Basement Update

We finally got the basement kitchen finished. The appliances are installed, we got beautiful granite countertops and the cabinets are in too. Now we just need to break it in!

New Years

We celebrated New Years (also known as Christmas Part 4) with Barratt and Marci's family. They actually arrived in Pocatello a few days after Christmas and we had a fourth and final present opening session with them. Sierra, Ashlee and Brayden had brought presents for Grandma and Grandpa Tutu that they had purchased with their own money, which was very sweet of them.



Then we played some family games, and watched "Better Off Dead" and "The Three Amigos". Its fun that Barratt's kids are old enough to enjoy these movies with us now. We also watched the first movie of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and one of the "Harry Potter" movies.



On New Years Eve, we dressed up in these fun sparkly hats and worked on a puzzle. It has been years since we've done a puzzle on New Years, so it was fun to get back to our old traditions. Since everyone except Barratt's family and me were asleep by midnight, we had a pretty low-key celebration. Brayden got to blow his noisemaker once and then it was time for bed.





Esme was super excited to play with her cousins, and Brayden, Ashlee and Sierra were all excellent babysitters for her. Unfortunately we didn't have enough snow for the kids to do any sledding, but they went down to Utah on their way home and went skiing as a substitute.

 Thanks for taking such good care of Esme!

 Before they left, Barratt's family decided they had to finish the puzzle. It took a wile, but they did finish it and they decided to take one piece out and hide it from Grandpa Tutu. He didn't notice a piece was missing at first, and then when he finally saw it he laughed and he knew we were playing a joke on him. It was a good mode!

Thank you so much for making the trek up to Idaho, we really appreciated having so much of our family together for this Holiday season. It was so much fun!

Happy Birthday Eden!

Eden's birthday is today, January 12th. It is a big milestone birthday for her, and she is totally okay with it. When we asked her if she was anxious at all, she said "it is what it is". This is a perfect example of my favorite thing about Eden--she is very realistic and down to earth about everything. She doesn't get caught up in the little dramas of life. Her perspective is always focused on the "big picture", and I find that so refreshing and enjoyable. 

This is a picture of Eden at the Indianapolis Moto GP races earlier this year. She and Ricky went on this trip together. I think it is very cute how supportive Eden is of Ricky and all of his interests. I think she actually enjoys the motorcycle stuff too! 

They are a very cute couple, and I have had the chance to spend lots of time with them from living with them in Idaho for about a year. I like that they always talk nicely to each other, are affectionate with each other, and that they laugh a lot together. 

Eden is a bright ray of sunshine that makes everyone who comes into contact with her happier. She has made our whole family better by being a part of it. We are so grateful for her positive attitude and how she is able to see the best in everyone. Eden is so easy to talk to, and I love that about her! One time when I was staying at her house, she and I had a little sleepover and we seriously stayed up talking and reminiscing about high school until 2am. And she still got up to work the early the next morning. 

Eden and Sadie, July 2010 

Eden loves kids, and she is a great mother to Lincoln and Logan. Even though she is busy working a full-time job, she makes time to spend with them in the morning, at lunch, and in the evenings after work. She put a ton of time, energy and creativity into throwing the boys a big Lego-themed birthday party this year. Eden is very creative when it comes to things like that. She makes amazing homemade cakes, complicated deserts, cards and scrapbooks. She is very talented with stuff like that. 

 

Of course, we have to mention Eden's awesome athletic ability! She played tennis well in high school and last year she began to play in an adult tennis league. Turns out, Eden is still awesome at playing! In fact, her team was undefeated and went to the National Championship in October. 

She got to play doubles and singles matches, and we got to watch her play a few of them! Eden has a killer serve that would mode her opponent every time. While we were watching her play, a few of the members of her team were sitting behind us, and they didn't know that we were Eden's family. We asked them who the best person on their team was, and they unanimously agreed that it was Eden. 

Eden is very dedicated to her tennis, and she spends several nights a week working out with her team. I think it is so awesome that she has found an activity that she loves and that she is so good at. Also, she has a ton of super cute tennis outfits which is also pretty cool. 

 

To celebrate her birthday, Eden is going to spend a few days with her Mom and sisters at Disneyland. She loves all things Disney and Ricky is watching the kids so that she can have a few days off, so that should be lots of fun for her. 

 We love you Eden and we hope that you have a wonderful birthday!

Christmas (Part III)

The day after Christmas, Annie's parents drove her, Roo and Esmé up to Idaho. We had a nice lunch with them in our newly finished basement, and then it was time for a third present opening session. 

Esmé has the whole "present opening" thing down. 

We had lots of yummy pies for dessert. Banana Cream, Pumpkin, Mince Meat (ew), Apple, Homemade Cheesecake, and a most delicious Pecan Pie that Jennifer made from scratch. Delish! 

Esmé was instant friends with Mallory. She went right over to her and sat on her lap. It was so cute. 

 The following day, we all went out for a breakfast/lunch at Elmers, our local diner. It was pretty wild but we still had a fun time eating and visiting.

 Party of 13 or something...

Esmé is a real busy body. It was hard to get her to hold still long enough for a picture. 

That is, unless she gets to look at herself while the picture is being taken. Then she was all about it. She knows how to scroll through the iphone images too. I wore my leopard scarf to match her cute outfit. 

 The following night we went to dinner at Perkins, after trying to go to another restaurant that was not very baby-friendly. It ended up being okay though because Aunt Jennifer got to play the toy machine and she ended up winning a stuffed snowman for Esmé, and we let Nolan take all the jam and jelly packets out of the holder thing and throw them everywhere, and then we loudly played trivia games. It ended up being a really fun night.

Nolan played with Grandma Tutu

There was only one mistake made that night. See, Annie thought she ordered the BIG salad, and all she got was this  puny thing. 

Nolan's shirt says "judge me by my size do you". He has a nice collection of Star Wars inspired clothing. 

Before rolling around like a mad woman on the couch

and.... after. 

Christmas (Part II)

Later in the evening on Christmas, Ryan and Heather drove up with their kids to spend some time with us. We had a second present opening session with them.

Nathan was very excited to open presents 

The kids got some fun things, including matching owl pajama pants. See below.

Austin is rocking the owl jammies

Speaking of the boys, it was so good to see cute baby Austin again. He is really growing fast! Due to popular demand, I tried to take lots of pictures of him during the short time they were here.

Austin had lots of cute clothes! 

Grandma Elf and Austin

Nolan was excited to have a friend to play with. While we tried to take the traditional picture of babies laying on the ground next to each other, Nolan kept rolling over, trying to touch Austin.