Photo Shoot

For her 2 week birthday Gracie Clair got her first photo shoot. BJ came up with his camera and took some great pictures of her. Thanks again BJ for always being willing to photograph our family for no charge.

 And just so you don't think it was all fun and games being a model, here is one to show what happens when your needs are not being met :)

Good Times

These pictures are so cute they have to be shared, but neither can fill a whole post.  Alden started loving this sombrero shortly after Gracie was born. We went for a walk one night (a short one, I though I could go farther than I could) and he insisted on bringing his hat with him. I love the joy on his face as he shows everything a little boy is. 

 The week after Gracie was born we were lucky enough to have both of my siblings come to visit with their kids for a couple of days. Up until Gracie there are only grandsons on my side of the family so we couldn't resist the opportunity to have all of the boys take a bath together. Aren't they adorable?  We are so lucky to have great siblings and be able to see them often. Alden is close with all of his cousins and loves when he gets to play with them. Hopefully he still feels this way as they all get older.

Looking at these pictures makes me so grateful that we are sealed as families in the temple for time and all eternity. I couldn't imagine living without our families we are so blessed.

Welcome Gracie Clair

This post is kind of late and the pictures aren't in perfect order, but oh well at least it is written.  Our family grew by one baby girl on February 28, 2015.  Gracie Clair joined us a week earlier than planned and we couldn't be happier to have her here.  We were originally scheduled to have a c-section on March 5.  On the night of February 25-26 I was up all night with a lot of pain and having never experienced labor I didn't know what was going on  so in the morning we went to the hospital jus to have things checked. Everything was fine and I hadn't progressed any farther than I had been at my appointment the week before.  What had changed was how excited we were to have a baby so we decided to ask the doctor at my appointment the next day if we could move up her delivery. This was a Friday and the only day we could do it was Saturday so Cass wouldn't miss too much work. I didn't 

didn't expect them to say yes so I went in to a little bit of a panic attack after the appointment when they said we could have a baby in less than 24 hours. We arrived at the hospital about 6am on Saturday and after prep and some wait on the doctors I walked to the operating room at 8:30am. Gracie Clair was born at 8:58am. Apparently she was not told about the earlier delivery date, because she did not want to come out and the doctors had to do a lot of pushing to keep her from going back in by my ribs.  Here are some pictures from her first moments of life outside the womb.

 We were shocked and in love with all of her hair.

Meeting mom for the first time.

Meeting big brother for the first time. He was really excited to hold her for about 10 seconds and then he was done. He has been really great with her though and adjusted well to her presence.

Here he is sharing his prized blanket with her.  We didn't even ask him too.

First family picture as a family of 4.

I love how alert she is when she is awake and how crazy her hair can be.

Time to go home. The nurse who discharged us is a friend and was so excited to pick out the double bow for her. It was so nice to have a friend get us ready to go home.

When we got home Alden was so excited to play with Gracie that he was super disappointed that she can't grab anything with her hands or sit up. He settled with reading her some books.

First headband

Just chillin' during tummy time. I love that little girl clothes have ruffles on their bottoms.

In this picture she is exactly one week old and totally adorable.  All of the above pictures are from her first week of life. We love this little girl and even though she has only been with us a short time it is hard to imagine life without her now.

An Event 3 Years in the Making

Alden turned 3 this January and is growing up so fast. He loves cars, trains, and anything that will get him dirty. He is also very independent and likes to do things himself. He picks out his own clothes almost everyday and gets himself dressed (except socks, we still need help with socks). Alden's favorite color is orange then green and blue.  So when I found blue cake mix to make his train birthday cake it was a good day.  Here is a picture of his cake (there were actually 4 trains).

 We just had family over to celebrate on the Saturday before his birthday. He loved opening presents and couldn't wait to play with all of them, although he could have been ok with Jonathan and Sam not wanting to play with all of them.  He had a well rounded birthday though with some toys, some clothes, and a book or two.

 He was so good at being patient to blow out the candles while we sang to him.

 And then didn't quite get all the candles with one breath, maybe next year :)

 After blowing out the candles the older kids got to decorate their own train car to eat. They each had their own frosting bag and candy to use. I think they had fun.

 I don't think I could have eaten this much sugar on one piece of cake though.

 This is not from the party, but just a cute one to show some of his personality. He asks for his costume sometimes (a Nacho Libre cape from Grandma Peterson) and then just runs around the house. We love this kid so much and can't remember what we did for fun before he came in to our lives. Can't wait to see what year 4 brings.

Annual Trip to Yuma, AZ 2015

We took out usual trip Yuma over Martin Luther King Day again this year. There were a few differences this time. It was a day shorter, which meant a super long drive on Friday, Shawna couldn't make it, and we brought LaWayne with us. We had a great time like always and are so grateful that Dave and Raedene let us come interrupt their quiet lives every year for a few days.

This was Hudson's first time to Yuma and his dad made sure he had a great time.

 We drove all day Friday to get there. Saturday morning Raedene, LaWayne, and BJ went over to Mexico to pick up a few things and show LaWayne the sights. The rest may or may not have forgotten our passports so we stayed behind with the kids and then met up for lunch at Lutes.

Hudson was definitely a hit with all of his aunts.

 After lunch we headed out to pick oranges and grapefruit.

Alden loved picking oranges. He got so excited every time he could get one off the tree

 Everyone got involved, even LaWayne. Raedene volunteered to stay in the truck with sleeping Hudson.

 After picking we juiced some for a gallon of fresh orange juice (it was amazing) and then spent the afternoon eating milkshakes and just enjoying the beautiful weather Arizona offers in January.

Sunday we headed out to the slot caves before we had to head back to Las Vegas. Raedene again stayed back with sleeping Hudson and LaWayne came for the ride, but didn't feel like walking around in the dirt. Neither did Alden, but he found someone to give him a ride.

 There were several little slots off the sides of this main road.

At the end of one of the slots.

 Same place just switch out the photographer.

 Thanks again Dave and Raedene. We are spoiled with great food, great company, and amazing weather every year when we come. We love having this little weekend to spend time with family we don't see as often as we want.

Christmas 2014

This Christmas has much fewer pictures than years past, but they still show all of the fun we had. Alden was old enough this year to help decorate and loved putting ornaments on the tree especially. Everyday at least one ornament found a new home :) Our elf Elmer came back to visit and Alden loved looking for him each morning. We did the usual work parties to meet coworkers and the Taylor family Christmas party plus this year we were able to visit zoo lights with Jamie and her boys. We went back to Elko for Christmas and had fun on Christmas Eve when the power went out as we were finishing getting things ready Christmas morning, good thing we had already planted our candy cane seeds. Alden got a wiggle car from Santa and all of us got spoiled from Santa and the rest of the family. When we got back we had Christmas with the Peterson family on Sunday where again family was way too generous.

Merry Christmas from Elmer

Me and two of my favorite boys at zoo lights

 Alden was so excited to sit on the Elephant that he didn't want to get off.

 Planting red hots to grow candy canes Christmas morning. Thanks Jamie for the great activity.

 Opening presents Christmas morning. Alden was very good at opening presents this year. In fact he wanted to open all of mom and dad's as well :)

Our red hots grew!

Two excited boys for their candy canes.

It was a great holiday with less stress than years past so we were able to focus more on our Savior and why we truly have the holiday. It was also fun to teach Alden about Christ's birth and really just focus on the basics.