Birthday cake

We didn't really have a birthday party for Emery this year. Maybe I'll do one another time, but I just couldn't be bothered this year. She finally has some toys thanks to her grandparents, and we actually got her something a few weeks ago which I just now remembered is still sitting upstairs in the closet...oops. Good thing I have a few years to get good at this birthday thing before she actually remembers anything about it. :) 

We waited a few days to have cake until Gavin's parents arrived. They came to visit for a few days and we had so much fun. Emery LOVED having them around, more than she loved eating cake and she REALLY loved eating cake. Here's some pictures of the event:

It was so hilarious watching her shovel it in. She had cheeks BULGING with cake and would still have both hands trying to fit more in. Finally I took it away and that's why the sad face in the last picture. Oh what a cutie. Happy First Birthday Emery!

One year old

Emery recently turned ONE YEAR OLD! What a wonderful year it has been, filled with exciting changes and happy adventures. Gavin and I are amazed at how deeply we love Emery. She is so sweet, happy, and best of all cuddly! She wants to be held by everyone we meet and will give them snuggles and hugs for as long as they hold her. People love to pass her around at church because she seriously just LOVES on you if you hold her. She is pretty laid back and lets us cart her around to our different activities, just smiling all the time. I'm a bit behind in pictures of her so the next few posts might be full of just Emery.

These were taken by Gavin in our OWN backyard! We finally have a backyard! You might notice in the pictures that Emery seems to still be lacking teeth. She does have her two bottom ones almost all the way in...but that's it so far.

Settling down

Well, we are all moved in and we are LOVING being in a house. The excitement hasn't worn off after 2 weeks and I sometimes still find myself giggling with happiness when I walk down the stairs, or when it's raining and I remember we have a garage now, or when I go grocery shopping and there's a moment of dread where I think about hauling all those bags up 3 flights of stairs but then house memories return and I'm so happy I fill the cart with twice as much stuff because it's soooo easy now (Gavin is not such a fan of those last moments).

It feels like it has been a crazy mess of emotions: EXCITEMENT to finally have a home and grow roots and live in a real neighborhood, overwhelming GRATITUDE to The Lord for all His mercy and blessings, to our realtor, lenders, builders and everyone who made it possible for us to move in on time, GUILT that we don't deserve such a beautiful place, FEAR that what if this is the wrong decision or what if something terrible happens and Gavin loses his job what do we do then if we have this house to pay for, and lots of other emotions. Mostly I've just been so happy, but I've been glad for the negative emotions to keep me grounded and to strengthen my faith that no matter what happens, if we hold tight to each other and keep our faith and trust in Heavenly Father then everything will be alright.

I tried to post some pictures of the inside of the house, but it isn't working so you get this picture of Emery sleeping instead. She likes to play with hair when she's tired and I think she fell asleep while twirling her piggy tail and her hand slipped down.

Dirty feet

When we were still in our apartment Emery crawled out on the balcony after me one day. Look at those feet--yikes.

Sold!

Come September 28th this baby is OURS (or...the banks...but sort of ours!)

We are hoping to close at the end of the month and so far everything is on track. I've held off mentioning it on the blog because I'm a bit superstitious and didn't want bad luck holding us up. :) It's a cute little house, newly built, and in a great location. Gavin will have a 10 minute commute to work (awesome!). We like the neighborhood and know quite a few people in it as it has been dubbed "Little Utah" by some people in our ward. I can't WAIT to move in and make it OUR HOME. It makes me squeal with excitement just thinking about it!

It is quite finished yet, but we peeked through the windows today and it's looking pretty close! The appliances go in on Tuesday, we are getting it inspected on Wednesday, and then we have our first walk through with the builder on Friday.

To sum up, this is how I feel:    >^_^<

This is the backyard, Emery is excited too!

Emery

Here's a few of my recent favorite pictures of Emery. She's almost 11 months old--time flies!

Food face

I guess it's just more fun to eat if you smear it all over your face.