She Walks...

10 days ago my little Emma took her first steps... It was very unexpected! She cruised very well and she would walk holding our hands, but she never stood too long on her own or even attempted to walk on her own until last week...

I got her to let go of my hand and she was standing on her own and I encouraged her to come to me. I expected her to drop to all fours and crawl to me, but she started to walk and I then inched back getting her to walk more steps. She took a good 6-7 steps before she fell into my arms. We were at my parents' house and so we had some family witness her first steps. Now, there is no stopping her. She walks all the time and is getting better and better. She is starting to bend down and pick things up and she is starting to stand up on her own. I do have video, but I can't get it to upload on blogger, so here are some still shots.

She loves to follow Ethan around...

Newman's Review...

Some of our highlights this week...

• Ethan took his first week of swimming lessons... cried 4 out of 5 days...
• Saturday, July 17th marks the day of Emma's first step... 13 months and 1 day old :)... hopefully I'll get video soon :)
• 1st full week of cable... LOVE HGTV!
• Decided to do some remodeling... kitchen, flooring and enclosing our living room to make an office... SO excited!
• Ethan and Emma invented a new game...

Throw all the couch pillows on the floor...
and crawl and jump to their little hearts content!

• Finally... Carson was blessed today! Plus, I finally got to hold the little sweetie... only 5 months later!

Swimming Lessons

Ethan had his swimming lessons this past week... At first he was excited about "going swimming"... he was in the water about 5 minutes when he had to put his head under the water and that was it... the water works and screaming came and it continued for the next 3 days... He would cry throughout his entire 20 minute lesson... Finally, the last day, he didn't cry at all... He was so brave! It was until he got out that he started to cry and then the vomit came... swallowed too much water!

So was it worth it... YEP!!! He learned to float on his back, put his face in the water and roll to his back to a float, jump in the water and turn to a float... plus he learned to kick and move in the water...

WAY TO GO, ETHAN!

4th of July

For the 4th of July we had a family BBQ at my mom and dad's. It was fun spending time with family and seeing some of the newer members of the family... we were only missing Nathan and his family. Lydia

The newest Riddle... Hilary Paige!

First time Carson was able to join us for family dinner... He is such a cutie!

My sweet little Emma... Strawberries all over her shirt...

Emma pulls the silliest faces!

My baby girl with her fishy face!

My Ethan!

Jaime... yep, I took this pic!

The Johnston's together!

Becky with Lydia!

Scott with Emma!

So serious!

Mom and Melina holding Hilary!

Silver Lake

On Friday, July 2nd we took the kids to Layton Surf N' Swim... We don't have any pictures, we forgot our little camera... The kids LOVED it!... Ethan loved going into the deeper water with Scott and Emma liked crawling around in shallow end with mommy... Emma really liked her little floater that I bought her... It's too bad we don't have pictures... oh, well.... next time!

Saturday, July 3rd... we started the morning going out to breakfast... Yum, scones! Went to a park to play... decided against the parade this year... maybe next year... Then while the little princess had her beauty sleep... Scott went out and bought a baby carrier backpack for hiking... We ended up going up to Brighton and walking around Silver Lake. Before we headed out, we took Emma on a test ride with the backpack... Didn't like it too much with Scott, but she was ok with it with me as long as I was moving... So I got to be the lucky one with the sore back :)

I did good!

Emma... "why am I stuck in here??? What did I do to you???"

My little hiker...

Here we are...

Ah, what a view...

Some one scratched "no pooping" into the rail by Ethan's elbow... thought that was kind of funny...

Emma loved the ducks!

She even tried to quack... so cute!

The object of Emma's affections...

It was 3 years ago that we first came here...

July 4, 2007

Dinosour Park

This year we celebrated the 4th of July at home and did some day outings with the kids... On Thursday, July 1st we headed up to the Dinosaur Park... We did the same trip last year over the 4th... Ethan was pretty freaked out last year... this year, not so much... He still wasn't too fond of the robotic dinos, but he liked the skeletons and the dinos in the park. He's been very into dinosaurs his year... he's already been talking about have a "T-Rex" themed birthday party... We'll see... He's on a mission... see the dinos, then get to the playground and play!

"Are we done yet?"

Finally... it's time to play!

Emma was about 3 weeks old when we came last year... now here she is, all grown up... well, kind of!

Trying to get Ethan to eat something...

Took a little drive up through the mountains...

What can I say, I love this little guy :)

and yes.... I love my little princess too...

"When I am Big"

When I try to get Ethan to eat something that he doesn't like... like peas, strawberries, or corn he'll tell me... "I'll eat them when I am big." I then ask him how big does he have to be... his reply, "as big as daddy!" Today on the way to Grandma's I was telling him about swimming lessons he will be starting tomorrow and told him he will learn to put his face in the water and hold his breath and his reply..."I will when I'm big like daddy!" Um... ok.. we'll see about that!

Ethan Pictures

Of course we couldn't just take pics of Emma, we had to get some of Ethan too... I have to say, I have the cutest kids! Here is my handsome little guy...

We were lucky enough to get the kids together... a very hard thing to accomplish!

Emma 1 Year Pictures!

My favorite photographer, Scott, took my little kidlets out to Layton Park and got some good shots... Here is my little Emma...