Merry Christmas!

Here is our Christmas card! Thank you to Tyler and Brooke for taking and editing the pictures for us!

Gratitude Tree

So I'm all into starting new traditions for our family and John got this idea from his institute teacher. I made a gratitude tree and cut out a bunch of leafs. Everyday in November we each wrote on the back of a leaf something we were grateful for and then put it on the gratitude tree. Here is the result a beautiful tree on our wall! This year we just read them to ourselves but someday when we have our own family and do Thanksgiving at our own house i want to read the leaves to each other at Thanksgiving dinner to help remind everyone what the Holiday is truly about!

Halloween 2013

I am very proud of our costumes this year!

I decided we were going to be Mary Poppins and Bert but couldn't decide what Anabelle should be. My first thought was to make her my bag with leaves on her head like the was the plant I was pulling out. After some thought and ideas from friends I settled on making her a spoonful of sugar. The real test was figuring out how to make her look like a spoonful of sugar. With some felt, wire hanger, iron on letters, a onzie, and sugar cubes this was the final result!

Beach Day with the Houlbergs

John grew up with Mike since they were little boys. They currently live in San Diego where Mike is going to law school. We drove down to see them and went to the beach with their dog Bacon! 

 This picture is a personal favorite of mine! That girl loves her milk!

Belle - 1 Year Old

Can't believe the time has gone by so fast and I am a mother of a 1 year old child. She is beautiful although I try not to tell her to often, active, loving, silly, and full of personality. We love her more than words can express but any parent knows that. Everyday is not always easy but we are grateful to have her in our lives. We had a small birthday party for her at Grandma and Grandpa Wilde's house in Somis.

We started the day by going to the beach with Brice. She hated the sand right at first and became a monkey clinging to me for dear life. But after some coaxing she finally sat down and played in it. The water on the other hand she couldn't get enough of! 

After the beach we went back, let her nap, and when she woke up we had a small bbq followed by her chocolate cake of course. 

 She was also wary of the cake....

 ...until her dad helped her to her first taste.

 After that it was a match made in heaven. She got all messy enjoying her first birthday cake.

Then presents which she had almost no interest in followed by a little experiment that we got from Elder Perry. Here is a link if you want to read it some highlights from his talk. 

But we put four items in front of Belle --a bottle, some money, a toy and a Bible.

"Each item represented the different values each of us might have, our four basic needs in mortality," he said. "Family tradition held that whichever item the baby chose, that would become their focus in life."

As you can see Anabelle rushed straight to the bottle which represents good physical health and emotional strength. She's a true Wilde with food and the center of her life!

"Learn the value of maintaining good physical and emotional health throughout your life. You will not only live long, but happier and more fulfilling lives," Elder Tom Perry said. 

It was a great day to be with family!

John got his Short Coat!

So I didn't know this until my Mr. Man started medical school but when you enter medical school you are gifted with a white coat to signify you are a doctor. But this certain white coat is a called a short coat. It's like someone riding a bike with training wheels, watch out this person doesn't know how to ride a bike yet. This short coat says to everyone who knows, watch out I'm really inexperienced so you can give me a hard time.

So with that enjoy the pictures of my handsome husband in his very cute short white coat. Someday he'll grow out of that short white coat and get his long white coat then everyone will take him seriously! Until then we get to continue to borrow lots of money to pay for the road to that long white coat.

On a less sarcastic note, I am so proud of my Johnny for getting into school and for working so hard. He is happy to be here in California and going to school. He is going to make a great doctor someday! Love you John!

Havasupai 2013

Needless to say this trip was a slight disaster followed with lots of laughs, blisters and gratitude for our safety. Thank you Dan and Janessa for bearing through this trip with us. I am grateful for the memories and the bonding!

 Notice the clouds. Clouds equal rain which equals flash floods which equal water that looks like chocolate milk instead of that icy clear blue water!

 Our lovely campsite that had an alcove thankfully. There was a windstorm where trees fell, our tent, our clothes line and lots more fell over. We stayed in the alcove during the windstorm and were all safe. Someone in the campsite dies do to a falling tree. We were truly blessed that day.

The wonderful people we took the trip with.