A Lively Bunch

My honey is the best

2012-02-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentines Day! I have the most wonderful honey ever. He works so hard for us and is a wonderful daddy to our little girl. He does everything he can to help make me happy and I love him a whole bunch.

For our special dinner, I made a ham. My first one! Matt got a gift certificate for a ham from his work for Christmas and I finally got around to making it. (P.S. I was shocked at how much this ham was. $55! But luckily for us it was free.)

If anyone wants some ham, come on over...we'll be eating ham for the next week. I also made quinoa, salad, green beans, and rolls. It was yummy!

My honey got me the best Valentine's Day present ever...Tahitian black pearl earrings!!! I seriously have always wanted black pearls. I don't know why, but black pearls are really the only piece of fine jewelry that I've ever wanted. They are so pretty and I love them. He also got me some grape soda in bottles so we could make some adventure badges with the bottle caps (like on the show Up). How cute is that?

And he also got me some of these...

I feel so spoiled. I got Matt this lame-o video game that he really wanted. He was super surprised though and loved it. And Emmy made him a silly card. She kept wanting to put flower stickers on it. :)

Anyway, it was a great Valentine's Day, and I am lucky to have such a wonderful honey!

My next 30 years

2012-02-15T09:08:00.005-07:00

On Monday we handed over our life savings. I probably will never again see a check this large with my name on it so I had to take a picture.

We signed this mountain of papers.

And now we are homeowners. Well, technically not for roughly 30 years.

Oh yeah, also on Monday I got a job offer to teach an online class at BYU-Idaho. I will be teaching a leadership and ethics class starting in April. I am really excited to be getting back into teaching and working with college students. I have missed it a lot. But I love that it's only part-time and I can do it from home.

The biggest waste of $25

2012-02-14T11:09:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we decided to take Emily to the Children's Museum. We thought she'd love it. Boy were we wrong. She liked this Plinko ball wall thing for awhile...

But would get mad if other kids came over and took the balls.

And then proceeded to throw a fit everywhere else we went in the museum. She tolerated these gear magnets for about 2 minutes and then threw herself on the floor for another fit.

She didn't even want to go back to the Plinko wall. So we left. After only 30 minutes. What a waste! To her credit, I do think she is getting another tooth and was extra cranky that day. But still!

One little monkey

2012-02-14T11:02:00.003-07:00

One little monkey jumping on the bed....

I hope she doesn't fall off and break her head!

Just a girl and her dad

2012-02-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Emmy is one lucky girl to have such a fun daddy.

New addition

2012-02-02T10:37:00.002-07:00

We have an exciting announcement! We are expecting a new little addition to the Lively family. Here's a picture for you all to enjoy....

IT'S A HOUSE! We are very excited to finally have a house of our own. We are scheduled to close on Feb. 22 and then we move in March 24. (Since the owners' new place won't be ready til then, we made a deal that they can stay and will be paying us $50/day.)We're a little bummed that we can't move in sooner, but since we don't have a contract at our apt, we can be flexible. And we'll make a little extra cash.

The house is almost exactly what we wanted. Seriously, do you know how hard it is to find a newer house in a nice neighborhood that doesn't have an HOA or isn't clear out in Booneyville that is in our price range? Hard! Anyway, it's bigger than what we need now, but it has plenty of room for us to grow into someday. (And plenty of room for visitors! Hint, Hint.) It has a great fully-fenced yard, a completely finished basement, the carpet is new and we don't have to do a single thing to it before we move in. Sure there are a few things we'd like to change down the line, but nothing pressing.

Here is a sketch of the floor plan.

So far everything is going really well. The inspection, appraisal, and loan stuff all went well, so now we are just waiting for the title company to get everything together for us. Please pray that nothing bad will happen to us like it did last time we were about to close on a house. And keep March 24 open on your calendar so you can come help us move! :)

Dogs and Princesses

2012-01-24T14:03:00.001-07:00

One of Emily's new favorite pastimes is looking at pictures of dogs on the computer. I was at a loss one day of how to entertain her so I came up with the idea to show her some doggies. Now every time she sees the computer, she wants to look at dogs. Ha!

Awhile ago, I got her this princess magnet book and she LOVES it. She can now say all the names of the princesses (sort of). My favorite is the way she says Ariel. She just says it so cute and I can't help but laugh every time.

Sharing my faith

2012-01-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

One of my goals this year was to create a mormon.org profile to share my beliefs with others. I finally did it and it's published here: http://mormon.org/me/7BYB/.

18 months

2012-01-20T12:46:00.003-07:00

Our little silly turned 18 months this week! This is when she brought me a bunch of barrettes and clippies and ponytail holders and wanted me to put ALL of them in her hair. (You can't even see all the ones in the back.) Ha! Here is a little about Emmy at 18 months....

Favorite Foods: scrambled eggs, hash browns, blueberries, clementines, grapes, pizza, crackers, cookies, milk, Cocoa Puffs, and yogurt.

Favorite Things to Do: Read books, go outside, go up and down stairs, play peek-a-boo, look at pictures of dogs on the computer, and play on our bed.

New Words (learned in the past month or 2): shoe, baby, chair, up, down, on, off, ball, pants, shirt, cup, grapes, shapes, sheep, bow, barrette, car, throw, kick, bonk, puppy, grass, snow, dino, Elmo, no, oops.

Height: 32.3 inches (65%)
Weight: 22.12 pounds (50%)
Head: 17.2 inches (3%)

She is still such a daddy's girl and will run and give him a hug and kiss whenever he gets home. She doesn't like to play with other kids for some reason and will swat them out of the way if they come close. She stayed in nursery by herself for the first time last week for about 45 minutes. She has dropped her morning nap over the past week or 2 and we are both still trying to get used to it. (When am I supposed to take a shower now?) She thinks she needs a cookie every time she goes to grandma's house. She loves to give a bottle and binkie to her baby doll.

She got a bunch of molars last week and I thought I was going to die she was so cranky for several days in a row. But fortunately for the both of us, she is back to being her normal cute self.

We love our little Emmy girl!

Oh thank you

2012-01-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

My awesome friend Caron sent me this article. It was totally what I needed to hear. And I'm posting it here so I can read it again and again. And again.

To the Mother With Only One Child

by Simcha Fisher Thursday, January 19, 2012 7:00 AM Comments

Dear Mother of Only One Child,

Don’t say it. Before the words can even pass your lips, let me beg you: don’t say, “Wow, you have nine kids? I thought it was hard with just my one!”

My dear, it is hard. You’re not being a wuss or a whiner when you feel like your life is hard. I know, because I remember having “only one child.” You may not even believe how many times I stop and reflect on how much easier my life is, now that I have nine children.

All right, so there is a lot more laundry. Keeping up with each child’s needs, and making sure they all get enough attention, is a constant worry. And a stomach bug is pretty much the end of the world, when nine digestive tracts are afflicted.

But I remember having only one child, and it was hard—so very hard. Some of the difficulties were just practical: I didn’t know what I was doing, had to learn everything. People pushed me around because I was young and inexperienced. But even worse were the emotional struggles of learning to be a mother.

When I had only one child, I truly suffered during those long, long, long days in our little apartment, no one but the two of us, baby and me, dealing with each other all day long. I invented errands and dawdled and took the long way home, but still had hours and hours to fill before I would hear my husband’s key in the door.

I cared so much what other people thought about her—they had to notice how beautiful she was, they had to be impressed at my natural mothering skills. I obsessed over childhood development charts, tense with fear that my mothering was lacking—that I hadn’t stimulated her enough, or maybe had just passed on the wrong kind of genes. I cringe when I remember how I pushed her—a little baby!—to achieve milestones she wasn’t ready for.

I lived in terror for her physical safety (I once brought her to Urgent Care, where the doctor somewhat irritably diagnosed a case of moderate sniffles) fearing every imaginable disease and injury. In my sleep-deprived state, I would have sudden insane hallucinations that her head had fallen off, her knees had suddenly broken themselves in the night, and so on.

My husband didn’t know how to help me. I didn’t know how to ask for help. My husband had become a father, and I adored him for it. My husband got to leave the house every day, and sleep every night. He got to go to the bathroom alone. I hated him for it.

When I had only one child, I told myself over and over that motherhood was fulfilling and sanctifying and was filling my heart to the brim with peace and satisfaction. And so I felt horribly guilty for being so bored, so resentful, so exhausted. This is a joyful time, dammit! I should enjoy being suddenly transformed into the Doyenne of Anything that Smells Bad.

I loved my baby, I loved pushing her on the swing, watching squirrels at the park together, introducing her to apple sauce, and watching her lips move in joyful dreams of milk. But it was hard, hard, hard. All this work: is this who I am now? I remember!

So now? Yes, the practical parts are a thousand times easier: I’m a virtuoso. I worry, but then I move along. Nobody pushes me around, and I have helpers galore. Someone fetches clean diapers and gets rid of the dirty ones. When the baby wakes up in the middle of the night for the ten thousandth time, I sigh and roll my eyes, maybe even cry a little bit for sheer tiredness—but I know it will pass, it will pass.

It’s becoming easier, and it will be easier still. They are passing me by.

I’m broken in. There’s no collision of worlds. We’re so darn busy that it’s a sheer delight to take some time to wash some small child’s small limbs in a quiet bath, or to read The Story of Ferdinand one more time. Taking care of them is easy. It’s tiring, it’s frustrating, but when I stop and take a breath, I see that it’s almost like a charade of work. All these things, the dishes, the diapers, the spills—they must be taken care of, but they don’t matter. They aren’t who I am.

To become a mother, I had to learn how to care about someone more than I did about myself, and that was terrible. But who I am now is something more terrible: the protector who can’t always protect; the one with arms that are designed to hold, always having to let go.

Dear mother of only one child, don’t blame yourself for thinking that your life is hard. You’re suffering now because you’re turning into a new woman, a woman who is never allowed to be alone. For what? Only so that you can become strong enough to be a woman who will be left.

When I had only one child, she was so heavy. Now I can see that children are as light as air. They float past you, nudging against you like balloons as they ascend.

Dear mother, don’t worry about enjoying your life. Your life is hard; your life will be hard. That doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong—it means you’re doing it right.

Tragedy

2012-01-12T14:10:00.001-07:00

I made Emmy a Noah's Ark quiet book for Christmas. I was so excited when I found this super cute kit because I had no idea how to make one from scratch and I really wanted her to have one. Even though it was a kit, I still had to cut all the pieces out, glue parts together, sew things on, etc. I put a lot of work into it, and Emmy loved it. But somehow it has already gotten lost. I am so bummed! I have scoured the house, cars, grandparents' houses, and the church...and no book. :(

So in case I never find it or make another one, here is what the pages looked like...and then I bound it together with rings so she could easily flip through the pages.

She especially loved the lion page where you snap on all the limbs. She would say, "pop, pop!" every time.

Haircut

2012-01-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

I finally took Emmy in to get a real haircut. She pretty much hated it. But she LOVED the slide they had in the salon. She threw a fit when we had to leave because she wanted to keep sliding.

Ooops!

2012-01-09T14:29:00.001-07:00

We were throwing around one of Em's stuffed animals and saying "oops" and she thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. She was cracking up.

Reading and Lessons

2012-01-09T14:24:00.001-07:00

Emily had to have her baby sitting on her lap while she sat on Daddy's lap to read a story. It was so cute. This baby doll she got for Christmas looks exactly like our little cousin Azilyn. So we call the doll Baby Azilyn. :) (Ashley, I hope that's ok.)

For Christmas I got some lessons. They were a great gift. Lesson #1 was a beaded watch band making lesson. I have always wanted one of these and Matt didn't know what kind to get me so he set up a lesson at a local bead shop so I could make my own. Here is what I made...

I think it turned out really pretty. And I had a lot of fun at my lesson.

I also wanted makeup lessons. I didn't really know this actually existed but my mom looked into it and booked me an appointment at a local salon for a makeup lesson. It was great. I learned a lot of new tips and how to do a smokey eye that doesn't make you look like you have a black eye. I am still practicing, but here is one of my first attempts after the lesson.

I am liking it so far, but I still need to play around with it and get better.

Sleepyhead

2012-01-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

I found Emily asleep on the floor in my room like this. She NEVER just falls asleep unless she is in her crib. Not even in the car. She had only been in my room for a few minutes when I decided to go check on her and found her buried in the pillows fast asleep. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. She must have been a sleepyhead!

Modeling

2012-01-04T12:15:00.002-07:00

Here is Emmy modeling her adorable new tutu that her Auntie Britni made her for Christmas. Of course she is stuffing her face with Cheerios at the same time. Ha! (Please ignore the ragamuffin hair. I need to get her a haircut. Badly.)

This is after she was dancing around in it. :)

Nursery

2012-01-04T09:29:00.000-07:00

So it's finally time for Emmy to go to nursery. Hallelujah! However, I need some advice...what is the best way to get her accustomed to going to nursery? She doesn't really like to play with other kids and it seems like most of the other kids in nursery are a lot older than her and so the activities they do are older too.

For example, last week they did a craft for like 40 minutes. Emmy was bored of it after about 7 minutes. And they don't break out the toys until towards the end, and that's for only like 20 minutes. She likes the toy part.

I really want her to enjoy it and learn to play with other kids so any advice would be great!

Resolutions 2012

2012-01-04T09:24:00.004-07:00

New Years came and went without much of a shebang. After much deliberation, we ended up playing games and having snacks at my parents' house this year with my brothers. It was one of the first years in a long time that I haven't hosted a big party with friends or gone on a trip. But we had fun...especially making fun of Nathan's custom-made Clue sheet and Scott trying to light poppers on fire. Anyway, here are the 2012 Resolutions...

1. Figure out a cooking/meal planning system that works for me. I am not a big fan of cooking unless it's for a party or special occasion. So I need to figure out something that works so I don't hate it so much and so we are eating more healthy again.

2. Get some things organized. Namely...my blog books printed for 2010 and 2011, my files and pics organized on the computer, my iTunes organized, my paper files labeled and put away, and finish my mormon.org profile.

3. Figure out how to be fun again. I feel like I used to be a fun, interesting, creative, involved, adventurous person that always had something going on. However, the things that I used to do and enjoy aren't exactly as possible anymore. But just because I can't go out with my friends all the time or host extravagant parties that people actually come to or travel as much anymore doesn't mean I can't still be fun. I just need to find a different kind of fun that works better with my current lifestyle and responsibilities.

4. Figure out some routine activities to do with Emily so we're both not so bored.

5. Eat more fruits and vegetables. I'm hoping Resolution #1 will help with this. Also, I would like to have a garden this summer which should also help. And once we have a house, I will have a place to store canned stuff.

FAMILY GOALS

1. Buy a house. Soon.
2. Figure out a temple attendance schedule that works for us and stick with it.
3. Read scriptures daily.
4. Exercise at least 3-4 times per week.

Resolution Wrap-up

2011-12-31T11:31:00.000-07:00

Time to evaluate how I did on my resolutions this year.

1. Learn how to be a good mother & enjoy and embrace motherhood. I have thought about this a lot. Even though it may seem like I complain a lot about how much I miss my job or how boring I've become, I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a mother. This has been a year of learning for me as I've tried to adjust to being a stay-at-home mom. It definitely has not been easy, and I don't feel like I'm the best mom I could be, but I'm glad that I get to be the one who experiences Emily's life first-hand. I'm grateful I got to be the one to watch her learn to crawl and take her first steps and learn to eat with a spoon and say her first words. I'm grateful that I understand her words that she tries to communicate and I'm grateful to be the one to try and teach her new things. I know I've got a long way to go at this whole motherhood thing, but I'm grateful for the chance to try.

2. Get back in shape. I don't know that I'd say I'm back in shape, but I was able to train for and do a few challenging races this year, including my century bike ride. And I was able to run a 10K again.

3. Enhance my friendships. I sort of gave up on this one after I tried inviting people multiple times to things and they never would come. And then I haven't really tried again after we moved. Maybe when we move again.

4. Stay mentally/intellectually challenged. I have been able to keep up my freelance work a little by doing at least one project each month, so at least I did that.

5. Don't become lazy, frumpy, or a recluse. I think I've done ok at this one.

FAMILY GOALS

1. Attend the temple once a month. Not so great at this.
2. Earn enough money between the two of us so we won't have to dip into our savings. Check!
3. Be positive and focus on what we have instead of what we don't. Uhhh....we tried.

Christmas

2011-12-28T15:18:00.001-07:00

Christmas this year was fabulous! We were so spoiled and had so much fun visiting with all of our family. We started off the festivities by dressing Emmy up in her cute Santa dress and taking a picture by the Christmas tree. She wasn't very happy about that plan.

Then we headed off to the Livelys and tried again.

Emmy loved their Christmas tree! We had a fun Chinese dinner and watched some Christmas movies.

Then it was time to open presents! Emmy was so funny opening her presents. One of the first presents she got was a little doggie. She loved it!

After opening a couple of presents on Mom's lap, she decided to help herself to the rest of the presents under the tree. She would go grab one and start opening it as fast as she could.

And then throw the paper up in the air. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever and I let her open some of mine too so she would keep doing it. It was hilarious!

After awhile we put Em to bed so we could open our own presents.

Then we played Settlers and ate fudge and cookies. The next morning Santa came to our house!

Em wasn't nearly as excited about opening her presents this time.

She just kept looking for her doggie and her baby. And then she carted them around all morning.

We finally got her to open some presents on Christmas morning. She loved this fun animal magnet book.

Matt got his favorite things...pizza and cookies!

We then went to Matt's parents' church to hear their choir program and then went over to the Shepherds for more presents and Christmas dinner. Buddy the Elf made an appearance.

He came to give Matt a Christmas gram. He got a Noodles gift card and some syrup. Rivers was pretty funny opening his presents....he would tear off a small strip of paper and then hold it up for everyone to see.

Em kept looking for more doggies, seriously as she was opening each present she kept asking, "doggie? doggie?". She thought all her presents were going to be doggies. But then she consented to read books.

We played games and ate snacks for the rest of the day. On Monday we headed down to my grandma's house for the big extended family party. It was a great Christmas. We had so much fun and then we took lots of naps on Tuesday.

I love to see the temple

2011-12-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went up to SLC to see the lights at Temple Square. We made sure Emmy was bundled up nice and good.

She did not know what to think of her mittens.

Em loved the lights! She kept saying, "more? more?"

She especially loved all the Christmas trees! I think she is going to be sad when we take down ours.

It was a fun evening at Temple Square.

Christmas choir

2011-12-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

I have finally started going to ward choir practice again. I haven't been since before Em was born, and I sort of missed it. Not like I sing great or anything, but I enjoy the music and being able to get to know people better. Anyway, so we have obviously been practicing Christmas songs for the past several weeks, and 2 out of the 3 songs we are singing make me get teary every single time! I can't even hardly get through them.

The first one, When Joseph Went to Bethlehem, reminds me of how Matt was about a year and a half ago in the delivery room. He was so nervous to become a daddy, but his baby girl loves him so much. Anyway, here are the lyrics... it's the second verse that gets me.

When Joseph went to Bethlehem
I think he took great care
To place his tools and close his shop
And leave no shavings there.
He urged the donkey forward,
Then, with Mary on its back,
And carried bread and goat cheese
In a little linen sack.

I think there at the busy inn
That he was meek and mild
And awed to be the guardian
Of Mary's sacred Child.
Perhaps all through the chilly hours
He smoothed the swaddling bands,
And Jesus felt the quiet strength of
Joseph's gentle hands.

And close beside the manger bed
He dimmed the lantern's light,
And held the little Jesus close upon
That holy night.

If you want to listen to the music, click here:

The other one is about a little shepherd boy who feels inadequate because he doesn't have a fancy gift for the Christ child like the wisemen have brought. I can't remember all of the lyrics to post, but it is beautiful.

Anyway, I love Christmas music and the spirit it brings.

Merry Christmas to all...

2011-12-21T09:36:00.001-07:00

...and to all a good night!

A girl and her Christmas tree

2011-12-20T10:33:00.001-07:00

Emily loves our Christmas tree.

Every morning when she wakes up, she runs to it and says, "dat, dat" which means "lights". Then when we turn on the lights, she yells out "Nooey!". I'm not sure where she got that from, but it is hilarious. Maybe it means "pretty"???

I tried to get it on video, but it's much better in real life. I just love how her face lights up and she exclaims "nooey!" with such awe when the lights come on.

And she does this every time she sees a Christmas tree anywhere. I love it!

Christmas card

2011-12-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

Our annual Christmas card. Merry Christmas!

Nativity

2011-12-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Years ago my Aunt Tracey gave me these nativity magnets. Now they are one of Emmy's favorite things to play with. She will stand at the fridge and rearrange them multiple times a day. And to my surprise, she could point out all the pieces when I would ask her where the camel was or the angel or whatever.

She was very annoyed that I interrupted her to take a picture. Ha!

Couch play

2011-11-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Em's new favorite pastime is playing on the couch. It is hilarious. She runs from end to end throwing off the pillows and faceplanting in the couch. She also leans back on the couch in between runs. Of course the time I was recording this, she decided to start picking her nose in the middle of the video. Ha!

Day of Thanks (and Domestic Failure)

2011-11-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving was (mostly) great. We ran our annual Thanksgiving Day race. I even did the 10K this year instead of the 5K, and it was great! We had a yummy breakfast at my parents' house after the race, and then had Thanksgiving dinner at Matt's family's house. I have been sick for the past week, and now I think Emmy is starting to get a little sick. It was so sad...she was so unhappy. :( Anyway, other than a bit of sickness and my domestic failures, it was a great day.

So for Thanksgiving I was in charge of jello, rolls, and pie. Well, the pie was voluntary. I like fruit pies, and I knew there wasn't going to be any there, so I decided to make some so I could have some fruit pie. I was determined to make all of my assignments really delicious and beautiful because last time we had Thanksgiving at Matt's, I brought rolls and they didn't rise so they were these little tiny hard things that were gross. So I needed to redeem myself.

So I made the pies the night before. I thought they looked ok. But it turned out that the pear pie had way too much nutmeg and the cherry pie didn't have enough filling to crust ratio. I overcooked the rolls and they just didn't turn out as tasty as they normally are. And the jello was a complete disaster. My family makes this amazing 12 layer jello that is so pretty and yummy. But for some reason when I made it this time, it turned out runny and watery and so all the layers were all mushed up together. I almost cried. I even got up at 5 a.m. to make those rolls and spent 2 days making that jello. So much for redeeming myself.

Anyway, despite my domestic failures, everything else was delicious and it was a fun day and we have so much to be thankful for.

Fishies

2011-11-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

I took Em to the aquarium yesterday. She loved it! She would run from tank to tank pointing and yelling, "ish, ish!" It was hilarious.

Emmy Funnies

2011-11-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

Just some random pics and funny things Emmy has been doing lately.

She loves playing with her Halloween candy. She loves to take it out of the bucket and shake it and hide it under the couch. When she can't get it out, she comes over and says, "stuck!" and wants me to get it out from under the couch.

When she takes her shoes off, she says "shooz-ahh". She always does this in the car. When she tries to put her shoes on she says, "nah" for "on".

She loves to brush her teeth and hair, but she doesn't understand the difference between the toothbrush and the hairbrush. She just says "ush".

I just really love this outfit. :) She looks like such a big girl!

She loves to go in my room and get my stuffed animals, and throw them from the bed to the floor. She can say all their names too. (Rocky, Nala, and Sammy). She gives them all kisses and hugs first though.

She can do her farm animal puzzle all by herself, and knows what all the animals are. She can't say all of them yet, but she can point to them on the puzzle. She calls a lot of things "nooey"s. I have no idea what that means, but she says that for bird, bear, heater, Ariel, and probably a lot of other things too.

She LOVES her books. Especially the ones we get at the library. She will sit and look at them over and over and over. She also loves pizza. Every time we have it, she snarfs it down. And every time she hears a noise coming from the direction of the door, she runs to the door and yells "Daddy!" because she thinks it's Daddy coming home. Oh what a little funny girl!

Football

2011-11-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

This is how I find my honey watching his Utes football games. He also paces. :)

Budgeting

2011-11-04T09:40:00.001-06:00

I have had a few people ask how we do our budget, so I thought I'd share. I am not a tight/exact budgeter nazi, I don't like to balance the checkbook, and I don't like to use cash. So we wanted something that was a little more flexible, but still allowed us to keep track of our finances. It took us about a year or so to find something that worked for us, but we did and have been sticking to it ever since, and it has worked with any income--large or small.

For our monthly budget, we use our online banking system at Utah Power Credit Union. With the online system, we have the ability to create sub-accounts that you can transfer money easily between. So we created a sub-account for each category of spending that we do. Our categories are: Savings 1 (this is for our house or other big stuff we need to save for), Savings 2 (this is for fun stuff that costs a little more like vacations or bikes and stuff), Checking, Matt, Christy, Emily (we each get our own individual accounts that we can spend however we want), Food, Gas, Medical, Entertainment, Clothes, Car (for repairs & stuff), Gifts, Misc, & Mission (we wanted to start a mission savings). Our retirement and insurance and stuff is taken out before we get our checks, so we don’t count that in our monthly budget but we do have them take it out before we even see the check.

Since it’s all online, we both have access to it at anytime. We have figured out what our fixed expenses are that we absolutely have to pay every month (tithing, rent, utilities, etc.) and listed everything out on a Google Doc. At the start of each month, we calculate our income for the past month, subtract the fixed expenses and then divide the rest up into these sub-accounts forthe non-fixed expenses. Since we know approximately what our monthly income is, we can determine how much goes into each account every month. (Of course this changes whenever we have an income change.) If we happen to have more income than our estimated amount, we get to put it into whatever account we want!

When we purchase something we just transfer the money from the corresponding sub-account into the checking account. We pay all our bills from the checking account at the beginning of each month. When the sub-account for a certain category runs out, we can’t spend anymore for that category. We also use our credit card for everything and pay it off every month. This way at the end of each year we get quite the nice cash rebate.

It’s nice because it’s real-time and you can see exactly where you stand at any time. Of course you have to be diligent about getting online and transferring the money every time you make a purchase (or every few days or so), but it has worked well for us. They even have a mobile app that Matt uses to do his stuff on his phone. It’s also nice because we each get our own “allowance” each month that goes into our individual sub-account and we can spend this money on whatever we want. We can save for Christmas and birthdays all year in our Gifts account, we can save for medical expenses and car repairs, and we know we have some money each month for fun stuff in our Entertainment account.

Anyway, like I said, it took us awhile to come up with this solution to our budget, but we have been using this method for awhile now--both when we had a large income and when we had a very small income--and it has worked really well for us. And now...3.5 years after getting married, we've both gone to grad school, had a baby, took a couple vacations, paid off Matt's car (mine was already paid off), saved enough for a down payment on a house, and have ZERO debt. I'm pretty proud of that. :)

One more thing, we always pay our tithing and fast offerings first. And we have always had at least a little to put in each account every month. And we have always had enough in each account to pay for everything we need and a lot of what we want. And I know that is a huge blessing. For example, when Emily was born, we had pretty much exactly the amount we needed to pay all the hospital bills in our medical fund. Another example, we always have enough to have a weekly fun night even if it's just getting a Redbox and a $5 Little Ceasars pizza. Sometimes it's been tight, but I haven't really felt deprived.

We could probably do even better, but for now this is what is working for us. So there you have it.

Trick or Treating

2011-11-01T08:24:00.002-06:00

Trick or treating was fun! We only went to 4 houses (the grandparents and auntie's) but we had a lot of fun. Since Emmy doesn't eat candy, and we shouldn't eat candy, we just went to the relatives, but I really wanted to take her and she was so cute!

Here she is checking out her trick or treat bucket.

She was not at all interested in taking any more pics, but at least these are better than the last go-around.

She just wanted to wander around.

She was much more interested in the doggies than the candy.

But then at our last stop (Grandma Lively's), she kept taking handfuls of candy and putting them in her bucket. It was hilarious. And then she was shoving pizza as fast as she could into her mouth. Ha! Happy Halloween! P.S. I may or may not already be planning next year's costume. :)

Be Our Guest

2011-10-31T11:05:00.001-06:00

For Halloween this year we decided to go with a Beauty and the Beast theme. I didn't get very good pics of our costumes at our ward Halloween party this weekend, so I will try again tonight, but here's a little preview.

Matt was Gaston. Yes, Gaston. Not the Beast.

I was Belle. (Props to my awesome friend Caron who made this dress.)

And Emily was the Enchanted Rose.

Our car for Trunk or Treat was the table from "Be Our Guest".

The plates and utensils and stuff were "dancing" in the wind on some fishing line, and we had the "Be Our Guest" song playing but you couldn't hear it because of the giant speakers nearby that were playing other Halloween songs.

It was a fun Halloween party. We had tons of pizza for dinner and there were some pretty cool trunks. I was slightly disappointed that we didn't win the prize for best trunk. Oh well, it was still great. We vastly underestimated how much candy to bring and we ran out rather quickly. Someone took pity on us and gave us some extra candy to pass out.

Emily had a grand ole time wandering around the parking lot.

But her favorite part about Halloween was taking the candy out of the bucket and putting it back in. She seriously did this for most of the day on Saturday and Sunday.

It was really funny.

Anyway, we had lots of fun and I am excited to dress up again tonight and take Emmy trick or treating!

Pumpkin patch

2011-10-23T12:46:00.000-06:00

We went to the pumpkin patch this weekend! Em didn't love it, but at least she didn't scream like last year.

She was very concerned with the straw on her hands.

But she did enjoy riding in the wheelbarrow.

She would not look at the camera for any of the pictures we tried to take.

She enjoyed taking the little pumpkins out of the bin and lining them up on the ground.

Here is the pumpkin she got to keep. Even though she doesn't look very happy about it, later in the car she was hugging and kissing the pumpkin. Ha!

And some idiot stole our big pumpkin right off our doorstep. I'm so sad. We didn't even get to carve it. :(

Independent

2011-10-18T21:27:00.001-06:00

Emily has decided that she is done having someone spoon-feed her, and she has to do it herself. She more often than not eats the oatmeal or applesauce or whatever with her hands because when she tries to use the spoon, somehow the food drops off somewhere between the bowl and her mouth. One time she spilled it all over her bib and then tried to lick it off.

I'm glad that she wants to try to use a spoon, but boy is it messy!

15 months

2011-10-18T21:12:00.000-06:00

Emmy is 15 months old today! We went to the doctor for her checkup and she...

-weighs 21 lbs, 8 oz (20th percentile)
-is 30.25 inches tall (40th percentile)
-has a head circumference of 44 cm (7th percentile)

The doctor said she was perfectly healthy, which is always good to hear. At 15 months, Emmy...

-eats breakfast really well, but not lunch and dinner.
-loves pizza, fruit, milk, graham crackers, oatmeal, eggs, and hash browns.
-is walking!
-loves to go outside.
-says lots of words.
-loves doggies.
-loves Mommy's stuffed animals, and wanders around the house looking for them.
-loves her books (and calls them gooks)
-loves her Daddy
-is having trouble napping (I"m thinking maybe it's time to go down to one nap instead of 2, but she seems really crabby when she only gets one).
-is counting down the days til she gets to go to nursery. (OK, maybe that's her mom and dad!)

Outings

2011-10-18T21:05:00.000-06:00

In an effort to have more of a life, I have gone on a few outings this past week. First, I went to the zoo with my friends Caron and Alison. I think Emmy enjoyed it.

Especially when she got to get out of the stroller and walk around.

We also went to see the witches at Gardner Village with my sister Allison. I don't think Em liked that too much. She just read her book most of the time.

But she did like watching the ducks.

It was fun to see all the cute stuff they have at those shops!

Funk

2011-10-18T21:03:00.003-06:00

I have been in somewhat of a funk the last couple weeks that I can’t seem to get out of, and it’s really bugging me. I just want all these dumb worries and things that I am frustrated about and bad things to just go away.

I feel so unproductive and useless lately. I feel like I don’t do anything worthwhile or important. And I don’t know what to do that would be worthwhile or important. I really was hoping to get a part time job for a few hours a week as an adjunct professor just to teach one class, but so far that has not worked out. I hate that I keep getting rejected. I thought I had talents and skills that could be put to good use, but I guess not. I am really struggling to find something worthwhile to do part time that allows me to still be home with Emily most of the time. I know being a mom is a good thing, but I really want to do something else where I feel like I'm contributing. I’m sick of being so bored and useless and I need to interact with someone other than a one-year-old. When I quit my job almost a year ago, everyone said that a) I wouldn't regret it, and b) that being a mom was so fulfilling that I wouldn't even miss it. Well, I don't regret it, but I do miss it. Although I enjoy motherhood, why don't I feel completely fulfilled just by being a mom? Why do I feel like something is still missing? What is wrong with me?

I feel so lonely. I used to have lots of friends and I felt like I was an important part of their lives. I used to get invited to lots of things, and when I invited people to things they came and I think they had a good time. Maybe I’ve just gotten really lame, but no one seems to want to do anything with me anymore. I never get invited to anything, and when I try to host stuff, no one will come. I only really have one or two friends that even call me anymore to see how I’m doing or tell me about their life. Or that seem to be excited when I call them and seem to care about what's going on with me. I still care about my friends and want to be a part of their lives. I like being involved and knowing what’s going on, and I really could use someone to talk to. I guess if they have moved on to bigger and better things, then I should just accept it and stop trying to force myself into their new lives.

I feel like I don’t fit in anywhere. I’m not crafty and I don’t like to cook. It seems like that’s what everyone is into. All of our (non-Sunday) Relief Society meetings are always about making some type of craft or cooking, and that's what everyone seems to talk about. Why does that seem to be the ticket to being a successful stay-at-home mom? I pretty much suck at all things domestic. The things I thought I was good at, I'm apparently not anymore, and the things I enjoy require me to leave the house and have friends.

I’m frustrated that I can’t seem to get back to my previous fitness level. Or even close for that matter. I try to exercise but for some reason it is so much harder with Emily—both finding the time and the exercise itself. So I’m only getting in about 30 minutes of moderate intensity like 3 times a week, either jogging, elliptical, or biking. I need to do more than that. I’m frustrated that my clothes are still a little tight and I feel like I don’t look good in anything. It’s been over a year…I should fit back into my clothes comfortably by now. And I feel super ugly.

I feel like a terrible mother. I get so sick of reading stories, and it seems like that’s all Emily wants to do. We also go to the park almost every day and swing, but I have no ideas of other activities to do with her. I even looked for books at the library on stuff to do with one-year-olds, and they didn’t even have anything. They only had stuff for 3-year-olds and older. She doesn’t seem very interested in playing with her toys for very long. Or playing with other kids at all. Plus, she has gotten super grumpy and whiney lately, and I don’t know why or what to do about it and I am going crazy! I really don’t know what to do with her by myself all day long every day.

This whole move has been really stressful. Unexpected problems keep coming up. Like how the moving van was too small, or how only ONE friend out of all that we asked to help showed up (good thing we had a few family members to help), or how our stupid landlady charged us for a million things that were not our fault, or how the internet and TV didn't work for 10 days and we kept getting the runaround, or how our neighbors smoke so we can't open the windows, and how our other neighbors have a squeaky bed. I'd forgotten how it is to live in an apartment. It kind of feels like regression....almost like moving back home once you thought you'd moved out permanently.

And, I can’t seem to quit comparing myself to others…it’s hard hearing/reading about all the great stuff everyone else is doing, and I can’t help but feel sub-par and left out.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I’m sure I’ll get over my little pity party soon enough. In the meantime, I’ll try to be more positive and actually do something about all those things instead of just complain about them.

Little Stinker

2011-09-30T08:38:00.000-06:00

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

2011-09-26T08:51:00.001-06:00

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!

2011-09-20T08:42:00.000-06:00

I was beyond excited about this. :)

The Trifecta of Bike Rides

2011-09-19T14:37:00.000-06:00

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

2011-09-15T09:53:00.002-06:00

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

2011-09-15T09:31:00.000-06:00

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

2011-09-15T09:25:00.000-06:00

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

2011-09-07T13:14:00.002-06:00

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.

Old

2011-08-30T09:33:00.000-06:00

So there I was at the park pushing Emmy in the swings when this random lady pushing her kid in the next swing over starts to ask me a million questions. One of them being where I went to high school. She said that she was from Sandy, so she probably thought I knew some people that she knew that went to Bingham so she asked what year I graduated. I told her and she has this look of shock on her face and responds with, "Oh, well that was quite awhile ago." Seriously? Who says that?

Thank you lady at the park for making me feel old.

The fingers

2011-08-26T23:21:00.000-06:00

My cousin took this picture of Emmy a few weeks ago. She always sucks her fingers like that so I'm glad to have it documented.

White trash fun

2011-08-24T12:11:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we went to the demolition derby with Matt's mom and sister. It was lots of fun!

We wore our cowboy hats, ate some fair food, sat next to a lady with a femullet, cheered for a guy named Gus, saw a fire and a few rollovers and a couple of drivers get so mad that they threw things, and had a grand ole time.

The derby was part of the Utah County Fair, and I took Emmy to see the animals and she loved it!

Because...

2011-08-22T12:54:00.000-06:00

every child needs some bath pictures!

Emmy usually loves her baths. Except for getting her hair washed.

She loves splashing and playing with her ducks and fishies and trying to stand up in the tub. Oh, and pulling the drain plug.

and of course a video.

Tour of Utah

2011-08-15T16:31:00.000-06:00

Last week the Tour of Utah professional bike race came through Springville. Only 2 blocks from our house! So Em and I walked down to the corner to watch the riders come through. Here we are waiting for them to come.

It was really fun to watch the preparations. Here are some people sweeping the debris off the street. They also had some people out stopping traffic. There were some cars and police that would drive by first and they were throwing out prizes to the spectators.

Some of the other spectators were writing messages to the riders with chalk.

And here they come!

And there they go!

After they went by, a huge long caravan of team cars came by. It was really fun to watch and fun that it was so close!

Poor Matt was stuck in a meeting at school so he wasn't able to join in the fun. :(

Swimming

2011-08-15T16:23:00.001-06:00

Today we were able to go to Seven Peaks with Scott, Mystie and Rivers. It was fun! Emily loves going there. Anyway, this is how I kept them both in the same place while Scott and Mystie did some of the slides. Treats! (This was necessary after they kept wandering off in opposite directions at the kiddie pool.) I don't think I could do twins.

We were also able to go with Britni, Kyle and Derek last week, but I unfortunately did not get any pictures of that. I hope that Emily likes playing with her cousins!

Grandma's Funeral

2011-08-15T16:14:00.000-06:00

Grandma's funeral was really nice. Apparently she planned most of it herself. She even sewed her own burial dress. That's my grandma for you...making sure everything is in order. Even down to the last minute.

We love you Grandma and miss you.

Baby birds

2011-08-15T16:08:00.000-06:00

Look what I have on my porch. They are so fun to watch!

Heavenly

2011-08-15T16:07:00.000-06:00

If you want to die and go to heaven then go and make these right now! Chocolate chip cookie dough peanut butter cups. YUM!

You can find the recipe here. Just a few tips: I would leave out the graham cracker crumbs and use mini chocolate chips. Also I would make a bit more of the PB filling and a bit less of the cookie dough filling. Note: These are super rich. Even for me. And I love rich desserts.

The blog I found these on is from my old spin instructor. She is hilarious! And I miss my spin class! Even though it's a running blog, most of her posts are about her food addiction, especially to sugar. Ha! You can thank me later for being so diligent as to go to a 6 a.m. spin class so that I could meet Janae and find her blog and tell you about these delicious treats.

Boating

2011-08-10T11:10:00.002-06:00

Last weekend we were able to go boating with Matt's family. It was so fun! Emmy did really well. She loved riding around in the boat and waving to her daddy while he was skiing. She even tolerated wearing her lifejacket even though she couldn't reach her hands into her mouth very well. She sort of looked like Ralphie's brother with her arms sticking out high. Ha!

She wouldn't let me wear my sunglasses though. She kept taking them off my face! And she also kept taking Matt's hat off.

Then she smeared her chocolate cookie all over the windshield. Good thing for baby wipes! Cleaned it right off. We all got a chance to ski except for Michele before the boat died and we had to get towed back to shore. Matt even got his open water swimming workout in by pulling the boat onto the ramp. Too bad we're not doing our triathlon anymore this weekend since Grandma's funeral is the same day. :(

Anyway, we had a great time!

Goodbye Grandma

2011-08-05T13:55:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I went to say goodbye to my grandma. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in October, and is down to her last day or two here on earth. It was hard to see her so weak and thin and unable to do anything. But when I walked in she smiled and reached out her arms to me. She said, "Pretty baby" to Emily and she said "I love you". I think she tried to say some other things, but I couldn't understand what she was saying. It looked like she wanted so badly to say stuff, but she just couldn't. Part of the time, she just looked at us and would smile, and part of the time she looked like she was crying. And then she would drift off to sleep for a few minutes. I'm glad she was mostly awake when we went so I could tell her I love her and say goodbye.

Anyway, it was sad. But I'm glad that I had the opportunity to say goodbye and I'm glad she will soon be at peace and with her family and not in pain.

She was a very caring woman. She was always taking care of and looking out for others. I remember going to her house as a kid and picking cherries off her cherry tree and playing in the ditch in front of her house and when she would take us to the park and the library. She was a very talented seamstress. She did the costuming for many of the church films, and she sewed me a prom dress back in high school and also my temple dress. She was in a lot of the church films too, mostly as Joseph Smith's mother. It was especially fun on my mission to tell people as we were watching the movie, "that's my grandma!"

I am proud of my heritage, she raised a good family. A few years ago I helped her make a little book with memories and stories from her life, and then I made her give it to me. I'm so glad she did that, it will be a treasure. In it she wrote...

"I would like to be remembered first of all for my love of God, Jesus Christ, and the Gospel. I have always enjoyed having a calling in the Church, and most of my personal growth has come because of my activity in the Church.

I would like to be remembered for my music. I hope my singing and conducting of choral groups has been entertaining and uplifting for someone.

I have tried to be generous with my few material goods. I have always paid a full tithe and have never lacked for the basics of life.

I have also tried to give time to help others, especially family. I had the privilege of caring for my great-grandmother Moffett, my parents, and my husband Mel when they could not care for themselves. It was not always an easy thing to do, but I learned things I probably would not have learned any other way. Giving service is a refining experience."

We will miss you Grandma!

Update: Grandma passed away on Saturday, August 6.

Weaning

2011-08-02T10:08:00.000-06:00

This whole weaning thing just might be the death of me. Emmy has been so cranky ever since we took away her bottle and have been trying to get her to eat normal food. She still gets a bottle at night before bed, but her meals are rough. It's been over a week now, and she still hasn't gotten the hang of it. She will only eat 3-4 bites of her meal and then refuses to eat anything else. Plus, half the time she will put the food in her mouth, chew it up, and then spit it out. I don't know what to do! I feel like she is not eating nearly enough. For example, this morning for breakfast all she ate was about 3 bites of eggs, about 8 mandarin orange pieces and a few sips of milk. And that would be considered a decent meal as compared to others. Is that normal? And, one day she'll eat something, but the next time I give it to her she won't eat it. I am trying everything I can think of. Plus she is not sleeping nearly as well as she used to. She'll lay and moan in her bed for an hour before finally falling asleep. That is not normal for her at all. And when she is up, she's whiny half the time. It is so stressful! I am going crazy! I want my happy little girl back.

Nathan's Wedding

2011-08-02T09:56:00.001-06:00

My little brother Nathan got married last week. They got married in the Salt Lake Temple and had their reception at the Provo Library. It was a fun day!

Allison and Kyle joined in on this folk dance, but they had no clue what they were doing, and so they looked like dorks.

Emmy had a rough day. She just wanted to get down and move.

We may have gone to 40 different stores to find orange and green attire for the wedding. I found mine at the 2nd store we went to. Laurie and Allison had to search a bit harder.

Grandpa was trying to help Emmy be happy by sneaking her some snacks he had in his pocket.

It was a long day for her. But we still had a fun time at all the festivities. Congrats to Nathan and Jessica!

Little Miss Crazy Hair

2011-07-28T10:45:00.023-06:00

Sometimes I am at a loss for what to do with Emmy's hair. It just does these crazy flippy things no matter what. And it probably looks like she has ragamuffin hair even though I do comb it.

I finally had to trim her bangs because it was getting in her eyes.

Anyway, I'm sure it will get better as it gets longer, but for now she'll just have to look like a ragamuffin head!

I'm pretty sure I know where she gets it from. Here are some pics from when I was one. Even though I didn't have as much hair as she does, I still had some crazy, flippy hair.

I still don't think she looks like me though. And she is making progress on standing up. She gets around like this. (Allison has started calling her Mogli.) And she will stand up for a few seconds from this position several times a day. She's getting close!

I looked out the window...

2011-07-27T12:24:00.000-06:00

and what did I see? A whole bunch of real estate signs popping out at me!

These things are constantly all over the yard and driveway.

How to have a fun anniversary

2011-07-26T10:43:00.000-06:00

1. Drop Emmy off at Auntie Laurie's the night before. (Thanks Laurie!)
2. Go home and sleep in your own bed without having to worry about getting up at the crack of dawn with your 1-year-old.
3. Go out to breakfast at Magelby's and sit out on the patio in the pretty gardens.
4. Come home and watch your wedding video.
5. Give Matt his homemade gift of a coupon book full of services I will do for him.
6. Go to Seven Peaks.
7. Get a snow cone.
8. Come home and shower.
9. Go out to dinner at Goodwood.
10. Drive up to Squaw Peak and ~~make out~~ see the pretty view.
11. Go to the bakery and get a brownie before picking up Em.
12. Don't pay for hardly any of that because you used gift cards/passes.

Happy Anniversary to us! It's been a great 3 years, and I couldn't ask for a better honey to share them with.

Emily's 1-Year Pictures

2011-07-22T12:56:00.000-06:00

We got Em's 1-year pictures taken this week. I love how they turned out. Here are (ahem) just a few of my favorites!

Emmy's Birthday: Cake

2011-07-18T12:23:00.000-06:00

Emmy didn't quite know what to do with her cake. She kind of messed her fingers around in it for awhile.

But then she didn't like the frosting on her hands.

I had to feed it to her on a spoon before she would even take a bite.

Then she liked it!

Her favorite part was licking the spoon!

I hope that Emily had a fun party and birthday. I am so thankful for this past year and that she has joined our family. She makes us laugh and smile every single day, and I love it!

Emmy's Birthday: Presents

2011-07-18T12:06:00.001-06:00

Emily got a ton of presents! She sure is a spoiled girl. She didn't quite know what to think of opening presents. She sort of tore little pieces of the paper off the first one, but didn't quite get to the actual present. But she got so many fun things!

I love her little bike helmet! After my dad's crash, I don't want to take any chances toting her around in the bike trailer. So she is going to have to learn to wear a helmet.

She got tons of new books. She loves them!

My family is obviously slacking in their duties to provide Emmy with the appropriate sports attire. Her auntie Melissa makes sure that she has plenty of red. It appears that Em is more concerned with the wrapping paper on her foot.

Guess what her favorite present was? This little bottle of bubbles. She held onto it for the entire night.

Her uncle John made sure to fulfil his uncley duty by getting her the most annoying toy he could find. But she loves her new talking phone.

She also got some fun new toys and clothes. Matt and I may or may not have stayed up late after everyone left and opened all her toys. :)

She also loved that envelope. She kept pointing at the stars on it.

Rivers wanted some presents too!

Laurie was the only one who wore a party hat.

Em wasn't the only one who got presents! Nathan and Jessica got their first wedding present.

Matt and I got Em this little push car walker thing. I think she will love it. Anyway, thanks everyone for all the fun gifts! She sure is a spoiled little cutie.

Emmy's Birthday: Prep

2011-07-18T11:40:00.001-06:00

My little girl has turned ONE! I was so excited for her birthday, I planned her party for weeks. I decided I wanted to do a butterfly theme with purple, teal, and green colors. I made her a butterfly cake. Matt thought I was funny because I was so serious about making her the perfect cake. So he documented all the preparations.

Emily got a hold of a bottle of sprinkles and dumped them all over the floor. She had a ball spreading them all around the floor. I have a feeling we are going to be finding sprinkles for a very long time.

She played in them for like 30 minutes. It was pretty funny.

This is how her cake turned out. I think it turned out pretty cute. I even went to like 5 different stores in search of the candy stick for the middle. I finally found one at the Cracker Barrell.

I got her some balloons the night before her party. But by the time we got home from church they were already not floating anymore. I almost cried. So I did the next best thing and taped them to the wall. Again, Matt was making fun of me so he had to document.

And the finished decorations and treats!

I had so much fun getting everything ready for her party. Even though she didn't care, I still enjoyed it.

We had a BBQ and birthday party for all the family on her birthday eve. It was really fun, even though our house was busting at the seams with all the people. I can't believe she is a year old! This has been such a fun year watching her learn and grow.

At one year old Emily....
-weighs 19 lbs, 12 oz (30th%)
-is 29.75 inches tall (75th%)
-has a head size of 43 cm (5th%)
-hates to be confined. She loves to be on the move.
-can stand up for a few seconds by herself.
-can say daddy, doggie, duck, yuck and book.
-sleeps from about 6:30 pm to 7am, nap from 9-10:30 and then from 1-3.
-loves to bounce on the exercise ball.
-loves to eat Cheerios.
-likes to play peek-a-boo (especially with whoever sits behind us at church).
-is such a daddy's girl.
-loves to climb the stairs.
-is so much fun! We love her so much.

Cabin

2011-07-18T11:19:00.000-06:00

This weekend, Emily and I went up to the cabin with some of my family. Matt is diligently trying to finish up his thesis here in the next few weeks so he can defend before summer term ends. So he wasn't able to go. :( Em and I missed him but we had a fun time.

I practiced my bow hunting skills.

Allison and Kyle were shooting off the deck.

Emmy had a grand old time in the little swing. She would say "deeeeeeeee!" (wheee!) while swinging and hold her feet. It was so cute.

We also went 4-wheeling. Allison was trying to find the mud pit so she went off the trail.

It was a lot of fun!

Friends and neighbors

2011-07-14T11:08:00.002-06:00

The other night we went to a fun party hosted by our former bishop of our old singles ward and his wife. It was so much fun! We had so many friends in that ward and it was great to see everybody. I loved having so many friends and always having something going on.

It got me thinking about how by the time I got to the 9th ward, I'd been in singles wards for a long time so I was getting pretty good at being single, and I'd developed some surefire ways to make friends and get involved. 1) Go to all ward activities, FHE, and anything else going on. Stay after to help. Talk to at least 1-2 new people at everything. 2) Go to things you are invited to. 3) Host a get together once in awhile and invite everyone you know. 4) Sit by different people at church and activities instead of sticking with your roommate the whole time. 5) Start networking (i.e. meet your friends' friends).

I've discovered these tactics don't work in a family ward. 1) There are no ward activities or any sort of get-togethers. 2) No one invites you to anything. 3) When you try to host something, no one comes 4) People are always chasing their kids so it's hard to catch people to talk to them at church.

The only thing I can think of that even somewhat works is to hang out outside. That way when other people are in their yards or taking a walk you can talk to them for more than 30 seconds. Am I just super lame or is this how it is everywhere?

Anyway, by spending time outside, we have realized that we have some very interesting neighbors. I was hoping to get some pictures to illustrate, but I couldn't figure out how to do that discretely. :)

Neighbor #1: The Bird Lady--Across the street there is a lady who raises exotic birds. Some of which squak extremely loudly and we can hear them from inside our house.

Neighbor #2: The Sign Builders--Next door we have a guy who builds signs for real estate companies. So we have like 50 signs in our driveway half the time. They also have a trampoline so all the neighbor kids are constantly over there jumping on it. And the dad is always trying to talk to me in Spanish. They are pretty nice though.

Neighbor #3: White Trash #1--These people have moved, but it was a single lady with 5 kids (plus she was pregnant as a surrogate mother) and her hooker sister. There were always different guys coming over and they would always sit and smoke in the driveway. One time they were having a dance party or something in the driveway at like 1 in the morning, and their music was totally nasty. Our other neighbors went out and yelled at them about 2 seconds before I was about to.

Neighbor #4: White Trash #2--This family lives across the street and the dad is always sitting out on the porch with his shirt off (and a big potbelly) and they are always talking really loudly so we can hear them loud and clear across the street.

Neighbor #5: The polygamists--When we first moved in and found out we lived next to polygamists, I thought it was really weird. But honestly, they are super nice and some of our best neighbors. The girls love Emmy, one of the boys comes to our Sunday School class and is awesome, and some of the kids are often selling treats.

Neighbor #6: The appliance repairman--There is always a fridge or washer or something in these people's driveway! Ha!

Anyway, I just wanted to document some of the interesting times we've had here in Springville before we move.

Synchronization

2011-07-11T13:09:00.001-06:00

Every summer my grandma throws a big birthday party for all the grandkids/great-grandkids. This year she rented out the Spanish Fork swimming pool. Every time we have the party at the pool, somehow a synchronized swimming routine emerges. And it is always funny.

Yes, my cousins are weird. :) Emmy had a fun time at the pool even though she threw a fit on the way there. My cousin had this awesome floaty that Em loved! She loved being able to kick around and move.

I love summer!

The 4th

2011-07-05T13:13:00.000-06:00

We had a fun 4th of July weekend. We took Emmy to Seven Peaks to go swimming. She loved the lazy river. It was so cute. She would kick her legs out and splash her arms and try to drink the water. She liked the pool ok....it was a little cold so she didn't love it at first but once she got used to it she was better.

She kept trying to escape! She would crawl in and out of the pool. It was pretty funny.

We also went to Colonial Days, which was part of the Freedom Festival in Provo. They had a bunch of stuff from Revolutionary times like costumes, war camp tents, a printing press for the Constitution, etc. They also had a museum that had stuff from that time period. Most of it was pretty random, but they did have a document signed by George Washington, a letter from Paul Revere, George Washington's wallet, and a few other cool things.

And then I insisted that we get some shave ice. My students told me about this place last year, and I've been wanting to try it ever since. It was quite the disappointment.

But it was still fun. But for future reference, the Paradise Bay stand in South Provo is WAY better. And they have sugar free flavors, which is awesome since starting today I'm going off sugar again until Aug. 13, which is when we are doing the Bear Lake Triathlon. (I'm exempting Emmy's birthday and Nathan's wedding though.)

Em looked so festive in her cute 4th of July outfit.

Happy Independence Day!

Oops

2011-07-01T13:58:00.002-06:00

I accidentally deleted everyone's comments on all my posts. Anyone know how I can get them back?

Family Vacation: The Beach

2011-06-30T14:03:00.000-06:00

We kept trying to go to the beach the whole week we were in California but Emily kept preventing us from getting there. I really, really wanted to go so finally on the last day, even though it was Sunday, we made it. Since it was Sunday, we just took it easy and walked along the beach and played in the sand.

Emily loved watching the waves and the seagulls, but when we tried to put her down in the sand, she hated it. She would scrunch her legs up so they wouldn't touch. I think she looks like a flamingo in this picture.

We put her down in the sand and she just cried and cried.

Then we brought her back to the towels and filled up a little toy with sand and let her touch that. Since it was on a smaller scale, she did a lot better with that.

Then she started having fun and spread sand all over me.

Then she tried to eat it.

After that, she was having fun crawling around and playing in the sand. She just didn't want anything to do with the water.

Finally! Happiness!

Allison had brought a kite and was so sad when this sign was posted at the beach entrance.

So she flew her kite down the street on the way back to the car.

Anyway, it was a fun vacation and we are so grateful that we were able to go. Thanks to Mom and Dad for taking us on such a great trip!

Family Vacation: San Diego

2011-06-30T13:46:00.000-06:00

While in San Diego we went to the zoo. It was really cool. They had so many animals there, and a lot of them were actually out and about instead of just sleeping in a heap like at the Hogle Zoo. They even had animals I've never even heard of before. Unfortunately Emily was miserable. We went on a bus tour at the beginning and she was just whimpering on my shoulder. She never does that! It was so sad.

After the bus tour, she did take a nap in her stroller for awhile so that was good. I was sad she missed all the animals though. I thought she would have loved it. Oh well.

There was a really cute baby giraffe. There was also a cute baby hippo and koala. The bears were cool to watch and so were the lions. We watched the lions being fed, and it was so cool.

Allison came with us to the zoo, which was nice since we hadn't seen her all week. We found this polar bear wandering around!

The panda was so cute! It was just chomping on its bamboo.

Emily woke up to ride the sky tram and she at least liked that.

Allison decided that she needed a lion. She was so happy. I really liked the zoo. I hope we can go back someday when Emily will enjoy it more.

We tried to take Emily to the pool. She hated it. I think it was just too cold for her. So we came back and went swimming in the (much warmer) bathtub.

We also went to the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center in San Diego. My grandparents served their mission there. It was pretty neat.

One of the guns they had on display belonged to my 5th? great grandfather who was part of the batallion. His name was even carved into the handle.

One cool thing I learned there was that some members of the batallion got sick and were sent to Pueblo, New Mexico to recuperate instead of going on to San Diego. While they were there, they learned how to irrigate and farm in the desert. They then brought this knowledge back to Salt Lake, and so that is why the farming and stuff was successful here.

They also had a spot where you could pan for gold. I was unsuccessful.

We were able to do some sealings in the San Diego Temple. My dad had about the hugest stack of names I have ever seen. About halfway through the stack I felt like I needed to go feed Emily, so I left. Apparently shortly after that, everyone else decided to call it quits for the day as well. The temple was really pretty. They have an atrium in the middle and the celestial room was beautiful. Even though it took a really long time, I was glad to be able to go to the temple.

We gave Emily her first taste of chicken nuggets. She loved them!

And I also let her try some of my ice cream.

It was hilarious to watch her licking it right off the cone.

On the drive home, poor Emily had about had it with vacation and her carseat. She pretty much cried all the way through Nevada. She would cling to Matt every time it was time to get back in the car. It was so sad. At that point Matt said that we were never going on vacation again. :( I made him take it back. :) It definitely was a whole new ball game going on vacation with a teething baby. But we had a lot of fun.

Family Vacation: Characters & Hotel

2011-06-30T13:05:00.000-06:00

Of course we had to take Emily to meet some princesses and other Disney characters. (And I had to get their autographs for my book!)

We met Ariel, Tiana, Belle, Sully, and Brier Bear.

Em didn't care so much about the princesses, but she was fascinated with Sully. They also have an adorable Monsters Inc. ride that she loved.

At one point (or more than one), she decided to throw a fit. She screamed and screamed until I took the lid off her sippy cup. After she took a swig (with most of it going all over her shirt) she then proceeded to stick her hand in the juice and suck the juice off her fingers. Over and over.

It sure is a good thing she is cute, because a few times Matt and I were about to lose it when she was being a cranky pants. It was really fun watching her when she was actually enjoying the rides and stuff though. She was just in awe.

When we were on the train, we saw this girl with super poofy hair and Mickey ears with the name "Sheffon" on them. She was making out with this big white trash guy. It was so funny that we had to sneak a picture. The more funny part was that the people next to us saw us take the picture, and as soon as Sheffon and her boyfriend got off the train they busted out laughing and asked to see the picture. Ha!

I was kind of jealous of how good Rivers was compared to Emily. He was perfectly content to just ride around in his stroller and take in the sights. He never took a nap, just a few snoozes in his stroller occasionally.

And he really never got too fussy even without taking a nap all day and staying up late. I was jealous that Emily wouldn't do that. We shared a condo with Scott, Mystie and Rivers. It was fun to watch Emily and Rivers play together. Mostly they would steal each other's toys. It was pretty funny.

This is when Emily was the happiest. Just running around in her diaper.

Rivers wanted in on the Mickey ears too. And apparently Em's shoe as well. :)

Our last night in Disneyland I really, really wanted to stay for the fireworks, and so I made Matt and Em stay with me. Emily was so funny. I think she was in that beyond sleepy slap-happy stage and so she was giving us kisses the whole time and jumping back and forth between the two of us. I sure do love that little girl.

Family Vacation: Disneyland

2011-06-30T12:40:00.001-06:00

For our Shepherd family vacation this year we went to Disneyland and San Diego. We drove to St. George the first day and stayed overnight and then continued on to California the next day. Emily was mostly pretty good on the way there. I looked back one time and found her reading a book. So cute!

Our first day in California we went to Disneyland. The first day, Emily did pretty well. We mostly hung out with my parents, which was fun. With fast passes and rider swap passes, we got to do a lot of rides and the longest line we ever waited in was 30 minutes.

Emily loved the rides. She loved looking at all the colors. The only one she really hated was the Nemo ride when it got really dark. She poked my contact out of my eye during that part. Luckily I caught it and was able to put it back in. She wore her Mickey ears and people kept commenting on how cute they were.

I got a birthday button and Emily loved eating it!

At one point on Day 1 in the late morning, she started to get cranky so we laid her down in her stroller, draped a blanket over the top and she slept for a good hour or so. She was good for another couple of hours, and then in the afternoon we went back to our hotel for a nap. My dad just took his nap right in Disneyland!

Her favorite ride was the Jungle Cruise. She loved it! She would just hold onto the railing and look out at the water and the animals. It was so cute. She also loved Pirates, the teacups, Small World, the Haunted Mansion, Little Mermaid, Bugs Life, and the Toy Story rides. She didn't like the Carousel too much though. She also loved the shuttle bus and cried when we had to get off.

But her favorite thing was when we would let her get down and crawl around. I was hoping she would be walking by the time we went on this trip because I knew she would want to get down, but we just had to deal with her crawling on the dirty ground and trying to find a relatively uncrowded spot and make sure she didn't get stepped on. (At one point a fat old man stepped on her hand. It was so sad.)

If I learned one thing from this trip, it is that we have quite the hyperactive little girl. She was not content to be held or confined to her stroller. This little girl needed to be on the move, which was hard at a place like Disneyland. I also learned that she gets super cranky if she misses her naps. Of course it didn't help that she cut her two top teeth while we were there so she was extra fussy, had a fever part of the time, and a nasty diaper rash. But we tried to make the best of it and had a fun time.

Kyle got me a princess hat for my birthday.

We did the best we could to entertain her while standing in line. Once we got on the rides, she was great.

Even though it was a family vacation, we hardly saw anyone the whole time besides my parents that first day. But we did manage to do a few things on the last day with Scott, Mystie and Rivers. I'm not sure what the rest of my siblings were doing, but we never saw them. On one of the nights my parents were nice enough to watch the babies so we could at least have a few hours to do something without having to worry about a baby. So we got to see the World of Color show, which was really cool.

This is when we fit 6 people into one teacup!

I found some mint julep! Although I decided that Anne's is better. :)

And here is the mandatory family picture by the Mickey plant.

And the wishing well where it all started. (Remember how Matt and I got engaged the weekend we went to Disneyland?)

Emmy's great-auntie Ginx got her her very first Mickey ears with her name on them. So cute!

My auntie Ginx lives like 10 minutes from Disneyland so she would come hang out with us after she got off work.

One thing I wish I would have taken more advantage of was the Baby Center. I only used it the last day, but they had places to feed and change your baby that was cool and quiet. I think Emily just got way too distracted. Even though it was a whole new ball game with a baby, I still love Disneyland!

Guilt

2011-06-30T10:51:00.000-06:00

I know I shouldn't complain and I feel guilty for even saying this, but sometimes I feel like I'm just not cut out to be a mom. When we decided to have a baby, I knew my life would change and I was ok with that. I just was not prepared for how completely it would change. I wasn't prepared to completely leave my old life behind, I thought that I could just add a baby into it. But I've come to realize it just doesn't work that way. I love Emily more than anything, and I wouldn't trade her, but sometimes I have a really hard time being a mom.

Sometimes I just want to be able to sleep in past 7 a.m. or eat my meals in peace instead of having to rush through them in 30 seconds. Sometimes I want to go to the store without having to wrestle a wiggly child who just wants to climb out of the cart or go out to dinner without having to worry about a baby who is constantly throwing food across the room. Sometimes I want to enjoy a meal with people without having to leave early or eat my dinner cold after everyone is done because I was feeding the baby while everyone else was eating. Sometimes I get jealous of other babies who seem to be completely content sitting calmly or don't go ballistic when they miss a nap or can fall asleep anywhere. Sometimes I feel left out when my friends go on trips or do other fun things I love to do and I'm not invited anymore. Sometimes I feel sad when I try to make friends but no one will come to things I invite them to. Sometimes I just want to go to church without chasing a cranky baby down the aisles. Sometimes I feel sad and left out when I have to stay behind when everyone else gets to go do something. Sometimes I get bored reading the same book over and over again or going up and down the stairs 20 times a day.

And then I feel completely guilty for thinking those things. Which makes it even worse. I wish those thoughts would just go away.

31

2011-06-29T13:14:00.000-06:00

My birthday this year was kind of weird since it fell on a Sunday, which was also Father's Day and the day we left for our vacation. But I got a small celebration in Saturday night with a couple of friends. We went to Red Robin for dinner and then made some "floating lanterns".

Ever since I saw Tangled I really wanted to have floating lanterns for my birthday, so the best I could come up with was painting balloons with glow-in-the-dark paint. They turned out pretty good.

You couldn't really see the paint too well because it was too light in our yard, but it was still fun to release them. If I ever do it again, I will drive up the canyon to release them where it's completely dark.

I had some birthday brownies and I got a bike trailer from Matt, Emily and my parents. I'm excited to use it!

After church, we drove down to St. George and had a birthday/Father's Day dinner at my aunt and uncle's house, since we stayed the night there on our way to California. I don't know why, but 31 feels way older than 30. Oh well. Happy Birthday to me!

Father's Day

2011-06-19T06:15:00.002-06:00

Have you seen that commercial where the dad is standing outside the cell phone store with a bag full of baby stuff and he's thinking, "Man, I wish my daughter was old enough to get me a new phone for Father's Day." And then he decides to buy himself one and say it's from her. Well, that inspired Matt to do the same thing! Ha ha! So he got a new phone for Father's Day. I thought it was pretty funny.

In our very first ward, we had a little girl in our Primary class who told us on Mother's Day that she dressed up in a bear suit to give her mom her presents. Matt thought that was so great and ever since then he keeps talking about getting Emily a bear suit for birthdays and special occasions. So I made her some bear ears for her to wear while giving Daddy his Father's Day gifts.

They ended up looking more like Mickey Mouse ears so we took them to Disneyland with us, and she looked so cute in them.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day honey! You are the best daddy ever for our little Emmy. Thank you for all you do for her. We love you so much!

11 Months

2011-06-18T09:54:00.000-06:00

Hi my name is Emily and I am 11 months old today! I finally like to swing at the park. I love to be outside and go for walks in my stroller and crawl on the cement but not the grass. I love to eat Cheerios and whatever cereal my dad is eating too. I love to climb the stairs and chase my grandmas' dog. I love to give kisses and I am super cute. And now I'm going to Disneyland!

Family Pics

2011-06-14T13:36:00.000-06:00

Clear back in January, my granny wanted us to get a family picture. Try getting 40 people in the same place at the same time. Ha! All but 2 were able to be there. Can you tell which 2 were Photoshopped in later?

We decided to get a few of our little fam while we were at it. Here are my two favorites.

Too bad they are 6 months old! :)

Balloons!

2011-06-14T10:23:00.000-06:00

Last week was Springville's Art City Days, and one of the big festivities is the Hot Air Balloon Festival. It was fantastic! We got to see about 10 hot air balloons being filled up and launched.

It was really neat to watch them fill the balloons up.

They had free balloons, donuts and hot chocolate. They also threw candy and prizes out of the balloons as they were going up into the air. Emmy was fascinated with her balloon.

She loved watching all the colors.

It was fun to see her looking at everything.

Later in the day we went to the little carnival. Emily loved it! She loved looking around at all the festivities and riding around in her pack. Maybe she will love Disneyland too!

And here she is all ready for church.

She loves to suck on those 2 middle fingers.

Tips?

2011-06-09T10:45:00.001-06:00

We are going on vacation in a couple weeks. Hurray! We are taking Emily. Does anyone have any tips on taking an 11-month-old on vacation? We'll be driving to California, going to Disneyland for 3 days, and then San Diego for 3 days (we'll probably do the zoo and the beach there). So anything about hotels, car trips, naps, eating, babies in theme parks, etc. would be helpful.

We're going to do the drive in 2 days and stay in St. George overnight so we won't have to drive the whole thing in one day. We're staying at a place within walking distance (15-20 min) of Disneyland. And my whole family is coming so hopefully some of them can watch Em part of the time so we can go on the fun rides!

Anyway its our first vacation with a baby, so any advice would be helpful. Every other time I've been to Disneyland it's always been a "lets pack as much into one day as possible and get there when it opens and stay til it closes" type of trip. I'm sure this will be much, much different. I was hoping she would be walking by now because I KNOW she is going to want to get down and move, and letting her get down and walk would be a million times easier than letting her get down and crawl. But she is only at the point where she can walk only when holding onto the furniture. And she can only stand unsupported for a couple of seconds.

But I am super excited! And I hope Emmy at least somewhat likes it and won't be a pill the whole time. :)

Little Red Riding Hood=Best Bike Ride Ever!

2011-06-06T09:40:00.001-06:00

This weekend I did my very first century ride at the Little Red Riding Hood bike ride. It was AWESOME! I loved it. I had originally signed up to do the 80-mile distance, but a few weeks ago I decided to switch to the 100 mile because if I was going to do 80, I might as well do 100 and cross the century off my list. I'm so glad I did. Anyway, of all the races and events I have done over the years, the Little Red Riding Hood was probably the best out of all of them. It's a women-only bike ride in Cache Valley. Anyway, the whole thing was just great.

Matt and I headed up to Logan Friday afternoon. Emily had her first overnighter without us at her grandparents' house. Thanks guys! We got there around 4, which was a little unusual for us because we are usually getting to the race location fairly late in the day and rushing to get everything done. So it was nice to get there a little early and have time to relax a little. We carbo-loaded at the Olive Garden (and we didn't even have to wait an hour for a table! We got right in!)

Then we went for a walk by the temple and around the Utah State campus.

We found this funny sign! Ha!

It was just gorgeous! We also went to the hot tub for awhile to relax and got to bed at a decent time.

We stayed at the (not-so) Quality Inn in Logan, and Matt did this to the door to keep the noise/light out since the door was really weird.

Saturday morning we got up and drove up to Lewiston (about 15 miles north of Logan) where the race started. I knew it was a good omen when I saw a horse racing track near the start line! The theme for the ride this year was a 1950s rock-n-roll theme, so they had this lovely old classic car at the start line.

The Big Bad Wolf was there along with some people dressed up in 1950s attire. There were also ladies wearing tutus, capes, flowers and streamers on their helmets, and other festive things. The volunteers were wearing bow ties or these 1950s bowling shirts.

Here I am getting ready to start the race. It was pretty cold for the first hour or so, but the rest of the day was perfect!

The start line. We were escorted out of town by motorcycle cops.

And we're off!

The race went all through Cache Valley and a little bit up into southeast Idaho. Matt brought his bike too and went for a ride around Logan while I was doing the first half of the race. He found me somewhere around Logan (Mile 30).

They had rest stops every 15 miles or so that were stocked with fruit, energy bars, peanut butter sandwiches, water, gatorade, granola bars, clif shot blocks, fruit snacks, trail mix. It was fantastic. They also had porta-pottys, sunscreen, maps, chafing cream, etc. at the rest stops. Plus, there were support vehicles driving around the course to see if any of the riders needed anything. It honestly was the best-supported event I have ever participated in. I didn't even have to wait in line to get my snacks.

They had lunch at Mile 58. Matt met me at this rest stop and had lunch with me. Here I am eating my lunch!

The course was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I loved it. It was really fairly flat and went through some pretty farmlands, by a lake and not to mention the mountains on both sides of the valley. Seriously it was gorgeous.

Some of the people who lived on the farms would come out and cheer for us. There was also very little traffic, which was really nice. And the roads were clean and smooth. It was fantastic!

Here I am coming into the finish line. Honestly it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I felt better after this one than I did at the last one where I only did 60 miles.

I did it! I was so proud of myself.

One Hundred Miles.

At the finish line they had a live 1950s rock-n-roll band, snacks, and a cute little ice cream parlor where you could make your own ice cream sundaes.

Here I am about to have my first treat in 35 days!

Anyway, it was just fantastic and I loved it. I definitely want to do this one again. It was just so well-organized and supported and beautiful and fun! Here are some stats...

100 Miles
8 total hours (including all the rest stops)
6:50 of actual riding time
3614 calories burned
15 mph average speed
24 mph max speed
4 potty breaks
3 goats and 1 donkey seen on the side of the road
11 ladies who commented on how cute my jersey was :)
1.5 gallons of gatorade/water consumed
2 great parents for watching Emily
1 awesome honey for coming with me and following me around
0 flat tires
1 lost reflector
and 1 very sore bum

P.S. Even though it was really nice to have a little weekend away without Emmy, we missed her and were so excited to see her when we got back. And she was so excited to see us too! It was pretty cute. But I think she had a good time at her grandparents' house.

No-Treat May

2011-06-06T08:59:00.000-06:00

My no treat thing went pretty well. I went from May 1-June 4 without having any treats--no cookies, candy, ice cream, soda, brownies, cake, etc. That's 35 days! I did have a mint julep for the Kentucky Derby party, but I allowed myself that exception from the beginning. And that is really just minty lemonade with ginger ale.

Anyway, it was easier than I thought it would be. There were really only a few times that I REALLY wanted a treat. Like when my aunt Tracey made cinnamon twists or when Allison gave Matt a huge batch of freshly made chocolate chip cookies. But other than that it really wasn't too bad. Most of the time I discovered that I really didn't want it anyway. Especially as the month wore on. And it felt good to be a little more healthy. I am going to try and keep it up with the exception of birthdays and holidays and stuff like that. I really don't need treats as much as I was having them. And I lost 7 pounds. What I don't get though is that even though I am pretty much back to my pre-pregnancy weight, some of my pants/shorts still don't fit. Boo.

On another note, Emily has learned to open drawers and take everything out of them. Yipee!

This is how we roll

2011-05-31T13:03:00.003-06:00

We went to Jamba Juice this weekend, and I just thought this was so cute.

Emmy loved her Jamba! She has recently discovered the stairs and so we spend a good chunk of our days going up and down the stairs. She absolutely LOVES climbing the stairs and will often clap for herself once she reaches the top. It is hilarious. Also, when she is about to go up the stairs, she will peek around the corner and give me a mischievous little smile. Most of the time she will wait for me to come go up with her, but if I take too long, she will just go by herself. Yikes!

She loves to point at my teeth. And my nose. She thinks it's funny.

We took Emmy to the cemetery for Memorial Day, and it was freezing! And I think she was a little bit scared by a big gust of wind. But we had a nice little visit anyway. Even if it was short. This was the first Memorial Day that I have not been on vacation in a very long time. :( But it was nice to spend the day with Matt and Emmy.

She loves to give kisses to her books and stuffed animals. And her mom and dad. Usually it's better than this, but at least we got it on the video. :)

And she has turned into quite the little chatterbox. I love to hear her jabber away!

We also both spoke in church on Sunday. I actually enjoy speaking in church and I hardly ever get the opportunity, so it was fun. It was interesting since we had to switch off sitting with Emmy. But we just sat in the front row instead of on the stand, so it worked out pretty well.

Beef

2011-05-31T10:15:00.001-06:00

No it's not what's for dinner. I have some beef about Gold's Gym and since no one there will return my calls or emails, I need to vent. Gold's Gym canceled ALL the spin and aerobics classes at the Provo gym. All of them. Who does that? They say they are turning that location into a cardio and weights-only gym. I was going to classes about 3-4 times a week and they were always completely full. Most of the time you even had to get to spin class early to get a bike. The night classes were also really full. I (and a ton of other people) have called and emailed numerous times to complain about this totally ridiculous decision but no one there will listen to any of us. Or even talk to us about it for that matter.

And now my workout routine is totally messed up. I had it all worked out. I went to spin class 2-3 mornings a week at 6 a.m., I would usually go another 1-2 days a week (also at 6 a.m.) to do something else like run or lift weights, and then go to Zumba class/lift weights on Saturdays. I don't know what I am going to do now. My run days are not affected but the other ones are! The Spanish Fork gym is just a few minutes farther away than the Provo gym, so I don't mind going there. But their classes start so early. Like at 5:15! Who wants to go at 5:15 a.m.? The Orem gym has classes at 6, but it is 20-25 minutes away. So I would still have to get up earlier--not to mention extra gas money and time for driving 40 min round trip to the gym. I think not! I am a work-out-in-the-morning type of person, so I know that if I try to go to the night classes, it won't happen.

Anyway, this is not the first time we have had problems with Gold's Gym. They are just plain rude and don't care about their customers at all. Unfortunately we are still in a contract that lasts another year, but after that we are definitely going to be going to a different gym. Even if it is farther away.

I just hope I can figure out another workout schedule that will work. But not til next week, cuz this is my rest week before my century bike ride on Saturday!

Cousins

2011-05-23T11:11:00.000-06:00

My cousin's kids came over to play the other day. So I guess that would make them Emmy's second cousins. Three kids under 3 years old by myself for 4 hours. But they were all really good, so it was fun and not exhausting. :) Emmy loved having other kids over. She especially loved playing with Tolson, who is 1 month older than Em. And Azilyn is always a crack-up. My favorite was when she would blame her brother for stuff. Ha ha!

This is what happens when you break out the snacks. They flock like ducks!

10 Months!

2011-05-18T09:33:00.001-06:00

Em is 10 Months today! I seriously can't believe she is almost one. Weird. Anyway, at 10 months Emmy...

-loves to eat (especially whatever we are eating. Off our plate. With our fork.)
-likes all foods except baby meat
-LOVES to climb on things
-is a great sleeper and napper (6:30 p.m.-7:15 a.m with 2 naps that consist of 1.5-2 hours each)
-has 2 teeth
-likes to balance on one knee with the other foot flat on the ground (like a proposal stance)
-LOVES to give kisses to her stuffed animals, books, her cousin Rivers, her mom, and most especially to her dad
-can wave hi and bye and give high fives
-has to look at her hairbows and kiss her bunny every morning before she will eat breakfast
-loves to look at stuff that is on the fridge with magnets
-loves to go outside and for stroller rides
-loves looking at books
-can say duck, juice, teeth, and da-da (but I'm still not convinced she knows what she's saying most of the time)
-loves to babble and point at things
-has stood on her own without holding onto anything for a few seconds a couple of times
-loves to take things out of containers
-is scared of the swings at the park

Anyway, she is just getting more and more fun and entertaining. I definitely like this stage way more than the newborn stage.

See what I mean about climbing?

Kentucky Derby

2011-05-14T13:02:00.000-06:00

We had our annual Kentucky Derby party this week. Since my friend Anne moved to Arizona, and she is the one who introduced us all to the Derby, we had to wait a few days to watch it until her finals were over and she could come back to celebrate. It just wouldn't be a Derby Party without Anne!

Anyway, we made the traditional fare...hot browns, benedictine, and mint julep. We did not make Derby pie though because of my no sugar thing. It was all delicious! Here is Anne showing off her new mint julep cup!

She said the julep tasted much better in that cup! None of us picked any of the winners. We even said that Animal Kingdom would never win because his jockey was injured. We decided that next year we are going to have to do something extra special for the Derby because we were there visiting all those farms in 2009, so in 2012, those baby horses we saw will be 3 and eligible to race in the Derby. We possibly could have seen the 2012 winner in its first few days. Anyway, it was another great Derby party!

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T10:24:00.001-06:00

This was my first Mother's Day as an actual mother, and I actually felt like the holiday was really for me. Matt made me a yummy breakfast and card, and told me that I could go get a massage. Emmy got me some pretty flowers and drew me a picture. It was a great morning. I felt so loved. Not to mention that Matt entertained Emmy the whole day on Saturday while I was doing my bike race.

Becoming a mom has completely changed my life. I know absolutely nothing about being a mom. I think I'm still trying to figure out who "Mom Christy" is exactly.

But I do know that I love my little Emmy baby. She makes me smile every single day, and I love watching her grow and learn and discover. I probably take at least 10 pictures of her every day, just because she looks so cute.

Some of my favorite things about being a mom are: seeing that cute smiling face every morning, watching her do funny things, seeing her learn new things and develop new skills, waving hi to her and her waving back, tickling her and making her laugh, watching her give kisses to her books and stuffed animals, watching her play with her toys and look at her books, hearing her jabber and babble, watching Matt be a daddy, and hearing other people tell me how cute she is.

Thank you Emmy and Matt for making me a mommy, even though I sometimes have identity crises about being a mom. And Happy Mother's Day to my own wonderful mom and mother-in-law!

Goldilocks Bike Race

2011-05-09T10:06:00.001-06:00

On Saturday, I did the Goldilocks Bike Race. It is a women's cycling thing in Herriman. I did the 60-mile distance. It was totally different than any other race I've ever done. There was no start or finish line, no time clock, nobody along the course cheering, very little support along the route, and the roads were not blocked off so we had to ride with traffic and stop at lights and stuff. Weird. But it was totally cute. They had fun signs and a catered lunch and really cute shirts. And the volunteers wore Mama and Papa Bear shirts, which I thought was great. It was fun though.

Here I am at the start getting ready to go. It was really windy, but other than that, the day was perfect for a bike race.

My sister-in-law, Britni, did the 40-mile distance so we rode together for a lot of the first part. Although she would pass me on the downhill parts and then I would pass her on the uphill parts. (I get nervous going downhill, so I go really slow.) It was fun to ride with her.

Here's Em chillin' in her stroller seeing us off. It took me a little over 5 hours to do the 60 miles. I wasn't riding that entire time though. They had some rest stops along the route, where I took a couple of breaks during the ride.

The last 8 miles or so were pretty tough. But I made it, and here I am at the finish.

Em was being such a ham. She was waving to everyone. That was the longest distance I have ever ridden on my bike. My bike computer actually said I went 63 miles. I am surprisingly not very sore at all. But I did get a pretty nasty sunburn just below my short line. Anyway, it was fun!

Emmy's morning routine

2011-05-09T09:47:00.000-06:00

Getting Emmy up in the morning is one of my favorite things. First we hear her hooting in her room, and when we go in to get her, she has thrown her doll and her bunny out of her crib and is pointing at them letting us know that she wants them.

Then she hugs and kisses her bunny and just smiles and laughs at us. Then we get her out of her bed and she points at her hairbows, which are hanging on the wall, and she has to go say good morning to the bows. Then she points at some of them and smiles.

Only after that will she eat her breakfast. She is so funny!

Sugar and spice

2011-05-02T13:43:00.001-06:00

and everything nice. That's what little girls are made of. Emmy's grandma gave her this cute Easter dress. After Easter. So she just had to wear it the next Sunday.

Speaking of sugar, I am doing a "Sugar-Free for a Month" challenge during the month of May. I am allowing myself one exception: The Kentucky Derby Party where I can have a mint julep (it is the official drink of the Derby after all). Actually I am going to extend it a few days until June 4, which is the day of my 80-mile bike race. Anyone want to join me?

Happy Easter

2011-04-25T10:27:00.000-06:00

Happy Easter! Emily got this cute dress from my friend Jill clear back at her baby shower. She finally (almost) fits into it, so I decided to break it out for her Easter dress. It has cute little sandals that match it, but those are still way too big.

Em wasn't too happy about this photo shoot, so I didn't get any good shots. Oh well. At least she is still cute!

And here are the two pretty girls! (and Emmy's bunny.)

Em made sure to share her Easter dinner with the dog, steal some of Daddy's strawberry cake for dessert, and climb up Grandma Lively's stairs. It was a very busy day.

The Basket

2011-04-25T10:18:00.000-06:00

Look what the Easter Bunny brought to our house!

(Please disregard the mismatched clothing.)

Emmy got some cereal-filled eggs, some books, and a couple things to prepare for summer and our trip to California.

She was not too sure about those sunglasses!

Instead of an Easter dress, Emmy got a new swimsuit. I figured she had a few dresses already, but what she really needed was a swimsuit. Unfortunately I think I will have to take it back and get her a different one because although it fits ok now, I think it will be too small before summer gets here.

The Eggs

2011-04-25T10:09:00.000-06:00

Coloring eggs is one of my favorite traditions!

We take it very seriously. :)

SLC Bike Tour

2011-04-18T14:31:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, we did the SLC Bike Marathon for the 4th year in a row. It is a 25-mile bike tour through Salt Lake and some of the surrounding cities. It was kind of scary at the beginning because it was dark and raining. I hate the first 4 miles or so anyway because it's dark and crowded, but the rain made it worse. But we all finished without any accidents, so I'd call that a success!

Here are Nathan and Jessica coming in at the finish line.

And here are Matt and I at the finish. Good thing it stopped raining, or it could have gotten ugly! Only 3 more weeks til my Goldilocks race!

9 Months

2011-04-18T14:24:00.001-06:00

Our little Emmy is 9 months today! At 9 months, she...

-weighs 17 lbs, 13 oz. (30th percentile)
-is 28 inches tall (70th percentile)
-has a head size of 42 cm (5th percentile)
-crawls all over
-can pull herself up to stand
-can pick things up with her fingers
-can say dada, mama, hey, bobo, hat (although she doesn't know what they mean)
-knows what a ball, cup, frisbee and her bunny are
-loves stories
-loves to go outside and on stroller rides
-is scared of the swings at the park
-sleeps about 13 hours at night, and takes 2-3 naps
-loves to be turned upside down
-waves her arms around if she doesn't want something
-has a hard time sleeping at other people's houses (hopefully this gets better before we go on vacation!)
-hates it when people leave the room she is in
-likes to chase her ball around
-can't make it through church without spitting up on the floor and a hymnbook
-sucks on her two middle fingers as she is going to sleep
-gives "kisses" and sometimes when we are reading a story, she has to kiss every page
-has 1 1/2 teeth

The baby spike

2011-04-15T09:00:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I am at a loss for what to do with Em's hair. It's getting to that weird stage where it's long enough that if I don't do anything with it, she looks like a ragamuffin, but still not long enough to do ponytails and stuff. Usually I don't care unless we are going somewhere and then I just throw a headband on her head to hide the sgragglies. But today I tried the baby spike. It turned out more like a fountain since the ends curl up. But it worked!