Adoption Run/Walk

Anyone want to run with me?

Not Far From the Tree

I come from a family that bleeds blue. All 8 kids in my family attended BYU, as did both parents. Matt also grew up in a true blue household. And that's a good thing, so we don't have to cheer against each other on game day.

With parents like that, it's a wonder that Emma hasn't had a BYU shirt before now.

One Man's Trash...

I recently decided that we needed to find a couple of dressers and/or chests of drawers for Emma's room and the guest room. After shopping around a little, I decided to try my luck at yard sales. So I spent an hour or so driving around checking out the local yard sale scene. And I feel like I held my own! I found three dressers/drawers for a total of $35 and had a matching mirror thrown in. Then I spent a day sanding and painting my treasures. Here are the "before" pictures. I forgot to take the "after" photos, so those will have to come a little later. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with my loot!

My New Favorite Toy

My husband knows me pretty well. So, in his quest for the perfect birthday gift for me (I'm just SURE he spent weeks in this endeavor), he hit a homerun! He got me a Kindle. A what?

A Kindle.

It's like an electronic book, but without the pages. You can download books onto it and read them anytime. Plus, all of the classics (AKA "the ones without copyrights") are free to download. So now I've got all of Jane Austen's books, plus books like Little Women and Oliver Twist and lots more. And the best part is that I didn't have to buy them. I wouldn't say they were free. After all, you had to buy the Kindle in the first place. But it still felt like I was getting away with something as I was downloading book after book without paying a penny. I think I even giggled.

Now I just have to make myself put it down long enough to get other things done, like feeding Emma. She's so demanding! I guess I'll have to start reading under the covers with a flashlight again.

Crawler!!

We now officially have a crawler in the family! I guess there wasn't anything in the house worth crawling toward. We just needed to take her outside and point her toward the gravel and dirt!

Grandparents

We are so lucky to live close to Matt's parents. We love going over and visiting. Matt and I don't even mind that everyone really just wants to see Emma. We love that Emma has another place to go where she is just loved unconditionally.

Splat!

Since I have SOOOO much to catch up on, I'm posting this blog splat--a little smattering of everything.

This was taken at the temple after Emma was sealed to us. Her grandma made her the most beautiful temple dress and shoes for the occasion and her grandpa sealed us!! Does it get any better than that?!

Every year I run a local 10K. This year I recruited a couple of neighbors to run it with me. It's always more fun running with other people.

This is part of our team from the 2010 Wasatch Back. We're hanging out at the finish line waiting for our last runner. I didn't actually get to run this year, because we were in Florida finalizing our adoption (yes, WAAAY more important) at the time the race started. But I'm excited for next year!

Emma is now a pro at camping (in a 5th wheel). We went camping a few times this summer--with friends and for a family reunion--and Emma took it all in stride. It certainly helps that she's so easy going and that she LOVES being outside.

We've got a water-baby on our hands. Emma loves splashing, whether it be in the tub, or in the pool.

On July 4th, we went to Matt's parents' house to watch fireworks. We weren't sure how Emma would take them, but she did a great job.

Carrot-Tomato. 'nuff said.

"Yes, mother? Did you need something?"

What is it about babies and mirrors? We love to watch Emma giggle at herself.

As I was posting this, I realized that since Emma has come along, Matt and I don't have nearly as many pictures with us in them. We'll have to do something about that!