A feeling I will NEVER Forget!

My mom and some other family members all went to a consignment store in McMinnville. Abby was right next to me. I looked at something then back down at her, and she was gone! My sister in law and I started calling her name frantically, and did not hear a peep. I ran to the front of the store, explained I had lost my three year old and gave them a description. I asked them to watch the front doors. They were awesome! The radioed all of the employees in the store. I started to panic and the tears rolled. Kiran Horman's face flashed in my mind and I knew I lost my baby. After what felt like hours, my sister in law found her hiding in a rack of jeans. I have never felt so empty and helpless in my life. I hope that is the first and last time that happens to me!!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

While driving to Grandma's house one morning (on the way to work).

Abby: Mommy look at that beautiful sky!

Me: Oh yes that is a pretty sky

Abby: God made that for us!

Me: Yes He did

Nothing like a two year old to put things into perspective.

First Family Vacation!---Sacramento 2010

August 5th Daniel, Abby and myself piled in to our new Ford Flex and headed south to Sacramento! This was officially our first family vacation. We visited my Aunt Eloise, Uncle Brian and Cousins Lauren and Monty. As you can see life was pretty rough. My cousin Lauren and I goofing off in the pool. She surprised me by jumping in with her clothes on! Crazy girl!

This is my Cousin Monty and his girlfriend JJ.

Eloise (aka Snow White) and Abby drinking margaritas by the pool. For the record, Abby has a virgin margarita.

My skinny little Auntie and Uncle Bryan

Not sure what I was doing or say. But I was enjoying the pool.

This was Abby's first time in a BIG pool. She loved it. Not too fond of getting her head wet, but she was getting pretty brave with daddy. Notice how the water wings are bigger than her.

Daddy blows good bubbles!

Ahhhhh! Fun in the sun. Daniel and I had a blast together in the pool. We had a few splashing wars, and dumped each other of the floaties. This weekend was all about relaxing and having fun.

We also were able to go to a cute little place called Fairytale Town. It's sort of like an Enchanted Forest, but better according to Daniel.

On a Pirate ship.

Me driving Cinderella's coach. Daniel and Abby are in the coach...too bad you can't see them.

Doesn't he look like a Farmer Brown?

This area had Eeyore, some cows and the three little pigs with their houses. The pigs were three pot bellied pigs totally snoring away.

This was an awesome slide!

After Fairytale Town we went to In and Out Burger! The best place to eat! It was Daniel's first time there and he was by no means disappointed. Then poor Abby got sick with a 103 temperature. I was pretty worried because we were leaving the next day. However, she pulled through and was fine the next day. It was a little scary, because she was so not Abby when she was sick.

We survived the first family vacation. Hopefully the next one will be the four of us, not the three of us.

Thanks Bryan and Eloise for a great time!

Ahhhhhh....The Great Outdoors!

We went on our first camping trip of the summer! We just went up past Detroit a bit to Breightenbush (don't know how to spell it, I am sure my loving husband will correct me later).

We circled the campgrounds a few times and found the perfect spot. It had to be big enough for two tents. Daniel's best friend JJ and his wife Jaime came along too. They have a black pug named Tank that Abby absolutely fell in love with.

Abby got her first fishing pole from Grandma and Grandpa Brown. She was very anxious to use it. The fish she has here was kind of a rigged catch. She wanted to catch a fish all day long. JJ happened to spot a fish who was not doing to well and caught it with his hands. They grabbed Abby and her pole, had her cast out and put the fish on the line. She was so excited to catch a fish! However, she wasn't a big fan of holding it at first.

Daddy showing her the ropes.

Shouldn't she be on the Andy Griffith show?

Daniel gave Abby an extensive lesson on how to eat a sunflower seed. Suck the flavor, crunch, spit....

Roasting a giant marshmallow

She was so excited to camp! She called the tent our house.

One with nature.

Now if you know me, you know I am not the best wilderness girl. I love to camp, but I don't always do well in the great outdoors. Here is my story....

When it was bed time Abby was not too happy to sleep in her sleeping bag. It took us awhile to get her settled and calmed down. So when she woke up in the middle of the night screaming and crying I was not very happy. Plus I had to pee like none other. I did all I could to get her to calm down. She crawled in to bed with us and immediately fell asleep. Relieved, I realized I had to pee still. I searched desperately for the flashlight. I could not find it anywhere! So I thought of the only alternative.... the potty chair I brought for Abby. I quietly crawled out of the tent, took out the part of the potty seat you dump, pulled down my pants and sweet relief! It had never felt so good to go to the bathroom. When I was done I proceeded to pull the thing out from between my legs to dump it. However, it caught on my thigh and spilled all over me. My pants, legs, hands.....I was a mess! So then after saying a few four letter words, I made my way back into the tent to find baby wipes (don't leave home without them) and new pants IN THE DARK! Needless to say, I found what I need, slept OK, and was thankful to have gone to the bathroom. Our next camping trip is in a couple of weeks. I hope I don't have to use the potty chair again.

A lot of Slivers

Abby and I were sitting on the couch together watching an exciting episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. I had my leg propped up on the couch and she was leaning on it. She kept saying my leg was hurting her back. I couldn't figure out for the life of me how my leg was hurting her. The last time she complained about it, I asked her how my leg was hurting her. She looked real close at my leg and said my slivers were hurting her. Yeah...I guess skipping the razor for a day can be traumatic for a kid! It was pretty funny though!!

Weekend at the Beach

Last weekend we spent the night at the beach. We have become great friends with our neighbors. Lindsey's (my neighbor) family has a cute beach house in Pacific City. We headed out bright and early Saturday morning. Had breakfast at the Otis cafe, and headed in to Lincoln City for some shopping. The guys went fishing in Newport. After shopping we went to the Aquarium and watched the girls explore the world of fish. They had a great time! Above is a picture of some deer we saw at the house we stayed at.

Here is the house we stayed at. It was right on a lake. I have other beautiful pictures, but it is taking forever to upload.

Everyone needs a family picture inside a mouth.

Touching the slimy fish. Abby loves to see animals, and touch them. A seal even went up to the girls as it was swimming.

Daddy's girls.

The beach is always special to us. Daniel proposed on the beach.

It was so nice to get away. Next time I want to spend more time on the beach. I think that was Abby's favorite part. She wasn't too fond of the water, but loved digging in the sand.

Exploring tide pools

Thank you Josh (Gosh) and Lindsey for a fabulous weekend! We can't wait to do it again!!!

Elvis Sighting in Molalla!

Our 4th of July weekend was packed. We woke up bright and early to go to the annual 4th of July Molalla parade. Here we munched on dough-nuts, and for the first time in 5 years no one got sunburned! The weather was nice.

This is the only time we ever match.

OH YEAH! That's my girl....eat it baby!

We all just about died when we saw Elvis walking down the street. Daniel's grandma loves him! So I had to get a picture with him. He was walking to the other side of the street so I yelled " Elvis I need a picture with you!" He quickly replied, " I need a picture with you."

Then we headed back home where my wonderful grill master hubby bbq'ed ribs. We went to Auntie Nana's, and Uncle Nicks house for a great dinner, and a spectacular fireworks show. Abby loved throwing the Pop It things. When dusk came we headed to Mt. Angel for the BIG fire works show. It was glorious as usual. My sweet little nephew Colin slept through the whole thing. Abby plugged her ears every now and then, but loved it!


Then yesterday we went to Daniel's work partners house. Ate good grub, and rode on fast things. Grandmothers don't look at the rest of this. Just close this post and forget you ever saw it.

As you can see Abby is in the middle....and loving every minute of this ride!

I was a little nervous, but it was fun.

At this point I am really nervous! She is with all of these girls and laughing and having a good time.

Yeah....aren't they cute?

This was a great weekend! I hope you all had a fun 4th!

June 30, 2010

Last year for my birthday I really wanted to take Abby to the zoo. She was 18 months then. So, this year we went again. It was so much fun to see the difference between this year and last year. Abby loved the elephants. In fact she sat and watched them for about 15 minutes. That is a record for her.

She couldn't pet these goats enough. She loved them! I was a little nervous. She got quit personal with them.

This is our favorite part of the zoo. Daniel and I both had nectar, and were working so hard to get a bird for Abby. I spotted one on a near by sign and went over to tempt the Innocent bird with the nectar. Then this little boy came over and totally stole the bird! I said "Hey, you stole my bird!". He kind of looked at me funny and walked away.....oops!

Love, love, love this picture! Abby was watching either zebra or giraffes.

We didn't even leave the zoo parking lot before she fell asleep. We did a ton, I wish I could share more pictures (blogger is slow)!

Then after the zoo our families came over for cake and ice cream. Daniel made a Oh so Yummy Kahlua (can't spell it) cake! It was melt in your mouth good! My wonderful neighbor made a more "kid friendly" cake. Isn't this so cute!?

I had a great birthday and hopefully I will be huge and pregnant or just had a baby for my next birthday. I got the OK from my doctor yesterday to start trying again!

Golfing Pictures and a Few Other Things

These are the brave golfers.

Look out PGA

This is by far my favorite picture!

Yesterday we celebrated the June birthdays at my parents house. I will be 33 on Wednesday. UGH! 33.

Daniel gave me my present a few weeks ago....a band new kick ass camera! I love it. The picture quality is 100 times better and its faster than my 5 year old hunk of junk.

Anyways....as you all know it was pretty hot yesterday. Abby fell asleep on the way home and was still asleep when I put her on the couch. So Daniel and I decided to take a dip in the kiddie pool. We actually had a blast and cooled off quit nicely. As silly as it was we had a great time together, and were able to talk and relax. It is one of those moments with my husband I will never forget.

After the kiddie pool, Daniel decided to invite the neighbors over to hang out. As he was coming back a tiny lost kitten followed him to our door step. Its eyes were all goopy and gross and it looked sick. We called everyone we thought would want a cat....no one wanted a cat. So I took it to the Humane Society. If it was a larger cat I would not have worried about it. But it was so young and so tiny.

Well that's that. I will past again soon!