Swimming Lessons & Other Fun Things...

Abby started swimming lessons on Monday afternoon and is SO thrilled with them! I haven't managed to get a picture yet, as this would involve remembering to put my camera in my purse before I have to leave the house at 6:30am so I can get to work by 7:00am, leaving by 3:00pm in order to make swimming lessons by 4:00pm. Hopefully tomorrow I will remember and can post a picture! You would think she's a fish by the way she has taken to the water! I believe that the South Davis Rec Center (where swimming lessons are) offer year-round classes, so hopefully we'll just keep putting her in the next level up and see what happens! Who knows - by Christmas she will be swimming way better than I ever did!

We are also mourning the loss of our griffin tonight. Blair had an awesomely cool griffin statue that has stood guard over our house for the past four or five years (griffins are supposed to guard again evil) but some obviously evil person has taken our griffin away! Abby went outside to paint with water yesterday afternoon and asked where I had moved the griffin...yeah, like I could actually move it - it was made of metal and was quite heavy! I hope whoever took it accidently dropped it on their foot -- they deserved it! So, if anyone sees a lone griffin standing around, let us know -- we'll come and get him!

Well, hopefully some pictures tomorrow of my little Abby-fish....good night, all!

Abby's Favorite "New" Band

So, it seems that Abby has become a fan of Sting and the Police. I'm not quite sure how this happened, but tonight when we were driving home, I put in one of Blair's Police CD's and Abby just started rocking out! She was dancing around in her booster seat, pretending to play the drums and guitar...it was hilarious! Then, she grabbed the CD cover and said, pointing to Sting "Wow, Mom - that guy is kind of cool-looking!" Are you kidding me? I mean, I know that the 80's are coming back fashion-wise, but please! Does anyone else know any other five-year-old Sting fans????? Not that it's bad, Sting's music is actually quite good but I just had to laugh...and share it with the rest of you. I guess most of my musical tastes were influenced by my parents music, so it should be interesting to see what kind of music Abby ends up liking. All I know tonight, it that it will include Sting!

Well, time for another couple of chapters in Book 6....hopefully I will finish soon and be ready to dive into Book 7. Everyone around me who has already finished has been threatened with their lives if they tell me any details! Good night!

Pioneer Day 2007

For all of you outside of the great state of Utah, today was an official state holiday...Pioneer Day! This celebrates the day the pioneers drove into the Salt Lake Valley. For us, it means the cabin for lunch and the river and then Randall's in North Ogden for dinner. We are blessed & lucky to be close enough to BOTH families to pretty much celebrate all holidays with both of them! See, there are perks to marrying someone who grew up pretty much where you did. Anyway, I'm including several pictures of the fun afternoon...mostly of Abby. She played in the river until she was shivering and her lips were literally purple. I'm pretty sure that's NOT a good thing, but it was impossible to get her out and when we succeeded, she cried. Luckily, we were just on our way to the next party in North Ogden, and there is a shot of her on the tire swing at Grandma & Grandpa Randall's. Could one kid get any more lucky than she is?!?! I don't think so! One shot is of Rachel, about an hour after a hornet stung her just below the eye. No, I don't think that felt very good and she wasn't very happy until I found a box of "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans" (a Harry Potter candy) in my purse and then the kids spent the next little while daring each other to eat jelly beans flavored like "black pepper", "grass", "soap" and "vomit." Seriously! There are other "normal" flavors, but mostly icky ones like the ones listed. Anyway, it's now almost time for bed (yes, Abby is pretty much passed out in her bed!) and I am feeling grateful for two AWESOME families that we belong to. We are blessed far beyond what we deserve and I am grateful to have spent the day with everyone! Good night!

Abby's Favorite Thing

One of Abby's favorite things is riding her bike at Leland & Scott's. We spent a very relaxing, fun night there tonight and Abby had a MARVELOUS time, as you can tell from the pictures! She is getting very good at using the brakes, riding VERY fast, then suddenly using the brakes to stop. We can't quite convince her that she can just ride s-l-o-w-l-y, using the brakes. Maybe with the little practice, she'll get better. It was a perfect summer night and now she is in her bed, dreaming of the next time she gets to ride the bike!

One more picture of Abby...

I forgot to include this in my previous post...this is a picture of Abby, playing on the grass during the "earth-bound" Quidditch game last night. Does anyone else think she is growing up too fast? She told me today and she could "absolutely do the laundry" so tonight, we're going to practice. Maybe growing up is a good thing?

Harry Potter!

This is Abby at the Harry Potter party at the Main Library in downtown Salt Lake City. She got to stay up WAY past midnight and had a fabulous time with her Uncle Derk & Aunt Christine, cousin Josh and me. She got her fortune told, made an owl puppet and had her picture taken with Professor Snape and Narcissa Malfoy as you can see by this picture! It will probably take me another month to finish re-reading Book 6 and make my way through Book 7. I'm hoping to stretch it out (maybe a chapter a day) so it will last a little longer!

I haven't had a lot of time to devote to our new "blog" but thought I'd take a minute and add a picture. This is Abby at the Arts Festival, helping make a paper mache' giraffe!