Abby's Prayers

I love Abby's prayers. These are a few things she has included in them lately:

"We're sorry that my plants are dying . . . "

"Thank you that we can bless this food . . . and I don't like my dinner . . . "

"We're sorry that Katie is doing loud things in the prayer, and that she's not folding her arms and closing her eyes . . . " (Hmm, I wonder how Abby knew that?)

My Utah Weekend Getaway

I had a great 48-hour getaway to Utah last weekend. Taking Katie with me and leaving Abby with Luke, I attended an overnight reunion retreat with counselors from Academy for Girls, a youth program that I worked with from 1994 to 1998. I had a fabulous time renewing my friendship with about 25 of these incredible women! AFG was a huge part of my life for five years, and my experiences there helped to strengthen my testimony of the gospel and to prepare me to be a full-time missionary, then a wife and mother. I'm glad I had the chance to step back in time for a few hours and relive some of those decade-old memories.

Although it was a whirlwind trip, Katie and I did get to see both sides of the family! Here are some photos.

Katie with some eye-level friends she made at the retreat.

Katie, Lucy, and Marian: cousins born within 6 weeks of each other . . . in the arms of Carrie, Martha, and Adam. (This photo should adequately confuse posterity! Martha & Adam are parents to Marian, aunt & uncle to Lucy and Katie.)

An early celebration of my big 3-1 with the Boyers!

A visit to Spruces campground with Scott and Nora.

All for a little piece of paper . . .

The Spokane DMV and I are not on very good terms right now. I have made the 25-minute trip there THREE times now, with Abby and Katie in tow, of course, to get a Washington driver's license before my Utah license expires. Highlights of the DMV visits have been: locking my keys in the car once, leaving in tears of frustration once, and dumping all of my documents all over the floor as soon as I stood up for my turn---twice.

I thought the painful saga was over, because I did successfully get my temporary licencse on Wednesday. But today I received a call from Beth at the DMV, who informed me that I need to return a FOURTH time and sign the application form in a different place before I can be issued a permanent license. Aaargh! (For the record, I signed where Beth told me to sign.)

The fun begins again next month when I need to register our cars . . .

"Mama's Busy Vacuuming . . .

. . . so I guess I'll just go to sleep right here, since I can't get to my crib!"

I'm constantly amazed at Katie's mellow, content nature. I couldn't believe it last night when I looked over and she had just fallen asleep on her toys in the high chair. It was about 9:30, and I kept meaning to get around to feeding her some pureed peas.

What do you think, should I run for Mother of the Year?

Who's Who?

Can you tell which of these jolly babies is Katie now, and which is Abby at 5 months? OK, if you've given up, Katie's on the left and Abby's on the right. You'd think they were related or something!