Here Fishy, Fishy!

Greetings from hot & dry Colorado! To escape the heat this weekend, we took Gabi to the Denver Downtown Aquarium and had a great time! She loved seeing all of the fish, ducks, otters, birds, turtles, sharks, and even a Siberian tiger! Here are some pictures from our visit...

Future Scuba diver like Grandpa Gary!

This was our favorite fish -- Longhorn Cow Fish

When we got home, we were inspired to get out the shark swimming pool and act like fish ourselves. Even Jackson got in on the action! Today was also our 6th Wedding Anniversary! What better way to spend it than with our newest addition!?

Have a great week!

Love, Joe, Tara & Gabi

A Traveler, A Tooth, & Some Talking!

Gabi has been busy this week! We all had fun on our mini-vacation to the Vail area this past weekend. She enjoyed cruising around the Minturn Market in her stroller with Dan & Julianne. She also loved riding in her backpack with Daddy on a hike. Her favorite activity on Saturday, however, was eating gelato in Vail. Yumm! Since we are such active people, we are thankful that Gabi loves being out and about too! Here are some pictures from our trip...

A Volvo made out of legos in Beaver Creek

Gabi was made an honorary sheriff at the Dusty Boot Saloon in Beaver Creek!

We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Avon, so we had a leisurely morning on Sunday and then headed to Grand Timber Lodge for some swimming! Gabi loves to swim!




Yesterday, Gabi's first tooth popped through. The only reason we noticed is that she was moving her mouth funny, so Joe looked in and sure enough, it was there! She is handling it very well! It looks like there are 5 more ready to come through, so let's just hope her good natured spirit shines through for the rest of them! Here are some pictures from around the house this week...

On the move

Squash for dinner again?!

In a pickle...she crawled in, but couldn't get back out.

Finally, Gabi is now saying her first syllables...ma, ma, ma...na, na, na...da, da, da! It is very fun to hear her sweet voice. The video below shows not only her new-found voice, but a little attitude and a game she likes to play -- she shakes her head "no" whenever she hears the word "yes." This may get a little interesting as she gets older. We have heard more than once that we will have our hands full with her. I think my Mom said it best when she described her as "headstrong." Time will tell...for right now, we are loving up our little Gabi.

Hope you all have a great week! Thanks for checking in on us!

Joe, Tara, & Gabi

July -- A Month for Birthdays!

Hello Family & Friends,

In addition to both Joe & I having our birthdays in July, we celebrated 2 other birthdays this past weekend! Cassidy turned 4 and Octavia turned 3! Cassidy is the daughter of Paul & Michele -- Paul was Joe's roomate at UW. Octavia is the daughter of Aric & Teresa. I used to work with Teresa and now I work with Aric. Octavia was adopted from Guatemala as well. The parties were lots of fun for Gabriela who loves being surrounded by people, especially little kids!

Whoa -- close up! She liked her party hat, but she LOVED the ice cream!

Make a wish, Octavia!

Your turn, Cassidy!

Gabriela continues to grow! We took her for her 9 month check-up last week. She weighed in at a whopping 21.5 pounds (90th %ile), was 30 inches tall (>100th %ile) and had a head circumfrence of 18 inches (85th %ile). We couldn't believe that she grew 3 inches in 3 months. She'll either be the tallest Guatemalan ever or the Halls have been rubbing off on her! ;-)

She is crawling fast and all over the place now. Her favorite is to crawl back and forth between the back door and the front door to look outside. She even crawled up and over Jackson the other day as well.

We're headed up to the Vail area this weekend to escape the dryness and heat of the foothills and to see our good friends Dan & Julianne.

Best wishes for a great week!

Love, Joe, Tara & Gabi

Summertime Fun!

Hi everyone! We hope you all had a fun 4th of July weekend! Here are some pictures of Gabi from this past weekend! Enjoy!

At the Golden Farmer's Market on Saturday

Gabi's 1st 4th of July! She loved her festive dress from Grandma Mary!

Riding on her rocking MOOSE! Very cool Paul & Michele -- thank you!

Crazy Hair Morning -- yes, this is what it looks like every morning -- hee hee!

We also celebrated Joe's 31st birthday on Sunday with a long hike, shishkabobs and peach pie -- yumm!

Love to you all!

Joe, Tara, & Gabi

Here She Comes!

Gabi has been working on crawling for the past couple of weeks and I think everything came together today. Yea! Grandma Joyce taught her how to clap last week, so she has been clapping for herself a lot as she learns how to do new things! She also claps whenever Jackson & Rocky come into the room. She is so much fun!

To my surprise, she crawls even better on the carpet downstairs. I thought she was just dragging her legs on the wood floors, but she can get them moving when they have something to catch on. I guess we better baby-proof the house this weekend!

"Hi everybody!" I am really good at waving too!

It is hard to believe that Gabi is 9 months old already. Time really does fly when you're having fun, doesn't it?!

We hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July weekend! We're looking forward to a weekend at home and a couple of bbqs with friends. Our best to you all!

Joe, Tara & Gabi

Our Little Wildflower

Hello all!

Here are some pictures from our trip to Buffalo last weekend. Gabi had lots of fun playing with her cousin, Gio! Give them a few years and they will be quite the pair! We took Gio & Gabi up to the mountains for some pictures in the wildflowers. I don't think you could find a better backdrop! The Big Horns really are beautiful and the two little kids are pretty cute themselves!

Grandma Joyce time! Can you tell by Gabi's hair that she just woke up? :)

Joe's cousin, Natalie, brought over her two little girls -- Ella (pink) and Kate (green). All of the cousins had fun playing together and Ella was just enamored with Gabi's hair -- she kept touching it. What fun they will have as they grow up together!

The Big Horn Wild & Scenic Trail Run went well. Joe won the 50K by over 20 minutes and enjoyed it. I was 18th (7th female) in the 30K. We saw lots of wildflowers and I even saw two bull moose while riding up in the bus. I've been in Greeley this week taking a class, so I've been missing my Gabi. Sounds like she has been having a great time with Grandma Joyce!

Love to you all! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Celebrating Family!

Hello! Is this summer flying by or is it just me? We spent last weekend in Crawford, Nebraska at the LaMay Family Reunion and drove up to Buffalo, Wyoming last night to spend this weekend with Joe's family. It is a good thing that Gabi is such a little trooper and allows us to haul her all over the place! She loves seeing her Grandmas and Grandpas!

We all wore cowboy hats and embroidered bandanas for family pictures at the reunion!

A great time was had by all at the LaMay Family Reunion. It was so fun to see everyone. The last time everyone was together was my Grandpa Joe's funeral 4 years ago. Family came from Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Tennessee, Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, and South Dakota. We gathered at the family cabin just outside of Crawford. It was a beautiful and blessed day.

Gabi meets her Great-Grandma Genie

Family Reunion 2008 attendees

A Family Gathering at the Cabin during Thanksgiving (~15 years ago)

LaMay Family (~25 years ago) We have grown since then!

Joe & I are running the Big Horn Wild & Scenic Trail Run on Saturday in the Big Horn Mountains. Joe is running the 50K (31 miles) and I'm doing the 30K (18.6 miles). All I can say is that it sounded like a good idea back in February (before Gabi came home), but seems a little crazy now! Oh well -- the wildflowers will be out in full force since it has been a stellar moisture season in Northern Wyoming , so it will be a beautiful run! Aunt Amanda gets to watch Gabi while we're running, so that will be fun. She has been playing with her cousin Gio already and having a great time. She really wants to crawl and keeps practicing.

Joyce (Joe's mom) is riding back with us to Golden on Sunday and will stay at our house for the rest of next week to watch Gabi. I have to take a class in Greeley that will prepare me to teach AP Environmental Science next year. It will be hard to leave Gabi, but she will have fun with Grandma!

We hope you all are having a great week! Thanks for checking in on us!

Love, Joe, Tara, & Gabi