Cute Carter!

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.....

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

Peanut, Peanut Butter and Abby!

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

Time flies when you are having fun!

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

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

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

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

The Kindness of Strangers

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

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!