We're having a great time out here and we are all learning to be flexible. Em likes to scratch her nose with her foot. More to come later! :)

Visiting cousins Makinsa and Braelyn in Montana
Feeding the cows with Papa Eakman
Emily checking out the really big doggies
Playing at the farmhouse that her great-grandfather was born in.
Back in California enjoying our last day together as a complete family.... with Bridger. Tomorrow he goes to his new home.... where he may be even more spoiled than he currently is! :)

The last few weeks in review

This is Emily experiencing her first Montana winter.  We arrived to a -26 degree temp with wind chill factor.  Emily was properly bundled, and hasn't been allowed out to make snow angels yet.  :)
We had a fun Christmas in Bakersfield and you can see in the background that Carey got just what she wanted!  :)  

The week before Christmas

Grandpa Buss and Emily went to Toys R Us and came home with this special chair.
Emily really likes it and uses it for many purposes!  
The week before Christmas we also went and visited Nana at work, and met her friends.  

Enjoying living with friends

Katy teaches Emily to read music

Dinnertime fun!
Setting up Skype on our friends' computer, and practicing from the next room! It works so well, and is totally free! If any of you are interested in keeping in touch via video calling, download Skype and look us up! We'd love to talk with you through the internet as we move east and then further east.

This post is long overdue! We are alive and well! We have been out of house and home for 10 days now. The keys were handed over to the new owner a few days before Thanksgiving. Now we are enjoying living with generous friends for several weeks! We also are very happy to be expecting another baby... due in July!

Emily and Bridger playing

Today I couldn't see Emily but I could hear her laughing really hard. Then I came and found she had crawled into Bridger's bed and he chose to stay and play with her. They were having a great old time, and kept playing while I took some pics.
Bridgy was licking her hands and feet while she shrieked with joy.
I think these two are going to miss each other terribly.
I couldn't believe he stayed in his bed instead of running for safety somewhere else.

Grandma Eak came for 4 nights!

Grandma Eak came from Montana one last time to see us while we are here in Northern Cal. We had a good visit and went to all the favorite spots... even hit Baja Fresh two days in a row! In January we'll go visit our Eak relatives in Montana one last time... and Emily and I will get to experience some good Montana winter weather!

Gramps and Grams came to visit this weekend!

My mom and dad came to hang out with us for the weekend. We spent most of the day playing in the living room floor today... except for a lunch trip to Leatherby's Family Creamery.
Gramps let Em play with his cell phone. Lots of fun, but then alligator tears when he took it away. Oh the emotional highs and lows of toddler life.
Grams brought her this blue sparkly glitter bouncy ball. The blue glittery liquid is on the inside. It's hard to put into words how very cool it is! You'd have to see it to believe it! :)

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Emily likes to read Dr. Seuss to Bridger while he's curled up in his bed.
If he gets sleepy before she is done, she helps him hold his eyes open.
Emily says if you read it upside down and backwards there are secret messages.
Here she shows us her favorite page.

15 months old today!

Do you ever take 50 pictures in one evening... hoping to get few good ones, and then love them all so much that you can't bear to erase any of them??

She's very into climbing these days. And boxes abound around these parts.
Toothy grin

Any time Scott sits on the floor Emily comes right over and sits with him. Bridger saw an opportunity to taste Scott's white grape juice, and went for it before anyone noticed. But the camera doesn't lie.
Emily is enjoying being tall enough to scope out what is on the table and the coutertops and then choose something that looks fun.... in this case, Daddy's sunglasses.

Apple Hill, fun in the orchards

We had a great time at Apple Hill on Saturday, eating caramel apples, picking apples, and smelling yummy apple treats baking. It was COLD, but beautiful and fun! Elly helped Emily pick apples, and Katie and Elly helped her walk a bit.
The husband of our lovely photographer decided to stick an apple picker pole into our family picture. :)
She got the wild man under control and took another one.
It was a nice crisp day with nice crisp apples!

Last week we went for a walk and got to enjoy this beautiful rainbow. Of course it was more vivid in person, but you can imagine the scope of it from this pic. We didn't even have to walk in rain to enjoy it!
Some friends came over this weekend and Emily got to watch CARS with them. I was surprised to see her quit playing with her toys and going to join them on her own initiative.

Bishop's Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we drove out to Wheatland to a great Pumpkin Patch. We took a hay ride, ate a picnic lunch, enjoyed yummy pumpkin cake....
It was a fun group outing with 6 other families.
Em thought the gourds were neat
There was a petting zoo, a corn maze, and all sorts of fall fun.
We missed the pig races so Em could head on home for a snooze. :( She was like this by the time we got out of the parking lot.
Once we got home, a realtor wanted to bring some people through to look at our place, so Em decided to refresh herself with a Dr. Pepper instead of more sleep.
Don't worry, it's Diet. Actually, the tab is still in place, but apparently she knows how it's done.

She walks!

Emily has finally taken those long-awaited first steps! She did it on her own...we just happened to be near enough to notice. The motivation was wanting to get from the arm of the couch to Daddy (who was near the kitchen). She REALLY loves Daddy.

In other news, she has a molar, and it looks like a few more are on their way! She can eat a whole nectarine really fast now!

We are headed out to the Pumpkin Patch tomorrow. If we remember our camera, I'll post some pics soon!