Annual Santa Pic

 

So we had our Annual Ward Christmas party last Saturday and of course the visit from Santa. Emma was very excited this year to see him. Cameron on the other had well the picture says it all. I love this picture. So a week or so ago Emma asked me what Santa was going to bring her. So I asked her what she wanted and she couldn't come up with anything so of course Jeff and I had already decided what she would want I began to train her what to ask Santa for.
Me, "Would you like your own kitchen to cook in?"
Emma, "Ya!"
Me, "Would you like some food for your kitchen and an apron?"
Emma, "YA!!! and maybe some chairs for me and Cameron to sit in and dishes"

I think the list got longer. Obviously she got the point and will likely be very please Christmas morning:) She has also been watching The Polar Express and now is asking for Jingle Bells from Santa's Sleigh. We'll see what we can do.

Highlights!

Here are some highlights from the last couple of months. Christmas started really early for us this year because we decided we wanted to take our parents to see Wicked and we had to make sure his parents could travel here, etc. We love that show! I've seen it 3 times now and Jeff twice. We had the kids in a tumbling class this fall which was fun. They seemed to like it. Conference of course was great. Emmalyn didn't seem to be able to stay seated a focused though. Tell me a 2 year old that can. She was crackin us up with the dolls, the la la's(blankets) and the fact that she had to park it right on top of us. The whole reason I took a picture of the flip flops was because my sister-in-law had just blogged about breaking her favorite pair just days before mine broke so I was going to blog about mine when it happened but well you know how up to date I am with the blogging. Anyway, that one is for you Kylie. I'm going to keep you all posted on Emmalyn's hair. Why? you may ask. Well, just because it kills me that my almost 3 year old has less hair than many 6 month olds and I am very excited to see it growing. Even though she hates to have me comb it or do pigtails or anything to it. I took Emma to the open house at the Fire Station because she LOVES fire trucks. We had a good time. Jeff and Cameron were off to St. George for his cousin's wedding. Like many of you we also spent some time campaigning for Prop 8 and I just had to share with you the vandalism we received. I'm pretty sure I know who did it and while at first I was kinda mad, now I just laugh. Of course there was Halloween. We had a good time this year dressing up as Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. We had a lot of parties and activities so we dressed up a lot and got good use of our costumes. Jeff and I got to stow away to Seattle for 4 days in November without the kids. We had a good time when Jeff wasn't in meetings. It was his annual conference and he was recognized for receiving his FCAS (Fellow of the Casualty Acturial Society) designation. Kids got to go to Grandma and Grandpa Wenny's(Farr) for the week in Utah. We had a great Thanksgiving at my sister Kelly's. We missed Mom and Dad and Maw-Maw and Pa-Pa as they were off to Arizona at my brother's. I have no pictures to show for it but my brother-in-law Dustin or Emeril as we like to call him now made a great turkey. His first one! Then the Saturday after Thanksgiving Jeff and I finally made it around to having our house painted. The picture of him is taking down the shelf above the washer and dryer. It was on there pretty good. Anyway, since then we have been doing home improvements. Just little things here and there. I've decided after almost 4 years of marriage and 2 kids it is time to make my house my own and take pride in ownership:) Well, now done blabbing. I wonder if anyone is still reading or just skipped to the slideshow??? Hmmm...I probably would have just skipped to the slideshow.

Minnie Mouse or Daisy Duck???

Okay so I know I have been terrible with blogging but as always I am re-committing to doing better:) This little story happened a few days ago now but I still chuckle when I think about it so I'll share it with you all.

I was getting Emmalyn dressed one day and this is a conversation we had...

Me, "Come here skinny Minnie"
Emma, "I'm not skinny Minnie"
Me, "You're not? Well who are you then?"
Emma, "I'm skinny Daisy"

She was wearing her Daisy Duck undies after all. I thought it was pretty cute. I guess she prefers Daisy over Minnie:)

YES on Prop 8!

Here's a little video clip from preservingmarriage.com that I thought summed up pretty effectively the reasons to vote YES on Proposition 8.

Cabbage Patch

So I dug out my Cabbage Patch dolls the other day at my Mom and Dad's. Do any of you remember the craze??? I remember the Christmas I got my first one. Camilla Frieda is her name. I know my Mom went nuts trying to track down 4 that year. I think she ended up with 6 and ended up having to sell 2. Anyway, I've been wanting to do this because Emmalyn is in love with her little premie doll she got last year for Christmas and I thought she would like mine.

I guess you could say I was right. She loves them!!! She carried all 3 around until bedtime. She watched T.V. with them and even tucked all 3 into bed. But then Monday I insisted they have a bath. They were dirty and dusty, so we bathed them in a bucket and the picture below is how we dried them. I thought it was kinda funny. Emma is so obessed with the dolls that we had to go check on them a few times yesterday and again today to see if they were dry yet. Well, they are officially dry but now I am holding them hostage until Emma can get her act together and go to the toilet. She doesn't know they're dry yet so I am expecting a bit of a melt down tomorrow when she sees them up on the shelf and can't have them. So sad:( But I gotta hold something over her, right?

The Pigtails!

Here they are...the pigtails. Well, actually we call them firecrackers. It's not much but we're still pretty excited about them:)

August 2008

August started with a trip to New York with Jeff's family. We left the kids with my parents and took off for a busy weekend. We had so much fun in spite of missing flights and running from terminal to terminal trying to catch any flight we could. Seriously! Well it's because we fly standby. We went to LAX on a Thursday night and missed 2 flights so we crashed at a nearby hotel and got up early the next morning to try again. We were going to try one flight and at the last second changed our minds and tried a different one and thank goodness we made it. Our flight was long especially since we didn't even get to sit next to each other. So all there really was to do was play the in flight trivia game which as you can see by the pictures I was the ultimate winner for the day!!! I am very proud that I know a lot of random junk. Just kidding, I don't really know anything, it's all about the guessing. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. What was not fun was sitting on the plane for an hour and a half or so after we landed. Ugh! Like sitting on the plane for 5 hours while in the air isn't bad enough, we had to sit there and wait for a people mover to come get us because they didn't have a gate for us to go to. We were stuck on board with a bunch of stressed out people that had to make connecting flights. Any way, we made it and saw Mary Poppins that night. Then Saturday we went to the Angels game at Yankee Stadium. This was really the purpose of the trip, to go to Yankee Stadium before it is demolished. Boy did we ever get the full Yankee experience with the constant badgering from the fans and the foul language. Oh and on the subway too, we almost saw a brawl between a girl who wouldn't let this guy cut her off in line. It was hilarious. We did a lot of walking around Saturday and just tried to see all that we could in our short visit. We came home on Sunday and actually spent many hours at JFK trying to make flights. Oh and then we finally make one and sit on the plane for like 2 hours before taking off. Just a tip, don't fly into and out of JFK it's awful. I'm sure LaGuardia is way better. It just has to be.
Cameron turned the big 1 on the 9th. We spent the day at the beach, which he mostly slept through. He got 2 parties this year. One at my parents house and one at Jeff's parents house the following weekend. Jeff's cousin got married up in Salt Lake so he and Cameron went for the weekend. He's walking all over and starting to run now. He's a lot of fun.
We had another big weekend toward the end of the month with my family. My niece Ashlen was baptized on Saturday the 20th and then Sunday my nephew Zachary was blessed. It was a fun weekend and Emmalyn loved playing with her cousins.

July 2008

July started our busy fun summer. As you already know it started with Jeff passing his final exam and achieving the designation of Fellow. We finished swim lessons. We are soooo glad we paid the bucks for lessons this year. Emma has so much more fun in the water and is way more comfortable which was very handy for our annual trip to Lake Powell. We had a great time! Emma skiid on the u-board by herself for the first time and Cameron skiid with Jeff for his first time. They wake boarded too. Of course you can't really tell by the looks on their faces but they really do like it. I forgot to add a picture of Emma's pigtails (if you can really call them that) in the slide show so I'll post a separate one. We are pretty excited to finally have enough hair to put a rubberband or clip in. We also hit a Dodger game with fireworks and an Angel game. Our kids love baseball! I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out but we did have a great summer!

June 2008

So things are settling down and I'm almost organized:) I think I'm just going to give you a quick overview of each of the last few months starting with June. June started our days at the pool and at the beach. Emmalyn started swim lessons at the end of the month and loved going to her pool at Ms. Debbie's house. She did great and learned how to float on her back, big arms and big kickers. We spent a week oh I mean a weekend at the Huffmire's with their 5 kids. Needless to say when there are 7 kids around that it was a busy weekend but we had a great time.

Living Life!

So I know you haven't heard from me in a while but I've been busy living life instead of blogging about it:) (Thanks to Deneal for helping me not feel bad about not blogging and to Stevan, please your wife does all your blogging what do you know?). I will catch you all up on our fun summer soon. I have to get organized (story of my life)!

For He's a Jolly Good FELLOW!!!

That's right all, I am married to a Fellow. Jeff passed his final exam of 9 to reach his final designation as a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society. This is HUGE!!! I have to give this shout out to my most brilliant husband. This is no easy task. 9 exams in all. He studied hundreds and hundreds of hours. We're talking 6 months of studying for each one. We just found out that he passed his last one this afternoon. In case you're wondering what in the world Jeff chose as an occupation, he is an actuary. Basically, he is a numbers guy. He sets the prices and rates for auto and homeowners insurance. His degree is in Actuarial Science aka Statistics.
Anyway, I am so very proud of him and selfishly so glad that he will never have to study again. Because that means I will have more time with him at home. Great job Jeffrey!!!

This is a picture of his candidate number 00118. Maybe our new lucky number:)

Of course a photo of him with his number.

Roly Poly Hadalulah

Okay so Emmalyn has always been a huge fan of the Hymn book from a very young age and loves to sing in church. Today we sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic for our opening song in Sacrament meeting and she sang it the entire day. We meet at 9am. Only her version of the chorus goes...roly poly hadalulah instead of glory, glory hallelujah. It's been such great entertainment all day! We've been having her perform for everyone.
She is at that age where she actually will get songs stuck in her head. Usually, they are songs from Backyardigans but every once in while something else will get stuck. Oh, last week she came home from church singing Mary had a little Lamb. We've never even sung that with her. She must have learned it in nursery.

Potty Training

So I've heard that potty training can happen when the parents are ready and willing to do it. So, I decided about 2 weeks ago that it was time. Emmalyn is 2 years 4 months and a smart one so I decided I was ready and therefore she was too. We did a 5 day count down. I told her in 5 days she was going to get to wear "undies"(that's what we've decided to call them) and put her you know in the toilet. She was very excited and caught on to the count down. Then last Monday came and we went for it. I had prepared for this by purchasing play dresses. I figured if she were to have an accident at least I would have to change her clothes if she just had a dress on. Well let me just tell you that the first day we went through all 6 pairs of undies and 3 dresses. At the end of the day I was wondering what in the world was I thinking but told myself give it a week. The 2nd day was a little better. I think we managed to keep it down to 2 dresses but still all 6 pairs of undies. By the end of day 2 I was ready to give up but just kept telling myself only 5 more days. I was determined to give it an entire week. Thank goodness! Each day got a little better and by day 5 she was on the right track. We have just finished day 9 and are doing pretty good. She of course still has accidents but she's catching on.
We're not done yet, I'll keep you posted but so far this has been quite the experience. I think I could have waited a few more weeks but now that I've started, I can't stop. It is nice only changing one diaper even if I do have to clean up an accident here or there.

Blogging

Okay so I have not been the greatest blogger. Honestly, I feel like my life is too boring and that I have nothing to blog about, until recently. We've actually done a few things worth mentioning. Really our lives are not that boring, I guess I'm just not used to sharing our adventures and milestones yet. I'm getting there. Anyway, as you can see I was very busy tonight and posted some stuff for y'all to look at. Jeff was busy watching the Lakers lose:( Bummer!!! Glad I didn't waste my time on that game and blogged instead:)

Balboa Island

So all of these years growing up in So Cal and I had never actually been on Balboa Island. My neighbor used to live there and grew up in the area and goes often with her little boy Ian. So a couple of weeks ago we packed it up and went. I really didn't figure there would be too much to do there but it was a great way to spend a Friday morning. We were there at least 4 hours.

We started out with a walk around the island. Well half of the island. Emma and Ian needed out of the strollers so we let them go for it. Aren't they so cute?

We rode the Ferry Boat. We just went back and forth. They loved it.

Stopped and rode the horse at the General Store. This little store is pretty cool. It's really more of a toy store with lots of cool stuff.

We had to stop and look at the fire truck. Emma doesn't know too much about princesses but she sure can tell you about fire trucks, ambulances, police cars and tractors. She hangs out with Ian way too much:)

Lastly, we hit the beach for some water play. As you can see we just let them go for it. Ian is a fish. Emma is a little hesitant. She kept asking Ian to fill her bucket up.

Cameron loves the sand. As you can see he is being held back. He almost rolled into the water a couple of times. I think he'll be a fish soon enough.

We had a great time on the island. So if you're lookin for something to do for a few hours, you should check it out. Oh ya I forgot, we packed our lunches and ate at crab point. I think I was too busy feeding the kids to take pictures of the crabs.

Our little man

It's amazing how quickly time flies. Cameron is already 10 months old and has just started moving.

This is the first time he pulled himself up to standing. Of course I've been waiting for this for months now because Emma did it at 8 months old but it's been nice not having to chase him too much yet.

He was so proud.

He does these cheesy little faces all the time. We love it!!!

His shirt says "I get my good looks from my dad" What a good look:)

Pool fun

We like to get the little pool out occasionally for some water play.

These two love it and it's a great activity before nap time.

I just love this picture.

Of course Cameron had to join in. He loves to splash!!!

Just a box

So we got a new car seat and kept the box around for a few days. It's amazing how entertaining a large cardboard box can be.

This is Emma's friend/neighbor Ian. They're total buds. This was their garage.

We had cousins Emily and Sadie over and they had a blast too. Don't the faces say it all.

Getting Dressed

So Emmalyn is becoming quite the independent 2 year old. A few weeks back she told me she was going to go get dressed. I gave it a few minutes then went to check on here and found this...

She did surprisingly well for jeans, I think:)

The above picture actually looks pretty good right?

Only you'll notice the ties on her shorts on her behind and her shirt was backwards too. When I went to fix her shorts and put the ties in front she told me I was wrong and that the ties go in back.

Sleepy Cameron

Here are a couple video clips from my cell phone. One second, Cameron was happy as could be cruising around in the cart at Target. The next second, he was nodding off. It was pretty entertaining.

Happy Birthday Jeff & Emmalyn!

Here are a few pictures from Jeff's and Emma's Birthday...



Here's the happy 2-year-old

Jeff & Emma with their complimentary sundaes at Lucille's Steakhouse--Emma was very excited to blow out the candles

Just standing around on top of the car--good times with Grandpa

I'm not sure what this surprise was, but it must have been good

Emma gets her artistic ability from her mom and dad--here she is with one of her finger paint masterpieces

Emma's friend Jack came by to wish her a happy birthday

She scored a baseball bat from Kevin and Amy



We made our first trip to Chuck E. Cheese--I have a feeling we'll be going back a time or two...thousand

Here's a shot of the family getting our picture drawn at Chuck E. Cheese


This is how it turned out

Emma loved playing air hockey

She also had a great time climbing around in the jungle gym

Funny little story...

So we were driving in the car the other day and Emmalyn spotted the moon out the window. It was about 4:00 in the afternoon so not quite dark yet. Emma loves the moon, she always points it out. So we were talking about it and then she says, "Mommy, moon on?" I was a little confused at first and I asked her a couple of times what she was saying because of course she doesn't say it as clearly as I spell it. Finally it hit me. She wanted the moon to turn on. I guess it's like a light bulb to her so we told her it would come on when it got dark. And sure enough when it was dark later we pointed it out and she was very pleased that the moon turned on.

How do you sleep like that?

Here are some funny sleeping pictures of Emmalyn and Cameron that we thought we would share. Enjoy!




Emmayln was having a hard time going down for her nap. After being told several times to stay in bed and go to sleep, she was finally quiet for a few minutes. Carrie went up to check on her, and found that she had finally given up while playing with her baby's pack-n-play.

This is a sleeping position Emma frequently hits...just kickin' back, having a nap!



Cameron wore himself out "saucerizing" as we like to call it.

He also wore himself out jumping--he loves this thing!


Here he is again--this is actually the day after the picture above. It happens all the time while we're eating dinner. It's pretty funny to see him fade while he's jumping.