Building a Snowman

With our first big snow storm this year Tyler and Emma built their first snow man together.
She thought this was the neatest thing in the whole world!

A White Christmas Day!

We had a busy yet wonderful Christmas. I am going to have to do something about the busyness, but I might have been super tired because I'm pregnant, I dunno. But it was a long day. We were really grateful for 4 wheel drive as we tried to get around in all the snow! What a white Christmas!
Here are a few pictures of our Christmas morning. Emma was so excited. She woke up at 8am and called from her crib. "Get Presents!!" She remembered. So fun! She pulled us to the living room to open them.

BEFORE

Her pretty dress ups! See Daddy in the back with her pink camera!

Sleeping Beauty jacket - or as she calls it Sleeping Loody!

Her Snap n' Style Doll! She can put the clothes on by herself! Mom is excited about that! :)

Here she is! What a happy Christmas Morning!

AFTER
(That is the recycling pile :)

Christmas Eve at the Groves

We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Groves family.

Emma loves her cousins; Rulon and Peyton.

Here is Peyton getting into the Christmas Tree.

Emma tickling Rulon

Rulon getting back at Emma and tickling her!

PJ's from Grandma and Grandpa Groves! She loves them.

Santa also visited us that night. When Emma was sitting on his lap telling him what she wanted for Christmas, she looked over at us and said "Hims Trevor!" :0) It was Trevor all dressed up. But I think it just confused her. Because she said "goodbye Santa" and talked about him all night. I don't think it even sunk in. :) I got it all on video, but the file is too big to post on here. :(

Emma's Christmas Dress

Here is our Pretty Princess. She LOVES her Christmas Dress. It "twirls" you know! :)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Making Christmas Gifts

I made a lot of jewelry for Christmas gifts this year...
I also always had a little helper.
I will let the pictures describe themselves - thanks Tyler for photo documenting this. :)
Let's just say a lot of time and work went all over the floor.

Singing to Baby Jesus

So I caught Emma singing, "Once upon a Dream" from Sleeping Beauty (Sleeping "Loody" according to Emma) to Baby Jesus and Mary the other day. We have been trying really hard to teach her the real meaning of Christmas and she loves to play with the Nativity scenes. I hope it means that she loves Baby Jesus to sing him her favorite song! So cute!

Santa

Our Ward Christmas Party was last night.
We had the BEST Santa there. Emma was so scared to talk to him, even though she really wanted to. Santa just talked to her while she sat on Daddy's knee and then asked her what she wanted and asked for a high five and a hug and she promptly gave him one and we quickly took a shot of her on Santa's lap! Now she isn't so scared of him. Even waved to him goodbye! Yea!
The other side of the story is we were preping her before we left on Santa being there and telling her that he will ask her want she wanted for Christmas. We hadn't even asked her that. "Hey Emma what DO you want for Christmas?" "Humm...let me think...I want candy, toys and a camera!" says Emma. "YES!" says Mom quietly, becuase she did get her a camera, knowing she would L-O-V-E it! :)

Our Christmas Tree

Emma sure loved putting up our Christmas Tree! I wasn't feeling very good so I was really grateful for the help - especially when she put all her ornaments on one branch. :)
She sure is proud of her work though! :)

My winter Garden

It is December 10th - just a titch of snow and it has been so mild and unseasonably warm....
I went to my garden while Emma was swinging and I found my spinach is still growing and thriving! I had no idea. There was even some flowers still blooming on my rock flowers. WEIRD!

The Swing Set

So, I have been wanting a swing set all summer. Emma loves them. She was constantly over at the neighbors all summer (whether they were there or not) to play on their swing sets. It's a great entertainer. Then you say, "Why don't you get one?" Well, one word. Tyler. :)
Tyler is a little obsessed, a perfectionst, and a hard worker, when it comes to his yard. I do believe he got it from his dad. (Love ya Kevin!) And I am very grateful for it, but in this situation it does have it's drawback. So he has flat out refused to get one. ("Do you know what those things will do to my grass? They are pain!")
Well, a couple of weeks ago, a cute lady up the street asked us if we wanted one. Her grandkids don't use it anymore and she wanted to get rid of it. So I told her my dilema with Tyler but I would let her know. I went up and checked it out and it was a nice swing set and even had that swing teeter totter on it that Emma loves. I told Tyler what had happened and told him not to make a decision right now and to keep an open mind. But this summer when I have a baby and Emma I am going to need that kind of an outlet. I told him I wanted to give it a try and if he didn't like it I would compromise and we would get rid of it. And I left him alone to think about it for about a week. I was really proud of myself for not making him feel guilty or anything. :) Well, just one time I did. :) Well, to my surprise he went and got it from our neighbor on Saturday while I was Christmas shopping. I was so surprised to see it in the backyard when I got home. I didn't think he would give in! I was all smiles as I got into the house and he just looked at me and said. "I hate it." But we have it! :) We'll see what happens this summer, but for now we have a swing set! Emma LOVES it! We went outside when the sun hit the backyard today and swung on it. She went from one swing to the next to the next. She had to try them all out! It's going to be fun. Just pray that the fun will last. :)

Look at that smiling, happy, beautiful girl! How could you take this swing set away from her! :)

Our Big News!

Well, It is better when Emma tells it...but we are having a baby!!!
Emma is really excited! We took her to the doctors appointment with us and she was in awe to be able to see the baby! She points to my tummy all the time and says "You have a baby". She also loves to kiss my tummy too. She is going to be a great big sister. She also likes to look at the ultra sound picture. She wants us to show her where the head and everything is....which you can't see. The baby is so small we tell her, but she still wants to know, so we "show" her. She loves it. The first time we "showed" her she said "oh" and left the room then we heard her yell "I can't see it!!" We had to laugh, because we can't either. :)
We are due June 10th. I am super nervous. I hope I can be a good mother to another baby and Emma! Emma has been so, oh, I don't know the word....hard. :) I just feel so inadequate, but I want another child and I want her to have siblings, so here we go!! Just pray I have a quiet one next. :)
I have been a little sick. The normal nausea and my sense of smell is through the roof, but I am dealing with it. Tyler was out of town all last week and I thought I wasn't going to make it. I was not cut out to be a single mom. It was so hard. Being sick and being alone with Emma was tough. He came home on Saturday and life has been heavenly!!! I love him so much. He has been so good to me and takes such good care of us. He took this whole week off so I have him home and I am enjoying every minute of it. Oh, the joy! Absence makes the heart grow fonder and more grateful too. :)

Happy Halloween!!!

We enjoyed another happy Halloween!
Emma was a Fairy Princess. Like her favorite book: "Alice the Fairy" by David Shannon.
Isn't she darling!? I made the tutu and her shirt. So fun!

Does this mean....?

Does this mean it's time to move to a toddler bed?????? I walked in on her boycotting her nap (which is becoming more and more common) and saw her trying to get out and of course...grabbed the camera. She has never tried this before and this attempt wasn't successful... but I am not ready to move her out of the crib. I need her to stay in bed when I put her down! Mama needs her to sleep!!! :)

Our Summer is over...

Our summer blog posts wouldn't be complete without a couple of honorable mentions of our experiences.

Labor Day weekend we also went camping with Tyler's Grandma and Grandpa Groves and family. When we were leaving the campfire to go to bed, Emma walked by the Colman Propane Lantern touched it accidentally. She was just playfully swinging her arms as we walked away and just got too close and barely touched it. It scared her too. NO FUN. You can barely tell from the picture, but she got such a big blister on her pointer finger. Thank goodness she was so tired, because after the ice and Tylenol did all it could she finally just fell asleep. I haven't felt so helpless as a mother in a long time. But she was so brave. And she knows to stay away from those lanterns!


We have a new addition to our house...a ceiling fan in our bedroom!!! With this hot summer and trying to save some energy and money, this was a lifesaver. I was sleeping so horribly until we got this and hooked it up! The first night I slept the whole night through! No uncomfortable hotness! LOVE IT!!!



We got Emma completely potty trained by the end of this summer also! We took that little potty with us to every camp out and it worked great! She is doing so good! YEA EMMA!!! And Yea to no more buying diapers! We aren't quite dry all night long yet...but we'll get there! (Love the Pampers Night Jams - they are the best - FYI) Emma has her Disney Princess Panties, courtesy of Grandma Young and she is loving being a Big Girl now!


And Last but not least...I have a few things I need to say about some encounters with some unfriendly neighbors this summer. The Bee Family. We got bombard by bees and wasps this summer at our house! I don't know if it was the beautiful flowers we had in our flower beds or what, but it was miserable for... ME!!!! I got stung 3 TIMES in a months time!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hadn't been stung by anything since I was a kid and I barely remember it! I have never feared bees but now I have a brand new fear. I hate them! The first one I was just walking up the steps to my front door and a wasp just landed on my foot and stung me! I wasn't doing anything! Thank goodness for my neighbor Janna and her Sting Ease!
The second time, a week later mind you, I was outside again in my PJ bottoms with my friend April and our kids and one got up my pants! YES!!! PANTS!!!! It was horrible. April and Trent may be laughing at this for the rest of their lives but I did a little dance when it stung me and dropped my pants and ran into the house screaming! It was awful! I tried so hard to not let Emma see my emotional stress of Bees because I didn't want her to be scared of them too, but it just kept happening!!! She isn't really afraid of them, but she knows how to mimic mom screaming and telling the Bees to "GO AWAY!"
The third time was while Tyler was at Scout camp. I was trying to be a good mom and so Emma and I had a picnic outside in the backyard. All of a sudden one bee showed up and then another and another. Soon there were at least 5 bees all around us! I gathered our stuff and calmly went inside and came back out to get Emma and her plate and as I walked across the grass, I had one again sting me on the top of my foot! They would just hoover on the top of the grass. This one was probably more traumatic than the one up my pants, because I could see it in my foot and it wouldn't get off!!!!!!! Janna and her Sting Ease weren't home, I was all alone and in a lot of pain. (I'm a wimp I know, but they HURT). I concocted some mixture of Baking soda and water and then meat tenderizer and water, but nothing helped but ICE. So word for the wise = ICE when you get stung and you don't have any Sting Ease! Thankyou to Delena my other wonderful neighbor who's husband saw me crying outside as I came back from Janna's house and sent her over to see if I was okay. She almost cried with me. She hates bees more than I do! :) It was nice to have someone else understand how frustrating this was! There are no missing Bees in the Groves' yard this summer! Let's hope for a less bee yard next year.


So, there was our summer! Never a dull moment!

Lagoon!!!

For my mom's birthday we all got together and went to Lagoon! Thank you! to Stephanie and her discounted tickets! We sure are glad Eric married her! :) It had been forever since we had been. I couldn't even remember the last time I had been to Lagoon. James and I started talking and we figured out it was at a Institute Lagoon Night and that was the first time he met Vicki!!!! She was there with her family (Her Dad was an Institute teacher). It made us laugh to remember that and look how life has turned out! So it was at least 6 years ago!

It was one of our "Fun" goals this year to take Emma to Lagoon. She loved it! We knew she would. We all had a good time...minus going on the Wild River Rapids ride right when we got there and getting SOAKED and being wet for a long time. I will never do that again. :) Tyler was smart and stayed behind and took pictures. :) This was part two of our Young Family Vacation together. Camping last weekend, Lagoon this and celebrate Mom's birthday.

Here's a little slide show of our fun!!!

Young Family Campout!

For the first time we all got together and went camping with my brothers and sisters this last weekend. We just went up Weber Canyon and spent the night. I have no pictures, because my camera is DEAD. Did any of my siblings take any? Let me know, then I will know if you even read my blog. :) Going so late in the year it was super cold, but we managed alright and stayed warm by our campfire. We popped popcorn with my nifty camping popcorn popper! Ate good food made by Tyler and enjoyed everyone's company. In the morning we braved the cool air and even took 3 runs down the Weber River in tubes! Someone I know took pictures, and I can't wait to see them! It was so cold and the water low, we kept hitting our bottom's on rocks! OUCH!
It is definately a tradtion, and next year we will go when it is warmer and I will have a camera! :)

Groves Family Campout

Last week we went on our Groves Family Campout. We went up into the Unitas to Smith and Moorehouse. We had a great time. It is so beautiful up there! We saw lots of wild life and relaxed. Emma loved it! Here are our memorable pictures!

Emma and Rulon relaxing in their chairs by the fire.

All of us chillin' by the the fire...pit. Don't you love Emma with her leg over the arm of the chair?
This is the only way that we can get Emma to take a nap when we don't have her bed. A walk in the stroller. This tree was perfect in the shade and propped back.

Emma and Peyton. She sure loves her little cousin!

The kids got sooo dirty! Here's Rulon showing us his dirty hands and Emma just looking at hers. "What? They are dirty?"

Emma went fishing for the FIRST time with her Grandpa!! She was sooo excited!!

Wading our feet in the cool water, waiting for the fish to bite!

Holding the fishing pole with Grandpa!

Just waiting for the fish...come here fishy!

Emma loved to throw rocks into the water. Waiting for fish to bite can be quite boring for a 2 year old. :) Thank goodness this didn't bother the fish!
Here the fish comes! Reeling it in!
There he is!!

Here it is!!! She wanted to hold this so bad, but as soon as she did she was DONE!