Happy 2nd Birthday Maya!

Our sweet little Maya turned 2 today! It is hard for me to believe that she is that old because she is such a cuddle bug and will always be our little baby girl! We had the crew around here over for cake and ice cream this evening. The autofocus on my camera went out, so thankfully Joyce brought hers and took the clear pictures.

She was smiling while everyone was singing "Happy Birthday," but then became a little bashful. :)

Yummy cake!

Presents time! Her big gift from us was a dump truck and front end loader. Yes, I know they are kind of boyish, but she loves picking up rocks and pushing it along. Our playset was delivered yesterday, so my Dad and Joe are going to build it this weekend. It has a big sandbox in the bottom that will be perfect for the trucks.

This birthday stuff is hard work!

"The big kids:"

Happy Birthday Sweatpea! We love you!

Puddles & Lambs (Among Other Things)...

It has been raining cats and dogs for almost 2 weeks around here. I'm about to petition for puddle jumping to become an Olympic sport....I think my girls would win since they have had so much practice.

The rain has been frustrating mostly because construction of our house has been at a standstill and also because the girls get fiesty when they're cooped up inside all day (as does their mom!) However, I know there is nothing we can do to control Mother Nature, so we try to make the most of it. My washing machine has gotten quite a workout washing all of the muddy puddle jumping clothes! Maya's new thing to sing is, "Rain, Rain, Go Away..." and "Look Mama...blue sky!"

Another thing that has sparked the girls' interest are Grammy Joyce's new lambs ("lambys")! She has 4 little bum lambs that she is feeding and caring for. The girls LOVE them and it is always a treat when we get to go see them and/or feed them. They have already grown so much in a week and it will be fun to watch them grow this summer.


We have a new neice! Milan Grace was born on May 24th and weighed in at 9 lbs. She is a little cutie and has dark hair and eyes! Gabi and Maya are very excited!


Here is our annual Mother's Day picture! I'm so lucky to have two sweet little girls!


We made a trip to Billings on Tuesday for Gabi's appointment with the pediatric cardiologist. He did another EKG and Echo of her heart and everything looks wonderful! We will go back in one year to have it checked again. So thankful and so relieved. Our trip to Billings was definitely not ordinary. Since I-90 was flooded, we had to take the "scenic route" over the mountains. A two hour trip turned into a 5 hour trip...each way. Add to that a 25 mile stretch of highway under construction that at one time was gravel but with so much rain had turned into a potholed muddy mess. It was almost comical how bad it was. We also ran into some rock slides coming down the mountain as it was pouring rain that night. Crazy stuff! I'm supposed to run my 50 mile trail race in 3 weeks in an area that is still covered with 5+ feet of snow. I don't know how that is ever going to happen. We will see...

Thanks for checking in on us!

Love, Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Hall Ranch Branding 2011

Today was branding day on the Hall Ranch. The weather was beautiful and everyone was in good spirits. It is a lot of hard work, but also a celebration of a successful calving season.

Joe & Greer run the calf table while Don Hall brands the JH on the calves:

I watched the little guy below and his twin sister being born. He has gotten a lot bigger since then, but just as cute! It was really exciting for me to see a cow have a set of twins.

When they let the calves go, Maya said, "All done!"

The kids did really well. This was the first branding for Gabi & Maya. Of course Gabi had a zillion questions, but we're used to that! :)

Joe, Tara, Gabi & Maya

Easter

Sorry for the delay in posting pictures from Easter! It was a beautiful day to celebrate!

Here are the girls in their Easter dresses and matching necklaces (made by Grammy Mary) after Mass on Sunday morning:

Maya dyeing Easter eggs at Greer & Amanda's house last Saturday:

We all had a part in making the traditional Bunny Cake this year. Gabi helped me make the cake and put the marshmallows and coconut on (minus the few that she sneaked into her mouth!)
Joe painted the faces on the bunnies as Maya offered her help and an occasional request for a marshmallow :)
The finished product! This cake has been a Easter tradition in my family since my Dad was little. His Mom (my Grandma Genie) made it as his birthday cake each year since his birthday usually falls close to Easter. I really enjoy making this cake for my Dad, but since we weren't together for Easter this year, my Mom made him one.

The cousins hunted Easter eggs in Grammy Joyce's yard before our steak dinner. I'm not a huge fan of ham, so I was pumped that we had steak instead!

Hope you all had a great Easter!

Love, Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Spring Happenings

Life has been good lately -- Gabi is super healthy again, everything is starting to look a little greener, they finally started our new house, and we were able to make a trip to Golden to see all of our friends!

Just about all of the calves have been born and they are getting bigger! Here are some pictures I took during an evening outing to check on them. Maya rides in the box on the front of Papa's 4 wheeler -- she loves it and does a good job hanging on tight!
We have been getting a lot of moisture and it has been windy. There was one nice day last week that we were able to get outside to make and decorate a playhouse for Maya and Gabi. We bought a new deep freeze and the box that it came in is perfect for a playhouse. After I cut out the door and windows, the girls went to town decorating it! It will be a fun place to eat lunch and play in this summer.
We brought our little slide with us from Golden. It is getting too small for Gabi, so we are thinking about getting something bigger. We also need to find somewhere to hang our swing, since we couldn't move our huge maple tree with us. :) Maya is a little dare devil and scares the crap out of me sometimes. It doesn't help that she tries to do EVERYTHING that Gabi does. So, she has discovered how to go down the slide head first and thinks it is quite fun.
We still go on lots of walks and the girls have enjoyed going to the greenhouse to check on all of the plants. Gabi has also discovered a new way to cross the cattle guard. I guess she no longer needs my assistance!
Jackson is still loving life as a ranch dog. He has slimmed down a lot and just seems a lot happier than he used to be. He runs with me quite a bit, but can't go as far as he used to. Now that it is warmer, he enjoys daily dips in the pond and/or creek. Jackson has had some company lately outside the yard. A large herd of antelope has been happily munching away the green grass that is popping up around here (much to Dave's dismay I'm sure.) We have enjoyed all of the new life that Spring brings especially the meadowlarks and their beautiful songs, mountain bluebirds, ducks, Canadian geese, sand hill cranes, and wild turkeys.

Gabi is definitely back to her old self plus some. Both her and Maya have really opened up since we moved to Buffalo. They seem more comfortable being around new people and are growing more independent. I'm not sure why this is, but both Joe and I have noticed it. Gabi continues to ask questions non-stop, which wears me out but has also made her pretty sharp. She is very observant and notices things that the average person would overlook. She has taken quite an interest in writing and drawing lately. She can write her name, Tara, Joe, Maya, Papa, and Gio without asking for help. She will write many other words as I spell them to her. Her stick figures are hilarious and she never forgets the details (like curly hair when she is drawing Maya). We are working on letter sounds and she has been spelling words in some books.

Maya is still silly and gets spunkier everyday. She is almost potty trained. She will stay dry most of the day and has even gone #2 in the potty lately. She is really good about using public restrooms too. However, she is so independent and will occasionally have an accident when she is hard at work focusing on something away from me. She is very proud of herself, as are we! She is working toward wearing undies all of the time and a big girl bed when she goes all the time! :) This process has reminded us that we have to be extra patient with Maya. (Gabi was totally potty trained in 5 days.) Maya has always done everything in her own time (remember that 41 hour labor???? I do!!) She has been loving books and puzzles lately. She still loves to color as well.

We took a trip to Golden/Denver this week. Joe had a meeting in Casper last Tuesday, so we left that morning and then continued on to Denver once he was done. He worked in the Golden office on Wednesday and Thursday. We came home on Friday via Laramie where he had another meeting. Joe's new branch office has been very successful and they're hoping to send up some help soon. He is getting a lot of smaller jobs around Sheridan and Gillette. He landed a large job in Riverton for the community college there and is hoping to land a couple of other possible large jobs around the state soon. We are very proud of him -- his HARD work is paying off!

It was great to be in Colorado. While Joe was working, I visited a lot of friends and did a little shopping too! On Wednesday, the girls and I took Joe to work and spent some time visiting Amy and his other co-workers, then we went in to see Dr. Amy (our chiropractor), then picked up lunch to take to Julianne's house. She is pregnant (and will be a mom very soon!) and has been on bedrest since 22 weeks along. We then headed to meet my friend Sandy and her kids at the park (but the girls slept through the park play). Our last stop was to see the girls' old babysitter, Tracy, and her daughter Aunika. Gabi was so excited to see them and it was fun to see Gabi & Aunika playing together again. Maya dove into her old toys and had fun seeing Tracy as well.

We stayed with Jeff, Christie, and their two boys. They cooked us dinner and the girls had a blast playing with all of their toys especially the bouncy house in their basement!! On Thursday, we went to see our old neighbor, Angie, and checked out the old house and neighborhood. Not much has changed and the girls really weren't interested in the old house like I thought they would be. We went to O'Connell Middle School to visit Donna, Lisa, and Laura (friends I used to work with), and then headed to a McDonalds PlayPlace to have lunch and play with Teresa, Kristine, and their kiddos. Octavia and Gabi were so happy to see each other and they had a blast playing in the PlayPlace (even though I was squirming at the thought of how much nasty stuff they were crawling through)! Finally, after a short nap, we returned to Joe's office to celebrate with the KL&A staff at Dan & Julianne's baby shower. It was a great time! Thanks to all of you that took the time to visit with us!

On Tuesday night, we were able to attend a Rockies game. Even though they lost and it was a little chilly and windy, it was fun to be back in the stadium. The girls loved dancing to the music, eating peanuts, hot chocolate, and the footlong hotdog that they shared. They ate it at the same time...from opposite ends. It was quite cute.

Sorry for the long-winded post! Have a joyous Easter!

Love, Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Return of the Smiles

Gabi gets more energy each day and her usual high daily quota of smiles is returning as well! Our visit with the pediatric cardiologist in Billings today went great -- so far her heart looks good. Kawasakis usually takes 6 weeks or so to run its course, so we will go back in 6 weeks for another echocardiogram and EKG. She will stay on the aspirin until then, but is free to run and play and be her usual self. If the 6 week tests come back good, she will go back every year for awhile and then every 5 years. Hopefully she will continue to improve and have no long-term effects of this disease. Many thanks for all of your kind words and prayers. We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family! We'll keep you updated! Lots of love, Tara

Prayers Needed for Gabi

On Friday, Gabi was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease by her pediatrician in Sheridan. We spent Friday afternoon through Sunday in the hospital as she underwent treatment and had recovery time. She is doing much better now, but is still very tired and grumpy. We will not know the long-term effects on her heart until tomorrow when we go see a pediatric cardiologist in Billings for an echocardiogram. We are hopeful that we caught it early enough to prevent any damage to her coronary arteries and heart.

It was very scary for all of us. Gabi doesn't get sick very often and so it was quite stressful, especially when everything happened so quickly from the diagnosis to treatment at the hospital. She was a little trooper and won the hearts of many nurses during her stay. She hated the blood draws and IV, but loved the popsicles, stickers, ice cream and all of the attention. :) Watching your little girl lay in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV is heartbreaking. I hope I never have to see that again.

Here are some pictures of her as we were getting ready to leave. She is looking so much better in these pictures than she did on Friday (but taking pictures then was the last thing on my mind!) Gabi really missed Maya while she was in the hospital and was pretty happy when she came in to visit Sunday morning. We are thankful that we live close to family now and for all of their help watching Maya. Her diagnosis is a long story and one that gets me pretty angry. She came down with a rash all over her body last Saturday (4/2) and a low-grade fever. I called her doctor's office in Golden and they said to watch it and go in to the doctor if the fever didn't go away in 4-5 days. So, Tuesday morning (4/5), I took her to the urgent care clinic in Sheridan because she still had a 100-101 fever and red eyes. She was very irritable. Dr. Finley (don't EVER go to him!) spent less than 1 minute with us, looked in her mouth and ears, didn't listen to anything I told him about the history, and diagnosed her with a sinus infection and pink eye. I knew it was an incorrect diagnosis and feel bad for not standing up to him, but I guess I trusted him for some reason because he was a "doctor". We waited for the antibiotics and eye drops to work over the next couple of days and when they didn't, I called a pediatrician in Sheridan and got her in Friday morning. They took one look at her and knew something major was up! After blood tests, a chest x-ray, lots of examining, phone calls to Children's Hospital in Denver and the pediatric cardiologist in Billings, and 5 hours later, they diagnosed her with Kawasaki Disease. They immediately admitted her to Sheridan hospital to start the treatment of IVIG (gamma globulin) and aspirin. She looked so much better the next morning and has continued to improve (except for her energy level and she has thrown up a couple of times...probably from the aspirin.)

Please keep Gabi in your prayers. We are praying that she returns to her normal, energetic self soon and that her immune system and cardiovascular systems did not suffer any damage. She is such a sweet girl that shouldn't have to go through this! We will update this after our trip to the pediatric cardiologist in Billings tomorrow.

Lots of love, Tara