The Abadians

Firsts...

2012-01-05T11:24:00.000-08:00

Jonah had his very first Birthday. It's amazes me how much he has grown in just one short year.
I am so blessed to have this little special man in my life. One year goes by in a blink of an eye!

Here he is now! He keeps me on my toes. He loves to climb every surface in our house. He finds it thrilling to be dangerous these days. Our little one year old!

On his Birthday Gary brought home a bunch of balloons. Jonah was captivated by them!
We had our very own celebration. His favorite part was most definitely being able to dig his little hands into his very own cake!

I love the cool whip beard in this picture that Jonah is sporting!
We also visited the aquarium for our little guy's Birthday.
He loved looking at all of the coloful fish!
This is too cute, he was doing a backbend trying to look at all of the fish!
We saw all sorts of amazing sea creatures including sharks, sea horses. an octopus, penguins, sting rays, and this sea turtle!
Ryker and Violet looking at the Jellyfish. We had an amazing time at the aquarium.
Happy Birthday to our sweet Jonah Gabriel!
Here was another first, Ryker lost his very first tooth on Jonah's birthday! It was super wriggly and bugging him. I gave him a little pep talk and told him to pull it out on his own. He did!
We also had an awesome time Ice skating for our very first time as a family!
Ryker was able to do it on his own after some practice with his Dad!

Violet loved Ice Skating. Luckily Aunt Summer was there to help me keep her from falling! She wanted to be on the ice the whole time!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning with us Abadians.

2012-01-02T21:54:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve.

I love the excitement in the air on Christmas eve. The kids get so excited for Santa to come and bring presents. It makes it fun that they believe in magic. Gary and I stayed up late talking about our most memorable Christmas morning's when we were kids. It was so fun hearing about what he loved, and remembering what I loved about Christmas as a kid. There is one thing that always came up and that was being together as a family. Although, I did get a pretty sweet pair of roller blades when I was a kid that I will never forget!

Our tradition is that the kids get to open one gift before they go to bed on Christmas eve.

It's always Jammie's!

It was funny to me because I expected Ryker mainly, to open his Jammie gift and be disappointed that it wasn't a shiny new toy. But I was pleasantly surprised that Ryker and Violet were pretty darn excited about their new jams. Jonah didn't really mind either way!
Christmas Morning
Most definitely my favorite morning of the entire year. I love watching my kids excitedly opening all of their gifts. They are at such fun ages.
Jonah
Loves Balls. He got plenty of balls and cars to play with.
His brother and sister helped him with opening his gifts. He was mainly so happy about these balls, and his bottle on Christmas morning!

Violet
Just adored all of the princess shoes Santa brought! She lined them all up in a row. Her favorite pair was the Ariel one. At first she didn't really love the idea of Old Saint Nick sneaking into our house in the middle of the night. But now ever since Christmas morning, she's always saying, "Is Santa coming back tonight?" I think she will be looking forward to Santa's visit to our house next year for certain.
Oh Ryker
What can I say? This boy was so fun to watch on Christmas morning. He was shaking with excitement, and shouting out every gift he opened, as if it weren't right in front of our very eyes. He was beyond happy about this B.B. gun Santa brought. He kept calling it a real red rider B.B. gun. He was a hoot!
Below are just some pictures of Christmas morning with us Abadian's.

The kids played in the wrapping paper mess afterwards. Such fun!

I am so thankful for my 3 adorable little children and my hard working husband! I will cherish every Christmas I have with them. They are my heart.

Christmas traditions and parties.

2011-12-29T08:45:00.000-08:00

Traditions are awesome. I love getting together with family for the holidays. It's all about being with family and making memories for me. This year my mom started a new tradition. She read us a book about Pennies Christmas Jar. It's an adorable story about a little girl, whose family saves money in a jar all year long, and then each member of the family gets to take a turn choosing who to give it to on Christmas. It was Pennie's turn and she chose an elderly sick man in her neighborhood. My Mom gave us each a Christmas jar so we too, could save our pennies and give to someone less fortunate. I love this new traditon! I am looking forward to it.

My Mom's house on Christmas.
The kids got some pretty awesome stuff from their Grandma and Grandpa M.

Papa Tod & Grandma Fran's house on Christmas.
We had a yummy mexican lunch and the kids got some pretty awesome stuff again. We are so grateful for Grandparents!

So glad my brother was around for the holidays this year! I loved him and Shannin's matching Christmas sweaters!

Grandma Andi & Papa Bill's on Christmas eve. We had an amazing turkey dinner and some good times watching all of the kids perform songs for us. Ryker likes to wear this hat and strum the guitar and sing for us. He sings jingle bells, pirate songs, and whatever comes to mind. He's such a little character.

The kids are so lucky to have so many cousins to play with.

The kid table!

Looking back on all of these pictures just warms my heart. I am so thankful for my family, each and every member of it. I love spending the holidays with them and look forward for the years to come!

Getting into that Christmas spirit!

2011-12-16T13:47:00.001-08:00

This is a letter Ryker wrote to Santa at school. Notice all of the skulls he drew on his paper. I bet his Teacher just loves that.Here we are reenacting the manger scene for FHE. It was Ryker's idea, he got out all of the stuff. He was a shepherd (notice the shepherd's crook in hand). Gary was the angel/ shepherd, Jonah was Joseph and Violet was Mary. I was the narrator and of course we have our baby Jesus lying in the hay.

We also made cookies that same night. My little princess "helped".

Next we headed for the Layton Park's lights!

Jonah was mesmerized by all of those sparkly lights.

Ryker's favorite was the snake and Violet's was the mermaid.

We had a family party with The Mitchell's and every year they have Santa come and bring an early Christmas present for the kids.

Ryker asked for a B.B. GUN.

We let him watch the Christmas story just so he knew what Gary and I meant when we said "you'll shoot your eye out"!

This was a breakthrough for Vi. She has been terrified of Santa this year. She has had a couple of opportunities to sit on his lap but she would always cry and scream NO! But this Santa was persistent, he bribed her with a shiny wrapped present and a candy cane. Violet conquered her fear of Santa! Yay!

I don't think Jonah was quite so sure of old Santy clause either!

But at least he didn't cry.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy 3rd Birthday Violet!

2011-12-07T17:05:00.000-08:00

Here is the afternoon of your 3rd birthday! We bundled you all up to go ride a horsey. All you wanted for your birthday was a horse so this was the next best thing.You got to meet lightning the miniature pony. He was adorable!
Our whole family came to watch you ride the horse. We got to pet some of the other horses in the stables too.

Here is your horse you got to ride her name was Senora and she was blind in one eye. Here you are leading her with a rope!

You and your brother got to brush her for a long time.

You loved it you kept smiling the whole time and you kept complimenting the horse. You said "you're such a great horse". Senora loved being brushed and pet by you!

You and Ryker got to feed Senora peppermints.

When it came time to ride you were pretty nervous so Ryker went first and showed you that it's not so scary.

Once you got on that saddle you were hooked! You were laughing and smiling the whole time!

You rode for a long time.

and LOVED it.

Then we had to leave because Jonah's diaper leaked but you had a great time and we loved watching you on that Horse so happy!

We went home and Papa Reyza had brought you a new bike!

Dad and papa took you to cafe rio and the sweet tooth fairy for cupcakes.

When you got home we all sang Happy Birthday to you and you got to eat this amazing strawberry shortcake cupcake!

We also had a family party for you over the weekend! Lots of people came. Grandma and Papa Mitchell, Grandma and Papa Minson, and Grandma and Papa Smith all came. Plus aunts, uncles, and cousins made for one big birthday bash!

You opened lots of neat gifts and we sang Happy Birthday again.

I made you these horsey cupcakes. Toothpicks and scrapbook paper can do wonders!

I love you Vi, Vi. I can't believe your three already. I am so grateful to be your Mom!

Thankful.

2011-12-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

I am so thankful for all of the many blessings in my life. We have been very blessed with beautiful children, healthy bodies, a warm place to live, heat, food, and clean water. There is always something to be thankful for no matter how drab life can get, and for that I am thankful.Gary

My handy dandy fixer-upper repair man. He is pretty amazing this guy. He hung our Christmas lights on our house after coming home from work and in the dark. Our T.V broke and he ordered a part and fixed it right up!

He got a new job in August which I forgot to mention. He works for the National Weather Service now and he loves it. He works with the Radars and he gets to be in the great outdoors. He brought home this weather balloon one day for the kids to play with. They think he's a pretty cool Dad. So do I.
Me
I have been loving being a stay at home mom. I love to be able to volunteer in Ryker's class at school, take care of my young ones at home, keep our house clean, and cook dinners. I really like trying out new recipes. The only thing I dont love is Laundry that is a battle I can never seem to win. I get it washed and dryed. Then the folding part comes and I put it off until there is a permanent mountain in Gary and I's room. Ah well what can ya do?
One hobby I have picked up lately is Zumba! I love zumba, I have been going about twice a week in the evenings. It's an amazing workout and so much fun!

Jonah
How could you not wanna squeeze these little cheekies?! This big baby is turning one soon. I can't believe my Christmas baby is already going to be one. Time flies when your having fun I guess. He brings plenty of fun wherever he goes. He loves to explore the nooks and crannys of our house, he loves following around his sister & brother, and playing ball. He says Mama, Dada, and HI. He likes chasing ripley around the house, and he prefers to feed himself these days. Such a big Boy!

I guess you could say he is getting too big for his bouncy! Whenever I put him in it he manages to flip over and crawl with it on his back. Gary and I call him our little turtle.
He loves eating peaches. I am giving this boy lots more baths now that he is feeding himself!

This is my brother Dallen. Doesn't he look like a caucasian Bob Marley? Jonah was loving the Guitar strumming by his uncle Dally.

Violet

My little lady knows how to hold her own when it comes to wrastlin' with her brother! She loves playing with her brother, eating cereal, being super snuggly, horses, puppies, and french fry days with her Mom. Every time I ask her how old she is going to be on her Birthday she tells me "eighteen". I don't know where she got that from!

I can never keep her hair done anymore so I just leave it down most the time and everytime I comb her hair she sings that song from tangled " flower gleam and glow let your power shine"..so cute.

The Weather Balloon above.

We got invited to do a Joyschool and she has been loving it! She gets to play with kids, learn about letters, and read stories every Wednesday. Here are some pictures of the last couple of times at our house.

Ryker

Here is Ryker being Santa. He dresses like this every year without fail. He stuffs his belly, puts on boots, and wears our Santa hat on his head. He also makes a paper beard and then pretends he is Santa asking everyone what they want for Christmas. Violet loved it! She is pretty terrified of the other Santa's out there so Ryker's little gettup will have to do. He's such a funny guy!

The weather balloon pretty much made his day! Gary had a Christmas work party for the Air National Guard. He took Ryker to the inside of the Radar he works with. Ryker thought that was probably the coolest thing ever! He told Gary he wants to be a Radar man like him when he grows up.

Wrestling! We put Rykes in wrestling, he had a pretty good time and pinned a couple kids. He also got pinned pretty good too, but he was a good sport about it! He even wrestled a 2nd grader in a unitard. It gave Gary and I some pretty good laughs!

I love how serious these boys faces are!

Funny kids.

Halloween

2011-11-16T07:37:00.000-08:00

This is Halloween! We had dinner and went trick or treating with our good buds the Ostranders! They dressed up as the Wolf Dawgs it was awesome. We also recieved a very special visit from a witch (Jami's mom) that came all the way from Wyoming to bring the kiddos some treats. She played an awesome witch. The kids had no idea who she was!

Ryker the skeleton with buds Bridger and Foster. This was the spookiest house on the block it had fog machines, a hurse, and all of our favorite nightmare before christmas characters on their front yard. Yes and that is a coffin complete with a severed body behind the kids. I love when people go all out like that it's awesome!
Our little trick or treaters! Foster the transformer, Violet the pink horse, Bridger Darth Vader, and Rykes the Skelly!

Their bags got pretty full! We weren't messin around this year. This trick or treating stuff was serious business!

Vi and Ryker

I was so delighted Violet wanted to wear her costume on Halloween night! We had about 3 other times we dressed up before Halloween and i couldn't get her to wear it. She was the prettiest pink horse I've ever seen!

Ryker was four different things: for our trunk or treat with the neighborhood he was Jack sparrow (borrowed from a friend). For his school carnival he was a swamp monster that we already had. We had a family Halloween party, and for that he was a frankenstein that we made up from make-up, hair spray, and old clothes. Then finally he was the blue skeleton for Halloween! My little theatrical man!

Halloween Night we had Jack-o-lantern pizza for dinner!

Our carved our pumpkins!

I wish I got more pictures of the family party but I video taped most of it! Gary and I decorated our basement with blacklights and spiderwebs. We had spooky music, glowsticks, and awesome food brought by family. There were apples shaped like bats in the salad (heather), and purple chocolate chip cookies (harm & Finnley), Soups, and some awesome witches brew with dry ice in the cauldron!

Grandma Jen dressed up like a gypsy, papa shane was a cowboy, Aunt Jill and Uncle Brad had some awesome costumes! They were puss in boots and Humpty dumpty. My Grandma and Grampa even dressed up! Uncle Ty and Aunt Annie were the batman clan. Everyone looked amazing!

Trunk or treat! Our ward had a Trunk or treat in the parking lot it was awesome! People go all out decorating their trunks. There was even a Dj set up. It was pretty fun for the kids. Cousin Crue came with us he was a cute little clowny!

Vi was ariel and I was catwoman

Jonah Bugs was the cutest little skeleton! His favorite thing about halloween was the pumpkin carving he loved smooshing his hands in all of those pumpkin guts!

Ryker as Jack Sparrow with a sweet handlebar mustache!

Gary as Batman! For our party he was an old man. I was a slacker with pictures this year.

Papa Todd and Grandma Fran at the Trunk or treat!

We had lots of fun dressing up, spending time with family and friends, and getting lots of candy! I personally dug the snickers bars out of my kids candy bags and ate them all!

Fall splendor!

2011-11-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

I am in love with fall.

I love the color. I love the cooler temperature.

Did I mention I love the color?

Here are some of my favorite pictures of this fall.....

Vi vi and I had a girls day out to the Black Island farms.

I look forward to many more girls day outings with my little lady!

Vi loved the cow.
This was a warm sunny fall day in our backyard. Our tree was starting to shed it's red-orange leaves and the kids were discovering the wonderful joy of playing in a big pile of leaves! Ahh to be a kid again.....

The mountains are my favorite place to be in the fall time.

This is where we get to admire all of the beautiful leaves
and my kids get to run around and be in the great outdoors!

We went a little early in the year looking for some fall color.

We didn't see any but I managed to snap this cute picture of Ryker!

Just look at that face. He's so cute!

One of my favorites. Nothing beats pumpkin pickin' with the family!

Jonah discovered his love for Wagons...so cute!

The brothers.

Vi with good buds Bridger and Foster at the Black Islands patch.

Fall is the best! It's a time of comfort and family and being warm inside while soft white snowflakes start to fall outside of your window bringing with it the Holidays!

Harvest time and other stuff....

2011-10-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

This is the peach tree in our backyard. This beauty produced many lovely peaches for us so we gave some away, made peach jam, and canned some. I am loving these fruit trees in our backyard! The apricots came and I was able to make apricot jam also. It's so exciting to watch them grow and the kids have been loving them.Here are just some of the bag fulls of peaches! My counter tops were covered.
We also have pear and apple trees. I have been learning alot about canning, which is something I have always wanted to do. It's a good feeling having all of those pretty fruit jars on the shelf!

Jonah

This cute little man got two teeth on the bottom and his two vampire teeth are starting to come down just in time for Halloween!

Jonah has turned into such a daddy's boy! Gosh he just loves it when Gary walks through that front door. He gets so excited and gets the biggest grin on his face.

This is what he does when he gets mad, he buries his face into the ground. Lately he has been getting really mad if he can't play with the cell phones or if we close the bathroom door to try to keep him away from the toilet. We are just such strict parents aren't we? Ha ha.

Here Jonah is grabbing a dirty sock which he proceeded to stuff in his mouth directly after this photo. Everything has been going into this little portly man's mouth these days! Watch your toes around him, he got mine the other day!

Violet

This picture is the epitomy of Violet. We were at Ryker's swim lessons every morning for two weeks, and this is the sassy little attitude I got to deal with on the sidelines. Good thing she is so darn cute.

I found during swim lessons and soccer, my bright red lipstick would keep this little lady entertained. Although, it would usually end up all over her face!

This is sweet Vi with her best friend. Ripley got a hair cut and she thought that he was a new dog. She kept following him around and calling him King.

Violet has been loving horses! A pink princess horse is probably the best thing that she could ever dream of! She is such a little girly, girl princess. I love it! I wouldn't have her any other way. I'll take her sass and all!

Ryker

Little Mr. Kermit the frog body, that's what Gary and I call him. He has got the cutest little skinny body! Here he is at swim lessons. We went to the clearfield aquatic center while he was off track and he loved it. He learned some new techniques and enjoyed his time in the water! He is such a little fish.

He gets better and better everytime we put him in lessons. As long as he likes it, we'll keep putting him in!

SOCCER

Ryker has a love for soccer. This is him with his blue whales team! He got so much better this year. It's been exciting to watch his progress and enthusiasm for the game increase. He is a great forward and he keeps up with the ball pretty good too.

Coach Simi (our neighbor) was sweet to give the kids medals with their names on them, he went through calling all the kids names one by one, and had them stand while he gave them their medals. He said something good about each of them. He said the best thing about Ryker was that he always listens when he tells him what to do. It was a great confidence booster for the kids!

The red sharks team.

Ryker scored his very first goal ever with this team! It was the second to last game of the season. We have been rooting for him for some time now to score a goal because he always says, "Mom i'm gonna score seven goals today" and we always just tell him to try his best and have fun. But we really were so excited when he got that first goal because he has wanted it for so long!

Here he is #7!

Go Ryker!

Adventures....

2011-09-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

Jonah bugs

Did I say this kid was mellow? Wow things can change fast! He has learned to turbo crawl all over our house. Some of his favorite hot spots are the bathroom, dog bowls, dishwasher, and the stairs! He also favors putting small objects into his mouth. He is definently in that " I just gotta keep him alive" phase in life!You'd think with all of this crawling the rolls would dissapear. But he still has these scrumptious little rollies all over his legs, hands, and feet. I love it!

He can fall asleep in the oddest positions!

Here he is with that sweet little innocent face gettin into the dog food!
My little curious george.

Dishwasher fun!

He still loves his little snuggly friend. He smashes him into his face to go to sleep!
The ONLY thing that will slow this boy down is watching his favorite show Baby Einstein.
Violet
We have this awesome park right down the road from our house. We take the kids down there sometimes and walk around. Here are some pictures of Violet at the park.

My little drama mama.

She is starting to love friends! We had a new family move in across the street and they have a little girl Violets age. Hanna came over to play one day and they were downstairs being awfully quiet. Gary went to check on them and found Violet with the Halloween make-up! Apparently she decided to give Hanna and herself a little make over. Hanna wasn't too happy with her look!

Ryker
The park is an adventure for Ryker!
He catches bugs, collects odd plants, and looks for frogs.

Searching the waters for frogs.

Ryker had an All about me day at school! He got to make a poster with his favorite things on it. Here is what he wrote his favorites were:
Color- Light blue

Food- Chicken enchiladas

Friends- Bridger, Braxton, Audrick, Tyler, and Jordyn.

What you want to be when you grow up?- A paleontologist

Gary made a great video of pictures of Ryker to share with his class
It was a fun day for him!

Soccer Season started! We put Ryker on two teams. The red sharks, and the blue whales. He is loving it and getting better each game! Here he is as goalie for the blue whales!

BOATIN'

We went up to Pineview lake for some boating with Grandma Jen and Papa Shane. It was a beautiful day!

Ryker learned to jump off of the front of the boat. I am surprised he would do it! I have to muster up some courage to do it myself! It's a pretty far drop, but he was loving it!

Gary got to do his favorite thing: swim!

Violet got to do her favorite thing too: snuggle with dogs!

Jonah and Ryker playing around!

Grandma Jen and Jonah buggers. The view at pineview, so pretty!

We are looking forward to the adventures that Fall will bring!

Family Pictures

2011-09-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

We had our family pictures taken by my Mom. We took them in an alley way by Kaysville theatre. It was very cloudy, and looked like rain, but we still hoped to snap some shots before the downpour. My Mom did a beautfiful job. I love pictures where your just being yourselves! She captured us perfectly. Everyone's doing their own thing as you can see.

These are just a few of them. She took many others that I loved too. Right after we got done with the shoot it started pouring rain! We also saw a double rainbow shortly after that.

Dinos and kiddy love.....

2011-08-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

We made a trip down to the Hogle zoo with the kids. I could have sworn we went on the hottest day of the year but, I would do it all over again just because they had such a good time. They got to see the animals, ride the train, and see the dinosaurs.Ryker loves, and I really mean loves, Dinosaurs. He is infatuated with these creatures!
So needless to say, he was in heaven.

Violet joined in the fun. I think Ryker's love of dinos is rubbin off on her a little. As you can see how sweetly she is hugging this vicious T-rex as if she were hugging her dear old grandma.

Jonah

I seriously ask myself every day how I got so lucky to have such a sweet and mellow little guy like this one. Sure we've had our times when it wasn't all peachy keen. But now, I mean wow, this baby is wonderful. I promise i'm not sugar coating it at all. I could have 11 kids if they all had the temperment he has.

He has grown so much in such a short amount of time. I cannot believe he is seven months already. He is still my "prize pig" and he takes the cake as far as any other seven month old baby i've met as far as size goes! He started crawling now so I know this chub will start coming off and it makes me sad. I love my squishy guy.

He has a pretty good older brother who lets him squeeze his nose!

Some of his favorites are: Ripley! Oh how he loves this dog. I've never seen him giggle the way he does when he giggles at our dog. He loves watching Ryker and Violet play, loves being outside and grabbing at low branches on our trees. He eats pretty much anything except green beans.

One of my favorite things I love about Jonah bugs is his smell. Gosh he has this sweet baby smell I could rub cheeks with him all day and just breath him in. Oh and his fuzzy hair is extra soft and sticks straight up I love that too.

Violet

I love this little lady. She has the best hugs. She will hug you all day long and never let go. I love it when her and Ryker play! They have started playing together alot. She has really started taking on some of Ryker's personality traits. The other day she was jumping off of the couch with her arms straight out in front of her and she was shouting "Superman!" I have caught her in Ryker's room a few times kissing his Batman doll on the mouth. This batman doll is about the size she is so it's prety funny and a little too realistic looking!

She says hello to everyone lately! Strangers, shoppers, people on the street. You name it. She is very friendly!

Oh yes, and she loves her room. She spends alot of time independently playing in her room these days. She is our little room dweller.

She remains very girly. She loves princess things and barbies all of that! She insists on wearing a skirt or dress everyday and most of the time you will catch her wearing her favorite red tutu!

Ryker

This guy has started first grade. Yikes, my first week without him home I was sad. The house was so quiet and boring. I didn't have this little ball of energy keeping me on my toes! I missed him and I still do. The second week was better. Ryker is so busy all of the time so I just came to the conclusion that it's awesome that he has something productive to do with his day and that he can focus that energy in a positive way. Gary and I went and ate lunch with him and we even spied on him a little, while he was at recess. He looks like he's having fun playing with friends, learning, and growing, and just being a kid!

One amazing thing he learned to do this summer is to swim all by himself! He swims in the deep water without floaties! I'm tellin ya once this boy gets something in his head that he wants to do he just does it! I was so proud of him. He's my little fish!

He's also still my entertainment! He is such a character. I love his personality and all of that imagination he has. He's constantly pretending he can speak spanish. He really wants to learn!

First grader! This year I am ecspecially noticing which subjects Ryker is interested in. He loves Dinosaurs, collecting rocks, catching bugs, and watching our garden grow. He is so curious with nature and science. I always try to read him fictional story books but he really loves animal fact books! My little science nerd! I love it!

So I was taking a nap on the couch when Ryker puts this dragon fly right in my face! I couldn't believe he caught such a big one!

His first book home from the school library! A dinosaur encyclopedia!

I love how each of my kids has their very own personality. I am truly learning the phrase "every child is different" I wholeheartedly believe that every child has something that is unique about them. That goes the same for us grown ups too! we all are unique.

Summer Lovin' with the Abadians

2011-07-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

Jonah

I love this baby! We went for a walk up by fernwood and this boy loved it! You can tell by that cute little smile on his face. He's definently an outdoorsmen.

He has gotten so BIG these last couple of months. He's a baby in a toddler's body. He smiles like crazy and so easily and I love how he growls these days it's such a crack up!
Violet
Yes we did it! We potty trained the miss. She is so funny, she always wants me to read her a story or hold her hands while she goes. On this particular day she got a little fancy with the toilet paper and got some stuck in her tutu.

If there were one word to describe this little princess it would be Delicate. She walks around on her tippy toes and loves everything girly! She is definently not rough and tumble she's just a little lady.

She loved picking wildflowers in the mountains on our walk.

Ryker

This boy is getting to be a big kid. He would be in heaven if he could just play with his friends 24 hours a day. He loves friends!He loves watching our garden grow and checks on it every day. He picked these strawberries out of our patch and he also has been picking the raspberries off of our bushes. He has also been very entertained by catching bugs in the backyard. He's quite good at it too. He catches dragonflies, spiders, grasshoppers, and pretty much anything he comes across. He's not afraid of the creepy crawleys.

He also caught a snake and kept it as a pet in a box in our backyard for about 2 days. He is a little snake handler! Gary and I both don't dare to pick them up so it's quite funny Ryker loves snakes so much.

Ryker and his pet that escaped Mr. Snake.

The 3rd and 4th of July!

We went to the Canyons hotel in Park city and stayed the night. They had a concert and fireworks. Here is Ryker at the concert just entirely asleep.

Violet got her face painted for her very first time. She wouldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror!

Jonah stayed awake for most of the festivities including the concert at night! He also loved the fireworks.

Fireworks in Park city!

Ryker got his face painted too!

We had a big group with us of cousins, Aunt Jill, Uncle Brad, Grandma Jen and Papa Shane.

We danced at the concert!

And we went to Park city's parade the next day.

Here is part of our group.

Dashy, Finnley, and Violet waving their flags!

Ryker and his flag.

Jonah bugs loved his too!

Violet's favorite part of the parade was the horses!

Ryker's was this bird man on the giant bike. He also loved the U.S ski team doing flips on their snowboards and ski's!

Family shot at the Old miner's hospital at the festivities in the park.

After Park City we went to Gary's Family's and had some yummy food and this adorable cake made by his Mom.

The kids did smoke bombs with Grandpa in the backyard.

Jonah got swung in this blanket! Ryker took this picture!

We also had some pretty intense Tug Of wars!

Ryker with his lovely lady cousins! Estella, Josie, Chloe, & Ava.

Gary, his brother Dave, and his sister Gloria with Sienna, Elias, and Jonah.

I love getting all of these cousins together!

Papa Bill with the Grandkids

Chloe, Josie, and Violet

Violet loves her Dad

Jonah and Ryker are the sweetest brothers. Jonah cracks up at Ryker all of the time and Rykes loves playing with Jonah!

Uncle Dave doing the cheerleader balancing act with Ryker.

These guys had the brilliant idea to do superman together! Luckily no one got hurt! Brothers what are we gonna do with em?

Superman!

We love the Summer time it's so bright, happy, and fun!

It was fun having Gary around this time for the Fourth last year he was deployed. I am thankful to live in our free country and for the men and women who serve it!

I SERIOUSLY love Lake Powell!

2011-06-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

Lake Powell will always hold a special place in my heart. I have childhood memories here. I love how there is no agenda when you come here. You don't have to wear make up or get ready. You just get to sit back, enjoy the people you love, and play in the sun! Firework shows at night were AMAZING!

The wishing lanterns were even better! They would fly super high in the sky until you couldn't see them anymore and they were biodegradeable!
Everyone got a turn to make their wish. Ryker was mad his wish didn't come true right away. He wished that he could fly.

There it goes!

Gary took full advantage of his vacation! He tried the air chair, surfing, and wakeboarding. Here he is with the kids on the awesome raft!

He was really good at surfing! He loved it and went out everyday sometimes twice a day to do it!

I had a pretty good time too! We had our survivor wars. Me and my cousin Harm raced in trash bags. I was the winner!!! We also had some tubin' adventures. I have a huge bruise to prove it. We get rough and try to throw all the people on the other tube off. Harm was on my team and we kicked some serious butt!

I love being able to spend time with family and rekindle relationships!

Me and my sis Cass.

Gary and I.

Jonah played with the other babies and did what babies do best.

We took him out in the sand a few times he loved digging his toes in it!

He also had his first boat ride!

Ryker was in heaven. I don't think he stopped going until I made him lay down at night. He told me that he wants to live in Lake Powell forever!

As you can see he was so tired. He wore himself ragged but he would keep on a playin!

He tried surfing with Dad! I was so proud :)

He went for lots of boat rides!

& played in the sand.

He played alot with his cousin Kalli.

And probably his most favorite part was catching all of the lizards. He would catch lizards for hours! It never got old to him.

He carried his lizard around in ths pink bucket for a long time!

Catchin lizards again with cousins carson and diesel.

Pettin his lizard. Yes I think it's safe to say he had an amazing time!

Violet also had some fun. She loved playing with her cousin Diesel!

PLayed with old fireworks in the sand,

Loved this zebra,

Got buried in the sand,

Played with other two year olds Dash, and Finnley. So stinkin cute!

She also poured massive amounts of sand on her head. :)

She loved just being around the other kids and she had a great time playing in the foot water that everyone dipped their feet in before getting into the houseboat. She even drank a couple cup fulls. ICK :) Luckily she didn't get sick!

Grandma Jen and Poppa Shane came along too!

Here was our beautiful spot!

And the most amazing Aunt and Uncle I ever could ask for whom invited us all to join them.

Uncle Brad and Aunt Jill. LOVE EM'

Beautiful Lake Powell I can't wait until we meet again!

My 6 year old!

2011-05-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

Ryker turned 6! He has been so excited to be a six year old. He looked at himself in the mirror when he woke up on the morning of his birthday and he was like "yeah I grew!" He wants to be a big kid soo bad and I never want to let him go. I want to keep him little forever so he can fit into my arms and I can hold him. I want to call him my bugga and tickle and snuggle him. Sadly I know this little man is inevitabely going to grow up. I keep thinking he is like a ticking clock. How much more time do I have when he wants me to hold him or lay with him in his bed and tell him stories? My son is becoming what he wants to be a BIG kid and I just hope with all my heart that I am taking advantage of the time while he is still LITTLE and where he wants me to still hug him and hold him. On the day of Ryker's birthday we got to go and see kung fu panda 2! Grandma Jen, Summer, Sara, and cousin Kalli came. The movie was awesome! It might be even better than the first one. I made dinner and some chocolate cake for the birthday boy and we serenaded him with his birthday song.
We had a friend party too. We had 12 boys at our house!!! It was crazy but I think everyone had fun. We had a kung fu panda theme. We played pass the panda, freeze dance, find the dragon scroll, and we had a pinata. Everyone left with lots of candy and treats!

I made some panda cupcakes! They turned out pretty cute! We also had purple cows! Poppa Bill introduced us to grape soda with vanilla ice cream it's the best!

Happy Birthday to my sweet six year old! I love watching you grow! You are so silly and fun and I love, love, love that I am your mom!

Random things that make me Happy....

2011-05-17T06:38:00.001-07:00

Making our very own personal pizza's for dinner,These beauties in our yard,

I just can't wait for these fruit trees to grow me some fruit!

Gary's tomato, mozerella, and basil sandwiches. With a touch of balsamic vinagerette and olive oil these babies will make your taste buds dance.

The basil comes from our very own basil plant. YUM.

My gardener.

We planted 2 pepper plants, kale, 2 tomato plants, yellow zuchinni, green zuchinni, cucumbers, eggplant, honeydew melon, watermelon, cilantro, basil, and a row of corn. Can't wait to watch it all grow!

Meet the ugly baby.

She is loved by few.

Violet has really taken a liking to ugly baby so Granny Fran and Poppa Tod let her take her home. I am glad my little Violet doesn't love only the beautiful things in life because the uglies need love too.

Speaking of babies this handsome guy has the best rolie polie legs ever!

Dinner time makes me happy. These two goofies make it a show always and I love to watch.

Funny how simple things can make you smile......

Jonah's Easter Sunday blessing and other stuff.

2011-04-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

Ryker

This boy has learned how to snap his fingers this month. He was so proud. He told me that a girl at school taught him. Sweet. I love how he just picks things up pretty much on his own. He also learned recently to do back flips on the trampoline, and I remember when he was just barely 4 years old he learned to ride his bike without training wheels. Quite impressive eh? I would love to take credit for all of that but he has learned to do these things all on his own. He just gets it in his brain that he's gonna do it and he does. One of the many things I love about this boy.He has been off track so we have been playing in our backyard on warmer days. We have this awesome sand house, fire pit, and swingset the kids have been loving their new backyard.
The easter bunny brought Rykes this ducky balloon thing and he loved it!
He and Gary made a trap to capture the easter bunny it was a box with a stick holding it up and a carrot inside for the bait. That easter bunny ate all the carrot and left a note saying "Better luck next year" Love, The easter bunny. Violet
This little miss has been busy! She loves having her brother at home to play with. She loves being outside and playing in the sand house. She wants to bring buckets of the stuff into our house and she gets sad when I won't let her. This is the best picture I got of her on Easter sunday. It's the only one where she would hold still.

I painted her room purple although it looks a little blue in the picture. It turned out really cute I wish I would have taken a before and after picture. Before it was pink with a grayish green wall with precious moments wallpaper. Lets just say it looks 100 times better.

Here is one of 5 of the fruit trees we have in our backyard. They are really pretty right now because they have all of these beautiful flowers on them. I think this one is pear. Or maybe peach? I guess it will be a surprise.

Baby Jonah

We finally blessed the man! Don't let his size decieve you. He is only just barely four months although he fits nicely into 12 months clothes.

Jonah has begun to chat and babble like crazy I love it!

There is nothing better than when this little man smiles. Seriously heaven.Jonah and Dad on his blessing day. Isnt that hat the cutest? It used to be Rykers.

Gary gave a really nice blessing in the circle was Poppa Tod, Uncle Tyler, and Uncle Dave.

Great Grandma Colleen and Baby Jonah before his blessing.We had our families come over after the blessing it was nice to have us all together! I didn't get pictures of everyone but here are a few.

We tried to get some of the cousins on the couch for a picture it didn't work out so well but it was humorous to look back through some of these. In this picture two out of 7 are crying and most of them aren't looking.

This was probably the best shot out of all ten I took and we've got a couple cryers and a few are missing!

Easter morning!

Ryker and his basket.

We went to an awesome egg hunt on Saturday at the Mitchell's house.

They hid stuff down in the hollow it is so pretty over there.

Ryker and Violet with the goodies they got.

Baby Jonah and Dad. Next year Jonah can join the hunt!

New beginnings....

2011-04-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

Yep, we finally did it! We bought our very own place. We are excited to have something to call our own. Here is the moving truck we used. Can I just say moving is not very fun. Good thing it will be the last time in a really, really long while! Ryker couldn't have been happier in that moving truck, he thought it was awesome. He wanted to keep it forever. Here is a glimpse at part of our house. We moved to Syracuse way out west, and we like it pretty good so far.
The people that lived here before planted all of these beautiful spring flowers! I also see some tulips coming up (my fav)

Ryker had a singing and dancing thing at school. He was singing the song weeks before. It was the dinosaur boogie and he did great! He might just be a natural.

He also got bearemy from school. He has been waiting all school year. He had fun with bearemy reading books and snuggling in bed.

Miss Vi, lets just say this girl is into every possible thing that is forbidden at her age of 2 years! This sneaky little lady got into my makeup and did a number on herself. Isn't she lovely?

She has her sweet snuggly side too. Here she is with her best friend in the whole wide world.

Little miss princess loves snackin, dress up, cookies, and makin messes!

Jonah roo, this little fella is such a delight his smile is so sweet. I just love that dimple and can't get enough of his chubbiness. So scrumptious!

My little shnookums and his kissable lips!

Gary and I celebrated our 5th anniversary March 25th. My we have come a long way. It has been an awesome journey and I look forward to another five years with this guy.

Gary has been ever so busy as usual. He deserves a vacation soon. If he's not working or doing homework he's helping me take care of our munchkins or cleaning. They have a pretty good Dad!

Wrestlin with Dad.

Gary and I on our anniversary.

Me-Things have been busy! I feel like I say this everytime. Adjusting to three kids has been an undertaking to say the least. Moving has sent us into a whole nother world of crazy. I feel like a clown trying to juggle it all.

I wish I could be super mom with an extra pair arms and super lightning speed....

Let the Hibernating end!

2011-03-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

Ryker- " Mom jesus gave me powerful ears"

We recently discovered a new trick of Ryker's he can wiggle his ears without touching them! It is the most adorable thing just like Alfalfa off of the little rascals. This boy has been having lots and lots of playdates lately and loving nutella on toast.

We took advantage of a warm day and went for a walk. Ryker was speedy gonzales on his bike. He is really itchin' for more warm days so we can play outside more. He is getting way excited to start soccer again in the spring!Violet-"Take it easy"

This girl is such a cling on as you can see in the picture below! She needs lots and lots of hugs, she has been like that ever since she was a baby. I really hope she doesn't grow out of it. Violet picked up one of her Dad's favorite sayings "Take it easy" he always says it when I am stressed or frustrated. Vi was in the bathroom gettin into the soaps and such so I had to get her out of there and tell her no, no and she replies "Take it easy". What the.

I guess this is what happens when you turn your head on a two year old. Yeah that's permanent marker. Awesome.
My little sugar and spice. Love this little snuggler.
Jonah is a chunky monkey!
This little guy was off the charts in weight and in the 96% for height. My pediatrician said my little two month old is the size of a small eight month old baby!
We have been loving our sweet Jonah bugs he loves bathtime and his lotion massage afterwards. He smiles alot and shows me that cute little dimple in that left cheek of his.
Such an easygoing baby! He has been sleeping through the night (knock on wood)
We love our little handsome man!
Gary
This guy makes me laugh. I seriously think he should write up a skit and go do a comedy act somewhere. I laugh so hard I cry when this guy is around. Thanks for the giggles Gare. You make life fun.

I feel good. Things have been good this month. Which is saying alot for me. The last couple of months have been crazy with surgery and the after baby stuff. I feel like I am finally starting to get back to some normalcy in my life Yay!

I am so looking forward to warmer weather and glorious spring! Let the hibernating end!

Frosty Abadian

2011-02-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

This is what being a kid in Utah is all about! Building snowmen and playing in the snow. The kids and I had such a good time making this snowman. It brought me back to the days when I was a kid. It was one of the best days I have had in a long time. Ryker and Violet swinging in the snow. It was such a beautiful sunny day.
Our trampoline was covered and we were trying to throw the snow off. We didn't get it all off but we sure had fun.

Ryker wanted a beard on our Frosty so we grabbed some twigs from our bushes and stuck them in his chin.Violet loves the snow! This is really the first year we have really played with her in the snow and she loved it! She didn't want to go back inside.

I just loved playing with my kids in the snow. It was such a great day and one of those days I never want to forget.

Frosty Abadian

Abadian Update...

2011-02-06T12:45:00.000-08:00

Ryker- "Mom i'm a five year old teenager."

Oh heavens this boy comes up with some funny comments! It is sort of scary how much he looks up to teenagers. I blame it on my teenage sister Sara, he adores her. Besides loving teenagers this boy has been loving holding his new baby brother, playing at Grandma Jens, and playing his new wii game Donkey Kong.Doesn't it seem like January and February are always just kind of BLAH? It has been bitter cold and we as a family are running out of ideas of things and activities to do. We have been watching alot of movies and sittin on the couch with snuggly blankees. Beauty and the Beast has been a favorite at our house.

Violet

This little lady has been loving her Tinkerbell movie. She has to watch it at least once a day. She's just a bit obsessed. She is such a little fire ball these days! We have started potty training with her and bought her a new pink froggy potty to sit on and some tinkerbell undies. She has had a few successes the only problem is she sits on there and goes but her undies will still be on! She makes us chuckle. She has begun a new thing where she dresses herself and she always wants to wear a skirt. In this picture she has 2 skirts on and a pair of beautiful sunglasses.
Jonah
This little handsome guy is growing right before my eyes! Everytime I turn around he's cheeks are a little chubbier, his head is a little bigger, and his clothes are getting tighter. He is such a sweetheart and we have been just loving snuggling our sweet little man.
Our little stud loves eating, napping in his swing, being held as much as possible, and being talked to. He liked listening to music with his Dad this morning! Please Ignore the chest hair ;)
Gary
This guy has been a busy busy man these days. Working hard, going to school, and taking care of his family. It was his 28th birthday this month. We didn't get to celebrate much because I underwent surgery and he was such a good sport about it. He is such a sweet guy and I am lucky to have him. Happy Birthday honey bunches. Thanks for all you do. xoxo
Me
These past couple of months have been a whirlwind! Having Jonah, adjusting to 3 kids, while trying to give them each some quality time from me has been a bit of a challenge. Especially if I want a semi clean house. It makes me wonder how people can have more than 3 and juggle it all. It will remain a mystery to me I guess. Amidst all of this chaos I am truly happy and realize how blessed I am to have my family of 5 (6 including our dog ripley).

SURGERY

So I had a new experience this past week. I have been having what I thought was extreme heart burn due to pregnancy for the past 5 months. When I would get these attacks I would have to curl up in the fetal postion and just lay there in some pretty extreme pain for an hour sometimes more. Tums wasn't doing the trick. It was awful but I chalked it up to pregnancy heartburn and just looked forward to it going away when I was all done being pregnant and when it didn't thats when I knew something was wrong with me. So last Sunday night I was having this pain in my heart and my stomach all night long. I even took a couple pain pills. I wasn't able to sleep at all. So when Gary woke up at 4:30 in the morning to go to work we decided I needed to go figure this whole mess out. We called my mom to babysit the kids and went into the Emergency room. They figured out that I had pancreatitis and gallstones and that I was going to have to stay in the hospital for a few days and then have surgery to remove my gallbladder. I bawled like a baby when I found this out because I couldn't imagine being away from my sweet little newborn all of that time and my other kiddos. I was a big mess. Luckily my pancreatitis wasn't that bad so they were able to do surgery that same day. I have never had surgery before and it was quite a scary thing especially since I was by myself because Gary was on his way to the hospital he didn't make it in time before they put me under anesthesia. I can't explain how vulnerable I felt in nothing but a hospital gown with strange people all around me hooking me up to all of these devices with rap music playing in the background. That's the last thing I remember and then I was sort of awake and asking my nurse if she put a mouse in my room..Yeah I was pretty loopy. After much puking I finally started to actually wake up around 8 pm or so to find four small cuts on my belly all glued shut. Anyways what I have learned from all of this is how thankful I am for my body and my life and my health. I have had lots and lots of help during this recovery which I have been so thankful for. It hurts pretty bad to laugh or cough and I am still not supposed to lift Jonah in his carseat or lift Violet at all. People have brought dinners, taken Ryker to school, done my dishes, watched my kids, and given me a massage and a blessing to feel better. I am just thankful for family, friends, prayer, and my health!

Our sweet little Jonah.

2011-01-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

Just take a look at this little munchkin man! We love him soooo much!This little face melts my heart like a popsicle on the fourth of July.
Little legs
And we can't forget those itsy bitsy yummy toes!

Being a momma of three has been awesome, fun, and crazy all at once! Bottom line, when I look at all three of my beautiful sweet children together my heart is overwhelmed with joy and gratitude that I have the priviledge to be their mom. My life is full and complete because they are a part of my world!

Our Christmas story.....

2011-01-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

Ryker and Violet in their christmas jams on christmas eve. We were just getting ready to go outside and pour our "reindeer food" on the front lawn. We made yummy ham and cheesy potatoes and watched The Santa Clause. Ryker fell asleep at 7pm and woke up at 4am!We waited for Vi to wake up but it wasn't happening so Rykes woke her up at about 7am. He kept saying "I think I heard Santa last night eating the oranges we set out for him" and then he would giggle. It was so fun to see him get so excited.

We took turns opening goodies.
Violet's christmas surprise was this kitchen. She LOVES it.
Ryker got a nintendo ds. We wrapped it in a huge box so he had no idea. He was so excited that he finally got this thing! He has been loving it.
The best overall gift we got this year came a couple days after christmas. Our little Christmas Angel arrived on December 28th weighing 8.08 oz JONAH GABRIEL ABADIAN joined our little family and we just can't get enough of him!

Ryker loves having a little brother and has been super sweet with him. Violet gets excited about him too. She has handled it pretty good so far and just wants to help me take care of him. She's such a cute lil' momma!

This is the cute little face I get to see everyday!Gary is such a proud Dad he kept getting all misty eyed. It was so sweet.

I was so happy to meet and greet this little guy!

Gotta love this smolder

There is nothing like meeting your newborn for the very first time. I remember seeing & holding all my kids for the very first time. It's burned into my memory it's the most precious, amazing experience ever!

Sparkly things....

2010-12-21T15:32:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-12-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-11-28T19:23:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-11-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-10-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-10-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

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!!

Oh how I love October!

2010-10-01T19:25:00.001-07:00

I just love October! It is definently my most favorite month. Yes, I am one of those ladies that puts their Halloween decorations up early and starts watching halloween movies in September. So here are a few reasons why this month holds a special place in my heart:

1. I love the beautiful fall colors and mountain walks to admire it all.

2. I love when it starts to get just a bit cooler outside.

3. I love Halloween.

4. I love candy.

5. I love when I get to start making yummy crock pot soups.

6. I love dressing my kiddos up.

7. & I love decorating with ghosts, witches, bats, spiders,and

PUMPKINS

So we got a head start on our pumpkin pickin' this year and went to Pack's Farm in farmington.

Here is our cute group Grandma Jen, Cousins Carson and Kalli, Aunt Summer, Ryker and Violet.

It was 91 degrees outside (where is my fall weather?) so if we look hot it's because we were!
The kids had a great time picking pumpkins from the patch. Ryker and Carsons were the biggest. My mom got 185 pounds of pumpkin that day!
Ryker and Kalli scoutin for some good pumpkins

Ryker loved all the huge ones. The one he ended up picking(not this one) will be a monster to carve but will look very cool once it's all done!

Aunt Summy with Violet.

Violet's favorite part of the whole thing was to sit in this wheel barrel and be carted around.

checkin' out their goods.

Violet also loved those two little baby ones in her hands she thought they were just precious.

Here is Ryker sitting on his massive pumpkin. He picked one special so we could paint Gary's face on it hee hee!

Our friends had the cutest dress up birthday party. So I got to get the kids costumes early. They are pirates this year (violet's is still in the works)

Cute violet&Mr. pirate Ryker

Good news: Gary is doing good and he will be home in 6 weeks! I can't wait!

Baby J is growing BIG in my belly and doing well. I can't wait to meet the little angel and kiss his sweet chubby cheeks.

Happy Fall!

Ripley lovin' and Ryker's first day of Kindergarten!

2010-08-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

I love this dog!! We were out in our backyard playing with Ripley and we discovered that he loves bubbles just as much as Ryker and Violet do. He was going nuts! It was good times for all of us.
I love these kiddos!
To me Ripley's body language in this picture is saying "please ryker blow me some more bubbles!"
Not only was he chasing them, he was also eating them. It was hilarious!
He's really getting crazy in this photo!

We love our bubble eating, soccer playing dog!

Can't you see it in their eyes? Violet and Ripley are smitten with one another! I don't know what they would do without eachother.

Violet loves a good foot lickin' from Ripley. Who wouldn't?

My little Soccer player!! I can't tell you how much fun it was to see this little guy play his first game! He is such a character. He was always in super hero mode on the field. There's never a dull moment with Ryker.

Not only did my little man have his first game, he also started his first day of kindergarten! It was a rainy day but that didn't dull his enthusiasm.

My little stud.

He had a great time! He's so funny he was all excited that his teacher sent him home with homework! Let's just hope he keeps that excitement for homework for the rest of his life!

It turns out i'm not made of stone. I am not ready to let this little guy grow up yet. It doesn't seem like that long ago I was cradling him in my arms as a baby and now he is off to school and playing soccer. I wish I could push a pause button and keep him little just a bit longer. But I guess I can't, so i'll have to cherish every moment I have with my sweet babies because they just grow up too darn fast!

Petting tigers, saving quails, and being Paleontologists.

2010-08-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

Petting TigersWe got to go to the Davis county fair and do lots of fun stuff but this was just plain awesome. We got to go inside of a baby tigers cage and pet and lay by this baby tiger. Ours fell asleep because she had a bottle but it was still awesome!
Ryker's favorite animal has been a tiger for quite some time now so he was lovin' this tiger lovin'.

Aunt Summer and Ryker petting Gracie the tiger.
Okay, I realize I am a nerd but I have never got to pet a tiger before! I even got a sticker afterwards that said "I touched a tiger". It was awesome!

We visited the hen house and this is cute Violet with a turkey. She was to little to sit with the tigers. They said she would have to sit for a whole eight minutes straight. Yeah right I'd really like to see that.

Mr. Ryker and a huge chicken.

Violet waiting for the petting zoo to open. They had a ton of animals in there. The kids got to pet a pig, a turtle, a llama, and other fun creatures.

Ryker on the pony ride. Vi wouldn't go she was a little scared.

Saving the Quail

We were at my mom's house the other day when her cat brought up this cute little quail in her mouth! Once Ryker saw that it wasn't just another decapitated mouse that kitty brought home he scooped up this little baby quail who was still very much alive.

We made it a little nest and I googled wildlife rehabilitation centers in Utah.

Lucky for us there was one on 12th street in Ogden.

My mom and stepdad turned there date night out into a rescue mission for this little baby Quail and dropped him off at the rehabilitation center in Ogden. Don't worry I made Ryker wash his hands multiple times after touching that adorable quail that tends to carry multiple diseases.

Being Paleontologists

We got to go to the Dinosaur park in Ogden. We have never been and it was pretty cool. This is Ryker with his best friend Bridger.

Here is Miss Violet being a paleontologist and finding dinosaur bones in the sand.

Funny kids.

I loved the parts where they had real dinosaur bones. It was awesome!

Thanks to some good buddies that invited us we got to see lots of cool stuff at the dino park!

The End

Cabin Fun!

2010-08-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

Our family has recently made it a fun tradition to visit this beautiful place thanks to my Dad's friend who lends us his cabin, 4 wheelers, motorcycle, and this year his jeep to cruise around in. All I gotta say is that I need to find me a friend like that.

Violet making her cute face.
Crue, Ryker, and Violet playing in the jeep.
Ryker really loves the outdoors.
Ryker always wants to have his shirt off lately it's hilarious. It must be a boy thing

Papa Tod and Vi in the hammock.

My favorite tree.

This pond is absolutely beautiful and the kids had a great time playing in it.

Violet

Nothin but blue skies and buttcrack (Hee hee! Had to put that one in here.)

Pond critters.

My little explorer.

Ryker couldn't get enough of the fourwheelers! He had a blast.

Ryker and I.

Violet and I by the campfire.

My little daredevil.

I loved the beautiful scenery up there and to think it's all just up farmington canyon.

I loved looking up and seeing all of the tall trees!

Also nothing beats a good campfire!

We are getting ready to say goodbye to the summer days and this was a great way to do it. Ryker will be starting kindergarten and he has already started soccer. I must say I am very excited for fall I don't know why maybe because I will be reuniting with a certain someone that I love and miss!

What to do with all of these sunny days.

2010-08-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

These are just a few cute pictures I have collected over the last few weeks. As you can see in my shadow my belly has grown. Gary and I found out we are having a baby BOY. We are certainly excited to meet the third and final addition to our family!Ryker, Me, and Violet.

Me and my little brother Dallen.

Ryker pullin his pirate face.

Violet on the sandy shores of pineview.

Ryker and I

Violet with something munchy in her mouth and I.

We took a trip to Lagoon with my stepmom and sistah's. Here is violet tired as can be all tuckered out after lagoona beach!

See the thrill on this kids face? He was in hog heaven!

Same with this lil munchkin as soon as she woke up she really took to the rides like a pro. She was so stinkin cute.

Ryker with cousin Crue.

Violet with cousin Crue.

We stayed at Lagoon until it closed! We were all deliriously tired to say the least.

And then there's the days we spend at home and Violet gets to play with her best friend Ripley!

The Fourth of July weekend!

2010-07-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday heading to the Kaysville parade!
Ryker got lots of taffy's and such!
He was so excited about these fireworks he just couldn't wait!
Violet loved the fireworks! She was getting a little too close. Lucky I was there to hold her back!

Rykes loves a good firework!I lit almost all of the fireworks this year! Usually I let Gary take over. I have been missin out! next year we will have to go half and half.

These cuties kept hugging it was so sweet!

I just love Violet's enthusiasm here she's so cute!

My Dad spent the whole day with us so we wouldn't have to be lonely without Gary.

What a swell Poppa!

Poppa Hugs!

It was such a pretty sunset that night.

Fireworks at Davis! I haven't been to a big firework show for 2 years. Ryker has always been afraid of them but this year we were able to go no fears at all ( yay! Ryker) & Violet did awesome she loved them! She kept saying pretty! and cute! everytime they would go off.

Gotta love em'

Sunday we went to a barbeque at Poppa Bill & Grandma Andi's

The kids just love running around in their amazing backyard! They recently got 10 chickens and the kids were having a ball chasing them around.

Violet was so funny that's all she wanted to do was chase these chickens around!

Ryker introducing Woody to a chicken friend.

Sparklers!

Monday we went to the layton park festivities and fireworks. I got the kiddos these balloon animal hat thingy's. Violet's was a pink poodle which she untagled immediately after this photo.

& Ryker's was this pirate hat. Notice the bones and his pirate face!

We are so grateful for our Independence day celebrations. Next year I'll get to share it with the man I love. We missed him extra and it wasn't the same without him. LOve ya Gary!

Happy 4th Of July!

Eclipse....Yess!

2010-06-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Drama, Action, Love triangle,
Vampires, and Werewolves
It doesn't get much better than that!
I know I am a Twilight nerd and I am proud of it!
I got to go see this movie today and it was amazing.
They just keep getting better!

Summer bliss and goodbyes....

2010-06-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

So here we are it's finally summer! Gary was scheduled to deploy in June and the inevitable day crept upon us more quickly than expected. We were able to do some fun things before he left and enjoy some of the summer together here is some of what we did:
Camping at Anderson's cove by pineview lake
We camped all night with our two kids in the rain (more like a sprinkle)
we had a hard time getting a fire started so Gary went and got some lighter fluid. After that he was a little bit lighter fluid happy (just a little) he kept drenching the fire and watching it go up in flames. We were able to keep warm thanks to the awesome fire and the amazing tent I got for Gary for our anniversary last year.
Notice the lighter fluid in hand again and Ryker backing away from the fire he knew what was coming! We had a great time despite the drizzle it was so pretty up there we look forward to doing it again next summer.
Boating also at Pineview Lake

We always have a good time with the fam at pineview. Half of my family practically lives up there all summer so we tag along sometimes. Here is Rykes & his Dad fishin.

Love the dad & son pics fishin they are just classic.

Here is me and Violet I couldn't get a picture of her where she wasn't eating!
It's what she does best!

Cherry Hill of course
This was my favorite
Ryker found this beautiful butterfly with a broken wing

He wanted to take it home and keep it as a pet

Miss Vi and her Daddy she was not very happy about the life jacket. Cherry hill was good fun. You can't beat a picnic in the sun and swimming there is nothing better.

Little munchkin watchin her brother at swim lessons!
Gary had an entire week off before he left it was so nice! He was able to come to almost all of Ryker's swim lessons with me everyday.

My littlle Diving board man he wouldn't even go near it the first day.
By the 3rd day we couldn't stop him!

He had the best swim teacher ever! He actually learned to swim underwater and everything. I was so amazed at how much progress all the kids made it was awesome.

We are going to miss our Gare bear at home for the summer but we will be able to reunite with him in the fall hopefully before Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile Skype is keeping us in touch (yay! skype)

The Latest

2010-05-02T09:54:00.001-07:00

Ryker ya just gotta love this kid he is so funny

I love that his hero is flint lockwood (cloudy with a chance of meatballs) and he wants to have a labcoat just like him and he questions me the other night why I didn't name him Flint and that he really wishes I would have named him Flint instead of Ryker.He is starting Kindergarten this fall and he can hardly contain his excitement.
He had to gets shots just for the occasion he was so sad he could hardly walk for the rest of the entire day. He cheered up a little at the fact that we were on our way to the zoo with Grandma J

But he just had to know if the zoo had a wheel chair he could ride in

I am pretty sure he gets his dramatic side from me

Violet is adorable

she loves shrek but mostly donkey

she is a professional snuggler

she'll be your best friend if you give her candy

she growls

& she loves her new cowgirl boots that grandma Andi gave her

Her newest word is Ewww

When we went to the zoo thats all she had to say about

each creature was ewww!Gare Bear is my hard workin love machine
He just got back from his 10 days in wendover with the air national guard

He works full time, goes to school, and even does housework
on occasion I am so grateful for this guy he makes my life
Myself
well surprise!
The stork is going to pay a visit to my house
I am guessing in early Janruary
I am very excited but I am not a fibber
So I will tell you I am very nervous taking on a newborn, 2 year old, and
a 5 1/2 year old. I hope I can juggle it all
and still give each of my babies the love and attention they deserve!

Worries aside, Babies are always blessings and I am so excited to be a mother of three!

Happy Easter weekend!

2010-04-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

We had a variety of easter festivities over the weekend.

Here are some of the fun things we got to do.

Ryker had a field trip with his preschool class! He got
to see baby bunnies and hold these adorable baby chicks
This is Easter morning at our house
Ryker was so happy that the easter bunny didn't poop in his basket
We kept tellin him you better be good or the easter bunny might just leave
bunny poop in your basket (I know it's gross) but it worked!
We had an easter egg hunt at Grandma Jens house
This is Ryker with all of his goodies
Notice his blue hand, we colored easter eggs earlier that
day & could not get the blue dye off!
This is another egg hunt at Grammy Andi's & Papa Bill's
I love it when the kids get to play with all of their cousins
I wish I would have gotten more pictures of all of the kids
It's hard to get them all to stay in one place!
Violet loves being outside!
You can tell by that sweet little grin she has on her face.
Of course through all of the fun it's always nice to
remember the true meaning of easter
our heavenly brother and savior Jesus christ's
death and resurrection
making it possible for us all to live again
after we die and to be with our families forever!

My muse.........

2010-04-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Gary is seriously funnyHe came home from work the other day and informed me

he made an online purchase

So I was thinking something big & expensive

I was about to scold him
& then he told me he only spent $20 bucks

He said a man at work smelled like gingerbread and

he wanted to smell like that too

so he found a cologne online that smells like these:

Sugar cookie
Brownie

and last but not least graham cracker
what can I say? The man definently keeps it interesting
and he has unique qualities
I can tell you this I am probably going to be hungry
all of the time with gary's new man stench
I probably could have got him a spray bottle
at bath & body works that smells just like his new cologne
but that's why he is so funny and I like to laugh

My silver lining.........

2010-03-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

You ever have one of those days when you don't think another thing can go wrong and then it does? Well that was me yesterday I was one big mess. I will spare all of the messy details lets just say it was pretty bad. Anyhow in those times I think it's so easy to think negatively and let those dark clouds make you feel down and depressed but that was not what I was taught to do. I was taught to look for those silver linings in those dark clouds and I did. My silver lining will always be these three people:#1. This man can make me laugh

he loves me and I love him.

Even on my worse days he can always put

a smile on my face

#2. This boy is my first.
He made me a better person
he has a big heart and a great sense of humor.
#3. This baby she is a light in my life
everytime she says HI! My heart melts
she is my little sweetheart.

Messes and Mustaches....

2010-03-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

The mess....

This is what happens when you give a little lady

like Violet

Chocolate Ice cream

She is a lover of chocolate just like her momma

The mustache

This young man loves a good mustache

He chose this as his prize at

Boondocks
My little comedian

The dog

Is pretty darn cute I decided I love him

My kids love him too ecspecially violet

He's her new best buddy

I just love Rykers morning hair

and Ripley's crazy tounge in this picture

Just had to throw in this cute picture of my kiddos
in their batman shirts sharing their favorite snack

Meet Ripley Abadian.

2010-02-20T21:47:00.000-08:00

Meet Ripley AbadianHe is a mini-long haired- Doxie (Aka weiner dog)
As you can see we have fallen in love with this little guy
Violet just follows him around and says hi! hi! hi!
over and over again she is super cute with him.

His face says it all. He loves his new little puppy brother.

Nicknames.....

2010-02-06T14:41:00.001-08:00

I was reminiscing over all the nicknames I have called my kids over the years and thought I would share a few..........

Rykers nicknames- Rykee roo, Rykes, Bubbas, Boo, Mister moo moo, and his latest nickname bugga. He always tells me "mom i'm your bugga"
Violets nicknames so far- Vy vy, miss violet, sissa, sissa cat moo moo, miss moo moo, and Gary always calls her moose.
Isn't it funny the nicknames we come up with?
I remember my Dad telling me he called me pee-pod and called my sister pooken-heimer when we were little. It must run in the family all of these nicknames.
I write them here because I want to remember them in case I ever lose memory of it. I had a hard time remembering all of Rykers (sad huh?) and I am sure he is missing more than a few
of the cute little pet names we used to call him.

Old as Mold.........

2010-02-01T14:24:00.000-08:00

It was my Dad's 50th surprise Birthday party

last weekend.

Happy Birthday Dad!

My Dad and Step mom Fran.

Cute pic

My cute sis and her baby Crue. AkA- mr. blue eyes

My cute younger sisters. Aren't they pretty?

My older brother Tyler.

This is the face he makes in every picture.

You'll never get him smiling

unless you catch him offguard.

I love my cute cousin Shantel!
We share the same birthday
& we are both crazy (in a good way)

My hero and the piggytailed princess....

2010-01-28T13:51:00.000-08:00

My little Hero

I keep wondering when he will

grow out of this dress up phase

I am going to miss all of his characters

Some good friends and I made these capes for our boys

Ryker wanted a Robin one

I am quite proud of my handiwork and the boys have

been Loving them

Violet is getting really good at walking
and as you can see she also
Climbs onto our kitchen table
she got herself a nice taste of my breakfast

That little Cutie pieLittle miss violet's hair can finally fit into

Piggytails

I adore them.

Inspired

2010-01-22T22:25:00.001-08:00

Today I read this book called Embraced by the Light by Betty Jean Eadie. My mom encouraged me to do so and lent me her book. It was a quick read and only took me a few hours to read. But man was it Amazing. I just love the message she shares. So for any of you readers out there looking for a good book this just happens to be a true story about a lady who had a near death experience. Give it a try.
ps. I am normally not a girl that tends to read this kind of stuff. I stick to my Harry Potter and Twilight series, but I must say I was very glad that I read this particular book.

The Crush.

2010-01-18T14:11:00.000-08:00

Ryker has the hots for Daphne off of scooby doo! There hasn't been a day that's gone by where he hasn't talked about her. He always tells me "I love that girl in purple" or "she's my favorite". Gary said it all started when they watched a beach episode of scooby doo and Daphne along with the rest of the gang were in their swimwear. He's like dad I love that girl in the purple swimsuit. Gary was teasing him and said "you mean the one in the orange swimsuit with the glasses" (velma). I guess Ryker got pretty angry with Gary after that. Hee hee hee! Hey at least he has good taste right?

Kickin' off a New Year 2010!

2010-01-18T13:45:00.000-08:00

New Years Eve

We had a pretty good 2010. My aunt Jill invited us over to a New Years party at her house. We played games, had yummy food, and watched the ball drop. I got my new year kiss from Gary. The kids fell asleep before midnight so Ryker did poppers the next day with his friend bridger.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-18T12:42:00.000-08:00

Here's to a much needed update......

CHRISTMAS was absolutely wonderful! I don't know who was more excited for christmas morning to come me or my kids. I woke up in the wee hours of the morn and couldn't go back to sleep. I was so excited to give the kids their presents. Ryker got everything on his list and Violet was just happy with the crinkly wrapping paper, even though she did get her share of goodies. Gary got me an Edward doll from the movie Twilight! Ha! The funny thing is I was wearing a Team Edward shirt on christmas morning that Gary's cute sister Gloria gave to me for my birthday. Anyhow the rest of the day was great too. We went to Gary's family's house and had ham & yummy food for lunch. then off to my mom's for ham again and more fattening things for dinner yum! It was a pretty relaxing, kick back, christmas with the Abadians this year which was much needed. I also got to spend a little more time with Gary because he had his holiday break from school (so nice!)

Happy one year Violet rose!

2009-12-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my dear sweet baby! Here are just a few things I LOVE about you:

I love how you have the biggest smile on your face every morning when you wake up.

I love how you hug me and pat me on the back when you are feeling snuggly.

I love how you giggle at your brother.

I love your chubby little feet.

I love how you say hi!, thank-you, and cheese when your picture is being taken.

I love your wet slobbery baby kisses.

I love how excited you get over bananas.

I love how there are so many things to love about you!

I am so blessed to have such a sweet little angel of a daughter like you in my life!

Violet's one year pictures.

2009-11-24T15:37:00.000-08:00

My Mom took these beautiful pictures of my baby girl and a couple of Ryker too. I think that Violet looks like snow white. I love them and she did an amazing job.

Autumn adventures

2009-11-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

So picking up where I left off, Violet can crawl now! She is everywhere I was so happy for her when she got the hang of it. I caught her splashing in the toilet one day. So we keep the bathroom door shut now. She also grew 2 teeth on the bottom, she says hi and uh-oh all of the time. It never ceases to amaze me how much progress babies make in that first year. I am just loving every minute of her. Ryker started preschool and he can ride a bike without training wheels! I didn't even have to teach him he just decided one day he was going to do it and he didn't need any help. He has always been so independent. He is so funny and charismatic. He has lots of friends coming over all of the time to play. We are blessed to live on a street where there are lots of kids to play with around his age. Gary and I had our 1 year anniversary of being sealed as a family in the temple. It's amazing how much progress we have made. We are loving our new outlook on life. Halloween came and went very quickly. Ryker was a swamp monster and Violet was a bumblebee. Gary was a scientist and I was a skeleton woman. We always get so excited for Halloween. We have watched The NightMare Before Christmas countless times. I don't think Gary and I will ever stop dressing up with our kids it's so much fun!

Summer so far.......

2009-07-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

I just love the summertime, it's the best! So far this summer, we have been able to go to Las Vegas and visit the Mirage's Dolphins, and the Mandalay Bay's aquarium. It was pretty fun. Ryker thought we were at Chucky Cheese's which was pretty funny. Gary had his two weeks in Wendover with the Air National Guard, while the kids and I went to Lake Powell for a week with my family. It was wonderful even though I wish Gary could have come too. My favorite part of that trip was watching Ryker have so much fun with all of his cousins. I also loved our extreme tubing adventures and our very own survivor challenges. The food was amazing. My aunt Jill can cook like a gourmet chef. For the 4th of July my mom and got a condo in Huntsville right on the lake. It was beautiful. My sister-in-law Annie started sliding down the stairs with the kids in her sleeping bag it was awesome. Baby Violet started sitting up on her own and she is getting up on her hands and knees ready to crawl. She just needs to go forward, she's almost there. Ryker still cracks me up on a daily basis, and changes costumes 10 times a day. Yesterday he had one glove on one hand, a sock on the other, one snow boot, and one rain boot. Keep in mind it's July and he insisted on going out like that. The best news of all our prayers were answered after 3 months of being laid off Gary got a job at L-3 Communications things couldn't have turned out better he is really loving it, and I am so happy for him. This summer, so far, has brought lots of blessings and good times. Things are going good.