Holiday Season

The last few weeks we have been busy with the Christmas Season.  I have to say that I love having family traditions and starting new ones.  Candy Chains is a tradition that I have had since I was little,  Emilee loves having a candy chain.  Every morning she wants her piece of chocolate, and she loves watching as  the chain gets smaller each day.  In our home we also have an advent calendar that we fill with activities to do throughout the season.  I am so thankful for the traditions that we have and the joy those traditions bring us.  I hope that this season brings you close to those you love.  

A day in the Mountains

I will be the first to admit that yesterday did not start well in our home. Thankfully things got a lot better and we ended up having a great day.  We spent the afternoon enjoying the great weather in the mountains and being together as a family.

  

Family Vacation

 In September we went to Disneyland with Adams family.  I really love going to Disneyland with my family, it was fun to share the experience with the rest of the family.  Emilee had fun playing with her cousins, especially in the morning during breakfast.
 This year Emilee was big enough to go on almost every ride, she loved the bigger rides.  I was worried about her going on Tower of Terror, she was more scared of how dirty everything looked instead of the ride.  She even wanted to keep going on the ride, I was proud of how brave she was.  The only ride we have found so far that Emilee does not like is the Matterhorn.  She hated the ride last year, this year we got her to go on it one more time and she still hates it.  Last year she hated how jerky it was and the monster, this year she hated the monster.

Adam saved up some extra money so we could take Emilee to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  Emilee loved the whole experience.  She loved dressing up like a princess, having her hair done, and having her picture taken.  Her Fairy Godmother in training made a huge impression on her.  She loves doing my hair, even more now and she loves giving me fairy wishes with her wand.

We went to the beach one day.  Emilee didn't spend a lot of time in the water this year.  She had more fun playing in the sand with her cousins.  It was nice to have a relaxing day on the beach and playing in the water.  Watching Emilee play with her cousins reminded me of my vacations with my cousins.

We also went to an Angels game, it was nice to go to the game.  Emilee had so much fun at the game she wants to go back to a baseball game.  It was sad that the game went by so fast, and that they lost.
It was a fun vacation, and I am thankful that we were able to go on vacation.  I know that Adam worked really hard and gave up most of his summer so that we could go.  On the way home Emilee told Adam that she didn't want him to go back to work.  We should stay on vacation forever go to Disneyland and Paris.  I love that daughter of mine.  I am glad she had fun being on vacation with us.

At least 3 blessings for today......

1st Blessing:  My pulse rate is normal, and I don't have high blood pressure.

2nd Blessing:  My blood didn't object too much and left my body somewhat freely.

3rd Blessing:  Emilee's car seat is worth every penny we spent on it.  

My morning started like any morning I was awakened by the sun coming through my window and by Dory, she was thirsty.  I made sure Emilee was awake so I could feed her and get her ready for preschool. Adam woke up and got ready we had a visitor coming.  We decided recently to add to our life insurance policies, which meant a nurse was coming to fill out paper work, check our blood pressure, take our blood (my favorite part, not) and whatever else needed to be checked.  I was worried about having my blood drawn, I have had some okay experiences and horrible experiences.  Today was a pleasant surprise and she was good at getting my blood to come out.  After having a good experience with the nurse, everything pointed to having a great day.  Then we had to go buy toilet paper and I wanted to go to Hobby Lobby, that's when things turned.

I couldn't find my wedding ring when we were walking out the door.  We ended up searching the house tearing the front room apart trying to find that ring.  Thankfully we found the ring after about 20 minutes of looking and lots of stress.  We should of stayed home, but we needed toilet paper and I wanted to finish a project.  We were driving down state street traffic had stopped, so we stopped.  Unfortunately, the lady behind us didn't stop.  She hit us, which pushed us into the car in front of us.  It was such a weird feeling getting hit, time slowed down as I jerked forward.  I am so thankful for Emilee's car seat, she is safe and not in too much pain.  I wish that I could say that I wasn't in pain, I'm sure Adam wishes the same thing.  So our car, the only one we have that works, is no longer in great shape.  The bumpers and trunk took most of the damage.  Now comes the privilege of trying to get the car fixed and working with insurance companies.  We never ended up buying the toilet paper.  

School time again.....

The air is cooler in the morning, and it's getting darker earlier at night.  That can only mean one thing, school must be starting.  Emilee started her last year of Pre-School yesterday.  It made me sad to sit and think that next year I will be sending her to kindergarten.  She had been looking forward to school for a couple of weeks, and was excited that it was finally time for her to go.

Pictures with cousins

In July Grandma Yorgason  bought some cute dresses for the little girls, and wanted pictures of all the grandchildren.  The pictures turned out so cute.

Recovery

This month had brought a lot of sadness for us.  My Grandpa died on the first Wednesday of the month.  I went through a lot of emotions and many tears.  The funeral was the following Tuesday, it was a great service.  It was nice to hear stories about Grandpa.  The music tugged at my heart strings and made the tears come.  After such an emotional week I was ready to relax, and  get back to normal.

Unfortunately that was not to happen.  The day after my Grandpa's funeral, which also happened to be a Wednesday, Adam received a phone call from his mother.  His sweet Grandma had passed away, just a week after my Grandpa.  So instead of things going back to normal, the tears returned.  The funeral was on Monday, it was also a wonderful service.  They had the great grandchildren sing I am a Child of God at the graveside service and release white balloons, it was cute and sweet.

We have made it through the past 2  weeks, and are now trying to return to a normal routine.  Even though the past 2 weeks stood still for us emotionally, everything else kept moving.  We will now have to find our new normal routine.  

Grandpa

Last night we had to say goodbye to  Grandpa Collins.  When you lose someone it's amazing the things that you feel, don't feel, and the things you think about.  I'm not one that cries a lot, I cried last night when I got the phone call.  I know that my Grandpa loves me, and he loves his whole family.

I will miss his sense of humor, and hearing him call me by my nickname. When I close my eyes I can see him in the kitchen for our birthdays sitting at the end of the table talking. His mind was amazing and always going, he loved fixing things, and was great at it.  Grandpa had an amazing green thumb, he made taking care of  plants look easy.  He would always bring us extra tomatoes from his garden.  He  always brought our dogs a treat when he came to visit.  The dogs knew when he was coming and would meet him at the door, just like little kids.  

I love my Grandpa Collins, and I am so thankful that I am blessed to have him as my Grandpa.  Even though he is no longer with us, I know that one day we will all be together as a family.

Ice Cream

Emilee and I went for a walk this morning.  I wish we had left a little earlier, by the time we left it was already hot.  When we got back we decided to relax and make ice cream.  I should say that Emilee made ice cream, we found this tutorial for Ice Cream in a bag and decided to try.  Emilee enjoyed eating her ice cream, and was kind enough to share with me.  We will be making this again throughout the summer.  To answer your question, Yes even a Princess will work for Ice Cream.

 

Swim Lessons

I can't believe that June is almost over, the summer disappears too fast.  Emilee loved swim lessons, she loves being in the water.  Adam helped her learn to open her eyes under the water, and helped get her comfortable with floating on her back.   She remembered the slides from last year and kept asking about them everyday,  she was excited when she finally got to go down the them.   The day swim lessons ended she was already asking for more lessons.

Preschool Graduation

I can't believe it, the school year is done.  Emilee had her Preschool Graduation last night, they did such a great job.  The kids sang songs they had learned about all of the colors.  Emilee has really enjoyed Preschool this year, I am so glad that we put her in school.  Miss Janae is a wonderful teacher, Emilee loved her.  They did so many fun things and learned while having fun.

The four kids (including Emilee) on the end are Emilee's Class

Such cute Graduates

Receiving her Diploma

She's too cute

Rain=Puddles and slimy things

For the most part I love the fact that we have had so much rain, it has kept the temperatures down and everything looks so green.  I hate having to drive my husband to work in the rain storms, its really hard to see when it's dark and raining.

Yesterday we decided to go for a walk in the rain, we were tired of being indoors.  We grabbed our jackets, umbrellas and off we went.  We had lots of fun on our walk in the rain.  We found some worms swimming in a puddle, and we decided to save a couple of them.  When I say we saved, I really mean Adam is the one who touched them and put them in the grass.  Emilee liked looking, but would not get close. On our walk Emilee had fun seeing how big of a splash she could get.  It was a lot of fun to watch her jumping in puddles, she came home with very wet legs.

Our Easter Weekend

We have spent today relaxing and recovering.  This weekend was a lot of fun, and extremely full of activities.  before the weekend even started Emilee had an Easter Egg hunt at school and celebrated Bailee's birthday.  I personally enjoyed being with family, and teaching the little kids in my primary class about Easter.  Surprising enough even though we kept busy it was relaxing.

On Saturday we were invited to my Family's Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.  When we got there we found out this is the last year they will be holding the Easter Egg hunt.  They have been doing the egg hunt for 17 years.  When I found that out I felt really old.  Emilee was nervous at first, thankfully Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Brittany helped her out.  Emilee had a lot of fun.  Later that night we dyed eggs, Emilee wanted lots of pink and purple eggs.

Sunday was Easter, unfortunately Adam had to work.  We woke up and got ready for church, Emilee kept asking if the Easter Bunny came.  While I was getting her ready I reminded her why we celebrate Easter.  She was so excited to come down stairs and see if her Easter basket was full.  She had fun taking everything out of her basket one at a time for me to take pictures. The Easter Bunny even left her a present at Grandma and Grandpa's house.   Later that night, Adam was able to join us and we had a wonderful Easter Dinner with my family.  Russell and Amber weren't able to stay for dinner, but it was nice seeing them for a few minutes.  Dinner was so good, Emilee loved the Ham and sitting with her cousins.  Adam proved that he is still good with babies, he can calm down most babies.  After dinner we had our Easter Egg hunt.  The first few years  Emilee, Matthew and Lillian were so young we had to walk them around and it took forever.  This year they couldn't wait.  At one point when we were finishing hiding eggs Matthew and Emilee started knocking on the door saying they needed candy.  It was so much fun to watch them search the back yard for eggs.  Next year we will have to hold them back a few minutes while the two babies go search.  The rest of the night was spent talking and enjoying some yummy cake.  I love the holidays and being able to spend time with family.  

Quilt

Years and years ago I took a sewing class, in that class I started making a quilt.  I found a pattern that I thought would be nice and bought all of the material for it.  I never even finished cutting out the pieces before the class ended, so I copied the pattern thinking I would finish it.  I lost the pattern, so I gave the material to my mom to do with as she wanted.  A couple of weeks ago my mom told me she needed to get me a gift, I was helping her with a project.  I told her she didn't have to, well she showed up at my door with the gift.

It was a quilt, she took my material and made me a quilt.  I was so surprised, it was a wonderful gift.  I have already put it to great use.  When I was having pain in my teeth and couldn't sleep at night I would come down and wrap up in it.  Such a great comfort, thank you Mom for my wonderful quilt.

Mysterious Balloon

Do you see the Pink Happy Birthday Balloon in the picture?  We bought that balloon to celebrate Emilee's birthday, we bought it on Feb. 23.  In this picture it is tied down to a balloon weight, important thing to know is that it is fully afloat.  How long can normal latex balloons stay afloat?  The other balloons we bought at the same time and same place were on the floor the next day.  Skip ahead 5 WEEKS!

The balloon is barely losing air, I took this picture on March 30.  I was really excited to see how long this balloon would last, it has disappeared.  Dory (our cat) was playing with the string and carrying the balloon places, the last place I saw it was on our kitchen table.  My theory is Adam was cleaning and he had the door open, Dory kept going in and out.  I think she must have carried it outside and it was lost.    I am sad not to know how much longer the balloon would of stayed afloat, and I am amazed that it lasted for 5 weeks.

Just Sweet

Sometimes I reflect on my life and think about the things I could of done differently.  One of the things I wouldn't change is staying home with Emilee, even though its hard at times.  Yesterday in Church the lady giving the talk was telling a little about herself and said how she worked.  Emilee looked at me and asked/told me that I didn't work.  I told her no I don't work.  She looked up at me and said you stay home with me, I said yes.  She reached over and gave me a hug and said Thank you and I love you.  That moment right there reaffirmed that I made the right decision.  I love the sweet little moments that Emilee gives me.

The Dentist

For about a month I have had the feeling I should go to the Dentist.  I would ignore that feeling, and justify it with one or all of the following:  We need to find a new dentist, We don't have the money, I don't like the Dentist, and  the pain went away.  Two weeks ago the pain decided to stay, and to increase.  One night it was so bad that I did not sleep, I cried.  Adam being a caring husband called my parents to find out who their Dentist is (they like him) and made me an appointment.
I was scared.  I spent a good portion of my life going through orthodontics and even though I had good results, it made me hate the smell and sounds of the Dentist Office.  As I opened the door to the office I noticed something, or the lack of something...it didn't have the dentist smell.  That put me at ease, then everyone was so nice including the Dentist.  Even though he was nice he did not have good news.  I would need at least one root canal, a 98 percent chance for a second and a third tooth needed a filling.  I Promise I do take good care of my teeth.  I finished with the 2 root canals this week, and now know that  we have found our new Dentist.  I didn't feel a thing while he was working on my teeth, and I only felt slight discomfort for a few days after.  Adam has been great taking care of the house, Emilee and me.  I appreciate how patient Adam has been, especially when I was in major pain and scared.  I am also very happy not to be in pain anymore.

What we did today!

Today was a fun day, Emilee had some pictures taken of her.  We got a phone call earlier this week from Russell asking us if we would be willing to help his sister-in-law Brenna.  We said yes.  Brenna works for the local United Way, they were taking pictures to use in their promotional materials and had someone cancel.  They wanted to know if they could take pictures of Emilee. Emilee was so excited as we drove down there.  She did not want us to be late to have her picture taken. It was interesting to watch everything that was going on.  I can't imagine being in charge of everything that was happening.  Everyone was so nice, kind and patient.  They had about 7 kids there and they were all so cute.  Emilee had fun today, even though at times it was hard to tell.  Thank you Brenna for letting Emilee participate.  Here are some pictures we took of her when we got home.  The posing is all her.