Box Fun

Abby finally weighs enough to switch car seats. She LOVES the new one. When we first got it she sat in it in the living room for 20 minutes.
Now she thinks the box is the best part about it. She especially loves diving under the upper flap and into the safety of the box when L'Anita comes out with her toothbrush before bed.
With a couple of cuts that box has windows and trap doors for putting toys and balls into it. What could be more fun? ... Perhaps playing with dad inside? You bet cha!
Go Dawgs! Uncle Ben's contribution to Abigail's wardrobe-he's done one year at UGA.
What a cutie!
Here Clark demonstrates the percussion qualities of the box. Abigail learned quickly from her skilled teacher.

Walking the line

Here Abby decided that since there was no water in her favorite fountain that she would walk along the edge of it. This video is for everyone who hasn't seen her walk yet. I realize that when we left Atlanta a few months ago she was just beginning to take a few steps when we tricked her into it. You'd never believe that she sprints all over the place and does stairs and occasionally goes down the slide when we aren't looking.



This post is a special order for Joseph who cracked his kidney at the lake earlier this week. We are so glad that he didn't have to have surgery and we pray that he heals up real nice and quick like. =)

The Fourth!

We had a busy and fun Fourth of July this year. We woke up late because someone couldn't sleep last night which meant her parents didn't either. But we made it out in time to catch the second half of the parade here in Provo. Abby loved it, and so did we. It was hot when the clouds sun was out, but we survived. We saw marching bands, floats, wagons, a huge inflated Underdog balloon, and some veterans in military dress and vehicles. My favorite was the tank! We were surprised that the ROTC canon didn't phase Abigail at all.All decked out in Red, White & Blue. Nevermind that my shirt is Croatian. Abby liked waving to the girls on the floats. Isn't she great in her little bonnet?
Swinging at the park after the parade.
In the evening we had a BBQ/ picnic with Caleb, Shannyn and Clark Weiler. Shannyn made a patriotic jello desert which was very impressive even if the tree flowers kept falling in it. We had Ball Park franks, Caleb is a convert to real hot dogs now. We also had root beer, brownies, fruit, chips and more, but none of it seemed to interest Abby & Clark. In all of our planning I always seem to forget that the kids have plans of there own. They were so excited to be outside that they couldn't be bothered to eat... anything!

Clark takes Abby for a ride. Later she would try it herself - she went several feet down a hill before she fell off the back and bonked her head. That didn't stop her from trying it again.

It is hard work to play so hard. Taking a break in front of the fan (we don't have A/C and it's been 90- 100 most days).
We even got to watch some fireworks on the lawn just outside our apartments.

We were pretty far from the stadium so Caleb provided the music and sound effects. A special touch to make the evening all that more memorable.

Trying out the ropes

We were fortunate enough to be invited to go climbing at the Quarry by some of the staff who happen to be our neighbors (Stan & Robin). We went in the afternoon and had the place to ourselves- which was good because there were four kids running around and pretzels all over the place. They helped us do our first two ascents and then left us to try it out together.We like the adage "the family that climbs together stays together"... unless of course you lose one in the process. It made me a little nervous to hold my wife's life [line] in my hands, but it turned out okay in the end (she never slipped or fell).

We like to call her Spidergirl. Way to use those long limbs!

L'Anita was actually quite a natural at this. I did my first climb on a 5.5 while Robin had L'Anita do a 5.7 - two degrees harder. I would not be out done so I did a 5.8 next. L'Anita let me preserve some semblance of manhood and only did a 5.8 on her last climb. You can see her in the picture above using only the pegs with black tape under them which was the 5.8 route -not as easy as she makes it look.

Me too, me too!

Here's the happy climber family. Needless to say we had a lot of fun and we plan on returning soon.

Faces: monkey see, monkey do

Abigail is really beginning to show her character these days or at least she is becoming one. She is very independent and has quite a sense of humor. I guess her parents must scowl on occasion, because she picked that up. Luckily she just thinks it is a good game. We will have to extinguish that habit before kindergarten if she's going to make any friends. Pretty funny to watch though.

The longer version. She is also trying to figure out how to nod her head. This requires a great degree of concentration. Silence please, and no flash photography during the feat.

Here we are a couple of weeks later. She was making quite a monkey out of herself... and of her parents as well.