Abby is 9!

May 6th 2016 marked 9 years of life of this BIG girl. Its amazing really, I can honestly say that it has flown by.  Yet here we are again celebrating our Abigail, whom I recently discovered prefers to be called Abby at all times.

She is changing from a little girl into a little lady. More often than not I glance at her and have glimpses into the future. The child like features are changing, the things she desires are maturing, she is growing socially and understanding more about life than I would like.

When she is on her A game she is awesome. So very helpful, kind, loving, generous, and amazing all around. On days she isn't well, we wont talk about those. She is a great big sister and loves to be responsible for Hyrum. Her piano skills have increased, her gospel knowledge is great, she does well scholastically and is an all around kind of girl. We are very grateful for her role in our Family. She bares the burden on being oldest and admittedly I place more on her than I should. I look to her to be an example, friend and helper and I am so very Grateful for our  Abigail!

She loves us to join her during lunch at school on her birthday and as a bonus, Seth wasn't out of town this year! She loved having him there. As well as Hyrum, she wanted to just show him off the whole time. She requested Sonic and her wish was granted.

Her buddy Kiera also sat with us which was very special for Abigail.

 She came home to a few decorations which she loved and some presents. She had wanted to go to The Olive Garden but I think her desire to go swimming overruled her tummy because she changed her mind and requested pizza so we could eat and go. We opened presents while we waited and she received some gift cards, money, clothes and new swim suites. She loved it ALL.

Birthday Interview

 1.Who is your favorite person in the whole world: Hyrum

2. What is your favorite color: Purple and Pink and Turquoise

3. What is your favorite T.V. Show: Horse Crazy

4. What sport do you like best: Baseball and soccer

5. What song do you love: A child's Prayer

6. What is your favorite cereal: Vanilla Chex

7. Who is your best friend:  Kiera and Kensley

8. What do you want to be when you grow up: A horse teacher, the kid that teaches kids how to ride. And a normal teacher.

9. What is your favorite book:  Anne of Green Gables

10. What are you really good at: Playing the Piano

11.Where do you wish you could go on vacation: New York

12. What is your best memory: When I was Baptized 

13. What would you buy if you had $1000:  A limo and horses

14. What vegetable to you hate the most:    Blueberries, is that a vegetable,  oh wait cauliflower.

15. If you could have one wish what would it be: To own a ranch

16. What is your favorite ice cream: Peppermint and Vanilla

17. Who is your hero: Dad

18. What do you like to do best with your friends: Do the monkey bars and ride horses

19. What is your favorite animal:  Horse and dolphin and Jaguar and wolf

20. What do you hope you get to do before your next birthday: Be able to go to Disneyland


After dinner and presents we headed to the pool, our first swim of the season. They had a jolly old time. The excitement was palpable.

Unfortunately Briggs and Kiera got pretty cold pretty fast but they survived. 

My goofy Girl

We came home from the pool for cake and more playing. The kids played and played and played until they just about dropped!

Then the following Saturday Abby had a special surprise. Grandma Cheri, Aunt Chandler and myself took her to see Wicked. I had never seen it, but after a few friend reviews and research I decided it was kid friendly.

Well...I WAS WRONG. At least it was not Abby friendly. She was scared to death from 2 seconds in and requested to leave immediately. I felt awful. Overall it was fine from my perspective but Abby wasn't having it. She spent the whole time curled into my lap or under my sweater. I fear musicals have been ruined for her for awhile. I on the other hand, loved it.

Thankfully after the show there was a box filled with all sorts for horse things for her to open from the Phoenixs and that helped her overcome said trauma.

A quick trip to Cali

Grandma and Hyrum

I was able to take a quick trip to California to have Hyrum meet Grandma Jody and Grandpa Ron, as a bonus he got to meet great Aunt Karen and see Great Gram again.

Its hard when you live so far away from all your family. Especially Grandmas. I know its hard to watch from afar as the grandkids age. Thankfully we have things like blogs, facetime and airplanes to help us stay connected.

I don't know how I missed out on taking picture of Hyrum with Grandpa Ron but it was a short and sweet visit.

Great Aunt Karen and Hyrum

Great Grandma and little man

Nothing like a little lap time

Even though its hard from Grandma to hold a squirmy little guy she managed quite well and Hyrum loved it.

High Five!

While we were there we face timed home often. It was so funny to watch the kids face time a baby! Screen shots are the best.

Rolling around on Grandmas floor

Screen shot brothers

On the way home our plane was re routed due to bad weather in Dallas. We had to deplane in Lubbock not knowing how long we would be there. Thankfully it was just a few hours and we were headed back. Because of the back log of diverted flights we had to go old school and walk down the stairs on the tarmac. While there I met a nice lady who was headed back to DFW while we were still waiting and she gave me a diaper and some food for Hyrum just in case. She was a doll.

Asleep on the plane. He seriously did so awesome on the plane. I really couldn't have asked for a better trip with a baby. I even had several others comment on what a trooper her was. It was true. My little awesome boy.

The McGowen Wedding

My sister Cassidee was married on April 8th, 2016. The wedding was held in downtown fort worth and was a beautiful venue. There was a lot to be done before the nuptials but when it all came down to the night of the wedding it all game together so well.

Casidee was a glowing bride and Dalton was a Handsome groom. My sister code and I were Bridesmaids and I was the Maid of Honor.

The day of we spent getting ready and doing all that pre wedding prep requires. All in all the night was great, the weather was beautiful and now we have new family members to pester.

All of the photos are from my phone, which are not great, the lighting was not great for night time camera phones. 

The girls getting ready suite.

Lily in her Flower girl dress and my new Niece!

More of getting dolled up!

My beautiful Abigail! Love Jenny's face in the back ground.

Aunt Codee applying some lip gloss to all the girls.

My precious Emily.

Cousins! Jamison, Lexi and Abigail

The table decorations turned out so pretty and as you can see they are littered with ice cream and cholate milk cups. Emily and Cort are holding down the fort.

Cutting the Cake

Super blurry sisters

Robin, Lacey and Codee

Lexi being an awesome cousin/baby sitter

One of the most handsome men in the house!

 I seriously love this picture!!! Mostly because of Cort and Nems trying to get in on the action

The Hubbs and I

Uncle Monty and Gram dancing the night away.

This little dude just got out there and danced the night away. I was so impressed with his willingness to dance and have fun!

Action shot of cass throwing the bouquet

Briggs caught the Garter and was a little unsure of what to do!

The Bride and Groom with all the cousins!

Silly face

Hyrum Joseph and Aunt Cass

These are some handsome boys!

We are all married now!

Cassidee asked me to give a Maid of honor speech and I declined. Not my thing. So she suggested I ask Codee to do it with me. I finally relented. I suggested to Codee that instead of a speech we do a music montage, and she was 200% on board. It was all down hill from there. The lyrics were so fun to write! Unfortunately we didn't have many practices and we goofed up a lot. Not to mention my huge stage fright. But the videos below are the end result. It was a good time.

A family affair

We had a lot of family in town for my sister Cassidee's wedding in April. We were nothing but busy until after the wedding. But the cousins sure enjoyed spending time together. It is a shame we live so far away from each other, but thankfully we have managed to see each other as often as we can.

One day Uncle Randy took Briggs and Jay to see cowboy stadium. They had a lot of fun and Briggs enjoyed some quality boy time.

Jamison is getting so old and was so good to hold Hyrum and play with all the kids :)

Of course we had to spend time making the bubbles which were handed our at the wedding when the bride and groom left for the night!

All the cousin, well most of them anyway including our newest additions Aaron and Lily, and Lexi who lives in NM.

What would a family visit be with out Gram? She just loved and loved on all the kids.

Cort and Nems passing someones phone back and fort.