Just a quick story to demonstrate the awesomeness that is my life...
Last night Mark and I got home from visiting family (that post will have to come later). We unpacked and relaxed and watched the season finale of Survivor (ugh, totally random but I was not happy with the outcome; I didn't always like Russell, but I liked him more than either of the two girls in the final three with him). Anyways, I was pretty tired by the time we finished the 2+ hours finale and definitely ready to hit the sack, when Mark (thankfully) reminded me that I had an early morning meeting the next day. I hate to admit that I became a little grumpy at that point. I hate waking up early and Mondays are not my favorite to begin with. Mark was the sweetest to me and helped me, even though I was grumpy. He helped me get ready for a somewhat early bedtime and even offered to stay up later to make my macaroni and cheese for lunch. (another random note: if anyone has any good ideas for things to eat for lunch, please share! Lunch is my absolute least favorite meal of the day because I can never think of what to eat and I hate to pack one every day and it just drives me crazy) Mark helped me through the process of brushing my teeth and tucked me into bed and kissed me goodnight. During the middle of the night I woke up from a nightmare, nudged Mark, and asked him to cuddle with me because I get scared. Mark automatically pulled me in and held me close and cuddled with me all night long until the morning. Best husband ever. When I woke up super seriously early, I got ready for the day and was about ready to head out when Mark woke up and immediately remembered and asked me about my dream. (random: Mark usually wakes up the same time I do, but I just had such an early meeting and he had a test that day). I love this man! He is so kind to me, even when I'm grumpy and needy and crazy. He's amazing!!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
November 2009
Well, turns out I didn't take a ton of pictures during November, so this may be a shorter post than it really deserves. First of all, my sister Amber, who is a freshman on the BYU Women's Soccer Team, came out to San Jose with the team to play in the NCAA championship games. We were so excited to find out that some of the tournament games were played at Stanford, which isn't too far from us. Also exciting... Amber was able to write our names down on the player's family and friends list, meaning... we got to watch these amazing games for free! We are all over free activities. We were able to go watch both games that BYU played in and had so much fun. I've never been hugely into soccer until Amber started playing (which has been all her life), but I'm finding more and more that games, especially live games, can be really exciting to watch. Here's a picture of Amber playing around during warm-ups during one of the games.
The weather became pretty cold by the end of the night, so I was glad that I brought my sweatshirt and my lion coat. Yes, my lion coat. I bought it at Ross (yay to Visalia's Ross!) and absolutely love it. The lion-esque fuzzy part does come off and I do that occasionally, but sometimes you just gotta revel in the lionness of the coat. Here's us up in the stands, ready to cheer on the Cougs!
After the game we were excited to find out that we could go eat dinner with the team at the Cheesecake Factory. It took quite awhile to be seated and get our food, what with the whole team, coaches, and family members all getting seats in the same area, but we had a blast. Amber and I reminisced about the good old days growing up and absolutely laughed like crazy. We were so glad to have been able to hang out with her. Love that girl! We were also super excited about watching the soccer games for free. We love good free activities!
For Thanksgiving, we spent the holiday with the Abbotts. Most of the family, minus the North Carolina Abbos, were able to be there and we had such a blast hanging out with everyone. I have to admit that this was my first Thanksgiving not being with my Wadsworth family so I did miss them, but I had a great time celebrating with my new Abbott family and was so glad to start new traditions. One thing that I for sure didn't want to miss during Thanksgiving was some yummy yams. Growing up, we always had yams every year for Thanksgiving. For a good portion of my life I avoided them until I got a bit older and tried them again. They are now my most favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. I was a bit disappointed to find out that the Abbotts didn't have yams for Thanksgiving, but soon remedied that by offering to make them myself. I was a bit nervous about it because I'd never actually made them myself before, but they ended up tasting pretty good for a first try. And other people actually tried them (some had to be forced) and actually enjoyed them! So I may be able to make them again in future years. Awesome. One fun tradition that the Abbotts have is to get dressed up for the big meal. This was a new one for me because we sometimes ate in what could be called pajamas when we had Thanksgiving with our Cahoon cousins. It ended up being a fun thing to get dressed up. It made the whole experience seem much more classy. So we spent a good portion of the day getting everything prepped and cooked and set up and ready to go. It was fun being able to help out and be part of the whole experience. Abby had us each write down something that we were grateful for on tiny slips of paper. Then during the meal she read them out loud and we had to guess who had written what. Some of them were pretty funny. The food was absolutely amazing. Lots of people helped out and everything turned out soooo well. Not only was the food spectacular, but the tables were so nicely decorated. We ate so much and had tons of fun chatting and hanging out with everyone that day and the rest of the holiday weekend. We definitely had a blast and are looking forward to future Abbott and Wadsworth Thanksgivings to be had.
(disclaimer: if most of the written part of this blog post seems a bit rushed and all over the place, well, it is. I had apparently only typed the first paragraph and then inadvertently logged out of google without realizing it, continued typing up the entire post, went to save it, and got an error message. I opened up the draft version to find that everything except that first paragraph was gone. So aggravating. I tried to recreate the post, but it's hard to get it back to the perfection it was before... or at least the perfection that I will claim it was at before.)
The weather became pretty cold by the end of the night, so I was glad that I brought my sweatshirt and my lion coat. Yes, my lion coat. I bought it at Ross (yay to Visalia's Ross!) and absolutely love it. The lion-esque fuzzy part does come off and I do that occasionally, but sometimes you just gotta revel in the lionness of the coat. Here's us up in the stands, ready to cheer on the Cougs!
After the game we were excited to find out that we could go eat dinner with the team at the Cheesecake Factory. It took quite awhile to be seated and get our food, what with the whole team, coaches, and family members all getting seats in the same area, but we had a blast. Amber and I reminisced about the good old days growing up and absolutely laughed like crazy. We were so glad to have been able to hang out with her. Love that girl! We were also super excited about watching the soccer games for free. We love good free activities!
For Thanksgiving, we spent the holiday with the Abbotts. Most of the family, minus the North Carolina Abbos, were able to be there and we had such a blast hanging out with everyone. I have to admit that this was my first Thanksgiving not being with my Wadsworth family so I did miss them, but I had a great time celebrating with my new Abbott family and was so glad to start new traditions. One thing that I for sure didn't want to miss during Thanksgiving was some yummy yams. Growing up, we always had yams every year for Thanksgiving. For a good portion of my life I avoided them until I got a bit older and tried them again. They are now my most favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. I was a bit disappointed to find out that the Abbotts didn't have yams for Thanksgiving, but soon remedied that by offering to make them myself. I was a bit nervous about it because I'd never actually made them myself before, but they ended up tasting pretty good for a first try. And other people actually tried them (some had to be forced) and actually enjoyed them! So I may be able to make them again in future years. Awesome. One fun tradition that the Abbotts have is to get dressed up for the big meal. This was a new one for me because we sometimes ate in what could be called pajamas when we had Thanksgiving with our Cahoon cousins. It ended up being a fun thing to get dressed up. It made the whole experience seem much more classy. So we spent a good portion of the day getting everything prepped and cooked and set up and ready to go. It was fun being able to help out and be part of the whole experience. Abby had us each write down something that we were grateful for on tiny slips of paper. Then during the meal she read them out loud and we had to guess who had written what. Some of them were pretty funny. The food was absolutely amazing. Lots of people helped out and everything turned out soooo well. Not only was the food spectacular, but the tables were so nicely decorated. We ate so much and had tons of fun chatting and hanging out with everyone that day and the rest of the holiday weekend. We definitely had a blast and are looking forward to future Abbott and Wadsworth Thanksgivings to be had.
(disclaimer: if most of the written part of this blog post seems a bit rushed and all over the place, well, it is. I had apparently only typed the first paragraph and then inadvertently logged out of google without realizing it, continued typing up the entire post, went to save it, and got an error message. I opened up the draft version to find that everything except that first paragraph was gone. So aggravating. I tried to recreate the post, but it's hard to get it back to the perfection it was before... or at least the perfection that I will claim it was at before.)
Sunday, May 2, 2010
September and October 2009
September
For Labor Day, we had a gathering of the Abbott clan to celebrate Papa's birthday! I've been so grateful for him and all that he does. We love you tons!! We're so glad to be near to a good portion of the Abbotts and to get together with them as often as we can. We definitely miss Randy, Sandy, and kids, but were glad Sandy was able to make it out for the birthday celebrations. We went swimming, hung out at a park, played games, and had lots of chats. The boys (i.e. Papa, the seven brothers, and Miles) all went to a Dodgers game where they sat in a special area with unlimited free food. How much more awesome could this be for all the guys? I can't even tell you. Mark definitely came home feeling a bit sick... way too many hot dogs, sodas, pretzels, and nachos. The girls (i.e. Abby, Sandy, Becky, Rachael, Cam, and me) all went out to eat and had fun just sitting in the backyard and chatting. Nice to have some girl time sometimes in that house of boys. :)
October
We had a few more happenings during October. First, of course, was General Conference. I tried to make a big breakfast like my mom used to always do for Sunday morning session, and it mostly worked out. I'm just not a huge morning person and having conference start at 9:00 am seems early for me. Thus why I look ridiculously tired while making the food. Also, we were super excited to use the online version of watching the sessions instead of having to go to the chapel like we originally thought we would. Nothing quite like watching in your pajamas while eating a yummy breakfast.
We also got the chance to see Wicked in San Francisco. I'd seen it once before and Mark had never seen it. We had such a blast. It's fun to get a little more dressed up and make a big evening of something. Mark also really enjoyed the experience, which was good to hear. Here's to future cultural attempts! We got up to the city way early, which worked out well because we got the most perfect parking spot and were able to just walk around for awhile.
And last, but certainly not least, Halloween!! And our first Halloween married, so we had to make a big deal of it. We bought and carved pumpkins together...
For the weekend of Halloween, we didn't have any legit plans and were so thrilled to be asked down by Brett and Becky to spend the holiday with them. They are absolutely fabulous and we love our nephews (and are excited to meet our now new niece!). On Halloween, our nephew Jackson had a soccer game that we were able to go to and cheer him on. Sadly I didn't get a picture of him in his uniform, but he was so cute. Mark and I had fun watching the game and entertaining our other nephews on the sideline. Here's Jacob and I just chillaxing...
That afternoon we headed over to the world's most amazing pumpkin patch. Maybe I'm not a true connoisseur of pumpkin patches, but this definitely took the cake for the best I've been to. Mark and I are going to make great farmers someday...
Brett and Becky hanging out at the corn seed playing area.
They had all sorts of animals you could pet and play with. Someday we'll get a puppy...
The whole Brett and Becky clan, just waiting for their new addition baby Katelyn on the way!
I have loved inheriting new sisters. Becky is fun to hang out with and chat with.
Uncle Mark showing off his muscles for Joseph.
Walking around the corn field maze...
Afterward we stopped at the best grocery store ever, Winco. Every time we go to Visalia, we have to make a stop at Winco to buy their bin candy, especially the chocolate covered peanuts. Oh my gosh heavenly. Joseph was hamming it up at the store. And Jackson was being the stellar helper in the back!
We got Mountain Mike's pizza for dinner (delicious!) and the boys loved playing around with the small arcade while we waited for the pizza to finish.
After pizza, the boys got dressed up in their costumes and went trick-or-treating! I remember how exciting trick-or-treating was back in the day. Not that it's not cool now, but well, it's not nearly as magical as it used to be as a child. We loved being able to be part of that excitement with the boys though. Let's just say that Joseph didn't much care for his lion costume, at least at first, even though he looked seriously adorable.
Jacob and Jackson both wanted to be Darth Vader that year. By this point in the night, tired guys, the masks had come off and they were getting a bit tired of walking around and carrying their bags of candy. They loved going through their candy piles back at home and organizing them and playing games with them. We had such a blast hanging out with these guys and are grateful that they are so close to us!
For Labor Day, we had a gathering of the Abbott clan to celebrate Papa's birthday! I've been so grateful for him and all that he does. We love you tons!! We're so glad to be near to a good portion of the Abbotts and to get together with them as often as we can. We definitely miss Randy, Sandy, and kids, but were glad Sandy was able to make it out for the birthday celebrations. We went swimming, hung out at a park, played games, and had lots of chats. The boys (i.e. Papa, the seven brothers, and Miles) all went to a Dodgers game where they sat in a special area with unlimited free food. How much more awesome could this be for all the guys? I can't even tell you. Mark definitely came home feeling a bit sick... way too many hot dogs, sodas, pretzels, and nachos. The girls (i.e. Abby, Sandy, Becky, Rachael, Cam, and me) all went out to eat and had fun just sitting in the backyard and chatting. Nice to have some girl time sometimes in that house of boys. :)
October
We had a few more happenings during October. First, of course, was General Conference. I tried to make a big breakfast like my mom used to always do for Sunday morning session, and it mostly worked out. I'm just not a huge morning person and having conference start at 9:00 am seems early for me. Thus why I look ridiculously tired while making the food. Also, we were super excited to use the online version of watching the sessions instead of having to go to the chapel like we originally thought we would. Nothing quite like watching in your pajamas while eating a yummy breakfast.
We also got the chance to see Wicked in San Francisco. I'd seen it once before and Mark had never seen it. We had such a blast. It's fun to get a little more dressed up and make a big evening of something. Mark also really enjoyed the experience, which was good to hear. Here's to future cultural attempts! We got up to the city way early, which worked out well because we got the most perfect parking spot and were able to just walk around for awhile.
And last, but certainly not least, Halloween!! And our first Halloween married, so we had to make a big deal of it. We bought and carved pumpkins together...
For the weekend of Halloween, we didn't have any legit plans and were so thrilled to be asked down by Brett and Becky to spend the holiday with them. They are absolutely fabulous and we love our nephews (and are excited to meet our now new niece!). On Halloween, our nephew Jackson had a soccer game that we were able to go to and cheer him on. Sadly I didn't get a picture of him in his uniform, but he was so cute. Mark and I had fun watching the game and entertaining our other nephews on the sideline. Here's Jacob and I just chillaxing...
That afternoon we headed over to the world's most amazing pumpkin patch. Maybe I'm not a true connoisseur of pumpkin patches, but this definitely took the cake for the best I've been to. Mark and I are going to make great farmers someday...
Brett and Becky hanging out at the corn seed playing area.
They had all sorts of animals you could pet and play with. Someday we'll get a puppy...
The whole Brett and Becky clan, just waiting for their new addition baby Katelyn on the way!
I have loved inheriting new sisters. Becky is fun to hang out with and chat with.
Uncle Mark showing off his muscles for Joseph.
Walking around the corn field maze...
Afterward we stopped at the best grocery store ever, Winco. Every time we go to Visalia, we have to make a stop at Winco to buy their bin candy, especially the chocolate covered peanuts. Oh my gosh heavenly. Joseph was hamming it up at the store. And Jackson was being the stellar helper in the back!
We got Mountain Mike's pizza for dinner (delicious!) and the boys loved playing around with the small arcade while we waited for the pizza to finish.
After pizza, the boys got dressed up in their costumes and went trick-or-treating! I remember how exciting trick-or-treating was back in the day. Not that it's not cool now, but well, it's not nearly as magical as it used to be as a child. We loved being able to be part of that excitement with the boys though. Let's just say that Joseph didn't much care for his lion costume, at least at first, even though he looked seriously adorable.
Jacob and Jackson both wanted to be Darth Vader that year. By this point in the night, tired guys, the masks had come off and they were getting a bit tired of walking around and carrying their bags of candy. They loved going through their candy piles back at home and organizing them and playing games with them. We had such a blast hanging out with these guys and are grateful that they are so close to us!
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