Wednesday, July 23, 2008

3 Whole Years- YAY for us!

Happy Anniversary!
July 23, 2005 ~ San Diego Temple:

La Jolla Cove, San Diego:

Our Reception:

These past 3 years have been Amazing!!! I am so lucky to be married to the most patient, kind, and caring man. He treats me so much better than I often deserve. He helps me to want to become the best version of myself but loves me just the way I am. He also happens to be my best friend. I love that each year has just gotten better and better. We have loved deeper, laughed harder, and become stronger together. It has been such an incredible three years. We are learning together what it takes to make it through this life and have fun and lots and lots of happiness along the way.
We have had so many fun and exciting times during these 3 short years together. Here's a look at our highlights:

  • Honeymoon Cruise ~ July 2005
  • Trip to CA & Texas ~ December 2005
  • Nicole Graduated~ April 2006
  • Weston was born~ June 2006
  • Lots of fun, crazy times in between with lots of family!!!
  • Christmas with Abreu's in UT ~ December 2006
  • Jeff Graduated ~ April 2007
  • California Trip ~ June 2007
  • Texas Trip ~ July 2007
  • More, fun fun times with family
  • Overnight trip for anniversary in Midvale, UT ~ July & October 2007
  • Christmas in Texas ~ December 2007
  • Wicked & California trip ~ February 2008
  • Bought our first home- March 2008
  • Lots of family here ~ April 2008
  • Tave is born ~ May 2008
  • Tons of family, reunions, & LOTS of fun times ~ May-July 2008
We are here!!!
What an incredibly fun & busy busy three years. Here's to MANY more like this!

And here are some of my favorite memories:
  • Reading Harry Potter & the Twilight Saga together in the Lovesack
  • Midnight ice cream
  • Introducing you to Wicked, having you love it, and caring enough to take me to see it!
  • Rotating who gets to sleep in in the morning
  • Having our boys. You are an amazing Dad. Thank you
  • Going on jogs together
  • Our cruise
  • Laughing over nothing
  • And everything else in between!
I love being married to you!!!
I love you Babe. Thanks for everything.
Happy Anniversary





Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Our July so far!!!!

We have had a fun and VERY busy July. It has been great!!! Here's what we've been up to so far:

July 16-22nd, Shawn & Abby's Visit!!!!

Shawn & Abby came out to visit us and we had great week with them!!!! We went swimming, chatted, hung out, played nertz, ate good food, and just had FUN. We loved getting to know Abby and spending time with both of them. Thanks for coming and making our week so great you two!!!
Weston sure misses them. He keeps asking about them and says their names so cute!



Shawn & Abby


Giving Weston a rasberry sandwhich. He thought it was so funny! Kapria watched the whole time!


Shawn meeting his newest nephew!


Weston had so much fun with "Shawsh" as he called him. He wanted Shawn to look at everything he did and showed him stuff constantly when we were together. Thanks for hanging out with him and being such a good uncle!


Guy stuff.

Random July moments:


We bought a double jogging stroller, finally! (Thank you for those of you who helped us out!)
The boys and I tried it out today and WOW..I kicked my rear. I definitely need to be doing this! We had a blast and the boys did awesome!! Weston LOVES going on my jogs with me and I think Tave is well on his way to enjoying them as well..he slept the whole time!
SO fun!


I had fun taking a few pics of the boys...nothing fancy...just catching some cute moments before we headed off to Tave's first FULL Sunday at church. He did awesome and has since shown us that Sundays CAN be easy with a little one. He is such an angel baby and does absolutely fantastic at church. He sleeps most of the time, then eats, and then is as content as ever to just be held. I love this little one! West was so cute and just sat there watching Tave, I didn't have to pose this pic. at all!

Cute little Tave in his Sunday best!


When I suggested we go take some pictures outside Weston immediately started saying "tree". I think I had him stand by the tree ONCE and now he loves it and wants to do it all the time.
So, again, I didn't have to pose this at all...it was ALL him!
What a little GQ man I have on my hands. (when HE wants to be!)


Look at that cute pose. LOVE it!

These are for Amanda, who got us these adorable shoes and they FINALLY fit! Weston found them in his closet and they've been his favorite ever since! We had to do a little photo shoot to show them off.

And here is what happens when I tell him to say "cheese". I have about 10 pictures that look exactly like this...so I finally gave up. Someday I'll have a normal smile from him for a picture, but until then, I LOVE his crazy faces!


Tave's First bottle!



Weston was so fascinated...he wanted to watch the whole time. Tave has since 'told' us that he does NOT like this bottle and he is now taking the same kind Weston took. Go figure.


July 14th, Happy Birthday MOM!!!!

Happy Birthday to my fantastic mom!! I love you so much and am so grateful to have you as my mom. You are such a good example to me and I love that we are so close. Thank you for everything you do! I hope this next year is your best yet! Here are some reasons why I love my mom (Karen) :
K: kind. you care so much about people and always DO things for them that show them just how much they mean to you
A
: awesome mom and grandma. I am so glad my kids are getting to know and love you just like I do!
R
: ridiculously easy to love!
E: extraoridinarily wonderful listener. You listen because you care. I am so glad you do!
N: Never, ever, ever mean. You always look for the best in people and I look up to you for it.
Thank you for being such an amazing mom! Happy Birthday!



July 14th cont'd, Tave is 2 months old!



Weight: 11 lbs Height: 23 inches Our little Tave is doing so great!
  • He has started smiling and cooing all the time (I am trying to catch it on camera!)
  • His eyes are blue blue blue! We are hoping they stay that way!
  • He is now sleeping about 8-10 hours at night! Wahoo!!!
  • He loves to be held and snuggled
  • He usually only wants his binky if he is tired
  • He loves to kick, kick, kick, and kick some more! He is constantly moving those chubbly little legs
  • He tracks movements with his eyes and will follow us as we move around the room
  • He loves bathtime
  • He tried a bottle for the first time & did great!
  • He likes to watch his brother
  • He wa blessed this month & was able to meet TONS of his new family!
  • He is such a joy to have in our home!
We love this little guy so much and can't imagine our family without him! We love you Tave!!!

I just love how content he is, just sitting all squished like that in Daddy's arms. So cute!


July 13th-15th, 'Pisky' visited!

My Dad's sister, Valerie, came to visit for the family reunion. We grew up calling her Pixie and Weston said it SO cute: Pisky. He was so proud of himself for saying her name!
Here she is with darling Tave. Thanks so much for staying at our house and hanging out with us, Pix. We definitely miss you!!!



Weston climbed onto her lap to read this story. It was so cute!


July 12th, Hansen Family Reunion!
The Hansen family reunion was here in Utah and we were so lucky to have some of our family come out for it!!! We loved seeing everyone and hope that even more of our family can come to the next one! We missed all of you who couldn't make it!!!! Shar has some really fun pics with my grandparents...so you'll have to check out her blog when she posts them!

My Grandma with Tave. She loved holding him and he just loved sleeping away in her arms! And I loved the break! Thanks Grandma for taking such good care of our sweet little guy! We sure miss you!!!

Kapria couldn't get enough of Eli. He loved playing with her too, it was so cute! We missed you Nancy!

Weston had a blast just running around the park and playing. (Thanks to my dear, sweet husband who followed him everywhere so I could chat with all of my long lost relatives!) Syanne and West both loved this toy! Maybe for his 3rd birthday...



My fun cousin Jimmy came down from Idaho with his girlfriend. He is such an awesome guy! I loved seeing him hold Tave...doesn't he make the baby look so tiny?! Love you Jimmy!


Nila (Hansen) & Gene Abreu family! We missed all of you who weren't there and can't wait to see you soon!!!!

Judy (Hansen) & Larry Cvitcovich family! It was so fun to see you all!

Tawna (Hansen) & Vern Abreu family. Loved getting to know you better!

Earl & Joanne Hansen family! Love you guys! We missed you: Nancy and Pete & Jen family!



Just about every day in July: Quite the artist:


Weston has discovered that he loves to draw!! LOVES it!!! He is so fun to watch. He is very serious about his art and tells us exactly what it is!!!









July 4th: God Bless America!
I love the fourth of July. I love the patriotic spirit that can be felt everywhere you go. I love the parades, the fireworks, the fun. I love the spirit of Hope that is evident in everyone's face and the feelings of gratitude that fill my heart as I look at our soldiers, our flag, and the people of our nation. We are so blessed to be a part of this great country. Thank you, to all those men and women who have made it what it is. God does, truly, bless the USA!


We woke up bright and early to see the balloon fest!! It was SO worth it. Jeff's brother Jonathan came with us and we had a blast. Weston LOVED it!

Our little family! Tave was in the stroller you see at the bottom of the pic. He slept through the entire thing!

Aren't they so neat! I loved seeing them all lift into the air. It was just so much fun!

Weston & Jonathan pointing to the balloons. West was SO excited to see them. He loved it and had so much fun chasing Jonathan around! Thanks for playing with him!!!


This was my favorite balloon. I love our flag!

After the balloons, Jonathan came over for some delicious Monkey Bread!! mmmmm. Love this stuff! I will post a few of my favorite recipes soon, and THIS will definitely be one of them! (Thanks, Amy for the recipe!)


That afternoon we hung out with Shar and Trav!

I just love the look on Kapria's face. I love my little niece, she is such a doll!! (We love you guys too, Shar & Trav!)

So Weston really really dislikes pictures. Can you tell?! This was as good as it gets, folks. Ahhh..I am destined to not have a smiling picture for the next few years I guess. Oh well...you can tell they're cute, right?! :)

We went to a bbq with Shar & Trav later that night. Tave just hung out on the blanket outside while Weston and the kids had a blast swimming!
(Tave's poor face had some serious acne going on! Later that week I took him to the doctor and it turned out he had a skin infection on his ears because they were so dry and she told me to just LATHER his whole face and head with cetaphil, in addition to the antibiotics for his ears. It worked...within 2 days his skin was completely clear. So lesson learned: moisturize your infants skin no matter how bad the acne. I think it got SO bad because it needed more oils and was trying to produce them?! just a thought!)


Kapria, Cohen, & Weston just hanging out! What cute kiddos!

Sparklers. I just love them. I think Weston did too!

We had a blast on the fourth! Thank you to everyone who was there to make our day so special! We loved celebrating with you!


July 3rd, Happy Birthday Chelsea!
(This picture was taken on her birthday...Weston loved sitting in her lap and playing, although you can't really tell in the picture...ha)
Happy 25th Birthday Chels!!! We love you so much and here are few of the reasons why:

C: Caring. You care about us and our family!
H
: Hilarious. You always say the funniest things and make us laugh
E: Extra fun to be around
L: Love love love your absolutely gorgeous hair. I want it.
S
: So beautiful. Seriously. I love your smile too!
E
: Easy going. You go with the flow and that is so awesome. I am trying to do that more!
A: Amazing sister. I'm so lucky to have you in my life!
We love you and hope this year is fantastic. You are so wonderful! Happy Birthday!!!!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Monday, July 07, 2008

Family Reunion!

June 13-27, 2008

We had an awesome awesome couple of weeks! Jeff's family came out from Texas for a Family reunion. We had a blast and already miss them terribly!!! We are counting down the days until the next trip..which means we'll be counting for awhile because we DON'T have one planned. *crying* Okay, well we'll survive on the memories made for awhile!
Dad, Joe, Uncle Guy and Aunt Sharon were all here for the first week, and then Mom, Amanda, & Cole were able to stay with us for another entire week. We got to see Grandpa and Dean also. What a great time!!
Here is a recap of fun activities: guys golf, good food at Cafe Rio, Brick Oven, Bajios, etc, girls day out, shopping, Weston's birthday party, Tave's blessing, park fun, reunion in Roy, Thanksgiving Point, swimming, lots of late nights, loads of laughter and tons of fun. We loved every minute! Thanks, everyone for making this trip so wonderful!!!

Here are the pics, in no particular order:


The Texas crew: Back row: Cole, Amanda, Joe, Dad, Mom, Jonathan, James, & Amy
Front: Jeff, Tave, Nicole, & West



Our little family!


We had a little grandparent photo shoot and it was pretty hilarious. I'll be the first to admit that MY child doesn't make picture taking easy. haha. But he sure makes it interesting! Here are two of the best shots (the first is my fav!!)



Sweet little Tave just chillin' through it all! Go Texas!



The lovely ladies!! Me, Amanda, Mom, & Amy
Love you all!!!



Uncle Guy is so sweet with little Tave. I just love this picture!



The perfect seat: Weston hanging out with Grandpa...while watching the game. (which game, I'm not sure!)



Water fun at Bob and Susie's


Girls Day Out.
Ahh...Pedicures and shopping, need I say more?! I love you ladies so much!!! Thanks for a GREAT day and a fantastic vacation!!!!















Mom with the cute boys!!!



Aunt Sharon taking care of Tave at the park!!!



Weston's latest trick. He makes monkey noises while swinging like this. What a hoot!!



Thanksgiving Point. He LOVES riding the ponies. We were able to ride twice during this visit!! What a fun day!!