Crazy!

Well, crazy is the perfect word for our lives lately. Abby and I have been doing lots of traveling, and this is the last week of school for me. I've got so much homework and studying, but luckily I have an awesome visiting teacher who has been watching Abby for me so that I can get all my work done. I'll be so glad when this semester is over! Sadly, we haven't put up any Christmas decorations because we're going to be out of town and with school and everything it's just too much work to get it out for 2 weeks...
Abby has been busy too. She's so close to walking, she just hasn't built up the nerve to take those first few steps, and honestly, I happy with her not being able to run around the house for the time being. She also has discovered how to screech. This is her main form of communication now O_o. She loves pointing at things, and anytime I notice her pointing I try to move her closer so that I know what she's pointing at and then I'll talk to her about it. "Oh, this is the light switch Abby. See, On, Off, On, Off". It's lots of fun. And the biggest development...*drumroll*...six (yes six!) new teeth! Once their all in she'll have 4 on top and 4 on bottom.
So, that's our lives lately.

Recent happenings and such...

Well, on to week four of Aaron's deployment. So far I'm kind of surprised with how well I've been doing on my own. I'm sure this is partially due to the tremendous load of schoolwork that I get to do with the last few weeks of the semester. One of the things that I really struggle with though is sleep. I'm a total night owl, so staying up a little later never has bothered me. However, with Aaron gone, I find myself finding reasons to stay up. Usually I'm up until 1 or 2 in the morning (as you might have noticed from the time I posted this). Most of the time Abby sleeps until 9 in the morning so at least I get 7-8 hours of sleep, but I've noticed the constant tiredness start to wear on me.
Aaron is doing well. He's been at his duty station for about a week and a half now and already feels the monotony of his schedule. He tries to find things to fill his time, such as working out at the gym or reading(thanks to his new Kindle, a birthday present). We get to talk often usually at least once, sometimes twice a day on skype. Skype is the best thing ever! I love being able to see and talk to him. It makes it a whole lot easier!
Abby loves talking to her daddy too. Every time she hears the skype ring she starts clapping her hands and waving at her daddy(who's picture she knows will appear at any second!). She likes seeing herself on the camera too and will play peek-a-boo by ducking out of the picture then leaning back in it.
She's started talking a little bit. She knows how to say ma, which obviously is me but funnily is Aaron also. And her new word lately is mmmbah, which is her bottle. It's so cute when I know what she's saying, but at the same time she isn't really saying anything. She's getting closer and closer to walking, although she's definitely taking her time with it. Now she's getting to the point where she wants to walk, and likes walking when I'm holding her hands, but she doesn't want to let go of things. She'll let go and stand now though, and when she's going between the piano and the couch she lets go and turns and then grabs on. I think it should be soon when she'll be walking on her own!
That's it for us right now. Just looking forward to the holidays and spending time with family!

Missing him...

Aaron has been gone now for about a week and a half. It was good being at my parents house because it just seemed to make the time fly. However, it's also good to be back home. It'll be good being able to just focus on my schoolwork and getting ready for the holidays. I think the holidays will be a good time for Aaron to be gone, although it sucks that he's going to miss them, at least it will make the time go by so much faster. I'll be happier once he gets to his base though, because then we'll be able to set up a regular schedule. Anyway...one week down, nineteen to go...

Upcoming Weeks

The next few weeks are going to bring a lot of change for our family. Aaron will be leaving on Halloween. This came as quite a shock for us, as we were expecting him to leave around the middle of November. This pushed up the date by about 3 weeks.
Also, over Halloween weekend, my parents will be visiting us. So I decided that since they were going to be there anyway, and I don't really want to be by myself right when Aaron leaves, I'm going to go visit my family for about a week. It'll be nice to be able to have a distraction right at the beginning.
With these two big changes also comes other small changes. Over the next few weeks Aaron and I will need to arrange things for us to be gone. He has small projects on the house, and I have more creative projects that I'm working on such as putting together photo books for Aaron and the Kids to keep during the separation. Honestly I'm really glad to have these little projects to keep my mind off how quickly the time is going by. But hopefully all this preparation will help to make it a little easier when the time comes.

the recent antics of Abigail

So lately Abby's been doing some fun new things. The funnest is that she's finally started babbling! She used to just grunt and sort of hum to make noise. And now she's saying mahmahmahm all the time, it's so cute! It just warms my heart when I walk into her room in the morning and she say's mahmmahm. I know she doesn't really know that she's saying mom, but that doesn't matter I still love it!
One of the not so cute things she's discovered is her thumb... :/ I can't say I'm trilled about that one. It was so random too! One day we were playing down in the playroom and I turn around and she has her thumb in her mouth! Crazy girl...
Also, she has this strange fascination with hitting herself on the head, usually with her pacifier. I can't tell if she just is doing it because it feels different or what. Like I said, crazy girl...
We've also started eating food that hasn't been pureed. only soft things like noodles or those little rice puff snacks, but she loves them! She gobbles them up like there's no tomorrow!
Anyway, those are the most recent things that Abby's been up to lately.

our new vaccuum...I mean cleaning system...

So we just got a new vacuum...It's one of those heavy duty, clean everything including the kitchen sink type deals. The funniest thing though, is that since we got it every day when Aaron gets home he pulls it out and vacuums something! Today he was just wandering around our living room with the vacuum on, looking for something else to vacuum! It's the funniest thing! And, although she was fine with our other vacuum, Abby is terrified of the new one. She won't stay on the floor if it's on, she crawls to the closest person to her and holds on to their legs for dear life until it turns off or they pick her up. Sad, but cute at the same time...But on the upside, now I have ubber clean floors!

Aaron, wandering around, looking for something to vacuum :)

poor girl...

she'll get used to it eventually...i hope...

Fun Times

Well, we had a pretty exciting day saturday. Aaron and Nicolas went on a father/son campout on friday night and got back late saturday morning. After a delicious lunch of pepperoni pizza we headed off the the AFA vs BYU football game! It was really fun and exciting and we got to spend that time with some friends (which always makes things even better!). We enjoyed seeing the Falcons whoop the Cougars butts and we got to eat some popcorn. All fun stuff! Then after the game we went to the store and got some stuff for a BBQ. We had hamburgers and potatoes for dinner. YUMMM.
Plus, yesterday was Abby's 8 month birthday! I can't believe how fast the time is going! The other day I was looking back through some photos from when she was born and it amazes me how much she's changed. Pretty soon she'll be walking all over the place! She's getting so big!

Visits from family

This weekend we have Aaron's parents visiting with us. They got in on Thursday and we've been going ever since. Friday Aaron and his dad went to pick up the kids in Cheyenne. As you can imagine the traffic was pretty bad with it being a holiday weekend and they didn't get back until late. This morning we woke up early and went to see the hot air balloons lift off from a park downtown. There were so many! It was amazing! Then we went to Ihop for breakfast. mmmm pancakes....the rest of the day we've spent laying around the house. Almost everyone took a nap to make up what they lost :). Now, Aaron's cooking up some steaks (courtesy of his parents) and corn on the cob. yumm. Then tonight we're headed to a baseball game. Fun filled weekend!

blowing up a hot air balloon

watching the balloons go up

check out all those balloons!

Back to School!

Well, this past week I've started back at school. I'm just taking a few online general classes. Just enough to make me full time. My English class started out without any hitches. I was able to find my assignments and get all the work done that I needed to on the first day. Math was a little more interesting. The teacher uses an alternate website to give the homework and quizzes, so that took some getting used to. In my History class, I was going through the course schedule and noticed that all the assignments due dates were at the beginning of Oct! So, I emailed the instructor to see if that was correct, or if there were other things to work on in the meantime...It turned out that she teaches a 10 week course that starts at the very end of Sept. and the wrong course schedule had been uploaded. My music class is a whole other story! The class hasn't even been opened yet! There are no assignments posted, no quizzes or discussion boards, and no messages from the teacher! I couldn't find any contact information for the teacher, so I just emailed everyone on the class list to see if they were having the same problem or if they knew what was going on. One of them was able to give me our instructors email but he just replied that they were having technical problems and to try again on another day...well, it's friday and still nothing! I think I'm probably going to need to contact the school about it.
Anyway, that was my first week at school...yay!

Football Frenzie!

So, at Aaron's work they were giving away tickets to the Denver Bronco's first pre-season game. Now, I'm not really a big football fan...well, I really don't like football at all...but I figured, Hey, they're free! We might as well go for the experience. We decided to take the lite-rail up to the stadium so that we wouldn't have to deal with parking and getting out with all the traffic after the game. That was the best decision ever! It was awesome to watch all the cars stuck in traffic as we sailed past! Then, when we got there we went up to find our section and our seats. Little did we know that because of the tickets that they gave us, and because Abby was in her stroller, we ended up going through the Club section to get to our seats! It was amazing! We were able to sit at a table and eat BBQ sandwiches while waiting for the game to start! Sadly, once we left that area we couldn't go back in until we were ready to leave, but that's ok! The game was pretty good and we had amazing seats. We had these two seats that were right above the stairway where you come in, so there was no one in front of us or next to us! I was able to learn a little bit more about the rules of the game (now that I had no excuse not to watch!) and I was able to follow it a little better. In between quarters the cheerleaders would entertain, who are (in my opinion) no more than glorified dancers. We left the game a little early while the Bronco's were winning so that we could beat a little bit of the traffic. We finally got home at almost midnight and crawled in to bed! So, all in all a fun experience! It's nice to be able to try new things. Especially when you don't have to pay for it! :)mmm...yummy BBQ sandwich!

Abby eating some of the bread off my sandwich

Enjoying our dinner on the club level!

Abby and I in front of the field

Family Fun

Yesterday I realized that I've been way too worried about making sure the kids have a good time while they're here. For the past year or so we've been having trouble with them not wanting to come and see us, and with the girls especially throwing fits and crying. We've been short on money, what with fixing both the cars and the vacation, and I guess somewhere in the back of my head I thought that maybe if we could afford to do "fun" things that that might change. But last night we spent the night playing Uno and I'm pretty sure they had more fun doing that than when we took them to the circus! And I'm sure they'll remember those times that we've spent together either at the park playing, or working on some project, or whatever, more than the super fun exciting things that we only got to do one time because they cost so much. They love anything that we do together! The funny thing too is that usually with those other, more expensive fun things, I usually get more stressed out either because it cost more than we could afford, or if I think they're not enjoying it as much as they "should" what with how expensive it was and all. By the time we're done I'm usually hanging on by a thread of sanity :). But when it doesn't cost anything but a little of my time, I'm free and easy, just enjoying the ride because it's really not that important. Long story short, I had fun last night playing games with my family.

Camping

Can I just say, I love camping! I love the smell of the trees, cooking outdoors, roasting marshmallows, and even sleeping on the ground. There's just something about it that makes me happy. Maybe it's just that it reminds me of all the fun times I had camping with my family growing up. And I love that now I can share that with my family.
Last night we went on a ward camp out. I picked up the kids early so that we would have time to eat dinner together and participate in some of the activities. The kids ran wild playing hide and seek, and tag, and any other make-believe game they could come up with. We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. We visited with other families and basically just had a good time. And even though Abby decided to wake up at 3 in the morning, and there were trains running all night long, and morning came way to early...I loved it, and I'm so glad we went!

Family Reunion Fun

This past week was a blast as we spent time in utah visiting family. Aaron was able to get some extra time off, so we spent the first part of the week with just our family. We were able to take the kids to the zoo and the park. They had so much fun! And I took tons of pictures!
Then, on wednesday we spent the day with my grandparents. My grandpa took Aaron and Nicolas golfing, and I spent the day with the girls and my grandma while she taught us how to sew a quilt. The girls loved being able to make their own blanket.
On thursday my parents and brothers got there. It was great being able to see them all again. On friday we went to the temple with my parents and grandparents. We were able to take some of Aaron's family names through and get their work done. My mom and my aunt even ended up with sisters, which was fun.
Then, friday night the reunion began. We all had dinner together, played some games, roasted marshmallows, and just got reacquainted. Then saturday we had breakfast, and helped grandma and grandpa with some work around the house and yard. After lunch we took some family pictures, then we played our own version of "minute to win it". It was hilarious watching all our different family members doing such random, silly games :). On sunday we went to church, then had our own little testimony meeting. It was nice being able to hear the testimonies of my grandparents(which i've never heard before), and even my dad, which I only remember hearing maybe once. Then all my dad's siblings gathered around and talked about "remember when's" from their childhood. I loved hearing all their stories.
All in all, a wonderful vacation with lots of fun memories made.

Just thoughts

There have been a few events lately that have really reminded me of the fragility of life. My grandparents came for a visit a few months ago, and I guess I just never realized how old they are. Most people would consider me lucky to still have both sets of grandparents plus Aaron's grandparents. It really made me want to spend as much time as we can with them because I know that we may not have very much time left with them.
Also, a friend of mine just got back from spending a month with her mother after the death of her father. I guess it's just something that no one likes to think about. And in turn, thinking about Aaron's upcoming deployment. I know he won't be going to a very dangerous place, but war is war. It just makes me so glad for the gospel in my life. To know of the plan of salvation. To know that whatever happens in this life, I will still be with my family and loved ones in the next life and for all eternity.
Just one of the Peace's that the gospel brings to my life.

Recent Events

Well, it's been a slow summer for us so far but it's about to get busy. For the most part, while the kids were with us we just stayed home and spent time together. Next week however, we will be driving to Utah for a family reunion and spending a little vacation time there. Luckily we will get to have the kids with us for that trip.
The biggest event lately would be that Aaron hiked up Pikes Peak yesterday! I was so proud of him! It was tough, but he pushed through and finished it! It was quite the adventure for me too. I arrived at the top at about noon, expecting the group to be there between 1230 and 1. When I met up with Aaron's group however, they informed me that he had told them that he was going to go back down. Feeling a little miffed and confused I agreed to at least take a few of the guys back down the mountain with me. We only went about 1/2 a mile before the engine started smoking and I was having trouble with the power steering! So we pulled over and the guys got out and took a look at it(there was also a couple of construction guys there that took a look) and sure enough, the engine was out of power steering fluid. The construction guys called a ranger out and he brought us some fluid, and no sooner was it in the tank than it was gone again...yup, it was a leak! So, by that point our options were to call a tow truck up to the top of the mountain, or to drive it down without power steering 0_o...We decided to just drive it down(one of the other guys offered to drive it for me thankfully) and find a place to park it where we would be able to call a tow truck from there. It was about this time that I got a text from Aaron saying he only had one mile left of his hike! So not only was I dealing with a broken car, but I had just left my husband at the top of a mountain!!! But we got the car down okay, and got it towed to the repair shop, and $600 later it's back in our garage...So, there's the latest news for our family. Hooray for Aaron climbing a mountain, Boo for crappy cars...