Goodbye Grandpa Mac

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.........

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!

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!

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!!

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!

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.