Time to Post

Ok, here we go again. First of all, thanks to everyone for coming to Gabe's b-day party. Unfortunately, I, being the airhead that I am, forgot the camera! Stacy took some pictures of the party, though, so we will still have a record of Gabe turning 6.

When we were in Castle Dale, we were going out to the car and on Grandpa's driveway, the ice had formed these beautiful rosettes. I just had to take pictures of it. I had never seen ice form like this before.

Gabe got to have some fun while we were in C.D., too. Dennis offered to take him ice-fishing! Of course, we hadn't gone prepared with snow suit or anything, so Jennifer supplied Gabe with snow suit, gloves and boots that were a few sizes too big. Dennis and one of his friends loaded up their supplies and took Gabe to Joe's Valley. It was cold, but he had a great time! And, wouldn't you know it, he was the only one to catch a fish!Lizzy cooked that fish, and Gabe shared it with everyone. It was really good! I haven't had fresh trout for a long time.
And, now, Gabe is 6 years old!!!! He really had it made. On his birthday, John and I simply took him to eat at a place of his choosing -- Arctic Circle. Then we had cake and ice cream at home with Grandma. Then, again, on Saturday, he got to have the big party with the Jorgensen family. One of Gabe's favorite books at the moment is Green Eggs and Ham. He now reads it to me! I am so excited to have him reading, and loving it! He also enjoys his new bubble gun. You can't see the bubbles, but he is shooting them all over outside.

John had a surprise this morning. The Stake President told him he wanted to meet with him at 7:00 a.m. this morning before a Stake Priesthood meeting. When he got there, he was taken right into the Stake President's office and told that they want to ordain him as a High Priest! So, he had to come home, find Alan's phone number (which we didn't have on hand -- we had to wake Morgan and Andrew up) and then call Idaho. Alan was still a bit groggy, too, but he said he would be willing to come to Salt Lake next weekend and ordain John. So, . . . We just wanted to let everyone know.

Now, one more surprise. Those at the party last week heard the story behind all of this, but I wanted to let the rest of you know, as well. I'll explain the story when I see you. It gets a bit involved for the blog. Ok, here goes. In this last month, I have met my father for the first time. I have also been in contact with one of my brothers. He and his family want to include me as a part of them. Last weekend John, Gabe and I went to dinner at Chuck-a-Rama with this brother and his entire family. My father even sent Gabe a birthday card from "Grandpa Bob" and when we were with my brother, all the kids gathered around and gave Gabe a sack full of presents! They were so excited to have us be there! I am still a bit overwhelmed, but excited at the same time to finally know the family I've always known was there.

Hopefully I'll have the pictures from Stacy for the next blog (whenever that may be). It may be Easter before I have time to blog again. But, until next time, keep smiling!

Birthday Party for Gabriel!

Hey, Everyone! March 4th is Gabe's birthday! I cannot believe he is 6 years old! I keep telling him he's still supposed to fit in my arms, not hang out all over the place. Anyway, we're going to have a birthday party for him at Stacy and Josh's this Saturday around 5:30 or so. John and I haven't totally decided what we're going to do, yet, but just come and we'll have everything all taken care of. We really appreciate Stacy and Josh letting us use their house. We look forward to a day when we might have a house that could fit everyone eventually. Anyway, we hope everyone can come. We always look forward to celebrating with family!

Catching Up -- Again! (Or is it "still"?)

John has had a week of vacation, most of it without me. So, on Friday, I took a day off school and he, Gabe and I came to Castle Dale to see everyone here. It has been 2 years since John has been home. It's been a really nice trip.

One of the things John did for his vacation was take Gabe skiing on Wednesday afternoon. He picked up Gabe from school in Tooele, and then they went to Alta Ski Resort. (Alta has a time between 3:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. when they have one lift open for free). He said it was quite the adventure. Gabe couldn't (or wouldn't) put the skis in the right position, and he couldn't get his feet to go in the right directions. John said it was like trying to ski with a dead body! But, Gabe had fun. John said the next time they go, Gabe is going to be put in ski school! No pictures, but a memorable day for both of them.

I have several pictures I've taken on my cell phone, but they only download on pc computers, and all my Christmas pictures are on the Mac. So, I have to do some separate blogging in order to get all the pictures. I hope to be all caught up by this weekend.

These are some pictures taken during the fall, before the snow hit the playground. Gabe just loves to climb all over this thing. He can even climb up the pole, chin himself on the top bar, and then slide down again. He still gets lots of practice chinning himself on Grandma's Hoyer lift. I'm quite impressed. But, then again, I am his mother. I might have some bias going on.

These pictures were taken awhile back, again on my cell. I don't exactly remember what the occasion was, but it looks like everyone was there. Maybe it was a shopping weekend for Miranda or something. Tenny and Banner were there, and so was Dennis and Liz (at least Dennis is in the picture). Stacy and Morgan are all dressed up to go somewhere nice, but I really don't remember what or where. Anyway, it's still nice to see family pictures.

These are some pictures that I took of our friends' model train exhibit. Gabe had a blast! It was just us with Doug and Diane Moffat. Gabe got to stand right in the very middle of the display and watch the trains go around. The Moffats build this shed attached to their house. There are 4 main tracks and one of them actually comes in and out of 2 windows into the room itself. Doug had a great time having Gabe follow him around saying "Let's put this car here, Gabe." Or "Let's put this in this car." They do this every year (we took Jonas to it last year). Gabe is actually looking at us (Diane and me) through a picture window in all these pictures.

So, that is my catch-up blog for the day. I'll try to get the Christmas pictures on later (I have my school computer, but not the Mac with me on this trip).

John's View of the Wedding

Here are the pictures John took at the wedding. He was at a different angle that some of the other pictures I've seen on the blogs. And he has a few that I didn't see.


The famous Arden Cat Snarl!
I thought St. George was supposed to be warm!!! What's with the coats!?


The beautiful bride and her beautiful mother. You look great, Jenny!


And then there's Zack. . . .



I know these pictures were a bit backwards, but I think this one was the perfect one to end this blog on. I hope you all enjoy John's view. I wish I could have been there.

Gabe's Thanksgiving Program

Gabe made such a cute little Indian. They sang several songs, one of which is presented to you here. You know I think Gabe is quite tall, and you know we can't keep Gabe in pants long. But, he is positively short compared to most of the other students in these pictures!





Listen close. You can really hear Gabe.

Halloween -- a few months late!

This is a random assortment of pictures for Halloween, from our Trunk-or-treat, John and Gabe's pumpkin carving and the actual night of Halloween. Enjoy!







Gabe with attitude!











John tried for the Edward Munch "The Scream" look. I think he did a good job on them!


















Zack was here in Salt Lake for the weekend of our trunk-or-treat. He helped Madi pass out our candy at the church. They always enjoy each others' company, no matter where they are!

UEA!!! YIPPEE!!!

Ok, here's another random entry. It is UEA break, and I have really enjoyed the day off. Gabe is at a sleep-over at Jonas', so he's enjoying the vacation, too.
Here is a picture of Gabe at his Pre-School Graduation! I look at this and see that he has really changed just in the last 6 months.

These pictures are from my cell phone. The temple shot is from the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building when we all went to The Roof for a fancy dinner before Arden flew back to WV.

Isn't this a great pictureo f the 3 of them?

This is a picture of Gabe at the Gateway on the day we went shopping for Arden's Birthday. It was so hot that day, we simply took off Gabe's shirt and let him run through the water in his shorts. Of course, he then complained about having wet pants all the way back to the car.




Remember the pumpkin vines that took over the south side of this house? Here is the result of those vines: Gabe wants to make "angry" jack-o-lanterns.

Here's another picture of everyones' favorite cat. One of us lets him in, someone puts him out, and then someone else lets him in again! He knows how to slip in before you even know he's there. Between us and the nurses that come for Mom, Lalo's got us all figured out.


Here's Gabe playing on the new equipment at the park. Along with all the different looks of Gabe.




















Ok, so we finally got the countertops installed yesterday!!!! Here's a few pictures of the new kitchen and bathroom: The countertop looks like cake frosting with sprinkles on it! It is beautiful. Just a few miner details, like plumbing, and we are back in business!!!!