Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! I decided that we would take Abby's 4 year old pictures on Valentine's Day. I like to have a picture of the girls at each birthday to witness the changes over a years time. Abby did such a great job even though we had to wait a little while for the pictures. I'll have to scan and put her pictures up later.

The girls sported their "Daddy's Little Valentine" shirts and Abby got to go and get "special juice" at Red Robin after. She and Lily enjoyed just watching all of the people go by.
That night after Matt got home from his evening class he presented me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. What a guy! Although a few days later, Abby's dance class celebrated Valentine's Day by having the girls get dressed up extra cute and take pictures. They are pretty cute!

Funny Abby Stories

There is much for me to catch up on in regards to the blog, but I want to quickly post 3 funny Abby stories. Abby does a lot of crazy things,
but these 3 stories really make me laugh! I hope they make you laugh too.

Story 1:
We saw Abby's birth mother, Amanda in Utah when we went to see my brother Brent's baby blessing of their new little boy, Lincoln. We met her at a mall food court. Abby desperately wanted one of those car strollers that cost a whopping $5. But she wanted it bad! She kept sitting in it, trying to get it to release. But Matt told her that it cost a lot of money and we weren't going to buy one right now. So she thought about it and remembered that she found a penny at the mall and ran back to our table to get it. She proudly started inserting the penny into the machine and was frustrated when Matt told her that was not enough money. So she did some more thinking. Matt could tell she came up with another great idea, so he followed her. She entered a hat store by the food court called, "Lids" and patiently waited in line behind 3 costumers (patiently waiting in line is not one of her strong points). When it was her turn she stepped forward, looked at the cashier who looked at her and then looked at Matt. Matt shrugged his shoulders as to what she was doing. Then Abby held up her penny and pronounced, "I need more money!" The cashier began looking around and in his pockets for a penny or two and Matt brought her back to us and told us the whole story. I nearly wet my pants laughing.

Story 2:
Our next adventure took us on a quick trip to Arizona. While in Arizona we hit the Arizona Mills Mall for some good deals (not so many good deals found in Bakersfield!) and we had to go to the Disney store. Abby looked at the Cars stuff and Toy Story and then made her way over to this wall of Disney basically Barbie dolls. I watched her curiously, as she has not ever expressed an interest in dolls, especially Barbie type dolls. I thought, "Wow, maybe she will like dolls now?" Then she ran back to me with one of the dolls rather excited. I braced myself for what she would show me and low and behold: it was the boy from Tangled! She handed it to me and said, "Look Mommy, it's the boy!" This time I busted out laughing and got some very strange looks from those in the Disney Store.

Story 3:
We've been working on Abby's prayers lately and trying to expand them from her thanking Heavenly Father for the day and asking to see Grandma and Grandpa. We have tried to get her to include things she is thankful for or might need. So the other morning after Matt left for school Abby prayed over her breakfast and in the prayer said, "Please help Heavenly Father to get the brass plates....!" I tried very hard to keep a straight face during the prayer! We read the scriptures at night at had recently read about Nephi obtaining the brass plates. I guess there is a little misunderstanding there. But at least she is getting the idea! I went and got her scriptures and we talked about the story again. But I also called Matt and told him because those moments are too precious to keep to yourself! I guess that's why I'm sharing them with you.

I love my Abby and my Lily and I thank Heavenly Father every single day for blessing me with the two best girls in the whole world. Here is a picture of them just because I believe every blog post should have an adorable picture of the girls! Have a wonderful day and remember that laughter is the best medicine!

Abby's Fourth Birthday and More

We just returned home from Stake Conference and I am so proud of the Young Single Adult Choir I had the opportunity to work with. I've conducted a lot of choirs--university, schools, community and more and I just love conducting choirs for the Church. It is so wonderful to be able to bear testimony through music. Many people came forward to express their enthusiasm about the choir and their beautiful music.
One woman stood in front of me with tears in her eyes and said,
"No choir has ever touched me like this one did today." I love making music in the Church.

Now on to February....
The month began with a quick trip down to LA for my cousin Mandy's baby blessing. We drove down on Saturday so that Matt could take the young men and young women to the temple to do baptisms. The girls and I played with Grandma, Grandpa and Dexter! Our brother-in-law, Brandon made Matt the coolest signs for our "sports" loft. It will take a long time to get the things we want, but the signs are a great start.
Don't they look amazing?
We enjoyed a little time with Matt's family and then Sunday we went to the blessing of Avonlea. She is just beautiful and we were also able to so my Aunt Christie and Uncle Jerry. I am so glad we were able to go.
On Tuesday, February 7th I had some music on and Abby and I were having one of our dance parties when I suddenly realized she had all of her cars lined up facing us.
She then told me they were watching her dance!
That same day Abby and I were doing preschool stuff and she is getting really good at gluing.
While we were working on things I set up Lily's musical table on her lap and
she had so much fun as you can see.
The morning of February 9th Abby and I went over to CSUB because I ran a high school "Singing the Musical Theatre Songs" workshop. One of the CSUB students played with Abby for a little while and I loved working with the students. We learned the song, "You Can't Stop the Beat" from "Hairspray" and I taught them some foundations of good singing. Then we ran as quickly as we could to her dance class. We were late, but still caught most of the class. We made cookies and took them to her class since she was turning four the next day. She loved passing out the treats.
Abby is four--that's so crazy. I remember the first time she looked into my eyes at the hospital and it seems like yesterday. Yet so much has happened since then it seems like an eternity! Time is such a strange thing. Thursday night we drove down to Grandma and Grandpa's so that we could be ready for Disneyland on Abby's birthday! We had the best day together. We did everything Abby wanted to do and Lily didn't cry once the whole day. We have the best girls!
Here are some pictures:
Grandma and Grandpa gave Abby money for her birthday to spend in Disneyland. She got a churro, remote control Mickey train, plate and silverware of Cars and Toy Story characters and three flexible Toy Story characters. She even has $10 left!
We played so hard that when I put Abby in the bath at Grandma's she fell asleep!
What an amazing birthday!!!
So the next morning we actually celebrated with cake and presents because Grandma worked all night and arrived home at 8 a.m.
Double chocolate cake at 10 a.m.! What a breakfast! This cake has a story though. Abby decided she wanted a "Pirate Mickey" birthday party so I had to find a way to make a pirate ship cake and incorporate Mickey into it. After we got Abby in bed after Disneyland I stayed up late and then got up early to make this cake. I was proud of the cake, but unfortunately it started to crack in the middle and I had to pray it would stay together so that we could take pictures and eat it!
A few gifts....she had to get cars of course.
Grandma and Grandpa Wilcox sent Abby a great gift.
Gifts from Dexter, Heather and Brandon!
Lily gave Abby a new Thomas the Train book and Abby had to give her a big hug!
What a great birthday--she basically had a two-day birthday--lucky girl!
After we drove home we picked up a great babysitter--Devan and she watched Abby and Lily while we went out with our friends, Megan and Devin. We went out to a Japanese restaurant and had really good food and then went to a play!
We had so much fun and we cannot wait to go out with them again!
When we arrived home we found Abby and Devan asleep on the couch--how cute!
Well I'm not completely caught up for February, but I'm getting pretty close.
Now I shall go to bed so that I can be my best me tomorrow!