A Child's Prayer

Abby is really good at praying all by herself. When she does, this is generally how it goes (without a ton of variation):

"Father, thank thee food. Bless food. Bless Leo. Name Christ. Amen.

Leo is my cousin's little preemie boy. I love how she prays for him.

A couple nights ago Abby was saying the dinner prayers and Mike decided to help her to mix it up a little bit. So he prompted her with things like, "Bless our family" and "Thank thee for our grandmas and grandpas."

I wasn't feeling super well at the time - just the 8+ months pregnant and lack of energy.

So, Mike also prompted Abby to say, "Bless mommy that she'll feel better." She said it, but then all concentration on the prayer was gone. She looked up and started asking - right during the prayer, "Mommy, OK? Mommy, OK?"

It was so cute. I think we finally did get her to finish the prayer, but the rest of the night, she'd come up to me and gently put her hand on my arm and ask, "Mommy, OK?"

Me (and baby brother)

Bonny asked in a recent comment how baby brother and I are doing. Nothing to exciting to report, but here's a little update...

As long as the little guy doesn't show up sometime in the next 5 hours (January 28th), this will be the farthest I have made it in a pregnancy. Hope was five weeks early and Abby was this early. (I think that makes 18 days.)

There is not a lot going on. We see the doctor every week--usually on Tuesdays, if you're interested to know that kind of thing. Dilating and effacing, so progress, yes.

We did, however, tell the doctor that as much as I'd rather not be pregnant, we really need to hold off at least until Friday because I'm not interested in having the house closing postponed (and I think I do need to show up to put my little initials on several trees worth of paper).

Holding off another week after that would be even better - moved into the house, new insurance kicked in, mom here to hang out with Abby, etc., etc.

***And for your reading enjoyment, please be advised that the Santa Fe is no longer in Salt Lake. I am not quite sure exactly where it is, but I trust that it is getting closer to here and farther from there!

An update for my grandma and others who'd like to read it...

I haven't been blogging a lot lately--didn't really feel that I had a whole lot to say, but then I found out that my grandma is checking the blog so I just had to update. (And I realized that there were a couple fun things we could write about:)

First things first, our Santa Fe is still in Salt Lake City. Enough said. You can imagine how we feel about that.

In other news...

Meet Sadie. She is the newest member of our family. We love her dearly. When you ask Abby what her name is, she'll tell you Sadie, but usually she is referred to as "baby". Baby goes places with us, takes naps (we must be quiet while she is sleeping) and most recently she has begun to need diaper changes. (I just need to intercept clean diapers being thrown away that Abby has worked on "changing".)Abby loves dad's key card from work. She'll pull on it from his belt as soon as we get out of the car after bringing him home.

(I was about to say as soon as he walks in the door, but that wouldn't be too accurate because by the time he walks in the door, we've already been together for a 1/2 hour because we pick him up every day because our Santa Fe is in SLC, but that, as you know, is another story.)

She calls the card his "one more time" because she is always asking if she can do it just "one more time". Now she gets to wear it on special occasions.Today some of our new friends from the branch invited us to go to the State Historical Museum. It turned out that today was MI statehood day and so they had some fun "extras" (like birthday cake) going on. Abby and I enjoyed ourselves.

A quilter in training...Yes, we can... (didn't I hear that sometime this week?)
Mom and Abby taking a trip through the country... Dancing to Motown (several of the record covers in the background were of Aretha Franklin - she wasn't wearing the hat)

Here are some randoms...

While we were moving:

• At one point we thought that the movers had packed in one of a zillion boxes the camera and the garage door openers. Our garage had no way of entering without the openers so we would have had some significant explaining to do to S & K. (We found them not in boxes.)
  

Here:

• The midwest (especially in the north) is cold. It was -9 this morning at 9AM. I have been assured that this is not the usual and won't last forever. (Tomorrow we are back in the 20s!) It hasn't been too bad because we don't leave too much. (We take Mike to and from work and run an errand or two on the way.)
• In Murray, we had one TV in the dungeon basement. (It wasn't really a dungeon, but we didn't hang out down there much.) Here in the hotel, we have three. Hmmm...it is a lot easier to watch TV that way.
• Here are a couple things that Abby has talked about today: dancing lessons with Kaley; Grandma Kaye is in Idaho; Grandpa Frank is in Utah; talk to grandpa and grandma (any of them:); Ke-bim (Kevin), Tami, Brooklyn, Isaac, Jack; talk to Lance. She talked to Tami, Kevin and Jack today and that was lots of fun! (If you were not included in Abby's list, rest assured that she has probably talked about you another day and will do so later. We've gone through several times what state everyone is in. She's quite smart with her U.S. geography!)
  

There:

• Our poor Santa Fe must feel abandoned. It is still sitting at the car shipping terminal in SLC!! "Due to weather issues" it hasn't been shipped even though we dropped it off to be shipped 2 weeks ago. Poor, poor Santa Fe. It looks like we will be a one car family for at least another week. At least we didn't have to drive it out here:)

This is the only picture of the Santa Fe I could find and I think this post needs a picture.

Can I throw in a comment about our Santa Fe issue? While I was on the phone with the auto shipping company to get the latest update, the nice lady on the phone was quite apologetic. She assured me that as soon as the weather gets better the truck will be on the way, but...then she threw in "But aren't we glad we aren't the people in the Hudson River?" Like the rest of the country, I think it is a miracle that the plane crash did not end in tragedy. It really is! But, I really don't see how that relates to my car still being in Salt Lake?!?

My Birthday

The plan on my birthday was to go out to lunch with my mom and grandma. When we got to grandma's house to pick her up, my dad's car (along with several others) was suspiciously in the driveway. It turned out my parents had invited all of the not at work relatives over to grandma's house for a birthday/bye-bye lunch. It was really nice - lots of female relatives (3 grandmas, all 3 sisters, a few aunts and several cousins) and a couple male relatives (but not my brother). It was very nice. Here are a couple pictures to show that I am really pregnant and that my face shows it:)

...with my sisters

...with my grandmas

Here is Abby with her cousins on my side. (As you can see, not all eyes were on the camera.)

Abby might miss this doll from Grandma's house as much as anything else.

That night some of us went to the U. gymnastics meet. It was a tough fight but they triumphed. We went to the new Murray Rubio's for dinner. (I am a bit bothered that the grand opening for a Rubio's less than a mile from my house had to be the day before I moved - even if it was on my birthday!)

What we have been doing for the last few days...

It's kind of a long post...

On Saturday, Abby and I flew around 1600 miles with 4+ hours in the air and 3 hours on a layover. She did phenomenal! I really was proud of her.

We have become fans of Southwest Airlines. We were able to make multiple changes (very easily, I might add) to our flight plans, we could check in 4 suitcases with no fees and there were even free peanuts!

While we were flying Mike was driving 1.5 hours to pick us up and buy a new (to us) car in the big city. He bought a Hyundai Sonata. (Now both of our cars are 2003 silver Hyundais.)

The drive home was very long. It had been snowing all day and the freeways were not plowed. We broke up the trip with a stop at Olive Garden and made it to the hotel at around midnight EST.

The hotel we'll be in for the next 3ish weeks will work out nicely. It is a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom "penthouse suite" with a full kitchen. (The second bathroom part is new to us. We haven't figured out much what to do with it.) We've driven past our new house a couple times. It's in the country (kind of). I am so excited to get into it!

Sunday we went to church at our branch. It was about a 30 minute drive, but will only be about 20 when we move into our house. Everyone was very friendly and we think we'll enjoy it. The building doesn't have a cultural hall but the chapel has the padded folding chairs. They do a monthly potluck dinner that happened to be this week so the chapel was just cleared to make way for the tables. It was a nice time to visit. This is our branch building. It is nice and appears to be fairly new.

Yesterday, Abby and I took Mike to work (since we only have one car right now). We spent most of the day in the hotel - other than the Walmart stop we made on the way back from work and the Home Depot stop we made on the way to pick him up.

I am starting to get to know the area a bit. I don't think that Brother Brigham laid this town out, but with the help of our trusty GPS, I don't think it'll take too long...

Also, there is a TON of snow here. I thought we got snow in Utah, but I was wrong. This is snow. The days we were moving out of our house, I was mildly bothered by the wet, slushy snow that seemed to be slowing me down (and just being an inconvenience). I think that here I am already learning that this is just the way it is! Abby has worn her snow boots and no other shoes for two days in a row. (And life hasn't been as hectic as moving out of a house so it has not been bad at all.)

By the way, the area that our hotel is in is really quite pretty (and the snow adds to it). It is right next to the university (which is very old) and all its beautiful and stately brick buildings.

Happy Birthday Marinda!

Believe it or not, this is Mike. This is my first blog post ever – not just on The Wessman Family blog, but on any blog – how exciting. If you’re reading this, it means I didn’t crash the blog and thus ruin all the posts Marinda has made in the past year and a half. If you’re not reading this, well, it means Marinda won’t be very happy about my attempted birthday surprise.Given that I’m far away at my new job missing her birthday celebration (which will be more fun than sitting in a hotel room), it seems appropriate to do something. So, here are a few of the things I love about Marinda. One for each of her years…

1. She is my best friend.
2. We have a great time traveling for vacations.
3. She keeps a great blog – a readily available reminder of the great vacation’s we’ve taken (and other important things like Abby learning to Trick-or-Treat).
4. We laugh together.
5. We cry together.
6. Marinda is a fantastic mother!
7. She married me! (despite all the times I put my foot in my mouth and my very hairy arms)
8. She says my very hairy legs are sexy (or was it manly? – whatever it was, she hasn’t asked me to shave my legs)
9. Marinda is kind, compassionate, and determinedly serves others.
10. Her testimony and example strengthen my faith in Christ and have made me a better person.
11. She makes some great meals (Mmm, homemade pizza, Thai food in the mountains, a really yummy blue cheese steak dish for example).
12. She loves me!
13. We talk together.
14. We get along well – I don’t think we’ve ever had a fight.
15. We pray together, which I enjoy.
16. She took a chance by square dancing with me.
17. She gave me her REAL phone number after we square danced.
18. She’s Hope’s Mom.
19. She’s Abby’s Mom.
20. She’s our new baby boy’s Mom (We need a name for him – any suggestions – I’m told that Rufus is not going to happen).
21. She’s moving to a new state and new home with me right before having a new baby and even though she’ll miss family and friends is excited for the new adventure together.
22. She’s pretty darn smart.
23. She knows pretty much any phone number I don’t want to look up.
24. We have fun camping together – dirt, fire smell, and all!
25. Marinda is a great gardener (yes, that plant I was trying to save was a weed).
26. We’ll be together forever.
27. She’s really easy to get along with, puts up with me (nerdy engineer and all), and tells me when I’m out of line.
28. She takes care of our home, our family, and makes life wonderful.
29. Marinda is my tremendously beautiful wife and best friend.

Happy Birthday Marinda!!!
I Love you! ~ Mike

A few farewells...

Monday night we drove up to the cemetery to take a few pictures with little Hope. The roads and the weather were not the best. (We had to park the car a ways away from her headstone knowing we might not be leaving the cemetery very easily if we didn't.) We were happy to stop by and will miss being so close to such a beautiful cemetery and peaceful resting place for our little girl.

Sunday evening friends from the ward arranged for an open house. (Thank so much to Monica for coordinating and Becca and Bruce for hosting.) Our Murray 3rd ward is precious to us and we have been deeply blessed by so many.

Sunday evening earlier we went with my family to the Draper Temple open house. It was beautiful and I was so glad we were able to see the temple before leaving. My parents will be in its district.Sunday afternoon we visited with Grandpa David and Grandma Nancy. Abby enjoys visiting them. Nancy is so good to have fun toys for Abby to play with!

Sunday morning we were happy to have Grandpa Dave and Grandma Kaye along with Bekah and Lance with us at church. We so appreciated all the help they gave to us in preparations for our move. (We said our farewells at church. I don't have a picture.)

Thursday, Grandma Mary and Grandpa Frank came by. We love to visit with them and appreciate all the love and affection they show for Abby.


The last couple of days we have been saying farewell to our cute little house. The movers finished packing and loading today and are off! Last weekend, I had to get several suitcases packed that we could use for the next couple weeks before we move into our new house. Abby was watching me pack a suitcase and decided to pack one herself. This was her contribution:

Today she was very cute to watch with the movers. Towards the end of the day, they were wrapping up smaller pieces of furniture into the moving blankets. They would spread the blanket on the floor, lay down the piece of furniture diagonally, fold up the corners and then tape them all together. Abby loves to spread blankets on the floor and lie herself or her dolls on the blankets so this part of the packing process was thoroughly fascinating to her. After the movers took up one of our rugs there were some slip guards left on the floor. She picked one up, spread it out, put a little round thingy that had been under our couch on it, folded the corners up and asked for tape! It was fun to watch.

More farewells to go. I will miss Utah and so many people so deeply. (I certainly won't miss this whole process though.)

I think she'll be a good big sister...

Abby loves her new doll (complete with a binkie and bottle) that grandma and grandpa gave her.

Merry Christmas!

At this time of Christmas, this season when gifts are given, let us not forget that God gave His Son, and His Son gave His life, that each of us might have the gift of eternal life. --President Gordon B. Hinckley

Christmas Festivities - Part 2

Coming back into town last night we stopped at my parents for dinner. It was great to visit with everyone, do a little nativity with the grandkids and open the traditional pajamas.This morning we woke up and opened family gifts. Abby loved the train set from Santa and the books and toy from mom and dad. (She caught on to the whole opening presents idea very quickly.)After opening gifts, we went to Grandma Nielsen's house for breakfast. It was fabulous to see so many of my cousins (especially knowing that it might be a while before I see them again). Next we went to visit Grandpa Tom in the care center and then to my parents house to exchange gifts with them. It has been a busy day and we are now about to head to a movie...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Festivities - Part 1

Last Sunday we journeyed to visit with Mike's parents and sister and brother-in-law. We had a great time and enjoyed celebrating Christmas with them. We returned to Salt Lake on Christmas Eve. Somehow we lucked out completely by not hitting any snowstorms. (We made both trips in under 4 hours and 30 minutes!)

We swam at the nice rec center. Abby loved the big fast water slide.

She was enamored with her gorgeous new princess crown and earrings.
We did a mini hike to an overlook of the city and it was hard to pull Abby away from all the rocks!

Santa's Super Hero Elf

A couple weeks ago we went to Abby's cousin's Spiderman birthday party. She made a fierce super hero and went through at least 3 swords. Fortunately, Abby's uncle is a master balloon twister.

Meeting the webbed hero himself was a bit tramatic.

Funny thing--Spiderman showed up at the family Christmas party as well. He must really like our family:)

Last night Mike and Abby tried out the Spiderman tattoos he handed out. She was scared of the water (?) at first but then thought it was pretty cool that dad got one too!

Just for fun, here is Abby with our Christmas lights. She loves them. (Remember that I am decorating very simply this year.)

Where in the world...

Way back when when we decided to move, I started thinking about all the issues of going private, not revealing too much on the blog, etc. so I am going to do a little experiment. We have (finally) accepted a job offer and know where and when we'll be moving. It is a good feeling! Here's the experiment: I am not going to say where. Most of you already know. If you don't, feel free to email me because I'd love to tell you (really). I'm going to try for a while to be a bit less transparent on my blog (at least as far as locations). I think I'll hate it and just end up going private, but that doesn't sound super fun either. So, we'll wait and see.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Mike!

Happy birthday to our favorite daddy. Here he is reading with Abby and her cousin.

Today is Mike's 30th birthday. I did a little hubby questionnaire all about him. I love you, Mike!

1. Where did you meet your husband?
At a Stake FHE when we were both attending University Student Wards

2. How long did you date?
7 1/2 months

3. How long have you been married?
It will be 5 years in March

4. What does he do that surprises you?
Lots of things - he is really good to do dishes or laundry without being "hinted" at. Once he made plans to go snowboarding with some friends and when he got halfway to the ski resort he turned around and came back so that he could spend the day with me! That surprised me, but it is definitely true to his character!

5. What is your favorite feature of his?
I love his smile and dark hair.

6. What is his best quality?
He is very patient and extremely rarely gets upset.

7. Does he have a nick name for you?
Not really, but does call me "honey" a lot.

8. What is his favorite food?
He is very un-picky and will eat just about anything.

9. What is his favorite sport?
His knees don't let him participate in a lot of sports, but he does love snowboarding and enjoys watching U. football and Jazz games.

10. When and where was your first kiss?
Our first kiss was in a little canyon close to my family's cabin over Labor Day weekend.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
We love to take vacations and road trips.

12. Do you have children?
2 girls and a boy on the way

13. Does he have hidden talents?
Mike is very compassionate. He reaches out to everyone and always strives to make others feel included.

14. How old is he?
30 years old today!

15. Who said I love you first?
He did! We took a drive up in Lamb's Canyon and stopped to sit by a pretty stream...

16. His favorite music?
Right now--Christmas music. Other than that, he's pretty eclectic.

17. What to you admire most about him?
As I already mentioned, I love how he reaches out to so many people. I also admire his ability to keep his cool, be patient and not get upset.

18. What is his favorite color?
Blue

19. Who eats more?
I actually think that I do (especially when I am pregnant). He is a healthier eater!

20. Who sings better?
I think that I probably do, but it is something that he really works at!

21. Who is smarter?
Mike. (I take pride though in knowing that we got the same ACT score in high school.)

22. Who does the laundry?
We both do (especially with Mike home so much now). I am really good at starting it and he is better at finishing it up!

23. Who does the dishes?
We both do.

24. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
Mike

25. Who pays the bills?
That is a complicated question. Mike pays the bills that are not on auto pay. I maintain the day-to-day budget.

26. Who mows the lawn?
Mike does. He tells me he likes to.

27. Who cooks dinner?
I do nearly always. He does on occasion. He's a good cook.

28. Who drives when you are together?
Most of the time Mike does.

29. Who is more stubborn?
Me

30. Who asked who out first?
Mike did. He got my phone number at the FHE activity and called me a couple days later.

31. Who is more sensitive?
I think that we are both pretty sensitive in different ways.

32. Who has more siblings?
I have 4. He has 3.

33. Will he read this?
Eventually yes:)

A few numbers...

$1.37

This is how much I paid per gallon of gas last night. Delicious!

91

This is how old my grandma is. We went together to the Jazz game with my aunt and uncle Wednesday night. It was a lot of fun! I love being with her. We parked a block and a half away and I genuinely had a hard time keeping up with her as we walked to the arena. (Yes, she really is 91.) (Unfortunately, the Jazz did not score more than 91, but the Miami Heat did--i.e. they lost.)

3 lbs. 2 oz.

This is how big baby brother is. (No, we don't have a name for him. The list keeps getting longer rather than shorter. Someday he will have a name. I am sure of it.) We got to "see" him on Wednesday. He is very cute. Speaking of baby brother, here is a cute anecdote about "big sister". When we ask Abby where her baby brother is, she taps her tummy and says, "My tummy!" We try to tell her, "No, he's in mommy's tummy." She will have none of that!

Job and Moving update:
Ask me on Monday. I think we'll commit then. We have a couple job offers and if you have heard us talk about where we have been leaning the last few weeks, you're probably gonna be right. The house is under contract. We have been very blessed.

What to do with a Little People's Nativity set:

1. Let Mary read touchy-feely books. I couldn't turn the pages until Mary had her turn to touch. So cute.

2. Lay all the toys out on a blanket so I can cover them up for their naps.

3. Feed the donkeys their hay.

Christmas Trees:
"Hmmm...where to put this one..." These are our vacation trees. We like to get little souvenir ornaments on trips... This is the very proud girl next to the oh-so-simply-decorated-with-lots-of-love tree. (There really are more ornaments on the tree than meets the eye. It turned out to be a very cute tree!)

Stay tuned for some very cute pictures of baby brother just taken today thanks to my cousin, Marilee, the sonographer...