Suggestions?

Does anyone have any suggestions how to get a 16 month old to stop using a bottle? Emily is extremely stubborn and refuses to drink milk any other way and I am desperate to get rid of that stupid thing. The only thing I can think of is just taking it away cold turkey. She'll probably go days without drinking milk but she'll survive right? She'll drink anything else from a sippy just fine but refuses to drink milk from it. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated!

P.S. Sorry our blog is so boring lately. We no longer have a camera or a camcorder. We're going to go looking this weekend and hopefully we can find something. There's been so many things that have happened lately and we'll say, "oh, I wish we had our video camera." Anyway, soon, I hope.

Total disregard....

On Thursday, Robert got off work early (which has happened maybe 3 times in the last year!) and headed home. He pulled in the driveway and noticed the door on the side of our house was open. He thought, "Did I leave the door open?" As he got closer he noticed that the door jam was broken and the casing was on the kitchen floor. The door had been kicked down. He immediately got back in his car and pulled out of the driveway as he called the police. The police came and cleared our house and came out and said, "Yup, you've definitely been robbed." WHAT?! I got home at this point and found Robert in the basement in front of our empty DVD shelves (they did leave all the seasons of Friends though. Phew!). The basement was trashed with everything taken off of shelves and out of cupboards. Then we headed upstairs and found our bedroom completely trashed. All of my jewelry was gone and our clothes were everywhere. They had even taken our temple clothes out of the bag and threw them on the floor. I was pissed about that! Our office was trashed as well but luckily they didn't do anything to Emily's room. We had tools, our video camera, digital camera, jewelery, DVD's, CD's, video game system and games, credit card, laptop, cell phone, pillow cases, etc stolen. It was so crazy. You never think that is going to happen to you.

At first I was so scared. Then later that night I felt very violated as we were looking through our clothes on the floor of our bedroom. It's so weird to think a stranger has gone through your stuff. We spent the night at my in-laws and I hardly slept at all. The next day Robert and I spent the whole day cleaning up and at that point I was just annoyed. What makes someone think they have the right to do that to someone else? Just because you're a loser and probably can't keep a job because you're a druggie doesn't give you the right to steal our stuff! Grrr. Now that we have things cleaned up (sort of) and new doors installed, it almost seems like it never happened. It seems so surreal.

We were lucky that no one was home and I am so grateful for the Lord's hand in our life. I know that He's the reason Robert got off early that day. Protect yourself, right down serial numbers, and watch out for your neighbors. Unfortunately for us, no one saw anything. But I'm grateful because it could have been worse.

Draper Temple Open House

On Saturday we took our Young Women to the open house for the new Draper Temple. Almost all of the girls had never been inside a temple except for baptisms so they were pretty excited. It was so beautiful (of course!) and perfect. One of the others leaders has a friend who worked on the temple and she was telling us how they would have to redo projects numerous times until it was absolutely perfect. I especially loved the woodwork. Apparently the wood is some sort of cherry from Africa. The girls were all really looking forward to seeing the sealing room. They just kept saying "I want to see where you get married!"


I guess it's good that they were excited about getting married in the temple and it gave the leaders a great opportunity to express our own feelings of being married in the temple. They loved the bride room as well and who wouldn't?! They thought it was pretty funny that brides get this big elaborate room to get ready in and the groom gets a stall in the locker room! Anyway, it was a great time and if you have a chance to go to the open house, do it!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 27th Birthday Robert! We love you and hope you have a great day! Thanks for being the best husband and father we could ever ask for!

15 Months...well, 10 days ago

Emily just went to the doctor for her 15 month check up. She’s 21 pounds 10 ounces (including coat and shoes!) which is still slightly below average and 32 inches tall which is in the 80 percentile. Everything went well and I can’t believe how much she’s grown. She’s a full blown toddler now. Sometimes I watch her sleep and it makes me cry because it really has gone so fast. I remember that tiny newborn snuggled on my chest. Everyone tells you how fast they grow up and now I really believe it. Have you heard the new Darius Rucker song “It Won’t Be Like This For Long?” It makes me cry every time I hear it. I feel like he wrote it about us. Here’s the words:


He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Lay'n there in bed listen'n
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK

It wont be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laugh'n
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
It wont be like this for long

Four years later bout four thirty
She's crawling in their bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clinging to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says what can I do
She says now don’t you worry
This will only last a week or two

It wont be like this for long
One day soon we'll drop her off
And she wont even know your gone
This phase is gonna fly by
If you can just hold on
It wont be like this for long

One day soon she'll be a teenager
And at times you'll think she hates him
Then he'll walk her down the isle
And he'll raise her vale
But right now she up and cry'n
And the truth is that he don’t mind
As he kisses her good night
And she says her prayers
He lays down there beside her
Till her eyes are finally closed
And just watch'n her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows
It wont be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah this phase is gonna fly by
He's try'n to hold on
It wont be like this for long
It wont be like this for long


I think we have been guilty sometimes of wishing certain phases would pass quickly like I can’t wait until she’s sleeps through the night or I can’t wait until she can walk, etc. But in the meantime we were missing out on that time that we can’t ever get back. My new resolution is to enjoy my life as it is now instead of wishing it away. Not just with Emily but with all aspects of my life. We have goals for our family and we’re going to keep working towards them but I want to enjoy the way things are now too. It’s going to be tough because I REALLY hate working but I don’t want to look back and feel like I missed something because I was too busy wishing things were different. Anyway, if you haven’t heard this song, listen to it. It’s my new favorite song and I think everyone can relate!



Love, Peace, and Happiness

Christmas 2008

I know Christmas was almost 2 weeks ago but I'm a little slow. We had a great Christmas. Emily loved to rip the paper and was so spoiled by all of our family. Other than the insane amount of snow we received we had a great day.

Go Utes!!