Happy Birthday Emory Elizabeth!

Our Emory Elizabeth turned three on Tuesday, June 10th! What a girl! She brings so much joy to our lives and I don't know what I'd do without her. We had a fun party on the 7th and I'll post pictures of that later.

Here's a few of the things that happened this year for Emory:

• She transferred to big girl bed without one problem.


• She took Parent Tot and Preschool Swimming Lessons and excelled in both.


• She learned how to "take care of business" in the big girl way!!!


• She went skiing for the first time.


• She took a Dance Class and was amazing at learning new skills like somersaults, plias, chasses, etc.


• She got a new sister, Tessa, and is that best big sister around.


• She learned how to use her Leapster all by herself, the granddaughter of a pioneer gamer - thanks for those genes Dad!


• She knows all the letters, upper and lowercase, counts to 29, ( and would go farther if I'd tell her what's next?!) and knows almost all shapes and colors, and on and on and on . . .

Sorry to sound braggy, but this little girl is so special to us and we love her to the stars and back. One last thing, she said the most amazing thing to my brother Josh and his fiance Sydney. They were playing in a hut she'd made and Josh was telling her that he and Syd were getting married. She looked at him, so excited, and said, "Sydney will be Cinderella and you will be the Prince?!?!?"
Here's some pictures from over the years:

Emory's first week was tough, and I knew I could handle anything after that!

First Birthday

Second Birthday

The Engagement

Hooray!! My brother Josh is getting married! We're so happy because we speculated this day would never come. It seems like he and Sydney have been dating for ever, and now they're finally sealing the deal. We have an undetermined date etc. we're just happy they're finally commiting. I guess I have to remove my single add from the blog now?!?

We all love Sydney and welcome her to our crazy, loud, annoyingly noisy family. Emory is obsessed with her! Josh has to fight to get Sydney away from her.

Quick update . . .

We continue to be world travelers! We spent a few weeks in South Jordan and then a week in Logan full of tons and tons of activities. We rode the North FrontRunner up to Odgen. It's the new TRAX train the runs from SLC to Ogden, and Emory had a blast. Once when we were turning, she looked at me and said, "Hold on for you life, we're tipping over!!" I got to go to a good friends wedding reception, and it was crazy to see some old high school friends. We went to Printhe Cathpian (we made fun of the actor, he had a funky accent) with my family for Memorial Day. Emory loves any and all movies. She thought it was "awesome", and wouldn't stop talking.

Her favorite movie at the moment is "The Stabber Movie" otherwise known as "The Princess Bride". With all the swords and fighting and ROUSs I thought she'd be scared, yeah right. She now insists on watching it with Josh down in his room, without me. She's always saying, "You stay here, Mom! Don't come with us, Mom!" What an independent little stink! I can't get this girl out of the pool, either. She's a fish! She wants to take off her water wings and swim, but I'm not quite ready for that, I let her do it about half of the time, but I don't want to be accountable for her drowning.Tessa is moving more and more each day. I think that I want her to crawl too much, and should enjoy this semi-mobile phase. She gets where she needs to go by skooching on her bum, combined with some split action and arm pulling.

Her new favorite thing to eat are these things called Baby Mum-Mums. They are great! She wants to feed herself so badly, but still doesn't have any teeth. These dissolve and she can eat them all by herself. They also have them in a vegetable flavor, and I get them at Wally World- WalMart.

Start your paper chain Cory, 6 days till we come home!

Emory's 3rd Year!

Every year for Emory's birthday, I've done a little comemorative video. I think it's compensation for not being a scrapbooker? Anyway, here it is . . . Emory's third year pictures! Click on the thumbnail picture above to view it.

Miracle Idol?

Little David Enchilada graced the front page of the newspaper for the 27th time this year, and Emory caught a glimpse of it when we brought it in. She hurried over and and said, "Look mom, it's MIRACLE IDOL!" Gotta love it!

Mother's Day was an event. Emory gave me a hand-made book mark and Tessa gave me a slobbery kiss, and I couldn't have asked for more! My mom gave me a gift certificate for a pedicure and I in turn gave her a pedicure (the poor man's version, me rubbing, scubbing, painting nails etc.) The girls and I left for Logan after dinner.

We spent 6 days up there, and had fun visiting Grandmas and Grandpas, aunts and uncles, and Cookie. The weather was comparable to AZ in the middle of the winter, so we were shivering. This is Cookie, the Tessa protector! She hardly left her side, let her pull her hair and ears without a yipe; she's the best (fattest) dog ever!

This is Em and Uncle Chase. That's right, I said uncle! This is Cory's little brother, there's 14 months between him and both the girls. Emory loved playing at the park with this little guy.

Emory is so fun! With her birthday coming, she's getting more and more excited. She'll ask anyone she sees, "When's your birthday?" then, "When's my birthday?" She says she wants a "skapeboard" and is constantly trying the skate on the back of the stroller.

Tessa is seriously a crack-up. When she isn't trying to steal attention from everyone, she's learning a new skill. She mastered waving and clapping in the last few weeks. Crawling is coming closer and closer. She's getting herself into some amazing postions. Sitting to tummy, sitting to splits, etc. She'll scoot around on her bum, and crawls backwards like a champ!

We went to the Hogle Zoo on Monday. What a treat! I hadn't been for years and loved it! Emory had a great time too. Tessa was so good, and loved the monkeys, which she actually spotted through the fences. Here's some pictures:

Tessa exercising in the stroller.

Monkey-ing around

Cutest gorilla ever!


Emory was deathly afraid of this to begin with, but realized that it was fun after a while.

I love these girls!

Cory is getting lonely, I think. It has to be sad going from a hustling, bustling house to a deadly quiet studying realm. He'd better do well on this test, because we're missing him too. He did great on his finals, and finished this quarter with the best grades of his medical school career! We love him and are so happy with how well he's done, balancing all of the stresses of the last two years!

Washlet, oh Washlet!

So, one of the best things about being at my mom's house is her Washlet. Don't know what a Washlet is? Check out this AMAZING website:

http://www.washlet.com/

It's super funny, I was "crapping" my pants!

Anyways, we've been busy little bees, running from one activity to the next. The flight here was great; Emory was so cute! She kept singing flying songs and played peek-a-boo with the guy behind her. "Mom, I'm tinkerbell! Mom, I see cloudies! Mom, look! Baby cars!" She loved it. Tessa was tolerable, I suppose. It was right in the middle of her naptime and she's the kind of baby who sleeps in her crib, not in arms. (Can't complain, she's been sleeping 11 hours a night for 4 months!) When we walked out of the terminal we were greeted by happy (crying) grandparents, and what could be better?

Emory is loving all the attention, she is constantly yelling for one of her aunts or uncles to come play. They love all the funny things she says, so here's a few I could remember:

"Look Josh, it's your friend, Animal!" I don't think that she understands that Josh and Adam (Animal) are brothers, let alone my brothers!

"Grandma, check it out!" This was in reference to all the beads at Michaels.

"Mom, I toot like Josh?!" Self explanitory.

Tessa has really taken to my brother Josh. They do this crazy "breathe-out-you-nose-super-fast-while-making-a-scrunch-face" thing!

Everytime we show her pictures of Cory, she goes nuts! She grabs the picture and points at Cory over and over, jabbering the whole time. Luckily we have webcam so we can all get our Cory fix.

Grandma and Grandpa Hulse came to visit on Tuesday and we had a grand ole time at the Golden Moo-Moo (Golden Corral) with them. My dad also heated our pool early so we could start swimming. I have to say that Emory is taking right after her parents and loves the water! It probably helps that she just finished lessons in AZ. She's a fish. I wonder if anything scares this kid! Not strangers, not water, not movies, not dogs . . . seriously nothing - so far! This was Tess' first swimming experience, and she wasn't sure at first, but warmed up very quickly. I dunked her, of course, to make sure she's used to it from the beginning and it didn't even phase her.

The results are in!

Yes to the flower! I tried it in Emory's hair this week, and I think I liked it better on her. Oh well! We're off to Utah tomorrow, wish us luck, and we'll keep you posted on our adventures up north. (To any Arizonans reading this - please make sure my husband doesn't starve. Maybe invite him to dinner once in while?)