It's Gettin There

When we first moved into our house we were told that we needed to finish our backyard within 6 months. I don't think we really HAD too, because honestly what were they going to do if we didn't, but we have moved forward, and after a year we are finally getting our backyard finished. We'll still have a lot of work to do in the next few years, and I'm sure we'll make small adjustments here and there, but for now hopefully there won't be as much MUD tracked in, and I won't have to clean the carpets as much as a result. Now all we need to get is some kind of outdoor play set, because all Emma wants to play with are the strawberries and rocks.


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We "seeded" our yard twice, and it is finally starting to come in thicker. We will probably have to do a little over seeding in a couple of places, but luckily we have grass over "most" of our backyard. We ended up putting gravel in our side yards so that the water could drain easier. I'm sure it will continue to be a work in progress, but for now it sure looks a whole lot better.

Halloween Fun

It has been a lot of fun sharing our Halloween traditions with Emma this year. She is finally able to participate a little bit more, and we sure get a kick out of watching her explore new things. This time it was pumpkin carving. We went to the cutest little pumpkin patch and picked out some pumpkins. The last time we carved pumpkins we bought one of those carving kits and so our pumpkins looked amazing, but this year we went with just regular "be your own kind of creative". Carving pumpkins was always my favorite thing to do for Halloween. I thought my pumpkin turned out pretty good, and I had to add "teeth" because Emma is fascinated with teeth right now. I was VERY impressed with Mike's "house" pumpkin face. He's so creative, and imaginative. I hope Emma gets some of those skills from him. She was so proud of being able to help take out all of the yucky pumpkin guts.
She really didn't manage to get much out with her spoon, but she tried really hard, and had a good time. She also tried to "eat" the pumpkin. I don't know how good it tasted, mommy didn't let her get very far with it.:) Here we are with our finished creations.




Yesterday was our wards "Trunk or Treat". It is a pretty big deal in our ward and more people than actually come to church each week show up. I was released from the Relief Society Presidency on Sunday and was then called to the Activities committee, so I was thrown in to the calling pretty quick. OH boy I was a micro-managing mess. I always want everything to be perfect, without any kinks, but I really need to learn how to chill out! Luckily I am just a helper bee and I'm not the person who is really in charge. It should be a fun calling if I can learn how to not stress myself out over stupid things. Anyway, Mike was wonderful and watched Emma the whole night so I could help out. I think everyone had a great time. Emma was really "clingy" last night and so it was hard to get her to smile for any of these pictures. We were going to dress her up as a princess, but her favorite little friend Hayley(2) was dressing up as a BYU cheerleader, and so we decided it would be funny to dress Emma in her University of Utah cheerleading outfit that we have. (I was personally rooting for BYU, but don't tell Emma's dad that.):)

It will be interesting to see if we will actually get "trick or treaters" this year now that we live in a house. We have always had candy, and never a tricker or a treater. Gotta love the fall.

Kissy Face

So I realize it has been FOREVER since I last posted, but again, there hasn't been a lot to tell about. We are working on our backyard, and hope to finish it in the next week or so. I will have some fun pictures to share then. I am so excited to be able to let Emma and the dog run free outside without having to give them a bath afterwards. There's still a lot of dirt/mud that we are working around so it will be nice to get some mulch and other ground cover.

So I took these pictures of Emma to show how much she LOVES to 1. Play with the mirror, and 2. She loves to give herself kisses on the mirror. She won't give US kisses, but she sure thinks that little kid on the other side of the mirror is sure cute.:)



This is a picture of Emma on her first official day in Nursery. (Her arms are so short, I always have to roll up her sleeves.)
She sure loves it there and it is amazing all the things she is picking up from the other kids. We could sing songs with her at home and she would never pick up the actions, etc. , but she comes home from nursery and all of a sudden she knows the actions to "The Wheels on the Bus" and the "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Her favorite song is still "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", because whenever I say "Emma let's sing a song", she automatically puts her hands on her head.:)

She's a pretty funny gal.

"OH, the places she'll go"

I took these pictures the other day and thought they were pretty funny. Emma has quite the imagination and is also very determined. She decided it would be a good idea to put the baby stroller up onto the futon. For what reason I'm not quite sure, but it seemed like a good plan to her.






(As you can see she had to fix the broken stroller)

It has been a lot of fun watching her interact with her toys more. The other day she put her "baby" doll into the high chair, laid her on the piano and started saying "Shh, Shh", gives her kisses, and pretends to change her diaper. She is also very observant of our pets. She will grab Rusty's ball and point to the ground and try and say "sit". She has watched Mommy do this many times. The funniest thing happened the other day though. Mike had to ask me if Emma had been spending too much time with the cats because he had just witnessed her lick up her arm and then wipe her arm over her head. (Just like a cat) Oh she is a crack up. We sure love her. I can't believe how big she is getting.

These pictures were taken after she handed me the camera saying "Cheese".