Cement and Fun With "Nanny"

We have a cement patio! How exciting! It looks really good although it is getting horribly rained on as I type. Last night we had the craziest wind storm--couldn't sleep most of the night. But it is leveling our dirt quite nicely, so we will be ready for grass this week! We are hosting a big party for a family in our ward that is sadly moving. We love the Randall's and decided to help host a farewell party for them--hence the quick moving on the backyard. Our patio goes up this week, grass will go in and people will be able to be inside and outside. I cannot believe I have space enough to invited the ward over to my house--so awesome! So if you are in the Monica Ward, please feel free to stop by from 2-4 on Saturday, March 26th to say farewell to the wonderful Randall family.

Here is the cement process:

I already posted that our friend Natalie from Arizona surprised Abby on Tuesday night. We had some fun adventures for the next 3 days! We couldn't do anything too expensive since our funds are dedicated to finishing the backyard so we just had fun together, ran errands, worked in the yard, etc. But we always have fun together.
Funny faces, funny poses.
Flying high.
Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Our fortunes from Panda Express lunch at the mall.
"What's that?"
Taco Bell lunch.
Our trip to Lowe's--check out the sweet ride!
Be warned: we put our guests to work! (putting out mulch)
Farewell to Natalie.
Saturday after Natalie left Abby and I went to a bridal shower for Reagan Rasmussen. We made wedding dresses out of toilet paper (bride is on the right). The cake was beautiful.
Later Saturday we made a quick Costco run to see if they had something for the backyard. Abby wanted to wear things from her Grandma's. Grandma Karen gave her the jacket and Grandma Barbara gave her the boots. Thanks Grandma's! We love you.
My Ward Choir sang today and they are quite amazing. We sang "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" with 2 flutes. I am always impressed by the spirit they bring and they way they sound with such limited rehearsal!
Abby after Church.
Matt and Abby taking a quick Sunday nap before the missionaries come for dinner---so sweet.

What a day!

Yesterday was quite the day! 3 great things happened. First, Abby had gymnastics and even flipped over the bar all by herself--see the video at the end of the post. She also took her first swimming lesson! She loves to swim and every week she would go over to the pool after gymnastics and want to take lessons. This week I talked to the front office and they said she could do a trial day to see how it goes and then enroll for the remaining 4 weeks of the term if she wants to. She absolutely loved it and did not want to leave.

Abby before gymnastics.
Later that day our friend from Arizona, Natalie arrived. It is her spring break from ASU and she ended up being able to come at the last minute. I did not tell Abby and so Natalie completely surprised her. You can see from the pictures that they were very excited to see each other. Now we get to play for a few days!
The last great event of the day was a complete surprise! I went to play for a voice lesson at Cal State University, Bakersfield because juries were today. After the lesson the choir director at the university approached me and said, "Hello Dr. Garrett." I said hello and then he asked if I would be willing to help him with something. I wondered what it could be. Then he asked if I would be willing to teach a class at the university! I was so excited! It is a music appreciation on-line course, which is perfect because Abby is the number 1 priority! I will definitely miss the direct interaction with students since it is on-line, but this is a perfect set up right now. I have to move on everything very quickly though because the start date is March 28th! Yikes! As I left his office he said, "Welcome to the faculty." Needless to say, I was pretty excited! I drove straight home and told Matt. He was very excited also.
I am constantly amazed at the opportunities I am given. I am very, very blessed.

Nice People

Matt and I decided that our life is extremely blessed by nice people. We've lived quite a few places during our lives and we always seem to be fortunate when it comes to friends. Tonight, for example, we were eating dinner when the doorbell rang. When we went to the door, two women from our ward, Ann Pitts and Amanda Pitts, stood there holding scrumptious looking brownies. Good friends of ours are are moving away, sadly. At church they sang "Abide With Me" and I played piano for the musical number. Ann and Amanda wanted to tell me they really enjoyed it. How nice is that?!

One other thought. . . .was anyone else clueless about daylight savings last night? I woke up this morning after our late night last night to my cell phone alarm at 6. But the alarm clock by my bed said 5:00 and it was completely dark outside. I was so tired and confused. I went downstairs and the clocks all said 5:00, but the DVR said 6:00. I thought checked the computer and it read 6:00. I googled daylight savings and found out that the event had indeed occurred! How did I miss that? I felt a little better when people at church looked a little frantic as they sat down late because they too did not know it was daylight savings. I also saw people in the foyer that did not know too! Now I know, second Sunday in March!

Youth Formal Dance

Saturday evening Matt and I chaperoned the "Mormal" in Bakersfield. That is what they call the formal dance for the priest and laurel age young men and young women. Matt helps with the young men in our ward and so we were supposed to go the dance. I am so glad we did! It began with dinner at the Bishop's house with about 16 of the young men and women. I really enjoyed seeing them all dressed up, hair curled, etc. Then we went over to a stake center in Bakersfield and I was shocked from the moment we walked in. They selected an Egyptian theme, so there were adults dressed up as Egyptian guards outside, with torches lit behind them and white lights decorating the entrance. They put up black curtains on both sides of the door to create a long hallway leading the kids to sign a scroll. Pictures were taken and then we entered a room with lights, white partitians on either side to hide that we were actually in the cultural hall, and an amazing set up of food. The pictures really do not do it justice, but you can get an idea. It looked so nice and there were about 290 kids there plus chaperones. The chocolate fountain with fruit and all sorts of things to dip was a huge hit! We really enjoyed ourselves. Abby stayed with one of the young women in the ward that was not quite old enough to go and Abby had a wonderful time. Although she would not go to bed and poked her head around the corner of the stairs at 10 p.m. when we got home! Stinker!

Best Girls Night!

Matt is on a camp out tonight with the Young Men in our ward and so it was a girls night for Abby and I. We had such a blast. She is truly the best kid ever. We came home from dropping Matt off (well he ended up driving, so someone else brought us home) around 5 p.m. So we played for a while and then worked in one of her workbooks identifying things that are "different." Then we cut out any letter "B's" we found in a magazine and glued them on a paper. And then we went on a Blue hunt! That means we go around the house and find things that are blue. Soon it was time for dinner so we had leftover spaghetti. Abby took a quick bath and she opened up a new movie. She received this movie because she has not had any accidents in 2 1/2 days! Maybe we are almost potty trained! I'm convinced she is--at long last! She opened up "The Princess and the Frog" and we popped popcorn (at Abby's request) and cuddled up on the couch together in all of her blankets from Aunt Christie. It was such a cute movie. We then read the Book of Mormon, brushed her teeth, sang songs and said our prayers. Finally it was time to go to sleep. What a wonderful night. She is so special. Here is a picture before we watched the movie.

There are a few other pictures to share. Today Matt worked hard in the yard and made an area against the wall where we can plant flowers and such. It looks really good. His first time using mortar!
Last Saturday we invited our neighbors we hadn't gotten to know yet over for lunch. We were so glad that we did. We really like them and hope to get to know them better.
Saturday afternoon Abby and I went over to the entrance to where we live because it is covered in yellow and orange flowers. We had so much fun taking pictures! She even found a snail.
Here is a funny picture of Abby before Church on Sunday.
Tuesday--yes, gymnastics and this time I talked Abby's teacher, Teacher Sunny into taking a picture. The gym got some new rings for the young kids and Abby really liked them. Here is a picture.
Thursday I played for a voice lesson at Cal State University and Abby came with me. She was such a good girl. Sorry, no picture.
I was able to capture Abby working on the bars in gymnastics. Sorry it's not closer, but I'm not supposed to be in the class, so I had to take from a distance.

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Roger came for a visit Wednesday through Saturday and Abby had so much fun! She does not want them to leave tomorrow!

But first a few pictures:
Abby at gymnastics--she cried again at first for me which is so strange because if you know Abby she is miss independent! But she decided to be brave and had a great time!
I took Abby to the new Disney movie, Tangled. We had so much fun together.
Grandma brought Abby some cute pink boots and Abby put them on and would not take them off!
Thursday Grandma and Grandpa went to a Chinese food place and to an ice cream place called DeWars. This is a picture before they left.
Thursday night Grandma painted Abby's fingernails. It was the cutest thing!
Today (Friday) they took Abby on a train to a city called Hanford. Abby LOVES trains, so she was more than excited. Here are pictures from their trip.
Before they left for the train.
Buying tickets (hold on to Abby or she will run!).
Walking to the train.
On the train.
Arriving in Hanford.
When they went in a boutique a woman gave Abby legos to play with and she did not want to leave.
Superior Dairy--they said the ice cream was wonderful. They also saw cows and sheeps.
Abby with the dogs they found at the park.
Abby fell asleep standing up while they were in a restaurant. Here is a picture Grandpa took from outside!
Heading back home.
The backyard is coming along and Matt was working outside today. We will get it done eventually!
We love Grandma and Grandpa and are so glad that we can see them often!