Happy Birthday Roo!

Today is Roo's birthday, and its the big 3-0! Congratulations! 

There are many theories to how Roo got his interesting name, but the one Mom supports is that Roo's name came about while she and Dad were on a trip to Australia. She saw the Mommy Kangaroo's carrying around their babies in their pouches, and she happened to be pregnant with Roo at the time, so she thought "Roo" would be a cute nickname for the baby she had already decided to name Charles, after her great-grandfather C.R. Savage. She thought Charles was a pretty big name for a little baby, and that "Roo" would be cute for a little while. She never thought it would become his lifelong name! We can't imagine calling Roo anything else now. "Charles" just doesn't seem to fit him, and we're glad that the nickname stuck! 

 Last year, we gathered up all of Roo's old baby pictures for a special Christmas present for him. Some of the pictures we found were from birthdays past. Like the one above from his first birthday, and the one below from his second birthday. I love how both Nancee and J.J. are ready to eat their little brother's birthday cake!

Looks like Roo finally figured out how to guard his cake by the time the third birthday came around!

I asked Mom if she had any funny stories to recount about Roo's childhood, and she remembered how much he hated football as a kid. He told her "I'll pay you back if you let me quit". When she asked him why he didn't like it, his response was, "I hate hitting into people and hurting them for no good reason and I hate them hitting into me. Its just dumb."Roo always was on a deeper intellectual level than most kids his age. 

 Roo has always, always loved animals. Especially dogs. The above picture is Roo with Rusty, the dog we got after moving to California. After Rusty, we got Beth, the fluffy Old English Sheepdog who was always considered to be Roo's dog.

 Once Roo got out on his own, he got a Welch Corgie dog named Lando. Not long after getting Lando, the animal rescue contacted Roo and Annie to ask if they would take in another Corgie who had been abused. Their family suddenly grew with the addition of Chase, but Annie and Roo worked very hard at trying to break Chase of some of his bad habits (like peeing and barking).



Once Esme was born, priorities had to change a little bit, and we volunteered to take care of Roo's doggies. He still thinks of them as his family and he misses them a lot. He always wants to know how they are doing, and he even had a camera installed at our house so he can keep an eye on his babies. We want to assure Roo that the doggies are very happy living at our mountain home. They can run anywhere they want, use the bathroom any time they feel like it, and bark as much as they see fit. They love it in Idaho!

Roo is known for his love of Dr. Pepper and Coke. In the past few years he has switched his allegiance to Diet Coke... which threatens my supply when he comes to visit, but I try to be good about sharing with him. Oh yeah, he went to Paris too.... but the coke is the main point of this picture.

Just kidding. Roo and Annie have actually had the opportunity to do LOTS of traveling in their lives. A lot more than most young people. They both love history, museums, sight seeing, and embarking on new adventures.  They traveled to Italy and Romania together before they were even engaged! Roo actually proposed to Annie in Italy, which earns her the award for most romantic proposal in the family. Nicely done, Roo! They did a study abroad program for a semester in England after they were first married. They spent a summer living in San Francisco too. They've been to New York, Washington D.C. and California several times. For the first few months at his new job, Roo had to go to training half way across the world in Abu Dhabi! I'm sure all of their travels have prepared them well for living away from family in Houston.

Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, CA

Pizza Place in New York City, NY

Yosemite, CA

Houston, TX

Niagra Falls, NY

Look at those teeth! Roo has such a big bright smile, Mom called it "a smile as wide as Kansas". He and I went to the same (terrible) orthodontist for several years. Even though he had to wear rubber bands and headgear for a little while, he now has beautiful teeth to show for it! 

Roo has played music in a few bands including "Say it Aint Weezer" and "Mimic". I remember him playing the "Jurassic Park" theme song on the keyboard at our Cloister house over and over. Roo is actually very musical, and one of his favorite things to do is to go listen to people perform music. He has been to several concerts in his 30 years, and his favorite one is John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl. He has been able to attend that concert several times. 

 
Roo is a very sweet husband to Annie. He is considerate of her needs, especially while she is pregnant, and he does what he can to help her out. They are such a cute couple because they really have similar personalities. They are both very funny and quietly sarcastic. They seem very well suited for each other, and we are so happy that Roo brought Annie into our family.


Roo is a good father to Esmé, too. He tries to be very patient with her as she is currently entering her "terrible twos". We look forward to our chance to Skype with Roo and Esmé most afternoons. Even though he doesn't always say a lot, we know Roo cares very deeply for his family.

Roo, we loved having you visit us over the recent Holiday season. It was fun to watch Lord of the Rings with your expertise, and we are so grateful that you spent your time setting up the Star Wars room. It looks so good now! 

We love you, Roo, and we hope you have a very happy birthday!

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!