Emerson's Baptism

I can't believe Emerson is 8 and old enough to be baptized. Emerson's baptism was January 2nd. Graham baptized her and confirmed her. She has been so excited for this day. We told her it was her decision and she needed to pray about it and ask if this was the right thing for her to do. A few days later, she said she prayed and asked Heavenly Father and she felt very good.

I told Eme she could design her own dress and I would make it for her. She was all over it. She drew it out for me and we went to the fabric store and she picked everything out. I didn't end up sewing it because it was too technical for me (I did make the flowers on the dress and added the sash) so a nice lady from our ward sewed it for us and it turned out beautiful. Emerson was very proud of her dress and she looked beautiful in it.

We don't have any family that lives near us but I was shocked at how many family came for Emerson's baptism. Graham's parents flew down, his aunt Pilar and uncle Ralph drove 5 hours to be here. Thanks Ralph and Pilar for doing that. We know how busy you are this time of year but it meant a lot to Eme. She loves you guys so much. Graham's uncle Lee and aunt Karen and son Adam, uncle Mark and aunt Sarah and their family and of coarse our Rasner's came down too. And all our close friends from here were there to support Eme. Thank you all for sharing this day with Emerson. It was a wonderful day.

Emerson's request, we had a little chocolate fountain party at our house after the baptism. YUM!

Who needs pretzels and strawberries to dip when you have fingers!

The Rasners made the cutest little candy poster about baptism for Eme. Of coarse she loved it!

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Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 Everyone!

It's days like this that we are so grateful that we live in San Diego. We went to the beach on New Years day to spend a relaxing day in 70 degrees. We had a bonfire with some friends, roasted hot dogs for dinner and s'mores for dessert.

It was nice outside but it's still cold in the ocean. I can't believe Emerson got in and played in the water without a wet suit.

We played some bocce ball.

Graham's parents, Ron and Phyllis flew down to be with us for Emerson's baptism.

It beats shoveling snow!

Merry Christmas!

We had Emerson's birthday cake and ice cream to finally finish out what seems like her birthday month.

Eme and Atti both loved helping me wrap presents.

They were both very good at using their tape.

The last 3 years, the Walthall family has brought over their Nativity puppet set. All the kids act out the Christmas Story. We have a tradition of eating breakfast for dinner on Christmas Eve. This year was especially fun with even more families joining us.

Emerson's letter to Santa.

Emerson's offerings to Santa and his reindeer. She is so cute, she left out carrots for the reindeer.

Our kitchen drain backed up during our Christmas Eve festivities. No plummers were open for business so all the men tried to fix and snake the drain. It didn't work. We have another tradition of having prime rib for Christmas dinner and have the missionaries over but with the sink not working we couldn't do that this year so what was our back up? We ordered Chinese food. It was our own "Christmas Story". The missionaries didn't care. They were stoked about the chinese food but by the end of the night, the drained cleared. Graham called it our own Christmas miracle!

Emerson and Atticus were so excited about Christmas morning. I thought for sure they would be awake super early but they didn't wake up until 8. That is sleeping in for them. That was my favorite gift.

Emerson received her digital camera and toothbrush she asked Santa for.

Present time!

The kids sorted all the presents and waited patiently to open them.

They hugged and thanked each other for their gifts they received from each other. Sooooo Cute!

Putty loved the new bed he received for Christmas. He immediately started rubbing himself all over it. I guess to leave his scent?

Grandma Linda gave us money to buy a family Christmas gift this year so we decided to go skiing. A couple of years ago, we took Eme skiing for her first time and Graham and I tried to teach her to ski. It was the worst experience for all of us. We vowed we would never try that again. So this time we put her in ski school. It was the best money we spent. She was happy, Graham and I were happy. By the end of her lesson, Emerson rocked the bunny slope. We didn't take Atti with us this time because they didn't offer lessons for 3 year olds. He will start next year. This was the perfect way to end Christmas. Thanks Grandma Linda/Mom!