We Love the Zoo!

Some of our friends have zoo passes and invited us along. So, the girls and I left daddy at home studying and joined them.

It was a beautiful day, perfect weather for being at the zoo!

My beautiful flower had an absolute blast. She was so pleasant and took everything in with such excitement!

Abby got to ride a horse. She loved it but was a little bit shy about the fact that a strange man was taking her around the circle.

After that, Abby and I got to ride on a camel. If you know me, you know I have a strange love for camels, so this was a dream come true. We didn't get any pictures because Becky was taking care of Clara for me.

We stopped so I could feed Clara. Everyone else went on the Swan boats. While I was sitting at a picnic table, a duck totally bit my toe. I think the duck thought my toenail polish looked like a delectable treat.

Abby looked so adorable in her little life vest.

Before heading home, Abby got to go up in this big balloon. She thought it was so great and didn't even mind waiting her turn.

It was such a fun day!

For Posterity's Sake

I feel like the last few weeks have been slow--yet busy, fun--but not particularly eventful. Sam is in full-blown study mode for his board exams so I haven't been getting a lot of time with my good friend computer, but I wanted to write a few things before I forgot about them.

As previously mentioned, Abby likes to get out of her bed now. Before Sam goes to bed, he'll check on her to see what treasures she has in her bed and removes any blankets she has accumulated. However, in the morning, she'll usually have more blankets. Ha!

The other night, she came waltzing out of her room at 8:30 p.m. (she goes to bed at 7), climbed onto the couch and asked to watch a show. I think she was trying to convince us that it was morning. It was hilarious. She did it again a few nights later.

She is my constant source of entertainment. She has an amazing imagination but is so rational at the same time. The other day, she was asking me where to but her mouse toy down for a nap. She shot down each of my suggestions like she couldn't believe I would suggest such a thing.
Me: How about on your book shelf?
Abby: Well, that's where my books go.
Me: How about in your stroller?
Abby: Well, my baby is sitting in there.
The conversation continued until I finally made an acceptable suggestion.

I tried to lay down on her tummy the other day but she told me no and wiggled away. I told her she was my pillow and she said, "I'm not a pillow, I'm Abby but I have a pillow in my bedroom. Do you want me to go get it for you?" I never know if I should laugh or cry. She is just getting so big.

Clara is as sweet as can be. This picture reminded me of Abby a lot.

Oh, that smile is infectious!

Abby misses her buddies that moved away but she is getting better at playing by herself or with other kids when we go to the park. The other day we were eating lunch and all of a sudden she was on the slide. I didn't even have to convince her to go.

We picked the first pepper from our garden. I'm not much of a pepper fan so Sam and Abby sampled it.

We have tons of tomatoes growing and we're just itching from them to get ripe.

Pretty In Purple

The girls were both wearing purple dresses on Sunday. This wasn't really intentional (I rotate through dresses, clothes, pajamas, etc. so they are worn evenly. I know, I'm a weirdo), but it made for a cute photo-op.

We've always thought Abby looked good in purple and it's definitely Clara's color!

Clara couldn't keep her tongue in. I think she was trying to lick the collar of her shirt.

Flashback Sunday: Reunited

After being apart for a few more weeks, I flew back to Utah to start another school year. My parents came with me to visit their papas and meet Philip's fiance, Merrick. They started dating and got engaged all while I was in Arizona (Crazy Mormons!) Our flight was late and then my luggage never arrived on the baggage carousel (can't you just hear the airport lady's voice on the loudspeaker). Needless to say, I was pretty grumpy. I just wanted to get home and see Sam. Plus, we had plans to go to his brother's house for me to meet some of his family for the first time. After giving the baggage people my info for them to get my bag to me whenever it arrived (which was around 2 a.m. the next day) and then waiting for Merrick's flight to get in (She flew back on the same day), we finally went home.

I came home to find this in my room:



A dozen roses is always a good way to break a girl out of a grumpy mood. I went over to Sam's house and we headed to his brother's house. We played Dominoes (my first time) and chatted. While we were playing, Sam's brother hit the table and all of my dominoes fell over (face up). It was pretty funny and opened the door for years of sibling-in-law teasing.

The next day, we went with my family to Park City to ride the alpine slides.



Later in the week, we went with our friends to the Nickelcade (an arcade where tokens are only a nickel!)





We finished the week with a BYU football game.



It was so nice to be back together!

Instead...

During the last couple of days, I've had several post ideas brewing in my head, but now that I'm sitting down to write, I realize they are all slightly negative and totally unnecessary. So instead, I'll just post a few pictures.

On Memorial day, it was hot and terribly humid so we hit the pool with some friends. We took Clara in and she seemed to enjoy it (and by enjoy I mean showed no emotion--positive or negative.) The water is quite calming for her. I think she would have fallen asleep if the water was a little bit warmer.



Abby loves joining Clara for tummy time. Clara is usually pretty content to just lay there, so no rolling over yet.



Abby took Clara for her first (and second, and third) ride down the slide. I was sort of expecting Clara to come sliding out of her arms, but all was well.



While Clara was on her blanket the other day, she decided to cuddle with Abby's bunny. So cute.



I love having girls!



Note: Yes, Clara's hair is reddish and totally crazy! It comes from Sam's side--he has siblings with red hair. Every. Single. Time. I leave the house, someone asks, so I thought I'd just throw it out there.

The Spell Has Been Broken

Ever since Abby has been sleeping in her big girl bed, she has been under a spell--a wonderful spell under which she stayed in her bed from the moment we put her down until we came in to get her.

Yesterday morning, the spell was broken.

She woke up (too early) and opened her door ready to face the day.

Sometime after I put her down for a nap, she got up to play with some toys.

At bedtime, we heard her Sing-A-Ma-Jig singing away and Sam went in to find her bed full of toys.

I knew this day would come sooner or later, but I was hoping for later, much later.

Flashback Sunday: Meet the Parents

As was mentioned last Flashback Sunday, (yes, I'm perfectly aware it was a couple of weeks ago) I spent several weeks visiting my parents in Arizona during the summer we started dating (2007).

A few days before I left, Sam and I were having a deep, heartfelt talk about our feelings regarding one another. In the midst of our discussion, Sam said something along the lines of, "I'm glad you're leaving..." I immediately got emotional thinking that meant he wanted to break up with me. After some apologies and backpedaling, he reassured me that what he meant was that he thought it would make our relationship stronger to spend some time apart--to make sure our feelings were just as strong when we weren't together every waking moment. Then, he told me that he loved me and I told him that I loved him back. (Awww)

The day of my flight, Sam and I had planned to go to temple square in Salt Lake City before heading to the airport. The time came for us to get going and Sam was nowhere to be heard of. I called him several times and finally went outside to wait. While I was outside, Sam's roommate came home (remember, we were next door neighbors) and asked me what I was doing outside. He went inside and found Sam totally snoozing. His phone was on vibrate and didn't wake him up. He rushed to get ready and we still had time to do the things we had planned.

I was pretty emotional at the airport. Sam wasn't just my boyfriend but my best friend and I didn't want to be apart from him. We said our goodbyes and I headed off.

After being in Arizona for only a couple of days, Sam booked a ticket to come visit me and meet my parents. Until that time came, we talked on the phone for several hours each night. A few weeks into the visit, my parents got the cell phone bill and it was astronomical. My parents were pretty upset with me but I assured them I only talked after the free night minutes started. When I called to find out why the bill was so high, they explained that because I was added to the phone plan later, my night minutes started an hour later than my parents did. Oops! I convinced them to reduce the bill but it was still significantly more than my parents had ever paid. Needless to say, our phone conversations started a bit later after that.

I was thrilled when Sam finally came to visit. While he was in Arizona we did a lot of fun things.

We ate delicious Mexican food.



We went to a Diamondbacks game.



We walked around the Mesa temple grounds.



And we spent a lot of time swimming and playing at my parent's house.



I also talked to Sam's parents on the phone since it would be a while before I could meet them. They were serving a mission in England.

It was such a fun visit and after he left I couldn't wait to get back to Utah to be together again. Despite how hard it was being apart, the time I spent in Arizona really did make our relationship stronger.