Sparkly things....

Here are a couple of pictures from my 27th Birthday (yes I am officially in my late 20's-yikes)My dear sweet husband went out of his way to make the day extra special for me. We stayed at the Marriott in downtown Salt Lake and we took our sweet kiddos with us.

The kids loved swimming!
and watching beauty and the beast before bed.
Gare bear surprised me with a birthday dinner at PF Changs with most of my family there waiting. It was super sweet they were all hiding behind their menus so I couldn't see them until we walked right up to the table!

After some orange peel chicken and chocolate dessert we all went to the temple lights. I love the temple grounds during this time of year all lit up and sparkly.

Look at all of those pretty lights!

Me and my mom

Ryker looking so serious and me looking so pregnant!

Little Violet admiring the manger scene.

My sweet husband who made me feel special on my birthday, and that can be quite a task when your birthday falls on december 20th five days before christmas! I love this man!

Here is the birthday present he got me. He put it underneath my pillow so I could wake up to it!

I have needed a new ring for sometime now to go along with my engagement band and I was eyeing this square sparkler. He was paying attention and went and got it for me. I feel very blessed to have such a sweet man as my husband this was definently the best birthday out of all 27 of them.

Miss Violet turns 2 and other news...

Just a warning these first two pictures are random but I felt they were blogworthy.

This is Gary's cankle injury he did this standing up while sledding down a hill 1 week after he came home! It is an official sprain and he had to use crutches or a cane to walk and get around. It is finally healing up a bit thankfully but he still limps around. So to all sledders out there be careful!

If you need something to do for family night hit up the Layton lights we did and it was some good times!MIss Violet turns 2!

We had a Jammies and breakfast party for her with some friends. Here are my kiddos in their footsie pajamas!

We had a super delish & super easy doughnut cake for her.
Miss Vi with her friends opening some presents!
Eating a super yummy egg bake breakfast made by her Dad!
and painting her ornament! It was a fun little party for her and we were able to be in our jammies all day! It was nice and relaxing.

Here is our after party party doing what we Abadians do best these days just a bunch of relaxin'! There's really not much else we can do with one sprained ankle and me being 38 weeks preggo!

I really do love this picture. I layed down after a little after party clean-up and here comes ripley to be spooned by me. Next thing I know here comes Violet to be spooned by Ripley! It was a triple spoon! We all had a nice long nap.

Violet's actual birthday was on a Sunday so here she is the next morning opening her birthday gifts from us. I think she is getting the hang of this birthday stuff and loving it!

Also I just found out I am dialated to a 2 and little Jonah will be here on December 28th. It's all scheduled! I am so excited to meet my little christmas baby!

Happy Holidays!!!

All is merry and bright!

This is our lovely and very bright christmas tree this year. I just love how warm and cheery it makes our home feel. I always put it up early and take it down late. That's the good thing about the fake ones. May all your trees be bendy and bright!

Here is Thanksgiving with the Abadians. It was the first time since Gary and I have been married that we got to spend it at my mom and step-dad's house. The food and company were fabulous!
It was so good having Gary back just in time for the holidays! It wouldn't have been the same without him and that is what we were most thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Family
Gary and Ryker played in the snow. Ryker is so happy to have his Dad back home to play with! The kids follow Gary around everywhere!
The homecoming was amazing! Ryker was on Fox 13 news with a sign we made that said welcome home Dad! Those homecomings are emotional. There weren't very many dry eyes in that place. I am so thankful for the families that serve in the military! I can't believe the strength it must take to have a member of your family gone for such a long time. Gary's deployment was a fairly short one (5 months) and it was hard not having him around!
The first night he came home he made me laugh until I cried! Man I have missed that. I am so glad to be together as a family again!

Nothing could ever make me happier than this...

Being a Mom. Nothing will ever be more important to me. Nothing can compare to the love and gratitude I feel for having Gary, Ryker, Violet, and in 8 more weeks Jonah in my life. Yes it can be hard, yes my kids throw tantrums in public and sometimes it can be embarrassing, and sometimes they can be little mischief makers, but I can tell you I would not trade them for anything in this world or the next one. They are my heart. They ground me and give me the strength I need to move forward in hard times. So here is just a little bit about the loves of my life:

Ryker

My five year old currently loves pirates, making crafts and forts, collecting rocks, leaves, and sticks and putting them into my purse. It's funny when I am at the store and pull out a bunch of dead crunchy leaves looking for my wallet. I really will miss when he doesn't do that anymore. He loves looking for bugs, he picks up spiders, dead worms and other dead critters when he sees them lying around. He wants a new pet everyday yesterday it was a shark, today it was an ostrich and tomorrow it will be something else. He wants to be a palentologist or a police officer when he grows up, and everytime he says that word palentologist I just wanna kiss his little cheeks off cause it's so darn cute. His favorite song is the one off of Forrest Gump. It goes "Stop children what's that sound everybody look what's goin down". I have it in my cd player and he always makes me turn it up full blast, my little hippie child. He is kindhearted and intellegent. He truly cares for others and loves to tell me when he did something nice for someone. I love my little bug! These are pictures from his last soccer game in the fall.

Violet
My soon to be 2 year old sure does have the attitude of one already! She is so sweet one minute and can turn into a little sass the next. She loves tinkerbell, princess stuff,babies, and cookie monster. She loves to sing! These are her favorites, ring around the rosies, jesus wants me for a sunbeam, the hello song, and twinkle twinkle little star. She loves to snuggle and she is not shy. She LOVES our dog ripley! She feeds him, tries to put diapers on him, and kisses and hugs him all of the time. She likes to color and read books. She talks alot and very clearly for her age people think she is older than she is. I love having a girl. I love dressing her up, watching girlie shows with her, and painting her nails. She has such a nurturing side. I love my little punkin pie. She is so sweet! Here she is at Granma Andi and Papa Bills feeding their chickens.


Sunday at Grandma Jens playing in the fall leaves.

I love my family!

Halloween and a handful of fall...

This is Halloween! I was a cat but ended up looking more like a skunk. This is Ryker as a pirate skeleton he was dressed in his costume at 9 am! He loves halloween just like his mom. We went to an amazing halloween party hosted by my mom there was halloween themed food, games, and lots of family and friends. I only wish I would have gotten more pictures of everyoneI did get a picture of these cute trick or treaters toughin it out in the rain! This is Ryker with his cute little hello kitty friend Avery. Violet stayed with grandma Jen while we went trick or treating.
We went to a halloween carnival with some cousins. It was great fun, here are my two little pirates with their sweet cousin Ava.
Josie the dragon, Ava the witch, Ryker the Pirate, Sienna the bumble bee, and Violet the pirate.
This was after Ryker's halloween parade at school! Here he is with a couple of his friends. He had such a fun day.
Rykes carved his own pumpkin this year! I drew the bat he wanted and was by his side the whole time making sure he was careful. He did an awesome job!

So I got stuck with Ryker's massive pumpkin that he picked out of the patch and I broke out in some odd rash on my arm from cleaning out that beast of a pumpkin. The end result is the pumpkin on the far right. Ryker was very specific that he wanted me to carve a mustache on it. I think it turned out pretty cool.

I got to be a helper mom and go on a field trip with Ryker to the pumpkin patch here he is on the bus!

This was my group of kindergartners to keep track of. They had so much fun picking their pumpkins in the patch!

Here is a handful of fall pictures. I love this time of year going up to fernwood by the castle house and walking in all of that beautiful fall scenery! This is Ryker and Violet with some buddies climbing the mountain.

This boy is my heart and I just love that smile.

Fall leaves and friends.

Miss Vi, she is so sassy these days! I sure love my little sweet and sassy muffin.

I rarely get a picture where she will look at the camera and smile. She is so busy!

Gary gets home in two weeks (hooray!) I am looking forward to him being here. I just love that man. I can't wait to laugh at all his jokes, hold his hand, and spoon. Sorry if that's to much information! But seriously I will be so happy to have my goofy husband around again!

Recent October Adventures.

Who says this kind of stuff is just for kids? This was our UEA weekend, we went to the Black Islands Harvest Farms in Syracuse, and to the Zoo. I seriously was having a good time in all of that dried corn. I was the only adult in there it was awesome and therapeutic!Aunt summy, Violet and Ryker sittin' on some massive pupmkins.
Ryker, Violet, Me, and don't forget baby J he is getting really serious about this growing business all you have to do is take a look at my midsection!
Ryker helping his little sis not be afraid of the tube.
SEE-SAW

More dried corn adventures!

Ryker was making corn angels.

Myself, and my little sister summer.

Ryker haulin' down the ginormous slide.

The llamas.

One of these fellas bit me in my attempt to feed it some grass.

The Hogle Zoo.

We love to go in the fall, not too hot, not too cold, and the animals seem to be in good spirits.

This crocodile sure was!

My little chick-a-dee in her eggshell.

Little beauty

Rykes in his turtle shell

Vi on her caterpillar

The carousel ride

Ryker and cute friend Avery! This was there "I love monkeys face"

Cute little munchkins

and finally the gorillas (my favorite)

Happy UEA weekend!

Four more weeks until Gary gets home!!