1989

Well, I'm a week late on this post. Ethan turned 20 last Monday, November 16th. It is really hard to believe that he is no longer a teenager and that he is growing/grown up. Ethan was my biggest baby, weighing in at 10lbs 4oz. He was born is Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii.

These are the only pictures of him he would let me take. I can't find his baby book since we moved 2 years ago. It's still packed up somewhere in the shop. I guess I ought to finally unpack things. Anyway....enjoy.






Ethan in a very tender, caring young man. He loves his mom and puts up with her antics and sillyness. Our favorite conversation is: me, "Love you", him, "Love you more", me, "Love you most", him, "love you mostest" etc, etc,. Yes, we know those aren't real words, but we love to try to out do the other person in expressing our love for each other. Thanks E, you know I love that about you.
He loves having his back rubbed or fingers run through his hair. (He is just like a cat when you touch his head. He will move it around and almost purr while his head is rubbed.) hehe!
Ethan has a great love for family. His best friends are his cousins and sisters. He admires his "older" cousins and enjoys hanging out with them, their wives and their kids. He is a very hard worker. Cannot sit still for 15 min. He loves construction and working with his hands, but his first love is horses. He still enjoys trying to let a horse buck him off during a rodeo. Ethan has high hopes of one day being in the NFR as a Bareback contestant, but for now, he is riding in every possible rodeo he can enter and living his dream to the fullest. Ethan is faithful in his attendance at church and in his priesthood duties. He's a teenager/young adult that doesn't really enjoy sitting through church, but knows that is where he is suppose to be, so that is where he is. Ethan is a joy and a blessing to our family. He is a good son!

Princesses

When our neighbors moved in a few years back, their oldest daughter was about 1 and her and Abi hit it off. Abi gave her the title of Princess Kaiya. Well Kaiya is now almost 4, and with Disney's Princess on Ice in town, it just seemed logical for us to go. Emalee, Kaiya, her little sister, Mekenna, her mom Michelle and I all went for a "ladies" night out. It was soooooo much fun....here are some pictures of our adventure

As you can see from the distant pictures, we needed a better camera or closer seats, but since we bought the tickets just a few days prior to going, seats selection was limited. We had so much fun. Mekenna was jabbering away during most of the first half. By the second half she was winding down and ready for some sleep. Kaiya loved seeing all the princesses. She kept asking where was Cinderella. I don't think that she was disappointed at the end. We took 137 pictures!! Enjoy
Let's see, we saw Snow White, Mulan, Ariel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine and Belle.

1985

I'm a day late with this BIRTHDAY post. It is hard to believe that my 1st born turned 24 years old yesterday. I am in awe of the fine young man that he is.



Here is the story of him entering the world. I found out that I was pregnant in March of 1985. I was given a due date of Oct. 25th. As the months went by, I slowly developed a very large belly. The doctors were concerned about my size and the possible size of the baby, (This is back in the day when ultrasounds weren't as common as they are now)so they thought that they better find out how big this little guy was. Well, after they did the ultrasound they moved my due date up to September 26th, a whole month. I knew that there was no way that I was that off with the date of my last period, but figuring that the doctors knew better, we went with that. I began going to my doctors appointments on a weekly basis the first of September and by the time I had gone 8 weeks, every week to see the doctor, with no progress we knew something was up. I had to go to the hospital several times to have non-stress test done to make sure that the baby wasn't in any stress. Winston stopped moving around and after we passed our original due date of October 25th, we asked the Doctor when we should start to worry. Mind you, I have not dialated or thinned at all. No progress what so ever! The doctor says that usually at about 2 weeks past the due date they begin to get concerned about the placenta functioning effectively. We told the doctor that we were at 2 weeks, he said see you in the morning. We left the doctors office, went straight to the hospital for blood draws, knowing that I was going to have to deliver c-section. All went well.


I forgot to add that just before they pulled Winston out, he pooped, swallowed it and was in Intensive Care for a day and a half. Scary but like I said all was well.

Winston Grant McNeill
9lbs 14oz
(born sometime in the morning, can't remember the exact time.)
head circumference 47" (too big to fit through the birth canal.)

My beautiful baby has grown to be a handsome man. Winston works with his dad, understands the construction business, wants to go to school to be an accountant, loves to dance, sing, & play WOW. He is working to be able to put himself through school.

CLEVELAND ROCKS

While I was at the Salt Lake Temple last night, Mardee said that she had been told about my blog and went to see what I had to update about Abi. Well when she told me this story, I thought that I had better put something up about my darling missionary.
Abi feels truly blessed to be able to have the Kirtland Temple in her area. It is truly sacred ground. A fantastic missionary tool to help investigators feel the Spirit as they are taught the truths of the restoration.






Abi is currently serving in the North Olmsted Area, Cleveland Zone. She has been out 10 months, has been in 3 areas and has had only 1 companion for 2 transfers. She was a trainer after just 6 months out. She is currently living with the Stake President, President Titera and his wife. A funny thing about this.....It's a small world!!!!! Sister Titera's sister and BIL live in the 11th ward of the Grantsville Utah Stake. Abi and Sister Romney are serving in the same ward that the Mission President and Stake President attend. PRESSURE.

This is Abi with her 1st Mission President and Sister Peterson. They are from Salt Lake. Abi changed Mission President's in July. She now serves under President and Sister Sorenson.

Some of Abi's most recent thoughts....

"Our teaching pool is REALLY small, in fact we have no progressing investigators. (This letter was written just after her transfer to a new area). This area has so much potential and I'm thrilled with the trust Heavenly Father has placed in me to help build it up. I decided at the beginning of my mission that I just wanted Heavenly Father to trust me with whatever He needed done. Every area I've served in I've come in with no investigators and a lot of tracting before me.....then as I've left I've usually left behind a couple of baptisms or baptismal dates or a large teaching pool. I do not boast of myself, but I glory in Jesus. I'm grateful for these blessings. I guess it just goes back to the rule of leaving things better than you found them. These people aren't mine, they are Heavenly Father's children. I do my best to trust in Him and that He will tell me what to do with them."

Abi has had her share of mishaps and accidents. She has been in 2 car wrecks, neither were the missionaries fault. She has fallen down and scraped her leg several times. She has had birds poop on her head and been caught outside in several down pours. She is loving her missionary experiences.

Hope you have enjoyed getting caught up on what our darling daughter is up to. She loves being called as a special witness of Jesus Christ, and testifying to the world, or the Cleveland community, that Jesus is the Christ and that happiness comes through Him.