to Paka!

I had to record this just in case they do get married!!!

Happy Birthday

It has been a while since I've made a cake.....Calvin's birthday was yesterday, so I made him this cake! It sure was YUMMMY!

Little Star

Still a little unsure of some of the words, but still cute!

Just like Dad

Charley has found a love of reading....just like dad. The last few weeks, she has been sleeping with the light on. When we asked her why, she said, "so I can read my books." She has a Tinkerbell tent that we have been putting over her bed, and she'll stay up an hour or so after we put her to bed and read. She loves reading in bed, in her tent. This particular night we caught her with her book open but eyes closed.....sleeping!

***Charley still can't read....she is getting close. She can recognize some words, and is constantly with her nose in a book.....we've read each of her books tons of times, and she has most of them memorized. She'll just tell the story to herself as close as she remembers it from when we read to her. Her favorite activity is going to the library, and we can spend a few hours a week there looking at books. Which is great for me in this cold weather!

We had our ward Christmas party a week or so ago, and Santa came. When she sat on Santa's lap he asked what she wanted for Christmas, and she said "I want babies and books!" I promise I didn't tell her to say that. She loves her baby dolls, and loves books. She's a girl that knows what she wants!

4 month check up

Here are the stats: (4 months 18 days old)
weight: 14 lbs (44 %-tile)
lenght: 25 inches (64 %-tile)

Here's a funny story: While the doctor had Gabby, she tooted! The doctor looked at me and asked, "Was that her?!" Yep! He said her toots smelled worse than any baby he'd met. They smelled more like a grown-ups than a babies! That's my girl!

Cute fact about Gabby: Most babies will attach onto something to comfort them. Charley has this pink blanket she has to sleep with. Gabby has also found something to attach to.....hands. If she is ever fussy, give her your hand to hold, and you'll be amazed on how fast she'll calm down. The only down side is at nights. Most nights I am dangling my hand over the crib for her to hold, and I have to stay there until she is pretty much out and I can replace my hand with a little bunch of a blanket for her to hold!

The pictures above were taken when we were out in Omaha last month. My aunt started a little photography business, and has this cool studio set up in her house! I love the pictures!!!!! She is amazing! Thank you Aunt Chrissy!

*the "red dress" in the top picture is the dress all 5 of us girls wore when we were younger for pictures, and now the grand-babies are wearing it . It is our little tradition, and the dress is only to be worn for pictures.

Temple Square Lights

This past weekend we went up to SLC to meet some of Ben's cousins and Char and Jared, to see the lights at Temple Square! Charley thought it was pretty cool. Seeing baby Jesus was her favorite part!

The Christmas Tree

In years past, we've had a small little fake tree as our Christmas tree. We never thought it was a big deal because Charley wouldn't really care. But now that Charley is beginning to understand a lot more, we thought it would be fun! Since we are still renting, we had to get a fake tree (real trees are fire hazards)....which I kinda like better....it is a lot cleaner....and it totally just folds out into a tree....brilliant!

We had fun decorating our tree. Ben put the little hooks on the bulb, and Charley put them on the tree, and then I would re-put them on the tree! Charley put all of the bulbs on the same branch, we tried to have her spread them out, but she liked them all in one spot!

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year! I had so much fun setting the table. We were a little ghetto and used all paper products (courtesy of Char & Jareds Wedding.....we got the left over plates/cups/and forks!), but I think it looked cute....plus we didn't have lots of dishes! I made little paper place mats and pilgram hat and turkey cookies!

Early Christmas

Ben and I decided to get Gabby a Bumbo chair for Christmas this year. I was all about saving it for Christmas, but Ben reminded me that she could be enjoying it now, and she wouldn't even remember or care if I just rewrapped it for Christmas! So Here is Gabby enjoying her Bumbo, and Charley too....her little bum is so small she can fit in the chair too!

BYU Game!

Our friend Mark called Saturday and told us he had 4 tickets to that days game if we wanted them! Of Course we did! The weather wasn't too bad, so we bundled the girls up and went to our first home game of the season. We had AMAZING seats! 2nd row 40-yard line!

*Gabby is all bundled up in that pink pile of her coat and blankets that is on Ben's lap
*Max Hall is featured in the 2nd pic (he broke a record for all time passing in this game, he is second only to Ty Detmer)
*Harvey Unga is in the 3rd (he also broke a record in this game for rushing yards)
*Denis Pita & Andrew George are in the 3rd pic
.....we should have got autographs!

Go Cougars!

Cereal

Gabby turned 4 months this past week, and so I decided to start to introduce baby cereal. We are going to slowly introduce her....she just had a little spoonful the other day. She is still getting used to the spoon, but maybe in a few months she'll be able to eat like a pro!

I love to see the temple

While we were at home, we took the girls to the Winter Quarters Temple. We walked around the temple grounds and cemetary, and toured the visitors center.

Best Buds

We went home last week to visit family, and Charley and Gabby got to spend time with their cousin Bella! Bella & Charley had so much fun! Charley kept telling every one that they were best friends. I am so glad they get a long, and love each other so much!

Gabby is 4 months!

Disclaimer: You may want to cover your ears!


Gabby has two volume levels.....off or very loud! Believe it or not, this is Gabby's happy squeals! She just wants to be heard! But we love our little Gabbers!

"Faith, Trust, Pixie Dust!"

If Halloween with the girls was this much fun, I can't wait until Christmas!!!!

I love having kids at holidays. They make everything 10 times better! This year I made the girls costumes...they were Tinkerbell & Rosetta! (Rosetta is the Garden Fairy in the movie.) We did a trunk or treat with the ward last week, and then last night I took the girls to the houses in our neighborhood. We went early, and made it home before it got too dark, we were only out for an hour. My sister, Jordan, came over to see the girls dressed up, and ended up coming with us trick or treating, and Ben stayed home to pass out candy, he hasn't been feeling good, so it actually worked out. I am so proud of Charley, she totally said "trick or treat" at every house and even said "Thank You!". I didn't even have to prompt her. After every house she would giggle, and tell me, "this is fun!", and then run to the next house. She loved telling everyone she was Tinkerbell, and at one house there was a little vampire boy at the doorstep with us, and the lady said, "Wow, your scary" (referring to the little boy). Then Charley said, "I'm not scary, I'm Tinkerbell!" She was pretty much the cutest little fairy out there! We took Gabby along with us, but she stayed in the stroller most of the night.

We took the girls pictures earlier in the day. I'm so grateful Ben is so good with a camera! I think they turned out Amazing! But you really can't go wrong when the girls are so dang cute!

p.s. the heading is a line from the new Tinkerbell movie!