ending 2009

Adam and I went to Vegas a few days after Christmas (my present to him). He had a dream he was going to win $5 million dollars, so of course he had to try out the slots. He sure was itching to go on the tables though, where his true talent shines!
"Sabrina, don't put this up on the blog."
At 'trevi', the fountain of the gods.
Lame! We leave our kids for the night and end up spending time in F.A.O. Schwartz.
On our arrival back in St. George, Dad was moving his office. He sold his practice and is "retired." Ha! He has yet to take even a half day - he was even in the new place most of Saturday. It felt like the end of an era. I spent hundreds of hours looking out those doors when I worked as his secretary.It has been a good year. Lily and Jackson are at such a fun age. I love this picture of them switching roles - Lily was pushing Jackson last January!

Santa!

This was Lily's first year not screaming her head off - unfortunately Jack seems to be heading in that direction.
"See? Look how nice he is! He's giving candy canes to all of the kids!"Jackson was pretty ready for a nap."Where did Mom and Dad go?""... and ummm, I want pink toys!"And it begins. Although to be fair, Lily was a bit wary of this Santa as well.Every time someone asked her if Santa visited, she said she didn't like the Santa at Mimi's house - she liked the one that gave her candy.Adam thinks this shot of my double chin is pretty hilarious, so I thought I'd share.

just about the cutest

Liz came to finish her Master's degree, and we got to enjoy the rolls on this kid.

It's so cute seeing Jackson intrigued by little babies, like he knows there is some point to them but can't quite figure it out. Lily faithfully followed in my bossy steps, taking control of which toys Chase could play with and other details.

mischief

Jackson is the one whose idea it was to go behind the tree. I thought their legs sticking out were pretty cute, so I took some pictures.I should have wondered why she was trying to hide.Right about now is when I realized they had crayons. Which I'm pretty sure were Lily's idea, although she tells me it was both her's and Jack's. Adam and I got a good laugh out of their fancy artwork on the walls. It's so fun seeing them work together, even if it does mean mischief!

As a side note to their getting older, I realized today that this is the first time since March of 2006 that I am not pregnant, nursing, or both. Wow. I feel like going to Italy (without the kids).

pretty pink birthday princess

Lily is now 3 years old! What a gem. She's been so sweet this week, I'm sure it helps that my stress levels are significantly decreased from Thanksgiving being over.
Boualay took these pictures. We apparently haven't showed her how to smile for the camera.
And here she is blowing out her candles - and maybe hoping someone would put the cake in her mouth?
Prior to last Wednesday, if anyone asked if she was 3 years old she would say "Not yet! December 2nd." It is so fun to have another person around to talk to. If I ask her to help me with something or if she would like something, she answers "yeah sure mom!" most of the time. I have to say I am excited she is not 2 anymore.

Thanksgiving...

was also the Dabney Family Reunion this year. Everyone in my family was there - that hasn't happened for over 3 years or something. A long time. It was awesome seeing all of the little cousins together.Apparently it wasn't quite awesome enough for me to take more pictures of them together, though, as this is the only one. Here is Amanda, Henry, Lily, Nathan and Eve at Pirate's Pizza. And here is Jackson. Boy was he determined to get that token in the slot!

We had the main Thanksgiving dinner at the ward house with the Bentley's - it is always nice to return back to that tradition, no matter how crazy and big it gets. And this year was especially neat, as Lily is getting older and to the age of participating in the Talent Show just like I did when I was a little girl. ReAnn and KelliAnn got together a bunch of tutu's and put together a little ballet dance for all of the young girl cousins to do - it was so awesome.I was so impressed! I mean, we did tell her she would get a treat if she did it, but I couldn't believe how good she was with following the older girls and doing all of the moves! I thought she would just stand around.All the other girls exited but Lily came straight back and to the treat box.

We ended the weekend with a marathon temple day, switching back and forth with babysitting. We were able to do temple work for relatives, which was amazing! Mom's artistic photography. This year I was so grateful for my family being able to get together. A boy Adam and I knew in junior high and high school died the day before Thanksgiving and left his pregnant wife and 13 month old daughter. It was very humbling to get a clear view of how blessed we are to be together.