Little Bean!

Little Bean! Weighing in -at her 9 month appointment -at a whopping 14 pounds 3 ounces! Poor thing doesn't even show up on the percentile charts! I guess my genes are present in this child! Apparantly, I grew very little when I was a wee one, too. My doc isn't too worried, though. He just thinks she has the same growing pattern that I did, as a baby.

Happy Halloween!!!!

I love Halloween!! I am going to be so sad to part with my Halloween themed blog page! I am also sad that Craig is going to work tonight :( I don't feel that we got to enjoy Halloween as much this year, because he has had to work so much. I hope he knows how much we appreciate the hard work he does, to keep the food on the table and the bills paid!! I Love you Craig! We miss you when you are gone! Even though you are usually home when we wake up, you still have to go to sleep, which is even harder because I know you are just in the other room and all I want to do is wake you up so you can hang out with us! Hopefully it will get better! Happy Halloween Babe, we love you!

Monica & Abbi

Welcome Home, Uncle Mike!

Abbi and her Uncle Mike!

Abbi, Uncle Mike, and Amber (Mike's Girlfriend & Abbi's new buddy!)

My brother Mike and his Girlfriend, Amber, came down from Bremerton, Washington, to visit over the last weekend! It was a lot of fun! We met them at Lagoon on Saturday for Frightmares. Then we did some family stuff on Sunday. Then we did Gateway Mall and dinner at Tepanyaki on Monday. It was a very short trip, and I was very sad to see them go on Tuesday morning, at 6 am. Hopefully Uncle Mike can come home for Christmas. Abbi had the best time with her uncle and her new buddy, Amber. This was the first time I had met Amber. She is in the Navy along with my brother, and had just gotten home from a 4 month tour on a Naval Ship. She is a surgical tech for the Navy, and they were doing surgeries for civilians of many countries in Southeast Asia. It was quite the experience from what I gathered. Anyway, she was a sweetheart, and it was fun to meet her, finally! Her family is from a small town outside of Twin Falls, Idaho. It is nice that her hometown is just hours from our Mikey's. They were able to see both families in one trip! I am sure they are wiped out after the week they had! I just can't wait to see my bro again, though! I love having him home!

Happy Birthday Preslie!

Our Cute Niece Preslie had a birthday on October 22nd. She turned 5 years old! It is scary how fast time flies! It seems moments ago that she was born. Now she is a little girl and has a sister and brother, too! Grandma Susaeta had a birthday party for her on the 18th. It was a Halloween dress up party. This is a picture of all the cousins (minus Beckem, our only boy cousin) in their cute costumes. Preslie=Bat Girl, Mckell=Bride, Kyaira=pumpkin witch, Mayci=ladybug, and our Abbi=Mermaid. Happy Birthday Preslie!

Lucky # 7 Tag
Okay, Mckell, I will play!

7 Things I Can Do:
1. Blog with the best of them (okay, maybe the mediocre)
2. Paint my own toenails, up until 8 months of pregnancy (DETERMINATION)!
3. Sing, but nobody will really know how great I am :), except Jami and Kristen, you know what I'm talkin' about girls! Don't hold it against me that I forgot the words to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", though! I'm working on that.
4. Rub sunscreen on my own back.
5. Change the daytime running lights on my car. I am the only mechanically inclined person in my house, so who else is going to do it? Craig will change the oil, if he HAS to, even though I could probably do it faster and more efficiently!
6. Hang pictures on the wall, again, I am the handy one.
7. Bake. I would rather do that than make dinner, though. Can't we just have cake for dinner?

7 Things I Cannot Do:
1. Play a musical instrument
2. Run fast. Kriste always wins.
3. Eat oysters. I have to settle for other aphrodisiacs.
4. Make decisions. Don't ever come shopping with me. You will be stabbing your eyes out with hangers. Ask Craig.
5. Double Dutch Jump Rope. Isn't one jump rope enough?
6. Wake board (without taking in the whole lake through my nose).
7. Mow the lawn. Or maybe it's that I just don't like to be hot and sweaty and get my feet all green.

7 Things that Attracted Me to Craig
1. He is truly in love with me.
2. He has a nice butt.
3. He loves kids, and makes an excellent father.
4. He makes me laugh.
5. He is big, not all muscles, but I feel protected.
6. His laid back nature. He is the yen to my yang.
7. His chivalry

7 Things I Say Most Often
1. Love Ya
2. I don't know
3. Hmmm
4. What?
5. Babe
6. Sunny Beaches
7. For the love of Pete

7 Celebrity Admirations:
1. Jennifer Aniston
2. Angelina Jolie ( I am on both teams. Hey, they both scored with Brad)
3. Posh Spice
4. Faith Hill - I sing just like her.
5. Ellen "De-Generous"- she is sweet and is very charitable. She is also hillarious.
6. Charlize Theron - beautiful and classy
7. Reese Witherspoon - another classy lady

7 Favorite Foods (in no particular order):
1. Spaghetti
2. Roast Beef & mashed potatoes
3. Onion Blossoms
4. Dunford Donuts (chocolate cake ones)
5. French Fries
6. Chinese
7. Daquiri Ice from Baskin Robbins- do they still sell that?

7 People to Tag:
1. Kriste
2. Jami
3. Kimberly
4. Jene
5. Buffie
6. TBA
7. TBA

Dress Rehearsal-Halloween!

Got Ocean?

I love this costume! I can't wait for Halloween! It is my favorite Celebration of the year! I hope Abbi will agree! 32 days and counting!

Sooooo Big!

Oh, my gosh! I can't believe how time has gone by! Just yesterday, I was holding a little helpless newborn. Today, my baby Abbi is able to stand up (okay, so she needs something to hold on to, but still!)! It is such a blessing to have her in my life. I can't imagine it any other way! I love you so much Abbigail!

Congrats Brandt & Kriste! Beckem is Here!

Hooray! Beckem is here! He was born Wednesday, September 24th. He is soooo sweet and adorable! Mom and Baby, both, were beaten up during delivery, but they don't look worse for the wear! We are all very excited to introduce a boy to our family, seeing as how we have 5 girls between all of us, and no boys. Until now. Beckem, I just want you to know that you are going to endure a lot over the next, oh about 20 years. There is going to be a lot of screaming, dolls, make up (yes on you), probably some really awesome haircuts from unsaid siblings, dress up, high heal & purse wearing (sorry Brandt), tattle telling, and to sum it all up a lot of drama with all the girls in this family! Just know that we are all so excited to know you and have you as part of our family! Welcome sweet Beckem!

Love,

Aunt Monica

HOT SOX

For those of you who don't know, Craig has a strange obsession with how people wear their socks. So this one's for you Craig. I found these cute socks for Abbi and Craig just had to get a picture of them. He thinks they look silly, but I think they are adorable. At least they aren't brown socks, DAD! I should have put some sandals on over her socks, too, just to get under his skin a little more, hee hee! We love you Craig, with your little quirks and all!

Kriste's Shower for Baby Beckem!

So, you may be saying to yourself, "I've seen this picture before!". Well it is because you probably have read Kriste's blog, with this very same photo. I had to steal it from her blog, so that I could post about her fun shower (a week later....). Kriste was kind enough to include me, with my screeching baby and all, and invite me to a shower that her friends were throwing for her. We got to go to Trio, and it was delicious! I had a plate of spaghetti with a mega meatball on top. Wish I had brought my camera, it was the creation of a definite meat lover! It was fun getting together with the girls for one night, even though I had to bring Abbi (Craig was out of town). Thanks to Kriste and her friends for welcoming me amongst their circle! As always I had a great time!

Utah State Fair-2008

Here is Abbi, Kyaira (our cute niece), and myself at the cow exhibit.

Kyaira got to ride a horsey!

Uncle Craig watching over Kyaira on the pony. How sweet!

A bushel of cute apples!

We had the pure pleasure of visiting the Utah State Fair on Monday. It was nice weather, so we figured we would take Abbi, and our niece, Kyaira, to see the animals. It was fun, but Craig could only handle 2 hours of that fun. We partook of the deep fried snickers, and I would have to say, don't waste $4.50. I should have tried the deep fried PBJ! The best thing I found at the fair....Coconut chapstick from the KSL channel 5 booth! It was free, and now I wish I would have grabbed more than one! It is the best flavor! So if you are looking for something to do this week, head up to the fair for some Coconut chapstick! Just watch out for those thunder storms!

Abbi's 2nd Swimming Adventure!

So, since we didn't get pictures of our first swimming adventure (Thanks Dad!), we decided to go back for a second outing at our old stomping grounds, in Saratoga Springs. Our friends, The Royces, still live there, and are nice enough to let us come out and spend a lazy Sunday at the pool. It is a really nice pool, heated by the hot springs that Saratoga Springs is known for, but it was a little hot for a 98 degree day. It is funny, we have used the pool more now than when we lived in the neighborhood! Thanks for the picture opportunities Tyler and Amy!

Zoo to the Ziggidy!

Thanks to our fabulous friends, Jene' and Tre', we had a wonderful outing to the zoo, and not to mention Abbi's first visit!! We pulled the day off, without any screaming babies, and we really had a lot of fun! I think our favorite part of the day was, besides eating naughty, the bird show! The birds are very well trained, and swoop inches from your head! The babies liked looking at them so close! Abbi had her very first carousel ride, isn't she cute? Thank you Jene' and Tre'! We had the best time!

Not so Flabby, Abbi!

So, Monday was Abbi's 6 month check up. She is coming in at a whopping 13 lbs. 5 oz., I promise, I am feeding her. We, hopefully, just had a temporary dry spell in the nursing department. Abbi and I are working on that. We will take her in again in about a week to get her weight checked again. She is in the 10% for weight, and 25% for height. Hopefully we can bump that up a little! Craig and I love baby chub! But we love Abbi, whatever size she is.

So, this blog is for Kriste and Jami. Apparantly, I don't blog enough. So girls, here you go. This blog is just to say, I blogged today, Monday, August 18,2008. Don't you just love my Abbi? I can't stand how cute she is. These days, she is rolling port side. She flips back and forth from front to back, but always towards her left arm. I guess that's good, because she can't get very far that way. I really need to get a safety gate for the stairs before she rolls over there. She isn't sitting up yet, but we are working on that. She is kind of a mommy's girl these days. She would rather sit in her bouncy seat and watch mommy do her hair and make up than hang out with daddy. Sorry Craig, your day will come. I know she will probably hate me in about 12 years, so be patient.

Raspberry Days, Bear Lake 2008

Kriste, Abbi, Craig, and Preslie at the Raspberry Days Parade of Bear Lake 2008.

Abbi and I at the Raspberry days parade.

"G.G." and Grandpa John at the Cabin. Thank you for letting us come up and stay with you!

We had a nice vacation at the Cabin at Bear Lake. It was kind of a bizarre weekend, with the massive rain storms, and the plane crash on the beach, but we still had fun. It was Abbi's first Raspberry Days celebration, and although she was a little bit cranky all weekend (that is the reason we are lacking in photos), we loved having her there with us. It is always fun to get together with our family and our friends, Tyler, Amy, and their kids Kelcey and Haylie, Jeff, Misty, and their kids Hayden and Taylor. Thanks for the fun weekend everyone!

Sweet Potay-tah

Abbi Loves sweet potatoes,



















But sweet potatoes don't love Abbi's clothes!

I now know to just strip her down to the diaper before feeding. These are the lessons of motherhood!

4th of July at Bear Lake

Beach Baby!

We finally get to do family photos! Yes, we meant to match :)

Wow, so this is solid food?

My first attempt at a spoon full of rice cereal!

Wierd!

Don't worry Mom, I'll get it!

This is kind of fun!

It's Your First Father's Day, Craig!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I Love You!
















I am sporting your favorite team's hat!
Go Yankees!

Hey, who turned out the lights?

I Got Tagged
ABC's "getting to know you" TAG. Complete the ABC's of you. Then, each player tags 3 people and posts their names, goes to their blogs and leaves a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
A- Attached or single: Happily Attached
B- Best Friend: Craig
C-Cake or Pie: definitely CAKE
D-Day: Saturday
E- Essential Item: Right now, it's totally the Diaper Bag!!
F- Favorite Color: Pink
G-Gummy Bears or Worms: Bears
H-Home town: West Valley City, seriously!
I- Indulgences: Mango Tango smoothie from Kneaders (and their assorted pastries are good, too!)
J- January or July?: July, it is summer time!
K-Kids: 1 miracle baby girl
L-Life is incomplete without: My family!
M- Marriage Date: April 29th 2002
N- Number of Siblings:1 brother, 2 sisters
O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P- Phobias or Fears: Losing my baby or my husband
Q- Quote: I'll get back to this one.
R- Reason To Smile: Abbi screeching at the top of her lungs
S- Season: definitely summer!
T- Tag Three: As you can see, I only have three blog friends, so Jene' & Jami are IT!
U- Unknown fact about me: I won the Science Fair in 8th grade, it pays to have brains!
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Oppressor of Animal, although I would probably be vegetarian if I had to kill my own meat.
W- Worst Habit: Saving mail. The piles, oh, the piles!
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Both, I have even taken x-rays of others!
Y-Your favorite food: Chocolate covered strawberries, mmmm
Z: Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Mommy Day #1

Hi all you awesome mommies! I am so excited that I got to have my first Mothers Day last Sunday! Craig made me French toast for breakfast (and he even cleaned up!). I got a beautiful message that Craig wrote especially for me, it made me feel really special. But my favorite gift of all, is my little baby Abbi! She is the best! My heart melts at every little smile. Even when she cries, I just smile and feel like the most lucky lady alive.

Luck O' the Irish

Abbi knows how to wear the Green!

Happy Easter!

Abbi found her first Easter basket!