Merry Christmas Everyone

We love Livi Lou Photography!

Our friend Crystal does some amazing work with a lens and here is our little family (that has grown substantially since our last family picture)!

Crystal has done two photo sessions for us and has done an amazing job each time! The best part, she is incredibly reasonable on her price! If you are interested visit her site Livi Lou Photography !

The basement is complete!

We are now done (for the most part)! Here is a short set of clips that you can see our fun and progress in!

If you cannot read the slides, we started back in March and you see before and after images of the play room, family room and walk out door in our office/salon! We LOVE IT!

Easter Fun

Thank you Easter Bunny!

After 3 easter egg hunts, tons of candy, new Easter clothes, delicious Easter dinner, fun times with family, and an amazing day being sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, we had a wonderful weekend. We are so thankful for the true meaning of Easter that we can celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and know that He lives!

Temple Sealing

Easter will always be a special, memorable time for our family as it will commemorate the time our family was sealed together forevermore. It was an unbelievable day that God truly showed His hand in our lives and blessed us with the righteous desires of our hearts. Saturday, April 11th was a day that Marco and I were looking forward to with bittersweet feelings. We were both so excited to be sealed before God and witnesses to each other for eternity. Having been married for almost 3 amazing years, we both felt pretty good about making it a permanent thing! We were equally as excited about having Teagan sealed to us but heartbroken and struggling with the fact that Tony would not be sealed to us. Having him sealed required his natural mother Tina's approval. Tina and Tony are Catholic and therefore, she wouldn't give her permission. We had explained to Tony that we are a family on earth and will always be a family in heaven but that he wouldn't be able to go into the temple with us at this time. We have taught him what we believe temples are for and what being sealed means and he has always said that "I love to see the Temple" is his favorite primary song. Well, he was convinced that he needed to talk to his mom about it and that he could change her mind. Of course, we told him that it is his mom's decision and it is okay if she doesn't want to give her permission although it makes us sad but we have to respect it. So, Saturday began with the Easter Bunny visiting our house and leaving treats and then we rushed off to the annual Riverton Easter Egg Hunt. Tony and Teagan had a great time, even though it was cold and raining. We got home and started getting ready for the the temple and Tony couldn't stop talking about how excited he was for the celebration (pizza party after the temple) and that he still wanted to talk to his mom about letting him go inside and be sealed. After much persistence, (and about an hour before we were to arrive at the temple) Marco agreed to let him call his mom so that he could hear from her why she wouldn't allow it. Tony started the conversation saying, "Mom, I need to speak with you about something important." Then proceeded to tell her he wanted to be sealed with us and that he thinks it should be his decision, not hers. He never whined, complained, begged, etc... like most 5 1/2 year olds would, but was SO mature and truly inspired in everything he said to his mom. They talked and she didn't change her answer and told him she would go with him to the open house for new temple at Daybreak but he could not be sealed. They hung up and we told him that everything would work out because God loves all of us and we will all (including his mother) be a family in heaven. We told him his spirit would be with us in the temple. Tina called back about 5 minutes later and they spoke again. She asked him if he knows what it means to be sealed and he told her it means that we will be a family in heaven. She asked him if he thinks that means he won't be with her in heaven and he said that he wants to be with all his family and that is why he wants to be sealed. Tina agreed to let him make the decision and he said he knew that this was the right decision. He hung up the phone and said with tears in his eyes, "Mom, my mom said I could be sealed to our family. I think I am going to cry." I said that it was a miracle and that I was going to cry too, but I didn't want to mess up my makeup. He said, "But mom, they are tears of Joy!" It was so amazing. He is a true blessing and a strong soul.
So, we rushed quickly to Tina's to get a letter of permission and were on our way, only 45 minutes late! It was so amazing to be in the temple with family and dear friends and to be married to the love of my life for time and eternity. And then to be sealed to our precious sons. I love my husband more than I can express and I know that God blessed us because of his faith to do what he knew was right even though it was an incredibly hard choice to make.

Snow in April

Well this winter has been a bit odd to say the least! Just this Saturday we had a nice snow storm that left about three inches of snow on the lawn. It didn't stay around long, but it was long enough to have some fun and build a giant snowman with the kids!

Man they're cute!

Rolling the base-ball for the snowman

The end result with all of us (Tony is trying to take the picture)

Muchos Besos

Toronto and the Auto Show

Dad had the chance to go to Toronto last week for work and is excited to show off some of the pictures from the trip and especially the Auto Show there.

The Toronto skyline is unmistakable

Another skyline pic from the downtown area

He was visiting Ford of Canada so he made sure to stop by their booth

The new Ford Raptor looked Awesome! (note the non-American fuel rating in the background)

The new C70 from Volvo looked great

Honda's concept!

Just another new 'greener' car

Muchos Besos

New Orleans Trip

Since my wife has not posted in months, I thought I would help out the blog with a quick set of snapshots of my WORK to New Orleans (yes it looked like a lot of fun but it was for work).

You start with this amazing Jazz mural in the Louis Armstrong Airport

Plenty of bars, but some very interesting gift shops

They were getting ready for Mardi Gras while I was down there

The AWFUL Lucky Dog stands

Some really cool Jazz statues right in the middle of the French Quarter

Our company hosted a big shindig at the Aquarium of the America's. What a neat experience it was to see such a big aquarium

There are certain advantages to working for a big corporation, yes that really is Terry Bradshaw (looked a little rough that day)

It is a bit hard to see who they are, but I actually was privileged to hear George H Bush and Bill Clinton speak during the final general session.

Late Christmas Pictures

We know this is a late Christmas Day post, but better late than never.

We obviously don't 'do' hats

Teagan really doesn't 'do' hats

Teagan loving his fake food. Note, it is a fake doughnut, starting early on the sweets

Teagan has really liked his ball toy from Santa

Just so stinkin' cute!