9 Days Until Daddy

Less than 10 days--wow! That is exciting. We are anxious to see Matt (Daddy) again. I'm also a little tired of being surrounded by boxes and bins. But Abby and I spend most of our days outside anyways, so it doesn't really matter! Today we began with another long walk that ended up at the park. The picture below shows you what I see most of the time at the park--Abby running everywhere!

One of our most wonderful friends, Carly, Paul, and Adelaide are also moving to California and they leave tomorrow. They will be greatly missed by everyone in Tempe. Carly is an excellent oboist and I've had the pleasure of working with her on a number of occasions. I will truly miss making music with her. As a going away gift I took a piece that we played together that was written for violin and piano and put it into my new Sibelius program (transposed it to a lower key) so that she will be able to use it again. It was an excellent exercise for me in learning how to use the program. I realized there is much I need to learn! We definitely want to keep in contact and hopefully hook up to go camping in California! (I do not know why the picture of the music below turned--I can't get it to rotate--sorry!)

Carly, Adelaide and Abby

We will miss you!

10 Days Until Daddy

10 days, wow. That is hardly anything! We will be reunited before we know it.

Abby and I had such a good day. Since I am not yet allowed to exercise as I normally do, Abby and I went for a long walk today. We went all over the ASU campus and took some pictures for memory's sake. She also got hungry, so we stopped at the Memorial Union (M.U.) and grabbed her a blueberry muffin which you can see below. It was a great walk.

The ASU Memorial Union

Abby's muffin.

After our walk we went to the Tempe Library--our usual Monday activity. We returned books, picked up a free pass to a museum, and checked out books. You can see her choice of books heavily leaned towards choo-choo trains!
When we came back Natalie stopped by and ended up making Abby what she calls a "cheese crisp." Basically, melted cheese on a torilla. Abby ate it as she does most things--from the middle. You can see how she eats it and the result below! I think it resembles a snowflake!

Abby also decided today that the big toilet was great fun. We ran and sat on the toilet a good 5 or 6 times, but it was always immediately after she had gone in the diaper. I am just happy she is interested now and we will go at it full force when we get to Bakersfield. In the meantime, we will keep doing what we are doing! She was so proud of herself sitting on the big toilet!
The funniest event of the day was Abby jumping around in the play area at the library and absolutely entertaining a little boy. In the video it almost sounds like the little boy is crying, but he was laughing. His Mom and little brother said they had never heard him laugh that hard before. He laughed at every little thing Abby did. It had gone on a while before I had the thought of getting out the camera. It was so cute.

A Thought. . . .

I already posted comments and pictures today, but before I go to bed I want to post a thought from a card Matt and I received today. Our friend wrote, "Through this adventure we call ife we meet many people. They all leave us with a little bit of themselves. Then sometimes there are those people who leave us having built a big bit of themselves right into our heart, our life, and most importantly, our souls." I feel that way about so many of our friends and it started to make me sad. Then I realized how lucky I am to feel that way about so many amazing people. The Lord truly blesses me and answers my prayers through wonderful friends.

11 Days Until Daddy

Music is amazing. . . . truly amazing. Today was the final time I directed the Tempe Ward Choir--and what a ward choir! I've had the privilege of conducting many ward choirs during my life and this one is definitely unforgettable. Today we sang two pieces during Sacramant meeting, "I Need Thee Every Hour" with an amazing oboe soloist (my friend Carly), and "Praise to the Lord the Almighty" with an amazing organist (my friend Carric). There were over 60 people singing! Okay, so I asked some members of the choir I directed for the last two years if they wanted to come sing with me one more time and they did! They added some depth and experience to an already amazing ward choir. The combination was astounding. Countless people approached me after with their comments of amazement. I must admit that I had a little bit of a difficult time controlling my emotions. During the speaker between the two songs I momentarily reflected on the last 4 years in Tempe and suddenly felt a wash of emotion. The last piece felt like letting go of so many things. When the organ began playing I was not sure if I could make it, but I got a hold of myself and I relished in their sound, commitment, and testimonies. I feel I left my testimony with the Tempe Ward. Here is a picture of the choir during rehearsal, we added a number of people when we actually sang.

I thought Matt might want to see what Abby looked like today before Church, so here is a picture.

After Church we had a linger longer where people stayed and talked and ate. I really enjoyed talking to everyone and Abby enjoyed running around. She still had a lot of energy so when we arrived home we decided to take a walk. We ended our walk at the dog park and playground. We normally don't play on the playground on Sunday, but she spent a few minutes on the toys and made two friends. They thought she was so cute and just followed Abby around.

I really love Sundays. I love the peace I feel and the discussions of the gospel. Plus it is so wonderful to be surrounded by wonderful members of the Church. We are truly blessed to be members of this Church. I cannot imagine my life without it.

12 Days Until Daddy

An outline of our day:

We began at Purcell's to get an oil change. They found a nail in one of our tires, so I am very glad we took the car in when we did. It would have been difficult to have a flat tire with Abby somewhere! Abby ran around the entire time we were there and the man repeatedly commented on how she was constantly on the move. She kept trying to go behind the counter and fortunately he did not care!

Next we went and taught piano lessons in Mesa to one of my students, Hannah. Abby loves to go there and play with Lynn, Hannah's Mom. There was a bonus today because Lynn's grandson, Tray was there and we got some cute pics of the two kids.

We came home and watched Toy Story II which she loves. For the rest of the day she has talked mainly about "Woody." We then painted our toe nails green to match our Sunday clothes tomorrow!

Abby finally took a nap and I got my scripture study in, worked on the article I want to get published, and began putting an oboe/piano duet I did with a friend into Sibelius. She needed it to be in a different key and I am trying to give her a nice copy that she can take with her as she is moving this next week. There are always so many projects to do! Then we went to the store to buy a bag for a blanket I crocheted for one of the people I visit teach. She is due any time with a boy so we wanted to give it to her right away.
Tomorrow is a "Church day" as Abby calls it and it the final time I will direct my Tempe Ward Choir. I am expecting 50 people to sing! It will be amazing and sad at the same time. I love directing ward choirs--especially this one!

Life in Bakersfield

Jen has dutifully posted pictures on comments every day for the last little bit and I thought some of you might be interested in the occurrences here in Bakersfield.

I finished my first week and it went great. I had a good time and remembered how much I enjoy teaching. The students are a little less prepared for college than I am accustomed, or than I expected, but it is still a lot of fun.

This morning I got up to go run errands, shop for a couch and whatever else, but found that the front tire was flat on my grandmothers car (which I've been borrowing for the past two weeks). I called some local church members who I hardly knew and with good fortune my first call was to a man that is more service oriented than everyone I ever met. Dave came by my house with Jacob, his "indentured servant," Jacob (a 17-year old young man of no family relation who follows him around and helps with his projects). Jacob grabbed my tires on and tossed them on the truck and then Dave drove us to a warehouse of parts and toys on the other side of town. Among the tools was a hydrologic tire machine that stripped the tire from the rim. Dave determined the hole in my tire was too severe to patch, so he tossed on a tire that was sitting around the warehouse and said I could pay the owner later.

Dave inquired about my plans for the backyard, and I told him I hoped to get somebody to pour concrete on the side and then described my other plans. He offered to pour the concrete for no fee, other than the cost of the cement. I explained that I first needed to dig drainage and sprinkler systems that would (in part) be under the cement. Dave and Jacob figured they could help with that task too, and then offered another machine Dave owns that digs trenches. Dave then offered to bring his bobcat into my backyard to dig up the coy pond and whatever else was needed back there. When I questioned the likelihood of fitting the bobcat through the side gate he replied that it was no problem because he also owned a crane and could just lift the bobcat up and over my back wall.

Wow.

To top it off, later in the day I drove to Dave's house where he used some high pressure hoses to add an ounce of oil into my granny's struggling AC system, in an effort to raise the pressure and improve the operation of the failing device. It did not work, but he did it for free as well. He was just happy to try to help. Dave gave me some tasty fruit and they even sent me off with a bag of grapes that Jacob picked up someplace. Jacob said, "I'm Mexican, so I know people who pick produce."

So I am almost in shock. I can't believe how generous Dave and Jacob were with their time today, and that they would offer to do so much more. They are wonderful guys and we are so very fortunate to land here in Bakersfield among so many great people. I'm quite happy that we'll be living here and are already making such wonderful friends.

13 Days Until Daddy

So the pictures are posted above because the blog is being very strange and will not let me move the pictures! So you will have to figure out what commentary they relate to. I am glad it is Friday. It has been a long week and I just put Abby in bed. I love to read the scriptues with her. Tonight we learned about Alma the Younger. Last night we talked about Alma the Elder and how he baptized a lot of people. When she got in the bath tonight I asked her what we learned in the Book of Mormon last night and she pointed to the water and then said her version of "baptized." I was very proud of her.

My "owie" as Abby calls it is getting better. I went in to the doctor to have them repack it again and the nurse said she thought it was healing well. This weekend I have to pack it myself and I'm hoping our friend that is a nurse wll help. It hurts less today!

Today Abby did puzzles, colored, helped me clean, took a nap, etc. When my visiting teachers came over Abby ran around and entertained them the whole time. They brought her a book to put pictures in and some gummy worms (which I had to hide). They also brought the most wonderful fruit: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cantalope, and grapes. They also brought fresh green beans (see above). I made us a really yummy fruit drink for dinner which Abby loved and we had some of the green beans. Abby tried them twice and both times took the bean right back out and said, "yucky." I was happy she tried it and will have her try it again tomorrow! I thought they were wonderful.

Today I played for one of the ASU vocal studios. I ended up playing for 11 people--yikes! Some of the music I had at least looked at, but some I was sightreading. Things went pretty well and it was fun to make music with very talented people.

14 Days Until Daddy

2 weeks from tonight Matt will be home! That is hard to believe and very exciting. Abby and I better get back to our list of things to do before we move!

Today we got all ready to go to playgroup at Tempe Marketplace where the kids were going to play in the fountain. So Abby was happily saying, "swimming, swimming!" Then we realized it was pouring down rain and playgroup got changed to the Church. She was a little disappointed. The kids ran around and played with balls and Abby tried a scooter for the first time.

The women at playgroup brought fruit, oreos, and brownies in honor of Abby and I leaving soon. They also were writing in a book that I could take with me. It was so nice of them to think of us. I appreciated it so much. I think they are all the most wonderful women and kids and hope they know how much we will miss all of them. Look Daddy, I'm eating your favorite--strawberries!

I had to go and get my infected area from yesterday "repacked" which didn't feel great, but a lot better than yesterday! It is healing and I will go back tomorrow and then have to take care of it myself. The doctor thinks it is healing well. I am grateful for an excellent doctor.

Today I had some time to play the piano to prepare for accompanying for one of the ASU vocal studio classes tomorrow. It felt so good to just play--sometimes I forget just how much I love to play the piano. Abby wants to play all of the time and I hope that she will want to learn. Music is so amazing--I wish I could share it with everyone--but first, with Abby! I am excited to fill my new bigger home with the sounds of music.

15 Days Until Daddy

Well, we will chalk today up as another crazy adventure. We started out pretty normal--with a work out and breakfast. But this time Abby ate waffles like Matt likes! I took a picture for Matt.

Then we picked up my visiting teaching companion and took her to an office where she could sign up for employment. Abby was a pretty good girl--running around and entertaining everyone there (she did try to get into the Men's bathroom a couple time though). I promised her that if she listened she could have her very first fudgesicle when we got home. Here are some pictures--as you can see she really enjoyed it!

Abby and I also wanted to take a picture of the two of us for Daddy.Next I dropped off Abby at Tina's (our friend from Indonesia) so that I could quickly go to the doctor. Here is where the crazy adventure begins. Warning: this may be too graphic for people with weaker stomachs! It ends up that I had an infection and it turned into an abscess which needed to be removed. The area was already so sore that I could not even touch the skin. The doctor took one look at it and took my hand and said, "This is really going to hurt." Then the nurse came back in and knelt down in front of me and wanted to make sure I understood just how much it would hurt. I started to get a little nervous. So when she left I said some very fervent prayers for strength, courage and the ability to still smile! The procedure began with lidocaine--a lot of lidocaine to numb a large area. I could not believe how much it hurt. I handle pain pretty well, but this was pretty unreal. I just held onto the table for all I was worth. Then he took a scalpel and cut an X into my skin. Then he proceeded to use his fists to squeeze stuff out. I think he then cut more and continued to squeeze stuff out for quite a while. I just held onto the table, grunted, prayed, and sang the upcoming ward choir numbers I will direct on Sunday. The pain was--there aren't words. Let's just say I do not ever want to do that again. He said other people scream, swear, and cry--but I was not going to do any of those things. When he finished he wanted me to watch this part because I would have to do it myself in a few days. I looked and there was a big X in my skin and a very large hole underneath. He proceeded to stuff gauze into it (he called it "packing") and I was amazed at how much fit. I have to go in the next few days to have it repacked. When he finished I stood up and he said--"You are tough, really tough." He even let me drive myself home. I was shaking a bit from the experience, but okay. Sorry, no pictures--I will try to get one soon if I can.

The doc wanted someone to stay with Abbs and I tonight since I would be on pain meds I've never taken, so Natalie is having a slumber party with us. Natalie is in early childhood education and brought over a great craft called marbling. The white stuff in the pictures is shaving cream! You can see the process below.What a fun project--Abby loved it!

Daddy: we love you! Thank you for setting everything up in our new house. We are excited to try everything out in a couple weeks.

Here is the craft on video:

16 Days Until Daddy

Tonight I am tired after quite a long day so I just want to express my gratitude for a couple things and go to bed! First, I am so thankful for Matt. He is such a hardworking, truly amazing husband and father. I do not think that anyone could know just how hard he works for everything. The time he spent writing his dissertation for instance, and the time he spent this summer working on his lectures for BC (Bakersfield College)--he is just so dedicated. He makes it look easy, but his organization and talents are largely due to his hard work. As far as a father--well I don't think words do him justice. Let's just say that Abby adores her Daddy with all her heart!

Next, I am grateful for so many incredible friends. I am certainly not going to list names because I would miss people. But we have been so blessed by friends everywhere we've lived. Just today Abby was invited to her friends the Jones' and she had the best time playing with them. I know many people say that they only have just a few "true friends" but I do not feel that way. So many true friends have touched my life and helped me become who I am. Thank you! Here is Abby at our friends house today.Tonight I am also thinking about the Temple. While Abby was playing tonight I was able to attend the Mesa Temple with my friend Janine Jones. The Temple is a place where I feel so close to my Heavenly Father and I have been so fortunate to have the Mesa Temple so close. It is such a beautiful place.
I could not say a few things I am grateful for and leave out the person I spend the most time with--my ABBY! She is unlike any person I've ever met. She is the sweetest, craziest, most lovable girl in all the world. We worked and waited so very long to have her come into our lives and I could not even begin to thank my Heavenly Father for helping a young women trust us with the most precious gift--a daughter to raise and love. Now if we could just find her a sibling. . . anyone have any ideas?

I will stop my gratitude journal since you probably do not want to read anymore. But I could go on forever: family, music, houses. . . . wait. . . .
houses--our new house closed today or recorded as they said. Matt is staying in our home for the first time. Now that is exciting and something to be very grateful for!

17 Days Until Daddy

I am happy to say that today was a much better day than yesterday! I do not feel up to speed yet, but Abby and I had a really good day. We started off at the library where Abby we returned books and played with some other kids. We ran other errands and then came home to do puzzles, flash cards and finger painting. We made some cards for friends and family. I took off her shirt because we would have had more paint on her shirt then the paper! You should have seen her when we finished!We also played out in the pool in the backyard. Abby had a lot of fun with the hose! We had to fill up the pool for the second time today because our water evaporated!After the pool we made some dinner. Normally I give Abby a bowl full of rice while I put mine in a tortilla. Today she watched me put the rice in my tortilla and role it up. Next thing I know she dumps her bowl onto her tortilla and tries to roll it up. This is a picture of her eating her creation!For FHE we read about King Benjamin, made brownies, and took around some treats and cards to our friends that were so helpful yesterday. We love our friends.

Here is a fun video of various parts of today. This morning I found Abby on top of the sink brushing her teeth. Then she counted a bit for me. Abby counted to ten in the car all by herself, but of course I was driving and could not film it.

18 Days Until Daddy

What a day. I don't even know where to begin. You need to read the last paragraph of yesterday's blog before you read this because I won't bore you with the same story! Needless to say I got bit by a cat last night! When I woke up this morning I could not use my left arm. I couldn't go up and down, side to side, etc. It did not look bad--not even that bruised, but it was swollen and very painful. There were some other issues that complicated my problem and so I really needed help. I called Natalie and it was Natalie to the rescue! I could not lift my arm so I could not do my hair. So she did Abby's and my hair this morning and then she barely made it to her ward to play the organ! She is the best. I also got a blessing from members of our bishopric on their way to meetings. My visiting teacher also went and retrieved my antibiotics from a pharmacy and I took them before choir. They cost a fortune--yikes. Not a good month for a large extra bill. But all of this helped me get to choir rehearsal and we had an excellent rehearsal. My ward choir is unbelievable and we sing for the last time together next week. We are expecting 50 people! I also sang in a musical number with amazing women.

I won't go into details but it was a rough day and I am so thankful for my friends. I came back after church and laid down for a little while and Abby played with friends. I truly am blessed. Maybe that is why it is hard to leave Tempe. Heavenly Father has blessed me abundantly and I do know that He will continually bless me in Bakersfield also.

One funny story--this morning I soaked my arm in some epson salt and hot water in a large bowl. I thought Abby would play in it so I had Natalie move it. She put it on top of the freezer and told me not to open the freezer. I forgot when I got home and opened the freezer to get some ice and barely missed the waterfall that ensued. The floor was covered and I ended up mopping my floor unexpectedly.

This morning Abby looked so cute and we took some pictures of her. Sorry they are the only pictures from today--but they are pretty cute! We love you so much Daddy and wish you were here.

19 Days Until Daddy

If I thought yesterday had some adventures it was nothing compared to today! This morning we left early with our friends Jenny and Carric to go to the Desert Botanical Gardens. I got tickets at the Tempe Library so we could all get in free. Before we could even get going something was leaking from Abby's car seat--yuck! There were some grapes (I think) that had fallen down into the car seat and it was gross. I got it all cleaned up and we were ready to go. (We usually have a very clean car seat by the way!). The Botanical Garden was fun and very hot. We especially enjoyed the butterflies.

The inside of a cactus--not what I expected!

Abby saw lots of geckos today and then she found one in the gift store. Carric ended up buying it for her and she named it Carric. Thanks Carric!
Next we ran errands and came back for an early nap because 5 women were coming over to run through our musical number for tomorrow's Sacrament meeting. Below you see Amelia, Jen, Ariana, Chelsi, Abby and Jenny. There will be one more but she was camping. I love singing with these incredible women.
After we ran through the song Abby and I went over to see Dr. David Schildkret (one of my professors from ASU) and his wife Sue. Dr. Schildkret has been gone for a while and we wanted to make sure we saw him before we move. We had an absolutely wonderful visit.
Then the adventures began. . . and as you can see below Abby found the pool outside and Sue helped her swim! I did not bring her suit, so she had fun in her diaper! Abby then took off her diaper and ran around naked and Dr. Schildkret let Abby come inside for a minute. She of course decided to relieve her bladder a little bit on their carpet! When we finally got her out of the water and I put her diaper on, she really started to freak out. I noticed a rash starting and she was really unhappy. So we put her in their bath tub to help her. As I was leaning over the bath tub and trying to get my crying Abby to sit and soak I felt a sharp pain in my left arm. I looked over and saw a cat biting into my arm and then it let go and hissed and showed me its teeth. It proceeded to scratch my arm and then bit down again, this time into the muscle below my elbow. I think he was trying to protect Abby and thought I was doing something to hurt her. Fortunately Sue then got him out of the room but I was just shocked. I ended up bleeding from about 6 or 7 places, but I was really concerned about Abby. So I held toilet paper on the wounds and tried to help Abby feel better. She finally calmed down and then I realized I was out of diapers. We had used up the ones I brought and I wasn't going to put back on the one that bothered her. So they gave us an old towel and I took her out to the car naked! She ended up running (naked) across their driveway and into the neighbors yard with me chasing behind--she is very fast! We all had a great laugh. So since my peroxide and everything to take care of the cat marks is packed I ran over to the Taysom family to clean things up. I think I might have some cool bruises. What a crazy day!