Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Candy

While the child is away, the parents will play. Emma went to visit her Auntie and cousins last Friday and since then Morgan and I have been running amuck, staying up way past bedtime, sleeping in, going to movies, going out for coffee, enjoying long morning bike rides and trips to antique stores. Today we made a pretty cool find; a local candy factory!

We were out for a long bike ride this morning and ended up riding right past the Startup Candy Company. They were closed then so we went back a few hours later and discovered this cool candy that only they make (because one of the earlier Startup men invented it around 1900) called Magnolias. They're little candies that taste like flowers!! I am soooo buying some of these for Grandma's birthday. :) They mostly focus on doing wholesale and internet sales these days and their tiny shop front is only open from 12 - 2 Monday through Thursday. If you're in the area or feeling adventurous I highly recommend trying these candies. Enjoy!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Word Art

Cute! Word art from Wordle generated from this blog. :) Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Peace Time

Did you all hear that?

It was this massive sight of relief in our household. We caved and gave Emma back her pacifiers and since then she's been napping, sleeping and even eating. Who knew? And we figured out what's up with Miss Fussy Pants. Yesterday I discovered that she has a molar breaking through. Also, after a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Household we think her "try and make me" attitude has a lot to do with her adjusting to life with Dad home all the time. Mom she knows to a tea and knows just how far she can push me, but Mom+Dad and Dad Alone are whole different animals.

Bottong line: we think she's testing the waters and with a new molar coming in and a lack of sleep she was having a riot in the house. Thankfully, peace has been restored and we are all much more well rested and happy. :)

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Seriously.

I have no idea how to gauge my sleep deprivation at this point. It's been a rough week and Emma is really starting to try on her "You can't make me" and "I'm going to throw a screaming fit every time I don't get what I want" shoes. Holey moley. Oh, and she's not sleeping well and refuses to nap.

I met with my Air Force recruiter on Monday and it was our first face-to-face meeting. She must have thought I was the strangest person she'd seen in a while because I was operating on five hours of sleep and two cups of coffee. Bad combination. In an attempt to compensate for the lack of sleep I went to bed that night at 7:30 with Emma...only to have her throw a screaming fit around midnight so I wound up fully awake in the dead of the night. Boy, a girl can do a lot of filing and paperwork between midnight and 3:00 AM.

Emma's going to go visit her Auntie and cousins for a week pretty soon here and I'm wondering if it would be possible to let my sister-in-law keep Emma longer...like until she starts kindergarten. Because we need the sleep around here and this has to end. Seriously.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Yesterday

Two great things about yesterday:

1. As we held hands at the dinner table and talked about what we are grateful for, Emma took her turn first and said," I'm grateful for Emma, family," took a short pause, looked me in the eye and said, "and I'm grateful for Mommy who is my friend." I kid you not. Those were her exact words. I had to get up from the table and wipe my eyes.

Her vocabulary is moving at warp speed this week but I was shocked by how well she put that sentence together. The other amazing thing is that these are concepts she came up with on her own. Morgan and I say we are grateful for each person but we don't say family in the general sense. We were both floored and talked about it more last night in the dark before sleeping. Those are some of the best conversations of my day.

2. I went to a baby shower for a neighbor who is due with a little girl in a few weeks. The night before I made this nursing pillow for her.



The pattern I had in my stash was actually for a pillow cover but I improvised a bit and made the pillow itself. My mother-in-law mentioned a cool trick that I used and it was totally worth it. I lined the two pieces with quilt batting to keep the pillow smooth and I basted the batting down so it would stay in place when I stuffed the pillow. It was a very well recieved gift and I feel pretty good about it.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Wild Adventure!

Last week we went Into the Wild! Well, a bit of wild anyway. We decided (Morgan and I) that the three bears needed to get out and about so we bought a very ugly but cheap camper and headed out. First stop, Northern Utah, close to Bear Lake.



We found an awesome campground next to a stream and Emma had a blast. The next morning we went on a gorgeous hike and I was amazed by all of the beautiful wildflowers in bloom.



On the hike back we saw a deer, lots of butterflies and Emma met a horse. Pretty cool stuff.



Next it was on to Bear Lake and then Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. Like the picture of the Tetons?


We took it from our canoe...shortly before it capsized. Yep, the water got choppy as we headed back to the marina and the wind combined with a wake from a too close boat tipped us over. The amazing thing is that the digital camera and cell phone both survived the swim after drying out for a few days. Totally crazy! The down side is that with the camera out of commission for the next several days we have no pictures of our trip to Yellowstone. :(

Hope your 4th was great, too!