YAY! My computer is back in business- for now!

Okay, so for those who were worried about my lack of posting the past few weeks, you have probably noticed that I have finally caught up! Not only that, but Shawn and his AWESOME friend at work were able to not only save all of my photos and files off of the computer (which I will now swear to back up my photos every time I load them), but there were able to resurrect the computer without having to erase the whole thing and reload the operating system! I hadn't realized how co-dependent I have become of my computer, but without it I felt very cut off from the world! I also really missed being able to video chat with my parents every week, so tonight I will finally get to again! YAY! However, it has caused my comptuer to be not quite the way it used to be, and since it is 3 1/2 years old, it might be about time to get a new one, if only we had the money . . . *sigh*! Well, just to keep you posted! I put up quite a bit, so scroll on down and enjoy!

The Pumpkin Patch

So, on Thursday we went with Abby's pre-school to a pumpkin patch in Santaquin- I didn't even know the place was there, but I really liked it, it is called the big "Red Barn" and it is where Mountainland apples are grown and they also produce cherries and pears and several other kinds of fruit. They had an old tractor out for kids to take pictures on, so here they are- Lucas really liked the tractor!

Here are the kids in the pumpkin patch- here they are with the two they picked out . . .

The kids and I on the "hay ride" which had no hay whatsoever, but was pulled by a tractor and it took us out to the pumpkin patch!

They had some fun images for the kids to stick their heads though and get a picture- cheesy I know, but the kids look so cute- don't they?

All in all, it was a lot of fun, and I wound up buying this big bag of apples for $7 and they were GOOD! I am definitely going to go back there next year, maybe even next time I just want to make a fruit pie, the fruit was awesome and well priced! Some of you may be wondering, how is Lucas there when he is in school- well, he didn't have school that day because of parent teacher conferences, so it all worked out! YaY! By the way- I LOVE FALL!!!!!

Videos of Lucas (Mostly for my parent's benefit)

Here is Lucas helping Abby ride his bike- I thought it was so cute that he did that! And, as promised here are the videos of what he can do!

Temporary leave of absence!

Just a quick note to tell you that I have not fallen off the face of the earth- but my computer might have! Last week, I was planning all of these blog posts and stuff to do and after I had done only one of them my computer up and died on me. We are having a friend of Shawn's from work trying to resurrect it, but while I am waiting for that I don't have my access at home! Keep checking, though, I have a lot to catch up on, so I will be doing a lot when I have good computer access again! Love you all!

Hair Fire!!!!

So, today Shawn and I were doing the dishes when suddenly Shawn yelled and ran into the living room where he proceeded to beat Abby with the towel he was fortuitously holding. Why was he doing this? Because she had decided that she wanted to see what her pretty hair would look like when it was combined with that pretty flame of the candle that I had lit!!! Fortunately she wasn't hurt in any way- it is tough to see from the top picture you can kind of see what her hair looked like when the ordeal was over (I didn't stop to take a photo of her hair in fire, sorry). The saddest part is that we had to cut off several inches of her beautiful hair and now she has lost her curl that she had at the ends!!!

You can see here how much I had to cut off- what the difference is . . .

Checking the final result . . .

Abby's first day of school

Well, here is my little Abby on her first day of school- she was really excited to go- she has been begging to go to school for two years now, finally it is her turn!

I decided to get some exercise and try out the bike trailer (which I have rarely used) to take Abby to school- turns out, it is quite a workout!!

She was pretty aprehensive about going in- I had to take two pictures of her being upset because, gosh darn it, she is just so dang cute when she is upset!

She finally calmed down and went to join the other kids at the table . . . she is doing great and having a blast!!!

Abby Baby

Just another cute picture of Abby- we had gone to Colorado to help my sister, Shelley, when she had her new baby, Stewart, and Abby was missing him, I think, so she was babying her baby- cute stuff!

The pledge of Allegiance!

One day Lucas got a hold of my camera and took a few pictures of Abby- isn't that cute?!


And of course, I just decided to take a few of the kids, just so you can see how adorable they both are!!!

The Game

The moments when they are playing together and nicely are so rare, I can't help but video tape them and send them out for you to enjoy!

Abby and my time in Colorado!

So, on Aug 29, Shelley went into labor and Abby and I loaded up my car and headed out to Denver to be with her and help her out. Mostly we took care of Edison (her almost 2 year old son) while she was in the hospital and then cooked and cleaned and stuff when she came home.

Here are pictures of when we went to the hospital and met Stewart (new baby) for the first time.

Abby LOVED holiding Stewart and she even asked if we could take him home. He is a beautiful baby and I will admit, it got me thinking that we might be ready soon . . . but still don't hold your breath, I think it will still be another year before we can realisitcally do it!

On one of the days I took Abby and Edison to the Zoo to give Shelley and Stewart some quiet time. We had a blast and the Denver Zoo is amazing- I wish we could have had more time there, but Edison needed to get home for lunch and nap, so we only had the morning. But it wasn't crowded and was a very nice zoo - especially when comparing it to the dumpy and too small Hogle zoo here!

Abby LOVED holding the baby- she is going to be an awesome big sister someday- if we can ever afford to have another one!

While we were there I offered to wake up with the baby for a couple of nights- I would have him wake me up and I would get Shelley who would feed him and I would change him and she would be able to just feed him and chrash- shockingly on these nights he only woke up ONCE during the night- for both nights! I think Shelley is wishing he could sleep that well for her because he hadn't done that before or since! What can I say, I am awesome!

Shelley and Derek are so awesome- they have a really nice camera and even some big fancy lights that we set up and turned their living room into a photo studio- so there is Edison with his brother and an adorable one of Stewart!

All in all Abby and I had a great time and it was good for Abby to spend some time with her cousin- they only get to see each other once or twice a year, so it was good for them to bond. The only glitch was that when Abby and I were driving home on Sunday the 7th a radiator hose in the car burst when we were an hour on the road and we had to get towed (bless Cory for our triple A membership) and repaired in a nearby city that had a place that was open on Sunday and wait for it to be repaired. We weren't on the road again until 5:00, but Shawn was dying for us to get home, so we pressed on and got home at around midnight. It was a very long and tear filled day, but I couldn't have asked for a bettter travel companion than Abby- she just watched movies in the backseat and didn't complain once- in fact I more often had to stop for restroom breaks than she did! I don't know if it would have been as easy with out the car DVD player, but with it, Abby was a gem!