April Stuffs

So.

Here I am.

Playing catch-up again...

Sorry about that.

April was a fun month! My family flew in from Hawaii for about two weeks (minus my sister, who was still deployed at the time), which was a BLAST! Always nice to spend time with my mamma and my adorable niece, Lily. Plus, it's an excuse for the whole family to gather and catch up - we don't do it often enough and we're all less than a half hour from each other.

So they were here for my sister's college graduation, brother's birthday, stepdad's birthday, Easter, etc. Lots of fun stuff! I'll talk about Easter in my next post, though. (Including Easter in this post would just be way too much...)

I was so excited to see my mom and Lily. Since my mom has been Lily's caretaker while Candace has been gone, she has been posting TONS of pictures and videos of her on facebook and I was just dying to see her and get Lily and Gabe together to play. (Last time they were together, Gabe was just BARELY walking, so he wasn't a very good playmate for our wild and crazy Lily bug...)

It was like they were never apart.

Lily was such a sweet big cousin, always trying to help Gabriel (whether he needed it or not!) and constantly keeping an eye on him - "Weh's Daybul? I get him. Weh he go? Daybul!! I find you!!"

He was such a boy about it too. He would pretend to be indifferent, but then if he hadn't seen Lily for a bit, he would get confused ("Wait....where'd she go? She's ALWAYS hangin around...") and go find her.

Love those kids.

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I feel like every other post is about how much of a Daddy's boy Gabriel is, or about how big he's getting. But I just can't help it. He IS such a Daddy's boy and I love it so much. It is the opposite of what my worst fear was in coming back to Utah and getting remarried. They get along so well, though. McKay and Gabe are best buddies and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Gabriel has officially adopted one of McKay's army hats (yes, I know the real name for it--don't lecture me, military people!). Seriously. McKay had to get another one because Gabe just won't give this one up. He wears it around the house all day every day.

He even got ahold of McKay's beret one day and INSISTED on wearing it the whole ride home until Daddy had to take it back. Love my little cadet!

...and my awesome, handsome hubby! (even when he's smiling weird....and at a weird angle...)

I will never get over how fast Gabriel grows and learns. It kinda makes me sad. I try to enjoy every little second of every stage, but it seems like he is never in one phase long enough before moving on the the next!! STOP GROWING SO FAST, KIDDO!! This shirt is a 3T and, while it is a little big on him, I can't believe he's wearing it already. 

He is eating more independently every day...

...and always wanting to drink out of a big boy cup...

...and climbing all over things and scaring the crap out of me!

I just wish he would slow down a bit and let me enjoy all the cute little things that he does and faces that he makes. I think I take so many pictures because I want to be able to look back at everything and anything and be able to remember it to the tiniest detail. Even mundane stuff...like sleeping...