Scott's quilt

Some of you may remember the "project" I was working on last  fall that took me about three months. It was a quilt for Scott's birthday that I finished the day before his birthday. I was worried I wouldn't get it done and it was a close call but I made it. So, here is the finished product. Not perfect by any means but definitely the most complicated blanket I've attempted. I can make clothes, but quilts are a little intimidating, I'm not sure why...

It's called a colorbrick quilt. I used the same blue flannel that is the sashing between the bricks on the back of the quilt because Scott really liked the idea of a flannel back when I made Abby's birthday quilt with a flannel back so it would soft against her skin. The instructions I found online were for a lap size blanket but I wanted to make it a twin size so Scott could use it for camping and road trips and such so I had to make some calculations and guesses but in the end I was pretty happy with it and he loved it so that's what really matters.

Kisses

Last night after we read with Abby and she winding down for bed she came over to give me kisses on the cheek while I was lying on the living room floor. She has given me a "kiss" twice before but not really knowing what she was doing. So, it was super cute when she came over, bent down , stuck her lips next next to my cheek and waited for something to happen(her best guess at what a kiss is). After a moment she got a huge smile and climbed back into her chair. A moment later she back to do the same thing and again another big satisfied smile. What a doll!
Some days I am just overwhelmed with how adorable she is and I just want to hold her and squeeze her. I went in to check on her before I went to sleep last night and she looked so peaceful and sweet curled up in bed with her cheetah I just wanted to scoop her up and snuggle with her. She loves holding hands and she will come up beside you and hold her hand up in the hand, opening and closing her fist until you put your finger in there for her to hold so she can take you somewhere. Usually it's into the kitchen so she can ask for more of something she wants to eat or if we are playing in the backyard she will want you to walk her over to the fence to see if the neighbor dogs are outside so she can bark at them.
Now, I just have to remember these moments on the days when she is driving me crazy ;)

Double Trouble

I feel like I am the mother of twins. Starting the beginning of January when BYU started a new semester I began watching a little boy who is two months younger than Abby. My friend is a teacher and so the baby comes over to play during the day while his mom is teaching and his dad is in class. I have gained a lot of respect for mothers who have twins. It is double the work! It seems like when one has a dirty diaper the other one also has one at the same time! When one cries, the other one cries. It has been really nice for Abby to have a friend to play with during the day besides me. They communicate in baby code. Whenever they are in different rooms they start jabbering as loud as they can and the other baby responds and starts looking for them. Abby is a very proficient walker and her running skills are looking good. The little boy has mastered the army crawl and he is quick! He can usually make it through the living room, kitchen and hallway and into Abby's room where I'm changing her diaper before I have gotten her clothes back on.

 Some days Abby is quite maternal towards him. A couple weeks ago she kept trying to "blow" his nose. She hears us blow our noses and so she will take a tissue or a baby wipe and rub it across her nose and make the noise she thinks  we are making when we blow our nose. It's pretty cute to watch.

Will we ever be moved in?

For those of you who were wondering, we have finally purchased and moved into the house we were looking at. It was a long drawn out infuriating process but we loved the house, flaws and all, and so we stuck with it. It has been such a nice change to have enough space to store everything we own. There is even room for the kayaks so they aren't hanging on the wall in Abby's room anymore. When people told me how long it would take to get moved in I didn't really believe them but I am starting to. I though it would only take a few weeks but it's been about three weeks and being all moved in and knowing where things are is still way off on the horizon.
We ended up purchasing a house built in 1929. The basement is mostly unfinished but there is a cold storage room with shelves which is turning out to be a nice pantry/food storage room.
Despite being so close to our old apartment we are in a different ward. If the house was on the other side of the street we would have stayed in the same ward.  This our third ward in the same stake! Ironically, an old mission companion of mine bought a house a few blocks from us and they are in a completely different stake! Welcome to Provo I suppose.
I am looking forward to being all moved in eventually and getting all set up in the basement with office/study space for scott and craft/sewing space for me! It will be so nice to be able to leave out a project that is being worked on and not have to put it away every time. Maybe I will get more things done since I won't have to take the time to set everything up every time I want to work on it.
We are looking forward to having a housewarming party once we feel a little more settled and we are excited to see all of you!

Halloween

Halloween was exciting this year because we got to dress Abby up in a cute costume. She wasn't super thrilled about it but we loved it. We did a little neighborhood get together in a friend's yard and had games and food and a costume contest. Abby is the ladybug(of course), I am the man with the amazing facial hair and Scott is the blond pregnant woman. We won the best costume award by a landslide.

Santa?

Christmas  this year has just been so different than what I am used to. We thought we would have closed and moved into the house by now and so I decided to put off decorating for Christmas because I didn't want to have to decorate twice and try to move a tree. But, over the weekend we visited my in-laws and I while sitting next to their Christmas tree I finally felt like it was Christmas. So, two days ago I got out our little Christmas tree and decorated it and put up the nativity yesterday and it has made a huge difference. I can feel that sparkle in the air, that little extra zing that just means Christmas. I can hardly believe Christmas is this weekend!
A couple weekends ago we took abby to the mall in Provo and Santa was there. Scott took Abby up the stairs behind Santa to sit on Santa's lap. When they came around the side of Santa and Scott set her on his lap and she looked up at his face this was the instant response followed by a frantic attempt to climb off his lap accompanied by screams of terror...

Priceless, right?

Finals are over!

I haven't posted in a while (it isn't my greatest strength) but yesterday I met someone who has inspired me to update the blog a little bit.( I stalk her blog but had never met her in person :) So, here goes...
I needed to finish one more class this semester in order to qualify for the Bachelor of General Studies Program at BYU. My transfer credits will count toward the final degree but not towards getting accepted, I have to have a certain number of credits at the BYU-Provo campus to get in. So, I signed up for a class that is offered on campus but also with an online option which appealed to me. If you know me very well at all you know that I am a horrible procrastinator (or maybe a great procrastinator since I am so good at it ;) and so I ended up doing the entire class in a week and a half. My poor family was terribly neglected but they survived. Abby is still going through some attachment issues since I didn't get the chance to spend much time with her while cramming and taking quizzes and tests. But, in the end I finished the class with a B, which feels pretty good considering the circumstances. I can slowly feel the stress leaving my body!
The house is continuing to progress towards closing and we are just crossing our fingers that we can close and settle in time to clean the house, move in and clean our apartment.  We  can hardly wait to have a place of our own.