California

I have some blogging to catch up on!! June 1st we went to San Diego with all the Williams' for a very nice get away. It was nice to have everyone together and relax! We had some interesting adventures as well.

Thursday we went to Knotts Berry Farm. Abby loved the kiddie rides, but I will probably think twice before going again with a 20 month old and a pregnant belly. I couldn't go on any rides with her and of course Nate wanted to get in as many adult rides as he could. The craziest part of the day was right after we got there. Nate went on the Silver Bullet and while we was on the ride, screaming and enjoying himself a bug flew into his mouth, so he quickly spit it out. A few moments later he could feel his tongue swelling up so they went to the first aid station. They found out that he had been stung by a bee on his tongue, and the stinger was still in it. They had to scrape the stinger out and gave him some benedryl. The aid station people said that this was the 2nd time they had seen this happen in 10 years. Lucky Nate. Fortunately it didn't bother him too much and we were still able to enjoy the rest of the day. Here's Abby on her favorite ride.Jumping Castle

Another favorite ride, until she realized how high they were off the ground. It wasn't her favorite after that.

We spent a whole day at the beach, which Abby loved! She had so much fun in the sand.That same night we all played some games. I got a lucky shot of all 4 of the granddaughters sitting nicely by each other. Makayla, Abby, Julia and Natalie.

We also walked the pier and went to dinner one night. It was a fun trip, especially since we had everyone there. On our way home we stopped at the San Diego Temple, so beautiful!

I think this picture best illustrates how we felt one our way home. We were so exhausted, and it felt nice to sleep in our own beds that night. But a very fun trip!

We went to the Easter Pageant with Abby this year. I was surprised at how well she did, our seats weren't great, but she watched a lot of it. Our little (growing) family
Our Easter weekend was very busy. On Saturday we went down to Tucson for Karli's baptism, which was awesome. And since we were already there with so many of her cousins we did a big Easter egg hunt. I love this picture of Abby with her cousins. One of these things is not like the others..... Abby loved finding the eggs

But she loved the slide even more. We came back home for Easter Sunday. Nate was home for most of the day which was wonderful (not very common around here anymore). Abby was on such a sugar high. As soon as we got home from church and I put my things down I couldn't find her. She had found her blankie and bunny and crawled into bed. So I took off her shoes and ponytail and she slept the afternoon away. She's my angel.

My Abby

She is 18 months old now! I took her in for her check up and she is still 90% for height and 50% for weight. She is wearing 24 month clothes already because she is so stinkin tall!! She is growoing and learning like crazy every day! She may have taken her time showing us her personality, but it is shinning now! She can pretty much understand everything we say to her, and she is for the most part very obedient. She is officially in nursery now. I've taken her a few times before and she loves it! She is always exhausted after church from playing so hard.

She can say: more, please, thank you, hi, hello, bye, eat, shoes, socks, pretty, nice, go and she can say things like "where are you"- ahh you, "where'd it go"-go, with her hands facing up. She is starting to put words together, the first she said was bye daddy. She has said "Love you" a few times too. When she isn't saying something we can understand she is jibber-jabbing. She likes talking and says a new word almost every day. She can also do almost all her animal sounds.

*She actually just came up to me and said "help, please" because she wanted a bananna. LOVE IT!*

She loves music! If we are in the grocery store and she hears a good beat she will dance. She even dances to the hymns!! At church as soon as she hears the organ start she starts dancing and waving her arms like she is conducting. It is hillarious to watch especially when the song is something you normally wouldn't dance too.... all the hymns! If she sees sheet music she waves her arms and conducts also. And it's always a different dance depending on the beat. She just has to move her body!

She is also starting to actually play by herself, HEAVEN!!!! She loves her baby and pushes her around, wraps her up in her blankie, and feeds her, her imagination is expanding like crazy.

She is very caring. She noticed Nate had a scab on his leg and kissed it about a million times. She did a fake cry because he was hurt and kept saying "OW".

She loves lotion! She will sit and put lotion on Nate and I all day long if we let her. She gave Nate a nice back massage the other day, and they both loved it!

She also loves to color, and she really concentrates when she does!

Nate was trying to sleep on the floor the other day, and Abby kept kissing him and snuggling him, this is what her snuggling turned into..... her leg on his face.

Found this the other day. I was actually relieved to see that she wasn't playing with the tp in the toilet room. She pulled the roll out of our bathroom and closed the door behind her.... this could have been way messier, phew!

I just feel so stinking lucky to be her mom!

HAWAII!!!!!!!!

Don't you wish you were here right now?!

Me too!

Nate and I packed our bags, sent Abby to the grandparents and went to Hawaii for a week!! It was wonderful and amazing. We stayed with Chelsea and Lamar, and that made it so much fun!

Can you tell I'm excited?! Me and Chelsea on the beach, I looked like such a dork... every time a wave came I was knocked over, so I was holding on to her for support. ha!

The first day Nate went surfing and we just played in the ocean. Since Chels and I are both pregnant, and we had to even out our tan..... I dug out a hole in the sand so we could lay on our stomach. It was HEAVEN, but we fell asleep from being so comfortable and I got super burned! The awesome part is I had strings from my swimsuit accross my back, so I have the most awful design on my back! Nate burnt his legs real good too!


He didn't get to surf as much as he would have liked, due to weather, but he did get up a couple times. I wasn't very good at being a photographer, but I did get one with him up.... he's just on his way down. :)



On monday we went kayaking. It was super rainy this day but we still had tons of fun... until Nate and Lamar almost got us killed!!!! We were kayaking in the ocean out to a little island and us being the dorks we are took the short path and cut straight through the ocean where all the coral was. We didn't have any trouble getting to the island, but on the way back (despite the fact that Chelsea and I were telling the boys to go the long/safe way) we went the coral route again. But this time waves were a factor. (Keep in mind Lamar is on a stand up paddle board, a huge surfboard that you standup on and use a paddle to move, and the 3 of us are on the 2-person kayak.... I was the lucky person in the middle without a seat!) So we were trying to maneuver the waves but we inevitably got knocked out. It was hillarious watching us scramble to get back into the kayak before the next wave came..... especailly considering Chelsea and I are both pregnant. At this point I was yelling at Nate and Chelsea to turn the kayak, and this was a stupid idea, we are all going to die, etc. I'm sure they will have a good memory of my mouth that day! :) So we turned perpendicular to the wave and caught it, so we are now soaring through the water toward a huge mass of coral! As soon as the wave died out we found ourselves stuck on top of the coral, great! But we were pushed off with the next wave, and those two paddled like crazy people and we were home free. It was still a long ways to the beach but it was a nice and calm and safe. It gave me lots of time to switch Chelsea and take a paddle (poor girl was so tired), appologize for my mouth, and continue to yell at Nate for that stupid idea. :) Luckily Lamar was safe too, he stayed on his board the whole time. We didn't get any pictures of the beautiful island we were on because we were worried about ruining our cameras with the rain, they would have gotten ruined in the ocean anyway!

Here we are at the Hukilau Cafe, we ate there twice, yum!



Dole Pineapple Plantation. Pineapple in Hawaii is sooooooooo good!

Loved the pineapple icecream





Hale'iwa sign. Great place for shopping!


Of course the Polynesian Culture Center was amazing! I have been before, but it was Nate's first time. Definetly one of our favorite things on the trip. It was neat for Nate to see all these cultures that he already loves.


This is at our luau dinner. The food was yummy!

We had a million pictures from the different islands, here is Samoa.

Thursday we went to the temple. I forgot my temple reccomend, but luckily Nate is in good with the bishop these days and he called and got me in!

The flowers are as big as your head!

Beautiful temple

Nate and Lamar went golfing a few times at the Turtle Bay Resort (where Lamar works).

We also went to the famous swap meet and spent lots of money. Relaxed on the beach. Chelsea colored my hair for me. Ate lots of good food. And just hung out.
Thank you so much Chels and Lamar for the fun week. I wish we were still in Hawaii with you!!!

I was super excited to come home and see my Abby! Poor girl was sick most of the time, ear infections, teething, and homesickness. But it was so nice for Nate and I to get away and spend quality time together.

Christmas

Christmas was wonderful in 2010. We saw lots of family, and had lots of fun. Abby was spoiled rotten, and we had fun spoiling her! Here are some pictures of our good times.

Abby with Santa at our ward Christmas party.

playing the drums at the Christmas Eve party.

Here's Abby with 2 of her cousins, Perry and Daniel

She had AWESOME hair Christmas morning!! She got a magnadoodle, which she loved. She refused to open any more presents after she got it. So Nate opened her baby/stroller gift........

This is her face when she saw the baby.....

And, see you all later, I have a baby to push. She loves babies (real or fake) so she had a fun time with this gift.

But who needs presents when you have boxes?! Kanela and Abby

Long Overdue Post!

I have a lot to catch up on! We celebrated Nate's 26th birthday in November. I got him the Kinect, and he loves it. So does Abby, she loves to play with him!

For Halloween we found whatever was in the closet for costumes. Grandma A bought Abby this cute hawaiian dress when she went a couple months ago, and it was the perfect costume! Abby loved the glowsticks, and scored tons of candy. She LOVES suckers, they are her favorite.

This little girl is growing like a weed! She's working on getting more teeth, so some days are better than others, but she's still just a sweet little girl! She loves to dance, and she is starting to talk. She says hi, hello, bye, more, please, no (which is currently her favorite), yes, momma, dada, baby and binki (but they both sound like dada), and she does a bunch of animal sounds too. I have yet to get a good video of her doing her animal sounds!

Sorry the video is sideways, but I don't know how to change it.

We also got a new tv. A little bigger than our last one. Big enough for Abby and Grandpa A to fit in the box!

We bought a fresh Christmas tree this year, love the smell! And Abby had a blast decorating it. She was super helpful..... all the decorations she put on the tree ended up in the same spot, it was pretty funny.

Last weekend we had all the Williams side of the family up. We had way too much fun, going to see the Mesa Temple lights, taking family pictures for the first time since I've been in the family, eating lots of yummy food, a gift exchange and just enjoying having everyone together. Unfortunatly the only pictures I did take were of my little family! Abby loved the temple lights, she would have stayed there all night long.

Life is crazy these days. Nate has a new calling. He was a young mens advisor, but now he is the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric. Crazy right?! It has been good so far, we don't see Nate as much as we would like, but we are being blessed in other ways! Until next time!