Aren't kids (& pets) so precious when they're sleeping?

One morning last week, when I went to wake Faith up for school, I found this sweet, perfect angel instead. I just had to go get my camera and take a picture! It's so funny to me that no matter how much they act out/sass/pretend to be deaf the day before, all is forgiven in an instant when the image of your sleeping child melts your heart.

The next couple of days, I got pictures of the rest of my babies sleeping. Here's this little stinker snoozing away the early morning in my bed. Luckily he usually sleeps through the night in his crib and only wakes up and wants to snuggle after Tony has gone to work.



Here's Misty sleeping comfortably (???!!!!!??) in her number "6" position with her back feet resting on a chair leg. She has a bunch of crazy sleeping positions. Of course, she is a cat, so she's no amateur.





And Crumpet in her favorite spot--on top of the sofa back cushion. Don't worry, if you want to sit on the couch, she won't mind, at least not very much.

Faith was so excited to be starting soccer!! Here she is at her first practice on Sep. 4th.

She has a great coach who really works them and teaches them about the game. The day after, Faith said that she sure wished she had soccer practice every day! She was really looking forward to her "big game". I thought that maybe she called it that because it was her first, but later heard her talking about the other games and was calling them all "big games" :D

The "Purple Pixies" had their first game on the 13th because they had a bye-week on the 6th. Faith looked so cute all decked out in her uniform!

They lost 2-3, but had a fun time and did great both individually, and as a team. Faith was really dissapointed that she didn't make a goal, but I was impressed that she was always right in there by the ball and got in some good blocks and kicks. When the other team had the ball, Faith was one of only two who always ran hard to get ahead of it.

Christian had a hard time at the game. When we got there and Faith went out on the field to practice, he tried to follow her. I showed him the white line on the ground and told him that we couldn't go past it. He was so upset, he started throwing a fit and screaming, "line . . . line . . . LINE!!!!!" Then Tammy took him over to the nearby playground to distract him. Later on, he came back to watch Faith play, but kept defiantly touching and putting body parts across the line. What a stinker!

That weekend we also went to Arctic Circle to eat and let the kids play. Christian had fun stealing, and then wearing, Tony's ball cap.



He even plopped it on his sister.

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We also went to Lagoon. It was still a little hot, but definately nicer than in the middle of summer!

We had lots of fun, but are also looking forward to Frightmares in October when they have up the Halloween decorations and trick-or-treating.

It sure made these two cuties happy!

I hate politicians

Because I don't want to offend anyone, I purposely limit the amount of political material I put on my blog, but I have to post something about how frustrated I am by both the Democrats and the Republicans. It seems to me that both sides consist almost entirely of sleazy liars who reside firmly in the back pocket of big business and want the governemt to control absolutely everything in our lives.

I hate how both condemn the other party for any little thing they can find negative about it, but defend those very same things about themselves. Like how the Republicans bashed Obama for his lack of experience, and then brought in Palin for VP, and now the Dems are bashing her for it! Experience is usually a good thing, but in politics, it just seems to corrupt. I really wish that we had more than two major parties--it wouldn't solve all our problems, but at least it would give us something more than just the two extremes.

In this sea of craziness, ironically, the only "fair and balanced" news program I have found is actually a fake news program. Jon Stewart & his team at The Daily Show make fun of both sides and do a great job of it. I especially enjoyed this the other night when they were reporting from Denver: (my favorite part starts at about 7 minutes in, also be warned that it may not be for kids)



I would post my favorite Daily Show segment making fun of the GOP, but it was a gag about the reason they held their convention in Minnesota (answer: so Republicans can party in the Minneapolis airport men's room--"the Larry Craig" bathroom), and I try to keep my blog family friendly ;D But I also loved it the other night, when, at the end of his interview with Mike Huckabee, Stewart summed up, "So, you think that your party is the only one that can fix the damage that your party has done." Huckabee responded, "Um, . . . yeah, I guess you could put it that way" and chuckled.

I'm still not sure who I will be voting for (to the frustration of my staunchly Republican, O'Reily & Hannity-loving mother), but over the next few weeks I will do my best to figure out which is the lesser of two evils. Feel free to leave enlightening comments.

First grade & a 2nd birthday!

Isn't Christian absolutely adorable in this picture, looking so clueless? Don't worry, kid, I often feel that way during scripture study!

Now, lest you think that we are the kind of family who reads our scriptures every night, I want to assure you that we are not. We try hard to do it, and even get on kicks where we are reading every night for a few weeks or so, but alas, we aren't perfect, yet.

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I just wanted to point this out to "keep it real" because last time I posted about scripture reading, I had people thinking that we were the epitome of rightous behavior, a saintly family letting it's light shine down on the poor little sinners, grasping at whatever we may to keep from being translated. Just kidding, but I did have someone comment about how great it was that we had nightly family scripture study.

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Obviously, I'm putting pretty much just the good stuff here in the blog and bypassing entries like, "This day we never got off the couch, except to fix unhealthy snacks." That way we sound like way more awesome, fun and productive people than we actually are :D

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The one thing Tony & I have been doing every night is solving Sudoku puzzles from the newspaper. Tony usually beats me on the 1 & 2 star puzzles, and I usually win on the 3 & 4 stars, but not always. I highly recommend them, they're fun and exercise your brain! (My brain is size 2 & "Maxim" hot, in case you were wondering.) I even printed some beginner puzzles for Faith and she is catching on quick.

To completely change subjects, Christian's new favorite website is Cute Overload, and specifically the section titled, " Cats 'n' Racks™ " (title is clickable). It is a collection of cute little kitties nestled all snug as a bug in women's decolletage (e.g. cleavage - hence the "racks" <--This pic was lifted from their site). When I was looking at it the other day, after being directed there by Cake Wrecks, Christian started exclaiming, "Key!!! (kitty) Bubs!!! (I'm sure you can guess this one) Key!!!!!!! Bubs!!!!!!!!!!!! He loves seeing any kind of animal, but especially kittens & puppies, And having been weaned less than two months ago, I guess he's just experiencing a normal amount of withdrawl from "bubs".

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Faith's first day of First Grade was on August 25th. She was so excited!! She dressed up in some new clothes (some of her few new things which wouldn't be too warm) and got beautiful (I wish it was so easy, or actually even possible, for me to get beautiful like Faith ;) and was ready to go.
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She walked to the bus stop, (which is one entire house away--she has it sooooo rough!) with her brother, Crumpet & I trailing behind her. **Note Buddy's "bus stop attaire", which did not include shoes or pants. Fortunately for the neighborhood, mine included pants.
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The kids played some tag (although in this picture it looks more like a crazy tribal dance, or maybe moves from Saturday Night Fever) and waited for the bus.

Faith was so excited to ride the bus that she wouldn't let me drive her to school, even though all the other kids at our stop rode with their moms. We didn't know where her class would be, so I told her that Christian & I would follow the bus to school in our car and be there to help her find it.

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Unfortunately, there were no parking spaces within a block of the school, so by the time we hiked in, Faith was long gone. I found her class, but there was no Faith! Then I ran crazy all around the school, holding my 3 ton shoeless child, looking for her. Just before I went to the office to issue an Amber alert, I rechecked her classroom, and she was there! She said that she waited for awhile since there was nobody there to help her, and then a nice mom came up to her and asked if she needed assistance finding her classroom. I guess I must have passed them in the hall along the way, with the place being packed with kids, parents, and younger siblings and all. I'm just so glad that someone nice helped her!

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Later that morning, without his trusty sister/nanny, Christian got into the lotion and proceded to protect his entire body (and shirt) against fine lines and looking older. It's hard to tell with this pic being such a small size, but I purposely left his eyes red to convey his devil-licious nature. He actually isn't scowling, this is his new "smile" for the camera! He was quite proud and, like me, wanted to preserve this moment for posterity.

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Interesting observation: his shirt reads,

"Why I'm in TROUBLE .

1. won't share anything

2. won't give mommy a break

3. keep getting caught

4. won't take a nap

5. made a huge mess"

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Can you say "self-fulfilling prophesy"?

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Because taking Faith to the bus stop was such a big hit the day before, we decided to do it again on Tuesday! (Snaps for me--Christian was wearing pants that particular morning.) Faith's wearing a dress, which she is really into right now.

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These next three are from Wednesday. Standing with Faith are her friends Maura & Brooklynn.

The kids saw the bus coming and lined up. Good boy, Christain! Way to retrieve the newspaper!

Faith waved to her little bro, and they were off. I thought Christian would be upset each day, watching his sister go off to school without him. But he loves to see the kids & the bus and I guess that cuts the sting a little bit.

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And the next two are from Fri, the 29th. The kids at the bus stop love to pet and try to pick up Crumpet. For an old girl (13--that's supposedly 91 in dog years) and such a small dog she's amazingly tollerant. She does snap if she doesn't want to be messed with, but has only accidentally gotten skin between her teeth twice (both times with Faith when she was younger and much more of a dog terrorizer) and Crumpet looked more surprised about it than Faith did!

She even let Christian hold her this particular morning, will wonders never cease?

On Saturday, I went to Swiss Days (a huge outdoor craft fair) in Midway with Lana & Tammy. I didn't buy anything other than lunch and a few goodies from the bakery, but had a lot of fun just looking at the wares. Tammy bought these fish shaped cookies from the bakery for the kids.

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Monday, September 1st was Christian's 2nd birthday!! I made his cake, and he helped me clean up.

It was my first homemade

"shaped" birthday cake, ever. If you can't tell (and I couldn't blame you) it's Thomas the Tank Engine. Christian loves playing with his Thomas train set and sometimes watches the show. As I was making it, Faith kept saying, "that's not like Thomas" and "I think it needs _____" to which I replied, "I know, but I'M NOT SARAH!" My sister Sarah is the queen of exquisite birthday cakes and never ceases to amaze me. I lack the skill, effort, patience and dedication to even approach her level of ability. Still, I'm proud of my work!

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That evening, we went over to mom & dad's for BBQ ribs. My family gave Christian a bunch of fun gifts, including a book, foam disc shooter, lion play set, an outfit and the two toys in the following video that didn't come from the same person (dragon from mom, sword from Joy's family) but went well together: (make sure to turn your sound down as to not be anoyed by my disturbingly high pitched giggling)

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After that, we went over to Tony's parents'. Tammy went all out!! She loves party supplies and decorations in ways that are illeagal in some states, and boy do we appreciate her for it! Christain was awed by the balloon bouqet and immediately wanted to play with it. I thought he was hugging Thomas until I noticed that he seamed to be straining and then he said, "pop??!!!!" Don't worry, the mylar was too sturdy to succumb to a 2 year old's vice-like grip, and we are still enjoying the baloons to this day.

Again, with Christian's "smile for the picture" face . . . sigh. Anyway, they & Tammy gave him lots of great stuff, including several cute outfits, a big Thomas coloring set, and "Cranky" the crane and "Billy" the orange engine to go with his train.

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At home, we gave him a scooter, helmet & knee pads. Because Faith had outgrown her scooter, and her birthday is not as strategically placed for gifting warm weather play equipment, we gave her her birthday presents early also.

Last night, when we got home from getting Faith a soccer ball and shin guards (thank you soooo much, Tammy!), the kids got on their scooters

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and rode off into the sunset . . .

and Tony was jealous of Buddy's cool Thomas helmet.

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The end.

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p.s. .Several people have asked me where to post a comment. I'm just so excited that some of you were at least considering leaving comments! Thank you, past commenters, and those with good intentions!!

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It's right below this paragraph (at the end of each post) where it says "Posted by Emily" and the time and the # of comments. Just click on the word "comments", type whatever you want in the box, and then click on the circle next to Name/URL. Type your name in the name box and just don't worry about the URL box. Lastly, click "PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT". There, that wasn't too hard, was it? (Blogger users, please feel free to just use your Google/Blogger id like usual, this tut is just for those new to the process ;)

We've been having some fun . . .

Hey, all! Or few!! Or just maybe myself !!! (Hello, hello... is this thing on???) I made a few changes to the blog recently and one thing you'll notice is that the music doesn't start by itself anymore. If you would like to hear it, just look over to the right and underneath my welcome is the playlist music player. Just click on the little triangle and it will start! That way, if you don't care to hear it, you don't have to scroll all the way to the bottom to turn it off.

I updated the look with a background that I made using digital scrapbooking freebies. I LOVE collecting them and think that it is so awesome that you can get great stuff absolutely free! I put a link to "Scrapping with Ikea Goddess" in my "Blogs that I love to stalk" section to the right, underneath our family info. This is my go-to site to find the best freebies, in case you're interested.

I have to tell you about another fun blog: Cake Wrecks. These terrible cakes and the blogger's comments crack me up!

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Make sure you click on each of these cakes to be taken to their stories!!

And, by the way, I fixed my comments so that anyone can leave a comment--they can even be anonymous. I now even get an email letting me know it's there! I love getting comments so much--if you leave one you could count it as doing your good deed for the day, with such little effort involved!!

On July 24th Tammy took Lana, Zach and us to Arctic Circle where the kids had a fun time on the playland

and then to the arcade at Toad's, which used to be Mulligans (out in the North end of Ogden). They now have the arcade, go-karts, and a batting cage in addition to the golf & mini golf there.

Faith's favorite game is Deal or No Deal

and Christian loves the fishy merry-go-round. We had lots of fun!

On July 26th I went to my friend Liz' baby shower. I am so excited for her & her husband Matt that they are having their first kids--boy/girl twins!!! They have been together since we were all in high school, it's got to be 19 years or thereabouts! I am also loving that they just moved back to Utah after living in Georgia for the last 10 years. I wish I would have remembered to get a picture of Liz's cute tummy. Oh well, I'll have to get one in another month or so when it starts getting really impressive :D

My other friend with twins, Becky, got to bring her identical girls home from the NICU at the end of July. They were born mid-June at just 30 weeks gestation, but they seem to be doing pretty well. Becky is a fellow dog lover and tells absolutely hysterical stories, I sure miss her being far away! Love and blessings to your family, Becky!!! (Like she actually has time to read my blog with preemie twins and all, not! But I'm sure Carolyn will pass on the well wishes ;)

July 30th was the 1 year anniversary of this blog!! I can't believe it's already been a year since I started this thing. It has been a good year!

On August 2nd at midnight, the 4th Twilight installement: Breaking Dawn was released. Joy wanted me to go with her to WalMart that night, but I couldn't make it. Too bad it didn't work out, Joy had designed an iron-on for me (<---) so we could get our pictures with our books and appropriate apparel. So funny!! So I designed these next two for her, just for fun:

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Tony picked it up for me and I read it (all 754 pages!!) over the next few days. Breaking Dawn was my least favorite of the series, but I still had fun reading it. I like to refer to the Twilight books as literary cotton candy. Fun, but not much substance ;D Still, I would definately recommend them as an entertaining break from reality. Once you start reading, you can't put them down!!

Here, Faith made a fort out of our lodge bed and sheets. She's always coming up with something fun and creative to play with her brother!

I took this picture of a watercolor Sarah got of her family. Her neighbor painted it and gave it to her as a surprise!! I can't believe how beautiful it is, what an amazing gift, huh? (I just realized that I don't know the name of the artist, I'll have to ask Sarah on Sunday and get it on here--sorry.)

Here are the kids being elephants. Faith loves making costumes and dress up out of paper!

One of Christian's favorite activities at Braegger's lately is popping bubble wrap. "Pa" makes sure to always have some on hand!

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Something the kids have been loving to do at my mom & dad's on Sunday evenings has been hanging out with the dragonflies. For some reason, tons of dragonflies come every evening to their yard. I couldn't get a clear picture of them darting around, but I had Faith stand still for awhile and snapped this pic when I saw one coming toward her. (It's down by her calf on the left side of the picture.)

The babies (Sierra, Christian, & Noah) just all decided to sit at the end of the driveway and eat their popcicles together. So cute!

And here are Sarah, Celeste, Mom, Lily and Joy out on the lawn chatting while the kids play.

My cuties love to peek through the railing at me.

And here are my baby boys asleep on a lazy Saturday afternoon.



My grandpa Quinn had been cleaning out drawers at his house getting ready to go (he has lung cancer) and had put together bags of stuff for each of us kids. Just odds & ends that he said we would probably want to junk most of, but maybe find an item or two that we could use. I took a picture to chronicle what was in my bag: binoculars, a tiny boom box, several letter openers, a bunch of little matchbook sewing kits, a pin cushion, a scarf and a bunch of other little things. He's so funny!

On August 8th it was Crumpet's 13th birthday.

On the 12th, it was Sarah's daughter Alaura's 5th birthday and she invited Faith to her "Aloha" party. Faith had so much fun! She brought home a grass skirt, a straw bag that she had decorated with shells, candy from the pinata, and little paper umbrellas. I hear that there was an awesome sandcastle cake!

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On August 14th it was Tammy's birthday--happy b-day Tam!!!!!!!!!!!!

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August 15th was my & Tony's 16th wedding anniversary. The next day we took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo where Tony had almost as much fun as the kids.

That night, we dropped them off at grandma Braegger's and went out to eat at Olive Garden and then to "Dark Knight." It was fun to get out and have a date!!

Lately, we have been watching some Olympics. We've seen women's fencing, beach volleyball, regular volleyball, lots of swimming (yay, Phelps!), a little gymnastics and some running & pole vaulting. Faith is obsessed and Tony doesn't care for it, so there is a small battle over what to watch in the evenings! We haven't seen a ton, but a lot more than we usually do of the summer events. My big thing is Olympic ice skating!

We're just getting ready for school which starts Monday, stay tuned for pics of my baby who will now be at school all day long!!

An awesome performance

Watch, and be amazed:

Jerome murat
Uploaded by rockette

I wasn't happy with my choices before, but now I've found my candidate:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die