Emery's 7th Birthday!!

There's my beautiful 7 year old daughter!!!

Menu

Breakfast

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yogurt

Clementines

Strawberries

Lunch

Chicken

Ceasar Salad

Croutons

rolls

Dinner

Olive Garden

Emery got to choose her meal plan for the day. The big present that she wanted was going to get her ears pierced. We went to Claire's and she was a little nervous. We told her that she didn't have to do it, but she wanted to do it. She picked out light pink studs. I held her shaking hand while they pierced her ears. I am so proud of her!!! She did awesome!!!

When we got home, she told me, "Mom, when I am grown up...I'm going to tell my daughter that it hurts to get your ears pierced."

That night we went and ate at Olive Garden with our dear friends. They had a daughter that was turning 9. Our friend asked Emery if it hurt and she said, "oh, just a little." And then when my parents asked her she said, "not really."

She is such a funny girl. Emery, I love you so much. You amaze me every day. I love that you are a wonderful big sister and challenge yourself. Happy Birthday baby girl!

Christmas Card 2010

This year has been one of adventure and one filled with many blessings. At the very beginning of 2010, we were blessed with our fourth child, Miles Romney. Within his first 6 weeks of being born we put our house up for sale, moved into Jacob’s parents house, went house hunting and actually found a place to rent, and moved our family to Boulder, CO.

With our move, we truly have been blessed. We have wonderful friends and neighbors. We have had to rely on the Lord and know that He answers our prayers. May the Lord watch over you and your family in 2011.

Here is what we’ve been up to:

Emery, 7: She is loving being a 1st grader. She enjoys reading, writing, and is interested in fossils and rocks. She wants to be a paleontologist and a farmer when she grows up. She is also enjoying her first year of Girl Scouts. You can usually see Emery in a comfortable t-shirt, exercise pants, running shoes and her hair in braids.

Ethan, 4: He enjoys going to preschool. He loves doing crafts....so preschool helps a lot with that! He enjoys being anything Ninja. He enjoys printing out coloring pages and pays a lot of attention to detail. He usually finds a picture of a Ninja, Knight or Robin Hood figure and creates costumes after them. You can usually see Ethan in his Ninja costume.

Preston, 3: His biggest accomplishment this year is that he got potty trained! He has started singing to himself and we love to hear his little voice. (fav. song: Jingle Bells) He is all boy which comes with a lot of opinionated views and mischief. You can usually see Preston wearing his Optimus Prime mask.

Miles, 1: “Smiles” took his first steps at 10 months and now loves walking around everywhere showing off his new talent. He fills our lives up with the many smiles he gives. He is such a good baby. You can usually see Miles pretending to talk on the phone with anything he can hold up to his ear.

Jacob: Got hired by Jive Software. He enjoys working with his co-workers. They even had a day where they all went skiing together. He ran his first 10k at the Bolder-Boulder. He participated in Movember and got to grow out his facial hair for a whole month. Jac is cub master and recently got called to be a primary teacher for the Valiant 9-10 class.

Brittany: Keeps busy with feeding kids, taking kids to school, cleaning house (or trying), picking up kids from school and making meals for the family. And in her spare time likes to spend time with her friends and host parties meant for kids. Her life is filled with a lot of her kids (and hubby) which in turn comes with a lot of joy and happiness. She is the Relief Society Meeting Coordinator....and loves being a Mom!

Hudson Holiday Lights

We went to another night of fun! We drove down to Denver and went to the Hudson Holiday Lights. It was at the Hudson Gardens and Event Center. All I can say is...WAY FUN! It was fun walking around the gardens and seeing all the light displays. They had a cool house that was hooked up to music and different parts of the lights played with different parts of the songs. Kids loved it...and most of all, we went with our friends! They were such good sports about trekking and waiting for us with our 4 kids. (oh, and they have twin baby girls) We actually went to dinner and made a fun night out of it all. And, we got the tickets 1/2 price. Such a great night...have to do it again.

Girl Scouts & Ethan's Program

Ethan had a Polar Express program. He got to wear his pajamas to school and had a little program. He was so cute and did a great job! They sang Rudolf the red nosed reindeer and had cute little red noses. They had a surprise for the kids and Santa came! Ethan got to see Santa twice this year! He is asking for a Ninja costume for Christmas.

Emery sang at a nursing home with Girl Scouts. Just last month we signed her up for Girl Scouts. She loves it and I know we'll be doing a lot of fun things with the Daisy group. In January, she starts selling cookies. She also did a great job in her performance. She sang 10 songs, smiled and made eye contact with the audience.

Zoo Lights

Thoughts before I get started: (1) Can I say how grateful I am for cabbage leaves! (2) Was having a "rough" evening and Jac talked to Emery on the phone and the kids had me lay on the couch while they massaged and brushed my hair. I'm so grateful for my beautiful children. Emmy took care of Miles and then I felt very loved while Emmy massaged my back, Ethan brushed my hair and Miles was shoving pretzels into my mouth. And to top it off, Jac came home with flowers and donuts. Mmmm...(3) I love singing Christmas songs in church. We sang 2 closing hymns, and I loved the second song we sang "Silent Night." I love how in hymns you can truly share your testimony by singing. The Spirit touched my heart about the Savior and his divine plan for all of us. He is real. He loves us. And I love this Christmas season and may we reflect on His "gifts" to all of us.

At the last minute, we got invited to go see the Zoo Lights with our friends. They had a Zoo membership so....we got a little bit of a discount. Yea! It was just so fun! The kids got to see lights, some zoo animals and got to sit on Santa's lap.

Mickey D's

Jac went up with some of his co-workers and go skiing. It was for one night and a day....but still, that gave me the excuse to go out to eat. I talked with my friend and we promised each other that we would meet each other at the playground at McDonalds.

I was on my way to McDonalds and realized that there was no playground at this particular McDonalds. So I got my handy GPS and searched for McDonalds Playland. It popped another McDonalds restaurant up close-by so I followed "Gabby's" voice and made it there. (yes we call the voice on our GPS - Gabby - or as Jac puts it Gabby Google) And Yet...another McDonalds without a playland. It was late, kids were hungry and I was grumpy. We ate there.

Gathered all the kids up, got all their food, got their drinks, got into their seats at the table, was holding Miles on my lap and Presters needed to use the bathroom. AaAh...never a quiet moment...to sit down and enjoy the meal without getting up 20 times. Anyway, got Presters situated and we were all a little happier now that we were eating.

The cashier who took our order came up to us and gave me a gift card to McDonalds and said that the person who was giving this to you wanted to let you know that you had a beautiful family. Talk about how sweet and generous!!! After this incident, my burden was lightened. Thank you!!

Emery's loose tooth

It is interesting to Emery to check every night to see how many loose teeth she has. (it was always about 4 teeth that were loose)

Yesterday I picked her up from school and her top tooth was VERY loose. She wanted to pull on it and take it out. I told her to keep wiggling it, and it will get really loose.

Needless to say, she was OBSESSED about pulling her tooth out. She would take streams of toilet paper and wrap it around her tooth to try and pull it out. (quite funny) At bed time, she sat herself in front of the mirror and was determined to pull her tooth out. She got it so it was bleeding a little bit, and she freaked out every time she saw blood. But she didn't mind twisting her loose tooth sideways in her mouth and making funny faces. Finally, when we all gave up...there was a little voice in the bathroom that said, "I pulled it out. See, I told you it would come out." (yes, a little fact about Emery...she likes to prove her point ALWAYS...some might say she argues about "almost" everything...and this is the case...even if she is wrong) I sure do love my sweet pea.

The tooth fairy came and left her 50 cents...and Emery was thrilled!