Downtown

We took some trips downtown recently.  Lydia has been wanting to ride the trax for sometime now because she sees her dad taking the trax to work.  So we announced the big news to Lydia and she was so happy!  It was enjoyable for the first 10 minutes and then Emree got a little restless and angry as well as and putting her mouth on everything.

Here's the first big snowfall we had a couple weeks ago.  It snowed about 3 days straight it seemed like.  Well McCall had to work that Saturday, so I was able to take the girls out and play in the snow.  Emree hated it and Lydia was in love.  So I put Emree to bed and Lydia and I made a nice big snowman.  Everytime thereafter when we'd go outside, she'd shreek "Snowman" and go running to the spot where it was.

These girls love the piano and have made me go inactive playing because every time I do sit down to play they swarm me and cry until I let them sit on my lap and take over.  Emree looks a little possessed in this picture, she's thinking, "wa haha I just composed the most amazing concerto at the youngest age ever."

And then McCall and grandma went to the Dickens festival this last weekend.  I wasn't there so I can't comment much, but this picture is pretty slick.

Emree loves giving Lydia hugs, which usually results in Lydia just standing there not accepting the hug.  But we were lucky enough to catch one of her hugs in action.  She is such a sweetie!  It melts my heart each time she does it, in a manly sort of way.

Right before church, cheeziness!

And I found this picture of Lydia that I love, thought I'd post it again.

Halloween 2012

Halloween was fun this year.  Lydia was so excited about trick or treating and would talk about it every day, and now that it's over she asked for a treat from her Halloween candy every 10 minutes.  Lydia was 'tangled', we found a pretty purple dress at Savers, and McCall couldn't resist putting makeup on her.  Lydia couldn't stop staring at herself when she had that makeup on, it may mean trouble in the future.

 We were excited we didn't have too lame of a costume this year.  Nonetheless I had to educate a few people on who we were at our ward halloween party.  We didn't get a good picture of Emree but she was a dragon and everyone thought she was a boy.  Lydia screamed bloody murder when I took her treat away from her during the party.  Everyone looked at me like I was an evil parent, but I felt justified considering she had eaten no dinner, one cookie covered in frosting, a doughnut and a half, dozen skittles, a couple more candies.

 The blue hair was way too much for us that night and we went home with headaches because of the strong smell, so we decided to switch it up for Halloween night and the Halloween party with friends.  It just gave me another excuse to wear my sweet red pants.  Lydia and Emree were awesome trick or treaters, they only grabbed the chocolate unless there was none to be found, and they were so cute that most people would tell them to take 2 or 3, score for us.

 Emree being cute some time ago

Happy Fall Yal!

Wheeler Farm!

Sorry for the double take here...but seriously....is this not THE COOLEST chicken you have ever seen? I just couldn't get enough of that "Do". One of my highlights of the year, for sure. :)

 

  JD climbed this tree stump all by himself! Hurray for not getting hurt while doing so.

 



Camping!

Me and JD got the wonderful chance to go camping with some friends from his residency a little while back......and would I add....without the kiddos! (Thank you!) We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and were able to snatch the last campsite available that night. It was absolutely gorgeous up there and I personally had an epic blast with my hubby!

Football!

We have had the fun opportunity, since being back in Utah, to go to BYU Football Games! It brings back so many memories of being in college again and getting to go with awesome family members makes it that much better. Not to mention I love going the the tailgating parties and getting lots of free stuff!

Childrens Museum in Salt Lake City!

Once a year we are wonderfully surprised with the fact that it's already free museum day again! So naturally we take the girlies to one of the biggest and bestest museums ever! The girls loved the museum and all the things they could do there. I would have to say that emree's favorite part was the miniature black piano she got to play, and lydia's would have to be the make believe grocery store! I was pretty excited myself about that as well...it was really cool! :) 

Carving Pumpkins with Cousins!

We had such a fun time carving our pumpkins this year with our wonderful cousins, Ann, Bryndon and Avery. Decorating Halloween cookies and eating yummy ice cream I believe was Lydia's favorite part of the night.





 

 

Those were just a couple things that we have been up to lately. I love this time of year with all the fun activities and memories we get to make as a family.

 

 



The Best of Friends!

Oh how I LOVE my little family! Here we are at Temple Square one Sunday afternoon. It was JD's wonderful idea to spend the afternoon there, just to change things up a bit, and the girls and I loved it!

If anyone is wondering...Lydia is now 2 1/2 years old and Emree just turned 1. :)



Lydia loved seeing the beautiful Temple and kept on calling it the castle.

Lucky for me these two girlies are the best of friends now. Allowing us to stick  both of them in a one seat stroller. Emree gets a kick out of having Lydia's face so close to hers, she loves to poke and grab at it, giggling the whole time. Luckily Lydia thinks it's pretty funny too. 

We live about 2 minutes from Historic Wheeler Farm and have been going there alot lately. Lydia calls it the zoo. As of right now they have tons of ducks and geese waddling around the farm, Lydia absolutely loves to go feed them old moldy bread as well as see all the other animals.

 

Lydia is already 2 1/2 years old!! I can't believe how big she is getting and how much she is learning. I love how when things tip over or fall over etc... she says, "Oh dear!" Can you guess where she gets that? Here is another clue. She also loves to say, " Tut Tut looks like rain." Yes, her favorite movie is Winnie the Pooh!

She is doing so well, with saying her prayers and just loves going to nursery.

She has also become quite the dancer. She will ask me to turn on music and to put on a pretty dress every day if not multiple times a day. We went to a little danec/ storytime at the library the other time and she LOVED IT!  I cannot wait to put her in dance classes, because she will be in heaven! I am so proud of my little dancer.

She is doing alot better with sharing and being nice to emree. She shares all of her toys with emree, and always is there with a binky for her whenever she is crying. She adores her little sister and takes good care of her.

 



 

POTTY TRAINING!!!

I have to say that Jd new for quite awhile the Lydia was ready to be potty trained, yet being the one who would be cleaning up all the yucky messes...I was a little (ok maybe a lot) hesitant in starting the whole process.

So we started cold turkey with the panties and to my surprise SHE WAS AMAZING! She learned so fast and we all get so excited every time she goes. She lets out a piercing scream of joy each time and is doing SO WELL. She still wears diapers to bed...but is starting to get through nap times with her panties on.

I could not be more proud of my sweet girl! She is so smart!

On a side note, we were reading the scriptures last night and quizing Lydia on who was in the picutres. She knew and could tell us who Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus were, and who the apostles were, also.... drum role......she knew who Joseph Smith was without us saying a single word!! Me and JD just looked at each other in complete shock and joy!

We are so proud of how much lydia is learning and just love her to pieces!

 

I love finding these two playing together (nicely) in their room together. Here is Lydia being the wonderful big sister that she is, reading books to emree, who is really getting into reading and looking at books. She probably gets it from her older sister. I also like how my homemade cardboard box chair has lasted this long, all they had to do to make it a two seater was bend the  arms down. Wonderful! Works for me. 

 

Oh sweet Emree!

I can't believe you are already 1 years old!

I wish I had more pictures from her birthday party (they should be coming soon) we just couldn't find our camera that day...sadly...so we only have the ones we took with our phones. Anywho, her birthday was Owl themed and we held it at Grandma Hansen's house. My siblings and JD's family were there to celebrate with us.

 

Emree is starting to get her own little personality which is so fun to see. Her laugh is kind of like a cough laugh which I think is hilarious! She has 3 teeth so far, two on the bottom and one on top.

She is walking everywhere now and still does the little duck waddle to get around which I love. She loves bringing me her shoes to put on, so that we can go outside sooner. What a big helper she is.



 

She loves to press buttons! Either on the TV, Computer, Fan, phones...you name it, and she loves to press it. She'll push it and then turn and give you a sly little grin of "Look what I just did...what are you going to do about it now?..." Type of look.

She is starting to stand up for herself when it comes to Lydia taking toys or food. She'll just scream bloody murder, which sends lydia running for cover. She can usually get what she needs that way.

Oh and whenever she wants you to read her a book, she''ll come and plop down in your lap, with her book and a huge grin on her  face.

She is always so happy and brings so much joy into our lives and family. She loves Lydia to death and Lydia loves her just the same. It's been amazingto see how much she is learning and growing.