This was Easter morning and her first Easter dress courtesy of Aunt Nae. The Easter bunny just left her some toys in her basket.

I am so thankful for my Savior and the gift of the Resurrection, and a chance for the world to celebrate it.

We went to the zoo again and it was a little overcast, humid and cold. But great fun was had by all and she fell asleep the last 15 minutes of the trip. I don't know how she keep her head right there and still slept but she did!

This was our trip to Cortez and here are some pictures of her and grandpa. She had a love, hate relationship with that dog. She would be scared when the dog came around too close and fast but she always wanted to see it and touch it, well touch it sometimes!

She's a goofy girl! But we love her, and she's a keeper!

She is about to crawl long distances. She has been able to go backwards for a month or more but just this week has done more than just go forward, lay on her stomach and stretch for things but has stayed on her knees and moved them forward! Oh boy things are about to change!

Being Mom

Since being in college and in the "real world" I have occasionally written or called my parents, especially my mom to thank them for putting up with me while I was growing up, not giving up on me, and loving me no matter what.
I was thinking last night before I went to bed of all the things mothers go through, or at least what I have experienced so far and it goes a little something like this........

First you get pregnant and that could have been a fun time...... or not! The next couple of months go by and you start to wake up at like 5:30 in the morning because you stomach feels hollow, it rumbles and you feel like you are going to throw up. This experience then continues throughout the day and you soon find out it is much better to eat something all the time even though your previous life experience has told you not to eat anything when you feel that way! You bring crackers and granola bars to church and feel sort of mean when you bust them out on fast Sunday but that is only after the wave of nausea subsides. Next you notice your pants feel a little snug, ha know like after Thanksgiving dinner and all you really need is to just unbutton the top button! It’s about this time that you sort of want those around you to know that you are pregnant so YOU don’t think that they think you are putting on a little extra weight.
Time rolls on and the 5:30 snack time is replace with going to the restroom. This seems better for a while because you feel better and haven't spent anytime with your head hanging over the toilet seat and having to blow your nose and brush your teeth several times a day and all the while your husband is in the background either asking you if you are ok, which is silly cus, come on look at you, or he is pacing back and forth breathing deeply and making rumbly noises saying "your making ME want to throw up!"
Gradually there is no mistaking the fact that you are prego, because you are wearing shirts shaped like tents and pants that you constantly have to hike up because they keep sliding down from where you want them to be, but put to much pressure on your belly if they sit higher up. The once and a while nightly trudge to the bathroom now becomes a predictable almost hourly occurrence and you no longer turn the light on because you know the lonely march by heart. While you were dating or maybe even newly married your sweetheart told you how much he loved you and how when you were carrying his child he would be so willing to rub your back or feet as often as you would like, and you believed him!! Ha ha! Now when you want to hold him to it, because after walking for a less than 15 minutes both ach and you have to sit down and take a breather just from walking from the parking lot into the store, he suddenly thinks feet are gross and magically, because he used to be good, only rubs in the same spot either too hard or not hard enough!! Then once you make into the store and walking around you walk by a perfume stand or in my case it was Christmas time and cinnamon was in the air and that throwing up problem that has gone away rears its ugly head and you can’t go back to that area of the store, ever!
Those doctors visits that used to be tolerable, because you have finally gotten used to the fact that multiple people are going to be looking and touching that part of your body that you have tried so hard to hide all your life, your belly, and in my case my happy trail went from being a trail to a four lane interstate, now they move lower and once and a while use cold metal spreader things!! But after all the trauma, which you endured all by yourself, you walk away having heard your baby’s heart beat and during the really bad ones might even be holding a picture of a blob they told you had eyes and legs and arms and stuff.
Then comes the puffiness. It ranges from your feet, even your little toe doubles in size, to your face, and all the while your husband, who should say this and friends, loved ones and strangers all smile and say you are glowing, and that you look good. It’s about this time that your belly starts to look like a little sun, with sunrays (stretch marks) radiating brightly out and around your bellybutton! About this time you realize you need to get things prepared and as you start to buy a stroller and car seat or re-arrange furniture and you are sweating and panting and trying not to over exert yourself you think, why did I wait this long!

As the time draws near soon all your other mother friends start walking with you, all the time, so you can jumpstart your labor. You might even get desperate and when you are a week over due you might take caser oil, remind your husband that he will have to wait at least 6 weeks for…… anything he might be thinking of now, or let him talk you, like mine did, into jumping on a trampoline! Which worked!
Then it starts. Lightly at first, then gets worse, the pain. First you’re excited because it has started, this experience you have been thinking about for at least 7 months and then after a while it gets annoying and then you start to worry about things like, when was I suppose to go to the hospital? How far apart are they suppose to be? Finally you go to the hospital. For some it goes by quickly, for some much slower but it all ends the same. Pressure, pain and then a little pink, wrinkled old man, even if it’s a little girl, because all babies look like old men without any teeth, and they put them on your chest and then its really here, and yours.
Now you have this little thing that looks so breakable. And they make noise, lots of noise, but luckily it’s not very loud, yet! Once you get home it’s hard to get up and move around but an amazing thing happens and you can hold your pee for hours again, and you want to because of all that goes along with all that! Because of the hourly bathroom runs you are getting about the same amount of rest as before but now you have someone who is awake with you. I think it’s in the middle of the night when you truly fall in love with your brand new baby. Even though you are tired, sore and maybe a bit overwhelmed at the moment there is nothing else you would rather be doing than taking care of your beautiful, helpless, tiny baby.
At times it feels like it has flown by and other times its like time is standing still but they get bigger, everyday. The sleepless nights get better as they grow and the gas bubble smiles soon turn into true smiles and those times when you leave the room and then re-enter and they wiggle and giggle and are so excited because its you makes your heart melt.
When they get sick or hurt you are in pain with them, wishing you could do anything to make them feel better. This is what mothers do. I want to tell my mom how much I love, respect and miss her. And that I am still growing up and learning just how blessed I have been to grow up in the family that I did. I am finally feeling the unconditional love that a mother feels for her child.
To all you mothers who might read this, the road may be tough and long but someday your little rug-rats will truly appreciate all that you have done for them!! And for all you soon to be mothers, it’s all worth it!!

SO I thought I would up date our blog cuz the last one is a little sad.

Cory has begged and begged for me to let him get a X box 360 and when we got our taxes back and after a lot of promises, I let him get one. He promised that if I said he had been playing it too much then he would stop and spend some time hanging out with us and he promised that if was ever too big a problem and taking too much of his time we would sell it! So this is happy Cory playing his basketball game. So far he hasn't gone overboard with it like I thought he would. I imagined him playing it until 2 or 3 in the morning!



I realized after a while that all the pictures I took usually had only Emma and Cory in them so I decided to take some of the two of us every once and a while, poof that I was around while she was growing up!

We met up with Doug, Lynnae and their family and spend the weekend doing a little fishing. When we were driving we saw some of these bluebonnets and Lynnae and I tried to take some pictures. When I set her down she looked around her, got scared and just cried!

The flowers went up to her shoulders. It was too sad to be that funny but it still kind of was!

She really does have her own personality. She likes to smile at the people that are on the TV! I wonder if it will ever hurt her feelings that they wont smile back or anything.

This is the new way Emma talks. It used to me daddada but now its more of a song.

Crazy how time flies. It was just a year ago today that I was sitting on our bed, 6 months pregnant doing my homework, Cory was cooking something in the kitchen and there was a knock on the door. Bradley ran in and said hey An-nrea and then proceeded to run in to every room to see what he could get into. Then Shawn came in looking a little stiff and red faced with Cory right behind him. We had been home for almost two whole days from our trip to Cortez to visit my parents and celebrate my dads retirement. I smiled up at him and said hey whats up? Then he said, I got a call from home and Mom passed away. Its kind of hard to describe what it feels like when you hear something like that. It doesn't seem real. I do however have a lot of things to be grateful for.
When my dad decided to retire some wonderful ladies he worked with wanted to throw a party for him and so they asked my parents when would be a good time that would fit into all our schedules to have it. I really didn't have a good time because of school and finals was about a month away so I needed to keep up with all that I had been learning but I said anytime they picked if I had some warning I could probably make work. So they told us later the date they picked and it just so happened that it was on a weekend when on Thursday my group was presenting and then on Friday the other groups were presenting and we weren't required to go to class on the day we weren't presenting. I was excited because that meant that we could leave Thursday right after I got out of school and everything would work out great! Well the Monday of that week at that class our teacher started talking about some people wanting to change the presentation order because of course everyone in class wanted the three day weekend. I got nervous because it would change all our plans if I had to present on Friday instead. And I started thinking that if it was going to be so hard we might just stay home and not go. After class I talked to my teacher and told him the plans that were made and how it was because of the original schedule and he said he would try to help me out. On Tuesday there was a big discussion and some students were a little upset and even in my group we had some disagreements because another one of our members' wife had just been scheduled for a C-section on Thursday. Well the teacher kept his word to me and helped out my group member who was having the baby, so Cory and I left as planned.
I am really grateful that a way was made for me to go home that weekend because it was like I said earlier just a few days later that my mom died. We could have easily not have gone. And it was also strange that every spouse was also able to go. Just another blessing we see now looking back. While we were there was when my mom let it slip to someone that she was having surgery on Monday. She had been having problems with her knee for a couple years and was always in pain. Lindzi talked to Jack and she was able to stay and help out for a while after the surgery. It was a blessing for her to be there to help my mom and then my dad and make it so he wasn't alone. Jack was also a huge help with all the financial, insurance crazy paper work stuff.
It was and is still hard. I can see a lot of good that has come from it though. She isn't in pain any more, my dad has found a special lady that he is extremely happy with and a 16 year old step-son to play with and teach all the things he knows!
I know that I will get to see my mom again and I get to feel Gods love through the comfort he sends me whenever I might start to feel sad. I want to publicly thank everyone who has helped me this past year through this and with little Emma, answering all my questions and giving me advice. I have the best family and friends, love you all!!

Green or Brown?

So this is the Beginning of the garden story. This is how the garden spot looked when the neighbor prepared the soil.






This is what it looked like a few weeks ago. I need to update my pictures! I have planted 5 watermelons in those mounds but they dont seem to like me very much and they are not doing so good :(

Those rows are corn!

And here I planted some strawberries and one is already about a inch long! And next to the strawberries are some cantalope.


It has been difficult at times because of fire ants but now they are more under control so I feel safe to sit on the ground and pull weeds! Emma has been a trooper and will have to continue to be. She sits in her stroller and watches everything that is going on around her. I give her a toy and she is usually just fine unless she gets cold or drops that toy or if she can't see me!

It came!

It came! I was scared that it wouldn't but it came! Let me back up, first I got something in the mail from BYU-I that said I was deficient in one of three ways; grades, credits, or I took the wrong class! I could have cried. Here I thought I would get away with just getting my certificate in the mail and that would be it and any problems they might have found they would just keep to themselves. I guess I wasn't that lucky. So I got on the phone and called the number they said I should call should I have any questions and I sure did have some questions!! Especially since its the business management secretary's job to sign us up for classes and my deficiency happened my last semester. I called and after getting transferred to a few different people the lady asked me the reason I was calling and I said "well I thought I graduated!!" She looked up my transcript and said "oh yes, this happens all the time sorry about the scare." We get to choose from 12 different classes which 6 will be our emphasis and the computer thinks there are only 2 sets of 6 classes so if you mix and match it doesn't get it so it shows and error. I just had to call them and tell them it was happening and they fixed it for me right then and there and then yesterday......It came!!! My diploma, a bachelor of science in business management, signed by Pres. Monson! (well stamped with his name anyways!) So I am happy to say that they gave it to me, I have it and I wont give it back, no matter what else they may say or what else may go wrong!!!

Today was a great day! I have a sense of accomplishment. I finished rearranging Emma's room to see if I could make it feel more open and even thought it is filled with baby things more roommie. I had fun putting these cute painted wood pieces on the wall. They are flowers and bugs! Ladybugs and butterflies or as my dad would say flutterbys. I am not done with the room but have to be patient because Cory has only had his job for a week and a half so I don't have any funds yet! I appreciate Cory and all that he does for our family. He is a great dad. He plays with Emma all the time, if only I could get him to change her pooie diapers!!
Da has made it possible for me to grow a garden in the back yard and I am really excited! I read on the Internet all about growing gardens in Central Texas and I knew where I was going to plant every plant and what kind and then just before I was going to go and buy some stuff it froze one night! So I think I am suppose to wait a week or something and then see if it wont do it again. I must admit I have plenty of experience starting a garden, I can even rotertill and I know a lot about planting and spacing but have very minimal experience actually eating the fruit of my labor. Why you ask, well my dad decided when we were little that he wanted to buy some goats to keep the weeds down and just have around the farm. It never failed, no matter how careful we were to keep the fence maintained and all they would always get in the very second anything got ripe! I don't think I will have any problems with goats here but I think the squirrels might give me a run for my money! We shall see how it all goes!