Picture Picture - Family Edition

So for my birthday I requested that we get family pictures done. We hadn't done any since Mary was born and since it was also Mary's first birthday we could get some good 1 year old shots of her as well. Well to quote our photographer's blog, "This was one of the harder shoots of my career, but also so fun!" We love our girls' vibrant personalities, but that vibrancy makes getting a good shot of all of us holding still and looking at the camera VERY difficult. Our photographer was very patient and we managed to get several great shots while juggling the girls. Thanks Sarah!!

Here are some of my favorite shots (which are practically all of them :-D)

ALWAYS on the run :)

One, two, three, WEEEEEE!

I love our little family!

Time Keeps on Slippin', Slippin', Slippin'...

A year ago today we left Provo and started on this leg of our journey in Santa Cruz. It's flown by!!! I don't know what else to say other than WE LOVE IT HERE!! It's gone above and beyond anything that we expected it to be. We love the people, our ward, our friends, the beautiful surroundings, our fun adventures, and, of course, the weather :)

It's home - our home. Looking forward to the next 3 years, give or take, we will live here.

Quarter of a Century

It's true. Against my best efforts, my birthday came and I'm now 25. It started off with my birthday breakfast in bed. This year I chose donuts, sausage, and of course chocolate milk :)

As has become the routine, the girls ate most of my breakfast.

It would be annoying except that they are so cute doing it.

After breakfast was done, we headed downstairs and I found several of these taped to the walls...

The quarters were because I'm now a quarter of a century. Clever right? The little papers were words to a clue of what the present was he got me. Along with this list to find additional words to the clue.

After finding all of the papers and unscrambling the sentences I got this

Are you tired of always beating me at Mario Kart? Bet you can't today!

And the reason I couldn't beat him at Mario Kart was because he got me a new Wii game - Smash Brothers Brawl. I still beat him at that :) I think the present was more for him than for me, but I've still had a lot of fun playing it. The rest of the day he gave me a guilt-free lazy day where I just got to relax and do whatever I wanted. It was perfect. Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

My Baby Turned 1!!

Realized I never got Mary's newborn pics posted. Now she's already a year old. Better late than never right?

  

   

  

I feel like she was this little bundle just yesterday!! But no, she's already a year old! But still just as cute...

We had a fun day full of adventures. It started off with some swimming which both of the girls love.

Then that evening, Terrel and Jenn came up from Monterey and we went to the Boardwalk for the last dollar night of the summer.

The Bulgy ride - Always a hit

Cousins = Best friends

Will we ever get a picture with all 4 kids looking?  Not likely, but we'll keep trying.

This is what happens when you try to take a cute picture
of 2 goofballs, and I'm not talking about the babies.

Mmmm... Funnel Cake

It was a fun day. Again, and I know all parents say this about every birthday of every kid, I can't believe she is already 1. I'll give more details on her stats and what not after we have her well-child check in a few weeks. For now I will just say, we love our Mary Eliza! She is a joy, and we are blessed to be her parents.

Happy birthday Mary!!!