Eric's birthday surprise....

VANCOUVER, CANADA!! Where Eric and I spent the entire weekend...what a gorgeous city! My hubby has been saying since we moved here how much he wants to go see Vancouver but we have never made the time soooooo I thought it would be perfect to just kidnap him away for the weekend - force him to leave his work and enjoy himself!! Eric and I had a blast visiting Gastown, Granville Island, Robson Square, China Town and my favorite, Stanley Park. Even our little monster Gabe had a great time at home with Eric's parents (thank you Cheryl and Don!!) and didn't even miss us, I hear. Which I guess is a good thing, although I have to admit I was just a tiny bit disappointed to know that I could disappear one day and his happy world would go on as usual! I just tell myself that it's because he is such a well adjusted, cheerful child! hee hee :)
(There is Canada Place on the far left of the skyline in the picture below.)

Stanley Park is beautiful with its huge green trees covered in moss, view points like Lion's Gate Bridge and Prospect Point, and the Seawall surrounding the entire park where cyclists and walkers enjoy ocean and forest all at once. There are all kinds of things to see and do there. I can't begin to describe it - it's wonderful! Unfortunately it lightly rained all day (and to be honest I'm not in any condition to walk for miles at this point in my pregnancy!) so we didn't take advantage of any of the trails through the park but we did have a lot of fun driving around and seeing all the sights, getting familiarized with it all and planning our next trip this summer! We are going to bring the kids, our bikes and bike trailer, and picnic basket and make a day of it at Stanley Park... I'm so excited already! The totem poles...a must see in Stanley Park.Eric's favorite was downtown Vancouver for sure. He loves to see all the big buildings and beautiful architecture of different cities and this one was really pretty, even I have to admit! The cobbled streets and gas lights of Gastown were so quaint and picturesque...probably my own favorite part of the city. We only got to see Canada Place from a distance as it was closed in preparation for the Olympics but it was fun to see in real life anyway. What a neat building! China Town was spectacular with it's enormous gate and bright red lamps and banners. The markets and shop fronts were so fun to see there! But the highlight for Eric was definitely Robson Square where a lot of the Olympic preparations were being made. That was the place where things were happening, that's for sure!Aren't the blue roofs on those buildings behind Eric beautiful?!The ice skating rink at Robson Square.

These steps led down to the ice skating rink that was located directly under the street! The paintings on these steps were really fun to see. The pictures don't capture the scenes very well, sorry!

Gate of China Town...

What a fun get away! Can't wait for next time!!

Eric's family b-day dinner

Gabe and I decorated the house and made our birthday boy a delicious steak dinner (check out the menu and recipes on Sisters Cafe). A homemade cheesecake, as requested, topped it off well I think! We even went outside and lit sparklers for this special occasion! :) It was a fun evening, celebrating our wonderful husband and Daddy. A little strange to be by ourselves though... we are used to tons of family around! But it was still a fun and relaxing night. Eric still has a special birthday surprise waiting for him this weekend... hee hee, I can't wait!!!!!! :)He wouldn't let me put on 30 candles, dang it!! That would have looked great! :)

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY ERIC!!!!!!

Eric is finally joining me in the fabulous 30's - yay!! He is slightly less thrilled at the prospect, let me tell ya. :) Poor guy views this landmark as the "beginning of the end" to quote him directly. His doom and gloom attitude last night had me laughing so hard... he was even laughing by the end! I keep telling him that turning 30 is truly great... it feels really good to be old enough where you feel like you have enough experience of life to really know what you're talking about and it's young enough where you can still do whatever you did in your 20's (it's just finding the time!) Also it is so fun to be in the stage where you're established in building your family and career. The 30's are exciting from my point of view - seriously! Eric just doesn't know it yet... but he will soon enough!

Honey, if you ever get a chance to read this today... I LOVE YOU and Happy Birthday, babe!!

time for a break

This morning I had an ob appointment, went grocery shopping, cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes, folded laundry, dealt with Gabe pooping in his Big Boy underpants 3 times (yes, you read correctly...3 times, grrrrr!), super cleaned the fridge, and have a clean, fed, and sleeping toddler upstairs... so I decided I deserved a nice break! I realize I have just described an average morning of a stay at home mom, in fact many are far more busy (like my sis Melanie with 5 boys!!), but still... I am not a work-and-no-play kind of gal. I need my down time every day! So I thought I'd sit down and give an update on what is going on around here.

First of all, everything is going great with our baby girl. Only 9 more weeks to go! I feel good, just super tired all the time... in fact Eric and I went to bed last night at 9:30! He gave me a back massage (back pain is another annoyance of pregnancy at this stage) and I guess it really wiped him out! No I'm kidding - by the end of his long days at work, he is just as tired as I am. (We are a load of fun lately! hee hee!)

Gabe's potty training is going really well... with the #1 part of it. #2 on the other hand is more of a challenge, as you guessed from what I said earlier! The last few days he has had an accident either during his nap or during the night (never when he is awake) until today when he blew that in a big way! So we are still working on it...

Our house is to be finished on February 8th! We are so excited to move in our new home and be settled! We went to see the house and its progress last week and it looks great. I can't wait to take a bunch of pictures to post on our blog.

The weather here is record breaking warm. I heard on the radio that it is the warmest January since 1891!! Wow. The sun was even out today - it felt great.

Well, I guess that is all. I'm done with the rambling! Now I'm going to go write up a post for Sister's Cafe to schedule for tomorrow morning. If you haven't checked out our food blog lately, you should! We have a bunch of new and delicious recipes posted. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

PS: A post with no pictures is just too boring so here are a few of my 2 guys driving Gabe's new Jeep (that his Grandma and Grandpa Richardson gave him for Christmas) around the front yard. Daddy has worked (or played) long and hard to get Gabe over his fear of his cool new Jeep! Poor little guy would like to sit in it but did NOT like it when it moved - he would say "no thank you! no thank you!" :) We are happy to say that he has had a change of heart and loves his new toy now!

wild horses!

I had to post one more entry about our time in Utah... I couldn't leave out these great pictures of Gabe and Jack with Grandpa and the horses! One afternoon Dad let the 4 horses out into the pasture together where they really let loose, wildly running and kicking their way around - it really reminded me of little kids let out to play after a day cooped up! It was so fun to watch. After they settled down a bit, Grandpa took the boys out to pet them, feed them apples and sit on their backs. Mindy and I were snapping pictures the whole time - it was so cute! Those little boys were loving it! Are those the happiest looking boys or what?! I just love the funny faces Jack pulls - they are so endearing! What a quirky and lovable personality he has! Gabe just adores Jack and could play with him all day. They both think the other is so funny... I love it! While Jack was getting his turn to ride the horsie, Chief (our most affectionate horse) was all over Gabe, just nuzzling him to death! In the pics above you can see he always has his nose against him. (He loves Gabe but I think he was also searching for more apples!) Gabe didn't mind at all until at the very end when an overzealous Chief accidentally nudged a little too hard and Gabe landed on his bum in the snow! Gabe was terribly offended... I think the whole neighborhood heard him screaming his outrage!! oh boy... :)

It's for real...

My good friend Raelynn threw me a baby shower last night with girls from the ward... it was so fun!! And it made the whole thing so real all of a sudden. I really am going to have a baby girl in 2 months - aaaaah! I'm so excited! :) These girls in my ward have been so sweet and friendly... it's made my transition here so much easier. I have not shopped for one clothes item or anything really besides nursery bedding so it was so fun to get all those cute girly items! Life has just been so busy lately with the holidays and now moving... I'm going to have to do some make up shopping before March 28th! Our house is supposed to be finished before February 8th so we are planning on moving Valentine's weekend (how romantic). :) I'm really looking forward to being settled finally - to really feel like this is home. I only wish I could fast forward the next month - it is going to be so crazy. In the next few weeks I need to finish potty training Gabe (which is going really well, by the way), pack my house up, move, unpack, and try and get prepared for this little girl coming soon! Sounds a little daunting, especially with all the details of moving that have to be dealt with, but I'm excited to be in my own house soon. Only a few weeks to go!

Big day for Gabe!

This is day one of potty training!! Gabe is a Big Boy now... wearing Big Boy pants and going on the Big Boy potty! :) He has a potty chart that is a train track - I bought star stickers to put on each portion of the track for every time he went on the potty but instead (or I should say in addition) Gabe wanted to cut out the train so we could physically move it down the track! What fun! haha :) I hope the "fun" lasts! No accidents yet though and he already had 3 stars on the chart by 7am! Yes, we started early here... not mommy's idea!

Check out the cool new Thomas the Train behind! :) Gabe picked them out!Gabe's super cool football seat- another Gabe selection!

The Zermatt

We always take a few days and head up to Matt and Amy's townhome at the Zermatt. It's become like a cabin to our family! :) It is gorgeous up there in Midway, and there is so much to do, even in the winter. Our favorite thing this year was swimming at the pool... Gabe was thrilled every time we went! (that may even be the biggest understatement ever... he was SO excited. Check out the video!) I did not have a swimsuit in the beginning (and Eric had gone home already) so my wonderful big brother Matt was Gabe's hero and included him in all the fun he was having with Wesley. Thank you Matt! Of course my sister Mindy and everyone else were all very sweet to play with him and give him lots of attention even though they all had their own kids too! It really meant a lot to me and I know Gabe had the time of his life!All the kids getting thrown up in the air at the same time! (That's Gabe with Mindy) Matt throws Wes crazy high and he loves it!!

The Nutcracker

While I was in Utah Mom treated all the girls to night out on the town going to the ballet The Nutcracker. It's something we do most years and it's a treasured tradition. I love dressing up and going out with all the girls... especially to something as fun as the ballet! The dancing and the music are beautiful, the costumes are so fun to see, and the opportunity to be with some of my favorite people in the world... what a perfect evening! My mom has season tickets to the ballet and she always takes each of us to dinner and one performance a year - kind of like a mother-daughter date! But this ballet is fun to be with everyone together (well not everyone, but all the girls of the family available!). Even Grandma was in town this year and got to come!

lots of R & R...

Our time in Utah was so relaxing. Most of it was spent at home with the family just playing games, working on puzzles, talking and laughing, outside with the horses and for Gabe, a lot of time was logged in the play room with his cousins! It was wonderful to just be together and enjoy good company (and lots of good food!)

Gabe got lots of one-on-one play time with both Grandpas... he loves them both so much!

Movie time with Amy, baby Logan, Wesley and Gabe. Actually Matt gave up his spot for Gabe when he came down early that morning - it was so sweet. Their little family was all snuggled up together on the air mattress watching Snow White! Gabe got to sneak right in and soak up all the love!

Playing catch with Uncle Griff. Gabe is getting really good! Check out that throw!

Snuggle time with Daddy...

and Aunt Caitlynn!

Gabe and Wesley have the same coat so they look so cute together when they go out. Here they are helping Grandpa with the horses!

Feeding the ducks at Gardner Village with the Richardsons - Gabe loves this outing!

Puzzles!! That puzzle was 1,000 pieces and took us 2 days to finish - we were so proud of ourselves. It was very difficult breaking it up to put away! The puzzle workers were all the girls (even though they are not all represented here!) - Mom, Grandma, me, Mindy and Amy. I better give Dad some credit too - he helped on and off! :)