Winter Zoo Trip

We figured out the best time to go to the zoo! It's the winter time! We went a few weeks after Christmas and NO ONE was there. The place was so empty it was awesome. There are a few animals that don't come out during the winter like the elephants, penguins, and zebras but overall it was way worth it to drive up to Salt Lake and spend the day at the zoo. The last time we went to a zoo, Gabs was still a little too small to recognize the animals and truly enjoy it. This time, it was completely different. She had so much fun.

Since no one was there, we took the chance to pose her on all the animal statues. This was one of the first times she had to wear her hat and gloves because she knew her hands would freeze if she took them off. However, that still didn't stop her from trying to take them off anyway.

Posing with the rhino...

She loves her daddy so much. They even are doing the same facial expressions now.

We sat in front of the cougars cage for 10-15 minutes just looking at the two cougars. It was so quiet that they kept coming right up to the front of their cage and letting us see them up close.

We went inside the white crocodile/alligator (i can't remember which one now) building and we were hoping to see it because the last time we went to the zoo, we skipped that part. As soon as we walked in, our glasses fogged up so bad we had to take them off and then the animal wasn't even in there. He had gone back home to Louisiana and we just got to see the flowers and turtle shell. Gabbie got to touch it and feel how rough it was so I think it ended up being worthwhile.

Her fascination with monkeys is still going strong...

We definitely did not teach her this but she must have seen Mommy doing it and she really wanted to see those penguins eating their lunch. I thought it was super cute.

The giraffe home was by far our favorite place. We were the only ones in the entire building and the giraffes were all eating their lunch so we got to get super close. Mom got a little nervous when one of the giraffes decided to stick its nose over the edge and got pretty close to us.

Mom and Gabbie posing on the lion. There is one picture where we both were like, "Dad why do we have to do this?"

Christy doing one of Kyle's signature picture poses.

Another new favorite. There was a new exhibit of baby meerkats and Gabbie loved them. The best part is they would come right up to the class and walk right in front of her.

The baby rabbits were a hit too...

as was the porcupine...

and gorillas.

This was maybe a little too close for comfort. Notice her looking back at mom to make sure she was okay to touch it.

Now she's okay to sit beside it, as long as she didn't have to touch it herself.

We would highly recommend you bundle up nice and warm to go visit the zoo in the winter. It rocks!

Christmas

Christmas this year was so much fun. Gabbie really got into opening the presents and loved all her new things. We got a ton of stuff at DI (its like Goodwill for all of you guys back east) that was perfect for Gabbie. The look of pure love on her face the entire day made me think how lucky we are to be parents and how pure and innocent children are. It's no wonder Heavenly Father asks us to be like children.

Gabbie wearing her new jammies that she got to open on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning started with Gabbie opening her presents, then Kyle and I going through our stockings. We have a tradition in our family that we take a certain amount of money and we'll go shopping to fill the other persons stocking. It can be things that are serious or things that are funny and make us laugh. It has turned out to be something that we really look forward to and it helps us to think about someone else more than ourselves. This year, Kyle got a mix of practical, needed things, joke things, and fun things. I got a lot of joke/practical things.

Gabbie is playing with one of her new toys. Its this rocket ship thing that has 4 layers you can take off and re-build. On the bottom is one of those shape games where you have to put the shape in the right hole. She is slowly working up to doing that but she mostly just likes to make it fall apart and then dump all the shapes into the top of the container without fitting them into the right spot.

Kyle got a new BYU hat in his stocking, socks, ties and this lovely elephant balloon that is one of those where you hook the end on your finger and try to hit the balloon as many times in a row as you can.

Gabbie got a new Barney movie in her stocking, bibs, and socks. She also got some bubbles, abc cards, and crayons.

She loves the bubbles...

Gabbie was opening her presents really slow so Kyle decided he needed to show her how to open them really fast.

Opening presents...

Santa brought Gabbie a new frog toy. It's a bouncy ball covered with the body of a frog. She loves it. The whole morning she just wanted her frog. We had to take it away and put it up on the couch because she didn't want to open anything after she saw the frog. (Santa didn't wrap it so she saw it right off the bat)

Kyle's 'faked' excitement for his new Christmas PJs. I was too lazy to wrap them because he already peeked and knew what they were.

Gabbie and Mom showing off Christmas Pjs.

My mom and dad in VA sent Gabs a package for Christmas and in one of the boxes she stuck a picture of my little sister Taylor. Gabbie saw the picture at the bottom of the box and she stopped everything she was doing to look at the picture. She kept pointing at Taylor and then looking up at me as if to say 'Mom, I know her!' It was very special for me because we don't get to see my family that often and Gabbie has only met Taylor twice. Now this picture sits over her bed beside a picture of Kyle's little sister Lacey. Every morning when Gabbie wakes up she will point to the two pictures on her wall and smile.

We had to break out the mittens and hats because it started to snow almost every day. It took so long for the snow to come this year and I was anxiously waiting for it so winter would start. Then when it did finally come, I was ready for it to be spring time after about 2 days of non-stop snow. Doesn't she look so cute in her hat and mittens!

Opening Grandma and Grandpa Campbell's Christmas presents...

Thank you to everyone who helped make our Christmas wonderful. We are so thankful for the thoughtfulness and caring that each of you showed to us and we want you to know how much we appreciated it. We love you guys.

Reindeer

During the Christmas season, we went to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point. Gabbie absolutely loved it. She was so excited to see so many pretty colors and to see the different ways that the lights were used. After seeing the lights, we stopped and got out into the freezing cold to see a couple of reindeer that were up front at the water tower. It was way too cold to do that so we only stuck around for a few minutes then raced back to the car.

Kyle's car picture as we were heading into the lights...

Can you see the excitement in her smile?

I was smart enought to steal the only other blanket in the car that Gabbie didn't have wrapped around her and use it for myself because it was so stinking cold.

The reindeer we froze to see...

Kyle and Gabbie trying to warm themselves up by the little tiny fire.

It was a fun experience to see the lights and the reindeer but maybe next time we will just stay in the car for the lights, or bring warmer clothes.

Happy Birthday Gabbie

Gabbie turned one year old on December 4. We celebrated her birthday on the 5th because Kyle had to work on the actual day. She was super excited to see the presents and birthday cake. These pictures are in reverse order but we started out the night with lasagna for dinner. Then we had the cake and opened presents with Grandma and Grandpa Christensen.

Gabbie opening her first present. She needed her dads help. Notice both of their mouths, she is so much like him.

trying to open some more presents....

Grandpa Christensen wearing the decorations from the cake.

Gabbie is enjoying her cake. She was pretty hesitant about picking it up and eating it when she first saw it but then she realized that it was cake and she started chowing down.

Gabbie accidentally put her foot in the side of the cake and had frosting on her toes. Kyle thought it would be fun to make her eat it off.

Her beautiful cake. It was a two-layer cake that had strawberry filling in between the two layers.

Wearing her new pjs on her head for fun.

We loved celebrating Gabbie's birthday. It is hard to believe that a year has already gone by since she was born. It feels like yesterday that we were bringing our little girl home. We love you Gabbie!