Sad day

I bid farewell to my beloved Saturn "Baby" a couple hours ago. I found it a good home and they promised to take good care of her. It was sad to have to give her up, but I felt it was time. So many memories of my dad with that car. She lasted 15 years and I just felt I needed to have a dependable car.

With each sad thing comes a happy thing. I purchased a 2011 Ford Fusion. It is a beautiful car and feel that I will have it for years to come. Still trying to come up with a name as I just got it a couple hours ago. But I am very excited!!

The Joys of Being a Nurse

I was at work this week and had a thought come to me. I don't think there has ever been a profession where you compliment people on their ability to go to the bathroom and how much they go. Nor do you comment on how it looks. We are definitely a rare breed. Oh, the tales I could tell!

I'm a slacker? Or busy??

So, I apologize to anyone still following me on my blog. I've had a very busy few months. I helped my mom sell her house and then moved to Utah in December. It was so hard to say goodbye to all my wonderful friends in New York. I cried a lot and questioned why. But I had a plan and needed to follow it. We made it to Utah and I looked for a job. I wasn't getting anywhere. I went to the temple a lot and then decided to try for a job back in New York. I had an interview within 2 weeks and within a week of my interview had a job offer from Community General Hospital. I headed back out to New York on February 16. I got all my physicals for work done and am now living 5 minutes from work and enjoying being back. I started my job on March 21 and am loving every minute of it! I love being a nurse. :)

I DID IT!!!!

So, Monday, I snuck away and took my boards. I found out this morning that I passed!! I'm so excited!!! I felt that I have been sitting in limbo for a couple months and now feel like I can move on! I'm grateful to my family and friends for their awesome support over the past 3 years. I could not have done it without them!

Important to pass on

Wow, I know...two posts in a week...I'm working on it Mindy! This past week has really made me think about a lot of things to come. I saw this video and felt it important to pass on. Click on where it says this video..notice it's a different color!! :) LOL

It's true

So, rumors are true. We have a for sale sign up on our house. My mom and I have decided after much fasting and prayer that it is time to move. We started feeling the urgency in December/January, so we started getting ready. Since then, the school district my mom works for has cut positions, one of which was hers. Now we are just waiting to sell our house. If anyone knows someone that wants to buy a house, send them over. :) We will miss New York and our wonderful friends, but we are also excited to go home to Utah and be with our family.

It's that time of year!!!

I love this time of year!!! Most of you know this!! I got to put up the Christmas decorations on Halloween this year. I am in the middle of exams right now, but I wanted to show the cute picture I got from my sister. It's my reminder of the holiday season!

I know, I know...

I know how far behind I am, I realize this. I have been meaning to sit down and update, but time just got away from me and now September is almost halfway done. Oh it's awful.

Anyway, I had a fun summer. My mom had surgery on her foot. Then, we went to Utah for a month. It was fun. I got to meet my new cute little nephew. It was fun to be out there to visit with my family and friends.

Here's a picture of Lucas. He was 3 months old at the time.

We spent one evening at Wheeler Farm having a picnic and letting Sabrina feed the ducks.


One thing that I did was I cut Marissa's hair off! Yes, she made the decision and I got to do it. She looks so cute. I also cut Aubrey's hair and Micaela's hair.

Spencer is such a typical big brother....but we still love him.We went to the cemetery where my dad is buried and Sabrina wanted to go, so she and grandma had a picnic.

She's getting to be such a big girl!

We went camping with the family while we were up there. It was so nice to be up in the mountains in nature away from the world, and to be together as a family.

Aaron is such a good dad to his kids. It's good to see him interacting with them. :)

Lucas loved the outdoors!! Debbie loved having him out there because he took wonderful naps and he slept all night. It made him a happy baby.

The night before we left, we went to get ice cream with Debbie's family. Sabrina was being silly with her ice cream, so of course I had to get a picture.

It was such a fun trip and am sad we had to leave. Hopefully we will see them again soon.

I'm an aunt again!!

My sister's baby came!!!! He was supposed to be here on the 24th via c-section, but he didn't want to wait. She was dilating and was told he needed to come on the 16th. So, he came!! He weighed 7 pounds 8.7 ounces and was 19 inches long. He's so cute. I'm excited to go see him this summer. Now I just need to work on his cross stitch and finish it.

New Project

So, for those that didn't know, I have a pregnant sister, Debbie. :) As you can see, this isn't a new announcement. She is due to deliver on April 24. She's having a boy. As a tradition for all my nieces and nephews I have made a counted cross stitch birth announcement for them. I'm a bit behind with this baby as I've been so busy with school, but it is going to be cute when it's done.
This is the one that Debbe and Aaron decided on for me to give to baby Lucas Marcello (not Kryshia Nicole as seen in the sample...no Aaron, I can put whatever you want on here). We will all be so excited when he makes his debut in the world. Also excited to see how Sabrina handles having a baby around the house. :)

Snow! Snow! Snow!

So, we have been hit with so much snow here. It amazes me. In fact there is so much that the stores don't know what else to do with it to clear out their parking lots. This is Karen standing in front of a "bank" of snow. I love the snow and I must say, I'm in heaven. I know I drive people crazy. HA!!

Rest of trip to Utah

Ok, ok, i've drawn it out long enough. :) We had a fun New Year's. And the day before we left, I was asked to cut Sabrina's hair. She was such a good customer. She sat very still while I cut it and then after asked me to fix it, so I did. I didn't get any pictures of it, but then I started having fun with her and Tami's hair. I'm good at that. We all got a good laugh. It was a fun trip.

Play Time with Sabrina

On Sunday, December 28, while Sabrina and I were waiting for her mom to take a shower, we played with her new tools. It was funny to watch her put the belt on and really want all the tools to go into it where they were supposed to go. Then, she wanted to use her screwdriver to put the screw into the wood. She is so funny when she gets something in her head of how to do something.

Oops...

I forgot to mention that Christmas Day was fun. There were a lot of presents to open and fun times. :) Tami was in charge of getting presents out from the tree. I was helping her to organize them. This picture was after we had already gone a couple hours of opening... Christmas was very fun, but we always miss dad.

Lights on Temple Square

So, on December 26th, we as a family took the train to downtown Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square. They were so beautiful, as always.
It was so cold. We were all bundled up,as Tami shows. I think her smile was actually frozen like that. It was a fun night. Here are some more pictures.

This is a picture I got up looking up at a tree. There were so many lights on all the trees.
This is a picture of the temple with a nativity floating in the reflecting pond on the east side. It was all so beautiful.

Christmas Eve

We had Christmas at Sharon's house. Their new house is beautiful. We all had dinner in the dining room and then we had a program. It was a nice program about the nativity and the significance of each part. The kids all did a talent.

Before the program is when mom shot this classic picture of Tami, the kids and I. I thought it was completely hysterical!

After the program, we decided to get family pictures. Here they are: (everyone's names will be on top in the order that they are posed)

The Monteros (Debbie, Sabrina, and Aaron)

The Sandbergs (Sharon, Jonathan, Spencer, Marissa, Micaela and Aubrey)

and the Jannelli Girls (Sharon, Tami, Mom, Karen, Debbie, and me)

Then, it was pajamas and cookies ready for Santa and off to bed.

First day in Utah

Yes, I am being obnoxious. :) On the first full day we got to Utah (Dec. 23), we had a private birthday party for Sabrina (Debbie's little girl). Her 3rd birthday was on the 12th of December. We had a brunch with her and then opened presents. She is so cute. She got a cute tent and some outfits, so we put the tent together and then she and I got in it and I helped her try on the clothes and she did the fashion show.

After the present opening, Sabrina and I had to make a dessert for her mom. As you can see Sabrina was a big help!!!

Primary Nativity

So, I have to start at the beginning. I am in the primary presidency and we had a ward fireside with the primary doing a nativity. It's a tradition in the ward. So, thanks to my mom's wonderful photography skills, this is the only picture that turned out (I love you mom!!!!). I'm surprised she got one, the kids were very wiggly. I love the children of our ward. They each have their own great personalities.

new posts coming

I promise there are new posts coming. my computer has had issues that are getting resolved. So, stay tuned. :)

Winter is here!!

That's all I wanted to say. :) It keeps coming!