Raging Waters

This past weekend my family came down from Preston to have one last "play day" before life gets too hectic with school and everything. We had Sunday dinner together seated at our new dining room set. Yay! I love it - it's beautiful! Then we played Yahtzee, which I won :) and watched a movie. It was a great day!
Monday morning we got up and went to Raging Waters. My dad spent most of the first couple hours chillin on his lawn chair in the shade. We finally convinced him to go on some of the slides. On his first ride down he managed to lose his tube and flip himself over, in the process smacking his face on the side of the slide. At first it just looked like his eye was going to be a little swollen, but by the time we got home he had quite the shiner! His eye looked pretty beat up. I wonder if he will ever let us talk him into anything again???



Here are Josh and Todd taking turns trying to make it across the water on the ropes. Josh made it the whole way without falling in - must be that military training. Todd gave it a good faith effort, and managed to make it about half the way across. We had so much fun! Oh, and only minimal sunburns. Thank heavens for 100 spf sunscreen!

School...

As a new semester begins, I am mourning the loss of my hubby and my sister. They are NEVER home! I feel like Emee and I are orphans. *sigh*.... At least it's a worthy cause. I'm so proud of them both, working full time and going to school full time is definitely not a small undertaking! Here's to another semester of higher education! Wish us luck and sanity!

Emslee is 5 months old today!

Wow, how time flies! Emslee is already five months old. I swear, seventeen is around the corner! She'll be there before we know it. It has been so fun to watch her grow, and to see her discover new things every day. She's learned so much already. She laughs A LOT, smiles at anyone who will pay any attention to her, she rolls over and scoots around on the floor. The other day I left her on a blanket in the middle of the floor of her room for a couple minutes and when I peeked back in, she was halfway out the doorway! Looks like we'll be investing in some baby gates here very soon.
Plus, within the last couple days she has started sitting up! She's still a little unsteady but she will sit there (hunched over a bit) for a few minutes. She's amazing!
Her newest thing lately has been her new "language." Rather than the cute coo's and ba-ba's she started out saying, she now speaks by squealing...loudly. I'm sure our neighbors could attest that she has become quite the talker. She loves to wake her daddy up at 3 am and have a conversation with him. She will push her face into his and start squealing until he wakes up and talks back to her. I just love the way her face lights up when he talks to her. It's adorable!

This is our sweet little baby - showing off and sitting up!

Rodeo Weekend

This past weekend we went to Preston for The Famous Preston Night Rodeo. Okay, so we didn't actually go to the rodeo. We didn't think Emslee would handle sitting through it very well. Going home during rodeo weekend has become a tradition of sorts, so we packed up and trekked up there.
We had such a fun time! We went to the parade, swam in my parent's big ol' pool, had lunch with my friends from high school, shopped the sidewalk sales, and celebrated Jason's birthday. It was so great! I got to see my besties from high school and their ADORABLE little boys. What beautiful kids! Not to mention all the other people from high school I ran in to. It was fun reminiscing. The parade was fun, but it certainly made me sad to see how small the high school band has become. It used to be HUGE when I was in school. Ah well, all good things must come to an end I guess.

While we were shopping the sidewalk sales, I found this cute little sun hat for 3 dollars. I just couldn't resist! Emee just kept smiling at Todd while we waited for the parade to start. What a beautiful little girl, if I do say so myself!

A few More of my Favorites

Photo Shoot

Courtney Hagberg took these photos for us. She is absolutely amazing! Thank heavens for people who have more talent than I. These pics turned out so ADORABLE!

4 months old today!

I can't believe it - our little angel is 4 months old today. My how time flies! She is so grown up already. She loves to giggle out loud, roll over, play with her daddy, and pull mom's hair. She is constantly chewing on her hands, and is determined to one day fit both fists in her mouth. (Even though her current attempts always induce gagging.) She has a little personality that is all her own. She smiles constantly, and even pulls faces at Karyn. Each day I am amazed at how much she has learned. We love you little Emslee!

Our little superstar!

So to be honest, Emslee doesn't get put down enough to really ever roll over. Her cousin Darby (who is 5 weeks younger) picked up this skill quite quickly. As you might surmise, it really really irritated Jason that Emee hadn't rolled over yet.
Every time he tried putting her down on her stomach, she would bury her face in the carpet/blanket and cry. She wanted nothing to do with this "rolling over" nonsense.
The past few days I have been at my parent's house in Preston. It appears that my mom just has an innate ability to teach people things. She was able to get Emee to roll over without hardly any coaxing. I had to capture it on video so that Jason could relish the moment, being that he wasn't there when it occurred.

Huh?!

While attending my adorable niece Darby's blessing yesterday, Emslee and I were spending a considerable amount of time in the foyer. Having sacrament meeting smack dab in the middle of her afternoon nap has the ability to make church interesting...
Anyway, while there, a complete stranger walked up to me, snatched Emslee out of my arms and proceeded to tell me that she knew how to get my baby to sleep and that I was doing it all wrong. EXCUSE ME? To add insult to injury, she then began telling me that the pacifiers I am using are not the correct size for Emee's mouth and that I needed to get the special "orthopedic" ones. Hellooo...she's brilliant. Orthopedic??? Are you sure you didn't mean Orthodontic?!
I just love well-meaning strangers.

See a likeness?

I was flipping through pictures and I couldn't help but notice that my darling little girl does, in fact, resemble me. (I'm on the left.) Granted, my cheeks are by far chubbier but look at those eyes! I can see where she came from. :-)

Emslee's Blessing Day

Emslee was blessed on June 7th in the Orchard 1st Ward. She was such an angel - she fell asleep right before her blessing and slept through the whole thing. Her Grammie Jo made her beautiful blessing dress, and her Uncle Nick was sweet enough to take pictures for us. Then Janica edited them and made them lovely. Thanks guys!
Our little girl has been such a blessing in our lives. We just absolutely love her!

This week..

I think this week has taken more out of me than I even thought I had to give. Sometimes, things just hit you when you least expect it.
My sweet Grandma is clinging to life in a nursing home. I want her to be out of pain and to be "in a better place," but at the same time I desperately want her here with me. I'm so selfish! I love her so much, and it will be so hard when she goes.
I just want to throw questions out to the universe - why does Heavenly Father allow people to remain on the earth when they are basically in a vegetative state? What is her purpose here? Is there something she needs to learn? Is there something her family needs to learn? I just don't understand...
I never thought I'd lose both of my remaining grandparents in the same year. Ugh. I can at least take comfort in the fact that she got to meet my cute baby. And I know I will see her again.
I love you Grandma!

More pics of our sweet baby

Bathtime!

This week marks the anniversary of Jason's fourth (and hopefully final) heart surgery. At the time that he had the surgery, his cardiologists were concerned that it wouldn't fix the problem and we would be facing open heart surgery at some point in the future. We went ahead with the surgery knowing that it would be a waiting game and that it was likely not the last time he would be in the operating room.
Well it has been a whole year and so far Jason is doing great. He still tires out easily some days, and he'll never again be able to lift much. But we are so grateful that he is doing as well as he is. We were definitely not looking forward to open heart surgery! He has improved so much since his diagnosis in August of 05. When he first got sick they thought he would need a heart transplant, and that has proven not to be the case.
We feel so very blessed as we celebrate a whole year without a surgery! Woo-hoo! It's been a nice change for us. :)

Family Pictures

Ahh, the car seat

So for those of you that don't know, my sweet baby girl DESPISES her car seat. Most little kids can easily be put to sleep by taking them for a drive. But not my little one. You think at some point she would cry herself to sleep, or at least realize that she wasn't getting out of the silly car seat. But she is stubborn, just like her mother. She will scream at the top of her lungs relentlessly until someone removes her. Not only that, but she has a rather unfortunate 6th sense that provides her with the ability to promptly awaken from even the deepest sleep when placed in her car seat.
Today I had a doctor's appointment in Murray. I fed her and got her to sleep, but when I attempted to buckle her into the infamous car seat, her little blue eyes flew open and the screaming commenced. I had to listen to her heart-wrenching cries all the way down to the doctor's office and all the way back. It's amazing how difficult it is to drive with her so upset the whole way. It is truly exhausting.
When I finally turned onto my street, the crying suddenly stopped. She has such great timing! She had fallen asleep. I thought I should commemorate the moment - my daughter was actually asleep in her car seat! Aw, relish the moment with me.... even if it did come about two hours too late.