Baltimore!

Gabbie and I flew to Baltimore back on February 12 to go visit my sister Janet and her family. Our plane flew out at 5:30 Elko time and which means we woke Gabbie up at 4:00. She slept the entire flight to Salt Lake City plus about 2 hours on the flight to Baltimore. She did a great job! She melted down as we were waiting to de-board the plane, and a gentleman about 3 rows back said,"It's okay kid, I feel the same way!!" I have to admit, so did I. De-boarding the plan is the part of flying I absolutely hate!

We were very excited to see Janet and her family!

Gabbie, Janet and Kent

The gang the night before we left.

We flew in on Friday and I took a train to New York City on Sunday for work. Gabbie stayed in Baltimore with my sister. Janet tells me she did great! I have no doubt. She loved playing with the kids and the dog. Well, it took a little bit to warm up to the young jumpy puppy, but she learned to love Tucson too!

Kent "reeing" to Gabbie. She will come up to you with a book and repeat, "Ree... ee...ree!"

Matching jammy girls!

The best part of waking up is snuggling with Anna!

One day while the kids where in school, Janet and I took Gabbie to the National Aquarium. Gabbie really liked all the fish there. Well, almost all... the first 3-4 tanks were okay, but once we got to the bigger fish, she wasn't so sure. One fish swam right up to her and she freaked out! She didn't like it at all! She was a little leery after that, but soon relaxed again.

She absolutely loved the jelly fish! She could have stood there all day and watched them! Between the jelly fish and playing with her belly button, she was in total heaven. I can't believe how big and grown up she is getting. I look at her in these pictures and she is no longer my baby, but a little girl.

One our last night in Baltimore, my sisters kids did a great show for me! (Gabbie was in bed)

So, for all of you who know these crazy kids, this is for you!

I loved it!

Thanks to Janet, Kent, Tate, Anna and Sarah for being so good to us! We throughly enjoyed our visit.

We miss you!

100th Post!

This is my 100th post and blogging tradition is that on your 100th post you list 100 things about yourself.

So, here I go...

1. I was born in Provo, UT on July 29, 1971

2. I have six siblings, five sisters and one brother

3. My oldest sister, Stephanie, passed away of Melanoma in November of 2006

4. I love my family dearly and thoroughly enjoy spending time with them

5. My parents have been married for 54 years

6. I will be 87 years old when Kiley and I celebrate 54 years

7. I had a WONDERFUL childhood filled with lots of great memories

8. My mom is my hero

9. I hope I can be that kind of mom to Gabbie (and my other kids if we have them)

10. She is the most Christ like person I know

11. I absolutely love my sisters Amy and Janet, but fought with them ALL the time growing up

12. I was a total shit (sorry, but it is warranted) when I was a kid

13. I think I have grown out of it!

14. I love my girls weekends with my sister, mom and nieces. They are some of my favorite memories

15. I lived in St. Louis with my family from 83-86

16. It was an incredible experience and greatly contributed to who I am today

17. I really like who I am today

18. I absolutely hated high school

19. I wish I had gotten more involved, but refused to once we moved back from St. Louis

20. Yeah, realize that although I thought I was proving a point to my parents, I was the one who paid the real price

21. I was 18 before I kissed a boy

22. Didn’t have a serious boyfriend until I was 23

23. I married Kiley Brannon on July 20, 2005

24. We met on match.com

25. He is my best friend

26. I was 33, 9 days shy of being 34, on our wedding day

27. We lived in separate states with our parents for the first 9 months of our marriage… I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone

28. I NEVER thought I would end up in rural Nevada working at a gold mine, but here I am

29. And I am happy

30. We had our first child, Gabrielle Grace, on January 21, 2009 when I was 38

31. She is the light of my life!

32. My favorite part of the day is when I get Gabbie out of bed, she is absolutely thrilled to see me!

33. Then we get to snuggle while she has a bottle… I enjoy every second of it

34. I don’t feel guilty for being a working mother, sometimes I think I should, but I don’t

35. I don’t think I could be a stay at home mom here in Spring Creek, I would go NUTS!

36. Correction – I KNOW I couldn’t be a stay at home mom here in Spring Creek!

37. I didn’t really fear death until I had her… Now I don’t want to miss out on her growing up

38. I am glad I was older when I had her

39. It allowed me time to really focus on and enjoy my nieces and nephews. I feel I have a special relationship with all of them

40. I was never a dog person until I got Dallas and Stella

41. Now I get it!

42. I participated in “Project Read” in my early 20’s and taught a 62 year old man how to read

43. I am grateful I know how to read and have been given the opportunity of a good education

44. I use to be REALLY REALLY bad with money

45. I am now REALLY good with money

46. I need to save more, but am grateful to have no debt outside of my home and 1 car

47. I love my friends… getting married later in life made me rely on friends much more

48. I lost a couple of friendships and it makes me really sad when I think about it

49. I don’t like it when friendship dynamics change, but that is life

50. I choose to focus on the wonderful friends I still have!

51. I use to be a Republican Mormon

52. Now I am a Spiritual, but not religious, Democrat

53. I worked on Obama’s campaign here in Elko and actually saw him twice!

54. I was on CNN with him! (Okay, I was just in the background, but still, I was on CNN and Obama was in the shot!)

55. I voted for him and am absolutely thrilled he is our President! I had never felt that passionate about politics before

56. And, YES, I still feel that way

57. Wind chimes scare the crap out of me! I blame it on the movie, “In the Still of the Night”

58. I totally predicted my sister Janet’s baby Anna… I knew before she told anyone she was even preggers that she would have a girl on my birthday

59. That is the only time I have done something like that

60. I love my job and think I do a good job

61. I take a lot of pride in my work, always have

62. I will finish my bachelors degree in Organizational Management this fall… it is about freaking time!!!!!

63. I am going to have a big party… Yes, Kiley, because it took me 20+ years and it only takes most people 4

64. I have switched my degree like 4 times

65. I was only 2 classes and my student teaching away from a Elementary Education degree

66. I stopped because I don’t want to teach and didn’t want to quit my job to student teach. They don’t pay teachers enough!

67. I will graduate with like 165 credits… usually it only takes 120

68. I view myself as highly educated due to the above fact!

69. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up

70. I fell out of a 2 story window when I was 3 (I have heard all the wisecracks, “Oh, that explains a lot!”)

71. I have a thing for Steven Tyler… it is the attitude, I can’t help it!

72. I am totally addicted to reality tv, it is my guilty pleasure

73. I struggle with my weight … always have

74. I have a ton of clothes in my closet that don’t fit me, but I believe that one day they will

75. If they ever do, they will be so out of date!

76. I hate to exercise

77. I ran a half marathon ONCE! And really, I ran the whole time!

78. I think I was like 4 to last in finishing, but I freaking finished!

79. I have had back surgery (herniated disk) and probably won’t run again

80. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do other exercise

81. When I was in my late twenties, I had a total crush on my dentist and was always worried I would say something to him when I was under the influence of gas… I don’t think I ever did

82. If I won the lottery, I would hire a hairstylist to do my hair everyday

83. And a cleaning person

84. I always wished I could sing

85. My favorite tv show of all time is Sex and the City

86. I secretly want to be Carrie Bradshaw, or maybe not so secretly

87. I am also currently addicted to Dexter… seriously, I have to wait until September for the next season?

88. I think tivo is one of the greatest inventions of all time!

89. I love facebook and have reconnected with so many old friends!

90. I have 2 tattoos and I don’t regret them

91. I don’t regret much in my life

92. Looking back, yes, I would do things differently, but if I had done them right the first time, I wouldn’t be where I am today

93. It is all a lesson

94. I believe in the power of forgiveness

95. And in Karma

96. I am incredibly stubborn

97. Don’t tell me I can’t do something!!!

98. I once went an entire evening, from like 4pm on, not saying one single word while on a family vacation. My sister Janet said I couldn’t do it, so I did!

99. I am headed to Baltimore and then NYC tomorrow morning, 2/12. I love to travel and wish I could it more

100. I am very blessed in life and realize this almost everday!

First Birthday Festivities!

Our little Gabbie Grace turned 1 on January 21, 2010. I took the day off to spend it with my birthday girl!

First stop was to Daddy's school. We took Minnie Mouse cookies to share with the students...

and some of the secretaries and the nurse...

And then we went to Mommy's work! We shared Minnie Mouse cookies there too and even got presents from the way cool ladies I work with!

Next stop... Gabbies friends at the babysitters!

Had to share cookies with them!

Finally, home where we enjoyed Gabbies favorite food, cheese pizza!

One last cookie to destroy! Who wants to eat a cookie when you can just play in it?

That was Thursday. Then on Friday, Grandma Dianne, Papa Chuck & Gabbies cousin Sid came out to celebrate. We went to the Star where Sid said he had the best steak EVER! He even took a picture of it and sent it to his mom and brother to make them jealous.

Saturday morning started by cuddling with Papa Chuck and Grandma Dianne!

Then Grandma Vicky and Grandpa Charles came over! We began the official birthday celebration! We had a Minnie Mouse theme as that is one of Gabbie's favorite characters. While she was napping, we put up some banners and decorations. Kiley asked if these were for me or for her. I told him probably more me... but technically both. However, when Gabbie got up and came saw the decorations, she literally ooooohhhhed and aahhhhed! My mom then pointed out that they were indeed for Gabbie! She loved them so much we left them up for

a week!

We had tortilla soup! It is one of Gabbie's favorites!

Then we had presents...

Gabbie loved opening all her presents!

Can you tell which one was her favorite? She loves a snugs, any snugs... Here she is with her big old grin and Minnie Mouse snugly.

And felt like she was the queen of the world! She even sat up high on her chair, which she knows she is not suppose to do! But hey, it's her birthday!

On to the cake!

She wasn't really sure what to do with it. But with Daddy's help, she figured it out! At least she figured out you play in it. Again, why eat cake when mom and dad will let you attack it?

Daddy made sure Gabbie ended up wearing it all over her face! She had a wonderful time, it was priceless!

After getting cleaned up, it was time to say good-bye to the Tate clan!

After all was said and done... All Gabbie wanted to do was snuggle with her daddy on the couch. The party girl was tuckered out!

The next day, Gabbie got to snuggle with Grandma Vicky...

before they headed back to Utah!

Thanks to everyone who made the trek to help us celebrate Gabbies birthday! She is lucky little girl who has so many people who love her!

Gabbie had a great first birthday! I can't believe my baby is 1! This year has gone by so fast, so full of memories and wonderful first!

Gabbie had her 1 year appointment this past week.

She is currently:

22 lbs 6 oz

29 3/4 inches long

most importantly, healthy, happy!

Here is to the next year! Oh, Gabbie, how you have blessed our lives! Thank you for all the joy you bring to us!

WE LOVE YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABBIE GRACE!

I can't believe it has been a year since Gabbie was born! She is 1!!!

Oh, what a year it has been! Truly, she has been so incredibly easy since the moment she was born. She has added so much to our lives and to our family.

Here are some things about Gabbie now!

She loves her daddy! Lights up every time she sees him.

If he is downstairs, she will sit at the gate at the top of our stairs and yell "Dad!" over and over again until he comes up

She can say dog, hi, dad, mom and uh-ho

If I am stern with her (like when she is standing up in the bath), she will say "hi" but totally in a tone that says she is making sure I am not mad at her

She loves her bath - always has

Favorite food is blueberries

She has 5 teeth, 3 on bottom & 2 on top

She loves playing with other kids

She loves books - we call her a speed reader since she likes to flip through the pages as fast as she can

She can point out where mom and dad's noses are

She can point out Bobo in the book "Hug"

Loves Patty-cake, especially rolling and tossing it!

She loves her dogs!

Started really walking this week

Loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - especially the Hot Dog song

Loves to dance

Great sleeper - when she is tired, she literally dives for her bed

Has only been "sick" once, other than a couple runny noses

Oh, how we love our little Gabbie Grace. We are so grateful she is happy, healthy and such a joy to be around!

What a year it has been... looking forward to all that lies ahead!

Gabbie is Walking!

Here she is in action. She went from taking like 2-5 steps to this in a day!

Go Gabbie!