Family Photos

Thanks to:
Jennifer McGary Photography

Two Sweet Baby Showers

First of all, whose showers are these really?  Luis always raises his eyebrows when I say MY baby showers.  But can I really call them OUR baby showers when he wasn't even invited?  Of course, the reason to have a baby shower is for the baby, so maybe they should be called BABY'S baby showers.  Anyways, on to THE baby showers.

The first shower was thrown by my boss and co-workers.  They took me out to The Old Spaghetti Factory where they treated me to dinner, cake, AND showered me with gifts for baby.

It was fun to be able to get together with these people I will miss now that I'm through working.  It also made our baby's arrival seem a bit more realistic.  

The second shower was thrown by my good friend, Brandi (plus a few assistants).

My first pack of diapers was a thrilling experience.  I'm guessing that goes away after awhile.

Afterwards, of course, I took everything out once more to show Luis.  He "oooo-ed" and "awww-ed" an acceptable amount of times, so I was happy.  I have since taken everything out once or twice more just to look at, but how can I help myself?  Everything is so little and cute!  Plus, just imagining my little girl's arms and legs in everything makes it all that much more precious.

Two December Happenings

Happening #1

This is my last...

...wait, did I say LAST?

Yes I did.

My LAST bulletin board at childcare!

(And though I hate to admit it, I did have some help from a co-worker in creating this one.)

Happening #2

I found out Luis is afraid of nutcrackers.  He finds them creepy.

So much for my gift.

The great part about happening #2 is that now I have an entire month of fun ahead.  You can bet that this little guy will be popping up under pillows, in drawers, the shower, EVERYWHERE!  

(Evil laughter-he he he)

A Whirlwind Thanksgiving

Once again, Luis and I found ourselves far from family for Thanksgiving, but thanks to wonderful friends and special visitors, we had a beautiful weekend.

On Thanksgiving, Luis signed us up to go with a group of Western Students to put together meals for needy families.  I admit that the idea sounded great, but I kind of thought I would rather stay in my bed.  However, knowing this would be the last year for a long time that we would be able to do this sort of thing helped me roll out of bed.  We showed up at 6 and began our arduous task of bagging rolls. (I guess they could tell we couldn't handle anything much more than that.)  We only stayed for a few hours, but it was very satisfying to participate in some service.

Next, we bought our copy of the Black Friday ads, turned on the parade, and relaxed for an hour or two before beginning our meal preparations.

Since we were getting together with 3 other young families in our ward, we gathered up our food items and headed off.  Cute Jen did an amazing job creating a beautiful Thanksgiving table that felt very "Better Homes & Garden."

Our feast was delicious and we had such a fun time being together for the holiday.

But of course my favorite part was watching my darling Luis entertain the kids.  It makes me smile to think of him playing with our own kids and I know they will just adore him!

Although we bought the ads and looked through them for hours, we ended up NOT shopping at all on Black Friday.  Lame.  I know.  However, we did get to sleep in, which is a rarity these days.  Luis was thrilled to learn that I planned for him to help me put up the Christmas decorations:)  We also had our family pictures taken, which I will post soon, and went out to a local taco joint with a Hispanic family in our ward.  We walked away from that experience with an authentic Mexican cookbook and brand new tortilla maker bestowed upon us by Gigi, the very generous mother of the family.  You better watch out because I'm turning more Hispanic by the day!

On Saturday we picked up my sister, Charisse, and her husband, Jason, who were in town for a cruise.  Since we got them all day, we decided to have our own Thanksgiving feast at our home.

By the way, here was this month's bulletin board.  So the head is a bit too small and the wings are a bit low down.  I thought I did a great job at free-handing my huge turkey.