The Bigger Life

as of lately...

2012-01-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

today our sweet mailie is 2 months old! and this girl is about as happy and smiley as they get. she is very laid back, and is already "talking" it up. she makes the sweetest little noises, it melts my heart. if you'd like a guaranteed smile out of her, you just have to sing "you are my sunshine", she loves it.

i love seeing abigail with her. she is always talking to her and singing to her. and she's really good at helping mailie if she's crying at all. she just sings to her and voila, happy baby again. aww siblings :) i'm impressed with how great of a helper abigail is. she's not too overbearing with her, she's very gentle and smart with what needs to be done.

for the next 7 weeks we can kind of say goodbye to josh for the work week. he is training to get licensed for insurance/stocks/bonds/investments. so he'll be home with us Physically, but not so much Mentally. i'm grateful josh has a career he loves so much, and that even though he's a busy man, he's a happy man. it makes a world of a difference for someone to be doing what they love.

as for me. healing took a little longer then 6 weeks, but i am now cleared to start exercising! so i can start running again! i am thrilled!

an unfortunate note. last week we lost our sweet friend, Rob. we are so grateful to have known him, and he is very much missed. his funeral was earlier this week, and it was a beautiful tribute to him. i was so impressed with stephanie and rob's family, and how strong they all seemed to be. it was a tearful funeral, but one filled with many laughs as well. you could truly feel the spirit, and there was such peace. we love you all.

and to end on a happier note, some photos...

mailie is my cuddly child. i love it.

story: abigail came into our bed in the middle of the night. we took her back. later on she came inside again. josh's solution...to sleep in her bed. complete with the doll ;)

a rare moment to get abigail to cuddle with one of us long enough to get a photo.

and if this isn't a fabulous outfit, i don't know what is.

all smiles.

love those big bright eyes

Transiberian Concert...

2012-01-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

for christmas, josh surprised me with tickets to Transiberian Orchestra. i was pretty stoked. i've always loved their music and talent and could listen to them continuously. we went a few years ago and seeing it in person is outstanding. the music fills you up; you can feel every note in your chest.

needless to say, i was thrilled to be going again! and the second time around did not disappoint. i leave this concert feeling like i can rock out just as much as they can ;) i wish i was even close to being as talented on my violin as their violinist is.

miss mailie. her first concert, and she did AWESOME!!!! she was awake for the first couple of songs, bug eyed with all the lights and lasers. but she slept for nearly the entire concert, and we didn't have to get up once. thank heavens we had these 180's and ear plugs for her, because i had forgotten just how loud this concert was.

this woman's voice was incredible. so smooth and powerful. i know, it's not like you can see her, but you can look up the orchestra if you care.

again, you can't see him, but his name is Jeff, and he has the best, strong, scratchy voice. he's my favorite singer of the orchestra. i'm sure Brad knows who i am talking about.

we got a lot of looks with mailie. many who were saying how cute she was, especially with the muffs. and i'm sure others were thinking, "why do you have a baby here!". but we made sure to keep our baby's ears protected, and if they come from my womb, they are bound to love this music ;)

the show was wonderful, and i highly suggest to you all that you go see it. or at least buy the cd's and blast it in your living room and car. unless you don't appreciate good music ;) i could go every year.

thank you

a big thanks to Jennifer for watching Abigail and having "tea time" with her!!

Read this...

2012-01-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

if you feel like laughing...

read HERE.

josh and i thoroughly enjoyed it.

and then read the second conversation

HERE.

christmas time...(picture overload)

2012-01-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

we went to idaho for christmas this year, and it was wonderful. a very relaxed few days.

the girls traveled wonderfully, weather was great (clean air! dang you slc air), and everything went smoothly.

pre-christmas.

sisterly love.

cookie decorating. do this with your kids, its very enjoyable :)

i made these stockings. i'm very happy with them, but i still need to personalize them. i'll get there.

abigail was very excited about putting her "tree star" on top of the tree.

christmas eve.

writing santa a letter.

and sending it to him through the fireplace.

cookies and milk for santa. carrots for the reindeer. roca for the elves. the first thing abigail did christmas morning was check to make sure these treats were gone. she was so excited.

christmas day.

we went to my brothers ward. my sister in law put together a beautiful program, and we got to witness my nephew, ryan, receiving the priesthood! i can't believe he is a young man now. he is one of the sweetest 12 year old boys you could ever meet.

abigail is very happy and in love with this kitchen/baking/tea set. plus it's wonderful for me. not only because it keeps her entertained, but i love "baking" with her and having "tea time" with my little girl.

be prepared to have your heart melt my friends...

and there is more where that came from on our facebook page, so scroll on over if you desire. she's a super smiley baby.

i think we have some super cute girls :)

look how ginormous those bloomers are on mailie. she looks a bit like an elf here, and i love it.

twin cousins reunited. three years old. seeing them play together makes us miss idaho. perhaps we should move back. :)

mailie was quite content in the stocking. geez, i love my babies.

post christmas.

abigail went atv'ing, and loved it. especially getting to go on her own.

let's take a second to admire josh's combo of bball shorts and cowboy boots shall we ;)

trampoline time with nanna. another "missing idaho" moment. just time spent with family is wonderful.

many attempts to get a quick family photo before going back to slc. we'll get there :)

once we got back we saw the temple lights. abigail would go to the temple every day if she could, she gets very excited each time we drive by and go there.

and i thought it would be best to end our post with this cute photo.

thank you cousin kaylee for the sweet sock monkey hat. abigail loves it!

i hope you all had a wonderful christmas and have a happy new year :)

josh started off 2012 by waking up sick:( so a bummer for him. here's hoping he doesn't pass it on to us.

Mailie's Blessing...

2011-12-29T13:47:00.001-07:00

On Christmas Eve Josh blessed Mailie Ryan. Like Abigail, we had her blessed at my parents home in Meridian. It was nice to gather together and share such a special moment with our family at home.

I am very grateful and comforted to have a husband who is a worthy Priesthood holder and can bless our two beautiful girls.

Mailie Ryan, she looked so adorable in her outfit. I wish I could have her dress in my size.

My mom made another beautiful (very soft) blessing blanket. We are lucky girls. I would not have been able to make what she has for our babies.Thank you, Mom!

Thank you to my family for coming! I know it was a busy day; being Christmas Eve and all. We really appreciate you all being there. And of course missed those who are living far away (TX, MO, and WY) and understandably could not be there.

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-23T13:00:00.001-07:00

let's compare.

2011-12-20T16:25:00.004-07:00

so. occasionally they can look identical; like when mailie makes a facial expression that i remember on abigail.

most of the time though, we see a different baby, and i think that's because we're her parents. whereas i am guessing most of you will think they look identical.

they both have insanely long eye lashes, button noses, and blue eyes. i am curious if either one of them will end up getting green eyes like me one day. i'm not sure what age i was when mine changed. abigail was born with dark hair, whereas mailie is blond.

personality wise. abigail never stopped moving, she was like the energizer bunny and wanted to run from the moment she came out. if she wasn't swinging, she was being walked or bounced around...moving, moving, moving. while mailie is certainly not a dead fish or anything, but she seems content with just relaxing and lying around. this is very helpful since we also have abigail to take care of as well.

they both have the same voice and cry, strong. they know how to be heard ;)

neither one of them are/were floppy. you hold them up and they are as stiff as a board.

we make ourselves some strong and determined babies :)

and both have been wonderful sleepers, which is magnificent. let's keep that up!

it'll be fun to continue to see the similarities and differences between these two.

Mailie Abigail

Mailie

Abigail

Mailie

Abigail

Mailie

and just for kicks:

baby Josh

baby Meagan

Expelliarmus...

2011-12-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

like i have mentioned, abigail loves harry potter, which i didn't expect from a three year old. she even has some spells she likes to shout out, and carries around her "wand".

so the other day abigail was not pleased with us, i can't even remember what was going on. she wasn't upset or throwing a tantrum, she just didn't agree with what it was we said she couldn't do, or said "no" to. so what was her solution?....

...well she walked up to both of us, wand in hand, and shouted out, "expelliarumus!"

and i'm pretty sure she thinks something is happening with her wand when she does these "spells";)

i honestly didn't know whether i should laugh, or sit her down and tell her that it isn't nice to cast spells, because the look in her eyes said to us, "i mean business and i'm going to curse you" ;) she's three, and though she understands pretend, i'm not sure she's old enough to get that the things that happen in harry potter are impossible.

in the end, i totally laughed, but i tried not to let her see. silly girl.

sweet girls...

2011-12-08T11:33:00.001-07:00

mailie.

she is a content baby. granted she is not even three weeks old, so she sleeps most of her life, but she doesn't really get too fussy about things. and she's been a great sleeper, which we greatly appreciate. both of our babies have been good sleepers, bless their souls. but of course now that i've said that out loud, i've jinxed it ;)

relaxed, as usual.

she is also a smiley baby. melts my heart. but seriously this girl looks like this often. i love it! this photo makes her look like a chunk :)

and the dimple. oh how i love that dimple! it appears when she cries and yawns, and it makes me smile.

mailie has a hernia in or under her belly button i guess. thankfully it's nothing to worry about, but it can take a year to go away. so sometimes it makes her belly button kind of go up like a dome. i'm not really sure how to explain it. perhaps i should get a photo.

she is looking perfectly healthy :)

abigail.

she was ecstatic about getting a christmas tree; also known as "santa's tree". and i was excited about taking her and letting her pick one out. she couldn't wait to get it decorated and put a "tree star" (Land Before Time reference) on top.

while waiting to pick up our family photos, abigail decided to get some reading in :)

at the Pancake House (her favorite breakfast place). she wanted glasses like harry potter...this girl loves harry potter.

abigail is so sweet with mailie. she calls her "sweetheart" and "honey", tells her how much she loves her, and loves to give her "soft" kisses and hugs. she's also very gentle with her and very helpful. though i wouldn't leave abigail with her to babysit, i do feel safe leaving a room, because abigail is very careful with her.

i have been asked to do a comparison post with pics of both girls as babies. i will be getting to that shortly :)

our family of four...

2011-12-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

on monday, we got our family pictures taken, and we are in love with them. these two girls are beautiful and perfect, and make our family complete.

some of them look smaller, but you can click on them to enlarge.

oh my sweet angel, abigail. she was having so much fun posing, and i loved watching every moment of it.

and seeing these photos of my girls made me giddy. josh and i could not stop smiling and staring at them.

come on...how sweet is this!!!??

my cute baby, mailie. she did a great job and was pretty content during the photos.

we have two beautiful angels :)

courtesy: FotoFly

Mailie's Birth Story...

2011-11-30T18:22:00.002-07:00

Well, we arrived at the hospital, and I pushed out a baby. And honestly, I feel like that's all I need to really write because it went that quickly! But that wouldn't be much fun to read, would it? ;)

So Sunday afternoon (day before my midwife wanted me to come in for another nst, and decide if I wanted my water broken or not), I started to have contractions that made me say, "hey, MAYBE, just maybe these could be real labor contractions". But I didn't want to get my hopes up, so I just relaxed and hung out with Abigail. Josh meanwhile went into "nesting mode" and got the place looking great :)
The contractions were sporadic, some stronger then others. This is how they were for Abigail as well. I didn't really bother timing them because I just knew I would go to the hospital once I couldn't talk through a contraction; like last time. And I still didn't want to get my hopes up that this was actually happening! At around 6pm or something, we had dinner with my family, and then I decided to make cookies. At this point I was pretty sure this was labor, but I could handle the contractions just fine, so I assumed we still had hours to go before needing to make a hospital trip. I did make sure we had our bags ready to go though.
At some point after 8pm I was in my room and had a good, strong contraction and felt pressure. I came out and told Josh and my mom that I THINK we might consider going and getting checked. But I didn't want to go in too early because I had no desire to just hang out at the hospital forever.
After a couple more contractions and still feeling that familiar 'need to push out a baby' pressure, I decided to just go get checked, thinking we could just come back home if needed. I was still feeling really good though, and having normal conversation, so I really thought we had hours left.
We said goodbye to Abigail, which went well because she was just excited about the idea of us leaving to have Mailie :)
I kind of kept laughing at this point because of the situation. Standing outside of the car having a contraction wondering if my neighbors would walk out and see my doing my contraction dance. I got into the back of the car to make sure I was comfortable in case another came, laughing at the fact that people who were seeing us on the road had to know what was going when a woman is hugging the back of her seat, swaying back and forth. It was really a nice calm drive to the hospital, I only had one contraction so that was nice, and the roads were clear. We stopped at a convenience store to get a newspaper from Sunday in case this was the day she was born, and an energy drink for Josh for what we thought was a long night ahead.
We arrived at the hospital sometime after 9pm. I had one contraction outside of the hospital where I needed Josh's help with pressure on my back. Of course that made me laugh again at the situation; I was just so happy I was actually in labor and that Mailie was coming on her own! A police officer took us upstairs to L&D and I told them I just wanted to be checked. Once we got to the room we waited for the nurse to arrive, and I just did my "labor dance", if you will. If I just walked around, and did kind of a hula move, that seemed to do the trick through the contractions. I also could feel if I squatted a little bit that it was bringing her down. Yep, don't know how to explain that one, but perhaps some of you know what I mean.
When the nurse checked me I was a 5 1/2, 0 stage (you want to be at a 2 to push), and my water was apparently ready to burst. So with Abigail I was a 5 when I checked in and had her 4 hours later, I figured we still had a few hours left.
So the nurse called to have the midwife come in, and we just stood around really, talking and relaxing for the most part. I was waiting for transition, because I knew once I hit that, then we'd be close. But when the midwife arrived and checked me (10:09pm) I had jumped to 8cm, and completely effaced. I couldn't believe it, because I was still feeling really strong. I was waiting for the, "I am crazy for doing this feeling", which is generally at 7cm (transition).
So at this point the midwife said we could break my water and I would most likely be pushing pretty quickly; I wasn't sure if I was ready to do this yet, but after a couple more contractions I told her we could go ahead and do it.
Josh was just sitting on the couch, and he and I were talking about how we clearly had a few hours left still because I was still having normal conversation. But Mailie had us fooled.

Another contraction started, and I told Josh to get behind me and put pressure on my back. And as it got stronger I could feel if I just squatted a bit and pushed that my water would break. Again, I have no idea how to explain the feeling, but I have to say, it was pretty awesome being able to feel all of this going on and knowing what was happening :)
So as I gave a little push, POP, my water went splashing, and I felt Josh jump back as it splashed all over his legs ;) I could feel her coming, and I immediately got on the bed and just started pushing like crazy. Josh grabbed my hand and said, "there's her head babe, you're almost there"...seriously? I just started pushing, how are we almost there? The midwife asked me to try to stop pushing so she could put some kind of ointment on me to prevent tearing as much as possible since she was basically shooting out of me. I was able to kind of stop for a few seconds, but then a contraction hit again and there was no way I wasn't pushing again. The best thing was having Josh's voice right at my head, cheering me on. That is the biggest comfort when dealing with that "ring of fire".
Yep, seriously, 2 pushes in 3 minutes, and Mailie was out! And I was in shock. I mean, some how I just walked into the hospital and had a baby in an hour. How did that happen? I had joked about how wonderful that would be, but so unlikely since it feels like that kind of stuff never happens to you. And yet, there we were, holding our new baby girl, with a perfect round head since she gave no time for it to be squished. Thank heavens I at least put my swim skirt on because I hadn't even gotten undressed yet. I still had three layers on up top.
I was laughing afterwards when they told me how quickly it went. I knew it had gone fast, but with all the commotion and the fact that I was pushing through that lovely ring of fire, I did not think it had gone that fast. I'm still in shock really.
I felt really strong through it all, and I don't know if that's just because I had done it before, or if it's because of the labor moves I was doing, or what.. Don't get me wrong, it was still work, and there was still 'pain' involved, it's not easy. But it didn't seem as hard this time. Not having coupling contractions this time did help as well. I'd say the pushing seemed more painful this time, where as with Abigail's I thought the contractions were more painful then pushing.
I asked the midwife when I was in transition, and she told me it was when I met her. I couldn't believe it, because when I hit transition with Abigail, I was definitely thinking, "I'm so crazy for doing this right now", and then that passed and it was pushing time. So I couldn't believe I didn't have that feeling this time around.

So there is our crazy birth story. When they tell you that the second births go faster, they mean it! I'm just grateful we went to the hospital when we did, because otherwise we could have had her in the car, and I'm very grateful that did not happen.

She's still full of 11's. 11th grandchild born in the 11th month, in 2011, and she was 11 days late. ;)

The nurse wrote down our stats on the sheet of my contractions.

heading to the hospital :)

attractive photo of me? no. but I thought it illustrated my "how did this just happen so quickly?" feelings well ;)

proud father and hero husband. seriously, josh is an amazing and perfect labor and delivery supporter/team mate. i'm a grateful and lucky woman :)

after her first bath.

i love finger holding photos

her nails were pretty crazy long

our family of four!

sisters! yes, she loves her, and she is a great helper. very gentle and loving with her. and thanks to the influence of Lion King, she actually "roared" at her when she first met her. because that's what they do when mufasa presents simba to the animals.

cuddling with babies is fantastic.

heading home. i was very happy to be going home to sleep in my own bed and eat my own yummy food.

going home outfit. love. of course we had to have leggings for the girl :)

Just a few photos. I have many more I want to post, but after writing this all out, I am ready to get off of the computer. So I will get things organized and post more later :) Plus we got family pics taken on Monday, so I am excited to post those!

She's here!!!

2011-11-26T17:29:00.012-07:00

Even though Josh announced her birth on Facebook so you all probably know, I still had to make her announcement post as well :)

She is here and oh so perfect :)

Mailie Ryan

November 20, 2011

10:16 pm

7 lbs 14 oz

20 1/2 inches

And she came on her own!!
More photos and birth story to come. But right now we are relaxing and enjoying our two beautiful girls.

a holiday to plan...

2011-11-14T16:20:00.002-07:00

okay so i am just 5 days past my original due date, and 3 days past the due date based off of the ultra sound. my midwife also pointed out that since i have a 28-31 day cycle, that could change things as well. plus i have been measuring smaller and either losing or not gaining weight the past month or so. the most i have gained has been .4, so i am guessing the little one might just need more time to plump up. of course now that i say that i'm sure i'll be delivering a gigantic baby ;)

anyways. i actually feel pretty normal, anxious as all get up, but physically i feel the same as i have the past few weeks, so that's no biggie.

that being said, this year thanksgiving will be at our place and i would really appreciate her coming asap so i am not waddling around on thanksgiving day still feeling the healing process ;) i mean, if she chooses to come 2 weeks late from the original due date, that puts us at just 1 day before the holiday...no thank you. i need to be a good hostess! josh and i love cooking the turkey together, and we make a great team, so no matter what i'm helping out. but boy oh boy i hope she gives me at least a weeks recovery time. we're only 14 days from the day as it is!

of course i know the rest of my family will be a great help, but it is just not my personality to let everyone do the work while in my own home :)

so let's do this thing, mailie!

due date #1...

2011-11-10T16:42:00.003-07:00

this is my 40 week and 1 day photo. yesterday was due date #1. apparently according to the ultra sound i am due tomorrow, 11/11/11. but based off of cycle i was due yesterday. josh and i kind of think the "due date" should be called the "start date" or something. it's the day you start waiting to have the baby. because so many act like you SHOULD have had the baby by the due date, but we should all understand by now it's an estimate, and it's totally normal to go to 40 weeks :) you should have seen the faces of three complete strangers today who asked when i was due and acted like i was crazy for now having her by now. ;)
so here we are, trying to patiently wait. i am completely okay with her coming late, the only thing that makes me nervous is the later she is, the closer i get to the dreaded "we might need to induce" talk. and that is something i am NOT interested in. but, i am feeling pretty good about her coming on her own and avoiding that talk. for now anyways ;) at least i feel good for the most part.
so today we had a nice relaxing family day by taking abigail to discovery gateway and then ice skating. she has been asking to go skating for quite awhile now and trying to convince us that she sees ice outside so she can go :) thankfully, gallavin opened up yesterday so we were able to take her before mailie arrived, and had the place to ourselves. i do look forward to actually being able to participate with her in a couple of months though. she loved it of course. and i was impressed with how well she handled walking in them.

thanks to veterans day, we get another family day, which is nice to just have these relaxing days as the three of us :)
and now it's time for me to do some 'hands and knees' to keep this baby anterior ;)

a random post...

2011-11-07T08:22:00.002-07:00

well, in just 2 days i will have hit "due date" #1. and i honestly have no guesses as to when she'll come, but i do think she'll be here by the end of the week. however, i also had a feeling the entire pregnancy that she would be here early, and that didn't happen. as well as for some reason november 2nd, was in my head for awhile, and that didn't happen either. so all "mothers intuition" went out the window for me.
josh says she's coming on the 9th. i don't really think that will happen because only 5% of women deliver on their due dates...unless they were induced then i'm sure the percentage goes up. we shall see. i feel emotionally ready now. i no longer look at abigail and have to fight back tears because it will no longer be just us ;)
i am hoping she doesn't make me wait 2 weeks past the due date, but my midwife said that would be highly unlikely since abigail was only a day late. we shall see.

anyways. i wanted to post a couple pictures.
we got a box of this cereal that had those marshmallows in it...quite a treat in this home. and josh and i walked out to see this...

abigail had poured it all out and picked out all of the marshmallows. josh's reply to me, "i want to be disappointed, but we all did that as kids"...and he's totally right :)

next.
while waiting for abigail's bunk beds to arrive, we had her sleep on her mattress against the floor. we had taken her other bed down because we thought the bunks were coming earlier. i felt bad because she did not like this sleeping situation. anyways, this is how i discovered her one night...

i am not sure how she was comfortable, though i guess kids are happy in any position. her bunk beds did arrive soon after, and this child loves, loves, loves them. especially "the tall one". she loves sleeping up top.

next.
i made these last month for the girls i visit teach. i was proud of myself. :)

next.
i'm not sure this photo does it justice. i found it online, hence the blacked out faces so someone doesn't get mad at me. but really, this pizza is massive. 23" massive. the other night josh was gone for some reason, and i had mentioned that pizza sounded good. a little while later i hear the doorbell, and the pizza guy had this giant thing for me. i had to laugh at the size of this beast. and if you're wondering if we finished it, good heavens no :)
it makes for a great party pizza though. we need to order another one sometime so i can get a good photo of it.

and that's it for now. nothing too exciting. just playing the waiting game...anxiously. we are as ready as we can be, and i have cleaned and cleaned and cleaned enough ;)
i am curious if once i have mailie, if abigail will still think that mailie is inside her belly. i love how she has us "feel her kick" as she sucks her belly in quickly, and looks at us with excitement :)

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T08:30:00.001-06:00

having Abigail has definitely made me much more excited about halloween. i love it.

this girl was ecstatic about her dress and of course the hair. i get giddy just looking at her in this.

years ago i found this idea for a pregnant lady and her man, and i told josh we had to do it if i was ever pregnant during halloween. so i'm happy we got to do it, and it was insanely easy to put together.

this was at our yf activity. everyone dressed up. good food, good conversation, good night. although children are invited, we had abigail hang out with our friends (thank you lindsey!) so josh and i could have a date night before mailie arrives. as you parents know, it was really nice to just hang out and relax without worry. and abigail was insanely excited about going over to the stobbe's and watching Tangled with lindsey, so it was a great night for all :)

we did find there was one flaw...trying to sit ;) and bend over.

and now for my favorite part. abigail and trick or treating!
i was crazy excited about taking abigail out because this was our first year doing so. last year we had a halloween party and we figured what 2 year old would really understand it anyways. i was curious how this year would go, but she caught on in about a second and was seriously running to each home, yelling "trick or treat!", and even buttering up ladies to give her one more piece ;) there were a few homes that she some how past by the owner and walked right into their home, one of them being because she heard a dog, and another because they had a cat. they were sweet enough to let her hang out with their pets for a bit :)

we had such a fun time, and i was giddy just watching her. she was very happy to show everyone her long golden hair and the flowers. again, halloween rocks with children!
the neighborhood is wonderful and gets into it, and we had ward members roasting hot dogs for people, another passing out cider and cookies, and another letting you roast s'mores. it was awesome!
all the walking definitely got those contractions moving, so here's hoping they did some good ;)

love this photo of my man and my little rapunzel

i love being able to have a 'mommy & daughter' trick or treating photo :)

i just love seeing this little body with crazy long hair running through the yard

a dog was barking, so she was howling back at it

stopping off to roast some marshmallows

good night folks!

and here is that tiny pumpkin i posted about earlier.

the announcements

2011-10-28T10:48:00.003-06:00

i thought i would post how i told josh i was pregnant, as well as how we announced it to my family.

first, i made this video for josh. i really thought once he started watching it he would get why i made it. so i was pleased once i realized he had no clue until the actual 'announcement' on the video :)

and this is how we told my family. thankfully everyone for the most part was in town for the park's sealing, so that was great timing. we turned this photo into a puzzle, and my mom gave everyone their pieces and they did it together. she had told them it was a family thing, so i don't think anyone was suspicious until they noticed it was a picture of just abigail ;)

in case it's difficult to read. it reads...

"11/11/11. I will have some competition. Wish 'um luck!"

Revised:
Just a little background or reminder of the baby in the above photo. That is the same baby I used in the announcement below. I created it using our baby pictures when I announced to Josh that I was pregnant with Abigail. I think we make a pretty adorable combined baby ;)

a little break down...

2011-10-24T21:04:00.001-06:00

oh dear. for the past many months i have avoided thinking about, "these are the last months/weeks/days of just abigail and me"...I have avoided this for two reasons. 1) i knew i would cry uncontrollably if i did think about it. 2) i figured what's the point in thinking about it when it's just going to stress me out and i knew once mailie arrived it would feel like a knew perfect world anyways.

last night however i could not stop myself from thinking about it, and i did exactly what i thought i would. broke down crying uncontrollably.

i am just having the hardest time thinking about dropping abigail off on our way to the hospital. i am stressing about it because i feel like i will probably bawl my eyes out leaving her, because i know when she sees me again, her life will be forever changed from that moment, as well as our lives. also if i have to drop her off at night, it'll be the first time not being with her at night. i know these things are probably silly to worry about, considering is 100% understand that abigail will be great and adjust just fine, as well as i know i will be ecstatic to have these two girls in my life and not feel like "dang, i wish it was just abigail and i again". i truly understand this, but the real fact is that it hasn't happened yet, so all i can think about it what life is like now, and that's abigail and me at home, hanging out together, just the two of us, and then just the three of us when josh is home...and it's wonderful and perfect.
understand that i never felt like something was missing once abigail entered our lives. life felt perfect with just her, and i was not that woman who ever got "baby hungry". i kept waiting for that moment, but i truly was and still am completely content with just her. it took me awhile to make the decision that i was ready for another child because i kept feeling uneasy about the idea of it not being the three of us anymore and i wasn't ready for that change. and heavenly father wasn't telling me it was time, so i felt no pressure. once that feeling went away, i knew i was ready to start trying. but even then it was more "i want another baby so abigail has a sibling. but it took me feeling mailie kicking to finally think of her as "my baby" rather then "abigail's sibling". this isn't to say that i am not insanely anxious to meet mailie, or not already in love with her. of course i am. after having a child i now understand that 'instant falling in love' feeling, which is why i have never worried about loving another child as much as the first.

today, i feel better. i think i just needed a good cry. i think it's just the realization that mailie will be here very, very soon, as in less then a month, especially since contractions have already made their appearance in this home. so i feel like every day needs to be the perfect day in case it's the last day as just the three of us.
oh i'm also nervous about abigail looking all grown up with having a newborn around. because i need her to stay my baby as well. i'm a mess. possibly too attached in some people's eyes, but so be it.
i need to just keep focusing on how wonderful it will be to see the two of them together.
i know this post was a lot of rambling, might not make sense. i'm not even taking the time to proof read it, so it might be filled with mistakes. but this was one of those "i just need to write things down" days. so here it is. now, it's time to breath. i think i need some yoga.

pumpkin patch time...

2011-10-19T09:15:00.001-06:00

last year we found this pumpkin patch farm, Mabey's Pumpkin Patch. it's in south jordan off of s.jordan pkwy in case you are interested. we loved it last year and got an amazing deal, so we figured we'd go back this year. we were not disappointed. though it was sad to see so many destroyed pumpkins due to the crazy weather. i have felt badly for the farmers this year. anyways...abigail was ecstatic about getting pumpkins and had been talking about it for awhile, so when we rolled up, she was ready to run out there and start picking.
i was impressed because she did not just grab every pumpkin, oh no, she knew what she wanted, and had her eye out for whatever was the "right" one in her eyes. that being said...we left there with 28 pumpkins. all different shapes, sizes, and colors. josh found the cutest, tiniest, baby pumpkin i have ever seen. about the size of a silver dollar. and when it's tiny, i instantly love it.

she was very determined to to pull the wagon all by herself without any help in any way. we actually quite enjoyed that because it allowed us to just relax ;)

see that puppy filling up? plenty more to be thrown in there.

and one very happy girl with her wagon full of pumpkins ready to be loaded up and taken home.

i know, 28 seems ridiculous right? however, they make wonderful decor, and we will enjoy carving them together and making a mess with her. and all of them together were only $20 so we are feeling pretty great about that.

the owners there are just plain sweet and welcoming. and not in a cheesy "come give me money" kind of way. it feels very genuine. and they really give you a great deal. highly recommend them.

closing in on 37...

2011-10-17T10:48:00.002-06:00

this is my 36 week photo. closing in on 37 weeks along, so approx. 3 weeks to go! which means i need to be prepared for 1 week to 5 weeks. my midwife said it would be rare for me to go 2 weeks late, but they'll at least let me go over that long before they start talking intervention...which would be a bummer, but i'm optimistic that won't happen.
i'm measuring a bit small, or more mailie is measuring a bit small i guess. nothing to worry about, she just said it means mailie will probably be a 7 pounder. seeing as abigail was only 18 inches, i am thinking i just make shorter babies. a) i don't think i have much room in there for the child to get too long. b) josh and i aren't exactly on the tall end of the spectrum.
everything is looking good and healthy, and i have definitely hit that glorious face swelling period of which i love ;) thank heavens for nursing soon ;)
some things i have learned about my last pregnancy vs this one. first of all mailie has been in the anterior position which has proven to be quite nice. abigail was posterior, which gave me quite a bit of back pain, and also equaled back labor. this is also why my belly button never popped out with abigail's ;) where as with mailie it is pretty much always out because her bottom is right up against it, and i have had very little back pain. soooo, here's hoping i don't get back labor this time!
something i wasn't prepared for with the second pregnancy was the tremendous amount of guilt for your first child. i feel like i have a handicap and have to always tell her "mommy can't do that sweetheart", or "honey that hurts mommy, please be careful", etc. it's a bummer not being able to roll, jump, and run around with her. it's also a bit depressing that she has had to see my throwing up so often, and runs to josh to say "mommy is a bit sick daddy".
however, the perks are having abigail with me at the appointments soooo excited about seeing the doctor, and hearing the heartbeat. she always lets abigail help her find the heartbeat, and feel where her head is, which is heaven for abigail.
and like last night, after family prayer, abigail hugged my belly tight and gave it a kiss, saying "i love you mailie". or the fact that sometimes magically mailie is in abigail's tummy, and she has me feel her kicking :) these moments are pretty wonderful.
it's hard to believe we're here again, anticipating 'when will labor begin', 'when will she decide to come'...etc etc.
and even though i have done it naturally now, i am more nervous this time around then i was with abigail. however, i am still excited and anxious for that part. this time around i can say "you know you can do this meagan, you've done it!", and i really know that once i've hit the hardest part, that means it's almost over.
i am most nervous about saying goodbye to abigail when we head to the hospital...i think i might be a wreck. the thought of looking at her for the last time as my only child, as i leave to go bring another baby into this world and into her life. she's just been our entire world and has made us feel absolutely complete. i know once mailie arrives, we'll feel even more complete all over again. i am not nervous about not loving mailie as much as abigail, because that's just silly to me to think that way, of course i'll love her just as much. i am mainly nervous about abigail feeling neglected. i know she will be crazy about mailie and excited to have her around, but i don't want her to feel like she is not getting attention from me.
and these are things i pretty much avoid thinking about because i know it'll just depress me, so rather i focus on the exciting parts. all of us meeting mailie :) and so help me she better come out a "she" because i don't know how to handle a surprise like that ;)

time to go "nest"

"I'm coming Motherrrrrr"

2011-10-11T08:49:00.010-06:00

it is that phrase i hear nearly every morning, along with many other quotes from Tangled. Abigail LOVES that movie. i love hearing her sing the songs, and quote the movie, it's adorable. and each morning she comes into our room, pretends to throw her hair over the bed, aka: the "tower" and pull Mother up, while saying "Rapunzel, let down your hair"..."i'm coming Mother!". it's purely awesome. and so naturally, that was the "theme" of her birthday. nanna and grandpa were able to be here thanks to conference weekend, so that was a special treat for the birthday girl.

i made her this...and i can not explain to you how in love with this "hair" she is. she wants to wear it always, and you can see the happiness in this child's eyes as she just stares at herself in the mirror.

we didn't go with the theme for the food. instead we went with abigail's favorite foods,which are: spaghetti, mac & cheese, green salad with balsamic vinaigrette...yeah, you read that right, and edamame. and josh and i couldn't be more proud of this girls taste buds :)
we also included jello popcorn, because i wanted an excuse to have some. that stuff is way too easy to keep eating by the way.

abigail had been anticipating her cupcakes for quite some time. it's the first thing that got spoken about when her birthday was brought up, as well as the singing of "happy birthday".

and she was just as excited about singing the song to herself as having everyone else sing it.

this gift has been a blessing. we knew we wanted something musical for abigail to start with. she has a small violin, but i'm still feeling like she is a bit young, and she loves the piano every time we see one. she loves playing it daily, and i love the time it allows me to get house work accomplished.

and plenty of 'blowing out candle' photos.

on her actual birthday...
she requested the Original Pancake House for breakfast, where she specifically wanted eggs, bacon, and cocoa. sadly i forgot my camera, so all i have is this phone pic of her with her delicious cocoa. she was very content.

we had a nice day as a family just relaxing. unfortunately there was some blasted winter weather, and we got our first snow (thankfully just in the mountains pretty much). i tried to stay positive for my child's sake. but i was missing boise weather that day.
so josh drove us up to the mountains, and she was pretty dang excited about seeing the snow, and very happy about being able to throw snow balls.
we didn't get to do the outdoor things we had planned, but thankfully a 3 year old doesn't really care and is willing to put those things off for a few days ;)

as i had mentioned, we took abigail to the Sweet Tooth Fairy to pick out a cupcake. again, very happy about her birthday dessert and the song.

and these next four pictures are a story...
we had had plenty of goodies, so we told abigail she could have a couple of bites, and then it was time for bed and she could have the rest the next day...
she enjoyed that bite...

and then she realized what was about to happen and protected that cupcake...

then realizing daddy was coming, she stuffed as much in her mouth as quickly as possible...

we were both impressed with the amount she was able to consume so quickly ;)

she is very happy about telling everyone she is 3 now and i think josh and i are still in disbelief of that fact. we are pretty wicked excited about her going to primary in january though and being a sunbeam! as well as 3 seems to be the age you can start getting them involved in certain activities, so that will be fun. she's adorable, she's happy, she's healthy, and she is a sweet angel whom we are completely infatuated and in love with. we are one lucky couple :)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Abigail!!!!!

2011-10-06T23:37:00.003-06:00

I can't believe 3 years ago I had her.

and looking at this made me tear up. Looking at her in bed tonight, thinking about the fact that she is somehow 3 years old, I cried. Look at how tiny she was!!!

and now, still outrageously adorable and sweet, she is growing up too quickly for me.
we had her party on Sunday, which I will post about later. Today was just the three of us, and I will also post about that later.
But here she is picking out her very own cupcake from Sweet Tooth Fairy. She was very excited about seeing the "tooth fairy" and picking a blue cupcake.

and one shot from after the gift opening. the girl loves her monkeys.

we had a wonderful day as a family, and we are and probably will be in awe that she is growing up for the rest of our lives. Time goes by way too fast everyone, so love every single moment and don't wish for them to grow too quickly. it's a bit depressing ;) but of course, we love every new age, and that sweet sweet smile and laugh.
Happy Birthday my angel. We love you!!!

my 30 year old hunk...

2011-09-27T08:15:00.000-06:00

through our years together.

on the 24th, josh moved into a new decade. hard to believe i met him as a young(er) 22, basically 23 year old. he's still lookin mighty fine though :)

josh does not care about his birthday, and when i say he doesn't care, it really means just that. there just isn't a single oz of emotion, happy or sad, towards his birthday. i think this might be typical of males, though i have to say, josh seems even more uncaring then most. but i still love my hunky man, and tried to focus on giving him a relaxing 'just about him' day, all without making "too big of a deal" about it ;)
thankfully the excitement of a certain nearly 3 year old girl helped out a bit ;) abigail had been going on and on about birthday cake/dessert, presents, blowing out candles, and singing 'happy birthday' for awhile now:)

it was a nice family day together; which are kind of perfect and wonderful for us. and i am now married to a 30 year old, which is still pretty young in my book. happy birthday babe!

33 weeks...

2011-09-22T12:01:00.002-06:00

as of tuesday i hit 33 weeks. and although to some 7 weeks might sound like i still have plenty of time, i am feeling like there isn't much time at all. this is partly due to the craziness going on around here. i've got josh's birthday this weekend, then a young families activity the day after, then my parents are potentially coming next weekend, of which we will have a small party for abigail's birthday during that time, then we have abigail's actual birthday, which means we are just a few days away from the 4 week countdown, and there is still all the mailie prep to get handled.
to add to what feels like pressure to me, mailie has been acting like she is in a bigger hurry then i am, which makes me a tad nervous. so now i feel like we need to be prepared for an early arrival. of course she might come late, but i need to "be prepared, be prepared, always be prepared!"
i'm pretty positive i will not get around to making crib bedding, and will probably just buy one. we need to get all of abigail's baby clothes out, because yes, i kept every single piece of clothing (other then horribly stained ones), not because i was preparing for a second, but because i am emotionally attached to everything about her ;)
i have an appointment with my midwife next tuesday, and then we're down to the appointments every week! that just adds to pressure for me because it will make it go by even faster.
so while i am pretty dang excited to meet mailie, and especially see abigail with her little sister, i would really appreciate it if she didn't make too early of an entrance into this world. just give me time little one :)

still feeling really good though!

a family vacation!!!

2011-09-16T10:52:00.011-06:00

this was absolutely a much needed vacation for our family! josh came home on a friday and said "pack up, we're leaving." hallelujah! we had a whole week to do as we wanted. we left monday morning for yellowstone with no worries, no time constraints. just driving and arriving when WE wanted to. we spent the drive talking and laughing the whole time. it's funny how the moment you leave for a trip, all your stress washes away and you can just relax and have fun.
abigail did AMAZING with the whole trip. she never complained about being in her car seat for hours on end. we figured she would need to get out and stretch her legs, but she was perfectly content with her coloring, reading, snacks, and singing her heart out. bless her soul.
definitely needed that tourist photo of arriving to yellowstone...however, we forgot to do that on the way in, so this was actually on our way home.

setting up the tent. josh was very excited about this new tent he bought, and i have to admit it is delightful. it's a rectangle, not a dome, all the walls are 90 degrees, so you can stand up straight in the whole thing. very happy with it.

hanging out around camp. she was very happy about her own chair.

playing some soccer.

plenty of delicious food. courtesy of my man. i fully believe in big filling breakfasts while camping. not just a bagel. and cocoa is always a must as well. :)

roasting hot dogs over a fire is also another camping must.

seeing the sites.
as you can see, abigail was thrilled about old faithful

i love this pic. this is just after an emergency pull over bathroom break.

up to see some mud pots. a good daddy, carrying up abigail in her stroller up the endless steps.

a couple animals. we did not see much, but enough to keep abigail happy at least.
these two beasts look like they are in charge of their kind.

and there was plenty of exploring for abigail. just like her daddy, she seems fascinated with what's going on beneath the dirt.
however, she has grown some kind of fear of flies in the past couple of days, which is equally sad and kind of funny.

abigail was ecstatic about sleeping in the tent, building fires, seeing animals, and running around like a hobbit without shoes. she was very happy at the campsite.
now i know, i am just 8 weeks away from having a baby, so camping might sound crazy. but dang it, i have been wanting to camp as a family for the past few years, so i didn't care how crazy it sounded. did i sleep great, of course not, that was not expected, but i still had a blast and i was just happy to be taking a break together as a family!

once we got home, we felt like abigail deserved a reward of continual playtime just for her. i mean, she really was amazing during the trip, of which we felt like was more for us then her.
so we took her to the zoo, wheeler farm, and water fun.

we need to come up with a winter swimming solution, because she could really be in the water daily.

very happy about flying this plane. she also rode the ferris wheel for the first time, of which i have to thank josh for taking her on. i wasn't allowed since i am pregnant, and josh is not a fan of heights. but el tigre really wanted to go on it, so he was a trooper and did it anyways :) she loved it.

this is actually from a weekend prior. we went to Tangled at the capital. i wish you could all see abigail with this movie. she is in love with it. i need to get her recorded, but she sings and recites it and it is ridiculously adorable.

and this is just another photo i love of my little girl coloring. a pastime she loves, and i love just watching her.

it is amazing what a vacation can do. it's a giant date night and it was such a wonderful refresher for us. especially now that school is in session. we wanted to make sure we got one in before life gets even busier with mailie arriving. i'm closing in on just 7 weeks away from the due date. really??

i want to thank my man for a fabulous week off together. i greatly appreciate it and loved every moment!

remembering when...

2011-09-11T09:23:00.004-06:00

wow, i can not believe today marks 10 years since the 9/11 attacks. what do you remember about that day?

josh was on his way to the las vegas airport to fly to chile. he had been called to peru on his mission, but they could not get the visa's for the missionaries, so he got recalled to chile. but once he got to the airport, they notified them of what had happened in ny, and sent all the elders to a house, where they could watch what was going on. interestingly enough, just after that they were able to get the visa's, and josh was able to go to peru.

i remember i had just walked into my ap history class to see my teacher, mr. engbers, he had this stunned look on his face, and he looked like he was on the verge of tears. i looked up to see the footage of the towers burning, but assumed there was some kind of accident. mr. engbers was from new york and was of course heart broken and worried that someone he knew could have been killed or hurt. i felt horrible for him. a couple teachers throughout the day briefly spoke about what was going on, but not much. so it wasn't until after school when i was able to sit down and really see all the footage, that it really hit me what had occured.

over the next few weeks it was hard not to cry at every story that was being told. people who were desperately wanting to find their family, or friends, not knowing if they were alive. imagining what everyone went through on those planes, and in the towers was and still is difficult. and now, as a mother and a wife, i find it even more so. but i am truly inspired by many who were deeply effected by this horrible moment in time, and yet they have come out stronger from it. people have dedicated the last decade of their lives to rebuilding and showing the world that we are still strong and united, and they are determined not to give up, whatever the cost may be.

i may not have known anyone who was harmed in those attacks, but i have had friends who have fought in the war since, and sadly, a friend who was killed as well. i am grateful to them, and all those who have and are willing to sacrifice their lives for each of us. their stories inspire me and remind me of how lucky we are to be here.

i figure there isn't much i can say that you haven't been reading all day on facebook, blogs, or the news. but i am curious what everyone remembered about that day 10 years ago, what you were doing , how you heard , and how you felt?

ten week countdown & table runner...

2011-08-30T12:45:00.005-06:00

well my friends, we are officially at the 10 week countdown. and my midwife switched the due date back to 11.9.11 . everything is looking great, and mailie seems to be making her way downward like she is supposed to, so hopefully that doesn't change. though they don't really stress about it until 34 to 35 weeks along.
i feel like life is going to fly by these last 10 weeks. i've got josh's big 30th birthday coming up in september, our first activity (new calling) to put together, and abigail's 3rd birthday! not to mention just the baby stuff to plan and get prepared.
and i'm pretty sure mailie isn't even in the uterus, but just swimming around my entire torso. the other night it felt like she was trying to claw her way out of my stomach. she's quite enjoyable to watch. all you have to do is move my belly around and she'll dance for you, so abigail loves to come up to me and push on my belly to get her going. she likes to sing to mailie by putting her mouth right against my belly and belting away. i need to get this recorded.
she also likes to have us listen to HER baby's heartbeat in her belly. :)

and...i finished my table runner! pretty stoked with how it turned out and i just want to make more for the upcoming holidays. now i just need to come up with a great centerpiece.

front and back.

i am pretty happy with my corners.

pregnancy and awesome callings...

2011-08-22T11:53:00.000-06:00

7 months and going strong

it's hard to believe i am in the third trimester. we're close to the 10 week countdown, and something about that sounds like we're almost there. i just know mailie will be here before we know it, so now i definitely feel like it's crunch time to get things prepared. i am a person who needs to be ready way in advance for the 'just in case' moments. "be prepared, be prepared, always be prepared!"

so i feel really good. that back pain is definitely kicking in and the crushed lungs feeling, but that just comes with the territory of having a human being inside of you. but i don't have much to complain about, i feel like i have easy pregnancies. though i will say i have TONS of pressure down under which i did not have with abigail until it was time to push. midwife says i'm probably doing too much and need to just take a break. we'll see ;)
mailie still moves 24/7. i wake up a few times a night for that continuous bathroom break, and she is still kicking around. not sure when the girl gets rest. but it is great for the fact that josh and abigail can witness her movements quite often. i had a lady come up to me during church and say she could even see her moving around during relief society.

i am getting more anxious this time around for her to arrive. i think that is perhaps because i know how awesome it is to have them here in person. plus a friend of mine just had a baby, so that got me wicked excited for l&d and meeting mailie. i'm excited to see the differences and similarities between her and abigail.

in other news...we got an awesome calling!! we were sunday school teachers to the 12 & 13 year olds who were really sweet girls, good kids, of course you don't know how much of what you teach is being listened to, but at least they were well behaved :)

anyways, we got released and recalled yesterday. i can't remember the title of it, something about 'young couples activity something', but we're in charge of getting all the young couples/families together once a month to basically hang out and have fun! party plans are spinning in my head.
i've never been this excited about a calling to be honest. seriously it is right up our alley!
and if anyone wants to throw out some ideas, by all means!

so that is about it for now. school is starting up in a couple of weeks. josh loves his job. abigail loves her baby sister. and we can't really complain. we do however need a vacation because it's really been years and i can see how beneficial it would be for us. life is going to be even busier soon.

and here is a photo w/o peeking abigail :)

first projects...

2011-08-17T13:06:00.002-06:00

i made a bag!! and i'm pretty excited about it. i used this tutorial from make it and love it. i'm still not sure if i want to add a couple more flowers to the corner, or just leave it as is, but either way, i'm super happy with how it turned out for my first try!

loved this fabric for the lining.

i also made this crayon roll for abigail (thank you jamie for the idea!). this tutorial is also from make it and love it.

next up: a table runner

happy wife...

2011-08-11T21:30:00.002-06:00

my husband made me a very happy woman today.
i was waiting for him to arrive home when our doorbell rang. i opened the door and no one there, but there was a huge beautifully wrapped up box with a big bow and a card on top. i stood there confused because it kind of looked like wedding paper, so i thought someone must have been confused and dropped off a wedding gift at the wrong door. i'm not sure how long it was before i realized josh was just around the corner watching me, and then i realized that big box was for me!

and to my delight, this was inside!

i have been wanting a sewing machine forever!! i just haven't wanted to spend the money on one. but with mailie coming in just a few months, and having a goal to make her bedding, it's probably about time:) i'm a beginner, and a friend of mine said this was a great starter machine. i don't need anything fancy, but with my odd ocd love of pushing buttons, i will probably be in heaven with the few i have here.

thank you, thank you, thank you honey! i promise i will make you a quilt one day:)
i can't wait to start playing. i have so many ideas of things i want to make already!

catching up, yet again...

2011-08-08T12:57:00.005-06:00

so first of all there are like 25 photos or something, so pictures galore!
i'm going to try to catch up here; i have been such a slacker.

quick story. yesterday abigail was watching and feeling mailie kick. the first time she saw this she seemed unsure, but now she loves it. yesterday however, once she felt her kick, she hugged my belly tightly and said "i love you, mailie"...and that my friends, made the entire day awesome.

this photo. abigail insisted on sleeping with her shirt on her head. this was a one night thing too, so i'm not sure where it came from :)

this calf insisted on eating our hands, and clothes. i'm amazed as to how long a cow's tongue is. seriously, check it out when you have a chance.

checked out the 24th of july parade. it was a bit depressing for me that i was running in the 10k last year, but hey, next year! abigail was ecstatic about the little mermaid float and seeing president monson.

abigail would live in the water if we allowed. we are at cowabunga every week these days, and she is fearless when it comes to running in the pool area, her head barely above water. we have created a fish.

come on...that's cute.

cowabunga is great for young kids. i highly suggest it to parents with young children because it seems to be catered to them, and you don't see older teenagers all over the place taking over.

we went to memorial grove. abigail was very excited about the dogs, especially when they started to play in the water. so naturally, she wanted to join in. she started out just casually playing in it with her hands, but soon just ended up completely in it, drinking it, picking up mud, and finding rocks to throw. and well, she had a blast, so we just sat back and relaxed. she did end up in her car seat completely naked for the ride home.

nanna got to visit for over a week! abigail was very excited to see her each morning, as well as her cousin koen, and aunt kristin.
this is at the gardner village, which i suggest going for if you want cute pictures of family or your kids in autumn.

i loved seeing abigail interact with koen, because she was kind of 'big sisterish' with him and it was very sweet. it got me pretty excited for mailie to arrive.

abigail thought this was a spinning wheel (she likes sleeping beauty), and we went with it. she was ecstatic about sitting on one.

we also discovered that abigail is a pyro, just like her mommy was.

and well, i have a cute husband.

this is me probably thinking about all the wretched daddy long legs i was trying to avoid.

next up. we went to heritage village at 'this is the place'. abigail loved the animals of course, and was very excited about riding the trains, many times. i also love her french braids, courtesy nanna.

she would also ride horses every day if possible.

wheeler farm. we went while it was pretty dang hot, so once we saw all of the animals i think we were all spent, red faces and all.

this is just a taste of what's been going on. pregnancy is going really well, i feel really good, just a bit tired at times. hard to believe we only have 3 months to go!! hoping to fit in a small vacation with all the business of life. oh, has everyone seen 17 Miracles? i suggest it. pretty sure we were all crying. and kristin and i both had our prayers answered by our kids allowing us to actually see the whole movie pretty much!

a date...

2011-07-17T17:16:00.004-06:00

thanks to our friends, nick and court, we were able to go on a much needed date! bless their souls because it has been a while.
so, we said goodbye to this adorable grown up looking girl...

and headed out, just the two of us. first we went to Outback Steakhouse, which has some sentimental meaning to us; i'm sure many know the story. anyways, we had a gift certificate there, and it had been quite awhile since we went, so we decided to splurge a little.
josh got me to try ahi tuna for the first time. it was okay, but i would like to try it again when i'm on the east coast or something, where it can be actually fresh, rather than 'shipped to utah' fresh.

it was wonderful being able to just have uninterrupted conversation. which as many of you parents know, can be hard to come by ;-)

then it was off to the theater where the real reason for our date was...to see the final harry potter! josh and i both really enjoy these books. you won't see us dressing up in costumes, by all means, but we think rowlings did a wonderful job. and we very much enjoy the movies as well. and you better believe (thanks to motherhood) i was crying during certain (awesome) parts, of which i won't go into for those of you who don't know what happens.

we were very happy with this final film and think they did a great job.

josh, enjoying his last days of scruffiness before school starts back up again ;-)
at first i thought this was an actual good picture of myself, now i think i look goofy, but oh well. we were both pretty tired, so maybe i'll blame it on that ;-)

it was wonderful getting out together on a date, and we are trying to get better at doing it more regularly. it's always nice coming home and seeing adorable abigail though, because i seriously get giddy about walking through the door and seeing her smiling face.

service weekend, work, school...

2011-07-13T09:22:00.007-06:00

so some random bits of news.

work: Chase just informed josh that they are going to count his original hire date as his first day of work, as in when he started with Wamu a few years ago! this is great news because one, he now gets parental leave when mailie arrives, rather than using vacation time. and two, management positions can come sooner rather than having to wait for the one year mark.

school: i found out i am on the dean's list. i wish i was more thrilled about this, but it's the bc, shouldn't we all be on the dean's list? but i suppose the fact that i did it while being a mother helps, because i did find it more challenging in that way ;)

but the really good news is that i am actually going to be able to graduate from there before i am old! i found out there are a ton of online classes i can take through byu independet study that will transfer! so, time permitting, hopefully i'll be able to finish there quickly and move on to my psychology degree!!

next up. we had a ward service weekend and it was wonderful. friday we did yard work for those in the ward who were in need. it had been cloudy the entire day, up until it was time to do the yard work, and then it was pretty scorching. still enjoyable though :) i was able to get abigail involved by pulling little weeds and throwing them into the truck, and she loved it. i was pleased that i did not get attacked by a single spider.

our next house did not need much work, so abigail and i went to the church and helped set up for the breakfast in the morning, while josh stayed back and did some manly yard work.

i feel like a whale in this photo, but hey, i was sweating buckets and trying to work hard, so what are you gonna do?

josh did more of the intense weeding, like tree sized bushes. thank you, men.

and everyone needs a good raking of their drive way now and then.

saturday morning was awesome. we had a ward breakfast with many refugee families. most of them were from Butan, which is near India. about 20 years ago, their leader had an "ethnic cleansing", and many of these families were put into concentration camps. one of the men had been in a camp for 18 years and is now working a DI here in salt lake, working many hours to provide for his family. another man was a doctor in india, and is now working at a 7/11, 50-60 hours a week for his family.

it was amazing to hear some of these stories, and it breaks your heart. it really is just a reminder of how lucky we are to be here.

they were all so sweet. some did not know english; one family had just arrived to america 9 days before hand. so we just tried to smile and do the best we could.

abigail seemed to be a big hit with the teenagers. they were playing frisbee with her, one girl was doing her hair, and abigail was loving every minute of the play time she had with them. i appreciated how wonderful they were with her, and she was sad to see them go.

this young man was really great and sweet with her.

josh and i got to help out with breakfast, which allowed us to mingle and meet a lot of people. i feel like we're really becoming a part of this ward, and are no longer the unknown newbies :)

we had one of those blow up bouncy castles, which was heaven for the kids. we had one bloody nose, and some smacked heads, but it still went pretty well ;)
also, this ward rocks when it comes to food! they really put a lot into it and provide scrumdidliumptiousness, which i appreciate. abigail clearly did as well, considering she was trying to grab every kind of cereal they had. we finally had to intervene.

we also had the back of the gym filled with donated clothes and toiletries that the families could fill laundry baskets up with. it made me really happy to see them able to grab the things that they needed. i am so grateful to everyone who donated what they could.

this is the first ward function we have been so involved in helping with, and that made it even more awesome for us. i loved constantly moving, and running around helping with things, and talking to everyone.

we were able to find these families through a non profit organization called Do Good in the Hood

abigail and i were able to talk to the guy who kind of started it and get some great information. i've been trying to find an organization i can get involved in to help families in these situations, and found out there are so many things i can do with them and bring abigail along! which would be great for both her and myself. you should check them out if you are interested!

we left that day on such a high. the past two days were so great to be involved in helping others. we also left pretty exhausted ;)

get out and do some service!!

cinderella man

2011-07-08T13:04:00.003-06:00

i love this movie, however, i realized it's not the best for a child who might be confused as to why men are hitting one another ;-)

but by watching this movie yesterday, i got a good laugh, thanks to abigail...

when she first saw them boxing she quickly explained to me, "that's not nice! they need a time out." pointed her finger of course.

then she continued to explain, "they need to sit in the chair and say they are sorry". referring to the time out chair.

at the end of the movie when they announce that jim braddock is the winner, and everyone starts to cheer and cry, abigail then yelled with excitement, "yeah!! he said he's sorry!!"

i love that she thinks that is why they are all happy. i'm tempted to watch it again so i can hear her reprimanding them.

any ideas? any at all...

2011-07-06T11:03:00.004-06:00

we have learned that salt lake is not really the most "kid friendly" place to live. and by that i don't mean it's inappropriate, i mean it doesn't cater to families or children really. you would think so though!

anyways, we have many friends and family who live around the country who are always posting about these wonderful (many times FREE) places to take their kids and get out of the house. where as here there are not many options, and the options they do have generally cost money. and well, who wants to spend money day after day after day, when there are free options other places?

we have one splash park near by, Liberty Park, which is big enough for 8 kids to play, and is kind of nasty with it's wet toilet paper and band aids all over. the other splash parks which are actually big, are way the heck out there.

the one free thing i can think of besides a park, is Wheeler Farm, which is great for little kids, but who wants to go to the same place every day.

anyways, i could go on and on about this, but let me get to the reason i am posting this...

who can give me great ideas for how to keep your 2 1/2 year old entertained in salt lake and area, without forking over money every day? things for a stay at home mom, because with josh here we can go hiking, etc, but i don't feel comfortable doing that (especially pregnant) with a little one, all by myself. these ideas can be at home, anywhere!! but please don't tell me gilgal sculpture garden, because that is on one of those lists of 'Free things to do with children in salt lake', and really, that is about as boring as it gets for a child. but they have to stretch their ideas i suppose.

i feel like abigail and i are at this stage where she is just a few months shy of being old enough for certain activities that we can get her into, like gymnastics, or tennis, etc, but she is old enough to find being at home daily pretty boring. so i need advice people!! she and i are both going a little stir crazy, and we can't go to cowabunga EVERY day ;) though she would love to swim 24/7.

Who wants to play??? because we love to play :)

**ps. we have Discovery Gateway and Cowabunga passes, since Abigail is FREE! have to take advantage of that now, because next year she isn't :-(**

presenting...

2011-06-21T11:16:00.006-06:00

Mailie Ryan
(pronounced: "may-lee")

It's a GIRL!!!!!

Insanely excited and a bit relieved by the news. We are used to girl, and were just really, really, really hoping for a sister for Abigail. Plus, financially it's awesome because we have all girls clothes obviously and they will be right on the same track since Abigail was born in October...sweet!
Significance of her name. Mailie is a name I have loved for many years, and Ryan was my oldest brothers name.
I saw my midwife/doctor today and she let me know that based off of the ultrasound and how she is growing, that her new due date is 11/11/11. So we'll see.

I just want to point out that I am living proof that you can have two different kinds of pregnancies, and the babies can be different in the womb and STILL be the same sex ;-) Although I feel normal now, the beginning of this pregnancy was much more intense than Abigail's. However, that might have to do with the fact that I am already a mom.
Mailie moves way more than Abigail did, pretty much all day, and she is kicking and hitting all sides of my belly at once.

Now I feel pretty good and back to my normal self, just more tired since I am running after Abigail as well. Josh and I are insanely excited to finally give this little one a name!

I am pregnant along with my sister, Danielle again (twin cousin mommy), but this time we are two months apart, so I don't see twin cousins happening again ;-)

And here is a photo of the growing belly. I was able to keep hidden up until a few weeks ago, and now I feel like I have exploded. Forgive the tired face, I just got back from many errands ;)

SURPRISE!!!

2011-06-20T10:40:00.003-06:00

that's right, friends! we are excited for little bigger #2 who is due on the 9th of November!

and...today was the big ultra sound! sooooo, why don't you all take a guess as to whether abigail will be having a brother or sister :) i put a poll at the top of the blog.

this baby will be the 11th grandchild born in the 11th month in 2011. also josh was kind of excited about the fact that we have the 7th and now 11th grandchild...7/11

i am basically 5 months along now and this pregnancy has flown by.

i'll write more info tomorrow when we answer the poll :)

happy guessing!

and... asleep.

2011-06-03T10:52:00.001-06:00

a great trick for us at the moment. after we say bedtime prayers with abigail, if she is a bit rowdy, all we have to do is say, "oh look, abigail is asleep"...and viola, she instantly stops what she is doing, closes her eyes and pretends to be asleep. so we lie her down, kiss her goodnight, and even though she wakes up from her "sleep", it still has calmed her down enough to get her in bed, and in the process. it can be quite helpful.

half a decade

2011-06-01T09:57:00.002-06:00

josh and i celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 18th. in ways it feels like we've been together forever; inching up on 7 years. but in other ways it does not feel like 5 years ago we "tied the knot". though it was 40 degrees COLDER this anniversary than our actual wedding day, it was still a great day and i truly appreciate all of josh's thoughtfulness and effort that he put into it. i am a lucky girl. it's been an adventurous 5 years, that's for sure, and i think it's only going to get more so.

i love my man.

side note: if you are in the salt lake area and want to each scrumptrulecent food, may we suggest Faustina's. this place will make you love food you didn't think you would, and once boring food, turns into amazing food. go for lunch for a cheaper price, and dinner for a special occasion. and if you don't like it, well then you just might not like great food, so check into that ;-)

i love her spider man crawl

a much needed update...

2011-05-16T11:00:00.002-06:00

lately i just have had no desire to type up blogs, or really be on the computer at all. but i want to finally update so i don't get months behind and then i'll probably really give up.

first off. in march my sister and her family were sealed in the salt lake temple. it was a wonderful occasion and we are very happy for the three of them, soon to be four. it was nice to have the whole family together, aside from kevin of course.

after the sealing there was a dinner at the jsmb. as i have mentioned before, josh seems to be a magnet to apostles and prophets; a benefit for me now seeing as i'm usually with him. this night however abigail escaped the presidents room, and josh went chasing after her, and in the hallway they met elder perry. why didn't i chase after her as well?!?! :)

we had the opportunity to take kevin and his companion out to dinner; they were here for general conference. i had been having a rough day when i heard a knock at the door and there was my brother. took me a second to realize what was going on. he really made my day though and it was nice to talk with him and his companion.
(this is not a flattering photo of myself)

last month i turned 26. a bit scary because it means i'm over the 20's hill and on my way to 30. josh was very sweet and made me breakfast, and then excitingly made me open my gifts rather than waiting till after dinner. i appreciated his efforts in making my birthday special. abigail and i enjoyed the zoo together while josh was at work, and i loved watching her excitement of all the animals. josh got off early and took us to cheesecake factory for dinner. and ordered my favorite cheesecake to take home. white chocolate raspberry truffle. so so delicious.

abigail enjoyed some painting. this is what i found. i'm impressed with how well she did getting the red just on her lips rather than her whole face. ;) i must add that i was proud of myself for just not caring and going with it; something i am trying to better myself at.

this is easter morning. we often wake up to abigail in our bed; she's pretty sneaky about it. and she seems to be attracted to josh's body heat or something, because no matter where he moves around in the bed, she sticks herself right up against him.

once abigail saw all the eggs and treats around the place, she got pretty excited about finding them all. which in return made me pretty excited. i loved watching her smiling from ear to ear.

she picked out her bunny easter basket. josh and i bought it because it was only $4 and she seemed to love it. we bought it along with some other things. when we got in the car however, we noticed we read the price tag wrong and it was actually $14. are you kidding me? the thing is made out of felt. she was attached however, so we just lived with it. you can be sure i will keep this thing safe though and it will be her easter basket for the rest of her life. because really, there is no reason for an easter basket to be $14.
oh well, she sure looked adorable running around with it :)

in other news. abigail and i took a quick trip with a friend of mine to las vegas. this was the stupidest trip i have decided to take. although i enjoyed by time with elizabeth and abigail, we had meant for the trip to just be a way to get into some sunshine because we were sick of the snow. i had been to vegas one time for a tennis tournament when i was 16, and although i saw the strip while there, most of my time there was spent at country clubs, competing.
this trip however i did not get that luxury, and all i saw was the strip. i can honestly say i hate las vegas, well, the strip that is. i am sure there are wonderful people and places outside that area. for instance, i loved the temple and the wonderful sight of living grass that was there.
i just don't get the excitement of going there unless you like to see naked women, smoke being blown in your face, or you enjoy gambling. i however, don't enjoy any of those things and i felt horrible for having abigail there with me.
it did however do one great thing for me. and that was make me appreciate living where i do, having my morals and standards, and my wonderful daughter and husband. so perhaps it was good i went there just for that wonderful reminder of how lucky i am.
i do however hope to go to las vegas again and see where josh served for those 6 months before he went to peru. he has never seen, nor does he care to ever see the strip however, and so when we go there you can bet that will be an area we completely avoid.

i have been very happy with the warmer weather and insist that it stays because i am a happier person in warmth. i love the sound of lawns being mowed, and the smell of freshly mown grass. i love hearing the birds chirping, and the baby ducks and geese waddling around.

josh and i both took the summer semester off which has been AWESOME for us as a family. it's just been really great to have josh home a bit more and to be able to relax and play together.

abigail loves bambi. she loves to say "biirrrd" like he does. and when his mother has to go away, she is always sure to tell me that "bambi's mother went back to jesus". it is because of that line of hers, that i now love bambi :)

life is good. we are just busy around here and getting many things prepared. i am excited for it to be warm enough to swim because josh and i are both anxious to get out into the water!!
we are celebrating our 5th anniversary this week as well which seems a bit crazy.

i hope everyone is doing fantabulous!!

H&M.

2011-04-28T16:14:00.002-06:00

finally opening a location here in salt lake. yeah! this will bring back good france memories for me.

one day i will update this blog with our life info.

one down.

2011-04-09T09:56:00.003-06:00

one final finished, and one difficult one to go! and then a needed break. i know, it might sound pathetic to some to be in need a break after just two classes. but my friends, it is much more challenging than you might think when you have motherly and wifely duties to take care of, which take precedence over all else. so i am ready and excited for a break :) but still aching to get to that psychology program asap!!

awesome!!

2011-04-02T12:19:00.002-06:00

new temple announced for MERIDIAN, IDAHO!!!! sure, we don't live there anymore, but i'm super excited, and we still have family there!

yeah for growth! :)

yep, already bored.

2011-03-29T16:56:00.003-06:00

well, it's been about a month with this new do, and i am officially bored with it. i'm not saying it's not a cute cut, and i am really happy i finally built up the courage to do so, but it's the same thing, every day. with my long hair i did wear it in ponytails quite often, but at least i had the option of doing something different. i think the fact that i don't have my side swept bangs bums me out a bit. perhaps once those grow out longer i'll be a little bit more excited about styling. as for right now, i think i plan on going to a bob. what can i say, i get bored with hair pretty quickly.

on a another note. apparently abigail now has imaginary friends, both of them are named Dash. the only thing we can come up with as to how she got that name is Dash from the Incredibles. either way, it's funny.

writers block.

2011-03-28T09:54:00.002-06:00

lately i have just not been in the mood for blogspot, facebook, email, etc. i think i find myself annoyed with feeling like i have to keep up with things at times, when there is just too much to take care of here in non internet world. of course i love how all these things help keep connected with others, i suppose i just need a break and realize there is not a need to blog every other day.

anyways. josh started with chase today. super excited.

abigail is tending to her "baby".

and i am staring at the laundry that needs put away, hoping i find the strength to finally do so.

in desperate need of tennis, but waiting for this blasted weather to warm up.

and if anyone would like to bring me some cranberry juice, that would be swell. sounds delicious at the moment.

now, to be a good mother and somehow get my school finals done.

chase.

2011-03-23T19:16:00.004-06:00

josh was offered a job at chase and we could not pass that up. of course there was a lot of prayer put into this decision, and we know it's what's best for josh and our family. we're really excited about this change, and it feels as though josh is finally BACK! he worked at wamu for a couple of years and if you know us, you know how much we were in love with wamu. and since wamu is now chase, it feels awesome to be with them again. chase is a "big boy" bank, as josh likes to put it, so it will allow him to be busier, do more of what he loves, as well as move up. he starts monday! i am proud of my boy for working very hard and always raising the bar for himself. he proves his potential continually.

now we are relaxing as a family for the next few days!!

reading & imagination.

2011-03-16T09:37:00.001-06:00

a couple of things i'd like to point out about this video. you'll notice abigail has seemed to be gifted with my ocd issues of needing things to be placed just perfectly ;-) it's funny to watch.

also, please forgive me chomping down on my toast. clearly i was a hungry woman.

i love children's imaginations. the other day we were at the book store, and she insisted on pushing the stroller around. apparently her baby was in it. she would pick her baby up, bounce it to sleep, put it in a "playpen", etc. at one point she had three babies, making sure josh and i were both holding ours. she also made sure to tell every person passing by about her baby. i love that she is imagining, and it all started within a minute.

abigail also likes to introduce herself and us to all we walk by. she tells them each that we are "mommy, daddy, abigail". telling them her age is another popular conversation. as well as the fact that josh is at work. and of course she says josh, not daddy. i still haven't figured out what requires a josh vs a daddy out of her ;-)

anyways, she is awesome, and we adore her.

you might wanna sit down, mom and dad.

2011-03-06T16:59:00.003-07:00

the before:

the after:

i did it!! it took three seconds to chop it off, and then another three hours to finish it. and you would be proud, because i did not shed a single tear. in fact the moment she cut it off, i got pretty ecstatic of what was to come.
first of all, i still love, love, love long hair, and i will have it again one day. but this is such an awesome change and i am so happy i finally did it!! i definitely want the bangs to be longer; i miss my side swept bangs. however, those will be back within a matter of weeks, so then i'll be 100% happy with this new look. i still very much like it, it's just that the bangs are not what i want for moi. longer bangs, longer sideburns, and it's perfect!
this photo makes my hair look dark, though i did not darken it, i only highlighted it. and i love having highlights again. i can't believe i am not in shock, it actually feels pretty natural and has been relatively easy to get used to. though i do have to look twice when i see my reflection.
many have asked about josh's feelings, it was actually kind of his idea, and he very much loves it, especially since i can't put it in a ponytail ;) he also looks forward to us sharing products ;) and i look forward to using less shampoo, and pretty much never having to get my hair out of my face.
oh and i was a bit worried that abigail would be freaked out since she has only known me with long hair of course, but when she saw me she didn't even flinch. a huge relief for me. i have heard of children being scared at big changes like this.
side note: apparently i have a really good head to be bald. good to know for future reference :)
also i somewhat feel like an elf, but i do not find this to be a negative thing:)

appointment set.

2011-03-03T18:44:00.003-07:00

operation pixie is set to go, this saturday @ 2:30.
and this is what i hope to walk out like.

apparently i have high cheek bones and prominent eyes. who knew? but this hair cut is supposed to bring that out, so we shall see.
i have had long hair, layers, bangs, and highlights for as long as i can remember. there is really nothing else i can do that would be "different", besides dye my hair, which i've done, and loved, but it's quite a chore to go from brown back to blonde.
so this will by far be the biggest change for me, and i am positive i will cry, but dang it, it is about time for a change! :)
and the awesome news is that i can donate my hair after all! i found a foundation for kids with leukemia that will accept highlighted hair. yeah!! that will definitely make it worth it.

so here's hoping! wish me luck.

ER in the family.

2011-03-03T09:40:00.003-07:00

something must be in the air with my family these days, because in the past few months we've had a brother in law and nephew go to the ER, and yesterday was miss abigail's turn. this was our first experience of taking her to the hospital; the last time we were here together, i was giving birth...a much better experience ;)
anyways. all is well now. she fell out of the carriage at the grocery store and fell on winco's cement floor, right on her head. she had a little blood in her nose, and was very out of it. her eyes kept rolling, which is a site i cannot stand. i called josh and we took her in, working hard to keep her awake.
they were going to do a CT, but thankfully within an hour of hanging out in the hospital room, she started to come around and act like her normal happy self; saving us $1200. hallelujah. we just had to watch her and make sure she didn't start acting aloof or different in anyway.
needless to say, she had a good nights rest after such an emotional day. this little accident was after she somehow got the razor in the bathroom and cut up her finger.
we are just happy she is happy and well. somehow she didn't even get a bump from this accident, but just has a big read bruise. she was also happy about her yellow bracelet (hospital band), and enjoyed talking to the other patients.

pixie.

2011-03-01T10:02:00.002-07:00

i feel like i am the only one who thinks emma watson's pixie is adorable on her. i realize it is crazy boy short, but i think it works on her, and if i was really petite (and had the guts) i would love to go this short. i think you need to be a tiny person to pull it off.

anyways. i have always wanted to be brave enough to chop my hair off, and one day i will be. but i also have known that when i do cut off these locks, i want to go short short. others assume i mean that classic a-line, but even that is too long of a short hair cut for me. nope, i'm talking this short...

i love these three pixies, and i've always said i'll do it once i can afford GREAT extensions. you know, in case i go home crying my eyes out and need my long hair back. oh, and i need a hair stylist who is 100% positive that a) i will look good with this cut. b) they can do it right.

i am planning on doing it once i can donate my hair; there is no use in wasting it. but i have to grow it out for a while longer because the highlights from like a year ago are still in there, and you can't donate hair that has been highlighted.

so now, i wait.

what do you guys think?

trains and planets.

2011-02-28T10:24:00.005-07:00

we put the solar system up in el tigre's room and she loves all the planets. she knows which one saturn is, and she's getting close on a couple others. they also glow in the dark. it came with a packet that gives you information on each planet (pluto included) which has been quite interesting to read and relearn. for instance, i think it's mercury that is made of metal. i did not know this. and it takes 84 earth years or so for uranus to orbit the sun. anyways. cool stuff, go and learn :)

she also loves trains and fire trucks. you should see the excitement in this child's eyes when she hears or sees one. and yet another reason i love the DI...this train set for a whole $3! she was delighted to see it chugging along and hearing it whistle. it's the first thing she wants to see when we get home, and the first thing she wants to see when she wakes up.

gateway discovery.

2011-02-25T09:05:00.002-07:00

we decided to get a membership at gateway discovery. best investment! we've gone five times already. it provides a great way for us to get out of the house; especially with this cold weather. abigail has a blast checking everything out, and i have a blast watching her. it's really a neat place for children, and it has made for great family days. i highly recommend it.

ball sucker upper thing. loves it.

and she was thrilled to actually be able to 'iron'.

ps. i get an extra week for my annotated bibliography, soooo, if you would still be willing to give your views or opinions from THIS past post, please do. don't worry, i won't use your name ;)

stitches.

2011-02-24T09:50:00.004-07:00

abigail picked everything on this hat, from the colors to the pretty button. she was pretty excited about wearing it once i finished.

and i just liked her funny expression on this one

i just finished these two pieces. the headband i made for abigail, there are three white stripes across it (different sizes). and the hat i just made to make, it fits an adult. i myself will not wear it just because this one is just a bit too cutesy for my taste, so if you want it, let me know, you can have it!

i am having fun trying to learn new things, and hope to keep doing so. maybe once i get a sewing machine i can make even more creations.
anyways, please tell me your honest opinions on these three pieces.
thank you!

opinions please.

2011-02-22T11:22:00.006-07:00

i am writing a paper for my english class about 'media, and how if effects body image'. and of course i need sources! soooo, i would love some feed back from any of you readers!! please please please! you can either leave a comment, or email me (address is to the left).

have you or someone you know been effected by the media's view on body image?

do you you feel like the media's view on body image is harmful, or effecting us negatively? if yes, how can it be fixed?

any view or opinion you have is welcomed, even if we don't know each other. please don't be shy, i need other views besides my own and cnn :) and i know you have opinions! :) so please share!!

splash of color.

2011-02-21T09:34:00.002-07:00

quite a few months ago josh and i made these together. they were quick, easy, and much cheaper to make than buy. i think i want to make more for our room, just more narrow and long, and of course different fabric.
if you'd like to know how we made them, let me know! they are a great way to throw up some decor and color in the home.

shout out.

2011-02-18T16:05:00.003-07:00

back in october, i won this adorable bag, courtesy, jamie! she also made the cute reusable notebook cover and matching pen. love.

ps.

2011-02-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

the blog is public again, friends. i forgot to mention that when i did it months ago.

valentines number seven.

2011-02-15T12:00:00.008-07:00

one of my favorite valentines days was in france. and of course it was valentines day central there. i had a boyfriend at the time, so i'm sure i was your typical eighteen year old wishing we were together in such a romantic place. yaddi yaddi yadda. alas, i was alone.
however, monique was so kind (as she always was) and took me out for the day. we went to this little cafe on an adorable street, sat outside at a small round table with a light breeze, on a beautiful, blue skied day. now, for some reason i had always dreamed of going to france, sitting outside at a small round table, and drinking cocoa. this is the picture i envisioned.
monique ordered us both a delicious dessert with a cup (more like bowl) of cocoa for me, and a cafe for her. it was perfect, she had no idea she was turning my dream into a reality.
(not a great picture of moi, but Nice is so beautiful. oh how i miss it)

but of course my favorites are with josh. hard to believe we've celebrated seven of them together. our first valentines together, we had rumbi's at my place with candles, rose pedals, martinelli's, music, and of course, chocolate dipped strawberries. so, we decided to make rumbi's our vday tradition. oh so delicious.
anyways. i made this heart headband for abigail, as well as one with a bow (pictured below).

abigail enjoyed pink pancakes (thanks to her nanna). we made valentines together. and she thoroughly enjoyed the huge music card josh gave me.

hope you all had a wonderful, loving day. this world needs all the love and happiness it can get, so i think a day that is devoted to it is awesome!

why i love valentines day.

2011-02-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

i love this day. i've heard lots of people (always girls) say this is a dumb holiday, and we should show our love every day, yaddi yadda. but i see it like this...if we were to shower our "loves" with flowers, chocolate, hearts, whatever you might get into, every single day, it would get pretty monotonous and no longer be that exciting. so here we get one day in the year where you just want to do something a little extra special, it's a day that forces you to stop, and remember to tell your loved ones that you love them, whether it be your spouse, child, whomever.
one could argue that an anniversary doesn't need to be special because we should celebrate our love and marriage everyday. but we don't say that, because it IS a special day for you to stop, and remember.
so yes, let's remember to show our love every single day, and even surprise our loved ones on days other than these "set" holidays. but for the love, i say take advantage of this holiday! stop and think about why you love who you love, and then tell them... show them! what is the harm? have some fun!!

i love seeing every ones face and excitement on this day. for the most part, everyone is full of love! that's awesome!

happy valentines day, everyone!

obsessed.

2011-02-11T10:00:00.001-07:00

with tiffany/caribbean blue. one day we'll paint a room with this color. it was one of our wedding colors, so i'll probably always be in love with it.

we'll need a cute vintage chandelier.

and i love this kitchen. the island. the bead board. the chandeliers. the gorgeous wood floor. and i'm even digging on the purple...so unlike me.

in love.

2011-02-09T09:44:00.002-07:00

i am completely in love with this photo.

also. thanks to medication, both abigail and i are feeling much better. i still have a little pain in my ear, but i can at least sleep. now i just await the day for them to be unclogged and hear properly again, because this muted thing is annoying.
oh. i think i might decide to try to sell some crocheting things online (if i get really good). any ideas on what i should name my ETSY shop?

ear infections.

2011-02-07T09:19:00.003-07:00

suck. a couple weeks ago we discovered abigail had one, and it caused a horrid cough that kept her up night after night. thanks to the right medicine, she seems to bet healthy again. i on the other hand seemed to have picked up this lovely bug and it has caused enough pain to make me want to punch a hole through the wall. either i'm a bigger baby than abigail, or thankfully hers did not hurt as much, because i'm about ready to cut off my ear.

now...to find a doctor and some meds.

a new hobby.

2011-02-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

so a few weeks ago i decided i wanted to learn how to crochet. why? i don't know, i just felt like learning something i suppose. so i bought a 'teach yourself' book and asked my mom to show me a few things, and viola...i made abigail a headband. i was pretty stoked with how the flowers came out, being my first time and all.
i've made a couple more headbands and currently trying to make a hat for el tigre, and searching for patterns galore. my friends, it gets pretty addicting.

ice castles.

2011-01-31T17:02:00.008-07:00

This past weekend we went to the Ice Castles in Midway.
They are beautiful! We would definitely recommend checking these babies out. I don't know of anything else like it near Salt Lake. We're definitely going back to check them out at night.

I loved how it formed into bubbles in places.

As always, you can click on the photos to enlarge.
cheerio!

back to school.

2011-01-27T10:50:00.002-07:00

I can not express how fantabulous it is to be back in school! I know this 'high' of loving homework will not last forever, so I am going to soak it in as long as I can. It feels great having projects to do, and working hard towards a degree again.

Currently I am taking an online English class, which is great since I can do that at night, or just find extra time. And a Photography class; mainly for fun since I love photographs, and finding art in places others may not. That is in the evenings, so I drive to school, pass Abigail to Josh just as he is getting out of his last class, and run up to mine. This allows for some alone time for Josh and Abigail.

Being able to still be a stay at home mommy AND go to classes is such a blessing. It helps me have time for myself, which helps me be a better mother. We all know how precious it is to have that time alone where you can meditate and just have peace and quiet, even if it is just the car ride home.

Gallavin...

2011-01-24T12:00:00.002-07:00

We took Abigail skating for the first time and it was a blast. She seemed to love every bit of it. I had no idea they would have skates for her size. She got a hang of it towards the end, still wasn't skating on her own of course, but she was able to learn how to balance herself eventually. It's amazing how quickly children can catch on to something.

I love outdoor skating rinks, and something about skating downtown makes me happy.

Josh grew up skating all winter long on the lake, so I can trust him. Otherwise, there is no way I would allow him to skate around while holding her upside down ;) She was loving it though.

DI Find...

2011-01-21T10:44:00.001-07:00

I love the DI. Way back when Josh and I were probably dating, I saw his obsession with the DI, and it made no sense to me. Thrift stores were just not enjoyable in my opinion; I blame the smell. After a couple years of weekly trips with him, it started to grow on me, and now it's fabulous. It's a great place to go for household items, toys, books...

Case and Point #1:
This violin! It's beautiful, and in brand new condition. It came with the case, new and extra strings, microfiber cloth, and rosin. And of course, being at the DI, it was an awesome deal! I would say it's a 1/2 size, so we got it in case Abigail decides to play. I play my violin for her, so we'll see if it sparks an interest.

Case and Point #2:
This sweet art set. I had one when I was a kid and LOVED it, and Abigail was ecstatic when she saw this puppy. It's only missing a few things like watercolors, paint brush, and a pencil.

So hop on over my friends! You never know what you'll find!

Catching up, again...

2011-01-11T11:43:00.002-07:00

let's see...Christmas Eve we went to the Zoo Lights, which were pretty cool. Abigail loved seeing the cats, and was a bit sad when she couldn't hold them ;)
Abigail also got her first real haircut! Thank you, Court.
We spent the rest of the evening stuffing our faces, playing games, and staying up way too late, like 3 in the morning late.

This is how we eat popcorn, it's the only way to go. You'll never need a napkin! Is it silly that we are kind of excited about Abigail being pretty good at using them? :)Christmas morning. A blast with Abigail. She was excited when she saw what Santa brought her, and I couldn't stop laughing at all her " oh wow! " 's and gasps. Christmas is awesome with kids.
And playing in the snow was delightful with Abigail. She kept giggling with joy. We need some fresh snow so we can build a snowman.
I love New Years Eve! For us it's filled with food, food, games, food, games...and so on.
Nick and Court brought their Wii over and we had a blast with it. The dancing game is awesome, and a fabulous work out. Abigail loved joining in as well. The boxing made me sore the next day, and the tennis resulted in smacking my hand across the bookcase. You just don't see anything but the ball I guess ;)
Norma and Hema brought their puppy, which resulted in Abigail being in heaven.
The holidays flew by faster then ever this year. I am excited for a new year, new beginnings, and fresh starts. I can't wait to see what 2011 brings!

Christmas time...(picture overload)

2011-01-01T08:00:00.001-07:00

i love christmas time.

we had a great christmas weekend with our family. we decided to go to idaho and i'm so happy we did. it was a 100% relaxed few days and really nice to be with our family and celebrate such special occasions.

lets get to the pictures.

sisterly love.

pre-idaho. we baked and decorated cookies. i love this about having a toddler. cooking and creating together.

abigail was very excited about putting up the "tree star"

the travel to idaho went great! abigail and mailie were both very content girls.

christmas eve. after mailie's blessing, the christmas festivities began!

abigail wrote a letter to santa.

then sent it to him through the chimney.

christmas day. abigail was so excited to see that santa had eaten the cookies she left. and then of course very excited to see what he left us all in our stockings. watching her made me so giddy. i loved her expressions and excitement.

we went to my brothers ward and my sister in law did a wonderful job with the christmas program. it was beautiful. then we got to witness my nephew receive the priesthood! i can not believe he is 12. he is honestly one of the sweetest boys/young men you could ever know.

then it was back home for family gifts to open.

this bake/tea/kitchen set has been awesome. not only does abigail love it, but i absolutely love playing with her with this stuff. i love that she is "baking" away and "feeding" us. imagination is wonderful.

be prepared to have your heart melt.
and if you'd like to see more, stroll on over to our facebook page, because she's seriously a smiley baby.

i love this pic. not only are they beautiful and adorable. but look how massive those bloomers are on mailie. it also looks as if she has shoulder pads. she's somewhat elvish looking here, and i love it.

twin cousins reunited. three years old! i wish they could play together more often. maybe we should move back to idaho :)

quite happy in a stocking.

these are the stockings i made! still have to personalize them, but i was very happy with how they turned out.

post christmas.

abigail went atv'ing, and loved it. especially going by herself. and let's admire for a second josh's cowboy boots and basketball shorts combo. my dad gave him these cowboy boots, and i can't tell you how thrilled he was. he's my city boy "green acres" man ;)

trampoline time with nanna. another moment, wishing we were living in idaho again.

many attempts to get a family photo before heading back.

Temple lights are of course a must each season. Especially for Abigail. She would be one happy girl if we went to the temple every day.

and i thought it best to save this for last.

i mean, come on. we love this girl.

we have some seriously cute girls! :)

Happy Christmas!!

2010-12-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

we wish everyone a happy christmas and new years and hope you get to spend it with your loved ones!

(Free) Santa...

2010-12-20T14:15:00.002-07:00

So Josh and I went to take Abigail to see the big guy at the mall, and quickly ditched that show...did you know it costs $40!!!?? That's if you want a picture, otherwise your child can just say hi to him, but no picture, and you can't bring your camera. I don't think so.

Soooo, bless RC Willey who lets kids sit on Santa's lap for FREE and bring your camera.

Abigail gets pretty excited about Santa when she sees a picture and quickly says, "Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas". But this was her first time being up close and personal, and she wasn't too sure of him. But she didn't cry!

Merry Christmas!

Temple lights, take two...

2010-12-17T14:18:00.003-07:00

Abigail LOVES the lights at Temple Square so I am pretty sure we'll be going there a few more times this winter. It's free, gets you in the Christmas spirit, and there is plenty of room for Abigail to run free and use up some energy.

Nick & Court, whom Abigail treats as her parents when they're around, and forgets all about us ;) I am grateful to have a child who falls in love with our friends, it really helps out.

Our tree, pre-trimming and decorating. It's been a couple weeks since getting it and I am still in love. I think we'll be sticking with a real tree each year!

Our ward had an adult Christmas party this year and I am so happy we were able to go! I am thankful to such great friends who are always willing to watch Abigail.
This is just a simple photo from a point and shoot, but I loved how much effort the committee put into decorating and preparing this evening. They do a wonderful job when it comes to the ward activities, and really put all they have into it.
Plus they always have different choices of food which makes me happy. I grew up with funeral potatoes and ham at ward parties, but they always do something different, and yummy!

Pretty centerpieces.

It was really a nice evening. It gave us a great opportunity to FINALLY meet other couples our age, and we had a great time talking with them. Since we are no longer in nursery, and this next school semester isn't as hectic, I think we'll finally get the chance to really get to know the people in our ward. Agh, run on sentences are horrible, I apologize.

And, Josh is finished with finals!! This past semester has been one we've been happy about getting over with. Now we can focus on all the fun festivities!!!!

Catching up...

2010-12-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks:

We saw Harry Potter and it was awesome!!! Aside from the weird Harry and Hermione scene, which was not needed, they really stuck to the book! I of course cried a few times. For those who have not read the books or have not seen it yet, I won't go into detail, but they could not have made that last scene with a special someone any more depressing!!!! I tried to prepare myself, but I lost it straight from the beginning.

Thanksgiving was nice with just the three of us. Good food, good company. Right as Josh and I were getting everything ready to go and put on the table, Abigail gave out...

but she did enjoy her food later :)

I just liked this kind of diva look photo ;)

We got tons of snow, 14+ inches. It was pretty though.

My parents came into town and we hung out for a few days. Abigail enjoyed playing with her nanna and papa :)

Cooking with nanna

We all went to Temple Square for the lights, and Abigail was so excited!! She had been asking to go to the temple for awhile, so when we finally walked on grounds she was in heaven, running around as free as a bird. Next time, I will take cocoa. I'm sure we'll be making a few trips to the lights for El Tigre.

it's also really great to have my voice back!

Things have been a bit more calm and relaxed around here which has been really nice. For the first time, we got a REAL Christmas tree, and I have to say I am kind of in love with it. I like artificial since they're quick and easy, but the I am in love with how good our place smells with this tree in here! Makes me want it the whole year! And taking care of it has not been a pain like I expected, in fact it's been quite easy. We got a Grand Fir, if that makes a difference.?.? I highly recommend it because they are soft, full, and beautiful! Also, crazy cheap at Home Depot!!

So the past little while has been spent decorating, and relaxing!! And I found out that I got into another class next semester, an online course. yeah!!

La Caille...

2010-11-22T10:00:00.001-07:00

This, is La Caille. It is one of my favorite places.

A friend of mine took me here years ago when I was feeling low, and instantly I was filled with happiness when a bunny hopped across the lane and a peacock wandered around on the grass. Like a hidden paradise.

Anyways, I've always wanted to go here for dinner. However, I haven't brought myself to feel okay about spending $65 a plate quite yet. One day.

So when Court let me know about this, "masquerade ball", that Dillard's Fragrance was throwing there, I jumped on that band wagon! The hoeur dourves and desserts floating around were delectable, but honestly the food could have been take out and I would have just been happy to be there. It was as adorable and gorgeous inside as I expected. We will definitely be attending this party every year. I guess they used to hold it at Dillard's, but this year they decided to try La Caille, and of course it was a big hit!

It was tons of fun; I was kind of in heaven. And really great to have a girls night!

We each got the same perfume (Jessica's Fancy) that came with these bags, and all sorts of other little goodies.

I look like a rabbit in this photo, but it'll have to do.

While I was away from home, Josh and Abigail had a daddy-daughter date and went to Pei Wei together :)

Let it snow...

2010-11-21T09:30:00.006-07:00

We're not big lovers of snow. If it came on just Christmas Eve and Christmas, that would be perfect for us. However, this was pretty nice to wake up to this morning :-)
And I have decided to really try to be as optimistic about the snow this year considering I am pretty excited about playing in it with Abigail. As well as we are just happy to be back in Salt Lake, where even though we knew we would be enduring more snow, it would still be worth it. Having a kid who is excited about it definitely helps :-)

I'm no professional, but I made a panoramic photo from the balcony. You'll have to click on it to see it bigger.

Good FREE times...

2010-11-16T10:44:00.002-07:00

Josh won tickets through work for a Jazz game last night!! We've been wanting to go to a game together, we just haven't wanted to spend the money on it, so this was wonderful to be able to go without the cost. In the end they lost, but it was still a great game. They were close the entire time, had a lot of good plays, and well, if it's free, there is nothing to complain about right! It was really nice to get out for a date night and spend some alone time together. Plus we met this really sweet woman who was sitting next to us; I love how you can make friends with a complete stranger, even though you'll never see each other again. And Josh basically lost his voice from cheering :)

He also enjoyed this hummer of a hot dog. Something about going to a game requires a hot dog, nachos, and a coke.

Some friends from our ward watched Abigail and she did great! They have a little boy close to her age and they get along wonderfully. Taking after her mommy and hanging out with the boys :)

In other news, I just enrolled in my first class in four years! I'm pretty excited about it, and a little nervous. It works out perfectly with Josh's schedule. I'll be going on Tue/Thu nights at 6:40pm, and he gets out of class on those days at 6:30. So I'll drive to the school with Abigail, switch cars, and head to class. If I'm lucky, I might be able to take an online class, but we'll see. It's just nice to officially be going back to school!!

Excited much?

2010-11-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

Abigail was clearly excited about taking a shower.

Real quick I wanted to throw a shout out to my man. The other day his essay got read by his teacher in class, and he continued to say it was was one of the best essay's he's ever read. Way to go babe! I'm guessing he'll be getting an A on that assignment ;)

I really am proud of him and all the hard work he puts in to school and work. I'm not sure how he does it all, but I am grateful to him.

You are scrumptrulecent!

At the Bigger residence...

2010-11-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

we're a diaper free home, which is pretty sweet. And never did I expect to have the child that just basically did it on her own, causing no stress. Bless you Abigail. Might I add that underwear on a child is pretty adorable. Moving on...

We've been baking away. Abigail loves to help me cook, which is great because not only is it cute, but it gives me someone to talk to and teach about what I am doing. You have to start them young ;)

She's been looking adorable as usual :)

At the Pumpkin Patch. Abigail was in heaven, this child loves pumpkins.

Drove by this guy.

Abigail has been enjoying her artistic side.

And crashing hard.

And we built an ice cream pyramid.

yes, it was delcious.

Bring on the holidays!!

New Pages...

2010-11-04T08:46:00.002-06:00

I added a few new pages!

Gospel Talk - pretty self explanatory

Street Eats - Our little version of Man v Food

Snapshots - just some favorite photos, of which I will be adding to as life goes on.

I plan on adding a few more pages, so stay tuned, but for now, check em' out! :) Plus you can comment on them now. Not sure why it took me this long to figure that out ;)

NERD Halloween Party!!!

2010-11-01T07:00:00.002-06:00

We decided to throw a Nerd Halloween Party! Our parents did years ago, and we thought it would be a fabulous idea this year.

It was so much fun! Everyone looked awesome, and I was really happy with how the placed turned out with all the decorations. We played a ridiculous amount of games, and stayed up way too late, but it was worth it! And the three babes did awesome the entire night!

Everyone brought a certain dish, and all the food was DELICIOUS!!

Our Menu:

(Sadly we only have pictures of a couple items, but it all looked sooo good!)
Sea Monster Sandwich

Witch's Warts (Meatballs)

Cured Epidermis (Lion House Wraps)

Pureed Organs in a squash (Cream Cheese Dip)

Baked Flesh Rolls (Pizza Rolls)

Dessicated Brains (Popcorn Balls)

Devils' Chocolate Bats (Devil's Chocolate cupcakes w/cream filling)

Vampire's Venom (Punch)

Thank you EVERYONE for coming and making it such a blast!!

Now...onto the next party to plan! After some much needed rest.

Time for PHOTOS!!

Bigger's

Gettin lucky

"Dwight & Angela" (love it!) Eric & Nicole

"White & Yellow Ranger" Nick & Court
They made SWEET helmets for the costumes that sadly broke..but just know they would have been amazing.

Williams'

"Snape & Hermione" Hema & Norma

Anthony, Jessica, & Liam the clown. Amazing "mom" jeans Jessica.

CW & Lyndsie. Who now, thanks to Jessica, is "Taylor Swift".

yummy cupcakes

pizza rolls and meatballs in background (those meatballs were awesome Nicole!)
Everything was awesome!

Decorations

More decorations

And the beloved Flour game. We all had to dig in at some point, but CW was our unlucky one of the night.

Until Next Time!

Abigail's Party...

2010-10-17T12:13:00.003-06:00

For Abigail's party we decided to make it into a birthday party/friend hangout, considering what 2 year old actually cares or knows what is going on? But we still definitely had to celebrate!

Here are her invitations. I had a citrus theme since that's what her bedroom is.

Cupcakes I made. I'm so happy I decided to do cupcakes over a cake. No stress!!

For dinner I made Hawaiian Haystacks because Abigail loves rice like no one I've met before. Scratch that, she loves rice like Josh...THEY love rice like no one I've met before.

I basically made all the decorations, which I highly recommend because there is no sense in spending a ton of money :)

Thanks for coming to the party guys!! These are some of Abigail's friends; she loves adults, so that works wonderfully for us ;)

It was a pretty fun night. Awesome to be with friends and family and Abigail loved having everyone over. We played Moods afterwards which is a most enjoyable game, you should all play it.
I can't believe we have a 2 year old. And a wicked awesome 2 year old at that!

Just Do(ing) It!!!

2010-10-14T09:36:00.004-06:00

Instead of just talking about finishing school, I've decided I'm finally ready to JUST DO IT!! I'm pretty excited. Although I am not 100% thrilled about having to finish at the BC. Their system is set up to where you have to graduate in order for any of your credits to transfer, soooo unless I want to waste money and start over completely at another school, it makes more sense to just finish there, and then move on.

However, I will pretty much be starting over anyways considering I will be switching programs. I went to the BC for Interior Design; which I loved and was fortunate enough to work in the field, but I will be switching to General Studies (Transfer) in order to prepare myself for....drum roll....

Psychology.

Yep yep yep! Pretty positive I want to graduate in Counseling Psychology. This requires a Ph.D or a Psy. D, so my friends, it'll be years to come, but mark my words, it will happen! A) Being a mom will always be #1. B) I'm sure some feminist would hate me saying, but Josh's schooling needs to come before mine, and I truly believe that, especially since being a mother will always come first for me.

I am not waiting for him to gradate to get started back in school, I just won't be going full time. Which sounds kind of nice actually.

While at the BC I took a Psychology class and was instantly drawn to it. I loved everything about it and I did pretty great in the class thankfully:) And in the past many years I have always thought about it. I love listening to people, and their problems, concerns, ideas. I love to help people with their problems, concerns, ideas, etc. I feel like I'm pretty good at reading people and sensing when things are wrong, etc. I think in the end I would love to help people within the church. I'd like to be that LDS Psychologist who, for example, tells you how to deal with an issue in a moral, healthy way, rather then a more "modern" (against our beliefs) kind of way...if any of you understand what I mean? ;) Among many other issues. I want to HELP PEOPLE!

So that's it friends. Hopefully in 20 years I will have graduated with a Ph.D in Counseling Psychology and I'll be able to just make all of your problems disappear ;)...right?

Also, happy 6 years to my lover!

Bear Lake...

2010-10-12T12:25:00.002-06:00

Last month we went to Bear Lake after saying we would for years. I had only driven past it once with my family, and Josh had never seen it, so since it's the closest thing to a beautiful blue ocean we have around here, we had to go. Hopefully it will become a tradition.

For now all we did was go there for the day, and Abigail loved it. It was a bit windy, but the water was pretty warm, so it was fun to splash around in. The drive there was gorgeous and we even saw a herd of sheep, which was kind of cool. The sound of their hooves on the pavement sounded like rain.

We had to start off our trip with Einstein's Bagels...delicious. And end the trip in Logan at Centerstreet Grill. We had the burgers there after the 1/2 marathon and they were awesome. This time they were good, but Josh noticed it was a different cook, and they weren't as amazing. Next time.

Anyways, it was a fun day trip, beautiful, and relaxing. We can't wait to go back next year during the summer. So friends, let's plan it!

(My intentions were to make an awesome collage video, but life happened, so I just quickly put something together. You may notice the words of the second song do not fit the video, but I just like the music.) That is all.

She's TWO!!!

2010-10-06T16:51:00.002-06:00

And she's ecstatic about it! Happy Birthday El Tigre, Lazy Cheeks, Little One, Abigail! It's hard to believe that 2 years ago she entered into our lives. But I have a feeling I will be saying that my whole life.
Abigail is one kind hearted, sweet natured girl. She's full of love, and definitely an independent fireball. So in our eyes, she just perfect.
Here are some of the adorable photos we got of her today! Thank you Kristin!

This monkey is her best friend. She changes his "diaper", rocks him, comforts him, puts him to bed, and so on. She loves him to death, and she says his name is, Monkey...fitting I think.

1 year till the big 3-0...

2010-09-26T19:02:00.005-06:00

yep, Josh turned 29 on Friday! Which means I have a year to plan an awesome 30th.

On his actual birthday we had a nice relaxing family day, enjoying Chinese food, and a sandwich buffet at home; that was his requested bday dinner. It was kind of awesome and I think I'll be doing that more often for big get-together. Josh was even nice enough to blow out a candle; he's not a big birthday guy. I on the other hand LOVE birthdays, so I am grateful he is willing to celebrate for me :)
Then Saturday we went with some friends (Nick & Court) to Homestead Crater to swim. It's kind of neat, though warm to swim in for too long. However it was awesome to watch Abigail because she is like a fish. She just jumped right in over and over (she's an independent one), and especially loved the huge orange "balls".
Then (thanks to some birthday money) we went to Rodizio Grill. I always hope I can eat a lot more then I actually am able to, but it's good all the same:)
I think Josh enjoyed his birthday weekend, and I am pretty excited for next year. Now it's time to plan Abigail's 2nd, which is in under 2 weeks!
Happy Birthday Josh kosh b-gosh.

Abigail decided to put on mascara to look nice for the big day...I think she did a good job for her first (and last, for quite a few years) time.

Then while making a birthday card, she decided she would be a red head...she does love Ariel;)

Looking pretty dang cute in a life jacket, and ready to go jump in.

I think we're lookin pretty good in our fluorescent jackets as well.

Singing time...

2010-09-23T09:07:00.000-06:00

Abigail was in a performing mood the other night, so I quickly recorded, and sent this off to my parents. It's full of cuteness.

Again, you'll want to turn off my music at the bottom of the screen.

Dance Video...

2010-09-21T14:48:00.002-06:00

FINALLY! It's only been nearly a year in the making, but I finally got our "Evolution of Dance" video up. Due to many computer issues, I haven't been able to get this video to upload. Alas, the problem is fixed and now I can finally share this with you.

To remind you all: We had our 1st Annual Christmas talent show last year, and this is what Josh and I performed for (hopefully) every one's enjoyment. It made for good times, and I have to give props to Josh because due to work and responsibilities, he never really had time to practice, so I think he did a good job for that matter.

I had to record the video off of the tv with a small camera, so it's not the best quality.

PS. Scroll to the bottom to turn off my music.

I have no idea what to do this next Christmas...any ideas? ;)

Finished!!

2010-09-12T22:04:00.000-06:00

Okay, due to a busy, busy weekend with lots to enjoy, I had much to post. So I apologize for so much at once, but there are 9 new posts below. So enjoy the photos mes amis!

Bridal Veil Falls...

2010-09-12T22:03:00.006-06:00

this was another winner for Abigail. I think her favorite part was picking up all the rocks (boulders for this little one) and throwing them, and building a mini dam.

(This uploaded tiny. You can click on it to see Abigail's cuteness if you so desire)

This photo cracks me up, she looks like a 'Who'. I love it.

And this is just a random photo. Abigail wanted to wear my jeans. I think she pulls them off nicely. Especially with the crazy hair.

Wheeler Farm...

2010-09-12T22:02:00.000-06:00

Wheeler Farm is free, so we enjoy that. I'm sure adults all notice that it's not the most amazing farm, but I think kids love it so that's what matters. Also there are some really cool places to take pictures. Abigail loved feeding the ducks, chasing the roosters (poor things), feeding the donkeys, and just being free to run around and get dirty. She's learning more and more animals and the sounds they make, so she gets pretty excited when she sees something she knows the name to, and tries to communicate with them. She made sure to tell each animal hello and goodbye...quite a few times:)

I love the excitement in her eyes here.

Thanksgiving Point...

2010-09-12T22:01:00.001-06:00

We took Abigail to the farm place at Thanksgiving Point and she loved course loved seeing all the animals. We even had her ride a pony, thinking it wouldn't last long, but she loved it! Perfect weather, perfect day since school was in session, so it wasn't busy, wonderful day.

I just thought this bunny had awesome eyes. It's mastered the smokey look.

This guy was a bit creepy at first because I turned my head and there he was, staring at us with his big yellow slit eyes. Thankfully he was gentle and allowed Abigail to pet him.

Most would use this to wash your hands, but a drinking fountain...why not.

Not sure why this uploaded so wide and pixely, but her face is really filled with excitement:)

Shipping Kevin off...

2010-09-12T22:00:00.001-06:00

Well it's official! We dropped Kevin off at the MTC last Wednesday and he is now officially serving his mission. Awesome. It's bazaar to think I won't see him for 2 years (well I guess there is a chance still), but I know it will fly by and he'll be home and grown up before we know it. I'm so excited for him and this time in his life. I know it will be an amazing experience and a tremendous blessing for him. Kevin will be a great missionary and help so many people out there.
Abigail loves Kevin, and when we left after dropping him off she kept calling "Kevin, Kevin". Which kind of made me sad for a second, but we'll continue to show her pictures and tell her stories to remind her who he is. It's crazy to think she'll be 4 when he gets back; twice as old!

Abundance of Posts...

2010-09-09T12:58:00.001-06:00

I just posted like 4 new posts, and have 4 more to go I think. So prepare yourself for an abundance of photos. No worries, more photos then words, so you won't be overwhelmed with reading :)

Nanna & Papa...

2010-09-09T12:57:00.000-06:00

Abigail did so great with her nanna and papa when they came down last week. She loved saying their names, playing with them, and making them laugh. It was fun to see her be herself with them.

Logan...

2010-09-09T12:56:00.000-06:00

TOU was in Logan so we had a day there to just relax and hang out. We walked around the temple. The Logan temple has always been one of my favorites, it's so beautiful to me, and I love that it's on top of the hill and the old castle look of it. It's where I received my endowments, and where my parents were married, so it will always have a special place in my heart.
The huge lawn is a perfect place to let Abigail run around and stretch those little legs.

Loves those kisses

Group date...

2010-09-09T12:55:00.000-06:00

We went on our first "group date" in well, a few years. Double dates we have done, group dates haven't seemed to exist since we were dating. It was such a blast, a great break from all the mayhem of life. I guess I feel pretty short in this photo.

Keeping ourselves entertained while waiting an hour in line.

Just keep swimming...

2010-09-09T12:54:00.000-06:00

When we went to Idaho a while ago we of course took advantage of the pool with all of this hot weather. I was so proud of Abigail, once we put those floaty things on she was cool with just hanging out without us holding on to her; staying close by of course:)
She loves the water, which makes me happy. She is not too interested in tv, but she does like two movies: Finding Nemo and Little Mermaid (just like mommy). Maybe it's the water part, or the fish part...she seems to love fish. Either way, I'm happy with our little water girl.

It's that time of year...

2010-09-07T10:10:00.000-06:00

FOOTBALL season is here, and in this household, that means serious business.

Josh LOVES football. In Massachusetts it seems that if you are a real man, you love football.
I like that he is a football kind of guy, I love the energy of football season myself, something about it is different then the other sports. However I don't get into watching it EVERY Sunday. But this is where I think Josh has his love for it down perfectly. Any Patriots game will of course be watched, and he is definitely that guy jumping up, clapping, laughing, and shouting for joy at the tv. But he is NOT that guy who is yelling out of anger and getting ridiculously upset, which I appreciate. And he IS that man who is willing to turn the game off if it means it would make his wife happy because she is bored, and would like for us to do something else for the day. But she would NEVER ask that of him during a Patriots game :)

So bring it on Football.

GO PATRIOTS and BSU!!!

13.1 - TOU...

2010-09-02T09:09:00.000-06:00

I did it! I know it might not seem like much compared to a full marathon, but I am so excited, happy, and proud that I finally accomplished this goal!
About 4 years ago I decided I wanted to complete a half marathon and a full; I just didn't know when. And it feels so good to have half of that goal accomplished! I feel like I did it at the perfect time for me, and I'm sure I'll feel that way about the marathon, whenever that time is.
The race went really great. I was nervous for it until about a week before because I took three weeks off for my knees. But I was able to get in one last long run in before the race and it took all my nerves away.
I felt really good during the run. I had one moment that my stomach did not feel too hot, but thankfully after a little prayer that feeling went away in a matter of just a minute or so. I was able to finish strong and without collapsing ;) I had one last burst of energy when I saw the clock and realized I was about to accomplish my goal of finishing the race in under 2 hours! It felt so wonderful!
I was so excited to see Josh and Abigail at the finish line!! It was hard not to get a bit emotional once I saw their faces. I guess it's hard not to when you just finished running for nearly 2 hours straight ;)
I really enjoyed this race. Running through the canyon was beautiful and the course wasn't hard on the knees which is a blessing!
Thank you for everyone's support and enthusiasm! Especially to Josh. He was so wonderful and understanding about all the training that went into this and never complained, even though I was gone a lot and unable to make meals sometimes ;)

My Final Results:

Time: 01:56:34.0

Gender: 250

Overall: 507
Division: 58

I'm not sure when I'll be doing a marathon. I know it's something I have to do for myself and at the right time for me, so I can't just rush into it. Also having the time to train for a full will be a challenge; this semester will be impossible. But maybe next year!

Afterwards I enjoyed a gigantic juicy burger at Center street Grill, in Logan. We highly recommend it if you're feeling like a delicious burger. Not sure I could have eaten that whole thing on a regular day, but it provided a much needed calorie/energy intake after the run. I've pretty much been craving one ever since.