Playing in the snow waiting for Peyton to come...

Neisha got induced today (Tyler's sister) to have her baby girl, Peyton. We watched Rulon the happy big brother while they were in labor and delivery. Emma was so happy to have him over. She loves her cousin. We went outside and went sledding. Emma's official first time. She loved it! Even though she doesn't look it in the video. She had a great time. She would go down the hill and when she hit the bottom she would say "ah ohhh". :)
Peyton Michelle Winter was born that afternoon. 6 lbs 14 oz and 20 inches long. (I hope that is right) She is beautiful! I wish I had a picture, but I will get one soon. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas! We spoiled Emma with lots of toys for Christmas because she was totally board of the baby toys she had and it has been well worth it. She plays now! :) YEA!!! We have had a lot of fun with all the new things to do. She loved opening presents and then wanting to "op" the toys after the wrapping. She was going after our presents to open them too. It was so fun. And with all the snow from the night before it was a beautiful Christmas Day!
We had a long Christmas Day visiting family and friends. But it is so nice to do it. There is a magic about Christmas and I love it.
Merry Christmas!


(editor's note: I love back blogging! :)

Christmas Eve

Tyler came home from work today at Noon, which made everything feel so special, especially since it was snowing too!! Thank goodness we have the truck and some four wheel drive. The drive to Layton for the Groves family dinner was crazy! But I was so touched by all the people who were stopping and helping others who were stuck. What a great time of year! Dinner was wonderful and Emma and Rulon enjoyed opening presents. Especially their aquariums they got from Great Grandma and Grandpa Dube! Emma got a fish one and Rulon got an animal one. They loved them! They would both lie on the floor and watch both of their aquariums go. So cute!
We then went home and watched Daddy shovel the driveway. It was so beautiful! Emma opened her Christmas Eve book and Christmas PJ's and we read together and put Emma to bed...then Mom and Dad wrapped presents. We hadn't wrapped ONE thing, so it was a long night. Tyler put in Hunt for the Red October, Yes, a very good Christmas Movie. :) And we wrapped and wrapped. Well, I wrapped and wrapped. Tyler fell asleep. :) I love Christmas Eve!
Merry Christmas!

Emma's Christmas Dress

Isn't she just sooo adorable! I wanted to get her a real princess pretty dress. So I found a great sale and splurged! I have no regrets. She loves it too. I think she can tell it is pretty. I love my little girl.

Santa Hats

I had to post cute Emma and Rulon in their Santa hats. Rulon LOVES his and wears it all the time, Emma didn't want to wear hers until Rulon was wearing his...I know, I know, you are not surprised...me either! Merry Christmas!!

Emma's Balloon

Emma got this balloon at Rob Maughans Graduation Party, and she hasn't let it out of her sight since. She even wanted it while she took her nap - can we say baby hazard? :) I said no and she cried. She kept it with her always, and amazingly enough it held its float for at least 3 days! The funny thing is, she would only hold it by the very end of the string. James tried to get her to hold it up closer to the balloon and she would freak out and grab it by the very end. So funny. I can't help but wonder why I just spent all that money on toys for Christmas presents when a balloon would have made her more than happy! :) Ah, the irony...

While we are on the subject...

Just to come full circle with Emma's creativity - that's what i like to call it. She has found another fun place to play. The dryer. She loves to come downstairs with me and "help" me do the laundry. That is all that is really downstairs, but it is something new and she loves to help. So I say "Do you want to come downstairs with me?" And she says "Yah,sure,downstairs" and down we go. About a month ago she climbed into the dryer while I was pulling out the wet clothes from the washing machine. AHHH! I was so surprised. I pulled her out and showed her that the clothes go into the dryer, not Emma. Two weeks ago, Tyler and I couldn't find Emma we called for her and could hear her, but we couldn't find her. We finally tracked down her voice to the basement and then to the dryer! Nice! She loves it in there! These pictures were taken last week when we were doing laundry together and she hopped into it. I ran to get the camera. I have to document all the crazy things she does, so she can know why she never had any siblings! :)

Pretty!!

While I was in the shower today, I could hear Emma saying "Pretty! Pretty!" as she came into the bathroom, I peaked out of the shower to see what was so pretty, and I saw it. Yes, she had brown eye shadow all over her face and tummy. I have to giver her some credit, she actually made it to her eye too. She learns well from watching mommy! I had thrown that makeup away, and she had found it in the garbage and had gone to town. It got better when I got out of the shower and found it all over the carpet too! :) I had to take pictures, and I had to laugh too. Oh, the joys!
In the pictures she is saying "Pretty!". I actually think she looks like she has a black eye. :)

Free Time...

This is what Tyler is enjoying now that he has all this free time....naps. :)

Christmas Concert

Last night to celebrate Tyler being done with this semester we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert in Salt Lake City at the Conference Center! Tyler's mom got extra tickets and we were so grateful! My mom was even able to come and it was such an enjoyable night. The guest singers this year were The King Singers! It was sooooooo good! The choir sounded great, the bells were wonderful, and the King Singers were great too. It was a wonderful way to get into the Christmas Spirit. When it is broadcast on PBS TV next year, you must see it! That conference center can really pack them in, and there wasn't an empty seat that I could see! It was such an enjoyable night. All the lights on Temple Square and surrounding areas, are so beautiful. It is like you have been transported into another world. Alissa watched Emma for us and mom bought us Lion House pie afterward and it was wonderful! Did I say that already? I will say it again, yes, it was wonderful! Can you tell I don't get out much! :) It was sooo cold and a little snowy. And because of the new complex they are building downtown, all the mall parking options are gone. So we had to park a ways away from the conference center. It wasn't horrible, but with the wind, snow and cold, it was a tad nippy! My mom was so smart to buy us pie and wait a while, because traffic was so busy. We would have just been sitting in our car for an hour, instead of enjoying yummy pie.
Merry Christmas!!!

Tyler the Great!

Today Tyler took his last final for this semester!
He came home with a great big smile on his face! He is so glad to be done.
He took 18 credit hours this semester and worked full time too. Not to mention being a father, husband, the activities chairman in our ward (our Christmas Party was last week -it was crazy!) and also teaching Elders Quorum, he has been super busy and it seems like between the two of us we have something going on almost every night of the week!
This semester Tyler was getting up at 3AM every morning (and sometimes earlier if he needed to make up hours) to go to work till 7:30am when he would leave to go to school till 11 or 12 and then back to work until around 4PM. Then he would come home and do homework and anything else we had to do. We really tried to get him in bed by 9PM (but that didn't always happen) and then start all over the next day. I seriously don't know how he did it. But he did, and he did it well! He did really well in all his classes and we are onto our LAST semester! I am so proud of him!
I love Tyler and all that he does for our family. He works so hard and makes sure all the little things get taken care of that have to do be done, and supports me in all I need to do also. Of course, I have a "honey do" list that is starting to grow now that he is going to have time to get some of those things done that we have been saying "when the semester is over..." First on the list is my leaky kitchen faucet! :) I LOVE YOU TYLER!!!

Emma's new Accessory!

Emma has found a new favorite accessory! Her pink gloves! (Thanks Aunt Neisha!)
I pulled them out when it snowed and she loves to wear them - always.
It is so cute. Here are some pictures of her with them on, right out of the laundry.
She also loves to hide in the laundry as I am trying to fold it. It makes everything twice as hard and takes twice as long, but she is so cute, so I can't complain too much! :)

Santa's Reindeer!

On Saturday we went to the mall and saw Santa's Reindeer!
I felt sorry for those little guys, but they were so cute and Emma loved it. She was a little unsure at first, but eventually would go and see them at the fence without me right by her. Now she even says "deer!". We ran into some friends there and they said "How often do you get to see a real reindeer?" And my funny husband said "Only on Christmas Eve!" True, True. It was fun, 'Cause really, how often do you get to see Reindeer?
It had snowed all morning so it really felt like Christmas!

New Job!

Well, it is official. Tyler got a new Job! He told his current employer today so now we can spread the word! About 9 months ago, Tyler applied for a student internship job at Hill Air Force Base in their contracting department. He interviewed and we never heard anything from it, until a month ago. They called him for another interview and 2 weeks later offered him the job. CRAZY! It was exactly what we were looking for 9 months ago, flexible with school, lots of potential. And it still is what we are looking for, but since graduation is in May it isn't as perfect as it once was. They have a step wage increase program and as Tyler works there he gets a step by step wage increase. It is going to take a while for us to be where we would like to be after graduation, but there are so many other benefits to working for Hill. Great medical benefits, vacation/sick days, every single holiday off (-it's the government!), they pay Tyler 3 hours a week to exercise (he is really excited about that), and pay for one class of school and work with his school schedule. And there is a lot of opportunity for growth and advancement. He is excited to see the contracting side of business and to do something new.
His first day is January 7, 2008 What a new year it is going to be! Congrats Tyler!

Harry Potter!?!

So, since I love Harry Potter, I had to take this test and I laughed at the result! What do you think? Is it accurate? :)

Which Harry Potter Character Are You?
	You are Harry. You're a loyal and courageous friend. You'd do anything to protect the people you love, especially if it'll get you a break from class for a little while.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Our Christmas Tree

I have been ready to set up our Christmas tree since before Thanksgiving. I finally got to it this weekend only to find out that all our strings of lights were either dead or only half of the strand lit up. Nice. Tyler messed with them, but they were gone. They were also cheap, what can you expect? So on Monday I went to the store to buy new ones. I really debated on whether or not to put up the tree with Emma around or while she was napping, and then Surprise! Tree! and NO TOUCH! But I deiced that wouldn't be any fun, so we set it up after FHE last night. She did a really good job, not getting into things too much. And I had her help me a lot. But I couldn't get too mad, after all I knew what might happen, and I choose to have her help me - right? :)
Don't mind the pics of my no shirt baby girl! She got FHE treat (cake) all over her shirt, because I can't get her to wear a bib anymore! So I just took it off, knowing PJ's were coming soon. So that is why she doesn't have a shirt on. It was the second shirt of the day, and I just didn't want to put another one on. We normally don't go around without a shirt on. :)
I have these little wood ornaments of little things that Tyler's Grandpa Dube gave us. I thought they would be cool to put on the bottom of the tree so Emma could see them and we could talk about them. I know, those expert parents out there are saying "yah, right!" and now I am laughing at my naiveness, myself. But she loves them! She asks me over and over again. "What's that?" I tell her "a boat". "ohh". "What's that?" "A horse." "ohh." And over and over. She only has removed 3 of them today and I can't find one of them. The snowman. But she thinks this is so much fun! And I do too. The little wooden things don't break, and she is learning right? We will see if I still feel that way in a couple of days. It's going to be a fun Christmas! Here we go!

Let it Snow!

Today it snowed for the first time this season! YEA!
I took Emma outside to let her enjoy it, and enjoy she did. She ate and ate and ate every piece of snow she could find. She kept eating snow from the flower beds which is laced with dirt and would spit it out and say "uck!" but then she would find some fresh snow off the grass or the tree trunk and would say "umm!". She is so cute. She ran all through the yard. It reminded me a lot of those Family Circus comics with the kids tracks as they go all over to do what they are off to do. Her little foot prints all over checking every little thing out. I stepped my foot in the snow for the heck of it and she followed me in suit and did the same thing with her foot. Too funny! Love that kid!

Update on Fun things to do with Emma

So, remember those fun ideas I got from Fisher Price on things to do with your Toddler. Well, I finally did one of them and Emma and I had a great time. I traced Emma on a piece of paper, not an easy thing to do. She didn't understand what I was doing. :) And then we stuck the stickers on her and I tried to get her to put them on the drawing of herself, but she didn't quiet understand. And I didn't know how to explain, so we just ended up putting the stickers one by one all over the drawing of Emma. She LOVED it! It was nice quiet learning time. I talked to her about all the parts and all the stickers. There were apple, star, dog, cat and lots of other stickers. She loved it. I hung it up in the hall and we look at it all the time. I need to find some more cool stickers and we can do it again! Sucess!! Next fun activity: Frozen toys in the bathtub. Keep you posted!

Fall Leaves

Last week when the weather was so beautiful for fall we raked up all our leaves. Rulon was over and Emma and him had a great time! They were also great helpers - seriously! It is amazing how kids learn from you and watch everything you do. They saw us putting leaves in the bag, so they did. It is amazing. It makes me realize the importance of teaching my kids while they are young and instilling in them the things that are important at that age when they soak it all in!

Belated Happy Thanksgiving!

We had the most wonderful Thanksgiving! Tyler had Thursday and Friday off and he didn't do anything but be with us. It was so wonderful. We went to Thanksgiving dinners at the Groves' and Young's and it was so nice too. On Friday we rented a movie (ZOOM! - it's a skipper) and on Saturday we went to the Ogden Christmas Parade. For a few moments I felt like I wasn't in Utah anymore, it was kind of weird. But then again, it is Ogden. But it was fun. Emma loved it, especially all the horses. This one guy had trained his horse to dance. It was pretty cool.
I neglected to take my camera anywhere, but this picture is exactly what our Thanksgiving looked like, or at least felt like. It was really nice. We are so grateful for all we have!

Our Christmas Lists

Christmas is fast approaching and it is also the time to make a Christmas list! Just like for birthdays, family tradition states to make Christmas lists too and same rules apply (see Laura's Birthday List). Posting it on the blog is fantastic, so now everyone knows what we want and/or need, right at their fingertips! Here's our lists!

Tyler's Christmas List:

1. M*A*S*H DVD's
2. IPOD Video
3. Ear phones that wraps around ear
4. Dutch Oven
5. Wood Clamps
6. Extention Cord
7. Wratchet Tie Downs
8. Home Depot Gift Card
9. Jungle Book DVD
10. Portable DVD Player
11. New Tennis Shoes
12. Dress shirts (all colors for work) and slacks
13. BYU beanie (one that comes straight down, that doesn't fold up)
    

Laura's Christmas List:

1. Journal
2. Sheer Cover
3. Photo Printer
4. Clothes - Jeans, Shirts, Cream Sweater
5. Socks (jean blue, pink, turoquise)
6. Beads and assesories
7. Temperpedic type pillow
   
8. Gift card to Joanne's and/or Ti Pan Trading
   
9. Gift card for date nights
10. Hair cut and color
11. Folding colander
    
12. Children's Books (Henkes has a new one out)
13. Scripture Pencils (Emma keeps eating mine)
14. The Little Mermaid DVD
15. Beauty and the Beast DVD
16. Bath and Body stuff

Emma's Christmas List

1. Play Dishes (cups, plates, silverware and pots and pans)
   
2. Board Books (Curious George, Sheep in a Jeep, No David Books, How does a Dinosaur say... books, Mimi's Toes - Baby Eisenstein Bath book or anything!).
   
3. Signing Time - Family, Feelings, and Fun
4. Hair Bows
5. PJ's and clothes (24 months-2 T)
6. Socks (Blue, Black, Red, White, Pink and Purple)
7. Puzzles
8. Vacuum
   
9. Snow Boots (shoe size 7), gloves, and snow pants
10. Little People Farm Tractor
11. Pass to the Tree House Museum