Good Riddance January!

Dear January,

I have made my feelings very clear to you in the past, and I will make them clear again. I DO NOT LIKE YOU! This year was no exception. You're cold, you're smoggy, and I swear you stuff two months into one. You have no fun Holidays after almost 2 months of celebrations, your days are long dark and cold, and you're simply horrible. I've heard you been called "The Monday of the Year," and I couldn't agree more.

Not to mention I now have the second cold of the month. I rang you in miserable, and I will gladly see you leave slightly less miserable. (ok, nothing compares to the influenza I had at the beginning. This one is just a slight stuffy nose/cough.)

Point is January, you suck. And I am so glad to see you leave tomorrow.

February, I will welcome you with open arms in the morning.

Life Lately, According to my Phone

 Life has been loving standing on the chair, and loving even more climbing up onto the table. It's been messing up books that were put away seconds before, and it's watching Gilmore Girls while putting things on her head.

 It's been cute daddy daughter time in the snow, my new $11 dollar shoes from payless with an Abby mess beyond the camera, its been Abby not wanting cuddles before bed, therefore falling asleep on the floor, and Abby upset with me because I force fed her oatmeal. I know. Mean mom.

 It's delicious juice I can't get enough of, It's falling asleep instead of eating lunch, and it's being so tuned into Sesame Street while sitting in her Princess chair that she didn't even notice me.

 Life has been getting mad, and giving me her dirty looks.

 It's been extra cuddly with mommy and playing with my face, taking the batteries out of the remote and placing them in Weasly's cage (which she knows I'll never open to get out) and it's been putting on my makeup.

And, life has been reading books on the rocking chair while I've done homework, getting bundled up to go on our first walk in weeks, and enjoying Ramen. Every. Last. Bite.

18 Months

It's that time again. Time to brag about my adorable daughter and the cute/smart/hilarious things she does.

Abby turned 18 months on Monday. She is now nursery age. (granted, she has already been going, but it feels good for it to be official.) And knowing I don't have to wrestle with her the last two hours of church makes me really very happy.

She was in the middle of telling us about her cup

Got into mommy's makeup

Climbed from the chair to the table

Life father, like daughter

At 18 months, Abby can:

• Say "lets go!"
• "Brrr it's cold"
• "baby" (of course)
• "Bye Bye"
• "Doggie"
• "Banana" (which sounds like baby)
• A bunch of other things that sound like baby
• She whispers "Shhhh" and taps her nose when someone is sleeping
• She is constantly spinning circles
• She has a great throwing arm, and loves throwing balls.
• She doesn't like to eat still, unless it is chicken nuggets, hot dogs, bananas, oranges, apples, peppers, cucumbers, pizza, peanut butter bread/toast, tomatoes, fries, tortillas or candy especially chocolate. (ok, so maybe that is a lot for a 18 month old?)
• She hates her high-chair
• She refuses to eat dinner on Sundays. And sometimes during the week.
• She is constantly running
• She loves her mommy, until daddy gets home. Then he is her favorite person in the whole world.
• She loves to climb on things, like the table.
• If she can't get on something, she will pat it until we lift her up to sit on it. Or if she wants you to sit by her she will pat the place next to her
• The stairs are still her favorite place to sit and read her books.
• She loves cell phones
• Her laugh sounds like she has a cold
• She loves to type on the computer
• She still wears mostly 12 month clothes
• And she is the most dramatic little girl in the world. Seriously, when she has a melt down, you would think it was the end of the world.

I know I've said this before, and I know all moms say it, but Sam and I can't believe this beautiful little spunky girl is ours. Every day she never ceases to amaze us. I still can't believe we made something so beautiful. She is the light of our lives. We often talk about how life would be without her. Sure, we would have more money, sure we would go on more dates, but really. Life without Abby is no life at all!

We love you to bits and tiny peaces Abbigale Mae.

Blog Lag

Remember when I used to blog multiple times a week? And remember when those blogs used to actually have things going on in them? Well, I've hit a blog lag. Honestly, life is pretty mundane round these parts lately. I just never do anything exciting to blog about/all my ideas I used to get just stopped coming. It must be these winter blues. January is quite the depressing month.

I do, however, have some cute videos of Abby you can enjoy. I mean really? How can you not enjoy her cuteness?

This first video was clear back before Christmas when we went shopping all day and rewarded ourselves with Wendy's. She's got the moves, am I right? I bet she'll make it big in the dancing world.

And this last one is Abby having a blast with her bean bag. Simple pleasures for this little one.

I know. Even this blog isn't exciting, but it's cute right?

I Need A Resolution

I know this resolution post is a little late, but whatever. I've been busy! I started school last week and between that, work, being a mom, and trying to take care of the house I fear I have bitten off more than I can chew. But this school thing will be good in the long run right?

Sam and I decided this year instead of making goals for the year and probably not following through on them, we are going to make monthly goals. We have our phone calendars set for the second day of every month where we will sit down and see if we did good on our last months goals, and set more for that current month. I am really excited about this. We aren't very great at setting goals and following through with them, but I feel good about this idea.

So, we've broken up our goals into categories: personal, home, physical, church/spiritual. (well, Sams are a little different, but those are the areas I want to work on.)

This month I want to:
Keep up on my school work
Clean out Abby's closet
Clean out my cupboards
Get back to exercising at least 3x a week
Stay away from the junk food
Drink more water
Plan my lessons in advance
And truly seek out answers to my gospel questions.

So January, lets do this thing.

Snow Day

Have I ever mentioned that Sam works for the best company ever? Well, he does. Because of the snow, they let everyone leave at 2 today to allow for a safe drive home. So needless to say, we took advantage of the extra time by playing in the snow, and then going to a quaint little diner for an early dinner. Great start to our weekend!

Snow, please keep coming down, because we really love you. (well, except the fact I have to drive in it tonight for work. But after that we can be snowed in for all I care.)

Happy Weekend!

Life Lately According To My Phone: In The Sick Of It All.

 Life has been trying to get a decent picture of little Miss Abbigale in her cute Christmas dress, to no avail.

 It's been playing in the much-wanted snow, opening Christmas presents, and playing/sitting in said Christmas presents. 

 Life has been refusing to get off the toilet (that she apparently likes more than her new princess chair) and the two of us ringing in the new year being sicker than snot for 5 days. 

And it's been finally having an appetite back and snarfing mac and cheese and pudding, and it's been coming home from work with a love-note from my sweet husband.

Life hasn't been that cool really, but it's been life. 

What Were You Doin' New Years Eve?

As for my little family and me, we were holed up in our house sick, finishing up our annual Lord Of The Rings Marathon, which we finished at 11:55, shared a very stuffy nosed kiss, (on my part. Its hard to kiss when you can't breath through your nose) toasted with some sparkling grape juice, and basically called it a night.

Yes, I watch LOTR with subtitles occasionally.

Ok so a Correction: Abby and I were sick. Sam was and still is completely fine. How he managed to not get this awful cold/flu that hit almost every other member of my family is beyond me. Seriously you guys, I don't mean to complain but this has been the worst. I have been out of commission for just about a week now. Hence no blogging or blog-stalking. But I feel like I am finally on the mend, though I still have this awful pee-my-pants-a-little cough and still hardly a voice. Oh and guess who filled up 2 Walmart sacks full of tissues this week? This girl.

Anyway, enough about me. Well actually, this post will be very much about me and the family, but enough about being sick. 2012 wasn't our most exciting year, but it was still a good one. So, without any further adieu, 2012 in a nutshell.

January

Even though January is the most horrible month in the whole year, we managed to have a little bit of fun. I had some of my old college friends over for pizza.

 We pretended like we had money and tried to look for furniture at Furniture Warehouse on Road Redwood when it was going out of business. (still way too much $) 

We attended my beautiful cousin Staci's wedding.

 Miss Abby turned 6 months old. 

February

We celebrated our first Valentines day as parents, by eating at Moochies, walking around town, and exchanging presents at home. 

I first heard and fell in love with We Are Young by Fun. 

Sam turned the big 26 and we decided to eat at Lambs. It was gross. 

Later on his Birthday weekend, we had a party for him at our house. I think he had a pretty good one. 

I also quit my day job and just started working nights.

March

 Abby turned 8 months. 

The weather, which never was super cold anyway, got warm and we went and fed ducks. 

We welcomed my new nephew Jackson at the end of March.

April

We enjoyed April conference at home.

 We hjad a nice First Easter with Abby in her new Easter dress.

May

I was able to celebrate my first mothers day. Sam made me feel really special. 

We also celebrated our 3 year Anniversary by getting dinner and ice cream. 

Abby also turned 10 months and finally started to crawl and climb stairs. 

We also had a fun Memorial Day weekend spent in the mountains.

June

June we really started having a fun summer. We went on picnics with Aunts, went swimming at Taylorsville pool, roasted Marshmallows and hot dogs in the mountains, celebrated Sam's first fathers day, and enjoyed the highlight of my summer every summer: Taylorsville Dayzz. Best fireworks of the year!

July

July we vacationed in St. George.

 I turned the big 26, I finally got a smart phone. (and I'll never go back). 

We also went camping, and Abbigale turned 1, and we had her birthday party at our house the next week. July was a really good month.

August

We went to splash pads, lunches, and a lake with my sister. 

We went to a drive in and saw Avengers and Batman. 

We had fun at the Farmers Market in Salt Lake, and we realized what the summer did to our bank account. Worth it.

September

We had a fun Labor Day weekend.

 We attended a Bee's game that was on a rain delay, therefore we had to leave early since it got so late.

We spent a lot of Fridays downtown having lunch with grammy and daddy.

 We lost one of Abby's beloved jelly shoes.

 I did a lot of laundry at my moms.

 And went to a lot of fairs and festivals. 

October

Abby turned 15 months and finally started walking! 

I ran my first 5k in a long time and got SECOND in my division. 

I went to the coolest Harry Potter thing in the world and made my own wand. 

We had fun at Gardner Village seeing the witches. 

Kari and Brigham had their annual Halloween party where we dressed up as Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and we took Abby trick-or-treating for the first time! 

November

I kept up really well on my running. 

We had my nieces and nephews stay over for a night while my sister and brother in law ran the Vegas Ragnar.

 We went on a fabulous date to Cheesecake factory.

We had 2 tasty Thanksgiving dinners.

The month of shutdown at work began.

December

I worked most the month starting at 9, which put a damper on Christmas celebrating.

We still managed to have a progressive dinner with my family, see the lights on Temple Square, attend the Tabernacle Choirs Christmas concert, and watch a few movies.

We had a nice Christmas eve and Christmas day.

Abby was a hoot opening presents.

I got sick near the end and have been sick ever since.

Yes 2012, you were good to us. Not as good as 2011 (house and baby trump most things) but still good. 

Here is to a hopefully great 2013! Bring it!