the bunny found us in rexburg!

That Easter bunny... he has a knack for finding us wherever we go :-) This year found us in the good ol 'burg where we had lots of fun with cousins and easter festivities. Emmett sure loves his cousins!

We started out early Saturday morning with an egg hunt at Fat Cat's... FAIL. Too many kids (and parents), indoors, in too small a space, with too few eggs. Haha. Emmett ended up with two (one of which I admittedly grabbed). And on top of it, it was early - and thanks to traveling and little sleep, my morning sickness was in full force :(  Needless to say I put the kabash on the egg hunts for the day while the cousins headed off to another one.

When everyone one returned we had an egg dying party and the kids got their easter gifts from Grandma  and Grandpa Erickson, one of which was this awesome giant truck coloring book.

The cousins played and played and played. Climbing, bubbles and biking galore.

Emmett also got "wheeler" rides with Papa AND Daddy, so that alone made his day.

Here's a cute shot of all the cousins enjoying the sunshine

Then... Finally it was EASTER! 

Emmett woke up and found the basket and eggs that silly bunny hid back in the garden.

The Easter Bunny hopped on by with some Easter cupcakes (aka Aunt Sarah). Who, by the way, is wearing  the outfit we bought her for her bridal shower - sexy bunny right? ;)

Next we got ready for church to go celebrate what Easter is truly about! Christ's resurrection is one of the gospel principles that brings me the most joy. It is a promise of what we have to look forward to.

Have you ever seen such a handsome little boy??

After our Easter dinner, the kids had the time of their life playing in a child sized zorb!

I love being close to both of our families, and pray daily that Jared finds a job in close proximity to them. Family is the most important thing to me, and the thought of only seeing them during summer and holidays makes me so sad!

Thanks to both our families for such a fun Easter, and for spoiling little Ems! We love you guys!

mele kalikimaka

It seems Christmas just keeps getting better and better each year. Part of it is that Emmett's getting older and makes everything more fun, and part if it that the list of things I have to be grateful for just keep growing and growing.

This post is going to be mostly pictures, so get ready for an overload!

We kicked off Christmas a week early with the Ericksons up in Idaho. The granchildren had so much fun baking sugar cookies with Grandma, and having their very own decorating stations. Unfortunately I think I consumed most of them (as usual). Emmett got his fun pegboard from Grandma and lots of Play-doh toys from his cousin Julia.

After returning to Utah, we did our annual tradition of going to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square (isn't it everybodys?)  I love seeing how majestic the grounds look, there's such a special spirit felt there. It was FREEZING, so it's a good thing we all had the scarves and headbands Grandma Whittaker knitted us!

Jared and I also took Emmett to see the Festival of Lights, which we told him was the "North Pole". He loved it!

Finally it was Christmas Sunday, so we dressed in our holiday best! (Jared did too, but someone had to take the photo)

We went and spent the night up at my parents on Christmas Eve with the rest of my family. As you can see I had lots of fun playing with the Christmas lights.

We played Christmas themed "minute to win it" games, which luckily weren't documented on my camera (they got pretty crazy!). We watched lots of Christmas shows, set out our cookies for Santa, and went to bed dreaming of sugar plums... 

Santa brought Emmett a bike and he was so excited!

(Almost as exited as when he saw his Captain American fan in his stocking)

And THEN he opened Gramby's present (a Mater power wheels!!) and all other presents were forgotten...haha. Rufio was a little bent up he only got one gift, so he sat and sulked most the morning.

As you can see I undergo an outfit change, thanks to my stylish new pajamas (which I'm in at this exact moment). I know, time to get dressed right?

Thanks to all our family for making our holiday so special and memorable! We love you all!!

the first getaway

Sometimes I feel like life is a crazy rat race and I try and try to get everything done in the day, but somehow only ever manage to accomplish like 60% of what I'd like to do, and so the cycle continues on and on...

One of the things on my neverending list is getting caught up to date on the blog, so I can quit doing boring catch-up posts, and actually write something worth reading.

Well I haven't quite made it to the latter yet, but here's one step closer to catching up!

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Jared and I went on our first overnight trip at the end of June. We spent the night up in a nice resort in Midway as an early celebration for our Anniversary. Here's a shot of the view on the drive up.

Can't you just smell the mountain air looking at it??

Our room had a box of chocolate dipped strawberries waiting for us, which I was pretty excited about.

Unbeknownst to us, this cute little vacation town shuts down at 8pm. Like really shuts down. So Jared and I had to go on a wild goose chase looking for something to eat. The only thing we could find open was a Domino's pizza carry-out. So we took our pizza back to our room and laughed about the grand, romantic meal we were having on our special anniversary getaway.

Aside from that little hiccup - it felt so amazing to just sit back in the jacuzzi and/or sauna and have nothing on my mind. And especially amazing because it was the coolest hot tub I've ever been in.

(yes thats a tree coming out of the waterfall)

I also spent some time basking in the sun on a lawnchair (one of my favorite things *which I literally had not done since before Emmett was born!! There is no lounging on his watch!) However, Idaho boys apparently don't know how to appreciate a good lay in the sun... I guess you can't blame them - what opportunity do they have to practice it? So my basking was short-lived. Yet still glorious.

After the dinner adventure, we figured we had a little room to splurge on the resorts gourmet breakfasts (which were delicious but disappointingly small. Your buck doesn't go far here).

 

We finished the day out by biking the hills of Midway (a real rush on the way down, but boy did uphill suck!), racing down the Alpine Slides, and shopping at the Park City Outlets.

We came to the consensus that little, even local, getaways are a necessity in any relationship. It was just a nice recharge - and honestly was one of the only times we had nothing to worry about besides enjoying each others company. So here's to (hopefully) many more anniversary trips to come!

our holly jolly christmas

We had such a great Christmas this year, and loved being able to spend time with both sides of the family. We were able to do our "express Christmas" (Modern Family anyone?) with my family a few days before Christmas, and then head up to Rexburg and spend 5 days with the Ericksons. There's nothing like spending the holidays with family - and we really had the best of both worlds.

I love reflecting on our Savior's birth each year. The combination of Christmas and New Year's really helps me see the great blessings and growth our family has experienced. Adding that to the gratitude I feel for the life of Jesus Christ, leaves my heart so full of joy and peace.

Here's a glimpse of the great times we had with the Whittakers this year.

                                          Showing off the "sisters are best friends" necklaces we all gave each other.

                                                                               Here's a close-up

Loved his little car from Gamby so much we had to pack it up to Idaho!

And here's some fun shots of Christmas with the Ericksons

                                                                                                 Santa Baby
  

The hilarious Christmas Eve Pajamas Jared's mom Sherri made for the kids.
She used a vintage pattern her kids made with their grandma.

I was a little dissappointed by Emmett's reaction to his presents this year. There are a few he loved (the ones pictured) but I've actually taken a couple back already that he's shown no interest in whatsoever. His cousin Julia got a doll stroller and once he saw that - he locked on and it was all over.

Yes, Sherri is holding up a 6 pack of beer in that third picture. Jared's Dad is huge into doing meat (smoking, grilling, frying, you name it), and turns out the next gift was some kind of frying kit. We sure got a good laugh over the first part of the gift though!

Thank you to all the family who made our holiday perfect! Only 359 days til next Christmas!! Let the countdown begin :-)

Happiest Place on Earth

I almost forgot to post about our CA vacation! Hel-LO! It's only the biggest vacation we've taken since our honeymoon (not to mention Emmett's first flight, first time at the beach, and first time at Disneyland)!

We had a blast, and Emmett did fantastic with everything! He travelled well, LOVED the beach, LOVED Disneyland, and was his usual, happy self the whole time. I think this baby may have born with some California blood... :-)

Here we are at the beginning of our trip (and by we I just mean Emmett because I'm behind the camera of course). Jared did the drive with his family, but luckily Jareds sister and her husband were on the plane with us. At this point I was feeling much more confident, having checked the carseat, made it through security, and bought Emmett some warmed milk from Starbucks. We timed the flight just right and he ended up sleeping pretty much the whole time.

After flying in, our first stop was the beach. We met up with the rest of the Erickson clan at Newport. Here's some shots our adventures.

The next day we hit up the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was neat, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it with as large a group as we had, or with young children in strollers. The streets are PACKED and people move quickly, so it's hard to stay together (And to get your stroller to move).

 Finally the day arrived that we went to DISNEYLAND!! Jareds sisters put lots of work into making an itinerary for us to follow to accomplish all that we wanted to in the 2 days we had. (There's all kinds of apps, schedulers, and fastpass loopholes out there, so if you're going soon and want the info let me know!) We really appreciate them planning that cause we were able to do pretty much everything (and barely waited for anything) even though it was Memorial Day weekend. We arrived at the park about half an hour before it opened, then made a beeline to fantasyland where we rode every ride in the first 30 mins!

Emmett was in heaven in "It's a Small World" (which turns out was my favorite ride when I was little too. Cute right?) He was bouncing, and dancing, and pointing, and clapping...

He even loved the line!

Don't worry, my camera died soon after this, so there's not too many more pictures!

Emmett Loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and I was SO excited to take him through Mickey's house, and see how he reacted when he got to meet him. As luck would have it though... he picked that exact moment  to take a nap. I figured I'd come all that way, we were getting a picture whether he was awake or not! (He can look back when he's older and see how hard his Mom tried!)

 Then of course as soon as we walked out, he woke up.

But at least we got some awake pictures with Minnie!

                              Kisses from Minnie! Aww

                                                        
                                                                        AND Frozone

(That's Uncle Jake, his bud)

 Alright so that brings us to the end of our trip! We had so much fun, I can't wait go back already!  I highly recommend the show World of Color if you get the chance!

I decided a few things on this trip:

1. Disneyland is even MORE fun when you bring your own kids!
2. Disneyland is a lot smaller than I remember it ( I was just there a few years ago!), and it's starting to show its age a little. STILL wonderful and magical however!
3. Contrary to what I believed as a kid, it IS worth it to take a break from rides and watch the parades and shows!
4. Space Mountain is still the best, no matter how many new, hi-tech rides they build.
5. World of Color puts the Bellagio Fountains to shame.
6. California Screamin' was five ten times better when it played Red Hot Chili Peppers . Check it out here! (Give the sound a minute, it gets better)
7. Captain E.O. still rocks

Just throwin those out there!