Grandma Mary's visit

Last week my mom came to visit us in Nebraska! We were so happy to have her here for a few days!! We had been talking and with exception of my little sister and brother-in-law in Colorado both of our families will get to see Emery this holiday season. We had Grant here for Thanksgiving, Emery and I are traveling to Arizona Dec 9th-15th to visit my Dad, and then we will be spending Christmas with all the Zimmermans. So with this my mom decided since the weather was good that she wasn't going to miss a chance to see Emery and decided to make the trip. Sorry Courtney and Dave - we will have to come visit you guys soon! I'm glad I have such a cute little daughter so that people want to spend time with us ;) we are realistic enough to know that we are just part of the package deal. :)
Anyways, my mom got here on Sunday and stayed until Thursday morning. The weather was really nice while she was here, with exception of a little snow that lasted a few hours one of the days. We got to spend a lot of time relaxing, doing a little shopping, snacking and eating, and playing with Emery. Grandma brought Emery her Christmas presents and since she is so little I just gave them to her already since she doesn't know the difference. She got one of those little learning stuffed animals that say different things when you squeeze its foot/hand/ear, you get the point. I'm sure it has a name I just don't know what it is. She also got some cute new outfits which will look super cute on her! She loves the stuffed doggy toy! Emery tackles it and likes to bite at its nose - it really is pretty funny because since she likes rolls on top of it is starts singing and saying things and the heart lights up. She loves it! One of the days we met up with a friend of my mom's from Arizona who now lives in Omaha. Genny came down for an afternoon and we went to lunch, she bought us the famous cinnamon rolls that her mother would drive from Omaha to Lincoln to buy and they were delicious! And we just had the chance to sit and chat for a while. It was a fun afternoon!
I'm really glad that my mom was able to come visit and see our little apartment and spend some time with us before the holidays. I'm always grateful for the chance to spend time with my family and I've said it before but Guy and I are so lucky to have our families who love Emery so much! She is one lucky girl!

Here are a few pictures of our week:

Hello snuggles :)

Mom and Emery after lunch

I know her eyes are closed cause of the flash, but I still thought this was cute!

Grandma and Emery just playing

Laughing and laughing and laughing

Her new toy

She loved playing with Grandma's suitcase

She didn't want her to leave!

 

Thanksgiving 2012

Guy's 1st semester law school finals are just around the corner! And because of that it looks like we won't be able to travel for Thanksgiving during law school because they are just too close together! Because of this we were so lucky to have Grant come visit and spend the holiday with us. Emery LOVES Uncle Grant!! Her stranger anxiety is pretty much gone and she just loved every second he got to spend with us. Guy had to be in the library most of the time, but we were happy to be able to spend some time with him in the evenings. I'm grateful that Grant didn't seem to mind keeping Emery and I company - we had so much fun! Thanks Grant!
During our Thanksgiving vacation we decided to surprise Guy with a little surprise birthday party - he is not a big party person and with his birthday falling on a day between two big finals I knew we wouldn't be celebrating much on the actual day. Sooooo....Grant and I planned a little party, went shopping, and made cupcakes. Guy loves the movie "Despicable Me" so we decided to make minion cupcakes. He loved them - and he was genuinely surprised which is hard to do! I was happy we got to celebrate while Grant was here.

I got Guy a new shirt, a movie, and the new Black Ops Xbox game that he has been asking for. I had intended to get him the game for Christmas, but figured it would be a good stress release when he has a break between and after finals.

For Thanksgiving we decided to just do a small, but festive dinner here and so we made a roast chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, Abbie's Yammies, and deviled eggs. And then we decided to make it simple and we made toffee for dessert which we snacked on for a few days and of course we still had some minions to finish off as well. Dinner was great! We also had Emery try some Turkey dinner baby food which she did not like at all! It was hilarious the faces she kept making! I couldn't get the video on here, but it is on my facebook page.

That night we put Emery to bed and Grant and I decided to brave the craziness and do some Black Friday shopping! I had never been before so I was going off of the past experience that Grant has had :) Guy has been saying that for Christmas he was going to get me an Ipad so we decided that Black Friday at Walmart was the best time to get it. Guy was more than happy to stay home with the baby and play his new Xbox game while Grant and I went out shopping. We went to Walmart first and on our way some guy in a huge truck tried to race us off the stoplight - I really just wanted to merge over because my lane was ending so I floored it and he took that as I wanted to race and he kept speeding up so eventually I had to slow down and let him think he had won. I was hoping that he was going shopping too and that we might run into him in line, but he turned off before we made it to the store. Anyways, we made it to Walmart and just happened to get front row parking! It was truly a Black Friday miracle. We got in line, and waited for about 2 hours. There were 70 Ipads and we were 56th & 57th in line so we got them! I am loving it! I know I wasn't really supposed to get it until Christmas, but my husband loves me and spoils me. After Walmart, we went to Target to see if by chance they still had the doorbuster toy I wanted to get Emery, but they didn't and the line was forever long so we decided we would go look at the remains the next day. The amazing thing was we got front row, first spot, premium parking at Target too! I feel like we must be living right or something. I had a lot of fun and would probably go Black Friday shopping again next year....but not alone - there were some crazy people out there!!

The rest of our Thanksgiving break was spent eating way too much, playing games, watching movies, playing with Emery, and just relaxing. We had a great time having Grant visit and can't wait to see the rest of the family over Christmas.

Here are a few pictures of our Thanksgiving break:



Emery and Uncle Grant




I thought this was so sweet!



Trying to steal the Xbox controller



Emery is in her crib - they were taking morning naps :)



She has no concept of personal space



She loves her little Elephant ball popper toy we got her!




Saying goodbye until Christmas!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for, so instead of listing everything off I mostly just want to say how thankful I am for my sweet husband and daughter, my awesome family, and my in-laws -  I'm so lucky to have married into such a wonderful family. I could go on and on - my life is so good, I am truly so blessed!

7 months

I'm so behind it almost feels silly not to just combine a lot of these posts into one, or skip them all together, but I'm hoping someday (not in the near future I'm sure) that I'll be able to make a book out of my blogs posts from one of those websites....so that being said I'm trying to make sure I do each individual post. I'll try to be better about getting them done on time!!
Emery is growing SO fast! She is getting to be so much fun and does new things every day!
We don't have another doctors appointment until 9 months so I don't have stats, but I'm guessing she is roughly 22 pounds and probably a little taller than she was last time. I swear she grows overnight! She is getting so heavy to carry around in the car seat I'm sure people laugh when they try to see me lift her car seat up into the cart at the grocery store (or maybe they are laughing because once I get it up on the cart I can't see over it) either way it must be quite the sight. I actually ran my grocery cart into a trash can the other day cause I couldn't see in front of me. HAHA it was embarrassing and ya so now for the most part Emery sits in the cart like a big girl and now Mom can see where she is going.

Updates:

• Emery is still scooting around everywhere - she is getting pretty fast and has "crawled" a little, but still prefers to scoot for some reason. I think she will start to crawl soon though she is getting so close!
• Emery has started to really love bath time. She thinks she can swim and likes to get on her belly and go from one end of the bath tub to the other. Obviously we have to keep a VERY close eye on her cause she occasionally likes to try to drink the water.
• Emery is still sleeping well - she goes to sleep at around 7pm and wakes up once or twice and then is up for the day around 7am.
• She likes to cuddle in the mornings if she wakes up before Daddy goes to school - we will bring her into bed with us and she lays between us and stretches out both her arms so she is touching both of us. Probably one of my very favorite things in the whole world.
• She climbs on everything and everything and everything! She climbs high enough just to fall and hurt herself. We have to watch her 24/7!
• Emery is also getting into everything that she shouldn't! She climbs behind couches/chairs, into corners and can't get herself out of, and over and under whatever is in her way. We are constantly getting her out of places where she has gotten herself stuck.
• Emery has started recently lifting herself up onto things - the couch, boxes, and she even transfers from one to the other if they are close enough together. Her new favorite is trying to reach Daddy's xbox.
• Emery is still difficult during church - she doesn't like to be quiet and she doesn't like to sit still so it is a little bit of a challenge.
• Emery has tried lots of fruits and veggies and continues to eat rice cereal every day. Her favorites are bananas, apples, and pears. She also likes carrots, green beans, and peas. She is quite the little eater! She does NOT like the baby food meats! We will have to keep trying with those :)
• Emery has two teeth on the bottom now - they are so cute when she smiles! I think she will get the top ones in pretty soon.
• She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and her favorite movie is Tangled. When she is getting really difficult I turn on those shows to calm her down a little. She also likes the vacuum and blow dryer when she is a little fussy.
• Emery has also started giving kisses :) They are usually open mouth and slobbery, but she goes straight for your cheeks - it is the cutest thing! I guess she gets her chubby cheeks kissed so much that she finally caught on.
  
   

Watching Tangled

Getting kisses from Mommy

Giving Mommy kisses

Getting stuck.....every. single. day.

Loves to climb on her car seat

Getting stuck behind the chair

"Swimming" during bath time

Climbing to turn on Daddy's Xbox

Halloween 2012

Sorry I'm playing catch up on here but I figured better late than never right?! For Halloween this year Emery dressed up as a little duckie - our little Oregon duckie :) We had fun being able to dress her up and participate in some of the festivities. It will definitely be more fun when she is older and can enjoy it more, but it was fun to get dressed up none the less. Someday....or maybe just in my dreams, I will convince my sweet husband to dress up as a family :) He is not the dresser up type of guy, but maybe some day I can dress him up as prince charming or something - I think he would do it for Emery so I'll have to have her sweetly ask when she is old enough ;)
We went to the ward trunk-or-treat and since I helped run the games inside for the older kids, Guy got our car and candy all set up outside and I joined him later. It was so cute and fun to see all the kids in their costumes!! They were adorable!!
The law school also does a trick-or-treat for any of the students who have kids. Even though Emery is too little for trick or treating and candy we still went just for the heck of it and walked around with some friends for a bit. It was funny to see that probably 80% of the students with kids were from the church! It is always nice to see familiar faces right? We had a great time and look forward to going back next year (and the year after that)!
Here are a few pictures of our little Oregon Duckie - can you believe those cheeks?!?!

I'm so glad

This week has been a pretty crazy one because Guy has been soooooooooo busy with school. Usually we see him for about 4-5 hours a day - but between school, studying, and the gym we have only seen Guy for about 2 hours a day from the time he leaves at 7:30am to when we go to bed. It is still taking some getting used to for both Emery and I. I know Emery is only 6 1/2 months old, but she misses her Daddy when he is gone. I remember learning the primary song when I was little that goes:

"I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, glad as I can be

Clap my hands and shout for joy and climb upon his knee

Put my arms around his neck, hug him tight like this

Pat his cheeks and give him what? A great big kiss!"

 I can honestly say that the highlight for both of us is when Daddy gets home :)

Mostly.......I am truly grateful for my hard working husband and my beautiful and silly daughter that the Lord has blessed me with. I'm so happy that even while Guy is gone I have this little sweetie to keep me company :)

6 months old and a trip to Oklahoma!

Emery hit her half birthday today and I can't believe our little baby is already 6 months old! Where does the time go? She continues to entertain us with her sweet little personality and watching her grow and do new things has become the highlight of our days. Emery saw her doctor today and here are her stats:

Height: 27 inches - 90th percentile

Weight: 19 lbs 4 ounces - 95th percentile

Head circumference: 17 1/4" - 82nd percentile

Updates:

• Emery loves to be outside and has a pretty big obsession with trees...she loves to stare and touch the leaves on the trees. We also had fun playing and taking pictures in the fall leaves in Lincoln.
• Emery has become quite the chatterbox! She talks up a storm mostly ba ba ba ba ba and then a growl, but we are working diligently on trying to get a mama or dada out of her :)
• She is scooting around EVERYWHERE! She will go after basically anything that is on the ground including shoes, bags, toys, anything you name it. She is pretty fast and has even been up on her knees a few times, although it doesn't last she just looks confused and then falls back to her belly.
• Emery goes to bed around 7-7:30pm each night and wakes up ususally once to eat around 4am and then is up for the day around 7:30am. The days of sleeping in are a thing of the past. :)
• She smiles at everyone she sees and I'm pretty sure she loves the attention because she really turns on the charm for strangers in the store, doctors office, etc. She is quite the ham!
• Still laughs alot, but mostly just for Daddy
• Emery tried rice cereal for the first time tonight and really seemed to like it! She was a little hesitant at first, but ate most of what we made for her. We will start trying fruits and veggies in a week or two.
• Emery loves to suck on her toes...so silly! We are constantly pulling her foot away from her mouth.
• She is in 9 month clothing, but still fits into a handful of her 6 month stuff.
• Emery's stranger anxiety is getting a little better - when we were in Oklahoma this weekend she let other people hold her quite a bit..we were so happy!
•  Emery is using a sippy cup for a little water during the day and loves holding onto her own cup
• She is still mostly a stomach sleeper, but we find her sleeping on her side quite a bit too.
• She loves her bouncer and loves to chew on anything in sight! I'm pretty sure she is teething.
• Emery hardly ever cries in the mornings (or ever really) we usually find her awake in her crib talking to herself, playing with her bunny blanket, or just peeking over the crib bumper waiting for someone to come get her. Guy and I race to her room to see who get there first to get her up because when she sees you she smiles SO big - its the best part of our day.

This weekend was fall break for Guy (if you can call 1 day off of school a break)! Anyways, we decided to take a quick trip to Bartlesville, Oklahoma to see my Aunt Julie & Uncle Ryan and the boys, as well as my Grandma Stevens. We missed my Aunt Stacey and Uncle Jeff who were traveling to visit family :( we hope to make it back soon to visit them as well. We had a great time getting to visit and relax away from our little apartment for a few days. Julie and Ryan just built a beautiful house and we enjoying getting to stay with them! I didn't get a picture of it on my camera, but Emery went with Uncle Ryan to feed the Llama and she stuck out her hand and smacked it in the nose! We had a great time hanging out with everyone and Emery really liked all the attention. She loved hanging out with Austin and Jack, my cousins, and was especially fond of Austin :) She let him and Julie hold her through most of church on Sunday, but she really loved listening to Austin play piano and sing. She even fell asleep on the ground (using her toy as a pillow) listening to Austin play piano...I think Emery wished we could have brought him back to Lincoln with us. It was so great to see my Grandma Stevens - we enjoyed getting to visit with her in her apartment and getting to spend time with her. We have missed her the past copule years since she moved from Utah and I am so happy we are a little closer and can hopefully see her more often. Here are a few pictures of our trip

Emery and Great Grandma Stevens



Listening to Austin sing - she LOVED him!

 

This is what happened when we left her to listen to Austin play the piano

 

Thanks Julie and Ryan for letting us come and visit! We had such a great time! We miss you guys already and hope we can make it back soon!

Our trip to Fairbury

Today we traveled to Fairbury, Nebraska which is about an hour from Lincoln for a little family reunion with my Great Grandma Grace's side of the family. Before today I hadn't met anyone really from that side of the family and I had no idea that my Grandpa and his family were all from around here. My Grandpa Schmitt and his new wife Janice traveled down from Cody, Wyoming, as well as my Aunt Joan (my grandpa's sister) and her daughter Debbie. It was so fun to be able to see them and to meet Janice for the first time - Janice welcome to the family!! No one had met Emery yet either so that was fun for her to meet her great-grandpa!! Emery Grace was named after both my great grandmas who were both named Grace. I never had the chance to meet my great-grandma Grace from my dad's side of the family, but I have tons of very special memories from my Great-Grandma Grace on my mom's side so I was so happy and feel very blessed to be able to have met some of my distant relatives on her side.
They had a little pot-luck lunch and we just sat and visited with my Grandpa and Janice for most of our visit. I was so happy that my grandpa invited us to go and we are planning on going back as long as we are in Lincoln :) Here are a few pictures of our day


Janice and Emery




Debbie and Emery



Grandpa Schmitt (back row far right) and Aunt Joan (front row red shirt) and all the 1st cousins that were at the luncheon



Grandpa Schmitt and Janice with our little family




Our happy little family

 We are hoping to make a trip up to Wyoming next summer to visit everyone - I can't wait I really hope we can make it work with school and work stuff!! I feel so blessed to have wonderful family and friends. I'm grateful for good family and examples from both my side and Guy's side to look up to and I hope that someday I can teach Emery to appreciate how important family really is.

We said "I love you" at the Zoo

 Yesterday marked our 2 year wedding anniversary one of the very best days of my life. I have the best husband ever! He is working so hard in school but still managed to help plan a fun weekend getaway for us to Omaha to celebrate our 2 years.

So after we reminisced about our dating, engagement, and the last two years of wonderful marriage we decided that the best way to celebrate was to go to the zoo. Also, there are only so many places we could go that would entertain this little beauty for a whole day :)

So after Guy got out of class on Friday we headed up to Omaha which is about 45 minutes from Lincoln and went to our hotel. We rested a little and then went out to eat at "The Cheesecake Factory" - I love the food there but we had a horrible experience with the service so I won't vent my whole story on here, but needless to say we ended up getting our food boxed up basically as soon as we got it and just ate it at the hotel. We walked around the mall for a while that night and then just hung out at the hotel and watched some football and Parks & Rec :) still our favorite show.
I had planned on getting Guy a surround sound system for our living room that he had been talking about for weeks, I thought it was the perfect plan because he never buys stuff like that on his own so I thought it would be a great surprise. Well....what does my husband do? He decides to go against everything he always does and buys it 2 weeks ago! Ugh...there goes my idea! So anyways, I decided to do something a little more sentimental and I made him a little candy jar to put in his locker at school with "50 Riesens why I love you" here are a few pictures of my little project.

Anyways, it was fun to write down reasons why I love my husband so much and it gives him a little treat to remember us while he is at school :)

Saturday morning we slept in (kinda) and then went to a early lunch at Paradise Bakery..yum!! After that we headed to the Omaha Zoo. We had so much fun!! It exceeded our expectations and we had alot of fun seeing all the animals and the different exhibits that they had to offer. It was really cool how they had it set up with an inside jungle area, indoor desert, cat complex, safari, gorilla/monkey/lemur island exhibits, Madagascar land, aquarium, butterfly pavilion...I mean they really had everything! We were there for almost 5 hours and we still didn't get to see everything...we will definitely go visit again. Emery wasn't super impressed with most of it, but she LOVED the aquarium because the water was so bright and the fish were moving around constantly. We spent quite a while in there and in the shark tunnel and she just took it all in. Guys favorite was the tiger and I think I loved the polar bear the best - and we both agreed that the jungle area was great. It was super humid and we both felt like we were back in Brazil again! :) I will try not to bombard you with pictures because I took a ton! But here are a few of our weekend at the zoo - we had a great time and it was fun to celebrate our anniversary together with our sweet Emery.

We had a great time and I'm sure we will go back soon - Emery will love it when she gets a little older. On our actual anniversary which was yesterday Guy had school so we didn't get to see him much during the day or late evening but we did get a chance to go to dinner. We even had a friend from our ward offer to take Emery so we could have a baby-free dinner!! Thanks Mickelle! Overall it was a wonderful weekend and I'm looking forward to many more anniversaries together!!