Spring time!

My irises have bloomed! And so have everyone else's in the neighborhood. I think they are very pretty flowers anyway, but they always remind me particularly of Grandpa Dover and going to the iris shows with him as a kid. Now I just need to get some different varieties to give a little more color.

Creepy Crawlies

Small creepy crawly things are fascinating to the kids right now. Every rolley polley bug, ant, beetle, and spider gets instant celebrity status when they spot it.

Like mommy like daughter

It was dessert night, and a little late; and mommy was feeling a little crazy...

Mommy's little helper

When Rachel got the stuff out to give the boys a hair cut, Lady Bug started following her around and trying to get her own apron out. So Rachel found the smallest one we had and tied it on Lady Bug as tight as it would go. Then Lady Bug had to observe how it was done, and make sure it was done right.

I have survived

Summer is finally here! My first two semesters of graduate school are over. I'm a little battered but none the worse for the wear. The first semester I learned that even though you take fewer credits, the work load is at least twice the undergraduate load. I had to try and cut back on extra things like movie nights, late nights, web surfing, and pleasure reading to focus on getting my work done in class and in the lab. We'll see if any of the sacrifice has paid off when grades come in next week.
I'm trying to get my committee together this week and write my prospectus which will serve as a road map for my project. It is hard to narrow down the aspects of the work our group is doing into a concrete set of goals for a project. Even my advisor agrees with me on that. It's been a little difficult to get used to the idea of doing an applied physics project. It seemed a little too 'engineering' to me at first, and I thought that I would have a tough time selling the idea to a committee. After talking with my advisor and others, I have learned that what we are doing falls very nicely into the field of applied physics, and no one but a theoretician would bat an eye at it.

Finals Week

It's finals week next week, and, of course, I don't think I am quite
ready. Maybe if I had another week or two... Even then I wouldn't be
ready. I think I am doing better in my classes this semester than last
semester. Last semester was a big shock on the system, especially after
being out of school for 8 months. The time a grad student is expected to
dedicate, and what they are supposed to accomplish in that time is nuts
it seems. Yet we all press on, and they haven't kicked me out yet.
I have to get a committee together, approve my study list, and write
and approve my prospectus in the next 2 1/2 weeks as well. The trouble
is that my project, while a good one, isn't well defined enough for a
PhD project. PhD projects are supposed to contribute something new to
your field, but so far what we're doing is just take existing, tested
materials and put them in a different shape. Nothing new about it. If we
can find some more uses for the shape we want to create, then I might
have something for a project.

Ah, the life of a grad student...

Rachel's art

The boys thought it was sooo much fun to shovel snow with me. I only hope their enthusiasm lasts when they are older.


I want a T-shirt out of the top right card. In case you can't read it, the word across the middle says "Legendary".

Takin' care of kids...

If only it were always this easy. The Friend has been a good thing so far. (that is what Rachel is reading to them here) They get so excited when 'their magazine' comes in the mail, just like mommy's and daddy's. Unfortunately, this didn't last long enough. As soon as the story was over they scattered to wreak their separate mischief on the house.

magic olive fingers

You can remember doing this when you were this age... (we all know you did, so don't try to act all sophisticated)

Silly kids in rain slickers

We have had some crazy weather here the last couple of days. Two days it has even snowed! Thankfully it only stuck to the grass and not the driveway; but even still, there were 2 inches of new snow on the grass in April.
After the snow melted it was still grey and cold, but the kids still wanted to go outside and play. I can't blame them. They really love their new rain coats.

popcorn pop

In Lightening's dance class they do a dance called 'popcorn pop' to warm up before they begin doing their other stuff. His teacher sent home a cd with that song and the song they will be performing for their recital so Lightening could practice at home. Spidey and Lady Bug like dancing too, and are sometimes a little jealous of Lightening getting to go to class. But they love dancing together at home.

K visits

Last month Rachel's sister K came in to town from Oregon to visit for a couple of weeks. Rachel had a lot of fun visiting with her. We tried to get a picture of all the cousins together, but this was about as good as it got.


Luckily, the sisters were a little more cooperative, if just as rambunctious. (you wouldn't think so from looking at the picture...)
For fun, all the girls went out and got pedicures/manicures. They were so proud of their toes afterwards.

Conference Weekend

We had a good time listening to General Conference this weekend, even with three small children. Rachel planed ahead this time and prepared some conference packs for each of the sessions for the kids. They still need some tweaking, but it was a much more enjoyable experience this time than it has been in the past. I have some pictures below of the first activity, making fruit loop necklaces. Lady Bug was really good at not eating them and just giving them to mom to put on her string. Lightening quickly caught on and started working on his by himself, but Spidey just wanted to eat them and had to work with dad to make his necklace.








After the necklaces were made, mom went into her scrapbook room to finish something while listening to the end of conference. Lady Bug didn't want mom to get away from her so she tried to follow.

(I learned this from my brothers...)

I don't have pictures of the other activities that Rachel had for the kids, but they seemed to have fun and let their parents listen to most of conference.

In other news...

A little while ago we got Rachel a bike so we can start taking family bike rides (we have a trailer for the kids) and try to save a little on gas for short errands. It has been a lot of fun to go out together and the kids like it too. But then tragedy struck on Saturday. We were on our way from a picnic at a park to the store to get a redbox movie for Rachel to watch while I was away at priesthood session, and Rachel tried to ride up a driveway. The driveway had a tall curb and she tried to take it at too much of and angle, and she ended up sprawled on all fours on top of her bike. Luckily she wasn't hurt bad and she was wearing a helmet. She is finding new bruises as time passes though but I think she'll be just fine in a day or so.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Happy St Patrick's Day! I hope you have a lucky day!

Love, The Abbott's

Spidey's 3rd Birthday

Here are some photos of Spidey on his third birthday (today). He is holding his new Leo baton from the Little Einsteins. I also thought I would send this cute conversation I had with him this morning:

Mommy: Happy Birthday Spidey! Do you know how old you are now?

Spidey: ....no.

Mommy: You're 3!

Spidey: I don't want to be 3!!!

Mommy: How old do you want to be then?

Spidey: um... 5!

Mommy: Will you turn back to 3 tomorrow?

Spidey: Yes. I'll be 3 and 5.

I have no idea where he got 5 from. He sure is our cute little boy and we love him dearly. We hope everyone is doing well.

Lightening video

Here is another one of just Lightening playing.

Rachel's art work

Rachel has a website for her Close to My Heart stuff, and she has a section where she posts her current art work. I really liked the butterfly card ( New Create-A-Shade Pearl Paint Class)

The butterfly looks like one of those ones you see at the store in the plastic domes or something.
and this one ( Paper Garden 3x3 Card ). She is getting ready to submit these and some other pieces to the Close to My Heart corporate office to see if she can teach a technique class at the national convention this summer in Orlando, Fl. I'm not sure what other art pieces she is submitting, but you can ask her or just check out her art page and see what appears in the next week or so.

Valentine's Day

Another Valentine's day has come and gone. A good day, but I'm glad I only have to remember it once a year (that way I only have one chance a year to forget it as opposed to 12 times if it was monthly). As you can see from Rachel's smile, I didn't for get this year. (also note her new hair cut)
Rachel likes to make sure the kids are involved in things too, and for Valentine's she always gets them balloons. This makes Lady Bug especially happy, she will carry her balloon around all over the house and to bed with her (the boys do this sometimes too). She is very possessive and will yell at anyone who touches her balloon (like her brothers), but all smiles the rest of the time.

My birthday

It was my birthday last week. I had a good time for the most part. I decided to surprise Rachel and take her out on a date for my birthday/Valentine's day. I even got a babysitter, made dinner reservations and called the theater for show times. The only problem was that Macaroni Grill in Murray can't handle large crowds. It happened to also be dance night for one of the local high schools (we saw some interesting things that passed as formal dresses...), so it was busy; but I made a reservation... I had good company for the wait (it is not often that we get to talk for more than 5 minutes without being interrupted by children) so I didn't notice that we had been waiting for an hour and a half to be seated. When I asked the greeter, door person why it was taking so long, it turned out that we had been forgotten and skipped!! We couldn't stay because we had to get to a movie showing on time and get the kids. All they could say was "we're very sorry". No offers to make it up or anything.
The rest of the night was great though. We ate dinner at the theater and then saw National Treasure II, which was pretty good for a sequel.
Rachel made a great cake for me on Sunday, it was a peppermint poke cake. The recipe is on the back of one of the Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix boxes, you take a chocolate cake, poke holes in it, and pour a vanilla pudding mixed with peppermint extract over it. Frost it and put pieces of peppermint pattie on top and enjoy!

Lightening and Spidey

I taught this one to Lightening last week at church to try and keep him occupied and quiet during sacrament meeting last week. He taught it to Spidey the best he could remember, and this is what we got. The original words go like this:

Here is the chapel,
Here is the steeple,
open the doors and see all the people.
Close the doors, so they can pray.
Open the doors and they all run away.

Lady Bug's in nursery!

Today was Lady Bug's first day in nursery, and mom and dad's first Sunday without kids in sunday school in 4 1/2 years. Lady Bug went very willingly, and everyone said she was the cutest little girl in nursery.

President Hinckley's funeral

Friday morning we went to the viewing for President Hinckley. We were debating on whether or not to drive into Salt Lake or not. It was snowing while we were driving, and by Sandy traffic was standing still on the freeway because of an accident. We quickly exited and rode Trax into town, which made the kids happy.
It was a good thing we went first thing in the morning. Rachel and the boys entered at 9:30 am without having to wait really. After I got in line 5 minutes later (I had to drop my backpack and the camera off at the baggage check desk first) Lady Bug and I waited about 10-15 minutes outside (in the express line, the purse check line was at least twice as long) and another 20 minutes inside. Just like the Rexburg temple open house, this was very well organized. No one seemed to mind the waiting, and the ushers were very kind and had us sitting when there were long waits.
We watched the funeral on TV, which was nicely done. I'm sure re-broadcasts of the funeral will be available online for those who missed it. Afterwards, it was special to see all the people lining the route to the cemetary. Many waved white handkerchiefs or canes in tribute, and many of the churches and the City-County building rang their bells for him. President Hinckley will be remembered for many things by many, many people.

Handball tourney

I had the chance to play in a handball tournament last weekend in Murray. For those who don't know, handball is a lot like racquetball but you hit the ball with your hands and it's alot more fun. I lost both of my matches, but still had fun!

Rexburg Temple Open House

January 14th we braved cold and snow to go see the new Rexburg temple. Because of allergies we had to spend Sunday night at the Days Inn in Rexburg, but that made it easier getting to the temple by 8:30 am. Being Rexburg it was bitter cold, it would have been that way even without the wind blowing!
The open house was very well organized. We all went into a room for a 15 minute video presentation on temples (there were a dozen or so room set aside for this) at the new stake center next door. The we walk up to the temple doors through on a covered, heated sidewalk. At the door they had volunteers slip booties over your shoes, then we went on the tour with a couple for tour guides. We never had to wait for anything, and never had to be in the cold.
The temple isn't very big, there are only 2 endowment rooms; there are 5 sealing rooms though. There are several motifs inspired by the area, wheat is seen in several paintings and in the decoration in the carpet and stair railing. The walls in the ordinance rooms are painted with outdoor scenes from the area.

Snow days

We've been getting a lot of snow here lately. One brother at church said that this was more snow than he has seen in ten years of living here. Remarkably enough, we had clear skys for president Hinckley's funeral. It's making up for it now though, we have gotten about 5 inches at our house since last night, and it is still snowing!

Be careful about studying physics, it will change the way you look at the world. This is a hybrid tree outside the county offices in downtown Provo. It is a beautiful tree. It is also an excelent example of torque. Look at the bottom two pictures; The branches are so thick and grow out at almost 90 degree angles from the trunk. As the branches get farther from the trunk, the torque on the joint gets larger, until it gets so large that they have to put supports under the branches to keep them from snapping off. Physics is everywhere, you just have to learn to recognize it.