Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today, four years ago I married my best friend. Here is the cliff note version of how we became us.

Who would have known that a school trip to Hawaii would have such an impact on ours lives? That's right, Grant and I met in Hawaii on our geology field trip in high school Fall of 2008. Thanks to Nikki's motivation to attend the trip I meet a wonderful guy! We hit it off in Hawaii, both being awkward and shy, we slowly started to date after the trip. Sadly he was a senior at the time and he headed off to the University of Wyoming the next fall. We kept the long distance relationship going by chatting on the computer most nights. The long distance relationship became more complicated when I decided to attend the University of Arkansas to pursue my swimming career. Free night and weekend minutes, as well as an understanding roommate, Thanks Susie, helped us get through the first year of true long distance.

The distance remained between us for four more years, until Grant moved out to Arkansas and got a job while I attended Grad School. What a wonderful thing it was to be together again. About a year after Grant moved, while on a hike at White Mountain (in Arkansas) Grant proposed. A year after that Grant and I return out west and I married the greatest man.

Grant and I have been through so much together, all of which have brought us closer together. There is not a better person I would choose to share the adventure of life with.

I had hoped to show a picture history of us unfortunately I had trouble recovering many photo easily so here is a very limited look at us.

The awkward first dance photo taken by the parents.

Us in Long Beach, CA at the Olympic Trials. Grant was wonderful as he was always there for my big swimming events.

The happy couple.

A family of two is now three.

I love you Grant! Happy Anniversary!

Cabo San Lucas

Summer got off to a great start with us getting the chance to hit the beach. My parents offered use of their timeshare week this year and to watch Abby while we had the chance to get away. While the excitement of going to Cabo to hit the beach and relax was great, in the pit of my stomach the thought of being apart from Abby for a week, in a foreign country, and for the first time was a bit sickening. But after much thought knowing that sometime we would have to cut the cord we decided that it would be good for all. For Grant and I to have some time and for Abby to get to spend some quality time with her Grandparents, who all live across the country and don't get to see her near enough.

In order for Abby to get to be with all of her grandparents my mom flew out here and braved the flight back with Abby to take her out to Utah and Wyoming. Watching Abby leave with Mom on the plane was probably that hardest part. They flew out of Branson, MO (which is about 2 hours away) so it was a sad, lonely drive back. In another post I will share Abby's adventures she had with her grandparents, but for this one I will share some highlights of the Cabo trip.

We traveled with some wonderful friends of ours, Jill and Ricky. What a blast it was to share the experience with some great people.

Just in case we forgot where we were, we decided to write a reminder in the sand, with a bit of artistic flair suggested by Jill.

Here is Ricky, Grant and I all sitting around the fire table at our resort. This particular night it was rather warm and there was no need for the fire, but on other nights it would get a little cool and we would enjoy relaxing by the fire. They would light the rocks in the center of the table and it was quite nice. Not to mention it was also happy hour!

Grant and I enjoying a moment on our sunset cruise, or should I say sunset sail. We got on this catamaran that took us out to see the Arch, then we sailed out in the Pacific Ocean and had a bite to eat on the boat.

Here we are proving that we did see the arch. This is at the very tip of the Baja California peninsula, and is a very prominent landmark if you ever go to Cabo. The only way to get to it though is by boat, and I guess we are at high tide in this picture, because there is apparently a beach somewhere under that water.

I'm enjoying a refreshing beverage for lunch when we drove to Todos Santos. We had a very nice lunch here at a place called Cafe Santa Fe where we had, what else?? Pizza and ravioli. A bit strange for Mexico, but it was really good!! Todos Santos was a little artsy town located about a weeks drive north of Cabo (ok, only about an hour and a half, but it was a long drive on roads that were under construction).

Here is Grant looking cool in Todos Santos.

Jill and I posing for a picture with the sailboat behind us at our resort. The resort was located on the Pacific side of the peninsula, and in the early mornings and evenings we would see some boats (or ships in some cases) pass by on their way into port in Cabo.

Jill and I trying to blend in with the locals.
Grant and Ricky following our lead. The nice couple that we took these pictures with seemed to always be hanging out in the lobby of our resort.

Breakfast on the beach (literally, notice the sand behind us) at a restaurant called "The Office". It had a very good, seemingly authentic Mexican style breakfast that we all enjoyed.

One of the 5 pools (or 7, or 8, we never got a straight answer) on our resort that seemed to just stretch on out to the Pacific Ocean.

Sunrise in Cabo, very pretty, even this early in the morning! This is an example of how traveling with friends was wonderful, while the boys would sleep in Jill and I got up to grab a cup of coffee then head down to the beach to catch the sunrise. Not a bad way to get the day off to a great start.

Again at sunrise, this was our last morning in Cabo. I can tell because the last day the boys humored us and went down to catch the show.

Getting my Abby fix. They did have wireless hot spots throughout the resort. My mom and Sue did a great job at sending updates about what Abby was up to which Grant and I were very thankful!

Jill and I hanging by another one of the pools at the resort. Very relaxing!

Grant and I relaxing at the pool. One thing that we decided we definitely wouldn't have been able to enjoy if Abby were with us on this trip! We really love our daughter, but she is always on the move!!
All in all a fantastic trip, great accommodation (Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach), wonderful company, and a relaxing getaway.

A New Adventure

A new adventure... what may that be you ask? Well news has gotten around here in Arkansas, but it is time I catch up you internet readers. Next year I will be staying home with Abby. This was was an easy, yet hard decision to make. Easy in the part as I don't want to miss out in any of Abby's life. As wonderful and lucky we are to have a fantastic daycare provider for Abby it is not the same as her being with me.

On the flip side there are the fears of how I will miss the professional world, the great relationships I have with those I work, and of course the financial challenges. But ultimately it comes down to there will always be teaching. Judging by how fast this year has passed Abby will be in school before I know it and I don't want to miss out. Through the challenges of this year I have learned how important it is to live every moment.

I am so thankful that I have a husband who supports me with this and I look forward to this new adventure. With the countdown now down to 5 days of school left, a new chapter of my life as a stay at home mom begins.

As I have neglected the blog for such a long time I will end with a quick video of my dancing girl, she is such a hoot!

Dogs Bolt in Fear from Frankenstein

This title was actually used for a lesson with my third graders. They got such a kick out of it I thought I would share it with you in cyber land. For a writing activity, after returning from spring break I asked the students to come up with a headline to describe their spring break. Students wrote their headline on a sentence strip to share with the class. After sharing their headline, students had time to go around and get the rest of the story from headlines that interested them. This is a great way to give the students time to share about their break so they are not trying to talk during other lessons!

So the rest of my story with the headline is...Abby is now a walker! That's right, she waited till I was home with her over spring break to take her official first steps. To help with balance, she holds her hands up high as she wobbles back and forth, doing a great impersonation of Frankenstein! As the headline states the dogs are very unsure about this new method of mobility. Allie has been used as a support aide several times and is quite unsure about being used like that. Callie doesn't even give Abby the chance, any time Abby draws near she is quick to move to a new location. I guess Abby is doing her part to help keep our 14 year old German Shepherd active (that's right she just turned 14 and at her check up the other day the Vet said he didn't seem any reason as to why he wouldn't be seeing her next year!)

Below are a few short clips of our girl in action. The first is of Abby helping out with a daily household chore. The second is of Abby standing up without the use of anything!

Happy 1st Birthday Abby!

A year ago on March 17th our lives drastically changed for the better. It is VERY hard to believe Abby is a year old already, I have a feeling I'll be saying/thinking that at every birthday. To celebrate, Abby's Granny Sue came to visit for the birthday week. We had a party Saturday, March 13th where friends came over to help celebrate, and then had a small family birthday Wednesday on her actual birthday. Following is a picture recap of the festivities. But first I wanted to record what Abby is up to now.

At one year of age Abby weighs 21 pounds, and is 29 inches long (estimated off her 11 month measurement of 28). She has 6 teeth, 2 bottom and 4 top front teeth. As far as words go she has uh-oh down and dog (dah), we continue to work on mom and dad. :-) She is a crawling pro. She has been walking with help from furniture for months. She will walk everywhere holding people's hands, but absolutely refuses to walk by herself. I guess she will walk when she is good and ready. She blows kisses (learned from her 5 minute meeting with an Elmo toy at Walmart... go figure), and loves to hug her lamb and monkey. When she is tired and goofy she plops down on the floor on her back and kicks her legs as she giggles uncontrollably. I am just blown away with how much Abby is picking up every day and know the year ahead will be filled with many new adventures.

Below are some pictures from Abby's 1st Birthday Parties!

Here is the invitation that we put together for the big party. (With some personal information blurred out to keep the internet stalkers away!)

Abby playing with her friends at the beginning of her party.

I don't know what exactly that is, but I think I want it!!

So, what exactly am I supposed to do now??

Oh, I think I'm getting the concept down now!!

I wish my cake could be this big!

Keep away, this is all mine!!

Should I lick the plate?? (For the record, she didn't.)

This is what a pleasantly full 1-year-old looks like.

How about a hug Mom??

Ansley helping to show Abby how this whole birthday thing is supposed to work.

Abby looking cute after the party ended.

I really like this new toy that Nana and Pap-Pap sent me. I really love it when the gears spin!

Wow, that tower of blocks is almost as tall as me!!

They really do grow up too fast. Abby loves the glasses and purse from her friend Lily!

She has a large head

At around six months Abby's head growth did a jump on the growth chart. Ever since then she has been at the 95th percentile, or higher, while her weight and height have been down at 30% (we think she is taking after her dad in height). Since there was the big jump with head growth her doctor has had us come in every month to monitor things. At around 9 months with her head still being large the possibility of doing CT scan to make sure nothing was going on in her head was brought up. Seeing as Abby was still reaching all her milestones at or before what's normal we saw no need, plus Grant has a big head.

Well last week at the 11 month check up Abby's head took another big growth jump sending it off the charts. Our doctor having talked to a specialist felt with this lastest jump that it was probably best to check things out. So 7:30 Wednesday morning we were scheduled to bring Abby to the hospital for a head CT.

This already being a stressful week, with parent-teacher conferences Monday and Tuesday till 7:00 each night, my nerves were shot. Thankfully it was not a big deal to get the CT scan done. We brought her into the room where they tightly swaddled Abby and covered her with lead. They only allow one person to stay in the room with a child....why do they do this? I really don't see why they can't be more understanding because it is so hard to have one parent step into the hallway. Grant let me stay in the room and attempt to hold Abby's head still by holding her chin, yeah right! I did my best to calm our scared baby, luckily Abby handled the whole situation wonderfully. She did not cry until the bed slid into the machine (see below). Her cry was more of a 'okay I'm ready to move cry' rather than a cry of panic, thankfully. Actually at times she got distracted from crying by watching the spinning components of the machine.

The scan only took about 5 minutes. After they confirmed several good shots ( I was shocked they got it on the first try, I struggled in taking care of my job) we were free to go. We were told they would get the scans to our doctors in 24 to 48 hours. Do they not know how much of a worrier I am, and how wild my mind can run in 24 to 48 hours?

I tried to focus on enjoying the day with my little girl because I knew it would be a long day of waiting with no word. The one thing that helped is I felt a peace deep down that everything was okay because she's fine developmentally. But there is always the "What if..."

The call from the doctor thankfully came 9:00 Thursday morning, everything looked completely normal and she does indeed just have a large head. After letting out a huge sigh of relief, and a prayer of thanks to God, I looked forward to getting through the day so I could wrap Abby up in a hug of relief.

I know with being a parent there are going to be powerful emotions towards your child. It just takes me back in just these 11 short months how much love I have for Abby. How I would do anything possible to ensure that she is safe and healthy. I am so thankful for my healthy baby, and with her big head there is just that much more of her to love!

Oh NO!

We once again have a snow day. This is our sixth snow day so far this year. As great as these days have been it is time for them to stop. Being in school till the middle of June is no fun at all. Especially when you have places to go, people to see!

Abby is learning to do new things everyday. Unfortunately one of those things is learning how to say no. Although she doesn't quite get what it means yet, I fear the fact that she has this much down it won't be long.

Below she is caught in action, see for yourself: