Happy Belated Easter!

Hello Everyone! We hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Ours was fairly low key, but fun nonetheless! The Easter bunny brought Gabi a sandbox that she LOVES! We're glad that it has decided to be spring again, so she can enjoy it as much as possible.

Since Easter Sunday was rainy, we built Gabi a playhouse out of an old box. Funny how free stuff is way more fun than those expensive toys!

Gabi in her Easter dress:

Joe's idea of sympathy weight (it's a beach ball)-- ha ha! The only one around here putting on sympathy weight for me is the dog. He's going to be the one losing it too once we can start running together again!

About 5 more weeks or so until baby #2 is due. We have another ultrasound next week, so hopefully I'll be able to post the pics and you'll get your first glimpse of him/her as well! I've had a very healthy pregnancy and still feel great (except for that belly that is always in the way!) When Gabi is asked what is in mama's tummy, she says "baba," and gives it a nice little pat and then pokes my now outie of a belly button. It is very cute.

Love to you all,

Joe, Tara, & Gabi Girl

Fun at Grammy & Papa's!

Gabi was very fortunate to spend the last 2 weekends with Grammy and Papa at the ranch. All 3 of us went up the first weekend and Gabi played a lot with cousin Gio. We had to cut that visit a little short due to the weather, but Joe and Gabi headed up again last weekend with some of Joe's buddies that he works with and their boys. I stayed at home and put my recent "nesting" instincts to good use by getting a lot done around the house! I sure missed my Gabi and my Joe though! Here are some pictures from their visit last weekend:

Dying Easter Eggs with Ella & Kate (2nd cousins -- Natalie's kids!):

I thought this was a really cute picture of Kate!

Wrestling with Jerry's twin 7 year olds and 5 year old boys:

From all accounts I've heard, Gabi held her own against them. Maybe this will have her hoping for a baby brother!

Wrestling with Papa:

Giving Grammy's huge cat a hug:

Petting one of the lambs:

She loves saying "Baaaa!" at the top of her lungs. Whenever she heard the lambs bleating, she new dada and papa were on their way inside!

Propped up in a snow bank:

It sounds like everyone had a great time last weekend even though it was snowy. Joe's friends, Jerry and Yung, and their boys really enjoyed their first taste of ranch life -- they got to see all kinds of stuff including the new calves and lambs, the horses, a sheep being sheered, the lambs getting docked, and lots of other daily happenings. I heard there was a great snowball fight and lots of sledding as well.

On the home front, Gabi is doing great and saying more and more words each day. Today she has said, "dirt," "trash," and finally, "ruff ruff". It is fun to listen to her try to say other things as well. For example, chicken is "cha cha" -- very funny. She has been having fun with her Easter eggs and basket and we finally got to go outside in the sunshine today because it has decided to be spring again instead of this bout of winter we have had the last couple of weeks.

Finally, here is a little video for you of Gabi trying to walk in Joe's size 12 shoes!

Have a very Blessed Easter!

Joe, Tara, & Gabi

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