Memorial Day Family Staycation!

This year we were able to do a little retreat. My sister Marybeth and her family came in town from Texas and since Sally and Nate are now closer (Idaho instead of Illinois) they were able to come also. We had almost everyone in the family together! (Janie is still on her mission, we miss her!)

We spent a day down in Payson to see go the the new Payson Temple Open House. It is a GORGEOUS temple! One of my new favorites! 

Since Sally and I were husband-less for this event we decided to get a picture with our families together!

Almost Everybody! (Just missing Nate, Garhett, Janie and Marcie)

After the Temple Open House we headed to a park to have a picnic lunch.

On our way home Grandpa Matheson really wanted to stop and get the grandkids a Krispy Kreme Doughnut. Lucky for us the 'doughnut maker' was on and the kids were able to see how doughnuts are made!

We then went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point. They have it ALL. There is no end to fun things for the kiddies to do. Even Abby was able to find some things to keep her busy and having fun!

The 'Floating Head' optical allusion!

Just like her Daddy, Abby LOVED playing in the garden and picking all the veggies!

Playing hard and crawling all over the place!

And when we play hard, we sleep hard!

For Memorial Day we went up to the Cabin in Oakley and had so much fun! One of the things we did was go to the rec center in Kamas. It was a blast! It took Abby to warm up to the idea of being in the water, but then she loved it!

Lazy River!

Grandma Mindy threw a BIG birthday party for everyone since we were finally all together. The kids loved that!

As with all of her parties, there had to be a theme, so we had the Wild Wild West birthday party.

While everyone was in town, some of us were able to go to the Zoo together. It was Abby's first time at the Zoo. I'm not sure how much she liked it, but it was fun for me! :)

On a side note, this was the first day that I was able to get Abby's hair in a little piggy tail!

Riding the train!

Watching the Giraffes! Abby's favorite animal!

Watching the birds at the bird show! It's a really neat show!

Again, we play hard, and we sleep hard!

Abby loves her cousins!

It was so nice to have everyone in town and to be together for a few days!

Hiking to Elephant Rock

I happened to have this Saturday off work and have been begging Garhett to go on a hike for a long time, so we got up early and trekked up to Elephant Rock in Mueller Park Canyon in Bountiful! I'm ashamed to say that this was our first family hike! Not okay! We need to get out more!

It was kinda rainy but still a great hike. Abby loved it but she didn't love staying in the carrier. She wanted to be out front and center so she could see everything. Ha ha you'll notice in the pictures she ends up in many different positions. She starts out with Garhett, on his back then his front. Then I held her for a bit and then she finally fell asleep on my front. I think we could have finished much quicker if it weren't for the constant moving around with Abby, but that just made it all the more fun! She sure keeps us busy!

I had also been craving s'mores and I recently learned how to make them in the oven. (Super easy and super delicious!) So we ended the great day off with a few s'mores.

8 Months

Dear Abigail,

You are growing up so fast and turning into such a big girl. We love seeing your sweet smile and hearing your adorable giggles all the time. You are the greatest thing we have ever done! We love you SO much!

Abby Cait! Our beautiful little 8 month old!

I think this is how you really feel about our photo shoots every month! :)

Serious pose!

Abby, at 8 months old you are 16 lbs. and 25 inches tall. (I'm afraid you might have Mommy's short jeans.) You are growing so big because you are such a good eater! You still love to breast feed with Mommy but you also love to snack in between. You eat lots of baby food. You'll eat pretty much anything we try to feed you now. You also love to snack on strawberry puffs, bread, and graham crackers. As far as real food goes, you LOVE mashed potatoes, or any kind of potato for that matter. You are getting better and better at drinking from your sippy cup, but you love to drink out of mommy and daddy's big cups or water bottles too.

You love to drink out of big people cups!

You love to play with other kids, they keep you so entertained and happy. You especially like to play with other babies your age! There is something so curious about another human being the same size as you isn't there? :)

You also love to play with mommy's phone, you love to play peek-a-boo, and you LOVE to play with anything that you can crinkle and fold up - like paper and plastic water bottles -  and you still love to play with your Daddy!

You love to play with friends. This is your friend Katelyn Evans! I'm not sure what you two are so shocked about. :)

You LOVE to play with all the mail. Daddy let you try a taste of sprite too.

You want to move so badly but haven't quite figured out how to crawl yet; you are so so close though. You can roll over from your tummy to your back! Daddy spent lots of time teaching you how one day while Mommy was at work. You are also learning how to wave.

You LOVE to climb up on anything and everything that you see. You are such a busy little girl and are so curious about everything around you. Whatever Mommy and Daddy are holding you want to hold and where ever they are you want to be! You have become quite the distracted eater because you want to know what's going on around you all the time. You don't want to miss out on any of the fun! 

You love playing with and climbing on your toy monkey who sings and talks to you.

Eating your toes. You have recently discovered how good they taste. ;)

Sweet Abby, you have discovered your voice! You used to babble and coo a little bit, but now you are constantly making noise. You say 'ooooooo' and 'ooooohhh' and 'eeeehhh' and you always have this very concentrated look on your face like you are telling us just the most important thing. But mostly you say 'Dadadadada' over and over and over again. Mom and Dad think it is the cutest thing in the world! He tells her that you don't know what you're saying yet, and that your first word isn't really 'Dadda' to try and make her feel better. But Mom thinks deep down you really do know what you're saying because you Love your Daddy. :) Besides, it works out really well when you wake up at 6 am everyday and start saying 'Dadadadadada.' Mommy can sleep in because you are calling for Daddy to come get you out of bed! :)

Sometimes when you get up at 6 am and are bright eyed and wide awake Mommy and Daddy take you for walks.

You have the cutest little giggle as well as a high pitched laugh out loud laugh. Daddy can really get you laughing hard. You have ticklish thighs and are also ticklish just below your neck. You have such an adorable round face and cute little dimples and you LOVE to stick out your tongue. You get that from your Daddy, (Daddy sticks his tongue out all the time, especially when he's concentrating)  but he will disagree. :D

Bath time! You still love bath time, until it's time to be washed! 

You and Daddy were matching this day!

Our early morning happy baby!

Helping Mom and Dad with the grocery shopping!

Abby the cowgirl riding Daddy the horsey!

You were such a good girl this past month when Mommy had to have surgery to remove all the yucky cancer from her thyroid. She couldn't pick you up for about a week and it was so hard. But you were so good for her and for Grandma Mindy and Aunt Sally and all your nice babysitters. You deserved a big girl gold star! Mom had to go to lots of doctor appointments and you went with her to some of them. All the doctors and nurses thought you were so stinkin' cute! Mom definitely agrees with them!

There is nothing sweeter than this!

Your first Jazz game!

Family Jazz Night. You had so much fun and all the fans around you were just as excited about you as they were about the Jazz game!

Helping Mommy with the laundry.

We can't believe how fast the time has flown by. But we continue to thank our Heavenly Father for sending your sweet little spirit to us. We love you so much Abby!