The Everyday

Today was busy with church and lots of meetings! In the afternoon, we went on a family walk and enjoyed seeing fall leaves and Halloween decorations. Emi gets so excited about every decoration. Today she enjoyed waving to them. "Hi pumpkin" "Hi skeleton" "Hi jack-o-lantern" She keeps life fun and interesting. Yesterday we were playing tag and Emi was being so cute. Whenever Marty and I play tag with her, we narrate what's happening. "Where's Emi? Could she be hiding in the pantry? Hmmm I wonder where she could be?" Well, she's started to catch on and also narrates what's happening when she is the seeker. During one round of hide and seek, she could see that Marty and I were hiding in the bed and she said "I want to take a nap!" And then when she went to pull the covers up she said "Mommy Daddy?!!" It was so adorable. She also loves saying prayers, and will thank Heavenly Father for everything she sees. Today sh

Yesterday felt like fall, and today felt like summer. Marty and I both dressed in our flannels to go to Lone Creek Farms (like Cornbelly's but smaller), and within the first few minutes of being there we were roasting. I should've brought sunscreen but that wasn't even on my radar. So fully embracing the October sun burns!  Even with the heat, Lone Creek Farms was such a blast. We went with Ryan, Summer, Ronny, & Jules P. and did the bouncy houses, slides, cow barrel train rides, rat rollers, corn maze, and the pig race ride. We also watched a live pig race with little piggies and experienced the candy cannon...and there were still activities we didn't get to. We ate lunch there and had to try the fried twinkies...so yum. Love this daddy daughter duo. And Emi's little binky-mouth smile. If you look closely Emi's face is priceless in this picture.  Family :) Little girls with their dads. Emi was more excited about the "corn on the cob" than she was

Emi had dance this morning and she did so good following the teacher! I love getting to watch her dance. She's so cute! We went to the park with Summer, Ronny, and Jules after. It felt more like fall today. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. Marty and I watched the Dodger's game in the evening. They won which means they'll go to the semi-finals! 

Today at My Gym I was surprised to find that Emi knows how to do monkey bars! She still needs a little help being held up, but she can let go of her arms one at a time and swing to the next bar. I told Marty about this, and apparently he helped her learn that last week! It's so fun watching her learn new things. The big news for us today (actually tonight) is that Marty got an interview to Columbia!!! We're so excited. We're going to go out to NYC in a few weeks and check out the campus before his interview. I'm excited we're into the stage of touring schools...but if Marty only gets (an interview at and) into one of the schools he applied to, we'd be over the moon!

It's one of my favorite times of the year...pumpkin bread season! Some things that happened today: -Emi woke up early this morning, and Marty took her so I could sleep in. It was so nice! -We dropped off dinner to my friend Annie N.'s house and got to meet Baby Eli. He's so precious. Summer P. and I threw Annie a baby shower over a month before Eli was supposed to be born, and it ended up working out well, because he was born just 3 days after the shower. Eli and Emi are birthday buddies! -I went to another one of my YWs Choir Concerts tonight for our Wednesday YW activity. I was praying all day that at least one of our girls would come to support the girl in the choir, and it was not looking promising. But one of our girls pulled through and came to support the girl in the choir (who almost never comes to activities). It meant so much to me that that girl came! Afterwards I went with some of the leaders to drop off a birthday gift to another of our YW. -It was a good day f

I met with YWs Presidents in the Stake this morning. We shared ideas of what's working in our YWs and brainstormed different ways we could strengthen what we're already doing in our wards. Emi came with and enjoyed watching Cocomelon the whole meeting! haha. Emi and I were heading to our car after the meeting, when Marty called and said that there'd been lay offs at work that morning. Luckily, he still has a job (yay!), but his work said that people could work from home the rest of the day if they wanted to. So we got to have him home for the day! After Emi's nap, she and I headed to Costco. They had Christmas decorations out, and one of them was a Bluey blow up. She was soooo excited. She ooohed and ahhhed. It was magical.  One of my YW had a choir concert tonight, so Sylvia B. and I went together. The YW did really well and the concert had fun music. Afterwards we went to another YWs house to visit with her.

Emi and I had a little change in our usual Monday schedule. We went to Chuze, came home, and instead of going to My Gym, we had Bowen and Brye B. over for a couple hours. Bowen and Emi are getting better at playing a little bit more independently (and even sometimes together) which is really nice! In the afternoon, on our way back from the mailbox, Emi learned how to jump with 2 feet! She and I were both very excited. She practiced over and over.  We spent the first part of the evening at the church. For a YWs activity we are trying to compile the new hymns into folders for our chapel. It was a great idea, but the person who's in charge of preparing for activity (me) is learning what a pain it is to make close to 1500 copies. Marty and I were trying to figure out this evening how to get the printers going at the church, and are finding it's going to take more time than we initially thought. I'm sure it will all work out, but we were only able to get 10 complete sets of hymn

We spent the day watching General Conference. I've learned to look forward to hearing the messages of the leaders in our church! There were so many good messages, I'm excited to go back and re-listen.  One of my favorite parts of Conference is when President Nelson announces the temples. I always get excited and hope for more temples in Japan. This time there weren't any, but there are many new temples that will be dotting the world. The work is moving forward! Emi was excited to choose her outfit today. Usually I can dissuade her from wearing one piece of clothing, but today she got to wear whatever she wanted!

Hi readers of Lizzie's blog! This is Marty back for another guest post, today I have the pleasure of touching on our day trip to Estes Park, Colorado. Estes Park is the name of a town and is not in fact a park, although there are parks in the town undoubtedly. It sits right outside of Rocky Mountain National park and is a beautiful little mountain town. We left early in the morning and drove for about 90 minutes to go to a small farm before getting to Estes Park where we met up with friends and had some amazing apple cider doughnuts and got a bunch of apples and pears. It was excellent! We also got to hear all about Katye and Matt's trip to Disney World and now Lizzie wants to take Emi to Disneyland. Lizzie here--I got bit by a wasp at the farm and my arm started swelling up bad! After leaving the farm, we drove for another half hour or so while listening to conference to get to Estes park. We walked around the town, looked in some shops, and let the kids play in the bouncy hou

We have a new car at our house! Marty's BMW has been struggling for awhile now, and so when Marty's coworker mentioned he was trying to sale his car for a good price, Marty jumped on it!  The only bummer about it is that it's a stick shift (again!). Maybe I'll actually learn how to drive stick with this car. Okay I guess there's maybe 2 bummers. haha. Marty's always had a cool car since when we were dating, so I'm feeling a little sad that he doesn't have a cool car. But I'm sure he'll have a cool car again one day!

Marty got home at 11 last night! I don't think the investment banking or medical residency life would be a good fit for our family. haha. But if Marty really wanted it I'm sure we could do it???? Probably? I went on an early morning run with Kevin and Mike. I made a special request that we do less mileage this week and it was really nice! Mid-morning we had friends over for a Halloween craft and lunch. I made soup and breadsticks and everyone else brought a side. It turned out great! I wish I would've taken a picture of all of us but it was fun to get together. The friends who came were Jazmin, Porter, & Chase C., Summer & Jules P., Kimber, Bowen & Brye B., Kirsten, Thomas, & Sophie B., Marty & James T., Jessica, Cooper, & Kaylee P.  Today's Craft: Pumpkin sun catchers. By the time everyone left it was nap time, and Emi and I were both beat. After nap time, we had a few things to take care of and pretty soon it was dinner time. We picked up Panda

Emi and I met Brittani, Evi, and Isla S. at the park this morning! The girls just enjoyed exploring and eating snacks while Brittani and I chatted.  After Emi's nap this afternoon we made our way to the mailbox. Going to the mailbox (approximately a 2 min walk) can be a 20 minute excursion at our house. Emi usually starts off by riding her bike for the first 5-10 feet feet, and then after that I carry her bike while she steps on the rocks (the sidewalk's not nearly as exciting), waves to the School Buses that pass us, and stops frequently to look around. Today, 2 of our neighbors with kids were out chatting, and they invited me over to come hang out with them. It was a lot of fun and Emi had a good time too. This picture was taken yesterday on our way to the mailbox. She insisted on bringing 3 bags with her. haha. It's another late night for Marty. I miss him! He'll probably be home around 10:30 between busy season and a work softball game. 

I went to Chuze with Summer and Jessica today. It's been the first time in 2 (or 3?) weeks we've all taken a class together because of vacations, sick kids, etc. It was so fun! We had an activity for church tonight that I was in charge of. Our youth wanted to combine with other wards for an activity, so we invited 2 other wards in our stake and organized a bunch of different activities the youth could participate in. We had glow-in-the-dark pickle ball, capture the flag, painting, telestrations, human tic-tac-toe, and a dessert room. We let the youth choose where they wanted to go, and they could roam as they pleased. Although not many of the youth from our ward came (ironically haha), I think everyone who came had a good time! My friend, Kimber, watched Emi for me (with basically 0 notice) and sent me cute pictures and videos of her. She was a lifesaver! It's quarter end, so Marty didn't get home until 9:15ish.  Marlow taking good care of Emi!