"Birthday party, cousins, Mickey Mouse cake...FUN!"

If you ask Emma about her birthday, these will be the words you will hear. We had such a fun time celebrating her 2nd birthday with our family in Arizona, ahe adores her cousins, as do I! I love this picture of her, she was just so happy. It was a great party filled with cake, balloons, bubbles, and presents! !She had so much fun opening all her presents with the help of cousins! She was a little princess in her new chair throwing around tissue paper and trying out her new sunglasses and magnifying glass. Thank you everyone for the great gifts!!

The rest of the evening was spent with bubbles, being entertained by Jack-Jack, and reading her new zoo book with Gray-ya over and over. She loves that book but I think I love hearing her read the book more!



What a fun day and to think, this was just the beginning of all the celebrating. She's one lucky girl but precious as can be and we're just so excited for every moment we have with her! Thanks again to everyone for helping to make such a fun memory! We love you!

A Trip to AZ = A Working Computer (among some other things!)

I figured I should take this opportunity to blog while I'm in Arizona with a working computer...and it will be nice to finally get my daughter's naked bum off the top of this page. It has been quite a year for us and it's only February! And to think, in the next 2 months, we'll be moving and having a baby! It's a little outdated so I'll just quickly report...We had a quiet and really nice Christmas with Chris' parents...Emma still says "santa" everytime she plays with one of her new toys and I often hear "ho,ho,ho" still to this day! Thanks again Roy and Lora for all the great gifts, the kitchen was a huge hit!! And thank you Santa Claus for making a special visit to our house!
The quiet quickly turned to a fun chaos when Chris' brothers came to town for New Years. We spent a few days with the whole family, which definitely needs to happen more often! A few days later, my parents came in to town for my cousin's wedding. We only spent a day with them, but we crammed a whole lot of fun into that one day! Thanks for the hotel room, Emma had a blast going back and forth from the elevator to the vending machine buttons. Traci looked beautiful and it was great to see cousins especially Mikelle who was here from Fiji and to visit with Grandpa! Wish I had a picture of Traci to share!

The next few weeks were kept busy with a few doctor visits, playdates, even a sleepover with Emma's best buddy, Conner, they really adore eachother and we loved having him over while his mom was having baby #2, and our first trip to the San Diego Zoo as a family.
Yes, that's Emma giving kisses to a goat, I cringe at the sanitary level of this picture but she loved the petting part of the zoo...we could have stayed there for hours.

A few weeks ago we returned from a week long vacation to Kauai. It was wonderful, beautiful and super relaxing! Knock on wood, Emma still travels really well for us. She was a total fish, we couldn't keep her away from the water UNLESS there was a rooster around in which she would chase after with her arms wide open saying "hug a rooster". I'll post more on our trip with some pics in a few days!We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of "baby sister"! A few days ago, Emma laid her head on my chest and sang her rock-a-bye song while patting my belly. I don't know how much of this she understands but her kisses for baby sister on my belly never get old! We are loving every moment with Emma...she's growing so fast, we can't believe she'll be 2 in just one week!
More from AZ soon!! We're so excited to spend time with family and to be here for my niece's baptism. We'll even get to celebrate Emma's birthday with cousins, a party and a Mickey Mouse birthday cake. She is very excited (and so am I)!!

What do you think...Christmas card picture?

Emma has started rebelling against clothes and diapers. As I try to enjoy all these toddler nuances...I really do hope this is just a stage!! Lately I'm lucky if I can get her and I dressed and out of the house by 11. I've realized if I tell her something very enticing as to where we are going, I can get her to somewhat cooperate. So today I told her we were going to get daddy's christmas gifts and "daddy" was all she needed to hear. She ran and got her boots on and went straight to the door. I couldn't resist taking a picture!

Earlier in the morning, naked of course, emma spotted a spider and brought me over to show and tell me (over and over again!). She disappeared for a second and came back with a wipe in hand and to my shock told me to "kill it, kill it". After I took the wipe, she stepped back a few feet to sit and watch. Once she realized that I wasn't going near it, she came back over, grabbed the wipe out of my hand and said, "I got it", like she was sick and tired of waiting for me to do it! With all the bravery she could muster up, she held out the wipe and took a few steps forward. But just like her mommy, she couldn't quite do it and we've decided to let daddy handle it when he gets home. She continues to keep me entertained everyday and also very aware of how much she watches what we say and do! I hope I haven't turned my daughter into the type of person that has to call her husband to come home from work to kill a spider or save her from a snake or lizard (same thing, right??)!

Check out my new ride!

Had to post pics of my new car...GMC Acadia! I love it so much...!!!
It has so many little things in it that are so great but the DVD player has changed my life. It was getting extremely difficult trying to keep emma entertained and drive at the same time, everytime she'd drop her doll or sippy cup...I found myself stretching in ways I never knew I could to get it for her while keeping my eyes on the road! Now I can hardly get her to say a word to me and so far the car is clear of books, toys, and cheerios! This may not be a good thing but for right now I am enjoying and loving my new found peace! As you can see in this pic, I got her to say "cheese" but she wouldn't take her eyes off the movie! Thanks Chris...I know this means that you're back to driving the toyota which you love so much!! Don't worry, you'll one day have that Ferrari you dream about!! Yeah right!

"Sick Day"

Chris decided that Friday he wanted to use one of his sick days left for this year and spend it at Disneyland. We were so excited to be going all together as a family and had heard and read about the Christmas attractions and decorations...so we were in it for the day and had a lot to get through. As I got emma up and told her that we were going to see Mickey, she started jumping on her bed saying "mickey, mickey...go, go!!" and I've never seen her so willling to be a "big girl" and lay down to get her diaper and clothes changed. Of course we headed right for Small World when we first got there (it's become tradition now) in fact we passed the huge tree on Main Street and I couldn't even get emma out of her stroller for a picture...she had one thing on her mind, MICKEY! I never thought I'd be the kind of mom to chase after disney characters, I've never had much of a love for cartoons, but when we finally saw Mickey...I went running with emma in hand. Emma got to wave and say bye-bye which is probably all she would have done anyways. Check out our pic w/ Goofy...she was so excited waiting in line talking about giving him a high-five, but when it came down to it...she was all talk!! There was no way her head was coming off my shoulder! A definite highlight...live reindeer!! Frontierland was turned into the West Pole with Santa and his deer, it was extremely hard pulling emma away from that. All the decorating was amazing, many of the rides were changed to go along with the holidays. The Haunted Mansion was all decked out with the theme of The Nightmare Before Christmas and the parade was complete with Santa, dancing gingerbreadmen and nutcrackers.

We also spent time over at Cal Adventure and Chris and I were able to go on Soarin Over California for the first time...which was very cool and emma was able to dance with Chip and Dale to live Christmas music, very entertaining!

We finished the day off with a churro...everytime we've gone to Disneyland, we smell churros all over the place but have never given into temptation. We conciously made the decision a few days ago that we'd be getting a few of those! These last few pictures are of emma stealing (literally!) my churro and she was one happy girl! She wasn't giving that up but with that face, she can have whatever she wants!! It was such a great day...I love my little family!

A Tribute to Mom...

Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab

Oh Christmas Tree...

I think one of the greatest gifts of becoming a parent is being able to see things through a child's eye and appreciating those little things and fun holiday traditions all over again. We picked out our Christmas tree this weekend and I was really excited because I knew emma would appreciate it more than last year! And that she did! We had so much fun bundling up, looking through the trees, and then coming home to decorate. She had fun decorating herself with the lights and tinsel and kept saying, "cool, cool", but really enjoyed helping and watching the ornaments go up one by one although she is now enjoying taking any ornament she can reach off the tree one by one! Still today she is coming down the stairs scrunching up her nose and sniffing the tree...I'm glad she appreciates the scent of a Christmas tree as much as I do!

Emma and "Mr. Bear" waiting and watching for Chris to come up to the house with the tree...she was very excited and anxious!



Emma hanging her new ornament for this year...a rocking horse made from bells. This is definitely one tradition I hope to keep up. We hope everyone enjoys the pre-Christmas spirit!

It's a...

We are so excited to announce that we will be having another baby girl!! Speaking for both Chris and I, I can honestly say that we are both so happy for emma to have a little sister and a little friend to do all the girly things with. We hope they'll be best friends and really look to eachother. Our technician gave us a detailed ultrasound and everything checked out to be very healthy, which we are so grateful for. Apparently, our little baby girl likes to eat a lot...our tech mentioned that several times which I hope doesn't mean I'm having a big baby!! We couldn't be more happy...it was a great morning and I'm looking forward to getting out all the pink!!

Roses and Tea Parties

Not a bad weekend! USC beat UCLA 24-7, which of course means many things to a Trojan but one thing for sure it means is we're headed to the Rose Bowl on New Years Day against Illinois. We are of course excited and it always feels good to take down UCLA. Just don't get Chris started on the set up of the BCS bowl games!! We were able to watch the game at Jeff & Erin's and we celebrated with dinner out at Romano's...thanks Roy and Lora! They have 4 boys that absolutely spoil Emma with attention and she adores spending time with them. It's a great way to watch a game!

The majority of the rest of the weekend was spent playing tea party! Emma will come to us excitedly saying "party, party" while doing a little dance on her toes. She gets so excited and loves to pour the pretend tea and sprinkle the sugar and will even make the sound effects now. It has definitely motivated me to get her a little table sooner than later. She loves to get her daddy to play with her, he'll bring out all the puppets, dolls and animals to join in and is such a good sport about it. Although after reading this, he may become a little more opinionated about whether he'd like our baby to be a boy or girl! Emma is definitely a girly girl and Chris has been such a wonderful dad and has hung in there with all the dance parties, dolls and bunnies!

We go in tomorrow for an ultrasound to find out what we are having so we'll definitely be posting again real soon!

No more mullet!

We finally did it! Emma's first haircut!! I took her over to First Cut at Mission Mall where they have rockets as chairs and a TV at every station but she still ended up in my lap! It turned out being a really fun experience and we left smiling and laughing and I cannot believe how different she looks!! She especially loved the certificate for "surviving her 1st haircut" and lollipop they gave her when we were all finished. It will take a little time to get use to but I think she looks adorable and it was long overdue!

Very, Very Thankful!

We spent a great week in Arizona with my family for Thanksgiving. There were 25 of us in all and it was chaotic, crazy, and so much fun! It always goes by too fast! Because we will not be together for Christmas, we combine the holidays and this year we even got to go on the Polar Express where we actually took a train up to the North Pole, ate cookies, drank hot chocolate, sang songs, and met Santa Claus! Other highlights were of course the girls' days shopping, scrappin, and baby shower at Bamboo Club, Thanksgiving dinner, USC 44- ASU 24, golfing, frisbee golf, guitar hero, late night Office reruns and QT drinks and watching Emma have such a fun time with all her cousins! Even though she's hesitant with her aunts and uncles...I know she adores them and I am very grateful she has them in her life. I am also very thankful for parents who give us these opportunities to all be together! Thanks for a great week! We love you!

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Our "Buggie" Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year, after some bribing with "popsios" and candy, we got Emma not only into her lady bug costume but got her to leave it on (minus the hat!) for our rescheduled Trunk or Treat on Tuesday night. She was a little hesitant at first, but once that sugar kicked in, she was off and running. Chris added 2 more pumpkins to his collection...a headless horseman and Mr. Incredible. They're always a big hit! Wednesday morning we headed off to Music Makers where the kids dressed up for a costume parade and sang and marched to Halloween songs. Emma enjoys being with her little friends, especially her boyfriend, Conner and her new lady bug friend, Madeline. Later that day we visited daddy at work to show our little lady bug off and came home to search for a mysterious black cat that is always lurking around. We ended our Halloween with a party at the Wellings. There was lots of yummy food and good friends and it was great to see the kids in their costumes one last time. Thanks Elise!! To say the least, Emma was wired but completely exhausted by the end of all the festivities. We can't wait for next year!

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Feelin the heat!

So I've been feeling the pressure from mom to post and now with the fires, she thought I should update you all. We all know to do as mom says. It's been a yucky week, but it's difficult to complain when others have lost much more than a day at the park or Trunk or Treat. The fire in Irvine, which is now contained, was about 5 miles away and didn't threaten many structures. Unfortunately, the other fires in Orange County made our air quality bad enough that we've been trapped indoors for the week. Last night was the first time since before we left for Arizona that I've seen some blue in the sky. Today we drove out to Riverside and took a highway that had been closed, it was crazy to see the land and rooftops charred and burnt. Our house, clothes, everything has smelled like a campfire...the air is warm and thick of ashes and smoke. So, we've been going a little stir crazy...I wish I had extended our visit in AZ!


Speaking of AZ, I thought I'd post some pics of our trip. It was short but we crammed a lot in...and we were so happy to be there for Bailey's blessing, it was a great weekend.

This was such a great moment, Emma had grandma trapped singing Eency Weency Spider over and over with her "pweeeeease!"

John "Chiquita" Shepherd

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!Right back at ya Johnny

Another first...

This was a big day for us...Emma's first day in the Nursery. As a parent who hasn't left her much and with my hormones going out of control, you would think I was sending her off to college! But withholding all those feelings, I excitedly walked her to Nursery and to my surprise she was quickly entertained by all the kids and fun new toys. She immediately found a rocking horse and with all her attention turned to that, I was able to leave within minutes of walking in. As Chris and I sat in Sunday School with all four hands available, we couldn't believe what had just happened! It was definitely a strange feeling, I can't remember the last time I sat in a class with Chris and just Chris! Sadly after Sunday School, I peeked through the Nursery window and she was no longer happily entertained. A bit of a dissapointment since I had just spent the past hour thinking how wonderful this was. But she did a great job and we're very proud of her. Like Brett said, with the alternative being walking the halls or struggling in class to keep her quiet, I'd much prefer to have to sit in Nursery while she plays! We'll see how next week goes...I'll be teaching, so it will be Daddy's turn!

Tribute to our Trojans!

It's college football season! Not only is it the first day of College Game Day but tonight USC plays Idaho in their first game of the season. There is nothing that motivates Chris more to get out of bed at 7am Saturday morning than college football and although he's been in and out of the house today, the TV has remained on ESPN and this is how it will be for the next 4 months! It's definitely a fun ride...Fight On!