Pumpkin

Emmie's newest word is "Pumpkin." Here are a couple videos of her playing with the neighbor's pumpkins and jabbering away.

Yellowstone with my darling Jon

Right before Emmie's first birthday, Jon and I packed are bags (and Emmie's bags which triple our stuff combined) and dropped her off at Grannie Jyl's house. Jon and I drove five hours to Yellowstone for a trip with just the two of us. WAHOOOOO! It was the best weekend ever. This vacation confirmed that I am still very much in love with my husband!



















A hot spring appropriately called "Ear Spring"

















A mini geyser from the distance. Jon is the photographer on most these shots. (His artsy side comes out!)




















Okay, so I did take this one and it is a little out of focus!





















I liked this background. Oh, and I'm not sure if you could tell yet that it was FREEZING. This was one of the more milder days. By day 3 I was wearing 5 layers on top!






















My Jonny!




















Pwwweetty waterfall. There were such amazing waterfalls along the way to different sites. My favorite part of the trip was all of the driving. There were so many cool things to see. It was a time to just sit and think. That doesn't happen when Em is in the car so it was a nice change-up for me!






















This picture does not do justice to the amazing color of teal found in this spring. It seemed magical.

















Old Faithful.....faithful as ever
























A river's birthplace is right behind me! Jon took me to this really cool place called "Big Springs." Big Springs is the head waters of Henry's Fork of the Snake River. 120 million gallons of water bubbles up from underneath the ground here every day. It was pretty amazing. Jon's Dad loves this place and would bring his family here all the time.

















Then Jon took me to a place in Island Park where he, his dad and brothers used to fish. Jon said they used to fish underneath this bridge.



















We both tried fitting under the bridge now and it was a little awkward! Jon was happy to walk down memory lane for a bit.



















It was such a great trip. I am so thankful that Em was in good hands (her two amazing grandmas and families). They were so nice to let Jon and I take off for a few days. I missed Em, but certainly not at 7 in the morning when I was peacefully dreaming! Thanks for the fun trip Jon!

A Peek into Emmeline's Day

So dazzling! I bought these glasses at the dollar aisle in Target to use for my "Sarah Palin" Halloween costume. If I end up not dressing up after all, this purchase has been put to use.









































Em and Mom....Just me and you baby (until 5:30 when "da da" comes home)






















The laundry basket is one of Emmie's favorite toys. (and the camera that she is reaching for!)





















My little angel sleeping. She has been sleeping a lot lately. This guy at the park says kids sleep more when they are learning new things. I don't know but right now she is still napping and it has been 3 hours since I put her down. World record for Em.





















Another shot of the laundry basket! This one was funny. Since our washer and dryer is a community one (down in the basement of our complex), I often lay Em on top of the clean clothes and carry her back up to our apartment. This time I sat Em in the basket, loaded all the clean, warm clothes on top of her and carried her up like this. It was actually a lot more heavy this way. I guess physics would say the weight wasn't distributed evenly. She seemed as cozy as could be!






















An appropriate bath shot!





















Em and her first baby doll. I think this picture is hilarious. Such an excited face. She got this dolly on her first birthday. She loves to rock it in our baby swing and take the binky out of its mouth. She tries real hard to put the binky back in, but I have to help her with that.






















Hugs!


















Kisses!






















She made this face after kissing the doll. Priceless!

My Cute Young Women

I love these cute girls. I see them every Wednesday and Sunday. We have become such good friends. Me, Melanie, Jessica, Tara, Shannon, Michelle and Adair and Maggie (back row). Missing in this picture: Myca, Darlene, Chieri, Rachael, Gaby, Langi, Kathryn, Shelbie, Erika, Katherine, Melanie, Kari, and Kay. Some of them are not in Young Women anymore but I still consider them good friends and people I look up to.


















Shannon


















Tara




















Jessica (homie g)





















Darlene and Neve























Gaby, Chieri and Langi

EMMELINE IS ONE!

Happy Birthday Emmie! This picture was actually taken a couple days before her birthday. She is ham at times for the camera and I love that!


















This picture was taken the morning of her birthday. I kept dancing around her and singing Happy Birthday (yes, at 6:45 in the morning). She didn't know what was going on, but she did dance a bit to the song.



















I spent most the day doing this....






















I wanted to make a fun cake for Em and I've thought about it for awhile. Some of her favorite songs I sing her are about bumblebees so I whipped out some of my VERY RARE creative skills! I found a few ideas on the internet and I brainstormed for a couple months (no joke) and this is what I came up with. I was inspired to take on such a task after seeing my sister-in-law Diana and my sister Rach make some pretty crazy cakes (dogs, lions, etc) Now I understand what Diana was saying when she said the lion was all frosting. Sorry for those of you who bit into a whole mouthful of frosting when you tried some of the bee cake!


















Em slept the whole time I was decorating the cake. In fact, Jon was going to babysit her while I decorated it if she woke up, but she never did (yes I call it babysitting when Jon watches her even though he is her dad)! I soon found out the probable reason for Em's giant nap.....a fever and a potential cold. She was not feeling good the entire time after that nap. It was really sad because she couldn't enjoy hardly any of her party. Poor birthday girl! But let's be honest, this party was more for everyone else to celebrate the great year we've had with our little Em.

















We headed to Bountiful for a family part at Grannie Jyl and Papa's house....
This is Parker and Charley getting ready for the PAARTY.





















My fam (wonderful hosts)






















Classic picture of my dad and Em. He is into the party hat but she doesn't want to be anywhere near it when it is on him!!! Maybe next year she will want to be a little closer Dad!!

















Our Featherstone Dad who apparently wanted two hats for his party attire. Grandpa Joe helped babysit Em and said they bonded when he made her pancakes. Yes, that is a good way to get to Em's heart.

























The cute Featherstone crew....they cwazzzy




















More pics...I just liked this one because of the faces my brother-in-law Jama pulls!

















More of my cute fam. While opening presents, everyone told a memory of Em (yes I turned it into a sentimental night because let's face it....I am a very sentimental person) It made me reflect on how many people have loved Em and have been made happier because of her (see there it is....the sentimental stuff)


















I'm not sure what Em is doing in this picture but I think I can still blame it on her sickness that abruptly showed up tonight.


















The purple sticky ball!! Em knew exactly what that was. Thanks Grannie!























Charley helped us open some of presents. Her birthday is in 4 days. All these October birthdays.


















Thanks Gug and Bumps for the awesome gift. We missed you but know how much you love and cherish Emmeline.























Then we brought our Mr Bumblebee.



















Charley helped blow out the candles (okay she blew out all the candles because Em never has caught on to my "candle blowing lessons!"



















The bee lost its head so Em could dig in!! She wasn't so sure at first what this yellow, gooey ball was.


















She soon found out and ENJOYED it (and yes, she did make her "yummy food" grunt as you will see in the video below)


















The sugar daze...



















Now I really think the sugar is getting to her...either that or her fever.


















Okay, the "I'm Done" face. I was really surprised that she didn't scarf it down and eat it like it would be taken away and never given back. I thought for sure she would cover her face in it. She was actually very lady-like and well-mannered (as much as you can be while eating cake with your hands!)



















Here's a little of the cake action. I guess you can't really hear the grunting because of all the LOUD people (I love you Featherstones!!!! hahahah)






The line of toys I set up after Em had long gone to bed. Thank you everyone for making this such a special day!



















My little bath queen. This pic wasn't taken today but I wanted to add it anyway. Part of her birthday gift this morning was to let her get in the shower. She loves the shower but we mostly just give her a bath. That was a special treat! I guess I just wanted to end this blog by saying that I am so grateful to be a mommy to this amazing girl. She gives me new energy for life because of her curious excitement for everything she sees. I like how President Hinckley said that children "become the world’s constant renewal of life and purpose." That is what Emmie has done for me....renewed my outlook on life. Thanks little Em! Happy Birthday sweetheart.