May 2010

May brought another first for us, as we kicked off the month by sending our little girl to preschool for the first time.  It is a strange and exciting, but sad experience to watch your first-born becoming a little lady!  What happened to our baby girl?!  She was a little hesitant at first, but quickly let her excitement overcome her nerves.  She attended the BYU-Idaho preschool from May 4th to July 14th, 2010, and it was a really good experience for all of us!  I especially appreciated that her Aunt Sam was the head teacher and could help keep an eye on her and report any problems to me.  I always worry as a mother that Abby won't behave appropriately in a social setting, but she always comes through like a champ!  She did really well and her teachers always had such nice things to say.  She learned a lot, but mostly, I think she just enjoyed the interaction with the other children.

 Mommy and Abby excited for her first day of school!  May 4, 2010

  Heading into school!

Abby's "locker"

 

 Daddy was so proud of his BIG girl!

To celebrate her first day of school, we went on a Mommy/Daughter date to the bowling alley.  This was Abby's first time bowling, and I think she did pretty well! 

 
 

May was also the month for us to show our support for loved ones who are/were struggling to over come potentially life-threatening diseases.  The first weekend in May was the Susan G. Komen "Walk for the Cure" in Boise, ID.  We decided to surprise Nate's mom who had been under going treatment for breast cancer for several months.  She, of course, got teary-eyed when she looked up and saw Abby running towards her in the crowd of people!  We loved the experience, and it was definitely moving to see the survivors of breast cancer and those who were honoring their loved ones celebrating their victories and showing support for one another!  Way to go, Grandma Law!

  

The following weekend, we also joined Abby's Aunt Sherri in the annual Walk for Multiple Sclerosis.  Sherri found out a little over six years ago that she has MS, and we were honored to walk with her and my brother, Martin, in order to try and raise money for research.  It was definitely great as a parent to show Abby the importance of standing behind some great causes, and the significance of caring about those around you!  We love you, Aunt Sherri!  We hope someday they will find a cure for you and all the thousands who suffer from this horrible illness!

 

Memorial Day weekend was spent relaxing with Rita, Aaron, Mary Alice, and Kirsten!  We are so grateful that they could come visit for a few days!  The girls played so well together all weekend, and we enjoyed a fairly low-key visit.  On Saturday, we went to our favorite restaurant for all-you-can-eat Sirloin.  The girls had fun pretending their napkins were hats! 

 Beautiful, Mary Alice!

 Kirsten Paige ~ Such a cutie!

On Memorial Day, we took the girls for a little photo-shoot at a really cute park in town, but the look on their faces says it all:

 When we told them we could stop taking photos and go feed the ducks, instead, they couldn't run fast enough!
 

 

And on the way home, we got a phone call from a friend saying someone was selling Basset Hounds in front of the Sportsman's Warehouse.  Even though, I swore I would never own a dog (they are just too messy for me), we had finally caved and told Abby she could get a puppy.  We did our homework, though, and even attended a breeder's event to learn about lots of different kinds of dogs.  In the end, we had decided we wanted a Beagle, but (with a little lot of encouragement from Rita and the girls) we figured it couldn't hurt to check it out.  One look at this face...

 

and we were goners!  Who could say no to that saggy, adorable face!  I just wish that in all the excitement, we would have thought to take a few more pics of her first day home!  We settled on the name of Chloe (much to Daddy's chagrin) and she instantly became a part of the family!  Poor Aaron and Rita had to deal with two very unhappy girls when it was time for them to head home!  Douglas definitely didn't share in the excitement of the family addition, but since then, he has really warmed up to our little Chloe girl!  In fact, he now frequently seeks her out to cuddle with her and to nuzzle one another.  Puppies are certainly hard work, as I had expected.  It took a couple weeks to get Chloe house trained, and she still needs a little work in the obedience department, but overall, she's doing pretty well.  Just know that if you decide to get a puppy right after buying a brand new wooden swing set, it WILL get chewed to bits!  

PROOF:

 

By the way, they will also chew up stairs, base board trim, socks, flip-flops, and their FAVORITE, little girls' stuffed animals!

Perhaps the biggest and best news for the month of May, was that Nathan started a new job with CH2M Hill at the Materials and Fuels Complex of the Idaho National Lab.  He is a Hazardous Reduction Technician, which is just a fancy way of saying that he is now qualified to tear down buildings and structures that were/are hazardous.  (i.e. - radioactive, highly explosive, etc.)  The new position and accompanying salary, allowed me to negotiate a part-time position with my company, and beginning on June 1st, I started working on Mondays and Tuesdays only!  May was definitely a great month for the Law family!

 

 

 

APRIL - 2010

It was so neat to have Easter Sunday fall on General Conference weekend this year.  I loved decorating Easter eggs with Abby as we listened to the Apostles testify of the Resurrection and Atonement of Christ!

 

My little Easter Bunny!

 She was so proud of the finished products! 

We went to my oldest brother's house for an Easter egg hunt later that afternoon.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with us this year, and we had to have the hunt in their basement.  I don't think the kids minded though!  Everyone found their eggs, and all the grandkids were excited to get a special treat from Grandma Gail.

 The next morning, Abby was excited to get her basket from the Easter Bunny.  Even Douglas seemed pretty anxious to try out that chocolate bunny!

Daddy seemed pretty happy with the Bunny's gifts this year, too!  

 

Happy Easter ~ 2010

On April 10th, Abby got to attend her very first friend birthday party!  It was a princess themed event, so she dressed for the occasion!  Too cute!  She had so much fun, and got to bring home a new tiara (that lights up!) and a sparkly princess scepter!  Thanks for the invite, Kylee!

Another first for Abby this April, was getting her very first swing set/toy structure.  We found a really good sale at Toys R Us and bit the bullet.  It felt like it took FOREVER to get it built and positioned -- due in part to the weather deciding to NOT act like Spring!  (It snowed a couple times after we got the boxes in the backyard!)  But it was worth the effort once we got it together!  Abby has enjoyed playing in the tower and learning how to "pump" herself on the swings!

   

 

Enjoying the picnic bench!

On April 24th, we made our first trip to Yellowstone Bear World, and after the experience, I have to wonder why we waited so long to go!  It was really fun to see so many wild animals up close -- and especially the BEARS!  There were playful ones, grumpy ones, fat ones, skinny post-hibernation ones, and hungry ones!  Because we had gone on a special promotional day in early Spring, they had a family special for the curator tour.  Brady and Sam were with us, and we were able to all take the special tour for $15!  Can't beat that!  You travel the same route as you do in your own vehicles, but you get to stand in the back of a special truck.  It has really tall sides, so even though you are in the open, the bears can't really get to you.  They've learned that the truck means food, so they follow you all over the park.  Occasionally, the curator van will stop, and the bears come right up to the sides and beg for food.  We had trays of doughnuts and bread to throw for them.  A couple of the bears would sit on their hind legs and start waving their hands at us!  As if to say, "Hey, you!  Throw me a doughnut, please!"   We also enjoyed the petting zoo and watching some of the staff getting to hold and play with the brand new baby cubs.  To top it off, Abby absolutely loved the little amusement park!  It was a little chilly, but definitely a great experience!

This photo album personalized with Smilebox

And what trip to the Ribgy/Archer area would be complete without a stop at Big Jud's for enormous hamburgers and ice cream cones!?

      

To round out the month, after quite awhile of dealing with "symptoms" that are less than pleasant to discuss, Nate decided to finally see a doctor.  He found out he had an umbilical hernia, as well as a hiatal hernia.  Because he had just had an amazing job offer from one of the contractors out at the Idaho National Laboratory, and was supposed to start this new job on May 10th, we went ahead and scheduled a surgery to repair them just 4 days later.  We hoped that the couple of weeks time would be enough for him to heal.  It took him a little longer to feel back to 100% than he'd anticipated, but thankfully, the new job was postponed a week anyway!  A funny side note to this story:  even now after MONTHS since it happened, Nate is still giving me a hard time about not grabbing the camera to snap pictures when he passed out and fell off the toilet in the middle of the night a couple days after the surgery!  The first argument in my defense:  I was a little more concerned about the fact that my 260 lb. husband was wedged between the wall and toilet and only semi-responsive to me, than grabbing a camera.  I was actually on the verge of calling the paramedics when he finally started coming around.  The second argument in my defense:  he was buck NAKED.  No joke.  He'd taken off his tops because they rubbed against his incisions, and obviously he'd pulled the bottoms down around his ankles to use the restroom!  Who would want to see pictures of that?!!  Maybe someday, he'll forgive me for worrying more about his health and dignity in that moment, than missing out on a photo op!

He decided to take some snaps of the after-math himself, anyway!

All in all, I'd say April was quite the month!

 

Broken Promise

I just re-read my last post, to see where I'd left off, and I realized that I had "promised" not to wait two months before blogging again.

So... do I have any good excuses for breaking that promise and not blogging for seven and a half months?  No.  Not one.  At first, when I'd think about doing it, I just didn't feel in the mood or I was too tired.  Then after it had been awhile again, I felt overwhelmed by the prospect of, once again, having to "catch things up."  I've decided to take the bull by the horns and just go for it.  

I think the easiest way to get from the end of March to our current date, is simply to post the highlights of each individual month.  And so the madness begins...........