Scary Santa?

I'm singing this weekend at the Dickens Festival in St. George. Today was my first day performing and they have a place where you can get pictures with Santa. We thought it would be fun to get Emmy's first official photos w/ Santa. Well, she didn't think it was so fun . . . she was totally scared of him!!!! It was so funny. He is a big burley man with a booming voice. He is the best looking Santa I've ever seen, exactly what I pictured Santa looking like. I tried distracting her even before I put her on his lap, but it was no use, the damage had already been done. She'd already seen and heard him. I hurried and put her on his lap and was jumping up and down, singing her favorite songs but nothing worked. So now we have a classic picture of Binga with Santa. What a great memory!

Leave it to dad

This is what happens when dad changes the diapers! He changed her diaper when we were out to dinner, so she had her pants like this until we noticed when we got home. In Jake's defense, there are no pockets on the bum of these pants so we really couldn't tell. It was just hillarious!

Four-wheelin' family

A couple of weeks ago, we took Emmy on her first ATV ride. She had a blast! I didn't know how she would react to the helmet (when we went boating this summer, she did NOT like the life jacket) but it didn't bother her at all! Her little face was so cute and squished in the helmet.

Emmy was in the very front, then Jake and then me on the back. My parents have this really cool BIG four-wheeler that has a 2nd seat so it was roomy enough for all of us. I just put my arms around Jake to hold onto Emmy. She was such a good sport, I think we'll have to do it more often!

Birthday Girl

The day Binga was born

Emmy's First Birthday is this month. I can't believe it has been a year already! My pregnancy seemed to drag on FOREVER, but once she was here it has just flown by.

I gave her a cupcake to dig into but I think most of it ended up on the floor
She wasn't shy about rubbing the frosting ALL OVER herself!
Especially in her hair


Her cousins, Maddy and Grey, gave her this unicorn. She absolutely loved it. She just started hugging it and carrying it around with her after she opened it. Thanks, Mads, for picking out the perfect present!

Happy Birthday, Emmy! We love you so much! You have made our lives so exciting. We never knew we could have so much joy! Who knew our lives could be such an adventure!

Fun in the sun!

Emmy and I went to St. George last week. They have a "River Walk" where kids can get into the water and play (the bottom of the "river" is cement and there are big rocks for the kids to play on). We went and Emmy had so much fun playing in the water! Can you believe it was warm enough for her to be in her swimsuit and splash around? It was in the 80's. Crazy! But it was a fun time to get out and just have some fun in the sun!

We also went to the park last week. Emmy loves the swings, can you tell?

Walking

Emmy started walking on her own last night! We were playing Wii and not even paying attention. All of the sudden Emmy stands up and starts walking! Once she started she didn't want to stop. She was walking all night. What a fun time! Being a mother is such a joy.

There's no place like home . . .

It's Dorothy in her Ruby Slippers!

Emmy loved walking through the leaves on the way home from Trunk or Treat


Eating a Halloween Tootsie Roll. She loved it!

Just Chillin!

Happy Halloween! This year was Emmy's first Halloween and it was so much fun dressing her up. We went to the church for our ward's Halloween party and Trunk or Treat. We didn't stick around for the Trunk or Treat part (Emmy was getting pretty tired and cranky) but we had fun.

This is Emmy's new face when she pouts. It is so funny!

And Happy Birthday, Lindsey (my beautiful sister)! What a fun day to have a birthday! We went to her house on Saturday and had a birthday party. It was a blast! I dressed up as a witch (although I looked like Professor McGonagall) and Jake dressed up as Dracula. There was a Murder Mystery game and I won! The prize was a $50 gift certificate to Macaroni Grill. Yum yum!!! Lindsey has the pics on her camera so when she emails them to me I will post them.


Lindsey and I a LONG time ago - how funny!

Happy Halloween!

Grandpa Venturi

Jake and I love this pic. It was taken at our wedding reception. Classic grandpa!

I posted some of these pics a couple of months ago, but Jake's Grandpa Venturi passed away this past week. We got a phone call on Tuesday saying if we wanted to say goodbye, we'd better get there quickly because they didn't know how long he would be around. We made a quick trip to Orem and back in one day, but it was worth it. Although grandpa was heavily medicated and wouldn't wake up again, we got to say goodbye. Jake was so glad for the opportunity to do that.

Grandpa Venturi was almost 93 years old. I remember when Jake and I were engaged and I met grandpa, I loved him right away. He was a quiet man but his eyes were filled with so much life and wisdom. They were such kind eyes. He was a great man and we feel lucky that our lives were touched by his.

We love you and will miss you, Grandpa Venturi!

Pumpkin Festivals, Blueberries & First Steps

Mom & Emmy
Grammy & Emmy

Emmy, Grammy and I went to our town's annual Pumpkin Festival this weekend. Emmy is still a little young to enjoy all of the activities (face painting, pumpking bowling, eating a donut on a string, etc) but we still had fun walking around.



Jake and Papa didn't go because they were busy hunting. J was so excited because it was his first time hunting. Sorry to say that they didn't even see a deer until the end of the 2nd day and they were does, not bucks. Oh well! There's always next year. Although I'm a little relieved because he wanted to make jerky out of the meat . . . sounds not too tasty!



Emmy tried her first blueberries a couple of weeks ago. And as you can see, she loved them!

She is also getting ready to walk. She took her first steps last week! Jake and I were walking her back and forth between the two of us. I let go of her hands as Jake was reaching for her. She took 3 or 4 steps on her own! She gets mad at us now when we try to do it, but I have to try! She is constantly wanting us to walk with her around the room, holding her hands. She cruises while holding onto her walker and while walking in her sit-down walker. So give her a month or so and I think she'll be walking on her own. I can't believe how fast she is growing up!!!

Mothers Who Know

For those of you who listened to conference this weekend, hopefully you heard the talk by Julie B. Beck, General Relief Society President. What an inspirational talk for mothers! I got onto lds.org today to listen to the talk again since I was a little distracted by Binga when she gave it on Sunday.

Sometimes I think "what am I really doing as a mother?" I change diapers, clean up after Binga, clean the house, do laundry, plus I work about 5 hours a day. Life gets so hectic sometimes that the more important things seem to get lost in all the chaos. It's nice to hear a talk like this one to help us see what is really important in life. And I'm always trying to be organized, but with a child crawling around, pulling out toys all day, sometimes I think "What's the point? She's just going to pull them out again." But we need to keep our house like the Lord's house:

"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." (Doctrine & Covenants 88:119)

If we do that, the spirit can feel welcome in our homes. And then it will be easier to focus on the important things, like teaching our children the gospel. Like President Bent said, our homes should be like a pre-MTC so that when our children go on missions, it's a review instead of a revelation when they go to the MTC.

Anyways, if you can't tell, I was really uplifted by this talk. Thank you President Bent! I love General Conference and the guidance that we get twice a year from our wonderful church leaders!


And here's a tribute to my beautiful daughter. I'm so lucky to be the mother of such a sweet, beautiful little girl. I love you, Binga!!!