Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Abby's prayers

I LOVE to hear Abby say prayers - it's the cutest thing! She takes us from thinking, "Awwwww..." and then the next second we're trying not to laugh in the middle. :) Tonight she wanted me to say our bedtime prayer - which usually means that she intends to interrupt in the middle with things she thinks I should add. :) Here's a pretty close idea of how it went:


Me: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day....basic thanks......thank you that Daddy could travel safely..."

Abby: "And thank you that we could drop Daddy off at the airport and he could fly on the airplane. And thank you I go to Ella's house. And thank you for my dance class. Thank you Jesus go to church with us...."

Me: "Please keep Aunt Hope and Garrett safe as they travel tomorrow..."

Abby: "Please help Hopey and Garrett come on the plane so we can go pick them up tomorrow and I play with Garrett. Thank you help us choose the right..."

Me: "Please keep us safe..."

Abby: "Jesus Christ. Amen."


This girl CRACKS ME UP!!! I love my kids!!

Monday, January 25, 2010

All by myyyseeeelf....

Zac's leaving tomorrow to go Phoenix (actually Glendale) for the week. Which means that I'll spend tomorrow night staying up till all hours with all the lights on. haha - yes, I'm a wuss...I know. But my sister and Garrett get here on Wednesday evening - woooo!!! Looking forward to a fun last half of the week!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Dance class!!!

This past Tuesday, Jan 19, was Abby's first dance class. She is taking a Pre-ballet/Creative Dance combo class that is being offered for 8 weeks through the Canyons School District. It's a much cheaper option than a dance studio and gives us a chance to see if she'll be interested in continuing to do this. Grams & Grampa sponsored the class and my friend Jennifer offered us some dance clothes that her girls have outgrown - wooo hoo!! Grams has been on me about pictures, so here we go! (Crazy scrapbooking mom note - in a 50 minute class, I took 47 pictures. hehehe But don't worry, I won't post all of them!)



Sitting in a circle while Ms. Erin told them a little bit about dance and what they would be learning...


Trying to touch their toes without bending their knees - Abby didn't quite get this.


Cami and Emma's opinion of dance. :) Cami woke up about halfway through and thought it was fun to sit with me and watch.


Trying to walk like a crab - Ms. Erin did a lot of sea creature stuff using the music from The Little Mermaid.


Skipping across the stage...


Learning a few basic moves...


Dancing!!


Dancing under the sea.... ;)


Ballerina moves...


Circle time...


The cutest little dancer there ever was...at least in my very humble opinion. :)


The skirt that Jennifer gave us was a tad too big, so I took it up....then couldn't find it when it was dance time. :/ I've since found it - but don't you love her little panties sticking out of her leotard? hahaha


They all got little stamps on their hands after class.


Showing off stamps with a new friend...


A veeeerrrry tired Abby showing Mommy her stamp.

There will be more from other classes, I'm quite sure! She had so much fun and I love that she is getting to be around more kids. This is definitely going to be good for her!!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

GIVEAWAY

Two awesome giveaways for you to check out:

The first giveaway is from one of my favorite bloggers, Pioneer Woman. It's a very different kind of giveaway - if you win, she will donate $500 to "the Haitian-related charity of the winners choice." And, for every comment/entry, she will donate $0.10 to charity. Since her giveaways usually yield 5,000+ entries, this is pretty awesome!

To balance out the serious, I also found a fun giveaway, via my friend Bobbi's blog. Someday Crafts (I love this blog!) is giving away a cute watch set and $10 credit from Oh So Girly! Oh So Girly! is great! It's one of the first blogs I've found that actually has cute, crafty stuff at reasonable prices!! Check out all of the blogs in here - good stuff to be found!!

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Christmas

I have so many things to blog about - but I feel like I can't do any of that until I blog about Christmas! So here we go....prepare for picture overload!! :)
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We started our Christmas season the week after Thanksgiving at Draper City's Christmas celebration. It was sponsored by the Youth Council and they had lots of fun, free stuff for kids. Here's Abby getting her balloon flower tied (after waiting very patiently, I should add).


Cami waiting patiently for Abby's balloon flower. :)


Emma waited patiently, too.


The finished product! A super cute balloon flower with a bumblee on top!


They also had a face painting room. Abby decided that she wanted a snowman on her face.



In true bald guy fashion, Zac couldn't pass up a chance to get his face...I mean, head...painted. I wish the hat had been bigger - but it's still pretty funny!


There were several performances through the evening. I believe this choir is from Alta High. They were sooo good! Of course, I'm probably a little biased from all my high school and college choir years. But Zac also said they were great. They did some cute dancing with their songs - Abby was enthralled!


My main reason for going was to get a good (free) picture with Santa Claus. We'd been talking to Abby about it for a couple of weeks. We told her she didn't have to sit on his lap, just stand beside him. All was well until it was our turn - then the shrieking started. It sounded like I was trying to pull her arms off!! So we told her to forget it and just got a picture of the babies with Santa. Maybe next year.....

Skipping some things...trying not to make this too ridiculously long....


After our Christmas program at church, we set up the camera to take a couple of family pictures. Had to show off the cute bows I made for the girls! :) Abby's Christmas dress was $4 at a Little Rock consignment sale. I found the babies' dresses at Target and ordered them with the remainder of a baby shower gift card (thanks, Grams, for paying the shipping!).




My friend Leslie gave us the makings for decorated sugar cookies - leftovers from her son's school party. Abby had tons of fun doing this, especially since Leslie packaged everything in Dora baggies. :)


My cookie. Boring, I know. But I was also in charge of photography...and not a huge fan of crunchy candies on my cookies. (Or cupcakes or anything else)


Zac's cookie. Notice the goatee?


Abby's cookie. Can you tell that she's a huge fan of M&Ms?


On to Christmas Eve. My family always does our big 'thing' on Christmas Eve. Since we're far away, we now use the wonders of technology and Skype with everybody. My family exchanges names for that gift exchange - saves us all a bit of money and still allows everybody to get a 'good' gift. Mom had my name and I got......a vacuum cleaner! :) I'd been asking for a hand vac and Mom got me a good one. Thanks, Mom!!


Mamaw had Zac's name. He got new PJ pants (his old ones were worn to rags!) and an armband for his iPod. So now we can hit the gym with our music. :)


Aunt Sherry and Uncle Jeff had Abby's name. They got her a Little Mermaid bath set and she LOVES it!! By far her most popular bath toy!


Santa drank the chocolate milk (his favorite, from what I hear) and ate most of the Oreos. And, of course, he left a note telling the girls thank you! Rudolph and the reindeer thoroughly enjoyed the carrots that Abby left on the porch for them.


The stocking loot! Since we don't have a fireplace, Santa lined up the filled stockings on the couch. Abby has become quite the little artist, so Santa encouraged her newly discovered talent.


I got some cake decorating stuff in my stocking. I've been wanting to learn how to decorate cakes, so I'm excited about this!


Zac always gets soft peppermint sticks in his stocking - he loves them! He also got the Transformers movie and several other goodies. (I loooooove buying stocking stuffers - it's more fun to me than buying regular gifts!)


The big gift that Santa left? Abby's pink scooter - she LOVES it! She's had a few chances to ride it outside and she loves riding up and down the hallway.



Abby's Legos. She had so much fun with Garrett's while we were in Arkansas that we knew she 'had' to have some. Thankfully, Santa (aka Leslie) knows how to find things on KSL.

Some of my baking goods. Lots of cooking to be done at the Elliott house. Abby picked out the rolling pin all by herself.


Nana and Pawpaw sent an ExerSaucer for Christmas and the babies are loving it! Since we needed two, of course, we borrowed one from Leslie. The babies love their new ability to 'stand' and play!


Monday, January 04, 2010

GIVEAWAY

I found a fun, new blog! It's called Divine Diva Media and it's a brainchild of a few different blogs - all of which are cute! They are having some cool giveaways building up to their launch party later this week. Check it out and try to win some stuff!!

Sunday, January 03, 2010

These are a few of my faaaaavorite things....

Every week at church, our Relief Society bulletin has a "My Favorites" that spotlights a different lady from our ward. I think it's an awesome way to get to know everyone and thought I'd share it on my blog:
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My favorite...


Movie: Don't really have an all-time favorite; most recent fave is The Proposal

TV Show: This is a toughie, too; we like to watch Chopped and Iron Chef America
Eat Out Spot: Haven't found one in Utah, really. Been craving some Mt. Fuji in Little Rock
Dessert: Warm, chewy, fudgy brownie sundae
Vacation: The beach!
Time of Day: Evenings when my hubby gets home and our family is together
Season: Late summer/fall in Utah is nice
Dream vacation: I'd like to try a cruise with the hubby
Sport: Love to play volleyball and watch football
Hobby: Crafty stuff - scrapbooks, cards and learning to sew
Calling: My fave calling at church has been working with the young women
Pleasure: Reading...don't have much time for that now :)
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
What makes you laugh: My husband and kids...constantly! ;)
Least favorite chore: Dusting
What do you never leave the house without: Cell phone and extra diapers :)