Where did I leave off.......

Oh YEAH! On May 6th Abby turned one!! That was a huge turning point for me personally. I hadn't really been thinking about it, until maybe a couple of days before. Seriously, we went bday shopping the night before her birthday! (Now that's cutting it close!) But with regular life stuff, I hadn't realized until a couple days before that we had hit such a huge milestone. I had to take a couple of quite moments to myself as I realized how much the hand of Lord had been helping me along to get to this point. As much as I LOVE Abby, and of course our family wouldn't be complete without her, having her come to our family at the time she did and in the circumstances she came was a huge trial for me. And having realized that we (or just I) had made it for a whole year. And we were all healthy and some what sane, that that in itself was a HUGE blessing. I knew that if the Lord wanted her in our family that he would provide a way, and without me realizing it HE DID! We survived the 1st year! And I'm sure he will continue to show his tender mercies for many years to come!
The funny part about Abby's birthday party was eating the cupcakes. We thought she would just dive right in. Instead she picked at the cupcake a little, and then burst into tears for fear of the frosting. So in the end she got a cupcake that hadn't been frosted. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the mayhem! But here are some that I did get in a scrapbook page, of course!

Credits: Sugarplum Paperie's Party Hat kit

Nate's Little Spot

I'm not sure what this says about me or my son but Nate now has his own little blog for the things he loves. He wanted to visit a Herbie website, but we couldn't find one that wasn't just for selling products, so he asked, "Can we make one?" And instead of setting up a website, I agreed to make him his own blog. He posts pictures of things that he makes, right now specifically related to Herbie. If any of you friends would like to see it, email me (stampinwithamanda@gmail.com) and let me know you're gmail address, and I can approve you to see it - it's by invitation only.

Nate rides a 2-wheeler

In April Nate took the plunge and took his training wheels off. I thought that they would be on for a lot longer - he wanted nothing to do with taking the training wheels off. One night we talked about a kickstand for his bike (a CHROME kickstand) if he didn't have his training wheels. And that sealed it! He wanted to go to the store RIGHT then to get a "chrome" kickstand. (Just has to be like his Dad with all the chrome for HIS bike!) So basically overnight Nate was riding a two- wheeler! The smile on his face says it all!!!!


And off course, the scrapbook page!!

April .... means that Parker is 2!!!

On April 6th we celebrated Parker's 2nd birthday! And Holy Cow is that boy two! It was like an overnight turn form sweet little boy to Terrible Twos.

(We still Love You Parker, even if you are 2)Here's a funny story for you, just to show how fun a 2 year old boy can be. The other day I was changing Abby in our bedroom, and from where I was standing I could see that someone was in the fridge. Something told me that it had to Parker. I kept talking to him, asking him to get out of the fridge, but the door stayed open. When I was done, I was finally able to go get him out of the fridge. Only to find out what was so fascinating. It was JELLO, that was in the beginning process of hardening. He had his hand in the bowl, flipping the jello all over the fridge. Oh, how fun!!!!

March is ALL about the Greatest Man on the Planet

I know you all think you married the greatest man on the planet, but well, I think I've got you beat! For our 8th wedding anniversary TeJay planned a surprise trip for the two of us to NYC! That's right - NEW YORK CITY!! A couple days before we were scheduled to leave I found out where we were going, and that ALL arrangements had been made. I didn't have to do a thing - I didn't have to find someone to watch the kids - TeJay did that ALL on his own! That is worth it's wait of GOLD in my book!!

Our flight left at midnight on Thursday, and we got to NY at 6 am. Our hotel didn't have a room for us at that early hour, so we went to get breakfast, and then being exhausted like we were (no sleep on the plane) we fell asleep on each other in the hotel lobby. After a little nap for a couple of hours we started out on the town. And we saw as much of the town as could in 2 days!! We hardly slept!!!

Here we are at the Brooklyn Bridge
I thought we could walk across the whole thing, but when we got halfway across I realized that that was probably good enough!

Here we are on top of the World on the top of Rockerfeller Center.
It was the first time in the big city that I felt big! When everything looks so small.

Here I am in front of the teeny, tiny Statue of Liberty
The line to go over to the island was over 4 hours long, and we just didn't want to spend all of our time standing in a line - so this is as close as I got!

Here we are in Central Park, eating Hot Dogs
I just had to try doing this in NYC, even though it was frigid cold.
We couldn't stay still to long - had to keep moving to stay warm!
You have noticed that I'm wearing my winter coat, and gloves, right?

And the crowning moment of the trip was seeing the Broadway show, Wicked!
I LOVE the music, and I had wanted to see it pretty bad.
I was just waiting for it to come to Salt Lake - wait no more!
It was unbelievable!!! TOTALLY AWESOME!!
When it was time for intermission, I didn't want it to end, but to keep going.
I can't even count the many times I got chills. If you ever have a chance to see it, DO!!!!!

And in our seats, waiting for the show to start! We were on Row E!!!!
Yeah, Row A is on the front - So.... awesome seats.


And this post wouldn't be complete without a scrapbook page of the trip!
I have many, but I don't want to bore you, so I'll pick one!
(OK, I'll pick a 2 pager!!)

March is Nate 1st commerical plane ride

In March Nate took his first commercial airplane ride. For reasons I'll explain in the next post I couldn't be there. And as a Mom I felt like I was missing out on a milestone for my son, so TeJay let him borrow an old camera of his to take pictures with. TeJay taught him how to use it, so he could document the event for me, and of course come home with pictures to scrap with!!!

P.S. Nate went to California with his Grandpa on a weekend trip to see Grandpa's boat that was being stored there.

Feb. brings us to Abby

Here are some pictures of Abby who turned the BIG 9 M! 9 months! WAHOO!

And of course, and scrapbook page to commemorate the occasion!