visit to gg and gpa's

emi and i just got back from a wonderful visit with gg and gpa

we had a fun few days just visiting with gg.

we went to her hair and nail appointment. 

gg had a permanent smirk/smile on her face the entire time we were there.

all the oldies loved emi!

and emi loved the attention.

gg just got called to be in the relief society presidency...at 88 years old!

she is doing a wonderful job and it was so fun to see her in action

she had to make an announcement about their Christmas party

she did a wonderful job! and she was so funny when she asked me how she did

cause she said was so nervous! ha!

 emi girl...as she calls herself

would not hold still for a single picture.

i held onto her for a split second for this picture.

of course like every time we visit utah

emi got a cold! first time her runny nose has ever turned green.

every morning she would get so excited to blow her nose

like a big huge elephant is what she calls it.

 one suitcase was dedicated to just her sleeping things

 we were lucky enough to meet up with jessica and family 

and enjoyed the festival of trees.

 emi was much more friendly with gpa

might have had something to do with his daily candy he gave her

he would startle her every once in a while with how loud he talks :)

and of course emi and gg had a wonderful time.

they never left each others side and were constantly together.

makes me sad to think emi will never know the wonderful woman gma is

but at least gma is enjoying emi will she can

even if it is every couple of months.

i have a few phone pictures of the fun time we had together at the quigley's

(but haven't downloaded any of them)

i love having a best friend that we pick up where we left off

no matter how long it's been. love you jess!

H and emi had a wonderful time together too.

they played so well together and were often caught hugging and holding hands

 and this my friends....is emi's newest smile.

well forced smile that is. i didn't think it could get worse :)

 emi loved this chair and would often go flying like wendy.

we can't wait to come visit again, hopefully next time we can stay longer than a long weekend!

the zoo

a few days before thanksgiving we decided to brave the cold weather

and head to the local zoo as a family.

 tanner was the official wagon puller, and did a great job!

{funny: claire digging for gold, ha!}

emi was super scared/nervous of all the reptiles.

tanner has a rubber snake in his room and she is so scared of it

so i shouldn't have been surprised when she hid herself

behind the zoo map. it was hilarious to watch her.

 finally erik just took her our of the wagon

but not with out her security, the zoo map.

 some she didn't think were too scary

mainly just the snakes and lizards.

 

eventually she perked up a bit.

               

 until we were watching the flamingos.

a couple of them started fighting.

i guess she isn't too fond of birds either.

because this is how she looked the entire time

we walked through all the different exotic bird area.

this was the look she keep giving me.

"we leaving soon mom? cause i'm not liking this!"

 

 

 she was fine once we saw the bigger animals.

and she associated the lions with lion king and the tiger with aladdin.

she was so excited to see: simba, nala and rahja!

eventually she fell asleep, maybe that was the problem the whole time.

otherwise you would have thought this was her first time to a zoo.

maybe when the weather warms up we will have to go again.

50th/truckee

last weekend we headed up to truckee

and celebrated my dads 50th birthday.

we had a fun little surprise party!

  the first morning came really quick with both girls waking up before 6:30

luckily tanner is a morning person 

and watch the girls while i prepared overnight french toast.

 they had fun playing games on the ipad

and running around playing with toy story toys.

 emi loved claire's hair...she kept calling it rapunzel hair.

 eddie was in charge of the fire and he did a wonderful job.

 we did lots of visiting.

 and the girls watched movies.

 claire woke up with amazing bed head every morning.

 we took family pictures.

 dad celebrated his birthday...

he received a sports illustrated from the year/date he was born

from his brother...pretty cool gift.

 we enjoyed having claire around, and we are sad she lives so far away.

 emi enjoyed the snow the morning we were leaving.

she loved to eat it.

claire looking cute one morning.

 and the best for last. a crazy family picture.

and this is G rated compared to the rest.

we all had a good laugh though!

a few things i want to remember...

gook! i love how emi says look.

emi and i went to the mall last week to check santa out. not really go say hi, but mainly wave from afar so one day she will go sit on his lap. my expectations were really low, i was anticipating her nervous finger in the mouth act she does. we got to the mall right when it opened. i explained we were going to say hi to santa, then we could go to the disney store after. the mall christmas tree is huge and under it, they have this display of scary fake elves working. so we went to the side and i knelt down next to her and said, when he looks this way we will wave. right as i said that he looked our direction. emi looked at me all wide eye'd like he is looking at us mom and so i waved, so of course she waved. after that we then off we went to the disney store. spent the next 20+ minutes at the disney store. when we were walking out she asked where we were going, i said home. she said no! we need to say bye to santa. i said ok and totally took advantage of her. by then there was a line so she was able to see other kids go up to him...some cried some didn't. i was holding her and i gave her the option to walk up to him or i could continue to hold her....of course she chose for me to hold onto her. so it was finally our turn and i explain to santa this is our very first time. he was serious so nice, as he should be...he is santa after all. he said that when you visit santa you sit on his lap and tell him what you want for christmas so he can tell his elves to get to work. i guess she took that as a queue and leaned over to him, like i let go of her and she sat in his lap.  he asked if she liked dolls or princesses, of course she said yes. he reminded her that she needed to think of what she wanted so he could tell his elves. he then asked if she liked books and gave her one. i told her good job for not being scared and she looked at me with so much excitement and said...he not scary! he's a nice grandpa!! i about melted right there. such a cute experience.

emi and i were making turkey's for the grandparents one day. she loved those foam glue kit things. so i squeezed the glue and she attached whatever needed to be glued on. i turned the turkey over to dry and she gasped! and said...oh no! it's missing it's tail!! the foam kit didn't include a tail, i had nothing to give her...and i said the only thing i could think of. i said, that turkey doesn't have a tail. she looked at me all confused and then got a bright idea, she said i know! it's missing it's butt! i of course laughed and said...no it has a tail, kind of. how do you explain a cluster of feathers in the southern region. i was hoping she would drop it. not satisfied, that it was still missing a body part...she said, a bum bum?? (that is what we call lady parts around here) i said...yeah maybe? luckily that ended that conversation. i can only imagine those kind of conversations will only get more awkward :)

emi loves to stick her tummy out and we usually say...whoa! that's the biggest belly i've ever seen. you can imagine our surprise when we said the usual saying and she responded by saying: a baby in my tummy! i was like, excuse me? what did you say?! she said she had a baby in her tummy like ethan's mommy. she hasn't said it since then. we seriously never know what she is going to say.

obviously emi is starting to say funny things. and lots of times most of us giggle at her. sometimes certain individuals will laugh when she is sassy and i will say it isn't funny. because frankly...it's not funny and most certainly won't be funny when she is 15. so emi started saying, it's not funny when she says something silly and everyone laughs. she says it so serious that it makes us laugh even more.

emi bites her nails...and picks her nose um......and eats it!!! horrible habits at 2 1/2!! i tried that no biting nail polish...did nothing! she even liked the taste. i'm not sure what else i can do except wait it out and hopefully she quits. she knows i don't like her biting her nails and will even stop when i look at her. so in the car every once in a while when things get quite, i will look back at her. in which she will pull her finger out of her mouth quickly before i can say something to her. well a couple times i have looked back and she doesn't budge and i say, emi! get your hands out of your mouth. (the first time i laughed but since then i just say eww! which i think feeds the fire.) in a matter a fact, leave me alone mother tone of voice she says: i not biting! i eating buggas!! so you can image eddie's first interaction with the whole booger eating thing. we were driving home from our friends after the BYU game and emi got silent. so i looked back to see if she was sleeping. she had her head tilted like she was. so eddie turns back and says, emi you sleeping? and she says nope...eating my buggas! he was so grossed out.

next week the whole family is coming into town for dad's 50th and thanksgiving. i have talked and talked with emi about cousin claire coming and sharing. she is hilarious when i start talking about it, like i know! i know! and she starts with a list...i share my chitch-in (kitchen), books, watch my movies, socca ball (football toy chest). then she adds that claire is her friend. so cute! i sure hope they get along, or it might be a long week of breaking up fights.

pretty much a total fail

yesterday emi was in a perfect mood.

i decided to do an impromptu photo shoot.

it was perfect outside for lighting, ha! as if i know.

i won't post my favorites, cause then what will i put on our christmas card?

that is if we send one this year.

my address book is still in a box

somewhere in a mountain of boxes in the garage.

these are mainly pictures that totally didn't turn out for obvious reasons.

first we took some in the front yard with the fall leaves.

 then we made a hop, skip and a jump

across the street and one street up.

there is a old railroad track and the back of the feed store.

this was a serious smile!

when i asked her to put her arms down

she would put them out like a walking zombie.

i obviously need an assistant next time :)

 then there were some that she did a legit smile

but wouldn't look at me for anything.

 i think i even said...ahhh! there's a spider on my nose.

nothing! she was more interested in the cars driving by.

 i thought this one was pretty cute!

 if i tried to negotiate with her to smile.

this is what her smiled looked like.

cute but not blown up cute.

 i of course let her play, jumping from one beam to the other.

and then she found a big ol' dead rat.

 this is her new thing. something she keeps saying.

she said...oh man! i'm using my big muscles.

i was like what? she said: see!!

showing me she's using her big muscles to carry the rock.

 oh yes, then the silly smiles came.

 by the last outfit change i was getting annoyed

and she was probably sick of standing there.

i kept having to ask her to stay there.

put your arms down, look at me.

this is how she stood the last time i asked her to do those things.

she cracks me up!

 

 and then there were some pictures that look ok, but it got too dark.

i guess i will have to try again another day.

and i'm thinking i need to find a cute chair or something as a prop.

trick or treat

emi seriously had so much fun for halloween

and so did we, watching her was so much fun

these pictures were taken before we even went out trick or treating

 emi loves grahm and libby

even if they are twice her age.

not pictured is ethan (same age as emi)

he was having technically difficulties with his buzz costume.

 out trick or treat, we only did about 3 blocks

this was taken with my cell phone, in pitch black.

emi just followed everything libby did.

she had it down by the 5th house...

knock on the door, trick or treat, thank you! happy halloween!!

funny thing is, she hasn't really even asked for any since.

i'm hoping to save some candy for gingerbread house decorating later this month.