3 Years and Counting!

Our 3rd Wedding Anniversary

Our really good friend Jessy watched Emma all day so we could spend time together and not have to worry about her! We do not get to spend time alone very often anymore so it was a very welcome relief! Thanks Jessy!!!

The very first thing we did in the morning was to go and pick up our new toy! A Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Limited Classic! We love it! We spent most of the day just riding around! We had lunch at a cute little '50's diner and then went for a ride and later that evening we had dinner at Shari's! It was so good! We planned to go black light miniature golfing but they were closed by the time we got there! But we still had an amazing time just being together!

I am so lucky to have a man like Ryan as my husband! I love him more and more each day! We have our ups and downs just like anyone but luckily the ups outweigh the downs dramatically! We cannot wait to see what the future holds for us and are very excited to be able to grow old together!

I Love You Ryan!!

I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. ~Rita Rudner

Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate. ~Barnett R. Brickn

A long marriage is two people trying to dance a duet and two solos at the same time. ~Anne Taylor Fleming

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year. ~Paul Sweeney

Emma, Emma, Emma!

These are a few of my favorite things!

Yesterday I was sitting at the computer with Emma on my lap and she saw that my fingernails were painted and she was talking to me about it. All of a sudden she gets down off my lap and grabs my finger to lead me over to the closet. I opened it so she could show me what she wanted and she pointed to the box of fingernail polish. I grabbed it and she ran over and sat down on the floor and tried to take her socks off meanwhile saying "Purple!" over and over again. So I painted her toes and when we were done she chose a pink bottle and proceeded to tell me "more". Ryan and I were laughing the whole time! She is such a girly girl!

Anyways this got me thinking that I should write down some of the funny/cute things that she does. So here goes! hopefully it wont get too long! ;)......

1.) When I gave her the new bike Ryan and I bought her and she sat on it for the first time and looked straight up at me with a huge grin and said “Thank You!” Priceless….

"While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about." ~Angela Schwin

2.) She will walk over to the dogs water dish and lean over it with her tongue out to try and drink like them... (We are just glad we always catch her in time!)

"A characteristic of the normal child is he doesn't act that way very often." ~Author Unknown

3.) She comes into the bathroom when I am doing my hair and asks to have her hair done too!

A little girl is sugar and spice and everything nice - especially when she's taking a nap. ~Author Unknown

4.) I gave her one of my old purses and she will get it out and put her pretend cell phone (thanks Aunt Liz) in it and carry it around the house… (Guess she watches me more than I realized! Lol)

"Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next." ~Franklin P. Jones

5.) She tries to help Mommy feed the dogs and when dog food gets EVERYWHERE she looks at me with a grin and says “Uh-Oh, The doggy!” (makes it a little less frustrating!)

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." ~Phyllis Diller

6.) She will follow Bella around the house saying “Lella” until she stops and looks at her. (Bear is still just “doggy”)

7.) The other day I was doing yoga and she was trying to do it with me! J

"If you haven't time to respond to a tug at your pants leg, your schedule is too crowded." ~Robert Brault

8.) She loves her daddy! She recognizes his truck and will say “Daddy, truck” and if she sees his uniforms while I am doing laundry she points and says “Daddy” and when we saw a man in Fred Meyer wearing an Army uniform she insisted that it was Daddy and then cried when we didn’t go with him…

9.) When we are driving in the car and a motorcycle is passing us she yells “bike!”! When it is a semi she yells “Truck!”

"There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million." ~Walt Streightiff

10.) The wind blew the bedroom door closed and she says *gasp* "Daddy!"

11.) If the dog gets one of her toys she will take it from them and bring it to me to tell on them saying "The doggy..." with a little scowl on her face!

"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." ~Franklin P. Jones

12.) My parents came to stay for a few days and the day after they left she went into the room where they stayed and pointed at the deflated air mattress and just said "Nana"...

13.)

"A Picture is worth a thousand words!" (2 pictures?.... well you decide!)

There are about a million other things that she does regularly or has done recently but I think that is probably enough for now... :)

Crazy Fun!

That is what our life has been like lately! We have been running around so much that sometimes I don’t even know what day it is! It has been so crazy that I have not been able to write for a while so this might be a little long… but I will try to throw in some pictures to make it interesting! Lol

On the 22^nd of June we decided to get a dog! He is sooo sweet! His name is Bear and he is an American Eskimo! Ryan is allergic to dogs and so we had not been able to have one before but for whatever reason this breed does not make him sick!

On Friday June 25^th Ryan had the day off work and so we decided that we would go camping for the night down by Puget Sound. We found a little state park to go to so that we could take Bear with us. Emma had so much fun! She loved every minute of it! We slept in the tent (although between Bear and Emma I did not get much sleep!) and roasted hot dogs on the fire for dinner and then had smores! It was fun to get away from everything for a little while. And we have been going camping a lot since then because we had so much fun!

Me and Emma! Roasting marshmallows!

Her new favorite toy! a stick daddy carved for her!

Playing down by the water!

Well on the 4^th of July we decided that one dog was just not enough so we went and picked up our second little furry friend! Her name is Bella and he is a mini American Eskimo! They love each other and it is rare to find them apart!

Emma Watching the Fireworks on the 4th!

4th of July puppies! We put food coloring on their ears so they were Red, White and Blue!

                                                                     

Bear and Bella

On Thursday the play group from my ward decided that we would all meet and spend the day at the zoo! It was so much fun! Emma loved it! We got there at 10:30 and didn’t leave till 6:30 which meant no nap for Emma but she was having so much fun that she did not even care!

It’s hard to remember all of the fun things that we have been doing as a family this past couple of months but we are just loving the summer weather and spending as much time together as we can! Here are some more pictures just for the heck of it!

Emma's new sunglasses!

                                                        Eating an Ice Cream Cone! Yummy!

 

Sittin on Ronalds lap!

Utah!

Utah Trip!
I came to Utah on the 25^th of May. I was so excited to see family and friends! For the first 2 weeks I spent a lot of time with my parents and my sister. I missed them so much being away! My little niece Amery has grown so much! I can’t believe it! She and Emma are so cute playing together! Amery thinks that it is fun to be Emma’s mom and so she is constantly telling her to do things and Emma just goes about doing them! She will bring Emma toys and Emma says “Thank You!” and then drops them because she does not really want to play with them but Amery just loves to take care of her! One day when Amery was up playing at Grandma and Grandpa’s with Emma she took the wipes out of my bag and went and found Emma and told her to lay down so that she could changer her bum! It was so cute! I also spent some time down in Provo with Ryan’s family. It was good to see them and Emma was very excited to see her Papa! He pulled her around in the wagon and they played in the garden and she had a blast!

On Wednesday the 2^nd of June Rachel came and took pictures of Emma! She is such a good photographer! We had fun trying to get Emma to pose cute and although Emma was not very cooperative she managed to make them turn out absolutely amazing! Here are a few of my favorites!

She is sooo pretty!

She love rocks... and showing them to people...

Cute!!! ;)

I absolutely love when she gets excited!

I just cant get enough of her!!!

On the fence!

On the fence again!

This is really a classic look for her.... She is being silly...

Smelling the dandy lions!

Make and wish sweetheart!!

This is a classic silly face too...

(There are a ton more but I don't have time to put them all on here so if you wanna look at them you will have to find them on Facebook! lol)

On Saturday night the 5^th I had a party with all of my good friends from High school! It was so much fun to see everyone and just hang out like we used to! We had hamburgers and corn on the cob and we just sat and talked about old times! Those who were able to come were Brian Dodge, Nathan Johnson, Jaron Nielson, Caleb Wall, Colin Lacey, Rachel Ahlberg, Kim Carr, Leslie Adams, Mckell Carson, and Liz Brooks. Some other people who came were Leslie’s fiancée Freddy Cervantes, Liz’s fiancée Brent Clark and Caleb’s friend Quincey Savage.

I had been in Utah for about 2 weeks and so on Saturday night after the party I made the trip up to Wyoming to stay with my BFF Liz! We had so much fun! It is good to spend time with friends that you rarely see! Emma had a blast too! She loves Liz’s dogs and cat and especially loves spending time with her Uncle Brent! She thinks that he is just wonderful! We did a lot of wedding shopping and preparation but it was fun! On Friday we decorated for the wedding and had the rehearsal lunch and then it was time for the bachelorette party ;) which was a blast!! We just hung out and ate cake and giggled a lot! And then “The Big Day” was on Saturday! Liz and Brent were so excited! Emma was the flower girl and she was sooo cute! She tripped going up the aisle and needed a little coaxing to throw the flowers but it was still really cute! I will post pics of that when I get them. But it is great to see your best friend so happy! Brent is a really great guy and I just KNOW he is going to make her so happy! They are both just such fun people

I left to go back to Utah on the 13^th, the day after the wedding. It was sad to go and leave all of my family and friends but I am also really glad to get home. Emma and I missed Ryan so much! 3 weeks is a long time! I am so glad that he has been there for me and supported me in taking this vacation to be here for my friends wedding! He has sacrificed a lot! Including a lot of growing up that his daughter has done! I Love You Ryan! Thank you so much!

Kids...

Life... Wow, It is so amazing how kids grow! For those of you who have kids you know what I am talking about. But for those of you who don't have kids of your own you cannot even imagine the joy that it is!

When you have kids you cry when they cry, you smile when they smile and you will do almost anything to make them laugh! It is by far the most amazing thing that I have ever had the experience to witness. She learns so much on a daily basis I feel like I almost cant stay caught up with her! New words, new actions, and even her very own likes and dislikes (which she now expresses very strongly!)

Some of her new favorite things are:

playing patty-cake- She knows all of the actions and she will stand right in front of you and start doing it so that you will sing the song.

coloring- she will color with (and on) anything that she can get a hold of (including tables and chairs and walls)

playing in the park- it is so fun to watch her because she can do it all herself now and she is so proud of herself when she goes down the slide all by herself.

Giving loves- she loves giving kisses and hugs. she will blow a kiss to anyone who looks her way! I absolutely live for a hug and kiss from my little angel!

there are a million other things and I don't even have time to list any more but I felt I just needed a little bit of mommy bragging time! I cannot wait to see what she will learn next!

My Little Angel!

I saw thing great little video the other day about moms. Just thought I would share it! Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSyCLJU3O0

14 Things not to say to a military wife....

I stole this from a friend of mine because i thought it was funny... but also true!

1. Aren't you afraid that he'll be killed?"
-This one ranks in at number one on the "duh" list. Of course we're afraid. We're terrified. The thought always lingers at the backs of our minds - but thanks brilliant, you just brought it back to the front. Maybe next you can go ask someone with cancer if they're scared of dying.
2. "I don't know how you manage. I don't think I could do it."
-This is intended to be a compliment. Though, its just a little annoying. Here's why: it's not like all of us military wives have been dreaming since childhood of the day we'd get to be anxious single moms who carry cell phones with us to the bathroom and in the shower. We're not made of some mysterious matter that makes us more capable, we just got asked to take on a challenging job. So we rose to the challenge and found the strength to make sacrifices.
3. "At least he's not in Afghanistan."
-This is the number one most annoying comment for those whose husbands are in Iraq. What do they think is happening in Iraq? An international game of golf? Guys are fighting and dying over there.Plus more then likely our Good Friends are fighting in Afghaistan, so yeah stupid remark!!
4. "Do you think he'll get to come home for Christmas/ anniversary/ birthday/ birth of a child/ wedding/ family reunion, etc?"
-Don't you watch the news? No! They don't get to come home for any of these things. Please don't ask again.
5. "What are you going to do to keep yourself busy while he's gone?"
-Short answer: Try to keep my sanity. Maybe there's a military wife out there who gets bored when her husband leaves, but I have yet to meet her. For the rest of us, those with and without children, we find ourselves having to be two people. That keeps us plenty busy. We do get lonely, but we don't get bored!
6. "How much longer does he have until he can get out?"
-This one is annoying to many of us whether our husbands are deployed or not. Many of our husbands aren't counting down the days until they "can" get out. Many of them keep signing back up again and again because they actually love what they do or they VOLUNTEER AGAIN and AGAIN to go back to Iraq b/c there is work that needs to be done.
7. "This deployment shouldn't be so bad, now that you're used to it."
-Sure, we do learn coping skills and its true the more deployments you've gone through, the easier dealing with it becomes. And we figure out ways to make life go smoother while the guys are gone. But it never gets "easy" and the bullets and bombs don't skip over our guys just because they've been there before. The worry never goes away.
8. "My husband had to go to Europe for business once for three weeks. I totally know what you're going through."
-This one is similar to number two. Do not equate your husband's three week trip to London/Omaha/Tokyo/etc. with a 12-15 month or more deployment to a war zone. Aside from the obvious time difference, nobody shot at your husband or tried to blow him up with an I.E.D., your husband could call home pretty much any time he wanted to, he flew comfortably on a commercial plane, slept between crisp white sheets and ate well, paying for everything with an expense account. There is no comparison. We do not feel bonded to you in the slightest because of this comment and, if anything, we probably resent you a bit for it. Comparing a 12 month combat deployment to a few weeks business trip is like comparing a Ford Taurus with a Mercedes convertible.
9. "Wow, you must miss him!"
-This one also gets another big "duh." Of course we miss our men. There are some wives who do not and they're now divorced.
10. "Where is he exactly? Where is that?"
-I don't expect non-military folks to be able to find Anbar Province on a map, but they should know by now that it's in Iraq. Likewise, know that Kabul and Kandahar are in Afghanistan. Know that Muqtada al Sadr is the insurgent leader of the Mahdi Army in Iraq and that Sadr City is his home area. Know that Iran is a major threat to our country and that it is located between Afghanistan and Iraq. Our country has been at war in Afghanistan for seven years and at war in Iraq for five years. These basic facts are not secrets, they're on the news every night and in the papers every day... and on maps everywhere.
11. "Well, he signed up for it, so it's his own fault whatever happens over there."
-Yes, ignorant, he did sign up. Each and every day he protects your right to make stupid comments like that. He didn't sign up and ask to be hit by anything, he signed up to protect his country. Oh, and by the way, he asked me to tell you that "You're welcome." He's still fighting for your freedom.
12. "Don't you miss sex? I couldn't do it!"
-Hmmm, no I don't miss sex. I'm a robot. Seriously...military spouses learn quickly that our relationships must be founded on something greater than sex. We learn to appreciate the important things, like simply hearing their voices, seeing their faces, being able to have dinner together every night. And the hard truth is, most relationships probably couldn't withstand 12 months of sex deprivation.
13. "Well in my opinion....."
-Stop right there. I didn't ask for you your personal political opinions. Hey, I love a heated political debate, but not in the grocery store, not in Jamba Juice, not at Nordstrom, not in a bar when I'm out with my girls trying to forget the war, and CERTAINLY NOT AT WORK. We tell co-workers about deployments so when we have to spend lunch hours running around doing errands and taking care of the house, dog, and kids, they have an understanding. We do not tell co-workers and colleagues because we are giving an invitation to ramble about politics or because we so eagerly want to hear how much they hate the President, esp. while we're trying to heat up our lean cuisines in the crappy office microwaves.
And last but not least....
14. "OH, that's horrible...I'm so sorry!"
-He's doing his job and he's a good at it. Don't be sorry. Be appreciative and please take a moment out of your comfortable American lives to realize that our soldiers fight the wars abroad so those wars stay abroad.
If you want to say anything, say thank you. Say that we all will be in your thoughts and prayers.
Just say "THANK YOU!!"

Easter 2010!

It has been a while since I have updated the blog but here is Easter!

Emma woke up Easter morning and after breakfast we took her in the living room where her eater bucket was waiting for her!

What the Easter Bunny left!

A peek inside!

After she looked at the bucket I showed her that there were eggs hidden around the living room. Her eyes lit up and she ran over to the first one.

After she found the first egg she was really excited! (but she was even more excited when she discovered what was inside of them.)

Eggs all lined up on the couch after she found them all!

After she found all the eggs she wanted to play with the toys out of her bucket so we got them out for her.

Helping mommy with her new puzzle!

Reading her new book all by herself!

"Eating" out of her new pink bucket after she emptied it!

Emma's Easter gifts included:

9 Pink Camo Eggs filled with M&M's and Jelly Beans

1 Pink sand bucket with shovel

1 bag of animal crackers

1 package button candies

1 new puzzle

1 my little pony

1 sparkley wand/baton thing

2 books

1 coloring book

2 large crayons

4 bathtub balls

1 watering can for the tub

1 blowup octopus

1 slinkie

We had a great day listening to conference and relaxing while Emma played with her new toys all hyped up on sugar!