Halloweeeeen & One Big Belly

Oh Halloween...I'm not going to lie, not my favorite holiday...I guess I'm just not that into all the "scary" stuff...maybe as our kiddos get older it'll be more fun to get all into it and get everyone dressed up :) Because honestly, I don't think Emery really got what was going on...or maybe I didn't prepare her enough for it? Either way, this year we decided to go ahead and partake in the festivities! The Wednesday before Halloween our ward had its Trunk or Treat and Emery went as a princess sporting the dress my mom and I (mostly my mom but I learned a lot!) whipped up for her...I think it turned out pretty cute...but not nearly as cute as the little girl wearing it :)

By the way, this is her getting into "dads truck" which I have to document that she love, love, loves...especially going over the "whoas" :)

Emery got her face painted...(thanks Aunt Chris) and even got to pet a "little bits pony" with dad...we thought for sure she'd be afraid of the pony but she surprised us both and had no problem petting it yay!

Now Friday night we got a babysitter

(not really, Morgans mom watched her which doesn't really count as a "babysitter" cuz Emery has some semi-serious separation anxiety so we're afraid to try a "real" babysitter cuz she'd probably flip out like she does in nursery....its so sad...)

Anyways! Morgan and I went to our friend Halloween party and had a BLAST! (thanks to the Sisters Banks and Mallory) Morgan and I dresed up as a "Basketball Player and the Ball" which I may or may not have stolen from the internet...we wanted to take advantage of the fact that my belly is huge without being too cheezy like going as "Mother Earth" or whatever...OR offending anyone by going as a Nun and a Priest (which we considered) Plus the whole costume cost us like $10 dollars by the time we bought the paint for my belly and the sweat bands...win win!

And as if there hasn't been enough belly already for one post....here's the official 39 week Photobooth belly pic

Honestly if it wasn't for Photobooth we would have pretty much NO documentation of this pregnancy...which is one of those things that I know I'll want to look back on every now and again...:) Hopefully there wont be a 40 week photo but I guess its not really up to me! If this little girl still feels like she needs to cook a little longer then so be it (just as long as she doesn't get any bigger) :)

Oh My, Oh My...

I remember begging my mom to put sponge curlers in my hair as a little girl (or if you're Annie, last week :))...so the other day I saw some at Target and thought I'd give them a try on Em! I wasn't sure how it was going to go as far as her attention span but she did soooooo well! She didn't budge the whole time...(the ipod may have helped a little bit but still!) doesn't she look adorable??

(Morgan walked in the door from school as this picture was taken...she loooooooves her dad)

So they only lasted about on hour or so, (which is longer than I thought they would) mostly because of the tickle fight/wrestling match she and Morgan had...

2 Years Ago...

2 years ago on the 10th, Morgan and I became parents for the first time and fell head over heals for this little girl...

To read Emerys life story, read every post from October 10th 2008 until now :)

Now onto the festivities! Since Emerys birthday was on a Sunday and I'm quite large with child and not really up for a lot of hullabaloo, we decided to keep this birthday to family. Which is still PLENTY of hullabaloo :)

The Lewis boys came down the mountain to spend the weekend with us and the rest of the cousins (minus the Clarkson girls) came over on Sunday for dinner and some cake and ice cream! It worked out really well because my parents always have Sunday dinner so all I was in charge of was the cake! (even though Annie really ended up making it while I held Bridger boy...thanks sister! :))

(a lot of candles for a two year old i know...all the little candles spell "EM!" but you can't really tell....)

Thanks to Savannah and her mad bargain shopping skills, Emery got her very first TRIKE this year!! Emery LOVES it...and so did every little kid at my parents house...you know you picked a good gift when there's at least three other children in the room crying because THEY want it...haha

Unfortunately, Morgans family was in Rocky Point with the other grandkids for Ems actually birthday (again, me being large with child, decided to sit that Mexico trip out)so we had a second little party for Emery as well as Ayson (whose birthday was on the 5th) on Tuesday...

The Christensens got Emery little "clickity-clack" shoes which Emery LOVED and Grandma and Grandpa Pew got her a new baby with all the accessories...

(isn't Morgan handsome?? seriously...just thought I'd throw it out there)

Emery has been obsessed with babies honestly as long as I can remember... if there is a baby in the room she'll drop everything to hold it or feed it or just look at it and say "aww...baby" she has to have one or two of her babies with her all the time and really does a good job taking care of them! They get fed and changed and taken for walks and cuddled and put to go "night night" at least 10 times a day...

I can't even say how grateful we are for our sweet Emery...she really is the sweetest, most sensitive, affectionate, kind-hearted little girl I know...she has taught us more about love and patience and what really matters in this life in the short two years that she has been here, than we ever could have imagined...we joke that we're going to get it with this next baby cuz there's no way the Lord would give us another one like Emery...no one is that lucky :)

Oregon Quick Trip!

So Courtney, Annie, my mom and I got the wild hair to book a trip to the great Northwest and take advantage of the fact that Courtneys parents have a house up there that pretty much sits vacant most of the time...we convinced our husbands (well two of them at least) and Thos that it would probably be the only time that would ever be able to go and stay for free cuz Courts parents are thinking about selling...so away we went!

Thank you Allegiant Air for getting us there safe

The house we stayed in is right across the street from the Deschutes River...and let me tell you, it is beautiful...honestly the whole scenery reminded us a lot of our own White Mountains just with more water...which is nice :)

get a load of that belly... 30 weeks today!

The next day we went on a little hike to a place called...hmm...well i don't remember what it was called but the whole hike was along side the Deschutes River...again beautiful (but with lots and lots of mosquitos....yuck)

we're working on Emerys "pretty smile" haha and yes, that little dot on her forehead is a mosquito that I squashed right after this picture was taken. I feel itchy just talking about it...

That is a big cliff with Matt at the top looking very "king of the mountain"

hmm....

Sunday we took a drive up to Washington! Just to be able to say we've been there :)

On the way back we drove by Mount Hood which was AMAZING....probably my favorite part of the trip was the drive around this mountain...someday I will hike it...someday

We pulled off the highway to eat our lunch at this random little veggie stand which happen to have the cutest little vacation rental with the perfect view of the mountain...If it wasn't so dang windy i'd totally live there :)

And then we headed back to the house and goodbye to Mount Hood...for now :)

These cute girls were the biggest stars ever...and very cute :) (Bridger too but he wasn't wearing Tinkerbell so he had to sit this one out...)

Big thanks to the Wilkes for letting us commandeer their house for the weekend! And to Mom, Annie, Bridger, Thos, Matt, Court, and Kenz for being great travel buddies :) We love you guys! aaaaand to Lissa for keeping our rabbit alive while we were gone :)

Arizona Room Camp Out

Tragically the fan on our AC unit bit the dust yesterday evening...I guess thats what we get for keeping the AC so low all the time (thank you Solar Panels) ;)

Luckily we have a little AC unit out in the Arizona room/Emerys play room soooo we blew up the air mattress and camped out there last night! It was fun....sort of. :) We tried to make the best of the situation and I think we did a pretty good job!

Funny though, the highlight of the whole thing....

I said to Morgan "well at least you'll get to watch Sports Center from in bed!" and he said "I know!! I'm kind of excited about it...is that weird?"

Emery thought it was the coolest thing ever to get to sleep in her play room...

Potty Time!

We took the potty training plunge Tuesday...

Our baby isn't a baby anymore...bye bye diapers!

Hello panties!!

Honestly...its bitter sweet...I kind of miss my diaper baby (and the convenience of them...) and sometimes I think, am I crazy? Am I trying this too early???

But she's been doing really well so far! She's been dry every morning all week, only one accident yesterday and none so far today...so we're going to keep going and see how it goes! And seriously, seeing her cute bummy in panties makes all the potty trips and isolation (we haven't left the house in a couple days) worth it!! We can do this...

Pew Beach Week 2010

We were lucky enough to visit our favorite beach in Oxnard for a second time this summer! Yay!

It was sooooo nice to be back on the beach and in a sweater again...

This time we got to spend the week with the Pew side (and the "beach week" friends) :)

Quite the contrast going from 16 little kids in one house to 3! We were spoiled this week to say the least...

Nobody I think as much as Emery though...

she got "a bite" of just about anything she wanted no matter who was eating it (sorry everyone especially Gpa, she's a mooch what can I say)...

got to play with all of Ayson and Maceys toys (thank you Aysonpants for sharing)...

took naps on the beach...

stayed up as long as she wanted...

slept in...

played "ouside" with her cousins aaallll day...

and the list goes on...

Emery got so tired out on the beach and was having the hardest time going "nigh night" until her daddy came and laid down next to her and then she was out like a light...

Our new tradition thanks to Courtney...the Underwood Family Farm in Moorpark

Ayson got to go on a pony ride and Macey got to pet one but Emery didn't want anything to do with either...

The rest of the day was full of feeding animals, practicing our animal sounds, a train ride and lots and lots of fun

The rest of the week was spent having a blast on the beach...

Morgan and I did escape Wednesday with Dallin, Lissa, Jake, Kaylee and Bailey to Santa Barbara so the boys could play Sand Piper . Us girls shopped till our feet hurt and then met the boys for dinner...

Thank you Grandma and Papa for watching our widdle widdle :) And and even bigger thanks to those same two wonderful people for the entire trip in general...THANK YOU!!!

And another thanks...to my more than amazing mother...

Our tired little family pulled up to our house Friday night to a freshly mowed lawn...freshly planted flowers, all the dead ones pulled out...and these on my kitchen table...

I mean seriously...what a lady right??

Thank you for the thousandth time mom...we LOVE LOVE LOVE you!!