Lake Powell 2011 - Trip 2

We spent the third week of July in Lake Powell and it was a lot hotter than our first trip the month before. Abby just loves to be there. She loves to be on the boat and the houseboat. The drive down was great. Abby did so well. She talked to us and sang for the first hour or so then we turned on the DVD player and she watched TV the whole rest of the way. Heaven forbid she take a nap. She was really good. The drive wasn't to bad for me either. My back survived. I was quite nervous to be in the car for 6 hours, I can't even sit through church. Abby was so excited to be there. We got on the houseboat and I asked her where her room was and she ran down stairs to where she slept last time and said "dis my room." She was just so excited to be there. We took the port-a-crib with us again on this trip even though Abby did learn how to crawl out of it last time. She slept in it the first night great. We were in the slip so the air conditioner was on all night so it was nice an cool, but the second night it was extremely hot!!! I had sweat just running down my face. It was a long night. Abby was up most of the night, I couldn't sleep anyway. After that night I was done. So the next night we decided to try sleeping on top of the houseboat with her. To our surprise she fell asleep just fine and slept through the night. It was so much cooler up there than inside the houseboat. I think Abby thought it was pretty cool to sleep outside with mommy and daddy and all of her cousins and not in a crib. The third day after my long night with Abby, Stu and everyone else but Mark and I went to see Rainbow Bridge. It was a great day for me I got to read and relax. Ahhhh! Abby still talks about it. Abby loved to watch Sienna and Gretchen wake board and all the other kids tube. When they would finish Abby would want them to go again, until she would fall asleep. It was really nice that she would just fall asleep in the speed boat. The only way to get her to take a nap down there was to take her for a ride. Abby loved having her cousins there all the time. She liked to play on the beach and sometimes with a little coaxing she would go swimming with us. She was kind of afraid of the water sometimes. Especially if the water was dirty at all. She didn't like (poopy) water. Other times she would just jump right in. One night we were all swimming behind the houseboat and she just jumped right off the back into the water. Guess it just depended on her mood. I think we were all ready to come home and get out of the heat by the end of the trip but we had a great time. We went boating a couple days ago at Echo Reservoir and Abby thought we were at Lake Powell. She was once again so excited to get on the boat.


Sienna and Gretchen
Our little diva at Rainbow Bridge
Kayaking with Grandpa
Swimming with Mommy and Eva


Kayaking with Daddy
Chilling with mommy on the boat

Abby not quite sure about the water. It was a little cold at first but she got used to it.
She thought it was pretty cool to sit on the knee board. She was surfing!
One of Abby's favorite things we did was when the crew, minus me and Grandpa went for a treasure hunt. (Geo cashing) I guess when they found it Abby wanted to take all of the treasures. She did get to keep a beach ball and that was pretty exciting. She wanted to go treasure hunting again.
My two yea whos walking slowly to find the treasure.
Stu Wake boarding
One afternoon we went for a ride up Wast canyon. It was beautiful. Abby slept the entire way up. We decided that next time we need to go see if there are any houseboat spot in that canyon it had some perfect beaches. When Abby woke up she wanted to leave the canyon she just kept saying' "get out of here."
She is such a big girl in her life jacket
Stu driving the boat and Abby chilling behind.

Funnies

Yesterday Abby found one of Lafaunda's bra's in the laundry room and she said, "I put it on." I laughed and said you don't need to worry about bras yet. She continued to put it on, then she looks up at me and says, "too small." She is such a funny little wort. Then we were playing and she comes and sits on my lap and starts playing with my earrings which were dangling circles and she puts her fingers through them and starts swinging them and says, "finger swings." Where does she come up with this stuff. I just love the things she says.

Our Five Year Wedding Anniversary

This year we decided to celebrate out anniversary a little early since I will be working on the exact day and Stu will be back in school. We didn't do much, but it was nice to have a little time to ourselves. We left Abby with Grandma and went up to Park City and enjoyed a nice peaceful dinner at The Main Street Pizza and Noodle, then when to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got a Carmel apple with white chocolate and Butterfinger. We walked on Main Street for a little while until the rain started. I have been wanting to do that for a while, but it is not quite as easy when you have a little one. After that we went back to the Curtis' cabin on Empire Ave and just relaxed and enjoyed each others company, without the company of Abby. We watched a couple of our favorite TV shows then watched a movie. The next morning we got up and went to Burger King for a very romantic breakfast. It was actually really yummy. I had these blueberry biscuits that were really good! Then headed back home. Abby did great while we were gone, even though I have to admit I did worry about her just a little bit since it was the first time we had ever left her over night. I don't' know why I worried I knew she would be fine with Grandma and Grandpa Curtis. Probably better than she would have been for us.

I can't believe it has been five years since we went to the temple together to be sealed for eternity. Time goes so fast when you are having fun! I couldn't ask for a better husband I love him so much! He is a wonderful husband and daddy! Happy Anniversary babe!

Gotta Love Church

Here is the funny story of the day... Today while we were at church Abby was so good all through Sacrament Meeting, which is not always the case, and about 10 minutes before the meeting ended, Abby was standing looking at Stu and I with this look of surprise and grabs her bum and says, "loud poopy, bummy noisy, change it!" Stu and I just started laughing. I grabbed her hand and the bag and said lets go change it and she would not leave until all of her toys were picked up even though I told her we would be back. I changed the poopy and then she says to me, "go find Stuart, my Stuart." She is such a character! Never a dull moment with a 2 year old.

Abby's 2nd Birthday Party

Aunt Emmy, Grandma Curtis and Grandma Jensen


The Bouncy house
All of the girls
Siena and Gretchen came all the way from NY
I thought the cake was so cute!

Abby even kind of figured out how to blow out the candles on the cake.

Once she blew them out once, we had to do it again.
Abby was more interested in decorating and redecorating her piece of cake than eating it.


Nick Jr. Favorites DVD
Coloring books and crayons
Pillow Pet
Sing a ma jig
The tent and tunnel
The water table



Last night we had a family birthday party for Abby! She had a great time! She loves being the center of attention. We did a Mickey Mouse themed party for her since she LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We got out the Bouncy house and all of the kids thought that was great. Abby even asked us today if we could do the bouncy house again. Abby got all kinds of great presents. She got a tent from Grandpa and Grandma Jensen, a Lady Bug Pillow Pet that she loves to sleep on from Emily and Paul and family, a Sing-a-ma-jig, she loves how it talks from Michele and Dan and family, a Nick Jr. DVD from Siena and Gretchen, Mickey and Pony coloring books and crayons and a Water table from her mommy and daddy. She played with the water table all afternoon today. Thank you everyone for coming and celebrating this special day with us.

Abby's 2 year check up

Today was Abby's two year check up. We went to see one of the other pediatricians in Dr. Cramer's office because Dr. Cramer retired. It wasn't the best visit but that's okay. Abby is healthy and on track.
Height: 34.7 inches (75th percentile, slowing down)
Weight: 29 lbs (around 80th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.9 in (a little above 50th percentile)
Head compared to weight she is in about the 70th percentile

She is growing up so fast. Everyday new words come out of her mouth. She is learning so much.
Some of her favorite things...She loves to sing, it seems like she always singing a little song. She also loves to dance. The other day I was putting her down for a nap and she stood up and held on to the bar of her crib and did Arabesque and said, "I do ballet." Staking blocks, or building towers is another favorite. Today she staked all her new Mega Blocks and put her necklaces on it and said, "pretty tower." She loves to swim, go for walks, play on any play-set, she just loves to be outside. She loves to play with her cousins. She loves TV way too much. She loves going to church and playing with the toys. Gotta love nursery! The last couple days she seems to be playing with dolls more, that comes and goes. She likes to put them in her shopping cart and go shopping, feed them a bottle and put them to bed. She loves animals, always wants to go see doggies. She is just full of energy. She is always running, jumping, hopping and climbing everywhere she goes. Lately, "I do myself," is a very common phrase out of her mouth. She has to climb into her high chair and her carseat all by herself. She is just little miss independent. There is so much I could say about this little munchkin but that is going to be it for now. Oh ya! one more thing, she loves WATER. She is obsessed with water... puddles, pools, sinks, pouring it. If it has anything to do with water she loves it.

Abby's 2nd Birthday

Yesterday was Abby's 2nd Birthday. She didn't quite understand what it all meant other than birthdays involve, balloons, candles, presents and she even gave Stu and invitation. She had a rough morning. She was quite grumpy. We had pancakes for breakfast because they are one of her favorites. She loves to dip them ketchup... (syrup). We decide to try taking her to a movie. We have never taken her to one other than when she was a few months old. We went to see Rio at the dollar theater. It didn't go so well. We took her in right as the preview for Harry Potter was starting, then they had a preview for Cowboys vs. Aliens. As soon as that started I took her out. She was so scared she didn't want to go back in. I finally go her to go in and we watched about 20 minutes of Rio and she just kept saying watch Mickey. So we just took her home. Next time we will go in after the previews. We went home and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Then she took a nice couple hour nap. For dinner we headed off to Arctic Circle. One of Abby's favorite places to eat. Emily, Paul and their kids met us along with Grandma and Grandpa Curtis. Abby loves the play ground there and she gets free kiddy cones. All night long when ever we would bring up her birthday she would tell us about the ice cream cones. After that fun adventure we headed back home and opened some of Abby's presents with Grandma and Grandpa. Abby was so excited the whole way home from dinner. She just kept telling us there was a puppy in her present. There was not a puppy, but she was pretty excited about what she got. Grandma and Grandpa Curtis gave her a wagon full of Mega Blocks. She played with that the whole rest of the evening. She loves building towers and the wagon was a hit too. We had to take it on a walk. We gave her a zoo book and some magnetic numbers for the fridge. She thought those were pretty neat too. We read the Zoo book four times before she went to bed. I think she had a pretty fun birthday. We are having a family party for her on Saturday so she is going to get double the celebration. I can't believe it has been two years since we had her. It has gone by so fast. But I can't imagine life with out her. She is so much fun. We love her so much!