Maui!

Maui was awesome! We left on a Friday night after putting Abby to bed, which actually made it really easy to leave... almost TOO easy. I mean, it doesn't really count that we were gone that night because she didn't even know we had left.

Our flights on Saturday were great, (LONG, but very enjoyable because I could do whatever I wanted to) and miraculously, we had no delays or lost luggage (on either end of the journey). The way there was especially fun because we had a long layover in SLC, so Garrett and I got to see Emma (my sister), Chris (her 18-month-old), and Jenna (friend)!

After Church on Sunday everyone took naps for a couple hours (the time change was rough), so while they slept Garrett and I took a little drive around Wailea, just checking out the area. We just HAD to check out the beach... it was beautiful!

Anyway, the whole week went by in a blur. I did miss Abby, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. It would have just been too hard to have her there. During nearly every activity, Garrett and I would look at each other and just say, "Wow, this would be really rough if Abby was here right now." It was just wonderful to be together and do our own thing without having any responsibilities except for ourselves (and getting everyone out the door on time, but that actually wasn't too difficult!).

At a rainforest

First time visiting the beach
We took a boat ride and went snorkeling

All the kids on the beach
Walking along the beach before the Luau
The whole family (minus Abby)
We drove the Road to Hana - this is in Hana
Garrett and Jared spent over an hour climbing a coconut tree / breaking open coconuts / trying to eat them. And they tasted pretty gross.
The biggest Banyan Tree in North America - it covers over 2/3 of an acre!

Thanks SO MUCH to Garrett's parents for this great vacation, and thanks Brenna & Jesse for planning it. Garrett and I are in charge of planning next year's trip, and we're excited!

All About Abby - April

April was a busy month for Abby! She and I took a trip out to Utah, and it was probably her roughest trip so far. In the past she has been a wonderful little traveler, but now that she's older, she has probably come to be pretty reliant on her schedule, and on being familiar with her surroundings. This was probably her first trip where she really felt out of place and noticed all the strangers around her. Hopefully we'll be able to do enough traveling with her that it won't be a factor for too much longer. Time will tell... and very soon. In fact, when this posts, we'll be in Virginia for the weekend at a graduation. She hasn't had much time to recoup from the last trip, but I'm kind of glad. I want her to be a pretty resilient kid and be able to just go with the flow of what's going on in the family. I want her to be flexible in her schedule, and a little more flexible about her comfort zone (but not too flexible, obviously).

I can only think of one new "word" that Abby has learned this month: "Uh-oh". She says it when she falls, drops something, etc. I'm sure she learned it from Chris while we were in Utah.

Abby also RUNS now! She loves having Garrett or me chase her around the house. On Thursday we brought some cookies to Garrett, who was on campus studying, and when we got into the library and she caught sight of him, she immediately began to run towards him, screaming and laughing. It was so cute.

Every time I turn on an exercise video (which isn't as often as it used to be...), Abby comes and stands next to me and does a few little squats up and down. She also climbs all over me when I'm doing floor exercises as well, which makes it nearly impossible to do anything productive! Sometimes I can get her to sit on my hips or chest to act as a weight, but she's usually too wiggly for that.

Well, that was April. Abby is just over 15 months old, we are just loving this age. I am still waiting patiently for the day we can put her in a forward-facing car seat, though... she is still under 20 lbs so she technically isn't allowed to be in one yet. I am so tempted to get one for our drive to Virginia, because I think she'd enjoy the drive much more if she was able to see ahead, but that's ok. She'll be sitting next to Rylan (Garrett' little bro) in the car, and since he's in his booster seat they can face each other and play...(crossing my fingers).

Westward!

Abby and I went to Utah for 9 days for my brother Mike's graduation from BYU. It was a lot of fun! We were very busy, but we had a good time. Here is our trip in pictures!

The kids before Church

Some of the girls

We got to meet up with Garrett's grandparents at Ikea!

I LOVE this Ikea kitchen!

Looking cute

Carter, watching his Dad (Mike) graduate!
Chris helped load the moving truck!

The graduates
Me with Mike

Emma and Carter

The three cousins!
I hadn't seen Ben since before his mission! Ladies, he's single!
Chris with his favorite Aunt B
Just a few of the original Somersworth gang... we were all in YM/YW together.

Bath time!

The kids with grandpa

Loading the truck! Mike, Shauna, and Carter moved to NH.

Cleaning out Mike's car for him.

It snowed while Dad was mowing!

The kids with Grandma!

The original six!

We had a great time seeing friends and family out in Utah. Thanks, Emma, for letting us stay at your house. I can't wait to see everyone again! And sorry to anyone who tried to call me while I was there... my phone didn't work most of the time. Thankfully Emma put Garrett in her "Fave 5" so that I could talk to him! Thanks, Emma!

Spring Break!

Last week Garrett was on spring break, so we spent a few days doing things around the house that have been neglected for too long, and then on Tuesday we went to Savannah to spend some time with Garrett's family.

We had a great time in Savannah! We really didn't do too much, but it was relaxing and fun to be able to just hang out and be together. We went shopping, worked on projects, played games, and ate great food.

On Friday night we got babysitters for the kids (Abby and Rylan, Garrett's 4-year-old brother) and we went out to an Asian Fusion & Sushi Bar with Garrett's parents and some other friends, Stephanie and Michael. The restaurant was really nice and it only had 11 tables plus the bar, so it was a good thing we had made reservations. And I wish we had brought our camera - the sushi was SO good and it looked as good as it tasted! We also got sampler appetizers, which Garrett especially loved. He said the pot stickers were as good as Taiwan's, which is really saying something. It was great to catch up with Stephanie and Michael - we usually try to go out and do something fun with them whenever we are in town.

We've also spent time doing projects. Garrett's parents bought some new living room furniture, so we put the old stuff on Craigslist for them, as well as some old lamps, a dog house, and other miscellaneous stuff they wanted to get rid of. I also helped Mom W. clean out some cabinets and redo some of the decor in the living room. I wish we could stay longer because there is more to do, but that's ok. There's always next time! I love taking on big projects, especially when they are in someone else's house.

We also got to play with Rylan a lot, which was so fun! We played baseball, and with toys, and with his playground outside. He was so sweet to Abby, sharing his toys, showing her how things work, and making sure she didn't put things in her mouth. It was very cute.

We probably could have stayed for Church in Savannah too, which would have been nice, but I didn't want to miss our ward because I won't be there for the next 3 weeks (I leave next Sunday for a 9-day trip to UT, and then the weekend after I get back Garrett and I will most likely be going to Virginia for a friend's graduation).

Anyway, spring break was great! It was so nice for Garrett to be able to relax. He takes the Boards in mid-June, so from now until then will be very stressful and busy for him.

We spent a morning at the park

Rylan caught 2 caterpillars
Hanging out

Christmas in UT

Christmas was awesome! We had such a wonderful time with all the family. It's always great to spend time and hang out with everyone. We did almost everything that we had wanted to do! There was sledding, skiing, eating, watching movies, playing Wii, shopping, playing board games, seeing Christmas lights, puzzles, get-togethers, a baby blessing, and presents! It was a great first Christmas for Abby. She makes the holidays that much more exciting. Thanks especially to Emma and John for letting us stay in their house and for taking us to eat at all the places we were dying to eat at again! We had a blast! And we'll definitely have to make it up to you... we DO living in a pretty happenin' place! Anyway, I've posted some pictures below but these are just some of them... I'll add more soon! Enjoy!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Road Trip!

On Saturday we drove home from Savannah for a long weekend. We needed to take care of our yard and pick up our mail and pay our bills... you know, all the grown-up stuff that everyone loves. The 2.5 hour car ride gets kinda boring after a while, so I decided to take some pics! The ones of Abby are kinda weird, though, because I was sitting in the front seat and just reaching over the carseat trying to get a good shot, but I couldn't see.

We also saw tons of smoke from a fire in a field near the road. Luckily the road wasn't blocked off though, because we only know one way home. And it's annoying because although Savannah and Augusta are the second and third biggest cities in Georgia, there isn't a highway that connects them, so we take back roads through sketchy towns. So if our car ever broke down somewhere on the trip (knock on wood!), it would not be pretty, because we also don't get cell phone reception for most of the trip.

My apologies...

Wow, so I am really bad about this whole blogging thing! I promise I will be better in the future. At least 2 a week, how does that sound? And hopefully that will be my minimum.

So yeah, after reading Emma's blog you can see that we had a GREAT time while I was out in Utah. It was so fun to see everyone and spend time with the fam! And it was especially exciting for Mom and Dad to spend time with the babies. Dad calls me now and asks how Abby is doing, so that's fun. They are so excited to see her again! Anyway, Utah was busy and awesome. I had all-you-can-eat sushi, watched Grey's Anatomy, hung out with family and friends, went to graduation, played with Franklin, got my hair highlighted, played with Christopher, annoyed John, went shopping, etc... all the things I had planned on doing! Thank goodness Abby is such a good little traveler. And what made it even nicer is that on my flight from SLC to Atlanta, I got to sit next to an empty seat, so Abby was in her carseat the whole flight! That was so relaxing, and she slept most of the time. So, it was very nice to be out there and have a little vacation. Although, if anyone in this house needs a vacation it's Garrett. But don't worry! His LAST test is tomorrow (Monday) and then he is DONE FOR THE SUMMER!!! And boy do we have plans for the summer...

This week we will be busy getting stuff done around the house and yard. We want to put some lattice down around the bottom of our deck (so you can't see underneath it), take out the massive stump in the backyard, get rid of the dilapidated swing set left by the previous owners (I had thought to keep it, but upon further inspection declaired it un-playable and unsafe), get a new mailbox (our mailman says ours is too low), mulch around some trees, perhaps, and I'm sure we'll find some other things to do. We also have to get our GA drivers licenses (we were supposed to do that within 30 days of moving here, oops). So yeah, we hope to do all that this week before we head to Savannah this weekend. Garrett is going to be working for his dad again this summer, when he can. As time goes on the summer keeps getting more and more packed with plans, so I'm not really sure how much working will actually go on. Oh, and we were also going to go to the aquarium in Atlanta this week... we've both been wanting to go and it's the biggest aquarium in the world! But then I was looking online and it costs $25 a person! So, we're going to save that trip for another time. Sometime this summer I want to go to a Braves game (ideally we'd go when they play the Red Sox, but that's the same week we will be at Tybee Island).

Oh and another thing I have to do ASAP is get some passports for Abby and myself because we are going to Mexico in July! It's going to be a girls' vacation (Garrett's mom and sisters and me) while the hubbies are out in southern UT on their annual dirtbike trip. I am excited! I've only ever left the country once before, to go to Canada, and it was fun but not all that exciting. All of a sudden Garrett's mom seems to be on this kick about going on family vacations and exotic trips. It's kind of funny that she wants to do it now, now that we have a baby and traveling is just such a hassle. But hey, I'm not about to complain. And in all honesty, Abby is just so fun and she's such a good baby that I'm not worried about it at all. We're going to Mazatlan... it's on the western coast of Mexico and we'll be staying at a resort there.

Also in July we are hopefully going up to Pennsylvania for a short week, and up to Palmyra to see the pageant and see my grandparents (my Grandpa is the president of the Palmyra Temple). I am SO excited for this trip, too! I LOVE Palmyra and I love my parents' place in PA, so it should be a great trip. I am excited to have Garrett visit Palmyra; he's never been there before. Although, I know he would enjoy the trip MUCH more if John was going to be there, Emma.... see what you can do!

Well, it's Mother's Day and it was been very relaxing. At church I got a little pot of marygolds, which was nice (but to be honest, I think marygolds smell like garbage). Abby was kind of fussy when we got home from Church but I put her down for a nap around 2:30 and she just woke up at 6:45... yeah, she loves to sleep. So it was a nice afternoon of reading and just hanging out with Garrett, who is studying for his last test. So... that's pretty much it right now. It's gotten really hot here but we haven't turned on the A/C yet... we're holding out until it's impossible. It's a game we like to play. A poor person's game, actually. Gotta love it! :)