Father's Day

Yes, I know this is about 10 days late.  As you can see, we've had a lot going on lately!  :)

Ammon loves the outdoors.  I don't like getting dirty, touching bugs, or hiking for miles.  Since we've been married for 5 years, you can see that we've figured out how to compromise.  We go on a few hikes (a mile or two) every now and then, and Emma and I watch Ammon rock climb every now and then.  BUT, I told Ammon that twice a year (on his birthday and on Father's Day), he gets to pick the outdoor activity and Emma and I will do our best to not complain the entire time.

For Father's Day this year, he chose West Fork near Sedona.  It's a very popular hike that is actually pretty hard to get to go on because they only let so many cars into the parking lot.  There is always a long line waiting to come in.  Since this is what he wanted to do, we set our alarms, and took off bright and early so we could get to the hike (20 minutes away) by the time the gate opened (8 am).

As we entered the hike, there was a huge sign telling us what to look out for: poison ivy, poison oak, snakes, bears...oh my!!  After reading all of the warnings on the sign, I took several deep breaths, made Ammon walk first, and held very tight onto Emma's hand.  What does poison ivy and poison oak look like again?  What's that wrestling in the trees?  After a mile, Ammon finally convinced me that he hadn't seen anything poisonous, or seen any signs of crazy animals.  I started to relax about it after that and tried to keep a smile on my face so Ammon wouldn't hate his Father's Day.

Come to find out, West Fork is 6 miles round trip (up and back), although we probably only did 4 or 5.  Still, 4 or 5 miles with a 3-year-old was a little intense!  When we let her walk, we were maybe averaging 1/2 mile an hour.  She would stop to look at every bug, smell every flower, and collect every stick.  We had to bribe her to walk faster by giving her suckers and letting her snack when we got to certain points.  She was such a good sport!  When we got impatient and wanted to move a little faster, we would carry her or put her on Ammon's shoulders.  She didn't really like it, but I was not in the mood to make this event a 12-hour ordeal!  :) 

The hike itself was absolutely beautiful, and not at all hot because it crossed back and forth over a river the whole time.  The only drawback was that it was very sandy the whole time.  Why is it so much harder to walk in sand?  Why does Emma have to bury her shoes into the sand at each step?  While I was stressed about keeping my shoes dry and clean, Ammon would gracefully leap across the rocks with Emma on his shoulders.  I bet every person who passed us was wondering how the two of us ended up together.

Emma loved the bridge you have to cross to get to the trail head.

I love this picture!

Yep, not even to the trail head, and we needed a sucker!  This is what she would do when we told her to smile for the camera.  Recognize the pose from anywhere?

Someone kindly offered to take our picture.  We NEVER have one of the three of us!

There are ruins before the trail head.

I think the rock behind us with the water coming out is called "weeps"?

The man of the weekend! :)

Isn't that so pretty??

Attempting to maneuver over rocks while carrying Emma.

Flowers were everywhere!  Too bad we didn't go in the Fall, though.  I bet the changing leaves would be amazing on this hike!  Maybe we'll have to repeat this in a few months (but only hike a mile or so).

Emma adding rocks to her collection.

Her shoes were brand new going into the hike and came out BLACK!  Luckily, I was able to bleach the laces back, and scrub the shoes.  They look much more presentable!  :)

LOVE my squishy!

Oh, you want me to pose again?  How about this one?

Look how HUGE that tree is??

We didn't let her get wet on the way into the hike because we didn't want her complaining about being wet for 4 more miles.

So beautiful!

Taking a much-needed break! :)

Exploring.

Found a hallowed-out tree she could fit into.

On the way back, it was much warmer, so we let her get soaked!

She LOVED it and didn't want to leave...looks like she'll be an outdoorsy girl after all!

Overall, it was a lot of fun, and I'm really glad we get to do things like this twice a year.  Happy Father's Day, Ammon!  Thanks for being so patient and loving to Emma!

P.S...For those of you who know he's been looking for a backpack.  YES, I finally broke down and let him get one...the most expensive one.  After a mix-up, we're still waiting for it to arrive, but I'm sure you'll be seeing more of it when we post more hiking pics down the road.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Emma!

Disclaimer: This is pretty much a long journal entry.  Feel free to skim!  :)

Emma's 3...finally!  I've been counting down to when she is done with her "terrible twos".  It's official!  Now she's just 3 going on 13.  Literally, she will tell you that she is any other age than 3.  Don't know why she hates the number 3 (it's my favorite one), but she does!

Emma has really grown in so many ways these last few weeks.  I can already tell that this will be a fun year!
1.  Her vocabulary actually impresses me, when she's not using it to insult me (see previous posts).  She can also formulate long sentences that actually make sense.  Emma has never really been a talker, so it's crazy to hear her suddenly use her voice for something other than screaming.
2.  She is very independent.  We constantly hear, "I can do it!"  On her birthday, she "helped" me make a cake (aka: if I didn't let her do every part of it, she would tell me, "It's my birthday, Mom...not yours!").  She picked out what cake mix and frosting she wanted (pink cake mix and white frosting), she put all the ingredients into the bowl (while I fished out egg shells), she stirred the bowl (leaving an entire egg  untouched that I had to quickly stir while she wasn't looking), she frosted the cake (while still warm, of course), decorated the cake (I've never seen so many sprinkles on one cake), and put her own candles into the cake.  Don't worry...I lit the candles!  :)
3.  She's pretty good at understanding sarcasm.  When Ammon says anything (let's be real...pretty much everything out of his mouth is sarcastic), she always tells us, "You're kidding!" or "Stop teasing!".
4.  Emma is stubborn.  Sometimes it's great!  She started potty-training at 27 months because she wouldn't put on a diaper anymore.  She's officially been potty-trained for 6 months now, which has been 6 months without having to buy diapers!!
5.  She poops a ridiculous amount each day...TMI??
6.  Emma is currently obsessed with anything princess or Strawberry Shortcake.
7.  She is very artistic and creative.  She loves art projects and is always very proud of them!  The only problem with that is she won't give them to anyone, or let us throw any away.
8.  Emma is 39 inches tall (90th percentile) and 35 pounds (88th percentile).
9.  She still takes 2 hour naps daily, and is a beast when she can't have one (dang 1:00 church).
10.  Emma is super helpful and tender-hearted!  She loves giving and receiving lots of hugs and kisses...sometimes for an awkwardly long time.  :)  I can't wait for when she can have a sibling.  She'll be a great big sister...as long as the kid doesn't have baggage from her bossing them around all day.  :)

Because we don't live super close to any family, Emma had about 2 full weeks of a birthday this year!  It started off by going to Grandma and Grandpa Truck's house (in the valley) for the recital and a little present/family time.  Emma was showered with love.

Summertime in the valley is not complete without a swim or two...everyday!  :)  Emma hates the water this year.  Awesome.  She refuses to go under.  She's been practicing putting her head underwater in the tub once we got back home.  We'll have to go to a pool and see if it's legit.  Here she is basking in the sun because the pool is "too cold" at 85 degrees for these two babes!  :)

Emma and her cousin Cambryn.  Cam actually loves the water, but took one for the team by sitting out with  Emma to take some pics.

Birthdays aren't complete without presents.  Among others gifts, this is a Rapunzel dress from Grandma...complete with her "Ryder" (plastic frying pan).  Don't try to tell her it's called a "frying pan", though...she WILL hit you with it!

When we got back from the valley, we were welcomed home with an amazing package from Emma's great-grandma Barker!

Emma's great-great-aunt made this baby doll.  Emma's great-grandma Barker gave it to her for her birthday.  Emma LOVES it and sleeps with it every night!

On Emma's actual birthday (June 16th), we had a family (just the 3 of us) celebration.  I let Emma do pretty much everything she wanted all day long.  We did all of Emma's favorite things including shopping, playing, dancing, etc.

Emma's cake!  I seriously had the giggles all night long over it (read number 2 above)!

Emma smiling before we sing "Happy Birthday" to her.  Hey Barkers, do you recognize that smile from anywhere?  Hahaha...I love how alike Emma and Ammon are!  Emma HAD to have a birthday hat on her birthday.  The hard part was that I had not gotten her one.  Luckily, Special Agent Oso gave us 3 special steps for making one.  It totally fit the day!

A few days after Emma's birthday, she got another special gift in the mail!  She was so excited to open her presents from Grandpa and Grandma Zoom...as you can tell from her smile!  :)

Because Emma's actual birthday was super close to Father's Day, we pushed her party off a week (June 24).  She had a bug-themed (to accommodate boys and girls) party in Flagstaff with all her closest friends.  We painted  bug pictures, colored bug bags, went on a bug hunt, ate some bug food, and planted flowers into pots.  They were all so cute and excited over everything they got to take home (pictures, bags, butterfly catchers, aprons, mini shovels and rakes, and lots of food)!  Emma again was showered with love and gifts!  I could not believe how generous everyone was!  Emma sure is loved!!  She was so grateful for her gifts that she went around and hugged everyone and told them "thank you" and that she loved them!  It was sweet!

Here is Emma's bug hunt from her birthday party in Flagstaff.  From left to right: Emma, Caleb, me, Kaybree, Sabrina, Bethanie, and Lila.

Although Emma can be one crazy kid, I honestly don't know what I would do without her!  She's got such a tender heart and has gotten me through some pretty tough times!  I can't wait to see what this next year will bring!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Emma!

Broadway Baby

Ammon and I agreed from the moment we found out Emma was going to be a girl, that we want to expose her to both dance/girly activities and sports/not-as-girly activities and then let her pick which one she likes best.  When I was down in the valley for about a month in April doing the Easter Pageant, I put Emma in a dance class at my sister's studio because:

A)  I was going to be doing a lot with the Easter Pageant, and wanted Emma to have something for her
2)  Madi dances there, and the owner is a good friend who called me to work on the Easter Pageant
Lastly)  It was free because of the above

Naturally, Emma was terrible in class.  The teacher would try to get her to do something, but she would just do her own thing the entire time.  She was terrible at following and mimicking.  She would frequently say "No, I do this!" when the teacher told her to do something.  She didn't really love it while she was there, but it was all she could talk about when she wasn't.  Then, the inevitable happened.  Costumes for recital arrived, and Emma had to have one.  Umm...no!  She's a little young.

Then, my dance class that I teach in Flagstaff had their recital and Emma was SOO upset the entire time that she wasn't able to be in it.  She wanted her chance to dance for everyone.

Fine.  Might as well get a costume, and let her be in the recital with Aunt Mads, right?  Plus...Emma would be dancing to "Broadway Baby", the very first dance that Madi did.  Ugh, I'm a sucker for nostalgia!

So, we drove down for the recital to watch Madi dance, and decided we might as well let Emma have her shot on stage.  Let's be real...2-year-olds don't really need practice.  They don't memorize the dances anyways.  During dress rehearsal, I was a complete disaster!  I get terribly nervous for other people.  I really don't like it when people have a bad experience and are scarred for life.  To this day, I still am nervous for Madi...especially because she had to sing (yes, she was mic'd) and dance this year during the opening number (naturally, she was awesome).  As for Emma's performance, I just wanted three things to NOT happen:

First)  Emma peeing her pants on stage
B)  Emma crying hysterically and running off stage
3)  Emma throwing up

Luckily, all she did was just sit there on her little bench.  PHEW!  So, I was feeling much better.  After dress rehearsal, I asked Emma why she didn't dance.  She said that it was because I told her to watch Miss Maryanna.  I'm retarded.  She did exactly that.

The next day was recital, and I was excited to get this stupid thing over with.  (Note to self: don't let her do this again...for my sake!)  On the way to the recital, Emma kept telling me that she didn't want to go on stage. I felt so bad!  What do I do?  Once we got there and got her dressed, I told her that if she got on stage and danced (in any way she wanted), then she could have the princess balloon she picked out (she didn't like the flower I got her).  She agreed.

After the recital, she definitely got her balloon.  She did exactly what she was told: she danced in any way she wanted.  Was it the choreography?  Nope.  Was is close?  Sometimes.  Was she so proud of herself? Absolutely!  I went backstage after her dance to take her potty (she may or may not have been dancing because she had to go).  She told me that she was a good listener and that she did a great job!  I was SOOO excited that she had a good experience!  Mission accomplished!

Madi only had a few numbers in the show that Emma was in (her main recital show was the following night), but made it a point to pick Emma up during Finale so Emma didn't feel so lost.  Madi danced with Emma and pointed us out in the crowd, and Emma waved and blew a kiss.  She was probably completely relieved to be done!  Thanks, Mads for helping your non-dancing niece feel more at home!

On our way back to my parents house from the recital, Emma told me that Madi is her sister, not mine.  Tender moment!  I can't wait to watch the video...especially the Finale!  *tear*

Guess we can check dance off the list of activities Emma will be doing...phew!  Up next: soccer, rock climbing, swimming, singing, and piano!  Hopefully watching Emma do those won't send my blood pressure through the roof!

This is the pose she did for recital pictures.  Whenever she has this costume on, she shows off her pose!  :)

So big!

Emma picks up all my bad habits.  One of which is being bossy.  She's mastered that.  The other is using my words against me.

Emma:  "I want a wah-pop" (otter pop/popcicle)
Me:  "Sorry, Emma, you have to eat your enchiladas first."
Emma:  "That's not an option.  I eat a wah-pop."

Emma:  "Mom...Mom...Jesica!"
Me:  "Emma, I'm on the phone.  What do you need?"
Emma:  "Focus, Mom.  I need chocolate milk.  Be a good listener."  (aka: do what I want right now)

Because of Emma's new-found grown-up talk, we've let her have a little more freedom.  Up until now, I have never let her be outside unless I'm outside.  However, there is a cute 3-year-old girl across the street that Emma always plays with.  I really needed to make dinner, and Emma was adamant about playing with her friend.  So we compromised.  I sat Emma down in a spot where I could see her out my kitchen window.  I told her she couldn't move from that spot until I was done making dinner.  Surprisingly, she listened.  She and her friend colored with chalk and drew each other pictures.  I was so proud of both of us.  Me, for giving her more freedom, and her for being responsible.  Can you believe Emma will be 3 in a week?  She's gotten so big!

This was the view from my window...so cute!!