I see it's been a month since I last posted....mostly I have quite a few photos, so I'll just put photos and captions to get us up to date:
Emily ate with chopsticks for the first time in early November. We went to PF Changs and she was able to use the chopsticks all by herself with the little chopstick holder thingy. She also used her fingers a lot, but we were very proud. She also found a statue of her favorite horse, Sahara, outside of the restaurant. It was "really big"!
We spent Thanksgiving with Kevin's family this year. Most of my family (except Marianne, who we were very happy to have visit us!) went to UT to see the extended family. We had a great meal and Marianne and I managed to sneak out by ourselves in the evening and go see "Enchanted". It was a cute movie. And I made my very first pies - pumpkin and banana cream - using my own homemade pie crust. The crust turned out probably twice as thick as normal (it's hard to roll it out thin!) but it tasted really yummy. At least I thought so.
The day after Thanksgiving we drove down to Marianne's place in San Luis Obispo and spent a day and a half there. We went to Avila Beach, where I haven't been before, and they had this really fun playground right by the beach. Emily of course decided she would rather play there than on the actual beach, so we hung out there for a while.
Emily didn't want to cooperate for any photos, of course... she dug in the sand (in the park, not the beach) and wasn't too disappointed that her sand castles didn't hold their form when she dumped them out.
Isn't Marianne cute?! Avila Beach has some little shops and stuff and we found a gelato shop and had a treat there. Then we saw a wedding on the beach! Marianne and I thought their color scheme - light sage green and cream - was just beautiful, and they did it so simply just with everyone standing there on the sand. It was kind of neat to see.
The above photo needs some explanation...We've been trying to have more regular family home evenings, and now when we say we are going to have the lesson Emily wants to give her own lesson. This particular evening we had Kevin's brothers over and Kevin gave a nice lesson that Emily chose not to attend. She was being very disruptive so she had to go to her room until she could be more reverent, but then she decided she needed to give her own lesson about Snow White and the evil queen. She was already dressed up in her princess costume, but she got some scriptures to help her (the dark red book on the left), plus her photos from Disneyland and a Snow White story book. She would not talk until we were ALL listening attentively, then she proceeded to give us a five-minute talk about Snow White and the queen and the poison apple and all that. It was quite funny because she was so serious about it and especially about us listening quietly. We try to get her to understand that she needs to listen to us and then we will also listen to her, but she just wants us to listen to her and then does her own thing when we are talking. Yep, she's three.
I just wanted to post this photo from last night...I try to get Emily to have something in her hair while she eats so she doesn't get her hair all in her food. This is Emily's own job of putting in one of her headbands! If you're wondering what she's eating, that's mac n' cheese with ketchup - something I learned as a little girl from my dad.
Last weekend we took a day trip to San Luis Obispo to visit Marianne and let Kevin go surfing (he didn't end up getting in the water, but that was one of the reasons to go...). Emily was the most excited little girl to go see her favorite aunt, and we had a blast hanging out at the beach and the little beach "downtown" areas. We started off with lunch compliments of Marianne at her sandwich shop. Some of the best sandwiches out there, in my opinion. Emily had a plate of olives, pickles, cheese and turkey. She ate all the olives and some of the other stuff. Then we headed out to Morro Bay to check out the surf, only to discover that they were having a surf contest so nobody else could surf. It ended up being okay because it was freezing and super windy so Kevin didn't really want to go anyway. We let Emily play in the sand for a while and had a few "sandcastles" toppled over by the waves.
Then we went down the street where they have all the little shops and visited this really cool taffy store that Marianne had found previously. They had probably over 50 flavors of saltwater taffy in big bins, then you got to take a big black cauldron and fill it with whatever you wanted. They had flavors like apricot, caramel apple, pumpkin pie, eggnog and pineapple, plus all the regular taffy flavors. We got a good assortment and my, were they delicious. I actually have only eaten about four of them, but the ones I had were REALLY GOOD. The flavors seemed more intense than your typical taffy. And Emily got a balloon, so she was happy. Then outside of the store we found...Sahara!
Please see the Fresno Fair post if you don't know what that is. Emily and another little girl who happened to be there had a nice little horse ride. Notice the bag in Emily's arms - full of taffy! I don't think Emily could have had more things that she loved in one day (well, maybe if grandma and grandpa were there and she got to wear her princess dress all day, but that's probably it).
Once we were all loaded up with candy we headed back to Marianne's for a little rest, then went the other direction to Pismo, although we never did make it all the way down there. We went to Spyglass (to check out the surf again) and they had a playground right there by the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean so Emily got to play. The surf there wasn't good enough for Kevin to get in, so we played at the playground and then went down to the water and looked in the little tide pools and watched the sunset. Emily found a perfect stick for poking sea anemones to make them close up. The sunset was gorgeous, too.
Last but not least, a trip to the famous Splash Cafe for some clam chowder in a bread bowl. It was sooo yummy! After I scraped out every last bit from my bowl I finished off Marianne's, too. Yeah, I'm a hungry pregnant lady, okay?! It just tasted so delicious and I had been craving that ever since we even decided to go to SLO. So I had my fill. For now. We took Marianne home and got Emily in her pajamas for the ride home, but then she got in Marianne's bed and said she wanted to stay there. We thought surely if we acted like we were just going to leave her she'd follow us out the door, but no, she was perfectly happy to stay with Marianne for the rest of her life, probably. It took many minutes of coaxing and finally Marianne carrying her out to the car to get her to go. Emily is just so enamored with her darling auntie. It was a fun trip!
We went to the Big Fresno Fair last week. We parked in the infield of the racetrack to we got to see one of the horse races right as we came in. Unfortunately it was the one race where a horse fell down at the very end and had to be euthanized afterwards, but the race was still fun to see. Emily gets so excited to see the animals so it was a thrill for her sitting atop Kevin's shoulders and watching those horses race in to the finish line. After the race we went over to the area where they show off the horses before they race and she was looking for "Sahara," which is the horse on a new Jasmine movie she has been watching every day for the past week. We had told her before that we would be seeing the horses at the fair, so that was the first thing she thought of. So we're looking at the horses walking around in a circle and Emily's asking where Sahara is...well Sahara in her movie is a white horse, and of course all the race horses are black or brown...then all of a sudden she says "Mom! I see Sahara!" Sure enough, there was a white horse waiting on the side. Not a race horse, but a utility horse. So Emily got to see her Sahara after all. It's amazing how things can become so real for little kids!
We went to see all the 4-H animals (cows and sheep while we were there) and the birthing center where they had little piglets, lambs, goats (kids?), chicks and calves. Emily's favorite were the little piglets - maybe she takes after Grandma! There were like 13 of them in the pen with their big momma, all huddled up together. Very cute.
The highlight of the day for Emily was the cotton candy. We passed a booth selling some on our way to the children's area and of course Emily had to have some "big ice cream." I told her "maybe later" thinking "maybe later she'll forget about it and we won't have to buy it" but her doting daddy couldn't resist. So we went in to watch the magic show and Kevin took off to buy the cotton candy. He brought it back and set it in her empty stroller and we waited until she looked over and saw it. She didn't notice for a long time! She was so distracted with everything going on around her, so finally we told her to look and her eyes got all big...so for the next hour and a half she ate cotton candy. The funny part was that she'd take bites and then like every 30 seconds she'd look at me and say "Mom, I REALLY like cotton candy!" Yes, our little darling does love sugar. But the good thing is, I checked the label and for 2/3 of a really big bag (think, 5 big colored puffs), it was only 100 calories and like 34 grams of sugar. So yeah it's still a lot of sugar, but not nearly as bad as I thought. Not much more than a glass of fruit juice but apparently MUCH more enjoyable and long-lasting! I wish I had taken a picture of her just eating her cotton candy, but alas, no.
The other fun thing, which I did get pictures of, was the magic show. This was a different magic show than the one where she got the cotton candy, and Emily had already eaten a bunch of it by then so she was starting to get all excited (this was when her exclamations of how much she liked cotton candy were very constant). The magician would do his tricks and we'd all clap and Emily had the best time clapping and laughing. She has this laugh that's like a fake laugh but really loud when she thinks she is supposed to laugh or something is just so silly. We were on the front row and the magician kept having volunteers go up and do things, and each time Emily would just about jump out of her chair to go up there. So towards the end of the show he called her up and had her do a trick with him. I thought surely she'd be too shy and not want to actually go up, but she just jumped right up out of her seat and trotted across the grass to him.
She even spoke loudly and clearly into the microphone when he asked her name and had her say some magic words, something I have never seen her do with a stranger. She got to help rip up some tissue paper and then part of it turned into a little hat which she got to keep. She was an adorable little helper!
After the magic show we went to the kids play area where they have a huge pirate ship, tree house and the newly added "catfish falls." They actually put catfish into the water and the little kids can fish. We got Emily a pole and tried for about 1/2 an hour but didn't catch anything. We saw two other people catch some fish (which they put back into the water), and Emily just had fun holding the little bamboo fishing pole. (And check out my fat belly in this photo!)
We had a great time and thankfully avoided the carnival area. Kevin's dad picked up Emily at about 6pm and then Kevin and I stayed for the Daughtry (Chris Daughtry, from American Idol...) concert that night. The weather was perfect so being at an outdoor concert was no problem. Our seats were even pretty close so we could see really well. The concert was shorter than I expected (about an hour), but as Kevin pointed out, that's what happens when you only have one album!
So that was our trip to the fair! They definitely do a good job here of having lots of stuff for kids, plus all the regular exhibits and entertainment and stuff. So that's it until next year...
Emily is soooo in love with all things princess, especially any recognizable Disney princess character. We gave in and bought another princess costume for Halloween and have been hiding it from her because the first words out of her mouth when she wakes up in the morning or when she comes home are "can I wear my princess dress?" We've been letting her wear her pink dress from last year whenever she wants (at home) and it is a LOT. She imagines up her little fairy tale land and will choose to be Aurora or Jasmine for the day and we MUST call her by that name. Daddy has been renamed Aladdin for the last week or two, and I sometimes get to be Cinderella or Belle. After I pick her up and drive home, if Kevin is standing out in front of the house when we get home she will excitedly yell "Aladdin!"
In this photo Emily is reading stories to all of her stuffed friends. You can't tell really well from the photo, but the purple blanket is the top of a stack of about 8 other blankets we spread out on top of the bed to make it "really pretty". The princess border on the wall was used as a bribe to get her to go to bed by herself in her own bed. She had to do it for three nights in a row to get to put it up on the wall, which she did. We hoped that it would teach her that she indeed could go to bed on her own and it wasn't scary or dangerous, but alas, after the border went up, the old habits continued. So much for bribery.
Emily is always coming up with new ways to keep us smiling, laughing, wondering where in the world she gets these ideas... she decided she had to get ready to be in the parade at Disneyland, so here you can see her putting on all her hair accessories, necklaces, etc. so she will "look so pretty for the parade!" She is absolutely in love with the Disney princesses and the color pink. Whenever she sees pink she will exclaim "look, it's my favorite color!" She thinks my favorite color is green (I have no idea why, since really I like blue), and if I ever try to tell her otherwise, "No, mommy, your favorite color is green!"
One night she wasn't eating her dinner so I told her she could eat it like a cat. She gave it a try and decided it was a good way to eat, so whenever she remembers, she eats like a cat. Face down in the plate, scoop up some food, lift, chew, yum. Notice how she stands on her tip toes!
Emily is enjoying her second year of swim lessons. She swims well just kicking her legs and loves jumping in the water. They are teaching her to roll over to her back to breathe, but for some reason she just can't get the hang of rolling over. I told her teacher that she never rolled over as a baby, either. So instead of rolling over when she's supposed to, she swims faster and faster towards her teacher (who is backing away) until she steps in at the last second and helps her turn her head. Hopefully she'll get the hang of it after some more practice.
As a follow up to the car story from yesterday... we went and picked it up in the evening and spent like an hour talking to the guys over there who Kevin knows pretty well. Then we signed all the papers and I drove it home. It was fine. It drives almost like a car and a lot of the interior controls are similar to the Acura so it was easy to get oriented. Emily was THRILLED to see the DVD player in there. She had a huge grin on her face for about ten minutes till her movie kicked in and she was mesmerized by that. She says she likes it. I think I will, too.
I am fully blaming this on the fact that I am pregnant and have too many hormones coursing through my veins ... we are trading in our Acura TSX today for a Honda Pilot (used, mind you!) and I was brought to tears last night because I was going to miss my car! I cleaned it out and then started thinking that I would never drive it again, and it was just too much. Who cries over a car!? Well I did. I am going to miss that car. We bought it brand new and I loved it. I loved how it looked, I loved how it drove, I loved how it never gave me any problems at all and always worked perfectly. I'm sure the Pilot will grow on me. At least Emily is excited about the built-in DVD player...
I've been letting the word out about the pregnancy. It's been kind of fun because then I start hearing back from friends who are also pregnant and due right around the same time as me. One of my best friends from high school said she has the same due date (her first), a friend with one Emily's age is due a few days before, and one of my BYU roommates is expecting her second and due in February. It's all very exciting.
So we've been trying to get Emily adjusted to the idea of having a baby brother or sister and she seems to be taking it well but we're unsure if she really understands or not. I was explaining to her how the baby grows in my tummy and now she thinks she has a baby in her tummy, too. When I picked her up from nursery yesterday I was admiring one of the leaders' newborn and Emily exclaimed "I have a baby in my tummy and mommy has a baby in her tummy!" Thankfully I've been telling people so it's not such a shocker...they just laughed. But she'll also pat her tummy and tell us to be quiet because "my baby sister is sleeping." What a riot she is!
It was nice to have a holiday in the middle of the week, except for having to go back to work the next day! We tried to go to our local water park in the morning, but they weren't taking season passes so we went swimming at Don's community pool instead. Emily still had a fabulous time. She is getting really good at swimming about 7-10 feet by herself (propelled mostly by kicking) and swam back and forth between mom and dad for about an hour. It's nice to have a kid that loves the water.
Later on we had a family get-together with the Boam family out at Don's house. We just barbecued hamburgers and hotdogs and hung out before heading over to the park to see the fireworks. Emily was honestly more interested in the poppers that you throw on the ground to make a noise than the big ones up in the sky. But we'd try to get her to tell us the colors so she would watch them, and her phrase of the evening was "I can't believe it!" She seems to really like exclamations these days! It was a fun and relaxing day.
Here's the update for anyone we may not have talked to in awhile...Emily just turned 3. Her favorite part of her birthday party was the cake - she got so excited to blow out the candles (which she did in one puff) then just licked all the frosting off the top. She is full of life and keeps us laughing with her random comments on things. We are expecting our second at the end of the year. When we ask Emily if she is going to have a baby brother or a baby sister, she says "A baby brother and a baby sister!" Well, we don't think so, but either way she will be a good big sister, although it will be interesting to see how she reacts to no longer being the center of the universe. Nothing beats her outbursts of "We sure do love each other!" and "I'm so glad to be home with my family!"As for me and Kevin, we just had our five-year wedding anniversary (wow!) and look forward to countless more years together. We've only just begun! We are both pretty busy working (me at the Zoo and him at AT&T) but we try to spend as much time together as a family as we can. You know you've grown up when all you want to do on the weekend is hang out at home! Emily's got her little inflatable pool in the backyard and we've got the barbeque all set up now, what more could we ask for?
I keep getting emails from friends who have set up their own blogs...so I thought I would give it a try. It's a pretty easy way to let people in on what's going on in your life and since I'm particularly bad in that area right now, maybe this will help. Enjoy!
Allison was wide awake after her first bath. 
Emily was very gentle holding her sister for the first time.
Grandma Nelson made it just in time to pick up Emily and head over to the hospital to see her 9th grandchild.
Grandma and Grandpa George stayed in town long enough to meet their new granddaughter before heading back to San Diego.
When we were getting ready to go home from the hospital the next day, Emily was "sick" so doctor Daddy had to do a checkup on her in her hospital bed.
So happy to go home!
