fiddler on the roof

i love traditions. there is just something about them that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. and, in my opinion, there is absolutely no better time for traditions then Christmas. i look back fondly at the many Christmas traditions of my family - pizza on Christmas eve, calling your spot around the tree, reading 'the polar express', and many more. i was saddened to recently learn that these "traditions" are only a few years old and that they don't date back to the dawn of time as i imagined them to. but traditions have to start sometime, and what better time to start new traditions then now with our small, but growing family.

unfortunately, one growing tradition for us seems to be working on Christmas eve. amber worked til 6 and i had to go in at 10 that night and wouldn't get off til 9 in the morning. this meant a Christmas day wasted away sleeping instead of with my family, which did not sound fun at all. as soon as amber got off work, we headed down to my brother's house for dinner (we had pizza by the way, so tradition = check). we then headed home to squeeze in a few more traditions before i had to get off to work.
we gathered our young family around the tree and started our Christmas by reading luke chapter 2, the story of the birth of our Savior. we then read part of 'the polar express'. we then opened one present each. and between the activities, we made sure to sing a Christmas carol or two. it was a wonderful evening. we then put claire to sleep because word on the street was that santa was on his way.
well i was off to work, but fortunately was back home 30 minutes later because my bosses love me. so having actually slept during the night, i was ready for a day full of Christmas fun. presents were a bit different this year. instead of trying to surprise each other, we sort of just told each other what we wanted, in some cases helping to actually buy it. while this did eliminate most of the surprise factor, we knew for sure that we'd like everything we got. :) among other presents, i got some movies, a video game, and a filing cabinet! (i'm so ocd.) amber got a tripod for her camera, a knitting and crocheting kit, and a sewing machine! (so she could, to quote amber, "get her craft on!") and claire got a mobile, a tray for her bumbo, and a couple bowls and spoons to go along with her brand new box of rice cereal! we are so excited to feed her solid-ish foods for the first time.
after presents, we headed over to amber's parents' house for Christmas dinner. we were joined by daniel, amber's sister lindy and her family of 9, and heidi, who brought along not 1, but 2 boys to dinner. what a player. :) it was a wonderful dinner, followed by plenty of games and good times. later that evening we headed back to my brother's house for some cake and ice cream to celebrate my niece's Christmas birthday.
this Christmas marked our 4th Christmas as a couple, but this was our first as a family. i'm sure our beautiful daughter claire won't remember a single moment of this Christmas, but amber and i have found so much joy in sharing every little tradition with her.
tradition!

"there was ten in the bed and the little one said..."

what kind of parents would we be if we didn't boast of every little thing our little girl did? :)

our little claire is discovering all the little noises she can make. she just loves sitting and talking to herself. she also has recently discovered her mouth, so everything she can pick up heads straight there. she loves sucking on her fist and it is amazing how far she can get it in her mouth. :)

and now, for claire's latest trick...

amber had tried for days to get a video of her rolling over, but the stars were never quite aligned right. but on this day, she was a rolling machine. she seriously rolled over 5 or 6 times in a row as we were trying to take this video. as soon as we put her on her stomach, she was on her back again. you can see at the beginning that i had to force her not to roll over til we were ready to record it. :) we love that she's learned that if she throws that little arm of hers in the air, her momentum takes her over. this will not help with tummy time. :)

and just for a good laugh... :)

Feeling Crafty?

So every once in a while I just get that urge to make something or be crafty in some way. A couple weeks ago Scott and I were talking about some wall decorations for Claire's room. We could have bought something, but figured we could save money by making something ourselves. Plus, it would be something fun to do together and to pass time while Claire's napping. So we decided to paint our own canvas pictures. :) We bought the canvas at Joann's for like 4 dollars each, bought some paint and brushes and went to work!

We drew the pictures of the animals using pictures online as guides but then changing them a little more to how we liked.

We cut them out, traced them onto the canvas, painted them, and outlined them with a sharpie

Voila! The first finished project! :)

I didn't take pictures of the rest, but you get the idea...

I like how they turned out, I hope Claire enjoys looking at them! :)

And speaking of crafts... Every Christmas since we got married (so this is only the third) we've put up an ornament with a family picture in it. We thought it'd be a fun tradition and we could see our family grow with our ornaments. The last two years we bought ornaments and just put a picture in them. This year I decided to put together my own ornament. It was a little more difficult and didn't quite turn out exactly how I wanted, but I think it'll work. :)

I just got a clear plastic ornament from Michaels, put some red berries and our picture inside (tricky business!) and put little snowflake stickers on the outside and a ribbon on top. :)

Now that I'm done with these I need a new project...I'm thinking maybe crib bedding to match the canvas pictures or learning how to crochet a hat for Claire...I don't know yet. :)

10 More Facts About our Eclaire

1. Claire is now 4 months old. (Wow, the time flies!)

2. She is a whole whopping 13 lbs and 6 ounces. And stretches out to a good 24 1/2 inches long.

3. She is now in the 55th percentile in weight and height but she must have a smaller head cuz she's in the 25th percentile for head circumference.


4. We are now calling her by her middle name, Claire. We don't care if others still call her Emily, we like both, but we think she's looking more like a Claire. :)


5. She has a cute funny laugh that we hear occasionally, but mostly she likes to squeal and squawk and make as much noise as she can.

6. She's still in the process of learning to roll over. It's only happened 5 times now, but she lifts herself up on her arms so well now, in no time she'll be rolling all over the place!


7. She loves looking in mirrors. (I hope she doesn't get too full of herself! :) I stand her up in front of a mirror and she'll laugh and smile at herself and entertain herself for a good amount of time.

8. She's sleeping really good from about 9pm to 6 or 7am, then she'll stay up for about an hour and then sleep another 3 hours. Occasionally she wakes up and needs a pacifier but will go right back to sleep. Love it!


9. We've taken her swimming twice now and I'm pretty sure she loves it. She just stares and looks around at all the water in amazement.


10. She's a fun, active girl that definitely likes being entertained. She's started getting bored very quickly lately and wants to be picked up or played with almost constantly while she's awake. We both love her so much! :)

A Day of Thanks

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year to remember the things that we are grateful for. Recently we had a power surge that hit our apartment and we lost a few of our luxuries of life. While we do miss our toys, we are thankful for the opportunity to focus on the things that really matter and are important to us. This year we decided to make a list of a few of those things of which we are so grateful for...

Scott is thankful for...

1. my fantastic beautiful wife amber
2. my little claire bear
3. netflix
4. the ability to play sports, even though i'm old and fat
5. a good book
6. Christmas lights
7. trials that make us realize what's really important
8. the new homemade pizza recipe amber found
9. continuing education (thanks byu for taking me back)
10. the gospel of Jesus Christ

Amber is thankful for...

1. My wonderful handsome husband Scott
2. My beautiful daughter Emily Claire
3. A Heavenly Father that loves me
4. A warm comfortable home
5. Summertime and sunshine
6. Photography and the ability to capture memories
7. Music and the ability to hear
8. Friends that we are privileged to spend time with
9. Modern conveniences (microwaves)
10. Temples close by and the blessings we get from them

Emily Claire is thankful for...

1. mommy and daddy - my maid and butler
2. my play mat
3. my pacifier
4. not tummy time
5. the ability to hold my head up now
6. all the fun noises i can make
7. bath time
8. naps
9. clean diapers
10. all the funny noises and faces people make to get me to smile :)

Recent Happenings

Okay so I know I take entirely too many photos, but what can I say, she's our first and she has a mom that loves to take pictures! :)

Her neck muscles are getting stronger. She still doesn't like her tummy but she tolerates it a little better now.

Remember these ladies from my work...

We were able to get together for a little play date. :)

I love this look

She loves playing with Daddy!

...and she's already standing! (with a little help of course)

I love this girl with her round belly and chubby legs! :)

Anyone see the family resemblance? :)

Two Wonderful Years

So it's been a couple weeks since, but at the beginning of this month we celebrated our two year anniversary! We were able to drive up to Park City for the day and stay a night. We had to take our little Eclaire with us, but she was an angel the whole time and we didn't mind one bit. We got a way nice deal on the hotel we stayed at, seeing as it was a slow business time for Park City. Not warm enough for summer activities but no snow for the winter activities. :) We walked up and down the historic main street and shopped at the outlets. It was way fun!

Check out our room, including a fully stocked kitchen, so cool! :) Claire took over the whole king sized bed! :)

It's been an amazing two years. We've had a wonderful time together and I look forward to many more years and an eternity with Scott. I love you Scott! Happy Anniversary!

Lions and Tigers and...Elephants, Oh My!

Our Halloween fun started the Monday night before when we carved pumpkins! :) If you asked Emily she might say we were having a bit too much fun trying to get her to pose for us in the pumpkin...


Now some people might say that carving a pumpkin from a stencil is cheating...and maybe it is. I grew up carving pumpkins without using stencils and only in the last couple years have I started to use the stencils and I just have to say this - whether it's cheating or not, it's just as fun. It's still challenging (if not more so), it's still messy, it's still spending time with family. The only difference to me is I love how my stenciled ones look afterwards and I'm not as embarrassed to display them to the neighborhood. :)


Saturday night we celebrated Halloween by crashing a ward trunk or treat. We had bought Emily's elephant costume a week or two before at Walmart when we saw it. I love elephants so it was an easy choice for her costume. I've never been extremely crafty or creative but this year I sorta wanted us all to dress up with a theme. We thought maybe we could be safari guides or something to go with the elephant costume, but looking online we came up with the ideas for a tiger and lion costume. I glued felt to my shirt and made the cat ears and glued felt loops on one of those winter hats that buttons under the chin for Scott's mane and our costumes were pretty much set. Only problem was we realized lions are native to Africa while tigers are native to Asia. So all together we're just zoo animals. :)


Thanks Emily for getting us some candy with your cuteness. It was a hard day's work for that little girl. She deserved a break. :)