Gabriel's Blessing Day

Gabe was given a beautiful blessing by Jonny last Sunday. He was awake and alert, but quiet throughout. (He probably payed better attention than me during the blessing, as I was corralling a wild two-year-old who was so excited to have so many family members at church!) We especially loved having Jonny's parents here for Gabe's big day. They drove up from Durango on Saturday to meet their newest grandchild. Thanks for the visit, Mom and Dad! Julia loves you both, and we are pretty sure Gabe feels the same. And thanks to all the fam for their support and love for our new little one. We really missed Uncle KC and Aunt Mimi on this day, and were thinking of the day they will have three babies blessed!

And a lot more pictures...

We've been busy...

hanging out with Aunt Mimi,

spending time with Grandma Julie,

being entertained by this big girl,

and getting to know this little guy.

Missing you, Grandpa

My Grandpa Scott passed away on Saturday. When he was diagnosed with cancer a year and a half ago, I was devastated. I just couldn't imagine life without Grandpa. But over the past several months, I have had time to accept the fact that he would move on soon. In this time, I've also thought about how much I admire, respect, and love Grandpa. And I'm not the only one. He was loved by so many. And now he is missed by so many. I'm thankful for the hundreds of memories I have of happy times with Grandpa Scott. I wish I could write them all here, or that they were all captured in pictures. But this will have to do, and that's okay, because I'll never forget Grandpa and his obvious love for life. And I'll never forget all the times I heard him laugh, or as my mom says, "roar."

I love you, Grandpa

I don't want to take my Grandpa's blog off my blog roll. I plan on revisiting his intelligent, witty, and inspired posts often. I always looked forward to his posts, and I'm so glad I can now always look back on them and remember Grandpa through his carefully written words and "humble opinion."

Julia TWOlia

June 1st marked the completion of Julia's second year of life. We are pretty sure she had a great time at her party with the fam - thanks for coming and bringing such great gifts! She is loving all of her new toys, the tricycle being the highlight. While she can't quite pedal yet, she is content just sitting on the trike in the house. Once in a while she'll scoot around a little, or yell, "Mom, PUSH!" But otherwise she will sit on the seat for an hour or more, often playing with other toys while she's there. Lovely! We were worried about her wanting to take the trike to bed, but she actually has no problem saying "Ni-night" to it as we put it away in the garage. I can only imagine how much fun she'll have when she can actually ride it.

Below is a video of Julia and her "bike." Notice that there is a dolly in the trunk. There is ALWAYS something in the trunk, including Gabe, as pictured above. She hasn't tried that one on her own, luckily!

(Oops, or "Boops!" as Julia says. Sorry, the video just wouldn't cooperate. We'll see if we can get it up later.)


Oh, and thanks for taking pictures, Cami. It's always tricky to get some good shots while you're hosting a party.

oh my ganache

I have a serious weakness. There is some leftover ganache that I made to drizzle over Julia's birthday cake. There are also some leftover ruffle potato chips from her birthday picnic. So naturally I have been dipping the salty chips in the rich chocolate sauce several times a day. This certainly isn't helping me to lose those extra baby pounds. But it is SO delicious that I find myself not caring!

I have to thank my friend Erika, who introduced me to such an indulgence years ago. (I believe we dipped the chips in that Magic Shell topping and let them harden. I might just like the creamy ganache version better.) I loved the salty-sweetness so much she called the treat "Chocolate-Covered Melodies." The sooner that little tupperware of ganache is gone, the better. I guess.