My happiness project.

So this isn't exactly a "happiness project" in the way that Gretchen Rubin talks about in her book. BUT I've learned something entirely interesting to me recently. I should start by saying that my mind has been occupied with thoughts of my loved ones. Whether it be serious illness, marital trouble, or the ever stressful wait and legal biz we find ourselves in, I can't help but be distracted from my life. Sometimes days silently go by while I'm unfocused on anything in the "now."

We went to Stake Conference a couple of weeks ago (a church gathering where all of the wards in the stake get together to hear inspired messages by some in the stake and a general authority) and I heard something that has somehow taken up more of my thoughts than the rest of the mind numbing things I've been thinking about! I think the talk was specifically about finding happiness within our families or something. What she said that stuck with me can be applied to any happiness in any situation.

We must find our "happy" in our happiness. Say a father comes home from a long day at work to find his children fighting over a toy and screaming. He probably wouldn't FEEL happy in that moment or that entire evening. Or say a pregnant mother is (this is her example, graphic, but perfect) throwing up so hard that she throws her back out. She might not FEEL happy in the moment or for a long time after. But these two examples are small frames in a very happy situation. The father has a job that can support his family, and his children actually HAVE toys to fight over. The pregnant mother is going to have a baby - one of the most joyful things one can do in this life is bring another life into the world. We need to change our focus to the big picture. It's only there that we can really find our "happy" in what is real happiness.

Saoirse has gotten into a screaming faze. It's where she screams and we give her a reaction - it's all fun and games for her and headaches for us and the apartment building. It drives me crazy. She can be so loud it drowns out all joy and only leaves me with annoyance that can easily turn to frustration. By taking a step back in these kinds of situations I have been able to still be happy (and find a more constructive reaction for everyone) because I know that Saoirse is my little girl who I made and brought into the world. She was wanted and born into a family where, through the temple, we can be together forever. Happiness can be attained through focus and determination and uplift you to live a life few seemingly know. Anger, frustration, negative thoughts, hating things or people put a cap on happiness. It really comes down to where you put your focus, if you focus on negative things life will be miserable, but if you focus on happy things life can be absolute joy. It might sound easy and stupid but I can tell you that it works.


Here are some pictures.

We went sledding and I cut my finger on the snow. 

Saoirse favorite part about going to the store: onions

We haven't been outside to see the sun in a while.

Face.

I love The Awful Waffle

I will eat their pizza sometime - it has to be good with a pizza oven like that..

Stuffed doggie from Grandpa Dan and Grandma Lu!

"Thawd" = Soft

I'll get crazy one of these days and put some videos on here. The lack of quality pictures is directly related to the fact that I've been taking more videos lately.. 

His Valentine surprise!

Thanks to one of my favorite blogs, Cotton and Curls, I gave my hubby a very memorable and inexpensive Valentine! All I needed to buy was ice cream (his prize (yes, I realize this isn't vegan, but what can you do..)) and some blank index cards. I already had tape and red yarn.

This was seriously the cutest thing ever. And it was a lot of fun for Saoirse!

What I did was tape up the yarn, zig-zagging all over my house starting at the front door (where the lucky man would be entering) and ending at the freezer (for a delicious treat of treats). When that was all up I wrote little messages on the postcards and hung them on the yarn every once in a while.

You can write whatever you want on the postcards to make them personal, like things from a love letter, song, poem, or whatever! I wanted to do something really special to us. So I took a few things written about me or us from his Patriarchal Blessing. It turned out perfectly.

Saoirse LOVED this. She ran up and down the hallway with all of this above her head. Obviously, I had to be sure to keep all string out of her reach. There were a couple of parts I had to redo when I had turned around and seeing that she was ripping some yarn from the wall.

The end of the line for his ice cream and a little something extra. :)

Then! He came home and saw my creation!!

It worked so perfectly! He loved it of course. Afterwards we went to Texas Roadhouse, because he has been dying to go to that place (again, I know that wasn't very vegan of us..). Fortunately I did the "call ahead" thing, or as I like to call it a RESERVATION, and we sat down right away while the line of people were expected to wait 60 to 80 minutes(!!!!!!) until they could sit down. 

I'd say it was a pretty successful Valentine's Day.

Her nap time.

As I sit here during the little squeaker's nap time listening to her yell "Whoaaaaa!!!" from the comfort of my couch. I get to thinking about how adorable she is and how much I love her and how much I love nap time.

I would probably consider myself slightly introverted. I really enjoy watching and observing things around me and love sitting in the quiet of my house with nothing but my old grandma clock (don't judge my clock) ticking away in the background of my thoughts.

I've been thinking a TON about faith recently. And how, in our current (going unnamed) situation over here with all of the lawyering business (which by the way, I found a fabulous law office to go through (yay for us!)) all we've known is that we're at point A (right here) and we need to get all the way over to point B (over there, down that horrible long road) but all of the little in betweens (which are the most stressful part) are sitting there staring at us as we carefully come up and (hopefully) leap over them. I feel like there has been opposition in our decision - mainly our fear of 'what are we doing and how the heck are we supposed to get everything done' has graced our thoughts more often than we would admit. Though, here I am now, not scared like one would think because I know that all of those "in betweens" I was so terrified of (like, I had a hard time eating I was so frazzled) will be taken care of. Not that we won't have to come up to and leap over those obstacles, because I know we will, but everything will work so that those obstacles aren't as big as we thought, or we're given the strength to jump higher than we ever imagined. The scary thing is, that we can't really see that far ahead of us - we've been told what other similar paths were like, but our path? I don't really know. I can only see what's just in front of us and can only catch glimpses of scenes further down the road. It can be frustrating walking around essentially blind to what's ahead. But I'm not worried, I know we're being led to some greater destination. Whether it be the one we are expecting or not.


Different topic --


This is cute.

watching Mormon Messages..

I know there are some stay-at-home moms out there who are always searching for ways to entertain/teach their babes. I have learned from my peach that messes are the greatest invention. Ever. But OH messes... Do I really want to clean rice out of the crevasses of my home for the next several weeks? I'll be honest, I don't. Nor to I want to scrub (anything). I came up with an ingenius solution. The mailman loves to shower us with junk mail and newspapers which I hate (first world problem?). So, I took a newspaper and tore the whole thing into strips of paper (about an inch to two inches wide and the length of the newspaper). There is enough to fill a grocery bag completely (which I keep stored in the closet) and on special days (those days where nothing makes Saoirse happy) I bring out the bag and she goes bonkers throwing strips of newspaper everywhere. I mean, our entire floor gets covered. She then walks in circles in the strips of paper for a while and then moves on to climbing into her highchair and turning on and off the light. But there is a solid 20 to 30 minutes of playing with the paper. The best thing is that it's SO easy to clean up. Because the strips are long they're really easy to pick up - it takes about two minutes to get everything glimmering and shiny again.

I also tried the 'mixing food coloring with shaving cream' thing which worked like a charm. It's obviously a bathtub activity but it's great for those days when I'm taking forever getting ready or when I want to clean the bathroom or something. Saoirse really likes it too.

Sorry about the massive text and lack of pictures. I'm far too lazy to find the rest of the amazing pictures and videos I've been taking - so maybe I'll leave that for another day. Or just forget about it and post the newest of the new.. when I have them.

Our busy days

I feel like I've been so busy since we got back from Christmas vacation in South Dakota that I haven't had time to do anything. It seems like there are a load of heavy subjects that I need to be thinking about and doing something about that right now, all I want to do is take a nap! There isn't anything particularly pressing that I need to clean, nothing to order, nobody to call. Okay, there are a lot of people I should call but who wants to talk to lawyers?! Not me. "Lawyers?!" you say? Don't worry, all is merry and well in the land of Thorin. In fact, things are looking very well here! You avid readers will just have to stay tuned for a couple of more months to find out just why I'm talking to THOSE people. Needless to say, it's all stressful. Maybe that's why my house is so clean - because I do enjoy a good stress cleaning. But today, I take a break from the 'need to's' and enjoy the fact that I have a package coming in the mail FULL of goodies... like a wall mounted clothes drying rack (you can tell you've passed your prime when a drying rack gets you excited).

Anyway, here are some pictures of Saoirse.

Sunglasses and a boot-hand.

My old bear chair goes to my little one.

Saoirse snuggling up to Uncle Mark. 

I felt like I had a lot more to say when I started writing. Thanks for reading. I'll try to be a little more regular with this thing but I imagine I won't have much time for a while. 

Ew. I'm sure this is the most boring post I've ever written. Maybe I'll post pictures of my clothes rack when it gets here. That should exciten this post right up.

She's all I think about.

Everyone should know by now that I think my little girl is the cutest button ever to grace the human existence. I'm also biased, but that does not mean there isn't truth in my belief. For example,

My button loves marshmallows.

She also loves these fake glasses Joseph bought in Taiwan to keep the "crap out of his eyes" while riding his bike since he wasn't allowed to wear sun glasses on his mission. (she wore these for an hour the other day, just going about her usual business).

And sometimes (this is actually only the second time) she falls asleep on the couch after a long Sunday of avoiding pink eye in Nursery at church.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Holy guacamole Abby!! She's the cutest thing my eyes have ever chanced upon to see!!" Yes yes. Believe me, I know. 

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving of the little squirt.

She loved this wagon probably. She never admitted with any expression of joy that she liked it, but she never tried to escape so I consider that a win.

Her cousin Scarlet LOVES her and followed her around everywhere. Including the several times she tried to walk into the creek in the wooded area back there.

Uncle Vinnie was also enraptured by her. Uncles are really great when they're only a year older than you are.

This was as close as she dared get to Kit. She was looking deeply into her eyes for a while before I tried to capture the moment. Saoirse doesn't like to touch or be close to animals, but she will get into position to look them in the eyes. Whatever works I guess.

Here's a ponytail. She's especially adorable with one (and sometimes two) of these.

My two loves. I think I may have posted that last picture before, but it's a winner so I have no qualms showing you again how amazing my family is.

And then there is my dear mother and brother.. reminding me why I am so weird sometimes.

Today is a sick day for me so I'm avoiding cleaning by staying snuggled warmly on the couch. It would be great if my Tylenol were to kick in soon. I think I'll take a nap. Enjoy your hump day everyone.

My new hobby.

In a moment of weakness on the (incredibly long) drive back from Iowa, I had a stroke of "genius," and thought that I should make my own iPhone app. How hard could it be? I've had a couple of ideas bouncing around in my brain for a while - really, I was just waiting for someone else to make them BUT why wait when I could get rich and famous for my super duper fun apps?

But really, the potential treasure trove that is app making isn't the driving force for me. I just want to see if I can do it. Once I did the research to find out what I actually NEED to do to make this happen I realized that it requires a TON of work. Particularly for someone like me who isn't computer savvy. At all. Blogging is about as crazy as it gets for me.

So here I am now, teaching myself how to program. ...PROGRAM... If you don't know what that means. It means...

..being able to read and write this stuff. It has been described by about everyone who gets it as "another language." It's called "Objective-C" for those of you interested. (like no one). 

I'll have you know that it IS another language. A nerdy, nerdy language. 

I've also started an experiment of sorts. My dear cousin has been talking to me about this stuff called "Mila." She also sells it. The whole thing is really a pyramid scheme. BUT WAIT. Don't get turned off by it yet. Pyramid schemes are not inherently bad, a nicer name for them is Network Marketing. I think they're only bad if you don't love the product you're trying to sell (like in any business). In fact, if you're really passionate about it, you can make quite a bit of money at it. Not that I'm going to start selling or anything anytime soon. But Mila is a blend of highly nutritional chia seeds. And since I'm all over this health boat thing, it piqued my interest - not because you can potentially make a ton of money, but because everyone who eats it LOVES it. I mean, these people are raving. Since I consider myself willing to try things that I feel could benefit me, heck, why not try these magical chia seeds? My cousin gave me a bag of it over Thanksgiving and I started eating it today. So far, I'm not dead, I feel pretty good actually. I think the thing I'm really looking for is for it to solve my slight anemic problem I seem to never be able to get rid of. 

Here's a site talking about this guys experience with it - I don't think he sells it but he wanted to figure out if it's actually as good as the "people" rave about. 

And here's my cousin's Mila site if you get a hankering to buy some. Buy it on her site! It will help her out a lot!

And here's a picture of the two most amazing people in the world.

My days come down to this.

So, it's been cold here that last few days. I've been enjoying it quite a bit. Cold equals baking. And we all know baking means sugary treats and rainbows.

THEN, by some miracle, it actually snowed. In Provo. And stayed for more than 24 hours. The babe was mesmerized by the white fluff so we decided to take her out into the wintery wonderland (aka the parking lot).

 By far, one of her most favorite things besides Julian Smith is running recklessly through the snow.

On another note, I got a new old phone! Saoirse kindly found Joseph's old/slightly damaged phone which is in much better shape than my mostly broken/canonlyreceivecalls phone with a broken screen. It will be such a pleasure to start screening my calls again.

On yet another note, if you haven't started watched Once Upon a Time yet. Get with the program. I'm obsessed. It's by the makers of the show Lost - and from my experience watching that I can only imagine the series ending with an overwhelming amount of loose ends. Until then, I will obsessively watch each new episode with giddy adolescent joy. 

My Christmas wreath!

I MADE this!

I don't currently have a way to hang this on the door so the silverware drawer will have to do in the mean time.

I found several examples of a "crystal" wreath on Pinterest. This was super easy and CHEAP. It cost me about $2.50 to make.

The base is a wire clothes hanger (I had an extra hanging in the coat closet). The white "crystal" is just 70 sandwich bags (the zipper part cut off and the bags taken apart so you have two separate sides of a sandwich bag), and the flower is taken apart then glued together again and a bedazzle jewel thing glued to the middle. I bought everything at the dollar store - I would highly recommend going to the Dollar Tree, after talking to my friend it seems like there is a lot more there than the local Honks Dollar Store.

I tied the bag halves around the hanger and tried to keep the fluff in front (so the back is flat-ish). I glued some yarn  onto the back of the flower and just tied that on (so I have the option of changing the flower out to something else if I want to - or I could easily add something more!).

I love this and can't wait to hang it on the door!! If anyone has any ideas on how to hang it let me know! I don't want to buy anything but I'm not sure what I could use. 

Here are some pictures of Saoirse "watching" General Conference over the weekend.

She's so funny, she loves sitting in stuff. I always go into her room and find her sitting in her clothes drawer, and she tries to sit in one of the drawers in the kitchen too. I love that weirdo.

Me, me, and, oh uh, me.

Warning: This post will tell you too much. More than you ever wanted to know.




There is a very soft spot in my heart for pain killers.

I know what you're thinking - I have an addiction or something blah blah. But no, I'm too poor for that kind of thing. I'm not too poor for a UTI though (thank goodness..).

OH the joy that fills my quivering heart to think of the horrible bloody pain that is a UTI. Really. Every time I get them, they are worse than the time before.

What am I saying?? Who doesn't love the feeling of being on the verge of wetting their pants with burning acid and bits of clotted blood? But really. I was in so much pain this morning. So I hightailed it over to the doctors office (all the while, doing the "potty dance" in public, but it's okay, I lost all dignity when I had my baby at the hospital and there were 12 people shining lights all over my body).

So lets get back to how much I love pain relievers. I love them. And if any of you in bloggerville get a UTI, make sure you ask for 'the stuff that numbs your urethra'. The sweet relief is beyond amazing. You'll know it's working when a)your pee turns to the color of orange gatorade and b)you're not peeing knives.


On the plus side and a completely different note, I LOVED General Conference this weekend! I particularly liked Elder Oaks' talk. It seemed like the theme of everything was about enduring to the end and having faith in these hard times. It was a nice reminder that we're not ever alone in our struggles.

Also, I had a completely non-vegan diet this weekend. And now my body is in a full on revolt. Ooh well, who needs food when you have the Dick Van Dyke show to comfort your aching body?

My, oh, my.

Tis the season!!!

It's never too soon to start thinking about Christmas. (I start to get into the Christmas mood in July by listening to Christmas music for a few weeks straight). Now is the PERFECT time to really get into it!! Though Joseph will make me wait until after Thanksgiving to put up our Christmas tree (boo) I can do projects and make HOT CHOCOLATE.

Speaking of, I have I fabulous recipe I've made the last 3 nights

(oh sugar, how I love thee)

Hot Chocolate!

(sorry, this isn't vegan as of YET, I had some old powdered coffee creamer from our non-vegan days and want to use that up before we get creative with vegan coffee creamers)

2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
heaping 1/4 cup powdered coffee creamer
1/8 cup cocoa powder
dash cinnamon

1. heat water in small pot on stove, add sugar and stir until completely melted.
2. Add coffee creamer, cocoa powder, and cinnamon. Stir.
3. DRINK!*

This takes about 10 minutes or so to make and is super yummy.


*Goes very well with a game of Dominion.

She's a smart one.

This is why we can't have nice things.

My poor attempt to keep her from climbing on the keyboard and touching all the buttons.

We went to Iowa!

Oh Iowa, how great and marvelous you are with all of your trees and grass, and with all of that wide open expanse I can only describe as heavenly.



Oh, hey, you're here.



I went to Iowa this last weekend. It was ah-may-zing.

We got there Thursday night around 8:30 and the partying didn't stop until we left Sunday evening!

But first, lets talk about how much I hate the Denver airport.

That's right, I'm talking to you.

I really REALLY hate being there. Though I suppose my hatred is based on little experience there - maybe if I went there more often I would like it. ...meh, probably not.

The first time I was there we were coming back from grand 'ole state of Canada and our flight got cancelled (oh joy), so they kindly put us up in a "hotel" (I beg to question the brothel-like-state the place was in). This was the dirtiest place I've EVER slept. But lets start with the lobby. It was actually quite nice. When we got to the elevator I noticed the broken mirrors were being held together/in place with duct tape (keeping it classy of course). When we got to the floor our rooms were on I then noticed (besides the obviously filthy floor) the sockets had no covers (okay, maybe they were replacing them? Or doing some electrical work? Something??). Our room was relatively nice compared to the others (I mean, our room only had FUNNY HAIRS on everything - we're talking the funny kind of hairs people, though not so funny when they're in your bed). But hey, we were lucky, our friends stayed in a room with blood on the sink. 

This time when we were there, it was far less eventful but I blame everything on Denver (unfair? Yes, but I'm pretty sure the Denver Airport is ripe with portals to the Nether [my Minecraft reference for the day]). Anyway, Saoirse had a scab on her foot that got rubbed off and we didn't notice until her foot and shoe were SATURATED with blood. (yay). Then we had a two hour delay added to the 3 1/2 hour layover. (yipee). Our way back was much more kind to us with only a two hour layover and an annoying 7 or 8-year-old whiny kid who seemed extremely manipulative based on the 20 minutes we listened and watched him whine to his mom.

Anyway, lets get back to how amazing Iowa is. I got to see lots of my family which was the best thing ever!!! We had a lot of down time so I got to catch up and hang out. Saturday we went to be part of my cousin's wedding. I was a bridesmaid, and made my own jacket to cover my shoulders (HOLLA). I don't have pictures of the wedding (since I was in it) so I'm going to wait to post pictures until I can steal them from my cousin's Facebook. In the meantime, enjoy some of this.

Vinnie thought it was funny to talk on the "phone" (or the baby monitor).

Of course I ate Taco John's, OooooOooooOhh, such salty goodness..

Saoirse loved climbing up and down the stairs.

I wanted Vinnie to smile, but asking him to smile wasn't working, so I asked him to show me his teeth - this was what I got. Good enough I guess.

Then I taught him a monster face.

They were best friends!! Vinnie liked to show Saoirse affection but it usually ended up with him laying on top of her while she was folded in half..

I just thought this was adorable.

Then Scarlet came over! I didn't want anyone to tell her we were there so we could all surprise her. I think she was very happy about her surprise!

So, we only had one car to get everyone to the wedding. Joseph and Jherek were getting cozy in the trunk space.

I love these girls!

So this is like, the only picture I got at the wedding. I felt like I should post SOMETHING from the wedding. I mean, it was the whole reason we even went to Iowa.

After the reception we all went back to our rooms and hung out for a little while. Saoirse was being so cute - whenever she gets really tired she closes her eyes tightly and sits there. 

Breakfast the next morning was delicious! Joseph had a million waffles and we got to spend a little more time with Aunts, Uncles, and cousins before we all left!

Saoirse really loves her grandma!

Then we watched the kiddies go swimming.

Saoirse really wanted to go in too. 

She loved it!!

They got out and Saoirse diaper was enormous. 

Her and daddy stood in the shower for about 10 minutes. I guess it felt good.

Later that day my dad and step-mom came over, it was so good to see them. :D

Then Vinnie decided to paint his arm, head, and table. 

We visited with the Gelders for a little while too, but I forgot to get pictures with them... :/

All in all, it was a very fun and successful trip! I can't wait to go back for Thanksgiving and see all of these wonderful people again! 

Okay, I'm getting tired of writing and I'm hungry. I also can't make eye contact with Saoirse without her crying.