Merry Christmas etc.

Things have been a bit crazy around here lately! I went on a work trip to Disneyland for a couple days, and it was Emmy Daddy time while I was gone!!! They had a great time together, of course. What's not to love about Daddy time? Daddy's are way more fun than that tired and nauseated Mommy!!!

A few happenings around here, Emmy had a birthday, and I have not yet

posted pictures. Its on my list to do, but I need to download the pictures still. I know, procrastination! She got lots of fun toys, and had a small party with family. Here is a picture of her with her favorite friend from her birthday. She got this Mickey from Peepaw, and just loves him, he goes everywhere with her!!!

Aunt Nanny sends so much fun stuff for Emmy. Here are a couple pictures of some of the fun things. At Halloween she sent a bunch of orange and pumpkin stuff, and for some reason Emmy loves these pumpkin slippers. She can't walk on our hard floors without sliding all over, but she still loves to put them on and try to walk around in them!

I think she loves that she can put them on herself too, she is obsessed with trying to dress herself lately. She will go in her room and get all the piles of clean folded clothing, bring them into the front room and spend the next hour trying to dress herself with them. Its too funny, Daddy calls it fashion show, even though she is rarely successful at actually getting dressed. I'm all for the independence though!!!

This next picture is of the gingerbread house Nanny and Grams Fae sent for Christmas! Emmy had so much fun putting it together for FHE! The directions say you have to let the house sit for 15 minutes after putting the walls up, and that was hard for Emmy to do. She was so excited to decorate it! She loved it. Thanks so much Nanny and Grams!!! It was so fun to do!

Yes, Emmy is licking her fingers. Although that icing does not look the least appealing to me, she couldn't keep her fingers out of her mouth!

Emmy loves anything that has to do with Christmas, which is really good for me, cause I have the tendency to be a bit of a scrooge when it comes to Christmas. I love the meaning of the holiday, and all the traditions, I just dislike the crowds and how everyone is extra stressed, and everyone in the malls, on the roads, etc. are just plain rude to each other. Emmy is a good reminder of the good about the holidays to me. Every time she hears Christmas music, sees lights, spots someone sporting a Santa hat, or sees a Christmas tree she comes right up to my face and says 'dats Cismiss Momma, dats Cismiss (Christmas)'. Its cute, and definitely puts everyone in a better mood around here.

Hope you all have happy holidays! We sure will! Merry Christmas!!!!!!

So, on a side note.

What does this mean? First of all, it means that I am not immune to pregnancy tests!!! Hooray! For those of you that haven't heard the story, lets just say I have a 1 win 15 losses record with pregnancy tests, and all of the tests were taken when I was at least 3 weeks pregnant!!! So I am happy to know I don't have to get several blood tests to figure out I really am pregnant and not just going crazy! :)

Second, this means that all the tiredness and sleeping in I have been blogging about does not mean I have mono!!! With Emmy, the first trimester was the most difficult, cause I was so tired. It gets easier for me from there, even the last few weeks I am not as tired as the first few months!!!

We will be having another baby next summer, isn't that the greatest time to have a baby here? Yeah, I didn't exactly plan that very well, did I? But its okay, I will take it!

Thanksgiving -- finally!

I know, the holiday was over a week ago! HA!

We spent our holiday in fabulous Baton Rouge, Louisiana! Thank you again, Bill for having us out. We had a great trip, very relaxing. I slept in every morning, I really took advantage of Dan being around!!! Emmy had a blast with her PeePaw (that's what she calls Grandpa).

We visited Mike the Tiger at LSU (seriously, still shocked at how many people were there just looking at the tiger).

Had Thanksgiving dinner with Dan's Aunt Donna and Uncle Scott - delicious food! My favorite was the cranberry chutney over cream cheese with crackers to dip and eat. Yum-oh!!!

Visited with Dan's mom a lot, including going to Baskin Robbins - Emmy loved it. Ate almost an entire scoop of ice cream!

And just hung out! Emmy had so much fun, and just loved spending time with PeePaw. We can't wait to visit again, hopefully sooner than later. :)

Long time, no post!

Wow!  It really has been a while!  I have just been so exhausted lately, hmmmmm.....

Anyway, we are in Louisiana right now, Baton Rouge, visiting Dan's Dad, and having a blast.  Here is a picture of Emmy's favorite thing to see here:

This is Mike the Tiger, LSU's current mascot!  They have the most amazing tiger enclosure for him, and he is visited by thousands and thousands of people each year.  LSU blood runs deep!  I am constantly amazed at what great fans there are here in Baton Rouge, and the entire south.  Although they had a pretty sad game yesterday!  We were at a rest home for the last five minutes of playing time, and it amazed me that all the patients were actually focused on the game, and knew what was going on!  The south is the place to have a football team, they have the best fans!  

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  We sure did!  Post more soon.

Happy Halloween!

I know, its a little late. I have been playing catch-up around the house. Every weekend I seem to get really behind, and every Monday I have to try to get everything done at once! I guess I am just a true procrastinator, down to the core :)

This year Emmy was a butterfly. She had the most adorable wings, and two really cute curled pigtails. She loved being a butterfly actually. When we first got the wings, she didn't want anything to do with them. One night her Papa was over for dinner, and told her that when she wore the wings she would get candy. She immediately let him put them on her and turned as said I want "candy, cah-ket (chocolate)." So, for the past week every time she saw them she would ask for 'cah-ket' and want to put them on. The night of Halloween she was so excited to get candy! We went to my parents ward Trunk or Treat. She walked up to each person and said 'cer teat' (trick or treat), even the scary ones. This girl has her priorities right, candy over being afraid of scary people! Ha! She got tons of candy, and probably would have eaten it all that night if I let her!

Here are a few pictures of the night.

Ready to go Trick or Treating!

At the Trunk or Treat with Uncle Roger.

Ty and Celeste, didn't he make a great Joker?

He was acting so funny, he kept hiding and scaring me, totally in character!

It's so hard to be so little and not be able to go down the big slide :) They watched for a good half an hour!

Daddy's Little Girl

I think all children have a special relationship with their Daddy. This is especially true for Emmy and Dan! I can remember my Daddy when I was a little girl being so much fun, coming home from work and playing games with us. I remember my Dad inventing a game called the Tickle Monster. He would lie on the floor and pretend to sleep, and all us kids would sit on the couch. If any of us dared to leave the safety of the couch and get too close, he would wake up and tickle us until we got away. I remember that game being so much fun for all four of the kids in my family. Really my Dad was probably just tired, and this game helped him get a little rest!

Dan and Emmy have invented so many games, just like I remember my Dad doing when I was little. As soon as Emmy hears Daddy at the door, she looks at me and says "Daddy find you". Then she runs off to hide in one of the bedrooms, and waits for Daddy to come find her! She loves to 'hide' - even though she still thinks just cause she can't see Daddy he can't see her! They have made up countless games - panda bear, Emmy sandwich, puppies, etc. Dan's creativity amazes me. How he can go to school all day long, not to mention ride the bus system there and back, and still comes home and loves to play with Emmy is something I admire in him.

Although kids typically cry for Mommy when they get hurt, are hungry, need a diaper change, or are tired --- Daddy's have the best job and develop a unique relationship through love and play time!!!

Free stuff?

Love these handbags! Check out this site, sounds like a winning stop for purses and bags of any taste!

http://handbagplanet.com

Oh -- did I mention . . . .

We found Broby!!!!!!

Emmy's long lost best pal has returned from the world of lost toys! Daddy found him between the cushions of the chair in the front room! (I promise I clean my house, don't know how it slipped by!) Best friends are reunited!

Emmy has also started using the potty! One morning she came to me as said 'Mommy poo poo' - and I thought she was talking about the fact that Tigger and Pooh were on TV, but then she started making the poop face, and I got what she was meaning - finally. She used her big girl potty twice that day, but didn't use it again sucessfully for a week or two. The last two days she has been using the potty for #1's and #2's quite regularly. Not to the point that we are buying underwear yet, but she's doing a really great job! We'll see if this sticks, or if it is just a phase brought about by the chocolate reward she gets when she uses the toilet :)

We have all been sick with sinus stuff for the past week, since the weather turned cooler here. Shelly invited us to the zoo with her, Christy and Celeste. It was so much fun to all go with our kids, and the weather was great! Emmy had so much fun! She loved every play area, and animal we saw.

Emmy, Blaine & Ty sitting on a horse bench - Giddyup!

Blaine and Emmy on a dolphin bench. They had so much fun playing together!

Shelly, Karsten, Me, Emmy, Blaine, and Camryn as we were leaving the zoo. Can't you tell Emmy is ready to get out of her stroller?

The Zoo was so much fun - Thanks Shelly and gang!!!!

Random Pictures

Emmy is growing so fast, and is talking so much more! She has been super talkative at home for a while, but she is starting to be just as talkative outside of the home too!

Just a few fun facts and pictures from last week. The picture above is her 80's outfit! I love it though, the bright colors and cotton leggings, totally 80's :)

Emmy is my little beaner! She will eat almost anything that is Mexican food, and here she is devouring a bean and cheese burrito. Loves beans, Cafe Rio rice, tortillas, salsa, chips, etc. etc. etc. She should have been born in Mexico! ;) I went through the Taco Bell drive thru with her in the back seat the other day to get a drink (I needed caffeine) and as I pulled up to the window she starts saying 'Kako Beyl, Kako Beyl' (Taco Bell), and then starts saying 'burrito, burrito, Emmy wants burrito'. Seriously I know she loves burritos, but I had no idea she knew Taco Bell from the drive thru. At least its not McDonald's she loves, right?

She is Mommy's helper lately. She loves to help with laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. The only think she doesn't help with is the floors, she is deathly afraid of the broom! Here she is helping make waffles on a Sunday morning. At this age she is more work than help, but its better than her crying at my feet while I cook.

Munchkin Say What???

Emmy is such a chatterbox lately! She just talks and talks and talks. More and more I am realizing that a lot of what she says and does is a reflection of what I do or say. I never realized how much I talk with my hands until Emmy started doing it too!!! She just cracks me up with some of the stuff she comes up with.

Sometimes when she hears someone fart, she calls them a dinosaur, because that sounds like the dinosaur at Target to her!

She calls Kix cereal 'Tatum' for a reason completely unknown me.

Several weeks ago we lost one of her favorite stuffed animals, Broby, a charcter from 'Yo Gabba Gabba' (If you've never seen this show, You Tube it, its hilarious!). Everytime she hears me talk about not being able to find something she tells me 'Broby have it' followed up with 'Broby sad'.

Here is just one small clip of our 'conversations', I just love this clip cause she just keeps talking even with her mouth full of a pear!!!

Thanks to all!

Thanks for all the suggestions, helps, and positive thoughts regarding our washer. We got one from a friend of Dan's at school! Yeah for good friends willing to help out! :) Blessings are in our lives all over the place!

Today -- grrrrr

Well, just to put the day in one sentance -- my washing machine is broken! That is one of the most aggravating things! I have been searching for a new one, but everyone I contact on Craig's list has already sold theirs, or sells it to someone else while I'm waiting for Dan to get home from school!

Anyone know someone getting rid of a used washing machine that still works well? Seriously,after a day of Craig-ing it, I am getting frustrated!

It's been a while ....

If you wonder why I haven't posted anything in a couple weeks, here is why! ....



This quilt was done for work, and it always seems to be a rush to the deadline, regardless of how well prepared I think I am :) The shapes were hand stitched on by my participants, and the quilt is put together by me. This is the fourth quilt I have made in this style for work. Its a fun but draining project. Luckily, I have lots of help from my family (thanks MOm and Dan)!!

While I was dead asleep from quilting until 1:30 a.m., Dan and Emmy had some fun mornings!

Emmy loves loves loves pancakes! I know if she won't eat anything else, she will usually eat these! Daddy is way more fun with making pancakes for Emmy than I am, isn't that the Daddy code? "Always have fun :)" That's how it is at our house, Daddy always makes things fun.

She is getting to be such a big girl, so much fun! She is quite the talker, and everything is changing to sentances, its no longer 'blanket' its 'I want blanket' or 'I found my blanket Mommy!'. It is like having my own personal sportscaster giving me a play by play of everything! Its so funny what she decides to point out and reiterate to me, wants to make sure I know that she knows whats going on :) Gotta love it, she is all girl!

Lots of visitors!

This past week and a half we have had lots of visitors! First Grams and Nanny (Aunt Janet) came to visit. It was so fun to have them here. Emmy called Janet 'Aunt Manny', and loved her as much as the real Manny! She had so much fun playing, swimming, and going to Build-A-Bear with Nanny and Great Gramma. It was such a fun visit! At Build-A-Bear, Emmy had a hard time deciding which stuffed animal to pick out. Emmy finally picked out a panda bear to call her own. She was completely enthralled with picking out an animal and getting stroller, but wanted nothing to do with picking out clothes for the bear. We did get a stroller for her bear, and as you can see below, she and Ty had quite the time running around the mall with their bears and strollers!

Here are the kids with their new best friends, so happy, but struggling to hold still :)


Here is the thank you hug for Aunt 'Manny'.

Everyone watch their ankles! Here comes the tiny strollers.

At the end of the week, Dan's parents flew in for a quick visit. Emmy has affectionately nicknames Dan's dad 'Peepaw' -- and she was so excited to see Peepaw and Grandma. Despite how far away they live, she is always thinking of her Peepaw, and everytime the phone rings she thinks it is Peepaw calling her. :) It was so great to see them.

School again!

Well, summer is over and school is back and will be taking all of Dan's time for the next four months! Dan is so excited for it to start, and I think he is ready to go back to school, even though he says he'll miss Emmy and I. I know he will have such a great semester.

Emmy is growing like a weed lately, and getting so much more talkative. She sleeps in a big girl bed now, thank you Alana and Kenny for the toddler bed! She started almost a week ago, and here is the play by play:

Night 1 - would not sleep in her bed, cried until we put her in her crib.

Night 2 - Only fell out of the bed three times and cried until Mommy picked her up and tucked her back in. She was so excited to sleep in her 'big girl bed' though, and told all her family about it.

Night 3 - Fell right asleep, and at eleven, found her sleeping in the middle of the floor of her room! Put her back in bed, and checked at 3 a.m., same story, middle of the floor. She fell out at 6:30 a.m. and cried, but went back to sleep until 7:30.

Night 4 - only fell out once during the night, found her on the floor. And once in the morning which she cried about.

Night 5 - Slept great! Only fell out early in the morning and cried about it.

It has been that way since. I know toddler beds are really close to the ground, but I am ready for her to just stay in her bed! By the third night, I started looking for bed rails to add to the bed to help her not roll out. Finally found one that will work, and will go to Ikea this week to get it!

Grandma Fae and Aunt Nanny are visiting for a week! We are so excited they are here. We went to Tucson to visit Roger and Kelly, it was great to see them. The drive back took four and a half hours! There was a huge accident, in which two people died, and a semi truck burst into flames! Needless to say, Celeste and I were dying in the car with both our kids for that long! They really both did great, just a few tears toward the end of the drive as they got so tired of being in the car!

Dan's parents are coming to visit later the week, and we are so excited to see them! It has been several months since we have seen them, and we are excited to spend time with them!

Me, I'm plugging along in normal everyday life. I am working on a quilt for the MASD Fundraiser (work), which always drains me, it is a lot of work, but always fun to do as well. The summer seems to be dragging for me, and I can't wait for cooler temperatures. I start to feel cooped up and depressed as the hot summer days drag on and on and on! I'm sure most Arizonans feel the way by the end of the summer. Okay, I've talked enough :) Till next post!

Yum - Oh!

In the words of Rachael Ray, this recipe is yum-oh! Lots of friends have been asking for it, so here is the famous Cafe Rio Pork Salad recipe. . . . . . .

Café Rio Dressing
1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe)
2 tomatillos (tomato like vegetable with a husk around them)
½ bunch of cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño (Use the seeds too if you like it spicy. You could substitute a few drops of green tobasco for the jalapeno.)Use a blender to combine all the ingredients well. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Café Rio Rice
3 c water
4 t chicken bouillon
4 t garlic –minced
½ bunch cilantro
1 can green chiles—or equivalent fresh
¾ t salt
1 T butter
½ of an onion
3 c rice
Blend cilantro, green chiles and onion together in food processor. Bring water to a boil and add all ingredients, simmer covered 30 minutes.

Cafe Rio Pork
2-3 lbs of pork loin or shoulder
1 can of coca cola
1 small can of red salsa
1 cup of brown sugar
Cover pork with water and cook in pot until cooked through (about 1-2 hours).
When pork is cooked through, remove all the broth except 1 cup. Remove the pork and set aside. To the reserved broth, salsa, brown sugar, and coke (regular old coca cola) to the broth. Cut the pork into six to seven large chunks, fairly even, and place back into pot with the broth mixture. Cover and cook for another hour or two (the longer you cook it, the better the meat will be). Cook until the dark brown color of the broth mixture has colored most of the meat dark. Then shred the pork in the pot, and continue to simmer with the lid off. Let the sauce reduce until it is more thick and coats the pork completely, and its ready! The more you let the sauce thicken, the more sweet and tasty the pork is!

Assemble the salads like so:
Tortilla (home cooked are better than pre-cooked. you can buy them uncooked anywhere and just cook them at home, i promise it makes a difference )
Café rio rice
Black beans
Meat
Romaine lettuce
Pico de gallo (fresh made salsa with diced tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and fresh lime juice on it)
Tortilla strips (can buy the my nana’s brand in the frys on recker and mckellips)
Cotija cheese (can buy at the walmart on mckellips and Greenfield, or fresh and easy)
Dressing
Squeeze lime wedge on top

Enjoy! This is a family favorite. I know the pork isn't the most healthy thing I've ever made, and the recipe was made up by yours truly :) similar but drastically modified from other ones I have read. Feel free to adjust how you wish!

Cabin Fever

Living here in Arizona has its challenges - namely June July & August! These months are killer, and we all suffer from a little cabin fever.



Here are a few inside moments from the last few weeks.

We were re-arranging Emmy's bedroom due to a rain leak from the huge monsoon storm. We pulled out the bassinet, and she decided it made a great bed. She has also been climbing in and out of cardboard boxes with her blankets and toys. She thinks its a great hiding spot.

Emmy loves to read. I recently bought a basket of book fair books at a charity silent auction. She has read just about all of them, and just loves all the new books. She pulled out this book last week, and began to dance around the house with it call it the 'LIN book' (Layn book).

At first I thought she was trying to say alien, so I asked her. She gave me a blank stare when I asked, I didn't think she knew what an alien was. Then I asked her who she thought this was again. She replied 'lin' (Layn), and i repeated, Uncle Layn? 'Yeah!' she replied.

She is silly, I don't see any resemblance between Layn and this alien, do you?

Dan and I still don't see the resemblance, we love you Layn!

Dancing Emmy!

Here is the promised video of our little one busting a move! Note the arm swinging, a special talent of hers! She is such a dancing queen! She dances to anything that resembles music, even Papa's singing! There are several styles of dance that she has mastered - we'll just name a few, the arm swinging (daddy calls it the pirate dance), a bootylicious dance where she swings her hips like crazy (mommy calls it the rump-shaker, and it is usually saved by Emmy for special music, like church hymns), and the occasional happy feet moment (a move she has adapted from her cousin Ty). I love how she dances, although it is quite funny to watch, I love that she feels free to express her happiness any way the little dancer inside her feels to!




Emmy has become quite the big girl lately! She is a chatterbox! She has been repeating almost anything we say (including the occasional almost bad word like freakin' and crap!). It is so fun to watch her language develop.





We bought some new dresses on clearance at the Gap this weekend, and when I put one on her for church, she felt so 'pretty' we just had to take pictures. So, she climbed on Mommy's bed and .......
First she stood so pretty and still

Then she got antsy, so we sang a song (this little candle light of mine - papa's favorite)

then she started dancing - note the arm swinging as previously mentioned!

so we decided to wrap it up with one last cute shot!!!

She is so much fun! We just love her!

I Heart Monsoons!!!

There is nothing like a Monsoon storm on a summer night! I love these weather phenomenons here in Arizona! We got so much rain that we had three small leaks we didn't even know about before! And one of the funniest things about the storms is how localized they are! It was raining elephants and buffaloes here in far East Mesa where we live - and we lost our power for 45 minutes - but our friends only seven miles away didn't get a drop! Emmy was a bit frightened by the lack of electricity, but she adapted well. A dear friend of ours, Theresa, has bought her several lighted toys that simulate candles, only with colored LCD lights. She felt so cool carrying her own 'cancko' (candle in Emmy talk) around the house in the dark! Here is a picture of tonight's adventures! We are just glad to not have huge floods, and to have the electricity back before bedtime!

Oceanside, CA

My family has always been a bit of beach bums. When I was growing up, we would travel to Southern California every summer to spend time on the beach and visiting family. As a kid, I could spend all day everyday on the beach! For this year, our family vacation was on the beach! It was great! We stayed in a six bedroom, six bathroom house in Oceanside, CA pretty much almost on the beach. The only thing between us and the beach was a street and one row of houses. It was perfect for having little kids, cause the house was a very short walk from the shore, so nap time and meals were easy to keep up with.

While we were there in Oceanside, we also did a few really fun things. A weenie roast on the beach in a fire pit! Complete with smoress (or schmores :))

We went to Legoland. Brandt driving a car

Emmy sleeping

Emmy riding a Lego camel! Not the smoothest back for a camel, she didn't want to sit on him very long!

Dan was amazed at all the things they built out of legos (yes those really are all legos!), I think he could probably do that and have fun at it!

Celeste was in wheelchair! Here is a picture of her loving Dad pushing her wheelchair!

We also went to Torrey Pines and took family pictures. I haven't gotten a copy of the pictures taken by the rest of my family, but here are some shots Dan got with our crappy camera.

Roger and Kelly

This view was spectacular! Our crappy camera doesn't do it justice!

Our little family. - (the one shot I got from Celeste's blog, she took such great pictures!)

We had such a fun vacation! Thanks Mom & Dad Bentley! It was a perfect trip!