It's Fun to Learn

Wow! Thanks to Sarah B. I've figured out backgrounds. How fun! Thanks for your help.

This week has been great fun. I went to April's in-law's and picked more apples and pears! I made the apples into frozen pie filling (yummy) and the pears are in the basement ripening. I'll be canning them later this week. It's a lot of work, but my family really enjoys having it throughout the winter. Besides fruit, I've been grading my first batch of freshman comp papers. So far they've been rather entertaining. I've read about everything from losing your big toe in Judo to working as a bouncer at a strip club. I'm always nervously excited to see what my students will write about. So far, they've made it interesting.

The girls, as always, are keeping us laughing. Ashlyn has learned how to draw her eyebrows together into the perfect scowl and has perfected the "no no" phrase. She has also decided that our side hill is the perfect slide. She scoots down the rather steep hill on her bottom just to turn around and try it again. Emma keeps us laughing with comments like, "Dad, no tickling me while I'm sleeping" and "Our baby isn't a baby any more, is she?" They grow so quickly. I'm loving every minute of it. Well, most minutes. One of my favorite phrases is, The days sometimes crawl by, but the weeks and months fly. Well, I'm ready for the next adventure in parenting, I hope.

I've been tagged

The rules of the game. Go to your pictures folder and take the fourth picture from the fourth file and post it. That's it. (Thanks Heidi.) This picture was taken at Nick's parent's home. Emma dumped an entire box of cereal on the floor and proceeded to eat the marshmallows next to Aunt Lacee's little dog Rusty. Emma sure has grown. This picture seems like it was taken just yesterday rather than Dec of 06. I'm so grateful for cameras that catch memorable moments like this one. Now I tag Sarah R., Sarah B., Ranee, and Kerri.

Catching Up

I was just looking over our pictures from September to date, and well, I hope you don't mind me playing a bit of catch up. Here goes.

Ashlyn and her daddy have a special relationship.
Emma's heading off to her first day of preschool. she's growing up so fast. It's fun watching her learn so much every day.

We went for a drive last Sunday to Scout Mountain. It was rather pretty up there, but this is the only picture where either girl was actually looking at the camera. Too bad daddy's not in this one. The leaves are starting to change already. We love this time of year.

These last two pictures are of Nick's little sister Lacee, her husband Monte, and their brand new, tiny baby Carson. Carson surprised everyone by coming 7 weeks early. His arrival even included a life-flight trip from Evanston to Ogden. He's all of 4 lbs 8 oz and 18 inches long. He's tiny, but he's a fighter. He's already doing much better than anyone expected. Lacee and Monte deserve to be proud of him. He's so adorable. We look forward to when they get to bring him home. Keep growing little guy. We love you.

What the Girls Do While the Daddies Are Away

I've really been wanting to post more pictures, but Nick left Tuesday to go hunt antelope in Wyoming and took the camera with him. He'll be home Saturday, so hopefully I'll be able to share more then. Maybe I'll even post a picture of an antelope. Have you ever seen one? ;)

As for what the girls have done while dad has been away, we've been playing. Actually, we've pretty well done the normal. But Ashlyn has learned how to spin in circles and is becoming quite the pro. For a little 16-month-old who learned to walk about three weeks ago, spinning is a big step. I love watching her laugh after each turn. It's hilarious.

I actually hired a babysitter to come over tonight and went with a friend to help pick fruits and veggies at her in-laws'. I had a blast. It was such a nice break to help pick beans and apples. Her in-laws even had pears, plums, and peaches, and I haven't even mentioned the garden. While I absolutely love spending time with my girls, every once in a while, it's nice to have a mommy evening. Thanks April. Now I have three boxes of beautiful apples to make into applesauce. We love homemade applesauce. Happy canning!

I'm finally blogging

I've been wanting to do this for ages, but for some reason it always seemed like such a huge undertaking. Well, here I am. I'll likely be picking your brains while I figure out how to do this. If any of you have tips, please send them my way.

Over Labor Day weekend, we met up with friends of ours (Kade and Tiffani) as well as my sister Kerri and her family and went to Lava Hot Springs, or as Emma calls it, Hot Lava Springs. We had so much fun. Emma looked fantastic in her pink goggles and couldn't get enough of the kiddo water slide, and Ashlyn loved running right into the shade tent set up next to us. Tiffani even helped me gather up the courage to jump off the platform, granted it was the lowest platform, but it still gives me butterflies just thinking about it. The guys did have to show us up though by jumping senselessly from the top platform. Honestly, I have goosebumps just thinking about it. But we really did have fun.

After swimming we went to a delicious Thai restaurant in town. While the food was good, Emma was wiped out. She actually fell asleep at the table. Ashlyn, on the other hand, was good to go. Talk about good memories.