Gabriella's Baby Blessing

This past Sunday we were able to bless Gabriella in the church. This was Tyler's first time giving a blessing at church and he did a wonderful job. He was very nervous because he typically doesn't like speaking in public but he seemed very confident during the entire blessing. Gabriella was a little cranky at home and on the car ride to church so I was so nervous she would cry during the blessing but she didn't make a peep. She was such a perfect little angel. We invited all of our families and had a good turn out. Tyler's mom, step dad and grandma came to support him. My three aunts and 2 uncles came and 10 of my cousins. Along with my parents, grandma,  little brother and sister and my older sisters family.  It was so amazing to have so many family members who traveled far to come support us. It meant so much to us!!

I was hoping to get pictures of the men in the circle but unfortunately I didn't. We were lucky to have my Uncle Lindsey, Uncle Aaron, my cousin Aaron & Adam (Both of whom have recently returned from their mission), my dad, our friend Ted, my brother in law Thomas and our Bishop. It was such a great group of guys that all love our little Gabriella.

Afterwards, we had a delicious lunch at our house. The kids had a blast playing in our backyard and it was nice to socialize with the adults.

Family is SO important. And it meant so much to have our family there to witness such an amazing & important event in our daughter's life!

 Uncrustables for the kids(and men LOL), chicken salad sandwiches, caesar salad, fruit salad, veggies, and pita chips and hummus!

 Gabriella's happy and proud parents!

 Gabriella's cake. The top layer was chocolate cake with chocolate filling and cream cheese frosting. The bottom layer was white cake with strawberry filling and buttercream frosting

 4 Generations

 Her beautiful dress. The 1st of her 3 white dresses :)

Light pink flowers

Baby Shower

I had THE most amazing baby shower! I wanted something small and intimate and everyone went above and beyond to throw the most perfect baby shower. My sister in law Kristi, my cousin's wife Jen and my sister Vanessa did an amazing job! My mom and mother in law also helped but they stayed more in the background so they could enjoy the fun. I am so thankful with the amazing job each woman did. I am so lucky to have such wonderful and selfless women in my life. Ella was completely spoiled and received a TON of cute clothes. This little girl is set for the first year of her life! We also received a ton of "essentials" like lotions, body wash, towels, bows, socks etc.

Thank you so much for everyone that went out of their way to come to my baby shower! We are so thankful to have such great people in our lives who were able support our little Ella :)

Thank you so much ladies. I think you guys could have a career in party planning ;-)

Thanksgiving 2011

This year was just so amazing! We were able to celebrate the Sunday before Thanksgiving with my family and Thanksgiving Day with my in laws. It was so nice to have a stress free Thanksgiving where nobody was sick and we were able to relax and enjoy everyone's company unlike last year. I didn't take any pictures at my parent's house but the food was yummy and all of the kids and our family had a blast.

Thanksgiving Day was nice because we were able to sleep in a little bit and watch some football before we had to leave for my in laws. Dinner was sooo absolutely delicious! Tyler's mom turned her garage into a cute play area for the kids where there were couches, movies, table for coloring and glow sticks. The kids had a great time! It was so nice to enjoy the evening and spend time with a fabulous family! We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people to spend the holiday season with!

The beautiful table

The yummy food!


Ty with Uncle Nico and Erin!

Me holding little Cooper :)

My new job :)

I LOVE being a stay at home mama. However, the pay- not soo good. Totally worth it, but it's not bringing in the bacon. We want to plan a BIG trip for our 5th Wedding Anniversary in 2013, not to mention eventually expanding our family, I wanted to bring some extra income in so we could start saving more. Instead of putting massive pressure on Tyler to work more overtime I decided to be more creative with my decision. I was thinking of paper route or night jobs somewhere but Tyler was DEAD SET against it. We had been praying for a long time that something would pop up and it did!!

I had been looking at craigslist for free stuff that I could fix up and then I had found a post for dog sitting. I immediately contacted the poster and we met later that week. She explained that she was a nurse and the dog was unable to be by herself for a long period of time. She works 2-3 days a week and every other weekend. We did a trial run last week and we all fell in love with the dog. She lives 3 miles away from us and was commuting 45 minutes so this worked out perfectly for both of us! I will be making wayy more than if I took a minimum wage job for 10-15 hrs a week :) I am soo excited

The Lord does answer prayers and I am so grateful that I can help to loosen the load off my hubby :)