Jeep Grand Cherokee 2014

July 31st, 2013

Gavin bought me my first real car!! 

I have never picked out my own car before. Gavin usually does that (because he's the man and all) but this time I got to choose my dream car and go down to the dealership and pick it out! 

It was time to get me a "mom car" aka SUV so we began the search. Of course I didn't really need an SUV with my one child, but Gav just likes to have all the nice things. We went and looked at the Pilot, 4Runner and something else. Then when we went to Jeep we just KNEW this was our vehicle. 

The inside is beautiful and has a clean look. Not to mention the largest touch screen on the market ;) My favorite color is black so I was ecstatic when they had a black on black (with leather, eek!) Jeep in stock!

So... I didn't realize we were actually buying a new car, especially when our cars were in great condition. It's always just fun to look around. One night I thought we were going to Chandler mall for date night then Gav said he just wanted to talk to the guy down at the Jeep dealership. We went there and after they got to talking I guess we were getting a new car?? Haha luckily Gav has great judgement and got us the perfect family car because I should have been paying more attention for such a huge purchase. That's where husbands really come in handy :)  

Needless to say I have been very appreciative of Gavin and his hard work. He has been loving his career choice as a loan officer at Academy Mortgage and all his hours there are paying off! Thanks Gavin! We love you and our "Jeep car!" 

Robert Samuel Guthrie

2012 and 2013 have been rough years for the Guthrie clan. My sweet father-in-law was diagnosed with brain cancer in July of 2012. This came to us all as a very big shock because he was only 56 years old. He passed away exactly a year later from the day he was diagnosed.  

He has been an incredible example of what it means to truly be selfless and have unconditional love for others. He was an incredible spouse who would do absolutely anything for Tami. He spent his life remodeling and fixing up their homes just to make her smile. He would go to the ends of the earth to help any of his children or in-laws and pretty much did just that very often. Sam would always give you a rough time about him having to go fix your car in the middle of the desert at midnight but he was secretly loving having to help. 

He had an extremely strong testimony of the church and lived his entire life according to our beliefs. He served a mission in New York and married Tami in the temple. He had a Christ-like love for his children and showed them that as he parented them. 

Gram had a special part in Sam's heart and Sam in his. They loved playing around together or just snuggling watching TV. Sam called him "Cowboy" and Gram called Sam "Pop Pops." They were the sweetest little buddies and will be again in Heaven. 

We love Sam and the legacy he left behind.

Life in Gilbert

So we have absolutely enjoyed our lives in Gilbert. Our house is perfect and so is our neighborhood. We have quite a fun ward here and no one ever wants to move out of the neighborhood. When families out grow their original home, they buy the bigger house down the street! It's that great of a ward. 

We have made some pretty great friends here and Gram loves all the kiddos in his nursery class. He's finally to the point where he can be left alone in nursery to play and not cry for his parents. He loves it so much that during the week we sometimes play "nursery" or "school" and do all the activities he does in class. His favorite right now is singing. He loves "Sunbeam", "Popcorn Popping","Wheels on the Bus" and "Jingle Bells". 

Our neighborhood has an incredible park down the street which we go to several times a week. Gram asks me everyday if we can go to the park that day and if I tell him otherwise he says, "No, park!" 

We have lived in our house for 9 months now and we are finally starting to feel settled in! It's a lot of work decorating a house and buying the necessary things but it's starting to look pulled together. In our previous homes I have always decorated with a lot of red since it was my favorite color. In this house I went with mostly neutrals like black, white, grey, silver and gold. I have been loving these colors lately so they are spread throughout the house.

It has been a big change living 30 minutes away from our families but it has also been very fun focusing on our little family! I'm so grateful for how hard Gavin works at his job and that it allows me to stay at home full time with Gram. Life is good. 

Christmas 2012

I never posted this blog post from last year's Christmas and here it is Christmas time again! I'll post it anyways!

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday! We had a blast as usual but this year was even more special to me. My little sweetheart is so intelligent and energetic so it was a blast seeing all his reactions to our Christmas Day!

We started our family time together Christmas Eve as Gavin was off work. We went to pick up last minute things and do a ton of present wrapping. Christmas Eve is always our day to celebrate with the Guthrie side of the family. We do dinner together (usually homemade soup) and open pajamas from Grandma Tami and a little gift she includes in everyone's pj gift box. 

Christmas morning Gav and Gram woke up to stockings Santa had stuffed! I was sooo excited to see their reactions and to catch our little crazy babe on our video camera!! Haha we love that boy more than I can express. They got some cute things: shampoo, hair product, tooth brush, Pez toy, toddler cookies, socks and some of their favorite munchies. 

[Christmas Eve]

{Christmas Morning}

After the boys were done with their stockings, we went up stairs to join the Guthries. We got Sam and Tami printed photos of the photoshoot we did around Thanksgiving. I bought an extra pic for us of the pic of Pop Pops holding Gram! It's the sweetest thing ever. Tami got us a chandelier and pots and pans for our new house. Woot woot. Gav got me Urban Decay eyeshadows, a makeup brush kit and converse high tops! I got him pics blown up of our family photoshoots and some new clothes. 

Later that afternoon we went to the Thruston's house for more gift giving! My grandparents were there as well. It's always fun to see them and joke around with everyone. It was especially great to see my brother Howard. We only get to see him 2-3 times a year! The rest of the week we got to spend a lot of time with him before he drove back up to Utah. 

This Christmas was the best holiday up to date since Gram is older and it's suuuper fun watching him enjoy all the hoopla! 

Our First House

After going back and forth between deciding to rent, to buy, to rent, ect., we finally bought our dream home! It really is our dream home... one story, the garage is in the front of the house, it has a separate living and family room and it's on a good sized lot! 

We are in Gilbert now close to the San Tan Mall and freeway. I was very nervous to move to Gilbert since we don't have our immediate family out here. But oh man am I glad we did it! I absolutely love the neighhood, it kinda has a California feel to it. I love our new ward and neighbors. I love being right next to a mall and several parks. I love being soo close to everything especially the freeway. We may never want to move!!

We closed February 6th and got the keys that afternoon! After that I loaded up my little car several times (while Gavin was working) and made trips to our new house to move as many things as possible! I was just too excited. The next  night at like 10pm we brought over our mattresses and slept in our new casa!! It was so nice being on our own for the first time in a year and a half. 

We didn't have a refrigerator, washer or dryer so the first week or so was a little rough! We survived off pb&j's and Chick-fil-A. So Valentine's day our fridge shows up and the next day off to Walmart I go to buy real food! Needless to say I've been cooking every meal since. Two and a half weeks after moving in our washer and dryer arrived. I've never been so happy to do laundry!

This has been the most ideal experience being fist time home owners and I can't wait to make many great memories here over the next few years!