First taste of a PB&J

Nana Sandy sent me a txt this afternoon asking me if Gabe had ever tried peanut butter. I told her that he hadn't, only because I hadn't been game enough to give it to him yet. I figured it would be just my luck that I would be home alone when I gave it to him and that his head would swell to the size of the moon, I would freak out and it would not be a happy day. So I figured with Grandpa and a epi-pen close, I told her that if she was feeling game then she could give it a go. I guess it was a hit. Gabe loves peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. She did say though that he had to keep drinking water to get it down. That made me laugh. I had her take some pictures so I could post them.

Not too sure what is going on here. Not sure if he is mad or just mid bite.

Lovin the one droopy curl in the front!

Look mummy "No Hands!"There's the water!

Did you know my husband is a genius?

I have to set this one up:

So last week as I was running out the door to work one day, I grabbed my cell phone (off the charger) and noticed that it had hardly charged. Slightly annoyed, but not having time to think about it (much bigger fish to try...LOL) I went on with my day. I love my current mobile and it has...so far... seemed indestructible (even with a distructobaby in the house). I continued to notice during the week that it wasn't charging properly and I was fearing that it might be time to break down and get a new phone. I really didn't want to go through the hassle and the expense so you could say that my poor phone had been running on faith and prayers all week.

Needless to say last night when Brad went to put it on the charger and noticed that the prongs that fit into the charger were bent beyond repair I was bummed. My response to him was, "Honey you are a genius, I know you can fix it, you can fix anything". He wasn't so enthusiastic and a pin and knife later Brad declared defeat. I was exhausted and went to bed huffing and puffing. Then....I woke up to find this in his office this morning:

This people, is my cell phone battery charging! At first when I saw it, it took me a minute to figure out what the contraption was and where the heck it had come from. Then the lights in my tired brain switched on. I went straight into the kitchen where Brad was eating his breakfast and declared him a true genius. Just when I think he can't possibly do anything else he manages to amaze me yet again. How did I get so lucky? I'll never stop asking myself that very question! Thank you honey! Now we just need to decide if the $50.00 we are going to have to spend on batteries is really worth keeping my tired old phone OR if it really is time to break down and get a new one!

You know you have had an awesome weekend when...

You know you have had an awesome weekend when...you only spent two days and one night away, but it feels like you were gone a week!

This weekend our friend Wendy from Melbourne invited us up to Park City to stay in her brand spanking, no one has even slept in it yet, just closed last Thursday, gorgeous new condo at the 5 star Westgate Resort in Park City. She had said to me that she wanted us to come up for some "well deserved R&R" and that is exactly what we got. Ahhhhhhh. We drove up on Saturday morning and when we arrived, Brad made a yummy pancake brunch. Wendy's friend Bobby came too and we enjoyed a lovely meal together. Really what beats Brads heavenly pancakes topped with mashed banana, strawberries and vanilla ice cream? Nothing if you ask me!

After brunch, we hit the Park City outlets where Wendy spoiled us yet again (despite my begging and pleading). She wanted to make sure that Gabe had an outfit from his Aunty Wendy to keep him cute and warm this winter.

When we got back to the condo, Wendy headed home to her condo in Redstone and "left us to enjoy some time alone". While Gabe napped, I made dinner and then after dinner, we headed down to the pool. We spent the evening jumping from the pool to the sauna and just having so much fun. Gabe had so much fun swimming with mummy and daddy.

I was a little nervous that Gabe wouldn't sleep well away from home, but he gave us an extra treat and slept through the night and even slept in until 7:00am. Perfect! Once we were all up on Sunday morning, I made us some eggs for breakfast and then while Gabe went down for his morning nap I enjoyed THE most incredible shower. Have you ever had the pleasure of taking a shower in a floor to ceiling granite European Steam shower? OH MY! I was in heaven and am still dreaming about it. It is a shower and steam room in one. The shower had two shower heads. One of them was a regular on the wall shower head and the other was on the ceiling of the shower and was huge. The shower head above was about the size of a large dinner plate and it was like showering in the rain. Anyway, I could go on forever about this shower. Let me finish by saying that the hot steam in conjunction with the cool rain shower was divine!

When Gabe woke up, we had fun walking around the massive resort and exploring all of its amenities. At 1:00pm Wendy came over for a roast chicken lunch with all the sides. Then for dessert that morning I had made some homemade oreo cookies and we had them topped with a smidge of vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberry puree. Wendy had mentioned to me that whenever she comes to the states she is always hungry, but because the food is different is never sure what to eat. I could more than sympathize, so I wanted to make her a home cooked meal that I knew wouldn't be strange to her. I thought it was the VERY least I could do and I had so much fun doing it.

Later on in the afternoon while Gabe took a heavenly 3 1/2 hour afternoon nap, Brad and I enjoyed some time just relaxing and watching a movie. It may not sound too fancy to most, but I am easily excited and easily pleased and we just felt so blessed to be able to spend the weekend there. THANKS WENDY! We definitely drove home on Sunday night feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

I can't wait to go back for my birthday and will be counting the sleeps until it comes. Only 46 sleeps to go! =)

Sadly, in my rush to pack to go away I forgot the camera. We took the below pics with Brads phone so that you can get an idea of what it was like. Enjoy!

View from opposite side of the condo- looking toward the front door

The barKitchenDining areaThe Bed

The spa...IN THE BEDROOM!
BathroomMost awesome shower EVER!Gabe on the ride home

I think this face says it best. This is how we all felt after a weekend in paradise!

The Metro downtown

Its not very often that I get to get out without Gabe...other than to work or to go to the gym. Last night my friend Wendy who is here visiting from Australia invited me to go to a gig downtown at the Metro Condominiums with her. Wendy and her husband have been thinking of purchasing one of the condos to have as their home here in the US for when they come to visit. The location was awesome, the food was great and the entertainment was cool. I love architecture and interior design and so was excited to check the condos out. It was an interesting crowd. An eclectic mix of rich investors and socialites made for some great people watching too. I loved the shapes and lines of the furniture and decor and the way they mixed neutrals with pops of color. Those of you who know me, know I love color!

I wanted to steal some pics from the condo website but couldn't. If you are that interested click on the link.

http://www.themetrocondos.com/

Deltra Goodrem coming to Utah!

On Thursday morning, I woke up to a text from my brother Ben. He had txt'd me to let me know that one of our favorite Aussie singers was coming to Salt Lake City, UT for a concert. Delta is going to be performing at Keys on Main on Saturday October 4th. The cost is only $5.00 and she is donating all of the proceeds to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Delta is a cancer survivor herself. It will be the first concert I have been too since I went to Boys II men when I was 17. Actually it will be the second concert I have EVER been too. I am so stoked and can't wait! If we went to see her in concert in Melbourne, there is no way that we would be paying only $5.00 for a ticket. Delta is HUGE in Australia and in the UK and is now working on making it here in the US.

Delta performed on David Letterman last night. You can see her performance on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwlazLJUY4I

It is always nice to have something to look forward too!

This past weekend

This past weekend on Saturday, we attended my friend Shawna's celebration of life. It is such a sad thing to lose such a sweet friend. I am so thankful for the knowledge we have that we will get to see our sweet Shawna again and that although we miss her dearly, she is in a better place now. It was bitter-sweet though being able to catch up with other friends I hadn't seen in a while. If only it was under more favorable circumstances.

After the funeral, we drove to the Gateway and had lunch with my brother Josh. It was so much fun to catch up with Josh and to find out what he was up too (he is single and living the college life). We had fun walking around and browsing the stores (at least I did) and then we enjoyed watching the fountains. Gabe especially enjoyed getting his little feet wet when Brad took him into the fountain.

As we were leaving the Gateway, out of the blue we ran into some old mission buddies of Brads (Elder Dustin Hofheins and Elder Brad Hanks) with their wives (Zoe and Sage) and kids and a friend of mine from my ward back home in Melbourne, Wendy Taubitz. I hadn't seen Wendy, since I had moved over in 2003 so it was so much fun to catch up. We couldn't believe that we had run into each other. After visiting for a while, Wendy invited us to come up to her condo in Park City to play some more and go swimming. It had been a long day with the funeral and lunch and Gabe was SO ready for a nap so we went home first and let Gabe take a lovely 3 hour nap and then we made our way up to Wendy's place. The condo was gorgeous and in the neatest little area with cool shops and nightlife. We had so much fun hanging out with Wendy, and the other couples. Gabe loved playing with Morgan, Kayleigh and little Mase. After dinner, we all drove up to Wendy's other condo at Westgate and went swimming. We had so much fun and wished that the night didn't have to end. It was so neat to make some new friends and enjoy the evening together. We look forward to doing it again soon!

Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera with me, but I did find some cool pics to post. The first ones are of the Condo at Redstone.

Here are some pics of the Westgate Resort where Wendy has her other Condo and where we went swimming. In the pic above is Brad (Elder Hanks), Sage and their cute little daughter Morgan (I stole this pic from Sage's blog).

You will be missed Shawna!

Shawna Romero 1977 ~ 2008 Shawna Romero passed quietly in her sleep on September 17, 2008. She married Michael Tomas Romero on September 27, 1997. She loved her kids, scrapbooking, decorating, shopping, and entertaining family. Her ultimate purpose in life was providing a happy home for her family and anyone who entered her doors. She is survived by her husband Michael, two sons Hunter (9) and Zander (3). She also leaves behind her mother Candy Olson, her uncle and aunt Bill and Sharon Larson, her Reeder, Romero and Olson families. She was preceded in death by her grandmother Ethel Larson, uncle Eddie, aunt Shirley, also her grandma and grandpa Olson, grandma and grandpa Schoening, great-grandma and grandpa Romero. Celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, Sept. 20, between 10-12 p.m. at Redwood Memorial Mortuary, 6500 S. Redwood Road, West Jordan. Donations for her boys in lieu of flowers would be greatly appreciated.

Shawna and I worked together at Lundberg & Associates. She was a little person with a big, contagious laugh. She was a wonderful mother and a truly selfless person. She was always willing to help others in any way that she could and anyone who was lucky enough to call her a friend knew that their life was better for having her be a part of it. She was way too young to leave this world and it is hard to believe that heaven needed her more than we did...than her two little boys and husband did. She will be sadly missed, but her memory will live on. I'll never forget her and the impact that she had on my life.

Life is just too short sometimes, and you never know when your time is up. Shawna's sudden death is a reminder to me that you have to live everyday to the fullest. Speak your mind, don't hold back, live and love with everything you have, cherish your friends and family always and NEVER be too busy to spend time with the ones you love.

Love you Shawna!

Gabe is walking!

This past Sunday evening at about 9:00 pm during some family fun time on the floor our little man took his first unaccompanied steps! Both Brad and I were sitting on the floor playing with Gabe and Gabe took three steps from daddy to mummy. We were both so excited and were screaming, laughing and jumping up and down. Wanting to make sure it wasn't a fluke, we encouraged Gabe to walk again and for the next half an hour (until he was SO ready for bed) he walked from daddy to mummy a bunch of times.

On Monday while I was home with Gabe during the day, we spent some more time practicing his walking and standing alone. At one point he walked seven steps to get to me. It was so cute watching him be so proud and get so excited himself. A few times he would pull himself to standing position and just stand there for a few seconds and look at me as if to say "Look mum, I can stand all by myself!” I of course was jumping up and down like a crazy lady, shrieking and cheering him on. Gabe thought that was pretty entertaining too.

When daddy got home from school, we showed him just how much progress Gabe had made. Over the course of the evening Gabe, Brad and I had so much fun having Gabe walk between us. We are both so thrilled that he walked for us first and that we were all home as a family to share this momentous occasion. We are so proud of our little walker! I will have to post some pics soon!

What happens when daddy goes outside and leaves Gabe inside!

On Saturday when Brad went outside to work on his toy box project for Gabe, of course Gabe wanted to go to. He crawled up to the front door, pulled himself up and started trying to twist the door knob. When that didn't work, he tried to turn the lock which is on the door knob. It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly Gabe picks up on things. He is SO smart!

Long Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend I had all sorts of grand plans to go through and clean my house from top to bottom. Evidently, that didn't happen! Instead Brad, Gabe and I were having too much fun just being home together as a family. Cleaning was no longer one of my top priorities. On Saturday we went to have one year old pictures taken of Gabe in the morning, ran some errands, took long naps (ahhhh) and then in the evening went and had a picnic dinner at Barnes Park. We had lots of fun feeding the crazy ducks, walking around the park and playing on the playground. It was the first time Brad and I had taken Gabe to the park and he LOVED it. We took him on a couple of the slides and he was not a happy camper when it was time to go home. He was NOT done yet! We also put Gabe's "big boy" car seat in mummy's car and Gabe took his first ride in it. He thought he was so grown up.







Sunday after church, was spent just lounging at home. We love to get in our comfy sweats and just be home together. It really is our favorite thing to do. Life just seems so busy sometimes, that it is nice to have those days where we don't have to go anywhere. For Gabe's first birthday, Brad picked out a cool little walker toy for Gabe to encourage him to learn how to walk. It is the character Mater from the Cars movie (of course...if Brad picked it out) and Gabe can either sit on it and ride it, or hold onto the back of it and walk around. So far Gabe has loved sitting on it and pushing the buttons and loves to dance to the songs it plays, but we wanted to see how he would do walking behind it. The minute I stood him behind it he was beaming and then off he went. He had so much fun walking around the house pushing his little car. It was so cute to see how proud he was that he was walking around on his own. He kept looking back at us as if to say "Do you see what I can do?".









Sunday was a crazy stormy day and it was so much fun to be at home all snuggled together watching and listening to the rain and thunder. Gabe particularly liked watching the rain and after dinner I took him outside and we ran around in the rain for a few minutes and found some puddles to splash in. He thought it was great!


On Monday Brad started working on his special project for Gabe. On Saturday evening after our picnic we had gone to some stores to look for a toy box for Gabe's toys. After looking at a few stores, Brad determined that none of the ones we found were "good enough" for his Gabe and that he was going to make him one. Those of you who know Brad, know that he is incredibly handy and can build anything so even though I was thinking it would just be easier to buy one, it has been cute to watch him design and work on his "special" toy box for Gabe.


In the evening on Monday, we went out for dinner with some friends to Olive Garden. We had a great time and Gabe had his first taste of spaghetti. Gabe is currently going through a very independent phase and insisted on feeding himself. It was quite funny to watch him try and get the slippery spaghetti into his mouth. Needless to say, he and the floor beneath him was quite a mess when we left. Sorry Olive Garden! It was so nice to spend a relaxing weekend at home together doing whatever we wanted. Neither mummy or daddy were ready to go back to work today!