Summer Vacation--UTAH

We've been doing a lot of fun things this summer. We went up to Utah and then to Montana for a family reunion and then back to Utah. Then, Breanna and Brooklyn (our nieces) came to visit for several days. We've been having so much fun and taking so many pictures that I don't even know where to start :). What I'll do is separate my postings according to where we were.

This one will be Utah (before and after Montana), then I'll do a seperate post for Montana and then another for our fun visit with Breanna and Brooklyn.

(This might take me a few days...)

UTAH

We celebrated Breanna's 12th birthday while we were in Utah. They had her party at Classic Skating. There was, of course, the skating, but they also had a water park, video games, jungle gym, and lazer tag. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures we took at the party.

While in Utah we always try to make it a point to visit our close friends. Here's a picture of Ana Elisa with Ace, one of our very close friends' little boy.

My dad really wanted to see Ana Elisa play out in my grandma's backyard before the house is sold. We went over and spent a nice evening running around her yard and garden while my dad picked apricots from her tree. I never realized how nice it is to have such a big backyard when you have kids--Ana Elisa was in heaven running free all over the place. (What you see in this picture is only about 1/8 of her back yard--if not less)

We went over to the park and then to see Ryan play baseball one evening, Dad bought the kids a popsicle from the ice cream truck. Ana Elisa had to have a Spiderman one, just like Josh and Matthew. By the time they were done with them, they all had Joker looking mouths from the red part of the popsicle. They looked so cute.

Emerson had to come home for work, so he left Sunday and we stayed until Thursday. On our last day in Utah, we went up to "This Is The Place". They've really done a good job on that place. Last time I went it was just a monument, now it's an entire little village of fun things to see and do from the pioneer times.

I even got to ride the little kids train with Josh, Matthew, and Ana Elisa. I love that I got to ride with them, it's the benefits you get from having a child that might jump out of the moving train! :)

This is definitely a place I'd like to take Emerson to see when we go back for another visit to Utah.

Here are some random pictures we've taken in the last several weeks.

Ana Elisa loves to say bye to everyone and everything. For example, she says bye to bugs and dirty diapers ("Bye Ewww"--they both have the same name:)), she says bye to water ("Bye Agua"), to food ("Bye Num num"), to her Shrek movies ("Bye Shek"), to her Barney PJ's ("Bye Babee"), etc. When she doesn't know what the thing she is saying bye to's name, she either babbles her own name for it, or she just says bye. Here she is saying bye to a flower that she's about to put in a vase.

We love to cook together. Today she helped me take the husks off of our corn on the cob, and washed the potatos. Here we are making pizza. Ana Elisa made sure to eat plenty of sauce and pinapple while she helped make them. I love that she enjoys cooking, I hope she will continue to enjoy it, I sure do.

There's nothing better than spending time with our little princess.

Brings Back Memories

I can't believe it's the Fourth of July again. I feel like it just passed. I was thinking today about what we were doing last year, and it just doesn't seem that long ago until I look at the pictures of Ana Elisa from last June/July. It brings back memories... and since we didn't have a blog back then, I'll share a few of them.

Ahhh, the days when Ana Elisa liked to watch tv just like the little dalmation puppies :)

This was taken around the first part of June 2008.

This picture was taken at the Olive Garden toward the end of June last year. Ana Elisa was 8 months old. Notice the scab on her face? (I know, it's hard to miss) That is from trying to run,--yes, she started walking at 8 months!--with my cell phone in hand and tripping and falling face first right onto the rough end where the charger connects. (Ouch!)

Toward the end of June, we had to make an unexpected trip to Salt Lake to attend my Grandma's funeral. Here are some pictures we took while we were there.

Family Picture at Grandma's house

Matthew sleeps...

While Ana Elisa and Josh play.

Fourth of July throwing the pop/snap rocks things (what are they called??)

After looking at these pictures, it's hard to believe our little one turned 21 months yesterday.

It's also hard to believe that it was 6 years ago today that Emerson flew back to SLC from Brazil to marry me :) What a better day to celebrate with fireworks?! I wish I had digital pictures of that day, it was the best 4th of July ever!

Celebrating our Fathers

I meant to post this yesterday...

We want to send our love out to the wonderful Fathers in our family.

To Dad (Aka Buffalo Hump),

Who is always there for us,

Who has a heart of gold,

Who has taught us the meaning of hard work,

selflessness, love, service, and sacrifice.

Who loves to make us laugh.

To Pai (Emerson's Dad)
Who taught Emerson to play soccer with a
ball made out of old socks,
Who taught him to drive, and
Who would take Emerson to work with him
so that they could spend time together.
(sorry, we don't have any digital pictures of him)

To Wayne,

Who loves to share his passion

for fishing, sports, and movies with

his three beautiful girls.

Who has such a great sense of humor,

Who loves to tease and is just as

fun to tease back.

To Ryan,
Who loves to get down on the
floor and play with his boys,
Who teaches by example,
Who has worked so hard and sacrificed
so much to get an education to give
his family a good life.

And now I want to thank Emerson, the love of my life.

He is such a great father, I can't describe how happy it makes me to see how much he loves and cherishes our little girl. She is his world. It's such a blessing to see how his eyes light up when he looks at her. And just as wonderful is the way Ana Elisa's eyes light up when she looks at her daddy. He brings joy into both of our lives.

Happy Father's Day!!

Fun Girls

Brittney came to visit for a week and we had a great time having her here. She went to Girl's Camp while she was here, so we only got to spend about 5 days total with her, but we loved every minute of it.

Ana Elisa was so excited to have her here. The day she arrived, Ana Elisa already had her name down. She would follow Brittney everywhere and would call out her name if she couldn't find her. The first night, she even went to sleep hugging Brittney's lotion bottle. She cried when Brittney left for Girl's Camp and was overjoyed when she came back. Our poor little girl has had to say goodbye too many times in her short little life. I'm sure she's starting to wonder why everyone she gets attached to and everyone who comes to stay and spoil her never stays very long.

Anyway, here is the only picture we took while Britt was here. We took it on our way to drop her off at the airport. I need to be better about taking pictures, we could have had so many fun ones.

Today I took Ana Elisa to the pool. We were there for a few hours so she was really tired when we got home. I gave her a bath and wrapped her in her hoodie towel. She insisted that I keep it on her and she HAD to have the hoodie on her head. She ate her lunch with it on, she looked so cute I had to take pictures. I love that when she saw me pull out the camera she gave me a huge grin.

After lunch she went and layed down on her little sofa and fell asleep with the hoodie on.


She's so much fun, I love spending time with her.

Time to Catch Up!

I don't know where the time went! It looks like I've got some catching up to do here. I'll start where I left off...

Here are a few pictures we took while my mom and dad were visiting.

Mother's Day Dinner

We stopped at the mall to kill some time before mom and dad's flight and spent a lot of time showing Ana Elisa all the animals at the Rainforest Cafe. She loved it!

Ana Elisa loves to help me take the dishes out of the dishwasher. She used to hand me the silverware and let me put it away, but now she wants to do it herself. One day, I took a picture of her finished masterpiece.

For Memorial Day, we went with a group of friends to the Goldfield Ghost Town.

Ana Elisa couldn't get enough of the big bird cage. She spent a lot of time playing in it after she came out of the little riperian museum--which the other mom's and I happily let the dads take the kids into without us! (I'm not a fan of reptiles and bugs, but apparently Ana Elisa loved it)

May 27- Happy Birthday to me! I had a great birthday. I took Ana Elisa to the Harkin's Theater. It was her first time going to the movie theater. We watched Space Chimps, which she seemed to like. She sat through most of the movie before deciding it was time to make a run for it! I love her eyes in this picture, she's so funny.

After the movie we went to the splash pad so that she could play with her friends for a while. Here she is wearing one of her friend's cap.

For dinner, we celebrated my birthday by going to Joe's Farm Grill. It was great! The food was good, a great environment for Ana Elisa to roam...and my food was free! :) I had such a wonderful Birthday!

Mother's Day Surprise!

Emerson has been working a lot lately, so I was really excited when he told me on Thursday that he was going to try to leave work early. He got home at about 3:30, just about the same time as my dad called me to ask me if I'd gotten the Mother's Day present they'd sent me. I said I hadn't and he said that he'd sent it UPS and that he had confirmation that it had been delivered. I asked Emerson if he had seen anything on our front porch when he drove in and he said that he had seen something out there. So, while I was still on the phone with dad, I went to check the door. When I opened it, to my surprise, there stood my mom and dad! I couldn't believe my eyes! What a Surprise!! My mom had just been told that morning about our mother's day surprise and had been given a few hours to pack and no method of communication (so that she wouldn't slip the surprise to me :)). Dad has been planning this since February and, apparently, Emerson, Lizsett, and Sherrie have all been in on it. It's been so much fun having them here. Ana Elisa is in heaven and has been laughing and playing with them from the minute she saw them.

Here are some pictures we took together when we got home from church today.

Emerson is making us a Mother's Day feast. He is making Brazilian food--rotisserie sirloin steak, rice, beans, grilled veggies, salad...need I say more?!) I have the best husband in the world!



The weekend has been fun. We bought Ana Elisa a little pool and a sprinkler to play in outside, and we've been out there playing with her, and watching her play when we wear out (she seems to be able to outplay the whole bunch of us!)





Mom and Dad bought Ana Elisa a pair of sunglasses since she keeps trying to wear theirs. She was so excited because they let her pick them out herself. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter. She is my biggest mother's day gift ever!



Last night, we went to Emerson's soccer game and Ana Elisa went on an hour walk with Gampa. She was in heaven. They went to see the pond and the ducks. When they got back from their walk, Ana Elisa really got into Emerson's game. She yelled and screamed to Emerson from the sidelines and would yell at anyone who would get near him.

After the game, mom and dad took us out for ice cream.



Emerson says that Ana Elisa has found a new best friend in gampa. She plays hide and seek with him, shows him which walls he should bump his head on, and insists he go everywhere she does. If he disappears, she goes on a frantic hunt for him. I'll be surprised if gampa gets any time to rest while he's here because Ana Elisa just won't let him sit down, unless, of course, she can sit on his lap...

It's been a great Mother's Day. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mother who has sacrificed so much for me and my sisters. She is so unselfish and has always put us before herself. I can only hope that I can be the kind of mother she has always been. Thank you for everything!! I am so happy that they were able to come visit us.

To Emerson's mom, Cida, and my sisters, Lizsett and Sherrie, thank you so much for being such great examples to me of what true motherhood is. You are all so generous, hardworking, and selfless. You are raising (and have raised) such wonderful children. I wish you could all be here to celebrate with us.

(Cida, me, Emerson)


(Matthew, Josh, Lizsett, Sherrie, Ana Elisa)
-Sorry, these pictures are almost a year old!-

Happy Mother's Day!!