Happy Birthday Grandma Polly!

On New Year's Eve, Grandma Polly turned 81! I am so glad we got to celebrate her birthday with her.

Four Generations

It is pretty awesome that Detroit and Joaquin have 4 sets of grandparents. They have my mom and dad, Jared's mom, Grandma June & Grandpa Boyd (my mom's parents) and Grandma Polly (my dad's mom). In this picture we have 4 generations starting with Grandma Polly!

Japanese Tea Gardens

Today (Dec. 31st) we went to The Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park (San Francisco). It was beautiful. I can't wait to go back there in the spring when the flowers are in bloom.

Here are some more pictures...

Merry Christmas!

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas. Detroit had quite a stash and Joaquin never could figure out what was going on. He did enjoy the crinkly paper, though. I also have to say that I love having a daughter who sleeps in on Christmas. We didn't get out of bed until 8:00, because that is when she woke up. I am glad she is not like me - I used to get up at 5:00 on Christmas mornings. We will have to wait and see how Joaquin handles it...hopefully he will take after his big sister.

Christmas Eve

We had a fabulous Christmas Eve program (complete with commercials) planned by Detroit - with a little help from mom. Brett, Ryan and Grandma Polly were all here so it was a lot of fun.

After starting the evening with a rousing rendition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Detroit, Aunt Michelle, Uncle Brett and Uncle Ryan performed a mind blowing dance (as you can tell by the pictures). Jared then sang the Grinch song for everyone and Brett played O Holy Night on his sax for us.

Following these treats, Jared and Detroit performed a LIFT which consists of Jared lifting Detroit into the air. It was an amazing performance! We finished the night off with a reading of "Twas The Night Before Christmas" and singing Must Be Santa.

Of course, no Christmas Eve is complete without my dad telling the Nativity Story. It was a beautiful way to end the evening. Before going to bed, we each got to open one Christmas Eve present. For as long as I have been alive, we have always gotten pajamas (or something related) on this night. This year was no exception. The boys got jammie bottoms, my dad got a robe and the ladies all got cute slippers. Detroit also got the puppy jammies she REALLY wanted.

No More Swaddling

From This...

To This!

We had to swaddle Joaquin for the past 7 months in order to get him to sleep at night. He is still swaddled at nap time, but we finally got him to sleep at night without being swaddled! Now if we can just get him into his own bed....

Go Cougars!!!

We made my dad a picture collage for Christmas of the kids in their BYU gear. It is never too early to start them on the right path.

Photo Shoot

Some pictures from our Christmas Card photo shoot.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we went to Utah and then to Idaho. We had a lot of fun seeing all of our family members. One big event was Detroit's fourth loose tooth. By the end of Thanksgiving Day the tooth was just hanging there...but Detroit was not about to let anyone pull it. Finally grandpa, aunts and uncles all offered a couple of dollars each if she would just let her Aunt Natalie pull the tooth. Finally Detroit caved, but as a result, she earned hersef 19 dollars - and that was before the Tooth Fairy visited! It was a lot of fun seeing the whole family.