Family Vacation

April was a really fun month for our family. We took our first family vacation down to Utah to see our family, and to support my older brother in his graduation from BYU. Our vacation started out on a Friday night after Nathan got home from work. We grabbed a Costco hot dog and hit the road.

We made it all the way to Pendleton, OR where we ended up staying the night. I kind of felt like Mary and Joseph in the way that there was no room for us in the inn. We drove all over just trying to find a hotel. When we finally found a Super 8 they were only accepting online reservations because there was a poker tournament going on that weekend. They were sending everyone downtown to the Knights Inn. When we arrived at the Knights Inn it was this rickety old building off the main drag and the parking garage was leaking. This place was so nasty, and I about died when I saw the room. They gave us the honeymoon sweet. I don't know who in their right mind would want to stay there for their honeymoon. I don't think that place had been cleaned in a very long time. A ketchup red wall above the jacuzzi tub that looked like you might catch something if you touched it. The shower was a joke. No water pressure at all, and it kept getting hot and then cold and staying cold. Plus it smelled, and you could hear every noise in the entire hotel.

After our exciting night in Pendleton we made our way to Brigham City. We were able to spend a couple of days with Nathan's Aunt Sue and Uncle Richard. It was so much fun. Sue and I have a lot in common. She loves Anne of Green Gables, Little House, The American Girls, and crocheting. We were able to see many of the cousins while we were there, my old house that I lived in until I was 3, and the starts of the new temple.

The rest of our week was full of family time. Emily got to meet her Great Grandpa's Leale and Gray, and my Mormor. It was kind of a bummer because we didn't have a ton of time to be able to see everyone that we wanted to especially when the end of the week came.

One of my favorite parts of the week was when we were able to do a session in the Salt Lake temple. I highly recommend doing that. It was really cool being able to see a live session. That temple is so beautiful, and awe inspiring to think that everything was hand made by those early pioneers. To see their faith in every door knob, mural, staircase.

My brother Nathan's graduation was Thursday and Friday. On Thursday we attended the Carl Bloch exhibit. He is a Danish painter who has painted many pictures of the Savior's life, and many altar paintings. Here is a link about the exhibit. That afternoon we went to commencement and was able to hear Richard G. Scott speak. Friday was convocation, and we had to wait until later in the afternoon to go to his, and just so happened that his ended up being the largest college at BYU so it took forever.

Emily did really well on the trip. She didn't complain too much from being stuck in her car seat for so long, and when her schedule was so messed up she did really well even if she wasn't getting dinner until 9:30 at night. Here are a few snap shots from our trip.

Emily with Grandpa Gray

4 generation picture with Mormor

Our little family on Temple Square

The Gang at Nate's graduation. The girl in front of Matt is his girlfriend, Tiffany.

Uncle Nate and Emily

Say Cheese!

Emily is such a funny girl. Whenever we take pictures of her she hears the beep from the camera and will pose. She has picked up this big goofy grin. When we say smile she will put that goof ball smile on and here are some of the results: she just makes me grin

She actually stopped what she was doing to pose for this picture.



She looks a little scary here, but if you look closely you can see her new little chompers on the top. Plus all of the ink on her face. She is no longer allowed to play with pens.

When she smiles like this I call it her Popeye look. Love it!

9 months stats

Last week Emily went to the doctor for her 9 month wellness appointment. Luckily for her she did not have to have any shots. She is growing really well. In fact earlier in the week she had the teeth that she has been working on for the past 3 weeks. To our surprise it wasn't just the top two coming in, but also two on the bottom came in all within 24 hours of each other. Emily is the proud owner of 6 teeth now! She cannot stop chewing and slobbering on everything.

Her stats at the doctor's office were:

Height: 2' 6.5" putting her in the 99.67%! She is one tall little girl. Already in 18 month sized clothing.

Weight: 19lbs 2 oz in the 53.52%

Head Circumference: 17.87" in the 85.21%

Have a happy week!

I Don't Like Shoes!

Emily threw a tantrum the other day because we put a pair of shoes on her. She cried and cried and cried. she sat in the middle of the floor and would not move because she had her shoes on. I think in a few years we are going to have the opposite problem where she will cry and cry because she wants a specific pair of shoes.

I have a feeling that her opinion about shoes will change.

Emily's wake of carnage

Emily has discovered.... Everything! She just loves anything and everything she can get her hands on. She especially loves it if she can make a mess right after mommy has picked up after her.

I love toilet paper, but someone keeps closing the bathroom door

I can fold laundry too!

The best toys are bibs and burp cloths

Somebody pulled all the diapers out of the basket. Busted!

A little light reading material. All done!

Not sure what happened to the paper towels. Wasn't me!

25! Where did the time go?

March 7th was my 25th birthday. I wasn't really look forward to it this year. 25 makes me think that I am getting older, and I wonder where did the time go? and what have I accomplished so far in my life? There has been a lot of self reflection and setting of new goals for the coming year.

The day turned out to be really fun. I woke up to a fun text from my parents of them singing Happy Birthday to me! It was a nice relaxing day except that little Emily's top two teeth started to come in and she was not a happy camper. Unfortunately it is two weeks later and those darn teeth have still not come in!

Nathan took me out to eat at Olive Garden. Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa came over and watched Emily so we could have a nice evening out. It was so much fun. A real date night. Nathan spoils me so much. We came home and had yummy brownies with the coconut frosting and ice cream.


I am so excited because Nathan got me a couple of mini doughnut pans and The Count of Monte Cristo movie. I have plans for those mini doughnuts they are so cute and tasty.

I have such wonderful family. My parents threw me a Birthday dinner the previous friday, and I was able to celebrate it with my in-laws and Nathan's siblings a week later. Thank you everyone for helping to make my birthday a special one. I can't wait to see what the next year has in store!

I'm on the move now!

Emily finally started to crawl on February 15th! We are in trouble now! She is already driving me nuts getting into everything. She is so funny because she hasn't learned how to use both knees yet. She still thinks that she has to use her foot on one side. Well, take a peek: