Happy Easter

Thanks to my super talented Mom for the dresses. My friends at church were in awe of your sewing skills! Hope everyone had a great day doing all of the fun egg/Easter Bunny stuff, but most importantly remembering the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope that I got the point across to the girls. It's really hard to help them realize what's really important!
We went to the Basha Easter Egg-stravaganza on Saturday, and that was about it!

This is Cory and Brandon jousting. They got pretty sweaty!

There was a huge shark slide that Emory loved. It was at least 30 feet high and you came out his mouth!Here's our little Easter Egg Hunt that we did at home. Tessa tipped over into her basket, she knows where the candy is!

What happens in Vegas . . .

We had a really good time with my family this last weekend in Las Vegas. My mom planned this big surprise for my dad's 50th birthday. He thought he was getting a quiet weekend alone with my mom and . . . SURPRISE - the whole clan (except Cory) showed up! Josh drove the SL crew down and I drove my kiddies up on Friday morning. Emory is a seasoned pro at road trips, but I was nervous because this was Tessa's first big car ride. The drive there was pretty good, and we all arrived within 15 minutes of each other. We surprised my dad and then the party started. We went to In-n-Out, the Shark Reef Aquarium, Cheesecake Factory, hot tubbed in 1 million degree water, the boys golfed, watched the fountains at the Belagio, shopped at H&M, and grossed out at a sweet brunch buffet! There was lots of other fun stuff in between, like Emory freaking out about Adam's foot mole. She was so funny about it! She was constantly asking to see it and then when he'd show it to her she would run away saying, "Eeeewwww!" She thought it needed a band-aid. We headed home on Sunday afternoon and after a grueling 6 hour drive, that should really be 4 1/2, I decided we're flying for our next trip! Thanks for the good times mi familia!

The chubster!Josh and Tessa became the best of friends.Emory's latest obsession . . . Tinkerbell!

Are there enough people pointing this fish out to Emory? Tessa is even helping!Family in front of ExcaliberEmory said this is Crush, from Finding Nemo

Good News!

Our hardship application was approved this last week, which means that Cory can set up most of his rotations for the next two years in Utah! We love our ward and friends here in AZ, but with these girls being the only grandchildren on both sides, we need to be closer to family. (That doesn't mean that Kellie's off the hook though - we still want cousins!!!!)
Life has been good. The girls and I just got back from a short trip to Vegas this weekend, to surprise my dad for his birthday. I'll post more about the trip later, when I get all of the pictures my mom took. Cory continues to study his life away, what else is new?

Here's a belated V-day picture.

Emory and Tessa's new favorite pastime . . . Emory tries to make Tessa jump "super high" - thanks Little Einsteins!

Our Tessalane

Tessalane - that's what we all call her, especially Emory. She is such a joy and pleasure to have in our home. I honestly can't believe that she's 5 months old! She learned to sit up this past week and don't even think about laying her on her back now, she wants to see everything. I also gave her some sweet potatoes last night, didn't go over too well. Maybe they'll grow on her! Here's a few videos of our cutie:

This is Tess sitting up.

This is her trying to get in on some hungry hippo action.

That's her namesake, Grandma Elaine Hulse, holding her!

Happy 50th Birthday Dad!!

Happy 7th Birthday . . . or so Emory says! We love and miss you and can't wait to see you when we come in May! Hope your day was super gloomy, you old man.

03*07*03

Today is our 5th wedding anniversary! Holy cow, I can't believe it's been that long. We have definitely had an "exciting" half a decade! Here's an overview of the craziness called our life:
March 2003: Married and moved in with Hulses
May 2003: Moved to Kansas City, KA for the summer to sell Security Systems
August 2003: Moved to Logan, UT for school
May 2004: Moved to Dallas, TX to sell Pest Control
August 2004: Back to Logan, UT for more school
December 2004: Found out I was expecting
February 2005: Bed rest!
April 2005: Finally off bed rest!
May 2005: To Atlanta, GA for more Pest Control selling
May 2005: Water broke at 27 weeks, hospital bed rest
June 2005: Surprise - Emory born!
August 2005: Logan, UT for the last time
May 2006: Cory to Rancho Cucamonga, CA to sell Satellite
August 2006: Move to Surprise, AZ to start medical school . . . finally!
February 2007: Another baby on the way
October 2007: Tessa born, with no bed rest I might add!
There's a ton of adventures in between that I didn't have time to write about - and I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Cory, I look forward to our life of "eternal" adventure together!

(Sorry, that was super cheesy, but I didn't get you a card, so there!)
PS My cute little sister Katelyn drew this for me before we got married.
We used it as a sticker to seal our announcement envelopes!

Here's some more pictures of that wonderful day:Now we all know where Emory got her "pouty" lip from!

Hulses come to visit!

We had a great time this last week with Grandma and Grandpa Hulse (Cookie). They stayed for almost a whole week, and the girls are really missing them.
Emory and Grandpa are the best of pals, as long as Emory is giving the orders!

Tessa Elaine gave her Grandma some good kissing cheeks and huge smiles and laughs!
Cory was on break so he got to spend some good time with us, as well as squeezing in some USMLE First Aid studying.
I love having company around, it's makes time go so much faster, as my countdown begins for our trip home to Utah (less than nine weeks). We went shopping and out to dinner, played at the park and enjoyed our fabulous 80 degree weather.

We also got to watch some baseball.
The KC Royals and the TX Rangers spring train here in Surprise, so we went to a game. I've lived in both states, so I couldn't chose which team to root for - until the Rangers started kicking the Royals butts!

Here's a few more pictures from the past few weeks:Cory and TessRachel and Em

Sleeping in the stroller

The day before Cory's last final - yes, he's really asleep!

Valentine's Day cookie decorating with our Parker

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA!!

Check out this sweet hair! Emory had just woken up from her nap, and was being difficult as usual. Some of our out-takes are pretty entertaining.