Going outside...

Even though we've had snow the last 2 days, we have had some warmer weather lately and are starting to feel like Spring is creeping toward us. Last weekend we went on a fun hike at a nearby state park with our friends the Matthews. It's really fun getting to know them again as we all went to Cal Poly together, lost touch, and then ended up living just a couple miles from each other here in CO!!

Melody, Kyle, Wyatt & Us

Then this week I spent an afternoon hanging out with my new friend Meredith who is expecting a little girlie of her own to be born any day now. She just happens to be an awesome photographer and she got some great shots of Gigi at the park. I'm happy to report that in her old age, Gigi not only loves to swing, but she's also slowly overcoming her fear of grass!
See all the pictures here: http://flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604495128003/


We're off to Santa Fe, NM tomorrow for the weekend to check out a supposedly cool city and hit up the one and only Trader Joe's (5 1/2 hours away is our closest one). We got a surprise sneak peak at what we will be able to stock up on when we got a few yummy things in the mail from David's aunt Jann today!! :)

Yikes

Warning: Christianity & Oprah do not mix... do not be misled by her!!!

A Note for our Subscribers

I just realized that when I post videos, they don't come into the subscription email. So I will try to write "[video included]" at the top of the post so you know to come to the actual blog to see the video(s).
If you haven't been to the blog lately (if you usually just read the posts in your subscription emails), make sure you visit because the post "Playing Around" had 2 fun videos in it!!
Thanks for being our readers! :)

Playing Around: Parts 1 & 2

P.S. On an unrelated note, did you know that on Tuesday, April 8, you can go get a free Jamba "Breakfast" (it's a new thing they have) at Jamba Juice? Go before 10am! Yum!

Crazy March!

March was a crazy month for us. The first two weekends we were in Florida and then we had visitors for the rest of the month (Dears, Jann, Pavones) each weekend. It was a great month though and now we are sad that we have no visitors this month. But hey, at least there's baseball!
Speaking of baseball, we got the MLB package on DirecTV and David is in hog heaven to say the least. We can watch 8 games at once on one channel, and choose the feed for each game which means for the Dodger games we can almost always hear Vin Scully and see the Southern California commercials (those blasted In'n'Out commercials are painful though) so we sort of feel at home. Now the only bummer is that most games don't start until 8pm here which makes them end a little late.We had a great time with my parents and Gigi's great-grandma. My dad & I went skiing/snowboarding on friday and Gigi did awesome staying home with Yaya & Grandma and poor David had to work. :( Saturday the guys played golf on a beautiful day-- then we woke up the next two mornings with snow!
Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604375408751/

We also had a really fun visit with David's Aunt Jann, who we got to spend Easter with! She and I took Gigi to the Zoo one day and she got to visit some of her other friends in the Denver area too. Here are all the rest of the pictures from March...
Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604261306676/

It's Official!

It's baseball season! To celebrate Opening Day for the 2008 season, David got up at 4am on Tuesday to watch live the game which was in Japan! Talk about devotion to the game. Actually he said he did doze in and out of the game, but he was very happy to have at least, mostly, experienced the long-awaited (well, 5 months-awaited) first game of the season. Now, just a few more days of anticipation before the Dodgers have their home opener!!

ULA

Here's an interesting article about David's company, United Launch Alliance. David says he's not so sure about them actually saving Uncle Sam any money yet (like the article claims), but it's still kinda cool to see an article about his company!

Check it out HERE.The contrail of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket

Our Dear Friends

Last weekend our dear friends the Dears came to visit! They were (are) on a road trip to Iowa, Oklahoma & Arizona, in addition to our home! We had lots of fun with them and it made us miss living near them even more. They are the friends that we can do anything and everything or just nothing with-- the best kind of friends. It was fun to see their little girl Kaitlyn as she is now almost 4 months old, and almost as big as Gigi!!Beth, Kaitlyn & David

And coincidentally we both had matching outfits for our daughters and we had a very cute photo shoot with them. And speaking of matching outfits, the Davids were caught accidentally matching one day-- very cute also. :) Here's a few pictures from the weekend. There are lots more, but I just haven't gotten them up on Flickr yet.

We also had lunch with the Stopniks so the Dears could meet baby Jude! Here are the moms & babies.

Princess of the Pacifier

As most of you know, our little Gianna loves her pacifier! From the time the nurse gave her one in the hospital she has used one almost all the time.
My good friend Emily will be glad to know that in her old age (10 months!), Gigi is using it much less. She still uses it for naps (although not to go to bed at night usually), and during times when she's exceptionally fussy or tired, but other than that you won't find her plugged up and playing happily anymore.
She's expanding her verbal repertoire all the time (more video on that to come later) and is also a lot more aware of her surroundings and thus less dependent on her pacifier!
Our goal is to gradually wean her off it by the time she is walking and talking comfortably! We'll see how it goes as we approach those milestones!
In the meantime, here's a tribute to Gigi's beloved "nay-nay" (she makes those sounds when she is upset and wanting her pacifier). Enjoy!

Onomata-Gigi

I found this blog called "Onomataopedia" where this cartoonist draws cartoons of onomatopoeia words that people submit. The first one I noticed on the blog reminded of Gigi as it is demonstrates something she loves to do.
See it HERE.

Acrobatic Ballet

I came across this amazing video today... the main couple is unbelievable. Not quite sure what's up with the weird German guy at the end though; can anyone translate? :)
Click HERE.

Home from Vacation

We had an awesome time on our trip to Florida. It was hard to come back to cold, brown Colorado after a week in warm, green Florida! Here's a synopsis of our trip...

Saturday, March 1~
We arrived in Orlando, and headed to Downtown Disney to have dinner. We had yummy fish 'n' chips at an Irish pub and a yummy cookie from the sweets shop (we always used to love those cookies from Downtown Disney CA!). We were hoping to meet up with my cousin who lives nearby but unfortunately her work schedule changed at the last minute. From there we headed to Melbourne, FL where we stayed for free at a brand new Marriot, using the points that David had earned on his work travel!

Sunday, March 2~
We drove south down Highway 1 (just like in CA!!) to Vero Beach, where we went to our first Dodgers game at Holman Stadium at Dodgertown. It was awesome! We sat on the outfield grass which was perfect for Gigi to crawl around on the blanket and play with her toys. She felt the grass for the first time and did not like it!! Then we met David's parents at the campground where we were staying, in nearby Ft. Pierce. There were lots of "snowbirds" there including many from Quebec, and I enjoyed saying "bonjour" to them and little more French here and there.
Monday, March 3~
We went to Dodgers game #2 at Dodgertown, with the Bennetts. David & his dad "played golf" at our campground- it was 3 holes - sort of between mini golf and regular golf. :)
Tuesday, March 4~
Dodgers game # 3, also at Dodgertown! This was a night game; we had great seats and got free pint glasses given away! We got there plenty early to be able to watch some practice and we got James Loney (1st baseman)'s autograph and manager Joe Torre's. We also got interviewed by a local tv news reporter about our trip to Dodgertown! (we never got to see it though). Before the game that day, David & Dan played golf (lots of water hazards = not very fun game), and Jeri and I took Gigi swimming at the campground.

Wednesday, March 5~
We drove to Port St. Lucie to see the Dodgers play at the Mets. I got Nomar's autograph, and David got Tommy Lasorda's! After the game we packed up the camp and headed up to DisneyWorld, stopping for a yummy southern dinner at Cracker Barrel.

Thursday, March 6~
We spent the day at Epcot which was very fun (despite a little sprinkling of rain) and then came back to our campground, Ft. Wilderness, for a very entertaining dinner show. When we got out of the show, it was pouring rain!
Friday, March 7~
The guys played golf once more- this time had more fun on a very nice course! Our last baseball game (#5) was a Braves/Tigers game at Disney's Wide World of Sports, a huge sports complex, that includes the Braves' stadium, lots of sports fields and the gym where Alex & I both competed for cheer nationals back in the day. Memories! We then headed to a cool area called Disney's Boardwalk, made to look like an old fashioned Atlantic City- like waterfront area. We ate at the ESPN Club, which is like a smaller, slightly more intimate ESPN Zone- when we first arrived there were some real ESPN people doing a broadcast in the restaurant! Then we walked around a little bit and got another yummy Disney cookie!
Saturday, March 8~
Bye-bye, Florida!
Check out all our pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604081230124/

Feb Photos!

Since the weather has been the biggest adjustment for us here in Colorado, I can honestly say that I have never been happier for March to arrive! Despite the fact that the month tends to be the snowiest of the year in the Denver area,, and the kookiest (with highs in the 70s and 80s and the next day, 30s with snow), it still brings us closer to spring, and warmer weather! I am so tired of wearing long pants and shoes everyday!!
We thankfully are flying to Orlando tomorrow for a much needed respite from the cold and to see some Dodgers spring training games! Be expecting some pictures of the beach, and lots of green foliage when we return!But in the meantime, here are our pictures from the month of February. You'll notice pictures from around the house (including her room- I took those for her baby book), Gigi's 9 month photos that I took of her rather than going to a portrait studio, first bath in the big-girl tub, Gigi's swimming class, and the Zoo among others.
I will mention that we had a great time taking Gigi to the Denver Zoo for the first time- she loved looking at and talking to the animals. I'm not sure if the bigger highlight of the day though was the baby giraffe jumping over the first railing and almost out of the pen (David saw it but the rest of us were inside looking at the other giraffes) or, the monkey who looked like Rafiki doing a back flip- I am dead serious, he did a standing back tuck right there in his exhibit; it was amazing. Wish I could have caught that on video!Click for photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604001893338/

Future Musician?

Camera Ham!

I'm 27!

Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and helped to make my day special!! In addition to all that, I had a great day...

David, Gigi & I went to lunch at a yummy deli, and got a scoop at Baskin Robbins! Yum!

Then we did a little shopping at Old Navy and Best Buy (got a Dyson- woohoo!).

And finally we dropped Gigi off at our friends the Stopniks' house for the evening and we went out on the town! We took the train downtown and had a yummy shrimp dinner at Bubba Gump's. That much I was aware of, but the exciting part of the night was a surprise! David took me to see Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. It was fabulous! I mean, so good! It's a show similar to Cirque du Soleil but done by an American company. Lots of good tumbling action, elaborate costumes, and crazy talented peeps. We both really enjoyed it.

Here we are all dressed up at the Stoppies' house.

Meanwhile, Gigi had a fun time with her friends Brooke & Britton. They even got to all take a bath together and get cool mohawks!

A Valentine's Day gift...

Hi everyone!
Here's a photo of Mommy & me today in our cute Valentine's outfits...
I have a gift for you! It's a video of me! Yay! It's sort of old, but Mommy is working on getting all the clips edited and put together, so there will be more posted soon!





Love, Gianna

(here's a rare shot of me being camera shy--
Mommy thinks I look cute even though I'm not smiling)

9 months old!

Our little Gigi Bri is now 9 months old! Just a little update on her... she weighed in at 15 lbs 9 oz (~20th %ile) is 26 5/8'' long (50th %ile) at the doc's last week. So she's still pretty tiny but to us she seems to be getting big! Must just be because she is doing so much these days (or because her crazy hair is getting so long!).
She's officially cruising the furniture, although she is a speedy little crawler so she usually resorts to that as her choice mode of transportation. She is still very vocal, and has added to her repertoire an energetic "yeee-eah!" that elicits many smiles, and cute little deeoo- like sounds. She's still a bit of a challenge in the nap area-- taking as long as an hour and a half to finally give in to sleep, although usually once she's out she'll sleep for a good while.
She has several teeth now-- 2 on bottom, and 3+ that are poking out on top. She still likes to play in her corral although we have opened it now to give her a bigger play area. Her favorite game these days is "Peek-a-boo" which she even initiates by herself (video forthcoming on that!).

So to say the least, we are thoroughly enjoying parenting this little sweetie and are enjoying the fun stage that she is at right now!The goofy girl playing around.

Side note: I was about to get mad if I heard one more time about the 80-degree weather in California... but then today our high hit 64!!!!! I'm currently wearing shorts in my house! Yippee! Now if only it wasn't supposed to snow 8 inches tomorrow... oh well, only a little over 2 weeks before we go to Florida!

A child's wise prayer...

Our pastor shared this on Sunday... it was in the context of a child who had lost something special & valuable and prayed that God would help him find it, then explained his prayer to his sister.

I think we can all learn from and probably use this as a reminder in our lives!

"Perhaps Jesus will help me find _______ (enter your lost object, etc here), but if not, He'll show me how to live without it and to be satisfied in Him alone."

Joyful January!

Here are our family photos from the month January. Included are some fun pictures from a minor-league hockey game we went to, along with lots of other fun shots. Some of them I have posted in other blog posts, but a lot of them will be new to you. Enjoy!
Gigi goes to the doc for her 9-month appointment a week from today so we will be sure to give you a size update for her then!
In the meantime, Happy Birthday, Dad!
Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157603835423217/

Our sassy girl! (thanks to Aunt Carly for the cute shirt.)

Please Pray, and Take Action!

A couple of things here...
Please pray for our friends, the Blackwells, for the recovery of their little son Elias who was in an accident.

This second point, is not a life/death situation (except maybe to some wildlife species or possibly, surfers) but it's still a big deal, especially for those of you who love San Onofre as much as us. Please take action by clicking here-- it's really quick-- to sign a petition to try to stop the toll road as the Coastal Commission will vote on this issue on Feb. 6.

David & Gigi at San O'.

Also at San O'-- me with my surf buddies,
Heather & Sarah.

Swing Set Girl

Today was a warm one- just over 50 degrees! So we went on a little walk through the "Open Space," starting at a park near our house. We had fun walking on a frozen creek and when we got to the end of the trail, back at the park, we thought we'd let Gigi try out swinging for the first time! She didn't mind it (until the very end), but she did seem a little unsure, and boy did that "baby swing" make her look small! We keep thinking how big she's gotten, but she's actually pretty small still! We'll know for sure how big she is when we go to her Doc in couple of weeks.

Enjoy this little slide show of our outing (click the picture to see it)... extra points to the readers who know the band name! :)

Swing Set Girl 1/26/08

Funny Baby Advice

I found this post by way of Neatorama... there are some pretty funny tips here on what to do and not to do with your baby. Heehee. I think my favorites are "Bonding with Baby" and "Waking Baby." Leave a comment and let me know which one you like! :)
Click HERE.

On an unrelated note (although also from Neatorama), if you like water as much as me, you might like to check out these awesome pools.

Breanna's Visit

This post is a little delayed, but I wanted to put up a few pics... right after New Year's, my cousin Breanna visited for a few days; we had a lot of fun! We hung out around the house with Gigi, made a yummy Rachael Ray recipe (Bre is going to culinary school after all), watched a couple of old movies, and took the train downtown to walk around. Here are a few of the pics from her visit.

Yummy coffee at Maui Wowi.

Our state capitol.

Matching chapstick!

On the train ride home.

Gigi's new "car" from Breanna's family.

A fun look...

David likes to sometimes put pictures on his work computer's desktop to show something he has to look forward in the coming month, or sometimes he just likes to put a cute picture of Gigi there to look at. :) So I made him this tabblo which is like a collage of sorts, representing the things coming up in February and March-- Valentine's Day & my birthday (I guess that's more for me to look forward too- heehee), Our trip to Florida for the Dodgers' Spring Training, and visits from the Dears and David's Aunt Jann!

See my Tabblo>

Breckenridge Trip

We had a great weekend up in the mountains with some friends from David's work. Some of them are old friends who flew out here from CA, along with one who works here in CO with David, and some other new friends that we met through the Chows who planned the trip. We had an awesome cabin (heated floors!!!) and great snow. David and I split the day snowboarding on Saturday at Copper and it was really fun.

Here's the group at Copper Mountain. (L to R: Dominick, Geoff, Chris, Margaret, Denny, David, Pao, Wes, Me & Gigi, Laura, Daphnie & Vivian)

Alex, we made sure to get some sweet icicle photos for you!
Here is the photo album: http://flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157603733223785/

Big News

Hi everyone! Sorry we haven't posted much lately. We went out of town (more on that later from Mommy) and we've all had colds (my first one unfortunately). I just wanted to share some important news. You know they say that babies sometimes take many tries before liking a particular food, and after several unsuccessful attempts by Mommy & Daddy, I have now finally decided that...
I do like bananas after all! Especially right from the actual fruit!!

In other news, naps are going a little better these days. Mom wanted me to tell you thanks everyone for your suggestions, encouragement, etc. It's getting better as the novelty of standing up is wearing off a little, and I'm learning to get down by myself easily.
Now the only problem is when I drop the pacifier outside of the crib- that's when I really get mad. Mommy says we'll deal with that issue in a few months. I'm not quite sure what that means, but I doubt I'm going to like it!
Love you all!
Love, Gigi

My Exact Sentiments

Read this wonderful Ode to Trader Joe's (fyi- just click on the underlined words) that I came across... I couldn't have written it better myself! Although if I did, I would include these items that we miss most from our beloved grocery store:
Orange Chicken
Jo-Jo's
Fried Rice
Shaving Cream
Mochi
Teriyaki BBQ chicken
Spanish Rice
all the yummy ready-made salads
Organic vanilla bean yogurt
Salsa
white cheddar popcorn
decaf chai tea latte powder
and so much more!!!

We also miss the tropical atmosphere, nice employees, artistic handwritten price tags/descriptions, grass roots feel, cheap prices, yummy samples, etc!

This seems like an appropriate place to give a shout-out to my Aunt Laurel & Uncle Joe who sent us a lovely TJ's care package right before Christmas.

Help!

Our latest dilemna: Gigi has realized her mad skills of pulling herself up to standing! It's great and real cute when she does it on the couch or the coffee table during playtime, but not so great when we try to get her to take a nap and now all she wants to do is stand up in her crib! She thinks it's really funny at first (as we continually go in, and lay her back down), and then she gets overtired, keeps doing it, but now is simply crying each time she stands up. Yesterday she slept a total of 1 hour during the day! I think she might also be a little stuffy, maybe getting a cold (her first!) too so that could have something to do with it. But I'm pretty much at a loss as to what to do about the standing up. Any ideas from you experienced moms? Please help!!

The Culprit in Action

A Christmas Post Script

For more fun pictures, you can view my brother's album from the trip. His photos of our week together start about 2/3 of the way down on the first page of this set. He has some great ones, so enjoy!Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14000165@N05/sets/72157603594115192/

White Christmas

We had a fabulous Christmas week with almost all of our family here visiting! We did lots of fun stuff like touring the Coors Brewery, seeing the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, going to an Avalanche game, a day at the mountains to ski/snowboard/hang out, watching sports & good Christmas movies, eating lots of good food, sledding, shoveling snow, making snow ice cream (no joke!!), etc.The whole gang- according to Gigi: Uncle Paul, Reuben, Aunt Stacey, Papa, Yaya, Peter, Granpa, Granny, Mommy, Daddy, Me, Aunt Carly, Unc A, & Tia.

We even had a white Christmas! In fact, it snowed all day long-- more than it has snowed on December 25th in over 100 years! It was beautiful! Our friends the Stopniks came over for Christmas dinner and we enjoyed the Honey-Baked Ham that my Aunt Laurel & Uncle Joe sent us (thanks!). It was a little crowded (i.e. kids' "picnic" on the kitchen floor for dinner) but totally worth it.Gigi enjoyed her first Christmas-- doing a little paper-ripping on her gifts and best of all, hanging out with her grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins!!
We are so grateful for our family and for their trip out here; we had a great time.

I hope you enjoy looking at all our December photos (most of them are from the week when everyone was here- but they also include cookie-making with the Stoppies & hanging out with some old college friends here in CO)! Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157603591473096/

Exciting news!

We all wanted to wish a big congratulations to my brother Alex and his fiancée Angelina, who were engaged last night, December 17th, at an ugly sweater party!
We can't wait to see them when they visit next week! Gigi misses her former housemate "Unc A"!

Por Fin-- Video Fun!

Here are the videos I promised a while ago! These are little compilations of clips from October, November & December, highlighting Gigi's favorite things to do!

Good Eats with Gigi


Talkin' it up


and the finale goes out to Gigi's cousin Peter, who's always wanting to see more videos...
On the Move!



Yay, Gigi! She crawled for the first time on Friday, December 14th, at our friends the Stopniks' house! Boy are we going to have our hands full now, huh?

California

Caveat: This blog has lots of words & photos, but it's worth it!! :)

Our little family flew home to California to camp at San Elijo State Beach for Thanksgiving weekend. We were joined by my parents, David's parents, Alex & Angelina, the Freys and lots of visitors (like Grandma, Aunt Kathy & Josh for Thanksgiving day!). We indulged in our annual smoked turkey and lots of other good food (including the amazing cranberry salsa!!). We got to surf a couple of times and enjoy some beautiful sunsets like usual; it was a great weekend!























Then we headed up to Orange County to see some peeps (thanks to the Wrights for hosting us!)-- primarily to meet Kaitlyn Grace Dear, who was born on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately David had to fly home on the Monday after (somebody has to work), but Gigi and I got to stay in CA for 2 more weeks! We stayed at my brother's place for a couple of days (thanks Angelina for babysitting so I could go out for a fun night with my friend Krista!), visiting other friends and eating good California food!I spent the rest of the trip down at my parents' house hanging out with friends down in SD, sewing with my mom, watching cheesy Christmas movies, shopping at Trader Joe's, and even going to my old church's women's Christmas Coffee which was super fun and beautifully decorated!One of the highlights was going with my parents to a party to benefit the SD Wildfire Victims at the home of none other than Steve Finley (Former Dodger/Padre/Angel/etc!). We met him and Trevor Hoffman, both of whom where genuinely nice, and about as honored to meet my dad, the Fire Chief, as we were to meet them! Also present, although we didn't meet them, were Dave Roberts and David Justice. The house and food were amazing and it was a very fun night to say the least (oh and thanks to the Freys for babysitting!).









The main reason that Gigi and I stayed was to be in town for our dear friends Kelsi & Russell's wedding on Dec. 9. I was honored to be a bridesmaid in one of the prettiest weddings I've been to at the Old Richland Schoolhouse in San Marcos. It was quite chilly (although since I've returned to CO, it wasn't so bad looking back-heehee), but we had a great time. The Sheltons are like extended family to me and I was glad to get to spend so much time with them!









I'm sorry to say that I'm officially too lazy to caption over 200 pictures, but hopefully this long blog explains what you're about to see. Please leave a comment here or on a particular picture if you want more details on it! Here they are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157603430801314/
And for your viewing pleasure, here are the pictures that my personal photographer (heehee), Rena, took of us at the beach:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157603430878066/

November Pics!

I got home yesterday from California... Sorry for the delay but here the rest of our November in Colorado photos. I will post the California ones soon, and I haven't forgotten about that video I mentioned... now that I'm home, I can get back to work on it!
Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157603434247977/