What an Awesome Day!

 

Today has been so awesome. I found out that Grant and I are having a healthy baby girl. I swore up and down to Grant that I knew it was a boy. haha. But we are very happy! When asked if Abby wanted a little sister or a little brother, she answered little sister every time. So it seems that she knew better than all of us. I'm pretending Grant agreed with me, which isn't completely true =). Now we just have to pick a name and Grant automatically hates the names I choose just because I got to pick Abby's name with really no input from him because I had it chosen since high school. So I will have to learn how to speak to his subconscious mind when he sleeps so he will like a name that I like to.

Another super awesome event in my day is that I graduated from USU with a BS in Family Life Studies. I took my last final and it feels awesome. I love saying that I am now an Aggie Alumni! I am looking forward to having time to clean my house and pick up some neglected hobbies like playing my piano and maybe some scrapbooking. 

I am so grateful for my little family, Grant, Abby, and "Abby's little sister" and my family and extended family. A special thanks to my friends and neighbors who would watch Abby while Grant was working and I needed to study! I have been given so many blessings throughout these experiences and I would be ungrateful if I didn't thank my Heavenly Father for helping to guide me and comfort me through the hard times.

Happy Easter

I think I definitely need to take more pictures because I never have anything to share (that aren't on Grant's phone). I need to get some pictures of Abby and her cousins Natalie and Charlotte playing.

We had such a great time playing on Friday with Katie and Reagan. We colored eggs and ate pizza and cake. Saturday we watched the football scrimmage and ate lunch with the football team. Easter Sunday we spent at church and then headed to Susan and Don Parry's house. We ate good food and played out in the warm sun. It was such a nice Easter weekend.

I am grateful this Easter season for my Savior, who suffered so that we can be forgiven of our sins, be comforted in our times of need, and that we'll be able to return to our Heavenly Father to live with Him and our families again. I just hope that I can continue to teach my daughter the real purpose for Easter and help her find a love for her Savior.

Abby @ Work

Abby was coughing in the morning on Wednesday so that I kept her home. She was fine the rest of the day so I took her to work with me for a few hours so that i could send out some emails. She had a lot of fun but I didn't get a ton of work done, obviously.

All of these people at work came out of the wood works to bring her delicious candy. I wonder...where is this candy everyday...and can I have it? She called the Nerds "rocks" and had a great time eating them.

Abby has been such a cutie lately. We are so glad and continually grateful for the joys and stresses that she brings into our lives. Some new fun facts about Abby.

• She is finally learning how to ride her bike she got last August for her birthday. She will peddle it a few times and get tired and start pushing with her feet. So I think that we'll just keep working on it. 
• We have a bunch of red and black beetles around our house and she thinks they are lady bugs but we are constantly squishing them around our house. Yesterday, she stepped on one and it got stuck to her shoe. She was going crazy that it was on the bottom of her shoe and she began to get slightly historical and was so upset she couldn't take one step to the grass to wipe it off. So I had to carry her to the grass and like move her leg for her to get it off. 
• Last night we were driving home from the Senior Banquet and Abby in the back seat counted down from ten to one and said "Blast Off" and began to descirbe how rockets go up to the stars. It is so fun to listen to how much she is learning and growing all the time.

Funny Things Abby is Doing

I am starting to see how perfect a mix Abby is of Grant and I.

Case 1: When she is angry (Grant) she is also polite (Me). I went to wake her up the other day and she was yelling "No Thank You" and turning away. I sat on the bed next to her and she was kicking at me and saying "Excuse Me." A perfect blend of Grant and I.

Case 2: Abby is fearless (Grant) but also very clumsy (Me). Abby is jumping off everything. She and Grant have a ritual to jump off our bed each night on the way to her room. Each night she just jumps and assumes she will be caught. She will be helping in the kitchen and jumps off without any warning so you'd better catch her. She just assumes someone always will. But it is her new favorite game. However, she also inherited with her fearlessness, a tendency to hit her elbows on doors and walls. Or one day she was so excited and ran into our room, did a little spin, and tripped and hit the side of the bed (definitely my child).

Case 3: Abby is super smart (Grant) but she is also a parrot (Me). Abby picks things up really quickly. She runs our electronics better than we do. She loves to read (look at pictures and make up stories). She has just started to sing the lyrics to songs other than nursery rhymes that she has heard on the radio. But she has has begun the repeating everything we say back to us. For those of you who know me or knew my Grandma Beth know that I sometimes (a lot of the time) mouth the words that people say as they are talking. I thought I had broken myself of that habit but was reminded recently by Grant that I do it all the time. I will also point out that she learned "Shut Up" from her Grandma Kandi while we were playing Phase 10. =)

Though like children do Abby pronounces some things incorrectly. My favorite one is Star Wars = Star Whores. Frog = (a four letter f-word). Hug and Cuddle have now become "Huggle."

She also read Jack and Jill (nursery rhyme) like this. Jack and Jill, Up the Hill, Fetch the Water. She just says that over and over again over every page in the little book.

She definitely keeps us busy and is so much fun. I don't have any idea what we used to do for entertainment.

February?

I am not sure how it is already the end of February. Though you can be assured that when I am blogging that I should be doing something else (like studying for the test I take in an hour).

This month has been so busy with school, work, and family. I had a 12 page paper due in the third week of class and I want to know who does that?!?! I had all my major deadlines for my catalog at work. So my phone, emails, and mailbox have been very busy. And I have seen family and friends a lot this month and I'm grateful for it.

My Valentine's for this year were so great and I wanted to let everyone what an awesome hubby and daughter I have. Abby enjoyed coloring her Valentine card's, decorating cookies, eating her chocolates from Dad, and wearing her new dress and necklace from Dad to school. She especially loved giving Dad a "Heart" Attack in his room with all the reasons that she loves him. We enjoyed a night out with dinner, shopping, and ice cream. The if that wasn't great enough we watched the action packed movie "The Double." Still wish it was a chick flick =), though.

We look forward to closing out this month since Grant will likely be traveling to visit either Nick Saban (University of Alabama, who we beat at the Sugar Bowl!) or some other guy at Fresno with the Defensive Coordinator for some staff development, which is always great for Grant. This however, leaves me at home for a few days to spend hanging out with Abby and doing homework. This usually involves us staying in our pjs all weekend long.

We are also waiting for someone (MADISON) to finally a cousin on the Duff side for Abby to play with. Though it may be Christmas before they actually meet, it will still be fun to Skype and visit with. We continue to hope for him (no name yet) to have Madi's good looks and Will's good temperament.

 Abby's Valentines Dress and heart-shaped necklace that lasted the whole day till she broke the chain.

 Abby loves wearing shoes, especially my church shoes.

Here is Abby after getting her necklace on Valentine's Day getting ready for her Pajama party at school.