Catch up from the Holiday's!!!

I know, I am way behind. It had been forever since I have posted anything. But when the child gets sick, nothing else matters. Your whole world stops, as most of you know. So here are some things just to update the past month. Christmas went great. All the family parties were really fun. We love to spend time with family. And it was really nice to have Ben's half brother home. He has been in Katar for the past year, but his two week release was right before Christmas, so it was nice to have him home. It was also Gabbi's first Christmas and it was kind of crummy because that is when she started to get sick. Two days before and the morning of Christmas, Gabbi was throwing up, had a fever, and even bad diapers. Me, being a new time mom around the holidays, was very upset that things couldn't go the way I had planned them in my head. I wanted her to be excited and happy to see the family while she opened up her presents. Well, it didn't go that way at all. She slept the majority of the morning and she didn't open anything until almost 1. I didn't want anyone to stay because they all had other things to do, but they insisted and we helped her open them as fast as we could, so we wouldn't make anyone late. Gabbi didn't really care any way's. She wanted nothing to do with the toys she got, just the paper for a mire second and she was off crawling somewhere else. Definitely not how I had planned it. The New year went just fine as well. As a family tradition we play games all night long and one that we make sure to play is Risk. My family loves risk and we all get over competitive while playing. This year the last two people standing were myself and my mom. Because of the late hour, we decided to call it a tie. Jeff wasn't so happy about that, but oh well. It was fun none the less. Overall the Holidays were really nice. A much needed break from work and non-important things.

Sagez Christmas Party

Sorry, no pictures with this post, I am still in need of a brain, so I remember to bring my camera. I even pulled it out this time, but it was left on the computer desk at home. Well back to the party. We went up to Garland to have our Christmas party at Ben's dad's house. We were all a little afraid that it would be too packed, but everything worked out just fine. We had some cancel on us, which was sad, but it made it a little more roomier for the rest of us. We had a potato bar for dinner and yummy dessert.   

As a tradition for Ben's dad, we play Bingo every year at Christmas. This is where we give away our white elephant gifts/prizes. We planned Bingo for at least an hour and everyone won lots of prizes. Gabbi had fun staring at the little machine that stirs the bingo balls. After lots of Bingo wins, we decided to play a different game, and the boys choose Pictionary. A game I hate because I can't draw, but we all played anyway. We had two teams and we challenged each other for the rest of the night. Ben cracks me up, he gets so excited when he's ahead and when he can guess. He's a pretty good artist and loves games like these. He was an asset to our team that night and we won by 5 spaces. Very exciting, I know. That was about it. A night of food, fun, and games. And luckily for us, the weather wasn't bad, so we managed to arrive both there and home safe.

Sledding with Mom and Dad

I still can't believe who many pictures I didn't actually blog. These pictures were taken while sledding with Mom and Dad. I was surprised when Mom and Dad said that they wanted to go sledding with everyone, but everyone seemed to jump at the idea. We found a Saturday in December (2008) that worked with everyone and headed to Lomon View Park in North Ogden.

I was excited because this time I would actually get to sled. I wasn't allowed to take Gabbi on the sled with me, but it was still fun. Mom held Gabbi and kept her warm while everyone took turn using and sharing the tubes.

7 months and crawling

Gabbi went in for her supposed to be 6 month check-up, but because we have been behind, she was really 7 months. The doctor says that she is doing great and is very advanced in many area's. He said she is very strong and can hold herself very well and he was surprised to hear that our little bundle of joy is now crawling. She weighed in at 17 lbs. 7 oz. and was 26 1/2 in. long. She's finally above the 50 percentile in her height and weight, but in her head circumference, she is still around a 39 %. Oh well, I just remind myself that at least she won't be top heavy. But now that she is crawling it has made things very difficult. I can't put anything on the floor now that I don't want her to touch. She's so cute about it though. She will follow us around the house. She is still slow, but picking up the speed quickly and loves being able to move around all by herself.

She was a little slow at first and we had to entice her. She's really getting the hang of it now!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving went really well this year. We, still being new into the whole visiting the in-laws thing, try to see everyone. We had great success this year. We were able to go up and see Nelson and Deann on Wednesday. The whole family was there, G and G Sagez, Uncle John, Brian and Karen and Amanda and Dan. The only one we were missing this year was Cody. It was nice to get altogether. We ate dinner, a pot luck of Hawaiian Haystacks, visited and even played some card games. We all had a blast. Then on Thanksgiving we spent the day with my family. We all took part in the meal and brought something, so mom wouldn't have to worry about cooking it all. Grandma Shupe came up and even my mom's sister, Cindy, and her husband came up from Sandy. We had a very good lunch with plenty left over to have dinner again when dad got home. Dad had to work until 7, but when he got home, the fun for the kids began. Dad loves playing with all the grand kids. After eating we played many games on the xbox and the wii and even played some board games. There was even a puzzle being built in another room. It was a lot of fun. We pretty much played all day there. Then on Saturday we spent the day with Ben's mom, Angela and Mark. We all brought stuff to this dinner as well, it makes it easier when it's not all on one person. So we all visited while we waited for the lunch to be done. Then we ate and the big thing for Ben's mom is going to the Ogden Christmas day parade and the lighting of Christmas Village. They go every year and this year was no different. We got there in enough time to get a spot for the parade and we enjoyed seeing the floats all decked out in Christmas lights. Even the marching bands from all the different schools had lights on their instruments. Gabbi had a blast watching the parade go by. Then when the parade was done, we all went up on top of a parking structure over looking the amphitheater on 25th street. That is where the Christmas Village is. We all got situated, had some hot chocolate to warm us all up and then you could hear the count down. When the count down is done a canyon goes off and all the lights in the village are lit up. It's pretty cool to see all the lights go on at the same time. We covered Gabbi's ears so the canyon sound wouldn't hurt her ears, but the only thing she didn't like about that was the fact that we were covering her ears. Then they had fireworks go off and it was so much fun to watch Gabbi just stare at the fireworks. She must have thought those were the coolest thing. She wouldn't take her eyes off of them. We had a great Thanksgiving this year and a blast with all of our families. Sorry, no pictures. Dummy here forgets that we own a camera some times.

2 years and going Strong

I almost forgot. Ben and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. I'm a little behind, our anniversary was on the 18th of November, but because of our busy schedules with work and church callings and the holiday that followed, I didn't have time to post until now. I decided to surprise Ben with a weekend alone, without Gabbi. Mom is great, she had no problem taking Gabbi. Thanks mom. The only thing I told Ben was that he had to think of two things to do while on out get away. We scheduled out get away for the weekend following our actual anniversary date, (21 and 22). We started out that morning at the doctor's office. Gabbi had one of her check ups and we like to have them as early in the morning as we can, so Ben can go with me and still be to work on time. We were lucky that she didn't have to have shots, because of our timing, she just has to get an extra shot in two week when we have to go back. Poor her. Well, then we went and got some breakfast and then headed to the junction. We clean my mom's dentist office and then do a lot of work with a very popular orthodontist, the one Ben just happens to go to, Dr. Pobanz. Well Dr. Pobanz rented out a theater at the Junction for the Twilight opening. Everyone who works with him was invited, and because we work at the office to, as cleaners, we were invited too. So we met my mom and my sister there for the movie. I was really glad that we had an end row seat because we had to take Gabbi with us. No one was home during the day to watch her. But lucky us, we got her up early and kept her awake, that she fell asleep and only woke up for a mere second. I was thankful for that. I was worried she would be a problem. The movie was pretty good, but what I had pictured in my head was better and they cut a lot out, but I guess if they followed the book completely the movie would have been 5 hours long. After the movie Dr. Pobanz had a drawing for Twilight merchandise, I actually won something. My ticket seat was called and we won a free Twilight CD. The Cd's not that bad. After the movie we handed Gabbi off to my mom and off we went. We went and checked into our hotel, the same place we stayed before we left on our honeymoon, and then we left to go and get some lunch. We had a picnic in the park, so to speak; well at least over looking the Ogden area from the mountain's above Weber State. After that Ben had decided that we wanted to go to Antelope Island. I had never been there before and both Ben and I like to visit museum's and the history type places, so we headed that direction. When we got there I was surprised that they charge so much to see so little. The visitor center was pretty cool and I did get to see a few buffalo up close, they were right in front of our car. Dummy again has no camera. Then after seeing all we could decided that we were going to go look at some trucks. Ben wants to turn our car in for an extended cab truck. Better in the snow at least, is the only thing I wanted. We went to a few places, saw some trucks that we liked, but we didn't jump on anything yet, we are still looking and deciding. Then we headed up to Weber High School. I love to watch plays and because I couldn't get tickets anywhere else for big shows, we went to their production of Peter Pan. A couple of the kids in there our friends of ours as well, so it was fun to go and see them in it. They did such a great job. The sets were immaculate and everything was very well done. They even had a rig that made them fly. The girl that played Peter Pan could easily got to Broadway, her voice was just gorgeous. When the play was done, we headed to Chili's one of our favorite places to eat. When we finally got done, it was late, almost 11:30, so we headed back to the hotel for the night. When we got up in the morning, Ben had planned what he wanted to do. We went to the Union station and went through their many exhibits. It was pretty cool to see all of the stuff they have there and Ben just loved it. They even had a special old car exhibit going on that weekend and I just love old cars. We then headed over to the train station and took the Front Runner to Salt Lake. The train was pretty cool. It was fast and easier then driving, ex specially not having to find a place to park. When we got there we took the trax to the Gateway. We stopped at the Hanson Planetarium to look at some of their space exhibits and then walked around, window shopping. We then caught the trax again and headed to Trolley square. The whole time on the trax and the train you saw people dressed in blue and red for the BYU and UofU football game, it was crowded. We walked around trolley square for more window shopping and then we stopped in and ate at the Spaghetti Factory. It's a fun place to eat and it was pretty good too. We then walked slowly, hand in hand, back to the trax station hopped on to go back to the train stop. We got back on the Front Runner and headed back to Ogden. Ben couldn't wait to get home, he missed Gabbi and was excited to see the look on her face when we walked in the room. When we got home, we went upstairs and sneaked as quietly as we could and then popped up to say hello. Gabbi had a huge smile on her face and was really excited to see us. It was a nice get away, but we were both glad to be home. I am so grateful for Ben and all that he does for me, I truly don't know where I would be without him. I love him so much. Thanks for a bright two years, Ben and I can't wait to see what the future brings.

Hair Cut

I hadn't had a real hair cut in a long time. When ever I go, I just get the usual trim and leave it at that. But I became very brave. I have been wanting to cut my hair for a long time and I was just debating whether or not Ben would like it. He said once that he liked long hair, so I never cut because I thought that was what he wanted, but he convinced me, that he would like short hair and that I should go for it. So I went with him, because he needed his cut for his upcoming drill next weekend and we both got our hair cut. I chopped it. I haven't had it this short since 7th grade. I really like it. I thought I would have a hard time with it being too short, but the lady did a great job and I just love it.

I'm so close

Gabbi is so close to crawling, it's scary. Everyone we talk to says "No matter how excited you are now, you will regret it as soon as the are mobile. They get into everything, you can't find them because their hiding, etc." We think it's pretty cool that she is so close. Her doctor even says she is advanced for her age. She's pretty smart, and I know she didn't get it from me, so it is pretty exciting. She can get to her knees and starts to rock hoping that she will move forward and then she will fling up and be on her toes and hands, kind of like the yoga pose "downward facing dog." Then she falls back onto her knees and starts to rock again, but can't quit get her arms to move. Ben likes to show her how to move her arms in the right motions, she just hasn't got it quit yet. She will soon though. The farthest she has gone forward has been about 2 to 3 inches, but backwards, she is all over the place.

Saturday the 1st

I had to get up early and go to the Primary Carnival. The young men and young women were in charge of the activities, so us leaders, of course, have to be there to make sure it all runs smoothly. I wanted Ben to bring Gabbi, but she was sleeping and neither Ben nor I wanted to deprive the beauty queen of her sleep. So I went alone, I got my activity ready (cake walk, but he handed out stuffed animal prizes instead, they already have enough sugar from the night before) and awaited all the primary kids. There were more there than I thought there would be. All the kids had a blast. 

We had five activities for them, plus a costume parade to start it all off. Once my activity was done, I cleaned it up as quickly as I could, with the help of some on-lookers and then I headed out the door. 

My sister, brother, and I were taking our families up to Orem to go and see Grandma Shupe, we hadn't been up there in a long time and it was time for a visit. Well, Jenny and Jeff had left an hour before we did (because of the carnival, we didn't leave with them) and they even made a stop at some new store in Lehi, or around there. But by the time I got home and got Ben and Gabbi in the car and on the freeway, they were just getting to the store. I was just hoping that they would stay a while at this store because I didn't want to miss arriving at Grandma's with them. Luckily the traffic wasn't bad and we pulled up just as Jenny and Jeff were getting their kids dressed in their costumes. Perfect timing. 

So we dressed Gabbi up yet again and rang one last doorbell. Grandma was so happy to see us all. We really haven't seen her in a while because she lives so far away, but it was great to be able to go up there. The kids all played with Grandma's toys, while we adults visited and we even had a picnic lunch on Grandma's floor. The kids thought that was pretty cool. 

After lunch, we played a few card games with Grandma (a loved pastime), and then it was getting time to go. Jenny had to leave to get her ward bulletin board done, so she left first, 30 minutes later Jeff left because JD was getting really tired and he was done. Ben and I stayed a while longer to visit with Grandma. Ben enjoyed the conversation about books. Grandma loves to read all sorts of books and so does Ben, so they had a good conversation. I'm really glad they get along. After they were done, Ben looked at her DVD player to see if he could get it working, no luck there, the cords or the jack was fried, I don't remember which, and then it was time for us to go home. We said goodbye and took the long drive home. 

It was a very busy day and we still had other things to do. Shopping, cleaning the office, etc. But we got it all accomplished. So as you can see it was a very busy Halloween week, but it was a very fun week. The best part, was Gabbi didn't mind being in a big bulky costume at all. I think she kind of enjoyed it. Now that I can dress her up, maybe I will start to like Halloween. It will never be as good as my sister, who loves Halloween and it is her favorite Holiday, but I will at least enjoy it a little bit better now.

Friday the 31st

Today was a very busy day. I went over to Jenny's to watch the kids this morning because they were out of school and they needed a sitter. Later that afternoon we were going to go to Jenny's work to go trick or treating, so it all worked out. 

The Bank of Utah gets all decked out every year with Halloween, they just love it. So after lunch, I got all the kids ready in their costumes and headed for the bank. Jenny's office was "Super Hero vs. Villain." Jenny was Poison Ivy, she had the hair, dress, leaves, everything. Very cute. There was Batman, The Incredibles, Wonder Women, Rogue, and many more. The next office was Ghostbusters, they even had the marshmallow man. The last office in that building was Gilligan's Island, they had a sandbox as decoration. 

Then you go over to the main bank and they were the Wizard of Oz. When you walked into the building you followed the yellow brick road to all the various desks for trick or treating. They all looked great, I couldn't believe some of the things they were able to do for costumes and decorations, it was awesome, and the best thing: They were all adults reliving their childhood years of dressing up. Got to love it. I then left Jenny's kids with her and headed home. 

I meet Ben there and he quickly got ready so we could go and visit his family. His mom loves Halloween, she will dress up and go trick or treating with her kids. It's great to see her excitement. This year she and her youngest daughter, Megan, were pirates. They both looked great. They loved seeing Gabbi and even gave Gabbi her first treat. She just sucked on the wrapper, but she did enjoy that, even though she never got to the chocolate. While there, two of Ben's sisters came by, Amanda and Regina. Amanda was dressed as the Scream and her boyfriend, Dan, had a t-shirt that was designed as a tux. Regina wasn't sure what she wanted to be, so at the time, she wasn't anything. It was fun to see all of them. I never liked Halloween, so it's fun to see people so excited about it. 

Once we left there, we headed to my parent's house to catch dad before he had to head to work. Dad just loved playing with Gabbi and of course trying to take pictures. Mom and Dad got Gabbi a trick-or-treating bear because she can't really have candy, she loved that bear. She played with it non-stop. While we were there, Jenny and Jeff came with their families and we took a few more pictures and then just watched everyone in their costumes dance around and pose for the camera. The boys were funny, they all headed straight for their Halloween buckets from Nana and Papa, they didn't want anything to do with the pictures. 

After that, we quickly got packed into the car and headed up to Garland to visit Ben's dad. A lot of traveling in one night to see everyone, but it's worth it. When we got up to Garland, we hurried and dressed Gabbi back up (she can barely fit in her car seat with her costume on) and went to go ring the doorbell. Gabbi had a big smile on her face when she saw her Grandpa and Grandma Sagez. I love to see Nelson with Gabbi, it's so fun to watch the two of them. 

We had dinner with them and watched a few Halloween movies. Gabbi was being a pain in the butt towards the end of the evening. We figured that she would be tired from the day, but would have no problem getting her to fall asleep after her last bottle. We even brought her swing with us so we could put her to sleep, but she wasn't in the mood. So I took her and rocked her while sitting in the recliner. She would drift in and out, but never really fell asleep. A few minutes after rocking her, I thought she was asleep, so I took her over and laid her on the couch next to Ben and from then on she was awake. She wasn't making any noise or crying, she just laid there playing with the seem of her blanket and looking at the different things that they had on the wall. What a turd. She didn't fall asleep until we hit the freeway on our way home.

Thursday the 30th

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's Square Dancing Halloween party. Grandma had called me that afternoon to tell me about the event. It sounded fun and I remember going last year, but this year would be better because we had Gabbi to dress up because Ben and I don't do the dressing up thing. We aren't big fans. But we dressed Gabbi up yet again and went to the party. When we got there We found G and G waiting for all there grand kids to show up. Stacey and her kids came, Travis and his Kids, and also Jenny with her kids. It was fun to see Grandma and Grandpa so excited to be with all there Great Grand kids and be able to spend time with them doing something they like to do. G and G got to teach the younger grand kids some square dancing steps and it was great to watch the looks on the kids faces.

Some were very excited to learn, others didn't care one way or another, and then you have the ones who didn't want to dance at all, but they all did and it made G and G very happy. To bad Gabbi wasn't old enough or even able, she would have had fun. She still had fun watching though. I felt bad because we had to leave early. I wish we hadn't. I had an activity for young women's that night and I just couldn't bring myself to skip it. We were getting ready for the Primary carnival and we were filling plastic gloves with popcorn to give out as treats. Because most of my girls backed out, I didn't think it was fair to bail too. So we had to sadly leave early, but at least we were able to go and Grandma and Grandpa were able to see Gabbi in her Costume.

Monday the 27th

We had a neighborhood Trunk or Treating. I thought it was just with the ward, but when we got there, there were a ton of people I didn't know. Then Ben told me about it being a neighborhood and not our ward, but a lot of our ward members were there. It was fun to be able to see all the cute and scary costumes that the kids had on. One kid, he was about 4, his dad made a KISS costume with the tounge and everything. Yes you heard right, his dad. His dad was so proud to walk around with him and show him off. Even though we didn't have Gabbi walking around trunk or treating it was fun to go. I even saw a lot our my young women girls there. They loved Gabbi in her costume. She was dressed up as a flower.

Nelson's Bowling Tournament

Nelson, Ben's dad, is an avid bowler. He absolutely loves to bowl and he is really good at it. It even, so to speak, runs in the family. Ben's Grandpa Sagez bowls, as well as his uncle, John. They are all on a bowling team up in Tremonton. They bowl all over as well. Some day, they all want to be on the same bowling team with Ben and his brother Brian, "the whole Sagez fam," maybe one day.

We went up to watch Nelson bowl in a tournament in Salt Lake. He played in teams, doubles, and singles. He did very well. In his singles, he came in 4th and his team came in 2nd. Sometimes they even win prize money depending on how well they finish. We love to go and watch him bowl because it is something that Ben and his dad have in common and it is something that we all enjoy. When we go up to visit his dad we like to have a good time, one way is to go bowling so we can bowl together. Ben wants to someday be as good as his dad. Practice makes perfect.

Halloween Dinner Party

Every other Sunday, we get together for family dinner. This last Sunday it was mom's turn to do dinner. For fun, she decided to do a Halloween party. The theme she did was " A "Frank" en "Stein" Party." She even went all out and decorated the kitchen. 

To start off the night the kids got to decorate pumpkins. We had crayons, makers, and paint, so the kids had a variety of ways to decorate their pumpkins. The kids had so much fun, that they had a small competition to see who had the best pumpkin. The kids did a really good job too, they all looked really cute. Even the two youngest boys had a blast coloring their pumpkins.

 

For dinner, we had "Fanks" (hot dogs) served with baked beans and a salad. Dad made homemade root beer, which was served in a "Stien" mug. It was really good, even though it was really simple. Then for dessert, we finished with mom's famous pumpkin pie. It was truly the best. After dessert, we watched Young Frankenstein to finish up our night. We had a blast. It was so much fun.

Halloween Week

Ben and I have never been big on Halloween. We don't dress up, we don't do anything special, we just hand out candy like every other person. But this year it was a little bit different. We have Gabbi, she made it so we actually do stuff this year. It was a very busy Holiday. The next few posts are going to describe how busy of a week we had.

I'm a Big Girl Now

Gabbi is doing great. at just 5 1/2 month, Gabbi can now sit up all by herself. She loves her new found independence while playing. She is also close to crawling. At first she was kicking her legs, really excited, then she was able to do push up's, getting her arms in the motion. Now she is putting herself up on her knees. But she is having a problem going forward. She can go backwards all over the room, but when she gets ready to try to go forwards, she starts to fall forward and she corrects herself by getting back on her belly. It's crazy, but she's so close.

Family pictures

These family pictures were taken in November, but for some odd reason I never blogged them.

Ben and I didn't have a family picture taken since Gabbi's baby blessing. We decided that we would go to the place where I had my bridals taken. While we were there, we'd spend some time with Grandma Shupe, which was an added bonus. The pictures turned out okay, not bad considering we took them ourselves. I guess I should be happy how they turned out because it was pretty chilly.