Happy Gotcha Day, Gabi!

Can you believe it has been a year since Gabi has "officially" been our daughter? We cannot believe how fast time has flown by! It doesn't seem like a year ago that we were in Guatemala, waiting in the US Embassy with our little Gabi, and praying that everything would be finalized so we could take our sweet baby home FOREVER! Our lives have been filled with such joy this past year -- Gabriela is such a blessing to Joe and I. We cannot imagine our lives without her, nor do we want to!

We celebrated this special day by cooking and sharing a Guatemalan dinner -- Guatemalan black beans, pollo de crema (creamed chicken), and corn cake. All very tasty! We might have to pull those recipes out on days other than Gotcha Day. Of course, we had to add in some Guatemalan bananas as well! :-)

We gave Gabi the little cat toy that we bought her while in Antigua last year. She loves cats -- one of the first things she does when she gets up in the morning is look for Rocky and say, "cat!"

We also decided to take a family picture on this day every year. Here's the one from today and the one from last year. She is getting so big and her hair has grown so much! Her silly personality is still the same, though!

We ended the day by reading, "A Blessing From Above," a special book about the miracles of adoption.

We're headed up to Buffalo this weekend for a visit to see all of the new lambs, calves, and of course, "papa!!!" (and grammy too!) I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures for another update next week!

Love to you all,

Joe, Tara, and Gabi

A Visit From an Old Friend

We were so glad to have my good friend, Susie, here from New York this past weekend. We showed her around Golden, went on the Coors Brewery tour, took a hike, had lots of Gabi play time, and just enjoyed seeing each other again.


On Saturday night we ate at The Fort -- a very unique restaurant near Morrison. Susie is a food connoisseur, in a sense, so we knew she would like their menu. We all enjoyed a different buffalo entree and had so much fun, especially when we got to wear their infamous hats:



Here are some more pictures of Gabi from the past week or so. She continues to grow and develop her very silly personality.

Sitting in her rocking chair with her two favorite toys -- baby ("baba") and "nana," the lamb. The rocking chair was my mom's when she was little, mine next, and now Gabi's.

Cruising around the backyard on one of many of our 70 degree days!

I took my AP Environmental Science class up to Rocky Mountain National Park last Friday on a snowshoeing winter ecology field trip. We all had so much fun that I thought I would post this picture. They really are a great group of kids and didn't mind waiting for me as I slowly made my way along!

That's all for now! Have a great week!

Tara

Kisses All Around

Hi everyone! I just thought I'd share these two videos with you! I think it is time we paid a visit to the grandparents -- she asks for "papa" just about as often as mama and dada! She hasn't quite mastered saying "grammy" or "grandma" yet, but she's getting more adventurous with her words all of the time, so it won't be long.

Where has our winter gone? It is suppossed to be in the 60s all week and we haven't had measurable snow/cold in what seems like forever! I'm hoping we don't pay the price in March with a major spring blizzard! Gabi and I get out for long walks everyday and Joe and I hiked with her Saturday and Sunday. So glad I'm feeling great and able to get out and about!

Playing hide and seek with daddy in "The Labyrinth" at Discovery Park by our house.

If there are stairs within sight, Gabi is there!

Thanks for checking in on us! Hope you are doing well!

Joe, Tara, & Gabi

A Day of Love...

Happy Valentine's Day! We hope you all had a wonderful day filled with lots of love. Ours was fairly low-key, but filled with lots of hugs and kisses -- not much different than most of our days with our little Gabi girl!

Showing off her new bang trim.

"Funny Face" She loves to do her infamous trumpet lips on command now!

We went to the zoo last week when the weather was so nice, so here are a couple of pictures from that. Gabi thought it was great and loved the monkeys, ducks, and sea lions the best! They were feeding most of the animals when we were there, so Gabi would say "mmmm" when she saw something eating.

Giggling at the silly sea lions!


Do you see the elephant? He was pretty busy eating dinner. "Mmmm."

We hope you all have a great weekend! I have Monday and Tuesday off, so I'm hoping to get some time to work on Gabi's scrapbook. I'm finished up until 6 months old, so just 11 months to go...yikes! We take way too many pictures if you haven't noticed. I wonder what it will be like when there are 2!

Take care,

Joe, Tara, & Gabi

Fun in the Mountains

We had a nice 3-day weekend in Breckenridge with my parents. It was great to get away and for Gabi to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Snowshoeing -- What a beautiful day!

Since I couldn't go skiing, Gabi and I spent lots of time in the swimming pool. She pretty much giggled the entire time and was so fun.

Practicing blowing bubbles!

Swimming with Grandpa Gary

We hope you all are doing well. We're staying plenty busy and loving every minute of it.

We found out on Friday that Gabi is going to have another boy cousin! Greer and Amanda are due a few weeks after we are! It will be so fun!

Love, Joe, Tara, & Gabriela

Miss Busy Body...

Hi Everyone! Here are a few pictures from the past week or so. Enjoy!

Gabi is very dramatic when she says "Maaaama" or "Daaaaada," as she is doing in this picture.

These overalls have to be the cutest ever...a Christmas gift from Grammy and Papa.

Gabi spinning and trying to jump!

Gabi has had a few sleeping issues lately. After a 48 hour period of about 10 hours of total sleep, this was the result during dinner. She just wanted to play and be held and not be in her crib. We're back to normal now (knock on wood).

It was so warm last week -- 60s and 70s, so Gabi and I got out everyday and went for long walks to the park and to run around on the golf course. It was a nice break from the cold of winter. We're back to 20 and snow today.

Meeting a llama at the National Western Stock Show.

Petting a sheep. Gabi likes all animals, but I think horses are her favorite.

Gabi is a little animal herself, so we thought about leaving her in this pen, but ended up letting her out and taking her home. ;-)

That's all for now! Have a great week!

Joe, Tara, & Gabi

A Year Ago Today...

We held our daughter for the first time. My tears are flowing remembering the feeling of finally getting to see her beautiful smile and look into her eyes. We can't believe it has been a year already since we visited her in Guatemala. She wasn't quite 4 months old yet, but had the same smiley, giggly, easy going personality that she does now. Every minute that we spent with her was treasured, even that first night when we just laid awake and listened to her breathe. What a gift we had been given.

And even though we had to say goodbye for a couple of months, we know it was worth getting to hold her, feel her, play with her, and fall completely in love.

Today, a year later, we celebrated by taking a long hike on South Table Mountain. It was 60 degrees today, so we couldn't help but get out and soak in the sunshine. Gabi loves the backpack and has learned how to spur Joe to make him "giddy up". Jackson was grateful for the exercise as well.

We're headed to the National Western Stock Show with some friends tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll have some more pictures to post from that soon. Have a great weekend -- hopefully it's a 3-day like mine is! Yea!

Love,

Joe, Tara, & Gabi