Welcome the newest member of our family!

No, I did not have the baby. We bought a fish for Brynn! A couple months ago we talked about getting Brynn some fish, but quickly dismissed the idea. I like to keep life simple and I figured we could wait for pets until Brynn was begging us for one. But she gets SO excited everytime she sees a fish anywhere (especially those big tanks at Walmart), that we finally gave in. So, here is Fishy! That's what Brynn calls it for now anyway, we haven't worked on a name yet. And feeding Fishy is Brynn's new favorite part of the day.



We actually started out with three Fishies. And by the way Corey, I totally don't want to hear it! My big brother worked at a New Mexico refugium saving an endangered species of fish, so I'm sure he is wondering how hard it can be to keep three pond fish alive. I......have no answer. :) But killing 2 fish in 2 days kinda made me wonder if it's too late to re-think this baby thing......?

Sunny Arizona

I hope that at some point in the month of February I have taken the opportunity to say how much I LOVE Arizona!!!

Today Brynn has finally felt like playing outside instead of just laying around watching movies all day. So, as much as I will miss the constant snuggles I've been getting from my sick girl, today we happily spent the morning outside playing,

riding bikes,

and eating "princess treats" (fruit snacks) with our shoes off. Ahhhhh, I live in paradise.

We are super blessed to have a fenced off yard. It's been so nice to be able to shoo Brynn outside while I make dinner, and then just be able to watch her through the window and know that she can't go anywhere.

But I sure am going to miss being outside in a couple months....

Lots O' Stuff

What the heck, we'll squeeze everything into one post.



This is why I have been such a bad blogger. We have been sick at our house. I was sick a few days ago, and this is what Brynn looked like all day. Slumped over on the air mattress I was laying on in the loft, watching "Belle," but being the sweetest little angel for sick mommy. I really think that has been one of the blessings that has come from moving to AZ when, not gonna lie, I REALLY did not want to. But every time I have been sick it's like Brynn has somehow known and been such a good girl for me. Don't get me wrong, I would love to call my mom over to take care of me, or ask my dad to stop by after work to entertain Brynn...but things have really worked out for us.




















And then this is what Brynn looked like a couple days later when she caught the bug. Now it was my turn to slump over on the bed with her and continue to watch (of course) more and more "Belle."
















Right now I am feeling behind on pretty much everything in my life. All the spare energy I can muster has gone into my new calling in the young women's presidency (where I am feeling very in over my head, but excited to serve) and trying to complete all the little projects that keep coming to mind that I know I should complete before the baby comes. All of a sudden I have realized that this baby REALLY is coming, and it's starting to seem too soon! I will be glad when this little sickness finally leaves so I can start spending my time DOING everything I need to do instead of laying around and worrying about it.


Well, the good news is that last week my mom came!!! Brynn and I both get so giddy when she comes. This trip was WAY too short (Friday evening to Monday afternoon), but still wonderful.

We spent a LOT of time outside (my poor mom came home to a blizzard in UT)

















OF COURSE we had a tea party

















and played, played, played! This picture just makes me giggle....


















The three of us kinda like each other


















I finally got to show my mom, who is a children's librarian, Brynnie's favorite place in the world, the Queen Creek library. Give these two a few books and they will be in Heaven all day. The first things Brynn did when my mom showed up at the door were smile, giggle, give grandma a hug, then run to her book stash and tell grandma, "Read to you?"

















Having my mom here on Valentine's day also meant a free baby-sitter! I had so little time with her over the weekend, that Marty and I just took a short date, but it ended up being so fun. We have this cute, heart-shaped picnic basket with our names monogrammed on everything (we got it for our wedding). So we went to AJ's Fine Foods and picked out a whole bunch of fancy-schmancy hors d'oeuvres and sparkling cider. Then we were going to take it on a picnic to Freestone Park, but by that time it was getting kind of dark and cold. So we just took it to Marty's classroom and had a picnic on the floor there! We brought a couple card games with us too, which we absolutely thrive off of as a couple. Marty, what would we do all the time if one of us wasn't a gamer?


The day before Valentine's, some friends and I got together to give the kiddos a little Valentine party. We had heart-shaped sandwiches, pink milk, decorated pink cupcakes, read Valentine stories, the works. It was so much fun!

Nutritious Delicious

Is anyone else feeling as uninspired in the kitchen lately as I am? It seems like sometime in February all my New Year's Resolutions bite the dust. And cooking/eating healthier is ALWAYS among those.

My friend and I finally started our recipe blog (well, Nicole did most of the work!). Does anyone out there have some recipes to share with me? I'd be forever grateful!

It's http://www.nutritiousdelicious.blogspot.com/

If you want send us some recipes or become a contributor, e-mail nutritiousdelicious@gmail.com

Wish me luck with my renewed healthy cooking goals!...Or wish me luck that I will even cook at all.......

Ok, ok, I'm FLYing already...

Does anybody know who this lady is?

Trick question, you all know because you have all been hounding me to try this house-keeping method. The conversation usually goes something like this,

Well-meaning Friend: No really, you HAVE to try this method!

Me: No really, my life is routine enough without adding a stopwatch to it, thanks.

Well, recently we had an enrichment night about house-keeping and went into depth about the FLY lady method, which is where I REALLY discovered that I am the only one not doing it. So I finally broke down, studied it, and implimented it. The results? My house has never, ever been cleaner, especially for such long periods at a time. The last couple of days have been really busy ones and I let my routine go. Already I have noticed the house go downhill quick. But as long as I am in the very simple routine, the house is completely not overwhelming and easy to keep clean. So, thank you to all of my well-meaning friends and sorry about the abrupt "no's" I have given when this suggestion comes up in conversation. You were right, I was wrong.

By the way, if anyone wants to try it out, you can go to http://www.flylady.net/

On to other business...

Today is a sad day for me. I am now in the fun, last-trimester I-have-heartburn-so-bad-I-cry-at-night phase. So today, I give my farewell to chocolate.

Oh chocolate, why'd ya have to go and give me such bad heartburn? It was only a half a pan of brownies, that's all! You've always been there for me, and I will miss our relationship. Parting is such sweet sorrow, but we WILL meet again (when the baby is a little older and you can no longer hurt him either).

ALL my love,

Emily

Oh, the other reason to ban chocolate?

Um, yeah. I still have until the end of April, people. Yikes. Marty agrees that this is pretty much what I looked like at EIGHT and a half or NINE MONTHS along with Brynn. You mommies out there, isn't it alarming to watch your body do this?

I've discovered that I like...

Croquet,
















(This picture looks a lot darker here than it did on my camera, but it's Marty playing croquet in our back yard)

Fresh Coconut,




















And asking Brynn to say coconut.