A little catching up to do....

Hello friends and family!  It has been a while since I have posted anything.  Abigail and I just got back from Utah, but before we post about that I thought I'd catch you up on a few things that have happened....

In May we celebrated  5 years on our journey of eternity.  5 years!  Boy, does time fly.  5 years including 1 baby, a move across country, two different Universities, 7 different apartments, lots of laughs and a LOT of love!  I am so, so grateful to be married to my BFF!

We had the opportunity to spend the weekend in Louisville.  It was so much fun!  First time leaving my baby but thanks to our good friends, the Skanchy's, who watched Abigail, we had a blast.  (And yes, I am glad that when we got there and I had the breakdown that we should go back and bring her with us Barton talked me out of it :)

In April we went camping at Mammoth Cave!  It was so much fun. We went with our good friends the Newsomes and our nieces and nephew.   Besides stinkin' allergies and Abigail not sleeping it was a perfect weekend!  Abagail's favorite part of the trip was the hammock.  We also enjoyed the hike into the caves.  We were shocked at how well the kidos did with so many stairs.  The only complaining came when they found out that they didn't get a reward for not complaining...haha...maybe we bribe them too much :)

  
In May we were also blessed to see Momma Sloan for a weekend.  Barton's sister graduated from law school so she came to town.  We hate being so far away from her so any minute we get with her is treasured time!

Out with the old, in with the new....In June we lost our great neighbors but gained new great neighbors....
 
Boyd and Kat Newsome have left us.  They were such great neighbors.  There have been a lot of game nights, barbeques and lazy days of hanging out.  Having such good friends has made it much easier to be away from family.  It was so hard to say goodbye but thankfully some of our other good friends, Julie and Scott (or as we call them Sculie and Jott) have moved in.  They are fabulous!  We lived around the corner from them in our old apartment so it is nice to have them close again.  And not only have we been blessed with good next door neighbors but there are 3 other amazing families who we are good friends with on our street.  I love it!  I am going to have a hard time when most of us leave next spring. 

Sculie and Jott, Barton, Boyd and  Kat...Sorry about the baby fingerprint smudges..

Well, that is a small catch up on the main happenings of this summer.  I will post soon on Abigail and all of her developments, boy is my baby growing up.  I will also post soon on our great trip to Utah.  Love you all! Em

Spring Break and Easter!

We hope that you all had a great Easter Holiday! What a great time to be with family and celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of Christ.

We had a great Easter. The week before Easter was Barton's spring break. He had the opportunity to spend a few days in a Pediatric Dental Residency Program in Tennessee. We stayed with Brandon and Diedre and had a blast! I loved being with Diedre all day long for a week. Besides having a blast chatting all day we also had fun celebrating Gray's Birthday, watching conference, going on a couple of walks, going to the park, playing games, going to the children's museum, etc. Here are a few pics from our adventures:

(Abigail just wanted to "catch and release" the eggs in the water so we soon gave her a cup with plain water)

I LOVE these boys!

Thanks Bran and Diedre! We can't wait to see you again!

Here are also a few pics from Easter....

This lucky girl had two Easter baskets this year. I guess the Easter bunny really does exist ;)

Basket #1 was not as cool as basket #2... (People are SO thoughtful! Especially a particular sweet sister in our ward who has taken a liking to our baby girl :)

My Birthday Baby!

I have no idea where the last year has gone! I can not believe that my baby girl is a 1 year old. I am so completely in love with this girl. She is my personal assistant, my shadow, my bug-a-boo. I love her more than I can even put into words!

We wish that you could have all been here to party with us! We had so much fun celebrating her b-day. Her actual birthday was Mommy, Daddy and baby time. We had a great picnic at the park introducing her to the yumminess of peanut butter sandwiches.

The big celebration was on Saturday. We had a fun birthday brunch. We ate lots of food, sang to Abigail, and some of the kids painted birdhouses. Here are a few pics from the party...

(Thanks Sister Bartholomew for your last minute help with the butterscotch cookies :)

She wanted nothing to do with eating her cake.

Some of the cute kiddos painting birdhouses

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Meet My HOT Dentist!

Our first year in Lexington I had some Dental Insurance that was about to expire. My teeth weren't bothering me but it had been a while since I had a regular check up so I randomly picked someone my plan covered. Bad idea! I am very particular about my teeth. I brush at least twice a day, floss at least once a day, fluoride every day, and wear my retainer every other night...religiously! I should have thought it through better when this random dentist told me I had four cavities and gum disease. Since I only had two days until my insurance expired I let her fill these four "cavities". Supper bad idea. After that my teeth started bugging me all of the time.

After one of the fillings fell out I decided I shouldn't wait any longer to have my mouth checked out. I made an appointment with the (almost) new dentist on the block. Boy howdy, was I nervous! Barton is such a good hubby and dad but I have never seen him give a shot. And before I knew it his hands were in my mouth with the needle. I was super scared but he did an amazing job! After we got over the weirdness of the situation it became more comfortable. At the beginning I couldn't stop giggling because I felt like we were 5 playing house, but by the end it seemed more real. It was fun to see in person what and who he has told me about.

In the end after he fixed two of my fillings, I give my full recommendation. He is a lot of fun to be with, very charming, and I didn't even feel the shots at all! In fact, I am slightly tempted to never brush my teeth again so that I have an excuse to see him more often ;)

I couldn't help but sneak my camera in...

Haha, as you can tell, he was not very humored by my need to document this experience :)

February

I was so sad to see February end. It was a fabulous month! I have always loved February but for a couple of reasons this last February was extra good!

Reason #1: It was my birthday month, and boy howdy did we celebrate! My sweet hubby is way too good to me. He surprised me and celebrated it every day. No kidding, 29 presents. (Wahoo for Leap Year!) I am usually not a morning person but every day I was excited to wake up and go downstairs to find what surprise was waiting for me. These surprises ranged from small to big things including treats and handyman work. So sweet. Everyday was so exciting! A few of my favorites...

One of my very favorite treats!

He re-framed a picture that hangs in our room. (The previous frame had been damaged in our move from Idaho.)

He fixed a section of my craft table.

Reason #2: My momma was in town! I love being with my mom! She is such an example of who I want to be. We have so much fun together. I love when she visits! I love having someone to talk to all day long. We did a lot of fun things. Here are a few pictures of our adventures:

Exploring downtown.

We played a lot of games. (Side note, check out the 3D version of Settler of Catan that Barton made. It is sweet.)

I took advantage of my momma's skills. We filled my freezer with rolls and strawberry jam, yumm!

Saying goodbye....Don't leave me Grandma!

Well my friends, I can't wait to see what next February brings ;)

How Much Wood….

How much wood could a cute baby chuck if a cute baby could chuck wood? 

The answer is: way too much!  Who knew that Abigail was using her crib as a teething toy?  Obviously not her own mother.  For a while she has only had two teeth on the bottom and one on top.  As I was putting her down the other day I thought “It looks like my belt scratched the top of her crib”.  When much to my surprise I looked over and found this.  Yep, worst mom moment.  I grabbed  my fabulous polka-dot pajamas for a quick fix….

Until I could better remedy the situation…

Maybe now she will stop growing so fast from all that extra fiber ;)

Weekend Getaway

One of my all time favorite things to do is to take trips.  Whether it is for the weekend or a long Christmas Break. I love looking forward to them and love enjoying the time away with my little family.   One thing that makes trips even more fun is when you get to enjoy time with family that you haven’t seen for a while. 

This past weekend we got to go on a mini trip to Indiana.  My cousin Rebecca and her hubby recently moved there and had their first baby.   We were excited to see them, meet their new baby and see their new house!

We got there Friday night and ate a yummy dinner.  The four of us stayed up for a while and chatted.  The men retired to their beds and Walton and I gabbed into the weee hours of the night.  Not only are we cousins but we were also roommates for 2 years at BYU-Idaho.  Talking so late into the night reminded me of college and all the late nights we spent chatting.  Saturday’s activities included: games, shopping at the outlets, had a tour of their cute city, yummy ice cream, delicious, food, etc.  Sunday came too fast.  We went to church, played another game, I raided Walton’s recipes, and we left after dinner.  We can’t wait to go back! Maybe we can convince some of our other cousins or roomies to join us!