Good Abby
A while back Bryan suggested that I post some pictures of Abby doing something other than causing trouble. That way people who don't know her won't think she is a little she-devil! :)

Abby loves to read. I thought this was a very cute picture of her.

And LOOK she is wearing a bow in her hair!

Abby actually eating! She really likes tuna fish casserole. YUMMY!

Abby NOT touching the piano. :)
Bryan and Natalie recently purchased a Clavinova. Good investment in my eyes. I've enjoyed playing again!

Abby thinks it's time to use the potty!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Natalie started this tag game to start off the Thanksgiving Holiday. And everybody is tagged! Make a list on your blog of the top 10 things you are thankful for. This is a great idea Natalie...it's always awkward having to come up with things quick at the Thanksgiving table! :)

1. I am grateful for the gospel. No matter how much I hate GOING to church I know the gospel is true. Should I say that in one sentence? Okay...I didn't get struck by lighting I will go on... I'm grateful for the Atonement and the opportunity the Savior has given us to return to live with our Heavenly Father. I thankful that our Heavenly Father knew we could and would make mistakes and planned for it. I'm grateful for the leaders of the church and their wisdom in guiding us through the up and downs of our earthly life. ...Put your lives in order, be prepared, build a food storage...Etc, etc. " Man they must have know something?

2. I'm grateful for my little Abby! She is a beautiful, bright, silly little kid! Everyday I am surprised at her intelligence. Along with intelligence comes trouble at her age. I'm happy for the challenge and the variance she brings to my life on a daily basis. She brings a lot of joy to my life and I'm glad I've been blessed with the opportunity to be a mom, even though getting her came with a price.

3. I am also extremely grateful for her health cause not every child comes into this world with a hole and healthy body. ( I was going to just add that onto number 2, but this is a list after all, I can't lump it all into one. ) I'm surprised that we haven't had any emergency room visits with her need to climb. I'm also grateful that the Lord has supplied us with our own host of angels to protect us from all the incidents we ALMOST get into.

4. FAMILY... I love my family...I love my dear friends that I call family. I enjoy the time I spend with them. It makes me sad that many of you are not closer, but that just makes the time we do spend together even better! Life is so much better with friends and family around!

5. I love the people I work with! I am sooooo grateful that I love coming to work everyday. It has been a true blessing to have found a job where and when I did. I truly enjoy their company and I consider them true friends...even "bosom buddies"! (Ann of Green Gables) I told Susan I needed to come up with ten things I'm grateful for and she said, "ME"! You betcha! I wouldn't have been able to find a better job for my situation. Jason is a great employer who understands family and that sometime Abby just needs to tag along to work. She even has a little bed up in the office. I mean really? I love work!

6. Diet Mountain Dew - I'd like to thank the makers of this fruity fizzy juice. Part of what makes me a pleasant individual on a daily basis is my caffeine intake. Dr. Pepper no longer does it for me. DMD is my new favorite! It a sad but necessary part of my life and I LOVE IT!

7. Good Hair Days - There is nothing like a good hair day! They are so far and few between these days that I am extremely full of thanks to the hair fairies for allowing me to have one good day every once in a while. :) I loved my hair cut I recently got, but the curse of fast growing hair didn't work well with this style. I'll have to wait a few weeks for it to grow long enough to hang right. Ah... good hair days! Lucky for me today is one of them...and of course we are having tornado-esque weather today! Still looking fabulous!

8. Technology - have you ever been a few days without your microwave? It incredible how much we rely on modern technology these days. What did we do before cell phones? I remember the other day how mom used to ring hang up and call again. That's how we new it was her and we should pick up the phone. Now we have caller I.D. and we screen our phone calls. It's incredible. Who knew 10 years ago that we would be making fun of Amy for still using a CD Walkman at the gym cause it's so old school. (Yes ...that hurt my feelings and yes... I still don't have an I-Pod, I still rock out on the treadmill with my portable CD player) :) I am grateful for DVR's too, so I can fast forward through commercials and never miss my shows!


9. It sounds funny but I'm grateful for the opportunity to think about what I'm Thankful for. Should it be this hard to come up with ten things to say. Really I think I just feel stupid for talking up the little things...I love living in Logan, the change in the seasons, the wonderful old buildings, the fall leaves, the falling snow, my little apartment, the ability to move and work, the ability to be happy and enjoy life....you know all the small stuff!

10. I'm super duper thankful for the many experiences I've had in my life. Not all of them have been pleasant, in fact most of them have not been. But each experience has made me who I am today. I'm glad I can see people for who they are...after all we all have bad days, we all make mistakes and we ALL are children of our Heavenly Father. Including me...that is a tough one to understand. Love your God, love one another and why not while your at it love yourself. Each of us our making our journey through this life differently and uniquely. AND IF YOUR READING THIS I COULDN'T DO IT WITHOUT YOU!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

My friend Charlotte came over for dinner last night. While we were yackin' afterward Abby was coloring? ...or more like looking at the end of the pencil...cross eyed! It was hilarious!

Abby loves to color in just about anything as usual. Here she is "coloring" in my Book of Mormon. She is marking her favorite scriptures for me. :)

The paint incident.
Abby thought it would be a good idea to paint our floor black. I'm just glad she didn't make it to the carpet. Luckily it all came up. There is no trace of it left. ;) Oh... Abby!

She's a Witch!

Daycare had a costume parade in the morning. They walked around the block in their costumes. Diane said Abby wouldn't have anything to do with putting her hat on!



But when it came to the trunk or treat she was all hats on! Do you like the hot pink shoes?
Abby didn't understand that we were "gathering" candy. I think her take on it was..."oh people are giving me candy and I need to eat it now". She would put down her cauldron and grab the candy, hand me the candy in her mouth and want what they gave her. We would go to the next person and she would want what they gave her. Then we got to the Bishop and she was just grabbing everything he had. It was hilarious! Good times. She did well!

P.S. My costume was pretty sweet. I need to get the pictures that Natalie took.

Tagged and Now What?

The Rules:
-List 6 Quirks about yourself
-Tag 6 other people
-Tell who tagged you

I was tagged by Natalie!

1. I hate cell phones! And I hate text messaging! I'm not really a small talk girl. I love talking to family long distance, but since I don't talk to them much they do have to tell me to shut up. However, when it comes to local family and friends, I hate gabbing on the phone. I don't mind getting phone calls, but if you're waiting for me to call you...it isn't going to happen. I get in trouble with Cindy all the time for not calling her and letting her know what is going on. It's not that I don't want to talk with someone I just don't want to do it on the phone. I don't know why I am sooooo bad at it! I'm terrible! I must just have a real aversion to the phone. And don't even try and text me! I don't know how to text back and if it's so important CALL ME!

2. I love lounge clothes! I'm not a fan of buying or wearing clothes that are tailored and fitted. I of course like looking good. So I buy the good stuff because that's what I have to wear at work all day. But when the day is done, the minute I get home I have to get into my comfy clothes and flip flops. Ah....stretchy pants!

3. I love Vienna Sausages. Yes...that is probably more disgusting than it is quirky! :) I go to the store and pretend that, "I'm buying them for my child". BUT NO....they are for ME! Heidi has even bought them in bulk for me for Christmas. :) Yummy.....Merry Christmas! Actually if haven't bought them in a long time!

4. Okay I'm a little messy....but I'm a clean freak! How does this happen to someone? I spend most of my free time cleaning. Yet I spend the rest of the time making messes! I can't stop myself. I try to clean up after myself and I turn around and the whole house is destroyed. It's like one of those nightmares where you keep trying to get to the top of a hill and as soon as your at the top you're magically at the bottom again. Yes...this is my life... I need HELP! I can't stand messes they bother me greatly! (Charlotte would like me to mention here that my desk at work looks like a tornado hit it! Mind you, I know exactly where everything is. Ask Mike what happens when you try to clean me desk for me!)

5. Is that quirky too? I don't like it when people try to clean up after me. I know I'm messy...all you have to do is tell me that I need to clean up...but to yell at me that you had to clean up after me is just plain stupid. I don't try to anger people on purpose for goodness sakes! And by golly I've had to clean up after people too and you don't see me crying about it!

6. Is it just me or is it super annoying to have people hover over you shoulder while your on the computer. I'm not talking about when your having fun and showing people things...I'm talking about when you're at work and people think that what is on your screen is any of there business. We've even put up black shelving to keep customers from "sitting on your lap" while I'm putting things in the computer. It really chaps my hide! The other day when I was at Big O there was a guy that walked around the counter and was looking over the guys shoulder. I wanted to leap over and tell him to step away from the screen! Quirky that's my middle name.

OKAY the 6 PEOPLE I AM TAGGING ARE: Debbie, Erin, Mom, Heather, Mark and Sarah

Baby Bottle

I found one of those cheap little baby bottles at the store and bought one for Abby. She has been feeding her baby ever since. She'll just sit there and hold the bottle in her mouth for the longest time. It's funny how they really like, and play with the things that cost next to nothing!

Witch Practice

Witch Practice


I've been leaving out the Witch Hat for Abby's costume in hopes that she will play with it. She refuses to ever have anything on her head. So I think she'll be a little more willing to wear it on Friday. We'll cross our fingers ;)

This is the ladder Abby decided to climb at work. There was a gentleman who was looking at remnants with our warehouse guy. He kept coming in and out of the warehouse without closing the door. I kept closing it and he kept opening it. Finally, Abby managed to get out and he came in with her under his arm. "Hey...your little one was all the way up the Ladder!" I said, "Thanks you moron...that's why I kept closing the door!" Okay I said it in my head not out loud.

Then, when I went to the Stephens they were out on the back porch downstairs doing peaches. Abby goes over and plays on the playset. Of course, she has no problem going up and playing around. Then, she decided to take of through the bushes and stand on the retainer wall. It's a 6' drop to the neighbors yard. I see her stand and turn around like she does before she goes downstairs. She was going to try climbing down the ledge!!!!!! AHHHHHHH I yelled NO and luckily Trent (the neighbor) was Right there working on the yard and heard me yelling. He looked up when I was about 10 feet away and yelled at her too! Luckily it scared her enough to stop. At that point she was hanging on with her feet dangling over!

The Highchair

The other day I was doing dishes and I turned around and Abby was in her Highchair.... I didn't put her there!


I caught her doing it again and this is her second attempt. I took a picturesand then told her no. That is why in the rest of the pictures she is in her jam jams.

Ta Da!

Our House

The drive-in...I mean Living Room

I've just realized after taking pictures that I haven't gotten much further than painting.
I still need to make curtains so I can hang up the pictures I'm using to cover the window.
I need to get on the ball already!

Eat-in Kitchen

Big Bathroom

Abby's side of the Bedroom

My Side Bedroom

Bear Lake

BEAR LAKE
We went up to Bear Lake last Saturday. To me it's like going to Disneyland. It's the only fun escape possible besides going shopping in SLC. The pool isn't being put up this year, so it was fun to go play in the water. I of course got severely burned on my back. I'm still wearing my bathing suit to work under my clothes. TMI...I know! I'm thinking it must have been a second degree burn. It's a week later and I still can't sleep on my back. :( But it was worth it we had fun.



Cheeto face! Notice the floaty on the left that didn't get used. :) We had to go way out to the really cold water to get deep enough for her to even float.

Grandma was scared at first that Luke was going to be too cold. He's usually freezing when he plays at home in the water. And the water was COLD! But he numbed up and had a blast "falling in the water".

We went to the north side of the lake where the water is really shallow. It was nice cause we didn't have to worry as much about the kids. I didn't have to worry about the water cause Abby was more curious about the dunes. When we first got to the lake the Harper kids took off for the water and she just headed for the hills. FREEDOM!

Playing in the Sand
I bought a big basket of sand toys and Natalie bought quite a few too. So there were lots of things to play in the sand with. I think that's what I spent a vast majority of the time doing.

Time to warm up and eat Lollipops. When we got to the lake it was in the upper 60's.
Kinda cold for swimming! Luckily it warmed up fast. :)

Amy...Amy...Amy...Amy...
"Where's my shoe?"
Amy...Amy...Amy...Amy...
"I want a "tookie"!
Amy...Amy...Amy...Amy...
"Where's my truck?"

"LUKE GO TO SLEEP!"

So Tired! Going....going...

...Gone!

The end of long day.... a nap at last!

Why is it that no matter how many toys you offer kids, they always end up with something random to play with. All the kids have done it. It's been goin' on for years. They just push the chairs around. The sound is beautiful...nothing like plastic scraping on concrete. Sometimes the red chair is the highly coveted chair...sometimes it's the green. We never know. Many a tear have been shed over having the best chair color. Play on kids...play on.!

This takes talent and concentration....two chairs at once...It's AMAZING!!!

Abby on her Journey to the top of the porch steps. Back and forth...back and forth.

Success! She made it to the top of the porch steps!

Abby picking her nose? :) I don't know why Pete hangs out with Ab when she eats? It's not like she throws all her food on the ground or anything....odd?

Miss Kendra eating her hot dog! We had fun roasting hot dogs and
having s'mores on Saturday the 5th.

Abby loves to be outside! Her she is in Luke's car. He makes
sure she knows this when she gets in for a ride. "That's MY CAR!" :)

Fourth of July
Here comes Abby. This is what Abby wanted to do all day. Up and Down the steps!


Our big fireworks show is on the 3rd of July so here we are on the 4th not wanting to wait until 10 pm for the sun to go down to play with the sparklers. Two days in a row of keeping the kids up just wasn't going to happen.

Lukie Boy is just at that age were the fireworks bothered him at first. The whole sparkler thing was somewhat concerning as well. Thus the puzzled look on his face.


All in all we had a fun 3rd and 4th of July. We've barbecued each night and done lots of work on the Stevens house to get it on the market. The girls even got to sew on Friday! Yippee!