Wahoo!

I just want to say that I am so excited for Santa to come this year and to see the looks on my kids faces! We put the tree up today ( I know a little late, but at least it happened!) and it was so fun watching gab put up the ornaments! He kept saying wahoo and wow! It was so cute!

Catching up!

I have been slacking with my updates! We have been so busy. I just finished my math class for the semester and I am pleased with how well it went! I think officially I got an A-. I'll take that! Jon has been busy with work and life and we all have been holding on for dear life as time is flying! Gabe was just put into a special education preschool for his speech! We are so excited that things are finally moving with this! He loved his first day and didn't want to come home when I went to pick him up! I loved his teachers and I am excited to see how he improves! Shelby is just as busy as ever! She is everywhere and almost always has a smile on her face! She is quite a feisty little thing and it's pretty much her way or no way! When you tell her no she will either laugh at you or start crying! Or sometimes its a combo of both of them! All in all our kids bring us so much joy and happiness, I just keep getting better and better! Now for some updates! Our Halloween was great! Gabe picked out his own costume and when it came he was afraid of what he looked like in it! But when Halloween came around... he was so excited! He was a dragon!



Look how cute he is! He has the sweetest face!

I was trying to get him to do something scary but he wouldn't! He just kept laughing and smiling!
We had a family Halloween party this year at my sister chantels house! Jon was a monk, I was a punk rocker, gabe was a dragon and little Shelby was a duck! We had a great time with all of the games, activities and food! Nothing is better than doing fun stuff with your family!

I was trying really hard to get some pics taken for Christmas cards this year. But it doesn't look like that will happen! I found this adorable 5-piece suit for gabe and then we found this super cute sweater dress for Shelby. She wasn't really cooperating and she wouldn't smile while the camera was in my hands!
I promise she really is happy!
He looks so handsome! The color of the suit is perfect for him!

Here is our happy girl! She now has 2 teeth on the bottom! She had her official 9 month checkup a few days ago and here are her stats: 29 in long (95%), she is 20 lbs (85%)! She is doing great! I can't believe how big she is. She isn't really a baby anymore. She is crawling everywhere and she has been pulling herself up on stuff like crazy! She sure is loads of fun though!

What we have been up too...

Well we have been busy with life! Shelby is getting so big! She had her 6 month appt a few weeks ago, ( she is actually 7 months right now!) But she was in the 95% for her height! She is so tall! Her weight was in the 80's! She cut her first tooth today, and she has started to crawl! She army crawls, but then she will push herself up and crawl! It is totally amazing to me how fast the time has gone! This stage right now is probably my favorite so far! She is so happy and gets so excited all of the time! She just loves gabe too! When he comes into the room- she just lights up! It is so sweet!
Gabe is doing well right now too! He is so sweet with Shelby and such a great helper for me! I can't believe that we have had him for 1 1/2 years! He has changed so much! He loves going to nursery, and helping daddy outside! He stayed out there so long with him one night that when I brought him in, his hand were so cold! I felt so bad! He loves to eat the granny smith apples that we have on our tree. He will literally eat the whole thing. Are the seeds really poisonous?! I sure hope not! What a funny little guy!






We were trying to get her to smile- but she kept putting her hand in her mouth!

I don't know how old she is here- but I liked the pic!

He is so silly- he just loves cameras! Look at that face- how can you not smile when you see him?

Here is our happy girl! She doesn't love to be in her highchair- but she loves to eat! Oh she is so sweet!

I'm a slacker!

So we have been so busy that last little while! Jon's Grandma Olson passed away at the beginning of September and so we went up to Idaho for the funeral. We had Enza's baby blessing the same weekend and we got to spend more time with jon's family. We have been busy canning and juicing and making ginger peach jam. It is all very good and I was quite impressed with how well it all turned out! For Stake Conference they talked on being prepared and it really struck a chord! Basically they said that some people have the attitude that the church won't let anyone starve, but that is wrong! The Church couldn't possibly feed everyone and we will be held accountable if our children starve! The thought of that makes me sick!

In the middle of the month we went to a corn maze and they had the best area for playing. It was supposed to be for the kids- but I think that the adults had just as much fun! Here are some pics of that fun night.

Here is all of the kids!

This slide was so fun! There is this black one- it is awesome! It was really high and long- but man was it fun!

As you can see the tractor ride wasn't just for kids!

The whole Hansen Family!

The whole Clinger family!

We have also been fortunate enough to get some baby pics of Gabe! I am so excited about this! We have wanted to get some of them so that he can know what he looked like and where he came from. I ran into this lady at Albertsons one day and she came up to me and said Can I ask you a personal question? Anytime anyone says that it kind of make ya nervous! Anyways I said yes and she said Is that little boy adopted? I again said yes. She then asked if his name was Emiliano and I was like yeah. She was the woman who cared for him and his birthmom when he was born! She told me that she had pics of him when he was just minutes old! We exchanged info and I had tried to contact her. Finally over a year later she found me on Facebook and we have been able to get 68 pics of him from birth- 8 months! Seriously-amazing!

We are so lucky to get these priceless pictures of him! I love them!

July Update!

July has flown by- we were so busy and we were gone for half of the month! I was way ready for a break away from life- I still need one- but what I got was great too! First was a camping trip with my family up in Monte Cristo. It was so nice and Shelby did pretty good!

Jon got this cute picture of her smiling- she has been feeling much better since we got her into the pediatric gastroenterologist. She took her off of 2 of the 3 acid reflux meds and out her on this drug called cyproheptadine. She is really doing so good! She is actually eating well and gaining weight like crazy!
I caught this pic while Jon and Gabe were napping outside while camping. It was so cute of them!
Gabe keeps us laughing so hard- he had Jons leather work gloves on and he wanted to hold onto Bucks leash. It was so funny to see them running down the road. Gabe did this for like an hour!
Happy Birthday to our sweet Gabe- he turned 3 on July 20th! I made him a lightning mcqueen car cake- it's close enough!
I can't get the pic to turn the right way- but you get the gist of it! He got some great presents and when we got home that night we were up until like 11:00 putting them together and letting him play with them! He got a tricycle, electric tractor, bubble lawn mower, sticky bugs, ball shooter, ect.. I can't remember everything off the top of my head right now- but anyways thanks everyone!
The last couple of weeks we have been with Jons family- first up in Star Valley for the candy drop- and then the next week we were all here for a surprise b-day party for his sister Kathryn. We went and hiked up Intermittent Springs in Afton. It was a great hike and the waterfall was so pretty- unfortunately the runoff was still to high for the spring to turn off and on!
I just like this sunset with the storm clouds rolling in- its so beautiful up there!
Here's the candy drop- I kept trying to take pictures of Gabe and Jon out there but they kept getting blocked by all the other running kids!
Here's a pic near the top of Intermittent Springs. Yes I made it to the top but was scared I was going to fall with Shelby on! We had a great time!

New Pics!

OK so here are some of the pics that my friend Ashley took- warning they are freakin' cute! There is a link on the side of the screen to her photography site- Hawkeye photography! Enjoy- I love them!

Seriously Behind!

So this post will be a little long because I have a lot to catch up on! Gabe is doing great- he is starting to talk more and more and I seem to be the only one that can decode what he is really saying! Dr. Rose wants us to get him into some speech therapy so we are working on that! Shelby is growing so fast! We had one of my friends take some pics of them they are so cute. These are some of the negatives- just wait until you see the ones that she touched up- they are awesome! ( they are coming soon!) She loves playing with her legs and putting her fingers in her mouth!
Shelby is 4 months old right now- she is 25 inches long (75%0 and 13 lbs. 4 oz. (50%). She is slowing down a little but just to look at her she looks huge to me!
He is so sweet- he has one of the happiest smiles and laughs- I just love him!
He is such an awesome big brother- he tries to help me with Shelby all of the time. He wipes her face when she is drooling, puts her pacifier in when she is crying, plays with her and makes her laugh- they really are cute together! Shelby really responds to him!

It is amazing to me how fast time is going- I really can't believe that I have two kids right now! We still are having a rough time finding something that Shelby will eat- but I picked up this formula randomly at the store the other day and so far so good! She just screams and screams and fights eating. Usually she wears herself out crying and then she will eat- it is really sad! We are lucky enough to get into the specialist tomorrow- thank goodness- I am afraid that I will be bald and in the crazy farm soon!
We had a great 4th of July- I started the day with my first 5k- my time stunk- but hopefully the next one will be better- running has kind of helped me keep some of my sanity! Plus I am hoping that I can lose some weight as well!

This little turkey was quite fussy- after the BBQ at my parents house(which I love- especially the homemade peach and chocolate ice cream-way delicious!) I ended up taking her home before DHS fireworks- it had been a long day!

Here is Gabe waiting for the parade to start! We love going to the Kaysville parade and the water fight- Jon brings two huge containers of water to aid all the guys in their quest of soaking any dry person they see!

I have a lot more to blog about- but it will have to wait until after this weekend! Sorry to be so far behind- but I am catching up!