Happy Birthday, Emily!

Today is my oldest daughter, Emily's birthday! She's 5!! I just wanted to take a moment and share how much love and joy she has brought into my life over these past five years. As many of you know, it took us a long time to finally get pregnant and I have thanked my Heavenly Father every day since that March morning in 2004, that I finally dared take the pregnancy test that confirmed what I already hoped and thought. I love you so much Emily!! You'll never know how important you are to us and how complete you finally made my life! I love how much you love life! I love how you love to learn and help others. I love how you are so caring toward everyone. I love how you love to draw and read. I love your imagination. I love how you love to obey and choose the right with your "thumbs up" (Thanks, Nichole :-) ) I love everything about you! Happy, happy birthday!!

Birth

Age 3 months

Age 1

2

3 years old

4

Almost 5

Technology

I am amazed by how quickly Emily picks up on technology items. I think kids nowadays come with technology knowledge hard-wired in their brain from heaven. I'll show her something once or twice on the computer and she's got it and can get to her game/homework websites no problem. The other day, I had left her alone while she was playing Barbie dress-up. In a few minutes, I heard giggling coming from the computer room. I went in to see what was up and this is what I found:

Emily had gone into Photo Booth all by herself and was amusing herself with all the funny pictures she was taking. It was funny! I think Emily is pretty amazing and am impressed almost everyday with all the new things she learns, especially technology related.

We love photo booth and so here are some of our favorites:

Scary faces

Emily loved how little her head was

Don't I have a beautiful daughter? :-)

My most gorgeous picture ever! :-)

Frightmares!

A couple weekends ago we went to Frightmares at Lagoon. It's the same Lagoon, but with spooky and fun Halloween decorations. As usual, the girls LOVED it. Ashley was old enough this year to get a little scared. She kept saying, "Oooh, scary ghosts!" with a smile on her face. It was a fun day.

Excited for a fun day at Lagoon

Kenny and Emily dared to go on the log flume and Rattlesnake Rapids even though it was quite cold that day.

Ashley's favorite ride

Ashley eating lunch; I just loved the way she was sitting so I had to include this.

The scary ghosts--aaaah!!! :-)

Tender Moments

Today I'm feeling very grateful. As I was leaving for work yesterday, my mind went to all the tender moments that I cherish in my life.

1. I love that my girls have to run to the garage door every day as I leave to school and sign I love you and blow me kisses, even though we've already had our loves inside.

2. I love when my husband looks at me and winks; our signal for I love you.

3. I love when Emily comes up to me, gives me a big hug and says, "Mommy you are the best mommy in the whole entire earth. I love you!"

4. I love when I get to snuggle with my girls and read to them. This is probably my favorite time of day.

5. I love when Emily asks me questions about everything, trying to figure out life. For example: a while ago she wanted to know about storms and thunder, etc. Now whenever there is a storm she always says that Heavenly Father sent the storm. Last night it was storming and soon after the storm ended, Emily started freaking out and telling me to look outside. As I was looking, she proudly declared, "Heavenly Father sent a bootiful (beautiful) rainbow. I love it when Heavenly Father sends such a bootiful rainbow!" Then she made me take her picture with it. Such a tender moment. I love my life and I adore my family. Like I said, today I'm feeling very grateful.

The picture doesn't do the rainbow justice. It was stunning!

Hee Haws

My 5th grade took a field trip on Tuesday to Hee Haw's. Kenny has tried to bring the girls the last couple years and let them play there too. This year, he had a job scheduled so I was sad that they wouldn't be coming. We get there and I start to go around with students, when I see a girl in a pink coat that looks awfully like Emily. I look up and there's Kenny. He had rearranged his schedule so they could come for a little bit. It was a great surprise. If you've ever been to Hee Haws, they have so much to do: animals to pet, slides to go on, hay ride, corn maze, goats to feed, duck races, corn box, and more. We had a great time as a class but also as a family. Thanks Kenny for making the time on Tuesday!

Feeding the goats

Feeding and petting the goats

Emily going down the "little" slide

One of my cute students going down the slide with Em

Waiting to go on the hay ride; I love my family!

These are three videos of the girls and Kenny at Hee Haws. First is Kenny taking the girls down the bumpy slide; second is Kenny and Ashley going down the slide; third is Emily. She begged us to let her go by herself. You can see how proud of herself she is!

School Carnival

A few weeks ago it was my school carnival. Each year Kenny tries to bring the girls and let them play and have fun too. The girls this year loved the train, the candy shoot, and the dunking booth. It was a fun night.

Excited to be going on the ride

They were supposed to give a thumbs up if they were ready to go

Standing up to say, "Weeee!" If you look closely you can see that Emily's shirt is wet. She had just been to her other favorite activity, the dunking booth.

The Saga of Family Pictures

Well, I started this endeavor by wanting us to go to the canyon during the beautiful fall leaves and take a new family picture. I knew it would be hard with a two year old, but I wanted to try anyway. We took 72 pictures! After we finally found a "good enough" spot, according to Kenny, we began. Here are a sampling of some of the things we went through during our "fun" experience:

The normal Ashley pose

Giving Mommy a big hug :-)

Fixing the headband she loved pulling off

Dealing with Emily's scary eyes

Don't the three of us look cute? Gotta love Ashley!

Out of the 72 we took, we got a few good ones:

In the end it was all worth it!

Training them while they're young

Emily went to her first BYU football game last night at Lavell Edwards Stadium! She had a blast and loved to sing the fight song. Kenny bought her a Cougar claw, which Emily then used to scare people with. When asked what her favorite part of the game was, she replied, "Ra, Ra, Ra, Go Cougars!"

Daddy and Emily at the game

Clapping during the fight song

Her Cougar Claw and a football

They had to get popcorn! :-)