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!

Thanksgiving Weekend with the Thruston's

So much happened this week with allll the family in town, it's hard to write it all down! I didn't know my older brother Howard was going to be in town so I had planned to spend so much time with my sister-in-law Hanna since she came from outta town, too. When I found out Howard was here I tried spending as much time with him as possible. He always brings the family together and we have such a blast with his spunky personality! 

To sum it all up we just came over and visited, went to Scottsdale mall for some Black Friday shopping, had family photos, went out to Table Top Restaurant and made breakfast together on his last morning here. So much fun, the time always flies way too quickly! We will be glad he will come down from Utah again in a few weeks for Christmas!

(It was Fifi's b-day on Thanksgiving. Cheesecake Birthday Cake, Oh Yeah!)

(My Gorg Sissy, Honore')

[My bro Howard who we don't get to see often enough!]

{The Birthday Girl, "Mommy's Daddy" and Mr. Gram}

{Just a little peek from our family photos}

(Supporting our Friends, the Candland's, @ Table Top's Opening Night)

[Proof that Gav and I DO Go Out!]

{Sunday Morning when Howard was Leaving}

Phoenix Zoo with my Guthrie Sisters

Hanna's family came to visit last week for Thanksgiving... so going to the Zoo was a must! Ash let us all use her guests passes, thanks Ash! We love the Zoo because how often do you get to see a Lion on a Tuesday morning?! For some reason I thought Gram wanted to be held or walk around the entire trip, then as soon as I put him in the stroller at the end, he crashed. So typical. My nieces and nephews are the cutest, craziest, most well behaved kids you'll ever meet. So glad I have got to see all of them as much as I have!!

 {Penelope, Caelan, Sleeping Gram, Quinn, and Truman}

[Caelan, Ainsley and Addie]

Mexico for Veteran's Day Weekend

We have amazing friends. Seriously. 

This past weekend we went to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) with our friends Josh and Elba. They didn't even mind we were bringing our baby. So they are our new Godparents!! Haha. We had such a blast with them and I didn't even feel left out that I was the only one who doesn't speak Spanish! Lol. 

We drove down Saturday morning and went straight out to check out the beach! It was a little chillier than we had expected but beautiful nonetheless. We order those killer quesadillas they serve at the resort. I would drive down to Las Palomas Resort every weekend to get those quesadillas if I could; they are THAT good. 

We went to Al Capone's Pizza Sunday for lunch since it's a little tradition now. I highly recommend going there. After that we went into town to check out those little shops full of Mexican trinkets!! My favorite. We almost got knock-off handbags, ect. but the prices they ask were ridic! We could buy a used Louis Vuitton in the states for their price! Next up, nap time. Gram was exhausted so we let him nap back at the condo while Josh and Elba could enjoy the beach. We picked up some DVD's in town so we watch those all night and ate tonsss of candy and room service. It's funny, you try to lose weight to look good FOR vacation then gain it all back while ON vacations. Lucky for me, I didn't have any time to lose weight for a last minute vacation, so I just came back "softer". Haha, time to hit the gym!

Monday we checked out of the condo and went into town to look at more trinkets and get breakfast/lunch/Thrifty Ice Cream. We had fun on the drive home chitter chatting with our friends and giving Gram suckers to make him happy. 

Loved every minute with my boys and friends in Mexico!! Here's some pics to explain the trip. A picture's worth a thousand words... and I don't feel like typing!

{Friends that bathe together, stay together}

(Hola, Amigo!)

[Thrity Ice Cream and Shrimp Cocktail]

(Al Capone's Pizza)

{Woohoo! Ice Cream, Ice Cream!!}

(Pajama party on Tia Elba's head)

("Oh gosh Mom, I just ate half a Snickers!")

{Suitcase ride on Tio Josue's bag!!}

Thanks again amigos for an incredible get away with you!! We love ya!