May

Abi has entered a new phase that I'm sure has a mission assignment something like, "Seek and Destroy! Climb and Conquer first if possible." She is climbing everything and so we have rearranged parts of the house to keep her safe. It's like the game Rush Hour only instead of trying to get the red car out, we're trying to keep the toddler safe and entertained at the same time.

A new stage of life

James came home one night late to find us like this. Abi was only MOSTLY asleep completely flopped back like this hoping I'd keep tickling her face and neck. I'd do the same thing if someone would tickle me!

Pretending she's asleep

Another example of that new phase in life... Yikes! Glad we are still mostly in that cheap, college stage of life. I can't afford to replace the things she's climbing on and potentially knocking over.

That climbing stage! Ugh....

This spring was so lovely and long! And I've said it before on here but I love my yard! It is so carefully planned so that there is something in bloom constantly for almost two months solid. Love it!

View from my kitchen window

So big news for May, Juli was baptized! She decided in April that it was the right step for her after much prayer and from that point on, did not want to delay at all. This picture is cool because it shows so many of the missionaries who were instrumental in teaching her. Four of them are assigned to our ward and four others are assigned to the Portuguese speaking congregation. She was taught at various times in both languages. Such a neat experience to witness!

Juli's baptism and the missionaries who helped teach her

Juli asked James to baptize her which was an honor for sure!

Juli and James

Family photo!

Excited for the baptism

Just after the baptism ended, our church parking lot was used as a starting point for a bus route to a city function for shuttling people to and from so as to keep the car congestion down at the actual location of the event. Since no one showed up for a bit, Abi and a couple other kids from church got to play on the bus which was like a dream come true for two-year-olds. The bus driver was super sweet to them and let them push the button to open and close the door and sit in his seat. What a treat!

The inside of a bus

Since Juli got baptized the day before Mother's Day, we combined the celebrations and James took us three girls out to eat pancakes after the baptism. It was lovely! Abi ate everyone's blueberries pretty much.

Happy Mother's Day

May was a wonderful month in that James and I got to have several unusually bigger dates. We went to see the new Captain America: Civil War movie at a nice theater with reclining seats. That was great! And then the next week, we went to a Yankee's game, but not just any game; they were playing the Kansas City Royals! It was such fun to do something so American and historic! I really didn't know which team to route for.

Yankee Stadium

I ended up routing for the Royals because they were the underdog most of the game and I am a sucker for underdogs. Plus, I might be a little biased being from Kansas and all...

It's so huge!

There were a few guys behind us that were serious fans but the nice kind. They weren't too obnoxious although one got so drunk he started walking along the balcony looking over for better closer seats and I was so sure we were about to witness him falling over. I had a hard time concentrating on the game at that point. But they were helpful to us newbies since they go to Yankee's games quite often and could tell us about the team and the super fast closer pitcher. It was seriously a blast! Oh and we didn't get pictures of the best part but we ate so much concession food! Haha! LOVED IT!

View from our seats

Abi loves the zoo!

Lizard love at the zoo

The coolest piggy bench

Ok, bump picture for all the excited fans! :) Still not much but it's there!

15 week twin bump

Juli was able to attend her school prom and the prom dance put on by our church. We found this lovely dress and she looked amazing in it! I had to hem about 6 inches off the bottom which proved to be a process since I hadn't used sequined material before but it was fine in the end. More daunting than it actually deserved.

Back of Juli's prom dress

All ready for prom

I just love Abi's hair in this picture!

Crazy hair!

We found a cute hat at Costco that Abi thought was fun to try on but wouldn't keep it on so... didn't waste money on that though I wish she would wear a hat for sun protection.

If only she'd keep it on

Abi and I hung out at Central Park while Juli did proxy baptisms for the dead for her first time at the Manhattan Temple. Exciting for her!

Swinging at Central Park

Abi cheesed it up for the camera. These pictures are fairly similar but I had to include the hilarious faces and one good one.

Do you like this face?...

...Or this face?

The next week we went to the temple again to witness our friends be sealed to their adopted daughter. How nice for their family to have that extra blessing of being sealed as a family for the eternities now! After their sealing, we went out for pizza. Abi hates when I cut her pizza. I guess she thinks she's big enough and she actually does a good job.

This girl likes her pizza slices whole!

This picture is just silly. James requested meatloaf one day and I told him I wasn't ready to conquer meatloaf because I had heard that if you don't do it just right, it's awful. So he'd just have to wait a few years until I got to that one. So he called his mom, got her recipe and made his own meatloaf a few days later, but went a step even further and added mashed potatoes and gravy to the design. Good grief. He's a mess sometimes, but it actually was really delicious so I can't really complain.

Oh how I love my husband!

Abi loves slides and swings and especially loves watching other objects go down the slide before she does. She's a little scientist basically exploring gravity and motion!

Bringing Dory and Nemo to the park

Happiness right here

Turns out, the zoo has a Dory fish!

"Dory!!!" at the zoo

Another bump photo! So cute!

17 week twin bump

Abi loves getting in our bed and tries to do it sneakily before we notice while getting her ready for bed. Silly girl.

Reading in Mommy's bed

I'm trying to get Abi excited about more movies so we tried Emperor's New Groove - one of the best Disney movies made that has been severely underrated. It has great music so Abi likes it OK. She especially loves the scene where the panthers chase the llama and the guy saves the llama by swinging on a vine and running into the log which consequently gets them tied up. She has to act out that whole scene so here she is being the llama right now... Great, right?

Acting out being tied to a log hanging over a river

I finally dropped the ten bucks for a swimming pool. Haha! I spent almost a year wishing I had one and finally realized that it was only ten dollars. Good grief! And Abi loves it!

Swimming with the whales

Obviously the best seat in the house

This picture isn't that great but the lighting is awesome for showing off Abi's hair color! Love it!

Love the sunlight in this picture!

Another trip to NYC... Abi loves music so she couldn't help getting right up to this performer who happened to be filming at that moment. They were gracious though and danced with her a bit.

Interrupting a film shoot in Central Park

The rocks are so fun to climb in Central Park!

What laziness looks like - or ingenuity. They cross paths ocassionally.

Reading with Hans Christian Anderson

Finding letters she knows

NYC is fun but so exhausting! Sometimes I wish I had a stroller for me... Abi cried and cried until she finally dropped off.

How to sleep while strolling through NYC

We walked the Highline for fun which is a park that the city made on an old railroad line that is raised above the city. So it's a narrow, long strip of greenery and cool art.

A cool building

The Highline

Cool shade

We ate at Chelsea Market which is the busiest place to eat ever. There are lots of options for food but no tables or chairs really. Abi and I waited for a table to clear while James and Juli ordered food. Juli was walking up when one table cleared so we headed right for it, but just as we got there, the lady at the next table started taking the chairs from our table. To make this clear, each table was supposed to have four chairs. She was sitting at her table with three grandchildren and one extra chair (from our table) holding her bags. So, basically they had five chairs, we had two (not sure where the fourth was) and now she was stealing another. I basically started fighting over the chair because to be honest, I was pregnant though not visibly and super exhausted and just wanted to sit down so badly I was about to cry. Somewhere in this brawl I realized she spoke no English but what I thought was Spanish so I started explaining to her in Spanish that we were four people and needed at least two chairs. I mean, come on! Well, turns out she didn't speak Spanish, she spoke Portuguese (they were from Brazil) so Juli jumped in and finished the conversation for me. What luck for us! Apparently they were waiting on their parents to bring food so they really did need six chairs but that's when I say "Put a kid on your lap! You can have 5 chairs for 6 people, we get 2 chairs for 4 people." Done. Haha! Oh what pregnancy makes you do for a bit of comfort. We did end up with two chairs and James was an adorable gentleman and stood while we ate until Juli finished eating and went window shopping while he sat to finish his meal. I love the entertainment that big cities provide but I will never miss the crowds and lack of space - personal or public.

Exhausted but victorious

We finally made it to our last destination which was the Samsung store in NYC. It is really neat but we were so tired. I think our reaction was muted from exhaustion which disappointed James a bit but we gave it our best effort. Abi was adorable and when Juli laid on the couch, Abi ran up and laid down too like she was just as exhausted but she wasn't really. She'd had a nap and got pushed most of the day in the stroller. Hehe... she just loves Juli.

Abi wanted to be exhausted like Juli and me

Totally different day, adorable sleeping baby!

Sometimes you just fall asleep

I love this girl and how much she loves water!

Splashing is so much fun!

Abi has decided that airplanes in the sky are whales and I'm sure it comes from watching Finding Nemo because the planes do look remarkably like the whale in that movie from a distance. So now we go whale watching which must be confusing to everyone else around us. Someday, she'll learn we don't all live in the ocean.

"WHALE!!"

While swimming, a fox walked through our yard. So that makes the list: mice, deer, turkeys, squirrels, raccoons, skunk, and fox. Yeah, we live in the city.

Fox?