Emma's big girl bed

I'll get a better picture posted soon of Emma's new bed. I keep forgetting, so I snuck in and took a really bad picture of her sleeping, such a sweetie pie! I'll get some better ones soon.

She slept really great last night, and doesn't like it if Shane or I are in her bed. Today she told me, "Get out my bed. Get on the floor, Mommy!" Borderline a little bratty, but I'll still chalk it up as cute for now.

Anyway, here is the little sleeping beauty...

Emma's latest milestone

We've been lucky, Emma has never once attempted to climb out of her crib and she's about 2 1/2 years old now. We knew the day would come, but it broke my heart last night when it happened. Last night I put her to bed, and after about 15 minutes, I heart a huge thump and then her screaming. I ran in, and found her face down on the floor, with a look of "What happened!" on her face. She was unharmed other than a little blood in her mouth, she bonked her face on the way down. After a few minutes of tears, she was fine. She was trying to reach her "cars" book that I left on the floor that she could see. I calmed her down and she came in on my bed for a while, we called Shane at work. I asked her to tell Daddy what happened...she said. "I fall down my bed. I hurt my face!" I love her little voice and the her little kid sentences. Of course, I'll be thrilled when she talks like a grown up, but I love the way she communicates now.

So, we're off this weekend to go bed shopping. If any of you have a bunkbed that you've loved, we'd like some tips. We're just going straight to a bunk-bed, so that by the time we have a #2 that's ready for a bed, Emma can move to the top and #2 can have the bottom. I'm hoping it will save time/money in the long run. We're headed to IKEA... :)

Our Easter

We had such a fun day yesterday. Emma woke up and found her basket downstairs. We were going to do an egg hunt outside, but it was rainy, so we postponed it until we got to grandma & grandpa Folkman's house.



Emma loved the bunny ears she got in her basket. Everyone she met throughout the day got a turn wearing them.




Then we had lunch with all the Folkman's at Grandma & Grandpa's house. We did an Easter Egg hunt in their living room, and Emma had a ball. So fun!







Then we went to the Recklings and visited for a while before bedtime. We even got a picture of Grandpa Reckling with bunny ears on.

We're starting her young on the iPod. :)

Decorating Eggs

My little garden is sprouting...

Yeah Spring! I planted all my seeds in my little greenhouse, and I am amazed at how fast they are already growing! I'm so excited! Emma and I check to see how much they have grown each day. This has all happened in only 4 days...quite amazing. I'm growing two different kinds of hanging tomatoes (for baskets), cucumber, zucchini, chives, parsley & basil. We'll see how it all goes. :)

I've been tagged!

Leslie tagged me, so here we go. I've done one similar to this before, so I'll only do the new ones...



If money, time, and babysitting were no object, where would you go and with who?

Right now, I'd go stay at the Salish Lodge with Shane for the weekend. I've heard it's fabulous. :)

When was the last time you cried?

In Primary on Sunday. In sharing time we were having a discussion on why the atonement was important, and we asked all the kids what they thought. One little girl raised her hand and recited the 3rd article of faith that we had been learning. It was just a very sweet moment, to see her be able to connect something we were memorizing to a real-world principle. Very sweet.

5 things you were doing 5 years ago - 2003
1. Exactly five years ago on Tuesday, Shane and I had our first date.
2. Dating, wedding planning
3. Teaching gospel doctrine in the singles ward
4. Finishing up my first year of teaching.
5. Enjoying my pre-marriage, pre-baby thinner body.


5 of your favorite hobbies
1. Gardening, (my new number one)
2. photos of our family
3. Walks with Emma
4. Naptime
5. Cooking & the Cooking Channel

5 favorite foods
1. Thai
2. Italian (Maggiano's)
3. Mexican (Chipotle Carnitas Tacos)
4. Mom's Sunday dinners
5. Anything Shane cooks.

5 places you've been
1. Chile
2. Spain
3. Portugal
4. Canada
5. Mexico

5 favorite memories
1. Christmas Evening/Morning with all the boys at home.
2. Sleeping bag monster/Hot lava monster
3. Dancing Ballet with Natalie all those years in Utah
4. My first kiss with Shane
5. Emma's first kick in my tummy

5 people you wish you could meet/see again
1. Grandpa & Grandma Folkman
2. Grandma Lyons (All three so Shane could meet them)
3. All my family/friends in Chile
4. Joseph & Emma
5. All my neighborhood friends from Utah

Bingo Prizes

On Friday night, my school had a community building evening, and we played BINGO with my whole school! It was so fun, we had over 600 people there and some amazing prizes. All of the proceeds went to our school's humanitarian project, Generation Joy. (we send school supplies, clothing, and personal items to orphanages and small schools in South Africa.) Kids helping kids...it's a great thing. :)

Anyway, Emma and I won three times! We were on fire! She won this cardboard lemonade stand/play house that she gets to color, a set of sidewalk chalk, and a mini-golf game. Very fun. Here she is playing in her house, and wishing Shane a happy birthday. It's so cute how she says it... "Haddy Birtday Daddy". Love it..

Scrabbled eggs anyone?

So, I am known in my family as saying some of the stupidest things imaginable. I don't know why, I feel that I am a fairly eloquent person, but sometimes I just can't say the right thing. Last night, we stopped by my parents and they were playing a game with Jake & AJ. It was late at night, and I was very tired, which is my best excuse. Anyway, we were discussing Scrabble and Shane was asking if anyone had ever actually spelled out the word "scrabble" while playing. My mom said, no because it's a proper noun and can't be used. I then replied, completely seriously, "Wait, you can scrabble eggs, can't you?"

Isn't it great that I'm a teacher?

Happy Birthday, Shane!

Shane's birthday is today, he's been partying all weekend. We got to go to the Keg on Saturday night with his family for some super yummy steak, and then yesterday he got homemade chicken enchiladas at his mom's with some super, super yummy chocolate cake. It's been a weekend of super delicious food.

As I've posted before, I think he is absolutely fantastic. Super cute, my best friend, and the world's best Dad. I really don't know how I deserve him. He's out shopping right now for tools with Emma (tool shopping is one of their favorite activities). Here they are as they were leaving. I hope he has a great day!

Shane, my sweetie pie!

I know this will be kind of a "cheesy" post, but I just have to share how thoughtful Shane is. We get these super yummy bagels from Costco, the Asiago Cheese Bagels and they are fab! My favorite part is that there is sometimes a little extra cheese that drops down in the hole of the bagel, and gets baked till its a little crispy. It's little, like the size of a nickel, but I love it! Like a little bagel surprise when you pull it out of the bag. Shane and Emma are generally just finishing lunch when I come home, and the other day, Shane had made a bagel sandwich. I walked in and he said, "look what I saved for you!"...and it was the little cheese surprise from the hole in his bagel. I know it's kind of dorky--and totally something that doesn't matter, but isn't that what makes a marriage? All the little tiny insignificant things that add up together?

Fantastic book...

My mother-in-law, Gloria, loaned me this book, and I have so enjoyed it! It's been helpful as a working mom to put my role as a mother in perspective. I wish I could be home full-time, but can't...and this book has encouraged me to do what I can now. Being a mom is and will continue to be my first priority!

Anyway, it was very inspiring..a great read for anybody. Written by Jane Clayson-Johnson, who used to host the Early Show on CBS, before she left to start a family. I think sometimes I can get too distracted by work, this was a great book to get myself centered again on worrying about the important things in life--home and family.

Jet or Shark?

Since Shane works on Friday nights, Emma and I get a girls night every week. This week we watched "West Side Story", and Emma just couldn't keep herself from dancing.