Back in high school...

Well, I am back in good ol' AZ right now. There is something about being back in Mesa that just brings me back to high school and makes me feel like I am not a married woman who is a college graduate and has a child. I feel like I am back in high school and just want to play with all my friends. Maybe this is because I moved away from home within weeks of my high school graduation, and haven't lived here since (and really only visit about once per year because all my family always comes up to UT). I am excited to live closer to AZ so my visits won't have to be so few and far between.

So, I got to see some of my friends yesterday - 2 that I see almost every chance I can since we have graduated 9 years ago (Kendee, thanks for playing host at your mom's house, and Shan you are beautiful and hilarious as ever), and one that I have not hung out with in probably 7 years. It was so great to see Beth and and her cutest little girl - and it was so weird to be sitting there in our old high school hang out with all our kids running around. And I am looking forward to seeing more of my favorite people tonight.

Then last night I was hanging out at my sister Lisa's house and chatting with my cute niece who is a Junior at my old alma mater. This brought me back all over again as I asked to see her yearbook and see if any of my old teachers were there. While there were a few, the funnest part was looking at all the pics and remembering my time as a great TORO. Plus, it is hilarious to see what kids write in yearbooks. I think I will need to pull mine out when I get home and read the funny things people wrote. I may also try to swing by her assembly today since she is on Pom and will be performing. How funny it would be to see old Coach Sully?

Oh, it is so fun to reminisce! I wish I had some of my old photos to share, because we were hilarious and high school was fun - and it is fun to look back and remember the good times and not have to relive the drama.

Go USA!

Yesterday was a fun family day. We went to the USA vs. Canada basketball game. It was fun to watch the best of the best basketball players from the USA play, even for a non-sport fan like me. Brian was excited for an occasion to wear his sweet Rodman jersey (I made him wear a shirt underneath even though he wanted to just wear the jersey with just his pale white skin underneath).

We tried to get down closer to the court to take some pictures of LeBron and other players but stupid lady in the yellow shirt took her job way too seriously and kept us behind the black bar. Thanks to lots of treats and empty seats next to us, Emery had a lot of fun clapping and laughing with the crowd (despite the fact that she is pulling her usual "stoned" look for the camera). Oh and USA totally killed Canada - and we, as nice American's, booed anyone with a Canadian flag. USA! USA!

Then later we had a BBQ with some friends and then headed to a park. I love that LV has tons of these parks with sprinkling water to play in - they are Emery's new favorite thing and she just ran in without hesitation.

Haunted House

You wouldn't think when you first see our new house that it could possibly be haunted. I mean it looks the exact same as the other 50 houses on the street (you think I am exaggerating but seriously they pack these houses in and they are EXACTLY the same) but we have reason to believe that the house may be possessed, or at least the ceiling fan is. Many of you may understand the necessity of having a ceiling fan in your bedroom when you live in a place that is a million degrees outside and you refuse to cool it below 79. When we found this house to rent we were stoked because not only is there a ceiling fan in our room, living room and Emery's room - but they also work from remote control. We were thinking that is pretty fancy.

Well, we got to the new house and figured out how to use these fancy fans with their remote controls....but then strange things started happening. The fan wouldn't go to the highest level. Then after playing with it we figured that if a certain light switch was on the fan would only work on level 1. We thought, ok we can deal with that. Then the fan/light started acting really weird. We would be dead asleep in the middle of the night and all of a sudden the fan stopped and the light had turned on. Or it would randomly change speeds. Then last night I heard the fan click and the fan had stopped and decided to turn in the other direction (so the air was blowing up). We can't figure out why it decides to do this at random - so it must be possessed.

Any thoughts on how to remove demons from ceiling fans? We would welcome any suggestion so we can get a decent nights sleep.

Off to Nursery....YAY!!

Emery went to Nursery for her first official time yesterday - without us (before she just came with us because we were the Nursery Leaders). We got clearance to put her in 5 days early and let me tell you it is a happy thing to not have to wrestle her all 3 hours of church. But apparently, nursery really wore her out.

Before church:
After church:

Emery Singing

More proof that this little girl is related to me - she loves to sing. She is still pretty camera shy, so these shots don't do it justice but Emery loves to sing all day long. It all started with her singing E-I-E-I-O all day long. She would just walk around singing it all the time. Then she moved on to the Wheels on the Bus. It was so funny because the first time she actually did the actions was when we were driving in the car and the song came on (love the 100 favorite toddler songs CD's) and I heard banging on her carseat buckle. I looked back and she was grinning doing round and round. Then she learned Ring around the Rosies. This is her new favorite and she will sing and fall down all the time. She started off just going "Ashes Ashes... WHOA" but now she grunts in the right tune to "we all fall down"




Sorry about all the Emery posts lately, but well... she is what fills all of my days - plus she's cute.

Eat your veggies!

I know that most kids don't love to eat vegetables. I know that kids go through stages where they like foods then hate them and so on. Regardless of this knowledge, I do not want to have a super picky eater. When Emery was little I decided didn't want her to only like mac-n-cheese and chicken nuggets and would continue to try to offer all sorts of fruits and veggies. She used to eat everything and rarely spit things out. But lately that is not the case. I am really having a hard time here because she was sick for about 2 weeks and would hardly eat anything - so I would give in and just give her whatever she would take (mostly yogurt and bananas). But now that her appetite is back, her pickyness is even worse. I try to sneak in some veggies but haven't been successful. I feel horrible and stress over the fact that her diet is so imbalanced. She lives on fruit, cheese, and cheerios. I have tried some tricks, like dip veggies in ranch (which she just sucks off the ranch and never eats the veggie) or try different soups with veggies (she spits out the veggies) hide them in rice and pasta (she figures it out and either spits it out or stops eating it all together). I got online and looked up some info to find some suggestions. Some ideas that I found were pretty good like:

• Puree vegetables and use it as a dip for crackers or bagels.
• Vegetable juice like Naked juice 'Green Machine' nectar (does anyone know where to find this stuff?)
• Shred carrots and add to mac-n-cheese
• Add finely chopped or pureed veggies to eggs, sauces, pizza crust, breads....
• Applesauce. Mix cooked chopped veggies with applesauce.
• Add mashed sweet potatoes to pancake mix

Anyway, I would love to hear what works for you and what variety is good to offer because I am not very good at that.

What a day...

Yesterday was a total roller coaster of a day. Serious highs and serious lows. Started off with Emery waking up at 6am instead of 8am (low). That is a great way to throw off a schedule. But it got better when we went with my friend to our ward swim/play group (high). I had a good time meeting a bunch of other moms and Emery had fun with very minimal fussing. We got home and she took a long nap (high).

Later, I get a call from my hubbie who tells me that Steve (our friend who is staying with us right now, from OR who just got a job in LV and I am so excited for his family to join us down here in LV) was having car trouble (low). So I went to pick up Steve in downtown Vegas at 4:45pm - this should give you a mental image of hot sweaty people sitting in traffic. Well, I arrive at the Wendy's that Steve was waiting with his overheated car and just then a cop comes to give me a ticket for my expired registration (very low). Of course it is expired because I refused to pay to register it in OR right before I moved and haven't had the chance to do that yet since I have been home for a week. But the cop was so kind as he cut me some slack and didn't give me a ticket for not changing my DL to Nevada and was extra kind to to not tow us - thank you very much Mr. Officer.

So, we get back on the road and I am feeling bad for Steve as he had to leave work early to sign a lease and never made it in time due to his overheated car. We get stuck in traffic on the way home and what do you know, my car starts to overheat (low). So much for saving him from his crappy car...my car is just as crappy. Fortunately, I know the trick to turn on the heater and roll down the windows. This is pretty miserable in stand still traffic in Las Vegas in August. But as least we made it home and nobody got heat stroke.

Don't worry folks because we end on a high note. After dinner, I left the babe with the hubs and darted to Target to get Eclipse , kicking myself for forgetting to get it on the Tuesday. I crossed my fingers that there would be a copy left....and there was just one left(very high). Oh, it was a good day afterall.

Water bug...almost

Emery hasn't quite figured out that she loves swimming yet. She started getting there when we were in UT at the in-laws pool. She loved to kick and play in the floaty watching her uncle Josh and cousins Chase and Lib jump off the diving board and make big splashes. She even started blowing bubbles and sticking her own head under the water (a little scary). I was so excited because I LoOove swimming and playing in the pool. I got excited to take her to our pool in Las Vegas.

Well, as has been mentioned, we came home and were sicky sick pretty much all last week. I finally took her to the pool on Friday and she lasted about 15 min then cried and cried until I took her home. We tried again on Saturday and Monday. Alas, she just sits there bored or cries like she wants to get out. Now, I would like to attribute part of that to the fact that she is still getting over being sick (TMI, but, this is the first day of not having diarrhea in I don't know how long...) and adjusting to a new home.

I am not giving up!

I think I need to invest in some fun water toys. This is where you come in. What are your favorite toys/activities to do in the pool? I need some good ideas to trick Emery into loving pool time.

First Sunday to Church

FINALLY, we are getting settled in our new home. Not to complain, but taking a 1 month vacation right after moving isn't the best way to quickly get situated. We are starting to feel better. (Except Emery woke up in the middle of the night throwing up last night. I thought we were done with that. I don't know what to do for my poor little girl. So Sad.) And we got some pictures up on the walls and I am starting to feel like this is home. BTW, I really need some help with the decorating. Anyone want to come and be my interior designer? My sister, Amy is the best person to have come over and help you decorate, but she lives in UT and is unavailable to come and hang a few pictures.

Anyway, after spending much of my time couped up in our house - trying to organize and clean and being on house arrest waiting for phone, Internet and cable people to show (Dish Network is on my bad list as they stood me up twice this week) - I am excited to go to our new ward and meet some new people. Excited and nervous. Church isn't until 1pm (YUCK!) so I have all day to wait. For weeks, no months, I have been anxiously awaiting moving to a new place and hoping to be able to make new friends (as I have blogged about several times before). We haven't met one neighbor yet so church is going to be my first venture into meeting new people in this new city we now call home.

But wait...maybe Fast Sunday isn't the best day to make a good first impression. I am one of those people who gets extremely grumpy and tired when I am hungry. Oh, and remember how I have a sick little girl that is weeks from being able to go to Nursery. I can see a wiggly and fussy 3 hours ahead of me. All excuses aside...I am anxious and excited to come to our new ward. I hope they like me.

Some pics

Ok, here are a few pics from our good times at Aspen Grove.
All the sisters "with Barb"
We take "multiply and replenish the earth" very seriously in our family. My nephew Nick is the only grandchild missing, but he is on his mission so that is ok.
We are the best badminton players ever! Actually this is us jumping for joy that I actually hit the birdie.
Emery was still trying to get over her fear of not ALWAYS being in her mother's arms phase. But doesn't she have cute cousins?

Emery loved riding on this little horse. I just think she is so stinkin' cute!
My Bro and I entering the watermelon eating contest. Nope, I didn't win, but it sure was tasty.
Hike to Stewart Falls. This is my favorite of our Aspen Grove traditions. On Wed. they take the kids ALL day! We cheat on our "hike" and take the Sundance Chairlift up, then hike across to the falls, singing Primary songs all the way (my bro-in-laws even join in, it is great) then back down to have lunch at Sundance Grill Room. Every year we take a pic of all the sisters in order on this log.

Brian drove straight from taking the Bar in Vegas - just in time for the family dance at Aspen Grove. Good thing he came too, because he is the Limbo Champion!