Potty Training

The joys of potty training has begun.

As we've watched Emma over the last two months, she has been using her wagon from her birthday as a bathroom. Yes, her wagon. She will climb into her wagon, close the door, and then turn away from anyone looking. If you look at her she will say "No, look!" and shake a finger at you. So, this has been going on for quite awhile and happening more and more often. We decided that because she knows when she needs to go potty, that it was time to get her a real potty.

What is so cool is that Emma has really taken to it. She is such a smarty pants. Most of the time we have to ask her if she needs to use the potty (usually when we see the signs that she is going to go in her diaper). Then there are those times that she pulls on our pants or fingers and says "Potty!" We are excited, but know that it will take lots of time. But we are also so proud of Emma for trying.

Family

During this season, we are constantly reminded of those things that we are thankful for. We are first and foremost grateful for our Heavenly Father and our Savior. They are the great givers of all our blessings. We are thankful for the plan of happiness.

We are grateful for our family. There is such joy in having a family of your own, and watching it grow. Emma has been an angel (even with the difficult moments) in our lives. It is by having each other that truly motivates one to be better. We are thankful for our home. Home is truly where your family is, and heaven is where your home is. We are also thankful for extended family. They are such a big support and comfort in life.

There are so many things to be grateful for that we could go on indefinitely. The amazing thing is that there are so many blessing in our lives that we don't even recognize and see. We are grateful that the Lord is always mindful us. We are so excited to see what comes in the future. We know that there are going to be hard times, but we are grateful those growing experiences. Life is so wonderful.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!!

Emma really seemed to get the hand of trick-or-treating. At first she was shy, and would hesitantly grab a treat. But from door to door she began to hold her bucket, then grab a handful of candy, and wave bye-bye. Toward the end she began knocking on the doors herself. We only hit 10 houses, but she came away with a haul. Now it's time for daddy to impose his "Daddy Tax". This was really fun.

Snowbird

We love Snowbird. Especially during the summer. It is so nice to escape the summer heat, and relax in the beauty of nature. It was so nice to relax there after a long three months of Justin's graduate program. It's fun to just spend time together as a family without homework coming into the equation.

We had fun at the new mining rock shifter activity that they had there for children.

The flowers were beautiful. There were fields upon fields of flowers.

We did a lot around the lodge, but we also went for a hike. We took the tram up the mountain and hiked down. It was fun, but tiring. I think it took us four hours to get down because of wrong directions from other hikers that led us to taking the longest way down. Needless to say Emma was sick of hiking in the backpack, and we were very sore. But all in all Snowbird was the rejuvenation that we needed before school starts again. Thank you Grandma and Papa for the letting us use the last bit of your week.

Favorite Things

Here are a few of Emma's favorite things.

Banana's! Yep, and when we run out we have to go to the store to get more. We have to limit banana's to only one a day. Otherwise, she would eat them every meal, and nothing else.

Going to the zoo. Here we are at the zoo with Nana, Jenny, Blaine and Eli. The new baby giraffe was born, and we had to go see it. They say that giraffe's can grow up to an inch every day (at least that's what the keeper said).

The park! Oh, how we love going to the park. We love swings, slides, and sand. It's hard to say which is her most favorite out of the three. She does like to turn boxes at home into slides, and will say "whee" as she slides down.

New Cousin

Yeah!!!! Baby Jade Spencer Cross is finally here. New babies are always fun. We were lucky he was born this week, otherwise we would only have seen pictures of him. Jade was 8 lbs 1 oz, 20 inches long, and healthy. He has two loving older sisters (Mikayla, 5, Natalia, 3) and two proud parents. They are moving to New Hampshire in two weeks. So here is our chance to meet and hold Jade.

Happy Birthday Emma

It's strange how time seems to fly. I can remember so clearly when the doctor told me that they were going to induce me that night because she had stopped growing in the womb. That was all a big shock. I guess that must be kind of how other women feel when they go into labor unexpectedly. Since Emma loves the zoo so much we (okay me) decided to go with a jungle theme.

It was fun to decorate for her birthday. I think the hardest part was just trying to find a cake recipe or mix that was gluten free. (Yeah, Emma seems to have gluten/wheat sensitivities) For her birthday she got way too much stuff. The nice thing was just having everyone there to show their love and support of Emma. It's so nice to see children loved and celebrated. It was such a good day.

Great Grandpa's and Big Dogs

While we were heading back from selling Blue we stopped at Great Grandpa Cross'. It's so fun to see Emma with different family members. She is super gentle with her Great Grandpa Cross. I'm glad that she has had the chance to meet him. He served in the Second World war, came back and found that his wife left him and there daughter, served a mission in England while being a single father, and later met my Grandma. They then had 13 children together, but only 11 lived. He raised his family of 12 children and wife on a school teacher's salary. He has so many stories, and is a great person.

Also in the picture, is his sister Laurel. They have been taking care of each other since my Grandma died. Laurel is currently serving a mission from home doing family history, and answering church phone calls. Great lady. She also owns a big stuffed dog. Emma loved Buffy.

No More Blue

Another change in life. Blue (our car) has become old. So naturally, Justin has taken it upon himself to look for a new (new to us) car. Of course this was a painful task for him. :) After a couple weeks of looking and praying we came up with our options. In the end we decided to go with another Saturn. Its silver, 2002, sl series with only 36,000 miles on it. To pay for it we had to sell Blue. :(

We'll miss you Blue!

4th of July

What a wonderful holiday. We are so grateful for our freedom and liberties. On this 4th of July we spent the day at the West Point days. I had a booth where I sold books, Justin studied, and Emma spent time with Grandma and Grandpa. The booth was really successful, and pretty fun to do. I love being around booths to get different craft ideas. Emma seemed to have fun. She danced with her Grandpa to the oldies band there, and had fun with snakes.

After West Point days we went to Nana and Papa's to have fun. We had dinner, roasted s-mores, and lit fireworks. It was fun. On the way home there were this the big fireworks going, and we watched them at the top of a hill going into Layton. It was a good ending to a good day.

Changes

New things seem to be a way of life lately. In May, Justin graduated undergraduate school. The next week, we moved into my parents home to help take care of my mom. Then the next week Justin started graduate school at the U of U. :) Emma keeps changing, and learning so many new things. Learning to walk without holding on to things at 10 months isn't normal. Crawling really was much easier to chase.

June has been a good month. Justin is at school all the time. Emma and I had a chance to go to the zoo several times (since we have a pass). Our first time to the zoo was with Blaine, Eli, Aunt Jenny, Nana, and Grandma N. (I don't have pictures, but Nana does). Emma at that zoo trip seemed to like the giraffes. Our second trip was with Emma's cousins Mikayla and Natalia before they move to New Hampshire. That time she loved the monkey's and the giraffes.

We also got pictures taken this month of Emma. (11 months)

Book Party

Hey All,

I'm throwing a book party on June 6th at 7:00 pm. It will be at our home (1135 Meadow Way Drive, Layton, UT 84041). Don't feel like you need to buy anything, I'm just trying to break in the apartment and have fun. The books are way cute though. Here is the official invite.

You've been invited to an Usborne Books e-show!
Just go to: http://www.coraliesbooks.com and click on my name!
Give the children in your life the best gift of all...
* THE BELIEF THAT READING IS FUN! *
Fill your shopping cart with all of your favorite books and they will get shipped to your door in a week!
While you're shopping, make sure to enter to win $50 in FREE books from Usborne!
Don't miss these great titles! Note that these books work great for younger and older children as well.
Newborn to 1-year-old: Touchy Feely Set; Animal Hide and Seek; Baby's Very First series
2-year-old: Super Saver Combo Set 1 (including First Picture Nursery Rhymes, First Colors); There's a Mouse About the House
3-year-old: Animals baby jigsaw; Stories for Little Boys (or Little Girls); Picture Book Sets
4-year-old: Big Book of Things to Spot; Why?; Guji, Guji
5-year-old: Super Saver Combo Set 2; Easy Words to Read Set
6-year-old: Beginners Sets (internet-referenced); Fox and the Stork
7-year-old: Jack Russell: Dog Detective Series; The Team series
8-year-old: Around the World in Eighty Days, King Arthur, Robin Hood; Illustrated Animal Stories
9-year-old: Moonrunner; Illustrated Stories for Boys (or Girls); Story of Inventions
10-year-old: Wickit Chronicles; Children's Encyclopedia; Illustrated Dictionary of Math
11-year-old: Big Book of Fantasy Quests; True Adventure Collection
12-year-old and up: World Wars; Internet-Linked Reference Set; See Inside Your Body
*These books are also great for children with sensory-needs and autism! Check out our Touchy Feely 1, 2, 3 and Touchy Feely ABC or There's a Mouse About the House.

Graduation Day

Yeah!!!!! Justin Graduated!!!!!!!! Yep, on May 1st Justin walked the walk of the graduate. It was busy, and parking horrible. Luckily, everyone got there to celebrate this special day. For Emma's sake the talks weren't too terribly long, and we made it through. It was a really fun day. Thank you everyone that has helped us get to this day. We couldn't have made it without your love, support, and prayers. In two weeks Justin will be starting PT school. So don't stop praying. We will also be moving on May 9th into Emily's parents house. It's so strange the path the Lord takes us.

Easter

So, it takes us forever to blog. Easter was a lot of fun. We didn't know how Emma would like it but she began to get the concept after awhile. We had to show her the first couple of eggs but then she found them by herself. The tricky part was getting her to let go of the egg she found so she could go get another one.

For Easter Emma got her favorite snack (Graduate Puffs) and a stuffed animal lamb. She really seemed to like the lamb.

After church we went to spend the day with Nana and Papa. It was a lot of fun to see everybody, and to do another egg hunt. Emma was a pro. The best part for Justin was getting the daddy tax on all of the goodies! Thank you Nana and Papa for such a fun day.

The Saturday after Easter was the Jones/Cross family Easter party. It was also Grandma's 50th birthday party. It was a beautiful day. The egg hunt was a lot of fun. Things seem a lot more fun when you get to see the joy that someone (like your kid) is having.

So Emma didn't really like the grass the first time that she was introduced to it at Nana's, but Daddy got her over her fears.

This was an awesome Easter season!