J & H Wedding

Jesse & Holly's wedding was yesterday and it could not have been a more beautiful day! The weather was gorgeous and everything went perfectly. The wedding was at the Abeel's property, the ceremony was in a little serene clearing, it had the feel of an outdoor chapel, with an altar and doorway. The reception was a little down a pathway from there, under oak trees and near a stream. We all had sooo much fun!

Cutest little flower girls...

The beautiful ceremony...










Mr. & Mrs. Abeel...


The reception...








He's quite the ladies man ;)


dancing away...

Then there were two...

Don't worry, Coleton hasn't made his grand appearance yet! I am referring to my other new baby, my niece Ella. I started 3 weeks ago watching my sister's baby 3 days a week. Wow, it is crazy having 2 kids! I must also add that it's even trickier being 7 months pregnant. I have definitely gotten into a groove with the 2 of them, figuring out eating and napping schedules. It's still a bit tricky at times, like what should I do with Clara when I am trying to put Ella down for a nap, and how do I get them to not wake each other up when they are only in rooms across a hall from each other. Some days are definitely smoother than others, but I am getting it down. This week Jordan was gone for his annual work snowboarding trip in Mammoth for 4 days, and I had Ella 3 of those days. I am a little exhausted after it all, and going a little stir crazy. I haven't ventured out with the 2 girls yet, partially because the thought of it makes me tired, and because I can just imagine the looks and comments I would get like, "geeze lady can you stop having kids already?" Thankfully, I will be getting out a LOT more for the second half of this week because we have wedding craziness coming up. Jordan's younger brother Jesse is getting married this weekend and there is a lot of work to be done, and family to see that we haven't in a while. I'm very excited for it all, I love weddings!

Couldn't get a smile, but I think they like going for walks.


Happy girl...she loves auntie!!


Giving Ella a hug.


She is sweet...and sassy!

I have been very encouraged with Clara's response to Ella. She looooves Ella and looooves to "help." Clara has been such a sweetheart lately, she has been so good with other kids and babies, she is a good sharer and listens very well. She helps feed Ella "babas," helps me change her diaper, gives her a pacifier or blanket if she is crying, gives her lots of hugs and kisses, and is usually very gentle with her. I hope she will be like that with her baby brother! I'm sure it will be a little different because her brother won't go home in the evening, and will probably take even more of my time and attention in the beginning. But I know she is capable of handling it. I actually better take advantage of the time with "just" the 2 of them, because soon there will be 3! It will be crazy, and definitely take some adjusting, but I am confident that I will figure that out when the time comes!

Happy Birthday Jordan!

Jordan turns the big 2-7 today, unfortunately he had to work, so I planned a surprise birthday bash for him yesterday! I gathered all the family together and some friends and decked the house out in fire engine garb. We surprised him as he was coming home from a men's bible study at church. I actually surprised him too, he had no idea! We had a lot of fun and Clara even got to hang out with her friend Lauren...

Waiting for daddy...

Surprise!!!

We know how to have fun!!

Lauren & Clara

Attempting to hug...

...good save dads!

Would you like some tea?

Yummy Birthday Brownies!

I can't believe we are turning 27 this year! I love you Jordan with all my heart, and I hope you have a wonderful birthday at work. You are the best husband and father anyone could ever ask for, and I am so blessed to have you in my life!

27 Weeks

Since I haven't done a belly photo during this pregnancy, I decided to take one today, and document some thoughts on the new baby. Firstly we have made up our minds on the name, our little boy will be named Coleton Brian Abeel! That's exciting to have that determined, and we both love the name so much. But anyways, pregnancy, I think I am ready for a break from being pregnant. Since the two kiddos are going to be so close in age, I feel like I have been pregnant for a long time. Today at church during the meet & greet session a lady came up to me and said, "I feel like every time I see you, you are pregnant, how many kids do you have?" To which I replied, "This is our second, but I feel like I've been pregnant forever!" It was kinda funny. I have been feeling great, not super awkward yet. However, I'm a little scared at how much bigger I am this time around. I think that is why I haven't taken many photos of the belly. With Clara people felt the need to stop me and tell me how huge I was, this time around I can only imagine the comments I will be receiving. I am feeling excited about meeting our new little baby, but I am also not really looking forward to having a newborn. A lot of friends and acquaintances around us have been having babies lately, and whenever I see pictures it panics me a little. Newborns don't sleep! They are also squishy and awkward looking at first, can I just have like a 3 month old? I know I will fall in love immediately with the little bundle, but as of now, I am nervous. I have been making sure I relish each night, when in between 6:30 and 7:00pm I put Clara to bed and have 12 glorious hours before she awakens. (Sometimes I have to admit she wakes up and needs help finding her paci & blanki, but she goes right back to sleep.) Although there are some challenges about Clara's age that I am not so excited about. Lately I don't go anywhere with her, unless it is a kid friendly environment. She doesn't like being in a stroller, and I have a hard time carrying her a lot, and when I let her walk she is gone before I know it! I had so much fun yesterday because I actually got out and did something fun on a day Jordan was working. I shopped all day with Clara...and grammie...and gram gram...and "auntie" Kenna...and aunt Holly. Yes, it took a whole posse of people, but we had a great time! I got her some adorable spring outfits from Old Navy, one of which she is modeling in the pictures. I must say that girl is my favorite little accessory! But anyways, I am 27 weeks and counting, and things are going great so far!

New Year's in Big Bear

We got back from our annual Big Bear trip a couple days ago, and it was so much fun, as usual. It was a smaller group this time, mostly family. We have all been so busy lately that it was nice to spend some good quality time together. The day we drove up they received around 6-8 inches of snow, we took the back way through Victorville and had an incredibly smooth drive. Then for the rest of our stay the sun came out and we enjoyed beautiful weather. The young (not pregnant) people snowboarded, and we all had a blast sledding with Clara. She loooved sledding, she is pretty fearless, and she could not get enough of it. New Years Eve was definitely on the mellow side, after celebrating Taylor's birthday with a yummy BBQ dinner on the lake, we stayed tucked away in the cabin and played games, then watched Indiana Jones until it was time to watch the ball drop. Clara did pretty well being up at the cabin, she stayed off the stairs and didn't mess with electrical outlets, and kitchen cabinets and such, which I was really surprised and thankful for. However, it took her one whole, very looong night to get accustomed to the new sleeping arrangement. We haven't gone anywhere overnight for a while, and she was definitely not used to it anymore. She fell asleep fine in her pack n' play, but then woke up inconsolable a couple hours later. She would not stop crying, and would fight me if I tried to lay her back down in it. So, I brought her into bed with us...however, she doesn't know how to sleep with us! This was never a habit I let her get into, and once she started crawling, she wanted nothing to do with laying in bed with us. She refused to be laid down in our bed. So she would sit in the middle of us, perfectly quiet with her paci and blanket, until she would pretty much just fall over asleep. Then she would maybe sleep an hour or so, wake up, sit up suddenly, cry a little, then sit in between us again, until she would tumble over asleep. Nobody in the cabin slept very well that night, especially us! Thankfully she was accustomed to the pack n' play after that, and took great naps and slept well the rest of the time.

I feel like 2010 has been a very crazy year. It was my first full year of motherhood, which has been awesome. However, in this past year, my dad passed away after a very long and painful battle with cancer. Jordan broke his leg, which was difficult for both of us, and after being home for almost five months, he worked on average 70-90 hours a week for almost five months more to catch up. Getting pregnant again, and scraping my way through 3 months of torturing nausea. Craziness! We have so much to be thankful for, and are immensely blessed in so many ways, and I am excited to see what 2011 has in store for us. Hopefully a healthy baby boy and many many wonderful memories to make. I am so very thankful to know that no matter what our lives are in God's hands and He will see us through no matter what, there is such security in that! Happy New Year!

Pictures for the grammas...

I had a request from the grandmas and great-grandmas to print up some pictures of Clara for them. Since we have entered the digital age of facebook albums and blogging, I never print pictures anymore. I decided to do a quick little photo shoot of Clara at the park nearby, and printed up a variety of 4x6's, 5x7's, and 8x10's for family as a Christmas present. I even had my sister stop by with Ella so we could get some pictures of the cousins. It was a really quick attempt, and it didn't go so great. It is hard taking pictures of a wandering 15 month old! I left the park thinking it was a waste of time, until I got home and uploaded the pictures. Amazingly they turned out pretty cute! I love how you can see Clara's little personality in them, she has so many facial expressions and she is just so stinkin' cute. Her and Ella are so cute together also, she loves Ella, and I was glad I got some good ones of the two of them.
We had a really nice Christmas, it was a busy day, but we were able to spend good quality time with both sides of the family. Clara was spoiled rotten with all her new toys, and I am trying to figure out where to put them all. That little stomach bug definitely made the rounds, we were dropping like flies. I think EVERYONE in the family got it. Thankfully we are all on the mend, because we are leaving for Big Bear tomorrow to ring in the new year! I am very excited about that, it has been our yearly tradition for probably the last 10 years, and it is so much fun. I hope you've all had wonderful holidays, and see you next year!