3 Years ago...

...I made a bucket list. I've accomplished 6 of the 29 things since then.

Have children
Climb the Great Wall of China
See the pyramids in Egypt and ride on a camel
Kiss the Blarney Stone
Go on a humanitarian trip
Ride a gondola in Venice
Be a motivational speaker
Sing “The Hills Are Alive…” and eat schnitzel with noodles while hiking in the Alps
Serve a mission with my husband
Go on a sleigh ride through the forest in a one-horse open sleigh with jingle bell reigns
Participate in the Puxatawney, PA Groundhog Day celebration
Go on an African safari
Visit all seven continents & 50 states (I'm missing Antarctica and Africa  for the continents; and Alaska, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin for the states)
Eat a Ruths Chris steak
Swim in the Great Salt Lake
Hike the Inca Trail
Run a marathon (and run a race at Disneyland while wearing Minnie Mouse ears.)
Ride in a hot air balloon
See Mount Rushmore
Watch a horse race at Churchill Downs
Ride a double-decker bus
See the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in person
Watch a meteor shower
Hike the Narrows in Zions
Wear a southern belle hoop skirt
Eat chocolate at Max Bremmers
Win the cherub in Trivial Pursuit
Go to the White House
Dance at a ball til the stroke of midnight
Hike Mt. Timpanogos and watch the sunrise

If I keep this rate of 2 per year up, it will take me another 13 years to accomplish the list. Here's a few more I'm adding...

Pay for a random person at a restaurant
Own a Tahitian black pearl
Take a small child to the zoo

Am I missing anything? :)

Spit up

Emily has a major spit up problem. Seriously. She spits up ALL THE TIME. And I am sick of it. How long is that supposed to last? I am tired of smelling like spit up all day. I'm tired of her clothes and sheets always being wet and spitup-y. At least it mostly washes out. But she has permanently stained a few of her shirts. And mine. Especially when she spits up sweet potatoes or some other orange vegetable. She is such a centerpiece in our Sunday School class spitting up all over. The kids say, "Eeewww! Baby vomit!" Not to mention when she spits up all over the hymnbooks every week at church. And the benches. I would have thought she would have outgrown it by 7 months. How much longer do I have to smell like baby puke?

Zoo

My sister and I took Emily to the zoo this week. We were going to meet up with my brother and his family too, but our timing was about an hour off, so we only ended up spending a few minutes with them. Oh well. We still had fun at the zoo.

 

Emily liked it pretty well. She liked riding around in her stroller and being outside. She especially loved looking at the birds in the atrium and at the animals that were actually moving around. It was fun to watch her watch them move around. Her favorites were the cat, the tigers, the leopard, the chickens, and of course the birds. She also loved watching the other kids at the zoo. Ha!

On the way out, she had a MAJOR blowout. It was awful. So we had to ride all the way home with gross smelling clothes. I had an extra pair of PJs in the car, but I did not have a plastic bag to put the messy clothes in. Oops.

Anyway, I am excited to take her in a couple years when she can actually enjoy it more, and I can fulfill my dream of taking a small child to the zoo. :) (This time didn't count for that. Babies do not classify as small children. I would say ages 2-5 classify as small children.) But we still had a great time, and Em did really well for her first zoo trip.

Cousins

We were at my parents' house on Sunday for family dinner and Em was on the floor playing with her toys. Well, she discovered something way more fun...

She saw her cousin on the edge of her blanket and scooted over to him and was having a heyday bugging him. Rivers didn't seem to mind too much. It was hilarious! And then my dad said, "I wonder who will bite who first." Ha. Ha.

7 months

Emmy is 7 months old today! Here are some lovely things about her at 7 months.

-goes to bed at 6 p.m., sleeps straight til 7:30 a.m.
-takes 2 naps of about 2 hours each
-can sit up by herself
-can scoot forward and backward
-can get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth
-loves electronics
-has to have a cracker or a piece of toast to munch on while eating
-loves to get her toys out of her basket
-can say "da-da" and "ooohh"
-loves to pull my hair or her toes while drinking her bottle
-stares at new people
-likes to pull her socks off and eat them during her naps
-loves to go outside
-is spitting up less
-loves to climb on me when we are saying her prayers before bed

I don't know what it is, but she has been SO FUN the past few weeks. It's almost like she is a different baby. She takes her naps, she is happy and content, she likes to play, she doesn't cry too much anymore. It is wonderful, and I really hope she keeps it up.

Photo Shoot

We took Emily to get her 6-Month pictures taken at JCPenneys because we had a really great coupon, and it was going to cost us practically nothing.Well, I guess you get what you pay for, because I wasn't too happy with them. Emily would not crack a smile, and I felt super rushed, the photographer didn't crop things out of the pictures that should have been cropped out, she didn't bother to wipe the drool hanging off Em's chin, and she just didn't seem to care about getting a good shot. Oh well. At least I didn't waste a ton of money. Here are some of the better ones... (after I doctored them up as best I could.)

Happy Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a simple little celebration consisting of a candlelight dinner of a heart-shaped pizza and Nanaimo Bars (Yum!). We made each other (and Emily) some valentines and played this conversation heart game.

My honey got me some flowers and a caramel apple. I love caramel apples! And I love my Valentine. He makes me so happy. And I love my other little Valentine. She also makes me happy.

Which one?

So in my efforts to get back into race shape, I have signed up for two bike races to motivate me and give me something to train for. They are both women's only, and they sound really fun. The first is the Goldilocks Race, which is May 7 in Herriman. There are 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100-mile distance options. I'm aiming for the 60 mile. You can change the day of the race if you want though, so I may have to drop down to the 40. We'll see. I think there are still openings for this one if anyone wants to join me!

The second one is the Little Red Riding Hood race on June 4 in Logan.This one has distance options of 18, 36, 50, 80, and 100 miles. I haven't decided which I will do. If I can do 60 in May for the Goldilocks race, then I will aim for the 80 miles in this one. Otherwise I'll do the 50.

Anyway, I have kind of been wanting a biking jersey lately. I'm debating whether or not to buy a race-specific jersey from one of these 2 races. If you were me, which one would you choose?

Goldilocks Jersey

OR...

Little Red Riding Hood Jersey

Or should I get a non race-specific one?

As a side note, I got some biking shoes for Christmas. I like them. I've been using them on the trainer and in spin class since then. Well, since Saturday was a nice day, I thought I'd go for a ride outside. Matt made me practice getting my feet clipped in and out of the pedals in the grass behind our driveway before I went. One of the times though I couldn't get out in time and down I went. On the driveway. Oh well, at least now my first fall is over, right?

I've been trying to go to spin class at the gym. This morning I went and all the bikes were full. The teacher insisted I use his bike. You know, the one on the podium in front of everyone and in the spotlight. I felt so dumb! But I probably worked harder than ever since I didn't want to look like an even bigger idiot in front of everyone. Note to self: Get to spin class EARLY!

Da-da

Emily started saying "da-da". It's the cutest thing ever. She also discovered the camera and was trying to grab it. She LOVES electronics for some reason. Especially the remote control. She has also discovered her feet. 

Apparently they are tasty!

She has become SO much more fun the past couple of weeks. I don't know what the difference is, but it's awesome. She is so happy and content. And I am loving it.

She has also FINALLY gotten on a relatively consistent nap and eating schedule. And she actually takes her naps. It is heaven.

I love that little Emmy baby!

Toys!

Although Emily has been able to sit up by herself for a few weeks now, she was never content to sit and play with her toys. But last week, she started to like it all of a sudden. It's like a dream come true! And it's so cute to watch her sit there and play. She loves to peek inside her toy basket and get something out. Then she examines it, turns it over, and puts it in her other hand to look at. And then it usually goes into her mouth. It's so funny! Sometimes she'll shake it off to the side and put it down and go for the next toy. Anyway, I just think it's cute. Her favorite toys are her Christmas ribbon, her keys, her rocket toy (but only the flag on it), and her animal books. Oh, and she started saying "da-da" this week. So cute! I'm sure she has no clue what she is saying, just making a noise. Anyway, here's a little video of her playing with her toys.

Going back

Yesterday I was a guest speaker in the class I used to teach at BYU. I was super nervous about going back. I fretted all day with thoughts about how everyone probably thought they were better off with their new adviser, and how no one probably even missed me, etc. etc. I was afraid to go back and see all the possible changes and stuff that people had made once I left.

But hopefully all my fretting was in vain. I thought my presentation went well, and I hope the kids in the class learned something useful. People seemed excited to see me, and that made me happy. I miss my students. I really do. I miss trying to help them be successful. That's why I wanted to work in that department...to help people to be successful, to hopefully be a good influence in their lives, and help them to have a good college experience. I truly hope I was able to do that with at least some of the students I had a chance to work with.

Even though I miss it, and sometimes it is hard working from home at my new job, I am happy to be able to be home with Emily. I love not having to miss out on Emily's developments. I love that she is able to have a more consistent schedule. And I love that my life is not as stressful as it used to be.

Camping

For our date night last week, we went "camping". We even made s'mores. In the toaster oven. Worked like a charm.They were awesome.

Who's the most precious?

Snuggle

Emily hates to snuggle. She won't ever let me. Ever. But the other night, just after she had finished eating and right before bed, she laid her head down on my chest and let me snuggle her for a few minutes while she sucked on her two middle fingers. Best few minutes ever!

She is such an active little girl...she can NOT hold still. Even when she's eating she must play with her toes or my nose or wiggle her hands or kick her legs. She's already sitting up and scooting around and doing pushups and rocking back and forth on her hands and knees. I'll bet she'll be crawling any day now. Crazy! So it was nice to have a little snuggle for once.