Sledding

We took Emily sledding for the first time and she had a blast! I didn't think she would like going down the hill, but that was her favorite part.

Our funny girl

Emily loves anything and everything to do with music and dancing. She just learned all the actions to Popcorn Popping and is very proud of herself. She loves this song and would listen to it all day long if I could stand it. Sorry it's going the wrong direction...I can't figure out how to rotate videos. It's pretty cute, anyway.

These are Emily's 18 month pictures that our good friend, Jared Guardipee, took for us. I LOVE them! Jared did such a good job and we want to thank him for putting up with us. Emily wasn't in the best mood and it was so cold! He really captured her personality. I know we're biased, but we think she's the cutest little girl ever!

Cute as a bug!

This was Emily's first "real" Halloween and she had so much fun! She LOVED wearing her ladybug dress. She would run and spin around and everytime she saw a mirror she would stop and say "Oh Pretty!" This was taken at Inkley's. Every year they take Halloween pictures for really cheap. I think it turned out pretty good.

Livvy, Emily, and Mason

We went trunk or treating with Peggie and kids to our church. Emily thought it was pretty great! Some of the people would left her pick out her own candy. She would look over everything in the bowl, pick her favorite, and put it in her bucket. Then she would wave at them and say "Ya Ya!" (See Ya) and then move on to the next person. She caught on to the idea pretty fast. She loved to carry her bucket and didn't want help from anyone. It was getting so heavy, but it was HERS and would cry if we tried to carry it for her.

She started digging into the candy pretty fast. She also learned a new phrase today. "Candy! YUMMMM!"

That's alot of candy for a 1 year old! Luckely, she has a Dad who is more than willing to help her out with it!!

Some good ole pumpkin carvin' fun!

Last night we decide to carve some pumpkins. I thought Emily would have more fun with it, but she was pretty bored. She wouldn't stick her hand inside and kept saying "EWWWW!!!" Geoff and I fun anyway. Emily just wandered around and checked on us from time to time.

Emily thought they were chairs.


The finished product. The one in the middle is Emily's...sticking a face on is so much easier!

Yummy pumpkin seeds

So, after we carved pumpkins, we decided to try toasting the seeds. I LOVE pumpkin seeds, but haven't really found a recipe that sounded good enough to dig through all the yucky guts to save the seeds. I think these turned out really well.

I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com. I thought I would share it with all of you.

1 1/2 TB butter or margarine, melted

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 cups raw whole pumpkin sees

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Combine all ingrediants and mix thoroughly. Place in a shallow baking dish. Bake for 1 hour, stirring constantly. YUMMY!!!!

Emily is 18 months old!! Where has the time gone???

So, last week our sweet Emily turned 18 months old. I can't believe she's already so big, it seems like she was born only a few months ago. In some ways it makes me so sad that she's growing up, but in other ways, I'm so excited for her and all the fun things that she has to look forward to. She started nursery two Sundays ago and she did pretty well. It won't be too long before her favorite words are "MINE!!" and "NO!!!".

I thought it would be fun to share some fun facts about our little "Lou Lou".

Her favorite things are:

*her "bub" (favorite blanket) and her monkey

*PB&J (only if she can use a fork), chicken nuggets with dip, cheetos, grapes, cereal, chocolate chips, M&Ms, doritos, bananas, whipped yogurt, and ice cream

*being outside...swinging, kicking her ball, going for walks, playing with dad

*Grandpa Meredith and Grandpa Sant

*Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

*DANCING!!!!

*reading books

*Bigfoot...our neighbors big black dog

Things she doesn't like very much are:

*being told "No!"

*sitting down to eat

*coming inside

*being away from Mom

*being chased by Shadow (Grandma and Granda's kitty)

I've been tagged!!!

1. Link to the person who tagged you:
Our good friend Katie tagged me
lindsayfamily-photo.blogspot.com
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 6 random things about yourself
4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website

Okay...here we go:
1. I am the youngest child in my family. So would say that I'm spoiled, but I firmly disagree...I'm just the favorite! I grew up in a big family, but was pretty much raised as an only child. See, I was a bit of a "surprise" for my parents. The sibling closest to me in age is 7 years older and my oldest brother is 16 years older. When I was a baby, people thought that my dad was my grandpa. I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters, and 16 neices and nephews. I love my family so much!!

2. I love to scrapbook!! I'm not very good, but I think it's so much fun! My good friend Tiffany once told me that I needed to start being brave and quite making everything so straight! It's very true...every single picture on every single page is nice and straight and evenly spaced. I should just use and album instead. She was so proud on me when I actually tore some paper for one of my pages.

3. This one is similar to the last one. I love it when certain things are nice and straight and in order. It's weird because I'm really particular about certain things and not others. For example, in you were to look in my kitchen cabinets, the one with plates is no neat and tidy, right next to it, my cabinet with tupperware is so messy, because I just can't get them to stack nicely. So, I just shove them in and shut the door really fast! I'm also really crazy about folding towels and our underwear. I have a certain way of folding them and they just look so nice folded and stacked. All of our other laundry...I could care less about it. Geoff have tried to help me fold clothes, and he just can get the towels and the underwear right, so he doesn't even try anymore...his job is socks!!

4. I have always wished that I could sing and dance. Sadly, I don't have an ounce of talent in either area. When I was younger I would daydream about being an incredible singer and being on stage with people cheering. The most ironic thing about this is that I married into a family of the most talented singers I have ever met. Every single one of them love music and have the most incredible voices. I'm just hoping that our daughter is able to sing like them, too.

5. A fews years ago, I learned that I'm terribly afraid of birds. I've never really had much to do with birds, until my sister-in-law, Amber brought home a bird. She was living at Geoff's parents house while Geoff's brother was on a mission (that's quite a story) and she had this stupid bird that let out of his cage ALL THE TIME!!! That bird would dive people's heads and it liked mine the most. It would scare me so bad and I would start shaking and crying. To this day, birds are not my friends! When we take Emily to the pet store, she loves going in the bird room. Geoff is nice and takes while I stay a safe distance from them!!

6. This may sound gross to some...but I am totally obsessed with ears and bellybuttons. I can't stand it people have ear wax in their ears!! It takes everything in me to keep my hands to myself. I just want to reach over and clean them out!!! Sometimes if I see a really gross ear, I lay awake a night and think about it! When I was little I would go to all my brothers and sisters and parents and clean their ears for them. I also love to clean out my bellybutton! I don't understand people who won't clean out their buttons...it stinks!!! Geoff is a very good sport and will let me clean is ears as much as I want...but he won't let me anywhere near is button. He won't even let me look at it. For some reason, bellybuttons gross him out. Emily has taken after me and is always sticking her fingers in her ears and her button. She really likes Geoff's button and is always trying to stick her finger in it. So, a word of warning, when you're around me keep in mind that I'm looking it your ears to see if they're clean!!

Well, that's some strange things about me. I want to hear all about you! I am tagging: Tiffany Neilsen, Tiffany Stringham, Aleisha McConkie, and all the Meredith's!

Emily and Shadow

This is Shadow...the newest little arrival at Grandma and Grandpa Meredith's house. A cat had babies under their deck and abandoned this one. So, they brought her inside and have been nursing her back to health. We are the official babysitters while everyone is at work. I never realized how much it takes to care for a new kitten...bottle feeding, cleaning up after her, ect. (did I mention the poop?!?! YUCK!!) Nevertheless, we've had fun...Emily, especially. She's doing really well with being "soft" with this little one. When the kitty is sleeping, Emily walks around the house with her finger to her nose saying, "Ssssssssss." I think Aunt Chelsea is becoming an enemy to Emily cause she's to one who comes to pick up Shadow at the end of the day. Emily lets her know exactly what she thinks and cries and cries as Chelsea and Shadow drive away. Poor Chelsea!!

Geoff's new baby!!!

This is Geoff's new truck!! It's a 1989 Chevy Silverado. Geoff has been wanting a truck for as long as he's been able to drive, so I'm happy he was able to finally get one. Whenever he's home, I often find him tinkering with it. Emily also likes the truck and her favorite part is the bed. She LOVES to play in the bed and complains when it's time to get out. So, anyone who need help moving or hauling....Geoff would love to help!!!

Last night, we had a good-bye BBQ for Rex and Jeigh and their little family. They are moving to West Virginia for PA school. We are so excited for them and so proud of them, too. Rex and Geoff are best of friends and I really don't know how they are going to get along without each other. I often tease Geoff and he can't finish a sentence without Rex. We all had a really good time...it's going to be a while until the entire Meredith family can get together again. Good luck guys! We're really going to miss you!


The Meredith boys: Rob, Geoff, Bob, Russ, and Rex
Kissing cousins!! Emily and Jett were getting their last kisses in before it's time to say good-bye.

Pool party

Amber invited us over for a pool party last Wednesday. It was a fun way to cool down on such a hot day. I don't know why I call it a pool party...Emily didn't want anything to do with the pool. We just sat in her chair or played in the sprinklers. Thanks Amber for a fun day!!

Anna has the cutest smile and I'm excited that she's starting to smile alot more often.

Jett wasn't very interested in the pool either...he just walked around with his ball.

Jenna and Halle...everyone thinks they're twins. They are so beautiful and so much fun!

Emily, Livvy, Mason, and Halle

My baby isn't a baby anymore!

A few days ago, I put Emily's hair in pig tails and it just hit me all of a sudden that she's growing up! She looks so much older when her hair is pulled back! I'm sad to think how fast time has flown by with our sweet Emily. We have had so much fun watching her learn and discover new things. It's hard to believe that last year at this time she was just a tiny baby and depended on us for everything...now she insists on doing things all by herself! It's ever harder to believe that two years ago at this time we didn't know if we would ever have the opportunity of being parents...she was definitely worth the wait!!

Miss Attitude!

Emily has started to let us know when she thinks we're doing something wrong...she YELLS and GROWLS at us! It doesn't matter what we doing, if she doesn't like it, she makes sure to tell mom and dad and expects us to fix it PRONTO!! Some think it's cute, some think it's sweet, I think we're in for alot of trouble it she's already starting this. I wonder who she inherited this from...probably Geoff!

Two peas in a pod

My brother and his family came for a visit from Seattle this week. The second Emily laid eyes on her cousing Derek...she was in love. She started calling him "Dat Boy" and would follow him all around. She would sit and gaze at him with love.

She is really going to miss him when they go home!!

Water Baby!!!!

Emily got a pink pool for her birthday from Rob and Jenilyn. She loved to sit in it with a soft pillow and look at her books. When summer came, and we put water in it she was really confused. After a few tries, she is starting to understand the idea and has fun.

Geoff's a grown-up!

For all of you who haven't head, Geoff got a new job at Simplot! He is now an Analytical Lab Tech and loves his job. His schedule has really improved...he works 4, 10 hour shifts a week, so he has 3 days off now. It's been really nice having him home more. Before this job, he worked about 60 hours a week and was never home. Congrats Geoff!!! We are so proud of you!

Emmy's Big Girl Bed

A few weeks ago we decided it was time to put Emily in a bigger bed. She has been so crammed into her crib for the last few months and she just wasn't sleeping very well (her arms and legs were always hanging out). She was figuring out how to climb out and we knew one day soon she would tumble out. Rex and Jeigh (Geoff's brother) were so kind to give us this bed that they weren't using. Geoff worked on it for a few months, sanding, painting, and adding his personal touch. She absolutely LOVES her new bed. Grandpa Sant built her some little steps so she can climb up and down any time she wants. The funny thing is that she hasn't figured out that she can get down in the middle of the night...she just sits and yells for "DAD!" She is always practicing...up, down, up, down, on and on and on. She loves to sit on it and look at her books.

Life is good

I just woke up for the day and I am feeling good. I have my toast and I am watching my Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tv. Life is good.

Don't touch my cone

Don't show me an ice cream cone, because I will take it away and eat it. Ice cream cones are my favorite.