Cheese!

This girl is so fabulous! She makes me giggle all day long - at least when she's not teething.

When she is teething, she insists on having this dart in her mouth. It looks like a little cigar or something, and she always has it in her mouth. She's also the "one tooth wonder". I like to call her Sloth for short.

She's also found where the food is. Going for the good stuff, maple syrup.

She crawls around on this step under my mom's island. I think she'll be a circus performer.Stairs have also become an issue. She is super fast now. She's even standing better on her own, and attempting to take steps. Please, slow down baby!

And as a special treat I had to add this amazing characature that my mom did of herself and my dad in college. Yes, my dad had a perm, and my mom was Farrah Faucet!

What was I thinking?!?!

This picture says a thousand words . . .On a side note, I love Emory! She make everyday exciting and I roll on the floor, laughing at the crazy things she does and says. Here's the latest and greatest:

(Looking at my old saxophone) Oh my, it's a golden miracle!

My brother Josh was watching them for an afternoon and this is what happened - He came inside, after leaving her alone for a few minutes. She immediately runs up to him and says I'm okay Josh, don't worry I'm okay. I'm just blowing this fire right off my finger and proceeds to blow her finger. He asked her what happened and she said Sometimes little girls touch fire and it's very hot! He told her that fire is usually hot and she said Even little fires, like on a candle? He looked over to where a candle had been burning. She is a curious little devil!

My mom was making dinner and turned around to Emory who said Look Grandma! I've got a big, huge knife! She was holding this gigantic knife right in front of her face! What am I gonna do? Maybe I should just focus on keeping her away from knives and fire for now.

Here's Emory getting a cut from my sister Amanda! (One of the perks to our new living situation.) Coincidentally, the friend who used to cut our hair was named Mandy. She calls Amanda her "New Mandy" - not to be confused with her Walking Mandie!Doing a little reading in her free time.And here she is loving this awesome weather, finally riding her tricycle and scooter!

Josh and Sydney - 08*08*08

We survived! Not without some damage but we made it. It was actually super fun. The night before the wedding we had a bowl-a-palooza at BYU's Bowling Alley. My parents rented it out, ordered Brick Oven Pizza and we bowled our hearts out. The sealing was very nice, I hadn't been to one at the Jordan River Temple before. The wedding reception went great! It was a little humid that day, and hectic getting things together in time - and of course people started showing up 15 minutes early. The girls were so cute and good. Emory was "Bompy-La-Boo" (Fairy Godmother from Cinderella - Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo) in her new dress that my ever talented mother made.
Tessa was such a ham all day! She loves to have her picture taken. She's also addicted to me, we'll have to work on that.We had a Sno Cone machine and Longboards from Costa Vida. I made an awesome Guitar Hero cake, but forgot to take a picture!
The next day we went to Sydney's house for the open house. It was also nice, they had delicious crepes. This one's for you Mandie! (The brown sheep is Tina the Llama.) Apparently, every good shepherd knows that you need a llama to protect the sheep?!?!?We also stopped by the Hansen/Osmond Wedding . . . WOW, what a treat! Shelby was beautiful! There were millions of people there, and it was gorgeous. I had to take one sneaky picture, though. This was the best I could do. "Daddy Donny" was running around like a crazy person. Here he is getting ready to set off illegal fireworks!CONGRATULATIONS to all the happy new couples!

There's no place like home!

We made it! It was a long and arduous trip but we are officially in Utah. We packed up the truck on Thursday night, and cleaned until midnight. Then we shoved the girls in the car, and hit the road - well, we didn't actually hit the road until 2 am, because we had a few last minute stops. By the time we got to Flagstaff, Cory and I were dead. We tried to find a hotel, no luck. We got to Page, and I rested for a while. We made it to Kanab, and let the girls play at the park while we tried to rest a little. Finally, after close to 1200 mg of caffeine and 16 hours later, we got to my parents house. Phew, Cory and I were awake for near 48 hours! Never again!

So, were here and having a blast getting ready for the wedding and catching up with friends and family. Oh, the joys of having a pool in your backyard!

Cory is in Tucson for his Internal Medicine rotation. He was on-call for his first time last night. It was uneventful, but exciting nonetheless.

Love to all and special thanks to the people who made this move possible, the ward and family who helped in AZ, and the ward and family who helped in UT! We couldn't have done it without you.

PS My friend, Mandie, to me to the John Mayer Concert before I left AZ. (Thanks Jason, for giving me your ticket - we were the coolest lesbians there!!) We had a blast, and grossly underestimated the photo opportunities. Thanks again Mandie, I'm glad I threw my brain out the window for one night!

PPS What the freak is he wearing?!?!?

Last Arizonian Blog

eI am sad to announce this is my last AZ blog. I really am sad! This has been my home for 2 years, I've made amazing new friends and have an awesome ward, that I am going to miss. I know this is right for our family (saving money and being closer to extended family) but it doesn't make it any easier.

To my AZ friends:

Keep checking up on us, because I plan on checking up on you!

I'm definitely coming to visit, new babies and catching up for close friends is a must!

To our UT clan:

Watch out cause here we come!

PS If any of you can help us move into my mom's on August 2nd, we would love extra help - plus we'll swim afterwards.

Since we're taking apart my computer in the next few days, this will be my last post for awhile!
Without further ado, picture catch up!

Our gorgeous girls! I love these dresses they're wearing (from Grandma Lisa) an amazing find from Wally World - WalMart.

I did 2 crafty things last week: #1) Made these cute mini cupcakes for book club.#2) Made these nursing covers for my friend Alicia. I wish I'd had some of these! The secret peeking hood is amazing!Helping me pack, a kinda wish they could ride in the back of the truck.Tessa's new seat and no, that's not the wind in her hair. If I remember right it's avocado, now guacamole.Emory being silly.

Emory's new thing - "Please, Mom? Just five more minutes of sleeping?"Guess what I did?Too cute! Feet crossed and nose in the air. She loves to take her nap on the couch, it's a special treat.Last day of her favorite place in the world - Sierra Montana Nursery!

Satan's Playland

How many of you mom's out there have had to navigate through one of these babies, looking for a small toddler who won't heed your calls and has been MIA for going on 15 minutes?Oh, the pleasures of motherhood! I NEVER take these girls out to lunch, but today we were already out so I decided the McDonald's dollar menu probably wouldn't break the bank. After we ate, Emory begged me to let her go play. I was nervous because it was huge and multi-layered and there were places I wouldn't be able to see into, etc. I caved and let her go, with the warning to come down when I called. She went up. I waited and watched. I caught a glimpse of her after a while and then she disappeared again. After a few minutes I heard her scuffling and shouting something like, "LET ME GO!" I tried to walk around and find her, to no avail. She stopped so I thought she was on her way down - yeah, right. Going on 10 minutes, still no sign of her. To heck with it! I slung Tessa over my arm, and up we went.

3 reasons Rachel should not be allowed in The Play land
1) I'm not very nimble in the tubes of doom, especially with a 20 lbs. 9-month old wriggling. I was totally blocking small people traffic
2) It was 1 million degrees in there. I was seriously drenched by the time I exited.
3) I almost strangled the child who was holding Emory captive!

That's right, captive! This little girl who couldn't have been much older than Emory, was holding Em's feet so she couldn't get away. I scolded that nasty little girl, and she looked at me with this completely blank stair. Whatever, I hauled Emory down - she was upset too, because she hadn't even gotten to play - we got our shoes on and headed out. This older woman must have seen me "golum-ing" along up there and asks, "Have you seen my granddaughter, she has pig tales and a Dora shirt and . . ." Nasty Girl!?!?! That's right, I told that lady that her bratty kid was holding Emory against her will and well, a few other things, anyways . . . No response, she just looked at me and shrugged her shoulders, and went back to her 3500 calorie lunch!
Moral of story:
There is a reason Heavenly Father created peanut butter and jelly!

We LOVE Firemen!

Holy cow! What a morning! At about 8:30 a.m., I was taking out the garbage when my neighbor came running up to me. She was close to hysterical, saying that she'd locked her son in the running car! Yikes! She needed to use my phone because her house keys and cell phone were in the car too. I ran and got dressed so I could stay outside with the baby (he's about 18 months) and make sure he was okay, while she called AAA. They said they'd be 60 minutes (SERIOUSLY!!!) but that it probably wouldn't take that long since she'd be first priority with a running, lock out, baby in the car. She went out to wait for them. About ten minutes later, I went out to check on them and she was still waiting! The baby had fallen asleep and was profusely sweating (which scared the crap out of me, I would have broken a window by that time!) She got panicky again, so I ran in and called 9*1*1. They transferred me to the fire department and our AWESOME Surprise Fire Department showed up 2 1/2 minutes later!!! "Hooray," is what Emory shouted as they came around the corner. It took them a couple minutes to break in, but they did it and the baby (and car) are okay. Emory told the men, "Thanks for saving his life!" They were super nice, and gave all the kids firemen hats.