Bugs- a.k.a. Lily

It amazes me how fast kids grow!! Lilybug is already 15 months old and she has recently decided that she is no longer a baby. She walks all over the place, tries to talk - although nothing is really discernible- and she has started carrying around stuffed animals as her "babies"! It is too cute!! She holds them, wraps them up and rocks them in her little rocking chair. Such a good little mommy. However she only does this with animals, give her a toy baby and she just throws it down!!

Is that not an ADORABLE face?! We are trying to take the binky away from her, but she found one!! Who can resist when she is so darn cute?!Her other new thing is holding the last bite of any food in her mouth forEVER!! (Those who knew Luke as a baby may find this familiar!!) She has a banana in her mouth here and she is trying to run and hide from me so I won't take it or make her swallow it!!Yes she is proudly showing it off here!! Aw, where did my baby go?!

Gabby's B-day

This year for Gabby's birthday we just had some of her friends over for a play date. I just couldn't get a party pulled together, but she was happy with this so it was great!! Luke went with me to the store a few weeks earlier to pick out a present for Gabby. He insisted on getting her two presents, one from him and one from Lily, he is so cute!! He picked a Barbie movie, the Princess and the Pauper, and a Tinkerbell little doll. Gabby loved them both!! (Good job Luke! ;)). When her friends got to our house she had them all dress up like princesses and then they watched the Barbie movie. It was a little crazy but they had such a fun time! Later when Nate came home from school we had her birthday dinner, she asked for salad and "cheese dezonia" (lasagna)! For her cake she asked for a chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting and strawberries on top and in the middle. (She gave very specific instructions as to how she wanted me to do it!!) And she wanted the strawberries in a heart; we did our best but the strawberries kept wanting to slide off!! It was such a fun day and I am just so glad that she is so easy to please!! Thanks to everyone who helped me make this a special day for my special little four year old!!Here are Kayla, Mary, Gabby and Kira as cute little princesses!!Gabby and Kayla were dancing to the movie, it was soo cute!!This is the ballerina outfit that Gabby got from her Nana, she LOVES IT!!!

Happy Birthday Gabby!!!

Ah Gabby, it is hard to believe that it has been four years already!! It seems like the time just continues to fly by as I watch these kids grow up before my eyes!!! My little Gabby has been a princess from the start. I was amazed at how different girls and boys are from almost the instant they are born. I remember the first time I saw Gabby twirling in front of the mirror saying "Look at how pretty I am, Mommy!!" It made me smile and she has continued to make me smile everyday since the day I found out she would be joining our family! Being a mother is the greatest thing on earth to me, and being Gabby's mom is an extra perk!! She has so much energy and personality and love! Gabby girl I love you to pieces!! Happy 4th Birthday!!

My she has grown, hasn't she?! She is the cutest little princess and I LOVE HER!!!

TC and Cora's Wedding

Part of the reason that we went home for Christmas was for my younger brother's wedding. He got married two days after Christmas with about two feet of snow on the ground, and it was cold!! TC and Cora looked great and I will have to post pictures of them later, but I just thought the kids looked soooo cute so I wanted to share them with everyone! While we waited for TC, Cora, Dylan and Marisa to get there so we could start pictures, we decided to take a few of the kids that were there. These are my brother's, Ben and his wife Angela's, kids (Ben-7, Alaura-5, Sammie-3, Tali-2 and Annabelle- 10 months) and my 3. Aren't they soooo cute?!?!Seriously though, how cute is this little girl?! She started walking during our trip and although she hasn't mastered the art yet, she loves to try! However, as soon as she sees something she can hold onto it becomes her new best friend!!

This is one of my FAVORITE pictures!!! Ben, Luke and Dylan are all born within 10 months of each other and have been the best of buds ever since!! Seriously, cousins are the BEST!

I had to include a picture of my supermodel sisters for all of you who doubt it when I tell you that my little sisters got all the looks in the family!!(out of the girls that is...) Of course Cassie is missing from the picture, but I'll get one of her too.

And then here are two of my favorite people in the world, Angela and Melissa!!! I couldn't have picked two better girls for my brothers to marry, I LOVE them!! Girls I miss you like crazy! And now we have Cora too; it is great when you have sister-in-laws that you just love, it sure make family get together a whole lot more fun!!!There are a whole lot more pictures from the wedding, hopefully I will get my act together and get them up before too long!

New Years Eve

While in Utah we got to see most of our family and have lots of parties. As I sit here thinking about all the fun we had I am sure missing them all!! On New Year's Eve Gayle wanted to get a picture of all the Tracey/Henricksen grandkids in their christmas pj's from Grandma and Grandpa. Seriously this was one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed!! Not only were they too hyper from being with cousins, but they had been given chocolate and all sorts of other treats, and the babies were just plain tired. But as you can see it was a wild success!!! ;) At least we got most of them in the picture!! This is a picture of the kids trying to calm down right before the picture. Pamela was trying some relaxation techneques with them, but they just thought it was funny!!Luke absolutely adores his grandpa!!! We are glad we got to spend some time with him and that he was all done with hospitals and heart attacks by the time we got there, no more Allen!! The nursing mom's and pregnant sister in laws! Sorry Pamela, Cheri and Ingrid but I just wanted a picture of all of you on my blog...

This picture has to be one of my favorites!! Nate, his brothers Dale and Keith, his sister Jana and his mom; they were making fun of the last family picture they had taken before any of them got married. I just love how much fun they have together, I sure love these people!!

Christmas, a little late...

It has taken me a while to get all the pictures from our trip to Utah onto the computer and then to blog them. As it is I still don't have all the pictures, so i will just have to post them as I get them. So we will start with Christmas. Christmas eve was wonderful, we were able to go to my grandparents house and see a lot of the de Hoyos family that we hadn't seen in a long time. Then we went back to my parents house where we put on the Luke 2 nativity. Gabby was Mary, Luke was a Shepard and Lily was supposed to be a sheep, but she pulled off her ears and ran for it. We put all the kids to bed, got out games and that is when all the fun began. First Cassie started throwing up, then Gabby, then me, then Oriana, then Sammie, then... well you get the point. In a house full of 21 people I think about half of us

got it on Christmas eve to Christmas day and then the rest of everyone got it over the following few days. The stomach flu seemed to hit almost everyone I know, regardless of where they celebrated Christmas!! It was not the magical night we were used to but it could have been worse. And at least we were surrounded by the people we love and in it all together!! Luke and Lily were lucky enough to not be sick on Christmas, but Lily was more interested in her dad's shoes then in anything else!! Luke was having the time of his life!!

Gabby spent the night in the bathroom so she was trying to be enthusiastic about her presents but I think you can see she isn't really enjoying it!! After opening presents at my parents house in the morning we were able to go over to Nate's families for a while. Of course since Gabby and I had not slept or been able to keep much down, it wasn't as enjoyable as it would have been. Gabby actually fell asleep on a bed while we opened presents, but we sure appreciated every ones love and support and of course their generosity! We had a wonderful Christmas despite the illness!!

Ah, the snow in Utah!!

Last year I remember how almost every other day my mom would call me up and say they had received another 4 or five inches of snow. For some people that may be bad news, but for me it was torture!! I love the snow, I always have. I figure if it is going to be winter then there better be several inches of snow to go along with it!! This year was much different then last. We were able to go out to Utah for Christmas and my brothers wedding, and I just prayed that there wouldn't be any snow before we came but then once we were there I wanted it to dump. It was a lot to ask, I know, but it worked!! There was no snow until about 3 days after we got to Utah and then it kept coming and I finally got the white Christmas that I had so desperately longed for over the last few years. After one of the bigger storms my brother Ben and the kids went outside and built this awesome igloo. You could fit about two adults or three little people, it was great!! I miss it already!!Oriana, Gabby and Luke inside the igloo, it really was a lot bigger then these pictures make it look!!

My sister Cassie sliding off the roof of my dad's work shop, ummm I don't know that he knows about that...!!