the merrill's

Learning

2011-03-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today has been a really good day. I feel like I'm seeing life so clear and simple. And it came to me that I'm really learning. Life has its many trials and tests. We always hear that the important thing is to learn from them. Today I feel like I'm learning and its clear to me and somehow... simple. I've learned that I am truly grateful for the trials that I have. I know that they are mine and not someone else's... I wouldn't want anyone else's. I know the Lord knows how much I can handle and what will build the most character for me. I finally feel like I've come out of the trial and now I'm looking back and seeing what I've learned. I hope I'm not speaking too soon! Who knows what tomorrow will bring. But I feel blessed to be feeling this way today.

I have been learning that my trials bring me closer to my Savior. That his atonement is meant not just for sins but for pains, sorrows and heavy hearts. I've learned that I can rely on him to help lift that burden, and somehow, even though it doesn't just go away, we can be strong enough to make it through. And when we have made it through with him, we have become more like him. We have learned some of his character... compassion, forgiveness, patience, love, faith, work and so many others. Things feel so much lighter and happy at home lately. Which is such a relief. Things get too heavy sometimes in our house. The funny thing is that not much has changed like I would have thought it should have a few months ago in order to make life easier. Instead, our attitudes have changed and our works have kicked into high gear. I've learned that faith without works truly is dead. You aren't going to get anywhere without the work. We've been working and it feels good. It has been and still is a process, but has made a big difference.I'm learning how to make my home a temple. I'm so thankful for the process that has taken place to start doing just that! This one is still in the beginning stages, but it has brought so much peace to me and my family. I'm finally doing what I always thought a mother should do, but before had no idea how to do it (hope that makes sense). I'm learning to not let the world and Satan distract me. He is so cunning! And the world is so loud. I'm learning to shut out its noise in my house. It is so refreshing. I'm learning to take life at the Lord's pace, not the world's. No more chaos and rushing. No more putting off and distractions. Like I said, its still a work in progress. I'm not perfect! I am thankful for the talks and lessons in church today. It brought everything home to me. Kind of made it a full circle. I know that the Lord hears my prayers because that was an answer to prayer for me today. (Yet another thing I am learning... to recognize the Lord talking to me and answering me. And I'm learning to trust myself when I hear it! And the more I listen and follow through the more I will hear it!) I learned today that I have to get rid of the stony places in my heart due to weakness, hurts, and sins. And I need to pull up all the chaos of the worlds thorns so they won't choke out any progress I want to make. I need to embrace the trials and heat of the sun that life gives us and not let it scorch me but let it bring forth the fruits of my testimony.

I'm learning how to do it rather than just the know what I should do. I'm learning how to build character. I'm learning how to be more like the wife and mother my Savior would have me be. I've been married for coming on seven years, and am a mother to three beautiful children... its time I learn how to do these things. I'm sure life will bring on more opportunities to learn them some more. But I want the roots of my testimony to be deep and strong when those times come. And I want to always be found learning.

Tumble Dry Low

2011-02-25T14:46:00.000-08:00

I can't seem to get this wrinkle out!

Ben is a climber. The only problem is that he can't get back down or out. But look at how proud of himself he is!

PARTY

2011-02-25T14:12:00.000-08:00

Here are some random photos of the boys party at the park (more on their birthdays on the post below). We had a lot of fun even though it was a little cold. There was good company and good BBQ hot dogs. Mike had a lot of say in the party planning. He wanted to have it at the park and finally settled on having helicopter/plane cupcakes (at first it was Elmo?!?, then garbage trucks, then finally the helicopter). Ben didn't really care as long as he was fed, held and had room to roam and play.

here is most of the party goers during the "Happy Birthday" song

Carrie and baby Drake

Miss Abigail enjoying a cloud cupcake

This one is for Christine, it captures the excitement her boys have for the gifts being opened! Luke and Wyatt helping Ben with his gifts

Miss Stella waiting patiently for a cupcake

Carrie and birthday boy Benjamin

Abigail and Michael, birthday love

Jenny and baby Scarlett

Benjamin and his "uncle" Cooper (for real)

Luke and Michael playing in the sand

Papa Webb

2011-02-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

My dad loves the grand babies. When ever we all get together you can find him holding one of the newer babies... or sometimes two.

Drake and Scarlett, the two newest additions to the Webb familyBen and Cooper

I know the grand babies love their "papa" too. Dad is always willing to get the babies to sleep or feed them some food. And the babies are always willing to give grandpa the best smiles and cuddles!

The Boys

2011-02-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

(he is one by the way)

Happy Birthday Boys! How fun it is to celebrate together! Seeing that they are five days apart they better get use to it.

Hungry

2011-02-06T11:39:00.001-08:00

Today is fast Sunday. I haven't fasted for quite awhile! In between pregnancy and nursing its been a LONG while. I decided I need the extra help today and should start fasting.

Ben will be one this month...ONE. And I'm still nursing him. This isn't really a big deal, I've nursed all my babies over a year (avg. is 15months for us). But Ben has been a little different. He is my hungriest baby by far, still nursing about five times in the day on top of solid three meals. Which no one would guess. He is my skinniest baby by far too. He must have a high metabolism. That or he is just so busy he burns it off quickly, which could also be the case.

Anyway, he gets so hungry that I don't know if I'm giving him enough milk to satisfy him sometimes. So we started giving him a little formula (I've only bought one can in his whole life). Hence my decision to fast... I can give him formula today and be ok.
Now to my point of this post.

Wow, I'm hungry today! I don't know if its that I've forgotten how hunger feels... or if its the fact that my body is producing milk still and taking my nutrients. All I know is I'm a little cranky and irritable. But I've felt the spirit today and received a few answers to prayer. Definitely worth the hunger. Oh, and Ben is doing just fine with formula today.

Can't Be True

2011-02-04T18:23:00.001-08:00

Today we registered my innocent sweet baby girl for KINDERGARTEN. She is ready. Mom, not so much. But then again, when she is sassy like above picture... mom's ready too.

Life

2011-02-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

Life gets hard sometimes... and the blog takes the back burner. Since life isn't ever easy, I won't promise you I will be updating regularly. But I want to try to update at least once in a while. Lots has happened since August. Our family has had a lot of ups and downs these last six months (more details in future posts) I have a ton of pictures I've taken and Tim is working nights again, so updates here we come! In case you forgot what we looked like, here are our most recent family photos.

Here Fishy Fishy

2010-08-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot of it this summer. Between Dad and Mickey's beach pool, Cam and Jenny's pool and a ward friends pool... we haven't had a problem with getting our fill in.

Mr. Benjamin. He has become a seasoned "beach pool bum." Even though he is always covered in sunscreen, he still has gotten a little tan. You can tell by looking between his little chubby crease lines around his ankles!
(Benji waiting to enjoy a day at the pool)

He is the most spoiled baby, being held by everyone. He eats it up!

(my beautiful cousin Misty holding him at Stella's Birthday pool party)

Too bad I didn't get a good picture of Mickey holding Ben. She was such a help chilling out with him in the shade.

(you can see Mickey and Ben in the background. Thats our set up at the beach pool, very close to when we really do go to the beach, we had our own umbrella and of course the ice chest with food)

When it got too hot Ben really enjoyed a dip in the pool. His favorite was when he was getting tired and I would sway him in the water on his side. He would just close his eyes and coo, must have reminded him of the womb. Most of the time he was a good baby, until he wasn't. And then it was time to go home.

(tired Ben, so sad and ready to go home)

Mikey, Mike. These pictures do a good job of summing up what Mike thinks about swimming.

("cheese")

(I can just hear it now, "I'm goin' to shoot you mom!" give him something that shoots water and he is a happy camper)

He loves the water (has since he was a baby). This was the first year he really got to use his floaties. He took to them no problem. He would kick himself around and then just float, hanging out by himself. Then he would get bored and yell to someone to help him. In other words, he was too dang lazy to kick his legs and wanted someone to pull him to the shallow end!

(being lazy eating his cupcake and drinking some soda at Stella's party)

Mike has always been good with entertaining himself. He will go off and have fun. One of his favorite spots was the water spitting frog. The last few times we went to the beach pool he figured out how to stand straddling the water at the frogs mouth, looking like he was peeing (such a boy).

(just a cute picture of my Mikey boy, ruined by a nice booger)

Miss Abigail. She pretty much learned how to swim this year. Somehow we still haven't gotten her in swim lessons. But its okay seeing that with a little help from Grandpa Webb and watching Wyatt, she decided she didn't need them to start learning. I think the goggles were the key. Seeing under the water is so cool that it makes holding your breath easy to do.

She got really good at playing mermaid and swimming under the water. And it always helps to have a pink swimsuit, especially one with a tutu!

Besides keeping my eye on her and responding to the frequent "Mom... watch me!" I don't get to see too much of her at the pool. She enjoys playing with her cousins so much. When we go swimming without a cousin she gets kind of bored with mom.

(playing in the sand, using that imagination)

The adults... we enjoyed talking with one another trying to stay cool and watch all the kids.

(here is a typical picture of us at the pool, far left is Jenny and Stella, Abigail, Me, Dad, Mickey and Luke -- Christine was probably chasing after Levi when this was taken)

I would have to say that every ones favorite thing was when Grandpa was able to come swim, either right before or after a flight. The kids all love to swim with Grandpa, and I always enjoy talking with my dad. I have to send out a thank you to Dad and Mickey for letting us enjoy the beach pool again this summer. Without a doubt we had fun going and making summer swimming memories!

A Mystery No Longer

2010-08-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

Remember my post awhile ago about the mystery tree in my back yard? We figured it out today. Would you guess what it is by seeing a picture of the growing fruit like this one?...

I was still stumped. Then I found one ripe on the ground. We cut it open and it looked like this...

I was still stumped. How about you? Would you guess that it is a GUAVA? Yep, thats what our mystery tree is. Abbey and I rather enjoyed eating our first guava (after I looked up what the heck the fruit was and if it was edible). Turns out you can eat the whole thing, skin and all. It was really good. Kind of a cross between a strawberry and apple. It was soft and juicy. I was impressed and Abbey was too, seeing that she ate her whole half with out hardly any hesitation.

If you want to try a Guava, let me know. I will pick one for you when they get more ripe. Looks like we will have a lot of them this year. Who knew?

Always Good For A Laugh

2010-07-31T22:41:00.000-07:00

I love it when the camera catches things like this...

You have no idea how hard I was laughing while editing these pictures. It does a heart good to get a nice laugh after a long day.

Rollin With The Homies

2010-07-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Ben officially started to roll May 29th.

The kids and I were playing Candy Land when all of the sudden Ben just rolled over next to me! We were all so excited.

He hasn't stopped since. In fact, now he is scooting where ever he wants. He started that about a week ago.

Look at that sweet face, so proud of himself.

Need My Space

2010-07-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

By the end of May our little Benji, three months at the time, decided that he loved his crib more than the bassinet. Its always a bitter sweet day for me. I get my room back, but it is the end of the newborn phase. I like to wait on the move until the baby can mostly make it through the night. In this case, Benjamin reminds me of Abigail. She was in our bassinet until five months! (that was also due to other circumstances) On the other end of the spectrum, Michael was in his crib by two months. He has been and still is a good sleeper. Good thing too since Benjamin has joined him in the "boys" room. Ben still likes to get up pretty early, like four or five, to eat and then sleep in some more. Man... two boys in two cribs! What did we get ourselves into?!?

Feelin' the Love

2010-07-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

The first thing I wanted to do after we got home from Abbey's last day of school was a little shopping to prepare for summer. This is what we came home with...

We already had the easel but had needed to replenish our art supplies to go with it. The kids were super excited. It amazes me how their relationship with one another can go from smiling and excited to this...

It was a classic argument about not saying "cheese" the right way. You can probably guess, Abbey was being bossy and Mike was put out...

And Ben was thinking... I'm staying out of this!

Let the creative juices flow...

They loved doing the arts stuff for a few days straight. Then it got a little old. I'm hoping that they will feel the love again for the arts, its too dang hot to swim!

A Long Time Coming

2010-07-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

Back in the end of May a very important event happened. One of many huge milestones occurred. Abigail finished her first year of school... preschool that is! Much to my disappointment, I forgot the camera. Thankfully Tim had his phone and took the most essential pictures. So forever they were on his phone, which is why I never blogged about Abigail's last day of school. Then one day Tim's phone fell out of his pocket and into the toilet. The first thing that I said when he told me was "Abbey's last day of school pictures were on that phone!" Lucky for me I married a electronic man. In a pure miraculous act, Tim was able to blindly activate the storage mode on his phone to download the files from his phone to the computer! It was a miracle, the screen was black forcing him to use my phone as a guide to what keys to push to get where he needed to be and once he got it all done the phone wouldn't even turn on again. So, as titled, it has been a long time coming, but here are the pictures of Abbey's last day of preschool.

We got there a little late and walked into their little program. It was really cute, they sang a few songs. The only one I can remember now was Bingo. The kids with the graduation hats were obviously moving on to Kindergarten. Abbey and some other students that would have another year in preschool had on party hats. No surprise to me, Abbey's hat feel off leaving only the string visible under her chin. Look at all the boys in her class (yes thats a boy to the left of her with long hair). She had them wrapped around her little finger. One of the moms said to me, "Oh, thats Abbey... my son talks about her all the time!" I better watch out, if she is anything like her mother she might be kissing the boys by kindergarten!

After the program and class video, which made me get all emotional. They served refreshments. It was really cute watching how the few girls in her class wanted to sit next to Abbey to eat.

Here is Abbey with one of the most talked about friends, Mariposa. Very often Abbey would want her hair braided like Mariposa's hair. Mariposa must have really loved Abbey too because her dad was very adamant about getting those two in a picture together. I hope that they will be in the same class this coming year!

Here are the teacher aids and her teacher. Miss Kim is top left. She is in our ward along with Miss Tamera, who is siting with Abbey. Miss Tamera moved out of state after the school year, we were very sad about this. Abbey loves to see Miss Kim and Miss Tamera at church. Upper right is Teacher Julie. I am so happy that she will be Abbey's teacher next year too. She is a great teacher! She took the time to go through all her students and say something special about them. She said the nicest things about Abbey. Abbey was her only student that she had multiple nicknames for... Abbalou being her favorite. She said Abbey was very excited and loved to learn, and her favorite thing to do was dress up. The boy next to Abbey was so cute and confused that it wasn't his turn to take a picture. I love that Abbey found a horse and was holding it for the picture!

This was in the car after we were done at the school. Notice her party hat. She kept that hat out and played with it for at least two weeks after!

I had such an emotional tie with Abigail's first year of preschool. She did a lot of growing up and maturing throughout that year. She loved school and was always excited to go. I've had a hard time accepting that things change. Life continues to move forward and things won't ever be the same. Yet here my little four year old is ready to move forward and enjoys what is happening in the moment. I'm really happy that she will be able to go to this preschool for at least a little while next year and have the same teacher!

Whew, that was a lot of rambling... but now that I have this post done I feel like I can really start on the summer posts... be ready, there is a lot to come!

pro·cras·ti·nate

2010-07-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

To postpone doing something, especially as a regular practice

Yep, that would define me today. I have so much I could and should be doing before we (yet again) head up to Pinetop... but instead I took a morning nap (ruff night last night), went shopping for myself at the mall, and watched toons with the kids while looking at blogs. Not to mention that I will be leaving my messy house and take my unbathed children to my sisters so we can all play and further procrastinate the getting ready for our weekend trip till tonight.

Yep... I'm procrastinating big time today, oh well...

For no reason at all here are some funny pictures of Mike... just to further my procrastinating getting off the computer

Too Cute... Must Post

2010-07-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

I know that Father's Day was so "last month," but these were just too cute to not post. I had these pictures for Tim to wake up to on Father's Day Sunday. And to be honest, it took a lot of work to get the kids to cooperate for them! So now they can be enjoyed on the blog instead of being ignored on the dresser.

Oh... and about Tim's Father's day... He worked that Sunday!! Thats right. Hence the no pictures of his "special" day. So I let him sleep without interruption from me and the kids. And then we had a awesome breakfast of eggs with cheese and a home roasted chili, grits, toast, bacon, fruit salad and orange juice. It was his big Father's Day meal. We went to church and then came home in time for Tim to get dressed and leave for work an hour later. I felt really bad that he had to work. But we made up for it later that week by going on a date to eat Mexican food, watch the A Team and buy his gifts (jeans and wallet, I got him a gift card to get them... you try to buy that man jeans!).

I know I probably say this a lot on my blog... but I'm going to say it again. I love my husband. One of the things I love most is watching him be a father. He is the best dad. So involved in the kids life. They love him. He works so hard to provide for our family in every way. He even goes as far to prove that on Father's Day by still working hard to provide for us at home! Here are a few pictures, some of them recent repeats... evidence of what a involved and awesome dad Tim is!

(he braided Abbey's hair one day for school and sent the picture to me to get my approval, where I was I don't remember... maybe in the hospital with Ben?)

Can't Keep Up

2010-06-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

I can't keep up with this guy in my posts! He is changing so fast that by the time I get around to editing and uploading the pictures of him they are dated! These were taken at three months, he is now four!! Oh well, I think the blog needs a little Benjamin...

We have two blankets like this one in the picture. This one and a the blue one with stars that was seen in the hospital announcement pictures. I think they will be his favorite. We use them for naps and bed time. He knows when these blankets go around him that its sleep time. Seriously, as soon as he feels these blankets he smiles as if saying "oh yeah, I'm ready now!"

The kids love to give Benjamin kisses. He is becoming very aware of his sister and brother. I know he is so anxious to join them in all the fun.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2010-06-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

With princess gloves...

Lots of loves...

And a garden table that's not at all low!

Tim and I were sick of having a garden that gets neglected and doesn't produce much. Not to mention that got dug up by dogs and little kids. So Tim built us a nice garden table to plant in this year. Abbey loved helping plant the tomatoes, putting her princess gloves on to help. And Mike loves to help water the garden in the morning. We can't wait to get some fresh produce; tomatoes, bell peppers, peppers, cucumber, and squash. So far we've gotten a few yellow squash and basil! Yes, the basil. We love the basil. Look at that!

And it smells sooo good! Nothing like having spaghetti with fresh basil and tomato sauce!

Mothers

2010-06-24T21:48:00.001-07:00

On Mother's Day we took a picture of all the mothers present. Carrie was included although she laughed that she wasn't a mother. I joked, "you never know, you might have a little one in there!" She called a few days later from her doctor's appointment telling me... "You were right, I'm pregnant!"
(Me, Christine, Carrie and Mickey)

So, in honor of our baby sister becoming a mother, Christine and I (without kids, well... just Ben joined us) took her to lunch. Something we haven't done for at least three years! It was really fun to talk to her about being pregnant, childbirth, and everything else you could think of.
(here we are at our, oh... four hour lunch!, don't mind the shoddy picture, it was the classic hold the camera out and squeeze in to get us all in the frame!)

We are so excited for you Carrie and Dan!

(On Mother's day with Ben before they knew that they were expecting their own little baby!)

Straight Talk

2010-06-17T23:04:00.000-07:00

So after a few weeks of numbness in my arms and tingling in my fingers when waking up, nursing Benji, and mostly whenever my arms are held in a position in front of my body... I decided it was finally time to see the chiropractor. I knew my nerves were being pinched and figured it was due to being "out." I didn't figure it was because my neck was looking like this...

When it should be looking like this...

Although it didn't surprise me. I have had this problem before. So for the next four to six months this is what will be helping me...

With adjustments in there as well of course. I don't think Tim will mind keeping me in supply of my new therapy tool. Basically I will be using this as a pillow for ten minutes a day on the edge of my bed. It really is refreshingly cool to a achy neck!

On a side note, they weighed me... its time to go back to the gym for real! As of yesterday my baby is officially a four month old. No excuses like I just had a baby!

Tempurpedic

2010-06-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

Someone is really spoiled. He gets to sleep in every morning with his Dad after getting his "first breakfast" in bed.

I love seeing this face... so peaceful. He has been sleeping in his own crib in the "boys" room for over a week now. Yet he still seems to make it into our bed early in the morning.

How can I resist spoiling him? I can't blame him, he loves the tempurpedic as much as Tim and I do! Look at that smile!!

Last week Ben got sick. High fever and really cranky. Spit ups more than normal and waking up in the middle of the night. Ending with a little rash on the back and stomach. I finally caved in and took him to urgent care last Saturday. He was scream crying like he was in pain for over a hour. Tim came home from work so he could be with the kids while I took Ben in that night. I thought he must have an ear infection.

Nope

I spent a higher co-pay at urgent care to hear that it was probably viral (which medicine wouldn't do anything for) or possibly, get this... TEETHING! What?!? My three month old? Teething!?! No way! I guess he has been chewing on his fingers and drooling like mad lately. Why is it that after three babies I can't remember when my kids get teeth. Three months seem really early to me.

Then to cap off the night the nice Dr. asked upon hearing I go to Gilbert Pediatrics "isn't the twilight open?" Turns out they were! How dumb am I? Oh well, peace of mind is priceless. And a bonus night with Tim is too!

Story Time

2010-06-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

Words can't express the feelings I get from this captured moment.

Childhood

Love

Imagination

Peace

Father

Magic

Random

2010-06-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

These last few days I've been feeling off. I don't know what it is... am I depressed, I don't have any reason to be. Am I tired... yes... but why so tired? Could it be because Ben has been sick and isn't sleeping as well. Maybe its because I have been staying up too late. Why do I do that to myself? Seriously!! I think its because we had really fun filled days off with Tim on Monday and Tuesday. Anyway, I'm thankful that my kids love me unconditionally, even when cranky mommy doesn't deserve it. And I'm really thankful for a wonderful husband who let me take two naps today before he went to work AND mopped the gross tile floors (Something I've been wanting to do for two weeks but haven't done!). I hope I can get out of this funk. And go to bed early tonight!
In the mean time... some pictures that Abbey took all by herself!
(I think I had the laptop on my lap in this picture, probably looking at blogs)

(Tim reading)

(being cheesy for Abbey)

(my personal favorite, a picture of the tv, but not just any picture, I think her true desires are being shown... sugary cereal... mom doesn't buy them anymore, just boring old shredded wheat!)

What Am I?

2010-06-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

This tree is a mystery.

When we first moved in the house it was a bush. Its the bush that we took pictures in front of over on the sidebar as a family. It started growing like crazy. Tim kept trimming it down.

Then one day it was clear to him... this bush wants to be a tree! So he let it grow up. It shot up quickly. Last year it bloomed a little and all the little fruit things turned black and fell off.

This year it is blooming a lot and we have some kind of fruit growing. I can't figure out what it is. Not even Cameron and Jenny know, and they are pretty good at things like that! My best guess by looking on line is a lime?

Does anyone know what it is?

Fish Tale II

2010-06-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that our Molly fish was pregnant. And to my surprise we woke up one morning to three baby fish, or as Mike says "baby gold fish!" It has brought new excitement to the previously forgotten fish tank. The kids love to be held up to try to find the little babies. They are hard to find too. Heck, I like to stare at the tank and find them too. (I found myself staring at them for almost a hour late one night with Abbey sleeping in her bed!) It has also made it fun to help feed them with crushed food and a toothpick. The only problem... I've read that Molly fish can have more babies after their first batch, weeks in between. And they can have more than 30 babies at one time! Oh, and the mother fish are known to eat the babies when they are really small. Talk about anxiety! I'm okay with 3... 30?!... not so much! On a side note, the mother gives birth to live fish, not eggs. Thats kind of cool, maybe I will get to see it since she seems to be getting fat again which means she probably will be having more soon... anyone want some baby fish?

Fish Tale Part I

2010-06-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

Abbey has been getting change to put in a piggy bank when she does her chores and obeys. Her plan was to buy a little Barbie with a seahorse forever (I think its like $10, $15) Then one day it changed to fish. It just so happened that she was talking with Tim when she changed her mind. I wasn't there when the conversation took place, so I really don't know how he got her to change her mind. Maybe it was the fact that she was learning about the ocean in preschool that week. So okay, fish it is. I know they die pretty easily and the water gets nasty, but it won't be a big deal to have a gold fish in a little bowl right? Plus it should be a little cheaper.

Not so. You see, I forgot that Tim had a big hand in this decision. We went to Wal-Mart and proceed to get two neon tetra fish. A pink one for Abbey and a yellow one for Mike. Well, you have to get a black light tank for the neon fish right?! Plus the rocks and plants. And of course the little seahorse statue. Then add on the food and water conditioner. I kept looking at Tim and saying, you sure were not going a little crazy? Tim was trying to play it cool, like he didn't care about little fish. But then we ended up getting a Molly fish for him. Then He admits to me that fish were kind of his thing as a kid and he has a soft spot for a kid getting their first fish. Here he is trying to play it cool and keep a big goofy grin off his face.

Here is the cute kid with the goofy grin and the fish.

She was so cute watching me get the tank put together. Such anticipation!

It was such a big deal to her that I worked on it at Christine's while babysitting Levi. When Wy and Luke got back, Abbey was so excited to show them her new fish tank.

And finally, $50 later, here is the tank with the fish. (How many Barbie seahorse dolls could we have gotten with $50?)

But it was worth it. Look at these kids. They love their fish.

I thought Mike's stool was pretty cute.

Turns out that you can't keep a fish tank on a four years old dresser. It requires a custom made shelve in the corner. And Mike's fish lasted about a week but no one noticed for awhile because the fish lost their appeal. Oh and we found out that you never know if you will get a pregnant Molly fish.

Stay tune for Fish Tale Part II (I still need to download pictures from my camera)

Makes Me Laugh Every Time

2010-06-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

Don't know why, but trampoline pictures never get old. In fact, they just get funnier the more you examine them. Kind of like those 3D pictures. The more you stare at them the more you see. These were taken at Christine and Jared's on Mother's day. We all met for desserts that evening (which is why the kids are in pj's with Mike in a diaper). The cousins didn't waste time and made the most of the fading light outside on the tramp. The funniest thing in these pictures is the progression of Mike. The kid doesn't have much grace or balance... maybe its the size of his big noggin?

Nice air Abbey!

As you can see, Mike spends a lot of time on his knees trying to keep up with the bigger kids.

Look at Wyatt's air, he is a trampoline pro.

Here is where it starts to get really funny... Mike finally gets some air...

To only fall back on the landing... instant tuck and roll...

Everyone notices Mike huddled in the fetal position... waiting to see if he will cry (he does that a lot when on the tramp)

Nope...false alarm... he's okay, back to playing...

Don't you love trampolines... pure joy and pure terror all in one, and it always makes the funniest pictures.

Why Bother?

2010-06-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, with Tim and I on completely different schedules, our bed doesn't get made most days. But when it does get made the kids love it. What is it about big fluffy pillows all crisply lined up on a bed that is so irresistible?

Obviously it makes the best cave to hide in. Not to mention a great place to play with Lightning McQueen and your fighter jets. (don't you love that little face peeking over at the camera)

I wish you all could hear this little boy when he plays in my pillows. Its really hard to be mad about some messed up pillows, when you call out his name and hear a little squeal and giggle somewhere within them. Even when it is the fifth time you've made the dang bed.

Our Favorite

2010-06-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

Lately our favorite around the house is

(I'm actually posting about this while eating a cookie!) The kids have been on a "helping" me cook kick. They love to do pancakes, pizza, spinning the salad, and cookies.

This particular time Tim helped the kids. He had the great idea of putting all the measured ingredients in bowls so the kids could just dump them in. They loved it!

Look how excited Abbey is to be making cookies! (of course she was cheesing it up a little more for the picture)

Everyone gets a turn to put their ingredient in...

(notice the bruise on Mike's forehead, no idea where it came from, poor kid is accident prone)

There is a story with this picture. Look at Tim's face. He had just moved the kitchen aid back and in the process it pinched Mike's finger (accident prone remember?!?). The face says it all. So glad I captured it by accident!

Here is Mike showing me his hurt finger after he calmed down.

Tim is a very good baker and cook. He loves to be in the kitchen. His mom said that he always did like to be in the kitchen. One time he made a video of himself making eggs (did I get that right?!?). That totally makes sense, he loves eggs. At home he makes the bread for us and once he even made cinnamon rolls.

I love to bake more than cook. Its always dangerous when I watch too many food network programs that have desserts in them. I get in a baking mood. I remember helping my mom make cookies growing up. What was the best part?...

Tasting the dough of course!

Thats mostly why I make cookies... for the dough. I think the kids like to make cookies so they can eat the dough too. Its so weird to me that Tim doesn't ever eat the cookie dough. He says its because his mom scared him, always telling him you will get sick from the raw eggs. I know that can be true, but it never has happened to me thankfully.

Oh Tim, another reason I love you so much! He smiled and then looked off to the side like that on purpose. I love this man.

Yummy! Look at those babies all ready to go. They are the best all fresh out of the oven and warm! Thats why I don't have a picture of them cooked... I was busy enjoying them with a glass of milk.

Ponies and Barbies

2010-05-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning up after giving Abigail and Michael a bath and found Abigail's favorite bath toys put away like this. She cracks me up. These are all her ponies and Barbie's, minus the ones she can't get wet. I was wondering what took her so long to get out of the bath and into her towel!

Notice little Mike's stash in the front of Abigail's posse. Two cars, a helicopter and a police man. Typical difference between boys and girls.

I don't even know how they had room to move in the bath tub. But then again, I remember playing like a mermaid with Carrie in the tub... going in circles around and around!

Blink and its Gone

2010-05-29T22:37:00.000-07:00

Third time around, I know how fast the newborn phase goes. Its already gone at our house. I love the newborn phase. There are so many changes that occur in the first weeks of life. One of my favorite things that they grow out of so quickly...

This little guy had major frog legs. Now he's in the kicking all the time phase, especially when excited. He even manages to push himself back with his heels and, as of today, roll over on to his tummy!

4 years and younger

2010-05-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

Life can be crazy around our house, changing moods and noise levels vary in minutes (and not just from the kids!). But then there are really great moments that I know makes it all worth while. The moments that go by all too fast. The ones I will miss when they are grown and out of the house. The kinds like these...

Love the face on Benjamin, it makes it so real. Poor kid has every reason to be a little nervous and on edge stuck between these two!

Still can't believe I have three little ones!

For Grandma Kathi

2010-05-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

There were a lot of things mom loved. Here are two of them together!

I miss mom and have been thinking about her a lot (maybe it has something to do with Mother's day). Not really sad, but just miss her being around to share thoughts with and watch my kids grow. Lately, I've been finding things in everyday life that remind me of her. I saw these hibiscus flowers at Wal-Mart in the gardening area and I thought of mom. Abbey was more than happy to pose with the flowers for me. You'll notice that she has pigtails in her hair. You will be seeing a lot of pictures with them. She is going through a major pigtail phase. I ask her every morning what she wants me to do with her hair, lately its been the pigtails. Awhile ago it was a big ponytail. Wonder what will be next?

Whats not to love about these flowers? They are so tropical and beautiful! I really would love to have some for my home.

My Favorite Tree

2010-05-17T23:03:00.000-07:00

(Abbey picking flowers for me while waiting for her bus, Mike looking at our dogs through the holes in the wall)

I love this tree when it blooms. It draws your eye while driving down the street toward our house. It really went wild this year. I love it. Tim keeps saying he needs to cut some of it down. I tell him no way, its perfect.

An Encouraging Sign

2010-05-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

Mike has found a new hobby... cleaning. Yes, that's right. Cleaning.

He loves to get out the Windex and help with dusting too. As long as I'm around to supervise, I let him go to town. I figure its a good sign and should be encouraged. Unfortunately he likes to get it out when I'm not watching. And sometimes his "cleaning" can make more of a mess.
(notice the fly on the floor by his knee and the bottle, he calls them "butterflies", silly boy)

Not only will he get out the Windex, but he sneaks out the Lysol spray bottle and Jet Dry. I don't like it so much when he gets into those and spills them on the floor. So there is now a child proof hook on the cleaning cabinets.

But still, he likes cleaning!! There is hope for this kid!! I'm still working on Abbey's natural instinct to be messy. Maybe I won't have such a hard time with Mike? Messy or clean, I love him... and his smile. Such a sweetie!

Thoughts

2010-05-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

(my Hubby and Mike, waiting for Abbey to get home on the bus)

I love my husband. Tim is everything and more to me. I rely on him a lot. He always tells me that I am stronger than I think. I usually don't think so.

However, I have learned something about me. When Tim is around I don't want to be strong. But when he is gone, like out of town for a few days gone, I am strong.

Tim had training in Flagstaff Monday through Wednesday this week. I was by myself with all three kids for the first time. I wasn't really looking forward to this fact. But I have to say, it felt... well...good! Sound weird? Let me explain why...

I found waking up at the crack of dawn with my little ones a whole lot easier. We also stuck to our routine a lot more: breakfast, dress, hair, teeth, outside for bus. Not only on time.. but even ahead of time. I found that I got a lot more done around the house, deep cleaning the bathroom and moping included in those three days (very rare to get those things done within a week of each other). I had dinners planned and even stretched and tried a new spaghetti sauce recipe, which was really good. Oh, and family home evening got done with just me to keep the kids still and reverent. But most of all, I found my attitude towards my kids was a lot more easy going, light hearted and patient. In return the kids were the same.

Now don't get me wrong. Things weren't perfect. There was still the whining and fighting. There was still a tired mom (1:30 rolls around and its a struggle to stay awake). And there was definitely still the missing of a dad and husband. But all in all, I found myself able to handle it. I was strong, and it felt good. I was organized and up to the task.

Why was it easier to be strong and do these day to day duties while Tim was gone? Mostly because with out him here, there is no one else to share and help in those duties. Its just me and I know this. I have to do it! It forced me to be strong. I felt like my mom a little. When my dad was gone in the army or on his flying rotation. And that made me feel good too. I think of my mom and I see a strong lady who was the greatest mom. I want to be like her.

When Tim got home Wednesday evening it was exciting for all of us. It was so nice to have his help with dinner and getting the kids in bed. It was so satisfying to watch him play with the kids. It was so fun to sit on the couch with him and relax watching our shows together. It was so comforting to have him sleeping next to me. It was nice to have someone to rely on once again. But I made a resolve to myself. I want to be strong while Tim is home, just like when he is gone. I think he needs me to be strong right now (he has been the strong one a lot these last few years with mom's passing). And I think I'm finally in that place where I can be strong now.
(Mother's day, over at Christine and Jared's house)

My Day in Pictures

2010-05-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

The gifts...

The awesome breakfast...

The son...

The dinner...

The daughter...

The mother and new baby

oops!

2010-05-09T16:57:00.001-07:00

I'm almost embarrassed to write this down on my blog, but its pretty funny. Just don't judge me!!

(Abbey getting off the bus, home from preschool)

I have a habit that I'm not proud of. I sometimes let a bad word slip. Nothing horrible... just the h-e-double l word, "d" word and the beloved "s" word. The "s" word can be hilarious to me, it has something to do with the shhhh part. I would say that its my favorite and choice curse word. I'm aware of my habit, so I have tried to conquer it. And I thought that I was doing a pretty good job since having children. I replace the bad word with the common shoot or my favorite, shiii (no "t"). Although, I have let the whole "s" word slip when scared (again, not proud of that). Now... I don't remember my mom saying curse words. Hardly ever did she utter those naughty words during my childhood. I think all of us siblings remember maybe three times. I hope my kids remember the same about me. However, I don't think that will be the case with Abbey...

Last Friday while getting Abbey ready for school, I noticed we were running five minutes late. Not a big deal since we get outside at least ten minutes early so the kids can play and ride bikes while waiting for the bus. However, I'm always aware that the bus can, on rare occasion, come early. So I kind of freak out when I'm not out there early (some weird fear I have, probably stemming from childhood, that the bus will leave). I was telling Abbey to put her shoes back on while I was getting ready to put my shirt on, all the while opening the door so I could hear when and if the bus arrived. And to my horror, I heard a idling diesel bus. (My house is placed so I can't see the street)

So I said, "Shiii, Abbey, put on your shoes your bus is hear, HuRRy!!" She looked at me all freaked out while I was frantically putting my shirt on. She started putting her shoes back on and grabbing her backpack while I continued to say "hurry! your bus is here!" As I was unlocking the security screen door, I hear Abbey by my side saying over and over, "Oh ShiT, Oh ShiT, hurry, hurry!" For a split second I didn't notice. As she continues to go on all frantic, I stop her and asked her what she said. She said "ShiT!" I couldn't help but laugh and tell her, "no, we say shoot... Oh shoot!" She repeated shoot.

Great, shiii obviously is too close to the real word!

Saturday rolls around, Tim is out in the garage doing a project with Abbey playing around. Tim comes in and proceeds to tell me this little story. Abbey had a hammer and was hitting small rocks from the front yard. She hits one and it breaks. It must have shocked her and she probably thought she was in trouble for breaking something. So she says "Oh ShiT!" Tim asked her what she said and she told him she said "Shoot."

Doubly great! Now she is lying about saying a bad word.

Looks like mom is in the Shiii!

Mood Swings

2010-05-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

Babies can go from this...

To this...

Then back to this...

So quickly. Especially Ben (as he displayed in the pictures).

Look at that temper above!!

Spring Miracles

2010-05-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

We had a mommy and daddy bird busy building a nest in the palm tree right out or front window. A few weeks later I noticed two little babies. You can see one by the mommy's chest in the picture. It was fun to have a front row seat to watch them and show Abbey and Mike.

My mom use to tease us kids, saying we were little baby birds wanting food. I can see why she would say that since watching that mommy bird feeding her eager babies. Especially now that I have little baby birdies of my own, eager and begging for food all the time!

One morning the birds were gone. Then a new family moved in. The mommy has been sitting on her eggs for awhile. Kind of makes me wonder what happens to the daddy bird. He builds the nest and then just leaves? Abbey thinks he is away at work! Anyway, I have been waiting to see the little babies. This morning, after putting Abbey on the school bus, I noticed the mommy bird was gone (very rarely is she gone). So I quickly went to see if I could see anything inside the nest from my window. Nothing! Tim said there were two eggs in there... what happened!! I ran out side and looked around the palm tree. I saw the cracked pieces of the shell, but where was the bird? Looking closer I saw a little baby, very new born, laying on the ground. In my heart I knew it was a lost cause, but I still wanted to try to save that baby. I got a towel and picked it up, then woke Tim up to put it back in the nest. Mommy bird still hasn't come back. I hope she does.

Tight Fit

2010-05-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

Getting use to seeing this...

(one of our very first outings all together, Ben's first doctors appointment)

The kids were good so we stopped and got them chocolate. Mike feel asleep eating his.

And Abbey wanted a picture of her too... pretending to be sleeping

Stinky Sand

2010-05-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

Most days Abbey comes home from school with this in her shoes...

Two things I think of when I see this...

how uncomfortable

and

that's some stinky sand!

The Newest Personality

2010-05-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

Benjamin has been fun getting to know. He is the newest personality in the family and everyone is adjusting to that, including him.

We had his baby blessing last Sunday. I love the baby blessing day. It is such a red letter day and I know that the new baby can feel that it is their special day. Benjamin's day was special.

(here is his blessing outfit, Michael wore the same one)

(look at that smile, he totally knows its all about him today!)

Tim did a good job with his blessing. I know he was nervous getting up in front of our huge ward and all of our family and saying a thoughtful prayer for our newest son. That's a lot of pressure! The thing that left the biggest impression to me was Tim's use of the word "determined."

Everyone asks if he is a good baby. Of course he is a good baby to me... but the word "determined" describes him perfectly. He has a determined soul, you can see it in his eyes. He was determined to come to our family. He is determined to be noticed in our family. He is determined to soak everything in. I hope he will always be determined to do the right things in his life. These new souls coming into our world need to be! Benjamin is determined.

(see the determination in those eyes, he is so alert to everything!)

Our little guy is ten weeks today (I hate how fast time goes with little babies). His newest discovery in life is smiling. His first smile was at his daddy, and yes I'm jealous. He is kind of hard to get to smile, so it is such a cool thing when you get him to. Those blue eyes light up when he does. And two nights ago he showed just how bad of a temper he has by getting so upset that he almost passed out (he was blue!). Mom was not happy about that one!

Here are some random pictures from Ben's blessing day. Tim took these so he isn't in them, but I am (nice change for once!).

(abbey was so happy that all her cousins came and played with her)

(wonder why Benjamin looks nervous and uncomfortable?)

(Mike is such a stud in his suit, everyone loves his suit at church)

Big Kid

2010-05-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

Michael has surprised me. I was expecting to have a terrible two plus ten when Benjamin arrived. But Michael is far from the plus ten part, and most of the time isn't even the terrible two part. (Ironically its Abigail who is being the terrible four!)

It was like something clicked as soon as he turned two and his little brother came home. He is a big kid!

(riding his bike like a big kid!)

One of the biggest "big kid" milestones has been tackled and accomplished. Michael is potty trained! I was dreading potty training a boy, but he was no problem. With the exception of him being terrified to go number two for about a week or two. Literally he was shaking, crying and telling me it "scared" him. He even jumped once when it plopped in the bowl (so funny). He would be so sad sitting on the toilet. You haven't seen a sad face until you see Michael's, full on lip pout and big sad, down turned brown eyes... quite the sight.

(in his undies, he loves all of his pixar undies except Nemo, who knows why not!, notice his favorite blankie in both pics, not too grown up for blankie!)

(this is a small version of the pout, look at those lips!)

He is such a big kid that he will remind you not so gently sometimes. Mostly he does this with Tim. Like telling him "I know how to walk Dad" when Tim was trying to lead him with his hand on Mike's head. Or telling me he can brush his own teeth, pick out his shoes, or wash his own hair and body in the bath (which he does do with moms help). Oh, and lets not forget how he can get in and out of the car all by himself (after an annoying ten minutes!!).

The big kid attitude has arrived too. Tim caught Abigail and Michael laying on the floor watching TV while kicking the entertainment center loudly. He took the toys away they were playing with as punishment. Michael turned to Abigail and said, "good job Abbey."

What a good big kid. He still my little boy though. I love his sensitive soul. I love how he gives me random kisses (on my leg, on my arm, on my back, where ever he can reach at the time) and always wants to follow it up with a hug. I love how he wants to give Ben a kiss all the time. I love how he shares with his big sister (even when she doesn't deserve it). I love his big brown eyes (just like Tim's), pouty lips and big cheeks. And I am proud of him taking the older brother and big kid role so well.

Parenting

2010-05-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

Lately (meaning for the last few months), I have been hearing

from my oldest child. To get the full effect, you must read it in a pouty and frustrated way with your arms folded and brows furrowed. This is her response when I question her why she did something naughty. (can't wait until those teen years if she already throws this out at four!)

Some examples of "things" she wants to do that are naughty...

(baby powder in the wee hours of the morning)

(here are Abigail and Michael with pink ink from a stamp pad, notice that they have pj's on again, so its in the morning while I am trying to get a little extra sleep, you think I would learn)

Yeah... don't we all "want to do the things we want to do!", even if it is naughty!

If she could only understand... Doing the "things" that you want to do when its not good, makes mommy take away the "things" you want to do that are good as punishment!

Contrary to what she might think, I don't like taking away or not giving her the "good" as punishment. I want those good things for her as much as she does! But how can a four year old understand this in the heat of the moment?

Then I think to myself, this must be the frustrations of our Heavenly Father. We want to do the things we want, even when its naughty. And as a result, it gives away or doesn't allow us to have those "good" blessings. He doesn't want us to not receive the "good" blessings. He wants them for us as much as we do. I would even say He wants them for us more, because He understands them more! But how do you make a earthly being see that in the heat of the moment?

Come to think of it, maybe I have some growing up to do too...

Baby #3

2010-03-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

Benjamin James

arrived February 24th at 9:34 am, weighing in at 8lbs 12oz and 21in long
he came with blue eyes and lots of hair (doesn't he look like Tim with his hair style!)

Tim's Fishing Buddy

2009-11-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

Tim was excited to go up to his parents last month for General Conference. He had been wanting to go fishing up there for awhile. He even planned on taking Abbey with him (probably so I wouldn't put up a fight). Sure enough, Abbey was all too excited to wake up bright and early, get bundled up and go fishing with Dad. They didn't have too much success the first day. It was really windy. They were home before lunch. But the second day... they had a blast and weren't home until later that afternoon. I got a call from a proud Tim, telling me how Abbey had caught some fish and didn't want to go home! They had a lot of fun going around in the little boat. Abbey would sing out the "Ariel" song as they went (you know the "Ahh- ahhh -ahh" one). Tim said an older lady on a passing boat laughed at her cuteness. Abbey also had fun playing with Tim's old plastic worms. What girl wouldn't, they have bright colors and sparkles in them! She named all of them too. I think its safe to say that Tim has found a new fishing buddy. Now if only Mike was a little older!

I love seeing Tim's face when he gets home. He looks tired, but so content and happy.

Abbey was a mess, just the way it should be after a long day of fishing in the mountains!

She was so proud to tell us all how she caught her fish.

She may act like a mountain girl, going fishing with dad, but she still is girly at heart. She wouldn't touch the fish for the life of her. That's why she looks so funny in these pictures. She didn't want to be anywhere near the fish! Notice the unsure look directed at the fish and then the frown in the next one! Silly girl.

We left for home shortly after Tim and Abbey got home so we had to leave the fish. She was very concerned where her fish were and that we had left them.

To Be a Kid Again

2009-11-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

I love how a new toy will keep a child's attention for days. Abbey loved all her Birthday gifts and couldn't wait to play with them. They all got a turn.
She was occupied for days with her new toys... I loved it!

On another note, here is Mike being silly. He is getting so big and, as you can tell in this picture, letting his voice be heard!

Four Years Old!

2009-11-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Abigail's fourth Birthday princess style once again. I love the princess stage! We added a little to our decorations from last year but kept it low key. No staying up all night for a huge castle cake for me!! We didn't even send out invitations this year. It was easy going, mostly stress free and a lot of fun. (Which was needed seeing that it was Halloween, with a lot more to come that evening!) Look at my little Birthday girl! I can't believe she is four, that sounds so old now! She picked out her Birthday outfit all by herself. A skirt with pink shirt, too cute!

She was so excited for her Birthday this year. She would go on and on about the things she wanted. I started to hate the toy commercials ("I want that for my Birthday!"). I took her to toys-r-us and let her look at all the toys to get an idea of what she wanted. That was... fun... I noticed that she wanted almost everything that had to do with Disney princesses. So that is what we got her.

It was funny watching Mike at the toy stores. He was a good sport looking at all the princesses and pink. After Abbey's birthday, we went to exchange a princess and I didn't put Mike in a cart. He took advantage of that by running straight to the boys side. All cars, robots and blue! He needs a brother in the worst way! But when it came down to it... he didn't care that the balloons were pink, as long as he had one to run around with. What a little stud!

Look at those presents... how fun to be a four year old again with princess presents!

I love all these little kids. They are Abbey's cousins. All you need to make a party are cousins to play with! Look how happy they are to sit around Abbey and watch/help her open gifts.

This was pretty funny... Mike loves to act like a baby. He will find car seats, swings, bumbo's and anything else to do with a baby. He sat in Levi's chair and was being a silly baby making fake crying noises.

Aunt Christine bought Abbey a pink frilly dress. She was so excited about it and had to try it on right away. She was loving the attention... twirling around and laughing.

One of the many excited faces after opening a gift.

Apparently everyone was excited about this gift. Look at all those boys, I'm glad Parker was there to represent!

Look at that concentration, tongue out and all!

Here is her princess cake. I had fun making this one. Tim helped by rolling out the fondant to cover the cake. He got pretty good at it from last year! All Abbey wanted were the princesses on top to play with. She could hardly wait to blow out the candles so she could play with them.

All the kids in awe of the lite candles.

What a good day for Abbey. Thanks everyone for coming over and celebrating with us!!

Halloween

2009-11-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

This year, Halloween was a lot of fun. It always is fun... but it was especially fun this year with Tim having the whole day off!! (only the second since we have been married over five years). We switched gears after Abbey's Birthday party, and all got dressed up for our ward trunk-or-treat. We pulled it all off last minute with borrowed clothes from family, last years face paint and cheap wigs from Wal-Mart. Abbey's was the easiest of all, we had bought her costume the year before but didn't use it. So here we are...

Can you tell who we all are? Tim wasn't that excited to be Edward from Twilight, but he was a good sport for me and pulled it off well.

A lady from my ward joked that I should have been holding book four, where Bella is pregnant.

My Edwards...

Mike was so funny at the ward party. All he wanted to do was sit on the sidewalk and walk in the wet, muddy grass. I guess he wasn't that thrilled to be Edward either!

Tim took the kids trick-or-treating. I stayed at our car and gave out candy. Mike wanted to eat each individual candy piece that would go into his bag. Tim said it was a little frustrating taking him around all cranky because he couldn't eat his candy!

Abbey was a candy veteran. She knew what she was doing and was so happy all night long! What a fun end to a great day!

Being Girly (Almost)

2009-11-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

Abbey had a Halloween party at school. It was a big day for her. She wore her costume, went trick-or-treating, and brought birthday cupcakes to school. She was so excited for that party day! I thought we should make her look extra cute in her costume (a pink unicorn horse) by curling her hair in those traditional pink sponge curlers.
This would be the first time she would have her hair curled. She loved the idea and sat still for me while I put the curlers in. Off she went to bed with the curlers in her hair.
A few hours after falling asleep, she cried and cried. She didn't want the curlers in her hair. She didn't care if her hair wasn't going to be curly for her party. She had enough of being "girly!"

Fall

2009-10-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

I love fall. I think like most people, by the time October rolls around I am so ready for fall. If you want a early fall fix go up to Pinetop in October (since we really don't feel fall until November). We were up there for a quick trip during Conference. Here are some fall pictures that get me in the mood for apple cider or hot chocolate!

This is so Abbey and Mike's personalities... Abbey being goofy and Mike wanting to eat

I love these faces!!

More Big News

2009-10-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

Sassy Abbey started Preschool! I can't believe it!! It has been a lot of fun. She was accepted into Amanecer Preschool in the Gilbert School district. What that means is she was accepted into the special education program for her speech. It is paid for by the state which is GREAT!! And she gets to go to Boulder Creek Elementary five days a week for three hours in the morning. (She will go to Kindergarten there so its nice to get acquainted with the school early) It is really reassuring that she will be receiving a little help with her speech anxiety, even seeing a speech therapist once a week! I just hope she doesn't progress too fast so she can continue going there for the full year! If she meets all her goals she will no longer qualify... which means we will have to pay for preschool!!

She is in love with school. She rides the bus to and from school everyday and can't get enough. Abbey has never not wanted to go to school. I love seeing her come off the bus and bring home her papers. She has already progressed with expressing herself through talking and is learning so much. Abbey has become quite the mature girl and cracks me up with the things and phrases she uses. ( some of my favorite... when everything was "amazing!", how things that happened to her yesterday or a year ago all happened "last week", and most recently how things make her "nervous!" like when mom starts tickling her!) I hear all about her classmates, Teacher Julie, and Miss Kim! Its so fun!!

Here are some pictures...

We went to meet Abbey's teacher a few days before school started. Abbey was very serious (as expected with her) and wouldn't crack a smile. But she loved the class room and soon found some cool things to play with.

We were asked to decorate a puzzle piece for her class wall. She had so much fun with this and was very involved. Everything had to be approved by her and she told me where to put things (with a few suggestions from me). She was especially proud of gluing on her jewels!

This was her official first day of school. She was nervous but ready to go. I was nervous about her riding the bus... so I followed it to her school to make sure she was all right. As you can see in the dark picture of her in the bus window, she was just fine!

This was the first thing she did when she got home... ride her bike

First of many papers to be brought home! She loves revealing what is in her bag from school.

Last but not least... first school picture. She brought these babies home today. I can't stop laughing at them. They are so her in front of other people!! Man I love this little girl!

As Promised (a day late)

2009-10-27T14:45:00.001-07:00

Okay, so it isn't exactly "tomorrow!" But here is the biggest thing that has been happening since my last update back in June.

We found out that I was pregnant the end of June. This came as a surprise since we weren't trying at all to get pregnant... and it wasn't due to carelessness on our part! It was meant to be, just a year earlier than we planned. It took a little to become truly happy and excited. The problem was I had just witnessed my sister have her third baby boy and I could remember the whole experience of giving birth all too well. I wasn't quite ready to have my body go through all that again. But what do you do?!? Accept and get excited!
(This was taken the day we found out, after the tears were dried up!)

It really gets me excited when I find out the gender of the baby (makes it more real). We found out this month that it will be another boy for the Merrill's. As everything with this pregnancy, that came as a surprise too. I thought it was going to be a girl. It felt like a girl pregnancy (I can smell everything like my pregnancy with Abbey). Abbey was so sure it was going to be a girl too. I kept warning her that it might be another brother. We have made peace with having another brother in the house and are getting really excited to have a little one around. I'm most excited that Mike will have a brother to be close with. They will be almost exactly two years apart. Mike's b-day is mid February and this little guy is due the 28th of February.
( I know these pictures are a little scary, that is if you can tell what everything is!)

So for now we are just trying to get the perfect name for baby boy. Can't wait to meet him. I think he will be a lot of fun, he already is a very active little guy and strong!! (obviously had to be to get here in the first place!!) I have a feeling that I'm going to have my hands full. Oh dear, what am I going to do?!?

YES

2009-10-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been a long time since my last post...

Yes, it is true my last post was right before I figured out why I was so cranky and tired...

Yes, I found out we were pregnant (surprise! we are five months along now)...

Yes, it is another boy...

Yes, these facts, and the fact that Michael is crazy when I'm on the computer, are the reasons why I haven't posted for awhile...

Yes, I will started posting again... tomorrow.

Lilia's Birthday

2009-06-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

January 24th

My cousin Stephanie's little girl, Lilia, turned one in January.

We were invited to her birthday party at the park.
Mike was his usual sweet self...

Where as Abbey was quite sassy!

That is until she saw the cupcakes...

She was more than happy to give a smile to the camera for one of those!

Watermelon

2009-06-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

We are loving watermelon over at our house!

Sweet...

Cool...

Pink...

and Refreshing!

Whats not to love about Watermelon!

Put on Your Thinking Cap

2009-06-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Tim is going back to school!! Actually, I really don't think going "back" is the right term. With the exception of the credits from going through the Academy, It seems he doesn't really have any credits from his so called semesters up at EA and in Utah! He has been very excited to get back and decided to go through University of Phoenix online. So I know I will be seeing this a lot...
And true to his Merrill genes... he already is ahead in his assignments (such an overachiever!). In fact he has been told by a counselor that he has been his best student with how much he has been on top of everything. Yeah... his classes just started this Monday!

June's Live In's...

2009-06-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

June is already flying by! Time seems to have gone by quicker due to how much fun that has been had at the Merrill's house. What have we been doing you wonder? We have been housing my sister Carrie and her new husband Dan (pictures of their wedding coming soon).
They temporarily moved in June 1st to have a place to wait for the house they are buying to close. As of last night, they are officially home owners and slept their first night in their own room on a real mattress (instead of an air mattress on the floor of Mike's room)!

We have had fun these last two weeks. We made sure to have great dinners (since I actually had someone to cook for at night) and ice cream desserts. I think I gained at least 10 pounds! There was plenty video game playing... Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones.

Lots of time with the kids running around and playing.
(Abbey loved all of Aunt Carrie's makeup!)
(Aunt Carrie let Abbey put makeup on her, and Abbey got treated to makeup by Aunt Carrie)

(Mike loved Aunt Carrie's scarf and sunglasses. He also loves to high five and growl thanks to Uncle Dan!)

And of course a lot of late nights, whether it was watching Star Wars the movies or babies waking up... always followed by early mornings. I'm sure Carrie and Dan are so happy to be in their own house were it is very quiet! But they will be missed. Abigail and Mike love Aunt Carrie and Uncle Dan, and I loved having someone to entertain and keep me company. Now only one more thing to be moved out of our house... Harry the cat. He will be joining Carrie and Dan (since he is, after all, Carrie's cat).

Prince and Princess

2009-06-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

January 20th

We went to see new baby Delaine at Heidi and Jeremiah's. She was so cute and fun to hold. I can't believe how much she has already grown.
Besides loving holding a little baby, the highlight for Abbey was dancing with her prince (aka Bode).

Bode and Abbey occasionally have sweet and tender moments with one another. They like to hold hands... thanks to Bode's love for Wall-E and Eve holding hands. They also like to dance like a prince and princess... thanks to Abbey's love of Sleeping Beauty. They have even kissed! When was that? I think it was during Laine's baby blessing?

"On Sunday's"

2009-06-10T09:03:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday at the grocery store with Abigail... Tim: "Abbey, some day we need to figure out how to get your shoes on the right feet"

Abigail(very forceful and determined): "No dad! I'll do it on Sunday!!"

Yes, she dressed herself and yes, she went to the store with Tim looking like that

Color Me Mine

2009-06-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

-January 19th-

We bought Abbey her easel for either her 2nd Birthday or that following Christmas... I can't remember. But we are still get a return from it. It's a great gift idea. Recently she has taken to water color painting with it. It has also been great for cousin fun. Here is Wyatt and Luke painting with Abbey.

Luke wanted to be a part of the painting party so bad. He would squeeze in every once in awhile.

This was the same day... the super hero capes were added to the mix

Abbey has been good about not making a big mess, Mike... not so much

He knows that it is suppose to go on the paper, but I guess the pretty blue color on a smooth brush is just too tempting

There's nothing like milk to chase down blue paint

Lazy Sunday

2009-06-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

-January 18th-

We have nine-o-clock church. We will always have nine-o-clock church due to being the only ward that meets in our building (weird huh!). I like nine, but it is hard on poor babies. It is right during morning naps! Mike has a hard time getting in a good nap on Sunday. This Sunday his nap took place during lunch...

Abbey was relaxing too... nope, she can't fool me... this picture was just mid blink

And here is a shot of Mikes curls by his ears... so I can always remember how much I loved them. They are like wings on the sides of his head, so cute.

Sick Boy

2009-06-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

-January 14th-

Mike got sick... almost scary sick. I have learned my lesson about taking your baby into the pediatrician when they are showing cold symptoms. You get the great "mom" talk. You know the one... "Your baby is going to catch many colds in the first few years of his life. His immune system is building up" blah blah blah! So when Mike has a runny nose and small cough, I don't take him in. But this time it was different. He was having trouble breathing and wheezing. This was the outcome of our trip to the doctor.
Turns out he had a form of RSV, called bronchiolitis. It wasn't very serious. The breathing treatments were just to help break up the mucus so he could get it up. He was really good about taking the treatments. He stayed still and stuck his tongue out the whole time, kind of funny.

"Tincess" Bike

2009-06-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

-January 8th-

What do you do when you get a cool "tincess" bike from Santa? Learn to ride it all by yourself of course! Abbey was so excited to get her princess bike for Christmas. Learning to peddle herself... not so much. She required a lot of back breaking bending from mom and dad to learn how to peddle. One day she just caught on. I think it was the fact that she was tired of mom not wanting to push her for very long and not letting her go all the cool places she wanted to!
I will spare you the pictures Tim took of me helping Abbey. Tim got some great butt shots of me that will not be shared!

Tim decided to show her by doing it himself... too funny, look at her concentrating on his feet!

And off she goes by herself!

And I can't forget Mike... he watched from the doorway (I can't believe how much he has grown since then!!)

Its Official... I'm a Blooser

2009-06-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

As in the words of one of my cousins... I am a Blooser: a blog loser, one who updates his or her blog once every few months (thanks Julie for the great term)

Don't think I'm unaware that my last post was in February. I'm well aware, and have been fighting that feeling that you had as a kid. When you knew you should be working on an assignment that you had months to complete, but you waited until two weeks before! Or maybe that was just me as a kid.

Anyways, here's to breaking my blogging silence once again... Below you will find an old post that I never posted. I will be adding more regularly, or at least that is the plan!

Grandma Bev's Funeral

2009-03-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

Tim's Grandma Bev passed away on December 23, 2008. She was the last Grandparent on Tim's side. We are happy that she will be reunited with Tim's Grandpa Gib (Tricia's dad), but will miss her sweet presence at our family functions. One thing that I will always remember about Beverly was how she accepted me into the family as soon as Tim and I were married. She would sit and talk with me as if she had known me forever. She always made me feel welcomed and comfortable at big family functions. Her Christmas ornament tradition to all the grand kids will be forever cherished as a good reminder of Grandma Bev. Her funeral was up in Show Low on December 29th. We made it a weekend trip to meet up with all of Tim's family (with the exception of Jeremiah and Heidi, who was too pregnant for such a long drive). It was a really well rounded trip with lots of laughter and tears!

We were the first to arrive at Grandma and Grandpa's. Abbey was way excited to go out and play in the snow. Tim bundled her up... it reminds me of the little brother, Randy, in the Christmas Story movie.

The next day Abbey was happy to see her other cousins make it to Grandpa and Grandma's. The kids loved playing in the snow again... the more the merrier. Uncle John was good to pull the Abbey, Megan and Quinn around on the sled.

That evening, after a good home cooked meal, we made some chocolates. Good food, especially if it involves chocolate, is always something I get excited about! Here are my chocolate dipped pretzels...

which I was more than happy to eat a ton of!

Then there were the chocolate covered Oreo truffles (which were nicknamed little balls of heaven). Jill showed us all how to make them... they are so good and rich. It was one of those things, where you can't stop eating them even though they make you feel sick!

Unsurprisingly, Tim was a victim of eating too many.

The next day, Monday the 29th, was Grandma Bev's funeral. It was a really good funeral! I was aware that it might be a little bit touchy, with it being almost a complete year since Mom's funeral. But it was really good and therapeutic for me to attend. I was reminded of our Savior's love for us and his plan of happiness. David gave a really good talk about the plan of salvation, which touched me and of course made me cry... but it was a good cry! Here is all of Bev's family!

Later that day we were hanging out (notice our rock band in the background) and Abbey decided she wanted to get dressed to go back out in the snow. She forgot a few essential clothing items!

Me and Mike hanging out together.

Our last day at Grandma and Grandpa's we made sure to get as much snow time in as possible. We went out to a popular sledding destination. Abbey was excited to go... but the snow was really icy and packed down. So the rocky ride kind of dampened her spirits. Tubing was a lot better ride, smooth and easygoing. We had a lot of fun.

Every once in a while you get lucky and catch someone, like Lee and Megan, totally crash. I laughed so hard looking at these. You can barely see Megan's hands and arms behind Lee.

Abbey wasn't as much of a dare devil as we thought she would be. She enjoyed the fish crackers and water probably more than the sledding.

On our way out, there was a guy who got stuck in the snow. Good thing he had our burly men there to help.

Here is Lee's boyfriend Aaron in the black hat (update: he is now my newest brother-in-law!, I had a feeling he would be at the time)

Look at John's face... such concentration and strength!

Success!

It was a fun trip, as it always is when we go up to Pinetop!

Saddle Sore

2009-02-25T11:49:00.000-08:00

For about two weeks, at least, after Christmas this was all I saw all day long!

Abigail was loving siting on her rocking horse in front of the TV. One day she got off and said "owww" rubbing her thighs!

Christmas in February

2009-02-25T07:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we didn't really have Christmas in February. But we are going to relive it all the same... December was packed with fun leading up to the "big day!"

Temple Lights
We had a trip to the Temple lights where Abbey was so excited to see Baby Jesus and all the lights that we walked around the grounds twice!

Mike was happy to just chill in the stroller with the hot cocoa!

Christmas Parties
Then there were the parties on both sides of the family. First was the Webb family get together at Christine's and Jared's. We were going to met at the Temple lights, but it was raining. Instead we enjoyed hot cocoa, cookies and treats at Christine and Jareds.
Me and Carrie

Lynn, Julee and Misty holding Stella

Wyatt, Luke, Abbey and Mike opening up gifts

Next was the Merrill white elephant party at Heidi and Jeremiah's. This will have to be a tradition every year, it was a lot of fun!
The kids were having fun with Bode's trains, it kept them happy the whole time.

David and Tricia were given a early Christmas gift from the kids, a picture of the St. George Temple where they were married! I think they liked it.

Here Tim is telling stories with his hands. It was probably a police story!

I love sneaking pictures of grandparents with the grandkids!

Christmas
After the parties it was on to the big day. Tim worked Christmas Eve so I was lucky to have Carrie spend the night and be a fellow "Santa's helper ;)"

Santa brought Mike and Abbey a rocking horse, and Abbey a cool princess bike!

First thing Abbey went to was the horse... she was so excited! This girl loves horses!

Mike was excited about his new balls, this boy loves to play with any kind of ball!

This has to be my favorite part of Christmas morning. The first pictures of the adults looking all sleepy and tired, yet happy!
Carrie knows better and hid herself pretty good with her stocking gifts!

Tim wins with his red puffy eyes for sure!

Why do our noses swell when tired? Mine always does, and gets red too!

I guess just because you're an adult, you don't out grow the Christmas excitement. Tim's new i-touch i-pod. He made no secret that this was all he wanted!

One of my favorite gifts... the Bose sounddock for my i-pod. I love it!!

Christmas Brunch
After our early morning gift opening was over we went to Christine and Jared's for the Webb Christmas tradition of Christmas brunch!
I was in charge of making pancakes, Christine was cooking the sausage.

Here Cameron is playing with Carrie's Mac. You can video yourself and manipulate your face to look so funny. It was so funny that I cried laughing!

A rare good picture of Abbey (you can see Jenny laughing at Cameron's face on the computer in the background!)

This was not planned... but all of us girls were wearing a shade of blue. Don't we all look good, we had to get a picture.

And like Jenny and Jared say... we had to get some sibling pictures because we were all together! (which happens quite often!) It was hard keeping a straight face for these. Cameron and Christine were doing the High School dance posing.

Merry Christmas (this was the best shot of Abbey believe it or not!)

Oh yeah, we had as close as you can get to a white Christmas here in the valley... Rain!!

New Year, New Focus

2009-02-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

I feel really bad about the lack of posting. I stopped right before Christmas and haven't caught up. Its worse, because I feel like this Blog is my book of memories. And I have to blog about the past events even though they happened a month in half ago! I don't know why I haven't been motivated to blog. I think it has to do with the time it takes. It takes time away from my family. I have been trying to focus on new priorities this year. I felt like last year was just caught up in surviving day to day life. I don't feel like I was taking steps to actually progress forward in my life. Does that make sense? I don't know. But my focus has been elsewhere lately. I hope I can feel like I make a difference in myself this year. So blogging and turning on the computer (which sucks me in for hours) has taken a back burner for awhile. I know that everyone misses our mind blowing thoughts and cute pictures... just kidding, but I do know Grandma Merrill misses the updates on her grand kids! So prepare yourself for some catching up. I know its Valentines... but Christmas here we come!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-02-01T20:32:00.001-08:00

Today was Mom's birthday. She would have been 51!

(Mom and Dad with Abigail)
It was a happy and extra special day today, because Stella Kate (after mom) Webb was given her blessing today. But before that, yesterday, Stella was sealed to Cameron and Jenny. I am so happy that these events took place at the same time of Mom's birthday... it was fitting. With out a doubt, mom was with Stella, Cameron and Jenny yesterday in the temple. It was a really neat experience.

(Mom with Abigail on mother's day 06)
Mom and Dad were sealed with Cameron when he was just a baby. I remember her telling me about that experience. Bringing Cameron out in his white outfit to be joined with them was a sweet memory she would remember. I know she was there yesterday! I am thankful for our Heavenly Father's plan of salvation. It truly is a plan of happiness. I am also thankful for tender mercies... I was given one last night when Mom was so vividly in my dreams. It was amazing to see how clearly my subconscious remembers her. I love you mom and can't wait until we can meet again!
(Good times in Payson, summer 06)

Cute as a Button?

2008-12-21T18:27:00.000-08:00

Mike pooped out a button today.

It's not very "cute" anymore.

Birthday Party Fun

2008-12-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

Michael's first buddy would have to be Stetson Horne. Isn't he a cutie?!
Andrew and Lisa Horne (Horne's from Pinetop) were in our old ward and we became reacquainted with them there. Around the time they had Stetson and we had Mike, we would play games at each other's houses. We still try to get together every once in awhile. Just this December, their little boy Stetson turned a year old. We were invited to celebrate with them at their cowboy themed BBQ.

Here is the cake and cowboy hat Andrew and Lisa made. Such cute ideas! They also served some really yummy BBQ food for lunch.

There was cowboy vest making for the older kids. Abigail loved doing that.

And then pin the star and the sheriff. Followed by the all time kid favorite... Cowboy boot pinata! Okay, maybe not all the kids favorite. Stetson was a little unsure of the whole hitting the pinata thing!

But look at all the other kids waiting to have a go! Abbey was lucky she was the shortest, and therefore the first to have a bat.

She is a pinata veteran!

The babies of the party enjoyed the pinata candy.

Here's Abbey's happy face after picking up her candy! Very rare to get this on camera!

Mike loved the suckers! No way was he going to let anyone take it away!

It was a good day. Thanks Andrew and Lisa for the good food and fun!

Bed Head

2008-12-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

Mike was sleeping hard during one of his naps the other day. Tim brought him out of his room looking like this! Look closely at his hair... the shadow makes it hard to see, but it is standing up pretty high up there! We had a good laugh.

Tree Decorating

2008-12-20T19:14:00.000-08:00

There is something magical about sitting in your living room, relaxing after a long day with the glow of your Christmas tree right beside you. I love it! Decorating the tree was always a big deal growing up in my family. There had to be Christmas music, everyone participating and one of the following drinks, apple cider, hot chocolate and/or eggnog. These traditions have continued with Tim and I. This year Carrie joined in the festivities too. Tim did a great job of putting the lights on and topping the tree with the final touch... the star.

Carrie and I put on the ornaments. In between we watched Elf.

And of course drank some hot chocolate.

A nice cup of eggnog to enjoy the finished product!

Here is a close up look of our tree this year...

Our newest ornament is Michael's first Christmas

It matches Abigail's first Christmas ornament, which was given to us by my mom aka "Grandma Kathi." (I try not to get sad when looking at this one and our first Christmas one too)

My Grandma Jeanne Hunsaker gave Tim and I this police angel. (if you can't see he is holding little hand cuffs!)

This was mine and Tim's first Christmas, again given to us by my mom (man I miss her!).

I love the vintage looking Santa. Its also special because Tim's Grandma Beverly Brewer gave it to us. She usually gives the grand kids ornaments every year.

Last but not least is one I grew up loving. I stole this rocking horse from my parents. I loved it as a little girl because, like Abbey, I loved horses. Abbey loves this one too and broke it... with a little glue he is back on the tree! This ornament is special not only because I remember it when I was little, but my parents had a whole bunch of wooden ornaments like this that I believe were from Germany? I need to confirm this with my dad, but they were always special.

A cute story...
Abigail loves the Christmas tree. She gets up and makes sure to turn the lights on first thing in the morning. To my surprise she has done well with not taking the ornaments off and pulling the tree apart. One morning she woke up super early, ten to five!! Tim heard her and got out of bed to catch her sitting in front of the tree, plugged in and lit, staring up at it. She heard Tim and turned asking... "Santa?" Tim said... "no its just Daddy!" She responded with a disappointed "Ohhh." This Christmas has been so much fun with her!

Santa Letter and Tree Decorating

2008-12-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

Abbey is totally into Christmas and Santa this year. It's been a lot of fun to see her get so excited. Anything she sees that is related to Christmas she yells out "Santa." We have been focusing on why Santa gives us presents. I think she is getting it. If you ask her she will, hopefully, tell you because its baby Jesus' Birthday. Anyway, since she is starting to understand Santa, Tim helped Abbey write her first letter to him. I have been prepping her in the car for the past few days... you know, the "what do you want Santa to bring you?," "do you want a bike?,""how about a Barbie?" I suggest the things we have already bought her of course. So when Tim sat down with her to "write" her letter, this is what came about.

These two together are just so cute to me.

She went to town on drawing a picture for Santa. I think she drew Santa with a beard. And there is definitely a horse in there.

I love that she is a lefty... she always has been too. She gets it from my mom. It runs in Tim's family too, his brother Peter is a lefty.

look at that concentration

She even drew pictures on the envelope

We had her put it in the tree so Santa could pick it up.

Then it was on to the decorating of the tree before bed. We let her put a few things on so she could be apart of the tree decorating.

I love how Mike wants to be in on the action too... look at him checking out the Christmas box

It was hard to get Abigail to settle down enough for bed after this! This picture shows the true Abigail though, red juice mustache, hair in her face and being sucked on (bad habit that I can't seem to break her of!), scab on the chin from ruff playing with Wyatt, food on her pj's and arms up in the air while shouting!

She had lots of fun putting the ornaments on. She would yell "yea" after each time (that is what she is doing in the picture above).

Do you think she noticed that we moved her decorations around the next morning?

Christmas Tree Shopping

2008-12-15T15:43:00.001-08:00

Last Friday was our Christmas Tree day. We went searching for the perfect tree out on Power Rd. I know... not as charming as finding one up in the mountains. But the excitement was present all the same. Here we are getting ready to find our perfect tree.

Abbey and Mike enjoyed going into the "forest"

I so badly wanted to get Abbey looking around between the trees... but all I could capture was her running away from "the mom with the camera." It was a game of tag for her.

A rare moment of semi stillness for Abigail

We enjoyed the hot chocolate, cookies and candy cane mints while the nice boys helped tie the tree down on the car.

Ahhh, mission accomplished... now for the three mile trek home!

Abigail really enjoyed her hot chocolate on the way home... I think I'm a little camera happy with my new camera!

The sunset on the way home was beautiful, I couldn't help but try to capture those pretty colors. The pictures still don't do it justice!

The Return of Clark Griswold

2008-12-15T14:51:00.000-08:00

We were really excited to put lights up for the first time on our house. It wasn't as big of a project as last year thankfully! And I think they turned out well... at least it lights up our little corner. The dang street lamp went out months ago and we know don't have neighbors in front and on both sides of us... kind of creepy! I wish everyone had lights up all year long. Its so much fun.

Tim reprising his role as Clark Griswold

I couldn't help it... I took this picture and noticed something funny... I blew it up for everyone else to enjoy (Tim said it was okay!)

While Tim was using our only ladder, I helped by trimming this palm. With multiple pokes on my hands, fingers, legs and a bleeder on my scalp; I will never volunteer to do that again. No wonder why Tim hadn't done it and let it grow out to where it was almost overhanging on the sidewalk!

Here's the pile of palms taken off. I pat myself on the back for this!

And since I had gotten good at dealing with that palm... I was the one who put lights on it, with considerably less pokes this time around!

Abbey enjoyed relaxing on the driveway... what goes through her head?

Our beautiful outcome after a few days of tinkering and hanging lights.

I'm proud of my palm!

Merry Early Christmas

2008-12-15T14:08:00.000-08:00

Tim and I got an early family Christmas gift for ourselves. A new camera! We decided that we would get it early so we could take good pictures of all our holiday festivities! I love it!! I still need to read up on it so I can take really good pictures... but it has been fun figuring it out as I go. Here are some pictures with the new camera (just for the sake of taking a picture with the new camera)
These were taken at Christine's. Tim was giving Wyatt and Abigail pony rides. It looked like a lot of fun!

A random picture of me... because I never seem to make it onto the blog!

Abigail is the hardest subject to photograph! I have a ton more that weren't good enough to post!

I love taking pictures of Michael, I hope they don't bore you!

Cousin Misty

2008-12-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

Earlier this December I was lucky enough to have my cousin Misty stay with me Friday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. Abigail loves Misty! So we were real excited to spend some time with her. Misty and I go way back. I babysat Misty when she was little, and we played a lot during family get togethers. I can't believe how much she has grown in to a beautiful young women. She is almost 14 and a really cool girl. It's really fun to see her play with my kids now, it's like it went full circle! We went out to eat, shopping, ate candy and watched a rented movie. We had a good time.

I think she looks so beautiful in this picture

She was surrounded by my kids most of the time... that can get kind of overwhelming, but she was great about it

Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-15T12:57:00.001-08:00

My side of the family always tries to get together every year to do gingerbread houses... some years we are able to get together... and some years Christine gets too impatient and makes one on her own! I remember the year that Tim and I were first married and Carrie and Eric made their gingerbread house. Lets just say there was a lot of arguments between those two about how to make the fake snow, coconut or frosting? (the relationship was doomed from the get go!) There are always good memories though!

So it was a lot of fun meeting up at Christine and Jared's with everyone to make our gingerbread houses. We all sold out and bought kits. I guess Christine and Carrie made some from scratch one year?!?

Here we all are... minus Tim who was taking the picture... Starting middle going left: Cameron holding Stella, Carrie, Johnny, Connie, Christine, Jared and Jenny

Christine getting ready to frost

Sorry Jared this was the only picture I got of you decorating... there are his hands putting on the "tiled" roof with Christine. They didn't wait the recommended thirty minutes for the roof to dry so due to the heaviness of the necco tiles Christine ended up holding it together for awhile.

Tim was so excited to get started that he went ahead while I was putting Michael down for bed!...

Cameron and Jenny... they had a little trouble with the chimney... it made for a good laugh

Carrie and Johnny... they were very focused and creative

Here are the finished products

I didn't get a picture of Jenny with hers before they left but here is their house...

Christine and Jared's house...

Carrie and Johnny's house...

Tim and my house... (I'm not too creative, I tried to get it to look exactly like the picture on the box)

Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

Jill and John were so nice to host Thanksgiving at their house this year. It was full of food, family and fun! That is until I threw up that evening in Quinn and Parker's bathroom! Sorry everyone! I hope no one else gets sick!!

Some highlights from the day...
little fingers sneaking tastes of the pies
fried turkey
beautiful table and place settings
individual thankful lists for each of us
cousins, cousins, cousins
Mike taking his first steps
and...
enjoying it all with family!

Way Behind

2008-12-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

Wow I'm way behind. I haven't posted hardly anything from November and it is already December! So here is a quick glance at our November so I can get on with December!

-Paisley's Blessing-

What a sweet day it was to attend Paisley's baby blessing. She is a special and strong little spirit! All the Merrill's were able to come so we tried our best to get the most updated pictures of the whole family after the blessing.

-Batgirl-
Abbey found Quinn's batman costume while we were at the Papa's house and decided she wanted to try it on. It reminded me of the Halloween picture of Christine when she was probably around the same age. She begged my mom to let her wear this astronaut costume with a funny looking mask. I wish I had it on my computer, it would have been funny to compare the two!

-Black Eye Beauty-

Abbey fell out of the grocery cart head first while standing in the cart at Wal-Mart. Not fun!! But she was okay and ended up getting her first black eye a day in a half afterward. She loved to tell people her eye was hurt... who cared if she was pointing to the wrong eye half of the time!

-One to Six-

Mike got his first tooth on the bottom in October, all of the sudden I looked in his mouth and noticed he was getting five more all at the same time! The front four on top and the second front on the bottom.

He went from a little baby to looking like a little man with teeth in a matter of a few days! I think that explains Mike... he goes full blast when he begins a new phase or milestone!

-Princess and the Pea-

Abbey's little crib turned into a toddler bed was getting a little too small.

We finally broke down and got her a new princess bed. (All those puffs on the blanket have been pulled off now!) She was so excited to go look for one and very disappointed that we couldn't take it home right then and there when we found it!

Ab's loves her bed and its so funny to go in and check in on her... she rarely is sleeping in the normal position... mostly backwards and sideways!

-Sibling Bonding, I Think-
How sweet, what a good big sister...

Wait a second... what are you doing?... Mike looks worried!

I knew it was too good to be true!

-The Natural-

Tim was able to go play church softball two times! They usually play on a weekday evening when Tim works... but the finals were held around noon on two Saturday's... so Tim got to go play. He hadn't played ball since we lived in Payson. The second time we went I got smart and brought to very essential items... the double stroller and the camera!
It's no surprise Tim played well and enjoyed himself. Our ward won the tournament too. I enjoyed the Pete's Fish and Chips afterwards! And Abbey enjoyed the carousel ride at Pete's!

-Twice is Nice!-
Okay, cheesy I know, but I had to put something about Twilight in my November post!
I went with Carrie for a early showing on the following Monday after opening night. The tickets were all sold out before then! We enjoyed going with one another and giggling due to giddiness and embarrassment! But all in all, I really liked the movie. At first I thought I wouldn't subject Tim to it, but Christine took Jared and he said he liked it. So I decided to talk Tim into going with me. I told him that I was probably going to buy it when it came out on video, so he would eventually see it... Why not watch it on big screen with surround sound like it is intended to be seen? Date night! The second time was even better. Tim thought it was worth the ticket and was entertaining. Which in guy language means he liked it!

Red Lipstick

2008-11-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

Note to self... must hide red lipstick better!
Note to other mothers... beware of reading Olivia Forms a Band and then buying red lipstick for a princess party game!

Mikey Mike

2008-11-18T13:14:00.000-08:00

I often look at Mike and think to myself... what would life be without Mike! (of course I think that about Abbey too) Mike came into our lives to bring peace, innocence and simple happiness during a time when it was much needed.
He was such a blessing from my Heavenly Father!! He arrived exactly a month after mom passed away. I often worried about him while I was pregnant. That all my sadness and stress about mom and our circumstances would create a unbalanced baby.
Boy was I wrong, and glad to be! He has been such a good baby boy and very sweet. Anyone who knows Mike would tell you the same. The easiest way to describe him would be happy go lucky, easy going, and sensitive. He brings so much joy into our family.
I get really sad thinking about how fast he is growing up. He will be one in three months!! I can't believe that!

Tomorrow he hits his nine month mark. Here is what he has to show for it...
pulling himself up on something to stand, just starting to balance himself while standing without something to hold on to, getting ready to start walking with things, his own version of clapping, a playful attitude, first tooth in October, five teeth all at once (two front and sides and second bottom)!, a love for guitar and drum sticks, a healthy appetite for food, a love for bath time, a healthy fear of crazy Abbey, signs of being a "deep thinker"(note above picture), a contagious giggle and love for tickling, love for soft blankets and stuffed animals, a love his crib... and there is so much more

Princess Party

2008-11-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

My little Abigail has turned three years old and we had a royal party in her honor. I have been stalling on blogging this occasion for a couple of reasons. One, I'm in denial that my little baby girl is growing up! Two, I wanted to get all sentimental and create this wonderful reflection of the last three years of Abigail's life... but can't bring myself to do it, again, due to denial. Three, Christine and Carrie have some good pictures of the party which I didn't get and I wanted to get them (still haven't done this). And four, I'm still in October, anyone else? These last months have been very uncomfortably flying by!! So, in spite of all my reasons I'm just getting more and more behind in blogging (its already the middle of November!) and decided to bite the bullet and blog about Ab's party.

Abbey is very much into the princess phase of little girlhood! I love it and am more than happy to oblige this phase. That meant we had to have a princess themed party complete with a castle cake...

(yes Tim and I stayed up all night making this cake by ourselves! and I pictured it looking a lot better in my mind... just didn't have the time!)

Princess decorations including the pinata...

(I think it was just obvious to Abbey that she was going to have a pinata with candy at her party, all her cousins had one so thats what all party's have right!)

and of course we had to have princess and prince party favors!...

The girls had hats and wands, the boys crowns and swords. Behind the kids is my home made game of kiss the frog, my version of pin the tail on the donkey. They all got to wear bright red lipstick and it was so cute to see there little kisses on the poster. Shot out to Jill's kids who had the best puckers!

Now for our royal guests... or at least some of them... here is princess Parker and little princess Paisley with Lee, both too cute!

Prince Wyatt and prince Quinn sword fighting

Abigail was one loved and lucky girl with all her presents...

Wyatt helped Abbey open her gifts seeing that he was the seasoned gift opener from his birthday two months earlier! I love this picture... it shows the craziness of a little kid party... candy everywhere, unopened and opened presents, wrapping paper flung to the side etc.!

Man I love my little princess and can't believe how much she has grown!

What would be a post without my sweet Mike... even better is Mike with cousin Stella and Papa! Stella was trying to figure Mike out and obviously was enjoying his big cheeks! Who wouldn't?!

We had a lot of fun and really appreciate everyone for coming over to yet another Abbey party (I promise I won't have another on for her for awhile!). The love and gifts given were all a little girl could ask for on her Birthday! Thanks!!

Halloween

2008-11-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

This Halloween included carving pumpkins with Carrie and Johnny,
an early ward trunk-or-treat and a real trick-or-treat with Christine and the boys on Halloween night. Abbey had the whole idea down... bucket, candy, thank you! She was excited to dress up and go get candy each time. Mike was a good sport and liked to suck on the candy still wrapped.

The excitement was electrifying... it was hard to get a good picture of everyone together holding still!

Time to go...

Bathroom Break!

2008-10-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

My Little Cupcake

2008-10-16T17:28:00.000-07:00

The Coffee Shop over by Joe's Farm Grill makes really good desserts. Cameron has said they make the best pie for awhile now. Now I can add that they make the best cupcakes too. They were almost too pretty to eat! Abbey had a hard time sharing the pretty pink cupcake!

Rock Band Obsession

2008-10-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

Tim forced me to let him buy rock band when we were shopping at Target on day. Yeah, he really had to talk me into it ;) We have been having a lot of fun with it since. So far we have had Carrie and Johnny and Heidi and Jeremiah over to play with us. This game is addicting... and worth every penny. I have to send a shout out to Lynn and Julee for introducing us to this game.

MoO mOo PaLoOzA

2008-10-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

My wards Mom and tots sent an email about going to the Superstition Farm (just down the road from our neighborhood), a working dairy farm. It was held Friday and Saturday to celebrate 30 years of cow milking business. Seeing that I am a lucky wife of a night shift working husband... I had Tim come with all of us women and kids. I knew it would be too fun to pass up... It was. There were cows, horses, ponies, donkey, goats, chickens, bunnies and turkeys! Along with hay rides, horse/pony rides, feeding the animals, pumpkins, hay maze, good food and free milk!

We started off by seeing the new little baby cows. Some kids even got to feed them bottles, they are so cute when they are babies.

Then it was straight to the first horse that Abbey could find! We got to feed and pet the horse and goats along with seeing all the other animals. The miniature donkey was another Abbey favorite thanks to Shrek!

Next was a ride on the ponies. Abbey rode Gracie and was soooo excited. I tried to point out that there were big horses across from us that we could ride (you know, trying to save five bucks by having just one ride instead of both!). But she was so focused on the ponies right in front of her that she didn't even notice me! This was her first real ride on a pony that wasn't mom and dad on all fours! She wasn't scared one bit. In fact, she wanted me to go away and not follow with her... so independent! Ab's really got into the ride with Ye haw's and Giddy ups!

When the ponies slowed down and before she even got off she spotted the big horses across the way... here she is pointing to them.

So since I was a horse lover as a little girl, and knew it would make Abbey's dreams come true, we went on the big horses too. I had fun riding with her, but must admit felt a little unsteady on the horse. It didn't help that Abbey didn't want me to hold on to the horn with her and our horse was a little jumpy. It was worth it though, we were filmed by a channel 12 news guy and after the ride he asked Tim and me to answer a few questions for him. Our interview was grossly edited (as we knew it would be!) but we made it on the 6 pm news! Kind of embarrassing! Here we are getting on for Abbey's first horse ride.

Abbey wanted to ride the horse with the pink, she mentioned it the whole hour we waited in line. Thank goodness we were able to!

After our horse rides, what better than some free cold chocolate milk?

or plain for dad!

Before heading out I took a few fun pictures of Abbey. Here she is on the tractor... she loved how the seat bounced.

What a great day for a little animal lover, look at that tired and satisfied look on her face! We all had a lot of fun.

Carb Addict

2008-10-13T07:07:00.000-07:00

Our son, at 7 months old, is a carb addict. Abigail never really liked bread as a baby! So its a nice change to have Michael like bread. He will gum a piece of bread for ever! We discovered this at a restaurant... it kept him happy for a long while. That is until it would slip out of his mouth and land where he couldn't reach it!... Don't worry, he still loves his veggies and fruits!!

Mauling Aftermath

2008-10-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

I noticed that the photos of Mike's mauling last Monday didn't look that bad... but it was. These were taken the next day, Tuesday. It was like he knew I was taking evidence of his wounds... I love his sad face in them! The scabs are about gone now, but I think there might be slight scarring for a while. "How did he get those?"..." Oh his sister mauled him!!"

Its Nice To Be Home

2008-10-13T06:33:00.000-07:00

I missed this little girl. She brings a lot of personality in our home. David and Tricia, aka Papa and Gamama, dropped Abbey off at home last Wednesday afternoon. She was really excited to be home with mom and was in a really good mood. In fact, she was in such a good mood she let me take some fun photos of her. She had finished going to the bathroom and pulled her tights up over her dress. It was too funny and cute. But mostly I enjoyed her hamming it up for the camera... very rare.

Abbey Language

2008-10-12T16:46:00.000-07:00

We all know that Abbey has her own language. Lately she has been trying very hard to have real conversations... her vocabulary just isn't there yet. And the things she does say can be really hard to understand. But it is really cute to listen to her! Can you understand what she is saying?

(this was conference weekend, after we saw the neighbor's horses and were driving back to Tim's parents to put Abbey down for a nap)

Let me translate for you... she mentions that the horses are not to get out, she tells them bye and to go to sleep (sleepy), she says she is going home and tells us about feeding the ducks, she says she loves mom (mommies), she says she is going to take a nap and go to sleep (sleepy) so mommy can go on a date! (I don't know how she got that idea!, maybe because I was telling her that she was going to stay with Grandma and we were going to go home?!? - a date?)

To feel like what I have said to her has sunken in... I always end with "Okay" and wait for her to tell me "tay." She has gotten in a very bad habit of telling someone something and then saying "tay!" I think we are going to have to put her in some speech therapy... she didn't qualify for the free therapy the state gives... so does anyone know of any other programs?

the merrill's

Learning

Tumble Dry Low

P*A*R*T*Y

Papa Webb

The Boys

Hungry

Can't Be True

Life

Here Fishy Fishy

A Mystery No Longer

Always Good For A Laugh

Rollin With The Homies

Need My Space

Feelin' the Love

A Long Time Coming

pro·cras·ti·nate

Too Cute... Must Post

Can't Keep Up

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Mothers

Straight Talk

Tempurpedic

Story Time

Random

What Am I?

Fish Tale II

Fish Tale Part I

Makes Me Laugh Every Time

Why Bother?

Our Favorite

Ponies and Barbies

Blink and its Gone

4 years and younger

For Grandma Kathi

My Favorite Tree

An Encouraging Sign

Thoughts

My Day in Pictures

oops!

Mood Swings

Spring Miracles

Tight Fit

Stinky Sand

The Newest Personality

Big Kid

Parenting

Baby #3

Tim's Fishing Buddy

To Be a Kid Again

Four Years Old!

Halloween

Being Girly (Almost)

Fall

More Big News

As Promised (a day late)

YES

Lilia's Birthday

Watermelon

Put on Your Thinking Cap

June's Live In's...

Prince and Princess

"On Sunday's"

Color Me Mine

Lazy Sunday

Sick Boy

"Tincess" Bike

Its Official... I'm a Blooser

Grandma Bev's Funeral

Saddle Sore

Christmas in February

New Year, New Focus

Happy Birthday Mom!

Cute as a Button?

Birthday Party Fun

Bed Head

Tree Decorating

Santa Letter and Tree Decorating

Christmas Tree Shopping

The Return of Clark Griswold

PARTY