Yellowstone!

For the 11th year in a row, I made it to Yellowstone. We really missed Mike, but Abby and my mom and I had a great time!

Here is Abby at Big Springs in Island Park on the way in. She LOVED feeding the birds!

This is my favorite geyser--Great Fountain. This picture does it no justice:( It is usually predicted with a 2 hour window on either side, but I guess it has been more regular lately and we got there 5 minutes before it erupted. Lucky us!

A highlight for Abby was playing at the "beach" of Yellowstone Lake. It is sooo cold (reminiscent of the Oregon beach), but it didn't slow her down for a second.

Here is the back side of a bear off the side of the road. I love bear watching and was pleased to see this little guy. I saw his face nicely, too:)

We are hiking the rim of the canyon...

...with a tired little girl.

When the trail left the rim we ended up at this lily pad lake.

Token picture of the falls...(one of the most spectacular places on earth, in my humble opinion)

Abby playing in the Canyon Visitor's Center (the water globe is just like the one at the zoo)

My mom and Abby in front of the Lake Hotel.

Abby took this picture. She loves to take pictures and I thought it was cute that she actually got me in the frame:)

Abby (reluctantly) petting Clyde the Cutthroat Trout with the nice ranger.

Abby throwing rocks in the river (before the ranger asked her not to:)

Abby is the latest pro at identifying "luff-loes". (Yeah, I know they are bison, but buffalo is a "funner" word to say:)

The artist paint pots in the late summer are great mud pots. (I've usually gone to Yellowstone in earlier summer and the supposed mud pots have been too runny to be considered real mud pots, but here they are in all their glory!)

Abby and I in front of my second favorite waterfall in the park - Gibbon Falls

It was a great trip and I am glad that my mom could come with us! Thanks for humoring me and looking at lots of pictures!

Our happy news!

We are excited to say that we are going to have another baby in mid-February! All looks good and we are very grateful to have this opportunity in our family. We should find out we'll have a boy or a girl in mid-September:)

Life is just fine...

Here are a few of our recent activities (in reverse order):

We went to Liberty Park with our neighbors and played in the fountains and rode the rides. This was great! It was the first time she has ridden a ride by herself! Here are the neighbor boys and Abby in the cars:

Here she is in the airplane:

We also went to This is the Place Park this week. It is a really fun place and we enjoyed going with friends. Abby loves pony rides!

She pet a goat...And rode a train!
Last week, Mike's nice employers rented out the zoo. The carousel was a big hit:The big singing/squirting elephant was not:(

Flashback...to 2002

Note: I am well aware that this "Flashback Friday" is being posted on a Saturday. It was written on Friday. Does that count?

I've never done a flashback Friday, but I'm excited for this one! I loved the Olympics when they were here in Salt Lake. I had so much fun and would love for them to come back.

Here were some of my favorite things:

• I went to four events - Nordic ski jumping (the morning after the Opening Ceremonies), a women's luge final event, the final curling match and a Paralympic hockey game as a chaperon for my school
• My friends and I had an Opening Ceremonies party at Robyn's house
• I went downtown to the Olympic festivities several times
• I watched as much as I possibly could on TV
• I went to a free concert/medals ceremony on a date
• I did a ton of Olympics stuff with my Kindergartners (including leaving the TV on during school for the educational value:)

This is my brother and I at the ski jumping:

Abby-isms

When I am sitting barefoot, Abby will come up to me and wiggle one of my toes with a mischievous grin, saying, "Market, market!" (i.e. "This little piggy went...")
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Abby has her own chore. She is responsible for cleaning the pine cones out of the driveway. I have to accompany her to help her "stay on task", but she is doing a great job and loves being a little helper.
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The other day, Abby came across a pin cushion and took out a pin. I told her that it would give her an ow-ie--that she should put it back. Instead, she started gently pushing it against the sole of her foot (not to worry, no blood even close to being drawn) saying "Ow-ie, ow-ie". I realized she was putting the pin exactly where the infamous sliver had been. (She obviously remembered all we had been through to extract it.)
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Abby's latest is dressing herself. This is a picture of her trying to put a one-sie on over her pajamas. She is actually getting a lot better at putting her pajama bottoms on! Amazing at all the things she is learning!

Mildly disturbing conversation regarding health care costs

Mike: (reading the mail) So what surgery did Abby have on July 16th?

Marinda: Hmmm... (I like to be a fairly attentive mom so I am quite convinced that Abby DID NOT have surgery on July 16th) You've got to be kidding!!!! (As I now remember...) The doctor helped us take out a sliver!

Back up to July 16th:

So, the day before we left for Oregon, Abby woke up with a wicked cold. I took her in--just in case--since we'd be gone for the next 12 days. The doctor gave us the all clear on the cold and I said:

Marinda: While I'm here, can you help me get this big sliver out of her foot. She has been fighting it for a couple days.

Doctor: Sure, let me get my tweezers. (Doctor removes the sliver. Abby screams.) All done!

Yeah, the insurance paid $270 for that! Expensive tweezers...still like the doctor.

A few things that I love...

The Olympics! I watch more TV during the Olympics than just about any other time. I think they are pretty magical:) (And my 2002 memories sure contribute to that:)

New experiences with Abby! She went on her first carousel ride on Thursday at the zoo. She sat on the polar bear for a moment before the ride started and thought it was fine, but, wow, when that thing started to move around and up and down, life got really good! Today she rode in a wave pool and it was just as good (but no pictures since mom and dad were also enjoying the waves).

[picture to follow]

The sound of jar lids sealing! (I just canned a batch of pickles and right now I can hear that glorious little popping sound.)