Eating Out!

We love to go Crossroads for dinner. It's like a food court, but it only has independent, international cuisine...no major chains allowed. The food is so yummy! Emma loves to get some chicken and rice from a little Japanese place, and she wanted to try and use my chopsticks. She actually did a good job for a while...the video didn't quite catch it though. I was still amazed.

It was a fun Saturday night with Shane's parents.

Emma's nursery wounds

Emma LOVES nursery now, and she can't wait to go each week. Since she's finally decided that she likes it, she has come home with a couple of major wounds. The first, a few weeks ago, was what mysteriously looked like a bite mark, on her upper lip. She was great and didn't cry too much, so they kept her in there until the end of nursery, but then walked around with a fat lip for the next week.

Yesterday, right before church was over, Emma was running and tripped and feel into a brick wall. It was her first big goose-egg, and man did it look like it hurt. It literally was poking an inch out of her forehead when we picked her up. She cried a little, but was fine by the time we came home. We kept her up for a few hours just to make sure it wasn't serious, and then since she was acting fine, she took a nap and then slept great all night. She's going to have a huge bruise this week.

The pictures don't do it justice, but I just thought I'd share. :) She's such a trooper. I love that this injury didn't involve other kids, just her craziness and a brick wall!

Kayak Point

We are having a Seattle heat wave. It's been in the 90's the past two days, and it's been great to finally have some good weather. We were going to go to the temple this morning, but when we got up and started getting ready, we found out that Emma had played with my recommend (my own fault--I left it out on our dresser), and Shane thought it was an old one. She had crumpled it up, so when Shane found it, he tossed it. We started the day off with good intentions, but hopefully we'll be able to go in the next couple of weeks back to the temple. We've been trying to be better about temple attendance lately.

So, we had a free morning with beautiful weather. We headed off to find some cool air, and some beautiful sights. We drove up to Kayak Point in Snohomish county. All of the Folkmans are going to take a family vacation there this summer, we rented a little cottage. It was so beautiful today. We waded through the water, found shells and some crabs. They had recently built a huge kids play area, so Emma was happy. We enjoyed the weather, and then drove back home for naps. It was a fun day. I think Emma is going to love it there this summer.

Our little camera died, so we took the video camera. I'll post the video below. It's like 5 minutes long, so be patient while it loads.

Conference Talks

For some reason, conference this last month was just amazing for me. (It should always be, but this time, I really just soaked every word in!) I heard so many things that I needed to hear, and I was so impressed by the messages shared with us. I couldn't wait to get my copy of the Ensign with all the talks, to be able to read more indepth, since listening to conference with Emma is a bit of a challenge. I got my Ensign this week, and wanted to share two of my favorites...the titles are linked if you want to read them.

Righteous traditions--Cheryl C. Lant talked about traditions, and how we as parents have the responsibility to establish righteous traditions that will help lead our children in the right direction. It was all based from Mosiah 5:15, and the idea of "being steadfast and immovable". I stopped and thought about our family's favorite things to do, the things that are becoming traditions, and how valuable they really are in the whole scheme of raising a gospel-centered family. I've been doing a lot of thinking, and this article I loved.

Daughters of God--given by M. Russell Ballard. I loved this talk because it values so much the effort and lives of young mothers. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed with my life, and the energy it takes to try and do everything to raise Emma in the gospel. It was sweet to hear from an apostle, tips to help make this journey easier. I also loved the comments about the roles of fathers, and how their nurture and support is such a vital role. Such a great article.

Digital Scrapbooking...

Ok, so I realize I have more time on my hands now that I've finished my National Boards, and I'm enjoying all the crafty things I've been able to do lately. (Hence, the many crafty posts). Sewing, bow-making, and my latest discovery...digital scrapbooking. I'm so excited by this idea, and by the many "free" hints that are out there. I found my first link from my friend Sunny's blog, and then cruised from there. Anyone else who's interested, here's what I've been using.

It's just like traditional scrapbooking, only minus the mess and the stickiness! So fun! Also, you really don't need any special software--I did all my editing in Office PowerPoint.

Some favorite links: Shabby Princess, One Cute Blog (tutorial), and Better In Pink. Give it a try!



Here's an example of one of the free kits that you can download from Shabby Princess. (which is where I got all the kits for this blog). It can only be used for personal use, but imagine the possibilities! It comes with papers, embellishments and letters. I can't believe I haven't found this before.

A wonderful weekend...

What a great weekend. We went to the temple on Saturday morning, which was so nice. We hadn't been for a few months, and it was great to go. Today after church the weather was beautiful, so we had dinner and naps and then went for a drive through Fall City and Preston, and then ended up at Marymoor park. We watched the RC plane guys flying their little planes. Emma was in HEAVEN! Then we went and played on some toys for a while, before going over to my parents. My mom made some chocolate cake and home-made ice cream! So good! It was overall just a great weekend. Lots of time together, which is the best part.


Shane & Emma watching the planes.


Emma blowin' in the wind.


Emma was trying to snatch a pine-cone...

A bow addiction...

I have found my latest crafty outlet... I know I'm a few years late on the bow trend, but it is so fun to make them! Here are a few I'm going to try this weekend. These are all ones I haven't done yet, I'll post one's I've made this weekend. It's so fun! They look so cute in Emma's hair!




I especially love the bug bows...can't wait to see if they work! :)