Thank you, Mr. President.

The long weekend began on Abbie's birthday!

Sisters make the best best friends!

The day started off a little chaotically, with me running from class to the store to buy balloons in time to decorate the car and then head up to my Service Learning meeting/fancy lunch.

I love being in Service Learning Scholars

After spending about an hour trying to be involved in conversations that went exactly like this...

"What are you doing this summer?"
"My husband and I are going to be in Africa helping build sanitation systems in villages."
"Awesome! I'll be in Peru volunteering with an eye doctor who gives free services to peasants in the mountains."

....I picked Abbie up and made her pose with her balloons.

Immediately, I could tell it was going to be a magical day. When we went to pick up Abbie's friend Logan, we saw a bunch of quail walking through the parking lot! And then on the way home, a giant flock of birds swooped down over our car. Which was a different kind of magical: the scary Larry kind. But then I changed lanes twice without Abbie telling me I should! This is a big deal for me.

When we arrived at home, we walked up to the door and found this sign:

I'm sorry; I'm kind of computer illiterate and I don't know how to rotate pictures on here.

And then our four younger sisters ran out of the house dressed like this:

 When we asked why they were dressed in 80s garb, their explanation was, "We didn't have school today." They had spent the day choreographing dances, which they quickly performed for us before we headed downtown.

Rachel and Janie wore their 80s outfits all over Salt Lake City. Rachel had a brief panic attack when we got out of the car at my dad's office building and she realized we might see a general authority. But other than that, they wore them with pride.

Our first birthday celebrating stop was our favorite bookstore, The King's English. I want to live there. I think that combined we probably spent over $100 there. I got a copy of The House on Mango Street, which is dear to my heart. Being in bookstores is like a spiritual experience for me. I'm serious! I just walk around running my fingers across the spines of the books and feeling lucky to be alive!

Miss Abigail

book lust...

I'll take this room, thanks.

 After quite some time, we met our dad at his office where the present opening was held.

Abbie and her new ukelele!

We had to pry the kids (when I say kids, I'm including Rachel) out of the board room where they were playing "business meeting" in order to go to dinner.

We had dinner at one of our favorite places, Litza's Pizza. Yummo! Since we were seated in a semi-secluded area of the restaurant, Mom made the kids (Rachel is involved again) perform their dance for our dad. They actually got up and did so for about 45 seconds before Rachel got super embarrassed.

So we decided to go see some people who weren't afraid to perform for us. We saw CSI Provo at the Desert Star Theater!

 

Fun times. There are some very talented people doing very random things out there in this world. And luckily some of them wish Abbie a happy birthday in public by teasing her about how there are no boys her age around. 19...get it....?

What a lovely February 17th. I wish I could say that I remember when Abbie was born, but I was 1 and a half. Instead I will copy Mallory's idea and tell you some facts about my sister Abigail Rose.

1. Unless you are Harry Potter himself, she knows more about Harry Potter than you do. At our Harry Potter party this summer, she won the trivia contest by correctly answering the question, "What was Hermione's score on her Muggle Studies OWL?" It's debatable whether J.K. could even answer that question.

2. She has a ginormous imagination. When she was little, she would spend all day pretending to be a certain character. This would change daily and get a bit confusing. Sometimes she would say stuff like, "Today I'm pretending to be Dumbo who's pretending to be Belle." 

3. When she was like 6 she wanted her name to be Roxanne. She made the primary sing the Happy Birthday song to her using the name Roxanne.

4. She is always the most willing to swim out into the ocean with me.

5. She is wicked smart at every subject. Her brain is a sponge. For a bit, she even went to a different elementary school than I did because Virginia Run was just not up to her speed.

6. She taught herself to play the guitar (and she's really good) and then taught herself to play the ukelele like a pro in about twenty minutes.

We like to play dress up.

7. She has performed in a wide range of plays, including but not at all limited to, Beauty and the Beast, Christmas Carol, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Scarlet Pimpernel, and something about bugs. The title escapes me, but she was an adorable cricket.

8. Kids flock to her. I don't know what it is. Yes I do, she's amazing with them.

9.. She reads an average of 2 books a day. That is an estimate, but not at all an exaggeration. She's been known to read while walking down the stairs.

10. She's been cut in half in a magic show.

11. When she makes Kraft macaroni and cheese, it comes out a million times better than when anyone else does it. The same goes for her amazing brownie making skills.

12. She is the best friend anyone could ask her. She is genuinely happy when her friends succeed, and she takes secrets to the grave.

I know I will think of like 80 more while I'm trying to fall asleep. Basically, she's the best. I love you, Abracadabra! 

Saturday, I went to lunch at Zupa's with Delanie and Candace. It was a try something new sort of day, so I tried a new soup AND a new sandwich, and both were wins (their new crab sandwich and the Wisconsin cauliflower soup - in case you go to Zupa's sometimes.)  We sat in Zupa's for two hours talking talking talking about EVERYTHING. 

Then we crossed the parking lot to Petco to look at animals because it happened to be adoption day! 

The rest of the day was kind of a blur of mostly Just Dance.

Sunday morning, I woke up to my dad organizing a balloon volleyball tournament with my sisters. Sunday mornings are going to be a little different since he's been released. Sundays at my house = lots of food and tons and tons of games. Someday I will win Ticket to Ride. Someday.

President's Day morning, my parents made Aebleskiver!

 We got this Aebleskiver pan in Solvang (a lovely Danish town west of LA) like six years ago. And this was the first time we made them. They were SO good!

Then I took Lauren on a date for her birthday, which is this Saturday. We went to see this:

Lately, I have been going to the theater WAY more than I usually do. But Lauren loves all animals, I love John Krasinski, and we both love whales. We went in our sweats, because it was morning, and who goes to the movies in the morning besides us. Well, apparently EVERYONE. Lauren LOVED this movie, and I thought it was pretty good too. It took me all day to get over the baby whale dying, though. Really.

Later that day Abbie and I watched The West Wing for a while with our parentals. We'd been planning this for President's Day for a while because we are that clever. The West Wing is very significant in our family because it is honestly the only TV show my mom has ever cared about. We would vote for President Bartlett in a heartbeat.

That night I got a new swim suit! It was the fastest swim suit shopping moment of my life. Thanks, Target! I am now fully ready to head to the beach. A trip to Jamba Juice and Barnes and Noble tied the weekend all together. Hooray for President's Day!