A VERY Merry Christmas!

Christmas was full of lots of fun, laughter, family, food, and enjoyment again this year. This whole Christmas season has been memorable. Emery is starting to understand it a lot better. Every time she sees a Nativity she always points to Jesus and say's "baby Jesus". And even though Christmas is over now, if she spots any decoration, lights, paintings...... anything, she always points to it and says, "Keybus" (Christmas) or "My Keybus" (Merry Christmas). We actually spent a week in Delta this year. It was so nice to get away for awhile and have Tim around every day all day (if he wasn't out hunting with his brothers. :) It was a much needed vacation! This is bike that her grandma and grandpa got for her. She absolutely LOVES it! She also got a doll house from us. She was so cute about it. She opened it then ran over to grandma Paula and said, "THANK YOU GRANDMA!" with a great big hug. We set it up and she ran over to her again and said, "THANK YOU GRANDMA" with a great big hug. And this repeated a few more times as she played with it for awhile. All I have to say is I am so happy she is a grateful girl, even if she is a little confused of where it came from! :) I think that Emery had the most fun playing with her cousin Sadie. They were so cute together and just followed each other everywhere they went. It is so nice when cousins can be best friends too! Just want to say Thank you to everyone for the gifts and making this Christmas a very memorable one!

White Elephant Party

My family has a traditional While Elephant gift exchange each year for Christmas. It can be anything from really nice, to junk, to prank gifts. We usually just end up laughing so hard, and just enjoy the time we spend together. To start it off we usually have a very fancy traditional Christmas dinner. But this year we did something a little different. My parents usually go to Mexico every year but this year they decided to stay home for the holidays. So to give them/us a little taste of what we were missing (we all have gone if not more than once, except Nikki) we decided to make it an authentic Mexican dinner night. Thank goodness we have Brandon who went to Mexico on a mission and is also a fantastic cook, so it was very authentic. We had tacos, escamochos(spelling?), rice, beans, and churos with ice-cream for dessert. Tim said it was the best Christmas meal he has ever had. I wouldn't be surprised if that came the new tradition for our Christmas dinner for now on. Thanks Cami and Brandon for your fantastic cooking skills! Then we move on to the gift exchange. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I was pretty pleased with them.

Meeting Santa Once Again

While we were visiting my family in Logandale we were able to see Santa at my parents ward party once again. This time Emery knew what was coming and was excited. For the first 10 min. she just watched all the other children sit on his lap in awe, and then decided it was her turn, so she marched right to the front of the line and looked up at him. Luckily my sister Leslie was being Santa's helper for the night, because she asked Santa if she could cut in, and he picked her right up. Boy did I have to grab my camera fast. I guess there are times when having a special sister is an advantage. She also got an adorable bag from him full of goodies. She was proud to show it off.

Ward Party

We had an excellent ward party last Thursday as well. Our good friends were part of the planning of it all and I must say it turned out excellent. The food was fantastic and the program was fun. Tim was lucky enough to be a part of it. He was the narrator of the nativity scene. He loves to dress up so it was fun for him. I also think he has the best voice in the world, so that worked out great too. Emery had fun running around the gym with her friends any time she could, and even found a cupboard to hide in at one point. It is so fun doing all these Christmas festivities.

Christmas Around Town

Last week we took our car to get inspected and decided to go for a walk around town while we waited. Tim was able to find some time between his busy schedule of finals, so it was so nice to do something as a family. Christmas break is always the best! It turned out being a pretty fun adventure. We got some cute pictures so I thought I would share.

Picture with Santa

This morning we went and got Emery's picture taken with Santa. She was very excited and kept saying, "Santa lap" and "Ho, Ho, Ho" all the way there. Then once she got on his lap she just sat there like oh, no, what do I do? Then on the drive home she was saying, "Santa lap" and "Ho, Ho, Ho" again. Isn't that so how it is, the moments building up and afterwards to the event are sometimes more exciting than the actual moment itself. I was just glad she didn't flip out and cry when she got on his lap. Though that is sometimes cute too. :)

Decorating the Tree

It seems the older Emery gets the more fun the Holidays are. She has just soaked in all of the holiday festivities and has had a blast. One of the things she loved doing was decorating the tree. It was nice that Tim was able to take a short break between school, work, and applications to help up decorate it (Thank goodness for little breaks every once in awhile). She loved pulling the ornaments out of the box as fast as she could and handing them to Daddy. It was also so cute when she put the star on. I think she felt so big. I love the Christmas season!

I can hardly wait for Tim to finish this semester/have his applications sent in, so we can spend some more time together as a family doing Christmas things. He has been working so hard that he deserves this little Christmas break coming up. I couldn't be more proud of him. I know all this hard work is going to pay off soon. I guess we just need to have patience and a lot of faith. What better time to have some stress in our life than this Christmas season to bring us so much joy and happiness. It helps keep us balanced out! Merry Christmas to you all, I hope you are all enjoying the holidays as much as I am! :)

Thanksgiving Adventures

We are Having a..........

Yesterday we went in for our Ultrasound. To my utter dismay and shock we are having a boy! We both just thought we were going to have a girl, so when we found out it was a boy we were a little bit in disbelief! I must admit I was a little confused at first, but now I am so excited! Thanks to family and friends for your support and kind words of excitement! It also helped so much when my friend from across the street showed up with a HUGE bag of boy clothes 0-6 months. They are ever so cute and some of them still had tags on them. Wow, I feel so blessed! I have such good family and friends! We are so excited for this new member of our family. It made it so much more real when I saw it moving inside of me. I just know he is a special spirit sent to me from my Heavenly Father.

Grateful for Cousins

On Saturday we went to St. George to spend some time with Tim's family. Sadie and Emery are finally able to play with each other better. Now that they are both walking/running, they can play a lot easier. Grandma and Grandpa bought them these cute matching outfits. Don't they look so adorable together? When we went to Sportsman's they were chasing each other down the isles just laughing and jabbering. It was very cute! While the guys and Jenny when shooting, we took them for a little walk around the neighborhood. Once again they were both running but then would stop and explore. After awhile we decided to get the strollers out so we could move on with our walk. It is fun to see their different personalities and looks, yet they still get along pretty well. We also look forward to Thanksgiving when Emery gets to see all her other cousins on my side of the family! Cousins make some of the best friends and we are very grateful for some really good ones!

Thankful for Grandparents!

We are so thankful for Grandmas and Grandpas! We were lucky enough to have Tim's parents come spend the night at our house last night and spend some great time with us. Emery adores her grandparents! They always spoil her and us rotten. But most of all they are are great support to us. We feel so loved and are lucky to have such great examples for follow. Sometimes when I am in a hard situation I think, "what would they do," or "how would they handle this." Thanks for all you do and who you are!

My little Blessing is 18 Months!

My sweet Emery girl has now been 18 months for a few weeks now. I guess she can actually go into the Nursery now, even though she has been going for awhile (sense I am in the Nursery). She is such a good little girl. It is amazing how she came into this world screaming, and didn't stop for about the first 4 months, and now she is very happy easy girl. Now I know that colic does end and that it is NOT the babies personality. It is amazing that she started out so little. Man they grow fast! Makes me wonder what the next few years are going to be like! :o Enjoy every minute is all I can say!

Anyway, I thought I would write a few things about my little pumpkin bug, and what she is doing right now.

~She loves to dance right now, and I must say she is pretty good at it. She has all kinds of different moves, consisting of the chicken dance, jumping/hoping while swinging her arms, spinning, bouncing, fast foot work, and more. It is so cute that I can't help but get up and dance with her, she actually keeps the beat pretty good too.

~She just learned how to jump, which is seems like she does half the day. If not in place, than while she is walking. She rarely just walks normal. She always has a little bounce, skip, or dance to her step. :)

~She is getting artistic and likes to do little projects. She just got a coloring book and crayons from grandma bub-a-boo awhile ago and she LOVES to color with anything and on anything (we are still working on that). So thank goodness for coloring books!

~What a great little talker she is. She can copy about anything we say, if not then she gives it a pretty good attempt. She also can put a few words together on her own sometimes. One of my favorite things she says right now is, "Will you help me?" in her cute Innocent little voice. How can you say no to that!

~She loves the T.V. I can not believe that attention span she has! It is kind of nice sometimes when I need a break or something. My challenge is not having watch too much T.V. or movies. Her favorite show right now is Barney.

~And I can't forget one of my favorite things she does right now. When we say prayers Tim and I have always given each other a kiss after we say, "Amen." Well, once Emery learned how to give good kisses she always has to give us a kiss after the prayer too, even when she is crying or ornery. Well, now when we kneel down to say prayers before bed, she folds her arms and everything, but if the prayers get longer than she thinks it should be, she stands up and gives the person who is saying the prayer a kiss. I guess she is letting us know she is done or it is time to say, "Amen." Either way, we try to keep our prayers short and sweet with her. Maybe we could learn something from that! :)

~Oh, and last one I promise. My mom said I needed to write this down. About a month ago, I was talking to Tim saying, "What are we going to do when this new baby comes? Emery is really clingy to me and likes to be held and cuddled a lot, and I can't hold them both all the time." I was expecting him to insisted both our arms are going to be full. But instead he said, "Emery is just going to have to learn to float her own boat." Which Emery promptly asked, "In wa-wa?" Which means, "In water?" We had a pretty good laugh about that one. She is so smart. It is amazing what she is listening to and what registers in her brain.

Well, I hope I didn't bore you all to death. But I figure this is as much for my own "journal" or records as much as anything. It sure is fun for me to think about my sweet little Emery girl, and share it all with you. What a great time of year to be thankful for her. She brings us so much joy and happiness!

A "Boo"-tiful Halloween!!

Fabulous Halloween this year! After it was all over I told Tim," I think it is the most fun Halloween I have had in many years!" I know that the difference was watching how excited and cute Emery was this year. She had so much fun with her cousins and the festivities.

It started off with dressing up, painting faces (Tim did my niece and nephew) and taking lots of pictures. We then went to my sisters family Ward Halloween party. They had a yummy dinner, pumpkin carving contest (which my brother in-law won two prizes) and a costume contest to start it off. We were so excited when Emery won a 0-3 year prize for best costume. I spent a lot of time making her costume so it made it all worth it. She won some cute books and other prizes.

Then it was off to trunk-or-treating. This was probably my favorite part because Emery was so cute. She is kind of a shy girl, so right after someone gave her some candy and we were walking away she would then say, "trick-or-treat" quietly or "thank you". It was kind of funny. Not only that but after we had hit a few trunks she started running from car to car. It made it so fun. She also had a BLAST with her cousins. They all play together so well. You can see in one of the pictures that they spent a lot of the weekend going through their candy. Brings back memories. They are also great at sharing, even though Emery had her own candy. We had an awesome Halloween and hope you all did too! Thanks Jodi and Chris for hosting all of us at your house!!!!

Halloween Party

Halloween is so fun with all the party's, decorations, candy, food, and smells. On Tuesday we went to a very fun Halloween Party that Andy and Jenny host every year, with stew cooked in a real pumpkin and all kinds of yummy food. I wish I would have taken some pictures because the decorations were so cute and everyone looked so cool. While we were playing games I hear Emery's little voice down the hall saying "Mommy....(pause)....... mommy..........(pause)..........mommy." So I go to investigate and I find her stuck in this little plastic toy bucket. I thought it was so cute, and I was impressed she wasn't crying about it. Instead she used her words and called for me. What a proud moment. It is so nice that she is able to talk a little bit now. I guess it was a good thing she didn't have her wings on because that could have gotten really uncomfortable! Just want to say thanks to Andy and Jenny again for a fun party!

Carving Pumpkins

For Family Home Evening on Monday we decided to carve some pumpkins. Tim gave a really cute lesson on paying tithing. He got 10 toys (all about the same size) then told Emery to pick one. He then took the one toy she picked and left her the other nine and taught that tithing is giving one tenth of our things and the best one tenth of it(her favorite one because she chose it). And she was still happy to have nine toys to play with too. I thought it was a really cute lesson, perfect for Emery's level. Emery had a TON of fun carving pumpkins. She helped me with one the whole time. First we cut the top off. We could hardly get her to look up at the camera she was so focused on what she was doing.
Then we pulled all the guts out. As you see we could not get her to look up for this.

Finally we carved the face. This is the finished result of Emery first pumpkin. Pretty cute for her first one, I must say. :) The last picture is the pumpkin Tim carved. He is so talented. He drew/designed and carved it all himself. It was hard to get a good picture of it. I wish you all could see it in real life because it looks even cooler. If you can not tell it is a haunted house. Very cool!

Shooting with Dad

It was a beautiful day on Saturday so we decided to go out with some great friends and go shooting and rabbit hunting. While we were there Tim helped Emery shoot a gun for her very first time. I don't know who was more excited, Tim or Emery. I was actually surprised because when the gun shot off I thought it would scare Emery, but it didn't. She was a natural. What a proud moment for her Daddy. While the guys were out hunting rabbits, Shannon and I sat back by the cars and visited while Emery played with Hannah and Cloe. She loves all her friends so much. It is great to live by such great people and do fun things.

Tagged

Joys:

1. The holidays; I get so excited for everything about them. I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving with my family this year. We are all going to be there!

2. A nice quiet bubble bath. Sense I have been pregnant they have been the best.

3. Having Tim home, usually the weekends cause that is when he is not so busy with school, work & shadowing.

Fears:
1. Snakes, snakes, snakes....

2. Something happening to my family.
3. Driving in busy places. Apparently Emery and Tim don't have a problem with driving. Emery LOVES cars right now! Hopefully she doesn't inherit my fear of cars and driving. So far so good.

Goals:

1. Getting all of Tim's applications in for pharmacy school (What a big project!!!)

2. Finish the Halloween costumes all the way. I have been sewing and working on them for like 2 months, lots of fun though. (This picture is from last year).

3. Being more reliable, like returning phone calls! I hate talking on the phone unless it is family or a really good friend.

Current Obsessions/Collections:

1. Getting Tim through this applications process and Semester.

2. Holidays, I love decorating, being with family, creating things that make it feel more like the season or holiday, it gives me something to look forward to!
3. Having a clean house. I was so sick and tired during my first trimester that it wasn't as clean as I would have liked it. Now that I am feeling better, I feel like I want it extra clean. I have been washing walls, taking beds apart to clean and vacuum underneath them etc.

Thanks for the tag Tina. I tag anyone who wants to do this. :) Easy cop out huh? :)