Our Beloved Prophet President Hinckley

Most of you know that our prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away last night at the age of 97. He has been the president of the church most of my adult life. I will miss him so much. His sense of humor and crinkly grandpa smile will be greatly missed, as well as his uncanny ability to tell us just what we need to know! I know that he was and is a prophet of God and am grateful for the wonderful things that he was able to accomplish for the Lord during his time here on the earth. When I heard the news last night, I was surprised to have mixed feelings of both sadness and joy! I am happy that he is finally with his beloved sweetheart again! What a reunion it must have been! It makes you want to just gather your family close and tell them how much you love them! So get off the computer and go hug your spouse and kids and loved ones and enjoy your time on this beautiful earth!

Love to you all;o)

Hershey, PA

We got our pic taken in front of the HUGE tree inside Hershey's Chocolate World!

Abby took the tour sitting with Zoie-it was awesome to see how it's all made--and the "sample" was especially great!
Hershey Park was later that day and by this point, Abby's cold she had caught a few days earlier was getting to her. But we had to stop at the entrance of the park and decide which rides she could ride--the ones marked "Hershey Miniatures"!
She loved riding the Carousel with Dad, but you can see her exhaustion in her eyes!
And of the 5 pictures I took of her on this ride, not once did I get a smile. It was so sad! She was trying so hard! She just kept going....
...and going...

...and going....

...and going...

...and going....until she could go no more...

...and it was time to head home hugging her Reese's Peanut Butter Bear that Nana and Poppy bought for her...and about 10 hours later....we were home (we hit traffic in DC).

It was a great trip and we had a BLAST!

Our trip to NY!

Christmas Day, we headed to Syracuse, NY to visit Josh's grandparents. We had a blast caravanning (is that a word?) with Josh's parents, sister, Heidi and her family. Abby saw snow, or rather played in it, for the first time, even though it was a week old! (A little hard and icy, but snow nonetheless!)I made hats for Josh's dad and grandfather for Christmas using those round looms (the second largest was the one I used), forgetting how big their heads are! But since I didn't even start until we got into the car to start our trip, there was nothing I could do! So here they are with their way too small "beanies"! They're good sports!

We decided to got to Palmyra the day after we got there-it's just about 45 minutes away, so here is the nativity set up outside the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center there.

We took the indoor tour at the Hill Cumorah-it was REALLY cold outside-starting in the room with the Christus and ending with the movie, Joseph Smith-Prophet of the Resoration (which was WONDERFUL, by the way!) Here are the kids in front of the statue. L-R: Madilyn, Silvia, Abby, Jacobi and Zoie. When we walked into the room, Abby said, "Dad, Jesus' hands." And when we left, she said, "G'bye, Jesus."

Then we headed a few miles down the road to the Sacred Grove. It was so peaceful that day, with the sleet hitting the untouched snow throughout the grove.

Abby enjoyed it immensely, as you can see on her face! We had to hold her most of the time, so she wouldn't run off the path into that untouched snow!

And then the next day, we headed down to Hume, NY, where Josh's aunt and uncle live. WE had a really fun get-together with them and their children and grandchildren. We hadn't seen them in awhile and Abby hadn't met most of them. We enjoyed listening to Pat (the tallest who lives in NYC) sing for us and eating yummy sandwiches!

The NY part of the trip was fabulous...then on to Hershey, PA...

WOZ!

Recently, Abby has really gotten into the Wizard of Oz, which seems weird to me, because she's not afraid at all! I used to be terrified of those monkeys! She just laughs at them! Anyway, she calls the movie "Woz", which makes me chuckle every time she says it-isn't the vocabulary of children wonderful? Each of these pictures were taken when she was watching "Woz"-look at all the different poses! Maybe she'll be a model...




Her bouncy seat was out for her cousin, Tanner, but she still loves it just like she did when she was a tiny baby!


Notice the tongs-she loves to play with kitchen utensils!

This is her "surprised" look-it's usually accompanied by and "O"-shaped mouth whenever she hears a train or a big truck go by. She loves to open the ottoman and play in it.

On top of the back of the couch!

She asks me to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" almost every day. So often that I have to throw in some Katharine McPhee runs in there to keep it interesting! Don't we all love "the Wizard of Oz"?

Christmas Eve Pics-a little late!

This year, we invited all my family members who live here in Florence to come over for Christmas Eve. I really wanted to start some traditions for our little family, especially since Abby is old enough to almost "get it" now. So I really wanted to read and act out the story of Christ's birth. But my brother, Ben, and his family couldn't make it until later that night, so Abby and Baby Myah were the only children there, meaning we had to use the adults as the actors!

"Mary" (my grandma, Da) and "Joseph" (my grandpa, Papa) on their way to the city of David with their "donkey" (my brother, Boo)

"Baby Jesus" (Myah) sleeping contentedly (for about 2 seconds) in the "manger" (our ottoman)

The whole scene, with a "shepherdess" holding "Baby Jesus";0)

Almost the whole cast-Josh was videotaping and my cousin Tammy was taking pics.

Front L-R: Wise Woman (my Aunt Lynn, my mom's sister), Shepherdess (Amber, my sister-in-law)

Middle L-R: Wise Woman (my Aunt Libby, my mom's sister), Wise Woman (my mom), Donkey (apparently from da Hood;o)-my brother, Boo, Shepherdess (my sister, Anna), Angel (Abby, who had removed her costume as quickly as I had put it on!), Shepherdess (my cousin, Jaqueline), Mary (my grandma), with Baby Jesus (Myah), The Star (my sister, Sarah)

Back L-R: Joseph (my grandpa), the director (me;o), Narrator (my dad), Angel (my Uncle William)

It was a blast! We went and caroled to our neighbor next door who has Alzheimer's, which was really neat! We had my grandma's famous chicken-n-dumplins and my Aunt Libby's famous macaroni-n-cheese, with tons of yummy desserts that I worked very hard on-I used the pecans Abby picked up to make two pecan pies-one with chocolate, too. And we had fabulous appetizers, too!

Christmas is so wonderful! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Naps are fun (and can be taken ANYWHERE!)

I was looking through the pics on my phone the other day and saw this one that I thought I should share. Abby is a GREAT sleeper--go ahead, be jealous of me--but she usually doesn't go to sleep anywhere but her bed and occasionally in the car, if we're on a long trip. A while back, we were at my parents' house and I left Abby in the living room watching tv-a few minutes later, I walked back into the room and saw this...

I still haven't finished going through the pics on my phone, so maybe I'll find some other treasures to share!

"Baby Myah"

My brother, Boo and his wife, Amber, had their first child, Myah Reese Harvey, on November 26, and Abby was ecstatic! She loves babies and has been like a little Mommy to her when she's around her lately, making sure she has her "dabby" (Abby's word for pacifier) and letting us all know when Myah is "cwying" or when Abby thinks she's "poopin";o) I thought I'd post a few pics for all those who may be interested!