It's a choice

 For the past little while I feel like I have just been trying to survive each day. My life is not bad by any means, but its been hard to find a purpose and be happy. For awhile I don't think I even realized I was feeling this way. It seemed that Abbie was constantly whining or clinging to me, and then I also watch Isaac, so it was doubled. I think that is why I was so excited to go to Las Vegas last weekend. I needed a break from Abbie and I just wanted to have fun.

The last couple of days I have been thinking a lot about how I can be happy and I finally realized I get to make the choice to be happy. I can choose to have a good attitude or a bad one. I can choose to use my time meaningfully or not. I can to choose to find joy in every moment. I can choose how I react to a whiny Abbie. I can choose! Knowing this is great, but actually doing it is hard. I want to have joy in my life and be the best mother and wife that I can be.

So, today has been a really good day because I made the choice when I got up this morning to choose to be happy and positive.  I have actually gotten a lot of things done today and I finally made the house presentable. And as a bonus, the spirit has been able to be more fully in our home.

Anyway here is a super cute video of Abbie finishing up dinner last night. I especially love when she starts eating it off her clothes :)

Las Vegas trip

We drove down to Las Vegas last Thursday through Saturday. I found a groupon for a hotel down there and we decided to do it. Abbie stayed here and had fun with her grandparents. It was a quick trip but we had lots of fun.

While I was packing Abbie decided to come 'help'- haha, she got in the suitcase and started pulling things out

We drove down and thankfully didn't have any car problems. Much of the time driving we listened to Eragon. On the way home we actually got pulled over by a cop. The funny thing is (well not so funny) we weren't even speeding. He pulled us over because we didn't move out of his way fast enough, even though he could have just got over a lane. Stupid. Anyway, so glad that was on the way home, because it may have ruined the trip.

We got there Thursday evening and the first thing we did was go to the Stratosphere. It was so cool, I had never been there. We had a great view from way up there :)

Why would we go up to the top without going on a ride? We decided to do the ride that spins in a circle out over the edge. Of course we loved it.

Afterwards we checked into our hotel, and decided to relax for the night.

Friday morning we got up early and got going. We walked to the strip, it was about 20 min away.

We both loved M&M world and got some fun souvenirs

There were lots of people dressed us as different characters. After I took this picture, they turned to Brandon and said that they work for tips. Haha, of course.

After we had lunch we headed over to the Pinball hall of fame. I should mention that it took us forever to find it  (a) because I had the wrong address and  (b) we had no clue how to navigate the city because the streets go by names not numbers.  It was a cool place with tons of pinball machines as well as other arcade games.

Then we decided to go check out some of the cool things on the strip. This time we decided to drive. So glad we did, we thought our feet were going to fall off by the end of the night.

That evening we went to the Jabbawockeez show. It was awesome, even Brandon liked it :) This was my favorite part of the trip.

After a long, but fun day we went to the hotel and crashed.

Saturday morning, we got packed up and checked out of the hotel. Then we went to New York New York just to look around before we headed out.

This is so cool. It is made from Jelly Bellies.

And we couldn't pass this up (I mean taking a picture)

We got one last picture in LV before we headed out

We had so much fun and it was nice to get away from everything. We did miss Abbie but she didn't really seem to miss us, which is good because she was happy and had fun while we were gone.

Can you say drama?

So, Abbie threw her first real tantrum. Oh joy :) She wanted to play with the garbage can and I wouldn't let her. I know, I'm so mean. Did I mention this happened 3 times? She is used to getting what she wants, so I am not too surprised. I'm guessing there will be many more tantrums to come.

Also, she has figured out how to climb out of the bathtub.

She is growing up so fast. I guess I would consider her more a toddler than a baby. Can you believe that she will be a year old in 3 weeks!

happy LOVE day!

We celebrated with heart pancakes for breakfast, dinner at Olive Garden, and watching a movie.

 (oh yeah, a trip to the dentist and school was thrown in there as well)

Abbie - 11 months

Happy 11 months to our sweet girl! 

Today I was thinking back to this time last year and how miserable I felt and how excited I was for her to arrive. I really had no idea how much she would change my life. 

Unfortunately Abbie has been sick. She got a cough and runny nose a few days ago and then Sunday she had an elevated temperature and was just miserable. I took her to the doctor yesterday and found out she has an ear infection :(  As long as she has tylenol in her system, she is her happy normal self. However, in between the magic meds she is just sad and miserable. It makes me so sad to see her like that. Tonight it got worse and we just couldn't get her to settle down. So she got a priesthood blessing and within a couple of minutes she was happy again. Thank goodness for worthy priesthood holders!  

Anyway, on to the good stuff. She is still very active, and loves to be moving. She still loves to eat and is eating more of 'our' food and less of hers. I should also mention that this means I am pumping less. Yahoo!!! 

Also, she now takes 2 naps a day and is such a good sleeper (I think she is making up for those rough few months). 

This is the best picture I could get of her smiling AND looking at the camera.

She is getting more vocal. We have conversations all the time. I just wish I knew what she was saying.  The words she does say are "mama", "dada", and "thankyou". She will also copy our sounds/words a lot.

She still gets shy around most new people, but every once in a while she will immediately find someone she likes and they become her best friend. She definitely has her favorites-  I am not at the top of the list, but at least I'm not at the bottom. 

I seriously love this picture!

She has finally got the sippy cup thing down. She likes drinking water and watered down orange juice from it, but still prefers milk from a bottle. 

She likes to play games with us: peek-a-boo, guess which hand, run away from the 'monster', and she thinks pulling things out of whatever they are in is fun too.
However, today for the first time, I saw her putting away toys in the basket rather than taking them out. It was pretty cute.

So, even though she is active and can't sit still, she is tons of fun and we love her to death!

Movin' on up

About a week ago Brandon got his grades from last semester. I am happy to say that he is still in the top 10% and actually moved up one rank. I am very proud of him. (He will probably be embarrassed by this, but isn't that my job as his wife? jk) 

We are counting down the days til he graduates- 79 in case you are wondering. We are ready to move on to the next phase of life- meaning we are ready to get out of  Provo. We still don't know for sure where we will end up, still waiting to hear. But the prospects in Salt Lake are looking better than ever. 

Well, I finally got my painting framed even though I finished it before Christmas. I think the camera makes it look a little weird, but oh well. I am still loving art lessons, and am probably half way done with my next painting.

You don't think I would do a post without a little Abbie do you?

She recently learned:

*how to share when you say "share" or "thank you"

* how to give a hug and will usually come do it when I ask

* to open her mouth when you say you are going to give a kiss (her version of a kiss)

I should also mention that I cannot wait for the day that she can go to nursery during church. We, either Brandon or I, spend much of the time in the hall. It sure makes it hard to feel the spirit and learn.  But, I guess most parents go through this, it's just the way it goes.

Oh, and a of course a picture. We went to the mall on Saturday and Abbie played in the kid playground.

 

I just realized that my posts are turning into random, jumbled pieces. Oh well, better than nothing. That's it for now.  Happy February!