Crawling Moment

Emmalyn's friend Eisley

Thank goodness for little girls. Emmalyn and her cousin Eisley are so fun to watch together. For two weeks Emmalyn and I lived with my sister Candace while Joey finished up his internship in CA. It was difficult being away from Joey but being with my sister and Eisley made it so much better. Every morning and after each nap Emmalyn and Eisley would show their excitement when seeing each other by squealing and laughing as though they hadn't seen each other for weeks. They would play together, rough each other up a little, steal toys from each other and love each other. What a blessing it was for Emmalyn and for me. I love my sister and have enjoyed this time I have had to spend with her not only during the two weeks while Joey was in CA but the whole time Joey and I have been in UT for grad school. Every day has been an adventure; dance parties (including but not limited to interpretive dancing), the splash park and shaved ice, the children gardens at Thanksgiving Point and walking around Cabela's viewing the animal exhibits and the aquarium. Thank you sis for taking care of us and keeping me entertained! We love you guys.

A whole lot of family fun

My family ROCKS! I've always said that if there wasn't anyone else on the Earth except for my family, life would be good and every day would be a party. I love spending time with my siblings and parents; I wish that we were all living closer so we could get together more often. Every other year my family gets together for a reunion, to share in a week of family fun. This year we ended up in Park City, UT with the entire gang, except for Ryan and his family and my dear husband who unfortunately had to work. The best part of the reunion was introducing the newest members to the family to each other; cousins Emmalyn, Eisley and Bella. Emmalyn loved being with her cousins, aunts and uncles and grandpa and grandma. We visited SLC and toured the conference center as well as Temple Square. We also enjoyed a day at the lake and park playing games and working on our soccer and volleyball skills. To finish off the week off we headed to Logan for a reunion with my mother's side of the family. For this part of the reunion Joey was able to fly in and be with us for a few days. Oh how much Emmalyn and I missed him. It made me appreciate Joey even more and miss the little things in our relationship; talking face to face, cuddling, holding hands and watching him with Emmalyn. I have always loved the reunions in Logan; they become more and more meaningful as my grandpa (mom's dad) and grandma (dad's mom) get older. Both of them are in their 95th year, but you wouldn't know it. They are both sharp witted, have a great sense of humor and are great role models of faithful living. I am grateful that Emmalyn has been able to spend some precious time with them and I look forward to sharing stories with her about them when she is older.

Check It Out

I've been asked by several individuals about the accessories that they see Emmalyn wearing in pictures on my blog and when we are out and about. I'm excited to say that my very talented sister makes them and has a site that you can go to, to check out all the baby accessories she makes. I've decided to add the link to my blog so you can go directly there. You will find items from flowers, bows, headbands to diaper wipe cases, burp cloths, binky bling and so many more cute things. Please check out the Eisley Rain link on the side panel of my blog. There is something for everyone and they make unique baby shower gifts!

San Francisco Treat

We finally made it to San Francisco to have the "tourist" experience. Don't worry though, we made sure not to pull out the map too many times so we didn't look like tourists. I don't know what San Francisco looks like every other day down by the piers but Saturday was a crazy, busy day. In a way it kind of put a damper on the trip because it was hard to stop and see what we wanted to see because if we didn't keep on moving we would be trampled over. I'd have to say though for the time we were there we were able to see the sites I wanted to see. Our first stop was Pier 39 where we saw and heard the Sea Lions. It was amazing how many of them were sunbathing in the same spot where all the tourists could catch a glimpse of them and snap a picture or two. Emmalyn liked the noises they made, maybe it was because she had heard her dad, that's right her dad and NOT mom, make them over and over in preparation for our trip to Pier 39. There were many street entertainers that we stopped to watch; one that played a recorder, another that juggled tennis balls and several artists that painted beautiful scenic pictures of the city. We made our way through Fisherman's Wharf on down to Ghiradelli Square, where we stopped for a sweet treat; boy did we deserve it after the long walk. I think roundtrip we walked over 4 miles. We tried to hop on to a cable car but the line just to get on was extremely long and I wasn't about to stop while I still had the energy to walk. Emmalyn was asleep by the time we got to the BART and was such a trooper the whole day. She didn't complain once even though it was a LONG day. What a rockstar baby we have!!

The Fourth of July and more...

While living in CA we have been blessed to see so many fun things and meet so many wonderful people. For the Fourth of July we were invited to BBQ and hangout with friends at a park before watching an awesome display of fireworks. Emmalyn loved being outside and getting to watch fireworks for the first time. She met a new friend, Charlotte, who "taught" her how to share her toys. We have also been lucky to get to see two baseball games, one in San Francisco and one in Oakland, both of which were free. The best part about the Oakland game was that they were playing the Colorado Rockies, and won!! I had the best of both worlds, Matt Holliday with the A's and my Colorado Rockies. What was even better was they had a firework show after the game which we stayed all of 30 seconds for because they were so loud and Emmalyn was crying, but we watched them as we walked to the train which was just as good.

The family
Tim and Crystal

Susannah and Charlotte
Whitney and Dan

Emmalyn enjoying the Rockies vs Oakland A's gameMatt Holiday in an A's jersey...so weird but nice
Firework show after the game from the parking lot