Gabriel's Birthday Balloon Release

Gabriel's birthday and balloon release went really well. It was just perfect to have his garden ready for the celebration of his life.
We had a lot of family come....my aunts, Yvonne & Mary Jo, my brother, Jerry & his family, my sister, Steph, & her family, and my parents. It was nice to have them there to remember Gabriel with us.















We had a lot of friends from our ward that have been so supportive this last year. We are so thankful to have such a great ward with amazing people that we get to call our friends. Thank you Mailes, Coxs, Ellingsons, Francoms, Jensens, and Andersons for coming and for everything you've done for us.
















My BFF, Adrianne. Seriously, the best. The very best.My girls, Casey and Adrianne and their chillins sans their working nurse hubbies. These girls have been awesome and have been great at bringing me some smiles this year. Thanks Casey for taking pictures!








My friends, Jeannie and Tina came. Jeannie's daughter, Abbie, and Skylar have been dance buddies forever. Tina's baby boy, Caden, was also born still at 17 weeks.








More babyloss friends, Colleen and Cory, whose little Gabriel was born still at 19 weeks as well. Notice Colleen's arm. She not only donated blood in honor of Gabriel, she went all the way to Sundance just to make sure she did it on his birthday. What an amazing gift. Thanks Colleen!!Before we did the balloon release Ben gave an amazing speech about Gabriel's life. My only regret of the day was not filming the wonderful things he said. Ben doesn't talk about it much and he's much stronger than me, but he has a great love for our little boy. I think others could see that really come through in the words he said. I am married to an amazing man.
Our family with our balloons for little Gabe. He is always missing from every family picture, but he's never forgotten by us.
Ready to release...Little Alexis wanted the first balloon to reach her baby brother to be from her. :)Off they go! It looked awesome to see so many balloons sent to heaven for Gabriel.
We watched until they were tiny specks.
Afterward we celebrated some more with some cake and ice cream. Thank you to everyone who brought us flowers, cards, gifts, etc. Thank you to anyone who remembered him that day with an act of service. We'd still love to hear what you did. We had some amazing reports already come in...one from across the world in Turkey. We hope that many lives were touched because of Gabriel's. All in all Gabriel's birthday was a really good, yet bittersweet day. It's really hard to celebrate when the guest of honor doesn't get to be there, but I'm sure that somehow he was. The days before and after have not been easy at all but I'm so thankful that we did have a good day to celebrate this little boy of ours and the way he's changed our lives forever. We love you sweet boy and hope that you're birthday celebration in heaven was amazing and spectacular, just the way we think that you are!