Nielsen News

I really don't have anything super exciting to report as "news" but I did want to document some of the recent happenings in our lives as captured by my iphone...

I don't have a photo for this, but I did want to have it recorded that I was able to re-enter the interpreting world! When we moved to Green River, I thought it may be possible that my ASL interpreting had come to an end for the time being, but that is not the case! I found out that the local school district was looking for a substitute interpreter - can you say "perfect"?! I applied and they wanted to hire me on right away (it's pretty slim pickings out here aka I think I'm the only other person in town qualified for the job other than the current full-time interpreter). They told me that they just needed me to be an on-call sub for one deaf high school student that uses an interpreter. The student was also going to start an elective before-school class and they wanted to know if I could cover it. The class was 6-7 am. That meant that I could go to the class each morning while Sam was still home with Eleanor - perfect again! I really felt like it was a blessing and a wonderful opportunity that I had the chance to continue with something I have worked really hard on. I just finished the early morning class this week, I have subbed one full-day of school and a few hours of after school activities and I have also been called in to interpret a few meetings at the school. I have some amazing friends out here who I have had to rely on to use as sitters for Eleanor when I get these last minute calls, but it has always worked out. I am always so happy when I get to do a little interpreting and am thrilled I found a part-time role that works for me. Hooray!

Sam has been obsessed with his grill that he/we (it was pretty much a family gift and I definitely get to reap the rewards of having it) got for Christmas. Despite freezing temperatures, he has been grilling ever since he got it but lately it's been nicer that it's not as cold outside. He still has to grill in the garage because of the wind. Sam recently won a weight loss competition with his family (Go Sammy!) and with his earnings purchased some add-ons for the grill. One thing he bought was this rotisserie skewer which he made turkeys on. He also bought a pizza stone and has made some DIVINE pizzas on the grill! Seriously so yummy.

About a month ago we made a big move and sold our trusty Clifford (the Sante Fe) and bought a new car! It was a whirlwind of a weekend as we sold and bought the vehicles within two days while in Utah. We had a lot of errands and running around town we had to do in order to get it done, but we did! Here is our last photo-op with Cliff:

We had Clifford listed on KSL and were able to sell it to a family from off of there instead of trading it in. So, we were happy about that and are thrilled with our new car. We ended up buying a 2013 Dodge Durango. I don't have a picture of our exact car, but this is just what it looks like. We bought used through Hertz Rental (it was pretty new and had low mileage but was a good deal). So far from our experience we would recommend that route to anyone!

Of course once the whole purchase was done and over with we had to celebrate with some Chipotle. Elle was happy about the chocolate milk she was tasting for the first time:

Another week Elle had a birthday part to attend for her friends (twins!). Again, she was happy with the food as you can see by her shoving her mouth full of birthday cake...

Eleanor had her 18 month check-up. SHe was 55% for height, 76% for weight and 92% for head circumference. We sure love her and are grateful for her healthy growing body!

 

With a lot of text-editing help from Sambo, I finally finished Eleanor's 1 Year book. I am SO happy with it and know I will treasure having it.

I spied on Elle's nap one day and found her like this, made me laugh...

We went down to Utah on Conference weekend because Sam's parents were in town. Whenever we go to Utah on a weekday I typically pick-up Sam from work and then we head down since his work is on the way. This time we needed to meet him at the Little America (hotel/gas station/restaurant/only-stopping-place-for-awhile-on-the-I80). It is only a few minutes from Sam's work. Elle and I got there a little early so I decided to buy us a treat while we waited. I loved sitting with my girl on an afternoon snack date while we waited for Dad. I had to document...

Eleanor is obsessed with the giraffe we got her for Christmas. She is always giving him kisses and snuggling up to him. The other Sunday while I was getting ready for church I turned on Elmo for her and threw giraffe on the bed because I thought she'd enjoy having him up there with her. I checked on her a few minutes later and laughed when I saw that she had sat him up and found a comfortable lounging position on his lap haha!

Elle's obsession for shoes continues and she now is often trying on both mine and Sam's. During the day she'll bring me a pair of her shoes and mine and say "shoes!" I know that means she wants us to go out somewhere.

Eleanor has always loved books, but used to only look at them if we were reading to her. She would ask to have books read about 10 times a day it seemed like. She recently started reading books on her own and will spend about 10-15 minutes sitting by herself reading (and then stacking) the books. I love watching her and listening to her when she does it.

Elle is always watching our every move and she is constantly trying to "help" me do whatever it is I'm doing (she's really good at laundry!). Here are just two examples of my skilled lady in the kitchen:

And that is all for now! I'm so grateful I had my blog to use as I put together Eleanor's 1 Year book so I hope to do a better job of keeping this updated...we'll see!

Active Eleanor

Eleanor has always been a "busy baby" and is now turning into a "busy toddler". Our little one cannot seem to sit still (unless she is watching Elmo, then she'll sit for about 10 minutes).

About a month ago it warmed up to 40 DEGREES. Can you believe it?! SO WARM! ;) Well, it really did feel warm to us so we headed to the park. Eleanor loved being outside, free to climb and run around. I actually brought my camera out for once...

 

The night before there was a festival in town with ice-sculptures. There were a few still up and some in the works that morning so we checked those out as well. I got great smiles from my two favorite people:

Elle absolutely loves the slides:

Eleanor also loves to dance. We often turn on music and have a dance party with just our little party of 3 :) It always is so fun to see what moves Eleanor comes up with. A few weeks ago I had my Laurels over for a mutual activity where we played Just Dance. Elle was thoroughly enjoying having new people to show off for and thought she was one with the crowd:

She recently learned a new trick - somersaults! Her dad can take the credit for teaching her these!

She really is always running around and never sitting still, but we love her that way!

iphone updates

Well I've successfully gotten way behind in blogging. I've been working on a photobook for Eleanor's 1st year and my blog was so helpful for pulling photos and documenting things, however I got to the point where I needed to do another iphone dump to get photos onto my computer and thought I should add a blog post of some of the photos I had. Sometimes it is hard to keep up the blogging, but I always later appreciate having things documented!

This was back before Christmas, but I was having a hard day. I honestly now can't even remember what was so bad about the day, but I had mutual that night and when I came home I walked in and saw this lovely surprise on our kitchen counter. A beautiful rose and a thoughtful thank-you card that had a poem inside, half written by Sam and the other half written by Eleanor (or by Sam from Eleanor's perspective) thanking me for things that I do. It was the sweetest thing and definitely lifted my spirits. I sure married well.

 The day we were going down to Utah on our way home to Arizona for Christmas I was trying to get everything loaded in the car while Eleanor ate her lunch. I knew she was ready for a nap, but I was trying to time it all perfectly so she would sleep on the drive down to Utah. As I was running between the house and garage I checked on Elle and saw this....

 

Her head was bobbing all around and I couldn't stop laughing. Poor little sweet baby. She had woken up extra early that day and was wiped out. She had never fallen asleep in her high chair like this. Luckily, she was so out of it she stayed asleep while I transferred her to her carseat and slept for most of the drive to Utah!

Once Eleanor started walking everywhere I had to get her a new pair of shoes because most of all the other pairs she had wouldn't stay on her feet that well as she walked. I ordered these adorable Sperry's and when I opened the box Eleanor wanted them on her feet right away. One of her clearest and most frequently used words is "shoes". It's most often accompanied with her bringing me a pair so I will put them on her. She'll also bring me a pair of my own shoes and expect me to put them on.

 One day I was folding laundry and Elle brought me the pink booties and signed "please" so I would put them on her. I did and a few minutes later she brought me the black pair and wanted the same thing. I told her I couldn't put them on because she was already wearing a pair, so she sat down and took care of it all herself...

Eleanor is officially attending nursery! When she was almost 17 months the nursery leader saw her out in the hall way and told us to bring her in and let her stay without us. I was so nervous about it but Eleanor did great and loved it! She ran right in to the toys and never looked back. She is now attached to one of her leader's (our bishop's wife) and loves spending time with her. Just last night we were at an activity and Elle was in her leader's arms. When I took her back so we could leave Elle was upset and was reaching back to get out of my arms! I tried to get pictures once we were home to document her first nursery day, but she was just over due for her nap and not happy about taking pictures.

 I spent a few days in Utah because I had to take an interpreting test. My friend, Abbie, was so kind and watched Eleanor for me while I took the test. Her son, Crew, is only a few hours older than Elle. If you can't tell by this photo Abbie got of the two, they sure enjoyed their time together... (The closed eyes crack me up every time I look at this)

 After getting ready for a day, I often realize that my and Eleanor's outfits coordinate. This day after getting us ready to head out the door I realized we were pretty much twins. Of course I had to document it!

 

We kind-of sorta celebrated Valentine's day. Sam and I were in the middle of our healthy eating/weight loss challenge (a competition with some of his family) so we didn't really go out or do anything special. We're still holding out for a date night next time we're in Utah. However, I made sure Elle was dressed accordingly for the day and she got a little pack of bracelets. She was so pleased with the little package when I gave it to her, it was so cute.

Our Young Women did a Valentine-themed fundraiser for Girl's camp. We sold "Sweetheart Gift Baskets" as well as "Valentine Pretzel Packs". This was a new fundraiser so we thought it would be a little bit of a test run and we were hoping to sell a few of each item. Well, we finished with a total of 48 basket orders and over 130 pretzel orders! I couldn't believe the great response we got from all of our ward members. I even got requests for more after everything was delivered and I've been asked if we'll be doing it again next year. Considering we were able to do this without a Target or Costco nearby, I consider it a success ;) (and the real part of success - we raised more than enough for camp) Here are what the baskets looked like...

 

And if you've ever wondered what 900 chocolate-dipped pretzels looked like, here ya go...

 

Well, today was day light savings and although I don't feel tired, I need to get to bed because I have to interpret early in the morning! I'll post about that soon!

pigtails

Seriously though, how cute are each one of those faces? These were taken before our Christmas vacay. My friend gave Eleanor the awesome reindeer top with a cute little matching skirt. This was Eleanor's first time having pigtails in her hair and there was just too much cuteness going on to not document.

My Best Bud

I just put Eleanor down for her nap and I was seriously sad about it! I usually get to the point where I'm counting down the minutes to nap time or hoping she'll show some signs that she wants to go down early.... but not today. We were out running errands this morning and she was so good and kept making me laugh. We ate lunch when we got home and then I knew she needed to nap (and I need to get some things done...blogging wasn't on the list. oops.) so I did put her down but I was sad walking out of her room. I'll have to wait to see her silly faces and watch the crazy things she does. She is my best little buddy and I love that I get to spend all day every day with her. Some days being a full-time mommy is hard, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Although I always love her, I don't always feel like this when it comes to nap time :) so I thought I should document it for my memory's sake.

Here's some of the latest things my little best friend has done lately that has made me laugh...
That face!

 Usually when Elle wants more of something she'll sign "more". This week she has started a new thing where she'll just pick up her plate and hand it to us expecting it to be returned to her with more food on it. It's like she's skipped the asking part and just wants to say "You know the drill..."

The other day Eleanor took tupperware out of the kitchen drawer (that usually happens about 3 times a day) but then she carried them into the living room and lined them up in a neat and organized row. I didn't get a picture but thought it was odd. The following day she discovered where I keep my nail polish and started taking each one out and standing them up in the cabinet...

 Eleanor isn't a big fan of hats. However, yesterday, she randomly insisted on wearing her beanie all morning and also had to walk around wearing a bracelet from the Marshall Islands. She's learning to accessorize!

I just love her.

Post Christmas Happenings

The days after Christmas all blur together for me now...that is probably due to the lack of sleep we received. We woke up one morning to Eleanor screaming so loud - and it was a scream where you could tell she was in pain and not feeling well. We could immediately tell she had a fever so we stripped her down to her diaper and tried to cool her down and calm her. It took awhile :( Hours later she eventually fell asleep on me and as she was falling asleep I noticed she kept grabbing her ears. We had already guessed she may have an ear infection and seeing that just sealed the deal for me. As soon as Urgent Care was open, we took her in to get her checked out. Sure enough, she had an ear infection in BOTH ears! Poor girl. She had never had them before. We got her started on her antibiotic right away and also had to keep rotating Tylenol and Ibuprofen to keep her fever down for the next few days. It really was so sad to see our girl so sick and especially when we knew she would love being around family and interacting if she were feeling better. She was pretty much stuck to either Sam or I.

One night we did venture out to see the Mesa Temple lights

 I baked cookies and loved my two little helpers

 The day before we left, Eleanor was finally starting to act a little more like herself. We went to the Phoenix Zoo with my sister and two nephews (something we had planned to do at the start of the trip but had to keep postponing since Eleanor was so sick). It was a beautiful 70 degrees and a fun day. I was really trying to not think about how different the weather would be back home...

 

We said our goodbyes New Years day and headed to the airport. We were part of the longest check-in line I had ever seen! Luckily, we got through just in time to run to our gate and board the plane.

Once we landed in SLC we still had the drive back to Wyoming... Sam was nice and ran to the grocery store later that day since we had pretty much no food in the house. He said he turned his back to grab some food then turned back to the cart and saw this...

That's our crazy little Eleanor we know and love :) She was back!

Christmas 2013

We were fortunate enough to be able to spend a week and a half in Arizona over the Christmas holiday. We were also very lucky that our date to travel down to Arizona fell between two storms here in Wyoming. Since we had to drive to Salt Lake to get our flight to Phoenix we were grateful to have clear roads on the day we drove down!

After my solo flights with Eleanor to and from North Carolina, I didn't even break a sweat thinking about flying with her and Sam to Arizona.... no matter what happened I knew it'd be easier than my nightmare flying SLC to Chicago! I have no idea when Elle took this selfie on the flight, but it made me laugh when I saw it on my phone...

 We got to Phoenix on a Saturday. The following Sunday we were able to spend a little time at my sister's and then got to see all of Sam's family for Sunday dinner. My nephew Nolan was so excited to be the big kid and give Elle a little spin in his buggy! She was a little unsure of it at first, but I think eventually warmed up to the ride (thanks Jen for the pics!)

Here my baby girl is in front of Grandma Sallee's tree in her Christmas Sunday outfit.

I also had Elle wear the outfit our last Sunday in Wyoming before we left town and tried to get a good picture of her in front of our tree, she wasn't really in the mood for a photo shoot and I couldn't work my camera quite right, but she still looked cute regardless...

 

 Elle was loving attention and having family around Sunday evening. Then came Monday morning, I woke up to Elle doing  a little cry - just letting us know she was awake and ready for us to come get her. The moment I walked into her room I knew something was wrong by the smell. I went over to her crib to find her, her blankies and the crib covered in vomit :( It was bad and so sad. I immediately took her into the bathroom and put her in the tub. I had to comb throw up chunks out of her hair...so gross but made me so sad for her! She had obviously thrown up a while ago because the vomit was spread all over so that meant she had been sleeping in it. We never once heard her cry in the night or anything. She spent the remainder of the day like this... laying on the floor or cuddled up to Sam or I. She had little energy in her and it just broke mine and Sam's hearts.

Monday evening she seemed to get a little bit of her energy back, but Tuesday she wasn't much better. I was able to meet up with my sister at her gym for a little Zumba fun.

 That evening, Sam's sister, Brooke, hosted Christmas Eve at her beautiful new home. I love this picture I captured of all the nieces and nephews (minus Stella who was in Canada) loving on Uncle Sam and his YouTube videos.

 It was another fun evening with family. Unfortunately, Elle burn two of her fingers on the glass covering the fireplace and immediately had huge blisters on each finger. Poor girl had a rough run this trip...

Later that evening I woke up in the middle of the night and heard Elle coughing just a little. She wasn't crying at all, but I immediately thought that she had thrown up again. I was right. At least this time she didn't sleep in it for hours! Sam got up with me and again we cleaned her, her blankies and the crib. Sam was a sweet Daddy and read her Christmas books while we waited for her blankets and sheets to be washed.

 Later that morning, we headed over to my sister's again to watch Kyle and Nolan open their Christmas gifts. My Grandma Heyman was also there so it was great to see her Christmas morning. I loved the boy's excitement and I enjoyed seeing Kyle's letter that he left out for Santa:

We made it back to the Nielsen's house to let Elle see her gifts. The huge giraffe was a gift from Sam and I. She had seen it at a store and made a big scene when we made her put it back and walk away from it so we agreed we would get it for her for Christmas. She didn't have much of a reaction when she saw it Christmas day, she was the same with the Elmo she received from G (and she loves on that Elmo every time we go to Walmart!). Well now that we are back home and she is happy and healthy again she loves playing with both! She received a few other things that she loves as well.

And then we got to talk with my brother, Taylor, in Chile! We were able to use Google + Hangouts to get all members of my family - in Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Argentina and Chile - on at once. It was so great! Taylor was happy and is doing very well. Can't wait for he and my parents to come home this summer!

Later that morning all of Sam's siblings came over for the traditional Nielsen Christmas Brunch - ebelskievers, buttermilk syrup, eggs, bacon and sausage! (Always delicious). And we got to Skype with Sam's brother, Jack, who is currently in Brazil. He is doing great as well! The rest of Christmas day we enjoyed our time with family.

It was a wonderful holiday, always my favorite holiday each year! I am grateful for our Savior's birth and for His life. I'm grateful that we get to celebrate it each year and spend time with family.