Genealogy, I Am Doing It

I learned how to crochet this week and am loving it. Every night I curl up and work on crocheting flowers while J and his mom work on genealogy. It is quite the domestic scene.

I usually zone out and count stitches but every now and then I tune into their conversation and catch some quotables:


Kathy: I knew I was a princess! I don't like to work and I love to boss people around.
.

Justin: I just want my whole tree finished. That's all I want.
.

Kathy: Don't you love it when they're dead?
Justin: It is helpful.

The Newest Pace

Look what I get to cuddle with. It took a lot of time, frustration, and prayers to get this sweetie here. Congratulations Amber and Cade!

Be Here Now

I like to think I'm a genuine person. That I don't change who I am depending on who I'm with. But lately I feel like I've been rolling back into stages of my past. And parts of me revert back to the person I was at the time. Like a little part of me still gets some attitude when I'm doing dishes at my mom's house :)

Saturday I was my normal, trying to keep my cool, disciplining, mommy self. Then my little sis scored us some tickets and game day shirts to the USU v. BYU game down at the Delta Center. (Energy Solutions Arena...whatever. I refuse to call it that.) Side note--I love this shirt. It says "Win or Lose, You Still Have to Live in Provo." Thanks Megs, we had a great time!

OK, so USU barely lost but our fans outfanned the cougars, hands down. Which was why we were at the Delta Center in the first place--BYU refuses to play in our home court anymore. Pansies. I miss those Aggie basketball games and found myself screaming, booing, singing the Scotsman song, doing the maynard dance, laughing at J when he lost his voice after the first half. I was my freshman self.

As we were walking out, I ran into a bunch of the fellas from my Masters classes. Immediate switch. It was all handshakes and diplomacy.

Then I shed the hubby and headed down to Thanksgiving Point to catch a party with my friends from K-Ville. We were singing our hearts out to that American Idol game and most of the conversation revolved around our kiddos and residency interviews. We got in a good discussion about parenting, joy, and being our true selves. Quite different from the cheering gal screaming 'Sit Down' to the fouled out BYU player just hours earlier.

So my question--is it that bad? To change who you are? Don't different environments and people mandate different personalities? I like to think it just brings out different parts of my personality. I'm a complicated lady, people.

Temple Square

I thought it would be another year before Abbey appreciated Christmas, but she is loving the lights. This is going to be an awesome Christmas season this year.

We took the girls down to temple square last weekend with Allison, Noah, and apparently the rest of the state. The little ones were sleepy and mostly just cuddled up into our shoulders until we went into the visitors center. As we made our way up the ramp to the Christus, it was particularly loud with all the families jammed in there, trying to warm up. When we rounded the corner, Abbey and Justin went straight to the statue. I was a few feet away, but all of a sudden, it quieted down for me and I heard Abbey look up and say,

"Jesus. Hi! Thank you, Jesus."

J told me later she noticed the prints in His hands. Now she's telling people He got his 'ouchies' from playing soccer. So...it's not all getting in that head correctly. But it's getting in there. And it did our parent hearts good.

Event Reminder

Don't forget to wish my mom a Happy Dewey Day!

Nuggets of Wisdom

Looks like I'm not so great at this catching up business. But do note that good times were had all around on my trip back to Utah. I may or may not ever get around to preserving it.

We just got back from Michigan last weekend where J interviewed for residency and we got to spend time with Melody, Paul, Erin, and Jed. I always dread moving away from good friends like these guys. I wish I could have a growing collections of friends that I make move with me wherever we go.

We spent Saturday afternoon driving around Ann Arbor, checkin' out the place. We drove past a frat house around noon and there were already about 30 guys on the lawn getting hammered.

I said: "Starting a little early, aren't we, fellas?"
Abbey: "What are they doing?"
Justin: "They're making poor decisions."
Abbey: "Oh."

Her First Tag

Abbey got tagged by the adorable Kylee

Name and Meaning: Abbey- A Father's Joy
{appropriate}

Marie- Sea of Sorrow/Bitterness
{yikes, I think I should consult another website!}

Age: 2 1/2 years

Nicknames:
The Abster

Babe
Peanut

Abba Zabba

Favorite Activities:
Pretending to BE 'Mommy' and making Mommy pretend to be 'Abbey'

Favorite Foods:
Oh, you know. Creme Brulee, Rack of Lamb, Prime Rib Medium/Rare

Favorite Music:
Mr Pitiful by Matt Costa
Once There Was a Snowman
The Little Mermaid soundtrack





Favorite Toy:
her baby doll, hands down

Favorite Item of Clothing:
a pink dress that is getting way too small but makes her feel like a princess

What Makes Her Happy:
Hide-&-Go-Seek
Escalators
{trust me, she can outlast any adult in either of these activities}

What Makes Her Sad:
A mean mommy telling her we would go have lunch with dad after her doctor's appointment, then driving straight home because Dad didn't have enough time. The mean mom got bit. The two-year old got a time out, which also made her sad.

Funny Phrases:
"Can we give Mommy away?"

"Let's Blow This Joint"

"Daddy's a princess."

"Mommy hit me with a car."
{before you call CS, i honestly don't know where she came up with that last one}

Good Friends, Good Times

And the update continues:

In October, the girls and I took a few days to visit some good friends down south. Hayden's never been back on a normal sleeping schedule since, but we had a great time. We hit up a pumpkin patch with the Catrons, spent a fun day with the Youngs, and were able to get to the Harris's just long enough to get her boys sick. Sorry about that...

Wherever we went, these two were holding hands and whispering plans to run, run, run away.

We spent one afternoon in the Young's backyard, enjoying beautiful weather (and great lighting!)

{i see london, i see france...}

Then Trey wanted me to take pictures of his jumpin' skills. Pretty sweet moves, eh? He's such a daredevil.

And judge me how you will, but I can never let a little kid show me up on the trampoline, even if it leaves me with a headache and gasping for air.

Grandma's Bling

My dad says he has two favorite two-year olds. I haven't inquired as to the rank because I'm afraid this sweet pea might come in number one!

I wouldn't blame him. I've always been so charmed by this adorable face. Bridget is my cousin's little girl. I'll always remember the first time I met her. Nicole and Brian adopted her a few weeks after Abbey was born. We drove over to meet her one afternoon and my Aunt Peggy said "Bridget's just a few days old now. Doesn't Nicole look fabulous?" My three-week post-partum body didn't think that was so funny :)

I digress. Back to these two awesome toddlers. They had a lovely afternoon together; I found it quite appropriate when I came down to the playroom and they had on their Great-Grandma Carol's jewelry.

-i'm in love with this picture-

Country Chic

I love my inlaws' cabin home, it should be featured in some magazine. Well, it has. But here are some of my favorite corners:

You can keep your jacuzzi tubs--whenever I think of the perfect soak, I picture myself here.

-abbey's little sink stool-

Then down to the kitchen. Her oven is off about 75 degrees or something, but she knows how to adjust. And my mom can throw together a meal in this cozy kitchen like it's nobody's business.

Do you know anybody that has a wood burning stove? Oh. Well, do you know anybody who actually uses to heat their home in the winter? My father-in-law chopped wood for hours and hours getting ready for winter. We were here when the stock market took a nosedive a few weeks ago. I thought a lot about my own situation and surviving savviness and I loved to see how self sufficient they are. They even have their own water well. I'm in big trouble if our economy fails. More. I get concerned when I can't find Corn Bran at the grocery store.

It was cool to see things through a little girl's eyes this time.

I never really appreciated the beautiful antique toys until I saw Abbey appreciating them. Mom had a whole little house set up for her with a stove, antique doll cribs, tea sets, and furniture just her size. So lovely.

Homecoming

J had a charmed life growing up. I'm so drawn to the little community where he was raised. I love the simple, hard working way of life. And, let's be honest, small town gossip is the best kind of gossip! :)

This week it seemed like every time I turned around there was something beautiful. I'd go on a walk with J's sister and mom every morning along this road.

Abbey insisted on taking stale Honey Comb for Frita the Goat every morning.

The best part was being there to witness the NSHS Homecoming. Justin was Mr. High School. And I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it in a 'I've-moved-on.--I'm-not-still-hanging-on-to-my-football-glory-days' sort of way. So it was fun for me to see how involved and excited this community is about their high school sports.

My niece and nephew got all decked out in their dad's old football jerseys for the homecoming parade. Last year J's grandparents were on the honored float for being voted NSHS's number one fans. They still go to every event even though the last grandkid to play there has his 10-year reunion this spring.

My second favorite part of the experience: while waiting for the parade to start, the little boy in the background of this picture came over to shoot the breeze. He said he stole his mom's car to get there. Then he told Boston he'd come to his birthday party later in the week if he could steal his mom's car again. I just laughed. My sister-in-law didn't. Maybe she knows something I don't.
But my favorite part was at the end of the parade. Everyone was hanging out, listening to country music. I turned to my sis and asked how long everyone stuck around. She said 'Oh, I forgot to tell you. The whole parade turns around and comes back again.'

Love it.

The New One

bond |bänd| noun: • figurative a force or feeling that unites people; a common emotion or interest

On week two of my 'happily-married-trial-separation' I headed up to the inlaws. A special thing happened. My mother-in-law took charge of Abbey in the morning leaving me alone with my little love, Hayden. I got to wake up with her and spend a lot of time looking at her, playing with toes, and smiling. It was a luxury I took full advantage of and truly bonded with my second child. What a blessing.

Let's Go Back, Shall We?

So what's it been? A month and a half? Eeesh, thanks for sticking around! J did eight straight weeks of rotations in Ohio and Minnesota so the girls and I headed for the motherland. I've kept up with the ol' blog but didn't have a way of putting on pictures while I was staying with the folks. So now I have a backlog of entries that just need a pretty picture or two to keep it aesthetically pleasing. Let's just pretend it's September...

Party Caveman Style

Hooray! My fabulous friend lent me a card reader so I could finally pull these pictures off my camera (thanks Kathy, it worked!)



The night before I flew to visit family, my friend threw an awesome theme party. In fact, I purposefully scheduled my flight the next day so I would be sure not to miss it. I spent the night before making my costume but realized I was seriously underdressed as I drove up and saw the Ansons:
Heather (Party Hostess Extraordinaire) puts this huge party together every year. I don't know what past party themes have been, but I was oh so happy it was 'Caveman' this year so LeAnn could scheme Randy into this getup: (yeah, that's SUPER glued on!)

We split into teams and went through a series of challenges--here are the first groups learning they have to suck a chicken bone clean then try and toss it in a kiddie pool across the yard:

This is one of my favorite 'old' couples. I use the term loosely because they are too hilarious and fun to be deemed old. This picture captured one of my favorite moments of the night. I missed the instructions for this particular challenge because I was just inside the door taking care of Hayden. I watched these ladies struggle putting together this little dinosaur, and truly, it did look hard. But when it was all over (probably a good 20-30 minutes later) I heard someone say "Come on! It says for ages 4-6 on the box!"

It's A She

Poor Hayden. My family has taken to calling her 'Fester' since I started putting her in the bumbo this weekend.

Then today I stopped by my old piano accompianist. I introduced Hayden and she said "Oh..like Coach Hayden." That's what J calls her, but I didn't expect it from an elderly lady! But to her credit, the kid had no bow in and was wearing little red Nike track shorts.

And it doesn't help that I shaved the back of her head this weekend. J was not happy to hear that but really, it looks so much better. She had the startings of a rat tail and now it can all grow in together.

So I now resolve to keep cute headbands on while we're running into old friends here. Or at least keep her in pink. But come on! This kid looks like a girl!

Uncle NoNo

The girls and I are home with family now. You wanna know what's awesome? Aunts and Uncles who are so excited to see nieces that I haven't had to entertain my kids for a couple days now!

Although, Abbey's been picking up some weird habits from Uncle NoNo. (I love how kids can start new nicknames that'll stick for years.)

Uh, yeah, Best Friends.

Guess who's having a monumental birthday today? Katherine! Happy Birthday!

I often think that Katherine is way too cool to be my friend. She has a great sense of humor and is probably one of three people who will know the movie line of my title. If you know her or look at her blog, you know how fantastic she is. A lot has happened since we've met but she has come through it all with class and amazing strength.


I wish I could take you out to dinner today. Or at least spend the day with you at Disney Land :) You probably won't read this today, but HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY anyway!

One Year Pics

Amy and I have been waiting for days for Gustav to move out so we could go take Jake's one year pictures. I was so happy with how they turned out! (Thanks to an old friend who stayed up until all hours of the night talking with me about photoshop :) )

But the whole family is so stinkin' cute we had to do more. How awesome is her hair? I know you want it, too! And Caleb just cracks me up in this picture. I hope this is what you had in mind, Amy--

Progress Report

Hey Daddy-o,

Just checking in with ya, let you know how we're doing. I know you asked us to be good for mommy while you were away, but, you see, we kind-of already made a resolve to see just how far we could push her before she cracks. We've been creative, you would be proud. Weapons used include the entire contents of a brand-new bottle of shampoo, baby powder, liquid foundation, eggs...earlier today I painted my toenails with her mascara. And all this has been in the last two days! Impressive, eh?

Love you, miss you, be safe!
Abbey and Hayden

The Worst Possible Thing

Granted, there could be worse things that happen three days before elective (i.e. audition) rotations. But this has got to be in the top five:

We've been pushing hard this week to get in a lot of playing before he leaves. We have most of the ward hooked on volleyball now and J or I (or both) have played every night this week. Then Thursday Night Basketball...who can resist? Not my hubby. He thinks his broken thumb was punishment for spending so much time apart in our last week together. And now he's at the Missou, Illinois game. :) But...who can resist? No really. That wasn't sarcastic, I was excited for him to be able to go.

I wanted to get a good family picture before Justin leaves us for two months to go out on these rotations. The girls could not have been LESS cooperative. How do people catch good family pictures?!?!

We did get a few that I loved but they were of just the girls or just Justin and Hayden.

For some reason when it came time for all of us...Abbey would smile, Hayden would scream and vice versa. This was as close as we got as Abbey was storming off to find her buddy at the playground :)