Road Trip!

Up north for a dorm-mates reunion!!
We drove to Oregon this past weekend. It was beautiful.... deer, snow, and here's Mt. Shasta.
We stayed at Allison, Chet and Ella Bolen's lovely house. Ella is ten months old, and super sweet! Allison is an amazing chef and treated us to 3 days of wonderful meals!! Chet was a pro on the BBQ as well! I felt like we were being spoiled at a Bed and Breakfast with some of my favorite people!! What a blessing!
Ella can walk and crawl, and wanted to teach Emily how. :)
Crystal (Barber) Lazenby and her husband Jeremy and their girls Lili (14 months) and Maddie (3 months) came from 4 hours away for this fun reunion! Both Allison and Crystal were bridesmaids in our wedding! Crystal's girls are almost as adorable as she is!!
We loved meeting and playing with each others' sweet dollies! Above, none of us are holding our own!
It snowed this day, but then was beautiful, so we went for a nice walk!
The 4 girls together
Scott and I holding Maddie Lazenby... the youngest one there
Ella sharing her toys with Emily. Emily is younger but bigger than Ella. Ella is smaller, but independently mobile. It was funny to see such a little person walking around!
Emily loved Crystal!
Ella could cruise around and visit with anyone she wanted to!
On Sunday the girls enjoyed being in the nursery together.
The Bolens have a very cool dog.... Buster
A family picture Sunday at their house. Thankfully, Scott had Cesar Chavez day off, so we took our time and drove back Monday. The weekend was a refreshing time of sweet fellowship and hilarious FUN!

Visiting family

Emily and I went to my cousin Aimee's place to visit with her and her baby Jack. Jack smiles so sweetly and is quite a happy little guy!

Resurrection Sunday

Emily in her first Easter dress, with Elly helping her stand up. :) Her Grandma Donna bought it for her.

Grandma Donna came to visit us during her Spring Break! Emily was pleased to get a lot of play time in, and she chatted quite a bit with her Montana grandma.
Emily likes to read to her daddy. She has lots to say these days.

It seems the days of toothless grins are coming to an end. This may be one of the last gummy smile pictures.... we can see teeth are on their way!
Look how fast I can move my arms! The camera can't even capture them!
But I'm going to try to capture the camera!

Grandpa Buss comes to visit! And a VERY fun gift comes in the mail!!

Carey's dad came up on Amtrak to see us for a few days! We had a great visit, and Emily loved getting some extensive walking lessons.
My dad says that her right leg is good at walking but the left leg doesn't really get it yet. So it looks like she'll still be using other modes of transportation for awhile. :)
Grandpa Buss held Emily during breakfast, during dinner, and even babysat while Scott and Carey went to an International Student party on Friday night! Thanks dad!!
A wonderful surprise package came in the mail a few days ago!!! My best friend from my days in China.... Linda.... mailed us an outfit that her sweet mother (AKA my Chinese mum) handmade for Emily. It is complete with sweater, pants, and adorable booties. It is sooooo cute and soft and perfect! Can you see the beautiful stitching?! It's Em's favorite sweater now!
In true Chinese fashion, it even has the crotchless feature that all the babies wear over there! (Since they don't use the diaper). I love it! However, I think it's too late to train her to go only when I whistle. :)

Bridger walked by and upset the photo shoot, but it turned out to be a good shot of the hairstyle she's sporting these days.

This must be why Scott thinks she's so adorable! :)

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Fun in Old Sac with Auntie Mollie and Uncle Jonathan

Emily loves to sit up now, and her lamb is a good friend... always there for her when she falls.

It's been awhile since we've posted! We're all just fine. Here's what we've been up to. Most days go like this...... I wake up
and ask mom, "what we gonna do today?"
We make a trip to the grocery store, where I get lots of attention
Smiling at all those people wears me out, so I take a break in my bouncy seat when we get home.
and have a good finger chewing session
Mom does some silly things, so she can hear my little laugh
After that, I play in my activity center that Bob and Chris got for me
Mom changes my shorts and I play with my feet
Then comes naptime ...... zzz

When dad gets home, Bridger and I help him do things on the computer.
And after a nice warm bath, and plenty of smooches, I'm off to bed!

Happy New Year!

Christmas with the Buss family sure was fun!
Emily got a "Little People" Nativity Set from her Buss Grandparents.... along with lots of other cute things from everyone!

Emily's first taste of food

Last night we decided to let Emily try some rice cereal for the first time. It was the first time to have a spoon, first time to have "solid" food, first time needing to do anything but drink.... and she thought it was GREAT fun. She smiled and smacked her way through a few tablespoons of it with delight. Some of it was even swallowed. Here's the progression of the feeding...

Emily under her first Christmas Tree

So she can't sit up yet, but she has daddy's knack for raising one eyebrow.

4 and a half months old and her eyes are still blue..... maybe they'll stay that way??

Allison and Ella Bolen came for a visit the Tuesday after Thanksgiving! Ella is two months older than Emily, and it was fun to see everything Ella could do!! They were on a big road trip from Oregon down to So. Cal... with many stops in between! Allison is a great friend from Masters, and it was a wonderful joy to see her again....with her little sweetie!!

Emily's first Thanksgiving was great fun! We celebrated with the Messers at their home. Here Emily is enjoying being held by Katie.

I guess technically Emily was with us last Thanksgiving, we just didn't know it!! :) She is a great blessing we are thankful for every day!