The girls

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Birthday Suprise!!!

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Dad's Gift

I finally stole the pictures I needed from Meg's Blog to update my page. These are the pictures that Dyan and I bought Dad for Father's Day. We are working hard to stay the favorites in the family. Dyan definately has Rachel and Jayne in her pocket and we are working together to get our parents too. We actually saw these pictures and I knew that Dad had to have them for his Africa Room. If you are ever at my parents house and wish to be impressed, ask Dad to show you the Africa Room, then ask him to show you all the Christmas, Birthday, and Father's Day presents I have given him in the past few years. You won't have to leave the room, they are all in there.

Happy Father's Day!!!

We had a Father's Day/Josh's Birthday blow out Dinner on Sunday. Dyan and I got dad some sweet pictures for his Africa room. I also got some really great gifts and was surprised by almost every one. It was a weekend full of surprises. We had great food and lots of fun with family and friends. It has been interesting to see my family and Dyan's family spending so much time together lately. Seeing Cyd in my parents house has now become less weird to me. It was a wonderful birthday. I spent Friday at work and then when I got off I got to go out to dinner and spend most of the evening with my wonderful fiance. Saturday afternoon I went out to lunch with Jake Talbert(Best Man), Jared Payne and Thanner Darien(Grooms Men). Then got to spend the afternoon with Dyan. We swung by my parents real quick, and what I thought was just a quick visit quickly became a surprise Birthday Party that Dyan and Thanner had prepared for me. It was crazy! I had no idea and it took about an hour before my head was not spinning from the surprise. What can I say, I am blessed with great friends and the Best fiance any guy could ever ask for. Thanks guys, you have truly made this Birthday memorable.

Dad and Mom

Dad was released from his calling as Bishop after 5 and a half years two weeks ago. It was a little weird to think that it has been that long, but I guess those two years spent away on a mission made things seem shorter for me. This is a picture of Mom and Dad out on a date. The gondola driver/singer behind them is from their ward and is a professional singer. Last week, in the home ward, he sang "Oh My Father"(Hymn #292) in Sacrament Meeting and it was beautiful. It was one of Dyan's grandfather's favorite hymns and further he got into the hymn, the easier the tears began to flow. Meg also had the opportunity to speak in church at the home ward(Mesa Vista Ward) and I spoke in my ward(Lehi 4th). It was a really great Father's Day. Dad not only got to sit with mom for the first time in five and a half years, but also had two of his children speaking in two different wards, and was able to see them both. I hope we did him proud.

Dyan and I at my parents

We always tell Meg that the pictures she takes of us make us look drugged out or like we are a mess, so she went on a picture taking bananza to find one or two shots that make us look as in love and happy as we are. These are the fruits of her labors and didn't turn out half bad. I just say it is because I am not photogenic, but these were from about a month ago. Thanks Meg, and thanks for all the pictures you post on your blog. If any of you ahve visited Meg's Blog then you know that I steal a lot of my photos from there. Trust me Meg, we all appreciate it.

Dyan and I

Dyan and I went to her brothers graduation(more info posted below) and Dyan's aunt took this picture for us.

Parker's Graduation

Dyan's younger brother, Parker Martin, graduated from Mountain View High School this past week and we went to see him. He has a scholarship to ASU and I am pretty sure plans on going there at least one semester before he takes off on a mission. We are proud of you Parker!!!!

Funny Lips

Another picture from Parker's Graduation night. I honestly don't know how Dyan puts up with me, but I appreciate her for stickin' with me and handling all my craziness and goofin' around. She is a trooper!

Easter Sunday

We went over to my parents for Easter Sunday. In true Abbott fashion, I was sick and so I will not be posting any pictures of me from that day, but Dyan looked amazing as always and I really liked this picture of her playing with Rachel. Jayne insisted that when Dyan hid the egg that she wore bunny ears and when she went to find them she wore the lamb ears that Rachel had gotten for Easter. I am not going to lie, Dyan looked good with bunny ears. ;- } We had Lunch with Dyan's family and then watched The Nativity movie with them. It was a pretty good movie. Then we went over to my parents for Dinner. Too much food for one day, but everyone seemed to have a good time.

Katie's Call

Katie got her mission call and is going to be serving in the Richmond, Virginia English Speaking Mission. She is excited and shocked. She promised a plate of brownies to anyone who guessed Virginia... I am still waiting for my brownies by the way. I think that she is partially excited because she wants to be a History Teacher and what better place to learn about History then where a lot of it happened. I caught her on Google Maps the other night looking over Richmond. Fun times, I kicked her off the computer and looked up all my houses in Guatemala. As we were looking over some of my areas, my mom asked what the difference between the brown dirt spots and the other brown dirt spots were? I laughed because I think that one of the brown dirt spots she was talking about was the roof of one of my houses. I am excited for my little sister. She gets to serve the Lord on a full time mission and learn what it means to dedicate yourself 100% to the gospel and the way that you have to live in order to be completely in tune with the spirit. It is an amazing feeling. Side note: When my dad, Willy, Jason, Cam, Thanner and I were going out to eat after Priesthood Session of Conference my dad brought up that President Faust had said something to the effect that his mission was the most influential part of his whole life. My dad said that he was surprised that a man that has served in so many church callings and so many different areas would say that the most influential part of his life was while serving a mission. I told my dad that I was not surprised. Although he has been an Apostle and a Special Witness of Christ, the mission is the only time in your life, even if you return with a spouse, that you can dedicate your mind 100% to the gospel and the Lord without having any other worries, concerns, or people to take care of. The closeness one has the opportunity to have to the Lord on a mission can not be faked or found in any other way. I think that is why every young man is asked to serve a mission if he is able. The growing that happens there can not be made up through any course of study, any job, or any relationship other than the daily study of the scriptures, the constant labor of mission work, and the relationship between you and the Holy Ghost as you work to find and help those you serve in a mission. OK, time for me to get off my soap box. Katie, I am proud of you, you are doing exactly what is right for you and I look forward, as much as you should as well, to the growing that will rake place as you serve the Lord over the next 18 months. When you report in July, just remember what President Hinckley's father told him, "...Forget yourself and get to work!". This will make you happier than you can ever imagine, the only thing that I have found to match it is spending time with my, in my case future, eternal companion. Good Luck and Have Fun!!!!

Proposal

Ok, so it has been a while since March 27th when I proposed to Dyan, but it took a little bit to get some photos to through in here. I decorated the back patio with lights, had some slow music playing, and she came over after her class to get a "surprise". I told her that the surprise was the ice cream that I had waiting for her, and that I wanted to talk to her about her day. I can honestly say that I have never been so nervous in my entire life. We ate the ice cream and then I told her that the first time I danced with her would not be at our wedding. I turned up the music a little bit and asked her to dance with me. While we danced we played a game I made up called "Question and Answer". The rules are basic, I say, "Question?" and she says, "Answer.". Then I get to ask any question I want and she gives me an honest answer. The roles can be switched of course but I said, "Question?", which brought the awaited for "Answer." and I asked if I could keep her. She said yes and I asked, "For how long?". She told me that I could keep her for an eternity. I stepped back, pulled out the ring and said something to the effects of, "Well then, if it is going to be for an eternity, will you marry me?". She said yes and the rest as they say is history. Dyan is amazing and in a million years I would have never thought that I could be as lucky as I am. She is the greatest thing to happen to me and she helps me be a better person and will help me be the husband and eternal companion that she deserves... We are in love, not much more to say.

Grandma Szabo and Rachie

Rachel loves walking up to people and asking... well, more like telling them to read to her. No, just kidding, she is really good about asking. It is fun to see how smart she and Jayne are. I expect them to say goo-goo and ga-ga, and they open their mouths and speak in complete sentences using words that I am pretty sure I didn't use till I was in High School. Grandma Szabo got to spend about three weeks here, but with work and school I didn't have a chance to see her as much as I hoped. Hopefully we will have better luck the next time.

Dyan and Jayne

A couple Sundays ago Jayne, my niece here in this picture, informed me that, although she loves me, she does not like me. She is 4! I thought that wasn't supposed to start until the teenage years. SHe also took the opportunity to inform me that she loves Dyan and likes her too. I think that is the case with most of my family though. They love Dyan and tell me constantly that I need to get on top of things and tie her down.

Dyan and co-workers

These are some of Dyan's co-workers. We got to spend some time with them at the banquet and had a fun night joking around and seeing her boss receive the recognition that he deserved for the hard work he does and that they help him with. They are a riot and I always have a good time with them.

Playing Dress Up

Dyan had a work banquet that we went to back in January. Her boss won a ton of awards and we had the chance to go and support him. He is a really nice guy and Dyan loves working with him. It was a fun night and it gave me the opportunity to get all dressed up and surprise Dyan. She didn't know that I had rented a tux. She looked amazing as always and it felt nice going out and spending some time with her and her co-workers. She is really photogenic, and I am... well, not. If was a fun time though and I got to learn a lot more about what she does at work.

D and Me

Dyan and I started seeing each other last September and have been dating basically since then. She is working on her Bachelors in Accounting at Arizona State University and works with a financial planner. She does both full time and still seems to find time to hang out with me too. This is a picture of us over at my parent's house. She is sweet, smart, and in all honesty one of the most beautiful woman I have ever met. I am currently working on a plan to keep her around for quite a while. We will have to see how it all works out.

Pirates are people too.

On our last day in Cali. we decided to go down to the peer and take some pictures. While we were looking in shops and trying to find someplace to grab a bight to eat we came across this Large wooden pirate. We couldn't resist taking a few pictures with him and it wasn't untill much later that we all noticed that we had all been wearing hats, black shirts and jeans that day. Now, we could say that great minds think a like and that is why, but I prefer to think that these two were just copying me and crampin' my style. ;-}

My Nieces

These two are cute aren't they. Jayne is almost 5 now and Rachel will be 3 in May. Hard to think that she was born while I was on my mission. I love these two munch kins. Just thought that I would through their pictures up here.

Me and my boys

Pedro, Ignacio, and Jorge in the car before we took off to Cali. It was a fun vacation and much needed. We stopped at the Denny's in Yuma and while we were waiting, I decided to give us all Spanish(Mexican) names since we all had some funky facial hair going. Justin had the greatest Mexi-Stash that you could only see when he tilted his head just right and allowed the light to catch the hair and cast a little shadow. It was "the beginning of the end" from my mom's view point because since then I haven't been with out some kind of facial hair.

Old Town San Diego

This was from our trip to Cali. as well. Thanner and I went to Old Town and bought some belt buckles. Justin had gone with all the girls to Six Flags. I don't know if he had a better time than we did, but with all the fun we had, I can't imagine that he could have.

Perfect Stranger

We got a tourist to take this picture for us. We all handed them our cameras and they seemed pretty impressed until I handed them my disposable camera from Wal-Mart. What ya gonna do though? I thought that it was a good photo and one of the last times I got to hang out with all the people in the photo.

Early Fu-Man-Chu

My buddy Thanner comes up with this idea. He says, "Why don't we all grow out our facial hair for our trip to Cali.?". So we did and after about a month I decided to do something weird. It was really not that great, but it was funny to see peoples reaction to the fu-man-chu and it just happened to be the night we went to see Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. It was as red neck as I could get. This was in Thanner's car on the way to TGI Fridays to meet up with some friends before the movie. Good Times!

Swords are cool, fun, and safe!

This past summer I took a trip with some friends and we ended up spending about a week in San Diego, Cali. While some of the other kids ran off to Six Flags, my buddy Thanner and I went off and bought some swords. We decided to take a picture with the owner of the shop and is son. It was fun and we ended up spending about an hour or two in there and met some people from Canada as well. After convincing them that they could take swords across the border, we then told the shop owner that we would not only buy swords, but would bring others too, as long as he gave us some free stuff. We ended up each getting two pocket knives, chop sticks, and some free toys with our sword purchases. It was a fun goofing around and spending some time just chillin' around Cali.