Terrible Two's

Where's the fire???? Oh! There it is!!

 

Before I got too far out from last October,  (because waiting until January isn't that late right?) I wanted to take a minute and post about Gabe. He's Two! And pretty awesome at being two.  We were afraid that the "terrible two's " were on there way, but so far they've just been terribly awesome, sprinkled with just a little defiance here and there. Testing the waters, so to say.  In preparation for the all the fires we were going to be putting out with our little 2 year old, we held a Fire House party complete with inflatable Fire House, which now lives in our basement next to Ruben. Sometimes I wonder if it is Ruben or Gabe that turns it on because it is pretty cool.

There's a dog in our fire house

Happy Birthday Gabe! We love you

Cheese :)

Thanks for the gifts!

                                                      

We had a little "melt down while opening presents, but with this theme, I would have been disappointed if we hadn't. It was nothing that a fire on a cake couldn't cure.  

Now there's a happy boy

Friends Taking a ride.

Cake with Grandma Kay

The Pinata was a hit! haha

Thanks to everyone for coming

See ya Next Time!

 It seemed like the kids all had a great time, and we had enough distractions..or umm... activities to keep the kids busy so the "adults"- we use that term loosely- could sit and talk too.  There were animals in the trees around the back yard waiting to be rescued by our little Fire Chiefs, the Dalmation Pinata, and plenty of sugar to keep their engines running while they played badminton, yard bowling, and just causing general havoc.

 We are sure lucky and blessed to be surrounded by such great people. It was a really great day to sit and celebrate our little guy and we appreciate all of you coming out to join us while we did.  Now that there are two little people in our life, I'm sure our October parties are just going to continue to grow along with our love for the kids and all of you too!

The Birds Will Sing

Days before the arrival of my sweetest friend I sat in her empty nursery surround by 32 years of love and memories.  Rocking in the old gold chair that my Grandfather used to rock me in, room lit up by the lamp my mother put in my room when I was born, the crib given to me by my dearest high school friend Caroline, hand stitched embroidery made for me by my soul friend Alissa, butterflies that were framed for me by my brother Vern, and hand stitched birds hanging from the canopy made by grandma.  And so many more little items either collected or given to us. I sat there contemplating the many years ago that I first knew I would one day, when I had finally found the man I trusted to be her father, that I would give birth to a little girl.
I was 19 and in a place in life I had no business being in. Despair and panic were a standard state of being for me. I could not see outside of my current circumstance and I had no direction in which to go.  I went to sleep one night and dreamt about two children. The oldest was a little girl, curly blonde hair, blue eyes, pouchy cheeks.  This was the first time I saw her. The next day, upset by the thought of my first child being a girl as I had always believed that every girl needed an older brother like I had had, I was driving through memory park in the avenues Salt Lake City and talking to my best friend Alissa when the song "Dear Prudence" came on the radio.  I stopped in the middle of my sentence when I heard the words, "the birds will sing that you are part of everything" and I knew in that second that my first born would be a girl and that she would be Prudence and a part of everything.  From that moment the men I dated no longer had to be just good enough for me, which being honest I never held a very high bar for myself, but they now had to be good enough to be the father of that little girl. I had to be sure that I was better than I had ever been in the past so that I could provide a future that she could be her best in. I also knew that before she made it here that I also need to get myself the help I needed so that I could be a stable and confident mother for her too.

Sitting in her nursery, 13 years later, knowing that she was just a few days away from being in my arms I knew I had made it. She had always been there helping me to make as good of decisions I as knew how to and ensuring that when I didn't make the best choices that I knew I had to make them right. She was in fact a part of everything.  I knew that she was going to be amazing and I knew that I had found that man that was deserving of being her father and my partner in crime and passion.