Tessa is Walking!!!

So Tessa has been taking random steps usually on her way to falling, but yesterday, she was taking multiple, non-wobbly steps from the middle of the room to the couch. And she did this many times. This was the best video we could get of it even though it's still not the best, but at least you see some steps. She's so big!

Another exciting thing from this weekend was my girl's night out adventure on Friday night. I went with 10 other moms to see Stomp at Fair Park in Dallas. It was so fun, and Stomp was amazing. I finally got to see them in person after all my brothers and parents have already seen them multiple times, I finally don't feel so left out! We girls had a good time and after the concert we went out for appetizers and dessert. Yummy Pizookies from BJ's. Here's our group. Can't wait to do it again sometime.

Tara and Andrew Wedding

We just returned from our week trip to Utah for Tyler's sister's wedding. Tara and Andrew were married on June 13th in Salt Lake and they looked so happy.

Here's the happy couple.

Tara had a beautiful dress. Abby and I called her the princess all weekend.
Here are some pictures of Abby and her cousins as we waited for Tara and Andrew to come out of the temple.

We had the luncheon on Temple Square at the Lion House, so I snapped a couple pictures of the girls while we waited. Here they are in front of the fountain that's by the Church Office Building.

And here they are with the temple in the background.

Here's Abby with Tara at the reception.
And here's Tessa with Tara.
All the nieces were in these adorable pink dresses. Some with yellow sashes, some with green.
Here's one of my favorite pictures. Tara with all the little girls. 8 from our side and 3 from Andrew's side.

And some of you may already know that Tyler's dad makes rings, so now that Tara's married, the family ring collection is complete. Here are all 5 rings that he has made for the women in the Gibbons' family. Quite an accomplishment and family keepsake don't you think? We love it!

There's plenty more pictures from our trip, so stay posted for more in the near future. We had a great time and wish Tara and Andrew all the best!

Randomness before our trip

So we're leaving for Utah tomorrow for Tyler's sister's wedding. I figure we'll come back with lots of cool pictures to share, so I thought I'd better empty my camera before we go. Nothing too exciting, but some random pictures I thought you might enjoy.

First, I've been doing some experimenting on Abby's hair since it's so long and pretty. You've seen a picture of her with krimps, but here it is after a night sleeping in foam rollers. Can you say curly fro? Do you think Abby likes it? After the day went on, and the curls fell a little, it looked a lot more like I was hoping it would. Too bad I didn't take a picture at that point. I think I'll have to find some big rollers before we try this again.

I finished a skirt for Abby in only a few hours. It turned out pretty cute. I know this shirt's not the best match, but for staying home all day, it works. (Just don't tell Tyler. He's the fashion police for our household.)

During one of our yummy BBQs with Tyler's new grill, we had beans, which Tessa enjoyed. If you were to look closely in this picture, you can see one bean right next to her left nostril. What you didn't get to see what about three seconds after this picture was taken when the bean rolled down her lip and into her mouth. Mmm delicious was what Tessa thought while the rest of us died laughing.

Here's another picture of Tessa saying "cheese" for the camera. Another thing you may not be able to spot in this picture is her first tooth! That's right. One finally showed up on the bottom last weekend. And yes, she's 14 1/2 months and she finally got her first tooth.

Finally, I have to show you Abby's art work. She loves to paint and so we hang her latest drawings in her room. While painting her last masterpiece, we had the following conversation:

Abby: I'm going to paint this for Aunt Tara for her wedding.


Me: Oh really? What a great idea.


Abby: And this one can be for Grandma Gibbons.


Me: I think they'll love your drawings.


Abby: Yea, and you can put them on our blog.


Me: (not completely understanding) Did you just say "on our blog"?!?


Abby: Yes, our blog, on the puter. (computer)


Me: (Smiling to myself, trying not to laugh) Yes, we sure can.

So here they are...

Do we have an artist in our family or what?!? :)

Happy Birthday to Me!!

So, last Saturday was my birthday. It was a great day. It started with a surprise visit from our friends, the Gustavesons, who sang Happy Birthday to me on their way out of town. Then, when Tyler got home from work, he had a birthday cake and lots of presents. I suppose I should start with the day before. We went shopping for my big present, a dining room table, which we purchased, had help from my brother picking up, and Tyler had put together by 12:30 am the morning of my birthday. Here it is with my cake and presents. It has two self-storing leaves that can make it large enough for 10 people. I love it!!! Here are the other presents I got from Tyler and the girls. Yes, you do see a lot of Stephenie Meyer books. The Twilight Series books (vampire books as Abby calls them) were what I asked for. Her new book, The Host, was a surprise that Iwasn't expecting, but was so excited to get. And a board game which we've already broken out and played. It was a great birthday.
The chocolate cake was very yummy. The girls thought so too.

We finished out my birthday with a little date for me and Tyler. We went to Dave and Busters for dinner and games while our friends, the Brodericks, watched the girls. It was a lot of fun. Thank you Dave and DeLaine for making us go out by ourselves! :)

And finally, not dealing with my birthday at all, here is Tyler's early Father's Day present:

We'll be out of town on Father's Day and who can pass up an amazing Memorial Day sale? So we got it early. Too bad it took Tyler awile to put it together, so we haven't been able to test it out yet, but I see (and smell) some yummy BBQing in our near future. :)

Fun in the Sun

Now that the weather is warming up, we're enjoying more afternoons outside in the sun. With our new sandbox/picnic table, we have yet to buy sand, but this is one of the reasons why. We've been using it as a mini pool for the girls, and they LOVE it. Here are the girls sporting their swimsuits, perparing themselves for the cool hose water. (It's actually been warmer than I thought it would.) Tessa likes the yellow hose. Once in the water, the girls liked to splash (mostly Tessa), pour water on each other (mostly Abby on Tessa), and drink the water (both girls-yuck!) But it entertained us for a good hour or so and we got nice tans while we were out there. The girls were having too much fun to pose long enough for a good picture. Here are my attempts.Could I get any weirder shots of Abby? Probably...
This was the best I could get. Too bad they both wouldn't look at me at the same time. Oh well. At least they had fun.
We had a good Mother's Day. The girls helped Tyler make me heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. I got cards from each of them and flowers. Here's a picture of the us girls before we went to church. Yes, Abby's hair is krimped. Isn't it cute?

Wedding Tag

1. HOW DID YOU MEET? We were in the same volleyball class in college and then found out we lived in the same apartment complex.

2.WHAT IS YOUR ANNIVERSARY? December 15, 2000

3.WHERE DID YOU GET MARRIED? Provo, UT LDS Temple
4. WHO PROPOSED AND HOW? Tyler. We drove up to Salt Lake and he planned to take me to the roof of the conference center, but it was closed, so he settled for Temple Square. After a picnic and some conversation, he gave me a kiss and when I opened my eyes, he was down on one knee.

5. HOW LONG WERE YOU ENGAGED? 6 weeks from the time he proposed with the ring, but 4 months from the time he asked my dad permission and we really started planning.
6. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR WEDDING DAY {AND IT CAN'T BE YOUR HUSBAND)? The temple ceremony and being with our families.

7. WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE IF YOU COULD? The weather! We had to travel 2+ hours for the reception and the canyon was closed (from a semi accident), so when we were finally able to pass, there was a huge snowstorm and we were an hour or two late for our own reception. We were so scared someone from our wedding party was going to have a car accident or something, the weather was so bad. (This picture is outside the hotel room our whole wedding party stayed in in Heber while waiting for the road to reopen.)

8. WEDDING COLORS? Blue and Silver

9. REMEMBER ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT YOUR CEREMONY? The waiting room before we went into the sealing room. It was just me and Tyler. It's still my "happy place."

10. WERE YOU MESSY OR CLEAN WHEN YOU CUT YOUR CAKE? Clean at our main reception and a bit messy at our reception in Texas.

11. WHERE DID YOU GO ON YOUR HONEYMOON? Vegas Baby! We spent two nights at Circus Circus (I wasn't 21 yet, so we loved the kiddie section), and two nights at The Bellagio where we were upgraded to a lakeview room because it was our honeymoon.

Anyone who wants to share their wedding day story, I tag YOU!!

What do you get when....

What do you get when you cross a 13-month-old girl with a light saber?
Watch this and then scroll down for the answer...

A Jedi Princess-in-Training! May the force be with you, Tessa!

NOTE TO READER: If I have used any "Star Wars" terms incorrectly, please be forgiving. Remember that we only have girls. :)

As if to support the fact that we only have girls, here are some pictures of the girls in new dresses that I made for them. I was helping a friend make her daughter a dress, so I decided to make the same one for my girls during the process.