Spring Break: Phoenix

We headed to Scottsdale/Phoenix the first week in April for a little vacation and quality time with the girls before all of our lives are changed with the arrival of the new baby in a month or so!  We had such a great time!  The girls are at such a good age to travel right now...they stay close to us in large crowds, they can entertain themselves on the airplane, and they get excited about everything!

 

Gabi giggled the entire time the airplane was taking off...she was so pumped about riding on an airplane. 

 

The first full day that we were there, we went for a hike at a nature preserve near our condo.  The cacti were blooming and everything was just beautiful.  It was in the 80s the entire time we were there, so the weather was perfect!

Hiking in their new shades from the Easter Bunny. :)

"That is one scary looking cactus!"

 

We did A LOT of swimming!  Our condo had a huge pool with a splash park and a couple of waterfalls.  There were also a couple of large play structures on the resort grounds. The girls had a blast!  

 

We took in an Arizona Diamondbacks game one evening.  They were not very into the game, but loved all of the food.  Joe & I enjoyed seeing the stadium...it has a retractable dome and is pretty cool!

 

 

We also went to the Phoenix Zoo one day.  The girls liked the huge tortoise the best, but Maya was enamored with the monkeys and they both were able to throw some carrots into the elephants.

Riding the carousel was just as fun as seeing the animals!

We made a trip downtown to have lunch and go to the Arizona Science Center.

Watching the "IMAX: Into the Arctic" (in 3D with Polar Bears!)

A digital waterfall...very cool!

Even the littlest one got in on the fun!  I look huge!

Maya blowing bubbles to make "bubble art"

 

We went out to eat quite a bit.  Even though our condo had a kitchen, we lack a variety of restaurants in Buffalo, so whenever we go somewhere with tons of options, we hit it hard!  A couple of people had suggested places and they were all awesome!  We had (the best we've ever eaten!) Mexican food at Los Tortes de las Reynas and Italian food at Oregano's among others.  Oregano's gave the girls their own little ball of dough to play with before the food came out!

The girls were exhausted after the trip.  Since we flew in/out of Casper, they both slept the whole drive home (as did I!)  We really enjoyed the trip and hope to return one day!

Easter Festivities

 

 

We had a very busy Easter season with Spring programs at school, Easter egg hunts with family and friends, Easter Sunday Mass and dinner, and getting ready for our trip to Phoenix.

 

Gabi was a butterfly in her Spring program and did a great job with her speaking part. 

 

 

Maya was a flower in part of her program.  She is very dramatic when she sings and does hand motions.  It cracks us up!



 

 

Maya's class had an egg hunt on the playground after the program.  Here she is with "my buddy, Kade."

 

We had a big egg hunt around the ranch for the cousins!  Gabi & Gio had the biggest area to hunt eggs from.  I guess they missed quite a few because Rusty (the dog) has been finding them and enjoying the treats they hold!  They had fun!

 

 

Some of our friends had a huge Easter egg hunt at their house as well.  I don't think we'll ever have to buy plastic eggs again!  The girls hit the jack pot!

I took the girls to get their fingernails painted before we went on our Spring Break trip.  They love getting them done, but have a hard time sitting still to let them dry! 

I can't believe we didn't take any pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses.  We went to Mass and then enjoyed steaks and bunny cake at Grammy Joyce's house. :)

Lots of love!  Tara

5 Years...

...since this sweet little girl became ours forever!

Happy Gotcha Day, Gabi!  Here is our annual family picture!  We had Dave & Joyce over for a Guatemalan dinner as well.

Our silly girls...

Serious

 

 

Crazy!

 

Cheesy

 

 

Fairly normal. :)

This week has been very busy with school Easter programs for both girls, dance classes preparing for the big recital in a couple of weeks, parent-teacher conferences for me, a business trip for Joe, and other odds and ends things to get ready for our vacation. :)  We are looking forward to getting away next week and spending lots of time being a FAMIILY.  Love to you all!

Skiing, Sledding, & Swimming!



Greetings!  Sorry it has been so long since I've updated this blog!  We've been enjoying the fairly mild winter, but have received a few snowstorms to make things fun!  The girls have graduated from sledding on the hill right by our house to sledding off the mesa.  It is a lot more steep and longer and Joe enjoys building them jumps as well.  They love every minute.  Here are a few videos of the girls sledding a few weeks ago.

 

We took a trip to Red Lodge, Montana a few weeks ago with some friends.  Maya was too little for ski school, but Joe took her down the bunny hill a few times.  The rest of the time her and I just hung out and had a ball!  She is a chatterbox and so silly when it is just her and I. 

Maya and Joe skiing

Maya and Tessa tried out all the benches in downtown Red Lodge.

 

Gabi took lessons on Saturday morning in Red Lodge.  She then skiied with Joe the rest of the afternoon and all day Sunday.  She has become quite the little skiier!  Joe also took her up to Meadowlark (the ski resort near us) last week for another day of skiing.  I'm so glad that she has learned to love to ski and cannot wait to ski with her myself next winter!  

 

Practing the pizza slice during lessons

Here is a video that Joe took of her at Red Lodge.

 



 

On our way to Red Lodge, we spent some time in Billings doing a little shopping (aka Costco run!) and then hit the indoor water park.  The girls had a blast.  They started off going down the slide together and then Maya got brave enough to go by herself.  Tough girl!  We all enjoyed the wave pool and fountains.  We are all headed to Scottsdale, AZ for Spring Break and I can't wait for a week of swimming and soaking up the sun!  The girls are super excited to go as well!

Gabi!

Maya!  I just noticed that you can see my extremely large belly in this picture!  Ha!

Here are some random pictures I found on my phone from the past couple months. :)

About the second Maya walks in the door, her clothes are off and she is into a leotard and tutu, dress, or other interesting combination of dress-up clothes.  Here are a few that cracked us up!

Those green high tops just make the outfit, don't ya think!  I wish they came in my size!

Awesomeness.

While we were still on Christmas break, I took the girls to get their nails done at a local beauty salon and they out to lunch together.  It was a fun girls day and they LOVED how their nails turned out.  Joe got them a gift certificate to do it again for Valentine's Day, so we're planning another trip before we head to Arizona!

BABY UPDATE!

We had an ultrasound between 24-25 weeks.  The baby looked very healthy and we were able to get a 3D/4D view of him/her.  Even though we were very tempted, we didn't find out the sex of the baby.  It is just too fun to keep everyone guessing.  Gabi is hoping for a baby brother and Maya goes back and forth between brother and sister daily.  She is just excited that there is going to be a baby...right now anyways.  I'm sure when it shows up, it will be a different story!  Maybe some jealousy issues!?  She has been the "baby" for almost 4 years!  It will be quite an adjustment for her.  Gabi will be an awesome big sister!  Both girls talk to my belly, have felt the baby kick, like to push my obnoxious outie of a belly button, and have lots of questions.

Baby Hall at 25 weeks

My mom asked me to send her a picture of myself yesterday.  I guess I'll post it here too.  Doesn't it look like I swallowed a basketball?  I've gained less weight at this point than I did with Maya, but I'm A LOT bigger!  Don't know how that works.  I've felt pretty good recently, but still have a hard time sleeping.  11 more weeks!  (Maya had just got done playing "hair-cut", so that is why my hair is wet, super straight and has zillions of barrets in it!)

29 weeks

I guess that's all for now!  I'll try to be better about posting more often!  Lots of love to you all!  Tara

New Year's Outing

We broke out our GPS unit and dusted it off...decided it was time to introduce the girls to geocaching.  Joe & I used to go a lot before we had kids, but haven't been in awhile.  The girls loved looking for the hidden treasure even more than we thought they would.  We found 2 geocaches filled with treasures along the Upper Clear Creek trail near Buffalo.  In the first cache, Gabi picked a compass ring and Maya picked a little magnifying glass.  She thinks it is the coolest thing ever and even slept with it last night.  She calls it her "I spy glass."

Maya looking through her "I spy glass"

Sorry it is rotated...blogger is being stubborn about that again. :(

We had a super fun day and agreed we needed to do this again soon!

Lots of love, Tara

Christmas

We have had a wonderful Christmas season and I'm dragging it out as long as I can...not taking the Christmas tree down until the needles start falling off!  It has been nice to be out of school and home with the girls these past couple of weeks.  We didn't travel anywhere which was really nice...I realized that I have traveled every Christmas since I was a freshman in college!  It was very relaxing just to be home.

 

The girls each had school Christmas programs.  Gabi memorized a part for her program and did a wonderful job!  Maya couldn't help but dance dramatically and sing loudly during her program. :)

Gabi was an angel in her school Christmas program.

Maya was a shining star!

 

 

Here are some pictures of the girls in front of the Christmas tree:

 



 

 

We've been playing outside and playing games, dress-up, puzzles, and dolls inside.  Maya likes to dance with her American Girl doll (aka Maya Jr.).

 

 

My dad made the dolls beds and even shipped them here!  The girls were so excited to get them and have loved playing with them the last few days.  I made the dolls matching pajamas, so they change them into their pajamas at bedtime and tuck them in!

Maya helping Joe with his huge puzzle!

 On Christmas Eve, we went to Mass and then came home to open a few presents.  Maya caught a stomach bug right before church, so she stayed with Grammy Joyce.  She felt well enough to open presents and was as good as new by morning when Santa came.  So glad it was short lived!

While opening presents

 We  had breakfast at Don & Phyllis' house on Christmas morning and then ventured down to Dave and Joyce's house to open even more presents!

Cousins at Grammy Joyce's house on Christmas morning!

Gabi waiting patiently to open presents!

We hosted Christmas dinner that afternoon!

Kids' table

Big kids' table!

We got together the day after Christmas with all of Joe's cousins and their kids.

All of Don & Phyllis' great-grandkids!  At least 2 more will be added in 2013!!

And finally, a pretty picture to close.  Here is the full moon setting over the Big Horn Mountains one morning.

 

Merry Christmas!!