Hawaiian Vacation-The End

Hi everyone! Tired of Hawaiian vacation photos yet? :) The reason for my posting of all of these is because we are going to be printing out Emersyn's first year blog book and we wanted to include these pictures and memories since they were a part of her first year celebration. Not officially, but in our minds! :)

Emersyn watching the amazing koi fish pond!

Hungry fishies!!

Emersyn and Grandpa dancing and snuggling while we waited for the koi fish feeding to begin. They feed the fish every day at 9am and again the evening. It is quite the sight to see!

Emersyn got her own little cup of food to give the fish!!

Brett fed them from his hand...I could hear them sucking the food from his palm! GROSS!!!

Emersyn enjoying the good life one last time. This was the morning that we left to head home to Portland.

"Do we really have to go home Mama? I like it here!!"

Emersyn has decided to learn to play the ukulele. We are going to nurture and encourage this new found hobby. :)

"If you're happy and you know it..."

"Could someone show me how to use this thing?!!"

Our flight home was not nearly as successful as our flight there. Emersyn was restless and only slept for about 45 minutes. We were VERY anxious to land back in Portland.

Daddy snuggling with Twin and Emersyn.

THE END!!

Dear Emersyn Grace,

Wow, your Mommy just can't believe that you are one years old today. It seems like just yesterday that I found out that we were expecting your arrival.

You have made your Daddy and my dreams come true by being our daughter. We have so much fun with you and you make everything better and more exciting!

It is hard for me to put into words just how I am feeling about this day. I am thinking back on how God was with me every step of your birth and how grateful I am that you were born so healthy and perfect. A healthy baby is a miracle Emersyn Grace, and God has truly blessed you with health. I will never forget the moment when I gave that final push and within seconds, there you were, laying on my chest, all mine. It was the best moment of my entire life. Marrying your daddy was equally amazing but I am sure he would agree, the first time we laid eyes on you was euphoric.

The first month of your life was so much fun with your Grammy staying with us. It was so neat to learn to be parents and get to know you better. You were a perfect baby in every way. You were a great eater, loved nursing and latched on right away, pretty good sleeper, wonderful traveller, and overall blessing in our life. Having you made me fall in love with your Daddy all over again, seeing him love you and love me too really makes me proud to be his wife.

I loved my maternity leave with you. I was very aware that this was the only time in life where I was going to have one baby to cherish and I took that time very seriously. I loved cuddling with you, playing with you, singing silly songs when I changed your diaper, and just soaking up your adorableness. I can't believe how fast it went by. I think to myself that with my next baby, I am never going to put them down. I never realized how quickly this time would go by. I was so happy to be able to be with you full time for the first 4 1/2 months of your life before I went back to work part time.

I have written and tried to keep up with this blog as a big long letter to you, a journal of our fun adventures during the first year of your life. It has been so much fun documenting it and even today as I was going through pictures, I couldn't believe how much you have grown and changed me for the good.

Emersyn, my prayer for you is that you would grow up to know the Lord and the love that He has for you. I pray that your life would be richly blessed with health and happiness. I pray that God would use your Daddy and I to help mold you and train you up to grow to be an influential woman, wife and mother. We want nothing more then your happiness. I promise to always be there for you, no matter what. I promise to support you and help nurture your talents and interests. I promise to love you more and more each day and strive to be a woman worth looking up to. I won't always be perfect little girl; but I am sure gonna try. :)

"Well hello there...it's nice to meet you!"

Fresh out of the womb!

Going home outfit at hospital.

1 Month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

12 Months

**12 Month Stats**

*Size 12 months in Carters, 6-12 months at Baby GAP, 12-18 months at Old Navy

*Talking lots and lots. Can say Mom, Mama, Dad, Daddy, dith (which we think is "this")

*Gives high fives

*Pretends to play the piano by pounding on the table when we say play the piano, play the piano. Too cute.

*Loves avocado, Nutra Grain waffles, beans, string cheese, peaches, plums, cottage cheese, organic macaroni and cheese with peas, corn, chicken, yogurt with flax seed, bread.

*Can walk along furniture really well and when you hold one of her hands.

*Can crawl up the stairs and takes great pleasure in doing so.

*Loves straps on anything, her high chair, stroller, car seat. Her stroller was propped up in our hallway for awhile last week and it's straps were favorite thing to play with.

*Loves to fake laugh and fake cough.

*Can pound a 6oz bottle in seconds. Okay, maybe not seconds but it feels like it sometimes!

*Sleeps from about 9pm to 7-9am. Rarely wakes up in the night.

*Takes one good long nap per day, sometimes two shorter naps.

*Has 5 teeth on her lower gums, 4 teeth on her upper gums.

*Loves playing with her monkey "Twin" and giving him hugs and saying "awwwww" like Mommy says when she hugs him. :)

*Loves her binky when she is tired or cranky. Falls asleep with binky and Twin monkey always.

*Very ticklish and loves to giggle.

*Super happy and chill baby, more then I could have ever asked for in a child!!

Honeymoon Pictures

Kelly's blog is always featuring these cool "Show us your Life" posts on Fridays but I have never taken part of one. Friday's are my special day off with Emersyn and I try not to be on the computer much. BUT I have been able to enjoy more time off with Emersyn due to my accident, SO I decided to take part of the fun today!

Today's subject is wedding receptions and honeymoons. I don't have any pics of our reception available to scan but I was able to dig up some honeymoon ones!

Brett and I went to Vegas and Seattle for our honeymoon! We were young when we got married (22) and didn't have a lot of money at the time to spend on a vacation. I didn't care though, I couldn't have asked for a better time!!

We got married on Friday, May 16th. We stayed in downtown Portland at "The Paramount" hotel, which was very romantic and wonderful. We left for Vegas on Saturday. It was so much fun having a husband to wake up next to and go to breakfast with, help me carry luggage, sit next to on the plane and hold hands, etc. *sigh* I love love. Anyways, we got into Vegas on Saturday afternoon and checked into the Monte Carlo, where we had a suite. It had TWO bathrooms!!! It was stunning and we were able to stay there for 4 nights. We had so much fun enjoying our room (hee hee), the hotel's pool and lazy river, and all that Vegas had to offer. We loved walking around the hotels (I had never been to Vegas before, other then a quick stop once) and exploring the shopping and amazing decorations and gardens. We even watched the American Idol finale (the year Reuben won) from the comfort of our deluxe suite.

Outside our hotel.

To be 22 again.....I love the way my ring looks brand spankin' new and shiny. :)

My favorite experience in Vegas had to be running out of money though. It was the day before we left and we went down to the McDonald's in our casino to get breakfast. Our debit card was declined! We called the bank and realized that we had spent more money then we thought in the week before the wedding, where the expenses really seem to add up and multiply. We called my maid of honor and she went into our apartment and got a check that we had gotten for the wedding and went and deposited it on our bank account. Still, our bank had some lame 24 hour policy about money being available once you deposited it so we were on our own. At our reception, one of the men at our church had shaken Brett's hand to congratulate him and slipped him a $100 bill. Seriously the coolest move ever, I want Brett to do that to someone else someday. So anyways, we had the $100 and that was it! We budgeted out the meals we needed from then until we left, plus cab fare and realized that money was tight and we were going to have to find cheap entertainment. We did! We walked down to the Bellagio fountains and had one of the most romantic nights imaginable. We just watched the fountains and cuddled and people watched and talked and it was so much better then any expensive show or gondola ride. It was a night we will never forget. We watched the fountains for about 3 hours, no joke. They are mesmerizing and incredible.

We made it back safely at home and got our money situation figured out. :) We decided to be home for a couple days and then head up to Seattle. While we were home we opened our wedding presents with Brett's parents, had dinner with my parents, and got our apartment put together. SO fun!


We bought our first couch and coffee table at a discount furniture place in downtown Portland. The coffee table was so cool, it opened and we stored tons of games and blankets in it. The couch was a piece of junk but we loved it at the time and the price was right, $399. Folks, you get what you pay for. :)

On Friday night we headed up to Seattle where we stayed at a Marriott using points from my parents. We went to Macy's (didn't have those yet in Portland), ate at the Cheesecake Factory for the first time (again, didn't have those in Portland yet, now we do) and enjoyed getting to spend so much time together. Saturday we went to Ikea to load up on all the essentials that we now needed as a newly married couple, including a bed frame!! We did not calculate how we were going to get the bed frame home however. Initially we tied it to the top of our Mazda Protege 5 wagon but after being on the freeway for about 10 minutes, we both were freaked out and had fears of it coming loose and flying off the top of our car, causing a major pile up on I-5 south. We pulled over and unpacked the frame and crammed it into the back of our car and strapped the back door down, it would not close. We drove for nearly 3 hours, freezing, listening to loudly flapping plastic, and attempting to listen to music.

So fun.

Our honeymoon wasn't fancy or glamorous but it was one of the best weeks of my life!! :) I like to think that we are still on our honeymoon....hard to believe that was six years ago.

Happy Friday everyone, have a wonderful weekend!!

7 Years Ago.....

7 years ago today Brett and I officially became Brett and I. We didn't really date....we basically went from being best friends to basically being engaged. I wouldn't have had it any other way. From the first moment that Brett and I were together, I had no doubts that he wanted to marry me. And a lot of that was because of the amazing friendship that we had going into our relationship. Brett and I were an unlikely couple. We were friends for a long time but had very similar strong willed personalities and while it was easy to envision the future together, it wasn't something that either of us embraced initially. :)

Brett and I had a little falling out when we were about 20ish. We had gotten VERY close and then Brett freaked out and ran away. He will NEVER admit that this is the case but take it from me, that's the true story. Basically we were starting to get to that unofficial couple status and that wasn't what Brett wanted and so he took of running. Running might be too mild of a description, he SPRINTED. Meanwhile, I started hanging out with a different group of friends and then consequentially, got my heart broken. I learned a LOT during this time, a lot about my faith, a lot about my self worth and what that was rooted in, and even though the lesson was painful, I know it very much made me who I am today and made me appreciate my Savior in a way that I would have never known. Having my heart broken (which was partially my own fault, it was a bad situation and I knew better) made me cling to the Lord and really commit my life to Him. I began to pour myself into ministry and into mentoring girls, hoping to instill a self worth in them that comes from knowing that you are God's daughter, not some guy's girlfriend. I became truly CONTENT. Seriously content. Like to the point where I could honestly say that I didn't care what direction that my life was headed in, I just wanted to love the Lord and do whatever He called me to do. But still, my heart had those twinges of longing for love. Longing for companionship. Right back when I started my road to recovery from my bad choices, Brett came back onto the scene and we slowly rekindled our friendship. Brett was an amazing example of a Godly man to me. He was a wonderful friend, had my best interests in mind and I knew that he would never take advantage of my vulnerability. Our friendship blossomed and became something that I was so happy about. But as we grew closer, a girl starts to wonder...where is this headed? Are these feelings leading to more then just friendship? But I remained content, trusting that the Lord would move things in His time. I was INSISTENT on not making a move, I would never want to start off a relationship wondering if Brett just said yes because he felt bad or because it was awkward not to. Although I really should have known him better, he would have just put his running shoes back on, ha! Anyways, so during this time I felt my heart starting to fall in love with my best friend but I told the Lord, let your will be done. Then Brett went on a missions trip to Samoa for 2 weeks and I really missed him while he was gone. I think that is when I realized how special our friendship was. This was the spring of 2002. Brett came back from the trip (and I so cleverly found an excuse to be at the airport when he got back , hee hee) and we went to coffee within a couple days of his return. At coffee we are chatting, having a good time, and then Brett proceeds to tell me that he and this other girl from his trip like each other now.

WHAT!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!

Ever so calmly, I smile and say "how exciting" like the good friend that I am. Meanwhile my heart is pounding, half full of disappointment, half full of RAGE and I get through the rest of coffee, just anxious to LEAVE. I drive to the house where I was housesitting and take their dog on a walk, muttering under my breath the whole time about how this is messed up and they can just have each other and good luck to them and other lovely jewels of bitterness. :) I get back to the house and am up in their office getting ready to get on their computer when I see a piece of paper laying on the side of the desk. I pick it up and it is a letter, I am not joking. It was a letter from God to his daughter. (I was housesitting for my youth pastor and his wife and this was something that he had received once and kept) The letter spoke to me like directly. Told me to knock of my worrying, that when the timing was right, God would work on my behalf and my job was to just be ready for it. I was so comforted and knew that this whole situation was probably just a test of my true contentment.

Within a couple months, Brett apparently got over this girl, nothing ever happened and it was probably one of those trip things where emotions are high and you lose all common sense, hee hee.

In June we were hanging out almost every night and it was just so much fun. So pure, so hard to truly describe but some of my favorite memories. Finally in July, Brett made his move. :) We were at the Laurelhurst Theater in Portland, watching "A Beautiful Mind" and I was wearing these bangle bracelets and Brett was playing with them and then eventually his hand made it way over to my leg and we were both staring straight at the screen, probably smiling like goons. :) I think the next night we finally held hands and then I think a week or so later, we kissed. I think about the second week we started talking about "someday" which was really talking about getting married. We started looking at rings in August, got engaged in December and married the following May. It was just so amazing and magical and I think that the awesome friendship that we had really contributes to the solid marriage that we have today. My prayer for Emersyn is that she wouldn't be eager to casually date and freely let boys access portions of her heart. Your heart is really the safest when it is in God's hands and when you give Him the power to hand it to whomever He sees fit. You will never regret friendship or purity. For some reason, boyfriends and dating and baggage is so glamourous in our society but when it comes down to it, the more of your heart that you have to give to your spouse, the better. Obviously we all have our own paths and our own lessons to learn, but I sure hope to be able to help my daughter hold out for a story similar to the one that her daddy and I share.

Thank you for making a move honey. :) This has truly been the best 7 years of my life and I couldn't be happier. I am so blessed.

Banana Pancakes

My friend Tiffany gave me the idea of making banana pancakes for Emerysn. Banana slices can be so hard to grasp and this seemed like the perfect solution....Brett made them the other morning for Ems and I have to say, they turned out delicious and adorable!!! He just sliced the banana into disc shaped pieces, dipped in pancake batter, and voila!



Needless to say, they were a hit!!

Brett's First Father's Day!

We had a busy and fun weekend! On Friday, Emersyn and I went and signed her up for the Summer Reading program at our library! I am commited to reading (at least) one book a day to her. It is fun to keep track of our progress on the little chart.

When we got home from the library, we web cam chatted with Grammy and Grandpa in Minnesota. Emersyn wanted to show Grandpa her baby "Cheetos". Normally I am not a fan of junk food for babies but these have some nutritional value and we really got them in honor of Grandpa.

Daddy came home and they played "soccer" together.

On Saturday, Ems and I ventured out to go Father's Day shopping for Daddy.

Emersyn picked out a cookie dough scoop for Daddy. He makes the best chocolate chip cookies and has often said that he would like a scoop. We decided that it would be a good gift from Emersyn. Mommy got daddy a shirt.

I wanted to be a little creative, so I decided to decorate the gift bag with Emersyn's hand and foot prints. It was a messy project to say the least. :)

The handprints were almost unrecognizable and a little frightening. Red may have been a bad choice. :) My brother said it looked like a scene from "The Shining".

The footprints turned out a little better.

For dinner, we decided to go try out a brand new resteraunt in our area, "Famous Dave's BBQ". It was a TWO hour wait! We picked up Brett from work and headed down to Tualatin. Emersyn did SO good during the wait. We walked around the shopping center and then headed back to the resteraunt to wait. We had to take some fun pictures while we waited, of course!!

Dancing on Daddy's feet. :)

A nice guy waiting outside with us offered to take a family pic. Yay!

Clearly, we aren't entirely past Emersyn's spitting up issues. :)

"Hmm...what should we get?"

Opening presents with Daddy after we got home!

I love this picture. Emersyn looks so proud of her card. She did help pick it out!

I think Brett had a really good Father's Day and felt celebrated. Mission accomplished!