Wrapping up summer!

It is true this is the last weekend of the summer. Bummer. I'm a big fan of summer and we've had a great time this year. But the fall comes and life keeps on moving. We like fall too, but there is something special about summer.

Here are a few pictures of some things we've been doing lately that I haven't gotten up yet... so here's an update:

Our last camping trip was our ward camp out, held in Porter. We really like camping, and this was a good way to end it. The first night, we set up camp, played games, had the worst sloppy joes I've ever had in my life, and a fireside by the bishopric. Saturday, we had breakfast (gratefully, it wasn't left over sloppy joes), and a speaker who is from the pioneer historical society, and then we went to hike part of the Mormon trail. Unfortunately, the trail was pretty steep and rocky, and we thought that might not be the best idea to do that with Emma in the backpack, so we decided to go shopping at the outlet malls in Park City instead. Yep, we wimped out on that one. Emma had a great time playing with her little nursery buds, Maverick Stratford and Ariana Canro.

Emma and I visited the Ogden Eccles Dinosaur Park several weeks ago with friends Katrina & Kyler Mortensen and Emily & Gretchen Haurand. We had a great time! Emma loved the dinos, well, most of them! She had a blast playing with her little friends, digging for dino bones, looking at the large-scale dinosaur statues they have, playing at the playground there, and all of the other things they have to offer...except for the giant mechanical dinosaurs that move and roar. Things that make noise like that don't always go over well with her.

Something we've discovered and enjoyed this summer is the South Ogden Nature Park (we call it the Splash Park). The last time we went this summer, was with a bunch of Emma's buddies. Aiden Mead, Tavin Miller, Cole Duckworth, and Maverick came for a while, too. Yep, she likes those boys! We had a fun time. Emma absolutely loves that place. I had a hard time getting her out of there!

We went to the Utah State Fair a week ago. The first date Dave & I went to was to the state fair, so we make it a point to go every year. This year, we saw Veggies Tales Live, which was pretty sweet. Nothing like a giant Bob the Tomato with bling light-up teeth singing silly songs! Walked around and saw the exhibits and booths. We visited the farm animals. Emma was in her stroller, holding a blanket, and sucking her thumb, as she likes to do, when we got too close to the goat fence and a goat decided her blanket looked pretty good. The goat grabbed it with its teeth and started chewing on it. We had to fight back for it. We saw a show featuring endangered tigers from around the world. That was pretty neat. They were big, smart animals. We were impressed. Of course, we had to try the hyped-up fried peanut butter & jelly sandwich that was so much advertised on the Fair commercials and ads this year. Surprisingly, it was pretty good. I was quite skeptical, but really enjoyed it! Being deep fried and makes any food taste really yummy, and powdered sugar and chocolate sauce doesn't hurt either, right?

Emma's Birthday! New & Improved with Pictures!

Happy Birthday to Two-Year-Old Emma!

When Emma and I were talking about birthdays a few weeks ago, I asked her how old she’d be turning when she had her birthday that was coming up. She looked at me for a second, and then said (very confidently and with serious look on her face) “Twenty-seven.” I had to laugh, I don’t know where she came up with that number! I thought we’d only learned numbers through 10. Since then, she’s figured out that with the event of her birthday, she’d turn “two”!

Emma was very excited about the whole birthday thing. In preparation, she learned the entire “Happy Birthday” song, and would sing it to herself quite a bit. She wanted a kitty party, so we based her party and birthday off that theme. She was excited to help make invitations. She helped pick out the stickers and paper, and helped cut and glue everything. She also helped figure out some of the festivities for her party.

Her actual birthday is August 31, but since that fell on a Sunday, we chose to celebrate it on Friday. We had a family party at the North Canyon Park in Bountiful with the Ryerse’s and Stoddards all there. Everything was decorated with purple and kitties. Emma and Tayla started the party out by doing a wooden kitty craft, while the rest of the guests chatted. They also played and ran around the park, they really liked the sand by the volleyball courts. We had a dinner of pizza, salad, watermelon, and pop. Emma helped plan the menu as well, she loves pizza and we had lots of root beer on hand, as that is her favorite! All-American kid, I guess.

Tayla and Emma then played “Pin the Tail on the Kitty”, which we made together. They thought it was pretty funny. Emma got dizzy a few times and really missed, running into things, and Tayla thought it would be okay to lift up her blindfold to see where she was going. But they got the point of the game and had a fun time.

We had cake and ice-cream next. I made a kitty face for the cake, and Emma really liked it! She sang the birthday song to herself with everyone else, and knew exactly when it was time to blow out the candles. It took her a few tries to get them out, but she did it and clapped when they both went out. Emma really liked the cake, and the ice-cream , which was pretty runny by the time we ate it that it was more like ice-cream soup. She had it all over her face, classic!

Present time was next. Emma really got into the present thing this year. Last year, she was less impressed by it. She loved pulling the bows off, ripping the paper and pulling things out of the bags. She got really spoiled! The present opening stopped when she uncovered her mini Kawasaki 4-Wheeler, given by Aunt Amy and Uncle Kolby and Aunt Meghan and Uncle Adam (thanks guys!). She (and Tayla) loved it! They rode it and laughed and had the best time on that thing. You use your legs to push it along, and there are buttons on it that make fun sounds. It was great! That was pretty much the rest of the party, as that was all Emma wanted to do. We had to pry her away from it to have her open the rest of her presents and thank everyone and give hugs goodbye.

Emma’s real birthday was on Sunday. To celebrate, we decorated our house with birthday signs, balloons, confetti, and all that festive stuff. We had a special breakfast, and she got to blow out a candle in her muffin. It was pretty much a normal day. She was excited to go to nursery (as always), and took treats to her class. When we got home, we ate dinner, which was a fancy dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches (it’s what Emma asked for!), carrot sticks and chips. Then we watched Aristocats, which she got for her birthday. We also looked through her baby book and talked about her life and looked at pictures. Then we had ice-cream cones. She seems to love everything about birthdays, and we’re looking forward to fun at her future birthdays!

It is said a lot, but it's true that kids grow fast! I can't believe little Emma is 2! She's getting big so quickly. She's no longer a baby, she's a little girl now! We love her so much and enjoy every day with her. The joy kids bring into life cannot be compared to anything else. It's the best!

I can't download pictures right now for some reason, but I promise to get the birthday pics up soon!