandpa turned 80 on July 31, 2010. The best time for everyone to get together was the day after Thanksgiving and it was so much fun! Here are Grandpa and MaryJane with all his children- Rebecca, Sterling, Jennifer, Michele and Marcia.

This is all of his family that was able to be there. We loved visiting with everyone and Sadie and Wes were very popular guests as well. My mom put together a book about his life and while I feel very close to my Grandpa, I was amazed at the things I learned about him. I saw pictures of him and of my Grandma that I had never seen before. I am so grateful for the work that mom put into this- it will be something that we will treasure and pass down through the generations.

An elephant cake

A friend asked me if I would make an elephant cake for her book club that had just finished reading, "Water for Elephants". I have not made an elephant cake before and these pictures were taken in the fridge. I forget to take pictures of the cake and when I remembered I had already put the cake in and once a cake is finished I like to move it as little as possible- so, thus the poor lighting! I thought it turned out okay for a first attempt- I think a person could tell that it was an elephant.