BISON RANCH

The weekend before Christmas we were lucky enough to spend time up in the mountains, where they actually had snow on the ground! Andy found this resort through her mom's timeshare called Bison Ranch- Appropriately pictured is Joe riding a bison.

We stayed in the blue cabin, upstairs. The whole place looked like an old western town. The whole gang! Joe, Jon, and lil' Cameron Ray win the prize for the most stoic faces. But Andy and I got to hold the guns, we couldn't help but smile a little bit.
I think Joe pulls off that perfectly ridgid face that makes him so believable as an old time westerner. And I think I look pregnant.

Andy and I were going for tomboy red neck ruffians- Andy, (so cute) looks like Huck Finn and I look like a pot-bellied sherriff! haha. Thanks Rock. I think we wore the boys and Cameron out with playing dress up, but I could have gone on all night with the old fashioned photo booth. All in all, Joe and I decided we always had luck with weekend getaways being so fun, and Bison Ranch was no exception. From cinnamon rolls for breakfast to a free old fashioned photo booth- we were loving life this weekend!

Among Jon's many talents is his photography skills. This old wagon was in a field we walked out to- I kept anticipating a Bison to charge out of no where.

After sacrament meeting on Sunday we headed out for perfect hot tubbing conditions, 35 degrees! Joe was mindful not to forget what day it was.

GINGER BREAD HOUSES

It may not show it in the picture, but moments before the Nuckle's kitchen table was completely heaped with all sorts of delightful candies. This picture is the result of hours of planning and creating (actually only Joe and I came prepared with a plan, apparently no one else makes gingerbread house floor plans and drawings).

Allow me to interpret the face I am making. Kaylee gave my tush a little squeeze, but she was so sly about it I thought it was actually Kade... Needless to say we were able to capture a look of pure shock.

Joe made a replica of the house he drafted that we hope to one day build on some land. Note the flowing twizzler stream in the backyard.

My gingerbread creation started out as a cabin, but transformed into a hut when my pine trees looked nothing like pine trees and a lot like palm trees. We will call it paradise on Eneio Beach in Tuanikivale, Vava'u, Tonga.


This is a close up of the nudey sun burnt hot tamale people. We will call them Joe and Sarah.

BABY SHOWERS

Thank you to my sisters, mom, and family here in AZ, and to my friends- Rock if you only knew the cool stuff everyone got you, you'd be in a hurry to get here!

The baby clothesline- it never ended! I think it could have circled the room three times. Thanks everyone for being good sports, this is not the first time it came out of the basket, I made everyone get it back out so I could take this picture.


Kim, Kaylee, Me, Andy, and the diaper pyramid. You might be suprised to know how long it actually took to get this shot. Between camera timers going haywire, Kim forgetting the diaper pyramid was actually mine to hold, Andy's favorite pose which always involved her touching my arm, and laughing so hard, we had to wait for Jon to come home in order to get this shot. So enjoy all the hard work!

Thanksgiving Break

Joe got 2 weeks off from school, so we spent the first week in Oregon with his parents, Ashley, Aaron, Corina and little Isaiah . We had a great time playing pinochle, scrabble, shooting guns, bow and arrow, and seeing a couple new releases at the theatre, including Twilight!

We are trying to train Rockwell early about all the important things he should know how to do.

Joe going out for a long shot (the target is that little black speck that one day might resemble an elk.)

Ashley and I challenged Joe and Aaron to a shooting match. This picture unfortunately documents that they won by a small margin. I love that Joe has long arms, who needs a timer on their camera when Joe can get all 4 of us in one shot?

We headed back to AZ with the Doermann's just in time for a second Thanksgiving at Rebecca's house. The weather was perfect and we ate dinner outside- I love November in Arizona! Dinner was yummy and I loved how beautiful it was in the Cottle's backyard.

It's always easy to find Joe, he is always with the kids!

SUNS VS. JAZZ

In Arizona I've (Joe) had the opportunity to go to my first professional baseball and basketball games. Each time we have gone with Kade and Kaylee, thanks for being there for our firsts...

The bald guy came out of nowhere!

The White Coat Thingy

The white coat ceremony is an induction into the health care profession. Everyone gets the opportunity to walk up in front of a ton of people and have an awkward moment with two of the faculty members as they attempt to dress us in a brand new fancy white coat. Although this does not sound difficult, you would be amazed at how difficult it can be to smoothly put on a coat and then on top of that remember to shake their hands afterwards. But the real excitement came afterwards when we had some cajun salmon and shrimp linguini at Red Lobster with Jon and Andy.

This is that awkward moment...

The three eager pharmacists, Kade, Joe and Jon


This is Jon, Andy, lil'Cameron, Sarah, Joe, Kaylee, and Kade. And although it may look like it, me and Kaylee are not holding hands.

Our First Blog

So this is how these things work. We figured that since little Rockwell only has a month left in Sarah's stomach oven, we should start a blog, and let our family and friends know how things are going. For the first time in Sarah's life her waist size is bigger than mine when I was in high school and weighed 275 lbs. She is also currently in a race with my brother Ross to see who gets to 170 lbs first. Ross is still ahead... but Sarah feels she can still take him. We are really excited to share our room with Rockwell, we think he'll bring alot of flavor to our lives.

Joe keeps busy, really busy, with school and is looking forward to Christmas break. Another 2 weeks off!

We thought we would update you with some of the highlights of our lives since moving to Arizona.