As The Years Go By...

Emerson turned 2 on Sunday! It's hard to believe but our first baby is no longer a baby! It has been so much fun watching her learn and grow. To see life through her eyes has been an amazing gift. I think it's easy as an adult to get caught up in pointless things, so to look at a bug crawling on a rock, or listen to the "birdies" in the trees has been quite a gift.

When we asked Emmy what she wanted for her birthday she gave it some thought and then told us "birt-day cake" and "birt-day presents". She got exactly what she wanted!

What an incredible party she had on Saturday. We had so many dear friends and family come from all over to help us celebrate her special day. I got to the park at 7:30 am to reserve the park's ONLY covered pavilion and I'm so glad that I did because by 7:50 I had competition! Luckily, it is first come first served so WE WON. Keep in mind the party didn't start until 2:30 pm so it was a long wait! But, between Tony and I (we took shifts), it wasn't too bad and I would do it all over again! Ahh, the things that parents do for their children! Am I allowed to bring this back up when she is a feisty 16 year old?

So on Sunday, July 18th (which was Emerson's actual birthday) we opened all her new toys and she played all morning. Tony and I felt like Santa had come! We had toys everywhere! Em was in heaven and played with everything. Then, we met our good friends, Brad and Pam Maas and their two girls at Chuck-E-Cheese's for lunch. Emerson can't get enough of Paige (6 1/2) and Jamie (4) and I think the three of them have adopted each other as sisters. Overall, I think she had a great weekend and even though Tony and I wanted to give her the moon and stars for her birthday, Emmy knows how loved she is and there is no greater gift than that.

I'm really looking forward to this upcoming weekend because it's our 5th wedding anniversary and we have decided to sneak away one last time before new baby arrives at the end of August. We are leaving Em with his parents and we are driving to stay at the same bed and breakfast Tony proposed to me at on the Oregon coast. We have massages scheduled and we plan on doing a lot of relaxing (which rarely happens for either of us!). Even though I'm apprehensive about leaving Emerson for the whole weekend, we need to get her (and me!) used to it since she will be staying with grandma and grandpa when I head to the hospital. Tony and I have agreed that our anniversary two years ago was the most memorable so far because we went out to a nice dinner and when the waitress asked us if we were celebrating anything special, we told her that it was our anniversary, and after our dinner and a movie, we were headed to the hospital to have our baby! The look of astonishment on her face was priceless. We had a planned induction so I needed to check into the hospital at 11:45 pm! With new baby, we will have the element of surprise that we didn't have before so that will be interesting!

Now, for a bit of mush... I met my handsome husband almost 9 years ago when my mom set us up on a blind date to go to the Clark County Fair in 2001. In all that time I have felt like the luckiest woman on the planet for ending up with a man that takes such good care of me and our family and always thinks of us before himself. He is an amazing dad to Emmy and my best friend. Frankly, I don't know how he puts up with me sometimes, but he does, and I thank him for that! I love how determined he is to give a good life to our daughter(s) and I. He motivates me to work hard and fulfill any dreams that I may have. I'm not sure that I would've finished college or gone into the Architectural profession without his unwavering support and encouragement. He knew I could do it, when I myself didn't. I just want to wish him a very happy anniversary and I'm so glad that he is my partner in this crazy life.