Wow, That's Big!!

Just having some fun one evening blowing bubbles. I think this is quite possibly the biggest bubble I have ever blown.

A Heavy Heart

I woke up this morning with a heavy heart knowing who the next president of the United States will be. It makes me sad that so many people voted for him based on his color and really have no idea what so ever what he stands for. Our country is so dillusional. At least I can still hang on to my faith and trust in our one and only Jesus Christ. He is in control and this is His will for our country. I will be praying hard for the direction of this country.

No more diapers, hooray!!!

I have tell you all how proud we are of Emilee. She started to show signs of potty training about a month ago and she is now almost totally trained, except at bedtime. Not bad for being only 2 years 4 months. Thank goodness, no more diapers.

Fall Fun

We went to an apple orchard to pick our own apples this year. Emilee had fun picking the apples and eating them too. We gave her an apple to eat and she literally ate the whole thing, core and all.......too funny. We had some gorgeous weather in October, but must admit, next time we go apple picking, I hope it's more like 60 degrees instead of 80 degrees. Can you believe it, we had nearly 80 degree weather in October.

"Happy Halloween"

Halloween was fun this year with Emilee. She understood what was going on and was just too cute in her monkey costume. She did not necessarily enjoy carving pumpkins (texture thing) but she LOVED going "trick or treating"....go figure.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Cory and Christina who tied the knot on October 18. The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time. Thanks to both of you for including us on your special day. Chad, Emilee and I were all in the wedding. Stay tuned for some pictures of the wedding, I have to figure out how to get them from where ever Chad saved them.

UPS update

Chad has officailly passed everything....driving test, drug test, backgroud tests, etc...... His boss told him this week that there is an open driving position and he put Chad's application in for it. If all goes well, it looks like Chad could potentially be driving full time by the end of the summer. "Thank you God" This is an answer to many prayers, however, nothing is officail yet. Although Chad won't be doing his love in life, which is building, he will have a solid, dependable job with great benefits. This will give him much more free time to enjoy with his family and still do side jobs. Thank you to everyone who has kept us in your thoughts and prayers during this process.

Traverse City Trip

With Chad working 2 jobs for 1 1/2 years now with not much of a break, we decided it was time to get away for a little while. We went to Traverse City for 3 nights and it was a lot of fun and very relaxing. We had a gorgeous view of the lake off of our balcony. Emilee LOVED the swimming pool and we had a nice day of site seeing. Oh, we also each got free $10.00 to use at the casino. Chad didn't win anything, but I won $55 and kept it. That was kind of fun. After we got home we enjoyed another 3 days of relaxing at home. What a much needed break!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday

Wow, I can't believe Emilee is already 2 years old. Where did the time go? She is the joy of our lives and we can't imagine life without her. Who knew that we could love one little human being as much as we love her, and our love keeps growing. We are so proud of her!! For her Birthday we had close family over for yummy cake and ice cream and she opened lots of fun presents. It was a nice evening.

First Hair Cut

I decided it was finally time to give Emilee her first hair cut. She had lots of new growth in the front which kept hanging in her eyes, so we decided to give her bangs and trim up the sides and back. The only way to get her to sit still was to feed her food. She ate many raisens while Grandma Young trimmed her hair.

Gorgeous Home

Well, it's been quite a while since I've updated the blog. I'll start with a few pictures of the log home that Chad just finished building. He took me to go see it last weekend and it is gorgeous. He showed me all what he did, which was pretty much everything. He is so talented and this is truly his passion in life.

He did it!!!

Over the last month and a half or so, Chad has not only been very busy working his two jobs, but he has been frantically studying for his CDL tests (both written and driving). After a few attempts of the written test, he passed and he took the driving test a few weeks ago and passed that with flying colors too. What a relief!! He got his official commercail drivers license in the mail yesterday and he is so proud. I know it may not seem like much to most people, but to us, it means one more step in the right direction. We pray that Chad can get a full time driving position within the next 6 months. Please keep this in your prayers too, as working two jobs is really starting to wear on us both, not physically, but emotionally.

"Monkeys in my Pantry"

I've recently learned that having organized cupboards is a thing of the past now that I have a toddler. One of Emilee's favorite things to do is empty my cupboards out. There have been many days where I find soup, syrup, Jello, brownies, you name it, in various locations of the house. It just makes me smile. Well, the other day, I was welcomed to a different sight. Instead of emptying my cupboard, she decided to add a few things. I got a good chuuckle for the day when I opened it up to get something and found monkeys! The picture above illustrates how she put her favorite monkey Cocoa, her Care Bear Tuti, and her other monkey Dangles in the cupboard. What a goof ball.

Prayers please

Well, it was one year in January that Chad has been working two jobs. Days building and nights at UPS. Our prayers have been that Chad can get in at UPS on a full time basis driving truck. This may happen sooner than we thought. Chad's boss is pushing him to get his CDL license and he got a DOT physical last week. Chad studied all weekend for the test and plans on taking it this week. If he passes, not only will he be paid more, but when a driving positon opens up, he will most likely get it. Please pray that Chad passes the test, that he can get in full time soon, and also for his strength (physically and mentally) to continue working as hard as he does.

"Bubbles, Bubbles, Oh So Fun"

Emilee loves her bubble baths. Chad always puts gobs of bubbles in the bath, I tend to be a little bit more conservative on the bubbles, but that's what daddies are for. Just another big kid.

Just so cute!

Sorry so many of these are sideways, I can't figure out how to rotate them. These are just some recent snapshots of Emilee. All I can say is "how cute"!

Happy Easter

I hope everybody had a Blessed Easter! We did. We had a wonderful and powerful church service and then we came home and I prepared a huge Easter feast for Chad's family and my mom. Cory and Christina celebrated Easter with Christina's parents this year. Anyway, here are few picuters of Emily in her dress. She had lots of fun with everyone over her house and she got some fun bo0ks, stickers, sippy cups, etc.....

"I Love to Color"

Emilee loves to color. She actually colors the pictures on the page rather than just scribbling all over the page. As you can see in the pictures above, she holds the crayon exactly like you're supposed to rather than the standard toddler grip. What can I say, she's such a little smarty pants. She says over 40 words now and she is putting phrases together now. The other day she said, "Ma Ma, Elmo all done". The "books" say that toddlers should be saying 20 words by the time they are two, I'm so proud that she's ahead. Both Chad and I struggled all through school, our prayer is that things continue to come easy for her.

"Winter Fun"

So we bundled Emilee all up and took her out for her fist experience with snow. She hated being all bundled up at first, but once she got out there, she had a lot of fun. We played until her little hands were freezing. Isn't she just the cutest?!!!

It's Official

Well, the day is finally here. I have waited almost a year for this......I'm finally working part time. I am so blessed to be given the opportunity to be home with my daughter more. It means so much to me and I'm sure Emilee appreciates it too. :-) I couldn't have done it without having the BEST husband in the whole wide world. He has picked up a second job and sacraficed all his extra time to make this possible. We don't have a lot of time together as a family during the week, but we have every weekend together and cherrish every second of it. Thank you so much, honey, you're the best.

Merry Christmas

I know.....I'm a little late posting a Christmas post, but I was very busy over the Holidays. I only had one day off......Chirstmas. We had a really great Christmas. It was a lot of fun with Emilee. She got some Dora stuff and also some more Dora stuff and then a little of Dora stuff. Oh my word, the girl has Dora EVERYTHING!!!! She loves it though. Her favorite is the Dora chair that her Grandma Young got her. She is so cute. She sits in it everday with her oversized Dora blanket and watches....what else, Dora. :-) Hope you all had a great Christmas too.