Happiness

My sister Molly was visiting and we got all of the cousins together except for a few (Kalea and Charlotte)! Cousins are the best!!! Amy and baby Arthur. He is two and a half months older than Declan and such a chill, happy cutie! Grandpa and tiny Declan    My sisters Amy and Molly (and Arthur) meeting Declan for the first time! They said he looks like such an Abbott!    At the beach on Saturday- Elizabeth and some yummy carrot cake!     Elizabeth Renee and Anna Elizabeth    Jonah after a ride on the boogie board!     Ethan building in the sand.   Declan's first time at the beach. He slept through it!   Elizabeth as a sand mermaid.   Josh taking a ride with Uncle Doug in Carpinteria.  (Thanks, Picstitch and Instagram for the picture design- scrapbooking meets blogging?)     Santa Barbara Mission and a sidewalk chalk show.   Us...

  After visiting with my family, we headed up to Paso Robles, CA, where Josh's Parents and 2 sisters live for an Abbott family reunion. Everyone was able to be there except Josh's youngest brother Ben and his wife Barbara, whom we missed greatly! There were around 54 people there. Quite a crowd! But a fun crowd at that!  The First day we met at a park for dinner and took family pictures (those are to come). The second day we went to Star Farms- a local lake complete with a sandy beaches, kayaks, a platform to dive off of, an in-ground trampoline, picnic tables, a big bbq, hammocks and big palmy umbrellas. We spent almost the whole day there and it was a great place for our whole family to be. It felt like Heaven- having everyone together, warm weather, good food and fun activities to do!   Josh kayaking with Asher  Braden! Check out those palm trees!  Little Brian, who lives in Hawaii and we hadn't met before. So cute!  Eli...

Saturday, the 14th of Aug, started off with a trip on NYC Metro. We stayed in an apartment in Brooklyn, so we took the train to the Staten Island Ferry. The weather was beautiful and we got an early start, catching the 8:30 am ferry to see the Statue of Liberty (we got our tickets online beforehand). It was amazing. At first I thought it was smaller than it seemed, but upon arrival I saw that it was huge. We walked around and I was in awe of what Miss Liberty and what she represents. The ferry also hit Ellis Island and we debated whether to get off- we only had a day in New York City, but we did and didn't regret it. You can just feel the history in the immigration office. Like the spirits of those who went through there were watching over us. Getting back to mainland, we took the subway to Canal street, where I had to buy something at Burger King in order to use the public restroom. There is no where to use the bathroom downtown, so do it while you can, for free! We hit canal st.,...

A statue in Times Square, put up for a National Kiss in- we missed it by one day, but should of kissed here anyway! Josh and I- downtown New York On the top of Top of the Rock- a tall building and a great way to see the city! Friday Night view of the City! Josh and I took a half day off on Friday and caught a bus to New York City to see the sights and visit his good friend R from BYU Law School. R and Josh met on the very first orientation day of law school way back in 2004. The boys were just born that summer and we were loving life. They hit it off, became good friends and have kept in touch since then. R works at a big law firm in New York and Josh made a solo trip to see him last January. He had such a great time, that we have been talking about going together ever since. We left the kids with a very kind family- who already have five children- and ventured off. We missed our first bus that was slated to leave at 1:30 pm, not having calculated enough time to travel from Josh's ...

During the last three days of our trip to California we visited my hometown of Victorville, CA. It was amazing to see how much has changed in the 14 years that I left home (doesn't that date me?) My neighborhood has gone from one of stable income to poverty. The city pays it's residents $50 for every 5 square feet of grass they convert to gravel or concrete. This is an effort to conserve water. I guess a lot of people needed the money, because a lot of neighbors have rocks, dirt or junk for their yard. I'm glad my Parents haven't caved in to that culture. I took a few pictures of those yards which I may post later. Pictured above is my Mom, Joanie, and Elizabeth at good ole' Hook Park where we hung out all the time and my initials may or may not be engraved on the sidewalk somewhere. The Jr. High is just around the corner. All four kids in the gorgeous back yard my Dad works so lovingly at. I was trying to get a picture of Ethan and Jonah wearing matching shirts, bu...