Scott and Tesha's Wedding

We were blessed to travel to Washington, D.C. in December for a quick weekend trip to see an amazing couple be married.

Scott and Laitesha met in Salt Lake City last summer and became engaged in the fall. Tesha is from D.C. so we got to go see them get married...

...in this beautiful temple.

It was a lot of fun to meet her family. Here are two of her brothers.

Both sides of the family together.

We are so impressed with Tesha and the kind of woman she is. She's been raised by goodly parents for sure.

Along with all of my siblings and parents, my Grandpa Austin and Grandpa Lamb and his wife Maybeth also crossed the country to be there on their special day.

Tesha is the first of her siblings to be married so it was a fun day for their family for sure.

I love being with my family and am so glad all 8 of us could be together with our spouses there. Scott's the 5th child to get married, so we only have one to go! (ahem)

This is everyone on Scott's side minus Sophie, Avery, Austin, and Gabe who were all staying with their other grandparents for the weekend. (Thanks again, Bob!)

What a lucky boy!

Here was the official wedding party of bridesmaids and groomsmen. It was COLD that day so we all threw off our coats for a second to snap a picture and then quickly put them back on again. I don't know how Tesha stayed warm without ever wearing a coat; she says her love was keeping her warm.

They did a ring ceremony before the reception began for the family and friends who weren't at the temple.

They did so much work to make the reception delightful with beautiful decorations and delicious food and great music. It was a lot of fun. Our favorite part was the dancing down the aisle, especially when Scott pretended to be Latin Buzz Lightyear around his Jessie.

But first was the serious first dance of the wedding couple.

And then they danced with parents...

Let me tell you, Tesha's family and friends know how to cut a rug!

The three grandbabies William, Nona, and AJ.

They had a cool cupcake tower for their cake (and the cupcakes were so delicious!) with a cake on top to cut.

Will they be naughty or nice?

Tesha was naughty...

but Scott the gentleman was nice. Good job, Scott!

Tesha helping Scott clean up after she smashed the cake in his face.

That night we had a wedding dinner at their chapel where we roasted and toasted them while enjoying delicious catered Cafe Rio.

As per family custom Joseph and I were asked to write the couple a song, and since it was December I decided to rewrite Jingle Bells to be Wedding Bells. We had all the rest of my family as back up singers and jinglers.

At the very end of the song we sang "Maybe instead of Jingle Bells there'll be a lullaby next year!" and then we all winked. I love that whoever took this shot got all of us winking. I don't know if Scott and Tesha thought it was funny but we sure did. We love you two! Thanks for getting married and inviting us! We had a blast.

33

Joseph and I had a palindrome birthday this year.

I have always loved the number 33, so I think this is going to be a great year!

I got 4 delicious kinds of cheesecake to blow out candles on and then we devoured them. (And Joseph got to take his one day out of the year to tell me how I'm a whole year older than him and how funny that he married such an older (and wiser) woman.)

Joseph got a mint brownie for his cake this year. Shocking, I know, but they're his favorites.

Avery is always there to lend a helping hand when needed, especially if it's to blow out someone's birthday candles.

For our birthdays we decided to leave the kids with a sitter and go go-kart racing. Of course we had to bet on who would win.

Can you see the results?

In all fairness Joseph didn't get a fair shake and we wish we could've raced with just the two of us out there instead of all the other idiot drivers. But he was a good sport about it nonetheless.

Then we went over to take on some mini golf, with a back rub riding on this bet.

It wasn't even close. Joseph choked and I smoked him. It was a lot of fun still and we had a great birthday together! Happy 33!

Pie Night & Thanksgiving 2011

We had our annual Pie Night at our home the night before Thanksgiving. We had over a dozen pies and a few dozen people came to eat them, but we still had leftover pie!

The best part of the pie for these 3. :)

This year we got to have a lot of family come, like Gabe...

and Jonny and Jamie (with darling newborn Andrew),

and Gramma and Grampa Lamb, Julie, and Geoff.

The next day we spent Thanksgiving at my Grandpa Lamb's in Northridge, CA.

Everyone from my family came except Scott and Tesha who were very much missed.

Grandpa always does up his house with so many fun Christmas lights for the grandkids to enjoy.

Please excuse Sophie...she is going through a stage right now where she likes to stick out her tongue in every picture. (blarg)

Here's our amazing host and hostess...we love you two!

Everyone got a turn holding the newest grandbaby Andrew (or AJ).

Gramma held him while entertaining Will,

Grampa held him and always got him right to sleep (though you are hard pressed to ever actually find him awake!)

We celebrated Abby's birthday a few days early...she's only got a year left in her 20's, folks! :)

So much to be thankful for! Here are all 7 cousins together for the first time. They sure love each other and have fun together. They can entertain one another for a long time, thank goodness! May it always be so!

How'd We Get So Lucky?

I've often thought that if someone showed me this picture (or one like it) 10 years ago and asked what I thought of these three, I would've said what adorable kids they are. Then if they'd told me that these would be my kids I would have probably shrieked with delight at the possibility of me somehow making such cute kids. I know I'm biased, but I think they're just so darn cute.

I love this little charmer, even when he can be a stinker.

And even when he manages to get a new shirt dirty in under 5 seconds every single time.

Sophie has a new favorite stuffed animal just about every day. It's a good thing she's got about a hundred to choose from.

We made these creations out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows one night for FHE. It was a big hit.

The girls love whenever they have a friend over who wants to play dress-up as much as they do. This was just after Sophie used her spending money to buy herself the Rapunzel wig. I know it's on Avery's head more often than Sophie's so I'm glad they usually know how to share pretty well.

More dress-up play.

Will started taking his first steps at 11 months, thanks in part to this toy he'd push all over the house.

Such concentration! He didn't get up the nerve to walk more than just a few steps at a time right away and crawling was so much faster and easier that it was his preferred mode of transportation for a long time.

Making birds nests out of play-dough.

This is Will's favorite kitchen drawer. Good thing we never eat with these utensils! They're technically my nice flatware, but we just let Will spread them all over the kitchen while I'm making dinner or doing dishes. He gets them all dirty and we will wash them before (and if) we use them.

Sophie loves to love on her brother. We have to remind her to be gentle with him because she can love a little too hard. She also likes to try to pick him up and carry him to me if she thinks he needs to be with me, even if I don't think he needs to be with me. It's almost comical to watch her do it since he goes up to her shoulders when he stands up, and my arms can tell you he's not the lightest load to heft around.

We spent a weekend in Del Mar with Peter and Abby and family at the Hunter's time share. Abby took the kids on a walk one afternoon when Avery saw these fountains, thought it looked like a pool, and climbed right in. No matter that she wasn't in a suit, that apparently is optional. Oh, Avery, you crack us up.

So Sophie and Austin joined her until someone came along and kindly notified them that the fountains are not an appropriate place to play. Could've fooled me! It looks like fun! Love these silly kids of ours!