Happy Birthday Wyatt!

We love you little one! Happy Birthday

I can't believe you're a year old already.  You have been such a sweet addition to our family and I couldn't help but reminise over my favorite memories as I prepared for your big day.

1.  Your speedy arrival after a brief 5 hours in labor
2.  Sadie covering you with blankets and trying to give you your binki at the first sign of any fussing
3.  Sadie standing by your door asking when you were going to wake up as I frantically tried to shoo her away so she wouldn't wake you.
4.  Nicknames that didn't stick like "peaches" and nicknames that have like "The Squirt" and Bubba"
5.  Your cubby checks
6.  Watching you dance
7.  You're cute little wave, which Daddy makes fun of :)
8.  Watching you pester your sister (she does deserve it sometimes)
9.  Watching you play and laugh with your sister as she drags you around the room by the feet of your pajamas or on your blanket
10. Your sweet kisses!

The Big Day!

We began our day by opening presents with Grandma Moss via Skype!

Then we ventured out in the rain to purchase some birthday balloons.

For lunch it was Mac and Cheese.  Yummy!  And yes you are a very good blinker!

Then, oh ya, you decided you were a big boy and didn't need to take your nap.  Perfect!

And yes, you're still a very good blinker.

Next we quickly set up for your party and then it was all about celebrating.

We opened presents.

We played with presents.

We ate cake.

And yes you even wore your birthday hat for a little bit.

All in all a pretty fun 1st birthday!

Thanks again to everyone who came over to celebrate with us!  And for all who were sending birthday wishes from afar, "We missed You!!!"

Happy New Year!

We began our 2012 year up in El Dorado, California visiting our good friends Dale and Tina and their daughter Jenna.  If you haven't heard our story then you won't know this but Dale and Tina have a very special place in our hearts and lives.  I first met them as a roommate of their daughter Melanie, but really became friends with them after Melanie passed away tragically in a car accident that we were both in during our Sophomore year at APU.  At that time they lived down here in Glendora and I spent a lot of time with their family.  I remember many Saturdays at their house and many Sundays going to church and lunch and just grieving and supporting one another during this time. Then, I believe it was within a year, they decided to relocate to El Dorado, CA and it was during this time that Brandon's fiance Courtney, again one of my roommates and a friend of Melanie's at APU, passed away from cancer.  Brandon also lived up in Northern California so as I made trips up to visit Dale and Tina we found more and more time to connect, often spending the weekends at their place.  Looking back those are some very sweet memories for us and we are so thankful to have Dale and Tina as a part of our story. 
Fast forward 4 years or so and Brandon and I are getting married, fast forward another year or so and Dale and Tina were adopting Jenna, and finally fast forward again a couple of years and here we are today driving up to spend New Years with this wonderful family and enjoying watching our kids play together.  Kind of weird I know.  Not what any of us would have predicted back when I was a freshman in college but so good none the less. 

 Wyatt, Jenna, and Sadie

 Sadie and Jenna had so much fun together.  On Saturday we took a trip to the Placerville Zoo.  The girls seemed to be only mildly interested in the animals.  They were mostly excited about running around with each other.

 Wishing we were a baby again :)

 Jumping on Jenna's new trampoline!

And yes we are girls so we also did our fair share of squabbling over who was the boss of who.

All in all it was a really fun trip and I don't think I've ever heard so much squealing and laughing from Sadie as she and Jenna chased each other all over the place.  We came home so thankful for our friends and our chance to get away and spend some time with them.

Christmas 2011

I'm always sad when Christmas is over as I absolutely love all the traditions surrounding our celebration of Christ's birth.  This year was especially fun as Sadie is just starting to enjoy some of the traditions such as Christmas lights, or as she calls them "Twinkle Lights!"  We hung our lights Thanksgiving weekend and every night we would go out and turn them on when Brandon called to say he was on his way home, and every night I got the same excited squeals of "Twinkle Lights, Twinkle Lights!!!!" from Sadie.  These are the kinds of sounds I sometimes wish I could put in a box and keep forever.

Hanging our Christmas lights

Since Sadie was so excited about the lights this year we also made a trip out to Rancho to see a neighborhood out there that puts on a great display.  The kids loved it!

As Christmas was on a Sunday this year we let the kids open one of their presents on Christmas Eve morning so that they would have some time to play with it.  For anyone who happened to catch Brandon's play by play on Facebook of my Black Friday shopping experience at Toys R Us, this was my bargain.

Say Cheese!

And tackle your brother...

And go...

Yay for our new climber!!!

 On Christmas day we went to church, opened presents at home, and then headed out to Oceanside to spend the afternoon with Nana.