Abe LOVES watermelon, corn, and the sprinklers. I was outside one day and looked over to see Abe just standing right in the middle of the sprinklers, not even flinching. He then just grabbed the hose and started sprinkling himself. Very cute and I couldn't bring myself to stop him...but then, why should I? No reason, except the sun was going down and getting a little chill, so we came in the house and took a warm bath. Oh, that's another favorite of his.

FIRST VACATION WITH ABE

We went to Yellowstone this past week. We have not ventured very far w/ Abe until this trip, so we were unsure how he would do. We drove up to Rexburg, stopping in Ogden at Farr's Ice Cream to get David's favorite flavor. Are there any guesses? A Mcfruit smoothie for the first right answer!
So we stayed in Rexburg the first night, and we paid a visit to Bear World. Abe got to sit in the front seat w/ David while we drove through, and got a kick out of the bears. He especially loved the petting zoo. David tried to take him swimming in the pool at the hotel, but the water was pretty cold, and Abe was NOT having fun.
The next day we traveled to Yellowstone, and surprisingly, we got to see quite a bit. We saw some mud pots, and then the upper geyser basin where David and Abe got to see a geyser! Abe really enjoyed being able to get out of his stroller and just roam around. We also saw the falls in the Canyons area. We would have liked to travel north a bit more, to see if we could see more wildlife, but we just didn't have time.
On our drive home, we drove out to Craters of the Moon, which was totally worth the drive. It was a lot of driving that day, but Abe did really well until the last couple of hours or so before we got home.
OK. So David is sitting right here, and says, "If I was writing this, I'd give a play-by-play of all the places we ate." So here goes, for all of you out there who will get a rush from this: I already mentioned Farr's Ice Cream. McDonald's, Bajio's, Super 8 Motel breakfast buffet, lasagna (freshly brought from home), KFC, BYU-Idaho cafeteria, Jack-in-the-Box, and Pie Hole in Pocatello (FABULOUS pizza!):)

Fun and Grass

We have grass!! It is sooo nice! We also have sprinklers in our flower beds which makes it so much more convenient now that we don't have to remember to water. We had a good time on the 4th. They didn't raise all of the hot air balloons because of the wind, but they did get some of them full of air. This is my favorite event on the Fourth of July!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!!

David's birthday was a couple of days ago. It was a big one. I got a big bouquet of balloons, put up some streamers with the number '50' on them, and then decorated the door. The wind blew the streamers down, and while I was doing dishes and looking out the window, I said, "Oh, there's your ballons floating away." Dang. I didn't even have a chance to take a photo of it all, so all there is is the sign for the door. We had a fun day. We went to Tucanos with Catherine, Ivan, Andrea and Karen. Thanks Catherine and Ivan!! Happy Birthday to my sweet David!

Good Times

I'm going to try to do better at posting more often, but I have this mind block when it comes to putting anything on here. Probably because there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the layout, and I just don't know what I'm doing. Anyway, there has been a lot going on!! Abe finally has some teeth and they are soooo cute! He's also saying some words and associating them. His first word w/ an association was "clock." We were in a room that had three clocks in it, and he pointed at each one and said, "clock." He also knows animal sounds--monkey is my favorite, the cow is David's favorite. He can recognize all sorts of animals...at least the ones in this one particular book. He also knows the sign for "all done" and "more." He doesn't use them, though, unless he's prompted! So have I bragged enough about him? He loves to tease, hide, and run away so that we'll chase him. He has also learned how to climb on the table! This is especially scary since we have a tile floor. He is a really good boy and we love him!!

So, about David and me. We're not really what you read the blog for, so if you're not interested, this would be the time to quit. David is out of school for the summer and has been working hard at cutting down a few trees. He cut down our overgrown apple tree, one of our apricot trees (we had two, and a little apricot goes a long way), and a non-producing plum tree. Ivan came over and did the cutting that was close to the electric wire as well as helped get the branches/logs loaded into the dumpster. We are so grateful for his help!! I made David promise to wear safety goggles, but I still had images of limbs being severed. It was a blessing that neither David nor Ivan were injured. We're going to be planting some new trees and some grass in the back, so we're pretty excited. I'll post some before and after photos once it's all done.

As for me, I'm a nut case. I guess I feel the need to share as a type of therapy or something?? I will shorten this as much as possible, for it is a very long story. I recently had to change dentists because of some insurance changes, which was so hard because I loved my dentist. He was great. So anyway, I went to this new dentist and when I left there, I had a treatment plan of upwards of $2000. Ya. So one tooth I knew needed a crown, no big surprise there. They also told me I had periodontal disease, and needed some root planing, which is another story entirely. Needless to say, I was pretty upset about it all, and since I catastrophize everything, it was pretty traumatic, mostly for financial reasons, but others also that I won't mention here. So I had the temporary put on, it never stopped hurting. I thought it was infected and could just take some antibiotics and it would take care of it. They took some x-rays, and when the denist told me I had to have a root canal (another $400) I started to cry! Right there in the office! Almost uncontrollably! I was still crying when I made the appointment for it, and the scheduler asked me very professionally if I would like a valium before the procedure. It struck me so funny I had to stop crying and laugh! The reality of how I must appear became crystal clear, and it was a hysterical thought. All is well. My mouth feels great and we're quite a few bucks poorer, but I'm grateful that we had the money to pay for it.

Abe is one - - - year old!

Some co-workers of mine told me that we had to buy a cupcake for Abe on his first birthday and let him dive in. I ended up buying a slice of chocolate cake at Macey's and on Sunday, (Abe's birthday) we gave him the cake. We put a candle in it and sang to him. Karen was on hand to help us out. Abe gave us a huge smile when we were singing to him. Sandra then slid the cake up to him and he didn't know exactly what to do. He twirled his finger in the icing, then lifted his hand and moved his fingers back and forth, rubbing them together, but still nothing in the mouth. After a few minutes of this, or maybe it was a few seconds, Sandra put some of the icing in his mouth. After that it was all over. He finally got it. We took the cake away after awhile, for fear that he might get sick and throw up. Happy Birthday Abe!!!!

I just wanted to get something on here since we haven't posted for a couple of months. Abe is growing like a weed. I can't believe he will be a year old in about 20 days. Sandra and I are plugging along and doing well. We are all looking very much forward to spring and some beautiful weather and the newness of life that is represented in the blossoming flowers and trees.