"tastes like chicken"

Gabe makes me laugh every single day but this time he took it to the next level... I was dying laughing! At dinner the other night we had a big green salad and Gabe had speared a fat piece of tomato on his fork. He asked me "what's that, Mommy?" and I told him it was a tomato (even though he knows what a tomato is and has been eating them his whole life!) So he pops it in his mouth and chews industriously while slowly moving his head back and forth like he is really tasting it... then he stops and says in the sweetest voice "it tastes like chicken, Mommy, tastes like chicken." Eric and I were shocked to hear that phrase come out of his mouth because even though it's a common joke to compare things to the taste of chicken, we never have! I have no idea where he came up with that one!

Then just now in the bath tub he was filling his mouth with bath water (bubbles and everything) and swishing it around - I told him (yet again) to spit it out and stop doing that because the bath water will make him sick if he drinks it. He pauses directly after swishing and spitting and says "mmm, tastes like chicken". It cracked me up again!! That little guy has the funniest personality!

Christmas time Seattle style!

This year we get the best of both worlds of Seattle and Salt Lake! During Christmas vacation in Utah we will get to see the beautiful temple square Christmas lights and spend lots of time with the people we love... but we also get to enjoy gorgeous Seattle all done up for the holidays! Streets lined with white-lit trees, an enormous Christmas tree, live holiday music on the corners, a giant sparkling star overhead, santas walking around(although they're often begging for money!), garlands, wreaths... Seattle is decked out for Christmas!! It has been so fun walking around and soaking in all that Christmas spirit! Eric, Gabe and I went downtown last weekend and strolled through the streets packed with people- most carrying packages from all the great shopping around, some just enjoying the ambiance. It was wonderful! All the scene needed was a little snow falling! Oh well, at least it wasn't raining! :)5th Avenue with all the great shopping!

For FHE this week we went to downtown Bellevue with our friends and saw Snowflake Lane... a street decorated with white snowflakes and nutcrackers, complete with a festive show of drummer boys (actually pounding on their drums), snowmen, reindeer, and other Christmas characters... all dancing to music. They even had snow falling! It was so fun!

Baby Logan and Birthday girl Mindy

I finally got to meet my big brother's new baby Logan Matthew...what an adorable baby! He turned 7 weeks old while we were in Utah. I had so much fun cuddling him and kissing him - poor little guy didn't have a moments peace between all of us wanting a turn holding him! He makes the cutest little purring and grunting noises - haha! I love it! But when he wants to be heard, he is LOUD!! :) Matt and Amy are the cutest parents and so fun! They even went country dancing one night when we were there! (You would never in a million years know Amy had a baby 7 weeks ago!) What a cute family they make now with their two little boys!Logan sitting on his cousin...that big bump in the way!! :)

Happy Birthday Mindy!!

I got to take my little sis out to lunch for her birthday - a birthday tradition I have always had with my sisters that I'm really going to miss. Mindy, Jack, and I went to the Blue Lemon in Highland - yum!

Later that night we went bowling to celebrate the big day... it was a blast! I was by far the worst bowler in the whole place. My excuse is that Gabe was my partner! :) Actually he was a team player for both Mommy and Daddy and often bowled better than either of us!

Make a wish!!

what a life!

Gabe had the time of his life while we were in Utah. He had so many people that loved to play with him! Here are some of my little man's adventures....Gabe and his pal Jack. It didn't matter that Jack's not quite a year old... Gabe loved to play with his little cousin. And I loved hearing them giggling with each other as they played - they were so cute together! Uncle Matt was just as wild and crazy as usual....and Gabers loved every minute with him! Here he is getting pulled and spun around on his blankey. Wes and Gabe would lay out the blanket, throw themselves down on it, and beg for a ride from Matt! And of course, big bro would always oblige!Two little cuties reading books in the middle of the floor! It was so fun to see Gabe and Wesley playing together. All these little boys in the family are going to have so much fun over the years! A very tired looking Mommy reading a story to some little munchkins in the morning. Gabe with fellow sports fans Grandpa Don and Uncle Jesse. Is that a Dallas Cowboys jersey he has on?! Eric about died when he saw that! (he is not a fan of the Cowgirls!)Gabe helping Grandma Cheryl frost a cake... well, he helped taste the frosting anyway! And yes, he was having a great time so don't be fooled by the face.


Gabe helping Grandpa S. with the horses - he LOVED being up in the hay loft exploring and kicking the hay down the chutes to those hungry beasts! We thought having him kick the hay down was safer than dropping it down...especially since he would love to watch it fall down and see the horses heads dive in to eat. How exciting!!I should have taken some pics of him feeding the horses apples too. Gabe was usually pretty brave and fed them himself although sometimes they were a bit too hungry and affectionate for Gabe's comfort and he would allow me to do the honors! It has been so fun to have the horses on the property. My Dad is having the time of his life with those animals. It's fun to see!

Playing in the leaves with Aunt Mindy! Now this was just adorable for me to watch. They were so cute together. Mindy really is the best aunt - she truly loves kids and has endless ideas of fun things to do. Here she took Gabe out and raked up a huge pile of leaves for him to jump in. He couldn't wait and kept jumping in before the pile was ready!

Buried alive!!! :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

We traveled back home to Utah for Thanksgiving this year and it was so fun! Has it really been only 4 1/2 months since we moved?? It feels like a lot longer...so it was wonderful to see everyone again and to fit back into what used to be our old routine of family get-togethers. It's not routine for me anymore, let me tell you! I have learned to appreciate all the little things so much more. Thanksgiving day was full of Mom's amazing cooking and lots of family time - two of the greatest things in life! :) The rest of the holiday week was packed with fun activities... all of which I will post about later. We arrived home in Seattle late last night, after 13+ hours in the car, so you can imagine the laundry, shopping, and cleaning I have to do today! Ugh. I can't wait to post all the great pictures I took to document all the fun we had with our families in Utah though. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!
Mom placing all the delicious dishes for our Thanksgiving dinner in the oven to keep warm at the end - YUM!Dad performing his manly task of carving the turkey!Here I caught my silly brother Matt in a yawn which he turned into some crazy face for the picture! Eric looks a little crazy himself! Boys will be boys I guess... at any age! :)and the rest of the family (that was there)... I couldn't be more thankful to be blessed with such amazing people in my life! (Erin and Mel... we really missed you guys and your families. I can't wait for the time when we are all together again!)

The big ultrasound...

It's a miracle... we are having a GIRL!!! After 10 boys born in my family (and another on the way!) and only 1 girl, we are getting another girl! I am so excited! I have barely even thought about it being a girl because I knew I would get too excited about the possibility and I really didn't want to be disappointed if it was a boy (does that even make sense?!) Because of course I would have cherished the idea of another little boy in our family. Eric was absolutely certain it was a boy. In fact he never even considered it could be a girl. So you can imagine his shock when we saw for our own eyes that it was a little girl!! It was incredible. The 20 week ultrasound is the most wonderful experience, even if you couldn't see the gender. Just seeing this perfect little baby inside you is such a humbling, spiritual experience. I loved looking at her head and brain, her bones, feet and hands, organs and heart, even her sweet profile... wow. The entire concept of pregnancy and gestation is a miracle and just boggles my brain. I love it!! So anyway, now I get to run with the whole idea of having a girl... pink clothes, ruffles, bows, leggings, new girly bedding, everything! Yahooooo! I'm so excited!! (And by the way, so is Eric! I never made it clear that he is thrilled to have a daughter even if he was speechless with shock initially!)

Here is the proud big brother... the sunshine in my life here in rainy, gray Seattle! What a handsome little goof!

"cookie-treat!"

Gabe's version of "trick-or-treat" seemed to get the same result...candy, candy, candy!! After struggling with the tantrum-inducing temptation to eat each piece as he got it, our little Dragon had a great time. We couldn't let him eat on the go because we were falling behind as it was! Gabe is definitely not the kid that is pushing his way to the front of the pack and grabbing handfuls of candy. Rather he was the one that stood there enthralled with the decorations or costumes at each house, completely oblivious of the bucket of candy! I would have to prod him out of his trance at every door. It was pretty funny! Halloween was so much fun this year with our little man. We started the night off right with a Jack-o-lantern pizza:

Then we hit the road with a whole bunch of other kids and parents to go trick-or-treating. You know, since I dressed up and I'm the one (with Eric) that is eating all the candy, I realized it was like old times! Halloween means treats galore again!! Oh, boy...too bad I don't have the metabolism of an 8 yr old anymore. :) Here are pictures of our adorable, green Dragon:

Dragon and Friends:

Dragon with bestest bud Ethan the Dragon (coincidently):Daddy and Dragon at a really neat haunted house in the neighborhood:

Dragon with Witchy Mommy: (wait that doesn't sound right...)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone!!

jack o lantern carving

We had a fun night carving our pumpkins with our friends Raelynn and Brett and their 2 boys. Gabe wasn't too thrilled about the pumpkin guts. Eric kept trying to get him to dig in and grab out handfuls... well, Gabe would gingerly put his hand in and come out with one pumpkin seed! I guess I didn't need to take off his shirt- there really was no danger of a sticky mess! He was really cute when I was carving the first face though - I told him I was making a scary one and he kept saying: "Oooooooooh, a scary one!" What a cutie pie!