There's Always Something To Smile About

Abby's imaginary friend

2010-12-06T13:49:00.003-07:00

I think it started at the beginning of this summer (2010) when Abby started talking about her friend "Jenny." I just assumed it was a friend she knew through Primary, but then as I started asking questions about Jenny I soon realized that Jenny was Abby's imaginary friend. When I or anyone else asks the following questions about Jenny, this is what I am told. Sometimes the details vary, but mostly they stay pretty much the same:

How old is Jenny?: "5"
Where does Jenny live?: "in town"
What color of hair does she have?: "purple and pink"
Does Jenny have a Mommy and a Daddy?: "no"
Does Jenny have any sisters or brothers?: "Yes, 11, one of her brother's name is "Thackerhea" and her sister is "Freakethera"
Does Jenny have any pets?: Yes, her dog's name is "Brucho" and her cat's name "Brenzelum."

Abby is always telling us about the adventures she has with "Jenny", she is always saying, "Mommy, the other day Jenny and I......." or when she is getting in trouble about something she did, she will sometimes say, "Well Jenny does that." The best is when she calls Jenny on her Cinderella phone and they set up playdates, and today she topped it all when she said, "Mommy, I just texted Jenny on my Cinderella phone." So apparently our daughter is quite creative and high tech! ;)

You can say that again!

2010-06-14T14:27:00.002-06:00

So Abby has a new phrase that she continues to use over and over again, "You can say that again!" I have no idea where she heard this or picked up on it, but there have been a couple of really cute situations where she keeps using it.
Jake's mom was telling her how silly she was because she was playing with her and Abby was being funny and Jake's mom said, "Abby, you are so silly, your sense of humor is so funny", and Abby replied without missing a beat, "You can say that again!" We all laughed so hard because it fit the situation perfectly and it was hysterical. Then this morning she was helping me with Tate and I said to her, "Thanks Abby, your are such a good helper, you're the best!" and again she turned to me and said, "You can say that again!" What a cutie she is, she is getting so big and starting to look like a "big girl". She is growing like a weed, in fact now that it's really starting to warm up we pulled out all of the shorts and sundresses that I had put away for this summer that I bought last year for her to wear this summer and a lot of the stuff is too short! She has hit a big growth spurt and is getting so long and I had kind of noticed, but it didn't really hit home until shoes and clothes started not fitting.
We also had her dance recital last week that I will post pics and video from, but before it I was going through tapes for our camcorder and trying to find one that had some space on it and I got caught up watching footage of her when she was a baby, her first birthday, Christmas, etc. and she just looked so little, even in last year's Christmas footage she looked so little so it's crazy how time really has flown by. We love our Abby girl she is such a character!!

Peek-a-boo

2010-03-27T02:41:00.005-06:00

I apologize for the bad lighting, and the semi-messy kitchen (I swear my garbage isn't always that full) but I wanted to share this video. Tate has discovered he loves to squeal especially when we play peek-a-boo with him. I also want to document his first words were "da, da" and "ma, ma"which is normal, but he also says "bee" for our dog Bree, and "up", "yeah", and said a mumbled version of "book" a few times. He is really starting to jabber and his personality shines through more and more each day.

Tate is One!

2010-03-27T00:43:00.012-06:00

I can't believe that our Tate is now 1-year-old!! He is such a cute and smiley boy and makes everyone happy when he is around them. He honestly has been such an easy and mellow kid up to this point and I hope he turns out to be a pretty easy toddler.....here's to hoping. :) We really enjoyed celebrating Tate's 1st birthday this month. On his actual birthday Jake was out of town so I made cinnamon rolls for his birthday treat, and then the Sunday following his birthday we had family over to have cake and ice cream. Our family was so generous and gave him some fun gifts and it was fun to celebrate with them. I wanted Tate's cake to be chocolate, but when I went to make it I didn't have any chocolate cake mixes left so we went with rainbow chip. Tate didn't really know what to think of it, but finally dug in. He is still as big as ever, and not really crawling or walking at this point. He is doing an army crawl and shuffle backwards thing, and I am sure he will be crawling like crazy in no time. At his 1 year checkup he was:

Height: 33 inches--90th percentile
Weight: 25.5 lbs.--95th percentile
Head circumference: 19 cm--99th percentile

We love you Tater-bug, here's to many more happy birthdays!!

enjoying the candle on his birthday cinnamon roll.

The birthday cake (thanks to Daddy it looked great!)

Tate trying to get Mommy with his messy hands

Mommy and Daddy with the birthday boy!

Abby's tonsilectomy and adenoidectomy

2010-03-25T00:03:00.013-06:00

Abby has had enlarged tonsils since she was about 2 years old. Any time she would go in to see the doctor they would look in her throat and say, "Her tonsils are pretty big!" So after watching them for over a year, having her get sick multiple times, and continue to have problems with sleeping and eating we decided it was time to get them taken out. So on March 18th we went in to get them taken out. I will be honest I was pretty nervous because I knew the rehab could be rough and let's face it, Abby can sometimes be a whiny child so to add to that could pretty much put me over the edge. But more importantly this would be the first time Abby would be put out completely with anesthesia, and that is always scary to me. We talked a lot with Abby before hand about what to expect so it would hopefully go smooth. We told her how she would get to wear a "cool mask" and a "fun nightgown" and then afterward she would get to eat lots of popsicles.

Jake gave her a blessing the night before we went into the surgical center bright and early at 7:00 in the morning. Well when we got there she was fine until they brought us back to change her clothes. We got her changed and she started telling me that she didn't want to lay down and she didn't want the mask. I tried to cheer her up about it and when it came time to take her back I felt bad because the nurse took her hand and they went through the doors and after the doors shut I could hear Abby start crying and saying "I want my Mommy!" which broke my heart. So I went to the waiting room and after about 45 minutes the doctor came and spoke with me and told me she had trouble going down with the anesthesia because she didn't want to wear the mask, but everything else went great.

They took me back to see her in the recovery area when she was coming out of the anesthesia, and as I was walking up to where she was laying I could hear her whimpering to the nurse and saying, "I want my Mommy." Luckily this time I could see her and when she saw me she started crying more, which I guess is to be expected. She was still pretty groggy from the anesthesia so I just layed with her on her bed and told her stories to keep her mind off the IV in her hand, which was bugging her quite a bit. She was so sweet and she told me, "Mommy, I didn't like the mask" which made me laugh. We were only at the surgical center for about an hour after her surgery and then headed home. The first day she was home was actually not bad at all, she just layed on the couch and watched movies and started to perk up a little that night. All she wanted were popsicles, cheetos and a little bit of pudding, so that's what we gave her. She was up a lot that first night, and had a rough second day and threw up a couple of times, but the worst has been the nights. It may be because the wounds are scabbing or for some reason I think she panics when she can't swallow or something but she would wake up crying and sometimes screaming. One night it was so bad she didn't sleep more than like 3 hours the whole night, but last night went really well and today she woke up almost back to her old self, although she has a little bit of a higher voice now, which is pretty cute, but we don't know if that will last.

Today we went to see the doctor for Abby's postop appointment and on our way there Abby was telling me how she wanted to push the button on the "elligator" (which she loves to do of course) and I corrected her and said, "No honey it's called an elevator, with a "V". Abby then replied, "No Mommy, it's like alligator, but it's an elligator". I laughed so hard, that girl seriously cracks me up! What an experience this was!!

Here she is kind of dopey on her pain medicine chompin on cheetos......hey, whatever keeps her happy!

Christmas card and letter 2009

2009-12-30T23:48:00.014-07:00

We sent some of these in the mail, but missed some family and friends so I thought I would post it here along with our letter. Jake came to me one week before Christmas and said, "I think we should do a Christmas card and letter." Seriously dude a little heads up would be nice! I thought we just weren't going to do one this year, but I am glad we did. You see I have a love hate relationship with Christmas cards/letters---I love to get them, but don't necessarily love to put them together to send them out, especially since my master mailing list was on our previous hard drive so I had to start from scratch! Also I don't like sending out things telling people how great we think we are or how perfect our children are, because we all know that is the furthest from the truth....ok maybe my kids are semi-perfect :)....so hopefully our letter didn't come across that way. Jake really chipped in and was kind enough to write the letter and I hurried and ordered cards so we could try to get them out before Christmas. If we missed you we are sorry, and if you would like one sent to you via mail next year, leave me your address so you can be added to the mailing list :)
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and has a wonderful New Year!!!

Merry Christmas! December 2009
We hope that this letter finds you and your family enjoying the holidays and celebrating a successful passing of 2009! Indeed we have enjoyed 2009, and are looking forward to a great 2010! The biggest thing that has happened to our little family in 2009....remains the biggest thing in our family! THE TATER-BUG!!! "And in the blue corner...weighing in at 9 lbs at his introduction on earth, March 4, 2009....Tate Speed Barben!!" (Middle name after his Grandpa who is nicknamed "Speed.") With a rough start in the NICU, our little champ fought hard and 9 months later has come back with a bang! Currently weighing in at 2 lbs and sporting 18 month clothes...yes...for those of you who did the math there, he is twice the size he should be and commonly receives comments such as "Good Heavens, he's a tank" or "What are you feeding this kid?" Perhaps its the weight he carries, perhaps his older sister steals his thunder, whatever the cause he is the easiest and happiest baby ever. Seriously, if we would have had him first we would be ruined for life! He is quick to smile and loves to snuggle. He loves his Jumparoo, which is great because he needs the workout...although in reality it's the Jumparoo getting the real workout! They don't make bungees that strong! He loves our chocolate lab Bree; it is a common thing to see the two of them snuggled up n the front room floor together while Tate plays with her hair. I think the feeling is mutual on both sides; our lab is so tender with him and fun to watch. Tate is sitting up now, jabbering like crazy, and of course with the most obvious...eating anything and everything that gets in front of him! That said, his favorite thing of all is playing with his older sister Abby....is is so fun to see them interact and giggle at each other, obviously this won't always be the case so we are enjoying it while it lasts!

Abby is now 3, potty trained, and becoming such a big girl! Honestly there are days that Allison and I are just amazed at her growth and personality development. It is truly an honor and privilege to be a witness to our children's lives. For those of you who know Abby personally, you know that "calm" isn't in her vocabulary. She has two speeds: 100 mph or asleep. Her mind works so quickly and she is full of questions about everything we do and see, she truly never stops going! We love her to death and hope that she continues to always have a desire to learn new things. She is without question the comedy in our home. I could finish this letter with one-liners and anecdotal stories about her easily, but you can find all of that on our blog or Facebook instead. She has developed a true love of music and it is common to hear her singing constantly throughout the day. She has also been taking dance lessons and loves it. Her favorite thing to do however is play dress up. She has several princess costumes that she must try on 3-4 times per day, and she never forgets to accessorize with earrings, necklaces and bracelets, followed with, "How do I look?" However, despite her "girly" nature, she also loves to go on rides with Dad on the Rhino and she is the first to greet Dad when he returns from hunting to say, "Whatcha get Dad?" She shares my love of the outdoors and the wildlife in it. We took several trips to the mountains this year together, seat-belted into her seat on the Rhino, it wasn't uncommon to do 100 miles in a day with her. She loved it, just as long as there was licorice, juice, and high speeds everything was peachy!

As for Allison and I , we have spent the year just enjoying the heck out of our kids. We did a lot of family things together this year including camp outs, boating, trips to southern Utah and California, long Rhino rides through Utah's mountains and more. It has been so much fun. Allison has really developed her talent for cooking this year and has experimented with several things, and I must say I have been very impressed with what she has come up with! She is a great cook, which is important because I love being the taste tester! She works from home in the evenings as a medical transcriptionist and has also been involved with daily activities with Abby and Tate. They have play dates and visit parks, libraries, museums, the zoo, and go swimming together while I am at work. Although I would love to join them, I am grateful for a wife that is determined to share experiences with our children. I know that it has its challenges, but it is important to her so she does it. I am still working for Marketstar, and grateful to have work at all. Today's economic situation has not been kind to some of our close friends so we count our blessings every day that we have work at all. This year has been one of travel for me personally. Work has taken me many places, and though it presents its challenges while I am away, it has also given me some perspective on the world and makes me grateful for what I have at home and the lifestyle I have chosen. When work isn't keeping me busy, the Young Men's program in our ward have. With Sunday morning meetings, Wednesday activities, fundraisers, camp outs, service projects, Court of Honors, and many other things, there is never a dull moment for me when I am not working. That said, I wouldn't trade it for the world. My Young Men have taught me far more than I could ever teach them.

May we all remember our Savior as we celebrate his birth and try to be more like him in this coming year. We love and think of you often! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

---The Barbens

Tate has a tooth!

2009-12-11T01:29:00.004-07:00

I know you haven't heard from us in a while and I will post my year in review wrap up soon, so I won't be completely lame and worthless in the blogging department this year, but I wanted to document that our little Tatter got a tooth! He was kind of having a hard day yesterday and I thought it was because he was coming down with something because normally the kid is an angel. So today Jake was feeding him and I don't know what made him check, but he calls to me and says, "Hey honey, Tate got a tooth!" I was thinking, "No way" because Abby didn't get her first two teeth until she was 13 months old, but sure enough I went and felt in Tate's mouth and he has a tooth cutting through. I can't believe my baby boy is 9 months old.....seriously it is so weird to think that last year at this time we only had one child and I was pregnant, and now I can't imagine our family without our Tater bug....he is the best!

What would a post be without a cute picture, soon Tate will have a toothy grin! (I love Abby's smile in this.....by the way, she is quite the hilarious 3-year-old these days.)

Tate loves the jumperoo!

2009-08-26T12:56:00.006-06:00

I know I have been a slacker with blogging lately, and I have a lot to blog about with pics of everything that we did this summer, but I wanted to put this video on of Tate in his Jumperoo. We put him in it last week and after a few times, he started to get it. He will be 6 months in a week and a half, and I can't believe it! He is wearing 6-9 month old outfits, and even some 12 month outfits. He has been so fun and lovable!

p.s. the picture quality isn't great because it came off Jake's cell phone, and if you listen closely you can hear Tate squeal as he is jumping.

CAR FOR SALE!!!

2009-07-15T17:34:00.011-06:00

As much as I don't want to, we have come to realize that our family needs a 4-door truck so we are selling our wonderful Pacifica. Check out this link if you are interested because it's a fantastic car, and I would love to see it go to someone that will take good care of it, plus if we know you we'll make you a good deal!

Here are all of the details on it, and I have posted some pics below:
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=733005&nid=443&tab=list/view&ad=1414146

Father's Day

2009-06-21T22:35:00.026-06:00

Warning: Long and slightly sentimental post ahead:)

I think my life is better because of the men that have played "father figures" in it. Not only was I so blessed to have an amazing father of my own, but my husband was raised by an exceptional father, and my own hubby is truly a wonderful Dad, so I wanted to give a brief shout out to them. Here are some things that I love about them, and some pics to enjoy.

My Dad:

I have to admit, I think I have always been a Daddy's girl at heart, and my dad is just the greatest! My sisters and I always say that my Dad was the perfect Dad for raising girls. He was hard and firm when he needed to be, but tender and loving with us, and seriously the man has more patience then anyone I know, he would have to be living with a house full of 7 crazy women! My Dad taught me to work hard, and not be afraid to take on tasks. We didn't have brothers so we were expected to do everything that boys could do without any complaining i.e., mow the lawn and other yard work, shovel snow, paint the house, move things that were hard and heavy (he taught us how to work together to get a job done) and my favorite..... home improvement projects. We hung sheet rock, sanded walls, and re-roofed our house with our Dad, and when people would volunteer to help us he would say, "I've got my girls to do it!" ( we would've liked the help!) My Dad taught me to be honest, and to be Christ-like and non-judgemental, and more than anything to have a sense of humor about life and know that everything will work out for the best. I remember multiple talks where I would be crying to him about what was going on in my life and he always gave me the best advice! He still does give great advice actually, and he still worries about us and wants to help us, most times I can call him if I need help and he will drop what he is doing and come to my rescue.

I also love the fact that my Dad works close by to where we live so he will stop by and check in with us during the week while I'm at home with the kids. He has a special knock and when he knocks on the door with his special knock Abby squeals and says "Papa!" My Dad is a total sucker for his grandkids too, and will pretty much give them whatever they want, here in this picture Abby wanted to be pushed on the swings which she always wants help with, and my nice Dad went out and pushed her for awhile until it got too hot. I love you Dad, thanks for everything!

Jake's Dad:

The best thing about Scott is he is always happy. He is very personable and easy to talk to. When he sees me he always says, "How's my favorite gal today?" or "Has anyone told you that they love you today?" He is always up for a fun night of hanging out with us, and he always makes us laugh. We love to go camping with him, and I think it's great that Jake and his Dad share a love of the outdoors together. Scott is a very hard worker and taught Jake that if he wanted something, he had to work for it. He taught Jake how to lay concrete and restore 3-wheelers so that he could earn money for his own 3 wheeler and other things he wanted while growing up. They worked hard together and played hard together.

According to Jake his Dad was the perfect Dad for him because he let Jake know what was expected of him, and gave him the freedom to make choices for himself. One time when Jake was younger he snuck out of the house to be with his friends, and when he got back home there was a note on his bed with the simple quote, "The measure of a man is defined by what he does when he thinks no one is looking." I am grateful for the things my husband learned from his father, and for how kind Scott has been to me. One of the nicest things he always says to me is, "I'm so glad you married my son." What he doesn't know is I am just as glad I married into a great family!

My Hubby:

I know that this post will be embarrassing for my husband to read but I want to write down some of my favorite things about him, especially how he is as a father. I always knew Jake would be a good Dad even before we had kids because he was always willing to take the time to play with my nieces and nephews. His favorite thing to teach them was "Who's your favorite?" and they would enthusiastically reply, "Uncle Jake!" Lately my favorite thing has been just watching Jake interact with our kids. Even though Tate is small he still tries to interact and talk to him and get great smiles out of him and then Tate will kick like crazy and coo at him.

Of course Abby is a big fan of her Daddy, so I am pretty low on the priority list with her and whenever she wakes up in the middle of the night and is crying, the first thing she says is, "I snuggle Daddy." She gets so excited when she hears his truck pull up or when she hears the garage door because she knows he's home, she squeals and puts her hands up to her face and yells, "My Daddy's home!" One of Abby's favorite things is to have Jake tell her bedtime stories which is good because I am really lame in that department. He sits on her bed and tells her the Three Bears or Three Little Pigs and does funny voices and actions with her. Whenever Jake goes outside to work in the garage or mow the lawn Abby has to be with her Dad, like his little shadow.

Jake loves to have fun and is so optimistic about life. I am grateful for the help he gives me as a parent, how hard he works for our family, and for the good example he is. I love you Jake, Happy Father's Day!

Quick question for all of you out there

2009-06-20T14:25:00.004-06:00

Jake bought me a fancy Cannon digital SLR camera for Christmas and I have still yet to really capitalize on using it to take great pics and see all the cool things it can do. I have taken a a lot of photos with it but I don't think they have turned out that great because I don't have a photo editing program like Photoshop or anything. I always see pics on other people's blogs and wonder how they get their pics to look so nice and polished. Plus I hear that some photo editing programs can help in doing digital scrapbook type stuff, so I just don't know what to get.

SO.... I am putting my question out into the great blogsphere for help: If you use a photo editing program, which one do you use and why? Also how much did you pay for it and do you think that it was worth what you paid and/or in hindsight do you wish you would have gotten another program?

Any comments and suggestions you can leave me would help me tremendously.......Thanks!

A funny conversation

2009-06-19T15:45:00.006-06:00

So I was working today downstairs and my instant messenger pops up and Jake and I had the following conversation:

Jake says:
Do you know why the Oreo cookies are soggy?
Allison says:
they are? Abby got into them earlier but I didn't think she did anything to them. I have no idea how they got soggy though unless she put her mouth on them when I wasn't up in the kitchen.
Jake says:
I think she sucked on several and then put them back!
Jake says:
There are little teeth marks!
Allison says:
I went downstairs to do the laundry and came up and she had Oreo on her face but they were all sealed so I though she just took one out and ate it, that's hilarious!

Jake says:
There are a couple of good ones. Do you care if I eat them?
Allison says:
no go ahead, that stinker we shouldn't have left them out last night, note to self Abby cannot be left alone with cookies apparently, what a funny girl!

This is how we found her the other night when I went in to check on her.......she makes us laugh every day!

Abby-What a girl!

2009-06-11T23:40:00.016-06:00

So I have to write these down before I don't forget them. Abby has been talking and singing a TON lately and she is coming up with the funniest things to say, for example:

-When I was scolding her for being naughty and telling her to be nice she says to me, "Mommy, I grumpy, I havin a hard time."

-When I told her not to touch the hose because I was trying to water our tree she came in the house with an excited expression and said, "Mommy I've got idea(I've got an idea), let's play game!" When I asked her what game she wanted to play she said, "with the water!" Like if we played a game of course she would get to play in it.

-When she goes into another room she holds up her hand and says, "Mommy (or Daddy) stay right dere (there)."

-When Abby does something she's not supposed to and I tell her that she wasn't supposed to do that she looks at me and says, "It's OK Mom, it was an assident (accident)."

-When I find Abby getting into things she really isn't supposed to be touching like my jewelry, makeup, etc, and tell her I don't want her touching my stuff she says, "We're sharing Mommy, it's OK." Because I have tried to teach her about sharing her own things apparently she thinks that if she wants anything else she can say we're "sharing" and it's fair game.

-After going to the air show Abby has been infatuated with airplanes and we see them often living near the base. Well we were driving the other day and she says, "Look Daddy, an airpane (airplane).......naah, it's just a birdy.

-I often ask Abby, "what does a ______ say?" Well right now her favorite Disney movies are Toy Story 1 & 2 so I was asking her what Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and Woody say. Well those who know Woody, he says, "There's a snake in my boot." So I asked Abby, "What does Woody say, there's a snake in my.......?" and Abby replied very enthusiastically "Butt!" Not quite, but it made me laugh so hard the rest of the day.

-When she sees letters or numbers on something like a shirt, or billboard she says "Look Mommy, ABC's!" well the other day we were driving and she saw the "U" on the side of the mountain and she said "Look Mom, a yetter (letter)!" I proceeded to tell her that it was the letter "U" and I said, "Yep, that's the letter "U", and my darling daughter replied, "Yep, that's the letter ME!"

-She also loves to sing "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie and "A Camping We Will Go" and the "I Love You" song from Barney, and she must hug and kiss me every time she sings it. According to her aunt Marci she has pretty good pitch, but that's from hearing her sing over the phone. :) When I try to make her sing other songs that she knows she will stop me in the middle of it and say, "No, no, I don't like dat (that) song!"

-So Abby is also talking back quite often these days---nothing like a typical 2 year old of course, so right now I am trying to teach her that she needs to speak nicely to Mommy, so I will say, "Abby, you be nice." and she points her finger right back at me and says, "No Mommy, you be nice!" or when I am frustrated I will say, "Abby, knock it off!" and without missing a beat she says, "No Mommy, you knock it off!" I don't even think she knows what "knock it off" means but our little Abby is a force to be reckoned with. Jake and I have both commented that we hope she has the will and desire to do what is right as she gets older because she has such a strong will that she will want to mow us right over to get what she wants.

Her attempt to put sunscreen on without her Mommy's help, she did it in the other room and then said, "Mommy, I need help with dis (this)!"

-One moment Abby will be lipping off and then the next moment though she will come over and hold onto my leg or hug me and say, "Mommy, I' lobe (love) you." and her new favorite thing to say to Jake is "Daddy, I love you so much." Also when she wakes up in the morning she gets this high pitched and soft voice and says, "Good morning, Mommy," or "Daddy" or "Tate."

-On a grosser note, but I do need to document it; Abby can't stand having a runny nose or "boogies" as she calls it. Whenever she cries and throws a tantrum, she gets more mad because her "nose is runnin" or she says in a sad or upset voice, "I got a boogie Mommy (or Daddy), get it!"

And finally I know that my kid watches me like a hawk because when I want to swear what usually comes out is something like, "shibit" or "sheeba" and we were driving in the car once, and I can't even remember what made her say it but she says, "Aahh shibit." Jake looks at me and says, "I wonder who that came from." But on a better note it's funny to watch Abby say things to Tate that I say to him like "You're a truba maker (trouble maker) or "Tater bug."

We love our Abby, we wouldn't know how to make it through the day without the funny things she says and does!

Abby trying to stay warm with her blankie. Here she is ready for Mardi Gras!

Our Tater Bug

2009-06-02T12:10:00.007-06:00

Our little Tate is turning 3 months this week, and I can't believe how big he is getting. At his 2 month appointment his stats were:

Weight: 14 lbs.--90% percentile
Length: 24 inches--85% percentile

He is already in 3-6 month clothes and is our chubby monkey! I have already moved the straps up in our car seat because he is getting longer, and our swing doesn't swing as fast because he's so big. The things that he is doing right now are:

--sleeping almost through the night! About 6-7 hours straight
--cooing and smiling alot
--kicking like crazy
--discovered his hands and likes to lift them in front of his face
--He loves to sleep on his belly (we know that's bad) so we try to make him sleep on his side but he doesn't like it as much.
--He hates to sleep on his back.
--He doesn't like his bouncy chair that vibrates, every time I turn it on he squirms and cries.
--Sleeps well in his car seat and travels really well, we have had a couple of road trips and rhino rides and he has done great.
--Drinking between 6 and 8 oz. each feeding, and he does not like it when you stop feeding him to burp...he cries and fusses until the bottle goes back into his mouth.
--He has had some health problems with blood in his stool, but we think it was the formula he was on and after switching him he is doing much better.

The best thing about Tate is his easy and happy temperament, and he is a total snuggle bug which Jake and I love! Abby was never much for snuggling, and when you hold Tate he snuggles right into you and would probably snuggle all day if we let him. My favorite thing is to have him sleep on my chest. I loved carrying him in my sling because he would cuddle with me while I went about doing tasks but now he is getting too big to carry him like that in my sling.
We just love our little Tater-bug! Everyone told me that I would love having a boy and they were right, he has been such a wonderful addition to our family and brings a neat spirit into our home! Here are some pics of our little man!

Our recent pics

2009-04-24T11:38:00.008-06:00

This is what we have been up to in the last couple of months, I can't figure out how to put it in the body of our blog so just click on it and enjoy!

What a week--part 2--Tate in the NICU

2009-03-12T22:02:00.011-06:00

Tate was born with a bang on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. He was doing really well, and besides a little jaundice everything was going accordingly. He was nursing well which was encouraging because Abby wasn't much of a nurser. They decided to put him under the fluorescent billirubin lights late in the day on Friday, March 6th because we were going to be there a few more days because of my C-section, we decided it would be good that he could be under the lights and get rid of the jaundice before we left the hospital and then were wouldn't have to worry about having to put him under the lights at home like we did with Abby.

Well on Saturday our pediatrician came to me and said that it looked like we would need to start supplementing Tate with formula because he had lost 1 pound, his billirubin count was still high, and his urine was really brown which was concerning for the pediatrician. Initially I was upset that I had to start supplementing because I was hoping that the nursing thing would go better this time and I wouldn't have to do formula, but I wanted to do what was best for the baby. Because his urine was brown the pediatrician ordered a urine analysis to be done to find out exactly why. The initial analysis looked "dirty" according to the lab, ordered another one to be done via catheter. They told us we would most likely have the results back late Saturday afternoon.

The doctor called us with the results and said he was concerned because again his urine was brown and looked dirty so he called a urologist at Primary Children's to see why that was. The urologist stated that it could possibly be a fistula which happens when the stool mixes with the urine because there are problems with the bowels and rectum. But Tate had already had a few bowel movements and his rectum looked intact so our doctor was perplexed. He told us that we would most likely discharge on Sunday and then take Tate up to Primary Children's on Monday to run some tests to see what was going on.

I was pretty upset and hormonal of course because we didn't really know how serious the situation was and we most likely weren't going to get answers for another day or so. On Saturday night Jake had taken Abby to get something to eat with his family and I had called my sister Katie to tell her what was going on. Being the sweet sister that Katie is she could that I was upset so she decided to come and hang out with me at the hospital and keep me company. She also butted in like most older sisters do and asked my Dad to come over to the hospital to give Tate and I a priesthood blessing for health and comfort which was very thoughtful. I was grateful for my family's concern and support.

The next day on Sunday I went to my discharge class, and in the middle of it my pediatrician came to come and talk to me. He told me that he had been on the phone with more specialists after he had spoken with me the previous night and said that he wasn't convinced that Tate had a fistula and that is why his urine was brown. He said it was more likely that Tate was ultra dehydrated because he hadn't been getting much liquid from me like we thought and then we had him under the billirubin lights for his jaundice. So Dr. Ebherhard said that he was going to admit him to the NICU to be put on some fluids to see if that helped the brown urine. He also said that they would be able to run further tests to make sure everything else was OK. Honestly when he told me that I was relieved that hopefully that was all the problem was. So they admitted him into the NICU, and we weren't able to go home with him which was hard but OK because we felt better that he was getting the care he needed so he would be 100% when he came home. The only other hard thing was that I needed to go to the hospital every 3 hours to feed Tate and I couldn't drive because I had a C-section. I didn't necessarily have to go to the hospital but it was the only time that I would be able to see Tate and hold him, they would allow me 1 hour to feed and hold him and then they had to put him back onto his monitors and under the billirubin lights. In fact one time I went to feed him and they had already fed him with a bottle because he had woken up early and was fussing. When they told me they had already fed him I started to cry (yes the hormones were in full swing.) Luckily my sister Katie was awesome and took me back and fourth to the hospital multiple times while Jake stayed with Abby because children weren't allowed in the NICU, and my parents and Jake's mom also took me. I initially thought that Tate would only have to be in there for a couple of days, but I didn't realize that it would take time to work Tate up to the amount of IV fluids they wanted him on and then it would take time to work his way off them because they wanted to observe how he did through the whole process of coming off the fluids to see if he would be OK without them. I am just grateful it was just a few days and not months that he had to be in the NICU, honestly I don't know how people who have to do that make it through.

So on Wednesday the doctor told me that he was doing really well and after doing a renal ultrasound, a head ultrasound and other lab workups everything was looking normal and he would most likely come home in the next few days. Well I was hoping we would be able to take him home on Thursday and sure enough we got a call from the nurse in the NICU stating that the doctor had discharged him. It was so exciting yet kind of scary because now we were bringing him home and I just didn't want anything else bad to happen. Tate's delivery had been nothing like we had planned or anticipated and it was neat to see how much love and support we had through the whole thing from our family, friends, and ward members.

It's funny how each kid is so different. Tate's pregnancy, delivery, and post-delivery were TOTALLY different and more difficult than our first time around with Abby and I have joked with Jake that he better shape up because he has been a trouble maker from the start. But really he is such a good baby and has been so fun to have in our family.

Here is Jake dressing Tate to get him ready to bring home from the NICU. (Notice the camo outfit for Tate that his Daddy picked out.)

What a week!--part 1

2009-03-12T00:33:00.015-06:00

Introducing: TATE BARBEN

Born: March 4, 2009 at 2:44 p.m.

Weight: 8 lbs. 11 oz.

Length: 21.5 inches

As Jake says, "We caught the Tater!" Wednesday morning at 7:15 a.m. I went in to be induced to have our baby boy. My doctor came in, broke my water and we were on our way. Things were going very well, I dilated quickly, was very comfortable during my contractions, and besides some slight nausea with the pain medication, we were excited that my labor this time with Tate was seemingly going to be short and sweet......little did we know the change of events that would occur.

When I was dilated to a 9, they called my doctor and I was getting ready to push. My doctor arrived and was observing the baby's heart monitor and asked the nurse if that was the fetal heart rate or the maternal heart rate, and the nurse wasn't quite sure. Immediately I saw the concern on my OB's face and she said, "Let's get going." Apparently the baby's heart rate was dipping so I then proceeded to push as hard as I could while I continued to observe the looks on Jake's and my doctor's face. I tried pushing a few times, and then they pulled out the vacuum and I pushed with that to try to get the baby out, then they had 2 nurses pushing on my belly, used the vacuum, and me pushing to try to get him out, one of the last things my doctor said was "Push sweetie, like you don't want a C-section." Well no matter how hard we tried we couldn't get Tate out, and his heart rate by this time was dropping, so in a matter of seconds, they prepped me for a C-section. The nurse anesthetist pumped my epidural line with one last shot, unhooked me, and he and another nurse wheeled me to the OR. They tossed Jake a bag of surgical covers to put over his clothes and said they would be back to get him.

When I got to the OR, they immediately reclined me back and put the sheet up in front of my face, which I assume was so they could immediately sanitize the area, right after they reclined me I started feeling nauseous and began puking over the side of the table onto the OR floor. (Glamorous I know) I immediately felt tugging and said to someone "Will someone go get my husband." The nurse replied, "On my way" then Jake came in and sat on a stool next to my head. Because of the surgical garb Jake was wearing the only thing I could see were his eyes, and just by looking at him I could tell he was concerned. He was holding my hand and kept stroking it, then I heard the doctor say, "Here he is!" I heard Tate whimper a little, and then I said to Jake, "Is he ok?" I could tell by Jake's eyes that the baby was ok which was a relief. I next heard the doctor talking about "sutures" so I knew that they were sewing me back up, and the next thing I know I am waking up in my labor and delivery room and I can see my doctor and Jake standing at the foot of my bed. Jake is holding the baby and says, "Here he is honey, do you want to hold him?" I don't even know if I replied back to him, I was so drugged that I could barely keep my eyes open. The next few hours were a blur because I kept going in and out of sleep, with family coming in and out to see how I was.

Around 6:00 p.m. they moved me over to post partum, and I started feeling a little better. Come to find out the major reason I couldn't push Tate out is because he had a ginormous cranium of 37 cm, and was facing posterior (face up) but the major reason for the C-section was because of Tate's dropping heart rate. So apparently I like going through labor so much that I thought I would try both kinds this time, vaginal and C-section. Although the recuperation hasn't been fun, I am so grateful we were able to get Tate out and everything was relatively OK.

Because everything happened so quickly and was kind of a blur, it was interesting to get Jake's perspective on what happened. Here is what he had to say in an email to his friends about the delivery:

"We have welcomed a new little guy into our family after a scary turn of events last night. My wife and I were joking around in the labor and delivery room that the second time around has been so much easier than the first, and wouldn't you know it we jinxed ourselves. While delivering, the baby became lodged in the birth canal “sunny side up.” Meaning he was looking towards the sun…a bad deal. To make matters worse his heart rate suddenly dropped to a drastically low rate causing a panic in the labor and delivery room. What followed after that was chaos. Doctors were stripping tubes and IV’s from my wife, they threw an OR gown at me and told me to get dressed and just like that they were running down the hall with my wife. Can you say, “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?????”
I stood there in the labor and delivery room for what seemed like an hour, although it was probably only a few minutes. When they finally came to get me we pretty much ran down the hall towards the Operating Room. I turned the corner and there I saw two doctors on top of my wife jerking, pulling, shaking, and tugging to get the baby lose from the canal. I never knew child birth could be so violent! I didn’t tell my wife this but it reminded me of the end of the movie “Braveheart” when they were torturing William Wallace. Nothing worse than being in the unknown, my only gauge for the seriousness of the situation was the look on our doctor’s face and the frantic nature in which she worked to free the baby.
Despite the unexpected and dramatic first few minutes of his life, surprisingly he is doing great! My wife is fine too thank-goodness! The doctor told me later that she was very worried for a few minutes and my response was, “I work in sales and have learned to read facial expressions pretty good, your facial expression told me everything I needed to know!” It was wild!"

Little did we know that the delivery was just the beginning with our adventure with Tate. I will post Part 2--Tate in the NICU to give more details.

Out with the old, in with the new!

2009-02-04T22:06:00.016-07:00

So I have decided I just need to start blogging in the present! Our New year started off with a bang, we had a killer virus that wiped out our computer and the geniuses that I took our computer to in order to be fixed replaced the hard drive without asking us and we lost all of our pics and information off our computer (we are working to retrieve them off our old hard drive), so never use stupid PC Laptops for anything! So I need to insert pics of Abby's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. later so when I eventually make this beloved blog of mine into a book they will be in here somewhere.

This last month Jake has been traveling quite a bit in order to see all of his reps before the baby comes. They have been doing alot of reorganizing at his job and I am just grateful he still has a job, no matter how much he travels. Now that we are in February he is starting to feel spring fever big time and is pretty bored, the poor guy always is looking for something to do! Here is a picture of Abby playing while Jake cleaned out the garage, as you can see she is sporting her "thug" look.

As for our upcoming arrival, we have been getting the nursery ready--thanks to my awesome husband who has done the painting, assembling, etc.! We are pretty much ready for him to come, last time when I had Abby I waited until a week before she came to get everything wrapped up and I vowed I wouldn't do that again with another kid which I am glad I didn't wait because my energy level has gone way down! Last week they told me our baby boy was measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule and was close to 6 lbs. already. Boy was I excited until I went in this week and my doctor told me she wasn't going to do take me any earlier than the 1st of March, which bummed me out because I was hoping for having a February baby instead. Don't they know never to tell a pregnant woman that she has the possibility of delivering early and then take it back?!? The baby is healthy which is good, and my belly is getting bigger by the day, and I am praying my belly will hold on and I won't get stretch marks (vain I know, but I can't help it!) Speaking of babies, I was able to throw a baby shower for Marci for the upcoming arrival of her baby boy in March and it turned out really fun! We missed some of our friends that went on the cruise, but it was really fun to see girls from college, high school and even elementary, and lets just say being pregnant with my twin sister makes it a lot better to go through!

Abby is getting funnier and sassier by the day. She is talking like crazy, and she continues to amaze me with the funny things that come out of her mouth. For example she will be doing something and adjust something and say, "That's better!" Or she says, "It's really stuck Mom," or "It really hurts Mom." Also her new favorite phrase is, "Give me that Mommy!" when she wants something, and then another one that she throws out when I ask her to do something is "What?" like she has no idea what I am talking about. We are talking an awful lot about Tate her baby brother that is coming, and I think she is starting to realize it more and more that she will be a big sister, but I am sure she has no idea how it's going to rock her world! Although today she came up to me and gave my belly a hug and said, "I love you Tate." which melted my heart. Abby loves to sing, especially her ABC's, loves to do puzzles and read books, and go over shapes and colors. She picks up on things so fast and its been really fun to watch her grow into a "big girl." When I look at her I can't believe that she is 2 because it feels like I was just pregnant with her, and it makes me a little sad that she will have to share the spotlight with a sibling, but on the other hand I am so excited to meet our little guy and watch our family grow!
I swear time flies at warp speed when your are an adult, here are some pics to enjoy!

Marci and I belly to belly, technically our due dates are 10 days apart. Some friends at the showers we had for Marci.

Here is the best and worst of Abby: After church a couple of weeks ago (she did have a little coat to go over this dress) and Abby showing that I am not the only one that has had trouble sleeping lately, this is a pic of Abby at 2 in the morning when she wouldn't go to bed. You gotta love the hair!

Jake loved to lay by the heater as a child and now Abby loves it too,

whenever she hears the heater kick on she says, "The heater's runnin!" and goes

and sits on it with her blanket. Of course it makes her mad when Daddy isn't always around to sit by the heater with her but her Daddy is so proud he has passed on the tradition.

October 2008

2009-01-01T14:47:00.008-07:00

In October we enjoyed the last of the good weather with playgroups at the park and at the zoo. We also were able to enjoy visits from Aunt Marci for conference weekend, Jake did more hunting, and of course we enjoyed our Halloween. Abby was able to go to my parents ward carnival, a playgroup Halloween party, my sister Katie's trunk or treat, and our own ward's trunk or treat and carnival. She finally got the concept that if you say, "trick or treat" people give you candy, and continued to try it on us a few days after Halloween. She was a lady bug again this year....the costume still fit and it was warm, and on the actual day of Halloween we had her wear a monkey costume because it was a little colder outside. Here are some pics of us enjoying the fall weather at the zoo, and our numerous Halloween parties. Thanks to to Kresta for having a really fun party at her house for the kids, and to Anne and Erma for putting together a hilarious party for the adults. Because I was pregnant Jake and I came up with the idea of me being a "Bun in the Oven" with him as "The Bunmaker". Some people didn't quite get it at our trunk or treat, but thanks to Jake's fantastic artistic ability my "oven" turned out quite well and detailed. Thanks honey!

This is what we saw when Abby started undressing herself and trying to climb out of her crib, so we decided it was time to move Abby to a "big girl" bed.

Trying on Daddy's hunting stuff

With Mommy at the zoo

This is what Abby started doing when we would say, "Say Cheese."

How our big girl measures up

p.s. I dropped my camera at my sister Katie's trunk or treat and broke my camera so pics of Halloween will come very shortly, as well as posts about our November and December 2008, then we will hopefully get caught up and ready for the new year of blogging!

It's a BOY!!--September '08

2008-11-21T22:10:00.002-07:00

When I arrived back into town from St. George and after the whole scare with my pregnancy, I went to my OB for a followup appointment. Luckily things still looked good, and she told us that most likely the subchorionic hemorrhage would resolve itself by the end of my pregnancy. Well when she was doing the ultrasound the baby was moving a ton and I said to our doctor, "is there anyway you can tell us what we are having?" She said she could try and then pointed to something on the screen and said, "do you see that, normally little girls don't have those." I couldn’t believe it! She told us she wasn't 100% sure, but that we could pretty much plan on having a BOY! Unbelievable! So in a matter of a couple of weeks we thought we were miscarrying and then we found out we weren't and that we were going to have a boy! Of course Jake was/is ecstatic, and I was surprised but kind of not surprised because this pregnancy has been SO different than my pregnancy with Abby, our little boy has given me a run for my money!

The rest of our September was pretty mellow, people thought we dropped off the face of the earth because we got back from St. George and got settled and then Abby and I got sick, and Jake was gone a ton for hunting/work trainings (20 out of the 30 days!) ,but we survived and were excited for Fall to come!

St. George-Labor Day '08

2008-10-14T17:11:00.011-06:00

So because I am still lacking in skills in the blogging department, I have decided maybe 1 post a month about what we did will do??? I am just kidding, but because we are nearly to the end of November I decided for family history purposes to still post about our September 2008 and October 2008.

Our September started out with a real bang! We went to visit my sister Emily and her husband Brandon in St. George for Labor day weekend. I went down with my Dad, Abby, and my other sister Katie and her family on Thursday, and we had a really fun time swimming and hanging out. Jake was doing the Deer Archery hunt, so he decided to meet up with us on Tuesday, September 2, because he has some business down in that area and then we would drive home together on Thursday, Sept. 4.

Jake got to St. George at about 9:00 p.m. on and we were hanging out at my sisters, and I was singing with Abby and bouncing her on my lap. Well I started to cramp, so I thought I should lie down because I had overdone it, well no sooner has I layed down on the couch when I started bleeding pretty badly. That is never a good sign for a pregnant woman because it immediately means something is wrong. I was just so glad that Jake and my family were there because we were trying to figure out the best thing to do, we called the ER and they said to put my feet up and rest and pray that it stops. Well after that my Dad, Jake and brother in law Brandon were able to give me a priesthood blessing, and immediately after that I felt comforted. I physically started feeling a little better and emotionally I was able to calm down and I knew that regardless of what happened, it would be OK.

The next day I woke up and felt better and the bleeding had pretty much stopped, so we decided to try to get in to a doctor and were able to find one that worked with our insurance that would fit me in that day. As we waited at the doctor's office I couldn't help but prepare for the worst when they told me I was miscarrying. The doctor did an ultrasound first and then they were going to test my hormone levels. Well when they did the ultrasound the doctor said, "well there's your baby, it looks like everything is ok." We were so relieved!! The doctor continued to check things out and discovered that I had what is called a subchorionic hemorrhage which basically means a pocket of blood outside of my uterus. Normally the body absorbs it but because it was larger than normal it bled out and that is why I started bleeding. At first I thought it was something I had done, but the doctor said it's a pre-existing condition and is only diagnosed later in the pregnancy via ultrasound. He then told me to take it easy for the next week or so, so we were fortunate enough to be able to stay in St. George at my sister's longer than we expected and I was able to have help with Abby because I wasn't supposed to lift her or anything. All I can say is after that I know what it would be like to be on bed rest and if it were just me it may not be so bad, but being on bed rest and "taking it easy" with a toddler doesn't exactly go hand in hand. Luckily I had my sister and brother in law, Jake and my Dad to all help me with Abby so with Jake being able to work from home we just decided to stay down in St. George for some extra time for me to recuperate. Here is a pic with Abby with her Aunt "Emmi" and Uncle Brandon, and their dog Keona.

and here is a pic of Abby being silly playing in Bree's water bucket when we arrived back home.

August '08-Cherry Hill, the greatest fun spot you'll ever know--August 2008

2008-10-04T16:46:00.010-06:00

This last summer my older sister Char convinced me that I should buy a Cherry Hill pass because she would be visiting for a month in the summer and we could go as many times as we wanted and then I could use the pass the rest of the summer. Well the bad news was that Char had some complications with her pregnancy but the good news is that she was able to stay the whole summer and play with me at Cherry Hill. Boy, are we glad we got passes because we had tons of fun and definitely got our money's worth. Here are some pictures of when Char's husband and Jake came with us and we were able to have a fun day at Cherry Hill. Abby rode the big waterslides for the first time and didn't quite know what to think of it, but all in all she is definately a water baby! Most of our August was spent wrapping up our playtime at the pool, while Jake was scouting and on the Archery Hunt for Elk with his Dad and friends.

Flaming Gorge-July 2008

2008-09-27T14:29:00.011-06:00

We were able to go to Flaming Gorge with Jake's family and Max and his son Carter this summer and it was Abby's first time going boating. We bought her a life jacket and I wondered if she would be bugged wearing it because I wanted her to have it on pretty much 24/7 because we were camping by the water and she would be playing all over. Well she did fantastic! She loved the water even though it was pretty chilly, and she loved being on the boat. She even took a slow ride on the tube with Jake which was fun to watch. The weather was perfect, we even took a boat ride over to the Flaming Gorge Dam which was a long and bumpy ride, but it was cool to see. We had a great time and it was so fun for Abby to have Carter and her cousin Austyn there to play with. Here are some pics and a movie of Abby on the tube with Jake, if you listen carefully you can see her clap her hands and say, "yeah!" when she is on the tube, who knew we had a pro on our hands!

Abby & Carter playing with dinosaurs in the water, Abby fishing with Carter's pole (thanks uncle Max for helping out!) and Abby riding in the boat for the first time.

At the Flaming Gorge Dam helping Daddy feed the fish that are at the bottom of the Dam, and Carter helping Max drive the boat.

Abby standing in the boat while it's slowly moving, (notice the look on her face.) In the water with Grandma, she was fearless and wanted to get in the water way before her Mommy did probably because the water was pretty cold! Abby wasn't a huge fan of the campfire and liked to cover her eyes.

Riding the tube with Daddy, and Jake riding the tube by himself, we couldn't get him off the tube! And finally here is Abby having a timeout on the boat, it was getting windy so I put a jacket on her, and she hit me so into time out she went, and as you can see she was really happy about it!

Abby's first time at Lagoon--June 2008

2008-09-26T14:43:00.008-06:00

We went to Lagoon for Jake's work in June and had a really fun time! It was Abby's first time and as you can tell from the pic you can see she really didn't like it......and apparently either did cousin Andrew. But once we got her warmed up she really started to enjoy it....(probably more than we enjoyed waiting in line in the scorching sun at all the kiddie rides). It helped that she got to ride most of the rides with her cousin Broc, who was a super good sport considering he didn't always fit so well in the kiddie rides, but it payed off for him when Jake took him on some great roller coaster rides, especially because I didn't want to go (I have turned into a sissy, plus it was probably good because I was pregnant at the time and didn't know it) and Jake needed a partner to enjoy the "big kid" rides together.
McCall and Abby on the boats (the worker took FOREVER to get the kids on and off the ride--I seriously was going to kill him because we waited in line forever!

Jake, Abby, Aunt Char, McCall, Aunt Katie, and Megan riding the carousel, the kids really liked this one. I am sure Jake loved it the most! :)

Taking a ride on the train, although I am sure the animals that live at Lagoon aren't very happy to be there, but the kids sure like to see them! Abby really enjoyed it because she loves animals, and liked it when Jake pointed them out to her.

All in all we had a great day, the kids did fabulous and we stayed pretty much the whole day which is fun, but I can do only about once a year---I love Lagoon, especially love it when it's free!

I know, I'm a loser......

2008-09-26T02:20:00.011-06:00

I think it's pretty obvious by the last date of my post that I am a loser when it comes to keeping up on my blog lately. We have had A LOT happen since my last post, in fact within a week of my post we find out we would be adding to our family, which was a surprise because we didn't think it would happen so quickly, and it was fun for us to have Abby share the news with our families. So here are some pics of a little of what went on, to start out with, the Webbs came for July 4th and Aunt Marci cut her hair like mine so now we really look like twinners, we lit fireworks at our house and watched more from our front yard later that night. That weekend we also hit the Hot Rod Run in Logan, spending the day with Nanna, both Papa and Grandpa Scott, Uncle Ben, and Bradeyn, Broc, McCall and Abby.
Ready to announce the big news to our families All dressed up for the 4th of July 2008!

Notice the look on Abby's face!

Funny cousins: Broc, Braedyn, & McCall

Broc and the Grandpas in their Hot Rod shirts

More pics to come of Lagoon, Cherry Hill, Flaming Gorge, and St. George!!!

The bottle

2008-06-29T12:54:00.002-06:00

Abby loves her bottle, at least that is what she calls it. Until a few months ago I was actually giving her a real bottle, until I found a sippy cup (the tall, skinny, Nuby kind that has the soft top) that she thinks resembles a bottle, so Abby loves to have it and still calls it her bottle. She loves it so much that I was even told by the pediatrician that she was probably getting too much milk per day so now I only try to give it to her at naps and bedtime.
Lately Abby has been waking up around 6:30 a.m. or 7:00 a.m. and crying, sometimes she will go back down and others she won't. If she won't go back down I will go in and I change her bum and every time she says "bottle" because she wants a bottle. So I have been giving in and giving her a bottle when I go in and change her because then she will go back to sleep until 9:30 or 10:00 which I love because I stay up late at nights working and don't mind her sleeping in that late.
Well on Friday night we ran out of milk and I didn't go and get any because I knew I would be going to the store on Sat. I was hoping she would stay asleep and not wake up and want a bottle but that was not the case. She woke up so I went in, changed her bum and she asked for a bottle but I told her she didn't need one and laid her back down to sleep. She cried for a minute but then I assumed she went back to sleep because I didn't hear anything out of her until 45 minutes later when she cried out again and she was mad! She wanted a bottle dang it and would not take "no" for an answer. Luckily I had remembered that I had a Pediasure drink in my pantry from awhile ago so I put that in her bottle and took it in to her. Well when I came into her room she was sitting up in her crib and when she saw the bottle in my hand she clapped her hands and said, "Yeah, you did it, a bottle!" I just started laughing, so I gave the bottle to her and let her finish it because I don't like to give it to her in bed, I made sure she burped and put her back down and said, "night, night" to which she replied, "bye, bye bottle." So apparently she is a wee bit attached to her bottle and we are going to have to break her of it eventually. But I can't believe how much Abby is talking and what she is saying is getting more clear and understandable, not to mention pretty hilarious!

Sleeping Sabbath Day

2008-06-24T23:58:00.004-06:00

We had Jake's work Lagoon day last Friday, June 20th and my mother in law Chris volunteered to take Abby so we could stay late and ride the rides together. Then Chris decided to keep Abby overnight so we could take a motorcycle ride up to Logan on Saturday. (pics to come of our fun weekend when Jake gets back into town with our camera.) On Sunday I dropped Jake off at the airport and then went and picked her up. She had the best time with her Grandma and when I picked her up at about five Chris told me she needed a nap because she had taken a really short one earlier in the day.
So we went home and got settled, I fed Abby and then decided to lay her down so she could take a little nap so she wouldn't be a nightmare to deal with all night. Well, I put her down at 6:15 p.m. and went in to check on her at 7:30, I usually don't let her sleep so long, but when I went in to check on her she was totally zonked out, she didn't even stir at all which is rare. So I just let her sleep, thinking she would wake up any time. Well 9:00 rolled around, and I had decided I should wake her up, feed her something, let her play for a bit, and then put her down for the night. Well I went into her room again, and she was still sound asleep. I even had to get right up to her to check to see if she was breathing, because she was so totally out! So I thought I would just let her sleep and see what happens, which is always a fun gamble because she would either sleep through the night, or wake up at like 2 in the morning and be ready to party. At 11:30 pm she woke up and I thought for sure she would want to get up and play right when I want to go to bed, but I changed her diaper and as I was changing her she kept saying, "nigh, nigh" and reaching for her crib (night, night). So I gave her a sippy cup of milk, finished changing her and she went to bed again until 7 in the morning. My gamble had paid off, so I got her up, changed her, and she still wanted to go back to sleep, she was snuggling with her blanket with her eyes closed, so I gave her a bottle and she went back down till 10:00 a.m! That's right, my sleeping beauty slept for about 16 hours! I will be brutally honest, it was really nice---I could catch up on the millions of the shows I have had TiVo'ed for months and haven't been able to get to, and I had the house to myself, which again was a little treat. (I know, I'm horrible.) So for Abby, her Sunday was really a BIG day of rest!

Abby's 18th Month checkup

2008-06-09T00:10:00.007-06:00

We went to see the doctor for Abby's 18th month checkup (we were a couple of weeks late) and things went great! She is in the 75% percentile for height and weight which is shocking considering the kid eats like a bird most days. But the best thing was when the doctor asked if Abby had a vocabulary of 8 or more words and I told him "yes", he then said, "can I hear some" and then I proceeded to go into Abby's whole repertoire of what she knew, so I said,
"What is your name?" Abby patted her chest and said "Abby". "How old are you?" She holds up 1 finger and says, "2." Then I said, "What does a cow say?" and Abby proceeded to tell me and the doctor what a cow, elk, cat, rooster, snake, tiger, dog, monkey, horse and donkey say. By this time my pediatrician is just laughing, and he said, "Aah man, that just made my day! I have a really great job and I just needed to be reminded of it, it's been so fun to watch her grow up into a little girl!"
So Abby charmed her pediatrician, but still couldn't get out of her shots, I forgot the camera, but she even handled those like a champ. I can't believe our little baby girl is becoming such a big girl! Also as a side story, I had my 7 year old nephew Broc with me at the appointment and when the nurse asked if Abby can walk backwards I said, "You know, I haven't really noticed, I think she can, but let me see if I can get her to do it." (which I couldn't) Then my nephew pipes up and says very officially, "I've never seen her do it." I thought that was so funny, he totally ratted me out and sounded so grown up!

Cute Carter!

2008-06-08T23:16:00.005-06:00

Our friends Max and Jodie Wilson have a fantastic little boy, Carter, who is the sweetest friend to Abby. We just celebrated his 4th birthday with them and it got me thinking to how cute Carter is. He is a very bright and funny little boy ( I credit his parents for that) and he is probably too smart for his own good, but he makes up for his mischievousness with his handsome looks and hilarious personality. Max and Jodie joke that they want Carter to marry Abby one day, but the way it's going he loves her more like a sister. He always wants to give her gifts and kisses, and play with her, which is a big deal because he doesn't do that with everyone, and the Wilson's love to spoil Abby which is so kind of them! Countless times they have given her cute outfits that either Jodie or Carter have picked our for and brought them over, and they volunteer to watch her for us all the time, which makes us so grateful for their generosity. I hope the Wilson's and especially Carter know how much we love him, and boy does Carter love Jake. He wants to talk about baseball or hunting with him and practically treats Jake like his hero which makes Jake feel good. It's nice to have friends that we can enjoy their kids and they can enjoy ours!
Here are some pics of Carter when he camped with Max and Jake(notice his cute messy face), of him and Abby playing together, and the outfit that Carter picked out for Abby. So cute!

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

2008-05-28T10:01:00.013-06:00

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!

2008-05-07T15:35:00.006-06:00

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!

2008-05-06T02:52:00.021-06:00

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.

The Kindness of Strangers

2008-04-22T14:31:00.011-06:00

I was at Walmart on Monday getting some shopping done before our company came into town, we had been there for like two hours and Abby had actually done really well. We made it to the checkout line and as we waited Abby kept saying "boon" and pointing to the balloons that were by the checkout stand. Abby actually used to be scared of balloons and so I was surprised she even noticed them. So as we waited she kept saying "boon", "boon" and laughing and being really cute. It was finally our turn and we got up to the cashier and she handed me a Minnie Mouse balloon and said, "The woman in front of you paid for this for your daughter."
I almost started crying, it was such a sweet gesture! I couldn't believe that this complete stranger would make the effort to do such a simple and sweet thing for my daughter. I didn't even get the chance to thank the woman because she had left the store. I will be honest, most of the time when I am at the store, I am on auto-pilot and don't even notice most things around me, but the the fact that this woman noticed that Abby liked the balloons and treated her to one, really made my day! There is still goodness in the world people! This whole event has taught me a wonderful lesson: It's easy to get so caught up in the craziness of our own lives that we don't notice how we can lighten the load of others around us, and most of the time it's something very simple that we can do to make their day-----like a Minnie Mouse balloon!

P.S. I promise I didn't pose Abby in the picture, as you can tell she is very pleased with her new balloon!

Goodbye Grandpa Mac

2008-04-18T00:07:00.011-06:00

This morning at 11:15 a.m. my Grandpa McKinstry, "Mac" passed away. I got to be there at the hospital when it happened and it actually was a peaceful experience. He had been having health problems for a few months, and had to be moved to an assisted living center then this last Tuesday things started to get more serious. He was checked into the hospital and was in quite a bit of pain, so they got him some medication to be comfortable. My dad and his brothers spoke with Grandpa to see if he wanted to proceed with more extensive measures to help him and he said, "I want to go home" meaning home to heaven. My Dad gave him a wonderful blessing and told him he had been valiant here on earth and had taken good care of his family, and that is was OK to go and be with Grandma (who has been gone for over 10 years) and my Aunt Gaye, his only daughter (who has been gone 4 years).

I am so grateful I was there, and even more grateful for my wonderful Grandpa Mac. He was a simple and hardworking man, that loved and worried about his family. I got to gain a closer relationship with him in the last few years because he had been living with my parents, and I was able to see and talk with him often. We are sad as a family that he's not here anymore, but joyous that he is with loved ones again without any ailment. I am 27 years old and I have lost both of my Grandpas in the last 5 months, but feel fortunate to have had them for as long as I did. I also am looking forward to having my whole family be together again to honor the Grandpa we love!

It's about time.........

2008-04-17T00:39:00.007-06:00

When I found out I was having a baby girl I was very excited and happily planned throughout the rest of my pregnancy for my beautiful baby girl, buying her clothes and hair bows, etc. I often wondered throughout my pregnancy what our little girl would look like, would she get my eyes, or have Jake's smile, and would she have dark hair like mine or light hair like Jake's? Well now that we have our precious Abby, all of the dreams I had of my little girl came true, except for in the hair department..........Abby has spent the majority of her life being mostly bald and beautiful! For almost a year she wore the cute big bows and flower headbands, but then she started to yank them off, so I haven't been able to do much with her hair for a few months. I have no idea if it's going to eventually come in thick, but for now we are just happy with what she's got. The sad thing is there are newborns--yes that's right NEWBORNS who are born with more hair than our little one, but things are looking up! For months I have stowed away all of these cute bows and clips wishfully thinking one day I will be able to use them----well that day has arrived people!
Thanks to my mother-in-law Chris, she helped me find teeny tiny curlers that would help make Abby's hair a little thicker so we could put something in it, and then this last week she said, "I think her hair is long enough in the back to do pig tails. Well that is just what I did for church on Sunday, and everyone including Jake and I loved it! Abby wasn't too keen on my twisting and turning the little bits of hair that she does have, she's not used to sitting still for me to do her hair, but she did great! I can't help how excited I am, I know it's so silly, but for months I have politely corrected people when they say, "What a darling little boy" I even got her ears pierced because I was fed up with it, but now, there will be no mistaking our little Abby for a boy because she will have her hair done like a girl.

I had to show you some pictures of her with her curlers in and of her tiny pig tails, Yippee!

Birthdays, Conference, and Colds.......Oh My!

2008-04-10T00:14:00.017-06:00

So this last Saturday, April 5th was Jake's 28th Birthday!! I feel horrible that I haven't been able to post about it until now, but I just started feeling better. You see, we would have really enjoyed Jake's birthday had it not been for the fact that ALL of us had colds at our house, and we are talking the flat in bed, cough til you gag, absolutely no fun at all colds. Poor Jake didn't even have very much fun on his birthday, and unfortunately I was no help. It's not much fun being sick and trying to take care of one another, but Jake was great and helped out with Abby as much as he could. Luckily we had no excuse not to watch General Conference and I was grateful for the opportunity to see it and have my testimony strengthened, especially with the sustaining of the new prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I do feel a little guilty however for sleeping through some of the talks, but hey, I was sick so thank goodness for TIVO! It's been a few days, and Abby and I have finally quit coughing and are feeling pretty normal. All I can say is enough of the sickness, we unfortunately have had more of it than I expected these last few months, so hopefully we can be "sick free" for a long time to come.
So here is my birthday blog, however late it may be. My husband hates the fact that I blog or "blab" about how great I think he is, but I want him to know how much I appreciate him. He is so busy working full time, going to school full time, and fulfilling his church calling as Young Men's President, which doesn't leave a lot of time for things that he rather be doing, but I appreciate his positive attitude and his desire to provide for his family. He is such a good husband and father, and he definitely deserved a better birthday! WE LOVE YOU JAKE, I AM SORRY YOUR BIRTHDAY WAS A BUST.....I AM PLANNING ON MAKING IT UP TO YOU NEXT YEAR!!

It was also my Dad's 64th Birthday this last week as well, and again we didn't get to do much to make his birthday special. My sister did an awesome tribute to my dad on her blog http://www.crippennews.blogspot.com/, so I feel very second rate with this tribute, but for those of you who have never met my Dad you are truly missing out. He is a wonderful and generous man. He has always been willing to share his time, talents and wisdom with his family. We could call on him at any time for anything that we needed help with and it was our Dad to the rescue! He has fixed flat tires, done construction in our homes, and bailed us out of a sticky situation many of times. I love that my Dad stops by at least once a week during the day to say "Hi" to Abby and I. It helps that we are close to his work, but it makes us feel pretty special. My relationship with he and my Mom is so precious to me and I cherish their example--HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! WE LOVE YOU!!

Fun Easter!

2008-03-27T11:18:00.024-06:00

I know that Easter is long gone but I haven't been able to blog about it until now,and we had a great weekend! Here are some pictures of Abby enjoying her Easter! We had an Easter hunt with some playgroup buddies on Friday, it was Abby's very first Easter egg hunt and I think she liked it. At first she didn't quite get the whole concept of looking for the eggs, however she liked picking them up and putting them in her basket, but then wanted to take them out again. Then she decided she liked the eggs so much that she was going to take them out of other kids' baskets.
I of course had to include pictures of her in her Easter dress---(one of my favorite things growing up about Easter)I tried to put a bow in her hair and a pretty bracelet on her and she had them off in two seconds flat! I don't know if she will be a tomboy or what, but at least she has her earrings I guess.
On Sunday we all went to church and then the Easter Bunny came and left her gifts, and she really didn't know what to think. The babydoll she got was a big hit! I can't wait until she is older and we can explain to her what Easter is really all about. We hope you all enjoyed your Easter and are looking forward to Spring as much as we are!

OUR 6TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!

2008-03-14T15:34:00.014-06:00

Tomorrow, March 15th will be our sixth wedding anniversary! I can't believe it the time has really flown by! I decided to put some photos together to show how the story of us as a family has evolved. A lot of people don't know our story so I thought I would give a condensed version:
Jake and I met in high school and dated for a few months. We got along really well, and had a lot of fun, but I didn't want things to get really serious because I wanted to be able to date a bunch in high school, so I broke up with him, and he was not happy about it. So being the mature individuals that we were in high school we proceeded to pretty much hate each other the rest of the time we were in school. We went on and dated other people and I went away to college and he went on an LDS mission. Well the summer before he got home from his mission I was taking institute class with all of his buddies that had already come back from their missions, and they kept joking with me that I should date Jake when he came back. I said there was no way I would get back together with him, and that was that. Well thanks to a persistent buddy, we ended up hanging out at the same friends home shortly after Jake had returned home. We saw each other and spoke only briefly because the World Series was on and if any of you know Jake he is serious business when it comes to baseball.
Well after much persistence on my part we were able to hang out a few more times and realized that we still liked being together. We had grown up and had great life experiences, and the spark between us was still there! We hung out every night for two weeks and decided that we wanted to be exclusive and that most likely it was leading to marriage. So let me break the timeline down because it all happened so fast!
After seeing each other again on Nov. 4, 2001, we decided to get married by Thanksgiving, and officially got engaged on Dec. 24, 2001, and later married on March 15th, 2002. So within six months of being home from his mission Jake was hitched! We know it's crazy and if our kids try to do it we'll probably kill them, but marrying Jake was one of the best decisions I have ever made and it's been a wonderful adventure ever since.....not a perfect journey, but a pretty fantastic one! We have had wonderful memories, and now it's been even better with beginning our family and the birth of Abby. So I just want to wish my hubby a Happy Anniversary---thank you for everything!!!
I hope you all enjoy our pictures, I tried to keep it brief but it was so fun to reminisce that I had to include a bunch.

I have been tagged---here goes nothin!

2008-03-07T15:02:00.008-07:00

I was tagged by Jenny, so I am finally doing my friend duty and telling you all about myself: Here are the rules:

A: Each player answers the questions about themselves.B: At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1) What were you doing 10 years ago? I was a Junior in high school; I would have just finished playing basketball, and actually dating Jake, who is now my husband! That is crazy to think about.

2) 5 things on my "to-do" list today: Update my blog, clean, do some laundry, go shopping (we are out of a lot of stuff), play with my family.

3) 6 Snacks that I enjoy: Chips and Salsa, fruit, cereal, anything salty and cheesy, but I try not to snack too much or I would be in trouble!

4) 3 bad habits: I bite my nails, and the bad thing is I can't stand it when other people do it, but I can't stop myself from doing it! I can be pretty indecisive at times which drives my family crazy. I stress about making a decision and then stress if I made the right decision. I make excuses instead of exercising regularly, and the weird thing is when I am done, I am so glad I did it, and I really enjoy being active and playing sports and stuff, but I can't get myself to do the regular 45 minutes of cardio all the time.

5) If I were suddenly a billionaire I would: Travel and shop, pay off our debt, invest some, give to church/scholarship funds, give some to my family, put some in savings.

6) 5 places I've lived: Well not too exciting, all of the places have been in Utah; Layton, Price, Fruit Heights, and Clearfield. That's it, I wish I had more, that's pretty boring.

7) 5 Jobs I've had: paper route as a kid, Eurocomfort, junior high tutor in college, admin. asst. at real estate office, and a few mortgage brokerages as a loan processor/underwriter.

8) 5 Things people don't know about me: I love to sleep, but don't seem to get too much of it these days, but one of my favorite gifts to myself is a little cat nap during the day.

I really enjoy cooking and trying out new recipes and I love the Food Network!

I own a hunting rifle and have killed a few animals with it ( I credit Jake for this.) I grew up with all sisters so the gun thing is all new to me, but now I know how to use one and am pretty comfortable around them. I'm not Annie Oakley or anything, but I feel better now about being around guns.

I like being trendy and fashionable, and trying out new styles, but when it comes down to it I also really like wearing hoody sweatshirts and jeans and being comfortable, so it's hard for me to find a happy medium sometimes.

I procrastinate, I talk about what I want to do, but sometimes I just need to do it! It some aspects of my life I don't procrastinate at all and in others I could really use a kick in the behind!

I tag Char, Ashlee, Britnni, Haley, and Jamie.

A week of young and old

2008-03-03T23:39:00.015-07:00

This last week we had the privilege of welcoming a new addition to our extended family. Madison Ann was born to Jake's brother and his wife and she came sooner than we all expected. Tommie, Ben's wife, went in for her checkup and was showing signs of preclampsyia so they monitored her overnight and decided to induce her 4 weeks early. Ben and his wife Tommie were so nervous but after a long hard labor and finally an unexpected C-section, Tommie delivered a beautiful baby girl. She was tiny weighing in at only 4 lbs, 1. oz, and 19 inches long. Her lungs are doing well, she is eating relatively OK, but they haven't been able to bring her home from the hospital quite yet which has been really hard for them. They can't bring her home until she gains more weight and can maintain her body temperature. We haven't been able to see her and hold her, so hopefully we will get to soon and I will post the pictures of Abby's newest cousin!

On a sadder note, when Ben called his Grandpa to let him know about the news of the baby, Grandpa wasn't making a lot of sense while he was speaking to Ben on the phone. Ben thought he might have woken him up from a nap, but realized as he continued speaking with him that something wasn't right. He called Scott, Jake's Dad to go over to check on him because he was at home alone. Apparently Grandpa Speed had suffered a stroke, and they immediately took him to the ER. His motor skills were relatively still intact, but his memory and recollection wasn't good and his heart was irregular which was worrisome because he has had multiple heart surgeries and currently has a defibrillator. We were up at the hospital to see Ben and Tommie and had just come home when Jake's Dad called and told him what happened and asked him to come back to the hospital to give Grandpa Speed a blessing. When Jake came home he was very concerned because he has never seen his Grandpa like that. Well a few days have past now, and he is doing a little better. The doctors were trying to figure out what happened to have caused the stroke and determined that it was a blood clot from his heart that went to his brain. He came home on Saturday, but unfortunately is back in the hospital again because his heart rate became rapid and they weren't sure what was going on. Grandpa Speed is 85 years old and is the heart of Jake's family. Jake and his brothers have such fond memories of fishing with him, working on cars with him, and just spending time with him. Jake even had the opportunity to live with him before his mission and was able to have lots of good talks with him before he left.

It's hard for Jake and his family to see his Grandpa this way. We are praying that things start getting better for him, but also know how frustrated Grandpa Speed is that he is having so many health problems and can't do the things he used to do. It's ironic because if Madison wouldn't have been born that day, Ben wouldn't have called his Grandpa to give him the news and discovered what had happened to him, so for that we are grateful, we just hope that Grandpa Speed is around for a lot longer to enjoy more times with his family and news of more grandchildren!!

A lot can happen in a few days......

2008-02-27T11:30:00.014-07:00

So I left last Thursday with my parents and Abby to go and visit my sister Emily in St. George, and Marci was going to drive from California to meet up with us. My Dad has been recovering from recent surgery so we took it easy, did a little shopping and just enjoyed being together. I was glad that Jake decided to stay home because I knew he would probably be a little bored, and he had a bunch of fun things planned with his friends to do while I was gone, well as least that is what he told me...........

In actuality he was tearing down a wall in our house that I have been bugging him about doing so we could have a great room upstairs and have space to entertain up there as well as in the family room downstairs. Jake had made it seem like it would be too expensive and not worth it, so I just put it out of my mind, but really he had been scheming for weeks to figure out how he would get it all done when I was gone. He took 2 days off of from work, and worked until the wee hours of the morning so it would be done on time. He also had great help from his brothers and Mom to have everything done when I got home. He tore down the wall, created a new half wall, put beadboard up and stained in, built the shelf, refinished and painted the wall, put in new ceiling fans and heating vents, and painted another wall. Hello--am I worth all that work!?! The only thing that didn't come on time was the flooring to finish up the project but I didn't even notice it. I had no idea what was happening and the whole time I spoke to him while I was out of town, I never suspected a thing. I don't know what's worse, my husband's great ability deceive me, or my cluelessness. Either way, it was a FABULOUS surprise!! So I am giving a big shout out to my awesome husband for 1) Being so thoughtful to plan such an huge surprise, 2) Having mad skills when it comes to building and doing construction projects, I tell you he is pretty handy, and 3) Because he works hard so we can have the things we need and want.....like a new great room!! So a lot can happen in just a few days, here are pictures of the before and after and a video of my reaction. I apologize but I sound pretty annoying in the video because I am squealing with delight! I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!

Playing Outside on President's Day

2008-02-19T18:17:00.005-07:00

Jake had Monday off for President's Day and because the sun was shining we decided to clean out the garage.....and by "we" I mean mostly Jake. But we realized that it was the first time Abby got to play outside since she has learned to walk because she started walking during this long winter of ours. It was so cute because she just kept walking around exploring things, and her hands and nose were getting cold, but she would throw a fit if I picked her up and tried to take her inside to warm up.

Jake also took her for a ride on the 3-wheeler and she really didn't know what to think of it. She was alright at first but by the time he came back down the street she was not a happy girl. According to Jake, we are going to need to get her used to riding with Daddy, because he wants to take her out for rides this summer.

All in all we had a great day and got a lot done, and Abby couldn't have been happier, although I could do without the tantrums when I say it's time to go into the house (I didn't think those started this soon!) We hope everyone enjoyed President's Day as much as we did!

Bring on the heat!

2008-02-15T22:29:00.011-07:00

All I can say is, "Are you kidding me?" I am definitely ready for this snow business to be over. Yes, I am glad we have gotten a lot of it, and that it has helped us out in the drought, but come on all ready.....bring on the heat, sunshine and spring flowers!! Because I am in a hopeful mood for warmer weather I was telling Jake that I wanted to take Abby swimming to our local pool to get her used to being in the pool again so she won't have a hard time this summer, and in my mind I am thinking, "Yeah, I want to take her swimming, but does she even have a swimsuit that fits still? And if she doesn't, where am I going to find a suit right now?"

Well don't you fret my friend, we tried on her swimming suit from this last summer and it still fit!! Minus it being a little snug, and her cute belly sticking out, it works great. (Hmm, reminds me of myself when I try on my swimsuit for the first time after a long winter of snacking and hibernating!! yikes!)

Any who, I had to post the funny pictures of her in her swimsuit. Also I realized that I didn't take any pics of her at the pool this summer in this particular suit, so I am excited that it still fits and she looks as cute as ever. Now if I can just do something about this darn weather!

Our curious little one

2008-02-09T23:12:00.000-07:00

As Abby has gotten bigger she has discovered new and interesting things that she can explore a.k.a get in to. Examples of this would be my makeup tote in the bathroom (I am still missing a brush and some eye shadow, that I have yet to locate any where in the house), our dresser drawers that I open when I am putting laundry away, she promptly reaches into the drawer and rapidly tosses the clothes out over her shoulder, and finally her most favorite item: the stereo in the kitchen. For months, she never even noticed its existance, but now that she realized that is has buttons and makes noise, it's her new favorite toy. I have tried asking her to not touch it, but she just can't resist. Here are some pictures of her mischieve then smiling at me when I caught her in the act, I swear she thinks that cute little grin will get her out of any trouble she gets in to!

Gratitude!

2008-02-04T18:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in a few days, but my heart is full of gratitude! I don't want to come across too cheesy, but a few things have happened in the last week to make me appreciate all that I have been able to have in my life.

On Sunday evening, Jan. 27, Jake's Mom called us and told us that President Hinkley has passed away. I was so sad and a little surprised, but happy that he is able to be with his wife and other loved ones that have passed on. I was sad because President Hinkley has been the prophet most of my adult life and I have grown up with his wonderful guidance. He made the gospel so personal for me, and I felt like every time he spoke he gave us a pep talk, not to scold us but to just help us to want to do better, and "stand a little taller." I guess I never thought he would be gone, and now that he is it makes me so grateful to have been influenced by him!

On Wednesday, Jan. 30, It was my parent's 38th Wedding Anniversary!! I have been working for weeks on a DVD for them full of pictures of our family beginning from when they got married until now, and let me tell you that was quite the project! But it was so worth it to see how happy they were and how much they enjoyed watching the movie and remminiscing. I am so grateful for the example of my parents!! They have continued to work at their marriage and to try to make one another happy for 38 years and I think that is awesome. They have also always tried to do their best to take care of "their girls" (me and all of my sisters) and now that I am an adult I realize how much they sacraficed their personal needs or wants to make sure we as their children has what we wanted. For that I will always be grateful, I LOVE YOU MOM AND DAD!!!

Today, Feb. 4, they announced who the new prophet and first presidency of the church would be, obviously we knew that Thomas S. Monson would be the new prophet, but it was exciting to see who he would announce as his counselors. I really like both Elder Eyring and Elder Uchtdorf and look forward this new chapter in the church's history. I will be honest, it will take me a bit to get used to all of the changes, but I know that the men called will be exactly who the Lord and our church need right now.

It's neat because I was able to meet President Monson about a month ago at my grandfather's funeral. We actually were surprised and touched that he made the time to give his condolences. He was so humble and approachable, and it was really exciting to meet him, and Jake and I were so glad that we were able to meet him and be in his prescence. It was pretty intimidating for my father who was conducting the meeting, but Pres. Monson was very kind and remembered so many nice things about my grandfather and grandmother. He spoke so eloquently and bore a sweet and sincere testimony of the Savior, the plan of salvation, and the truthfulness of the gospel. Now with the passing of President Hinkley, I feel so lucky to have met the current prophet of the church, Thomas S. Monson.

I know that we will soon be using quotes from President Monson of his counsel to us, but my sister found this quote from President Hinkley that I thought was perfect for how I am feeling this week:

"Let us from this day forward be a little better, love one another a little more, treat one another with greater kindness and look to God and live."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

ABBY IS OFFICIALLY WALKING!!

2008-01-23T19:12:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to let you know that Abby is officially walking! She has been taking lots of steps and then stopping and falling down for the last month or so, and she has been cruising around holding onto things, but as of Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008 she is officially walking on her own and is off!! Now whenever she goes to crawl, she gets right up and realizes, "hey, I can walk" and then goes for it. I know you are thinking, well of course she is walking, she is 14 months old now, but Abby was an early talker and a late walker....I guess just like her mother was.:-)

Although I will say as excited as I am to see her walk I don't think it's really happening because in my mind it seems like she is still just a "baby" and not a "big girl." But I think our baby days are nearly over now, and we have so many fun things to look forward to on to.

I will try to upload a video of her walking as soon as I can get it figured out, I tried it, and it didn't work, so there will be more to come. :-)

Jake a.k.a. my mighty hunter!

2008-01-23T03:02:00.000-07:00

When I married Jake I knew that he enjoyed being in the outdoors camping and hunting, and I had no idea really to what extent that meant. But now, after 6 years of marriage it's all really coming to light. For those f you who don't know Jake, it is an understatement to say that he LIKES to hunt. If I would let him ALL of his spare time would be spent tracking stuff down and shooting it. He loves to participate in the archery and muzzeloader hunt, and then the rifle hunt. He also loves to waterfowl hunt, and shoot small game. This year alone he took down a monstrous elk with his bow, a huge buck with his rifle, and numerous other animals and even a banded mallard duck (which is pretty unique in itself.)

I try not to complain too much because I have learned so much about wildlife and the outdoors from him, and really he is an awesome hunter!! He works hard at what he loves to do. He even invites me to come along with him, which let's be honest, not all husbands would do. So I just wanted to share some pictures from this last year of Jake's hunting success and let him know that although it sometimes drives me crazy, I do know that it makes him happy. And for some of you reading this, you may think the whole concept of hunting and camping may be weird and "redneck", but for us, it's just a way of life that I have learned to appreciate!! I love you Jake!

Abby's cheesy grin

2008-01-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

So Abby has started the funniest thing that I have to share with you. Throughout the holidays we took a ton of pictures and we discovered that when taking Abby's picture we would say, "Abby, smile" and then she would give us an OK smile, but then when the flash went off she would totally cheese it and make the funniest face, so here are some examples of her cheesy face! She is getting so much fun and developing her own cute personality, I just love watching her grow!

We are in!

2008-01-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

I apparently didn't realize how popular the whole blog thing was, and had no idea how many of our friends actually had one.....where have I been?? But now we are in with the "cool crowd" of bloggers and on our way! I hope you enjoy being a part of our lives as much as we enjoy being a part of yours!