My Smarty Pants of a Husband

This post is well overdue! We are publicly announcing that we will be headed to Laramie,Wyoming coming June 2012. Kevin has been accepted to the University of Wyoming's Pre-Pharmacy program. We are super excited for this new adventure. Kevin has worked very hard and is excited to be one step closer to being a Pharmacist. We will be heading from one extreme weather condition to another, but we are ready to leave the desert right as the summer hits.

Luke is 1!

Our little guy had his first birthday! I can't believe a year ago we held Luke for the first time...time flew by! Luke is a major fan of Mickey Mouse, so we had a little Micky Mouse party. I decided to try out my Christmas gift from Kevin and make Luke a fun Mickey themed cake. This was the first time I played with fondant and gum paste- I had a love/hate relationship with this cake during the entire process, but it was worth seeing Luke happy!
Luke loved opening his gifts! Like most 1 year olds he liked the stuff like boxes, wrapping paper, and his cards the most. He was excited for the Rockin' Mickey that kevin and I got him as well as another fun noise making toy from Kevin's mom.
When it came to eating cake-we had to practically beg Luke to start digging in. Luke is very mellow baby and his mannerism during cake time was no different, he was very calm and didn't make a mess (besides on himself) It was wonderful birthday full of happiness,giggles, and smiles-we couldn't ask for anything more!

Palm Springs Vacation

While Kevin was off for Christmas break we got the opportunity to take a week long vacation to Palm Springs. We stayed at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Villas-it was great to have an apartment style room, especially since we had Luke with us! We decided that since with Kevin's school schedule and our work schedules that we would take this week to relax. We didn't do too much during the week- but thats what we needed!
We did take an opportunity to go down to La Jolla (about 2 hours from Palm Springs) to go to the Birch Aquarium as well as to take Luke to the ocean for the first time. It was so much fun! We all had a blast, especially Luke! Luke was so mesmerized by all the fishies, he wanted to be up against the glass looking at all the fish.



After a fun time at the Aquarium, we went down the beach. Although it was a nice warm day, of course the California Ocean was't as warm. We took off Luke's pants, socks and shoes and let him play in the sand-he LOVED it!
Before driving back to Palm Springs, we stopped by the San Diego Temple. The San Diego Temple holds a special place in my heart as it was the temple that I was sealed to my family in. It was great to bring Kevin and Luke to a such a special place that helped me form a special testimony of Eternal Families.
By the time we got on the freeway-Luke was beat! I'm pretty sure he slept the entire 2 hour drive home!




Another fun day was when my Yaya and Papa Don came to Palm Springs for a visit. My grandparents only live about an hour from Palm Springs so it was great to see them! This was the first time my Yaya and Papa Don were able to meet Luke! We had a wonder time catching up and a wonderful yummy lunch!


It was a well-needed, great, relaxing week! Now its back to the grind!

Christmas Dinner: Homemade Tamales

This Christmas I decided to follow one of the traditions that I was raised with. Growing up we would have a traditional Christmas Eve dinner with tamales, some years they were homemade and others were store bought. I decided to channel my inner Maria and make homemade tamales by myself this year! Those who aren't a where of the tamale-making process...it is just that, a process. The entire process takes a good 3 days to complete. The first day is dedicated to cooking the meat, the second is full of mixing the seasoning and marinating the meat, and the third is the busiest day. The third day is full of soaking your corn husks, preparing the Masa, wrapping your tamales and steaming them.
For my first time making them alone (most of the time its done with many helpers), they were "ok." It was defiantly a learning process. The goo news is that they were edible...woo hoo! We had Kevins mom,sister, and brother over on Christmas night to enjoy in the tamale feast. The best part of dinner was of course the dessert! We got the Sprinkles Cupcake (best cupcakes EVER, founder of Sprinkles is a judge on the show Cupcake Wars) Mix and made red velvet and chocolate cupcakes....hmmmm, yummy!!

Lukes 1st Christmas

This Christmas was too much fun! Luke made this year a blast! We ended up having to take a break opening presents due to Luke getting sooo excited that he was in need of a nap. Santa brought him a tractor that he loves-woo hoo! Kevin and I also had a wonderful Christmas -Santa brought Kevin a nice watch and myself the Cricut Cake Machine. As a family we joined the rest of the "cool kids" and got an IPad that is being enjoyed by all!
Kevin made a wonderful breakfast and we had our friend Brandon join us for breakfast and opening presents. It was a wonderful day! I don't think I could have asked for better Christmas!

2011 Christmas Card

We had a lot of fun taking this years pictures for our Christmas Card. Luke was such a little ham! He was so cute and excited during the actual picture taking processes.