we did it!

                I have great memories of my time at BYU.  On and off for almost a decade now that has been my home, and being a student is what I have known.  It worked out that Geoff graduated a week after me (yesterday).  I'm so proud of him!  We were talking the other day of how bitter-sweet it is because Utah has been our home for as long as we have been together and we have been helping each other through class after class for a long time now.  Don't get me wrong though.. we are SO glad to be done and moving on to the next chapter of our lives with our sweet daughter Cora.  We had almost all of our family in town to celebrate with us.  Having my mom and dad there was so special and I know we created memories we will never forget!

  The proud parents

It was nice to graduate with my brother Matt and cousin Nate

Great-Grandma Dorothy and Cora

 It was so wonderful seeing my parents... my mom came to Arizona a few days before we went up to graduation in Utah.  She got to see where I served my mission in Mesa. 

Cora really took to her grammy and poppy, even though we only had a few days with them.

 

At our family BBQ on Saturday we celebrated 8 graduates.  Geoff and Jan (my cousin's wife) from Utah Valley University; Matt, Nate (my cousin) and I from Brigham Young University; and my cousins Davin, Taylor and Courtney from High School.  I guess 2012 was the year to finish!!

desert beauty

Cora and I went to the Desert Botanical Garden with Nancy and Grandma Gail for Gail's birthday. I think the desert is BEAUTIFUL, so I loved every minute of looking at the various types of Cactus and desert trees and plants. Cora was deep in thought the entire time.

Cora turns ONE

what a special day! our baby is 1...
we had a little family party for her with Grandma Nancy, Papa Steve, Great-Grandma Gail and Great-Papa Stan. here are some pictures from our day:

Cora was so glad that her buddy Cooper came. At one point he was out on the back porch and we found the two of them like this...

opening presents...Cora got some great new outfits for the summer (which she will be able to wear NOW because it is 80 degrees here these days!)

then it was on to cake and singing... i made regular and mini-cupcakes.
it was fun to watch Cora dive into her little cake and try it! she wasn't sure about it at first, but once she got a taste she LOVED it.

it is so great that we live near Geoff's mom and dad now. Cora cried when they left and was reaching for them to stay (so cute!!).

we had balloons all over the floor for when Cora woke up this morning and she played with them all day!

she was constantly on the go... we can really tell that she LOVES that she can crawl around and get to where she wants to go on her own.

the big gift Cora got from us was a new car seat... she wanted to climb right up in it and try it out! she sat in it for a long time and just played.

Cora Catherine is such a light in our lives.. we love her and have absolutely soaked up and cherished every minute of this year with her!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!


p.s. tomorrow we celebrate Daddy's birthday.. February 11th and 12th will be a great two days in a row for the rest of our lives.

here's to a great year

can you even handle this face she is making? this was taken Christmas morning after Cora got a panda blanket from Grandma Liza. many have told us that we need to submit this photo to the company that makes these blankets, with Geoff's arm possibly cropped out ;)!

every day this girl of ours makes us smile. both Geoff and I agree that this has been the best year ever...

-we had our first baby
-we bought our first car on our own
-Geoff finished school
-i'm VERY close to finishing school
-Geoff got an awesome job
-we moved out of our college town
that has been home for 7 years

we are so taken care of and are grateful for the bounteous blessings the Lord continues to pour down on us.

birthday week

this is the week leading up to Cora's FIRST birthday and Geoff's 26th..

Can't wait to celebrate with these two!!

we're back

things are finally settling down after the holidays and our move. at the end of our stay in New York for Christmas Geoff lined up an interview with Layton Construction in Arizona and got the job! we're so proud of him!! so we packed up and moved to sunny Arizona and have been here for 2 weeks now. there is so much to catch you all up on, but until then enjoy this video of Cora...

'tis the season

This beautiful season would not be complete without seeing the thousands and thousands of Christmas lights up at Temple Square in Salt Lake City with family.

It was a FREEZING night, but we were all bundled up and I was especially kept warm with the baby bjorn strapped tightly to me and Cora barely fitting into it with the 3 pairs of pants I had on her, 3 shirts and then a jacket as well. What can I say??...I just wanted my baby to stay WARM. I can't handle her in this winter hat. TOO CUTE.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL