Dress and pony tails

Books

As I mentioned a couple posts ago, I set a goal to read all the Newbery award winning books. It'll take a couple years, but should be fun. I wanted a good way to track my progress and not trusting myself to keep track of a list that I can cross off, I started another blog just for fun. Mainly it is for me to remember which books I've read, but if you're interested, you're welcome to look at it.

Lots of eggs

Today Abby participated in her first (two) Easter egg hunt(s). The Easter bunny visited last night so she had to search for eggs in the living room. (The only problem was that she felt that the chocolate already in the basket was enough. Why would I need plastic eggs, she thought? Once we convinced her that the eggs would only add to the stash of sugar, she was on board.)

At 9 am we attended the neighborhood egg hunt/potluck breakfast. Lots of fun. I kind of felt for the kids (although they probably didn't care) picking up the eggs covered with frost on them.

Abigail Stuff

So I know that many of you are much more interested in what Abby is up to than my mindless babblings...sorry I haven't posted pictures of her for a bit. Here are some cute ones:

Abby thinks that playing with dad's hat is pretty fun...she looks really cute!

The other day my friend, Jill, and I took Abby and her daughter Madeleine to Wheeler Farm. The kids had a good time and Abby really thought that driving the tractor was great! Unfortunately, my shutter didn't capture the real moment, but you can take my word for it!

The other day Mike helped with the nursery during the Relief Society birthday party. Abby discovered the little slide. She is pretty fearless! She could climb up it and send herself down it all on her own. Pretty fun!

Going through some things in the basement the other day, I came across the baby swing. For fun I set it up and let Abby go for a ride. (Sorry about the basement lighting.) She said "wheee" the whole time. (Cute!) We left it set up for a while and she is very proficient and climbing in and out. I am itching to buy some fun outside toys for the good weather--like a little slide or swing!

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh

My neighbors, Cheree, told me that she and her husband (avid readers) have set a goal to read all of the Newbery books. (I think that there are ~85 of them now.) She said that they were past the halfway mark. I liked the idea so, while still trying to keep up with two book clubs, I'm reading Newberys. I've only read about 16 so far (but I'm not counting it if I really don't remember it even though I think I've read it). Today I finished Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. I have had this book on my shelf for years, but, sadly, I hadn't read it. (Well, I suppose I still haven't because I listened to it on CD.) Loved it!!!

Here are a couple ideas. I don't think I revealed any major spoilers...

Mrs. Frisby is a mother who gains courage to do the impossible in order to save her sick child. She is willing to take dangerous journeys out of desperation to the owl, across the farmyard (passing the cat) and eventually to an unlikely friendship with a colony of rats. I continue to be amazed--now that I am a mother--at what I am willing to do for the benefit of my baby. Oftentimes it is mundane, but we just do it because they need us and rely on us. I couldn't help but love Mrs. Frisby for the mother that she was.

The Rats of NIMH were former lab rats that had learned to read, reason and live in a rather civilized manner. At one stage of their escape from NIMH, the leader, Nicodemus, comments that they'd never be able to return to their former life as rats living in the dump. They were new creatures because of the knowledge they had gained. I couldn't help but think of people as we are growing and maturing throughout our lives (especially within the gospel) that we really do become new people. As the Bible says, we are born again. And we could never return to the lives that we had left behind--all because we know that there is such a "better world" (Ether 12:4).

My last thought (and I wish I had good quotes for all of these, but listening to the CDs and then trying to go back and find certain quotes in the book--doesn't work too well): At one point in their "training", Nicodemus realizes that rats are typically hated because they steal from others. Rats scavenge (steal) food and the Rats of NIMH have set up a colony and even in their "enlightened state" they are stealing electricity, food, seeds and running water from the nearby farm house. Nicodemus and the others establish a plan to live self-sufficiently. I love the idea of people (or rats, I suppose) doing all in their power to support themselves and their families. It takes a lot of effort and perhaps there are easy ways to let someone else take care of you, but the self-respect and the skills that come from self sufficiency are irreplaceable.

I am sure that the idea of this book seems a bit silly, but I was amazed at what I took away from it!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our anniversary. It's been 4 years but seems like a lot longer (and I mean that in a very good way). It's hard to imagine life without our little family! I thought I'd share our "story" in honor of this day:

We met at a stake singles ward Family Home Evening (July 28, 2003). We were both attending University of Utah singles wards. It was a square dance. Mike saw me and asked me to dance. Later he came over and talked to me and got my phone number. I thought he seemed like a nice young guy, but really didn't think a lot about it. He called me the next day, but I was gone for three days (he probably didn't expect me to call back) before I called back. We went out for the first time on August 8th (dinner and donut falls with his former roommate and his girlfriend who it turned out I knew). I had a lot of fun (more than I expected) but it wasn't until our second date (two days later to a fireside) that I decided this was something to pursue. He invited me to a "group" assassination game up at the U that week and I actually invited him to go to St. George with some friends and I that weekend. Amazingly, he agreed to come, but I scared him a bit when I was a bit nervous driving down and had some problems with "speed control". (Later in the trip we ran out of gas on the freeway--whoops!) Anyway, he still liked me.
We decided to get married late September/early October (speedy) and got officially engaged on December 26th. We were at my parents cabin and went on a snowmobile ride. It was snowing. Mike stopped and suggested we take a picture. He set the timer on the camera and proposed. Fun!
We got married in the Salt Lake LDS Temple on March 12, 2004. We had a reception the following day at my parents' church in Sandy and then left on our honeymoon to Tahiti/Moorea. Amazing place!! We had an open house in Idaho Falls the weekend we returned.
Here we are 4 years later. Life is great and it gets better every year. Mike is the greatest thing that ever happened to me and I love being married to him!

Tagged

It's been a while, but I am back. Amber tagged me so here it goes...

A-Attached or Single: Attached - eternally:) to Mike; during the day, often physically to Abby
B-Best Friend: Mike
C-Cake or Pie: definitely pie - preferably, cream
D-Day of Choice: Friday evening through Sunday
E-Essential Item: a book
F-Favorite TV Show: The Office and American Idol
G-Gummie Bears or Worms: Bears (my dad used to bring the yummy Haribo ones home from Germany to us)
H-Hometown: born in Del Rio, TX; raised in Sandy; residing in Murray
I-Indulgence: so many to choose from...love hot fudge sundaes or anything peanut buttery
J-January or July: July, even though my b-day is in January--love summertime, playing outside and seeing the neighborhood outside a lot
K-Kids: Hope and Abby
L-Life is incomplete without: Mike and Abby, church
M-Marriage Date: March 12, 2004
N-Number of Siblings: 3 younger sisters and 1 younger brother
O-Oranges or Apples: oranges
P-Phobias or Fears: car accidents
Q-Quote: "If I don't know it's time to grow"
R-Reason to Smile: Abby learning to talk and walk and everything else!
T-Tag: anyone who feels so inclined - it's kind of fun
U-Unknown fact about me: when I was a teenager, my family took a few trips overseas on big military planes and we rested in the "boom pod" under the plane with a window that looks straight down to refuel the smaller jets - pretty fun!
V-Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: love the meat
W-Worst Habit: well, I am sure I won't tell you all the worst, but I am really good at starting the laundry on Monday and not getting it folded until sometime on Saturday:) I have worse ones, but too prideful to share
X-X-rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds - they oftentimes come with cute little people
Y-Your Favorite Food: roast and potatoes
Z-Your Zodiac: Capricorn

Red Rocks

Mike and I have a favorite weekend activity. We bought season tickets to the University of Utah gymnastics. There are 6 home meets over the course of three months and it is sooo much fun. The best part is that they are really good (ranked 2nd in the nation)!

Our Weekend

Today I am trying to catch up a bit on my posting. There hasn't been a lot to post on lately, but we've had a few things this weekend:

• Abby really can walk. She doesn't always choose to, and she still is pretty wobbly, but more and more she is choosing to walk more than crawl. Her max is about 10 steps and depending on how quickly she wants to get to her destination, she may fall after 2-3 steps because she is a bit too zealous, but she is definitely improving and close to being a full-fledged walker!
• Unfortunately, walking may take a couple days hiatus because she got sick at the cabin over the weekend. Poor, baby.
• Speaking of the cabin, we went. It was nice, a bit crowded (13 people) and good relaxation. There was lots of snow. This picture is the door to the basement (where Mike, Abby and I always sleep) that my parents and brother-in-law had dug out because the snow buried the door. A few of the steps leading to the main door were completely buried as well.
• Mike and I went horse riding with my sister Kaley and her friends on Saturday. It had been a long time since I'd ridden, but it was uneventful (that's good when you're on a horse) and very pretty. We went in the gully just a mile or two from my parents' house. That reminded me how lucky we are to have such great destinations in our own backyards! We don't have to look too far to find beauty around here.
• We have a new niece to welcome into our family. Yeah! Kalyn Elise Wessman was born yesterday! She is a beautiful baby!

Thoughts on Valentine's

Last night as I was reading blogs, I came across several posts on the merits of Valentine's. I will share mine...It all starts on December 11th (Mike's birthday). Two weeks later is Christmas. Two weeks later is my birthday. A month later is Valentine's and less than a month after that is our anniversary. So in the long parade of gift giving days, Valentine's loses!

Lest you think that we simply ignore the day, we usually exchange cards and have something nicer than usual for dinner. This year we also took Abby swimming at the Murray pool. It had been a long time since she'd been swimming so she got off to a bit of a rough start, but once she got going, she loved it! In fact, she loved playing on the toys in the kiddie pool area. The stairs on the toys start in about 12" of water and she would come down the slide and just crawl over to the toys. It didn't seem to bug her that she was crawling submerged. (It bugged mom and dad though so we discouraged that as much as possible.)

Ronald McDonald House

I thought I'd share a fun project my family did this weekend:

The Ronald McDonald House in Salt Lake City is a place where out of town families can stay while their children are in the hospitals (Primary and Shriner's). These are families who do not have another place to stay or the resources to stay in a hotel. Because it is a charitable organization, their resources don't allow them to do a lot of cosmetic upgrades to the building. There is an ongoing effort on their part to have volunteers to adopt and redo rooms in the house. As a service project, my family redecorated a room in the house this weekend. It was a fair amount of work but we think that it turned out nice and I thought I'd share some of the before and after pictures.


The house is located on the corner of N Street and South Temple which happened to be along the funeral procession route for President Hinckley. We enjoyed going out onto the corner and waving handkerchiefs as the procession passed. We were able to see several of the Twelve as they passed by. It was an emotional moment. (Elder Bednar waved specifically at us!)

President Hinckley

I must write some sort of tribute to a man who has influenced millions of people and who has personally influenced me. From the moment I found out he had passed away, I thought about what kind of legacy President Hinckley had left for me. It wasn't hard for me to decide that what has always stuck out to me the most (and I think that he mentioned something along these lines pretty much every conference) is the need to reach out to others--especially outside our comfort zone--not just in an effort to spread the gospel, but to just be genuinely friendly and nice. That has been something I have tried to work on lately. President Hinckley was a master at this--reaching out and loving all, unconditionally and genuinely. I know that everyone will take varying things away from his ministry, but I just thought I'd share mine. I am so grateful that the Lord provides us with prophets for our time and for us!

My brother-in-law, Kevin, has been forwarding us links to various slide show and video tributes. I thought some of you may be interested. FYI--the first two are specific to his relationship to BYU. For those of us who are Cougars, it is a truly sentimental trip down memory lane!

BYU Slideshow 1
BYU Slideshow 2
Glenn Beck video tribute

Then and Now

A few days ago I was editing some old video and came across some pictures and video from last January where we had put this really cute snowman outfit on Abby when we went up to the cemetery. We didn't use the outfit much after that because she was so small that she got lost in it and we had a hard time not losing her (and, hence, not suffocating her) in it. Well, we thought that since she's still little maybe she'd fit in the 0-9 months snowsuit. So a week or so we went back to the cemetery (not that cemeteries are the only places it can be worn) and tried it again. Fits perfectly! Can't say that she loved it, but cute pictures came out of it!

Then:

Now:

Baby Steps

It has been a few days since I have posted, but it has been a nice week or so. Sunday after church we headed up to meet my parents at my grandma's house so that the 6 of us could drive up to Idaho Falls together and go to the Rexburg Temple Open House on Monday. It was a nice, but quick little getaway. While getting ready to leave from my grandma's house, I went into the bathroom and Mike was outside putting the car seat in grandma's car. I hear my mom yell out, "She walked to me!" Then I hear my mom say, "Do it again, Abby, come to grandma...yeah, good girl, you did it!" So my child took her first steps (twice) and I didn't even see them:) That's OK though because she gave us several repeat performances. (I did give my mom a hard time about encouraging her to walk the second time while I wasn't around to watch, but she definitely had the right to gloat.) So, lest you wonder, no, Abby cannot officially walk now, but she is very good at the 2-3 step journeys. Here is a little video. It is actually only one step, but trust me that she can do it!


Here is a picture of us at the temple. In addition to my mom, dad and grandma, Mike's sister Lara came with us.Here is a cute little anecdote from the temple tour: Our tour guide told us at one point that the next room we'd be seeing would be the Celestial Room. He told us a little about the decor in the room (8,000 crystals in the chandelier) and then said that because it is such a special room, he wouldn't be talking to us in the room to allow us to feel the special Spirit and reverence of the temple and to look around quietly. Well, the moment we walked into the room, Abby saw the big chandelier and starts out with "la-la-la-la, etc." She learned how to say "lights" during Christmas (la-la) and now loves to say it whenever she sees more than your typical fluorescent bulb. We tried to quiet her down with her pacifier, but, no use, she let everyone in the Celestial Room know that she could see the lights! It was a bit noisy for the Celestial Room, but no one minded it coming from a baby--and I suppose it is a good reminder that the temple and the gospel bring Light in the truest sense into our lives. (John 8:12)

New Year's at the Cabin

We spent New Year's at my parents' cabin with my sister and her family and my brother. My parents and my other two sisters were supposed to come down, but snow storms got in their way. We still had a nice and relaxing time. It is always one of my favorite places to be.

Here is Mike (being the favorite uncle) with Abby and our niece and nephews peeking out of the mini tent.
We went sledding down the driveway. Abby didn't respond a ton to it either way, but I was surprised that any time we were outside (that didn't happen a lot since New Year's Eve at about 10PM was -11˚) she never seemed to complain about the cold. We bundled her up pretty well!

Merry Christmas!

We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas this week!!! We had a very enjoyable (and memorable) Christmas. Having a little person around to enjoy the sights and sounds made it fabulous!

Here are some pictures. On Christmas Eve we spent the evening with my family. We actually had to head back to their place at 10:30 that night to spend the night because of some police activity that would not allow us onto our street (that is part of the memorable part:). We ate Christmas Day breakfast at my Grandma Nielsen's house and then exchanged gifts with my family. We had dinner with many from Mike's family that night. It was a great and very busy day! With all the comings and goings, we (Mike, Abby and I) didn't get to exchanging our gifts until the morning of the 26th. That actually turned out very nice because it was so calm and laid back!


Christmas is about Christ and family and I am so happy that we were able to enjoy the spirit of both!

Book Suggestions?

I belong to two book clubs and in January we will be planning the reading schedule for both. Any great suggestions? Here are a few of my favorites that we read this year. Any genre is fine...

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
These Is My Words by Nancy Turner
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

On Abby and Christmas Magic

We are doing our best to help Abby enjoy the Spirit of Christmas this year. We have talked about baby Jesus, listened to lot of Christmas music and loved the lights. It's such a magical time of year. Here is some of Abigail's magic:

Candy Canes
We have a few candy canes on the Christmas tree. As far as I know Abby has (had) never had a candy cane, but I did have to move the candy canes to higher branches on the tree when she had taken off the lower ones, broken them and was caught with bits of candy in her mouth--managing to avoid the wrapper. (Smart kid!)

Music
We seem to have a rather musical child. You know that song that starts with Pachebel's canon, then sings "This night, on this very Christmas night..." The other morning as the Pachebel's canon part was playing Abby was singing, "Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh, ahhh." I couldn't quite tell if she was precisely on key, but she was making a very valiant effort!

"Deck the Halls" seems to be the winner though. (Stay tuned for a great video!)

Snow
I'm not convinced that the snow thing has really grabbed her attention, but, admittedly, I haven't done a lot to foster that relationship! She looks great in the snowsuit! (Thanks, Samantha...) We'll keep working on it.

Santa
Has sat on his lap twice--liked him--no tears. (Bummer--no pictures either.)

Books
One of her twin bruises on her forehead was from tumbling while standing on her tippy toes trying to reach her favorite pop-up books that are really mommy's favorite pop-up books:)

True Christmas Magic
The true magic of Christmas is in the spirit of family, of giving, and, above all, in the Savior, Jesus Christ. We're working right now on trying to help her say Jesus. She is very close, I think. That would be a great present for her to learn to say Jesus for Christmas. Don't you think?

Ten Things I Love About Mike (or Ode to Mike in Honor of His Birthday)

In honor of Mike's 29th birthday, I'd like to post ten things I love about him. In case you may wonder, there are many, many more things than just 10 that I love about him--but tradition dictates "10".

10. I love that Mike is so friendly. I suppose that if he wasn't we may not have met as he did take the chance in coming and asking me (a stranger:) to dance 4 1/2 years ago. But, really, he is friendly with everyone. He has very little inhibitions about talking to people and always tries to make them feel noticed and included.

9. I love that Mike is so committed to the gospel. He has a strong testimony and works daily to strengthen it.

8. I love that Mike is a missionary. (This fits in well with both #10 and #9.) He hands out pass along cards on vacations and is an awesome home teacher.

7. I love that Mike always likes to try new things. He is always up for visiting new places and eating new foods (that is one he's a bit--more than a bit--more daring than me on).

6. I love that Mike is so handy. He has done so much around the house and does it himself! He knows how to learn if he doesn't already know how to do it. On top of that, he takes pride in his work and the stuff looks good.

5. Speaking of learning, I love that Mike is so smart. He did well in school and is now using lots of his smarts as a valued employee.

4. I love that Mike is completely devoted to family--his parents and siblings, my family, me, Abby and Hope!

3. I love his personality in general. We have so much fun together! He is a lot more level-headed than I and knows how to talk sense into me when I need it:)

2. Mike is a great dad! He loves to play with Abby and make her laugh. She loves it in the evenings when she hears the door open and just knows that her daddy is home!

1. I love how Mike treats me. He is kind, thoughtful, fun, loyal and complimentary. He is very patient with me (and rarely lets me know when he is needing to exercise that patience). I love him very much and am thrilled that I've got him forever!

Cute Abby

Other than the recently mentioned illnesses, we are happy and enjoying the Christmas season. Here are some recent pictures: