Nursery... Finally!

On Saturday Grace turned 18 months, which means she had her first official day in nursery on Sunday. I've been taking her into the nursery for the past couple of months, but since she wasn't really old enough I've been staying with her. She has been so ready for this since she was 15 months old. After Sacrament meeting I changed her diaper then dropped her off. She walked right in the door and didn't look back. I didn't even go in with her. I turned around and headed for our Sunday School class before she could realize I was gone. The nursery leaders told me she did great. No fussing, whining, or crying. She behaved perfectly! Justin snuck a peak (or two or three) to make sure she was doing okay. I enjoyed attending Sunday School and Relief Society uninterrupted. I even brought my scriptures to church for the first time in who knows how long. It was a great day.

I also took Grace to the doctor yesterday for her 18 month well baby checkup. Here are her stats:

• 33.75 inches (95.16%)
• 28.8 lbs (94.02%)
• 18.5 inches head circumference (63.31%)

She's still pretty tall (let's hope she takes after her Uncle Nate in the height department) and starting to thin out a bit. I totally expected her weight to be over 30 pounds, so I was a bit surprised when I put her on the scale. She screamed through the entire appointment even though she didn't have to get any shots. Apparently she doesn't like strangers touching her and sticking things in her ears, up her nose, and in her mouth.

I can't believe how much Grace has grown up in just the last 4-6 weeks. She's talking like crazy and learning new words everyday. Some of the things she can say are thank you, hi, uh-oh, mommy, daddy, cheese, juice, ball, book, dog, down, and shoe. I'm sure there are more that I can't think of at the moment.

She's into climbing on everything. She can get herself on the couch, recliner, and coffee table. She attempts to climb on just about everything else in the house. She's our daredevil and I have a feeling we may get to know the ER very well in the future.

She's on the go all the time. She's a very busy toddler and doesn't know how to sit still. Sometimes I see other kids who are passive and quiet and think how nice it must be to have a child like that, especially during church, but I wouldn't change one thing about Grace. She's incredibly independent, strong-willed, stubborn, and outgoing. I know those qualities can make raising a toddler difficult at times, but I know in the future I will be grateful she has them. We love her more than anything and are very blessed to have her in our family.

No Excuse

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have no excuse other than not doing anything blog worthy lately. I guess I'll update ya'll (I've been in Texas too long now...I'm sure I'll start using the word 'fixin' shortly) on the not so exciting stuff we've been doing. Memorial Day weekend came and went. We really didn't do much of anything. Justin went golfing Memorial Day morning with his boss and a friend. He ended up playing 18 holes, even though he told me it would only be 9, so Grace and I headed to the mall after getting sick of waiting for him to get home. Later that afternoon we headed south and took the 4-wheeler for a ride. Grace had a blast. She loves the 4-wheeler and loved getting close to all the cows, especially the longhorns. The next weekend we were fortunate to have Justin's parents come for a short visit. We spent Saturday at the First Monday Trade Days in Canton, which is a giant flea market. Cindy and I had so much fun browsing all the booths. They had super cute home decor and even cuter baby/kids stuff. Sunday was a pretty special day. Rex was able to ordain Justin a High Priest and then he was set apart as the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric of our ward. It's been a pretty humbling experience so far for our family and we've already been very blessed because of it. Justin's doing double duty for a while since they have yet to call a new Young Men's President. Last Saturday Justin set off with the older boy scouts and 3 other leaders for their high adventure trip. They headed to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico for a few days, and then headed down to Big Bend National Park. They won't be home until Saturday night, so needless to say it's been a pretty boring and lonely week in the Nessen home. I took Grace to the pool one day, which was an adventure. The girl is fearless and she loves the water. She won't let me hold her in the water because she's so darn independent and stubborn. It was okay at first since they have a zero-entry pool, but she just kept on walking deeper and deeper into the pool until the water was up to her face. She did make a friend though and it was super cute. The little girl was the same age as Grace and they just sat in the shallow water talking to each other and splashing one another. I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but I didn't dare take my camera out around the pool. I also got ambitious earlier this week and decided to paint my dining room. It was previously a dark brown color so I probably should have primed it first, but I was too lazy and cheap. I just put on a few coats of the new color and it turned out great. I'm pretty happy with it. I just haven't told Justin about it yet. I think he'll be pretty surprised by it. We'll see if he likes it when he gets home. Last week I booked my trip to California and Utah for July. I can't wait! I haven't been 'home" to Turlock in almost 3 years. I'm looking forward to spending some time with family, especially my cute nieces and nephew. So, if any of you are in Turlock (or surrounding areas) or Northern Utah the last half of July and want to get together let me know. We'll plan something. I'd love to see everyone I can. I think I've caught ya'll up on everything. I have some pictures to post, but that will have to wait until another day since my camera is in the car and I'm ready to got to bed.