Christmas pictures never work out for me. I tried three times to take a family picture with all of four of us, and all three times I was either puked on or screamed at... therefore, this is all I could scrape together for our Christmas card this year. (As a side note... I am aware that I am trying to catch up all in one day! )

My son Xander was born August 13, 2012. We all know that I am a horrible blogger, so don't be too surprised. He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz. Abby absolutely adores him! I love having two children. I am surprised that the work seemed to triple instead of double when going from 1 kid to two... mathematically it does not check out.

So... it's been a while (1 year or so)!!

Wow, I just looked at my blog and I took that picture of Abby in May-June last year! So, now I know exactly how long it has been. Sorry for such slow news. Hopefully, I can get you all up to date in the next week or so.
Jared- Is working at the same school as me!!! I love having him here in the building. He is our Lab Technician, Teacher's Assistant, and the principals personal gopher. He has a graduation date as well! He will be absolutely done with Master's and Bachelor's in May 2013--- maybe December 2012... but at least we have a date in sight! He is currently serving as the Cub Scout Master in our ward, and enjoys being with the six 8-10yr old's on a weekly basis.
Abby- Is 2! She is adorable 85% of the time, and "evil Abby" the rest. She talks constantly in full sentences, and she surprises me all the time. About a month ago, a tow-truck almost ran me off the road right before the freeway entrance. I don't usually say anything specific... but most of the time I say something like "are you kidding me?!!!". Well, we got in the other lane and were making our way up the ramp. As soon as we got level with the tow-truck, Abby looked over and loudly said, "Loser!". I almost wrecked.
As she gets older more of her personality comes out. She is not a social butterfly. She enjoys being around other kids, but she mostly just plays in her own little world. Her favorite things to play with are her kitchen set, her babies, balls, balloons, and bubbles. She also loves to watch "movies". Her favorites are Rescue Rangers, Duck Tales, Strawberry Shortcake, and Curious George. The real movies she loves are Toys (Toy Story 3), Yellow Guys (Despicable Me), and Monsters (Monsters, Inc.)
We all know that Abby has always been ahead of where she is supposed to be developmentally and physically. She is the same at church. Around January, when her friends, Aubrey and Sam went to Sunbeams, she told me didn't want to be with the babies anymore. So, although it is unorthodox, she moved up to Sunbeams part of the time. So now, she goes to class with the 3 year-old's, and then back to Nursery during singing/sharing time. I am sure it is because I am in the Primary that she is allowed to do so, but she really does love it! Her teacher is amazing. I bet she is honestly 70+ and she is so great and patient with all 3 of them.
I am still doing the same things I was doing a year ago. I still teach math at the Jr. High, I still play the piano for primary, and I still have my 2nd job at the rec center. Boring, boring, boring!

Hi! Happy Summer! We are doing well here in the great state of Utah! We love the Summer because we get to spend a lot of time together. I am working at the outdoor pool again this summer. Jared has started his own business and is constantly busy with websites and system administrations. Abby got a big girl bed, is working on potty training, will be taking swim lessons again in a couple of weeks, and will be 2 in less than a month! I promised a new slide show. So here they are! We hope everyone is doing well! Love you--- Jared, Missy and Abby

So it's been a while....

I don't even know how many people even look at this website... but I am finally updating it! Abby is growing like a weed. Literally!!! Her height doesn't even register on the growth chart for her age group. Oh well... she'll either quit sometime or be a great basketball center! We enjoyed seeing Grammy and Grandpa Duck Rose, and Aunt Lindsey and Hugo near the end of March as they came through on their way to Denver. Abby and I then travel to Las Vegas to see Grandma and Grandpa Lee and Uncle Jared for Spring Break. We had a great time playing in the swing, swimming outside, and eating pretzels! We came home on Thursday, snagged Daddy and drove down to see Grandpa Smith for Easter. We need a vacation from our vacation!!!! I will be adding a new picture album soon. However, here is a small taste of our Spring Photo Shoot. We love you all!

Dusty-
We adopted a cat from the Humane Society on Friday, October 9th. He was such a beautiful and sweet cat; we knew he would fit right in. He let Abby play with him where most other cats would run away and hide. The only problem was that we couldn't get him to eat. Yesterday, Dusty had a panel of blood tests done and we received the news that he was in 75% kidney failure. We had to put him to sleep last night. We didn't have him for long, but he was already a part of our family. We will miss you Dusty-- until we meet again-- we love you.

Summer Fun With The Cousins!

We were able to spend 2 1/2 weeks in Monroe visiting Grandpa Smith and Abby's 1st cousins who were visiting from Vermont. It was a great time. We got to see my brother, whom we haven't seen in two years, my sister-in-law, my two nephews, and my brand new niece. Abby loved hanging out with them, following Clayton everywhere, bugging Noah whenever she got the chance, taking off Josie's socks, and being tickled by Uncle Justin. It was hard to see them go... but it was great while it lasted. We celebrated Abby's 1st birthday, Clayton's 5th birthday/the 24th of July (same day), and Grandpa's 62nd birthday. We also rode horses, joined a primary parade, watched a big parade, set off fireworks, and watched big fireworks. It was a great vacation. Thanks for coming... Vermonters! Pictures will be updated soon!

Vacation to the Beach

We have recently returned from a beautiful vacation to the Oregon Coast. It was absolutely fantastic to see Jared's family and to enjoy the amazing scenery. While we were there we visited an aquarium, three lighthouses, the Devil's Punchbowl, a great shopping outlet mall, and the Tillamook cheese factory. Abby loved playing with her Grammy and Poppy, her aunts, and all the cousins. She absolutely loved the ocean and the sand. The little girl cousins taught her how to squeal when the waves came in, and she loved every minute of it... cold water and all! I am playing catch up with my picture albums... I am currently showing the one from our vacation. However, there are a few other new albums on the web. Have a look if you so desire! We will be going on anotther vacation for the last two weeks of July. My brother and his family are visiting from Vermont! We are so excited to see them and to play with them for 2 weeks! This will be the first time for Abby to play with her first cousins.

So Cute!!!

Happy Easter!

More to come... as soon as I get some time!

Latest Professional Picture

So I haven't been very good at updating the blog. However, I promise to do so over spring break- next week! Here is the last picture taken of Abby in the studio.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have just sent the latest rendition of professional Abby pictures from her 6 month shoot. She is growing so fast! It is unbelievable how fast the time goes. Jared is doing well at the "U", but unbelievably busy with homework. I swear he is even doing homework in his sleep. Missy has started down the other side of the school year hill, and is so far really enjoying Murray School District. Abby has started her "Aqua Tots" swimming lessons at the Murray Rec Center, and she loves it. She is a regular little fish! We hope all are well- have a great Valentine's Day!

Happy New Year

It's been a couple of months since we've written, and Abby has definitely changed! She's had lots of first's... and I hope all is well with all of my viewers!

4 Months Old!!

Abby is 4 months old! Well, she has been for almost a week now. Anyway, she went for her check-up today, and she is in the 95th percentile. She is down 4 percent from her 2 month appointment, but she is still way up there! The doctor gave us a paper that told about what to feed her and to introduce things one week at a time.... well, she has had all of the Gerber 1st foods already, and we pretty much gave them to her over a two period :) But, I guess those are just for the average baby; but we all know that she is definitely not the Average Baby! She has almost figured out how to get back to her back, and soon it will be crawling--- aaahh!! She is such a happy baby as well, and she is excited to have a girl cousin. For the those of you that don't know, my sister-in-law Ariane is having a baby girl in April :)!

Happy Halloween!!!

Candy.... Candy.... Candy!

Growing Up!

Abby is changing everyday. She is an amazing baby. Last Wednesday she slept through the whole night!!! The next day she learned to roll over. She has slept through the last 3 of 4 nights. She loves to grab things and taste them, and gets frustrated when her toys don't do what she wants them to. She is pretty close to laughing and sitting up. The pictures in the slide show are of events in the last month. She loves to watch me grade papers and sit on Jared's shoulders. There are some pictures of cute outfits that I wanted to document and of her just being cute. Also... as one picture shows, she still makes me pretty tired!!!

New!!

New smiles, new clothes, new faces, new bathtub stage!!! What a photogenic little girl!

August Abby

Abby saw the doctor on August 1. She was back to her birth weight (she had lost 5 ounces in the hospital) and she had grown an inch and a half. She is developing way too fast for me, but I guess it's ok because I absolutely melted with her first smile at me (not a gas one)! She is sleeping pretty well for a baby that is 1 month old on the 18th. She usually sleeps 4 to 5 hours at night. She is really good natured and loves to sit and bounce in her the bouncy seat and to play on the floor. I bet she will have figured out how to roll over before she is 2 months old.

I went back to work on Thursday, and I am excited to work for this district. They are a great group of people, and it seems that I was meant to be here. Jared and I both start school on the 25th. He is busy working on websites for our cousin Bryce, and is excited to go to school as well.

Our First Rose Bud

Abigail has quite the arrival story. On Thursday, July 17 she had an appointment to check her fluids. That day was the mark of the 41st week. After being at the fetal center for two hours, they told us that the doctor had seen too many decelerations in her heart rate while I was having my extremely small contractions. So we went down to labor and delivery to have a baby. I went through 22 hours of labor that included cervical drugs fr 12 hours, and pytosin for 1o hours. After all this... I was dilated to a 1, possibly a 1 1/2! For most of this pregnancy, I had planned on needing a c-section, and now I was sure. They told me I could go 8 more hours, go home and come back tomorrow (yeah right!) or do the c-section. So, 10 lbs and 1 oz later, we had a beautiful baby girl! She was instantly famous! Doctors, nurses, and even other patients soon heard of such a big baby. My mid-wife came back from his conference and asked "Where in the world did you hide a 10 lb baby inside you?!" We are extremely blessed for this wonderful little miracle, and we cannot for the life of us figure out how we got so lucky.