Saturday, January 14, 2012

Good bye 2011!

2011 was an amazing year! Here's a recap:(WARNING: it's a long one!)

We celebrated our Ethan-man's first birthday January 31st. I still can't believe how fast he grew up and in just a couple weeks, we'll be celebrating his 2ND birthday! It was such a fun year with him! He learned to walk just before his birthday, he is such a jabber mouth and seriously repeats E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G you say. (we've had a few oops on that one) He is a little daddies boy, just ask him, he'll tell you! He loves anything that has to do with Disney characters, dogs, horses and pretty much any other animal. He loves to say "Why?" and "Ye-ha!" He is a very sweet and very polite little boy and will say "Thank you Mommy!" whenever ANYONE gives him something! He's learning his numbers and colors and is proving to be a very smart boy! He loves his sissy and she just thinks he is the funniest thing ever:) We just love this kid!

We were able to go to Utah to see my sister Seija take out her endowments and be sealed for all Time and Eternity to her husband Ty. It was truly one of the highlights of my year! I'm so proud of her for her decision to be sealed forever. It was one of the most beautiful weddings ever! Not to mention she was the most beautiful BRIDE ever!

My sister-in-law Molly gave birth to the first grand daughter on the Hilsabeck side. Miss Izzy Lynn was born April 4th! (Lynn after ME of coarse! OK, it's not, but I like to pretend anyways:) She is Ainsley's best friend and soon to be partner in crime I'm sure!

We purchased an RV -every time I say that I get funny looks and the comment "Those are for OLD people!" Well,I guess you could say we're just OLD at heart because we have absolutely LOVED having it!

We visited Zion's National park for the first time with Mikey and Molly (Yes I lived in Utah for 23 years and never went.) Miss Izzy was only 3 weeks old and I was about ready to POP, but we had so much fun and the boys finally got to do some "sishing" as Ethan calls it

My brother-in-law Daniel married his wife Sarah for all Time and Eternity in the Las Vegas Temple. It was so beautiful and of coarse they looked amazing and so happy! It was only May, but it was already so hot here! So we drove the RV to the Temple (yes you heard me right) we fired up the air conditioner, turned on a movie for the kids and voila! We had a place to stash the kids while we were in the Temple and a place for everyone to get out of the heat while taking pics! (See how handy an RV can be;)

The highlight of our year of coarse is when we welcomed our second baby, Ainsley Shay into the world on June 30. Her delivery was so easy and everything went so smoothly. And when they checked her heart condition that she supposedly had, it was no longer there! We were so relieved! She was perfect in every way and we couldn't have been happier to have her. She may have been a "surprise" to us, but we didn't know just how much we actually needed this little girl in our life! We absolutely adore her and Ethan couldn't be happier to have his "baby sissy" to play with!

We visited the Grand Canyon and Sadona AZ when Ainsley was just 6 days old. It was a last minute trip with all of Cris's family and I'm so glad I felt good enough to make it. We had so much fun and finally got to see what the Grand Canyon was all about.

We purchased Disneyland season passes with our BFF's Dave and Kristi Stratton and I'm telling you this will be a yearly purchase! We have visited the park almost every month. We just drive our RV down there for a few days and make a mini vacation out of it. It's been so fun! Ethan absolutely loves Micky and Mini mouse now and gets so excited every time we stroll up to the Disney gates. It truly is so Magical!

We turned down an awesome opportunity to live in Singapore for 3 years with Cris's job. Although I'm still SOOO sad about it,(I wanted to go really bad) Cris and I got the confirmation that we were to stay here for now and it was obviously the right decision, because a month after we said no, Cris got promoted to Chief pilot here in Vegas. I'm so proud of him! All of his hard work has finally paid off. He now goes into the office every day and is flying only day trips so he is finally home every night. (Except for the 2 1/2 week long trip he's currently on in Asia...ya,kinda a sore subject for me at the moment)

Cris was called to Ward Mission Leader. Cris has been so busy with work and yet he still has fulfilled his calling to the highest! I'm so proud to see him accomplish so much in just a short amount of time. He never served a mission, so to see him in this calling has been so amazing!

We went to Disneyland with all of Cris's family a couple weeks before Christmas. It was so fun to see the huge Christmas tree, the holiday parade and it actually snowed during the firework show! (OK so the snow was from a snow machine, but It was still magical none the less:)

Well Christmas came and went way to fast! At least Cris was home this time. He has flown every Christmas since we got married. So it was fun just having him home for once! The day after Christmas, the kids and I headed up to Utah to see my family. Cris had to work, so we loaded up the car and went. We had such a good time while we there! Ethan had so much fun being able to play with his cousins that he hardly gets to see. It was the first time since Seija's wedding that we were all at the same place at once. It was great!

Well that was our year in a nutshell. The year ahead of us is already looking to be fun and exciting!
There will be 2 more additions to the Hilsabeck family, my sister-in-law Leah is due any day with a little girl, my other sister-in-law Rachael finds out what she's having this week and one of our best friends Kristi Stratton is having a little girl in June! And that's the only babies we know of yet! (Hint hint Molly;)
My sister Sacha's adoption of Destiny was finalized last month and Destiny will be sealed to the family on Feb.25th. I'm so excited and so privileged to be able to go and witness this beautiful event! So we are definitely looking forward to that!

So GOODBYE 2011, and HELLO 2012!

Our first family pic!

Visiting the Grand Canyon
Daddy and his babies
Ainsley's blessing day!
Ethan loves his sissy! He's always giving her big kisses!
I just love these two!
Disneyland!!
Ainsley Shay on Christmas eve!
Ethan loves trains too!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Ainsley Shay



So it's been brought to my attention that I've been a total slacker on blogging lately. (Thanks Hope:) So here is my feeble attempt to catch up on all the fun we've been having!
First, we welcomed miss AINSLEY SHAY in to the world on June 30.
She was 7lbs 7oz and 19 3/4in and PERFECT in every way!
The delivery went so smooth (especially compared to Ethan's)
The nurses were great and the Doctor actually made it this time! Truly all went well except for the fact that my epideral was so strong that when it came time to push, I couldn't feel a thing!So after pushing for 20 minuets, my doctor had to help me out by using the vaccuum AND the forceps:( Poor little girl came out with the biggest bruise on her head. I felt so bad! About 30 minutes later, the pediatric cardiologist came in to take another look at her heart. After about 5 minutes, he said eveything looked perfect! What a relief I felt! It truly is such a blessing to have a perfectly healthy baby. Oh gosh we just LOVE this little girl so much and Ethan loves being a big brother too;)



Monday, March 28, 2011

Ethan's 14 mo. pics

I'm a little behind on things lately, so just like everything else, I took Ethan's 12 month photos late. So now they've become Ethan's 14 month photos.
ENJOY!












Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Ethan's 1st birthday!

The beautiful birthday boy!!
The proud Mommy and Daddy!

Yesterday was my litte E man's 1st birthday! I can't believe how fast the time went. It seriously feels like just yesterday when Cris and I were in the hospital with him.
We LOVE this little guy so much and seriously can't imagine what our life was ever like without him.
So we got to celebrate his birthday over the weekend so Cris's whole family could be there. We had such a good time and Ethan loved all of his super cool gifts he got:) He is a very LOVED and a very SPOILED little boy:)
But how can you say no to this sweet little face?






Here's Ethan's cute cake. (No I din't make it, I'm a terrible mother, I know..)
E needed a little help here. He wasn't quite sure what to do:)
He was a little hesitant about touching the cake at first..
But then he got a taste of the chocolatey goodness and couldn't stop!
Cake and icing were everywhere! But he had fun and that's all that matters, right?
And the best part is, he never let go of his balloon! Thanks for all the birthday wishes and to all those who came. We were so blessed to have all our loved ones there as we celebrated the birth of this very special boy! We love you Ethan Lee!!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Surprise!!

While Cris and I were in Florida in November we got quite a surprise...






That's right... Ethan is going to be a BIG brother! Cris and I are so excited to have another addition to the family:)
I am 17 weeks along and since the curiosity was killing me, Cris agreed to take me to do the
4D ultrasound last Monday. And the results are in!



We are having a GIRL!!
Cris and I were both SHOCKED! We thought for sure it was another boy. So it took a little while to get used to the idea of having a little princess around the house, but now we are sooo excited and can't wait!! I've already been shopping for dresses, tights, bows... you name it, she'll have it!!


So here are some pics of our ultrasound.
It was so fun to see this little girl, at only 16 weeks, be so active! Her and Ethan are already so much alike... she loves to curl up in a ball and cross her legs. She also had her hands up by her face the whole time. Just like Ethan did! I can't belive how much she already looks like her big brother too. Hopefully she's gets his sweet little personality too:)

My due date in July 3rd, hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here!
















Friday, December 17, 2010

Early Christmas

So Cris is away in China (yet again) and will be gone until after the New Year:(
Which is sad because it's Ethan's first Christmas and Daddy won't be here to see it. (sigh) I guess it's a good thing he's young enough that he hasn't the slightest clue of what's going on and could really care less.
Cris's family is the greatest! They did Christmas early this year since Cris is gone and E and I are headed up to Utah in just a few days. It was so fun and E man got SPOILED! It was such an awesome day. We went up to Logandale around 10 am and found the CUTEST little yard to take family pics in. The yard was full of beat up tractors and old gas pumps, it was perfect for what I had in mind! My beautiful, wonderful, talented sister-in-law Molly took the pics. They turned out so cute and I couldn't be happier with them!! You must check her out! Her photo blog is mollyhphotography.blogspot.com/

So after pics we went to my other amazingly talented sister-in-law's house. It was decorated so beautifully! It truly made it feel like Christmas eve! Santa even stopped by for a visit... that did not go over so well with the boys. All 3 of them were screaming and he literally scared the poop out of Ethan... I think we forever ruined his relationship with Santa, poor kid.
Then it was yummy food and after that, present time! I can not tell you how much Ethan got from "Santa" this year. He's been a very good boy:)


Our little Elf



posing next to the 700 ft. tree






Here is a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with the 3 little elves




Ethan did NOT like Santa...







Ethan opening his many 'Toy Story' toys



These boys were in Heaven!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Florida Fun

We took a little family vacation to Florida last month. We had so much fun that it was really hard to leave. It was E's first time flying and he did so good! I don't know why I worry every time we travel, Ethan always does perfect. I am so lucky to have such a sweet and content little boy.
It was also Ethan's first time to the beach and he could not get enough! He loved the sand and the waves and chasing all the birds with Daddy:)





we took a family walk on the beach...



showed Ethan some pretty sea shells...



splashed with Daddy in the waves...



made footprints in the sand...



and visited an aligator farm...







E can't wait to go back;)