Summer has begun!

Summer has officially begun: The ice cream truck just drove by with it's music playing! I was super tempted to run out and buy some ice cream just for sentimental reasons.

Yesterday was a monumental day for us and one I hoped wouldn't come but I knew it would. Scott took Abby to priesthood meeting with him while I went to young womens. He told her no and shook his head when she was trying to do something she shouldn't and she imitated him right down to the head shaking. For the next few hours that was almost the only word she would say, over and over and over...

A few weeks ago my sister and her family came through Utah and stopped to have lunch with us. Here's Abby with three of her cousins.

 Our trip to Cooks nursery in Orem (super cool nursery) when we finally picked up our strawberry plants. We got 24 plants and are considering getting a few more of a different variety that will come on at a different time during the summer.

 Abby insisted on either pulling or pushing the wagon and was devastated that we had to leave it behind.

                                                                     

                                                                  My silly girl

A friend of ours was turning 30 and had an 80's themed party. Scott and I get a kick out of dressing up a little crazy. We totally rocked the 80's hair (hard to see in the pictures).

Life as a homeowner!  We finally got our washing machine hooked up and it's only flooded the floor  around the machine once. We haven't hooked the dryer up yet since the wiring in our basement is so old and we haven't replaced it yet. Until we do, we are rocking the clothes line.

Where is she?

I had quite the shock this morning. After Abby got up and had breakfast I left her inside looking out the front screen door that I keep latched while I ran out in the back to water the strawberries and raspberries. I heard Abby jabbering very loudly at the cars driving by.  While in the back I had the impression to check on Abby. I brushed it off and it persisted so I filled a watering can and walked around the front of the house anticipating seeing Abby looking through the screen door while I watered the flower pots in front. Imagine my surprise when I came around the corner to see her sitting on the front steps with her cheetah sitting in her baby stroller next to her. My heart stopped as I realized what could have happened to her. The scenes that ran through my head were alarming. The road is so close and has been so tempting to her. What if I hadn't listened? What if she had been hit by a car? What if, what if, what if..... Of course the one time I forget the latch the screen door is the time that she tests her boundaries and goes out the door. Even now just thinking about makes my heart pound and makes me want to hold my Abby close and snuggle her.

On a similar note, Saturday was our ward spaghetti dinner fundraiser for girls camp. Right after we moved in Scott was called as the ward executive secretary and I was called as an advisor in the young womens. We went early to help setup for the dinner and Abby stayed pretty close to my side and never got lost. Right before the dinner started I got distracted helping get the food out into the cultural hall and when I glanced up Abby was gone! I checked the cultural hall and she wasn't there. I ran down the hall looking and grabbed Scott out of the clerks office to help me look. We looked and looked and couldn't find her. When I had almost given up, Scott found her drinking the water out of the toilet in the handicapped stall in the men's room.  The little stinker heard me call her name into the open doorway of the mens room and didn't say respond. I keep forgetting how fast she moves and can get away from me. So, glad that Scott found her(I could have done without the wet nasty clothes and the fear of what kind of diseases she could have gotten) but at least she was safe and in our arms! 

March/April

The beginning of March marked the end of my babysitting days for a friend's baby. I have to confess that I have fallen in love with being a mom again since that time. It had become a challenge to find the joy in it every day while watching someone else's child along with my own. Abby and I have become closer than ever and my love of being a mother is back full force! (that doesn't mean I don't have frustrated days and nights still, but I think that will always happen)
Abby has been full of mischief lately. Earlier this week our next door neighbor poured concrete for a new fence between our properties. The next day it was still wet and Abby ran over, sat down in it and started digging her fingers into it. I found her as she tried to eat the concrete! I wish I had taken a picture but I just wanted to get her cleaned up and so I carried a screaming, struggling to stay outside, baby inside to the bathtub and she cleaned herself off.
This morning I went into the back of the house and came out to find an escape artist...

Shopping with Scott and Abby for fruit trees and strawberries at the nursery

 Abby loves emptying out my wallet and trying to put the cards back in the right slots.

We spent part of last week at my grandparents farm learning how to prune apples in their orchard. Now that we have fruit trees in our backyard I've got to learn fast! Abby and lucky(the dog) became fast friends.

Abby and her grandma (my mom) in the apple trees

The sprinklers were exactly the right height for a bench for Abby's little legs.

Shots

There are some things that I never understood until I became a parent. There is nothing like having to hold my little girl still while she gets her blood drawn and her immunizations given and see her look in my eyes pleading for me to just hold her close and keep her from hurting. Being the one who has to "know what's best" is hard when it hurts your child. I just had to keep reminding myself that it is for the best and will protect her future. Days like today make it hit home how much I love my little girl!
And the sweet little thing got her first sucker from the nurse after her shots were over. It took her a few minutes to warm up to the idea but after I licked it a few times she tried it. She tasted it and walked over to the other side of the room and once the sweetness on her tongue registered she turned around and ran back to me for more. Super cute!! We needed to stop and do some grocery shopping on the way home and Abby was an angel in the store. Quite ironic that the day she's being poked and prodded and having needles stuck in her is the day that she sits in the buggy like an angel.
On an mostly unrelated note but somewhat related since it's about my little one, a few weeks ago Abby was pulling tupper-ware out of the bottom drawer in the kitchen.  The drawers are super deep and one tupper-ware was just out of reach and so she leaned as far as she could and then leaned a little bit more and her feet popped up in the air as she fell into the drawer! A moment of stunned silence was followed by a sad little whine  pleading for help. I couldn't help but laugh as we pulled her out of the drawer and wished I had caught it on camera!

laughter

There is nothing quite like listening to my two favorite people play and giggle in the other room! I count my blessings that I have a husband who loves to be silly with his daughter and a daughter who adores her father. The best family!

Cake mischief

While making a new cake Abby was quite curious about what was going on and so I let her watch me mix the batter and the frosting. She got really into it when I was making the fondant so she tasted some and decided she should only eat that the rest of the day. Between that and the chocolate frosting that went between the layers she was a sugar baby!

Abby eating her spoonful of frosting and thoroughly enjoying herself.

The finished cake. Definitely not what I had in mind but that's what I get for working on it while Abby was awake and "helping".

Only in Utah...

I had a good chuckle today. While the babies were sleeping I decided it was high time that I paid some bills over the phone, as they have been nagging at me in the back of my mind for about a week now. While on the phone with Abby's doctors office paying her bill the woman needed to know our address in order to make sure I really was Abigail's mother. After the bill was paid, she said, hhmm...I'm looking at your address and you live around the corner from me but I'm trying to figure out which house is yours. So, being cautious, I gave a very bland description that could have fit almost any house in the neighborhood. She then chimed in with a few more detailed questions about the house that showed she did know the neighborhood super well and then mentioned that she had known the previous owner (who has passed away) and that she had been her visiting teacher.  And then she said, WE ARE IN THE SAME WARD! Now, this is wonderful news as I am an active member of my ward congregation and need to make friends in the area but what if I hadn't even been a member? Only in Utah would you get comments like that over the phone from a complete stranger. It made me smile and chuckle to myself a little.