Family Update

Beyond the day of our wedding, Mike and I have never had professional pictures taken. We didn't get professional engagements. We've never had family pictures. I've never had professional pictures taken of my daughters. No, that's not true. I took my kids to Kiddie Kandids for the free pictures every so often. We have not a single family photo in our house. Sad. Time to rectify that.

So, thanks to Hamblin Photography (www.hamblinphoto.com), we finally have some beautiful pictures to hang in our home. I've posted a few of my favorites below, along with some family updates.

Aiva turned 4 in August. She is such a sweet, funny, smart girl! Aiva is so sweet. She is very quick to say "I love you." She loves preschool and playing with her friends and her little sister. This girl has SO MUCH ENERGY and has enthusiasm for EVERYTHING in life. I remember when I was pregnant with her, I could literally FEEL her excitement. I remember saying over and over, "This little girl is so excited to be here!" and she has confirmed that with every breath she takes. Simply taking her to a store is exhausting because she gets so excited about everything she sees and wants to touch it, and hold it, and show it to me. Aiva also loves books. A few weeks ago we took her to the store with a few dollars and told her that she could pick out a toy. She walked up and down the ailes and we looked at many toys but no one toy could hold her attention. Until she saw the books. And then she sat down in the middle of the store and sat and looked at books for about 20 minutes until we told her she had to pick one. Aiva is excited to learn. She's excited to experience everything. Life with Aiva is going to be a fun adventure, because everything to her is just that.

Our little Emma. She is 21 months, going on 3. She has the sweetest, most endearing little personality. And that is magnified by the fact that she can talk very well for her age. When a toddler under 2 can say pretty much anything she wants, it's quite cute! For example, we were in the car the other day running errands and I handed her back a peanut butter sandwich (as I often pack a little lunch when I think we might be out past lunch) and I could see her back there playing in it (as she often does) and I said, "Emma, eat your sandwich." She replied with, "No. No want to," in the most congenial of tones. How does one argue with that? She loves to be rocked still (which I LOVE, as Aiva never let me rock her from day one) and she loves to sing. When she's off playing alone, I will often catch her singing to herself, and the words and rhythm are clear enough that I can tell what she's singing, usually "I Am a Child of God" or the "ABC's". Emma is also a major Momma's Girl. It's quite the task for me to get anything done when she is awake, as she follows me around constantly streaming, "Hold you me! Hold you me! Hold you me!" It's, honestly, a bit annoying at times, but endearing at the same time. We love this sweet little girl.

One thing that has been so gratifying for me has been watching my two daughters grow to be such close friends. They play together all day long. They fight. They argue. And they love each other dearly. I have two younger sisters that are close in age to each other but quite younger than me, and although they are my best friends now, we weren't particularly close growing up, and I always yearned for that close sisterly relationship that I watched them have. It has been so precious to me watching my daughters become friends. Aiva often refers to Emma as her best friend and Emma always lights up when "Yee Yee" comes in the room. (She can say "Aiba" but often affectionately calls her Yee Yee.) I am so glad that they have each other.

Mike and I. What's new? Not a whole lot. Mike recently started a new job in Ogden at Marketstar. Which means no more working from home. I've had very mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I enjoy the freedom. For some reason, I feel so much more motivated to get things done when he's not home all day, and there is a set time that he'll be home. I feel motivated to have the house clean and dinner ready when he walks through the door. I feel a little bit like I'm living in the 50's sometimes, and I like that. :) I feel empowered to not have him to rely on during the day. I have to take care of problems all by myself. And I'm excited for Mike to be able to get out of the house. He used to get pretty stir-crazy. I'm excited for him to have co-workers again. He really missed that when he worked for New Zealand. On the other hand...I've been strangely a little bit jealous. I used to be the one that he had "water cooler talk" with during work. I'd go downstairs to do laundry and I'd stop to rub his shoulders and sit with him and chat for a few minutes. Now I go downstairs to do laundry, and it's cold and dark and my best friend isn't there. Now he gets to do that work-chat with his new friends at work (minus the shoulder-rubs, of course). I think that overall, this new job will be a refreshing change of pace for all of us. But I miss him. The girls miss him. Mike has been home every day of Emma's life. He has been so much more involved than most dads are able to be. He and I have loved it and our girls have loved it. We'll miss it. But it's okay. All in all, it's a good change.

Most of all, at this time I feel so blessed. Do you ever have days that you feel so happy, and you stop to think about why, and all you can think of is that you feel full of love and life? I have felt that lately. I love my family. I love where my life is taking me. And I know that wherever it does take me, I will be okay as long as I have these amazing people in it.

So there's a little bit about us. How are you doing? :)