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.

55 inches of Excitement

We finally updated from our brick of a hand-me-down 1990's TV. We decided-mostly Kevin, to go all out and do a 55 inch LED
Smart HGTV with 3D. I don't think I've seen kevin so excited before-I'm sure he was just as gity as he was when he was a little kid on Christmas morning. I wasn't sure of the whole 3D thing at first, but once we had it all set up we put in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie and it was FUN! Luke was thrilled to see everything so bright. Kevin and I have always been a movie watching couple so this was a great investment for us-when you're busy with work, school, and parenting its sometimes the only ay to have a date night!

4 years ago...

4 years ago I was released from severing an 18 month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Oregon Portland Mission. The decision I made to serve a mission was the best decision I ever made and mapped out my life as I know it today. I have been able to accomplish a lot within those four years of being home, but my love for the people I served in Portland hasn't dwindled. I'm truly greatful for the oppertunity I had 4 years ago to serve in Portland. I love that Kevin and I both can not only relate to each others mission experience, as we both served in Portland, but I'm grateful that we sat the example of serving missions for Luke and our future children. Portland Oregon will always hold a special place in the hearts of our household. Miss you Portland and more importantly the people of Portland! (picture taken in my last area of Forest Grove, OR-can't beat Portland in the fall.)

Luke: 9 months

Our little monster is just that, growing so fast! Its so amazing to watch how fast he has developed in the last 9 months. Its truly a miracle seeing him become little person and develop his own personality and characteristics. Its always fun going places as a whole family and having people comment on how much he looks like Kevin-I see so many little things of Kevin in Luke, the saying "like father, like son" is so true with them two. I also see a little of myself in him, but I'm happy that Luke is such a Daddy's boy and that they have a special relationship already.

Here's Luke at 9 months:
- Weighs 21 lbs and is 27.5 inches long (surprisingly he's only in the 20th percentile for his weight...what does the 100th percentile look like...yikes!)
- Crawls! He got that one down quick and he's a speedy one!
- Wears 18-24mnth clothes.
- Has started pulling himself up to stand up, still needs to hang on to things for balance.
- Loves watching the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
- Loves the "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" song, best "stop crying" tool!
- Him and Roxy (our Boxer) have a special bond, he loves playing with her paws and her "jingles" (tags on her collar).
- He loves having daddy tickle him every night
- He's eating more solids and he started eating "crunches" (little puff snacks).
- He graduated from the infant car seat (thank goodness, he was getting so heavy) to the "big boy" chair.
- His pouty face has gone from just the bottom lip sticking out to both lips, its hard not to laugh at his cute little duck face.
- Diaper changes have become challenging, he gets excited to be nakey and crawls away while trying to put the clean diaper on him.