Potty Time?

Last week my dryer broke. It broke on the worst of all possible days, although any day would be bad. It broke on the day that Emree decided to smear poop on the wall, the sheets, the blanket, the pillow, and everything she was wearing. She decided that this would be a great activity to repeat the following day. However, this has not occurred since! Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can promise you that I could not have handled any poop smearing in my life this week.

Artwork...

Monterey

Did I mention my cousin Liberty lives close to me. Okay, I know I keep talking about it, but I am pretty excited. This weekend we loaded up the car and headed about 3 and a half hours away to Monterey, Ca. But first we picked up the Woodlands in Concord. It was seriously so fun.

Our first stop was the bath tub, I mean the hot tub. It was only about 90 degrees, which was perfect and meant we could all get it. Even the little kids and the pregnant lady.



We spent the night playing Monopoly Deal and Labyrinth while the kids slept. However, Tyler had to take Jesse in the car and drive around at about 4 in the morning.

He still wouldn't fall asleep so Tyler went to Wal-Mart and bought us a few things (It was almost like we had Brian on the trip, minus the Orange Juice.Ty's family will know what I mean).

The next day we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

It was seriously a must see, especially with a two year old who knows "Finding Nemo" better then her ABCs. She found...
Nemo & Dori,


Turtles,

Sharks (Can you find it),

Jelly Fish,

and so much more.

She was as excited as she could be and loved every minute.



We took the 17 mile drive along the bay and saw many "preferred" views and stopped at the beach.


We finished the night by eating out at a really yummy restaurant via restaurants.com (if you haven't discovered what that is, you need to). With great conversation on the drive home the trip was a success. I don't think our kids even scared off Liberty and David. Or at least that's what they said. YEAH!

I love to See The Temple!

Emree asked us on Saturday night if we could go to the temple. We have been teaching her a lot about the temple since Quinn got married in December and Kenzie will be getting married in August. My first reaction when she asked was to say no, but Ty was quicker then I and said "Sure, Why not!" So, we packed a lunch and went up to the temple on Sunday after church. We are so fortunate to have a temple 15 minutes from our house. We ate lunch and then walked around the grounds and showed Emree how beautiful the temple was and how beautiful the flowers surrounding it were. She told me she was going to get married in the temple just like Mom and Just like Kenzie. She also told me she was going to dress like a beautiful princess.

This the Sacramento Temple.

When we got home we decided it would be fun to put a picture of the temple up in her room. She was so excited! I am so glad my parents were sealed in the temple and set the wonderful example for me. I am also grateful for my own sealing in the temple and that I can live with my family for eternity.

This is the picture we put up in Emree's room. It is painted by our friend Bobby Johnson's Mom. She is amazing!

I love to see the temple.
I’m going there someday
To feel the Holy Spirit,
To listen and to pray.
For the temple is a house of God,
A place of love and beauty.
I’ll prepare myself while I am young;
This is my sacred duty.

I love to see the temple.
I’ll go inside someday.
I’ll cov’nant with my Father;
I’ll promise to obey.
For the temple is a holy place
Where we are sealed together.
As a child of God, I’ve learned this truth:
A fam’ly is forever.

I can not believe that Jesse is already 6 months old. Craziness. He has grown up so much in just the last few weeks. It is fun to see his little personality come out and to see how him and Emree interact. I went back to Emree's 6 month post and realized they are just about the same developmentally. So, here are Jesse's 6 tricks for 6 months.

1. Rolling Over... He has been able to do this for a long time, but hardly ever does because he hates being on the ground. He can only roll from back to tummy though.

2. Smiling at Everyone...He has been doing this for a long time too. With Emree I thought it was amazing that she was smiling at me, but Jesse almost came out smiling. The best part is that he hardly ever smiles with out sticking his little tongue out. It is pretty adorable. His laugh melts my heart, but the best part is that him and Emree have the same giggle. So cute!

3. Sitting Up... He is loving this trick and loves reaching for things. Oh the dreaded baby grab. I always underestimate his reach and something gets in his hands that shouldn't. The fish bowl, the fork, food, glasses of water, Emree's hair...got to love it.

4. Pacifier Inserting... He doesn't take a pacifier, but Emree does. She sleeps with two. Every morning when Jesse and I go in to get Emree out of bed she gives Jesse one of her binkies. They both just lay on the bed with binkies in their mouths and giggle. That is the only time Jesse will touch one.

5. Yelling... Jesse loves to talk as loud as he can. All the time. This trick is not so cute and makes sitting through church basically impossible, but it is pretty funny.

6. Eating... Jesse just started eating baby food and loves it. Now, if I could only get him to love a bottle... You'll never hear me stop complaining about that until he does.

Jesse has definitely been a much harder baby then Emree and I have said that about ten million times, but we love him so much. His personality is hilarious as he giggles and smiles, and teases us. He is so much fun and I can not wait to watch him grow up! I think he is going to be super social and outgoing. He is so fun and has such a tender heart. He will laugh at everything Emree does and will give up any toy for her. Their little bond is priceless.

The Day We Get Ready For Sunday...

As a member of the LDS church or as a "Mormon", we believe that the sabbath is a day of rest. A day to take a break from the normal hustle bustle of life and try to focus on our Savior. We try to refrain from playing sports, going swimming, spending money, and working, the best we can and spend our day doing church and family activities. That means that Saturday can be busy! We often clean our house to make sure we can have a restful Sunday. Go to the store to make sure we have everything we need for Sunday dinner. Tyler usually has to do extra studying so that he can have Sunday with us. And I try to get the kids bathed and stuff on Saturday night.

Spending Sundays together has blessed my little family. Sunday is the day we look forward to as we get to focus on what is important. It is our day to reevaluate as parents and to remember that the most important thing we can do is teach our children about Jesus Christ.

Here is one of my favorite mormon messages... Emree made us watch it about 500 times!

Liberty!

Liberty came! My cousin Liberty and I grew up a mile apart from each other (or less) and spent so much time together growing up. Having her close was like having another sister. We loved to eat popsicles, play barbies (even when we were too old to play barbies), sing songs, watch old movies, and sneak treats. She just moved to San Jose and is going to be about an hour and 20 minutes away. I have never been so excited. She might even come stay at our house in a couple weeks while her cute husband is out of town. Does life get any better then that!




One of my favorite things about Liberty is her willingness to serve. She even came over and helped me paint my apartment when I was 8 months pregnant and taking on a crazy project. She came with a smile on her face and paintbrush in her hand. She also brought a friend to help get the job done. So, if she has any crazy projects in the next couple weeks (seeing as she is going to have a baby soon) I am totally down with helping! I love you girly :)

Here's to dreaming!

My dreams of an Olympic Gold Medalist in the 100 Breast stroke have been completely crushed, but isn't she adorable? She cried about 15 minutes of the half hour today, but hey she still got her participation certificate! Here is to the generation where everyone is a winner!


My dreams of one day being able to leave Jesse with a babysitter are slowly being realized. He loves carrots! YEAH!! I am basking in the small accomplishments today.




My dream of having family close is coming true tomorrow! I am getting a visit from Liberty! One of my all time favorite cousin :). She just moved a little over an hour away. We are pretending it is 5 minutes.

And lastly, here are two pictures of one of my cute friends and her little boy Brenden who did swim lessons with us. We love them! We couldn't have dreamed up better friends :).