Camping, Puppies, and Bears

Gabe has been obsessed with putting blankets on himself like capes. He usually puts the blanket over his head too like a hood.

Driving up to Rollins Lake --- Jill and me

I still can't get over how weird Jill looks in this picture. She looks like a Brat doll that mated with a Chihuahua hahahaha. So funny.

Jill and Dad hanging by the campfire

Two of my favorite boys -- Zander and Keaton (love K's smile)

Chillin' with Keaton .... this was after he recovered from holding a flamin hot briquet  from the campfire. He was crying and screaming for about an hour and a half. Thankfully his dad was able to give him a father's blessing to help speed up the recovery :(

Gabe cannot sleep without all his buddies ...and yes, he is usually having this good of a time when he's going to bed! 

We went up to Rollins Lake last weekend for a little camping trip. Well, actually, Gabe and I didn't actually camp. We just went up for a couple of hours. I moved into a new apartment the day before, so it wasn't really feasible for us to stay over night. I should've taken a picture of how much he was covered in dirt when we left. He LOVED touching, eating, and throwing the dirt and rocks. What a boy! :)

One __________________ Good Fourth

I wish I new some more ultra adjective phrases (i.e. "hecka") to put into my posts and to sprinkle here and there into my every day conversation. Thus, I have put a blank into my post title so you can help me think of something new to put there! I'm always looking out for new phrases to use! :)

We had a blast over the whole fourth of July weekend. It's one of my favorite holidays. I love America and I love our freedom. My parents have always taught our family the importance of our country and the miracles that occured to bring to pass the Constitution, etc. And, of course, because of the freedom of religion we were able to have the gospel brought back to earth (and it was able to happen in America!). I just love this holiday. We spent our time with my family -- my dad, sisters Tiffany and Stacie, bro in law Ben, and nephews and niece. We went to the parade in the morning, then went to Tiffany's for a barbeque and swimming (in a tiny little kid's pool, but still), and we watched a movie, played wii and just hang out! 

Later that night we went to the church building to watch the Lincoln fireworks. It was okay -- honestly, I think that with the economy, everything is kinda mediocre. Kinda stinks; but I still had a good holiday with my family. And fireworks don't make or break my favorite holiday either. :)

Gabe waving our colors at the parade; he loved the fire trucks!
(big surprise, huh?)

My nephews Zan-man and K-dogg 

Hanging out at Tiff's with his huge Independence Day hat on :)

If you can't tell by the sweat on his body, I don't know what would give it away --
 it was about 103 degrees on the 4th ...
thank goodness we had the means to get wet and cool off!

My sweet little niece, Lacie. She broke her pinky toe,
so she had to sit on the sidelines; poor little girl!

These two ... they are so precious together.
They make each other laugh and just are really sweet together




The next few pictures are from later in the week. Just various activities n such that we did.

We went to this little water park near by so Gabe and his cousins could get wet
since its still so freakin hot here! I have come to realize that I really
would rather have it colder than hot!

I've said it once, and I'll say it again, Gabe loves his Grandpa so much and you can
really tell by this picture I snuck in of them watching (with a little gagging on my end)
Star Trek. It's Grandpa's choice, if you can't tell. But anyway, Gabe loves his puppy ...
and Grandpa so much!

Before church today I cleaned out my purse (i.e., threw out all of my old receipts) and before
I could throw them in the garbage, Gabe had them strewn all about.


Then he put them in thatbox he's sitting in and examined them. Kids
really don't need toys to keep them entertained if they are happy with a box and
paper!

This also happened before church today. My dad has his favorite green chair that he always reads in, sleeps in, and watches T.V. in. I was going about my business of getting ready, when my dad tells me to come into the living room. My dad had Gabe's access blocked by putting his knee out, but Gabe went around to the ottoman and climbed over that, up onto my dad's lap. He then proceeded to touch my dad's face and try to pry open his eyelids. He was also laying his head on Grandpa's shoulder and neck (as seen above). I tried to get a video, but I didn't catch it.

As said above, he LOVES, loves, loves his Grandpa. I see this in the way he always wants to sit on his lap, have Grandpa pick him up, and of course, play with him. I couldn't ask for a better example of a good man for Gabe to be around than my dad. I am grateful my dad is willing to help with him and just be a good Grandpa by playing and spending time with him. 

This is what Gabe spends most of his 'play' time doing: playing with his cars and trucks, as seen above. He loves looking at the wheels very closely.

It Ain't Easy Being This Cute

These are a few more pictures from the busy week we had. Things are still pretty crazy. Mostly because I have to study/take this bilingual education test (tomorrow!!) in order to teach in California. It's a mighty big test and its been filling a lot of my free time in order to prepare for it. Then, as many of you may know, I found a teaching job for summer school. It's in Sacramento (about a half hour drive from where I live) and I'll be teaching 7th grade Language Arts. I'm pretty excited to be teaching again and to be using the sweet lesson materials I have stored up! 

On top of those two major events, Aunt Jilly was in town for the return of Elder Vaka from Tonga and we of course had to spend all our time doing fun things with them. AND ... we've both been sick this past week. Who wants to study or plan when they're sick? Not me!

Anyway, here are some pictures from our activities the last week or so. 

Cute picture of mom and Gabe when we were sick together. I know I say this a million times, but why does he have the cutest face on this earth???

This is what Gabe wanted to do when he was sick (and believe me, he NEVER wants to do lay around, so I knew he wasn't feeling like himself!)

Jill getting a special hair treatment when she was home  -- do you notice anything different in her hair?
Haha -- don't ask me how that got in there. 

I zoomed in on one of the nasty slugs that Gabe keeps on picking up in our backyard. Unfortunately, my nephews Zander and Keaton are obsessed with pointing these bad boys out to Gabe. BOYS can be so gross!

We had a water balloon fight over at Aunt Tiffany's and here's Keaton, who insisted on me  "taking a picture of me and my snake."

Hot days (can you tell with Zander's red face?)

One of my new favorite pictures with me and Gabe

Gabe wants/does get into everything!! I actually caught him trying to get my camera batteries while they were charging. Look at his "caught in the act" face he's got there.

My silly boy, who loves to run around, be goofy, and laugh a lot

Gabe is already learning the in's and out's of technology (OH NO!!!). I don't want to be an extremely anal parent, but I really don't even want him to have his own cell phone until he's 16, but I'll see how long I can get away with him not having that kind of technology

The Pink I Don't Love

First, the title of my post: I HATE PINK EYE! That's the ONLY pink that is cursed. Gabe had pink eye (and a nasty ear infection) earlier this week and it was so sad. His beautiful eyes were all swollen and goopy, but my boy was still as handsome as ever. He is such a trooper because he has molars coming in too. Being a toddler is not a bed of daisies!  

Okay, so I promised more pictures of other people, and I stuck to my promise.

 Mom & Dad. My mom's shirt says "I love my Hubby." She wore that out to dinner with the whole family. If you know my dad, he's really shy and reserved, so its extra hilarious. I love my parents so much; they never cease to give me support and love.

 Gabe and Grandpa. 

Gabe loves G'pa!!

Superboy is stylin' with his Bieber haircut G'ma gave him.

He's my little buddy. 

Here he is on his Christmas present from Great Grandma Ommen

He turned 17 months on January 25. I can't believe he'll be a year in a half in a month.

{Then it's NURSERY time! I can't wait :)}

 This is the mohawk Aunt Tiffany gave him. What a snooky pants.

One of Gabe's many expressions. 

I love his teeth.

Lake Tahoe

Over Labor Day weekend my family headed up to South Lake Tahoe to celebrate my mom's parents 50th wedding anniversary. My uncle rented a house that was right on the lake. It was so pretty and such a gigantic house! It was such a nice treat to do something like that. On Saturday we went to the lake for the whole day and it was so pretty and nice {except for my sunburn}. Gabe loved the water, but he was obsessed with the sand. He was squeezing it in his little hands all day long. I think he even sampled some too. :)

My mom and soon to be brother in law, Drew, rented a jet ski for us to take out on the lake. It was in the late afternoon, so the water was really choppy and cold. Me, Jill, and my bro in law, Ben, took it out together, and I was scared of falling off the whole time. I guess its that I have a little guy to take care of, but I was so freaked out. Well, at one point, Ben's hat falls into the water, so we drive back to get it. We stop to grab it, and Ben and I fall into the lake. Jill somehow manages to cling on for dear life and doesn't get an inch of herself wet! It was pretty funny.

We also celebrated my  mom's birthday (which was on Saturday), and we had a cake for Gabe's birthday. There was tons of food, laughing, playing, reminiscing ..... I loved it!

Mom and Gabe at the lake

Loving the sand & sunshine!

Jill and I just chillin'

This was on Sunday -- we went to this nice park by the lake to take family pictures.

The cousins. You can tell the babies were not happy about this. Little cuties.

My family went on a little walk Sunday evening. Here is Jill & Keaton.

Keaton, Jill, Zander, Me -- at this little park Sunday evening.

Sisters -- Me, Stacie, Jill, Tiffany. I love being with my family.

Jill had this idea to take pictures of us drinking water and this is the one I took of her. I love how it looks like she's drinking sunshine.

Zander and Keaton are pretty much infatuated with racing people. Here is grandma (or my mom) racing Zander. I'm pretty sure I caught my mom is just the right moment, what do you think?

Gabe & Mom

My friend Brendi was so kind to take 1 year pictures of my little man. She also slipped in a few of Gabe and mom too. I loved the way they turned out. She really captured Gabe's cute personality and how handsome he really is. Thanks girl!

He can be so serious at times.

Making him laugh.

Lots of kisses. And you can see he was trying to get away. :)

Trying hard to stand on his own.

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time. Its so adorable.

So tiny

{Really he is ... at his 1 year appt last week, we found out he is at 1% for weight. I feed him, I promise!!}