Danielle's wedding pictures!

You can see Dani's wedding pictures at portraitsbysteven.com. Click on "customer services" and then "Townsend wedding"...They are BEAUTIFUL!

Danielle is married!!

We drove up to Mesa on Thursday morning and checked into our hotel and then left Devin, Kelsey and Kendle Farr with our babies while we went to the temple. It was awesome to be there with everyone! Then we went to the rehersal dinner at the Landmark restaurant with all of Jared's family.
Do I look like a waitress in this picture? I had 2 different people ask me questions like I worked there during dinner....

By the time that was over, the kids were exhausted! Kate thought the hotel was really fun...here is a picture of the kids in the big hotel bed


Then the next morning was the big day!

Danielle and Jared McLaughlin

December 19, 2008

After the wedding, we drove back to Tucson and pulled the reception together. It was so perfect and so beautiful. Luckily, we had a really good photographer there who took really good pictures because mine do not do it justice. But here is the ceiling they put up

And I just loved her flowers so much!!

And here are the aprons I made, along with the women who helped in the kitchen! It would not have come together at all if we didn't have their help!

I didn't get any pictures of the boys in their cute tuxes....Sawyer actually started getting a fever and not feeling well halfway through yesterday so he wasn't in the mood. we're going to have to try it again when they're happier!

It was wonderful but I think we're all glad its over....did you guys know its Christmas time? Here we are, 5 days away from Christmas, and we can finally settle in, relax, and start enjoying some of our family traditions!

Christmastime catch-up

Here are a few of the things we've been doing recently:

Looking cute for church

both were feeling photogenic so I had to take advantage!

Kate smoothering Sawyer, of course

Hogging the spotlight

Hopefully you haven't noticed, but in all the pictures of Sawyer (even professional ones) he's shoeless. As a warm climate dweller, I didn't feel the need for him to have shoes. Mom finally got these to go with his wedding tux and, I must say, they are adoreable!


We also finally decorated the Christmas tree

Kate was a really good helper

We were glad Grammy had a lot of plastic ornaments!

(Kate dropped quite a few!)

Sitting and staring at the beauty of it

(Ignore the piles of wedding stuff in the background)

We spent some time at the park, enjoying our long lost Daddy

Crazy Hair

Sawyer playing Peek-a-boo with Daddy's nose

Sawyer LOVES to swing!

We also saw Santa again. I had been telling Kate we would go when Daddy was here and she was so excited to show him. Again, we kept talking all day about how we were going to be so happy and she was so excited and Santa wasn't scary....

Our family waiting in line to see Santa. Sawyer couldn't take his eyes off the falling "snow" and other Christmas decorations

The "snow" that came out of the mailbox where you send your Christmas wishes...it scared Kate

The naughty and nice meter....whenever I ask Kate, she says she's naughty.

Then it was time to sit on his lap. She walked right up to him and took a seat!

playing hard to get with Santa

And its a smile! We've come a long way from this!  8 Santa encounters did the trick!! She finally did it!

She was a little excited

So was Sawyer

And lastly, the reason for all the hustle and bustle...besides Christmas!

Dani came into town tonight and we were so excited to show her all the things we've been working on! Only 6 more days!

Dani's Bridal Shower

Dani asked me why I hadn't put any pictures of her bridal shower up...and I guess I just thought anyone who wanted to see them had lived it. So anyways, these are for Dani...and anyone else that might want to see. It was really nice. I don't think I took near enough pictures. And remember my secret sewing project from a while back? It was a quilt in her wedding colors....which I didn't take a picture of her opening! bummer....

Santa Claus is coming to town

Last night was our Tucson ward's Christmas party and it was a lot of fun. All day long Kate and I talked about getting to see Santa and she was really excited. We even started learning "Santa Claus is coming to town." My favorite part is when she sings "you better not pout!" We got out the Santa hats for them to wear to the party and she could not get over the fact that she was going to match Santa!

The evening started out with traditional Christmas food....enchaladas with beans and rice. Then we ate WAY too many yummy desserts. And then just as soon as Kate was totally ready to see Santa, they started a musical program
Kate was unimpressed....can you tell?

We sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas....Tucson Style" and, I have to admit, it filled me with Tucson pride. I sure have come to love this funny state!

It went a little something like this: (you should probably skip to the bottom and sing from the 12th day of Christmas on up for the full effect)

1st: ...A wren in a Palo Verde tree

2nd: ...Two horny toads

3rd: ...Three Rattlesnakes

4th: ...Four great horned owls

5th: ...Five Golden Sunsets (ahhh!)

6th: ...Six Prickly Pears

7th: ...Seven Quails a running

8th: ...Eight Gila Monsters

9th: ...Nine Saguaro Cacti

10th: ...Ten Coyotes Howling

11th: ...Eleven Javalinas

12th: ...Twelve Racing Roadrunners

Pretty funny....

And then it was time to see the big guy. We got in line last (after all the primary kids who were already onstage shaking their maracas and singing Feliz Navidad) and the whole way up she was saying she was going to sit on his lap...and then when it was our turn and she ran the other direction. I finally got her to stand in front of him for a quick picture...and then she happily ran off with her treat bag. Silly Kate.

We've been so busy since being here with running around and finishing wedding stuff that we haven't had time to decorate for Christmas! And it makes me so sad because it doesn't even feel like Christmas yet! So today we finished some projects so we could clean them up and get the tree out. One of my projects was 24 ribbon wands

check.

And 6 CUTE aprons for wedding kitchen helpers...sorry no picture.

check!

While I was finishing all that, Kate followed Papa around all morning. It was so adoreable. He was fixing the pool pump and she kept walking in and out of the house and back and forth. I looked out the window and she had come in and found her wooden hammer and screwdriver and then went back out! It was so funny. Here they are working together on lighting the cactus.

(Sawyer is supervising, of course!)

Tomorrow we'll get the tree decorated and that will help it feel a little more like Christmas!

And is anyone else super excited that I downloaded my collage maker on mom's computer?!