Holiday Brunch, True Grit, A Baptism, and a 20 Pound Baby!

I meant to post pictures of my annual ladies' holiday brunch earlier, but better late than never, right? We missed Grandma Dahl, Thelma, and Emma, but Thelma did influence me. I got out some glasses that were wedding gifts because I knew Thelma would have wanted all of the glasses to match, and we didn't have ten matching glasses in our cupboards.The table, complete with matching glasses.

We had a great time. I love the women in our family! Next year, Lili will be hosting with me. The brunch is for ladies 8 and older.The guests.

Johnson Girls and Melanee with the brunch favors.
Grandma, Me, and Katie
Mama, Marianne, Me, and Grandma
Jennifer and Baby Ammon (this was taken at the Johnsons' New Year's Eve Party)

Melanee and Ammon had our family for Christmas. They gave us this lovely rendition of our last name (please note I am sporting my Christmas apron which I only wear at the holiday brunch!).

Melanee also made scarves and hats for each of our kids--they love them!

Was there ever a better-looking group of Ammons?

For some reason (heredity?) my two oldest children are going through a True Grit/"John Waynes" (as Ruben calls him) stage. Naturally, Ruben is named in part for Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn, but when my dad used to call Ruben "Rooster," he didn't like it. I'm pretty sure Ruben won't have a problem with it anymore. He may need a little help with his wardrobe though. This is the best he and Lili could do. After watching True Grit at least 5 times this last week, they wanted to look the part:

Lili's Wal-mart red cowboy hat and her purple plastic belt might not win any awards, but she's doing a little better than her Davy Crockett/Bob the Builder counterpart. I enjoyed having True Grit in the background and it's been good to review the origins of much of my family's conversation.

Marcos wanted to get in on the action. Can you tell we've just been studying about the Anti-Nephi-Lehites who buried their weapons of war in our family Book of Mormon study? We really have been!
Our nephew Morgan was baptized on January 1--a great start to the New Year:
Robert and Morgan
Morgan and his dadsSome of the good-looking kids at the baptism: Carolina, Marcos, Lili, Morgan, Ruben, Luke, and McKenli

In other news, our baby is BIG! The little guy weighs 20 pounds now. When Lili and Ruben were one, they didn't weigh 20 pounds and Marcos was 22 pounds at 18 months old. It's fun to have a chubby one--especially when he's such a pleasant little fellow.
It's not as easy for Marcos to hold him as it used to be:
Finally, Edgar and I are celebrating 9 years of matrimonial bliss today. We are taking the carpool of ballet students (Lili, Liberty, Carolina, & McKenli) to Elko for their class and going to the Star Basque restaurant for dinner. Here's to 99 more!