Gabe's haircut

The most traumatic and frustrating experiences I have had with Gabe have been involving his last couple of haircuts. I've had my friend Lynette cut his hair and we've tried everything to get him to sit still, and to let her cut his hair with the clippers. But he freaks out, it takes hours, and we get nowhere. He gets a little trim (with scissors) and I hate it. I've told Cory how hard it's been and he has thought I'm nuts - how hard can it be?

So on my birthday Cory had tried to make his schedule work out so he could take Gabe to get a haircut for me. It didn't work out, but I kept reminding Cory that it was part of my birthday present, and I wanted him to still get Gabe's haircut. So on Friday Cory had me bring Gabe into town and get it cut. And get this - Gabe was prefectly fine! They used the clippers, it's nice and short, and the only thing that upset Gabe was when his sucker got hair on it.

When I went to pick Gabe up I could tell that Cory thought I had been exaggerating about how hard it had been - because Gabe didn't have any troubles with him.

So offically - Cory is in charge of all boy haircuts from now on! (whew - I'm kind of relieved)

And here's how cute Gabe looks with his freshly cut hair. I am aways so surprised how much older he looks when we get his hair cut - he's quite the little BOY now!

A Gabe funny

On the way home from church today Gabe had Cory and I laughing so hard! Gabe started saying, "Parade! Parade!" We were puzzled there for a second, until we realized we had just passed a large family walking home. Cory laughed and said, "Nope - that was just the Gibson family." We got a kick out of that. I guess even in Utah sometimes large families (especially as big as this family is....) it looks like a parade is going by :)

Girl Crazed

Oh dear! Gabe is really social lately - REALLY social! Not only does he chatter non-stop - to anyone who will listen (but most likely not understand the stories he's telling them) - but he has a thing for girls.

Yesterday I was talking with one of my Young Women from church, and asking her to babysit for us next week. I also said something about her little sister - who is just a bit older than Gabe - named Abby. After this Young Woman got out of the car I said to Gabe, "Maybe when she comes to babysit you next week Abby can come with her to play. Would you like that?" For the next hour all he could talk about was ABBY! He wanted to race cars with her, read books, and go to the library. Finally we distracted him with something else - but he was sure interested for a good hour or so.

Then today I was showing him pictures of different family members blogs, and we ended up on my friend Jana's blog. She has a little girl about 5 months younger than Gabe named Gabbi (Gabriella actually). I showed Gabe some new pictures of Gabbi - and oh goodness! Not only did he fall in love - but he told me that Gabbi was pretty and he wanted to dance with her. After sharing this idea with me about 100 times he grabbed the cordless phone and tried to call her. Then after I wouldn't let him use that phone he got ahold of my cell phone to use that - Kept saying, "Gabbi? Dance?"

So I guess my young boy craziness has been passed on to my son - he has crushes already. (I haven't even told you about his friends Livvy and Trina who he's smitten with....) And with how adoreable he is, I think we're going to have some tough teenage years if this keeps up...

It's so sad!

I don't know how many of you know about the fires that are consuming Utah, but it is so sad, and heartbreaking to see our state literally going up in smoke. Check out this news story about the wildfire that is not really all that far from us:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1450723

Can you believe 442 square miles burned?!?! This fire is less than 1/2 way between us and Salt Lake. It's right in the area we drive through to get to see family in Utah and Salt Lake counties. It just makes me sad and sickened to know how close it is, and how scary it is for those it will affect.

Please keep these people, families, animals and land in your prayers. This record breaking (shattering) fire will affect so many!

7-7-07

Cool date huh? I had really wished that this little baby wanted to be born a few weeks early, and he would have choosen this date - it would be a pretty awesome, and lucky birthday!

But he didn't....and it wasn't even really a particularly awesome or lucky day either. Pretty normal and mundane at our house. Oh well, that's what life is made up of isn't it? Normal days. We should be grateful for 'normal' - instead of 'insane', or 'horrible' - right?

Anyway, I made sure to snap a few pictures of Gabe for 2 reasons - one because it's an awesome date. And two because he turned 23 months on the 7th. We now officially will be tracking his age by years, instead of months. I don't know if there is an official time to start doing this...but 2 years old made the mos sense. I don't see us saying when he's 6 - "Yes, our little boy just turned 72 months - we're so proud..."

So here is our little guy one month before he hits the big 2. I can't believe how quickly the last 2 years have gone by - and that he is now a little person. He's not a baby at all - he's so independent (frighteningly so at times), and so funny!

He loves to tell us 'stories' - to tell us things we should do, or tell us things that have happened. His vocabulary is big, but he doesn't really have the grammar capabilities to put sentences together. So we have to piece together the words he's saying and ask him if that's what he means.

For instance - the other day he woke up from his nap and started blurting out all these words. And kind of jumping around. He said excitedly,

• store
• shopping
• fireman hat
• mommy
• tummy
• baby

After being completly confused (and actually, I'm still a little baffled....) I put together that he thought we should go to the store and buy a fireman hat for mommy to wear on her belly. Hmmm....our son with an active imagination (or maybe just an odd dream during his nap?)

Yesterday he threw a huge fit because he wanted to have pizza for dinner. We had pizza the night before when I had our Young Women group over, and we'd had leftovers for lunch, which he didn't want to eat at the time. But come time for dinner on Saturday - he wanted pizza - and not much else. We kept explaining to him that there wasn't any pizza left - and he kept throwing a fit. Then after a few minutes of it he told us to GO DRIVE in the CAR to the STORE for PIZZA. He had gone with Cory the night before to pick up the pizza, and just assumed we could drive and get another one. Smart little sucker.

He has also developed quite the little night time routine. He's added to the routine every few weeks with something new that we have to do. But the basics are that we:

• Take a bath, get jammies on - the basics.
• Read stories in the chair - (recliner) in the baby's room. We read....FOREVER! Generally I try to read about 20 minutes, or 3 books...however, there are definetly times we read much more than that. He keeps saying "Again! Again!" (I have a really hard time saying "NO" to reading - when I feel it's so important!)
• Go into his room, and say prayers with Daddy. He's pretty good about kneeling down, being revrent, etc.
• Get into bed. Make sure we have all the "Ginks" (binkies). It used to be 2 ginks - and it's grown and grown. He has hunted binkies all around the house - ones that he was completly uninterested in as a baby when binkies were appropriate. Tonight I think he went to bed with 4 ginks.
• Tuck him in with all of his animals and blankets. Right now he is sleeping with a large Elmo toy, a monkey named George (after Curious George of course), Stanley (a stuffed beagle), and 'Chops' (a Lambchop toy). He also has 3 different blankets - or 'Ninks' as he calls them.
• Then I have to sing to him - Cory can't do it - it has to be 'mommy'. And I have to sing 3 songs - in order. We start with "I am a Child of God", then "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", and end with the 'apple' song - which is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (he calls stars APPLES - because of the part of the song where it goes, "Up above the...." - somehow when he was little it became "apple" - much easier to say.)
• To top it all off, when I'm singing the above mentioned songs I now have to rub his back, or his 'gack' as he calls it. He rolls over and yells at me until I do it - every time. And Cory can't be a part of this - it has to be me. (and don't even ask how I about died when he told me that "Chops - Gack!" meaning he wanted me to rub his Lambchop toy's back. I told him no, if Chops needed her back rubbed - he had to do it. And he did!) I'll rub his back for the 1st two songs, and then I sing the 'apple' song from the bedroom door.
• As soon as the last song is over (sometimes before I finish the last word) he says, "Wuv you! Bye!" and he goes down pefectly fine until morning. When it goes so smoothly I'm ok with all the steps I have to do - he doesn't throw a fit, and he stays in his bed - it's worth singing and rubbing his back.

Anyway, he's a sweetheart, and we are so blessed to have him in our family. I had no idea when we first brought him home from the hospital almost 2 years ago - how much I could possibly love someone. And now with the fact that we're bringing another baby home - I can't even fathom how much love our house will have. It's amazing to me how the Lord provides for us, and our love for others just multiplies. I'm not worried about whether or not I'll be able to spread my love thin enough to reach everyone - instead I'm nervous about having so much love for all of the people in my life. I just can't imagine feeling so much love - it grows so much! I am so richly blessed, and I almost don't feel like I deserve to have as much love in my heart as I do. Anyway....thanks to all of you who also add to that love in our home, and in our lives!

So I guess that 'normal', 'boring' days are perfect, because with those days we can remember how lucky we are every day. It doesn't take a special date, or special event - we are lucky just to be alive and to have the lives we do!

Waiting for the news....

Well, we got a call this morning that Paul and Nicole had headed to the hospital to have their baby! We are SO happy and relieved for them. Poor Nicole has had to deal with being overdue since last week - and we're excited for this to be (finally) happening for them.

We'll post more info when we get it - but we're so excited we had to share the news that at least baby Taylor Ann is on her way!

I told Gabe this morning after I got off the phone with my mom that Aunt Nicole was having her baby. He said, "Ohhh.....YAY!" and clapped. He's excited to get another cousin!

Edited to add:

She's here! YAY! She weighs 8 lbs. 3 oz. and is 19" long. And has a fair amount of hair, or so we've heard. From what my mom and Paul told me she's doing well, as is Nicole, but we haven't gotten a ton of info yet, so we're looking forward to hearing more. We love you Taylor Ann, and are excited for Paul and Nicole!!!

4th of July highlights

We started the festitivies by attending the big city parade. It was HOT even at 9:30 in the morning! Gabe was funny when we told him the night before we would be going to a parade. He kept saying, "Ashley!" For the longest time I couldn't figure out what Cory's sister Ashley had to do with us going to a 4th of July parade. But then I remembered that when Gabe was staying with them in may that Ashley's family went to a local parade and took Gabe. He was pretty sure we would see Ashley and his cousins at the parade and was kind of disappointed.

One of the highlights at our parades is the candy. Gabe figured that out quite quickly and loved sucking on suckers and getting Tootsie Rolls stuck in his teeth. Poor little guy's cheeks got so red from being so hot. He didn't get sunburned, but did get hot and sweaty (one of those things I've managed to pass on to my little boy....sorry bud)

Yeah, I mentioned that Gabe caught on to the candy bit. At the beginning of the parade, and about 1/2 way through he just sat and watched the other kids around him getting handfuls of candy. I told Cory to go help him get a sucker or something. After Dad went out and got a few little treats for Gabe, Gabe thought that it was ok for him to run out into the parade to collect some loot too.

After the parade we came home and went up to our local park (around the block) and attended our little town festivities. They hold a car show, booths, food, etc. The car show has gotten bigger over the last 3 years, and it's fun to see new entries every year. I asked Gabe which one was his favorite and he loved the "ORANGE" car - so we snapped his picture.

He also managed to scream a lot of the time (hot and tired) to tell us he wanted to go in the jump house. I figured there were too many 'big' kids in it, and he'd get trampled. But there was a break in the kids and we decided to let him try it (if anything, just to get him to stop throwing a fit - we're pushovers). But as soon as he got in he wanted out, and didn't want anyone to jump. Go figure...
Cory and Gabe were dressed like twins - down to their matching t-shirts and Boston Red Sox hats. I had dressed Gabe, and then Cory picked clothes to match - pretty cute. I didn't want us to look too dorky, so I wore a shirt that I think resembled a large 4th of July table cloth....fitting I guess for a big pregnant woman....

Between the parade and the car show stuff we enjoyed a bit of time in our little blow up pool in the back yard. It was CHILLY! The kind of cold water that takes your breath away when you get in, but which feels great after a while. We had a fun time cooling off, and even got back in after naps in the afternoon. Luckily the water had warmed up a bit then, but it felt great!

And yes - this is a once in a lifetime chance - you get to see me PREGNANT, and in a SWIMMING SUIT! WOW! Not something I show to just anyone (and you notice I'm mostly hidden - there's no way I'm showing you a whole shot of this pregnant woman in a suit!)

After our evening swim we ran to Wendy's for dinner (pathetic excuse for a 4th of July BBQ huh?) and then came home to watch the fireworks. The city does a fireworks show aboug 1/4 of a mile from our house. We were going to watch on the lawn, but decided to drive the ranger around the block for a totally unobstructed view. It was a short show, but lots of fun - and I think really well done. Gabe enjoyed them and it was fun to spend all of this time together as a little family of 3.

It's during holidays like 4th of July that I get really sad that we don't have family living close by. It's such a family holiday, and I get sad that we aren't with those we love. (Although if we were to have family around we might have had to actually COOK for a BBQ instead of Wendy's...don't know if I could give that part up...) So everyone we didn't get to see (all of you) - know that we think of you during the holidays and wish that the miles didn't stand between us! We love you!

(Last little note - I have found something that is actually even MORE uncomfortable than being pregnant in 100 degree + weather. Being 9 months pregnant in 100+ weather with a sunburn - OUCH! I got Gabe slathered in sunscreen, but forgot my white body... Cory and I are both pretty red now.)

balloon fest

I had said I'd share pictures from our weekend away last week - but I never got around to it. So here are the few pictures I took of the nighttime balloon lighting in Pangitch (my camera battery died 1/2 way through the evening). They line all of the balloons (between 20-30) up on the main street and light them up as it's getting dark. They just tether them to the ground, but it's awesome to see them lit up, and cool to hear the sounds of all the fuel and stuff. We had some cotton candy, spent time with our friends the Springers and their boys and enjoyed the nice summer evening.

Out in the yard tonight

I've had a lot of posts lately without pictures. Guess I've just had too much to say (or been too lazy to upload some pics....) And I'm sure you'd rather see pictures of Gabe and stuff than to hear me whine and complain.

So here are a couple pics I took tonight.

These are pictures of our backyard. We've done some work to it this summer. We added some more sod, put in some more curbing (we'll be adding more rock in areas later), dug out a playground area (which will eventually be filled with bark or something other than dirt), and Cory added a firepit complete with stump stools for us to lounge around on when we have a fire. Cory's always coming up with some project or another to make things more difficult - but this one is looking good.

And here are some pictures of how Gabe has treated me a lot of today....Yeah - it looks like he's yelling at me - he is! He has gotten pretty demanding lately and wants what he wants, when he wants it - and he will tell you all about it!

There are also moments when he's cute and sweet though. And lately when he's done something mean, or something I tell him wasn't nice he'll pout, come up to me and lay his head on my shoulder and say, "hugs" - it's his way of saying he's sorry. Pretty sweet. Just wish it wasn't always following something he shouldn't have been doing.....

Well here are the pictures - enjoy!

A month from today...

...is our due date! I know that really means nothing (right Paul and Nicole?)- but I guess it's still a way to mark time.

In some ways saying, "I'm due in only a month" sounds way too soon. (Are we even close to ready to having 2 children!?!?!?)

And in other ways saying, "I still have a month to go" sounds like it might never happen.

Either way - my due date is August 2nd.

And today I have had quite a bit more energy. Yay! I tackled a project in Gabe's room (sorting through his toys and books) that went smoothly, had some great fun with Gabe, put together 2 casseroles to eat later in the week (if I have something already made I won't have to deal with the 6:00 question of, "What should we have for dinner tonight...."), and even made myself a very tasty treat for an afternoon snack.

So now that my back is killing, my kitchen is heated up, and I'm worn out.... :) I'm going to retreat to my cool basement and relax for a bit while I enjoy my tasty chocolate treat.

Update for the week

Hello everyone. Not quite sure what to update on...nothing really going on here. But thought I'd get on and say we're still alive.

Cory took Gabe camping Friday night and I had an afternoon/evening to myself. It was our ward's "Father and Son's" campout and Cory said that Gabe was definetly the youngest to spend the night. That's my little trooper :). He had a great time and came back telling me all about camping, fishing (although they didn't go fishing...), the tent, and driving in the ranger (they took the ranger to the camping spot instead of driving - about 45 minutes from here).

While they were out being 'men' I enjoyed a trip down to St. George. Well, as much as you can enjoy 110 degree weather! WOWZA! It was toasty down there. I went down and had a (fabulous) pregnancy massage, did some shopping for the baby (I think we're pretty much ready now), had dinner and relaxed. It was nice and quiet, but I still missed kissing Gabe (and Cory too I guess) goodnight. Then when I came home I enjoyed reading in a bubble bath - yeah, quite indulgent...

But all that relaxation came crashing to an end when Cory and Gabe came home yesterday. Gabe had loved his daddy time so much that he absolutely fell apart when Cory tried to leave to go do some work for the morning. I mean he threw the biggest temper tantrum I've seen him throw - and it never ended. Well, when Cory came back home for something and took him with him to work it all ended, and Gabe was a happy little guy again. So they spent the morning together working (THANKS Cory!), and then Gabe didn't want to take a nap. After a short little 'rest' we decided to head out as a family to go see the new Disney movie "Ratatouille". It was a cute flick, and yet at times all the rats around the food made me squirm and gag a bit...I had to come home and not think about it when I reached into my cupboards to get something to eat. But it was cute, and I think we all enjoyed some time in an air-conditioned theater :)

I guess that's about it. I'm bummed that I didn't remember to send Cory with a camera for pictures of their fun camping experience - but I guess there will be more Father and Sons campouts in the future to do layouts about.

On the pregnancy front - I'm still pregnant...I've been struggling with being down in the dumps and having no energy the last few weeks. It just seems that the bigger I get, the hotter it gets, the more uncomfortable it gets (the list goes on and on) - the more grumpy I get. And then when I do lay down to go to sleep (and I'm exhausted all day - just waiting for the time to fall into bed) - I suddenly wake up and I'm up for HOURS. How does that work.....And then when I do fall asleep my hands have been having such carpal tunnel issues, and my hips are so darn sore/uncomfortable that I'm up most the night anyway.

I hope that for Cory and Gabe's sake I can snap out of it soon so I am not such a witch to be around. They are patient with me, and I love them for it (especially Cory - he's really the best!) But I have about a month left, so hopefully I can stick it out and we'll all be thrilled when the little guy arrives.

(sorry about all the complaining - I do know that I am so blessed to be a mom, and to be pregnant. Sometimes it's just hard to remember what comes at the end...)

Have a fantastic week everyone!

(And yeah - I'm still a little freaked out about the little floating baby on our page who will NOT stay in his little bubble...a little odd huh? There are really days when it is appropriate - as I feel like he's trying to claw his way out)

A weekend away

Last week Cory and I were planning on driving to visit my parents for a couple of days for a VERY quick visit. However, when I went to my doctor visit on Thursday he discouraged me from going. He said it was technically my decision, but that at 35 weeks he'd say NO (I was hitting 34 weeks), and that he just didn't think it was a great idea to travel by car 7+ hours (that's if we didn't stop at all....ha!)



Anyway, after much debating and even some tears (mine...hey - I'm 8 months pregnant, I deserve to cry a bit!), we decided it was best to not risk it. And I did agree that if something was to happen, Kayenta Arizona was NOT the place I would want to deliver my child!



So since I was so bummed Cory came up with an alternative - a little mini-family vacation closer to home. So we packed up the car Saturday morning and headed off to Tropic, Utah. It's a little over an hour from here - right outside of Bryce Canyon. The drive was gorgeous, and he had arranged for us to stay at a nice little bed and breakfast . We went on rides on the ranger, enjoyed a night in Panguitch for their awesome balloon festival (they do a nighttime hot air balloon lighting - where they line the balloons up all along Main street and light them up as it gets dark), explored at Tropic Resivoir, saw some awesome deer (including adoreable babies), enjoyed Kodachrome State park (GORGEOUS!), spent time out on the lawn at the B&B playing ball with Gabe, and spent some fun time with our friends the Springers. Lots of fun.



So thanks to Cory for making a fun weekend for the whole family. Gabe had fun, I enjoyed it, and I'm pretty sure Cory had a good time too. Now we'll be sticking close to home and waiting for baby boy #2 to join us.



(On a side note, since I've been getting bigger with this pregnancy I have started snoring horribly again (much to poor Cory's dismay). Anyway, I guess last night it was really bad, and kept Cory AND Gabe up a lot. Cory told me this morning that when I'd start to snore really loud Gabe would start laughing. Then I told Cory that at one point I woke up to Gabe talking in his sleep - that I woke up and heard him yell out "NOSE!" and go back to sleep. Cory just busted up laughing. I guess that when I'd start snoring Gabe would start laughing and saying "Mommy's nose!" - since that's where the sound was coming from. It's a good thing that I am here for everyone's amusement....(too bad it doesn't amuse poor Cory, as he looses sleep).

Doggie love

This morning Gabe and I were getting ready to go run some errands. I was ushering him out the door, trying to get him to move a little faster. I turned to see where he was and I saw him going into his room. I told him to hurry his little hiney - let's go! But he ad other business to take care of.

He said, "Girls - Girls. Bye, wuv you!" And then had to wave to both of our doggies and tell them again good by that he loved them. So cute! The best was to hear him call them the "girls".

Then in the car we were once again having the "what to name the baby" conversation. His latest addition is, "Hammer Bob"...at least we're getting away from the animal sounds (Did I mention that earlier in the week he wanted the baby's middle name to be "meow"?)

(Edited to add: Check out the "widget" thingy I have with the countdown to the baby. The floating baby is supposed to stay in the little 'bubble' - at least all of the ones on other blogs do. But if you notice - the baby on our blog will occasionally bounce out of the bubble - a foot here, a head there...It is a little creepy to me that our baby can't stay in it's little 'home' - it is also indicitive of how I've been feeling lately - I could have sworn on Monday night that this little guy was going to punch a hole into my ribs!)

Summer Solstice

So this evening when Cory came home from work - totally stressed out and grumpy I made the comment about it being the Summer Solstice today, and said that meant it was the longest day of the year.

He looked like the light went on and said, "So that's why everything went so crappy and felt like the longest day of the year today!"

Poor guy. Wish him luck - he's been busy and stressed lately. I'm lucky to have a hard worker for a hubby, even when the days are long and hard.

Getting too big

No, I'm not talking about my huge pregnant belly (although...it's getting too big too. Actually this morning my doctor complimented me emensely about where my weight gain and everything is this pregnancy and told me that I'm doing "awesome")

But GABE is getting too big! Too grown up.

I was reading a post on another blogger's blog about her little boy going down a slide at the swimming pool by himself - and it made me cry. It's so hard to let go, and let our kids do something by themself - I really struggle with that.

However, in the coming weeks and months that will be the story of our life! Like it or not Gabe will be growing up more and more.

This past week his favorite word seems to be "TRY" (or twy in Gabe speak) - or "Try it". If he's really into it, and really wants my attention he says "Babe twy" (Gabe try), and he's trying to tell me that he wants to try to do something. It can be that he wants to eat something, wants to try playing with something, wants to climb up on my lap and play on the computer - but he is really venturing out and wanting to "TWY" more things. Breaks my heart one minute, and makes me so proud the next.

He's really starting to socialize and loves other kids! He is particuarly in love with my good friend Denae's little girl Olivia "Wivvy" who is exactly a year older than him. He LOVES to play with her, pretends he calls her on the phone, calls out her name if we turn down her street, and gets so excited to see her. She has 3 other sisters too, and they all adore Gabe. Today I went to pick him up from playing at their house, and the oldest sister Mariah (who's 7) got so upset that Gabe had to go home. I explained to her that Gabe needed to go home for a nap. She looked totally upset and said, "But he's happy right now - he doesn't look like he needs a nap to me!" It's fun to see other kids enjoy him too.

And a couple of nights ago Cory had Gabe out on the Ranger (our favorite thing in the cooler evenings) and they stopped to talk to someone who's kids were out. Cory said that Gabe kept yelling out, "Hi kids! KIDS - play! HI KIDS!" He was upset because they weren't saying hi back to him. I hope he'll always be friendly and have fun with other kids.

Another sign of him growing up makes me really sad, and kind of makes me dread time to come. This week my friend's little boy who's a couple months older than Gabe was over for a few minutes. They were playing cars and trucks. The little boy that was visiting had a car Gabe wanted and Gabe walked up, took it from him and shouted, "MINE". Now you're reading this thinking - totally normal for a 23 month old little boy. But it wasn't normal for Gabe. He will see something he wants to play with and just look at it normally - not take it, and not yell, "MINE". I was so sad. But since then he's taken stuff from my lap or hands and yelled "MINE" as well. Bummer....we'll be working on the sharing concept at our house in the coming days.

Gabe also LOVES babies - which is a good thing right now :). Every day at one point or another I find him climbing up on our barstool so he can get to the laptop in the kitchen. He tells me he wants to look at the babies. That means he wants to look at pictures of himself when he was a baby. We pull them up and he makes the cutest sounds and faces. "Ahhh....baby!" I am really excited that he is enjoying baby pictures, and hope he's as excited as this new one comes into our home and life.

Anyway - just a few things that are cute about Gabe. I find I rarely write in a journal, but this blog helps me keep track of milestones and things for Gabe - as well as sharing it with you all - so I hope that's ok.

Have a great day!

Cousins

I had to post these cute pictures of Gabe and his cousin Linzy. They are just about a year apart, and cute little Linzy is almost his size! (in fact, I am pretty sure her feet are bigger than his!) Linzy will have a cousin a year older (Gabe) and one a year younger once this little guy is born. It will be fun when they get older.

Thanks Ashley for sharing this cute picture on your blog! What adoreable kids we have huh?

Happy Father's Day Cory!

This afternoon, as a birthday gift to myself, I let myself have a little scrapping time. It had been a while since I've sat down to do a page or two, and it felt good. I was really excited about sharing the layout with you all too - but after trying to scan it (scanner issues), and then to take a picture of it (which never worked either) I gave up. The pictures didn't look right, the colors and everything looked skewompus.

So - you will just have to close your eyes and imagine what these cute pictures and journaling look like in a scrapbook layout. I used cream, red, brown and blue colors, Pepples Inc supplies, a little ribbon and a couple of stickers and brads...I'm sure you're probably imagining it much better than it even looks :)

So I hope Cory had a Happy Father's Day - as well as all of the other Dad's in my life. I have been so lucky in life to be surrounded by good men - a great father, amazing grandpa's, an awesome father-in-law, brothers, brothers in law - etc. I hope they all had amazing days and know that I am blessed to have them in my life.

You never say to a pregnant woman.....

a lot of things....but today I was reminded that you never tell them that they are huge.

I was at church and a woman who lives down the street from me (and incidentally is my visiting teacher) came up to me and started patting my tummy. She asked me when she could come to visit teach me. I said, "Anytime - you tell me what works for you, and I can make it work". She looked concerned and said, "But when is your due date?" (as if she didn't want to schedule to come visiting teaching, because I might be busy having my baby). I told her not until August.

Then she got an even more concerned look on her face and said, "Wow! You look like you could go any day now! I mean some people look tiny at this point - but you are huge." Another deeply concerned expression crossed her face and she said, "Is the Doctor concerned? I mean, like are they worried that you're so big?" I told her no, and that I just carry really big.

She then goes on (and I'm actually not in tears yet) and says that it's great because when a woman is pregnant is the only time you can tell them that they're huge, and it's a compliment. I firmly told her, "Well, I don't particularly look at it as a compliment - someone telling me I'm fat is just that - telling me I'm fat!". That didn't even seem to phase her.

And as we finished our conversation she reassured me that if I went into labor and needed someone to watch Gabe, that I could call her any time. (Won't she be disappointed that that won't be happening for at least another month +)

Anyway - moral of the story is - if you know a pregnant woman, don't comment on her size, don't tell her she's huge - because chances are, she probably won't look at it as a compliment!

I knew it wouldn't happen...

Ok, this morning we were running around to get ready to go up to Brianhead to ride our Ranger while Cory had an appointment up at a cabin up there. I told Gabe like 5 times, "Ok, when we get home - we have to remember to call Alli to wish her a happy birthday". We even practiced singing, and saying Happy BIRTHDAY! And I had that sinking feeling that if we didn't make the call quickly this morning - that I'd forget.

Well - I didn't forget...however, I remembered when Gabe was taking a nap, and wanted to wait until he got to call.

And then I also remembered about 5 minutes ago - and it's 10:15 in Dallas. My guess is that even though Miss Alli is getting old (3 years old!) that she's probably not up partying still.

So - Here's a post dedicated to Alli. WE LOVE YOU! We'll call you tomorrow, and tell you again how much we love you, and hope your birthday was spectacular.

Love,

Aunt Joanna, Uncle Cory, and Gabe

Tagged - FAVORITES

My buddy Maggie tagged me, and I'm supposed to list 8 of my favorites. This is going to be tricky. They are in no particular order, and not necessarily my TOP 8 favorites - but a fun list none the less!

1. Being a mom/wife - I've worn out saying this on my blog, but I love being a mom to Gabe. I am anxious and excited about adding one more to our family and know that my love for all of the boys will just multiply! I love Cory to pieces too. He may frustrate me at times (that's normal - right?) but he works so hard to please us, and wants to be the best husband he can. Thanks sweetie!
2. Diet Dr. Pepper - Ahhh......the juice of the god's.....I love to pour one into my frozen mug - the perfect way to relax and feel refreshed.
3. Reading - I love, love, love reading some great LDS fiction....I love anything that is realistic (can't get into fantasy like Harry Potter - I just don't 'get' it - my mind is too realistic, not enough imagination I guess). I have also been enjoying books by Jodi Piccoult recently, and I did even venture into the "Twilight" books (going against my better judgement to stick to 'realistic' stories...). Once I get caught up in a book though I have a hard time thinking of much else - so it's hard to give myself enough time to read as much as I'd like.
4. Hawaii - Cory and I have decided recently that our favorite vacation spot is definetly Hawaii. We went in Oahu in 2001, Maui in 2005, and this fall we're going to Kona with our good friends Trent and Melissa. I am craving the sounds of the ocean, the blue sky, pineapple, and the sounds of island music wafting into our room at night. Ahhh....
5. Scrapbooking - Man I wish there were more hours in the day. If I could add 3 extra hours, I could get some scrapbooking accomplished. But since that's not the case, I will still enjoy buying scrapbook goodies, looking at scrapbook magazines, and dreaming of a day when once again I can scrapbook to my hearts content. (but as you see in #1 - I'm pretty happy with the reasons I don't have time to scrapbook as much...)
6. Bubble baths - Once again, if I had time - I'd either start or end every day with a luxurious bubble bath. I love soaking in the tub (with a diet dr pepper and good boo) and just letting go of the stresses of the day.
7. Evening rides on our Ranger. I love in the evenings when Cory asks Gabe if he wants to go on a ride on the Ranger. I love when it starts to cool off, the sun is setting, and we have some family time outside. If I wasn't quite so gigantic and pregnant we'd go on more adventurous rides in the evenings, but since I am....we just go on little rides around the neighborhood, or close by. I love driving past pastures with horses and cows and seeing Gabe get excited, and just feeling like we're enjoying our time together - it's a great way to end a day.
8. Sleep - can't get enough of it lately, and I know that isn't about to change once the baby comes.

Time with the cousins

Gabe had so much fun with his cousins last week!!! He loves them and loved having time with them, and with other family. We feel so blessed that he has time to see them and do fun stuff with them. Thanks to everyone who made it possible for him to have so much fun! And thanks to Aunt Ashley for thinking to take pictures and send them home with us! It was great for us to get to see the fun he had!

Thanksgiving Point

Part of our little trip up north was to take Gabe to Thanksgiving Point's Farmland. They have animals, exhibits, stuff like that. And we ended it all with a pony ride. Gabe LOVED riding on the horse!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Happy, Happy Birthday Chase dear.

Happy days will come to you all year.

If I had a wish than it would be -

A very happy birthday to you from ME!

We hope that yesterday was a fantastic birthday for you. We love you and are so lucky to have you as a brother, uncle, brother-in-law, and friend. Lots of love!

A little depressing

So today I had a visit to the doctor - just a regular old routine visit. However, as the nurse came in she said, "Wow - you hit 32 weeks today! That's great!" I looked at her like she was nuts.



Wasn't I at 32 weeks last week?!? Wouldn't today officially mark 33 weeks?!?



She checked her chart, and sure enough, I am 32 weeks pregnant as of today. What a bummer. It's like having a birthday and finding out you're a year older than you thought...

Vacation from vacation?

Have you ever felt that after a vacation that you need another vacation to recoup? That is totally how I felt this time around. Last week Cory and I went to Boston on an incentive trip we earned through one of our blind suppliers. I had really been looking forward to the trip before I found out I was pregnant. In fact, Cory didn't really care much about going to Boston, but picked the trip because he knew it was one of the few places in the United States I REALLY wanted to go, but had never visited. (My family went to Boston and the New England area for their first family trip after we got married...without me...I've always been a bit sad that I missed that trip - it really meant I was growing up)

Anyway, after realizing that I would be ENORMOUSLY pregnant at the time of the trip, the novelty of it started to wear off. Everything I researched about our trip pointed to the fact that Boston is a "walking city". Yup - you can get to anything if you walk to it. Between the heat, my back, and the lovely job of swelling that my body does - I was pretty miserable. I felt bad that Cory had to be there with me while I was so crabby. Mostly I was just upset that I couldn't run and run around like I wanted to. I hated having to take breaks, put my feet up, and deal with swollen feet/legs/hands at the end of the day (or all day really).

We did see some great stuff though. The highlight to me was probably a whale watching cruise we took. I had never seen whales in the wild, and it was AMAZING! We took a boat out about 1 hr from Boston, and then watched the whales for about an hour - seeing TONZ! I'll get some pictures up soon. It really made me grateful for the beautiful world Heavenly Father has blessed us with - so awesome to enjoy something new like that!

Gabe had a GREAT time while we were gone. He stayed with his Mullen cousins for a couple of days, and then Grandma and Grandpa came down to pick him, and his cousins - Lexie and Lincoln to come up to Logan to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days. He had so much fun with his cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. He keeps talking about them with the biggest smiles on his face. He got plenty spoiled with attention, loves, and fun books.

Speaking of Gabe - what a character! He just says and does the funniest things. I can't wait for more of his antics - becuase I'm sure that they'll just keep getting better as he works on putting sentences together.

• Today I was talking to Cory on the phone. Cory was at Walmart and was picking up some stuff. I looked at Gabe and said, "Do you need anything else at Walmart? Can you think of anything you'd need if you went to Walmart to go shopping?" He looks at me with a huge smile on his face and yells out, "MONEY!" So either he wanted Cory to pick him up some money, or knows that we always end up dropping a lot of dough when we hit Wally-world. (speaking of money - Gabe LOVES change. One of his favorite things to do is sit down with a pile of change and his piggy bank to play. He loves the sound it makes when he places money in the bank - he is his father's child...)
• Yesterday he kept telling me that he wanted to wear "alligator shoes". I could not figure out what he meant. Then he went into my closet and bought me out a pair of my "CROCS". They have a little picture of a crocodile on them - but seriously, how can you tell the difference between aligators and crocodiles? I even have a hard time. So I pulled out his pair of crocs we bought him a while back - but they're still too big. He insisted though, and actually figured out how to put them on himself. He was pretty proud of them as he sloshed around the house trying to keep them from falling off.
• Colors. Gabe is really getting a hang of his colors. He goes in phases where he'll point to a color (orange for instance) and know what it is - then a week later if you ask him to point to something ORANGE - he'll look like you're crazy. But for a few days at a time he knows colors really well. The color of the day has been green and brown. Oh, and I asked him to pick up the BLUE crayon and he handed it to me and said, "Wager" (water). So he's catching on! He loves crayons, but more than that he loves to draw with pens. In fact, I can't even take a notebook and pen with me to the grocery store with my list becuase he insists on checking off things on the "wist" with the pen. He loves lined paper and pens. Maybe he'll be a list freak like his mommy. Gotta keep an eye on the little guy!
• On the night we took Gabe to Ashley's house - before we flew out of Salt Lake City on Thursday - he would NOT sleep! He wouldn't go to bed at all. Finally, since Ashley's kids were all asleep we settled him down with us on the airmatress to watch a movie. We don't have Peter Pan yet so I thought that he'd go to sleep. But as soon as it started Gabe yelled, "Pan! Pan!" Then I realized that we'd read Peter Pan books - so he was 'hooked' and had to watch most of the movie before going to bed. (And then later woke up for most of the night...little stinker!) It did make me happy that he's remembering the things we're reading though.
• On our trip up north we took Gabe to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi to go to their petting zoo/barn. He loved seeing the animals. I think his favorite was the Donkey - he thought it was like the donkey from Shrek. He also go to go on a pony ride and loved that. I felt bad that our trip there was probably his "summer vacation" (with the baby coming and all) - but he had a good time. Plus we ended the time by letting him pick out a tractor and dump truck at the gift shop, so what could keep him happier? That kid loves any kind of farm equipment - must get it from Uncle Coby. He loves his "umper" (dumper), "woader" (loader) and the multiple tractors we have running around the house. He is really all boy!

Well I will work on getting some pictures up to share up on the site shortly.