Happiness

    Asher is 8 years old today!!! Happy Birthday, Buddy! He is getting baptized this Saturday and he is SO excited! He was asked to give a talk last Sunday and while I was helping him write it, I added "I am excited!" He corrected me and said "No, I am SO excited" and quickly grabbed the pen and added the emphasis. Asher loves art, basketball, laughing, hanging out with friends, going to school. He just started reading the Harry Potter series this summer, inspired by one of his friends and he's already on the third book (although I think he is skimming some pages in order to keep up with Ethan who is also reading it). His best friends are Aiden and Zack. He loves baby Declan and likes to make him smile. For his birthday, he asked for minecraft on the computer (we have it on the phone) and a remote control anything. We love you, Asher! Happy Special 8th Birthday! *I know that I have mentioned before that I would change this blog to more of a fam...

This past month, our Stake (our local Church group comprised of several smaller groups or wards) challenged us as families to do something concerning Family History Work every day for 142 days! I am so impressed with our Stake for putting this out there and we've been excited to learn more about our ancestors! Some of the things we have done are: -Tell stories about Josh's Grandparents at the dinner table. -Tell stories about us growing up. -Watched a video from Neil L. Anderson's talk on Finding Our Cousins about doing Family Search as a family. -Worked on the website www.puzzilla.org -Looked at our ancestors on familysearch.org -Made an account with ancestry.com (free for all LDS familysearch users!) Some of the things we want to do: -Video tape Grandma or Grandpa Hulihan (and any other Grandparents) and download the videos onto Ancestry.com. -Add pictures or stories online on familysearch. -Find out more stories of our ancestors and write them down to ad...

  Summertime Adventures- Working on some things on our summer bucket list! Most of the time we have been swimming and doing some summertime chores, but we also wanted to do a few fun activities. #1 Treasure Hunt! We went to a nearby Goodwill and had a contest to see who could find the weirdest item in 20 minutes. The kids had a lot of fun and Ethan won with these orange shoes!  #2. Homemade donuts for breakfast! We took the easy way out by making these using the rolls of refrigerated dough that come in a can. You make a hole with your fingers and then fry them. Pretty easy and quite yummy! (Josh did these).   #3 Make icecream. This recipe was pretty simple- 1/4 milk or half and half or cream (we used heavy cream- pretty rich), 1 Tablespoon Sugar, 1 tsp vanilla. Put in a small bag and put that bag into a bag with 2 cups ice and 6 Tablespoons salt. Shake for 5 minutes. The kids loved it! Although, I would use 1/2 milk, 1/2 cream next ti...

I have two friends who are supporters of the website Ordainwomen.org. This has caused me to give a lot more thought and concern to the topic of Women and the Priesthood lately. I have tried to avoid getting too involved, but I think it is an important subject to address. On Motherhood and the Priesthood: I want you to know that as a woman I feel completely validated as an equal and noble partner in my marriage, in the world and in Heavenly Father's plan. As a wife, I hold equal standing with my husband. We counsel together, we pray together, we make decisions together. As a Mother, and together with Josh, I have been able to bring children into this world. It is an amazing, awe inspiring, completely fulfilling role that I have long inspired to and have been raised to do. As a Father, and together with me, Josh holds the Priesthood and is able to bless our infants, baptize them, give Father's blessings and administer in the ordinances of the Gospel. He has also been r...

Father's Day. Awesome. Presents.Steak. Potatoes. A smore dip (chocolate chips and marshmallows in a cast iron pan broiled for 3 minutes and served with dippable graham crackers). Great Day!

Declan,      You are two months old!      You are growing and changing so much! You like to:         -Coo and try to talk and sing when we talk to you. It is so cute!         -Laugh if we shake your hands and then tickle under your arms.                -You are super long- your head hits the arm of the rocking chair when          I feed you and you barely fit!         -You love to listen to music- you smile and coo: anything on Pandora, especially Baby Rock songs (rock songs set to lullaby music- so creative). When you cry in the car, I put Pandora on my phone, put my phone in your car seat and you are good to go! (we learned this on our trip to Cali!).          -...

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...