Emma's Birthday!

Now Emma's Birthday was a total kid birthday and she had the greatest day!
It sure was long and she slept really good that night because of it and I am grateful for that.
She had her little friends over for a crown sugar cookie and once again I didn't even take a pic! What is wrong with me! But she had a great time. Thanks for coming everyone!
That night we had her Little Mermaid Cake and opened her Princess Scooter and her Cinderella Doll "that sings!" she would tell you.
On Saturday we went to the Groves' family for the combined birthdays of Rulon and Emma. Rulon's is on the 18th and Emma's the 20th. She was spoiled rotten and got some fun things! Thank you to everyone for loving my little girl and having fun with us.
It was a "Martha Speaks" party and we played some doggie games and had cake. A fun night for sure. Here are some pics that I actually took of the events. :)
It's hard to believe that Emma is 3 years old! She is so excited to be 3 because that means she gets to go to preschool in the fall! She got a backpack for her birthday and is walking around the house with it full of her toys as I type this. She is so excited. She is getting so big! I should go get a picture of it and I also need to get one of her riding her scooter. She loves it!

Emma with her presents, can you tell which one is the scooter? :)

Emma and her Little Mermaid Doll Cake - Mom sure tried to make it cute. :)

Happy Birthday to Emma!

Emma and her Cinderella doll! She loves it!

Her Martha Speaks coloring page. Looks good Emma!

Playing Pin the tail on Martha

Playing "doggie" by moving one doggie toy with your mouth from one bowl to the other.

Me explaining how to do it. :) Rulon looking at me like I was crazy! :)

Grandma made the awesome Martha Speaks cake. Thanks Grandma Groves!

Emma and her backpack! Mama did good with this buy!

Me and my sweetheart! Happy Birthday my little 3 year old! Where has the time gone?

Tyler's Birthday

I didn't take one picture of Tyler's birthday. How bad am I?
We went and saw Taken on President's Day. His choice of movie of course. It was actually pretty good and very intense. We went to dinner on his birthday (Feb 17th) to Red Robin - his favorite and then had cake with his family. He is a whopping 27 years old! :) I know, I robbed the cradle. And he reminds me of that all the time. I got him David Foster's new CD Hit Man and a Tent Fan for Camping and the Caulk Pro - yeah the one you see on TV. It's pretty cool. I can't wait for him to use it around the house...not that I got it for him for that reason. The poor guy had to go to the dentist on his birthday (he HATES the dentist) and it snowed like crazy so he shoveled a lot, so he said it wasn't the greatest day, but isn't that how birthdays are? Not the same as when you were a kid?

I love my hubby so much. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Happy Birthday Tyler!

Happy Valentines Day!

Here is my little Valentine Sweetheart.
I made her this little shirt for Valentines day with my friend April.
Doesn't she just melt your heart!?
Tyler spent last night at the Klondike Derby with the Scouts - it snowed all night long and is still snowing this morning, I bet he is having so much fun! ;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Draper Temple Open House

When they announced the Open House for the Draper Temple, I was so excited and couldn't wait to take Emma. I don't know about you, but when I first had Emma, I wanted to take my baby with me to the temple. I feel so at peace and close to my Heavenly Father and Savior there and wanted to have my precious baby with me. I can't wait for the day when she is old enough and we can go. Until then, this was the next best thing.
She always wants to go with us when we tell her we are going to the temple. "I want to go to the temple!" she says. Well, this time, I told her "yes you can go!" It was fun to hear her talking about going to the Temple.
We went last Friday and it was a slow time I guess, because we got right in no waiting (a blessing with our busy Emma) and she loved it. It is seriously one of the most beautiful temples I have ever been in. It was fun to show all the pictures of Jesus to Emma and all the pretty lights. She loved the font too. We parked at a close by church and took a bus up to the temple. The bus was pretty exciting too. It was a cold day, as you can see, so here are some far way pictures of the temple.
Leanne, I wish you were still here in Utah so I could take you! I promised myself I would the next time there was a new temple in Utah! You would have loved it! I thought of you! If they ever build a temple in Texas, go to the open house!

Rewards for Emma

With the new year I wanted to do some new goals with Emma too. Plus I was really needing some help with her to get things done without whining and crying over everything. So I started a Sticker reward chart. It has done wonders!!!! She brushes her teeth by herself in the morning and makes her bed and says her morning prayers. It is good for mom to have the chart too, because then I remember to do those things. One day I was in the shower and I told her go and make your bed so you can get your sticker. I just mostly told her that so she would leave me alone. I got out of the shower and and looked in her room and she had made her bed all by herself!! I was so proud! She sure is getting big.

Emma's Sticker Chart!

Her first making of bed alone - GREAT JOB!

We also moved Emma to a big bed right after Christmas. If I could do it over again, I would have done a lot of things different - like never move her from a crib! :) It was no fun, but the pain is mostly over and she sleeps in it fine. It wasn't really getting her to fall asleep in it as it was getting her to stay asleep all night. Sometimes I felt like I had a newborn again! After much trial and error I finally got some advice from my neighbor who would reward her child if he stayed in his bed all night with a prize the next morning. The $1 or less for a prize is well worth a good nights sleep for me!! It also was the key. We still have some bad nights, but she doesn't get a prize the next morning, and that really hits home with her and she is doing much better.
Here are some of the more humorous pictures of her sleeping and her first bed making all by herself. Oh, she has only fallen out of her bed one time, and it didn't even phase her, she was still sleeping on the floor. Tyler and I heard the THUD! and went to see what it was, we couldn't stop laughing. :) I should have taken a picture!

The first night in her big bed. We were so proud and thought "That wasn't too bad". Little did we know... as always...

Emma falling asleep the wrong way.

Her daddy sleeps just like this with his hand on his face!

New Baby in the Family

James and Vicki had their baby boy on January 30th.
He was a little miracle, as they had a few complications. We are sure grateful he got here safely.
He is beautiful! He was 7 lbs 14 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.
They named him Dimitri James Zollinger Young. James and Vicki and baby are doing great!
Emma loves having a new baby cousin! She was devastated I wouldn't let her go to the hospital to see him. So when we stopped by when he came home, she was all smiles and ready to hold him. She is going to be a great big sister!

104 Years Old!

On February 2 Tyler's great Grandmother celebrated her 104th Birthday!
I know! Can you believe it? It's a good thing I got a few years on Tyler for he has longevity in his genes! :)
She is a darling 104 year old. We celebrated with her and went to Red Lobster. Her favorite. She always gets the coconut shrimp. She obviously still has good taste too. :) She immigrated here from Holland after WWII. When she talks she shares her Dutch with her English. I wish I spoke Dutch! ;)
Here is Tyler, Emma, Great Grandma Rynsburger and Tyler's mom, Michelle. Emma and Great Grandma are 101 years apart! Pretty amazing!

It's A........

We found out what we are having yesterday!

It's a BOY!!

We are really excited. Tyler is thrilled! Baby is healthy and doing great!
We told Emma as we were putting her to bed and she took it really well. She has insisted that it is a baby girl this whole time. She will be a great big sister!

Still love the Swing...

Even in the snow....

Thank you Uncle Ryan!

This is the darling outfit that Ryan gave Emma for Christmas. Ryan lives in St. George, so I am posting this so he can see how cute she looks in it. She loves it because it is almost like a dress! :)
Thank you Uncle Ryan!

Of course she had to take a picture of me taking a picture of her! :)