Birthday Pics

I know I said goodbye for the weekend already.... but Harper's birthday party pics are done and I can't not show them to you asap. There are over 300 to look through but these are my favorite so far...

My goal was to fit into my size 24 jeans by Harper's first birthday.

I made it, but just barely.

They are a little tighter than they were before, but that's ok.
Colt keeps telling me they look better this way.

 Tucker, believe it or not, is so much bigger now than he was in these photos.

They were taken only 3 weeks ago!

LOVE this.

Opening presents.... 

Post-cake face.

This girl is SO beautiful.

I still can't believe she is already 1.

FAVORITE.

She got those cute ears from me.

Heart-melting cuteness...

My mom hates to have her picture taken.

I gave her over a month's notice about the party photos.

I told her she had no choice.
Doesn't she look great?
She sure doesn't look 65.
(She would kill me if she knew I posted that. Please don't tell her.)

Harper in her post-party outfit.

We attempted family photos...

We need another go at it when I don't look so tired.

Isn't he cute?

He is becoming a nicer and better behaved puppy every day.

Our whole family photo...
When people ask if we are having more than one kid,
I tell them we already do have more than one.
We have three adorable kids.

She has pretty much surpassed cuteness here...

Thanks Whitney! We LOVE you.

It's Halloween Weekend

Its Halloween Weekend and we are ready to have fun at the Adams/Lomento house. 

It's going to be a busy few days. 

Harper, you see, is so very popular that she needs two nights (yes, two!) of trick-or-treating in order for all of her adoring family/friends to see her in all of her witchy cuteness. 

She is a seriously cute witch. 

(I'm pretty sure Hermoine Granger would be quite jealous of her cuteness.)

 Tonight we are heading to see her grandparents, Aunt Calli, and both sets of great grandparents. 

They all have special trick-or-treats for Harper.

(Harper is a lucky girl. She has two full sets of great grandparents. Add them to the 4 grandparents that are over the moon for her and you have a very spoiled girl!)

Tomorrow we are going to take her out for some good old neighborhood trick-or-treating.

After that, we are having a little get together.

Some of our friends are coming over for food, drinks, and fun.

They are bringing some of Harper's friends along.

(We are so glad that several of Colt's friends had babies around the same time as us.

Then we didn't have to be the one couple with a baby.

You know that couple- the annoying one that drags their kid along

and oohs and ahhs over him/her all night?

Thanks to Colby, Nick, and Kam, we aren't that couple.

At least, I hope not...)

Sometime during this busy weekend, I'm going to finish my Halloween reading.

Hopefully by Monday, my baby vampire nightmares will cease.

In the meantime, Happy Halloween, my dear blogging friends.

Eat, drink, and be scary.

Pay it Forward

On a happier note, do you remember the Sullengers? I posted a link to their blog a while back. They tragically lost their daughter over the summer and have turned their grief into something amazing. Read about their Pay it Forward project here.

Busybodies

I must admit that this post has been stewing and brewing for a while now. I have not been sure whether it would become a blog topic. Everything that bothers me, makes me happy, upsets me, or interests me pushes at my mind until I write about it. Writing is the method by which I purge my mind/heart of thoughts and feelings. Most often, I take my them to my little black journal where, hopefully, they will live unseen by anyone but me. This has been an "on the fence" topic until today. Today, I'm going to share a little of it. The rest will go to my journal.

I spent the better part of the afternoon thinking over the shoes I've loved in my life. It was hard to find photos of most of them but I was successful with a few of the more recent ones. I was really excited to find an image of my favorite floral print Doc Marten boots. I was obsessed with them in Junior High. They were my favorite. Unfortunately, they disappeared one day, never to be seen (or worn) again. My mom hated those shoes and I think she got rid of them at her first chance. We will leave my feelings about that incident for another day.

Anyway, these have been some of my favorite shoes... Aren't they cute?

I really like colored shoes and shoes with character.

(One of my favorite pair of heels has a city drawn on them,

complete with a canal and birds)

I classify green and yellow shoes as "neutrals" in order to

 justify wearing them with pretty much any outfit.

Okay, now that you are beyond jealous of the fact that my size 5 1/2 feet get to wear such a gorgeous variety of shoes, we can move on to my point: unless you have walked (really walked, not just tried on and looked in the mirror) in my shoes, past and present, stop talking about me, leave my life alone, and mind your own business. (If I were the cursing kind of girl, that previous sentence would have been more colorful. The truth is, I'm never going to be the kind of girl that swears and sometimes, that makes it difficult to emphasize important points. Don't let the lack of four-letter-words make you think I'm not serious here. I am. I'm VERY serious.) If you are going to insist on pointing fingers, you'd better make sure your hands are clean.  These are unusually harsh words from me, I know. I hate feeling angry (and I'm hoping that getting this post off my chest will appease my frustrations) but I'm really tired of ignoring the busybodies of the world in hopes that they will just go away. Face the facts, Abby. They will NEVER go away. 

I'm relatively quiet about my past. I don't feel the need to burden people with the abnormalities of my life or the struggles I've experienced ( struggles that, by the way, they could not begin to understand). Don't worry, I'm not about to dump them on you, either. Just know that, at 27, I feel like I've experienced a lifetime's worth of heartache. I keep my sadnesses and struggles to myself because I'm trying to practice a little thing I call diligent joy. I'm making a 200 percent effort to be happy and positive regardless of everything else. 

Life is, at times, difficult (side note- Life can also be beautiful. For me, that beauty can be found in Harper and Hazel). My life has not been without difficulties. Some of my experiences have left me faithless and cynical. Some of them have made me afraid. I have regular nightmares about my past and they are scary and terrifying. I used to be the kind of girl who believed in "happy ever after" and true love. I used to think that people were innately good and I liked chic flics and cried over happy endings (who knows... maybe 10 years ago, I would even have loved Twilight instead of wanting to gag over the cheesiness of an adult fairy tale). That is no longer the case for me. I've become a different person but I'm trying. I'm desperately looking for the girl who used to live in my heart because I want Harper to have a mom who believes in true happiness and isn't afraid to open up and love someone. (I think moms should be fearless, don't you?) Until that girl comes back, I'm living diligently. I'm working hard and I'm trying to move on from my trials. The busybodies are hindering my efforts, or at least they are trying to do so. I'd like to say that I wish the past few years of my life had never happened. I'd like to say that I wish I'd never moved to SLC or met certain people. I can't say it though. I have Harper now and can't regret the bumpy road that led me to the perfect happiness that is being her mother. 

Anyway, to the busybodies of the world I say: I'm not perfect and I'm comfortable with that. Here is another juicy piece of news for you: you aren't perfect, either. Everyone has struggles. Nobody is without fault at the end of the day. It's easy to do everything right when life is great. Don't misunderstand me just because you have never been in my position (or walked a mile in my fabulous flats, heels, or boots). You bug me, busybodies. Your gossiping, negativity, and judgements bug me to the point of gagging but that's okay. I'm not going to play the game and turn any of those terrible tables on you. I'm just going to encourage you to focus on the positive. If you can't think or speak optimistically, you are missing out and I feel bad for you. 

Halloween Week

Happy Halloween Week!

My mom dislikes Halloween in every way.

For a while, I thought I'd inherited her attitude.

It turns out that I didn't.

I'm glad of it too. 

I want to have many years of spooky fun with Harper.

How have you been celebrating Halloween week?

We have been watching scary movies of all sorts.

I've been reading scary books.

(As a result, I'm having scary dreams...)

We are planning a little get together for Saturday night.

I'm SUPER excited to take Harper trick-or-treating.

She is going to be a witch.

Let me rephrase that.

She is going to be the cutest witch ever.

Last night, we headed to Grandma/Grandpa Adams' 

house for some classic Halloween fun. 

Yep, you guessed it.

We carved pumpkins....

The Pumpkins

Mmmm... The best thing about the Adams' house?

Grandpa Doug's homemade popcorn.

Not so sure about this...

I didn't carve a pumpkin but I helped with the cleaning out part.

(Colt just couldn't handle it.)

Here are a couple of the finished Jack-O-Lanterns.

It was too cold to wait to get photos of all of them.

Pumpkin carving was great.

The only problem is that we left them there.

My house is nearly pumpkinless now and I don't like it.

I think I'm going to have to pick up a few more before the weekend arrives.

On a side note, this guy and I have been together 2 years as of yesterday.

We are getting married on January 14th.

I'm SO excited about both of those facts.

(New Years Eve, 2008)

Proof

It occurred to me that in my previous post, Harper was once again without clothing.

I just wanted to offer my bloggy friends some proof that she does, in fact, have clothes.

Just in case anyone was planning a call to DCFS....

Just kidding, friends. 

These are actually some weekend photos.

Harper loves to draw.

I think she is too little for pens/paper but she disagrees.

On Saturday, Grandma Paulette took her to the store for a prize.

She took her time choosing.

There were so many fun things to try.

This is what we took home with us.

It's a bit on the vintage side.

Like mother, like daughter, I guess.

 Harper even gets dressed to eat string cheese.

I'd like to see you look this cute in skinny jeans.

Couch Potato

Barney has turned Harper into a couch potato. 

I'm totally fine with her watching some well-scheduled television.

("well scheduled" into my day of chores...)

Isn't she cute?

Was it Worth Waiting For?

"Only library books speak with such wordless

 eloquence of the power good stories hold over us;

how good stories abide, unchanged and mutely wise, 

while we poor humans grow older and slower."

-Stephen King-

Finally, finally, finally the new Herriman Library is open. If you were ever a visitor at the previous Herriman Library, you understand my enthusiasm. I think it was about the size of a 7-11 (but cleaner, thank goodness). The new location is really big and so are my hopes for its' contents. I think Harper and I are going to check it out tonight and I'm really excited. There are few places that I appreciate more than the library and I couldn't be happier about the fact that there is now one not five minutes from my house.

Nieces

My family situation is a little bit of a contradiction.

I'm an only child yet I'm an aunt.

How does this work, you ask?

Well, I have two half brothers.

(Same mom, different dad)

They are nearly old enough to be my parents.

I don't know them very well.

I've never lived with them.

I was raised alone.

I'm an only child.

I'm a lucky only child, however.

My half brothers have amazing kids.

I have three nieces and three nephews.

It's a confusing situation but it's my situation and I love it.

Anyway, my three nieces are in town this weekend.

Would you like to meet them?

They are gorgeous.

Crystal

I remember the day this girl was born.

Now she is 18!

When she was little, she looked up to me.

Now she is taller/prettier/cooler than me.

(Side note: Harper is only two months old in this photo. 

I miss those chubby cheeks.)

Maranda

She's the closest thing to a sister I'll ever have.

She looks more like my  mom than I ever will.

(That's what happens when you are adopted.)

She is only 18 months younger than me.

She lived with us for a while when I was little.

She traveled with us.

Now she is all grown up- a mom with two cute boys.

Her decorating/crafting skills are something to be envied.

She lives too far away and I don't see her face nearly enough.

(Yes, I'm a great aunt. Yes, that makes me relatively old.)

Skye Danielle

I remember the day she was born, too.

Skye was the cutest/sassiest little girl ever.

She lives just down the street from me.

I wish I saw her more.

She is busy, though.

She's a mom, too. 

Her baby, Cash, is the cutest little guy ever.

He's napping in my bedroom at this very moment.

 We are going to have a great weekend together.

Happy Friday, friends.

Halloween is a week away.

I'm reading some scary stuff right now in anticipation for the holiday.

There is nothing like a little King/Stoker to get you in the Halloweenish mood.

So...

When I went to write the quote from my last post in my little book of favorite quotations, I saw my favorite one from "Eat, Pray, Love" and it occurred to me that I might actually need this one even more than the last.

"Look for God. Look for God like a man with his head on fire looks for water."

How different would your life be if you lived with such a sense of urgency?

Anger

I'm so grateful for my facebook friend Elizabeth (in real life, we were friends at private school many years ago) because she used an amazing quote in her status update earlier this afternoon. It's a quote that, as of late, I've been needing. There are few people in the world that I truly don't like. I can actually count them on one hand. I've been harboring and feeding some pretty intense anger towards one of them the past couple of weeks. It's been a random thing too, because I haven't seen him for quite some time and I've gone 20+ years without feeling angry at him. Honestly, I'm grateful for his selfishness and immaturity because it ultimately benefitted me. Still, I've been frustrated lately- at him for his choices and at myself for being angry, (I hate being angry) and I feel like this frustration and anger has been holding me back a little bit. Anyway, this is the quote that Liz shared:

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; 

you are the one getting burned."

-Buddha-

 Even though you don't read my blog (at least that I know of), thanks Liz.

Sleepy Mom... Playful Baby

It's been a long day today. I'm exhausted (that may be because I stayed up all night finishing- and crying over- the last few chapters of The Deathly Hallows). Thank goodness Colt just saved my life by bringing me a bag full of Sugar Free Rock Stars. Today has been a gross menagerie of bloody noses, poopy tubs, poopy sheets, baby throw up, and spilled plants (thanks a lot, Tucker). It's been mess after mess after mess and I'm pretty much done. If Colt decides to throw up on something this evening, I'm going to make him clean it up because I'm finished with bodily fluids for the day.

At least Harper has had a wonderful day and was even nice enough to share some of it with me (I can't get enough of her hugs and kisses). Harper has really started "playing" lately. She is loving all of her birthday toys and is still obsessed with her animals. She "feeds" them and makes "mmmmm" sounds. It's pretty darn cute. She also says "quack" and "moo." She has even attempted "cockadoodledoo." I don't really know what further proof of her amazingness you need.

I've been snapping playtime shots here and there since her birthday.

Here are a few for you to enjoy.

I'm proud to say that she is dressed in almost half of them.

We gave Harper this doll house for her birthday.

It is so great and makes a bunch of different noises.

Even the toilet makes a flushing sound.

 Cousin Whitney gave Harper this dog. 

Her name is Violet and Harper loves her.

 Harper kept pulling clothing out of this drawer.

I figured it wasn't worth the fight.

I took the clothes out and replaced them with Harper items.

 Harper LOVES empty cosmetic cases.

 Harper got a shopping cart for her birthday.

Thanks, Danni! We love you.

It's a good thing we don't have to pay for this item... She is priceless.

 Harper likes to play with her new keyboard, too.

If there is something to stand on, Harper stands on it.

That's just how it goes in our house these days.

 How cute is this?

I'm obsessed with those little hands.

 Stools and chairs aren't the only things she stands on.

These photos make me miss my childhood toys.

I liked Barbies, dolls, books, and dress-ups.

What were your favorite toys?