It's been awhile!

We are happily approaching the end of the school year and things are winding down, yay! I don't have much to say but here are some fun pictures of what we have been up to - in order, starting with most recent.

This blog is also like our family journal/scrapbook so sorry if it isn't too exciting to anyone else.

Gabriella being her cute self, I love this picture (: But I am a little bias.


Three weekends ago Luke's Granpda passed away. The next week we went down for the funeral. It was a really good funeral the spirit was really strong. It was good to see and meet a lot of that side of the family. Grandpa Bud will be missed he always had a big smile and I loved his license plate "ITLLDEW." It always made me laugh!

Here is Luke and Gabrie having our lovely continental breakfast at the hotel.Ashlyn and Gabriella in the hall between our rooms with there matching blankets.

We also went swimming at the hotel but Gabrie was too nervous to leave the stairs but that was okay she still had fun.
Giving Daddy kisses!
On the way home we stopped by Wilson's Arch, to see where Luke almost died when he was a little kid. The story goes that he was trying to beat all of his brothers to the top and was running as fast as he could not knowing the slope dropped on the other side of the arch. Well I guess his brother Spencer stopped him but it is good to know where Gabrie got her adventure gene.

Dianne, Parker, Luke, and Gabrie
Cute lil' Parker with his shades! I love this picture!
Luke taking it a little slower this time ( : and helping Gabrie.

At the top!
Luke and Kiley were trying to catch a lizard, they didn't succeed.

Dianne, Gabrie and Parker on the "lizard" - a log that looked a lot like a lizard (you can't really tell from this angle and I accidentally erased the better picture)
We did the Autism Awareness Walk at the beginning of the month, it was cold and rainy but still fun! Gabriella was a little nervous when we went to see the Disney characters especially Captain Hook, but she liked meeting Snow White. She is in this funny stage where she gets scared by a lots of things she didn't used to! Later that day we stopped by Walmart and there was an Owl mascot there and Luke said she was really scared of it. Then later she told me "I scared of Owl" and she still talks about it especially when we pass Walmart!

Again she was too scared to climb the slide, I think there were to many big kids.
But my friend Whitney's daughter was brave she just had some trouble going down slide, she was so cute!
We went to the farm at Thanksgiving point with my friend Marisa and her kids. It was lots of fun but Gabriella couldn't decide if she wanted to ride the ponies or not. She said she did but then got terrified when I tried to put her on one then this is her watching while the other kids rode ) :

Anyways, now your caught up - hope you enjoyed it.

"2 minutes"

Birthday Girl!



Gabriella is 2 years old but when you ask her she says "2 minutes" ( : I can't believe how fast time has gone by. She is the funnest little girl and brings her mom and dad such joy! She has the amazing ability to brighten the day of just about everyone she comes in contact with. Those of you who know her know she never slows down, she's always on the move, and is usually talking. When she is happiest she usually sings or dances or both. Some the cutest things she has been saying lately are:

-"I wanna slide that one!" when she sees a slide or she'll switch it up depending on what she sees "I wanna swing that one!" or her newest "I wanna cycle that one" when she sees a bike (because she calls all motorcycles and bikes- cycles.
- She can sing the Plain White T's song "1,2,3,4"
- She dances and sings "So dis is love, ta da da, so dis is love," she loves Cinderella.
-Counts to 10 but skips 4.

Here is how she spent her 2nd birthday doing all of the things she loves.
The day started with watching a little Cinderella, it was the first thing she asked for even before breakfast I couldn't tell her no- it was her birthday!
Then she played outside and watered the swings and slide, all the while wearing the hood from her coat, I don't know why! But I love the picture from behind ( :

She got the wheel barrow as an early birthday present last week. We learned from Christmas she can only enjoy a few presents at a time.

Then she had fun with my makeup!
Played with more of her hats!
Then it was party time! Here is the caterpillar cupcake cake I made with Luke's help ( :
She loved her Cinderella balloons for Grandma and Papa Williams and so did Parker!
She had been practicing blowing but still needed a little help when it came time!
Grandma and Papa Talley gave her a cool basketball hoop which she loved! She gets really excited whenever she sees someone playing basketball and always wants to play, so it was perfect!

We got her a bike which we were pretty sure she would love, I think she did.
She got so excited when our families started coming to our house, you'd think we never get visitors! Here is Gabrie with some of her cousins: Caleb, Sydney and Aunt Connie.

Kiley and Dianne!
Daddy, Mommy, and Gabrie!

Easter

Our Easter celebrations started Saturday morning with the city Egg Hunt. We have never been to one before so we didn't know what to expect. There were tons of people. Luke had to help Gabrie get a few eggs (4) before they were all gone which took about 30 seconds, it was insane! There was a poor lady on the field yelling and telling the parents to get off the field but it was too late. But fun! Here are some pictures of us waiting to start.Later that day we decorated eggs. Gabrie loved to drop the eggs in the dye and watch the splash! She also liked eating them!



This is Easter morning, digging into her candy immediately. We learned for next year to make her eat breakfast first! She had fun finding the eggs and looking through her basket.

Then we got ready for church! And had to take more pictures in her new easter dress, of course!

It was a beautiful day so we walked to church, which Gabrie enjoyed.Then we went to both sets of grand parents, it was a busy day!

Here Gabrie and Granny
And Dianne and Kiley cute baby- Parker!
Hope you all had a great Easter too!

The Zoo!

We had spring break this past weekend and had a wonderful time together! Luke has been working like crazy so it was so nice to have a few days off and with no planning or grading!

We decided it would be fun to take Gabrie to the zoo, she loves animals and has never been so we went!In front of the giraffes (she is eating a fruit by the foot).

This picture was in front of the monkeys she loved watching them! As you can see in her face.


She actually liked the carousel this time probably because I warned Luke to choose one that didn't move!

She did not like the train though, it was the first thing we did and she cried and held on Luke most of the time! Over the past few days she has become quite a little daddy's girl. She has loved having him home and getting to do fun things with him. Except for when she was mad at him for "kicking" her off his chair, then she came in to me and said " Daddy kick me." And then took my hand and walked me into where Luke was to get mad at him. It was really funny!

Oh after the zoo we went to Lindsay and Robbie's to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. I love this picture! It is Gabrie and Jack (Allison's son) with their sippy cups ( : They enjoyed running up and down the street screaming while I tried to keep them close.

Fun Week

This past week has been really fun and busy. Both of my older sisters came into town, yea! We threw a baby shower for Miriam, it was a lot of fun! Here is a picture of some of the decorations.
I was really excited to make a diaper cake. I'd seen them at friends showers but this was my first one. (Kara- I stolen you idea about using the grass, hope that's okay)

Friday we went to the mall and Gabrie and Elizabeth got to ride the carousel. Of course Gabrie cried almost the whole time and refused sit on the horse once it started moving! But she was really excited about it before and after the actual ride.


Jeni and Elizabeth Elizabeth and Gabrie pushing the stroller. They played well together most of the time. Gabrie is in the "mine" stage and is really strong willed but Elizabeth was as patient as a 4 year can be and put up with a lot!
Here they are in their similar pajamas after they took a bath.

Gabrie has loved playing with all of her cousins this week I forgot my camera most of the week so I actually don't have a ton of pictures but when I get some more from Miriam I will post them. But the crazy week with late bedtimes and different naps left Gabrie wiped out and with a cold. So here she is this morning taking it easy watching Winnie the Pooh- one of her favorites.

But still smiling!

Imagination

Gabrie has a great imagination! Yesterday we were in the car waiting for Luke at the library and Gabrie had found a spoon in Luke's lunch bag and was pretending to eat from it saying "mmm, that's yum!" Then she asks "Mommy want some?" I said "No thanks" then two people walked out of the library and in front of our car and she said "Peoples walkin', want some?" Then she made sound like they had eaten off her spoon (I can't think how to spell that though). I laughed so hard. At first I thought she was just telling me there were "peoples walkin'" but then when she added "want some" I realized she was talking to them! Then she was feeding one of her "Papa's" she said "Papa?" reaching her hand and spoon to an imaginary Grandpa and then turning to the people getting in there car she "Peoples?" and reached toward them. It was very cute. I hope this isn't one of those situations where it is really funny and cute to me beacause I was there and she is my daughter and everyone else was bored by it but if it is oh well! I know Miriam will enjoy it!

Oh another kinda of funny thing was that when she was trying to reach the lunch bag the strap was stuck on something and well we have been trying to teach her to be nice and calm, and not fuss everytime things don't go her way so she starts yelling at the bag "Please, Please, PLEASE!". What a girl there is never a dull moment!

Sick, sick, sick!

So not much has been going on with us other than having sickness after sickness. It has been a rough winter for us. Our weekends have been consisting of Luke puking, Gabrie puking, and colds that linger! But whenever it has been sunny and even a little bit warm I try to get us out of the house and in the sun hoping it will help! Since I don't have any interesting things to blog about I thought I'd post some of the cute pictures I've taken of Gabrie so here they are.

In this one I finally got Gabriella to let me do her hair, it is getting so long. Unfortunately it didn't last long, but it does look really cute!
Sitting in the sink, so fun...
She has wanted to help with everything lately so this is her helping with brownies. I don't know if you can see the concerned look on her face, it's pretty funny.
Here she is enjoying the brownies.
Helping with dishes...
I made smoothies the other day and I thought it was so cute, Luke and Gabrie reading while they ate their smoothies! Like father like daughter!



My mom will hate this but I thought it was funny!