So this is what we've been doing the last 3 months...

You thought that I was done blogging, huh? WRONG! No, I just didn't realize that it had been about 3 months since I posted. That's way too long and now I need to cram a lot into one post because I am too lazy to do more than one. Just being honest! So here I go...

Abbey is currently 21 months old. Almost the big 2! I can't believe how fast another year has gone. Heck, I can't believe how fast almost 2 years has gone!! At her 18 month checkup, she was 32 1/2 inches tall and 23 pounds. Still on track for being tall and slender- just like her Daddy =) Her growth in all aspects amazes me! It's mind-blowing how they are born so dependent on you for the basics of life and less than 2 years later, they are walking, talking, climbing, singing, etc. individuals. Abbey is still pretty easy going, keeping the same vibe as a baby, but true to a toddler, let's you know when she wants something or is bothered by something. Thankfully, we don't have many tantrums. I hope they aren't coming later! She has such a great vocabulary and communicates very well that I think that has a lot to do with it. I'm still enjoying being a stay at home mom. Soaking up every minute of it that I can! We enjoy our mommy and me classes and music classes. Filling in the blanks with day to day life and loving it =)

We took a trip in February to visit our friends the Markarian's in Broomfield, Colorado. Of course we were checking out the area as well...Jenny was nice enough to watch Abbey everyday for us so we weren't having to adhere to a toddler schedule. HUGE thanks to her. We were able to cover a lot of ground because of it. Thanks Jenny! Our friends the Christiansen's live in Brighton, Colorado which is not far at all from Broomfield so we were more than happy to be able to hang out with them as well.

As usual, Rudy has had Abbey out on many hikes. I even joined the two of them for a few of them. I think Rudy takes some of his best pictures on these hikes. What do you think?

We headed down to San Diego and stayed with our friends the Bloch's and visited the Whiteside's as well. Abbey had fun with Kanan Bloch. It was nice for her not to be the youngest for a change. We even got her saying his name while we were there! My friend Heather Whiteside has been very busy with her toddler Sierra and her twins, Reese and Rider that were born in the beginning of this year. I had visited them alone when they were only a few weeks old. It was neat to see how much bigger they had gotten in such a short time.

In March, I took Abbey to Spring Spectacular, the annual fundraiser of America's Teaching Zoo, the school I attended at Moorpark College. She was very interested in the animals and making animal noises. She even sat through the entire main show! Thankfully, there were enough animals in it to keep her attention. Snacks are always a help too! It was fun to meet up with one of my friends, Rebecca and her son Jackson, who was my second year when I attended there.

In April, to celebrate my birthday, we spent the day at the Santa Barbara Zoo. I recommend it if you haven't been and find yourself in the area. It is right by the beach and the picnic area overlooks the ocean. So beautiful. It is also not a very large zoo so you can cover it in a few hours and not feel like you missed anything. The weather was perfect so it made for a perfect day to eat our packed lunch on the grass over looking the ocean. Of course Abbey was more interested in running all over that huge patch of grass instead of eating!

Easter this year was no different from last year, the easter bunny was VERY generous to Abbey. I think there were 4 baskets for her? But whose counting?! How fun it was to watch her go through all the baskets this year as oppose to last year when we had to show her everything. How much it changes in just a year! We topped off the day by celebrating at my second mom's house with her family and my parents. Becky does an easter egg hunt for the kids and I was thrilled to see that Abbey was interested in looking for eggs. Once she caught onto the concept, she was gone! I think mom and dad had just as much fun looking for eggs and pointing them out to her =)

Well that's all for now. I hope all of you are doing well and getting ready for summer like us. We are prepared for the warm weather- Just bought Abbey a kiddie pool and as an early birthday present, my parents bought her a sand and water table. Can't wait to break them out at the first sign of heat!

Love ya!

The Rudolph's

THE GREEN BAY PACKERS ARE SUPERBOWL XLV CHAMPIONS!

As I hinted in my last blog entry, there would be a blog entry dedicated to my Green Bay Packers winning Superbowl XLV, and here it is!

Some of you may know this, but for those of you that don't, I am a Packer fan because of my dad. My dad grew up in Beaverdam, Wisconsin. One of his favorite things to do as a boy was to ride his bike to Green Bay High School, sit up on a hill and watch the Packers practice. Only in a small town like Green Bay, (small but owns its own football team!) could something like this take place. No fences or security, just a professional football team practicing, you know, typical for a small town. NOT! That is why the Packers are so unique, especially in this day and age. Citizens own the team. Not one or even a couple millionaires. Everyday, run of the mill, blue collar, and I'm sure a few white collar, owners of a professional national football league team. How cool is that? Some might even call them the true "America's team" for this very reason. (Had to do it- that's for you Rudy!) To this day, Packer stock is willed to family members in wills. That goes for season tickets too. You can't purchase stock or season tickets. By willing it, it stays in the family. What a wonderful family tradition to pass down from generation to generation. Ownership in the Green Bay Packers and season tickets. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?!

Well, we are hoping to make a 3rd generation Packer fan out of Abbey. By we, I mean my dad and I. Rudy is still hoping to lure her to the dark side and root for the Dallas Cowboys but I think it is fair to say he will have a challenge on his hands at the very least! Needless to say, we were ecstatic when the Packers made it to the Superbowl and then having them win it, AMAZING! You follow a team for years and you hope every year to make it to the "big show" but just like the movie, "Any Given Sunday," anything can happen. You truly realize how hard it is to get there so when your team does, and then wins, it's a VERY BIG DEAL! So I made sure to go all out for this particular Superbowl.

Hope you enjoyed the Superbowl as much as us, but then again, being the die hard fans that we are, you probably didn't enjoy it as much as we did! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It's great to have the Lombardi trophy back where it belongs in titletown USA. Here's hoping for a repeat performance next year!

Until next time, GO PACK GO!