FINALLY!

Finally - I have been having a problem getting pictures to post on our blog. What's up?

Here are some random pictures. They were supposed to go along with the last post.....But here are some pictures of Gabe making messes, boating with the fam, bathtime, and spending time at the zoo. The picture of Gabe in his stroller was when he was checking out the elephants, and trying to climb over the fence to play :)

(I've tried to post this entry several times, but keep having troubles with blogger....)

It's been a while since I've posted - sorry, I've been busy. Here's what we've been up to:

• We went to the zoo! We were all disappointed that it was kind of late in the afternoon, and aparently too hot for a lot of the animals, we kept seeing empty exhibits! But the elephants came back out and Gabe loved it! He was dying to get out of his stroller to see them. He also enjoyed the train ride.
• We saw lots of family last weekend. Gabe's cousin Linzy Mullen was being blessed on sunday, so we went up and spent the weekend with the Ellis family. On Saturday we rented a boat and went boating at Deer Creek Resivor - lots of fun. Gabe was squished into a life jacket, but loved it anyway. He even fell asleep on the boat and took a good nap.
• We also had a birthday party for all of the August birthdays while we were up at Spencer and Ashley's. Gabe was totally spoiled by the family, and loved opening his presents. Thanks everyone!
• We got Gabe's hair cut this week. We cut it shorter than normal, but it's still too long to spike it like Daddy's....we still tried.
• In the evenings Gabe has been having a blast going on rides in the Ranger. He and Daddy sometimes go out just the 2 of them, and other times we go as a family - tonz of fun!
• Gabe has been getting into more stuff than ever. He loves pulling out all his books, and even making messes in the tub by throwing his toys out and soaking everything. The best so far was pulling all the toilet paper off the roll....what a little boy!

1-year pictures

I took Gabe down to get his pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids today. He was much more cooperative than he was last time (we took him at just a few weeks old, and it was a disaster!) I'm not thrilled with the pictures, but at least we got them done. I would love to find a great photographer....and I really want a nice family portrait done....maybe someday.

(I don't know why I can't just post pictures....it seems like all too often I have to put them together in a layout type thing. I really just threw this together....it's not really a page)

spoiled, but not rotten

What a cutie! Gabe loved opening presents and discovering new toys. He was definetly showered with gifts! He is starting to get into playing with cars, and he loves the car mat we got him to play on - and the cars Gramma Rhien bought. The clothes he was given are all PERFECT! We all love them, and those of you who picked out clothes - great taste! The books were great, we've already read several of them twice! What fun for all of us. I really felt like a little kid watching him open gifts and get excited about them. Lots of fun!

The big present we got for Gabe (no, it wasn't the Ranger....) was a John Deere push tractor toy. He has figured out how to push it - but hasn't caught onto how to move his legs along with it - so he kind of falls flat on his face. But he does enjoy the sounds it makes, and had a blast being pushed around by Daddy. (The seat opens up too, and there are farm animals inside that make noises). I think that will end up providing hours of fun. (And will probably make Uncle Coby jealous).

I have more pictures, but I'm pooped, and I'll post them later.

Thank you to everyone who called with birthday wishes, sent cards and gifts - we felt of your love, and are grateful that you're in Gabe's life! Love ya!

Our messy 1 year old

Ok, so I learned a couple of things today:

1. Everyone is blessed with talents....the talents I was blessed with have nothing, what-so-ever to do with cake decorating!
2. If you are going to attempt to make a cake - do it the night before, not an hour before.
3. It really doesn't even matter what the cake looks like - it all looks the same once it's mushed up and thrown on the floor.
4. Cake can make a much bigger mess if the whole thing is picked up, squished into pieces, and thrown around the kitchen. Gabe would love to teach you if you're interested.

The Birthday Boy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABE!

It blows my mind that Gabe turns one today! In some ways it seems like he was just born yesterday, and in other ways I have a hard time remembering a time in my life when he wasn't a part of it. And in still other ways I have a hard time remembering him being a newborn - that seems like a lifetime ago. So it's a big bunch of mixed emotions for me - it feels weird!

I wasn't home this morning at 10:18 to really celebrate exactly when he was born last year. (I was getting all of my shots for my upcoming trip to South Africa). But I asked Cory to take a picture of Gabe right around that time - to show what a little boy who is EXACTLY one years old looks like :). Cory thought I was a nut - but he complied (He realizes that he still owes me for buying that Ranger!). I thought they were just going to be at home - and he'd snap a picture of Gabe. But they were out running errands, and Cory was an awesome dad/husband and carted my camera out with him. So here's what Gabe was doing at precisely 10:18 am on 8/7/06.

The next picture also really signifies what our real live 1 year old looks like.....throwing a fit. Gabe has gotten really frustrated in the last couple of weeks because he can't communicate to us what he wants. He knows EXACTLY what he wants - but can't express it to us so that we understand. Or if he doesn't get his way he'll also throw a fit. He's become an expert at arching his back, screaming, screeching - and carrying on. So here's proof of that:

For instance, today we had to run to Walmart for a few things. We were checking out and Gabe started pointing at something and screeching that he wanted it. I could not figure out what he was lunging towards. Then I finally figured it out - he was dying for a loaf of French bread. (And yes, we are creating a carb-lover - this little guy LOVES bread). Since we weren't planning on getting any French bread I told him no and he absolutely screamed. People were staring and they probably thought I was pinching him or something. I ended up having to take him out of the store while Cory paid. He screamed all the way to the car, and for several minutes after we got to the car. Poor guy. I'm hoping we can work on language skills in these next months.

I recently realized we had probably been contributing to the problem. He will point to the things he wants, and in an effort to figure out what he wants I'll go around picking stuff up and ask, "This?" As in "Is this what you want?" He'll nod his head yes, or scream if I'm wrong. Then he's started pointing to things and saying, "This?" So yesterday I realized that I need to point to the items and say, "bread?", or "juice?" That way maybe he can figure out the words and we won't hear incessant screams of, "THIS!"

Anyway - this has become a very long post - when all I wanted to say was HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GABE! We love you, we are blessed to have you in our home, and we look forward to many, many more birthdays to come. Hugs and Kisses!

(Edited to add: I am planning on taking pictures of him eating his cake, and opening presents after nap-time, I'll be sure to post them when I can)

Whose birthday is it???

I just typed this post and it disappeared.....

Here are a few pictures of the new toy that Cory bought this weekend. It's a Polaris Ranger and

is a cross between a 4-wheeler and a jeep. I drug my feet about buying it, but now that it's a done deal I'm trying to be excited. And it's not hard when I see how excited Cory and Gabe are about it. There are 3 seatbelts in it and the 3 of us can go cruising around together. Gabe's car-seat even fits! It is a ton of fun (except when you're over 3 miles from home and get a flat tire.....) Anyway, I think we'll be spending a lot of family time together on it, looking forward to it!

Cory's been joking that he bought it for Gabe for his birthday. But I said that can't be the case - because it sets a pretty high precedent for future birthdays. And I'm pretty positive that none of Gabe's future siblings will be getting quite the same present for their 1st birthday :). So we'll have to count it as Cory's birthday and Christmas presents for the next couple of years.

Feeling overwhelmed

Ok, so I feel like I need to get my butt in gear. I have so many things I want to accomplish, and it seems like I have less and less time as I go. So if I want to get any of it done - I need a plan. I need a way to get organized and start accomplishing things! Here are some of the goals I have and want to start working towards:

• Exercise – I do great when my friend Leslie and I go to Gold’s Gym together, but when I try to do it on my own I stink at it. I never get out of bed, and never end up exercising once I do get up. If I sleep in – I don’t exercise. What’s the deal with that? I want to be better about that. When I get my exercising done in the morning everything else goes smoother. I’m going to work on that. My goal is to go to the gym (or go walking) at least 4 days a week.
• TBG (The Blind Guy) – Having our business has been great in some ways, but in others I always have it hanging over my head. I want to develop a plan, and a schedule that I can somewhat stick to. That way I don’t always feel like, “I can’t do _____, I have work that needs done”. It doesn’t mean I am always doing work stuff, just that I always feel like it’s hanging over my head. I want to have some time scheduled to work on that.
• Scrapbooking – I love scrapbooking, I think about scrapbooking every day. Whether or not I actually DO it, that’s another story….So I want to get back to my goal of doing at least 1 (paper) scrapbook page for Gabe’s scrapbook each week. I also want to improve my scrapbooking. I have a simple style, and that’s not going to change – but I want to break outside of my little box more often. That might mean making cards for an afternoon/evening each week, or doing things that would stretch me creatively. I might pick up my book, “The Artist’s Way” that Cory bought for me a few years ago. I never read it – but maybe now would be a good time to add that to my reading list. I would also really like to start submitting to the magazines again. The competition is so fierce that I don’t know if it would even be worth my time, but I would really like to get into that again.
• Pictures – I absolutely love digital cameras. But at the same time, I hate them…does that make any sense to anyone else? I love that I can take a lot of pictures in order to get the perfect one. But I hate that all of my pictures seem to get “stuck” in my digital camera, or on my computer. I take the pictures, but I rarely print them. So I want to start printing my pictures once a month. For instance – it’s August. So by the end of August, I want to have my July pictures printed. I’m ok with being a month behind, but I want to work on staying somewhat caught up. For this to work I need to find another developer though – I am totally done with using Walmart. (Any suggestions?)
• Housework – As Gabe’s gotten older my house has gotten messier and dirtier. However, with him getting around now, and getting into EVERYTHING I need it to be cleaner than ever. But when it all comes down to it, cleaning is one of my least favorite things to do a lot of the time, so at the end of the day I put it off for one more day. Then I wait until I have someone coming over, or something going on at my house and I stress out about getting everything scrubbed. So I want to come up with a cleaning schedule. I don’t know if I need to look into something like “Fly Lady” (and if any of you use that website – email me), or if something else would work better – but I want to get into some kind of a routine. Like “Laundry on Monday”, “Bathrooms on Tuesday”, etc. I think breaking it into smaller chunks rather than, “Clean the entire house” – would help a lot. I get discouraged with so much to catch up on.
• Gabe – Now that Gabe is getting older I feel like I need to have some structured play time with him. Time when we can work on new words, new skills, sign language. I don’t quite know how to work on this yet – but I want to do more than read a few stories – I want to help him develop, and learn new things.

So my list is long, and I feel overwhelmed looking over it. But I know that I can do it - I know that I need to put some organizational things in place first though. So if anyone has any suggestions or ideas, I’d welcome them. How do you stay organized, how do you get everything done? Most importantly, how do you not get overwhelmed by everything rushing at you? When I sit down to accomplish things during Gabe’s nap I feel so overwhelmed that it seems like I don’t end up getting anything at all done. So send on your advice.

Pictures from yesterday's post

catching up

There are lots of things I haven't had a chance to post. So we'll consider this a catch-up post.

Last week Gabe was sick most of the week. He had a pretty high fever, wouldn't eat, wanted to sleep a lot, and later in the week had a pretty icky rash. The poor guy wanted to be rocked and held. We don't know what he had (neither did the dr when we went in), but he's better now - so we're happy with that! I loved snuggling with him in his rocking chair, but I'm glad to have my giggly/energetic little guy back with me! The last 2 days he's been hilarious - quite the show-off. (this is Gabe showing what a big boy he is)

Then this weekend we had visitors. My Aunt Sandra and Susan came for a visit, and my mom came to meet them here. We had a nice visit. It always makes me wish we had family that lived closer when we do get together.....It was great to talk about family, and about how blessed we are by the people we are related to. We have been blessed with a heritage from each member, and it's interesting how that makes us who we are. It made me think a lot about who I am and where I come from. I'm so grateful for that.

But we took a drive on Saturday to see the beautiful scenery of Kolob and Cedar Breaks National monument. It was beautiful!

Sunday evening Gabe got to open a couple of birthday presents early. (Thanks for the adorable clothes Sandra, Susan and Grandma Marilyn!) It took Gabe a while to get a hang of opening the presents....and I think in the end Daddy helped a lot. But Gabe did love rolling around in the wrapping paper when he was all done.

Another fun thing for Gabe was that a friend of mine gave us a "Hokey-Pokey Elmo" that her daughter doesn't play with anymore. It is so funny! Gabe loves playing with it and I'm sure will be joining in with Elmo as soon as his balance is a little better.

Then yesterday when I was running errands we had to stop at the craft store. When we got up to the check-out register Gabe was pointing at a bunch of balloons and saying his version of the world "ball" (which sounds like doll). The cashier thought he was so cute and offered him a balloon. He had a ball with it. He loved hitting it, pulling it up and down by it's string, he squealed and yelled with delight. And much to my delight it was still inflated this morning and we had even more fun with it! It made me so happy to see him having so much fun. It was truly one of the highlights of my mommy experiences. I can't wait to introduce him to more fun things that will get him that excited.

Well I thought there were more things to catch you up on....I guess life has just seemed busier than it actually has been. Have a great week!

(**Well, for some reason the last 2 pictures won't load....I'll have to put them in another post)

Welcome Baby Linzy!

We are so excited to welcome our new niece Linzy Mullen. She was born yesterday - July 31st. She weighs 9 lbs and is 21 inches long. We're so excited to meet her next week when we go up to see her! We love you sweetheart!