Way Behind

This is a blanket apology to those I should have called, emailed, or somehow contacted this week. I feel incredibly behind on pretty much everything in life so some things have just had to go. Sorry, family and friends, but this week you were it. We're trying to get ourselves moved back in and adjusted as well as deal with Abby teething and getting on a better schedule of sleeping. So we're surviving, but a little tired.

Two highlights from the week:

Roy’s old roommate, Kasey, came over this week. We had just finished Abby’s bath so I was in Abby’s room getting her all lotioned and clothed. So Kasey came back to say hello. Abby was oblivious to him until I dropped the lotion on the garbage can lid, which made a huge boom, and scared Abby. Normally the sound makes her laugh, but the combination of a stranger and being tired made her scream. She cried for a good ten minutes before recovering somewhat. So two days later, Kasey brought a date over. He walked in the door and Abby took one look at him before lunging for Michelle and bawling. There was no way that guy was going to scare her again! She kept a very wary eye on him for the little bit that she was out with us visiting, but if he looked at her wrong she would cry.

We took an hour break from all our craziness on Friday to go out to the Theodore Roosevelt Island. It was beautiful! Abby's favorite part was the dog walker with seven (yes, 7) dogs. We were impressed that he could walk in a straight line with that many animals, but Abby, who has a great love of dogs, had her eyes glued to them and was excitedly trying to get their attention. The island was beautiful! We loved all the green.


We're mostly recovered, but now I have a week of normal-life events to catch up on. Someday, maybe, I'll feel caught up!

Honey, We're Home!

We've been back in VA for a few days now, but I can't say we're totally recovered from the journey. Less than 36 hours after our plane landed, we were on the road to visit Roy's parents in Williamsburg. We had a great weekend celebrating Baba Z's birthday. We went on a schooner (sailboat) tour on the York River and saw dolphins, ate some great breakfast foods, got caught in one of the famous East Coast rainstorms and got drenched, divided up by gender and watched a chick flick or boy movie, and all took lazy Sunday afternoon naps. It was a great weekend! But we are ready to actually unpack the rest of our summer luggage and attack the moving-back-in process in our apartment.

On a random side note, the other morning Roy discovered that the fog lights were on on the car. And yes, they stayed on even when the car was off. We nearly drained through one battery and got it replaced. In messing with the car, Roy discovered that if the left turn signal was on when the car was off, the fog lights would turn off. It's an expensive but necessary fix, but if you ever find yourself driving a PT Cruiser and your fog lights are constantly on, just flip on the left turn signal and you're good to go.


In case anyone was missing seeing cute pictures of our girl, here's one from last week. You can also see her two bottom teeth. Just yesterday, she cut another bottom tooth. How can you look at that grin and not smile?

Disclaimer: Just so I don't offend anyone (Mom) with the title of my post, we call multiple places home so both CA and VA are home.

Abby's New Friend

This week we are house/dog sitting for my cousin and his wife. After just a few minutes of being in the house, Abby made a new friend besides Buster the dog. Don't worry, Matt and Courtney, we'll take care of those finger smudges and kiss marks!

A Few Random Thoughts

We've been out in CA for about 8 weeks now. It's funny how quickly you get sucked in to life in the place where you live. "Sucked in" sounds wrong, but that's how it feels--all of the sudden you are around new people, doing different activities, and (in our case) enjoying not living in humidity. Yeah! I've been trying, and with some people failing, to stay up with our VA friends, even if it means reading their updated blogs. Cheating, I know, but I'm making an effort! :) It's funny because I am feeling the same way as I did when I missed a day or two of elementary school. I would be sick and Mom would make me stay home (I was a big nerd and actually loved school). When I got back and learned that life had continued on without me, I was a little perturbed that I missed out on the newer math, a couple chapters from the book we read as a class, and playing with my friends. I have echoes of those feelings now--how can life go on without me right there? I already know that going back to VA won't stop those feelings. Now I'll just feel them in relation to my friends and family here and in Utah. You just can't win!

So my cousin was married on Saturday. It was really neat to be there and see so much family. I love being around family! The worst part of the day was taking pictures in the sun next to the granite temple. It was one of those boiling Sacramento days and Abby was miserable at that point. As soon as we got her some apple juice and shade, she was much better and it really was only about 5 minutes of screaming.

In preparation for the wedding, both my brothers needed haircuts. It was about 7 pm on Friday night and they hadn't done it yet so I did it. I'm not an expert, but I've been cutting Roy's hair since we got married so I'm alright and they trusted me. I did the first brother's hair and it turned out fine. My teenage brother was next and wanted to keep his in-style, long hair. I'd been teasing him all week that he should cut it short because I thought it would look nice. He thought he would look dumb. About 3 minutes into his haircut, I realized that I had a problem. I silently got Roy's attention and he came over to inspect. Yep, my brother's hair was just going to be short. I probably cut off 2+ inches. He actually took it really well. And it looks really good! I don't know that he'll ever trust me with cutting his hair again, but my 16 year old brother looks dang good. :)

Center of the Universe

Every baby should feel (at least for a little while) that he or she is the center of the universe for his/her parents. Abby certainly feels that way. And she is right. One example of how convinced Abby is of this fact happened last Sunday.

Roy was asked to lead the music in Sacrament Meeting. So he was standing in front of the whole congregation swinging his arm during the four songs we sang. Everytime he would stand up and start waving, Abby would pull herself up to stand on my lap and started jumping and shrieking. She just KNEW that Roy was up there waving to her!

More To Come

We went to my cousin's weding and festivities yesterday. It was a LOT of fun to be around everyone. We all slept really well last night from all the partying. I'll write more details when I have a chance, but I did want to post this great Abby picture. We went to the Vacaville Outlets and got a couple things for Abby for the winter, including this great hat. She is now officially more in style than either parent:

It's Been WAY Too Long

You know, I feel like I should have a really good reason why I haven't updated our blog for a while. In reality, my excuse is life. We haven't been doing any one thing that has kept us particularly busy, but we've been busy! It hasn't helped that Abby's naps have been way too short and my to-do list for nap time still has unfinished tasks. So, because I have been meaning to show Abby off for the last few days, I'll just put up some pictures! I think she's really really cute!

Abby knows to pose for the camera.

Here she is just after Roy finished feeding her. She's such a mess!

Abby loves playing the piano at my parent's and the keyboard at Mor Mor's house. As you can see, she gets very focused on playing. :)

On a side note, Roy and I went to a garage sale today and got a soft book, a cool toy, and a bowling set all for a dollar. We are now going to be official garage sale junkies!