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!
