LIFE...

Life will always go on! This is going to be a long post, so buckle up! I am behind, so here goes: Shelby turned 1! She is growing up so fast! She is so fun at this age, and now that she is walking she loves loves loves to be outside.

She was so happy as we celebrated her big birthday! She got this little penguin punching bag from my parents and she hated it! She didn't want it to sit back up- she wanted it to stay down, it was so funny!

She didn't really take to the cake! We even fed it to her a little and she wasn't too interested!

After her birthday it was time for Easter! We had the traditional Easter egg hunt for the kids at my parents house, there was even one for the adults this year, and we each got only one egg. Inside was a $20, thanks mom and dad for the fun, the money, and the great memories! We then went to tasties in Kaysville after all of the fun!

Here is Gabe dyeing some Easter eggs! He was so excited now that he knows his colors! He is doing really well with his talking too!

Here he was after the egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa hansens house. They always have so much fun doing all of these fun things with all of their cousins.

Here are Shelby and Gabe on Easter/Conference morning with Grammy and Grandpa!

The Easter bunny brought them some fun things! They each got some sunglasses and Shelby loves to put them on herself. She did such a great job!

Shelby's 2nd Easter! Now that she gets it a little better than last year, she was so excited for everything!

Gabe was so protective of his eggs that the Easter Bunny left for him to find! He is so funny- he was so excited but kept watching Shelby all day so that she wouldn't get his eggs!

Conference was so great, it always is! And just like usual I really needed the spiritual boost! I always hate when it is over, but then I have so much to work on, it's good that we get a 6 month break in between sessions!

New Beginnngs!

The holidays came and went so fast this season! We have been having a blast! Here is an update: For Christmas this year we stayed home! It was so nice to begin our own little family traditions and to just be together as a family! Santa was so generous this year and our family was so blessed! Gabe is so funny, when we went in his room to wake him on Christmas morning, he pulled the covers back over his head and wanted to go back to sleep! Of course once he got up he was super excited! Shelby was so cute, even though it was her first Christmas and she really didn't know what was going on, she still had a great time!

Shelby was all smiles on Christmas morning! I love it when my kids are happy!

Gabe so loved his Handy Manny workbench that Santa brought him! I was worried that the noises that it made would scare him because he generally doesn't like toys like this, but he totally loves it!
Here is Jon modeling some of his Christmas gifts, he got some boots, a few shirts, a coat... lots of good things!

Here he is loving the singing and dancing toolbox complete with all of the tools! Don't ya love when you have to buy something last minute because you realize that not everything is included with the "other stuff!" However Santa was prepared with batteries!

Here is my sweet smiling shelby! She has been pretty happy lately and I love it! She has such beautiful blue eyes!

As for the New Year, there is a lot going on and through it all, I still really blessed! I have a lot of personal goals that I am working on and also a few for my family! What a great time of year it is! I am looking forward to the many memories and growing times this year will bring!

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!