Baby Ella's Birth Story

If you want the shorter version, skip down to “Sunday, May 5th.” Or for the shortest delivery version, jump to May 6th!

Ella's Birth Story

Before even getting pregnant with Ella, I decided I wanted to do things a little differently with my second pregnancy and labor than I had with my first. I wanted to focus more on my health by working out regularly and eating better during pregnancy, and my ultimate goal was to have an unmedicated hospital birth. Toward the end of my pregnancy, I had talked with my doctor and she advised, “Labor at home until you feel like driving in the car to the hospital sounds awful. My patients that do this usually show up at about 8 cm.”  Perfect!, I thought. I couldn’t have planned it better myself. The hospital I would be birthing at is just over 30 min, so I had to take that in account and maybe leave a little earlier than she suggested.

To prepare myself to actually live through the contractions and not want to give in to that amazing relief of an epidural, I read through and studied the book, “Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way." This book literally explained things so perfectly and gave me the instruction and confidence I needed to know that I could, indeed, have an unmedicated childbirth. I felt prepared, healthy, and ready by the time my 40th week approached.

May 2nd 2013 - 2 days before due date: I began to have actual contractions. They started at 3:40pm. I kept an eye on them, and noticed them coming every 5 min for a few of them. Then they went up to 10 min, then 7, 10, 4, 8, 5, etc etc. They weren’t consistent in how far apart they were, but they kept coming. After 2 hours of this, I sent a text to my best friend Ashley, (who lives in Utah and wanted to be at the birth to take my birth photos) I informed her of my contractions just to give her a heads up. She had a 7 hour drive ahead of her, so I wanted her to be alerted ASAP so she could get here in time for the birth. Emery’s labor had started out the same way, and those contractions eventually grew closer together and led me into active labor and a birth. (From first contraction to birth it was 21 hours.) So a few hours later, after more irregular contractions, Ashley hopped in her car and headed this way. The contractions continued all night long. She arrived at 2:30 am and that uterus was still doing its thing. We really felt like we would be having a baby very soon.

May 3rd, 2013:
After some well needed sleep, we woke up and to our dismay, the contractions weren’t as consistent. But they kept coming. Every once in awhile I would get a few hours where the contractions were strong and consistent, then they would die off and come back a little while later. Talk about a tease! Luckily, we took advantage of the time together and had a lovely day. My Mom, (who had driven out a week before from Utah), Ashley, Emery and I spent the day at the mall being spoiled by my Mom. She bought us MAC make up, and we had a delicious lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. It was a lovely day spending that time together. Ashley and I haven’t had much girl time since we both had our first child, so this time together was very well deserved. (Did I mention that Ashley left her sweet 20 month old baby boy at home with her husband? Yes, she did. Luckily, the two of them had a very eventful weekend with family and friends in town, and so they kept busy while Ashley had time with me. It worked out great!) 

May 4th, 2013- Due date!: Due date came and went with the same ol’ silly contractions that didn’t seem to want to progress. So we made Saturday a fun day as well-- we went out to breakfast, made a Target run, (Ashley went for a literal run as well-did I mention she’s 31 weeks pregnant, too? She was my workout buddy during our pregnancies, and my mentor with the unmedicated birth preparation as well. Thankfully to her and my loving and supportive husband, I had a very successful pregnancy.) and drove all the way to the other side of town to eat some very yummy Cafe Zupas, as well as tried the delicious and famous frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity on the strip. It was a very fun day, yet, no baby. 

May 5th, 2013:

For those who want the shortened version, start here. All you need to know: I had been having constant contractions that weren’t very consistent in their timing for 3 days. My best friend drove out from Utah to be there for the birth that hasn’t happened yet. I thought I had been in early labor this weekend because I was experiencing the same things I did in early labor with Emery.

My birth plan that was previously discussed with my doctor was that I would labor at home until I couldn’t bear to sit in the car for my 30 min drive to the hospital. In theory, this would allow me to arrive at the hospital soon enough yet late enough that I wouldn’t need an epidural. 

Sunday made my baby girl officially “late." Past her due date. (Em was born ON her due date, so I had figured this baby would either be early or right on time.)  I wasn’t too sad she wasn’t born on her actual due date, especially when I woke up Saturday morning and found out that it was “Star Wars Day." “May the 4th be with you." Look, I like Star Wars and all, but I just didn’t want my baby girl born on that day. Maybe I would have felt differently if I was having a boy?

We woke up and got ready for church. At around 10:00am I noticed some cramping along with some loss of the plug. I tried to ignore it though, because well, my gosh! I had been teased all weekend. I didn’t want to read into it and not deliver any time soon. We went to church and I continued to notice cramping here and there but nothing too intense. Again, I did my best to ignore them. Ashley and I decided it was best for her to head home because she had to get back to her baby. (Plus a 7 hour drive is really long and we didn’t want her to get home too late.)  She decided she would just fly out if I felt I was having the baby the next day. We felt confident in that decision and she went on her way. About 45 min later I received a phone call from her and she said she was on the side of the freeway because her bumper on her car fell off. Talon, Emmy and I left church a few min early and went to save the day. Talon duct taped her bumper back in place. As he was doing so, Ashley and I joked that maybe this was a sign that she should just turn around and go back to our house. Again, we thought that since my contractions were still not consistent, it was more important for her to go home to her family. 

Around 4:00pm I looked at Talon and said, “I would be very surprised if this baby doesn’t come by tomorrow night. If this stuff isn’t real and isn’t going to progress, I will literally be shocked.” So I chose to lay down and rest for about an hour and then got up and we finished some last minute things.

Emmy had a hard time going to sleep that night, which was sort of random because she has been amazing at it for quite some time. It was around 10:00pm that she finally went to sleep okay and I decided I would try to sleep as well. 

For the past few hours I had a few contractions that I could tell were beginning to be stronger and almost painful but again, they would be coming every 15 min, then I would have one at 7 min and then wouldn’t have one for another hour. They were very sporadic, very unpredictable. No pattern, no measured progress that would signal active labor. I continued to lose more of the plug, so I called the labor and delivery unit and asked them a question. The nurse at the front desk asked me several questions about myself and this pregnancy, my past pregnancy, etc. She told me that because my contractions were still not consistent that I should wait at home and call back when they were anywhere from 2-4 min apart for a few hours. 

11:00pm. I was laying in bed trying to sleep when I had a VERY strong contraction. At this point, I realized that things were starting to progress a little so I prepared myself for a long night. I knew I had several hours ahead of me and would probably be having a baby the next day some time. Silly contractions! They still were so sporadic! Anywhere from 7 min, 10 min, 5 min apart, then a random 3 min break with a contraction that didn’t last very long. Then it would jump back to 10 min. I was so confused. I couldn’t figure out if I was in the early stages of labor, active labor or if my body was just playing a very cruel joke on me. Either way, I worked through those contractions and kept telling myself they weren’t that bad. I expected way worse. I knew it was only going to get worse if this was going anywhere. So I did my best at being positive and totally zoned out during those contractions.

  I learned for myself, that the most comfortable way to handle those contractions was standing up, bracing myself on either my bathroom counter, or the wall and dropping my pelvis and relaxing my belly to allow the contractions to do their thing. I breathed normally through them and just did my very best to let that belly relax. (The best thing I read in that book, that I reminded myself with every contraction, was that MY job as the laboring mother is to “get out of the way of the uterus by relaxing, let the uterus do its job.” I couldn’t have done that if I tensed up my belly and fought the contraction. The contractions are there for a purpose. If I fought them, it was only going to make my labor last longer.) With the intensity of the contraction, I felt that it was hard to relax my entire body, so by bracing myself against something, other parts of my body were taking the heat of the pain while my belly was relaxed. This worked for me. I doubt it would for everyone else. But I’m grateful I learned that during those earlier stronger and almost painful contractions.

Talon did an amazing job being there by my side. He didn’t leave me once. He was the one timing the contractions and would rub my back if needed. He gave me comfort, reassurance and encouragement when I needed it. I’m so grateful I had him!

Monday, May 6th- Baby Girl's Birthday:

12:00am. I was in the shower laboring. The warm water felt great on my back and belly. It was a nice change of scenery as well. During the shower is when we noticed the contractions staying closer to 6 min or less apart. So this was good news. This meant things were finally progressing! (I was expecting a few more hours of this because that is typical with labors, and that's how it happened with my first.)

  However, they still weren’t consistent with their timing. With Emery, I was having contractions either exactly every 15 min apart in the early stages, then it progressed to exactly 10 min apart, then it went to 5 min apart to 3 min apart. None of this all over the map minutes. So that threw all of us off.

12:45am. I started having contractions that stayed closer to 3-5 min apart. Talon and I begun discussing that we would be leaving for the hospital soon. I then had a break where one didn’t come for 7 min. At this point, I got really confused. Why couldn’t they just stay close together and let me know at which stage of the game I was at? So I waited for the next contraction to see how far apart it would be. 3 minutes later I had another one. “Okay, Talon. I can’t take this anymore. This pain is so intense and I want to die. I need that freaking epidural! If I get to the hospital and I am at a 6, I am getting one. I don’t care. I tried this out, and it hasn’t even been 2 hours. The pain is so awful, I am doing my best here. Let’s go.” Talon encouraged me letting me know how GOOD I was doing and that I had to be closer than I thought because I really was doing so well. I told him we had to go.

So I went to put my clothes on and BOOM! Another contraction that was 2 min from the last. It lasted over a minute. I looked at Talon and said, “Seriously. Let’s go.” BOOM! Another one. 2 min apart from the last and lasted over a min. BOOM! Another one. I told him, “I need to go to the bathroom. We have to leave.” It was almost 1:10 am.

I went to my bathroom and what I thought was the sensation to actually go to the bathroom quickly turned to, “Um....I feel like I have to push!” BOOM! Another contraction. The sensation to push was so intense I just couldn’t not let it happen! I told him I felt the head coming. He looked at me and said, “What?!” I told him, “I think the head is coming! GET MOM!” So he ran out to get my Mom who was sound asleep in her room. I reached down and sure enough, I felt the head crowning. Talon came back and called 911. SPLASH! Water broke. Head was still there. I was so panicked. I wanted to sit down because I was having the sensation to go to the bathroom yet I knew I didn’t want to have a baby on my toilet!

Conversation I remember between Talon and Sharon the dispatcher:

Talon: Hi. My wife is having her baby! She feels the head!
Sharon: Okay. Where is she?
Talon: On the toilet. (hahaha)
Sharon: Tell her to get off the toilet. Grab a towel. Lay it on the floor. Have your wife lay on the towel. You are going to deliver this baby.


Talon does as she says and helps me to the floor. I got on all fours and felt the baby go back inside a little. I felt relief. I was like, “Oh, this is good! The paramedics can hurry their tushes over and deliver this baby. I’ll stay like this.” (That was all in my head by the way)

Talon tells me, “Baby you need to lay on your back.” I hesitated. Because I didn’t want to feel the urge to push again! Then the thought came to me that if she had already crowned, it was best we get her out ASAP so there wouldn’t be any complications. I laid on my back on the towel, in the middle of my bedroom floor. 

I don’t remember much conversation detail here. All I remember is my Mom running around grabbing blankets, towels, and listening to what Talon is telling her to get. Talon is down at my feet listening intently to Sharon. I hear her say, “Now, your wife is going to feel the urge to push and you are going to see the head.”

Let me interrupt by saying, I felt at such peace. I looked at my Mom and Talon who seriously looked like they were experiencing the most horrific thing ever and I just didn’t understand why they were so panicked! I kept looking at Talon as I heard him taking guidance from Sharon and I said, “Babe. You are doing amazing. I am so proud of you. You got this. Everything is going to be okay. Guys, everything is going to be okay. I just know it.”

I don’t think they heard me.

Me: I feel like I need to push.

Talon: She has to push!

Sharon told Talon what to do, and I pushed. He said he saw the head. She told him to grab the baby’s head and to pull it out with my push and then the shoulders would come out etc. 

I pushed one time. (Surprisingly, it didn't even hurt!)

Out came baby girl! They placed her on my belly and she took her first breath. Seconds later she started crying. Sharon went on to congratulate us on doing this successfully. Then she told Talon to get a shoe string. My mom gave me blankets to wrap around the baby and made sure to keep her low on my belly so it wouldn’t pull on the umbilical cord.  Talon tied the shoe string around the cord but didn't cut it yet. Moments later two firemen and two paramedics showed up. Their job was already done. 

Proof. I delivered the baby on my bedroom floor. She is laying on my tummy under all of those blankets. 

Dr. Talon delivered his baby girl at approximately 1:25 am. I felt amazing. Baby girl was doing amazing. And I think my Mom and Talon were able to take a breath again. 

Talon holding Ella just moments after he delivered her. Notice his sweet face?  Every time I look at this photo it makes me tear up. I just love him so much. I think of how he held himself together when he wanted to fall apart. I think of his tears and he feared of hurting myself or Ella. I think of his faith as he relied on the Lord to make everything okay. 

I remember feeling really good but my legs began to shake uncontrollably. Which was rather funny because I couldn’t stop it! I couldn’t believe I just had my baby. That it happened so fast. That we both were perfectly healthy and it was not like we just went through a delivery. Paramedics checked her and she didn’t even need to be suctioned out. She was breathing perfectly. 

After some time, they helped me up on this chair that goes down stairs and took me to a stretcher that was waiting for me in my entryway. I was in shock. Here I am being rolled out onto my street with a fire truck and ambulance with their lights going all crazy like a giant disco ball in front of my house. (Was that necessary? I didn’t think so.) Where was the music? I wondered. I kept looking in my neighbors' windows to see if I noticed any curious Joes or Susans peeking through to see what the fuss was about. I kept thinking to myself, “Nothing to see here, folks. We only had an emergency delivery. Go back to bed.” 

I got in the back of the ambulance and began chatting with the paramedic who looked so young! He was the sweetest though. He was the one answering all of my questions and had all of the answers. His name was Stephen. So anyone in the North Las Vegas area, I hope if you ever have an emergency that you meet Stephen. He knows his stuff. Anyway, I found out it was his first in-field emergency delivery. I would have never known.

Baby girl (I’m calling her that still because at this moment in time we still hadn’t decided on a name.) latched on perfectly and had a little snack on our way to the hospital. But thanks to the placenta still being there, it would contract like a labor pain, so my ride wasn't all that exciting. Not fun guys, not fun. We finally got to the hospital where they took us into the labor and delivery room to make sure we were both okay, and we were. I could have told them that. But it was so comforting to hear their amazement at how smoothly everything went. Two hours after delivering baby girl, I finally delivered that placenta and WOO(!) was that fabulous. Life became 100 times happier and comfortable. Doctor finally came in after that (yes, I delivered the placenta myself as well) and said I had one small tear. So, she stitched that up real quickly and that was that.

Um, hi. In the elevator going TO the hospital after giving birth to my baby on my bedroom floor, no medication and very unexpectedly! No doctors. Just me, my husband and my mom. 

L&D staff getting everything ready to check baby girl and I out to make sure we were okay. Waiting to be moved from stretcher to bed. Holding my baby! 

Still waiting on the doctor to come and check on us. 1 hour later she did. 

Right after her first bath. 

We arrived in our recovery room at 5:45 am. No, we didn’t get rest because everyone kept coming in to check on us and then they had shift change which lasted forever. All in all, I was able to sleep for one hour before our day started.

Later that day we decided on a name. So! Ella Rose was born on May 6th at 1:25 am. She weighed in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce and was 19 inches long. You will find on her birth certificate our home address as her birthplace and her father’s name as the one who delivered her.

Later on that day. Just hours old. Getting some snuggles in!

Well, my beautiful Ella, you made quite the entrance into this world. Yet, you did it so gracefully and beautifully. You gave us an exciting adventure yet kept it non-dramatic at the same time. You are perfect already! Thank you, my sweet girl, for brightening our lives. 

I know for a fact that our Heavenly Father had a hand in the delivery. It was because of His tender mercies that all went so well and complication free. We will forever be in gratitude. Each time I look at Ella, I give Him thanks. We are so blessed.

Oreo Cheesecake (No bake)

Yesterday happened to be Father's Day, and after going through tons of different recipes with Talon on what he wanted for dessert, he finally decided. 

 Oreo Cheesecake. 

A friend of mine had given me a no-bake cheesecake recipe and so I vamped it up with Oreos. One of (if not the best) the yummiest packaged cookies out there.

A few friends asked for the recipe, and so, I like to help a friend (or a few) out. Here you go. Not to mention I need to keep this on file because Talon has requested this at least once a month.

This recipe is easy, fast and you can eat it right away if you'd like. Although, I prefer letting it set a few hours to over-night so it's set a little better. But, feel free to dive right in.

Oreo Cheesecake (No-bake)

Ingredients:

1 package of Double Stuff Oreos
2tbsp butter (melted)
1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 8oz package of Cream Cheese
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla

**Take out Cream Cheese so it can soften until ready to use.

First start with the crust:

Pulse 20 Oreos in food processor until cookies are in a crumbly state. (Leave in the filling)
In a bowl mix the crumbly state cookies with 2 tbsp of melted butter until well mixed.
Spray a pie dish/tin with some cooking spray.
Pour all crumbs into the dish, spread out and flatten nicely up to the edges. You'll have a nice thick crust. Place in freezer to help harden until you're ready to pour in the cheesecake mixture.

Cheesecake Filling:

Chop up remaining cookies (10) into bigger pieces. -Set aside.

Whip up the Heavy Whipping cream (1 cup although I add a little more) until you can move the bowl around and not have the whipped cream slide all over the place. If in doubt, whip a little more. You'll be able to form some peaks with it. -Set aside.

In separate bowl, whip up Cream cheese, then add the powdered sugar a little bit at a time. (This helps so the powdered sugar doesn't go flying all over the place.) Add vanilla. Blend well. Fold in whipping cream until it's well mixed. You'll be able to tell with the different mixtures if it's well blended or not. Add in chopped Oreos until well blended.

Pour on top of crust and spread evenly. Cover with tin foil and place in fridge until ready to eat. Feel free to lick the spoon clean. You'll be happy you did. 

Here are a few pictures, although, keep in mind they were taken with my iphone. And I am not a photographer. haha

May I recommend a glass of milk? 

Even Emery was/is a huge fan! She asked for seconds. She's definitely our daughter.

I hope y'all enjoy this as much as we did.

And yes, I know. I need to blog more often. Jumping right on that.

Peace and love baby. 

The revolution of the blueberry pancake.

This is my first food blog post, well, ever.

I'm pretty excited about it. In fact, this blog was never suppose to be a food blog. It was suppose to be a "our story" blog. And well, as life changes, so does my blog. Ha! I can't promise when the next time I post about food will be, so enjoy it while you can. You should be happy I'm even blogging!

You'll be so happy with my choice of food though. Pancakes. Whipping cream. Fruit topping.

That's it.


Observe.

If, perhaps, you can't eat wheat, you can substitute for a gluten-free pancake mix.  

 Yes, this is all you need to create a little slice of heaven in your mouth. Easy, right?

Here is what you get. (Yours may turn out prettier. I won't complain.)

Psst. Don't make fun of my photo skills! 

Directions:
1. Simply make your pancakes.
2. Scoop a few spoonfuls of the fruit topping over pancake.
3. Whip-cream the edges as so. Or, if you're like me, fill in the entire pancake with the whipped cream!
4. Savor every bite. And help yourself to seconds. Or thirds.

Blueberry topping is my favorite. But you can choose the type of fruit that suits your taste buds best. Raspberry, strawberry, cherry etc

Like I said, it's very simple, and I promise you, it's delicious. When I made this, (this morning) I ate just this. But, when my mother in-law makes it, she serves it with bacon/sausage/eggs/orange juice. All I wanted today is the pancakes.

It's like, a revolution to the "blueberry pancake".

Enjoy. Let me know what you think.

xoxo, C

Christmas Eve

Saturday, Christmas Eve was a booked day. We had to be up early to be out of the house by 8:30am. Bright and early at 6:30am, our day started. Thankfully for Oma (Mom), she made a very delicious breakfast. Disneyland breakfast to be exact. Delicious french toast layered with some vanilla sauce and caramel sauce. It's fantastic. YUM.

After breakfast we all scurried on over to the movie theaters in Redondo Beach. We all split up to see different movies, but T and myself, we went to see Mission Impossible 4. T's parents, sister, and sister in-law helped a bunch with Emery in The Muppets. (MI4 was incredible by the way. Completely action-packed, language was clean and thankfully no "naughty" scenes. That was a relief. Oh, and Tom Cruise is an incredible actor by the way. )

Then it was off to Grandmothers house we go. haha Grandma lives right on Redondo beach, so after eating some delicious pizza, we all sat around and chatted while the food digested. (Ha! I rhymed!)

Tylee, T's sister, bought these adorable little beanie's for Emmy and Emmy's younger cousin, Craiger. Aren't they the cutest things ever? She sure has amazing taste! Craiger was happy as can be in his hat. Emmy, on the other hand, was a bit freaked out. She sat on Uncle Trek's lap, scared stiff. Poor little girl ended up tearing up and really freaked out. The hat came off, she was happy.

We walked on down to the beach. It was a gorgeous view. Funny thing about those seagulls right there. Auntie Char and I were playing with Emmy on the sand and giving her some Ritz crackers. She had dropped one, and I decided to leave it and said, "Oh, I'm sure the birds will get that later today". Not even 3 seconds after it had fallen, there came a swarm of those birds! It's like they were stalking us or something!

I just can't get enough of the beach. I love it. So peaceful, fun, and gorgeous. *sigh*

Fun fact of the day: Growing up, I always dreamt about marrying someone from California, specifically Southern California, that way we could go back and visit his family often and be in one of my favorite places on earth.

It didn't take long for the kids (old and young) to be down on the sand playing some ultimate frisbee. Who wouldn't want to shove their own face in the sand that millions of bare toes and feet have been. (And who knows what else!) 

 That would be Tylee. She loved being tackled to the ground by her older brother Trek. Just like the good ol' days, am I right?? haha Let's get a closer look...

 T quickly ran over to Emmy, Auntie Char and I and asked if I would take a picture of him with his little girl. How could I not?

Then it was my time to stand in front of the camera. Family picture!

Some more pictures of the fun time in the sun. More playing, Emmy with Auntie Char (Oma's sister) and Uncle Tuhk (T's brother) playing in the water. It was a happy time.

Emery's older cousin Lorian took over the pushing the stroller duties and Emmy loved every min of it. She laughed, smiled, and chatted the whole walk back.

Then it was time to head back to Oma and Opa's house to prepare for the Christmas eve traditions.

For those who were home, we acted out the nativity scene. It was pretty fun you know. Pretending to be Mary and riding the donkey (Tuhk). haha I had stuffed a blanket under my shirt and little Taya (pictured below) came running up to me and says "Is that baby Craiger under your shirt?! "(She knew her baby brother was going to be Baby Jesus) I smiled and said, "No, it's just a blanket" She replies, "I want to see baby Craiger under your shirt!" As she tries to look up my shirt. Love that little girl!

Here is a link to the video of our Nativity play.

Afterwards, we shared multiple stories including that of how the song Silent Night came to be. Trek shared this. Then the cousins and Trek and Dani sang Silent Night in German and then we all chimed in singing the first verse in English. (Trek and his family were stationed overseas in Germany for 3 years for the Air Force. As well as, Trek served a 2 year mission in Germany back in the day.)

In the middle of sharing stories, we heard bells jingling up in the master bedroom. Cadence, the eldest niece, jumped up and exclaimed, "Santa! He's here!" We all ran upstairs and followed the sound of the bells and there, by the fireplace in the master bedroom were wrapped presents for all of the children. They all opened them up and found pajamas. Santa made his stop, reminding the children that he would soon be by once again.

Then we laid out the treats for Santa and said goodnight to the kids. I'm pretty sure Santa's elves were busy until 1am getting the downstairs all ready. :)

Wait, can we just look at these little cheeks one last time??? You are welcome!

Christmas 2011 Day 1

Who says the only way to feel the Christmas spirit is by watching the snow fall outside your window while sipping on some hot cocoa?
It wasn't me. In fact, there have been many years in my lifetime where the sun was shining and shorts were acceptable on Christmas day.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I come from a large family. I am number 5 of 7 children. To this date my parents are proud to have 10 grandchildren. T's family, is as well quite large. He is the baby of the 6 total siblings. His parents are proud grandparents to 6 grandchildren. Needless to say, it's important to us to be able to spend time with both sides of the families during the holidays. In order to make things fair, we switch each other year between families and holidays. For example, this year, we went to Texas to see my entire family over Thanksgiving. T's family had Christmas at his parents house and we were able to celebrate the happy weekend with all 17 of us.

All the siblings arrived at Mom and Dad's house on different days. Each new day brought more and more joy and someone different showed up.
We arrived late Thursday evening. Thankfully, from the nights events, his family had brought us home some Tito's Tacos. I highly recommend this delicious authentic mexican joint (only one ever!). We make sure to eat there at least once every visit. We stayed up late, of course! Chatting and catching each other up on our lives. Friday morning came bright and early. Especially when my mind decided to wake up at 5:45am. WHO DOES THAT?! Especially on vacation?! This girl does apparently.  I took advantage of the time (and hot water) to shower, and get myself ready before everyone else woke up. We had a long and exciting day of adventures ahead of us!

After breakfast and when everyone was all dressed and ready to go we headed on down to the mall. What's a Christmas weekend without the mall? With all of the hustle and bustle, lights, decorations (and amazing sales!) who could pass it up? We sure didn't want to miss out!
After a few hours of walking around, picking up last min items, drinking some delicious vanilla-bean frappuccino with caramel syrup, don't forget the whip(!) , it was time to take the little kiddos on the carousel. Emery wasn't too stoked about riding that ferocious looking lion with Opa, so Daddy took her over to a nice quiet bench on the second tier as they went around, and around, and aroooooooooouuuund. You dizzy yet?  

 Then it was time for Opa, T, Emery and myself to hop in the car for the 2 hour ride to, hold your  breath....I mean, where else would we go while in SoCal? Emmy took advantage of the drive and slept the whole way.

Bonus points for those who guessed it!



Daddy decided to put his hat on E's head to keep the sun from blinding her. It was the funniest thing, she just sat there. Didn't move. I think she may have even held her breath! haha It was the cutest thing.

Do those eyes make your heart jump a little, too? 

 We rode the tram from the parking lot to the entrance and Emmy gazed at all of the scenery. I think she may have remembered her favorite place.

We chose to head to California Adventure first. We weren't wanting to spend a lot of time there, just enough to breathe in the happy feelings, see the Christmas decorations, watch the castle get dressed with snowy-like lights and of course, ride the greatest ride out there. None other than Toy Story Mania! 

The gigantic Christmas tree next to Santa's little cottage. 

Silly Santa, he was looking at the actual photographer. Emmy was a little scared to say the least. 

 We knew the line would be rather long at Toy Story Mania, so we stopped and picked up some churros to enjoy. Emmy sure loved having some of it, that is for sure!

This was her face for the day, her wide-open-mouth-in-amazement face. 

Trying out the 3D glasses before our turn. Emmy wanted to do it herself. 

 This was T's first time on this ride, mine and Emmy's second time. He had no idea how to play, I had to teach him as we went. He had checked our score board after the first few mins and was astonished at the fact that I was WAY ahead of him in points. Then he caught on and ended up winning in the end. My poor wrist just couldn't keep up with his.

Then it was off to Disneyland! We caught the Christmas Parade just in time! It was so fun to see all of the Disney characters come running out with their theme songs. Mickey, Minnie, all of the Princesses with their own handsome prince, Toy Story's famous Buzz and Woody, just to name a few. But of course, it ended with the greatest of them all this time of year. Mr. Santa Claus. He followed behind all of his reindeer. Emmy was especially excited to see him. I think perhaps she warmed up to him.

 Last, but not least, we finally got to see the castle light up in all of it's glory and spectacularness. I was so happy! There was even fake snow that fell from the streetlights. Unfortunately, the fireworks were cancelled that evening, (I was really looking forward to seeing them!) so we went on to the stores and did a little shopping. Bought a caramel apple, as my tradition goes.

The first day of our Christmas break truly was a joy and a dream come true! Stay tuned for the rest of the trip!

1st Birthday Party

 
 My, how time flies by like a blink of an eye. I truly felt like this moment was just yesterday. We are now approaching exactly one year to date from that miraculous day. I am grateful every single day for the beautiful blessing my Heavenly Father has given me to have a literal angel as my daughter. Just look at her:

My almost 1 year old. She somehow gets more and more beautiful every time I look at her!

 She has been the joy in my life since I first found out I was pregnant with her. Such joy I truly did not know existed until I held her in my arms for the first time. Memories like this one are ones to never forget. 

Although Emery does not officially turn 1 until December 14th, 2011 -at 6:54pm PST-,  we had a little celebration in her honor this past Saturday, December 10th. (Grandpa's birthday!) We are so grateful for those who were able to come and celebrate with us. Both sides of our family (with exception of one of T's brother's) live long distance and were unable to come. We felt so much love as some of our military friends  family joined us that day. 

 What is a celebration without some yummy treats to enjoy? Exactly. It isn't one. So we were sure to share some of our favorite foods. With 7 layer dip, taco meat, and chips to go with it, you can't go wrong there! I was sure to make everything pink in honor of my little girly-girl. Delicious chocolate and  yellow cake cupcakes with vanilla frosting, peanut butter zebra pink cookies, and homemade Lofthouse Sugar Cookies. Mmmm. Now I'm all hungry. 

With some pink decorations it definitely put us in the party mood. 

Some of my favorite photos of the special girl. She sure had a lot of fun! 

She was so smiley and happy seeing everyone enjoy themselves. She just loves people! 

In my family we have been doing a Chinese tradition since my first niece turned 1. This Chinese tradition (in my own words)  is that on the child's first birthday, you place in a row a few different items of choice (each item representing something that the child could grow up to be). The child is then placed a few feet away from the items and they are to crawl/walk towards one item. Do this 3 times. It's just really fun! So we did this with Emery and I have the first two times but was unable to record the third final round.

The items that we placed and what they represented to us:
1. Scriptures - Spiritually knowledgable
2. Book - Educationally knowledgable
3. Egg - Homemaker
4. Cash- Wealth

First round:

       

 Egg!

 Second round:

Egg!

And her final round, she also went right for the egg! Too funny! We will be sure to do it again on her actual birthday.

She loved seeing some of her favorite people! 

Sadly we didn't get to take pictures with all of her favorite people who joined us that day. I'm still kicking myself for that one!    

 Look at her gorgeous cake! My friend Katie was so helpful and made it for Emery's party. I truly could not have asked for a more perfect cake! 

Then came the scary exciting part of smashing that cake! Emery was not sure how to take the pressure of everyone standing around her watching intensely with the cameras to see how she would react. Let's just say at first, she was unsure and a little intimidated.

She slowly became more and more interested and would place her cute little pointer finger in the frosting, and would shy away for a moment, then build the courage once again to place that little finger in there! 

We thought to try some utensils. Maybe she didn't want to get all messy? 

With little interest on Emery's part, I decided to give her a taste so she would know just exactly how delicious this big beautiful cake was! We were sure she would then dig in.

Haha! Nope! Not a chance. 

  Daddy decided she needed extra encouragement to get things going. 

No way. She obviously did not agree. 

  But with consistant effort, Daddy was sure to get her to try it!

              Alas! She caved in and tried that sweet frosting and realized, "I like it!"!

 So she agreed to try some more!

Yes, those cheeks are just as fun to kiss as you would imagine them to be.

    And more!

        

  And some more!!

                         Even Daddy agreed that it was some pretty delicious cake! 

Pretty sure he ate more than Emery did. 

  Emery liked it so much she began to realize it was all worth the mess. 

Haha, see Daddy's hand sneaking some more of that cake?!

   Emery is such a sweetheart, she even asked if anyone wanted to try some of   her cake! That's my girl. 

We realized we should have opened the gifts before the cake smashing, but we decided it wasn't so bad. Mommy went upstairs to clean Emery up and Daddy cleaned up the mess (was sure to save the cake for later enjoyment) and set out the wonderfully thought-out gifts from those who love her.

     Once again, Emery was unsure of the situation. I mean, she had never really had her own birthday before. I would be a little worried too if the pressure was on me to entertain all of my friends without knowing what the heck was going on.  

   Once she realized there were some pretty fun things hidden beneath all of that  paper, she became a little more excited. 

This card that Melle got her has a Peek-A-Boo baby bear that really entertained her! 

 Molly was sure to help Emery open her gifts. She is a professional you know. She just turned 2 back in October and knew exactly what was going on. She was so helpful and loved seeing the new toys! 

Oma (Grandma in German. AKA T's Mom)  sent some adorable new clothes for Emery to wear. We can't wait to dress her up! 

   

Emery loves putting things on her head, and was having a ball trying on her new headband from Oma. She also enjoyed the little piano set from Jen and started dancing to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

   

  She was rocking out and Molly thought it would be fun to join in. Obviously, Emery wanted it all for herself and once she realized Molly was taking over, she knew she had to cut in.

  

 So she slowly walked knee-walked on over and cut in front of Molly.

  

And got her little piano back.

      Thank you again for all who came, gave/sent a gift! We are also so grateful for all the loving and wonderful people who have made this past year a wonderful success and given us so many beautiful memories. Emery is so lucky to have such people in her lives.