Our Summer (part 1)

Luke found our camera! I was so excited and happy. It was in the trunk of car we rarely drive. So I thought I would do a quick recap of our summer, besides the few posts we already did. Here it is:

We ended the school year by going to Lagoon. Gabrie could only go on one ride because all the kiddie rides were closed but we still had fun. She would get scared each time we went on this one but she always wanted to ride it again. I love how she is holding on to Lukes arm. I think it is a cute picture. She loved her sunglasses and wore them all day.

Luke's Grandma Joan passed away shortly after, it was expected but still sad. We went to Arizona for the funeral and to visit his family. Gabrie was very interested in Grandma Joan and talked about her for the next month, she would even say "there's Grandma Joan" or talk to her. Who knows maybe she did see her.
Here is Gabrie and Luke on the plane enjoying their beverages. Gabrie did pretty well on the flight, much better than the last time she was on a plane. (She was 6 months and screamed the whole time!)

Gabrie and Parker at the church. She loves her cousin so much!

All the cousins.
Then Spencer and Mayra and their kids and Justus and Kyrsten and their kids came to visit for a few days. We had lots of fun.
Here are Gabrie and Anna driving the car.


Playing the fountains.
Cute baby Ethan!

I actually don't have many good pictures of all the cousins ) :But here are a few.
Izzy
AliAnna, Gabrie and Ali
Daddy and Gabrie, so cute!

Gabriella got her new toddler bed! This was here first night. She was really excited about it but it made me a little sad that she is growing up so fast!4th of July ( actually it was the 2nd )
Grandma holding Samantha, Ashlyn, Grandpa, and Gabriella

Grandma and Parker
She loved the fireworks just not the noise!Kellie and Luke

Gabrie, Darcy and Emilee
Samantha
Dianne, Kiley, and Parker
Gabrie and Ashlyn made Grandma and Grandpa take turns running toward the fireworks that Luke and Alec were doing and then running away when the went off. What good sports

No Camera

We missed placed (lost) our nice camera a month ago now and I have been in denial. I thought for sure it would turn up but we have looked everywhere and it is gone ) : Along with all the pictures I hadn't saved! So I guess I should do a post even though the pictures are usually my favorite part!

We have been having a fun time together. Luke has finally had some time off, so we've been taking it easy. Gabriella has entered a new phase of no naps, I do not like this phase! She isn't even 2 1/2 yet! But when we put her in her room she just plays with whatever she can find. Then she is grumpy the rest of the day because she didn't take a nap! She has dark circles under her eyes and will sometimes fall asleep between 5-7 pm just when you don't want her too! If anyone has suggestions I would love to hear them (: We also decided to try a little potty training, so we gave her some underwear to wear for two days and I don't think she ready. She will sit on the potty and get really frustrated when nothing happens and say "I can't do it."

We are really excited for August we will be going on a couple vacations and celebrating our 5 year anniversary! So it should be fun, hopefully we will have a camera to take pictures of it all!

Happy Birthday Luke!

I am so glad that I married this younger man ( : but now we will be the same age for the rest of the year! He has a busy day of taking his summer class to a bird refuge (?) and then going to a class the rest of the day, but he's a trooper! So Happy Birthday to Luke! We love you!

Baby Mamie!

This has to be one of the cutest newborns I have ever seen!
My sister Miriam had her sweet little girl last week. Both of them went through some tough labor but we are so glad she is here and Miriam is recovering nicely. I can't wait to meet little Mamie. She has had a tough week - first with surgery on her back and then a shunt in her head. If you want the full story you can look at Wade's blog on the side, he writes much better than me. They have been through a lot and this baby is definitely a miracle. She is still recovering but making progress! Hopefully I'll get to see her soon and have more pictures of her chubby little cheeks! Keep them in your prayers.

Family Pictures

We had some famiy pictures taken and I think they turned out really cute. Here is a link to the photographers blog so you can see some of the pictures. She did a really good job, I totally recommend her!

http://www.kristinacurtisphotography.blogspot.com/

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!