Our Tree

We had a pretty stormy night Thursday. Chad looked in our backyard to see if it was raining on Friday morning and found this...


I came home from being at Girl's Camp Friday afternoon and Chad said, "Come here, I want to show you something." He walked me out back and showed me the tree. Our cute tree in the back yard split in half! He had me take a closer look. If you notice in the second picture you can see a little bird's nest. There was what looked like a dead mother bird still sitting on her nest. It really grossed me out. Later Chad came in and told me the bird must have just been playing dead, because it's position had changed. That made me feel a lot better. Later the bird left the nest for a while and Chad saw that there were some baby birds in it.
We have always loved that tree. Chad and I are pretty sad to see it go. The funny thing is that neither of us remember hearing it split. We are not really sure what happened to it. Chad was talking to a friend and they told him that it is fairly typical of maples to do that if they get a crack in them. We will miss our little tree!

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

You are the best husband a girl could ask for!
Thanks for being such a devoted and loving husband and father.

I love you!
Amy

Winter Quarters Temple

This past weekend we made the 3+ hour trip to Omaha to attend the Winter Quarters Temple. It was a quick trip. We went down on Friday afternoon with our friends the Clarks and returned Saturday afternoon. We stayed overnight and traded out babysitting while the other went to the temple.

This was the first time Chad and I had been to the Winter Quarters Temple, although it is our assigned temple. Since having Emily, it's been a challenge it make it to the temple due to it being a distance from our home. Mostly, we've just tried to make it to the temple during our visits to see family and friends. It was nice to be able to attend the temple together.




It is a well known fact that our daughter has difficulty sleeping anywhere besides her bed, and even that is a challenge. Following suit, Emily slept very little on Friday night. Unfortunately, that made for an unhappy, crying baby for our friends to watch. Apparently, she cried for all except the last 15 minutes before we arrived back to the hotel. Sorry guys!

This also meant that she was exhausted for our trip home. And then the MIRACLE....


Emily slept for almost 3 hours in the car on the return trip! Lesson learned...go to the temple and you will be BLESSED! :-) It was a great trip!

South Park Wading Pool

Our newest find in Lawrence has been the South Park Wading Pool. We were invited to go with some friends last week and Emily had a blast! It's perfect for toddlers, having the deepest part at one and a half feet. It also has water spouts that shoot up water for the kids to play with. Emily is such a "water baby". She LOVES being in the water (baths included). The whole way to the wading pool, Emily was squealing in delight saying, "swimming, swimming, swimming". When we arrived, she could barely contain herself. This girl is a SPLASHER! She is known for creating tidal waves in the tub creating the need for a "splash zone". HA! The pool was no different. She spent most of the time we were there splashing her little heart out. What a cutie!

A Day At The Farm

Emily loves animals and has been obsessed with watching the Signing Time video about Leah's Farm. Last Friday we took an outing to Henry's Plant Farm with some friends.

Getting ready to go to the farm.

When we arrived, Emily was running around in the grass while we were waiting to get started. All of a sudden, she stopped and stared in the direction of the field and very excitedly did the sign for donkey! This continued for the rest of the trip as she saw the different animals at the farm. She had a great time!

Observing the animals from afar.

Here are some of the animals we saw:

Swinging with some friends.

Emily is fascinated by stairs.
She always up for a challenge.

Photo shoot. Smile!

It made her giggle and squeal when
the ducks took a bath in their pool.


Emily and her friend, Nyah, looking at the animals.

It was a fun day....

Time to go home. Bye, bye.

Pool Party!

Emily's friend Nyah had a pool party a couple of weeks ago. Emily had a fun time with all her little toddler friends. She especially loved splashing around in the water. Thanks Nyah!