It's Here!

It is here! We had 4 inches of snow on Saturday and this is just the beginning! It is currently 22 degrees and snowing as I type. It is projected that we will get about another 5 or 6 inches by tomorrow night. Ugh!!! It is frigid and icy and I long for desert warmth! This is the first of 5 storms that will hit before Christmas. Help? :)

Snow!

Well, I thought we might get off with a light year for snow. We'd only had one storm in October and It was sunny and beautiful over the weekend. It was like 60 and so we took Emma to the park. BUT... on Monday we woke up to a snowy white morning. And it snowed and snowed all day. It was my day off and I took emma out all bundles up to see the snow. We made a small pathetic snowman and then when Emma got cold, we went inside for lunch. We never returned outdoors! Brrrrr! Emma was happy to watch out the window. Once the clouds rolled away it was even colder and the melted snow turned to ice. Yuck! Now the forecast for the weekend is 4 days of snow snow snow. 6 to 8 inches headed our way! Wade and Brenda...if its not too late, a snow blower for Christmas? Lol.

Ready for Christmas!

It was very nice to see everyone on Thanksgiving. We had a very nice time. Thank you Brenda and Wade for having us!

We are ready for Christmas! On Monday I had the day off so we ran around putting up Christmas decorations. Phil put the lights up on the house and after dinner we put up the tree and decorations. Emma was so funny! She would get out one ornament at a time and look it over gently and then put it on the tree. Of course I had to go back and rearrange a little. She put them all in the same place. :) Then last night while we watched Polar Express, I wrapped gifts and started placing them under the tree. Emma kept inspecting them and would get excited every now and then as the pile grew. None are for her yet. I can't wrap them in front of her or she'll want them right then. :) We are very excited to watch her thru the holiday season. She loves Christmas lights and remembers a little of those from last year. We take her around the neighborhoods and see what good displays we can find. No snow yet. Had a little dusting last night, but no major storms in the next week. Hopefully some to soon for the season. :) We are as ready as we can be. Happy Holidays and hope everyone is safe and healthy for Christmas and the New Year!

P.S. Does anyone know if a certain kind of flour can make baking cookies turn out crappy? I have tried two differnt recipes for two different kinds of cookies, and both turned out funny. I've made these before and never had a problem. Help?

Thanksgiving Fun!

Wow!

Do I even have to say it? Wow! $1.75 for regular unleaded gas just down the street from us. I am very excited about this. I haven't seen prices this low in ages! Now let's just hope it lasts right? Whoo hoo!

Disney On Ice!

This last Saturday Phil and I took Emma to Disney On Ice. It was soooo much fun to watch her get all excited before she even knew what it was. We had told her we were going to go see Cinderella, Ariel etc... and she even wore her princess tiara! I wish I had dressed her all the way up. There were little princesses and little Mini Mouses everywhere! Once we were there and the show started, her face lit up and it brought a tear to my eye to see how enamored at the display she was. She sat on the edge of her own seat the whole time (except for when beast came out. She was on my lap in a flash!) She had her first taste of cotton candy which you can imagine was a mess, but she LOVED it. Emma is her daddy's little girl. She loves candy. It was a fun event for families and we enjoyed the show just as much as any kid. The Mulan story was way cool! On the way home Emma was still so excited that she had seen all the princesses. She kept reciting back to us who she had seen and then all of a sudden was sound asleep. She was so cute! I cherish every moment I get with her! Below is a small slideshow of the event.

Disney on Ice

Halloween Fun!

This year Halloween was such a blast with Emma. I had been teaching her about Halloween and what you do etc. She knew we'd say Trick or Treat and that we would dress up. On Halloween morning we dressed her up and took her to her Pre-school party. We then went to Mommy's work for a pot luck and then went home so she could have a nap. It was about 4:30 and she kept saying, "Lets go Mommy" I had to keep explaining that we didnt trick or treat until it was almost dark outside. She kept going out onto the front porch to watch for kids. Finally after dinner we got her dressed and took some pictures by the front door. We saw some kids and she went crazy so Emma and I set out to Trick or Treat while Daddy handed out candy. It was absolutely crazy! There were kids everywhere! It was like out of a movie! Emma ran from door to door with kids she didnt know, but kept calling them her friends. I had only planned on our street and the one behind us, but Emma just kept going. Her bucket was so full that I had to start putting it into my pockets! The weather was great and we couldn't have asked for a better Halloween. Below is a small slideshow of our Halloween holiday. Now it is almost winter. It snowed for two days and is just frigid cold! Guess we knew it was coming! :)

Halloween fun!

Beautifull Fall!

This was the most gorgeous weekend ever! It was 7o degrees, sunny and perfect... so we headed to the park for one final day in the sun. Trees are such vibrant colors and leaves are falling everywhere. Pictures don't do it justice! Below is a slide show of our fun trip to the park and below that is a few video clips. (These aren't that great of quality, but you'll get the jist.)

Beautiful Fall!

Trip to Sams Club

I am so excited! Over the weekend we went to Costco and Sam's Club to see which store we wanted a membership to. We ended up getting a Sam's club membership for $10! Whoo hoo! They had some really cool deals. They had 8G Ipods for $130 and Guitar Hero for under $100. Which of course both appealed to Phil! I think I will get him one or the other if I can for Christmas. I really want a Laptop and they had some good deals on those as well. They had the coolest playhouse which I would love to get for Emma! It was a wooden playhouse with furniture and all! Not the time of year for it right now, but it was so cute. I also found several items for other people for Christmas. I haven't shopped Sam's Club in forever and forgot what cool stuff they have! I know, I'm a dork...

It is almost Friday, thank heavens! I have now been sick with a nasty cold for about a week. Can't a girl catch a break? First Pink Eye and now this. I guess it comes with the territory of being a mom of a toddler. I just keep taking drugs (Tylenol Cold for those who are suspicious) and I feel like a zombie. Oh well, what can I do right? :)

It is really fall now. The breeze is chilly and there are fewer and fewer green trees. Very golden. Over the last weekend we had our first seasonal snow. It didn't last long but the weather was cold cold cold and for two days it snowed beautiful huge white flakes, but it didn't leave much on the ground. On Sunday morning it left a thin layer over everything. Very pretty, but I am a little worried we'll get more snow this year than the previous year we lived here. We got lucky that year and didn't have to shovel much. We'll see right?

Not much new or exciting. We are going to a Jazz game at the end of the month which should be fun. They are very popular here and if I'm lucky, the tickets I landed will either be a Lakers or Celtic game. Go Jazz! We are taking Emma to Disney on Ice at the beginning of Novemeber. I'm very excited about this. She knows alot of the disney characters and of course the princesses, but she has seen the advertise on TV and just goes crazy. Which leads me to something funny. The other day I was trying to put in Emma's eye drops for her pink-eye and she was crying and flopping around in protest. I told her to stop freaking out and that it doesn't hurt. So the next day she sees the advertise on TV gets all excited and starts running around and turns to me in mid-jump and says, "I'm freakin out!" She is just too much cute to handle sometimes. :) Oh how we love her!

This pretty much sums up our last couple of days. Hope all is well with everyone! Hope everyone is warm and safe! Until later...Caio!

CrAzI 8's

I saw this on my friend Gina's blog and I liked it. :) So here goes...


8 TV Shows I Love To Watch:

1) Lost
2) Dancing with the Stars
3) What Not to Wear
4) Ghost Hunters
5) CSI
6) Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals
7) Grey's Anatomy
8) Dragon Tales with emma


8 Places I love to Eat At:

1) In N Out
2) Claim Jumper
3) Olive Garden
4) Cafe Rio
5) Ice berg
6) Pei Wei
7) China a Go Go
8) Macayos

8 Things Things That Happened to Me Yesterday:

1) I woke up (that's a good start right?)
2) I woke up with Pink Eye (not so great)
3) Took Emma to Pre-school
4) Went to work
5) Came home from work
6) Gave my angel and husband kisses
7) Made dinner
8) Watched a movie (what an exciting life I lead)

8 Things I look Forward to:

1) Tomorrow (Its always a fresh start)
2) Halloween!
3) Thanksgiving!
4) Christmas! ( do we see a trend?)
5) My Ten year Wedding Anniversary next fall
6) Our trip to Italy for our anniversary
7) Eventually not working
8) I always look forward to getting off work! :)

8 Things I Love About Fall:

1) The change of weather
2) The beautiful scenery of green to gold
3) Halloween
4) Pumpkins
5) Cooking Chili, pot roast, and fall foods
6) Costumes and parties
7) the smell of real wood fireplaces
8) the smell of cinnamon candles

8 Things On My Wish List:

1) The orange Lambourgini from MI 3
2) $1 Billion Dollars
3) With my Billion Dollars I buy several Islands
4) I destroy these islands mysteriously with people on them I do not like :) Ya know...Democrats, ugly people, idiots, etc...You get the idea. :) jk if you're a democrat! :)
5) To learn to paint
6) To take up Piano again
7) To travel to Italy and up thru Brussels
8) To buy a whole new wardrobe!

8 People I Tag:

1) Austin and Danielle
2) Chelsea and Curtis
3) Wade and Brenda
4) Krishelle
5) Amy Matthewson
6) Nicole and Matt
7) Jessie
8) And Gina (again!)

Greetings from Phil, Amanda, and Emma! Happy Fall! It has been a busy week for us. On Sunday we drove back to Utah, and we are now official. No more weekends back and forth for Phil! I started my job on Tuesday and Emma started preschool. My new branch is pretty much the same as before but there are new faces. So far so good. Emma was not so keen about Preschool on the first day, but the second day she went right to the teacher. She is doing so good. She has her first official artwork posted on the fridge! She also has a new item in which she must have with her at all times. I'm sure you remember the spoons last year, well now its this little keychain of mine with a green-clear plastic pig from Wamu. She takes it everywhere and calls it "my keys." Heaven forbid this gets lost! She is also turning into a little mimicking mime! Anything we do, she does or wants to try. I have a pic which I will eventually post of her working out with Phil. They both have those resistance bands and Emma is doing exactly what Phil is. So funny! We are very much enjoying being back all together and are excited for the change of seasons. It is stormy here this weekend and the leaves are turning and pumpkins and Halloween are everywhere. Emma is going to be Cinderella this year. Nana and Popo got her a Cinderella dress-up last Christmas and it is just fitting perfect now. I'm going to get her those silver glitter shoes from Target and there is a set of gloves at Walmart. We already have the crown and jewelry. She has a princess trick or treat bucket we bought her and she loves it. She gets it out to look at and says Trick or Treat! She is at a very fun age! We are having a blast with her. Well, I took some pictures of the house (only presentable rooms) and they are in a little slideshow below. Its not much but you can see the basic idea. :) Hope everyone is well and we plan to be back to Vegas at Thanksgiving! Caio!

Our Home in Utah!

Fall is official!

At 9:45am on Monday it was officially Fall! I love it! Over the weekend Emma and I drove out with my brother Steven to visit Phil in our new home. Trees are changing colors already there and pumkins are everywhere. Wish I could say I have some pics, but my camera died and so I have none. But do not fret...I officially will be out soon and I will take lots of pics of the house etc, and put them up so everyone can see. :) Here's to cooler weather and long sleeve shirts! :)

I finally figured out how to do a slideshow! Yay! Below is a slideshow of our day at the park and under that are two video clips of Emma playing in the water. We had a lot of fun! Note* I am holding the camera, hence I am not in the pics! :) But we know I'm beautiful anyways. Tee hee.

Additionally, Today is our Wedding Anniversary. We had a romantic dinner by candelight and movie for two....um....all via cell phones.? haha. Not that easy to do when you are in two different states! But hey, we remembered to call eachother, does that count? :)

And last it is 9/11 and I hope no one forgot our soldiers and the purpose they fight for! There is a great clip on Brenda and Wade's blog. You should go see it. :)

A day at the Park!

This is another video of Emma playing in the water park with Rachel and Steven. We hadn't been there very long and Emma was hesitant to get wet. Rachel was trying to get Emma to run thru the water. At the end I ask her if she got wet and she says,"yes!" She is so funny! We all had fun!

Emma in the water!

Yesterday was my day off and I took Emma over to this new little park by Spring Valley High school. It's got this fun little water feature and a covered toddler playground. I took Rachel and Steven with me and we had a fun time getting wet too! This video is Emma running through the water. Question is...was she really getting wet? :)

Update

As you can see, I have changed the quote of the day. Thank you Wade and Albert Einstein! I stole the quote from Wade and Brenda's blog. I feel like it was just for me. Hope you don't mind me using it!

Our move is coming along. Our renter has officially moved in and now I am just waiting for my transfer. My official start date is Oct. 6th. In the meantime I am staying with Wade and Brenda. I thank them for all their generosity. I appreciate it more than they'll ever know. They have been a godsend. And Emma, my little Emma. She doesn't quite understand what is happening. She keeps asking me when we are going home. Poor thing, but she is happy as a little lark to be at Nana and Popo's. So spoiled. :)

So much change over the next few weeks. Corban leaves for Savannah, GA in two days for college, Chelsea and Curtis are moving next week to South Dakota, and soon we will officially be in Utah. My favorite thing about change is that just when you think you have it, it's morphed into something else. :) Funny thing time and change. Seems to go hand in hand, ever evolving. Life as it comes.

My favorite change right now? FALL!!! It's almost here. Slowly but surely it is cooling off. Its most noticable in the mornings. Yay! I am so excited. It's my favorite time of year. I especially love Halloween. I still remember my Dad taking me Trick or Treating when I was little. I think this year, Emma will be Cinderella.

Well, Good luck to all who change awaits and I shall keep everyone updated as best I can. Caio!

New Adventure

So the move has begun...For those of you who don't know already, we are moving back to Salt Lake. Phil accepted a position with Arrowhead Dental Lab and has been in Utah a month now. We have found a renter and they will be moving into our home soon. I will be transfering with Washington Mutual in October sometime. I found this picture of the SL Temple. Isn't it cool? I love it. I want one much bigger if anyone can find one for me. Let me know!

Thanks to Danielle AGAIN!

As you can see, the creative genius has struck again! Danielle created this blog layout just for me! I feel special. :) I helped with the header, does that count for anything? Tee hee. Thanks Danielle! I love it!

Laughing Shae

As we visited with Laura and Dave this weekend we got to watch Shae for a while. We put her on her tummy and Emma was playing with her and she started to laugh, so I grabbed the camera as fast as I could! This is pretty cute!

Newest Cousin

This weekend Emma got to meet her newest cousin Shaelynn! Shaelynn is Laura's daughter and she is 4 1/2 months old. She is so darn cute! She loved Emma. Every time she'd see Emma she would just giggle and talk and she'd follow her with her eyes where ever she would go. We had a blast getting to see her!

This is pretty funny! This is Emma's rendition of the "How do you know you love her" song from one of her favorite movies Enchanted. Listen carefully and you can hear the How do you know part over and over and over... She does an Elvis impersonation, a ballerina twirl, gives thanks to her band (daddy), and claps for her own broadway performance!

Color time!

Emma is not my tiny baby any more. She can do all sorts of things (likely to be in trouble) and is learning so much. One of the things Emma is learning right now is colors and she loves to draw! Her favorite right now is "pink" of course and she has an elmo coloring book and crayons that she loves to draw on. Looking at these pictures I see a long little girl for 2 and 1/2 years old! Oh how time flies!

Emma on the Potty

Emma is such the big girl now. I just had to catch a photo of this! She told us she needed to go and went in to do her stuff. When I snuck up on her, I found her completely naked! She is such the character and she is learning so fast. Oh the places you'll go baby girl!

This week has been my week off and Emma and I have been potty training! So far so good. She has had a few accidents but has been telling me she needs to go. She has her little potty that Danielle and Austin gave her, but she can go on the big potty if you let her. It's been so nice to have this time off and spend every minute with her. I'm going to be spoiled and not want to go back to work on Monday! (cough cough)

Cowgirl Emma! We had a

fun weekend and visited with our friends Matt and Nicole and their kids. Their Grandma made them all stick horses and brought cowboy hats. Emma borrowed a hat and a pony and off she went!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! It was Hot Hot Hot in Vegas! Everyone was swimming or grilling and BBQ was in the air. It felt like summer. We joined in the celebrations by going to see the movie Hancock, swimming at Grandma Pammy's, BBQing ribs, and lighting off our own fireworks. We all had a good time, but Emma was reluctant this year and didn't want anything to do with the fireworks. In fact, she put her hands over her eyes! She didn't want to hold the sparklers either. It took a while but as the show went on in the front yard, she came around and started to enjoy watching. When we were out of fireworks, she turned to me and said, "more fireworks?" So brave huh? All in all, it was a very enjoyable 4th of July this year. Hey, our houses are still standing right? :)

Lily in the pool!

This is a video of Lily (our little dog if you didn't know) playing in the pool with us on the 4th of July. She just kept jumping in and chasing Emma's pink princess ball. It was too big for her mouth to catch, but she was so determined! She chased that ball up and down the pool until her little legs just gave up and she waddled out of the pool! We have more than one video clip, but this was the shortest. For those who think our dogs are crazy, here's proof!

Our Day together!

Today was my day off and Emma and I made a day of it! We had lunch and then went to the pool where Emma splashed and played Ariel (what girl doesn't?), we made cupcakes (Emma loved the icing) while we watched Harry Potter. Then we watched Nanny Mcphee and painted our nails. After such a fun afternoon, Emma took a nice nap on the couch while Mommy made dinner. We had a splendidly girly afternoon together!
So much fun!

June!

Wow! Almost half the year has gone by! How time does fly! We have been fairly busy this year with traveling and working. Emma turned 2 in January and we had a small birthday get together. We went to Disneyland and the Beach (Emma's first time) in April for Amanda's 30th birthday (Yes, Lisa, I know you are out there laughing somewhere) and that was alot of fun. Emma loved Disneyland and she had a blast at the beach. Eventually I'll have some pics of that uploaded, but I'm not sure how much this page can hold. :) Amanda got to go and see her new niece Shaelynn in Washington and she is adorable. I will post a photo of her as soon as I can get one. And last but not least, we went back to Nebraska over the Memorial day weekend. We had a very good time seeing everyone. I love the Nebraksa scenery! We got to ride Sam and thinking about it, that was the first real horse Emma ever saw and she was very brave and rhode with Mommy. :) We saw cousins and Grandma Cram and we all got to be together which I love. I wish it was more often. Now can anyone tell me if this thing has spell check? :)

Our New Blog!

Thanks to the help of Danielle, Phil and Amanda now have a blog! THANK YOU Danielle!

Hopefully I can keep it updated with pics and happenings of our clan, but after everything Danielle showed me, I'm not sure what planet I'm on! j/k. Updated for the moment are a couple of pics of us from the last few weeks. Eventually I will figure out how to have a slideshow and that will be easier to keep pics updated over time. :) Again, thank you Danielle for your help!