Dan, Bekah, Emmy, & Maisy

Neela Rue

2011-07-20T18:04:00.002-07:00

Just a quick post, yes, she's here!

She is a sweet, little thing, and we just love her! Its funny how as soon as you see them you can't imagine life without them.

Her two older sisters are very sweet and attentive, maybe a little too attentive. Hopefully she won't be they type that needs a lot of personal space, cause Emmy doesn't understand the meaning of that phrase.

More to come once I am getting more sleep (and can figure how to get the photos off my husband's dang IPod!!! grrr)

It's Been a While . . .

2011-05-08T10:01:00.003-07:00

Valentine's Day 2011

Okay ladies, I give in, here's a new post. I was talking to a best friend that moved to the dirty dirty south and she commented that she still pictures Maisy as a six month old baby. Yep, its time to update the blog. This is for my three main hecklers, you know who you are. :)

So, its been a busy year and a half since we last spoke. What have we been up to? Lots, and lots. These girls keep me busy.

Emmy is a VERY talkative four year old. She loves to talk and talk and talk. Anything princess or Disney is a favorite, or Pixar (yes she knows the difference). If I had a dime for every time she has said "Mom, that is NOT Disney, Dreamworks is NOT my favorite!" I might be able to pay back my student loan. She never stops making me laugh, or roll my eyes. She is a great big sister, and loves Maisy so much. They play very well together, and might not fight at all if Emmy weren't so bossy! (I wonder where she gets that, hmmmm) She is so excited we are having another girl, and can't wait to have a baby around. When we went for the ultrasound she assured me it would be a girl, she didn't want a brother because "Mom, boys just play too rough" -- she could use a little of that! She will be starting preschool in the fall, and can't wait. Seriously, she needs new people to talk to all day. Here are a couple pictures from Easter. We did rag curlers and they actually turned out.

Maisy is a busy busy busy girl. She moves fast, and is a bit crazy. Overall she's not a very difficult child, just a safety risk ;). Some days I really don't know how I am going to handle three, but it will work out, I'm sure. As an almost two year old, Maisy is quite talkative, but only Mommy understands what she says. She does use sentences, which is great, and would be better if she could enunciate. She runs everywhere, and is a tiny girl (only 20 pounds). She's been sick so much this spring, and I attribute that to her tendency to chew on everything. All day long I am saying "not in your mouth, Maisy". Grocery carts, shoes, toys, seatbelts, books, rocks, pretty much anything she can she will chew on. I am hoping this phase ends when her K9 teeth finally finish growing in. She is a moody teether. Here are a couple pictures of her from Easter. The second picture is her 'Uncle Layn face' -- some of you will recognize the face.

Dan and I are just plugging along. He is almost finished with his last semester of school. Just a couple final reviews to go. Then its on to the real world, job hunting! I am super pregnant, and this pregnancy has been a lot harder than the previous ones. This baby is nameless. Being the third girl, and because Dan and I have such different opinions on names, we have NO idea what to name her. Anyone have any suggestions? Please, really, we need help. We have read name books, looked at websites, I read the credits to every movie I watch waiting for inspiration to strike. So far, not much.

And just cause I updated the blog, don't get any unreasonable expectation about my frequency blogging ;) Hopefully I will get pictures of the new baby up by Christmas, right? Really, blogging is a struggle for me. I don't find my life very interesting. I don't make really cute crafts, throw great parties, go on wonderful vacations, take my kids pictures very often, or really have a very blog-worthy existence. And I'm totally okay with that!

So, until next post . . . . . .

Christmas

2010-01-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

As kids get more into the holiday, it makes it worth every effort we put into the day as parents. Having Emmy be old enough to understand that Santa was coming and to really enjoy her presents, made it such a fun day! It was fun to start our own family traditions this year as well. There are lots of traditions different families have for Christmas and Christmas Eve, and I borrowed a few from some families I know.

Here are a few pictures of our sweet girls over the holidays.

Christmas Eve jammies.

Emmy dumping out the goods, she's a fast learner ;)

Maisy opening a gift.

Emmy blinged out with her Ariel stuff - shoes, earrings, necklace, headband, ring, did I miss something?

Maisy opening her Noah's Ark. She loves it almost as much as Emmy, HA!

Emmy's 3rd Birthday

2010-01-25T15:00:00.001-07:00

Our big girl is just getting so grown up! For her birthday, we had a small family party at the park. Her P-Paw was in town so that made her day! She is obsessed with Ariel, and almost every gift she got was themed around her favorite princess. She had a great time running around the park with her cousins, eating cake, opening presents, and overall enjoying the day. As a big three year old girl she is now going to Primary and loves it, she is just growing up so fast! We are so happy to have such a loving little girl and such a good big sister in our family.

Blowing out all three candles.

So excited over her Ariel dress.

Helping her Minnie Mouse friend down the slide.

She loves Ariel so much its scary!!! (this picture is so funny I had to post it!)

Maisy's Five & Six Months!

2010-01-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

The older she gets, the less I remember to take a picture of this girl on her actual 'month-days'. She sure is a sweet and cute baby. She is getting too big, sitting up, eating baby food, trying to crawl, and is teething -- and a joy to have in our home. She is the happiest girl as long as Mommy is close by, she doesn't let me get too far.

Here she is a five months, just a cute little smiley bug!

Here at six months she is making her 'I'm not really smiling, but I am' face. She just loved that almost smile for quite a while, little faker ;)

We love our Maisy!!!

Our Big Girl!

2009-11-16T15:11:00.003-07:00

Emmy is finally potty trained! Okay, she's been potty trained for over a month now - ha! I have just not posted about it! Here is a picture of her picking out her big girl undies! She just had to have Brobee undies, she loves him so much! For those of you that don't know who he is, go to UTube and look up 'party in my tummy' by Yo Gabba Gabba. Its awesome!!!
And Yes, Emmy is the goofiest picture subject!!!

Maisy three months and four!!!

2009-11-16T15:04:00.003-07:00

Maisy has been such a sweet baby! She is definitely a different person than her big sis! She is finnicky and a total Mommy's girl, but yet so happy and sleeps so well!

Here she is at three months and four months. You can definitely tell she and Emmy are sisters!

Halloween!

2009-11-16T14:06:00.003-07:00

Halloween was so much fun for Emmy. In the morning she got Halloween pancakes, and loved them.

For lunch she had Halloween mac and cheese. Kraft makes a Halloween shapes one, and it was a hit! She ate the whole box!

When night time came, we were running a bit late so I thought I would just get pictures after the trunk or treat. Emmy had been talking about 'going to Halloween' all week and was so excited. She really got into the whole people give me candy just cause I ask for it thing. She loved trick or treating at the park we went to. Emmy was so excited for Halloween that I thought she would just pee her pants once we got there . . . oh yeah, she did. Sooooooo, there is not a picture of our cute little 'duckie' from Halloween as the duck got a little wet before we got any pictures. Next year, note to self, take pictures before the trunk or treat.

Maisy, however, we did get some pictures of. Daddy took them while Mommy cleaned up the mess the duckie made :)

Wasn't she the cutest little stinker? Loved her costume, she was a skunk, I know you can't see the tail. But she was so cute. Someone at the park actually thought she was a doll. But nope, she's our real little stinker.

Remiss: Exhibiting carelessness or slackness.

2009-10-06T18:32:00.009-07:00

So that about sums it up! I have been busy adjusting to two kids, got flooded out of our house for a couple months, Dan's at school all day every day, got a new job, etc. etc. etc. So, here's a quick run down of what's been going on.

Flood: When Maisy was 3 weeks old we came home to several inches of water in the living half of our house!

Starting in the bathroom, and stretching to both bedrooms, hall, and laundry area. Luckily it did not get the other half of our house or we would have had no place to move all our furniture to keep it from getting ruined. Here is what our house looked like for the two months we had to wait for the insurance company to get repairs etc done.

So while we couldn't live at our house, we did what anyone else would do. Stayed with the parents. So grateful for that. Don't know what else we would have done! Thanks MOm and Dad!

During our stay at Mom and Dad's we had a visit from Aunt Nanny (or Manny, to Emmy). It was so fun! We just hung out, did a little swimming (actually not me, couldn't yet cause of surgery), hit up a kid's museum, and had a great time! We miss you already Aunt Nanny!!! Come back soon!!!

We also went to visit Roger and Kelly! We love to see them and Emmy had a blast watering all the desert plants that probably don't really need that much water!!!

Utah Peach season is always something I look forward to! This year I only made a couple pies, as the peaches didn't seem to be a sweet. This raspberry peach one was a favorite for sure!

Maisy turned one month old, and two months old at her grandparents house :)

One month:

In between one and two months (I love this pic, its so Maisy):

Two months:

She was also blessed. What a special day for her. She is the sweetest thing, and we are so grateful for her. Here are a couple pics from her blessing day. Emmy had to get in on the picture taking, and was so sweet to her sis.

2009-09-14T13:57:00.002-07:00

I've been a bit of a slacker on the blog lately, more details on that to come! But here is a little gem of a conversation Emmy and I had this morning that I couldn't pass up posting!!! She cracks me up.

Em: Mommy are you Maisy’s sister?
Me: No, I am her Mommy.
Em: Are you an adult?
Me: Yep, I’m an adult.
Em: I will be an adult someday too.
Me: Yes you will be.
Em: Then I can hold the tiny baby geckos in my hand and jump in the pool.
Me: Yes, among other things.
Em: And I will look like Daddy.
Me: Oh, okay.

Then I hurried and grabbed my laptop before I forgot what she said. We just love this girl.

This picture is from our last grocery trip. Emmy's good behavior lasts about 20 minutes, and she was well beyond that time limit so I did what any good mother would do to keep her sanity. Gave her a chocolate covered granola bar and told her she had to sit in the cart if she wanted to eat it and then ran like a crazy person to get the shopping done before the granola bar was gone!

I seriously love this face!

2009-09-04T16:46:00.002-07:00

Sweet Sweet Baby

2009-08-17T13:42:00.002-07:00

Here are some pictures of our sweet girl. We are loving her in our family! She is a good baby, a bit of a Momma's girl, but good. She sleeps pretty well and loves to smile at those she knows. Emmy has been such a great help, and really loves being a big sister too. It's great to see a sister bond growing already.

We had her pictures taken by

Celeste Ruth Photography

Check her out!

This is how we roll .......

2009-07-14T13:21:00.002-07:00

So this is what we've been up to since coming home from the hospital.

Me, well I'm somewhere in between :)

Dan, he's just playing house :)

Baby Maisy Luell!!!

2009-07-09T10:21:00.004-07:00

We are happy to announce the arrival of our new little girl Maisy Luell!!! Bekah and I (dan) went into the hospital early in the morning to get prepared for her C-section. Maisy is really little for our family, only 7 lbs 1 ounce. To us, she resembles emmy alot when she was born, except maisy has lighter hair. So far baby and mommy are doing wonderful. We are thankful and blessed to have such a beautiful healthy baby girl.

Here are some pictures...

Lately

2009-06-13T20:59:00.003-07:00

Emmy just keeps getting more and more talkative. Today we had the following conversation:

Em: Mommy, you still have that baby in your tummy?
Me: Yep, she's still there.
Em: You sure its just one baby, or two? Huh?
Me: It's just one.
Em: Oh, you sure?
Me: I'm sure.
Em: Does the baby cost fifty dollars, hmm?
Me: (long pause) Ummm, no the baby is ours.
Em: Oh. Good.

During the long pause I was thinking "babies really cost much more than fifty dollars, but Emmy won't understand that. Should I tell her we have to pay the doctor to deliver the baby? No, she might grow up thinking you really buy babies. Hmmm, reality or lie? I guess its the truth that she's ours, yeah, that's what I'll tell her."

Seriously, where does she get this stuff. Fifty dollars? Don't know where that figure came from.

The pregnancy is not the best for this time of year. I am grateful we have a spell of double digits in the middle of June. That really is helping. And I'm double grateful that I caught the flu during that spell of double digits. Yeah, the flu at this stage of pregnancy is not so much fun. I couldn't even keep down water. All I kept thinking is "I hope this dehydration doesn't throw me into labor cause my OB is out of the country!" Luckily all is well and thanks to a great priesthood blessing by my hubby, I had just the 24 hour type of flu. Glad that is over!!!

Otherwise, I am just working and sleeping pretty much. Dan has been great, staying home with Emmy for the few hours I'm at summer camp, and doing the dishes after dinner! It is great to have a helpful husband when I'm this busy, this pregnant, and therefore this useless. :)

Crazy say what?

2009-05-13T22:38:00.003-07:00

Seriously, she cracks me up .....

I was getting ready to take her to my mom's while I attended a work function. She played with her toys the whole time, and when it was time to go, we had the following conversation:

Me: Em, get your shoes, its time to go to Mamaw's house.

Em: What mom, what you need?

Me: Em, get your shoes on, you are going to Mamaw's house while I go to work.

Em: (looks at me in the eye, then looks away and shrugs) Ummm, no thanks. I think I'll just stay here, I'm a big girl now.

Yeah right? Then why aren't you doing the dishes and cleaning the toilet!!!! HA! seriously, this girl cracks me up! Gotta love her.

Small Update

2009-05-08T15:53:00.003-07:00

Okay, its been a while. The baby is still a girl, whew! So glad my doc was able to do another ultrasound. I am so glad to know for sure!

Emmy has started swimming lessons! She loved the first one, and wasn't so sure the second day. Hopefully next week will go better :) She continues to amaze us with some of the things she says. The other day Dan kissed her on the forehead, and she turned and looked at him with her dirty look and said "No Daddy, that's EMMY'S face. Don't kiss it!" He couldn't do anything but just laugh. She'll probably bring it up in a therapy session someday that when she was a toddler her parents laughed instead of responding to her demands and questions. Honestly, how can we not? :)

The other big news is that Mother's Cookies are back!!! Anyone else noticed the beautiful bags of white and pink frosted animal cookies with sprinkles at their grocery store? I was so excited, Dan was a little embarrassed that I was making a scene in the isle at the store. Then the cashier did a double take as she scanned the item, we discussed how they had gone out of business and we missed them -- I told Dan that I'm not the only crazy one!

Dan is finished with another year of school. Its nice to have him around, especially since I'm so tired all the time. Emmy loves to have Daddy around to build castles, color, and read books. Seriously, Daddy means play time around here, Mommy is always busy cleaning, cooking, laundering, etc. She is probably as happy as I am to have him home!

2009-04-27T10:35:00.002-07:00

Favorite Emmy quote of last week:

While she is looking at Daddy and making her obvious poo face, she says "Daddy, I'm pooping, I need you to change my diaper in a minute, ok?"

Is this child ready for potty training or what? Yeah right, she won't use the potty for #2's for anything, and trust me I have tried many many things!

Easter Sunday

2009-04-15T22:16:00.003-07:00

Emmy loved Easter. She talked about it all week as she saw the eggs and candy in all the stores. I asked her one day what we celebrate at Easter and she quickly replied "Emmy's birthday". Not quite honey, what do you think we celebrate at Easter? She thought for a minute, and said, thoughtfully "the candy". Ha! Couldn't argue too much there, to a two year old that's all she sees. We did get to teach her a little about the meaning of Easter though, and she at least understood it was about Jesus.

Sadly, I forgot to take very many pictures. I was busy cooking, hiding candy and eggs, and playing the Easter bunny role. Oh yeah -- and I was growing a baby....... :)

Here is what we got....

Easter Egg Hunt

Loving her new Manny lap desk

Ready for church

Now we are waiting for the sugar rush to end! :)

What's not fun about a two year old?

2009-04-13T18:57:00.002-07:00

Seriously, lately everything she does makes me either laugh or want to pull my hair out! Favorite quote of the day. . . .

Dan is sitting with her in the bathroom while she attempts to do a #2 on the big girl potty. Mommy is in the kitchen making dinner. I hear her say to him, "Daddy, I can't do poo poos with you in here. I need you to go to the front room and get Mommy."

She was dead serious.

It took me more than thirty seconds to get in to the bathroom to sit by her, and she starts yelling "Mommy I need you, I need you in here so I can do poo poos!"

Honestly, whose child is this?

A Visit from P-paw & Dan's Birthday

2009-04-06T10:22:00.006-07:00

Emmy had a blast while her 'P-paw' was visiting. (that name is what Emmy started calling him when she was a year old, and it has stuck!) She just loved every minute. We went to the park several times, fed the ducks at the lake (or tried to), and just hung out. It was great!

This girl could live at the park!

At the park, Em got sand in her shoes and just couldn't bear to wear them anymore, so Uncle Layn let her wear his flip flops. It was amusing watching her try to play in them!

P-paw and Emmy walking by the lake. We tried to feed the ducks, but they weren't too interested. They must get too much plain white bread.

Emmy helping P-paw tie his shoes. For some reason she is really interested in laces lately.

Dan's Birthday

We celebrated Dan's birthday at a restaurant called Pizza Fusion. It had good food, and its all organic (not that I care about that). The food was really fresh and delicious (or as Emmy said d-yishious). They had a little bench outside that the toddlers were all obsessed with.

Dan requested 'Moon Cake' for his birthday, so that's what he got (thanks Nanny for that recipe, it is a family favorite!). Emmy and Ty helping blow out the candles.

This last picture is Emmy geeking it out with Daddy. She is listening to , what I can only imagine, some really awful 'techno' music that Dan calls 'electronic' or something. She felt so grown up being able to sit at the table with Daddy and listen to his music. She's sporting her new Manny shirt too (thanks OKC Smiths).

2009-04-01T08:44:00.002-07:00

Seriously, love this girl. She is so much fun at this age. Don't get me wrong, she's not perfect, but isn't two so much fun (despite the challenges). She is getting all her molars - ha - I thought she was in the clear for teething until she was three, isn't that why they're called three-year-old molars? I guess not so much!

Lately she is just so active. I am glad she likes to be outside so much, she could live at the park in a little tent I think. I actually took the park away for a couple weeks in hope she would do #2's on the potty to earn the park, but that didn't work. She finally did do the #2 on the potty for the first time! We will see if that performance has an encore today :) Really, she's so close to potty training, and could probably be there by now if I weren't so tired! Its my goal to only have one kid in diapers, so I have just a few months to get her set! Wish me luck .........

This pregnancy is going well, I am just soooooooo tired! We have been so busy lately that I haven't been sleeping enough, and I am exhausted all the time. I am having my doubts about the ultrasound results too, for some reason I keep worrying this is a boy! I am having my doctor double check soon, hopefully. I will let y'all know if it changes! :)

2009-03-30T08:52:00.001-07:00

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me during this year.
When and what will be a surprise!
There's a small catch though....
Post this same thing on your blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in.
Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift.

I have seen this on so many blogs, I think its so much fun! Thanks for the ideas ladies!

Close the Gate!

2009-03-23T08:17:00.009-07:00

My parents took all their kids on a weekend vacation to Winslow Arizona. I am so grateful for my parents, thanks again, you guys are the best! We had a great weekend there. First we stopped at a place called Rock Art Ranch. It is a privately owned ranch with tons of petroglyphs covering the canyon walls in some areas. The man who owns the 7000 acres is the nicest, and he greeted us with his granddaughter who took the kids on horse rides. They are the nicest people!

We had a picnic on a ramada they built over the canyon, and then climbed down and crossed the river to see all the petroglyphs. The bridge was pretty rickety, and the river was really high, but all the two year olds made is across safely in their parents arms!

Down in the canyon it was beautiful and amazing to see all the drawings! We all had fun throwing rocks in the river, somehow that is just fun, don't know why!

This was the funniest petroglyph, its called the 'Birthing Wall'. See the big figure with a little figure coming out of it? Yeah, pretty graphic, right? (be sure to look for the fine details, ha!)

This one is called 'Cinderella'. It was cool to see all the different styles of drawing, it was obvious that more than one Native American tribe had been to this spot, obviously a source of water.

Here is my favorite petroglyph, I think the artist of this one was a Picasso in his own time.

After Rock Art Ranch, we stayed in Winslow at the La Posada. Winslow is obviously a boom and bust town, kinda an eclectic and ghetto place. The La Posada is a beautiful and artsy resort that used to be a train station. They still have trains that come through the property. There were so many beautiful places in their gardens etc to take pictures. Here are a couple.

Waiting for the train ..... and PaPaw is getting the pennies we put on the track to smash.
Is that legal?

Rachel, Jared and family were here for a week, during Spring Break. We had tons of fun just playing at Mamaw's house, going to museums, visiting the train park, and seeing the Morrow clan (always one of my favorite things to do). It was fun to have all the kids together for once. Including the two new sweet little girls, Maren and Mya. They are only 11 days apart. (I know, I missed the deadline!)

We had a great week, and can't wait to see everyone again, hopefully soon!!!

Lots and Lots of Pictures

2009-03-05T09:05:00.005-07:00

The past few weeks have been fun and lots of visitors. We got a new camera, so I have been much better at taking pictures! Nothing fancy, just a pretty normal camera that is user friendly. Its nice to take pictures that actually turn out, right?

First Aunt Janet and Great Grandma Fae came in town with Aunt Carol. They stayed for a week, and it was so much fun. Roger and Kelly came for a long weekend too, so it was extra great!

We played at the park,

went to the toy store and picked out this Manny phone:

Played in Mamaw's backyard:

Watched lots of movies and drank lots of juice

Played in the tunnels with Daddy:

Celebrated Aunt Celeste, Uncle Layn, and Papaw's birthdays. (sorry Dad and Layn, no pictures of your sweet cakes)

And generally had a great time. Yes, I have finally gained some pregnancy weight, three pounds or so. Thanks to all three birthday cakes and eating out about five times last week!!!!

Last Sunday Layn's family was in town for Mya's baby blessing too, so it was a very eventful weekend! After the whole week of family in town, I got a bit behind at home, so we have been catching up this week.

I love these last two pictures, the first of Emmy using her fridge toy as a 'ghetto-blaster', it makes it even better that she's wearing an 80's-licious outfit, leggings and an off the shoulder over sized tee. Awesome is what that is. Did anyone else catch the late night show on VH1 last week called 'Black to the Future'? It was hilarious!!! You should check it out on You Tube or something!

We also bought some bath bubbles, and she is obsessed with them! Hey, at least she wants to take a tubby everyday!

My Valentines

2009-02-18T12:23:00.004-07:00

Dan and I have never been big on holidays for each other. We never go out on Valentine's Day, we never buy each other gifts. When we were dating we would make each other cards, cookies, cupcakes, and always go out to dinner. Marriage has a way of changing you, doesn't it?

Well this Valentine's Day, Dan came home from work with a gift for Emmy and Mommy! Mommy got flowers and Emmy got a huge balloon that plays music!

We both loved our gifts, and love Daddy too! It was a great day, we just hung out all afternoon as a family.

Emmy loved to run and run with her music playing balloon tailing behind her. Here is a video of it.(sorry its sideways, I'm not really that great with computers apparently!) Needless to say, by the end of the day, Daddy felt that he should have been a bit more picky in what he got Emmy for Valentine's Day!

News!

2009-02-13T13:49:00.006-07:00

And the verdict is in, its a girl!

Emmy's going to have a little sister!

Dan and I are excited, and can't wait to see her. The only hard part is picking a name. I love the name Lorelai, but Dan said over his dead body. Dan really likes Elise, but I'm not sold on it. The one thing we can agree on is we don't like common names, so we are currently reading the 100 most common girl names from 2008 and crossing them off our list.

Any ideas?

P.S. Thanks Kathi for the comment, I think I might have forgotten to write this post for a few more days! (baby brain, arrggghhh!!!)

Catching Up......

2009-02-08T22:18:00.004-07:00

I know, its been over a month since I last blogged! Sorry!

Emmy has been sick on and off for the past month, and is now on round two of antibiotics. This cough she has got better, and then worse. The good news is she feels fine, despite a hacking cough and 104 fever! She has been to the doctor four times in the past few weeks. Poor thing!

Dan has had food poisoning, and now has a bad head cold. He is keeping up with school well for all his ailments, luckily. This semester is going well so far, he's just about to start his first round of exams.

I have been, ummmm pregnant pretty much sums it up. I have been nauseated a lot, and very very tired. Some days I feel so lazy that I have to bribe myself to just get Emmy bathed and dressed and out of the house. Just doing my hair and makeup has turned into a chore! I know it will get easier, I'm just looking forward to that!

Here is a few pictures of the past month.

Helping Mommy bake cupcakes.

Helping Mommy eat cupcakes.

Yummy Mickey pancakes from Daddy. He makes the best pancakes!

Stacking all her blocks in a tower. I was being the ever attentive parent to the TV, when she called my name and said 'look mommy, emmy has a towah'. She was so proud of her 'towah'.

Also, we had a baby shower for Celeste, it was so fun. There is a recipe from the shower below, if anyone other that Tawnya is interested! Rachel and Celeste had their new little girls. Yes, both of my sisters gave birth to girls in the last couple weeks. My poor Mom! Really we all love it, and its so nice to have Celeste here and to be able to hold Mya. She is soooooo cute, sweet, and teeny tiny! Its so fun to be able to see a brand new baby, especially one that's my niece.

Next week we find out if we are having a blue baby or a pink one! Hooray! I can't wait to find out. It will be nice to know so I can start planning, or in reality, buying things I see that I like. HA! I will try to post soon after we get the ultrasound.

Until next week .......

For Tawyna

Spinach Salad Recipe

Salad:

Lettuce greens (iceberg and romaine is preferred)

Spinach greens (twice as much as the lettuce)

Cottage Cheese

Fresh sliced mushrooms

Crumbled, crisp bacon

Swiss cheese, shredded

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and top with dressing just prior to serving. Greens will wilt if left prepared for too long.

Dressing:

1 c. oil

1/3 c. white vinegar

3/4 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dried ground mustard

1-2 tblsp. poppy seeds

Combine all ingredients in a blender but poppy seeds. Blend well. Stir in poppy seeds and toss with salad just prior to serving.

A big two year old!

2009-01-05T08:52:00.002-07:00

Emmy's birthday was lots of fun this year. We had been talking the day up for a week or so. She knew exactly what she wanted! First thing out of her mouth when she woke up in the morning was 'Emmy's birfday, I wear Sunshine and have Manny cake!' She loves her Little Miss Sunshine shirt so much, and my mom was making her a Manny cake, and he is her favorite. So we ate breakfast, put on her Sunshine shirt, and asked her what she wanted to do! At first all she wanted was to stay home, play with Daddy, and watch cartoons. So we stayed home until nap time.

After nap time we asked her what she wanted to do. She wanted to get a fruit smoothie and play at the mall playground. So we went to the mall to do just that! Dan and I just sat and watched her play. She loves to play around and with other kids. She has so much fun at the mall playground, despite the chaos that is there!!! After her fruit smoothie, we headed home and then to Aunt Celeste's for her birthday party. Our house is so small, we are so happy that Aunt Celeste offered to have the dinner and cake and ice cream at her house, thank you!!!

We ate Emmy's favorite dinner, Cafe Rio Salads, and then opened presents. She got great gifts from everyone, and loves all her toys especially this baby doll from Celeste, Ty and Layn (her first). She loves the doll, and is constantly trying to 'change the bum' on her doll.

After presents we had cake and ice cream. Emmy was in love with her Manny cake, as you can see by her giving kisses to him. She loves anything to do with Manny. I think its so funny, you can't find any girl stuff with Handy Manny on it! Thank you Mamaw for the great cake!

Emmy had a great birthday. Thanks to all who helped make the day special. I can't believe she's two. Its amazing to me how fast these first two years have flown by! They become toddlers so fast, and lose the baby-ness about them! She is still so much fun though, I wouldn't trade it or go back! We love you Emmy.

Merry Christmas etc.

2008-12-23T08:40:00.004-07:00

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.

2008-12-04T20:00:00.002-07:00

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!

2008-12-04T19:50:00.004-07:00

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!

2008-11-29T07:31:00.003-07:00

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!

2008-11-04T08:22:00.003-07:00

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

2008-10-29T13:28:00.004-07:00

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?

2008-10-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

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 . . . .

2008-10-14T12:43:00.003-07:00

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

2008-10-06T11:59:00.002-07:00

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???

2008-10-02T08:22:00.003-07:00

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!

2008-09-27T09:32:00.002-07:00

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

2008-09-24T21:37:00.001-07:00

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 ....

2008-09-23T12:30:00.006-07:00

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!

2008-09-05T09:11:00.007-07:00

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!

2008-08-24T22:07:00.003-07:00

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!

2008-08-09T22:31:00.002-07:00

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

2008-08-06T11:00:00.006-07:00

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!

2008-07-21T22:15:00.004-07:00

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!!!

2008-07-21T22:01:00.004-07:00

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

2008-07-11T04:14:00.007-07:00

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!

Back from Vacation

2008-07-08T22:38:00.001-07:00

We are back, and I am working on a post that will probably be too long with tons of pictures, but in the meantime my friend Marquita posted this fun game, I thought it was too fun!

Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Have a good trip down Memory Lane!

2008-06-22T21:18:00.007-07:00

This is a picture of the meeting Emmy and all her stuffed animals had the other day, and guess who the organizer of the meeting was? Dan himself! Who would have thought? I would have :) Love ya honey!

More fun random thoughts from the last few weeks......

Emmy is cutting three of her K9s (pointy teeth), that's fun, no really I mean we love the drooling, crying, lack of nap taking, waking up at night, and generally cranky feeling she has all day. Emmy has learned to climb up onto the couch, bed, ottoman, table and chairs, rocking chair, bathtub, (pretty much everything she can reach) in the last three weeks. Fun for her, not for mommy. Emmy has become more obsessed with Handy Manny (I didn't think it was possible, but apparently it is). She has developed a more defined type of dance move involving swinging her arm, tiptoeing, and spinning in circles (video to come hopefully). She is becoming a little water bug too, she loves swimming lately. Emmy also got a new blanket, which she loves. Thanks auntie Deanna!

Dan has been working most mornings at 4 a.m. (you read that right, 4 am, that's in the morning when its still dark outside). Dan has been making yummy dinners in my absence :) He has also been coming home with funny stories about working at Target, mostly about his friend Sean there. He's hilarious! Dan's computer's hard drive quit working (the computer is less than a year old and still under warranty, so it was free to replace it) and he lost everything on the hard drive with no hope of recovery.

I (Bekah) have been working long days at summer camp, and coming home exhausted.

I have been yelled at by many parents of my campers, and yelled at by even more campers (the campers are 115 kids with disabilities, its to be expected). My days are made even longer by the excessive heat which I am forced to be in at least 30 minutes of every day -- it has been so bloody hot lately! I discovered the new grocery store Fresh N' Easy, and I love it! They have a huge selection of reasonably priced produce and lots of fresh made foods. If you haven't been yet, you should check it out.

In a week we are all headed to California with all of my immediate family for a week long vacation. We can't wait to get to the beach! It will be a much needed break. Having no student loans kills the budget for the summer, and its stressful with both of us working so much. Emmy is definitely feeling it too, but its only for a short time. Soon life will return to normal, school and all.

Oh yeah, and the best news of all --- DAN GOT HIS ACCEPTANCE LETTER FOR ASU GRAPHIC DESIGN PROGRAM! WAY TO GO DAN!!!
(note: only 44 out of 200+ were allowed to go into this upper division program!!!)

New in the life of EMMY

2008-06-14T08:40:00.002-07:00

Not much up here lately, I have been busy getting my summer camp started. Dan is working early mornings and then is home with Emmy while I head to work. Its been a pretty busy summer so far! Emmy is adjusting to Mommy being gone five or six hours a day by not sleeping and being a stinker for her Daddy sometimes.

Emmy's new favorite things are her Manny doll and her Mickey shirt! Grandpa Dannenberg really wanted to get her a Manny doll, and since they didn't have one at Disney World (yeah right?) - he found one at the mall in Baton Rouge the day they returned home and bought it for her! It was love at first sight! Thanks Grandpa!!! Also, he bought her a Mickey shirt at Disney World, but the one she liked was too big, so we figured she could wear it as a night shirt until she grows a bit. She loves her shirt, and has even learned how to pronounce Mickey perfectly (from Ricky to Icky to Mickey :))

She is currently cutting three teeth and has grown taller lately as well. Her hair is getting long, but not long enough to cut yet. As you can tell from the picutre, she has killer morning hair. She loves to go swimming lately, and is suffering from cabin fever like the rest of Arizona, from it being too hot outside to do anything outdoors. Maybe we'll go camping soon to someplace cooler.

Until the next post!

Our Disney World Trip!!!

2008-05-29T16:04:00.008-07:00

This is Dan, for once! I decided to take the lead on our vacation report.

Well, we had a great start for summer with going to florida to play at Disney World for 4 days!!! Thanks to Bill and Jan who made it possible for this to happen, we had an amazing time.

For all those who dont know about Disney World, its huge! It consists of 4 parks, and only a 3rd of Disney Worlds Land is used. It has its own water systems, highways, transportation and an underground city that helps maintain the parks.

We left on a sunday and arrived in orlando in the afternoon. We didnt have to pick up our luggage at the airport as we had special Disney tags that would take them from pheonix straight to our resort at Disney! (very nice feature) That night we went to downtown disney and goofed around, ate at Earl of Sandwich, and then passed out at the resort.

Highlights of the trip were spending time with the family having fun was number one (Emmy had a blast with her cousin Paul). We also loved the Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory Stand up show (Monster Inc. computer characters interact with the audience to help with jokes). Expedition Everest, a roller coaster at Animal kingdom that goes forward, reverse, forward through a crazy track, very fun. Looking at the animals with Emmy as she loved them all! Dans favorite parts were seeing how excited Emmy got to see Handy Manny, playhouse Disney, the tea cup ride and many other rides. German food at Epcot was a plus for Dan and also a tradition with his family.

Overall we had an amazing time and loved every minute. It was a blessing to be able to go and we thank the Dannenberg family for putting it together and making it happen. Here are some pictures of our trip below

Heres Emmy Waiting for the train to come at the Magic Kingdom.

Emmy is having fun with Paul at Micky Mouse playground!

Having fun with mommy and Aunt susan and Paul on the tea cup ride!

Daddy takes emmy on the Dumbo ride that she had a blast on.

Emmy with cousin Paul at the elephant statues at Animal Kingdom.

Quick family picture.

This is Emmy passed out from a long day of playing.

Emmy hanging out with Grandpa!

Emmys highlight of the trip, meeting her favorite Disney Character Handy Manny!!!

Daddy and Emmys run in with Jack Sparrow!

Emmy passed out on our last day.

Disney World

2008-05-21T12:53:00.003-07:00

Those of you that know Emmy well know she is a strange girl.

She does not like too many TV shows, but her all time hero is a character on Disney's Playhouse called

HaNdY MaNnY -- her hero.

She was so excited to be able to meet him, here is a picture of the first encounter with her favorite character of all time!

We are still out of town, but I thought I would post this one photo.

Reading can be fun!

2008-05-14T15:15:00.002-07:00

Take the Quiz here!

I had taken this quiz before, but saw this on Brooke's blog, and thought I would post it (thanks for the idea Brooke :). I actually just finished reading Persuasion, so this is extra fun kinda! I love reading, and can't wait to curl up with a book once Emmy and my work are put to rest for the night. Dan will often be mad at me for staying up till one or two in the morning reading. Persuasion was a great read, I recomend it!

Anyone for a SWIM???

2008-05-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Lately we have been swimming in PaPaw and MaMaws pool, and Emmy loves it! She has so much fun singing fishy songs and splashing and kicking in the water. It will definitely be something we keep doing often for the summer.

Last week she finally started wearing clothes the next size up. She is a bit of a little girl, in that she is 17 months old and just over 20 pounds! But she finally can wear some of the clothes she got for her birthday. Here are her cutest pajamas (thank you Nanny and Great Grams). She is modeling them so well, you'd think she was on a runway!

Mommy finally painted Emmy's toes again too! Emmy went to Ulta with me one day and picked out a bottle of nail polish, and so we had to paint her toes!

Here is Emmy all ready for church, and she is sporting Mommy's heels! The black and white polka dots almost match - nice try cutie!

And we can't leave out the picture of Emmy in Mommy's Shox, with her 'pretty' necklace on. She is all dressed up with no party to go to!

This is the last week of finals, yeah! Dan is almost done with all his tests and his studio presentation, and then its just a waiting game to see if he gets into the graphic design program. Me, I am just hanging in there between the late nights of work and the days playing with Emmy. Sometimes I am feeling out of balance a little, but I know its only for a short time. Soon enough the summer will be long gone and we will be back to life as normal. Someday when school is done for Dan and we have a real job with actual income, it will be a weird feeling I think! I can't imagine life without student loans etc. but I also can't wait to get there! I plan to enjoy every stage we are in, poor students is just the stage for now, and we aren't perfect, but we are making the most of every day!

Finals are here!

2008-04-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

Dan is almost finished with classes for the semester and will be starting finals week tomorrow! As stressed as he is about his finals, and mostly his projects for studio, I know he is glad there is a light at the end of a much shorter tunnel. His largest final being his studio final. As a graphic design major, they have to complete their usual projects which are ridiculously time consuming, and then he has a 14 project aptitude test that will be part of his final, and the main part of his application to the graphic design program. Applying to the program is a big deal, and only happens once a year. He has shown me what he's working on, and I have decided that graphic design is definitely not for me -- there is no way I would even know what they are talking about!

Emmy is such a funny little girl, and is growing up so fast. She is talking so much now, and even putting words together in almost sentences. She is still such a bookworm, she reads books all day long. She is finally at the stage where she will read the book out loud to herself, it is hilarious to watch!

Me, well I'm just trying to hang on until Dan is finished with school. I know once finals are over we will have a little more time, and my schedule will have a bit more flexibility. Right now I am still trying to squeeze everything onto my already full plate. It is for a short time though, this too shall pass.

This past week we had family pictures taken. Those of you that know me well know how much I hate having my picture taken, so when my sister said she wanted to take them, I was reluctant. Celeste is so good with pictures though, and I love how they turned out. Of course I hate that I'm in them, but she did such a good job catching Emmy's cute faces and smiles. She picked the perfect location as well. It was fun to take the pictures. Here are a few of the good ones. I love the ones of Emmy and Dan especially. She is starting a photography business soon, and I know she will be very successful, she has a great eye for pictures.

2008-04-20T22:09:00.001-07:00

Sorry its been a while since I last posted. I have been extraordinarily busy these past few weeks. I don't know how it all necessarily started, but it was crazy! Emmy was sick for a few days, running a high fever with no apparent cause and just not feeling well. She was tired and didn't want to eat, but there was no tell tale puking, nose running, cough, or anything else. At first I thought it was just teething, but a teething fever shouldn't be at 104 degrees for two whole days! Anyway, as soon as she got to feeling better, I was running a fever! I think the lack of sleep and worrying about her constantly made me more suceptible to whatever bug she had. I missed a night of interviewing at work, and just felt like crap for a few days. This has been a busy time for me at work as well, I've been at the office every day to sort through a neverending pile of paperwork for the summer camp I'm in charge of coordinating. Sometimes I really think an entire rainforest is chopped down just to get the kids registered for my summer camp!

Dan has also been busy with school -- finals are approaching, and he has to apply to his program at the end of the sememster. He is busy with tests and projects and keeping up with work and his calling at church. Life has been extra stressful lately as our busy times are overlapping. Sometimes I swear I only see him long enough to give him a high five and instructions on what Emmy needs for the evening as I walk out the door to work, and by the time I get home he is asleep, sometimes I get home at 1:00 a.m. from the office. (seriously, that much paperwork)

We are both excited for school to be over and to be able to go on a trip in May with Dan's family. We are headed to Disneyworld! Dan's family members are big fans of the d-world, and we are so excited to be going and taking Emmy. Dan insists that she must grow to love the place as much as he has!

Emmy has been growing by leaps and bounds! She is such a chatterbox some days! I swear - sometimes she never stops talking. She also loves her books, even books like a road map of the US and a book of Sudoku puzzles Dan has. She points and talks and blabs about each page. Our little one is so active too! She runs everywhere, and loves to try to climb anything. We go to the park at least once a week, and she loves to climb to the highest playground and run back and forth on the bridges.

I don't have any cute pictures of Emmy to post, I really need to get a new camera -- when are the economic stimulus check coming? Here is a shot of Dan and I on our last Disney World vacation - three years ago. Until next post!

Happy Birthday to Dan!!!

2008-04-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

This is a post to my wonderful husband Dan. Today is his birthday, and I hope its a good one for him. He is such a wonderful husband and father, he deserves the best birthday. He is so busy, and accomplishes so much in school, church callings, as a friend, father and husband. I appreciate him so much, and just want him to know it. I am not the best at telling him how much I appreciate him, or at thanking him for all he does. This is a hard time in our lives, we are both gone so much just trying to make the ends of our student loans meet :) I know this is a temporary stage, and I know it will end, but really I feel we are enjoying it despite its challenges.

Thanks for being wonderful Dan -- We love you -- Bekah and Emmy

Happy Easter!!!

2008-03-23T08:29:00.001-07:00

This morning we woke up to a house infested with Easter Eggs!!! Thankfully our little exterminator was more than willing to eradicate the problem and enjoy the many tasty treats that was hidden inside them.

Emmy had such a fun time looking for her eggs as they were hidden on top of the tv, on the couch, in mommy's shoe and in Emmys high chair! She did such a good job at finding them too as she loves too find things (especially when its daddy hide-n-seek
time.) Here are a few pictures of todays events, and more later as we have more adventures at Bekahs parents house.

More importantly than finding eggs, our family is especially grateful for the Savior in our life. We are thankful that his life is the perfect example to how our lives should be, and I am blessed to have our little families goal to always live to his standards and let everything we do be influenced and touched by his guiding hand. Easter is a good day to remember Christ and his atoning sacrifice for us, but not including Easter, there are 364 days left in a year that are just as important to remember his love for us. I hope that everyone has a safe and awesome Easter Day, and keeps the Savior's life mission in mind and heart. ---Dan

I've been tagged by Alana!

2008-03-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

What is his name- Daniel
How long have you been together-Almost six years
How long did you date- 2 & 1/2 years!!!!!!
How old his he- 27
Who eats more- He does
Who said I love you first-Him, I think.
Who is taller- him
Who can sing better- me, but once in a while he shocks me with his sing-a-long to Elliot Smith
Who does the laundry- Usually me, but he helps when I've had it.
Who pays the bills-I do, we won't elaborate on that.
Who sleeps on the right side- If you are looking at the bed, he does
Who cooks dinner- I do most of the time, but he is always willing to help out.
Who kissed who first- Him --
Who proposed- He did
Who has more friends- Probably me, although he has lots of people he knows on the bus.
Who is more sensitive- He is, I am usually more easy going.
Who has more siblings? I do, three sibs
Who wears the pants? Both of us, but as he would say, usually I am going to do what I am going to do.

A short trip through Bekah's TV habits ..............

2008-03-11T22:27:00.001-07:00

Okay, so maybe I'm just bored, or maybe I'm just in a weird mood. But -- I think I need to give some credit to my favorite shows. The past few weeks I have really been entertained by my television in my spare time (in other words, really really late at night).

First, PROJECT RUNWAY -- I love love love this show for some reason. I know not everyone does, but especially this season -- Christian is so FIERCE -- I just loved watching his personality -- he is hilarious! Seriously, how can you not love him?!?Next, the Office always keeps me laughing. The quipping between Dwight and Jim, or Dwight and anyone. Tonight I was watching reruns, and they still make me laugh. It has been sad to not have new episodes for a long time, but I am sure the ones for next season (or when ever it starts again) will be great. Here is a short quote from tonight:

Jim: Why doesn't Dwight run the meeting (Women's Appreciation Meeting), he plays with dolls.

Dwight: They are collectible action figures and they are worth more than your car.

Top Chef on Bravo is a great reality show. I love watching people cook, and this show has some great dishes! Their season starts tomorrow (Wednesday) -- and this year its in Chicago. There is always something interesting going on, and Dan actually likes this show too.

Last, and maybe least, LOST -- which by the way I am so lost on! If that is their whole point is to make their audience lost, then they have succeeded, and they can stop making new episodes -- or just let us know what the heck is going on! This season is crazy confusing, there are so many plots going on. But, nevertheless, I am still watching most weeks, if I have time. I must say because all my friends disagree, I can't stand Sawyer -- he annoys me and I think he is gross and slimey. Eww!!! What was Kate thinking?

Ahh, my favorite show of all time is definitely Gilmore Girls, and I miss it so much! It used to be the only show I watched, but sadly they are no longer on air. I still love the reruns whenever I can catch them on tv. I love their motto : " Life is short. Talk fast." These two gals were the best friends I never had, but miss terribly since their show ended. Seriously, I was obsessed with this show!!!

Ostrich Festival

2008-03-10T15:24:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we went to the Ostrich Festival with our friends Peter, Rebekka, and Lena. The Ostrich Festival comes to Chandler once a year for one weekend. It is basically a miniature state fair -- lots of fried food and dangerous looking rides. We had so much fun walking around the event. Emmy loved the ostrich races we watched. She thought the ostriches were so weird looking (they are), and loved seeing the other animals (horses, emu, chickens, etc.). We also saw a concert, remember the band Vertical Horizon? They had one big song in the 90's, well they played, and it was fun. Here are some pictures of us at the event.

Been a busy week

2008-03-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

The past weeks have been very busy. My older sister and her three kids were visiting from out of state. We had a ton of fun, and are so tired from being on the go so much! We went so many places, the park several times, the Az Science Center, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, the temple grounds, and lots of playing in grandma's backyard. Having all five kids together was really fun!
Check out Celeste & Layn's blog to see pictures of our adventures. Celeste has become the family photographer, and wants to do it professionally soon. She is so good at catching just the right moment with the kids. I watch her take the pictures and would never imagine the poses she catches would turn out so great, she is really talented.

Emmy is growing by leaps and bounds. She is really getting to be so talkative, and can say almost anything. She mostly repeats what I am telling her, but is using probably fifteen or so words on her own. Her favorite word is 'bear'. She loves her pink rattle bear (thank you Kathi!). She looks for him every morning right when she wakes up. Here is a little shot of her looking for bear. Usually she roams around the house screaming his name, but she stops doing it every time the camera turns on. Go figure....

Happy Birthday Celeste

2008-02-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

Just a little post to wish my little sis happy birthday! I know its not the best birthday you've ever had, but I hope it was a good one. She is 24 today, on the 24th. She really has grown up to a marvelous lady, weird to think of her as a grown up, she's my little sis. She has such devotion to her family and is strong enough to deal with uncertainty. I know she is meant for great things, even if she doesn't know it. So, happy birthday Celeste!!! I love you.

Sometimes I Go Crazy ................

2008-02-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

waiting for my daughter to wake up from her 'everlong' naps! I know some of you fellow mothers out there are probably making voodoo dolls that look like me and sticking them with huge pins with feathers on the ends! I know that I am lucky Emmy is such a good sleeper, but honestly sometimes three and a half hours is just way too long for me to be patiently waiting for her to wake up!
Today I have felt like doing absolutely nothing all day, and I bribed myself with the promise that if I could finish the three loads of laundry I needed to do and sweep my floors, I could have a treat. So I made that deal with myself, if I did my chores I could have Taco Bell, it sounded good. So I put Emmy down for her nap, and got to work. I finished all my chores, and then decided to update my blog cause I hadn't bribed myself into any work beyond the two things listed above!(As you have probably noticed my blog has a new look today, and has sound! It is slowly evolving.) I looked up a website, downloaded a scrapbooking kit, looked up a tutorial on how to make my own blog design (six pages long printed out), and designed my own template. Then I made a playlist and loaded it on my blog, and noticed all my 'widgets' (I think thats what the stuff that is on the side of the posts?) were erased by making a new template, so had to redo them. Emmy was still sleeping. I seriously thought about waking her up so I could get out of the house, but she looked so peaceful sleeping when I went in her room. So I decided to keep playing around online waiting for her to wake up. Then the UPS lady brought me a Target.com order, new shoes yea! I tried them on, and got dressed for the day, clomped around in my new heels purposely making a lot of noise in hopes to waking my sleeping beauty, but she still kept sleeping. So an hour later I got back into my pajamas and settled into TV watching until my husband came home.
I know, I shouldn't complain, but man I got bored today!

Family update!!! So exciting!

2008-02-16T11:02:00.001-07:00

I thought I might write for a change and give a little update about the happenings on the Arizona Dannenbergs.

Bekah, and Emmy are currently under the weather and using up the worlds supply of tissue paper. Emmy is in good spirits even though shes not feeling well, she still runs around laughing and dancing everywhere. She's dang cute kid. Bekah has been slowly getting sick for the last week I think, and doesnt seem to be getting better. I try to help when I am home with tissue runs, diaper changes and good old fashioned moral support. I hope they get better soon, I like my girls feeling better.

As for me, I have had a long and rough semester so far. I find it extremely hard to be in school at my age. I enjoy the material I am learning (I am a Visual Communication major at ASU (Graphic Design essentialy)) and I find it extremely challenging, which I like. The first year is sort of a boot camp for designers and the department gives you crazy projects to work on in studio. I make everything by hand, no computers right now, so I can develop a good eye for arrangement, patterns, hue, contrast, etc... The projects are extremely patience testing, but worth it. This upcoming week I will apply to the design departments upper division in hopes to further study graphic design more in depth. Only 44 out of 150 get in, so keep your fingers crossed!

In other news the picture above is a picture of my best friend at school, my beloved mac book whom I cherish so much. (I thought he needed a good shout out!) We go everywhere together!!! We play at home, ride the bus to and from school, and he even follows me around to all my classes. A very dedicated friend, unlike those blasted PC's at home. So kudos and bravo mac book for lovin up my school life. Kudos to your cousin the iPod for the good tunes, because without you, I would have to be involved with more conversations with the wackos on the bus about time traveling goats. (this has happened!)

Yea for Baby Einstein!

2008-02-11T13:20:00.000-07:00

Lately Emmy has really gotten into the Baby Einstein videos. She always would watch part of them, but now she really seems to enjoy them. She is so funny, I can hardly get her to sit still until we turn on a DVD and sit her down on a pillow with a blanket, juice, and a snack. Then she will just sit and veg out for the whole twenty or so minutes the video is playing. It is a nice little break at night when she is getting tired, but not quite ready for bed, or when I'm trying to cook dinner and she's at my heels.

2008-02-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, our beloved prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away a few weeks ago. His sense of humor and warm spirit will be missed. I heard the news while at my parents on that Sunday night, and he had passed away an hour before I heard the news. While death is normally a sad thing, I couldn't help but think to myself of how happy he is to be with his lovely wife who passed on several years ago. President Hinckley passed away of natural causes, and was 97 years old.
Several days later I got news of a boy who used to live in my neighborhood passing away. This boy was in his early twenties, and had been severely depressed for some time. He decided to take his own life, and succeeded in doing so. This boy was so young, and his death was devastating to his family.
When I received news of the young man taking his own life, I couldn't help but think of the contrast between the two deaths. Yet, I thought of the similarities as well. I am sure when Pres Hinckley died, his sweet wife was so happy to greet him. I am certain it felt to him like coming home, and that our Heavenly Father was there to say hello to his friend.
When the young man took his own life, I am certain our Heavenly Father was there and was just as happy that the pain His son had been experiencing was over. We are all children of God, and His love is the same for each of us, regardless of our circumstance, and despite our issues in this life. I am grateful for the mercy and love Heavenly Father and Jesus have for each of us equally.

Emmy....... trapped

2008-02-01T21:52:00.001-07:00

Emmy just loves to play in corners. Something about tight spaces suits her just fine. She will scoot chairs out from walls about six inches and squeeze her saggy bottom behind them to play in the tiny space she created. I know, I think its a little weird myself. Maybe all kids do this?
Well, the desk we have at the end of our front room has a small area the chair fits. She loves to scoot it out just enough to squeeze back there and most of the time she brings a book to read, or whatever her 'treasure' is at that moment (in this picture it is an old cell phone of mommy's & her Elmo trick or treat bucket). The other morning I was putting a load of laundry in, and I heard her frustration cry, and it got louder. I peeked my head around the corner and saw that she had trapped herself underneath the chair and couldn't get out. It was so cute, she was so mad and all I could do was laugh and take a picture. Maybe that makes me mean, but it was too cute to pass up the photo opportunity.

PIGTAILS!!!!

2008-02-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

Well, Emmy's has always had hair, and her mommy finally decided to do something with it! I think she looks so much bigger with pigtails for some reason, I guess more grown up. I thought she would pull out the hairholders and eat them or something, but she is really good -- she just forgets they are there, it's great. She is so much fun at this stage, really understanding and responding to all my questions. She knows animals sounds for sheep, cow, and monkey, and is just a happy cute little girl. I am so blessed to have her, and to be able to be home with her all the time. She is such a great baby girl.
We went to the park the other day, and it was the first time since she started walking. Within the first 90 seconds at the park, she fell and scraped her face. Thus, the big red mark on her left cheek. She loved walking around at the park, had a great time.

Our little mover

2008-01-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

Emmy is so fun, never a dull moment with her. She is walking so well, and she has always been a dancer and more so now that she's on her feet. This is of her and her favorite blanket, which she lately wears as a cape. She is watching the Backyardigans on Nick Jr. She doesn't watch a whole lot of TV, but she loves Little Einsteins, Backyardigans, and a show called Yo Gabba Gabba, which you all need to look up on You Tube. Yo Gabba Gabba is a techno music show for kids, it is really weird but Emmy loves to dance to the beat. She doesn't dance a whole lot in this segment, but its all I could catch on film, she's camera shy.

Nap Sharing

2008-01-22T09:45:00.001-07:00

Who says you need two cribs for two babies? Celeste and I had been gone all day with the kids, we went to Ikea, Costco Home, etc. and our babies were so good they fell asleep on the ride back to my condo. For those of you that don't know Tyler, he doesn't nap much, so we had to take advantage of this nap. We lay both babies down in Emmy's crib since they were already asleep, and they slept for over an hour like this. Then Emmy woke up and was a little mad someone else was in her crib. It was too funny to not take a picture.

Weekend in Tucson

2008-01-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

We spent this past weekend in Tucson. It was so much fun! We had a picnic at a disc golf park, and got to watch old men hippies play disc golf (frisbee), played the train game, ate yummy chinese food at May Flower, played the train game, played cards, and played the train game. So basically we and Roger/Kelly are obsessed with the train game. It is so fun! Anyone want to play? Kelly has pictures of the picnic, I will come back and post one when I get it (Kel- if you read this before I get time to call you, will you email it to me? Thanks:). It was so much fun to spend the weekend with Roger and Kelly, they are so much fun and so easy going. Emmy really started walking so much more in the two days we were there too. I think she just really liked their cute apartment, it was small and great to walk around in for her. It was like watching pinball, she would go from one wall to another, then the cabinents, then the table..... It was cute. She had a good weekend there.

We have a full time walker on our hands!

2008-01-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

So Emmy started walking about a month ago, at least her first steps were then. Boy is she walking now! She is walking everywhere, and of course takes lots of spills. She fell into the lazy-boy footrest at Mamaw and Papaw's house last night and scraped up her nose. Its bruised, but she is a tough girl, hardly crying at all.

Here is a video of her walking. As Mamaw says, she looks like Charlie Chaplin when he's pretending to be a drunk, she just needs a cane and hat.

Cajun Christmas! part I

2007-12-28T10:28:00.001-07:00

We spent an exciting Christmas in the South with the Dannenberg side of the family! We had so much fun for the eight days we were able to visit. Our trip began with a very bumpy landing into the New Orleans airport, there was so much turbulence people thought we were going to die and were screaming at the top of their lungs everytime the plane darted or dropped during the last half hour of flying. We could see a bad storm with lots of lightening and thunder but didn't realize until after we landed that New Orleans received 7.5 inches of rain in less than 10 hours that day! That's more rain than Arizona gets in a year!

We spent the first few days at Dan's parents house in Baton Rouge, and got to see Susan and our nephew Paul. Emmy and Paul had so much fun playing together, it was cute to see them take to each other so well. Emmy started walking more and more because she saw Paul running everywhere and wanted to keep up!

We had a truly southern style holiday. For three days we were in Onalaska, Texas - town on Lake Livingston which was beautiful, and very cold. Once we started hearing stories about the lake, I was really glad it was so cold --- the alligators, snakes, and other dangerous things hibernate when the temperature is cold.

Emmy had so much fun staying on the lake. There were a few dogs around that she laughed at all the time. As you can see, she loved looking out the windows of Dakin and Gary's lakehouse, who wouldn't with such a nice view. On Christmas Eve we had a meal fit for any southerner - Gumbo and a dish called Shrimp and Butter Beans. Delicious! Christmas Day was even better, real Cajun stuffed chicken cooked in a "Cajun Microwave" (really cook outdoor cooking contraption - see picture below), Boudin (Cajun Sausage containing meat and stuff, but traditionally was a blood sausage), grilled alligator, sweet potatoes, LSU cheese, pumpkin cheesecake, and Chess Pie ( I hope I spelled that right). Delicious! Couldn't have asked for better hospitality.

After our stay in Onalaska we headed back to Baton Rouge and had the chance to visit Mike the tiger - LSU mascot. He is in his own zoo like setting on LSU campus all the time. The kids loved seeing him, despite the pouring rain.

What a great way to spend our Christmas, we had the best time!

Emmy turned one!

2007-12-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

Emmy turned one last week, she had a good time at her party. We had a dinner with just the AZ family, it was fun. She ate so much food I thought she would burst! Here she is eating cake and ice cream and opening presents.

We are headed to the South (aka the 'dirty-dirty') for the holidays, hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and remember Jesus Christ and his life and sacrifices for us.

Emmy's first steps.

2007-12-14T09:30:00.001-07:00

Emmy decided to take her first steps the other night (December 12, the day before her first birthday). She completely surprised me with it, and actually repeated it for the video camera after a little coaxing. Here is the repeat, so its actually her second steps? :) She is not a full fledged walker, in fact she still crawls everywhere, but she's getting there.

Mohawk tubs!

2007-12-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here is emmy in her mohawk tub time! She is always extremely happy in the morning and loves her ducky in the tub.

Almost walking!

2007-11-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

Our monster is becoming quite the active girl! She has always been into things, but it is getting bad! She is walking around everything so well that she can get into most anything. She can even reach the top of the table, which she does often. Despite the messes she makes, its pretty cute seeing her almost walking! She doesn't quite have the confidence to take more than one step on her own, but I'm sure she will be there in no time, and I'm enjoying her not quite walking yet!

Sick Days and Cabin Fever

2007-11-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Well, Emmy has had some sort of flu bug the past three days. It has been hard for both of us to stay home all day long! She is such a good girl when she's sick, just extra tired and not wanting to eat anything. I know she is so tired of being in the house though, I can tell by the way she acts. She misses Tyler and probably Target, since we are there so much! Today she is feeling a lot better - she didn't puke this morning (hallelujah!) - so we get to get out of the house.

Here are some sick day pictures. Special thanks to PaPa for buying new toys this past weekend, its nice to have something new to play with when you have cabin fever!

Emmys first Halloween!

2007-11-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

Emmys first halloween as a puppy! She was great in the costume despite teething alot, which explains the first picture. We took her to a trunk or treat event at a park with the church where emmy got some awesome candy for mommy and daddy!!! I know its wrong, but shes too young for most of it. Minus the sucker which she really liked.

Busy life with the Waffle Monster!

2007-10-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

So, we gave Emmy some waffles for breakfest last week, and it was a big hit. She loved it as do I! I have never seen her stuff her face like this before with food, she REALLY liked the waffles. She can be quite passionate about her food.

Its been a busy week for us all. Bekah has been extremely wonderfull as usual as a mom by toggling between a busy mother / housewife and work. Watching Emmy alone can be a handful as she explores everything, and loves to destroy anything. As for me, Im done with my midterms, and I did fantastic! They were harder than I thought, but I overcame that and did well. School is going great and I am enjoying the program.

I went to an ASU game last saturday night with my brother-in-law Layn, and my father-in-law Roger, where the Sun Devils beat out Cal state bears. It was a great game and had a good time with the family.

2007-10-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted anything for a while, sorry! Emmy is doing great, she is so on the go! She is such a happy girl, especially when she gets to play with her best friend Tyler! They are so dang cute together, always getting into trouble. They have been giving each other baby hugs lately, they press their heads on the other one's back or shoulder and close their eyes. They are also pressing their heads together, they are so cute! Everything one of them is doing, the other is right behind! Emmy is crawling everywhere, but Ty is still just scooting on his bum, he's really fast, and can keep up with her pretty well. They both light up when they are together, it is great having Celeste, Layn, and Tyler here. Emmy's top teeth are almost finished growing in, but she still won't let us take a picture of them. She has a favorite blanket now, she is so attached to it, just loves to take it everywhere with her. Here is a few pictures of her snuggling her blanket (thank you Cathy Bobby andAnnElise for the blanket:)

She has also started to hold her own bottle - it's great! I can just sit next to her, just a little independence for our little one!

Dan is facing his first set of midterms right now, and I am trying to juggle a full time mom and part time employee. It is a constant battle for balance in my life. I think I'm choosing the correct path? Hope so. I is hard to know the long term outcomes of many of our decisions, but I feel this decision is right, family first.

Emmys first word!!!

2007-09-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

Besides mama, and dada, emmy said her first real word!!! And the word is Burp!!!! Shes taking after her father in so many ways!

Super Emmy

2007-09-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

I tell you, being a mother is great, always something new and
different. Emmy is getting her fourth tooth, the second front tooth on
the top. It has completely cut through and now just needs to keep
growing in. She is a champ at teething, just gets a bit cranky now and
then.

Lately her favorite thing to do is read. She crawls up to her toy
basket and starts to pull out all her books. She loves to sit on the
floor surrounded by them just flipping through their pages, usually
upside down.

Here is a video of our Sunday mornings. Since our church
doesn't start until 3 p.m. - we have lots of time to read the Sunday
paper and stuff. Emmy really likes to look at all the ads.

I have remembered a very important moment in my young life today. I recall a
day when I was very young, a disappointing day, the day I realized in
my very young mind .....
that Cookie Monster doesn't really eat the cookies, just breaks them up
and throws them around. Yes, that was a sad day.

Love to all, Bekah

Home with a cold

2007-09-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

Well, not a lot is going on here. We are supposed to be at an ASU
football game with some good friends, Pete and Rebecca, but Emmy and
Bekah have colds, so we are home. We both have fevers, sniffles, and
congestion. Despite these, Emmy is in a great mood, just a little
tired. We have failed to post some of her recent accomplishments, so we
caught them on tape today and yesterday.

Here is Emmy laughing with Daddy, note the snort in her laugh that is not usually there, just cause she's sick.

Here is a clapping segement.

And the playing of the peek-a-boo.

This is such a fun age for babies.

Emmy the Amazing!

2007-09-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

So here is an update for the arizona Dannenbergs.

Emmy has recently picked up two new tricks out of know where. We are not sure where she picked this up, possibly from some friends of ours, but she plays peek-a-boo with blankets, hands, etc.... She also decided to start clapping. This were sure she got from her cousin tyler. In other emmy news, shes still an adventurer and a tough kid. She can take a good tumble. Shes also getting in her third tooth!! Its poking through.

As far as bekah goes, shes busy with watching emmy during the day and working part time at night.

And I (dan) am still cranking it out at ASU. Its crazy busy though. As it should being the 2nd busiest campus in the nation!!!!!! I have usualy an hour and a half inbetween classes which is great for homework and lunch. Lunch though is quite pricey on campus, so I try to bring food or on thursdays the Institute building has $1 lunchs. (The Institute is an LDS building that has gospel classes you can take, its really cool). So far im loving school still. The design college is VERY competitive, but I like that. Out of the 300 students in my class, only 44 will be accepted for the 2 - 4 years of the school!!!! Its REALLY intense. But, I love challanges and their course do that for me.

MONKEYS CAN CLIMB BUT THEY DON'T BITE!!!

2007-09-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hello again, so soon! Just an update on our little family. Emmy never ceases to amaze me. She is getting her top teeth, one has been cutting through for the past few days. She is wonderful about it. Just a little upset here and there, couldn't ask for a better teether. She is so obsessed with her tooth, she has to chew everything, and sometimes trys to bite things she shouldn't (like my arm, and tyler's head!!!). She has also been climbing everything. Every time I look over at her, she is climbing something different. Here is a picture from this morning, she climbed into her toy basket with one leg, to try to get to Elmo on the tv, and couldn't get the other leg in or her one leg out! She got stuck, and wasn't quite sure what to do about it. I don't even know how she got in there, since its about waist height for her. She is a monkey girl, maybe she should be one for halloween ..... hmmm

Emmy's third tooth and my ramblings about things!!!!

2007-09-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

Emmy has her third (upper front tooth) coming in!!! Its just now slowly poking through and I must say she handles teeth coming in like a pro. Shes been a trooper as always. Shes kinda slowed down with the growing, but with her massive sleeping epidemics lately we might be wrong.

School is alive and kicking for me. Im taking a full load and studing: Design Awareness, Design History, Designing Life, and a Studio class. Of course my favorite is the Studio because its hands on. I got my Mac, laptop computer for school and I must say, I LOVE IT!!!! The simplicity of the thing is unreal and brilliant. I use it for graphic programs and it handles it perfectly. I love it so much I think I might name it and give it a placemat at our dinner table.

In other news!!! My beard is officially gone (at least until the sequel is permitted). Bekah and I were released with the cub scouts at church and I was given a new calling. Bekah is yet to recieve hers. My new calling is Assistant Priest Quroum Advisor. I help out with the 16 - 18 year old boys with teaching their class on sunday, or going to events with them or camping, etc...
It should be fun. But, back to the beard. I shaved the beard off because bekah and I agree that I am teaching and helping these young men prepare for missions, so it felt appropriate to be more clean shaven. Emmy really likes it too!!! thats a plus.
(note: callings are church duties assigned to church members to help run the church, every position in the church is a calling and based on the willingness of the member to serve) not sure if everybody knew what a calling was or not

bye
-dan

Labor Day Weekend!!!!!

2007-09-05T18:22:00.000-07:00

Well, labor day weekend just passed and it was great. We spent the 3 day weekend with family the whole weekend just laying low and having fun. The Bekah, Celeste and Kelly went shopping on saturday with the babies freeing up the guys schedual!!!! Wrong, well partly wrong. We cleaned the insides of our cars and then we played Rogers new Nintendo Wii!!! Gotta love video games.

Roger (bekahs brother) and Kelly (his wife) came down for this weekend and had a good time with them. Kellys fairly new to the family and she handles our odd ball craziness like a pro, she fits in as if shes always been family. We love her as a new edition. And shes picking up High-Low (card game) really well. (sorry for losing with you kelly, dont let anybody tell you what to do in cards, your doing fine without them!)

Dan's first week of school!

2007-08-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well, Dan has officially started college - he's a SunDevil! He had a good first week, while Bekah stayed home and waited for Fed Ex and UPS everyday! Dan has his new Apple laptop, and has already been 'geeking' it out quite a bit.

He also gets to ride the bus everyday to school, it saves us a lot of money in gas, not to mention the $500 for a parking pass (yes that is five hundred dollars!)!!!! Dan's favorite bus moment so far is when two guys started fighting over a seat, and the bigger guy finally got up in the small guy's face and said "I'm getting off at your stop today, esse" - and then did get off at his stop! Other than the bus rides, he seems to love school. He is immersed in art and computers, what more could he want in life?

Emmy is doing well - we call her our little monster. She is all over the place. Already she is walking around furniture and pulling herself to standing almost unassisted! She gets cuter everyday.... this is such a fun age for her to be in! Her personality is really showing. We will post more pictures soon.

Emmys going swimming!

2007-08-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

Emmy loves going swimming. Though at first she didnt care for it, but now, she loves splashing everyone.

Emmy Vs. the Strawberry

2007-08-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of emmy having fun with her favorite food, strawberries. We have to get her dressed down to only her diapers due to the mess she makes. She is cute though.

2007-07-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Emmy is all over the place with her crawling and climbing anything she can get close to. She mastered crawling about two weeks ago, and within a week of that milestone, starting pulling herself up to a standing position. She is really on the move, giving no break for her parents to catch up! We weren't supposed to have to child proof everything for another couple months! Here is some footage of our little sweetie!

crawling like MAD!!!!

2007-07-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

Since she turned 6 months old, Emmy started doing the belly flop and crawl thing. Now that shes 7 months old, shes at full speed and determined to explore. We figured that she would take a break and get used to this crawling thing for a while, but now it seems that she wants to go straight into pulling herself up and standing mode. She has two toy bins she likes to crawl over too and pull herself up to stand to look in. *Note: When I mean stand its a wobbley stance, arched over, but she progresses quickly.

Wish I had a picture of her in action, which I should probaly do, but I dont. A video file would be better I suppose.

Emmy likey strawberry

2007-07-06T13:40:00.001-07:00

This little device that emmy is chewing on holds food in a tea bag like pouch. You put fruit (or whatever) in it and it filters out the seeds and chunks of food allowing only the juices to go through. Emmy seems to be enjoying her strawberry in this picture through the pounch and the other picture is the aftermath. Its a no cloths function when she is eating like this.

Daddy's little girl

2007-07-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

I feel a bit remiss in my blogging efforts. Thought I would make a quick entry. Here is Emms, her Daddy's girl with headphones on - 'geeking it out'. She is doing well, so much fun to be with. She is an unusally great baby. We are so happy to have her in our family. I can't believe she is crawling already and has two teeth, she is probably going to be trouble as a toddler! She is learning to talk a little, knows MaMa, and she now knows who Mama is! Daddy's jealous.

We are so excited for our upcoming trips, Baton Rouge and Roger's wedding in Utah. It will be so good to see lots of family members. Can't wait.

Bekah

Three weeks away

2007-07-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Its only three weeks away from our trip to Baton Rouge where emmy will meet her other grandparents for the first time. Its really exciting for us all. This month is looking to be a busy one as I am trying to wrap up all the financial stuff for my start at ASU. We also have a quick 2 day trip to Utah for bekahs younger brothers wedding.

Sick days

2007-07-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

It seems emmys a little under the weather at the moment. Bekah may be a little ill too it seems. Our nephiew who lives close by has a cold so were pretty sure it started there. Emmys not too uncomfortable as she still seems to be in high spirits.