ending 2009

Adam and I went to Vegas a few days after Christmas (my present to him). He had a dream he was going to win $5 million dollars, so of course he had to try out the slots. He sure was itching to go on the tables though, where his true talent shines!
"Sabrina, don't put this up on the blog."
At 'trevi', the fountain of the gods.
Lame! We leave our kids for the night and end up spending time in F.A.O. Schwartz.
On our arrival back in St. George, Dad was moving his office. He sold his practice and is "retired." Ha! He has yet to take even a half day - he was even in the new place most of Saturday. It felt like the end of an era. I spent hundreds of hours looking out those doors when I worked as his secretary.It has been a good year. Lily and Jackson are at such a fun age. I love this picture of them switching roles - Lily was pushing Jackson last January!

Santa!

This was Lily's first year not screaming her head off - unfortunately Jack seems to be heading in that direction.
"See? Look how nice he is! He's giving candy canes to all of the kids!"Jackson was pretty ready for a nap."Where did Mom and Dad go?""... and ummm, I want pink toys!"And it begins. Although to be fair, Lily was a bit wary of this Santa as well.Every time someone asked her if Santa visited, she said she didn't like the Santa at Mimi's house - she liked the one that gave her candy.Adam thinks this shot of my double chin is pretty hilarious, so I thought I'd share.

just about the cutest

Liz came to finish her Master's degree, and we got to enjoy the rolls on this kid.

It's so cute seeing Jackson intrigued by little babies, like he knows there is some point to them but can't quite figure it out. Lily faithfully followed in my bossy steps, taking control of which toys Chase could play with and other details.

mischief

Jackson is the one whose idea it was to go behind the tree. I thought their legs sticking out were pretty cute, so I took some pictures.I should have wondered why she was trying to hide.Right about now is when I realized they had crayons. Which I'm pretty sure were Lily's idea, although she tells me it was both her's and Jack's. Adam and I got a good laugh out of their fancy artwork on the walls. It's so fun seeing them work together, even if it does mean mischief!

As a side note to their getting older, I realized today that this is the first time since March of 2006 that I am not pregnant, nursing, or both. Wow. I feel like going to Italy (without the kids).

pretty pink birthday princess

Lily is now 3 years old! What a gem. She's been so sweet this week, I'm sure it helps that my stress levels are significantly decreased from Thanksgiving being over.
Boualay took these pictures. We apparently haven't showed her how to smile for the camera.
And here she is blowing out her candles - and maybe hoping someone would put the cake in her mouth?
Prior to last Wednesday, if anyone asked if she was 3 years old she would say "Not yet! December 2nd." It is so fun to have another person around to talk to. If I ask her to help me with something or if she would like something, she answers "yeah sure mom!" most of the time. I have to say I am excited she is not 2 anymore.

Thanksgiving...

was also the Dabney Family Reunion this year. Everyone in my family was there - that hasn't happened for over 3 years or something. A long time. It was awesome seeing all of the little cousins together.Apparently it wasn't quite awesome enough for me to take more pictures of them together, though, as this is the only one. Here is Amanda, Henry, Lily, Nathan and Eve at Pirate's Pizza. And here is Jackson. Boy was he determined to get that token in the slot!

We had the main Thanksgiving dinner at the ward house with the Bentley's - it is always nice to return back to that tradition, no matter how crazy and big it gets. And this year was especially neat, as Lily is getting older and to the age of participating in the Talent Show just like I did when I was a little girl. ReAnn and KelliAnn got together a bunch of tutu's and put together a little ballet dance for all of the young girl cousins to do - it was so awesome.I was so impressed! I mean, we did tell her she would get a treat if she did it, but I couldn't believe how good she was with following the older girls and doing all of the moves! I thought she would just stand around.All the other girls exited but Lily came straight back and to the treat box.

We ended the weekend with a marathon temple day, switching back and forth with babysitting. We were able to do temple work for relatives, which was amazing! Mom's artistic photography. This year I was so grateful for my family being able to get together. A boy Adam and I knew in junior high and high school died the day before Thanksgiving and left his pregnant wife and 13 month old daughter. It was very humbling to get a clear view of how blessed we are to be together.

what i did on saturday

400 m swim, 10 mile bike, 3 mile run. 1 hr, 33 min, 57 seconds.
Anyways, it was fun training.

And getting to ride with Mindy was pretty cool too. She was nice to stick around with me. It looks like I am daydreaming - probably as I was very happy whenever the road was flat.

compensation

Yesterday I made rice krispie treats and actually ruined them! The sugar almost burned so they are a bit too crispy. I was telling Liz and she said she didn't know it was possible to mess them up, so I thought I would focus instead on some accomplishments of some people I'm related to.
Lily is pretty much potty trained, which is awesome. She occasionally has an accident (only wet, thank heavens!) and is such a trooper. It's pretty weird going on car trips to Salt Lake, Bear Lake, etc and having her in dry panties the whole day. She is getting so big!
Jackson is reading! No wonder as he adores his dad, who reads EVERY CHANCE HE GETS.
Terrel turned 60! He and Mckay did the right thing by visiting us to celebrate!
And last but certainly not least, as it is the reason we have a roof over our heads, is Adam got a promotion to Senior Accountant. Look at that fancy office with a window! He is amazing - I can't believe he hasn't gone crazy with how busy he has been this semester.

a cheerleader and another monkey

Mckay came to hang out this year. It is always so fun to have him around; Xbox and all.
Some things to remember for future Halloweens:
"I want to wear a monkey suit like Jack!" (Lily)
"Sabrina, we are NOT going to be the lame family in the neighborhood and run out of candy. We need like 5 more bags."
Adam doubled over and me laughing so hard I cried at the replay of my attempt to play Halo.
And synonymous with Halloween: Britt's birthday. She doubled the long drive from CA to SG to visit us a few weeks ago. It was so neat to see her, Eleanor and Greg.
I love love love having company. Having excuses to cook and sit around doing nothing but talking is my kind of weekend!

last night

It was late, and I was tired. Adam wanted to contribute to the pumpkin carving contest at his work. (Unfortunately the StrongBad one he did with Lily a few weeks ago was too wrinkly.
We didn't get to bed until 11:30 p.m. Lily woke up at 3:00 a.m. wanting a drink of water.
And again at 3:30 a.m. and wanted to use the bathroom. I went in to get her and Jackson was awake. That never happens, so I got him out of his crib. He was covered in throw up.
So the nauseating smell, throwing up, crying, bottom wiping, laundry, diaper changing, discussions of what Jackson ate, etc etc took up the next hour.
I was putting new pajamas on Jackson and Adam put his hand on my arm and said "This is sure fun, huh?" And then he smiled.
And I smiled back and thought, it certainly is with you.

and he only has four teeth to brush

togetherness and other activities

Jack got his first haircut, so Lily had to follow suit:

We trimmed their locks to prepare for our family pictures out at Antelope Island. We saw a bison! It was super exciting - Adam took this picture of me immediately following his comments to "move over, he's walking towards you" - hence the worried eyebrows. We thought it was pretty funny (me after I was back in the car).

Mom and Dad were here and we took a little trip to Salt Lake to see Aunt Carol, who has the coolest piece of property ON THE PLANET (in my opinion). Just like when I was a little girl, Lily got to gather eggs with her 2nd? cousin Brooklyn, and Jack had fun watching (being mesmerized by) the chickens and playing in the sand.

Getting flu shots and suckers.

Macey's is our favorite place to shop cart-wise, followed by Smith's which has the little kid cart that Lily pushes around while I hand her food and she replies with "thanks!"

Adam is busy busy busy. It's nice having these two to keep me company.

in motion

Two weeks in St. George (with a 2 day break in Ogden for Activities Day and work) got Jack on his feet.
It also gave Lily enough time to learn how boring her mom is compared to her Aunt Amanda.
St. George gave me time to fall in love with this little chunker and his mom's cooking, and a whole week with my mom and dad(happy 40th!) not at the office. I know, pretty crazy.
I got home bracing myself for a day getting caught up from so much traveling. Instead I found scrubbed sinks and counters. Clean floors. Laundry and dishes done. BEDS MADE (that seriously never happens). Flowers on the counter. I spent a day in shock from that gift from my mother-in-law, who was in town since Terrel got sent to the hospital from a crash in the Lotoja, with fractured ribs and a punctured lung. Seriously, she remembers being a young mother and boy does she know how to relieve the pressure points.

And being able to kiss this guy after a 6 day hiatus?

Icing on the cake.