Buddies

Emerson got to hang out with her first best buddy, Kevin. The Endsley's moved to AZ, so we were really glad to get these guys together and let them play again. Too cute! They are only about a month apart in age. I've posted pictures of these 2 before when they were babies...oh how time flies!

   
Here's our Easter party. We just had a little egg hunt in the backyard with Greg's old mission companion and his little girl. It was a fun weekend. We got to listen to conference, paint some eggs, and catch up with friends. 

Emerson is lucky to have some of her best buds be her cousins. Here she is with my sister Sarah's 2 youngest, Hayden and Olivia. What a wild bunch!

New Horizons...

Greg recently entered into a new stage in his life: THE 30'S!!!!

I'm a few weeks late on this, but Greg turned 30 on the 12th. It was a work day so we kept it pretty low key. (Just like Greg likes it!) Little did he know that I had been scheming for weeks; not for a surprise party, but for his gift(s). I decided to get him 30 gifts for his 30th. It was a lot of fun going all over the place finding little things that he would like.. Some are just cheesy or silly, but we mixed in a few nice things too. He got some Blue Bell ice cream delivered all the way from Arizona, (thanks Ash!) some Winger's Amazing Sauce, some candy, a book, a harmonica and even a "flute." Emmy had a blast opening them with him and pretty much claimed all of it as her own!

 We sure love this guy and are so grateful to have him in our lives! He is such a great daddy and husband. We really couldn't ask for more!

Like a Kid Again

This past weekend I got to be a kid again.

I got to take a road trip with a bunch of girlfriends.

I got to play volleyball ALL weekend.

I got to eat crazy amounts of junk food.

I got to laugh until my face ached and my stomach hurt.

I got to be carefree and crazy and it was a blast!

The tournament was in Vernal, so it was a good 5 hours at least to get there. We had a car break down on the way there and luckily the rest of our team was close behind us. We ended up squishing 6 women, one very patient husband, and a baby in an explorer. In the collage above it shows how we had 2 sisters stuffed in a trunk with all the luggage and 2 sisters sitting on laps in the front seat. We just called it team bonding, but it was a long 2 hours! We got there at about 5 on Friday and were playing our first of 8 games that weekend by 6. But it turns out...we are CHAMPIONS!!! of the 2nd highest division. I even played against the team of one of the girls that I coached at Cedar high over 2 years ago...and beat them, of course. Greg was such a champ at home. He and Emmy had a fun time playing and eating lots of sweets. They even went to church with out me AND I came home to a clean house. Now it doesn't get much better than that.

Here are a few pictures of the CHAMPIONS OF THE 'SUPER B' Division:

Do we all look exhausted? Because we were!

Thanks to my buds for taking me along.

Thanks to the Gibsons for helping with Emerson.

Thanks to my husband for being a champ by supporting me 100%.

I am B-O-R-I-N-G

Seriously. That's why I haven't posted forever. I'm an avid reader of other people's blogs, but I never really feel like I have that much to say for my own blog. I really enjoy my job as a teacher and I really really enjoy my job as a mom and wife, but nothing very epic to write about on here. We've been spending a lot of time just getting things done around the house, hanging out together and playing. Really. That's it...almost.

We did take Emmy to an SUU basketball game a few weeks ago. I think she liked the popcorn more than the basketball, but at least she was good! Thanks to the Carliles for the tickets!

On St. Patrick's day I got to take Emmy with me to school for some fun activities and the girls were also doing their science fair. Emmy was an instant celebrity. The girls LOVE her and her sass. (She kept telling me, "Right now!" and the girls thought that was much more funny than I did.) Here she is with all of the little toy rings that she gathered from the girls.

I'm just showing this picture because I'm in LOVE with this sweater. $10 at Children's Place! (I had to crop out the face of my student for legal issues...weird, but true.)

So, that's it for now. Maybe I'll start feeling more inspired soon, until then, here's an adorable 2 year old dancing to a funky mix of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Babies, Bows, Basketball and Bread

This is what I was up to on my week off. It was a magical time that could only have been better if Greg could have come up with us.

Babies:

I got to go visit my awesome friend Darby after she had her 3rd little girl. Darb is great. She knew me at the peak of my awkwardness and still talks to me! Now that's a good friend. Seriously. I'm sure that she could find some major black mail pictures, and she hasn't even used them against me yet! Her little Sophia was only 4 days old. Isn't she just a doll?! 

Our good friends, the Gibsons, have recently betrayed Southern Utah and moved to Salt Lake. So Emmy and I decided to pay them a little visit. We seriously miss them like CRAZY so it's nice any time we get to see them. I mean, look at little JP. How could you not miss that smile?! Megan and I took the kids to Pei Wei and it was YUMMY. Then we were off to some quality time at the local Old Navy. It was GREAT to see them!  

Speaking of babies...I got to go to an awesome baby shower for my SIL Emily. It was so super cute. It was all pink and orange and polka dotty! Just cute. Emily has 2 boys and is pregnant with a GIRL. So fun.

Bows:

I was feeling the craftiness bug. Now those of you who know me well know that I'm not very crafty, so this bug doesn't bite too often. I found some really cute designs and tutorials for felt bows online and decided to give it a shot. I like the felt because it's different from all of the flowers that are out there now, and they have a vintage feel to them for some reason. Here are a few prototypes from last week. My model was not in the mood for a photo shoot if you can't tell. For those of you who have girls, don't be surprised if some of these show up at your doorstep. I have plans for mass production!

Basketball:

Growing up I got to go to a lot of Jazz games with my dad. It turned into our favorite Daddy daughter date. I was SO excited to be able to go to a game again with Dad! (The seats are to DIE for. Seriously, 4 rows behind the Jazz bench!) It was a really fun game and great company. We noticed a special VIP on our same row just an isle over...It was President Monson! How cool is that?! The Kyle Korver picture is for all you ladies out there and especially Megan. The bad Deron Williams picture is for Josh and Greg. Hehe. It feels kind of wrong the the Jazz player and my Dad and I are in this collage with President Monson, but that's just how it turned out.

Bread:

I made bread. This is a big deal because it's the first time...EVER. I mean I baked a lot of bread in my Sandwich Artist days, but I never did something like this. I don't cook a lot, but I'm getting a lot better and actually starting to like it sometimes. Not only did this bread look pretty, but it was tasty to boot! (And easy to make, but pretend I didn't tell you that!)
Be impressed. Be very impressed.

AND that was pretty much my week off. It was SO relaxing and SO recharging. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting Emmy and me crash at your place for a while. We were glad to get home and back into our schedule, but it was such a nice break. Of course Emmy was a little sick while we were gone and I decided not to get it until the day I had to go back to work. I guess that's life, right? Well, it's right back in to the swing of things for now.

Obsessions

bubbles...Gotta love those cheeks.

little people...She wouldn't eat until they were at the table with us.

play dough...Anyone impressed with how much hair she finally has? I'm delighted!

dressing up...No this was not from Halloween, it was last week.

I LOVE having a 2 year old. Emerson is so much fun and it is seriously amazing to watch her learn and absorb new things everyday. I swear she's 2 going on 16 sometimes with the sass and the humor she dishes out to us.

And here's the big one!

You ready for this?! Well here comes the update. 

 (Not the best pic but the only one I got of all 3 of us while we were out there. Don't mind the big paw that is awkwardly resting on Emmy's head!)
 

We got to spend our Christmas break in the wonderful town of Benicia, CA with Greg's family. We were SO excited to be able to go out there this year. Emmy got to play with (boss around) her adorable cousins, and she got to spend some great quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Foley. We drove out there on the 23rd, hitting all of the rush hour and holiday traffic along the way. We left at 5 a.m. and the drive took a lovely 13 hours! It was SO nice to get there. All the family was there hanging out and we even got to meet our adorable new niece Ada! Isn't she just a doll?!

We got to spend Christmas Eve just lounging and spending time with the family. Aunt Jenny and Uncle Doug brought cousins Patrick, Andrew and Maggie over to make some ginger bread men and decorate them for Santa, but I'm a bad mom and forgot to take pictures. I guess I was too busy cleaning up the entire container of sprinkles that Emmy spilled on the carpet! Later, I made Greg drive us around to look at lights because Emmy had gone a little stir crazy being in the house all day. We even went to a park and played...on Christmas Eve! It was so nice.

The next day we got up early, (8 haha), to go to the Oakland Temple with Scott and Lindsay while Grandma and Grandpa watched our little ones. This was such a neat experience. We got to do sealings and it was really special to me because that is the temple that, not only my mom and dad were married, but where Sarah was sealed to them as well. Very neat. (We got some great pictures...on Lindsay's camera.) Later that night we met the whole family for pizza and more pizza...yum.

 After eating all of the kids were wildly entertained by the mini arcade that they have there. Emmy was trying SO hard to be a big kid. She kept telling Greg and me to "Go Way" so that she could just play with the boys.

On Sunday we went up to Lindsay's family's house is Sacramento for Ada's blessing. It was a really special day and nice food. Sadly, I have no idea how the blessing went because Emmy was being loud and I had to take her out. I hear it was great! After the blessing we had lots of yummy food and had a great time visiting. Turns out that Lindsay's parents know a lot of people from my parent's old Hayward Stake. Small world, ya know? The kids were all running around the house and playing with all the great toys and Emmy was NOT happy when we had to leave.

(Emmy and Maggie playing at the Lovells. Such cute girl cousins!)

Monday was a really fun day. First of all, it was my birthday, and secondly because we had a great day at the Oakland Zoo with family. We got up and went in the morning and it was a bit of a chilly day, which turned out well because there weren't a lot of people there. It was so much fun! Emmy was running around following the boys everywhere and bumping into Maggie along the way.

What a fun day! After the zoo I made Greg take me on a date while we abused the free babysitting that we had from Grandma and Grandpa. It was great wandering around his old stomping grounds and just enjoying the time to spend with each other.

Tuesday Vivian and Jenny took me out for a very fun girl's lunch. It was so nice just to visit and have girl only time! Later that day we went to one of my favorite places in California...the outlets in Vacaville. The next morning we left bright and early and had a much better drive home. Until we got to St. George to pick up Greg's car at the shop and they had lost his keys. But that's a whole other story.

Thanks California! We love you!