Our New House

Chad flew out to Rhode Island and found us a place to live in one day. Amazing! Thankfully, he had done a lot of research and set up appointments for places to look at prior to his departure. He looked at several places yesterday but none of them seemed to be the right fit for our family. This was the last place he looked. We will be in a ideal part of town and is near some fun activities. It has plenty of storage space (which we needed). The best part is that it has 3 bedrooms! Yeah! This house is split into 3 condos. Ours will be the one on the top level. (Climbing stairs every day will be a bit of a bummer, but with everything else this place has, we'll take it!) All this in less that 24 hours. Impressive! Well done Chad!

Emily's First Prayer In Primary

On the morning of her first day of Primary, Emily asked me in anticipation when she was going to be able to give a talk. I told her they usually let the Sunbeams watch what it going on for a while before they ask you to participate in Opening Exercises. I also told her they would probably ask her to give a prayer before asking her to give a talk. I assured her that it wouldn't be too long before she had her chance.

When they passed out the monthly newsletter, I was excited to see that her wait was finally over. She was assigned to give the opening prayer on the last Sunday of the month. I mentioned it to her and she was elated! Last week, she was given a reminder note that they made into a wristband. She wanted to wear it everyday! I tried to explain to her that it wasn't exactly meant to become an accessory, but she had other plans. We would carefully take it off at night, and then have to tape it back on in the morning. Ha! It was very cute.

Today was the day. Emily gave the opening prayer in Primary with flying colors! It was her first time doing so and she was so excited. She is very good at saying her own prayers, but we weren't sure if she'd get nervous and decide she wanted help. By Emily's instructions, Chad, Annie and I were to sit in the back of the room and watch her. She was determined to give the prayer on her own. We went into the Primary room to let her practice a couple of times last Sunday and again yesterday after a baptism we attended. She did a great job and could hardly wait one more day.

She was beaming today as she sat in the front of the Primary room in the chair labeled "prayer". She looked so cute with her scripture case in hand, looking out at the crowd. She noticed Chad, Annie and I in the back of the room and gave one more huge smile. (It was a "my-baby-is-getting-bigger" teary-eyed moment for me.)

When it was time for her to give the prayer, she came to the stand in all confidence and gave the cutest little prayer...ALL BY HERSELF! I think she got nervous for just a second, but pulled through triumphantly. SO CUTE! The teacher sitting next to us jokingly said, "A little breathy, but not bad!" -HA! (She got a little close to the microphone and you could hear her breathe in a little when she got nervous.)

Way to go Emily! We are so proud of you!

P.S.- At dinner tonight Chad knowingly asked Emily to tell me what one of the Primary Presidency members asked her in the hallway. She announced that she asked her if she would like to give a TALK! I asked Emily how she replied. She excitedly said, "Yes!"

Primary Activity

Emily had a Primary Activity yesterday. The Primary teamed up with the Elder's Quorum to do some spring cleaning of the landscaping around the church. Emily was excited to help out. They also played games, planted flowers and had a picnic. She and her friends were good little workers, cleaning up all the leaves and old mulch. They had a great time blowing bubbles and drawing with sidewalk chalk. Emily especially loved the picnic. They served her favorite...hot dogs with ketchup.

Cleaning up the leaves and mulch.

Working on a "job" with Dad!

Annie came along and was a good sport. She enjoyed playing with the bubbles. She also liked drawing with the sidewalk chalk. When she was walking around with the chalk in her hand, she fell on the pavement and broke off her nail half way down the nail bed. Ouch! She was so good about it, though. She never even cried. Tough girl!

Emily did too!

Emily and some of her friends at the picnic.

Emily is a gardening veteran. She planted flowers like these last year with Nana after Annie was born. She brought along her own shovel for the job!

Annie's 1st Birthday Cupcake: Devoured!

Annie was VERY excited about eating her birthday cupcake!

After having a practice run with a mini cupcake a few days before, there was no holding back! She knew exactly what to do. She dove right in, trying to eat the whole thing in one bite! HA! We realized that she meant business and thought we should help her out by removing the paper cupcake liner.

She slowed down for a moment and then went full force ahead.
She was determined to eat the entire cupcake.

We tried to take the cupcake away, thinking she had had enough...
we thought wrong! She promptly protested and kept going.

Cupcake devoured.
Mission accomplished!

Disclaimer 1: The party started later than planned. She looks tired because she was tired. It was nap time, but she happily played along! Disclaimer 2: Annie devoured her rather large cupcake. We realized later that she had not really eaten lunch before having her sweet treat. The poor girl was starving! We promptly gave her some "real" food to balance out all that sweet stuff. She took a great nap directly following her party! What a good sport.

Annie's 1st Birthday: The Presents

Annie's 1st Birthday Party: Decor