Saturday night Scott and I decided to take some time off from all the emotions and go out together. On our way home from Salt Lake one of Scott’s friends called us and invited us to go curling. We hadn’t ever done it before, but it sounded like a fun new experience.

They gave us a quick run down when we got there and we got right down to business. Each team throws 8 stones. The goal is to get as many stones as you can close to the middle, in order to score points for the team.

I was the first one to throw the stones on my team. As the “lead” my job was to try to throw my two stones so that they would act as blockers or “guards”. I needed to get them just over the “hog” line so they would be in the way of the other team.

That was the goal, however, being my first time, if I got them anywhere in play I was happy. I ended up doing pretty well. I really liked throwing the stones and would love to just have a bunch of time to practice.

I had a great time doing it. It was a totally new experience, but I really had fun. I love to play games, and I can be a bit competitive so it was right up my alley. I would love to go do it again sometime.

I slept in until almost noon today. NOON! I can’t remember the last time I did that. It had to be before I had kids. It was sooo nice.

Scott got up early and left at six am. I had the whole day to myself.

I just relaxed the whole day. I got a manicure and a pedicure. Then I went out and sat by the pool with my book for a while. It felt so nice to just sit outside. I have really been enjoying the weather. I sat by the pool and before I knew it Scott was back from the convention.

Tonight we are planning to eat at Delmonico for dinner. It is Emeril Lagasse’s steak house. It is supposed to be fantastic. We got a late reservation, so we are going to go enjoy the hot tub for a bit before we get ready for dinner. See you later!

Well, I made it back from Germany, but just barely.

We had a great flight from Frankfurt to Atlanta. Surprisingly I slept almost 7 hours! I woke up in the “morning” and ate breakfast/lunch right before we were ready to land. It was shrimp quesadillas with a tomato and cucumber salad. As soon as we got off I started thinking that I shouldn’t have eaten it. My stomach was upset and I was extremely nauseated. We spent the layover in the Delta Crown Room and I felt terrible the whole time. Right before we left to board out plane, I threw up. That continued my whole flight from Atalanta to Salt Lake. It felt like the longest flight of my life!

Luckily we got home and I slept fairly well I woke up the next day feeling significantly better. Still not 100%, but I was feeling human again. I spent the day unpacking and repacking and enjoying the kids for a day before we headed out to Las Vegas for the rest of the week.

Scott has a convention in Vegas this week. I usually go with him to this one. Last year it was in San Francisco, and this year it is Vegas. We had planned this out long before our last minute trip to Germany. Scott’s mom came up to our house to watch the kids for us. The weather is beautiful and I am hoping to spend some time by the pool. This is the longest time I have spent away from the kids. I miss them, but it is a nice break for me. I have had so many emotional issues to deal with lately, this has been a welcome break.

Emma turned seven on Friday.

I can’t believe that she is seven already. I feel like I say that at every birthday, but I truly can’t believe that she is seven years old. It feels like just yesterday I was at the University of Utah Hospital delivering her. I will never forget the moment I first laid eyes on her. I can still picture her little swollen face. I remember feeling like I couldn’t believe she was mine and that I was a mother. Now she has grown up to be a sweet young girl.

It has been so much fun to watch Emma grow up. She has such a sweet spirit. She is such a fantastic big sister. She is so sweet to Nora. She loves to take care of her and help her. It is so cute to watch.

Emma loves art. The first thing she does when she gets up in the morning is sit down at her art table. She loves to make things for other people. I have stacks and stacks of the cutest cards she has made for both me and Scott. She is constantly bringing me drawings she has made. She loves to make things for other people, and she loves to make people happy.

She is such a sensitive little girl. She is always thinking about other people. She also gets her feelings hurt easily. She reminds me a lot of myself. When something happens she just looks at you with big eyes. She doesn’t say anything and she acts like everything is fine. But later she lets it all out.

Last week I went to Emma’s parent teacher conference. She is doing so well in school, even better than I expected. I have always felt like she is smart. I guess every parent thinks that about their children. But I was surprised at how smart she is. Even her teacher was gushing about her.

She has turned into an excellent reader. I met her at school last week and had lunch with her in the cafeteria. After we went to the book fair so that she could pick out a book. She picked out a chapter book about a unicorn. After school she sat down on the couch and started reading it to Ian and Nora. I was blown away by how well she could read. Later that night she turned her lamp on after we tucked her into bed. She stayed up way past her bed time and finished the book. She was exhausted the next day, but I am glad that she loves to read.

She had a fun birthday party at the aquarium. Check out my friend Vicky’s blog to see some cute photos.

The last seven years with Emma have been special. I am proud of what a nice little girl she is. I love spending time with her and I am looking forward to many more adventures with her.

Happy 7th birthday my big girl!

Remember how I posted about Ian being night trained? Wouldn’t you know it, as soon as I wrote about it he proceeded to wet the bed the next 2 nights! I think I jinxed myself. I guess he needs to go back to wearing the alarm for a few more nights.

I got to take photos of another little baby today! One of my brothers friends who I have known for about 20 years had his first baby a month ago. I offered to take photos for them, and we did it today. Unfortunately, it did not go well. The little guy just didn’t want any part of it. He cried most of the time. I think there are a few shots worth keeping, but I was disappointed that we didn’t get more. He is a REALLY adorable baby, and I just didn’t do him justice with the photos. I’ll post a few of them when I get them edited.

Besides that I have been trying to get caught up on my laundry for about 3 days now. Emma was putting her dirty clothes in the hamper the other day and said to Scott “Mom really needs to do the laundry because I can’t fit another thing into my hamper!” I think it had been almost 2 weeks! I have just been so busy the last few weeks. But I am almost all caught up now. I think I have one more load to fold and put away and then I will be done. Whew!

Not much else new to report. I seem to be busy every day. I feel like I have hardly any time to stop and catch my breath, but I don’t really know what I accomplish in a day. My time just gets filled up with dropping off kids, picking up kids, driving kids to activities, buying groceries, cooking meals, cleaning up after meals, and the never ending cleaning up the house. I am really happy every night when the kids go to bed and I can finally just spend a few minutes decompressing. Usually by writing in my blog or editing photos.

Speaking of which, it has been nice, because I have gotten to take a lot of photos lately. I really love photography and have been thinking more and more about how to take my photography to the next level. I still feel like I have so much to learn, but I am encouraged by the progress I can see in my photos. I have been looking around for a photography workshop that I could attend. Katie, from Peekaboo Photos recommended a workshop that sounds great. She said that Brianna Graham’s Workshops were the best she has attended. I’d love to be able to go to one. I checked her website, and she is coming to SLC this year. I really want to go, but I am not sure if I can justify the expense. I might just have to splurge and call it my Valentines/Mother’s Day/Anniversary present

So that is about it for now. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some more sweet baby photos to post!

I keep thinking that a good post for the last day of the year would be to go through all my photos and post my favorites from the year. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my portable hard drive to Maui, so I guess that post will have to wait. Maybe when I get home I will do it!

For now, I’ll just say goodbye to 2008 and hello to 2009.

Happy New Year everyone!

Life as Lou is having a giveaway! She is giving away $150.00 worth of Cosmo Cricket scrapbooking supplies. I would love to be the winner, wouldn’t you? All you have to do is visit this page and leave a comment. What are you waiting for?

This is what I am going to be looking at the next 3 weeks! (Provided I make it through the day traveling today ) Wish me luck!!

Here is my first Funny Photo Friday entry. I think this is going to be a fun meme to be a part of. I was taking photos of Nora last week and out of the blue she just started making faces at me. I think Ian is rubbing off on her

Tonight was my moms group’s annual cookie party.

I really had a fun time! I made a recipe that I have never made before. I got it from one of my favorite blogs, The Pioneer Woman

I made the Apricot Bars. I really loved them! I would definitely make them again, but I think that I would use a different brand of apricot preserves. When I went to the store for some reason everything apricot flavored was gone. But, they were really easy and really delicious.

Here is the recipe:

Apricot Bars

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 sticks (regular, salted) butter, cut into pieces
1 10-12 ounce jar Apricot Preserves

Mix all ingredients except Apricot Preserves. Press one half of the mixture into a buttered 8? square (or small rectangular) pan. Spread with a 10-12 ounce jar of apricot preserves. Sprinkle second half of mixture over the top and pat lightly. Bake at 350 for 30 – 40 minutes or until light brown. Let cool completely, then cut into squares.

It was a fun night of good food, great company, and nice wine. I had fun seeing some of my friends that I haven’t seen in a while.