Little Stinker

This little girl can be such a stinker! Yesterday we were at the store and I got her some Teddy Grahams for a snack because she ate all the snacks I brought with me and was acting like she was still hungry. She would not let go of them when we got back to the car and when we were pulling out of the parking lot she dumped out the entire bag all over her lap!

Then she just proceeded to eat them from the pile in her lap all the way home. Also yesterday she was jumping on our bed and faceplanting into the pillows and laughing hysterically. She also found one of Matt's old student ID cards and was carrying it around saying "Daddy, Daddy!" and giving it kisses. She has also started crawling up into my lap, settling on in, and saying "gook, gook!" which means book. And then she wants me to read her 20 books. And the other day the neighbors had their slip-n-slide out and Em went on over and made herself right at home. She wanted to slide down over and over and splash in the little pool at the bottom all day long. In her clothes. She may be a stinker but she is a crack up.

Crazy

It has been a crazy couple of weeks over here. Matt started his new job last week. It's in Salt Lake so he has been commuting and it has been crazy! The way up isn't too bad, but to get home it takes him forever! So he leaves early in the a.m. doesn't get home til late. Poor Emmy hardly gets to see her daddy anymore. She wanders around the house looking for "Daddy, Daddy". It's so sad.

So we decided that we needed to move ASAP. So I've been busy looking for a place and packing. We finally decided on just renting an apartment in West Jordan for a few months while we look for a house and figure out exactly where we want to be more permanately.

It's kind of ironic because we will be moving into the same apartments that I lived in right before we got married. I never thought I'd be moving back there! We are not very excited about going back to apartment living...it'll be tough trying to condense back into a small apartment after having so much space in our place here in Springville. But it'll be worth it for Matt not to be stuck on the freeway in the dumb construction for 3 hours a day. And it'll just be for a few months.

So I've been dividing everything into "storage" vs. "apartment" as I've been packing. We are moving on Oct. 8, so that gives me less than 2 weeks to get everything ready. Crazy!

As for his thesis, he just has a few more revisions to make and then he can hopefully defend it and be DONE! I am so proud of him. It ended up being about 130 pages. Holy cow! I have never written a paper that long and I am the writer in this family!

And football season has started, which means that Matt wants Emily to wear this every Saturday...

But as you can see, she is clearly much happier wearing this....

Too bad they stink. :( Anyway, it'll probably just get crazier with our move and house hunting but we are hanging in there. And the best part is that we are not poor grad students anymore!!!!

P.S. Emily is still not walking any better. :( That video was the best she'll do. She will only take 2-3 steps and that's only if you coax her. The little silly is such a chicken.

Finally!

I was beyond excited about this. :)

The Trifecta of Bike Rides

On Saturday I rode in the Wonder Woman Bike Ride. I did the 62 mile distance. It was fantastic. Unfortunately I forgot my camera though, so I have no pictures. :( I decided to do this race about 10 days ago. I wasn't planning on it, but then I decided that I did the other two women's rides in Utah, so I better complete the Trifecta and do this one too!

It started in Payson and went south, around a lake, through a canyon, past some farmlands, through a herd of sheep (for reals) and back up north and around to Payson again. I really enjoyed it. I thought it would be fairly flat, but it was quite hilly. Plus, the first 20 miles or so, there was a nasty headwind. But, considering that I pretty much did zero training for this, I did pretty well.

This race was my 2nd favorite of the Trifecta. The Little Red Riding Hood was my fave by far and then my least fave was the Goldilocks race. Anyway, this race was pretty well organized and marked, the aid stations were pretty good (my favorite were the EL Fudge cookies and chocolate milk!) and it was a really pretty course. This was only the 2nd year of this race, so it will keep getting even better! I would definately do it again. Oh, and we (me and Caron) wore Wonder Woman capes that flapped in the wind the whole 62 miles. It was awesome.

Relaxation

This week we decided to escape for a couple of days up to the cabin to spend some time together as a little family before our lives get crazy here for the next couple of months with Matt finishing his thesis, starting work, us finding a new place to live, and moving. Anyway, we had a great time up in the mountains.

Emily loves to swing!

She loved playing in the dirt and finding rocks.

And she loved playing with all the "new" toys that are up at the cabin.

We even went on a few 4-wheeler rides down to the lake.

She loved to smell eat the wildflowers. This was funny to me because when I was little, my cousin and I used to gather wildflowers, put them in a paper cup, walk up to the little stream and put water in it, call it flower salad, and make my grandpa eat it. And he did too!

One of the big reasons we went was to do this...

Ever since Matt took the GRE and started grad school, he has wanted to burn that GRE prep book. He took great pleasure in ripping it apart and using it as kindling. :)

I am so very proud of him. He has worked so hard in grad school these past two years. Although he's not quite done, he is so close. He's finished all of his classes, done a huge research project, and written his thesis. Now he just has to get his thesis approved, defend it, and make the recommended revisions. It will be nice to have this stage of life over with. Ever since we got married, one or both of us has been in grad school.

Anyway, we also tryed roasting some pineapple over the fire. It was really tasty!

It was really cold up there, which I wasn't expecting so we had to layer Emmy up in almost all the clothes we brought for her. So we didn't get much sleep because we were worried about Emmy being too cold. But it was a really nice getaway. And hopefully we can remember to relax a little during the next few crazy months!

We made it

So I thought I was at least in somewhat decent shape until last Monday when I hiked the Y with my sister. I've done this hike before and I really don't remember it being all that bad. I guess carrying a 20-pound baby on your back really makes a difference! (Not to mention my water bottle and apple, Emmy's snacks and drink, the book and dog she had to bring, and the rock she wanted to hold that I was also carrying.)

But we made it! Please ignore my ridiculously rolled up pants. It was HOT! Anyway, it was fun even if it did kick my butt.

Happy Rivalry Week!

I'm convinced

I'm convinced that there's pretty much no sweeter sight than to watch your baby sleeping.

She sleeps in what seems like the most uncomfy positions! Sometimes I sneak in her room at night before I go to bed to just watch her for a few seconds.

This is pretty cute too though, if I do say so myself.

Emmy's words

Our silly little Emmy LOVES to read. She will sit on my lap for 8 books straight. I swear we read at least 10 books a day, most of them at least twice. Every time she sees a book, she points to it and yells, "gook!" Just yesterday I found her sitting on the floor pouring through a magazine. She is saying lots of words. It's so cute! Although some of them don't exactly sound like what they are supposed to, but they are consistent. So far she can say...

-doggie (doddy)
-daddy
-mommy (nonny)
-book (gook)
-duck
-fish (ish)
-grass
-milk (gick)
-Nala (from the Lion King) (naya)
-koala (also sounds like naya)
-walk (awk)
-banana (nana) (she always yells out "nana!" when we pass the bananas in the store.)
-toes (es)
-snack (nack)
-cracker (cack)
-yuck (guck)
-trunk (uck)
-splash (ash)
-uh-oh (uh-ee)
-hat
-dolly

It is fun to watch her learn and start to understand things. For example, if I say, "It's time for a bath" she will go up the stairs and into the bathroom. Or she will crawl up to the exercise ball and start bouncing up and down. Or she will say "eeeeee!" (whee!) when she sees the swings. She will also hide behind things and pop out to play peek-a-boo. It's hilarious! She knows the names of all her toys, and she will follow simple commands, like "Go find your Minnie Mouse". She is still not walking, although she seems to be showing a teeny bit more interest. She will push her little stroller around and walk if you are holding onto her arms, but the second you let go, she gets down and crawls. Anyway, it is fun. And she's so stinkin' cute.