Sick and Tired, Quite Literally

Sorry about the blogging silence lately... July has been a very eventful month for me! I last left off blogging about our trip up to Pinetop. Since then Tim and I had our 3 year anniversary celebration (we stayed in a Resort in Scottsdale and went out to the Melting Pot!). Then I went up to Pinetop to hang out with all the Merrill sisters and sister-in-laws. That was a lot of fun letting all the kids play with one another, while us girls chatted. We got to go to the Snowflake temple and swim at the public pool too. I found out that Abbey is a dare devil who doesn't like to wait in line for her turn on the slide with mom. During our stay Abbey and Parker both had a slight case of pink eye, which didn't slow them down at all! I got a call from my OB office and found out I had a bladder infection! I had no idea... my sinuses were really bad so I think that took most of my attention. When Abbey and I got home I woke up on Monday morning with pink eye. Turns out that I also gave it to baby Luke during our dessert get together on Sunday! Later that week my throat started to hurt too! No fun... the only things that kept me going were reading the last Harry Potter (it was really good!), going to my OB to get my first ultrasound (our little peanut has a good heart beat), and relying on Tim to help out with Abbey while I napped (I napped A LOT!). So this last Sunday Tim packed up to leave to Tucson for general instructors training. He will be gone until Friday. I already miss him!! However, Monday has been a good day. I have been feeling better... I even had enough energy to finally tackle the house and give it a good clean. It took me literally all day. I swept and mopped, cleaned the fridge, picked up clutter, vacuumed and even dusted! It was much needed. There were a lot of brakes in between so as to keep Abbey happy. Thankfully she loves Disney movies and is happy with snacks. By dinner time we looked pretty bad... we were still in our pj's! So after mac and cheese with hot dogs we went upstairs and took a bath! That felt good. Now that Abbey is asleep I sat down to finally catch up on blogging. I hope to have some interesting things to blog soon. Who wants to hear about my sicknesses and cleaning? Hope all is well with everyone else (and no more cases of pink eye!).

Cool Pines!

Tim and I had a crazy 4th of July week. Tim was working like mad! He only had that Monday before off for the holiday, so by the end of his work week we were both pretty burnt out! I tried to get him to call in sick on Sunday, justifying that he really was sick ... sick of work! No such luck. Monday finally came to bring some relief. We woke up and were wondering what we should do for our weekend? There isn't much to do around here (but clean house) so I asked Tim if he would feel up to going to Pinetop? We thought it would be fun to see his family. They miss Abbey up there a lot! Plus it would be a lot cooler, literally! Later that afternoon we started up the canyon. I always like driving with Tim. We get to talk with one another seeing that there is no TV to watch. Driving up to Pinetop is partly to blame for making us fall in love (that was our second date!). I also enjoy seeing if anything has changed in Show Low all the way up to Pinetop. It's easy to pick them out since there isn't much change (and we always guess what the buildings will be... usually some parts store). There are a lot of memories in the mountains for both Tim and me. In fact on our way home I made the point that even though Tim's family is living there, my heritage is just as strong and maybe even before his up in the mountains! (his family is originally from St. David) Once we arrived it was fun to surprise Tricia at the door, they had no idea we were on our way up. Abbey had lots of fun being showered with attention and playing outside. That evening we went to dinner at a Chinese Buffet and took a walk around Woodland Lake after. That for me was the highlight of the trip. The sun was going down so it was nice and cool. Our bellies were full and we were just enjoying being outside with family. We got to see people with dogs, bunnies in the brush, ducks in the lake and to my surprise a family of horses that were loose and turned wild! That was cool to see them walking around with their little babies, relaxed and grazing. Plus we went to the park to let Abbey and Bode play. They both had so much fun going on the slide and swings. Abbey really has gotten the hang of walking up the stairs by herself and going down the slide! Bode isn't far behind Abbey. He was trying his best to keep up and did a pretty good job too. When we decided to head back to the house, Abbey protested. She was having too much fun outside, but it was getting dark! On Tuesday we took it easy. Tim let me sleep in... I have a head cold from allergies. And later we took a drive around the back roads. We took David and Tricia to lunch at El Rancho (that was always one my families favorites). It's funny how everywhere you go there is always someone there you know. The night before we saw Uncle Darwin at the Chinese place. David and Tricia knew a lady with her daughter, who was in love with Tim back in the day, at El Rancho! That was a fun story to hear on the way home! After lunch we headed home, back to the heat. It was a nice get away. We hopefully will be doing those more often. Tim was a little depressed to have to go back to work on Wednesday. Sometimes weekends just aren't long enough! We're looking forward to our two week vacation in August, hopefully we will be begging to get back to the normal day to day routine (probably not).

Hooray for the Red, White, and Blue!

The 4th of July is always fun. This year Abigail and I got to spend it with my sister Carrie, brother Cameron, his wife Jenny, and her family the Francom's. Tim of course had to work, leaving the house at 3:30. Before he left to work we did get to go eat brunch at Mimi's Cafe. They have the best fresh orange juice! That night around 7:00 we went to the Francom's house in Mesa. They have a beautiful home that is perfect for entertaining. All the kids got to go swimming in the pool. Abbey didn't have a swimming suit but that didn't stop us. She swam in a diaper with the help of my cousin Derek. He took Abbey around the pool and towards the end got her to come out of her shell. After some watermelon we ate some BBQ. All the families went to go watch fireworks with the exception of Cam, Jenny, Jenny's parents Kent and Gloria, Carrie, Abigail and me. We hung out in the backyard and played with sparklers and confetti poppers! We even got a private mini firework show by the neighbors! Abbey didn't like the noise and held on real tight to me. Then we topped off the night by having a piece of cake. By this time it was 9:30, so Abigail was up way past her bedtime. We left only to be caught in the firework detours! The only good thing about that was we got to see some real big fireworks while waiting in line. Abbey enjoyed watching them in the comfort of her car seat. When we got home it was 10:00 and Abbey was still up! Thankfully we slept in till 8:00 this morning. Tim got home around 1:00 am, not as late as Tuesday night's 2:00! Abigail was really excited to see her daddy as soon as he woke up later that morning and we all went to Fry's in our PJ's to get some doughnuts for breakfast! Looking back it was a fun 4th of July, but we sure did miss having Tim with us. I think Tim working the holiday with all the mandatory overtime put a damper on his and my spirits. Tim loves his job but it sure does stink that he works every major holiday. It's not the same with out him.

She's Styling Now!

Before and After

On Tuesday Tim woke up with the strong desire to get a hair cut. That got me thinking... I had just cut Abbey some bangs seeing that she won't keep clips in her hair. (most of the pictures on this blog you will see Abbey with hair in her eyes) I also took the liberty to trim up the back in an attempt to prevent her from being mullet head! Her first hair cut at a Super Cuts was a botched job. The lady cut her hair like a boy! The hair around the ears was cut just above her ears and then it was long in the back! It took the hair by her ears forever to start growing below her ears, and by then the hair in the back had grown pretty long. So, my trim helped but she was lacking in the style category. I wanted her to have a little bob, with it stacked in the back! Even though I went back and forth on having Abbey get her hair cut at a salon again, Tim and I decided to take her to Snip-It for Kids. After Tim got his hair cut we drove to the Snip-It and were very pleased when we walked in. What a kid friendly place! It was a lot of fun for Abbey, she played with toys and colored while waiting for her turn. The lady who cut Abbey's hair was really nice and great with kids. It was so funny to watch Abbey sit in the chair. She was so unsure of the lady and what she was doing that she held perfectly still (barely moving her head) and eyeing the lady suspiciously the whole time. After the cut was finished she even got a blow dry! The end result was exactly what I was hoping for, it was so cute! Abbey was happy too, she got to get a little prize at the end by sticking a card they gave her in a machine and toys coming out in return. I would recommend going there with your little ones, it was a lot of fun. Now Abbey is playing in style! I think she feels pretty because she will shake her head to feel her hair swish and then push the sides back with her hand! What a grown up little girl... so mature! P.S. Tim looks great as always, in case you were wondering... Now all that is left is for me to get a great style!

The Newest Film Critic

Today is Tim's only day off for the 4th of July holiday! What to do with our one day of family time? Go see a movie... Tim had the idea at 9:30 this morning to go as a family for the very first time and see Ratatouille at the 10:30 showing! We have put off taking Abbey to the movies because we usually want to go see something that isn't exactly kid friendly. So, instead we chose to see a animated movie that is both kid friendly and fun for adults as well. You might be asking yourself, "who would take a 20 month old to a movie, will they even pay attention?" Well, if you know our Abbey, she is quite the movie buff. She loves to sit on the couch and watch Disney movies. In fact, she almost will sit through a full movie. That is why we decided to take the chance and pay $7.00 dollars a ticket (Abbey was free because she is under 2). To our surprise, if she has a soda, popcorn, blankie and bunny... she's good to go! She enjoyed her experience, saying "whoa", laughing at one point, and even getting a little afraid at the appropriate time. She chose to sit on Daddy's lap most of the time, but occasionally would sit in her own seat or on Mommy's lap. Ratatouille is a longer kid movie, so by the end she was getting pretty restless. Never fear, with Tim taking her out to the stairs, she was fully entertained by the lights in the floor. We had fun together as a family and all in all enjoyed our first family movie going experience. P.S. "anyone can cook!" (you'll get it if you see the movie!)

Late Night...

Okay, I know that everyone must be a little annoyed every time they checked my blog for the last two weeks (kind of like how I look in the picture above). I have had drafts written for a while but it took me a long time to find the time to upload the pictures. Since I took two naps today (man I have been extra tired lately) and therefore not that tired tonight, I decided I would take advantage and upload video and pictures. So, thanks for being so patient! I hope that the latest 6 posts will catch everyone up... I know that I will pay tomorrow at 10:00 church for staying up this late, but its worth it!!

A Camera Worthy Event!

The second Lee had Tricia take a picture of her hugging a tree, I got my camera out... I knew that with this family I was bound to get something funny! Sure enough it somehow became a competition to see who could out do the other (initiated by Tim of course). Abbey was watching intently up at the campsite and tried to hug the tree she was standing next to (no one can argue she isn't a Merrill). We didn't catch it in time for the camera, dang!! Enjoy...

Tree Huggers

Water Babies

With Jared going back to work, Christine has both kids at home. Thankfully, she has a great Williams family! They set Wyatt up on play dates almost the entire first week that Jared was gone! I had to almost beg to let Abbey play with Wyatt (just kidding). We have been able to help Christine out by taking Wyatt to our place, and going over to hers, to let Abbey and Wyatt play together. They both have a lot of fun together and are learning those all important lessons of sharing and not hitting or biting one another! I am glad to have Abbey's attention be occupied and to help Christine out so she can spend time with Luke and go to Doctor appointments. These are some pictures we took of Abbey and Wyatt swimming in the backyard. They had too much fun...