Sunny Southern California

Hi friends and family,

I am so excited to start a new blog.  I hope to put up weekly posts, or more often than that.  I feel like I should write in my journal more, and I think blogging is a great way to do it!  There are so many fun things going on in our lives that I want to share them with everyone.

Thank you for all of your support and love.  I appreciate it so much!  You guys are awesome.  

Since I haven't posted in a long time, I'll give you a summary of what's been happening with me and Emma. We are now living in Los Angeles, CA.  Emma is growing up so fast.  She is almost 17 months old.  (I try not to think about the fact that I'm getting older too as she gets older...) It is so fun to see all of the fun things that she can do now.  She is walking - almost running everywhere.  She can say 3 words: mama, dog, and no.  Sometimes I ask her if she's tired, and she will shake her head and say "no."  I'm trying to teach her how to say yes. When she's asked a question and she wants to say yes, she laughs.  She LOVES to go outside.  If the door is closed, and she wants to go out, she will start crying if I do not immediately open it for her.  :)  Whenever she hears an airplane or a helicopter in the sky, she points (even from inside) and waves in the general direction.  Ems will eat most foods.  She loves Mac n Cheese (not the Kraft kind, but the kind from Trader Joe's - love that store!), peas, broccoli, "fruit leathers," toast, cream of wheat, and pears. 

Whenever she sees a pen or pencil, she will grab it and try to find a piece of paper.  If I ask her if she wants to "color, color, color," she will respond with a resounding laugh.  She loves to color in her Spongebob coloring book.  I try to save it for church, though.  Funny thing: Ems doesn't actually color on the paper; she just likes to carry around a pen and paper and pretend.  

As for myself, I am teaching the violin and piano.  I love doing this and would do it full time if it was possible.  Everyone always asks me if I want Emma to play the violin, but I secretly hope that she will want to play the cello.  I wish I could play the cello; I love the deep, rich sound of the instrument.  My brother Clarke (Uncle Peanut) plays the cello and when I ask Ems where the cello is, she will go find it and point to it.  She doesn't do that so much with the violin or piano.  So maybe someday...

Here are some recent pictures of us:

I was SO excited that the Lakers won the

NBA championship last week!  There were 

a few games there where I was on the edge of my

seat, but they pulled through.  

Sorry this image is kind of blurry, but I think

that it's so funny!  Emma was "walking" her

little dog which barks and walks and Blazer (the real

dog) was behind them, trying to follow them around.

He thought the little dog was real at first.  

Here we are at Uncle Peanut's senior assembly

at La Canada High School.  We watched him

jump around and dance in a cheerleading

costume.  No joke.  I have it on video.  

(Apparently, it's a tradition with the flagee

squad, who are juniors, and they each pick

a senior boy to be their "partner.")

This is at Uncle McKay's 8th grade promotion.

We were just being silly b/c we had already

taken so many pictures that were too serious.  

Left to right: my mom (G'ma, Emma, Uncle Rhett,

me, and Bernie, my Gram's husband)