'an-i-mos'

Saturday we went to some yard sales. At one of them I found a cute little barn and bag of toy farm animals. As soon as I showed Abbie she said 'animos', grabbed the bag in delight, and carried it around. It was so cute and I love great deals so of course we got it! Because she was so excited about the animals we decided to let her have them now rather than wait for Christmas. Since then she has played with them many times and often exclaims 'animos' when she wants to play.

Cherry Hill

Well, I didn't get very many pics but at least I got some. We went up mid day Friday and met all of the Nielsen side of the family. Brandon and Jayden didn't go because they went to a scout camp. We swam, ate, talked, played games (including nighttime mafia with like 15 people), and talked more. It was a lot of fun. And of course Abbie was awesome and slept the whole night and was pretty darn happy the whole time. Saturday morning we packed up and left and then all went to Seven Peaks with our passes. We had a great time and wished it was a little bit longer.

Sister Winterton enters the MTC

Wednesday (the dreaded but exciting day) morning we got up and got ready to go. Brandon went to work and Abbie and I headed over to my fam's house. Ness, now known as Sister Winterton, said her final goodbyes to grandma and grandpa and then we headed down to Provo in a squished car.

We got down to Provo early enough so that we wouldn't feel rushed. For our 'last supper' Janessa took us to Olive Garden (seriously how lucky am I to get to go 2 days in a row!). Trust me when I say we had no problem stuffing ourselves :) After the delicious meal we drove over to the Provo Temple to get a few family pictures (minus Brandon).

At 1:40 pm we drove into the MTC, parked for about 2 minutes while the host missionaries got her luggage, did quick hugs and said goodbye as she walked away. She looked so happy and was totally ready to go.

 

 I know life goes on, but it still makes me a little sad to think that I won't be seeing her for a long time and that Abbie probably won't remember her. I know she will be a great missionary and I will pray for her everyday until I see her again.

Happy Anniversary!

Okay, so continuing from where I left off on the last post. 

So, Monday night I picked Brandon up from work so that we could celebrate our 4th anniversary (Abbie stayed with my mom).  First we went and checked into the Salt Lake Plaza hotel- right across the street from Temple Square. Then we walked over to the Gateway and ate dinner at California Pizza Kitchen ,went to a movie, and then got some ice cream. Then we rode trax back to the hotel.

Tuesday (our actual anniversary) morning we checked out and walked over to the Temple to do some sealings. It was awesome because we were able to seal many/all children at a time.

Then we picked up the cars and and went to Olive Garden. It was of course delicious :)

As we were leaving we saw my fam's cars in the parking lot and it turned out that they were at the chuck-a-rama next door, so we walked over to say Hi. Then we went back to their house to change out of our sunday clothes and Abbie played on the tramp for a few minutes.

Then our whole family decided to do one last fun thing before Janessa left the next day, so we went bowling.

We did one game of 'mike & ike' bowling and one regular game. We had a lot of fun together! I love this picture because a) everyone is happy and it's a good memory and  b) its the last family picture we will have in a while where everyone actually looks pretty good :)

After bowling Brandon went home to go to scouts and I stayed and helped Ness with the final touches of packing and cleaning. Then we got ready and went over to the Stake President's office at 9pm for Janessa to be set apart as a missionary. Abbie was a little rowdy, but otherwise it was very nice. Everyone was able to bear their testimony and give Janessa some advice. She received a really nice blessing (that I missed because Abbie was being naughty and had to go out to the hall). Almost everyone was emotional and sad.

We got home really late and then I had a hard time falling asleep, probably because I was sad and didn't want the next day to come.

It was pretty crazy to pack all of that into a short amount of time, but I'm glad we did.

Farewell and getting ready

We have had a wonderful and crazy busy few days.

 Saturday: In the morning we went to the county fair because me, Amanda, Syd, grandpa, and Becca all entered painting into the fair. Apparently I am really lame because I didn't get pictures of anyone else.

Afterwards we went to Sizzler with the extended family to celebrate grandma and grandpa McDaniel's 50th wedding anniversary. 

Then we went to my family's house to get ready for an open house for Janessa. Lots of people came and supported her and said their goodbyes. Brandon had to go home to do some scout stuff and on the way back got a flat tire. Unfortunately, we and nobody else had the right tool for the special lug nuts so we just left it on the side of the road overnight.

Sunday:  After getting ready we headed out to the fair to pick up my paintings and then quickly rushed over to the church for Janessa's farewell. She gave a wonderful talk and testimony and just glowed. Then all the family came over for lunch. Once again I am totally lame and only got a single picture of that day- Abbie playing in the dirt.

After hanging out for the rest of the day, we headed home. On the way home we found out that someone broke the window of our car that we left on the side of the road. Thankfully there was nothing to steal. We decided to have it towed to a shop.

Monday: Our car got fixed and Karen took me to pick it up and then to vacuum out all the glass. After Abbie took a nap we went to my fam's to just hang out with Ness before she left for her mission. We also went and got the window replaced in the car. In the evening I headed downtown to Brandon's work to pick him up so that we could celebrate our anniversary.

17 months

Abbie at 17 months:

* Hates getting her teeth brushed

* Loves to play with money/coins and can say 'money'

* Is getting to be a semi-picky eater

* Loves 'pretties'- includes, hair, bows, ribbons, painted nails, bracelets, necklaces, pretty things on shirts, etc.

* Has had a bad yeast infection for about 3 weeks. We've tried cream medicine and now she is taking an oral anti-fungal medicine. Hopefully it will clear up soon.

* Some other new words are 'that one', 'noo-no' (noodle), monkey, 'be' (book), apo (apple)

* Loves to say 'ew' at many things including spiders

* Is pretty good at playing and entertaining herself, although she would prefer to be doted on by all her uncles, aunts, and grandparents :)

* Likes playing with pepper, even though he has given her many scratches

* Thinks everything is purple even though I am trying to teach her lots of colors

 

* Loves to 'dan' (dance)! Any time she hears music she dances

* Is super cute and fun and we love her to death!

fun stuff this week

'Night out against crime'

Abbie playing/ swimming with Adrianna 

Not pictured: We went swimming at the spa one day, swimming at Seven Peaks twice and went to my cousin, Tony's wedding.

horse ride

Saturday night we went to dinner with some friends. With 2 toddlers you can bet we made quite the mess :) 

On the way out we stopped at the horse ride. Kaylee loved it and Abbie only liked it when it wasn't moving.

reading

After I showered this is what I came out to: Amanda and Abbie were just chillin' and reading books. And, no Amanda does not live here, she was just having a sleep over :)  

I am so happy that Abbie is loving books more. Anytime I see books on sale I immediately go over to look through them and often I find a few to buy, so our stash is growing.

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom!

family gathering

Last night while I was cleaning up dinner Brandon came in and said ''you have to go take a picture of the stairs!'' What? Well, apparently Abbie went and gathered several of the buddies and had them sit on the stairs with her for a little while. Haha, she sure is a funny girl, and very persuasive :)