and the "Mother of the Year" award goes to.....

I apologize that I haven't posted in awhile things have been busy, so I thought I would kick it off with a real winner of a story:
So I have been trying to watch the movie "27 Dresses" for the last three days. I have been catching different parts here and there and then I'd get interrupted. The reason for me concentrating so hard on finishing it is that my mother-in-law redboxed it for me and it had continued to sit at my house and charge her money, so I decided last night I would hurry and watch the end and take it back by the deadline. So I need to preface this story with the fact that all last night I was cleaning up a little before I sat down to watch the movie, I was going up and down the stairs, putting things away, organizing, etc. Abby was playing and then she would follow me down the stairs, and everything was going well. In fact I was thinking how well she was maneuvering the stairs lately and that we hadn't had any accidents.......well I spoke too soon.
I was watching my movie while Abby played in the family room and she decided to go up the stairs, I didn't think anything of it because she had been doing it all night. Well all of a sudden I heard her toppling down the stairs and and got to her right as she reached the bottom. Immediately the tears and the blood start to come and I am trying to hold her and figure out where the blood is coming from. I ran upstairs and set her on the kitchen counter as I try to access her, calm her down, and use a wet paper towel to clean up the blood that kept coming from her mouth. I thought immediately that she had knocked one of her teeth loose or something as her lip began to swell and I got the bleeding to stop I realized that it was her lip that was cut and nothing else. I felt SO AWFUL! My baby had gotten hurt because of my negligence and need to watch a stupid movie, and to boot I didn't have a car so if anything more serious would have happened I wouldn't have had a way to get to the ER. We sold our car and Jake had the truck, he was supposed to be arriving home soon, but who knows if he would have been held up what I would have done.
I just am so glad Abby is OK, and grateful her fall wasn't more serious. She could have banged her head on the door at the bottom of the stairs or broken something, so besides a fat lip and a loser for a mother, she's doing great!

Peanut, Peanut Butter and Abby!

I was trying to work today and instead of taking a nap which is what Abby normally does when I work, she decided to wake up, so I tried to keep her entertained because I needed to get my work done. I tried cartoons, I fed her lunch, and then I discovered something that kept Abby busy for 30 minutes by herself......peanut butter! I don't know if that makes me a careless mother, but I made sure to check on her continually to make sure she wasn't choking. She loved dipping raisins, banana, and her hands of course into the peanut butter. So it's not cartoons that makes my daughter happy, it's food! Here are some pictures of my messy girl!

Time flies when you are having fun!

The last couple of weeks have been filled with lots of fun family time! We were fortunate to have every one on the Mckinstry side make it to Grandpa Mac's funeral, so we had A LOT of company in town from April 23rd to April 3oth, the viewing was April 25th (my birthday) and the funeral was the next day. I was also able to celebrate my birthday with my twin sister for the first time since our freshman year in college which was so fun! We were so glad that the Ty and Jamie and their adorable little boys Easton and Trey stayed with us as well as Marci. I was able to spend some great time with my sisters who live out of town, and cousins that I haven't seen in 4 years. The great grandchildren had a ball playing and so did the grownups!

We had some family stay in town a few extra days so on Monday, April 28th we rode the Frontrunner train to Salt Lake, went to Temple Square to take pictures(which Abby was a nightmare for), eat lunch, and did a little shopping at The Gateway. It was super crowded on the train ride there and back from Salt Lake, but it was a fun and new experience especially for the kids.

Then this last weekend I had the opportunity to go and see my Grandma Roberts who lives in Canada. She was Boise, ID to visit with her family and celebrate her 94th birthday! Grandma Roberts is my only living grandparent so it was a treat to see her and visit with her. Also, Grandma, Abby and I share a middle name so I wanted to make sure to get a lot of good pictures (again Abby was a nightmare)but because I don't know when I will be able to get out to Canada to see her so I was so glad to have had the chance to spend some time with her and my aunts, uncles, and cousins on the Roberts side.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, but also I feel blessed to have great relationships with many wonderful relatives. I have attached some pictures of adventures and hope to get some more from my sisters.