Happy Birthday Emma

By this point I think that everyone was pictured out so there are only a few pictures of Emma opening her presents but don't be fooled...she got everything she wanted with so many family members around. With all the things going on we forgot to buy candles so Emma blew out a lighter eight times.

Here she is with her two favorite toys...Jessie from Toy Story and Bolt. We told her that when she was eight and Daddy was done with school she could have a dog. Well the owners of the house we are renting don't really want a dog and to be honest I am not ready for a dog so for now Emma will just have to be happy with Bolt and she seems to be. He sleeps in her bed and she says goodbye to him every morning before going to school.

A scripture purse to hold her very own...

scriptures! Lets hope that the excitement for reading them continues through her whole life. Here are eight things about Emma in no particular order...

1. She is easily excitable. We hear "This is the best day of my life!" about five time a week.

2. She is willing to help me with just about anything.

3. She has a strong desire to make right choices.

4. She can make her life into a musical. She loves to sing and I think she is going to get some good use out of her new Wii singing game.

5. She likes Taylor Swift so we can listen to the same music in the car.

6. She loves all things containing sugar!

7. She love to read. Right now her favorites are Nancy Drew books.

8. She has a strong testimony and love of sharing the gospel.

WE LOVE OUR EMMA!!!

It's Great to Be 8

After a fun and CrAzy couple of days the event that everyone came into town for was here. Emma was baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that I am a little biased but I don't know that I have ever met another eight year old that was as prepared and excited as Emma. One of the counselors in the bishopric made the programs for us and even printed a colored copy for Emma including her picture.

Emma knew she wanted her Dad to baptise her.

Emma is a great example to her sister.

The song "We are a Happy Family" kept running through my head. It was so nice to have so many family members with us and participating in Emma's big day.

This is Emma's primary teacher Sister Memmot. She is wonderful!

The smile says it all. When I was helping her get dressed after the baptism she was so cold but she could not stop smiling and saying how happy she was. She was so calm through the whole thing and even thanked me and Trevor for teaching her about Jesus Christ. We feel very blessed to have her as our oldest.

After the baptism we walked across the parking lot to the temple. It was such a cool experience to talk to Emma and let he know that she had made the first step to being able to enter the temple someday. It was a very special day.

Random

Here are a few random pictures that did not really fit anywhere else. This was our attempt at a cousin shot with Grandma and Grandpa...can you tell they are all tired! Abby and Ava playing with Paysons Leapster.

Auntie Heather knew the fastest way to Kyles heart...sugar.

Kyle brushing my hair with a fork.

Tackling Uncle Scott...don't worry I was told that he likes it.

Some of my cousins and my sisters. It was so fun to see them.

Payson was totally enthralled with the solar system app that my Dad found on his iPhone.

Kyle LOVED this thing even if all he could really do with it was turn it on and off.

Kyle feeding Ashlyn pretzels.

The Happiest Place on Earth

With all the family in town we got to take a trip to Disneyland together. It was Emma's birthday and she thought it was the best present to get to skip school to go to Disneyland. Can you tell the kids are excited!?!

On our way into the park. Aunt Heather is pointing out the Monorail.

It was an interesting trip to Disneyland for me. My girls were quick to inform me that they are no longer interested in the Princesses and Kyle is too young to care about any of the characters. On one hand it was nice to not have to wait in line to see a princess but it was sad to think that my girls are growing up. Here they are listening to Princess Aurora tell a story and that is about all we did with the Princesses.

Waiting in line too ride Dumbo. Cute story...The hat Emma is wearing belongs to Grandpa but for some reason Emma decided that she loved it and needed to wear it all day. Grandpa was a good sport and even ended up giving Emma the hat to keep before they left.

They are so big!

Riding the boats in story book land. It is a rough start to the ride when you have to go through Monsto the whales mouth but all the kids were way brave!

Playing on Tom Sawyers island.

She really looks like a caged animal.

Happy to be out of the stoller and out of my arms.

Hanging out with Aunt Heather and sharing her glasses.

Riding Its a Small World with Aunt Lindsay.

Kyle LOVED Its a Small World. He was facinated but everything. I don't know that I have ever seen him sit so still.

Exploring Donald Ducks boat.

This is where the princesses teach you how to dance. Emma wanted nothing to do with it until they brought out the pole with all the ribbons and she was hooked.

Wiped out!!!

Kyle REALLY wanted to drive the car and he was WAY annoyed with Emma for not letting him do it. He kept yelling at her the entire ride.

For dinner we met my family at the ESPN zone in Downtown Disney. Trevor was even able to make it! I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!!!

Kyle was pretty excited to see his Daddy.

Watching fireworks was the perfect way to end the day.

Farmers Market with cousins

So if you ever come to visit us make sure that your visit includes a Thursday and we will take you the the local Farmers Market. We usually skip the healthy fruits and veggies and go straight for the sugar.
Heather, Payson and Ashlyn came to visit and we had to get our sugar rush. Emma and Ashlyn have slushies, Abby has a chocolate covered marshmallow dipped in sprinkles and Payson has mini cinnamon sugar donuts. Does your stomach hurt just thinking about it?

Self Portraits

Kyle has learned how to work the camera. He gets so excited every time he sees the flash go off. He also drools like crazy when he is focusing on sometime so enjoy the pictures and the drool!

First Day of School

So school starts pretty early around here. So early that I had to keep reminding myself that it was coming. Both girls were super excited to start school and their new school has made a good first impression on all of us. Here is Emma outside classroom 12 where she will spend the 3rd grade with Mrs. Hardesty. I love the fact that she is wearing a sweatshirt and you can see a lady behind her wearing a tank top. It was in the low 60's but Emma insisted she was cold so that she could wear her new sweater. She has wanted one of these for over a year now and thanks to a great sale at the Gap outlet she finally has one. Her favorite thing about her new school is that she get to eat lunch outside and they have Art.

This is Abby after her first day of school. She is in the afternoon kindergarten class which oddly enough starts at 10:14. After dropping Emma off we went home and just started playing. I lost track of time and when I realized what time it was we only had 8 minutes to get out the door and to school which is normally about 10 minutes away. We raced out the door and made it just in time for Abby to hang up her backpack and take her spot on the rainbow rug. I think that it was actually a good thing that we were rushed because Abby did not have time to think about being nervous and she did great.

I really miss having my girls around. It has been so fun having them home and I think that Kyle missed them the most. He walks around the house asking for them. We are already looking forward to Labor Day weekend!

Cafe Rio and the Park

I am a month behind on my blogging so lets play catch up! My sister Karina came into town at the beginning of August. We had fun taking the kids to the zoo, the beach and just hanging out. On Saturday we all had dinner at Cafe Rio and then headed over to a cool park by my parents house.

I love these girls!

You can't tell very well from the picture but Kyle insisted on holding everyones hand. He has both of Trevors, one of mine and on of Grandpas. It made for some interesting walking.

He finally gave up and settled for just two hands since four slowed him down.So this toy/ride was the hit of the day. It is a seat that you sit in and it spins you around. Here is Karina trying it out with Kelsi.

Emma was the one who discovered this ride and it was hard to get her off of it to let anyone else have a turn. She had a hard time walking straight for a while.

Kyle thought that it was lots of fun for about three seconds and then started to yell "All done!"

I love Trevors face in this one.

We tried to get them to go down at the same time but they both had a mind of their own.

Taking a break with Grandpa and playing with the iPhone. It was the perfect Saturday afternoon.