Our Very Merry Christmas 2016!

May we always remember the true meaning of Christmas and that sweet and tender baby boy born all those years ago, and may we always treasure the divine gift given to us by our Savior. We are so very blessed and loved.

Jared’s Homecoming From His Mission to Chile!

We were SO happy to have Jared home-especially Jayden. Jayden hugged him for a good five to ten minutes straight and Jared kept the favorite status with him despite being gone for half of his life. That is a favorite right there! It was also SO good for him to meet Tristan too! The only downside was Ben having to work, but it was still a great day spent with my family celebrating Jared’s homecoming together. We ended the afternoon at Chuck-a-rama as tradition whenever we go and pick someone up from the airport.

Welcome home Jared! The past five months with you home have been WONDERFUL!!!

Happy 30th Birthday, Ben!!!

We sure adore this Hubby and Daddy of ours! He is our best friend and the most loving, hard-working, fun, and AMAZING guy that we know! Thanks for all you do and are! 30 never looked better, baby!

Jayden's 4th Birthday!!!

Jayden’s birthday and his excitement were so much fun this past year! We surprised him by letting him pick out his own balloon bouquet and then had his birthday party as a family. We made fast food for dinnner, and then enjoyed cake and ice cream. Jayden was ecstatic about his cake, presents, and all of the decorations. It is so fun watching him grow…even if it is happening way to fast in my opinion. He was pretty excited about our surprise guest as well. I think the gecko heard about the killer party we were throwing.

Someone was pretty excited about everything honoring his birthday!

He was a cute, little guy! We took him some place a little bit safer for him to live in a field by our home.

Happy 4th Birthday, Buddy!!!!

Oregon Coast Trip 2015: Our Incredible Whale Watching Expedition!

This was my FAVORITE part of the trip and that is saying something as this trip was absolutely AMAZING! We had such an AMAZING whale watching adventure! We saw a Humpback Whale and then three Gray Whales that were super close to our boat! These pictures do not do justice to what it was like to experience this, but I am glad I got a few to remember this incredible adventure by.

First sightings of the blow holes!

They got SO close to the boat that even the tour guides got excited about it and said it is very rare to see them so up close and personal, and active! They were even playing and overlapping one another as they came up out of the water. Too bad I got so excited and busy watching in astonishment that I missed the photo op, but taking that moment in was worth it and something that I will never forget.

They got so close that you could see the spots on their backs. The photo on the right is of the tail as it was going back under the water. It seemed way closer and bigger and better in person!

The two Gray Whales followed the boat for quite a ways as we were on our way back to the docks. It was so cool watching them follow us, and getting to enjoy them as long as possible.

It was AMAZING!!! :)