Our {First} Thanksgiving

We get to have two Thanksgivings this year! 

We went up to northern Utah and had Thanksgiving with Jake's family.  We had a blast!  We hadn't been up for a while, so it was great to see everyone and get some Christmas shopping done.

We also got to see {New Moon} while we were up there!  Loved it!  I even got my drink in a souvenir New Moon cup.  I was making fun of myself.  But it made me happy so I got it!  Mary watched the girls while Jake and I went to the movie.  Thanks Mary!  

We had our Thanksgiving dinner at Alex & Mary's house.  It was perfect because they have a playroom so the kids all played with toys while the adults played games.  So fun!

Here are some pics from the dinner:

From left:  Jaclyn, Jake, Bekah, Kate, Mary, Emma, Alex and Barbra (Jake's mom)

Aunt Bekah holding Kate.  Mary looks beautiful in this pic!

Ellie and Emmy playing in Ellie's room.  These girls play so good together.  They are two peas in a pod!  We just need to live closer so they can play more!

Alex and Jacob.  The brown brothas!

Alex, Austin, Rachel and baby Mason.  He's 5 weeks younger than Kate and oh so cute!

Ellie, Emmy and Emma (that's right, it's a tongue twister.  And Emmy and Emma actually share the same birthday!  Ellie is two months older).  I told the girls a spider was going to get them so they'd all look at me.  So they are screaming :)

Now bring on Thanksgiving dinner #2!

Emmy Turns 3!!!

{Happy Birthday, Emmy!!!}

Our lives were changed forever three years ago when we welcomed this beautiful, spunky, entertaining girl into our lives . . .

 

 

Emmy's birthday started out w/ Jake and I going into her room with some balloons and singing Happy Birthday to her.  The balloon we got her is a HUGE princess castle balloon.  She had seen it at Walmart last week and shown it to me.  So I had to go back and get it for her!

 

We let her open one present when she woke up.  We got her Snow White and this was her reaction when she opened it:

She watched her movie and was immediately singing like Snow White.  Today at church, while they were passing the Sacrament, Emmy started singing, "aaah ha ha!  aaaah ha ha!" like Snow White.  It was hilarious.  We never know what song will come out of her mouth during church.  Sometimes its Phantom, sometimes it's the ABC's, today it was Snow White :)  She is our little singer!

We just had a family party this year.  My friend, Jessica, made this adorable cake for Emmy.  Thanks, Jess!  Emmy loved it!

My sister's kids w/ Emmy eating pizza

 

If you've read my blog for a while, you know that Emmy loves The Phantom.  She has a slip-dress that she calls her "Christine dress".  I decided to get her a better "Christine dress" for her birthday.  She loved it!  She had to put it on as soon as she opened it.  Today, she told me she wanted to put on her "Big Christine dress" as opposed to her little slip.

Emmy putting on her "Christine dress"

Here she is blowing out her candle

Emmy got this princess castle tent for her bday, too.

She shared her new dress and let Ella wear it :)  

Emmy loves playing Doctor with random objects.  It was finally time to get her a Doctor's kit.  It was a big hit!  She and Ella started playing Doctor on each other and on Kate.

Emmy kept saying she was "Dr. Darlene" - she's the Nurse Practitioner that works at the Pediatrition's office that Jake works at.  Notice the frosting on her face?

Ella checking Kate's cheek

Emmy, er, Dr. Darlene, trying to give Kate a shot in the leg

We ended the day at Grammy and Papa's house sipping hot chocolate and roasting marshmallows.  What a fun day!

Hot chocolate w/ a straw -why not?

Kate and Grammy by the fire

 

Emmy has filled our lives with so many challenges, but so much joy!  She found a place in our hearts and we will never be the same.

 

Happy birthday, sweet girl!  We love you!

And I had to add this last pic because I got a new 'do!  I was really sick of my hair and so my sister cut bangs for me!  I really like it and got a lot of compliments at church today - that always reassures me when I do something drastic :)

Kate {4 Months}

Kate turned 4 months old last week! 

She is such a fun little girl!  She is giggling like crazy lately.  I love it.  And she's getting ready to roll over.  She rolls onto her side and I think she'll be rolling all the way over within the next couple of weeks.  It's so fun to see her grow and learn new things.

She usually gets up once in the night to eat.  And she loves grabbing things and putting them in her mouth.  Oh, and she loves to grab and pull hair.  At any given time, she will have at least one of my hairs in her hands that she's pulled from my head.  Ouch!

We took her to her 4 month appointment last week and she is growing like a weed!

She weighs 16.08 lbs - 95th percentile

She's 26 1/4" long - 95th percentile

She's so chubby!  I love all of her yummy rolls.

Her big sweet smile just melts my heart! 

Kate is such a content and happy baby.  She likes to be held and I'm loving the time I get to hold and snuggle her because, before I know it, she'll be little Miss Independent like her sister.

{We love you, little Kate!}

Kate with her cousin, Dawson

Kate w/ her rosy cheeks in her Halloween costume

Halloween 2009

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!!! 

I hope you all had a nice, candy-filled weekend. We sure did!

On Halloween, we were visited by this sweet little flower:

and this spunky little witch:

We went Trunk or Treating on Saturday night where Emmy filled her pumpkin candy bucket with lots of delicious candy.  When she gets older, we'll probably have to hit some houses, but for now, it's nice to be done with the Trunk or Treat party at the church :)  We actually did go to two houses.  There is a sweet, sweet lady in our ward that Emmy calls Grandma Audrey.  We had to stop by her house so Grandma Audrey could see Emmy the Witch and Kate the Flower!  And, of course, we went to Grammy and Papa's house.

Emmy has been asking for her pumpkin candy bucket every 5 minutes.  Good thing she has a mommy that won't let her overdose on Halloween candy.

Here are some more sPoOkY Halloween pics of the little goblins!

WARNING:  Picture overload ahead.

Seriously, the sweetest flower I've ever seen!

And the cutest little witch!

 

Grammy putting on the witch's warts

 

 

Emmy doing her witch cackle . . . "Hee hee hee!"

 

The only good pic I got of the two munchkins

The Pumpkin Festival

Every October in Cedar City, there is an annual Pumpkin Festival.  I love taking Emmy to it!  There are lots of fun activities for the kids to do like Donut on a Rope, painting pumpkins, pumpkin bowling, bean bag toss, face painting and cookie decorating.

Here are the highlights:

Attempt at a family picture.  This is getting harder and harder to do!  Emmy doesn't like to look at the camera anymore.  And Kate likes to eat the front of the Baby Bjorn. 

Emmy's pumpkin that she so beautifully painted

She was really into spreading that frosting onto her cookie!

She got a pumpkin painted onto her face

Vampire Emmy!

Staheli Farm

Like I've mentioned before, I love this time of year. I've come to the conclusion that most people do. We have been doing lots of festive things (most of them involving pumpkins) to celebrate this wonderful fall season!

Last week we went to Staheli Farm in St. George. We had fun going to the pumpkin patch. Emmy got to pick her very own pumpkin!

Oh, and I lost Emmy.

Now, you have to take a wagon out to the pumpkin patch, it's out a little ways. There's nothing out there but a pumpkin patch, a pond and cows. So how, you ask, did I lose Emmy?

Well, there were a bunch of kids with us and we were trying to get pics of them all together when I realize Emmy isn't there. I'm looking around, calling for her. I walk over to the pond, hoping she hadn't fallen in. I walk around an old tractor. She's not there. I ask some people if they've seen a little girl wandering around. They haven't. That's when I see it. The Port-a-Potty. At this point, I'm really hoping she's not in there. I'm a total germ-a-phobe. But, of course she IS in there. I was happy to know that she didn't wander off into the cow area, but I was not happy to know that she had poo and pee germs all over her now! I immediately whipped out the diaper wipes and hand sanitizer. Yuck!

But we're glad Lindsey invited us because, despite the Port-a-Potty incident, we had a blast!

Here are the highlights in pictures:

Emmy and Ella dressed up as witches

Wandering around the pumpkin patch

Emmy with her little pumpkin

 

The whole group with their pumpkins

Motherhood

I've had a hard couple of days. I've just been struggling a little. And THIS POST is really what I needed today. Thanks for writing it, Anne-Marie. Why did I need to read it? Because being a mom is hard.

It's easy to look back and see all the things you used to do.

I used to work. Sometimes I think it would be really nice to have a full-time job again, one where I actually get paid. With money.

I used to travel. I LOVE to travel. Discovering a new place and seeing how other people live, it's just magical to me.

I used to do whatever I wanted. I didn't have to worry about kids or babysitters. I decided what I wanted to do and I did it. It was great :)

Sometimes it seems great to be involved in lots of things, to get a "break", but you know what? It's not worth it if my family suffers for it.

I love being a mom.

It's fulfilling.

Maybe not in the same way as working or traveling, but it is so wonderful when your hard work is paid off with a gummy smile or an excited "Mommy I went pee pee in the potty!"

It's hard to stay focused on the positive things when your day is filled with wiping little bums and changing dirty diapers. But you know what? It's worth it.

It's worth it because of this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

That's why I love being a mom. And if there is something taking too much focus away from my family and preventing me from being the best mom I can be, then things need to change. Priorities need to change. These {precious} years at home with my kids are few and I don't want to look back and have any regrets.

I know my posts usually consist of few words and lots of pictures, but writing this post was really therapeutic for me. There just may be more posts like this in the future :)

The mountains

A few weeks ago, my parents decided to go camping. They invited us to come, but I wasn't ready to pack up the family for an overnight camping trip just yet with a new baby (hey, she's still new to me!). So we did the next best thing . . . we went up and had dinner with them, drove home and slept in our own beds :)

Don't get me wrong, I love the outdoors and I love to camp, but September at night in the mountains with a 3 month old baby is a little too cold.

So we ate some delicious dutch oven, hung out for a little while, then went home and slept like babies in our own beds. It's a good thing, too, because my parents said it got pretty cold. I knew I was smart not to stay overnight!

Emmy thought it was important to sweep the dirt :)

Kate really enjoyed herself in the great outdoors :)

Emmy had so much fun playing in the tent. Her hair had a lot of fun getting really static-y. She's got a great frizz halo going on.

I love Quaking Aspens. They are my favorite tree.