It's The Little Things He Says That Really Make Me Smile

@Costco on a particularly grumpy Abby day.

Abby: Hey Mike, go get me one of those sausage samples.

Mike: (Leaves, Returns) I got you the red wine one because you're probably more fun when you're drunk.


Yeah, it's probably true.

The Snow Storm That Prompted The Snowmen Which Led To The Snow Fort

It all started with me taking pictures...

 however, somehow I got wrangled into helping build the snowmen...

And within minutes, I was laying on the icy cold ground with my head in a snow fort.

But I guess I'll follow that face anywhere.

Christmas Festivities

How we celebrated Christmas in 2012...

Mike put up the tree

Abby made new ornaments for the tree

And then we decorated it with ornaments and presents, and took a really off color picture

Then the time we made a gingerbread house

And Christmas Eve came. And we partied. And the children wore us out. And we got really tired {I mean, just look at those faces}

But then Christmas morning came, and we were re-energized and Mike was so excited about our new ladder

And Abby was really excited about her Lincoln Logs

 

And to all a good night.

Thoughts on this here Eve

I'm ringing in the New Year with Chinese food and procrastination.

Eventually I'll write about the

princess bridal shower that we threw my sister, or

Christmas, or

my baby sisters wedding, or

our resolutions, or

how I'm glad 2012 is over.

Or maybe not.

Today

Merry Christmas Eve...eve....!

 

December Things

Three days ago, I wrote the largest check of my personal life. Finally. A construction deposit. Projected date of a nice big hole in the ground to represent the beginnings of our new home…mid-January.

And we’re getting a fireplace. Yes, we made that jump, and I am so excited. Red brick. To the ceiling. Fireplace sitting is my happy place.

This is the current song on replay. If you hate Christmas music, this song is for you. If you love Christmas music, this song is for you. I love Christmas. I love Christmas music.

Pandora’s Christmas stations plays at a constant at work. And without even looking, I can tell you when a song from The Christmas Box album is on. You know how I know? Mike and I listened to it over and over and over again while we were dating. Those songs hold such fond memories. A December night wrapped up in a blanket while talking to my favorite person in the world is only complete if done while listening to The Christmas Box.

My baby sister’s wedding is a mere week away. Can I just give that sweet little girl a hug and never let her grow up? Speaking of never growing up, I think now would be a good time to go to Neverland.

Shout out to my folks, that are celebrating their anniversary today. I wish I could say I knew exactly the number of years....but congrats on 30 something years you two love birds!

Do you ever say something out loud before you think about what you are saying? Gosh, I hate that. I think I’m the queen of it.

Sorry guys, I just don’t have much to say these days. However, I do much better on Instagram. @abbys14.

Pi

We had date night smack in the middle of the week. It was a Tuesday night and we were feeling particularly exciting, so we went and saw a movie. On a Tuesday. It was crazy! {The other 6 people in the theater must have been feeling as adventurous as we were.} We'd never seen a movie in 3D, so we decided hey, why not, because apparently we felt like spending the extra cash? We decided that Life of Pi was calling our name. Have you seen this movie? I tell you what, it blew my mind. This show is chock-full of inspiration. I'm not quite sure Mike picked up on it, but I walked out feeling uplifted and motivated. I hate to admit it but I learned more about God and faith and perspective than I sometimes do in my Sunday meetings. The graphics were beautiful, which only helps to tell the story of this young man and a tiger, stuck on a life boat in the middle of the ocean. If I could recommend a movie, this would be it. That is, of course, until Les Miserables hits the theater.

Month of Thankfulness

The last day of November is prompting me to be thankful, being this is the month of thanks and all.

I'm thankful to be blessed enough to build a house. What a grown up accomplishment.

I'm thankful for clean dishes.

I'm thankful that Mike is a sports fan, so I don't have to pick the teams, I just pick his. Go Thunder?

I'm thankful for only a 3% tax on food in Utah.

I'm thankful for Christmas lights/trees/candles.

I'm thankful for the $15 worth of JCPenney gift certificates that I won.

I'm thankful that after 19 years, my parents finally finished their basement. And oh, was it worth the wait. Gorgeous.

I'm thankful for teapots.

I'm thankful for my commute that gives me time to read the scriptures.

I'm thankful for my four beautiful sisters.
I'm not thankful that two {TWO!} of them are moving out of state at the end of December.
But I am thankful that they are following their dreams!

I'm thankful for the suddenly rare desire to blog. Documenting my really busy, boring life is so unappealing...except when its not.

I'm thankful for The Family Stone. Let's just vote Ben off the island.

I'm thankful for this scene at Thanksgiving.

I hope everyone had a great month of thankfulness. On to the next.

Home

It's weird. Being back in Utah. Which is weird. Because I spent my whole life here until 2009. And then we moved on. And we built a life. Far away from everything and everyone we knew and loved. And it was hard. We had our downs. But then things went up. And kept going up. And I had an awesome job, and the perfect house and great friends. And we all know, that just when things start to get good. They change. And we moved. Spent 3 months in Washington D.C. Which was just a really long, humid vacation for me.

Now we are in Utah. We've been back for 3 months, and it's weird. Things are slowly getting normal again. But things are still out of sorts. My gym attendance is spotty and making dinner has become less frequent. It's November 18th and my Christmas tree isn't even up. This is so not me. All I know, is I get up and go to work every day. And then I come home. Most of the time feeling highly unaccomplished.

Is it weird that I was alone in the elevator the other day at work and thought...Please get stuck, please get stuck, please get stuck. Just for a few hours. How awkward of a thought to have. Mike says I'm weird. But sometimes being stuck in an elevator alone for a little while is better than the real life monotony waiting for you when you get off.

Looking for a home has made things just crazy. You never know from day to day when you will be spending your evenings walking through homes that "have potential". Homes come on the market and then disappear just as quickly. Most end up going to investors. Everything is a short sale. And its just plain hard.

So yesterday, we decided to build.
We signed some paperwork, handed over some money and tomorrow we get the final okay from the builder.

So many thoughts continue to go through my head as we have made this decision. But all I know is, when I woke up this morning, I still felt good about it.

How do you know when you finally found the place that you want to live? How do you know when you have found the ward and the stake that the Lord wants you in? Well we don't know. But what we do know, is we have been trying to find a home without success. And we're tired. So we're doing this. And we are excited to finally have a plan. Finally be able to (in 5-6 months) have some semblance of a normal life again.

And slowly be able to once again feel like Utah is home.

To Good To Be True

Guys.
The house we put an offer on over the weekend.
You know, the perfect one in the perfect location with the perfect price?

It ended up being a meth house.

House shopping is the worst.
Oh and stupid Utahn's that think meth is awesome. Yousuck.

And I put on my gym clothes and got distracted with blogging instead.
Not only do I have nothing to say other than I hate you stupid meth people, but I get to feel guilty for telling the world about it because eventually I'm going to have to walk back to my bedroom and put on my real clothes again.

And fold my nice clean gym clothes up and put them back in the drawer.

It happens.