Drinking Buddies

We love our
sippy cups!

Squiggley Noodles

We gave Alison noodles for the first time. She could hardly stuff them in her mouth fast enough. She is eating less and less baby food. She loves to eat new things, and she out eats Emmy almost every meal.


No, that is not a cigar. It's a plastic hot dog. Alison crawled around with it in her mouth all day.

Better Sister

We were out working in the yard yesterday afternoon, and Emmy was playing with her baby doll while Alison crawled around looking for rocks. Alison loves to find rocks and try to put them in her mouth. I kept getting after Alison to not put the rocks in her mouth. Emmy was helping me keep an eye on Alison and informing me if she snuck any rocks into her mouth. Finally, Emmy just says to me, "Mom, I think we need to get a better sister."

Family Pictures

Make a Smilebox photobook

Thanks Rachel!

Shoulder Ride

Emmy wanted to carry Alison around on her shoulders.

Aaron helped out so we could avoid any more nose injuries.

Alison's nose is looking better.

Gardening 101

My first gardening experience is coming to end as the weather turns colder. I have enjoyed gardening, eating the fresh vegetables (without rubbery, chemical filled skins), and sharing the fruits of our labors with friends and family. I have learned a few important things as a first time gardener that I thought I would share.

Here's my TOP TEN for first time gardeners.

10. One zucchini plant is enough for one family. I planted two this year, green and yellow. I harvested 72 zucchinis between the two plants. I still have a few more coming.

9. Red peppers actually start out green before they turn red. I have a lot of huge peppers on my plants, but they just don't want to turn red. Hopefully they will soon. :)

8. If you like cherry tomatoes, one plant is more than enough. I accidentally planted 3 cherry tomato plants. I thought I had picked up more large tomato plants. Oops. I have harvested well over 300 cherry tomatoes, and I still have more coming.

7. Don't ever leave a 3 year old alone with a packet of seeds. Emmy dug one large hole, and dumped the entire packet of carrot seeds in. I did the best I could to spread them out. We got two small carrots this year.

6. Potatoes are amazing. I found 4 potatoes that I had lost in my storage room with long sprouts on them. I cut them up and planted them in the dirt. I harvested over 5 pounds of potatoes this week.

5. If your dirt is like ours, full of rocks, I suggest doing a raised garden box. I got a big pile of dirt for my birthday with the nutrients already mixed in, and we were in business.

4. Grasshoppers are not a gardens best friend. The first time I saw a hopper on my tomato plants, I said to Aaron & Emmy, "Oh, look a cute little grasshopper." He fell out of the garden box, and I picked him up and put him back in the box. Then I started to notice that buds were missing on my tomato plants. I did a little research and learned that grasshoppers are the enemy. I killed many grasshoppers this summer, and I enjoyed it.

3. Ask people that live in your neighborhood for advice, and share your vegetables with them especially if they grew something you didn't. We traded some zucchini and squash for fresh corn. Yummy!

2. Don't ever plant any type of squash plant unless you can grow vertically or have tons of space. My squash plant was out of control. I forced it to grow outside of the garden box, and it just took over. I had 4 runners and at one point that were each almost 10 feet long. I only got 15 squash out of this huge plant. Not worth the space.

1. Have faith! Your garden will grow as long as you don't forget to water.

Here are a few pictures over the summer.

May 16, 2008 (I planted the rest of the plants a week later.)

Beginning of July 2008 End of July 2008 (That is the squash plant growing out of control in the front.)
September 2008
Our two carrots and the potatoes.

Rudolph

Saturday was a big football day for our family. The Cougars and the Sooners creamed their competition. In support of the cougars, our family was decked out in our BYU gear all day. We decided to take some pictures of girls. All was going well until Alison face planted into the concrete. Her nose looks so painful, but she seems to be fine. Bub and I both cringe every time we look at her sweet face. The scab gets darker each day. Rudolph came to town early this year.

Where's my dinner?

Alison is very demanding when it comes to food. She is not shy about letting us know that she is hungry, and we had better get her food to her instantly. She chirps, squeals, grunts, yells, and much more to let us know "Where's my dinner?"

Shout outs to Chile!

We love you Papa & Grandma!

10 months in review...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Cousin Carly's Blessing

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sleeping Beauty...

On the floor outside of her bedroom.


Crammed in bed with dollhouse, toys, and pillows.


Under the umbrella, just in case of rain.

Discovery Gateway

Make a Smilebox scrapbook Before school started last month, we went with some friends to the Discovery Gateway museum. The girls had a great time.

New Tricks

Little Grins!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Ready, Set, Preschool!

Emmy started preschool yesterday. I'm not really sure who was more excited about preschool, me or Emmy. Grandma dropped Emmy off and picked her up for me because I'm still doing a long-term sub in 5th grade. I was very sad to miss the first day. Lucky for me, Grandma took some fun pictures for us.

I love the too big backpack, and the why are you taking my picture face!

3 years later...

I could not believe that our old blog that we set up 3 years ago was still floating around in cyberspace. Aaron remembered the old address. After a few name changes, we are ready to join the world of blogging again. Hopefully we will do better than 5 posts before we quit.

Alison

Alison & Emmy

P.S. Look at the pictures from the posts 3 years ago, Emmy was almost exactly the same age as Alison. They look a lot alike.