so...

what's going on around here? not entirely too much.
mailie is closing in on 6 months. little one has dropped to the 10th percentile in weight, and 80th in height. so the doctor recommended adding food to the mix. i'm waiting until she is 6 months though. yes she's skinny, but i'm not worried. she's full of energy, moving herself around the entire room, nurses every 2 hours during the day, so she's not withering away. 

this is abigail at the same age...abigail was always average, sometimes a bit small.

 

 i love my cuddly babe.

 we went to the Leonardo; a relatively new museum in slc. it's interactive, and has some neat things to do. we feel like they need to do a better job at explaining certain exhibits, but it was still interesting, and fun for abigail. i didn't get many pictures since the camera died.

 we found home on this map. 

my girls on Mothers Day. abigail was so excited about singing in sacrament. she ran straight up to the pulpit. i gave a talk a few weeks ago, and since then she has been wanting her turn at the mic. so she was very disappointed when she discovered she would not be using it, rather all the primary kids stood to the far right of it. needless to say, she decided she was going to be a bit shy during the singing ;) i still loved seeing my beautiful girl up there :) 

question: anyone know if it is not recommended to start with Cream of Wheat for your baby? i've read that there is no problem with it, and others have said no because of the allergy issue.

prayer answered...

i just have to say how much i appreciate prayer, and Heavenly Father answering my prayers. 

the other day turned out to be quite stressful and things just weren't going fantastically well. and by the afternoon i was ready for josh to come home. he happened to be in a training, so there was some hope that he could get off early. that being said, most days that turn out a bit rough, seem to be the days that he gets THAT customer; the one who thinks it's awesome to show up right at closing time.

anyways, it was after noon, and i was mentally and emotionally spent. so i said a quick prayer that josh would get off early.

low and behold, who comes walking through the door, 2 hours before expected!!!
i immediately burst into tears, hugged my man, and said one big prayer of thanks!
josh coming home early meant i was given the chance to run to the temple, and have a moment to myself, filled with peace and comfort. it was wonderful. so thank you to my heavenly father knowing i needed this. and thank you to my wonderful husband for without question, taking the girls, and sending me on my way :)

always playing catch up lately...(photos galore)

i am generally pretty good at keeping this updated. but lately it just feels like i am getting behind, continually. i'll get back on track eventually.

so lately...

we had a nice relaxing easter. the easter bunny came on saturday evening, and abigail was of course very excited about his visit. she was also very excited about telling you what easter is about, and what happened to jesus. she goes from "and then he died" with a sad pouty face, to beaming and smiling, "and then he was alive again!!!". 

miss mailie. tall and skinny. 95th for height but 25th for weight. you will see from pictures there is not much chub going on with this girl. but still adorable! we all know how smiley and giggly she is. and she's babbling up a storm. personally, she is growing up too fast for my liking. example: the moment she started to roll over, she was was rolling all over the room. she has started to get on her hands and knees and is scooting backwards! this is not acceptable. with abigail we expected her to crawl quickly because the poor girl just wanted to be mobile from the moment she came out. mailie is a more laid back baby, so i expect her to just wait to grow up ;) but hey, as long as she stays as super happy as she is, and showing me that cute dimple, i'll be happy.

speaking of growing up. two weeks ago abigail's primary teacher informed me that she wrote her name all my herself. josh apparently knew she had done this before. where have i been? i had no idea she could do that!! i am still waiting to see it happen with my own eyes. i did write her name, and then she wrote it as well, but i have yet to see her just write it without something to go off of. apparently she leaves that for her teachers to see ;)

also, i turned 27. i expect this year of life to be fantastic, because my mom said it was her favorite. yes we are two different women, but i need to have a reason to be excited about closing in on 30.

27 with two beautiful, happy, healthy girls, and one outstanding husband. :)

 if it is in her reach, she will grab it. and generally put it in her mouth. she looks so please. abigail, not so much ;)

 abigail is a fantastic big "small" sister. i say 'small' because she wants to be called small, not big. anyways, she was reading this book to mailie with such enthusiasm and love. i love the way she talks to mailie.

 the purpose of this photos was to show that josh accidently had mailie give me the anniversary card he picked out for me. rather then the bday card. i loved it anyways.

 the girls gave me these fabulous gloves to make your hands soft. i also have some for feet. you wear them at night, and yes, they do indeed make them soft, my friends.

 abigail was so ecstatic about riding "mufasa". she was waving at everyone and cheering. she's a hilarious little girl.

 look closely, and you can see a baby on top of it's mother. it was holding on while sleeping, and it was adorable! we love monkeys in this family, and boy do i wish we could take it home. i also would appreciate my children being able to just hold on to me while asleep, freeing my hands.

 every zoo trip requires a zoo ride, and this girl is in heaven.

 yes, she is real. and she is scrumptious.

 these two enjoyed playing in the river, while mailie and i sat and relaxed.

 seriously. if you can, click to enlarge this photo, and check out this girls faces. this was the order they were taken in. we finally got some smiles at the end. which were up above.

my heart attack parenting moment...

oh boy, we all have to have one right? that moment you can not find your child. your heart pumps faster, breathing accelerates, body temperature rises, and emotions...oh the emotions!

we just had that experience today. 

i consider myself a pretty cautious parent. some might call me paranoid, but too be honest, you kind of have to be these days, with all the kidnappings, and other unspeakable things going on each day. but today abigail put me in a situation where i was kind of stuck, and had to rely on her just making the right decision...of which she did not. were at a little clothing shop, and i was just quickly trying on a dress. i got it on, abigail said she liked it, everything was going smoothly. so i take it off to start getting back into my clothes so we can leave, and that's right when abigail decides she's going to go under the door and "shop" for herself. i tried calling for her, but this girl has a mind of her own. 

so all i can do is quickly get my clothes on, (ask mailie to never do this to me), and then just hope and pray that abigail stays close by.

when i get out of the dressing room i can not find her. so i ask the girls working there if they had seen a little girl running around. they all begin looking with me in all of the clothes racks (we all hid in those round clothing racks at some point when we were kids), and calling her name. i'm just thinking she is playing hide and seek; we've had this happen before. so i am remaining pretty calm, but just aggravated at this moment with my 3 year old.

after a few minutes, it is clear she is not in the store, so we start going to the stores near by, asking if anyone has seen her. one girl from a beauty shop calls security. at this moment i start to panic inside, but i'm remaining calm on the inside...i've become a pro at this. all i can imagine is her either getting hit by a car, or some creep taking her away, which would then result in me killing that creep.

and of course we know mailie was just happy and smiley through all of this...helps keep a person calm :)

so just as i head to the car to get my phone so i can call josh (which would result in me breaking down), i notice the bright yellow toy store that we had passed on our way to the clothing shop. as i walk in i see one of the girls from the clothing shop had indeed found our little runaway; looking at toys of course. 

let the tears flow. and every emotion possible. i was so relieved to have her back, but we of course had an emotional conversation. me: crying because she scared the daylights out of me. abigail: looking concerned, sad, and knowing she did something wrong.

i then called josh and broke down to him. he will be having a nice talk with abigail this evening ;) then gave a huge prayer of thanks.

one good thing is the girl from the clothing shop said that abigail would not take her hand and leave with her. so i guess we got that going for us. good to know our "stranger" conversations are sinking in.

Oh, and I did not get a Grump through all of this ;)

let's play a game...

can you guess what is in this pillow case?

view video to see...

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apparently "cleaning" her room was exhausting.

No More Grumps...

THIS is the No More Grumps board :) We did this as a family while growing up, and it is a wonderful tool to make sure you keep your tempers low and your patience high.
I've been excited about making one for awhile, but I was waiting until I felt like Abigail would better understand how it works. Not that she completely comprehends it, but as a whole she knows we just need to act like "Happy" and not "Grumpy" (Snow White).
Next up: I need to make our t-shirts of course! I wish I knew where mine was from when we had them as a family!

For those interested in how this works:

Each FHE, we gather together and make a goal of how many grumps we're allowed to get that week. At the next FHE, if you don't go over your goal, you get a special treat. But if you do go over, no treat for you. Then you make your goals again, which can not exceed the amount of Grumps you got the following week. So if I had 3 Grumps, my goal can't be 4.

I think it is good to put it in an open place where everyone can see it. Ours is in the dining/living area.

Mailie's goal is 0. I sure hope she can achieve that ;) 

The trouble maker, Flynn Rider...and a food blog...

miss abigail has quite the imagination, we love it. and as of the past while, she imagines both Flynn Rider and Kaylee (twin cousin) are with us wherever we go. she makes sure to hold their hands and the other day informed me that i had apparently taken one of their seats in the car. thank heavens i didn't sit on them ;)

yesterday morning while brushing our teeth, both were clogged. i thought josh did it to mess around with me. he told me to go ask a certain little girl. i just couldn't believe that she would wiggle those (drain stopper) things out, and then stick cotton balls down them. i knew josh was messing with me!

 so josh calls abigail in, and asks her if she in fact stuck toilet paper or cotton balls down the sink.

she leans over and looks in and responds with a bit of a laugh, "oh, no, flynn rider did".

what did we do? laughed of course. josh informed abigail to let flynn know that he can not be doing that. so she made sure to tell him that that was not okay.

now, flynn has sure been getting into a lot of mischief around this place the past few days. he also got into our blueberries while i was getting ready. but thank heavens abigail just happened to be right there, sitting on the floor next to the refrigerator, stopping him from continuing to eat them before lunch time. we've had to tell him he needed to go home until he decides to be a good boy.

danielle, so far kaylee has been very well behaved ;)

side note: josh and i finally just made a separate blog for our 'street eats' blog, now called 'big street eats'. so if you're interested in learning about awesome places to partake of good food, as well as places not to go, then click on the tab/page above, next to Home.

i hope you all get to watch conference!! i am very excited for some spiritual refreshment!!!

an old card...

as josh and i were spring cleaning (which happens every few months, because we're a bit addicted to getting rid of things), i was going through a box of cards and found this sweet card from my mom...

i can not recall when this was or what we had obviously gotten upset about, but as soon as i read this, it brought tears to my eyes. i'm not posting this to bring attention to my mom saying she had lost her temper, because honestly i can't recall too many times that happened. rather i am posting it because i think it shows what a wonderful mother she is, to take the time to write this card and apologize to her daughter. i'm sure i owed her an apology and i hope i did so. i know i owed her many apologies throughout my life. reading this, i just thought what a sweet and simple gesture this was, and what a good example this card is to me, even now. i need to be as my mother, and apologize to my girls whenever i feel i have hurt them. even if they hurt me, i hope i can remember to be this great of example to them.

i'm constantly trying to remind myself to be as forgiving as a child. they forget your faults quickly and don't hold a grudge. if only it was that easy our whole lives. at what age do we say, "never mind, i am going to stay mad at you for a bit"? ;)

thank heavens for life insurance...

Josh just received this in his junk mail today. It sounds pretty serious. At least Josh assigned me as the beneficiary to our life insurance on Friday. I'm not sure we're going to be able to get the $12,000 in time, and Zack does seem pretty serious about this. We love you, Josh. And good luck. ;)

Here's the email:

This is the only way I could contact you for now, I want you to be very careful about this and keep this as a secret with you until I make out time for us to see. You have no need of knowing who I am or where I came from. I know this may sound very surprising to you. I have been paid some ransom in advance to end your life for some reasons by my employer. I have been provided with some information of yours: 

You’re Name: Joshua J. Bigger
Where you can be found: 
Phone Number: 
Picture: Not to display

it is someone I believe you call a friend who must have done this. I have followed you closely for a while now and have seen that you are innocent of the accusations he leveled against you .Do not contact the police or try to send a copy of this message to them, because if you do so I will know and I might be pushed to do what I have been paid to do. Besides, this is the first time I turn out to be a betrayer in my own job. I took pity on you, that is why I have made up my mind to help you if you are willing to help yourself.

Meanwhile, I will arrange for us to see in person, but before that I need $12,000 to pay off cover. I will come to your house or you can arrange where we can meet. I repeat, do not arrange for the cops it might be the worst ever in your life. Do not set any camera to cover us or set up any tape to record our conversation; my employer is in my control now. Payment details will be provided for you to make a part payment of $5000 which will serve as guarantee that you are ready to co-operate, then I will post a copy of the video tape that contains his request for me to extinguish your life which will be enough evidence for you to take any legal action against him before he employs another person for the job. You will pay the balance of $7000 once you receive the tape.

Warning; do not contact the police, make sure you stay indoors once it is 7.30 pm until this issue is resolved, if you neglect any of these warming, you will have yourself to blame. You do not have much time, so get back to me immediately

Note: I will advise you keep this to yourself alone, not even a friend or a family member should know about it because it could be one of them… trust no one not even your co-worker.<>zack3244@gmail.com

ZACK. 

Collecting Coats...Please read and pass on!

Spring is coming, and coats are being tossed out, so send them our way!!
Josh and I are collecting coats for donation to children and adults for this next winter.
If you have any extra or old (but in good and usable condition) coats, PLEASE send them to us!!
Even if you don't have a coat to donate, if you could help us out by spreading the word to all you know, we would be very grateful! You can post this blog link on Facebook, your blogs, emails, etc. We could use all the help we can get to provide as many coats as possible to those in need!!


I've added a page/tab above with our email for people to know where to contact us.


Thank you, everyone!!