My Baby Is All Grown Up

Emmalyn on her second day in this world; look at all that dark hair

Emmalyn as an adorable one-year old; quite the facial expression!

Like most mothers I can't believe that my baby is a year old already. This year has flown by so fast but we have had a wonderful year together. I am in awe every day as I watch her grow and develop into a little girl. She makes my heart swell when she looks at me and calls me mama, when she runs to me when she is scared or sad, when she gets so excited to see me when I've been away and lately when she gives me hugs and kisses without even asking. It is amazing how much love I have for her and how close we have become as a family. My life will never be the same because of her and for that I am truly grateful to my Heavenly Father.

Temple Square Lights

I love Christmas time. Last year one of the items on my "to do before the baby comes" list was to go to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. It is quite the site and it gets me even more into the spirit of Christmas. Unfortunately, but fortunately, Emmalyn decided to come two weeks early and we were unable to see the lights. This year we made it downtown to see the lights. It was so much fun, we made it a double date night with my sister and went out to eat at the Blue Iguana, a lot like the Red Iguana, but not as good and then we walked around Temple Square very quickly because it was one of the coldest nights ever and our little girls were freezing!! Emmalyn loved the lights. She would point at them and then say, "Ohhhh". I wish we could have spent more time walking around but at least we made it there and were able to take a few pictures to capture the moment.

Playing Catch Up

I feel like such a slacker; I haven't posted anything since the beginning of December and so many moments have been captured since then. I am sorry that I am going to have to play catch up and post several right in a row. This first one goes all the way back to Thanksgiving. Originally we were going to stay put in UT for Thanksgiving but made a last minute decision to drive to AZ to see Joey's brother and family. It was fun to be with family for the holiday and to be in warm Phoenix, AZ. One of my favorite memories of the visit was playing football, the Thorpe's vs the other's. The Thorpe's won of course and I scored two of our seven touchdowns; I guess flag football paid off. Emmalyn loved meeting her cousins for the first time; Eliza and Chloe. I enjoyed watching her follow her big cousins around and playing with all of their fun toys. My favorite Emmalyn moment was when the three cousins were all dressed the same and played Ring Around the Rosies...check out the video below. So CUTE!!!

Great news all around...

Today was one of those days where good news just kept coming our way. Here is how our day went...
10:00 am: Drop daddy off at school
10:20-11:20 am: Emmalyn had a great one-year check up; can't believe she is almost a year old already
11:20 am: As we were leaving the Student Health Center I received a call from Joey telling me that CIGNA (health insurance company) just called and would be calling him back in ten minutes. Why is this significant? Well last weekend Joey flew to Connecticut, CIGNA's headquarters for the final interview process for a job after graduation
11:35 am: Joey calls me and with pure excitement tells me that he has been offered the job with CIGNA and we have a week to accept/decline it. This is fantastic news because this is a great opportunity for Joey and it will be another adventure for our family
2:00 pm: We have an appointment with the Orthotics and Prosthetics doctor and receive the great news that Emmalyn no longer needs to wear the helmet; what an amazing job it did. We are so grateful for medical advances and what it has done for our little girl (pictures will be posted later)
3:30 pm-rest of the evening: Joey and I are still in awe of the offer we received and call/text all of our family with the good news
It is days like today that I see just how much the Lord is involved in our lives and how blessed we are.

Never Never Land

I love Halloween and now that we have a little one to dress up I love it even more. We decided to go all out and dress up family "theme" style. I need to give props to Joey for going along with dressing up and making one incredible looking Captain Hook, but I think Emmalyn wins for being the cutest Tinkerbell ever. The best thing about her costume is I bought it 9 years ago for my niece Madison when I worked for Disney and now it has come full circle for my own daughter to wear. I love it!
The week of Halloween was full of fun parties with the MBA school, our ward, and our friends Steve and Laura. We have so much candy and treats in our home that we won't need to buy any for next year. Gross but true! We can't wait until next year to do it all over again.

Little Steps

This week I caught Emmalyn taking a few steps...her first steps occured while we were visiting Colorado for Fall break but this was the first time I actually had a camera in my hands. If you are wondering why Emmalyn is wearing a helmet it is to help reshape her head. One side of her head is slightly flater than the other and this will correct it. She looks so stinkin' cute in it and we have fun decorating it to go to church, BYU football games and for Halloween. The best part about the helmet is that it has protected her from multiple crash and burns.

Oh to be 19 again

As I sit here typing this post my back aches, my knees are bruised and I am pretty sure I won't be able to move a muscle tomorrow. Why you ask? Well, this year I decided that I would get more involved in the MBASA which is the spouse association for all of us women, and a few men, who have husbands/wives working endlessly to conquer the world of education. I think I have done a good job so far, three weeks into the semester, but I may have gone too far...I joined the BYU intramural women's flag football team and the women's soccer team along with many other MBA wives. I have come to realize that my body doesn't move as fast or recover as quickly as it did ten years ago. I would also like to add that my endurance isn't where it used to be either. I think after playing maybe 8-10 minutes of soccer my face was crimson red and I wanted to pass out. We were playing on an indoor field so the temperature was a bit extreme in there. However, I am truly grateful for the physical body that I do have and the ability to play sports. I may not be the All Star that I once thought I was but it sure is fun to get back on the field and play. The best part about playing now is the supportive husband that has and probably will come to all of my games and who has brought Emmalyn along to enjoy watching mommy play. We have been so blessed being at BYU and know that the Lord has guided our path thus far and we are looking forward to what lies ahead. I just hope I make it through the next week of games. It has to get easier doesn't it?