Elephants in Oregon

Mom & Dad: Abby, look out the window. What do you see?
Abby: (pause, look) ELLA!!
Mom & Dad: (chuckle) They look a little like elephants. Those are cows. What do cows say?
Abby: Meow!

(Clarification: Abby does know that cats say meow and cows moo, but they oftentimes get used interchangeably.)

Day 1 & 2 of our trip

We're on the road!

Thursday -

• Drove to Twin Falls and stayed with Bekah and Lance

Friday -

• Went to the Twin Falls Temple Open House with Bekah, Dave and Kaye
• Drove for a very long time
• Watched the elephants off the side of the road
• Stayed in Stevenson, Washington - the Columbia River area is beautiful

I'm in a movie (only at the end though)

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Pony rides, goats and chickens

Today we went with Shana and Cooper and Tami and her kids to Thanksgiving Point Farm Country. I didn't know if Abby would go for the pony ride. She was kind of hesitant with the other animals (like when donkeys and cows tried to eat out of her hands), but she loved it!!

Here is Jack on a the pony ride.

Abby and Cooper in jail:)

Yeah, I went...

Yesterday, pre-noon, I didn't have tickets to the American Idol concert. Post-noon I did (at half price, I'll add). Mike is out of town. Shana went with me and we really had a fun time! We laughed at a little bit of cheesiness (mainly that we were there), but it really was a great show.

A couple thoughts:
David Archuleta cried. He is very cute and the cheering was deafening. (Shana and I had lots of ringing in our ears for a while after the show.)
Brooke said that "This is the place!" and that she appreciated all the support she got from Utahns. Nice of her to acknowledge her friends in the faith:)
I still think that Jason Castro is adorable and I loved hearing Somewhere Over the Rainbow live. (Shana isn't a fan, but she let me enjoy it:)
Queen is great at any concert (thanks, Michael Johns).
David Cook was fabulous and admitted that he (and 8 of the others) were a bit intimidated to come into Archuleta-land. We welcomed them well, I think.

I love the way she talks...

My Big Helper

I think that my baby is so cute! (I think that your children are great as well, but my baby...she's amazing!)

So on Friday, Abby spilled a bit of water on the coffee table so I told her to go into the bathroom and get a tissue and wipe it up. She did it! I was so impressed and I praised her for a long time.

Tonight, I was on the phone and I turned to see Abby very intentionally dumping an entire water bottle onto the floor. (Yes, I recognize that it isn't too smart to allow access (i.e. outright give) a 20-month-old a water bottle, but water dries...no harm done.) Anyway, I get off the phone and go downstairs to get the mop. This is what I found when I came upstairs:...a very proud little girl, lots and lots of water and a very itty-bitty piece of tissue to clean it up (note the white spot in the middle of the picture). I couldn't help but laugh. She loves to be such a helper! It was so cute!

PS The picture wouldn't be complete without her trying on one of my shoes (different topic:)

Two by Two

I am waiting to go to the park and just checked my blog roll. Looks like I have been tagged by Katrina...

Two names you go by:
1. Marinda (how creative)
2. Mommy

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. Shorts and a t-shirt
2. A ponytail

Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Go out to eat
2. Vacation:)

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. A weedless and green yard
2. A piece of cheesecake

Two pets that you have or have had:
1. Bunnies named Oscar and Snowflower
2. A cockatiel named Merrill
**They were actually all my sister's but I lived with them too...

Two things you did last night:
1. Made stir fry for dinner
2. Started a new book (River Secrets by Shannon Hale)

Two things you did today (disclaimer: it is only 9:55 AM):
1. Walked with Abby around the block
2. Weeded in the yard (and followed Abby into the back yard to find her on top of the bakers rack on the patio trying to get to the little "lat-lock" (chocolate) candy)

Two things you ate today:
1. I've only eaten strawberries this morning
2. ???

Two people you last talked to:
1. Mike
2. My grandma Marva

Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1. Go to Mike's co-worker's b-day party
2. Run a couple errands for Enrichment

Two memorable vacations:
1. Tahiti
2. Canada/Banff/Glacier

Two favorite holidays (same as Katrina:):
1. Thanksgiving
2. Christmas

Miles Leo

This is our new nephew, Miles. We really like him! He was born on Tuesday and all is well! The second picture is my grandma with her newest great-grandson!

Bike Ride

Thanks to our neighbors letting us try out their bike trailer, Abby went on her first bike ride the other day! I think she liked it. She walked around the house with her helmet (albeit slightly big--we're working on that) on for a while--we're glad she doesn't mind it:)

Bathtime!

Today I told Abby to go into the bathroom for her bath. When I followed her into the bathroom this is what I found. Water running...tub filling...in the tub...completely clothed - minus the typical left shoe (but proud)!

Lisa Falls in Little Cottonwood Canyon

Last night we went on a short hike with some of our friends!

Abby found this walking stick so that she could go on a "bike" (translation: hike).

Here she is with Cooper.

Liberty Park

Abby and I went to Liberty Park yesterday. She was a bit cautious around all the fountains,

but loved the swing.

She warmed up a little and had lots of fun.

Then we went to the Tracy Aviary!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Abby has the greatest dad in the world. We love him so much! In honor of his special day, Abby painted him her first finger painting masterpiece. She had so much fun and we look forward to doing it again!
At this point, Abby realized that the tummy is just as good a canvas as the paper. (We had a delightfully colorful ring around the bathtub!)
Here she is in action:

Our Hawaiian Princess

At the ward luau this weekend, Abby looked great in her grass skirt! (She was sooo cute...)

I ♥ Camping

On Friday night we went on an overnighter with our friends, the Johnson's and the Davis'. We went to Diamond Fork in Spanish Fork Canyon. I have driven past it hundreds of times because our cabin is up SF Canyon, but never been to DF. It really is beautiful. Ryan D. knew about places to camp past the developed campground and it really was the perfect place to camp.

How I have to dress Abby when she jumps into fountains on chilly mornings at Red Butte Gardens

We had a good time with our friends, Jill, Madeleine and Cate. She loved running around the play area in the gardens and, especially, feeding the ducks with Madeleine!

How we got Abby to eat salmon (and most other meats)...

"Do you want some dip, Abby?"

Good day for Abby

We set up the pool:
and got a killer deal on this Little Tykes climber/slide off of KSL.com:
I've been looking at getting a slide for a while now, but they get sold off the online ads very quickly. We jumped on this one and got it. (They were so nice they even delivered it to us.) Abby spent a while just going in circles (up the back, down the slide, back up again, etc.) saying, "sli, sli, sli". It was so cute! She was bouncing up and down in her high chair during dinner saying, "sli, sli, sli". It was a lot of fun to watch her, not as fun getting her to eat :)

Backyard in the Spring

First, I know that it is June and most of us don't consider June the spring, but spring was late this year so...my spring plants are still blooming.

My backyard has pretty much all spring blooming flowers (except the annuals) so I love it right about now when there are lots of colors.

Here is a sampling:

Ajuga

Bleeding Heart

My favorite iris of the year

Sweet Woodruff (absolute favorite ground cover)

Columbine

Lily of the Valley (sorry about the focus)