Happy Almost Birthday, Mimi!

annual snow trip on Washington's birthday with Tricia and Andrew
1971 (?)

Austin and Mimi with cutie Tricia

with Aunt Lois in a canyon near Salt Lake City

Andy has been having fun excavating and scanning more of Dad's slides. Pam will have to tell us who she is expecting, but I guess it has to be Enoch (fall of 1972).

I hope you have another great birthday, Mom! We are all so blessed to be yours.

Malachi George

Hey Family!

We've been wanting to post, but there seem to be other things that have found our attention. I know a lot of you have been thinking about/praying for us and we so appreciate it. We can feel your love and wish you were closer so we could give you a hug and say "thank you." Malachi was born on February 14 at 12:47 pm. He was 7 lbs 11 oz and 19 inches long. We think he looks a lot like Bo did. We love having him around, but are slowly figuring out how to divide our attention. Luckily, Tony has two weeks off of work and has been so great at taking care of all of us. We'd love to talk/video chat with you all if you have a minute. We'll try to post pictures as we find the time. 

Dear Shelly

Remember this heart dress that you brought Baby Maria when she was a day old? It looked so huge and I thought she's never grow into it. Well she has and she loves it, and that is saying a lot because she  loves being naked more than anything.

I took this picture of her right before home church. She doesn't wear shoes to home church. Actually Christian is the only one who wears shoes to home church.

Speaking of Church we miss seeing you and Steve after church every second Sunday of the month. I hope the antique fair in Santa Cruz is going well. I hope everything is going well. We miss you guys so much.

Surfing Tiririca Classico

Yesterday and today have been some of the best days of surfing I've had since I got here. Not big but super glassy and lots of little barrels. Some were even makeable. There's a guy who sits on the rocks taking pictures of people so I just bought a bunch of pictures he took of me this morning so I could have something to post. The first three are a sequence that actually has like 20 pictures in it and it was one of the handful where I made it out (although predictably he didn't get that). The next two and the last one are another sequence. Maybe this will help convince some people to come visit.

tired of waiting for cool news like pictures of happy lulu

I know that all we really want to see is pictures of Kaity and Danny's baby girl but they're taking forever so I'm forced to kill time by asking your opinion of my wannabe Enoch/hipster glasses. Shelley, the glasses fashionista says they are wrong for me--would only be right if I lived in New York, wore my hair in a bun, wore black, and was a designer of some kind. As is, they look like I'm a nerd of some kind. (What the heck. . .) However, they do look super cute by association with Enzo near by. I'm pretty convinced and am thinking of turning them over to Steve (she says they look good on him) and putting the glass in some other frames that of course she will have to help me find. What do you think? Also, I wish I knew how to post but I forgot and Adam had to help me, and he isn't the most patient. He thinks if I were on a desert island I could (in time) figure it out. And desert island is a good metaphor for my technological expertise. I don't really want Da to have to be the only one to post just not to see her backyard with the hippies for weeks. Here's to me figuring out how to put pictures on line and post. P.S. I loved getting a baby granddaughter on my birthday.

Happy Birthday Sienna, Happy early Birthday Pammy, and Happy new Baby Kaity

I have never heard Christian say one mean thing about the women in his family. The first time Christian came to hang out with me at MHC, when we were still getting to know each other, we spent an afternoon walking around campus. Christian talked about his mother, for hours and hours and hours. I was in love. I believed then and I still believe now that if a guy is good to his mother he'll be good to his wife. Christian has so much respect for the women in his family and I am so thankful that the women in his family are so rad. 

I hope the three of you feel extra special these days as you celebrate your birthdays and as you bring in new life to our family. 

We love you.

Waterfalls in Itacare

On the days we go to church we usually rent a car on Saturday afternoon to drive around and see some of the site that are a little bit further away, including most of the waterfalls. Although there's still quite a few to see. Here are some of the waterfalls we've seen in the last few months. The last one has Enzo and his Grandma Cecilia sitting at the bottom.

The last one we went to I almost got stuck at the bottom of a large hill after a quick rainstorm had slicked the road up. I asked if it was hard to get out after it rained and they told me it depended on who was driving. It took me three tries but eventually I made it up.

Although I mainly had to post because I'm tired of going to the blog and seeing the same pictures of our backyard.

we have hippies living in our backyard

Our once quiet life in Itacare has turned very very very loud. Yesterday there was a full blown rave 20 feet from our house. The town is buzzing with tourists from all over the world. The once beaches we used to go with the kids where no one was ever there, is now packed. To make matters even more interesting the owner of our house decided to make our backyard into a campsite. The hippies who sell their jewelry in around the town are camping in our backyard. There are probably 30 people out and 8 tents at any given time. Yesterday a new group came of mimes. 

Our kids are not happy with this arrangement and totally want to camp outside too. Other than the constant second hand pot smoke it's fine. All the hippie kids have cool names. A couple days ago was Agatha Vida (Life)'s Birthday. They had a full on party with party favors and everything. Our kids went and loved it. Enzo has been trying to convince me to get in the jewelry making business and travel around in groups and live out of a tent. Tempting but not really.

We also have a clothes store and a travel agency below our house. The clothes store I could do without. The travel agency is awesome. He's given us tons of deals and we've gone on lots of trips with my mom and cousin, like boat rides, and rafting.

It's interesting living in a tourist town and seeing the cycle of high and low season. As an anthropologist Christian definitely has his plate full, that's for sure.

9 Years Together!!!

I wanted to put our picture at the bottom, but I don't have time to redo it and don't know how to change it. Anyways, we go to Tahoe almost every December for our Anniversary. We love it there!!!

Happy New Year!

We are still in Oklahoma. We are having a fun time. I have some good pictures from my real camera to post when we get back. We are excited for 2012. Adam is coming to visit, Kaity is having a new baby, we are having a new baby, Pammy is coming to visit, Noelle is coming home, Austin and Kristian are getting married, we are going to Hawaii, Tony's brother is moving to Utah ... And that's just the first half of the year!