Home Sick

We had so much fun in Utah and we were so sad to leave. I think Abe and I are both a little more homesick coming back this time. Especially because the weather was so perfect there and we came home to a heat wave and 70% humidity and still no A/C.

For the first part of our trip Abe went to Southern Utah with his brother and 4 of his nephews. Unfortunately he didn't take our camera so I don't have any pictures of that but they had a blast. I stayed with my cute sister Lissa for the first night and had a little girl time in her new house and then I was at my parents house for the rest of the time. We decided to be crafty and bought some fabric to make me a hooter hider and two car seat tent covers while I was staying there. My other cute sister Melinda came by one day to help with our projects.

Abe came home about 4 days after I arrived and we got to spend a little time with his family. His parents were kind enough to take us and most of his siblings and grandchildren out to lunch at the Olive Garden. It is always fun to see how much the kids have grown. Some of the younger ones don't even remember us, I have to admit, it makes me a little sad.

After lunch with the Ford's we got to go to the hospital to visit Abe's cute little sister Aliese and her sweet 1 day old baby Ethan. They were both doing great and Ethan reminded me how tiny newborns are. After that we visited Abe's Grandma in the very same hospital. The Ford family had a big party before I got to Utah and unfortunately Grandma Ford slipped and fell down a step and fractured her hip. We were so sad that she was in the hospital but she definitely seemed to be in good spirits and they even had her up and walking on her leg already a little. So hopefully she won't have to be there too long.

We were happy to have my best friend Brooke and her cute family visiting from Las Vegas at the same time. Brooke's birthday was July 1st and they had a party for her up at her uncles house that we went to. It was a lot of fun to see all of her family. I practically lived at their house when we were little.

Brooke is also pregnant right now so it was extra fun to be together while we are both big in the belly. She is due in September with her second boy.

This is her cute little girl Ava who will soon be out numbered by her brothers. Luckily she is pretty tuff and can definitely hold her ground.

Abe helped the men grill and we had fun mingling and eating.

I have no idea what we were talking about in this picture but it must have been something I thought was funny and something Abe didn't approve of... =)

Brooke and I with our pregnant bellies. She has the cutest maternity clothes. I felt frumpy pretty much everyday that I was around her because she always looked so cute. This was the day that we went with both of our mom's and one of my sisters to see the new twilight movie. I have to admit I can finally say that I liked this one. I absolutely hated the first two movies but this one was pretty good and I actually just saw it again with my friend Bonnie last night.

One night we went to see our friends and had dinner with them. It just so happens that all 3 of us are pregnant at the same time as well. Liz in the center has already had her baby since this picture and she had another cute little girl. Cass is due in a matter of a few weeks with her second cute boy. I on the other hand have a long way to go yet.

We did a lot of other fun things while we were in Utah that I don't have pictures for like going to some of our favorite places to eat and visiting our other sweet new nephew Tallon Abraham Ford. Yes, they named him after Abe and we were so honored. He was born 6 weeks early and got to come home from the hospital just before we left. So the last day we were there we went over and spent a little time with him and the proud parents. Remember how I said that baby Ethan reminded me how tiny new borns are? Well baby Tallon let me know how small our babies are probably going to be at first. He is so little and sweet!

We also went on a very memorable drive up the Alpine loop with my parents one evening. We saw more wildlife on this drive than I have ever seen in Utah. I felt like we were driving though Yellow Stone. We saw 2 full sized deer right off the bat then up the canyon a little further the tiniest baby deer jump out and ran a little ways right in front of our car. He was small enough to still have his spots. It was so cute! We drove a little further and saw a huge Bull Moose off the side of the road. We stopped the car and watched him jump a fence and run up the side of the mountain. Just as we started the car up again and turned the corner we ran into the rest of the moose family. There was a baby moose and a momma moose right in the middle of the road. We stopped and watched them run away. I am glad we ran into that couple while we were in the car and not on foot. You don't ever mess with a wild animal mother and her babies! Shortly after that there was a small flood flowing over the road that luckily my mom's 4 wheel drive made it through. We eventually made it to the purpose of our excursion, Cascade Springs. It is a beautiful place with tons of small waterfalls and flowers. Since my mom and I can't really hike this was the perfect mountain retreat because it is all paved walkways and it is so pretty. While we were walking around I nearly stepped right on a snake that slithered away from my foot. It really creeped me out. Yuck! After that we drove down the other side and ended up at Sundance were we enjoyed some smoothies and walked around for a bit before we drove home. Abe and I really have a love for the mountains so it was refreshing to be there in the cool fresh air.

It was a great trip and I am super excited to be back there in only 3 short months for another visit! To all our family and friends in Utah, we miss you already and loved spending time with you! Thanks for a great trip!

Hot Hot Hot!

We just got home from our fun trip to Utah late last night. The weather in Utah was perfect! It was even on the cool side but it felt great. Luckily we arrived back in DC just in time for a heat wave.

About two weeks before we left our A/C broke again so we spent two weeks in a hot humid apartment waiting for them to order a part. I hoped to have it fixed before we left but it didn't happen. Apparently while we were gone it cooled off and the weather wasn't so bad but as of today it was back up to 100 degrees with insane humidity. In fact there is a heat advisory for this whole week!

Oh home sweat home.

I am will post more about our trip when our apartment isn't quite so stifling...

CATS

Last Saturday, Abe took me to the Wolf Trap theater to see CATS the musical. He went all out and got us seats right down on the main floor, pretty close to center stage! Since it is a partially out door theater and we went to the matinée, it was pretty warm but there happened to be a nice steady breeze blowing through that kept us from getting too hot and made it possible to enjoy the show.

The Wolf Trap is actually a really cool theater and going to their shows is one of our favorite things to do out here in the summer. Here is a good pic of what the theater looks like. Half the people sit on the grass outside the theater and the back and side of it are open so you can see right down to the stage(this is where we usually sit because it is cheaper). The rest of the people sit under the roof in actual seats to watch the show which is always nice because if it rains the people outside have to waste their money and leave or watch the show from under and umbrella. That happened to us once last year but luckily the inside seats weren't sold out and we just paid the difference and got seats under the roof.

Neither of us had ever seen CATS before. It was good, we both liked it. The dancing was amazing and there were about 4 songs that were pretty classic but we both decided that even thought we enjoyed it we wouldn't care to see it again. There are just other shows we like better. But it was worth seeing once and it was even better because Abe was so sweet to take me in the first place!

8 Weeks Along and Getting Huge Already!

If I am this big already, I am a little freaked out about what is to come...

Ultrasound at 7 Weeks

Since I didn't give much info on my last post I thought I would fill you in on the details...

I am currently 7 weeks and 3 days along and all three of us are doing well. So far I have been feeling sick pretty much everyday since I was 4 weeks and I even started showing at 4 weeks as well. I now look the size I was at 14 weeks last time. The babies are growing perfectly and have excellent heart beats.

I love this picture because you can see them both so clearly. Maybe I am crazy but it looks like baby "B" is facing forward and you can see little nubs where the hands and feet are going to be. I could stare at this picture all day!

Great Things Come in Two's

Did you figure out the theme yet?

If not, maybe this will help.

We are...

WITH TWINS!!!!!!

Nothing to Blog About

I have really been slacking off on blogging lately but seriously Abe has been studying for his CFA test so much lately that this is pretty much what happens at our house everyday. Abe studying hard at the kitchen table and me painting, watching TV or reading a book.

Poor guy has also been sick for the last week too with a head cold and sore throat. Notice the roll of toilet paper next to him and the miserable look on his face. I am so proud of him for studying so hard even though I am sure all he wanted to do was sleep and rest. Luckily today he is beginning to feel a lot better and will hopefully be 100% by test day.

Abe will take his test this Saturday and I will be glad to have my husband back! We would appreciate your prayers and good thoughts for his test, he is feeling pretty nervous about it.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

This picture is actually from last Fall but I love it so much I had to post it again for Cinco de Mayo. Thanks Bonnie and Chris for looking so awesome in sombreros!

Our good friends the Bell's hosted another successful Cinco de Mayo party this week. There was tons of yummy food and even non alcoholic margarita's in real margarita glasses brimmed with sugar and a lime wedge (very authentic). I thought it would be funny to take a picture of Abe wearing a sombrero and me holding my fake margarita. Well, we can just say that Abe didn't think it would be funny. He felt that even though my drink was totally non alcoholic it would give the impression that I was drinking and that was not okay with him. haha. I made him take the picture anyway and when I looked at it later that night I had to laugh. For his sake I have cropped out me and my devil drink but I had to show you his face!

I am pretty sure he wasn't happy with his heathen wife who thought this was hilarious.

Feeling Blessed

Today has been a great Easter. We had a really yummy lunch over at our friends home and watched the afternoon session of Conference with them. Then after playing a game of Settler's of Cattan (my favorite game), we came home and watched the last session of Conference.

This Easter has been very different from last year. Last year I had my miscarriage on Easter Sunday and felt true loss like I had never felt before. This year I was able to reflect not only on that but on the blessings I have received since that time. I feel blessed to have the gospel in my life. It brings peace to my sadness because I know that families are forever. I also know the healing power of our Heavenly Father through prayer and priesthood blessings. I am so thankful for my amazing husband who has been there for me through all of the ups and downs this year. He is definitely the rock I stand on. I am grateful for his unwaivering testimony and strength. I am thankful that he can make me smile even through tears. I don't know what I did to be so lucky.

I am also thankful for our family. We have so many people that love us and support us. I can never feel too lonely with that amount of love around me. We also have many life long friends that love and even though most of you are back in UT or other places we miss you all the time and are so grateful that our friendships are strong enough to have lasted so long. We have made many new friends this last year that have helped us through some pretty tough times and I know that they too will be life long friends.

I feel truly happy today. I have so many things to be thankful for and I am just happy to be in a place in my life where I can acknowledge that.

Cherry Blossom Festival 2010

We went into DC for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival this last Friday. It was beautiful as always, so we took a ton of pics.

These aren't cherry blossoms but we thought they were really pretty anyway.

This is the Tidal Basin. Cherry Blossom trees like these line the entire basin. It is a really pretty walk to go around the whole basin.

This is Haines Point where we parked. The street was lined on both sides with these trees. There was a cherry blossom 10 K and 5 K going on which is why there are so many runners in this picture.

Our friend Chris took this pic with his really nice camera and it turned out so well I had to post it. That is the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin behind the blossoms.

It was a beautiful day and we are thankful to be having some really great weather lately!

Four Year Anniversary

Before you see the rest of this post let me explain something... We had just gone out to my favorite restaurant a few days before and since it is kind of pricey we decided to go cheap for our actual anniversary. This is Abe driving me to a very special place to celebrate our love.

Taco Bell!

I know it seems lame but for anyone that knows Abe, knows that this is not the kind of food we ever eat. He is usually Mr. Health freak so fast food is a rarity for us. Which is what made it fun and special. We gorged ourselves on taco's and nacho's for only $10 and it was great! Yeah for Taco Bell and there really cheap food!

20 Things You Should Know That Your Stylist May Not Tell You

I read this article from the Reader's Digest and I loved it! I only posted my favorites. I thought all my hairstylist friends would get a kick out of this and all of my friends that go to a hairstylist will maybe learn something about what we do. Enjoy!

1. Some people are just too large or their cheeks too round for the style they want. They should look at themselves in the mirror sometime.

2. If you cancel at the very last minute, that's lost money to me because I can't fill that appointment with little or no notice.

3. When a client says she's in a rush, I tell her she needs to schedule her time better. My work takes time.

4. For stylists, tips should be 15 to 20 percent of the total cost of your bill. They are a significant portion of my pay. If you stiff me, I'll remember. And yes, salon owners who style hair do appreciate tips and want them.

5. Sure, you can bring your child or your dog in, as long as you control them. One of my clients used to bring her Great Dane in to all her appointments. He would curl up in the corner and sleep the entire time, so I didn't mind. But if your baby or your dog starts bothering me or the other people in the salon, I won't be so easygoing.

6. I need to charge you for my time, no matter what you're having done. I am a trained professional.

7. When you leave my chair and walk out of here, you represent me. So it's in my best interest for you to look good.

8. We see women at their worst. Their hair is wet, they have foils on their hair, they have no makeup on. There's nothing for them to hide behind. So they tell us everything. The truth is, I really don't care what they do sexually. I'm only interested in their hair.

9. Standing all day and using scissors and a blow-dryer takes its toll—I have arthritis in my fingers, calcium deposits in my wrist, and 10 percent less hearing than I used to. I am a physical wreck.

10. Why do you think a child's haircut should cost less than yours? Kids don't sit still. Kids kick. It's an intense experience.

11. Some clients will say, "Cut my hair just like you did last time." That always baffles me. The average time between appointments is six to eight weeks. I have hundreds of clients. How am I supposed to rememberexactly how I did your hair the last time? If you want a carbon copy of a cut and style you loved, take a picture and show me.

12. If you want to buy a bottle of color and do your own hair to save a buck, you can live with the consequences.

13. I'm not in this business to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. I just want to make a decent, comfortable living, and at the end of the day, go home.

14. A trim is not "just" a trim. It requires my expertise, skill, knowledge, and time. Would you say to your dentist, "It's just a tooth," or to your doctor, "It's just a leg"?

15. Bodies and hair change as hormones change. If your hair is dry, listless, or brittle, or if it's not holding your color or style the way it used to, see a doctor. If your hair isn't overprocessed, you could be pregnant (surprise!) or menopausal (yes, I can tell).

16. Some women think that if they keep their hair all one length the way it was in high school, everyone will think they're still in high school. Guess what? You're not. As you get older, you need to soften the linesaround your face. Layers are the magic remedy.

17. Hairdresser school does not teach about counter transference, projection, negative reinforcement, or personality disorders. If you're looking for a therapist, all I have is a tail comb and an opinion.

18. Don't ask me to "squeeze" you in when I'm already booked. I'd be taking time and effort away from other clients. You wouldn't like being treated that way.

19. Come at least five minutes early. If you're running late, please call ahead. Show me some basic respect. This is a business, not fun and games.

20. I'm a beautician, not a magician. I can give you Gisele Bündchen's haircut, but I can't give you her face.

Link: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/13-things-your-hairstylist-wont-tell-you-1125547/

National Half Marathon

Yesterday morning we had a very early start to the day. We got up at 5 am and drove into DC so Abe and his brother AJ could run the National half marathon. It was a seriously beautiful day and the weather couldn't have been better. I hung out in our car for about 1.5 hours and then headed to the finish line to catch them as they came in. They ran it in 1 hour and 59 minutes!

It is always fun to have AJ visit us and this has become a tradition for the boys to do this race each year.

After they cooled down and stretched out for a bit we decided to go over to the Capital because AJ had not been through the new visitor center. We didn't realize that it was a very happening day in DC. Apparently yesterday was the 7 year anniversary of the war and they were also working on the Health care bill in Congress. There were protesters for both causes all over DC. These people were protesting the Health care bill and down on the mall next to the George Washington Monument and directly in sight of the White House there were protesters of the war. They had put up thousands of tiny white flags, one for each civilian casualty caused by the war. It had a very strong visual effect.

We live in a really cool place where there is always neat stuff to see and do. We are loving it here in DC and are trying to take advantage of all it has to offer.

Later last night we went out to eat with a large group of our friends to my favorite restaurant in the whole world!!!! Maggiono's Little Italy! It is so super delicious and I have never tasted anything there that wasn't fabulous.

After gorging ourselves with tons of yummy food we dropped AJ off in China town to catch his bus and headed to another one of our friends house to watch the BYU game. Unfortunately they lost but the other team hit so many 3 pointers that there aren't too many teams in the country that could have beaten them, the way they were playing. BYU hung in there and kept the game pretty close the entire time so we even though we were sad that they lost we were happy with the way they played.

By the time we got home and got in bed it was about mid night and we were both totally exhausted! What a long exciting day!

Ward Spaghetti Dinner

Tonight we went to the fourth annual Reston Ward Spaghetti dinner. It is put on by the youth in our ward and people bring thing like homemade items and baked goods to auction off to raise money for the years youth camps and activities. This year I made a Spaghetti dinner cake to auction off.

I love my miniature items! I think everything is cuter in miniature.

I hand painted most of the fondant with food coloring and I under estimated how long it would take to dry. So it was still very wet when we went tonight... oh well, it was cute and someone took it home for $47!

I love making and decorating these cakes but the funny thing is, I have only actually had a piece of one of them ever. It is probably for the best though. I would be eating cake far too often.

Happy Pi Day!

Yes, it is that time of year again people. Pi Day was back in full festivity again this year. Our good friends the Redd's invited us over to their house to celebrate Pi day this year. I think they heard how totally awesome our Pi Day party was last year and wanted in on it.

For those of you that are wondering what Pi Day is, it is the celebration of the mathematical number Pi but it's pretty much just a good excuse to have a party and eat a lot of pie. You celebrate it on March 14th (3.14).

We had so many pies this year. The pies I made looked pretty pathetic but I have to say they definitely tasted better than they looked. My favorite this year was the Boston Cream Pie I made. It was a total experiment since I had never made one before and it turned out pretty tasty. Definitely a do over.

We had a great turn out. There is no way we could have fit everyone that came into our little apartment. Luckily the Redd's have an amazing home that is perfect for fun and games. We ate tons of pie and played lots of games. Abe loved it because they have a ping pong table and he is a ping pong master.

Thanks for everyone that made Pi Day another successful celebration! See you all again next year, I will practice my pie making skills before then...

Wii Olympics and wicked ice

To celebrate the kick off of the Opening Ceremonies for this years winter Olympics we decided to host a Wii Winter Olympics party. We have a Wii fit which has many of the winter Olympics games on it. We had some friends over and competed in: Slalom skiing, Ski jumping and snow boarding. The picture above is our good friend Jess. We all decided he had the best form in the ski jump.

This is Jess and his wife Danni. She was obviously very pregnant at the time and because of this we aloud her to have a little support so she didn't topple forward on the ski jump. I just thought it looked really funny!

In the end our friend Peter won Gold, I won Silver and our friend Jen won Bronze. Abe unfortunately, had to work late and didn't make it home in time to compete. He probably would have killed us all in competition if he had been there.

After our heated Wii Olympics we all watched the opening ceremonies together and cheered on the US with pride. It was a great excuse to get together. I think we have a new Olympic tradition in our house.

I know I have already posted about our snow a few times but here are just a couple more pics that I thought were pretty good. This is the side of our condo building. Notice the wicked icicle hanging at the top. Icicles like that hung all across the roof of our building. It is lucky none of them fell on anyone.

Finally, this pictures just shows you how well they plow the streets out here. This is right outside our complex a whole day after it snowed. The streets were packed down with snow and ice like this for weeks! No wonder everything shuts down here when it snows!

Will it Ever Stop Snowing?!?

I am sure you all know about the huge storm that we had over this last weekend. We got about 28 inches in two days!

It took us about 2 hours to dig out both of our cars and that was with the help of a kind neighbor. We are fortunate enough to have such nice neighbors because at first we were digging out our cars with cookie sheets and a broom because we don't own a shovel. Two of our neighbors lent us theirs which helped a lot!!

We didn't bring out any of our snow clothes and the only gloves we have are the fabric kind so it was pretty cold and wet out.

What a guy!

This is the snow pile in front of our building. And it is supposed so snow again today and tomorrow giving us another 5 to 6 inches of new snow on top of what we already have! I seriously can't wait for winter to be over. The roads are terrible so we have for the most part been stuck inside for about 5 days now.

Baby Shower goodies

So a few weeks ago I helped throw a baby shower for my cute friend Dannii and I have to show off some of the super cute goodies I made for it!

These tiny cookies are so yummy! They are very addictive so it is a good thing they are so small. They are called Melt away cookies and their name describes exactly what happens when you eat one, it literally melts away in your mouth. The lemon frosting is what gives it, it's sweet flavor!

We had a rubber ducky theme so I made these little chocolates as party favors. I have to say, I was pretty proud about how they turned out. The picture doesn't give them justice. They were darling in real life. They are white chocolate dyed yellow and the bottom is dark brown chocolate. I have never made chocolates before and they are surprisingly easy to do. I highly recommend these for your next shower.

Dannii has a specially affinity with Nutella so I made these super yummy sugar cookies shaped like duckies (Thanks to Brooke's mother in law, Char, for the recipe!), then I put Nutella in between them and made little sandwich cookies. They were pretty good, but I think these cookies are better with frosting. I couldn't get enough Nutella between the cookies without it spilling out...

Even though we had a snow storm the day of the shower it turned out great and we had a good time.

A Very Crafty January

I decided that this year I would learn how to sew clothes. I have never sewn anything so I decided to start small and make a skirt. I figured how hard could it be? haha

Well when you don't have a pattern or a sewing machine it is pretty hard. It took a long time to sew it all by hand using only a skirt that I already own as a reference. It's not perfect but I think the flaws are small enough that only I would notice. In the end I had a pretty cute skirt that I was happy to wear out in public which was the goal all along. Hooray! And just for fun I used the same fabric as the skirt to make the headband I am wearing in the picture.

My other goal for this month was to finish the painting that I started at the beginning of last year. I am a really slow painter! But tonight I finally finished it! The picture doesn't do it justice because the colors look really different in real life. The leaves should not look quite so green... but you get the idea. I was inspired by the Robert Frost poem, "The Road not Taken" and titled it "Yellow Wood." My real New Years resolution is to paint more frequently this year so maybe it won't take me an entire year to do one painting.