Visit to Chicago

While we were in Michigan, Tyler, Emma, and I took a road trip to Chicago to see my grandparents. Emma enjoyed how Mumma would read her books and play "Itsy Bitsy Spider":

She also liked how Poppa would took her to the playground and played ball with her:

And we even managed to get Emma to sit still for a picture:

The Zoo Crew

Our membership to the Bronx Zoo expires next week, so we thought we'd plan one last trip. We invited our friends Maile, Kaia, and Asher to go with us. The weather was perfect and so was the company--in the last few weeks that she's been in nursery at Church, Emma has really become attached to Asher, who is also in the class. It was so fun to watch them chase each other. If Emma tried to run away, I could get her to come back by telling her to follow Asher, or Asher would follow Emma. We were at the zoo only a month ago, but Emma has gotten much better at spotting the animals.

Look Mom, it's a tapir!

Lookin' cool when it's hot.

Wait for me! Emma chases Asher, who chases Kaia.

Who needs animals?

Emma likes all kinds of doggies, even prairie dogs...

This one's for Kaia, who wanted me to take a picture of the pigs.

You know it was a fun day when it ends like this!

For the Love of a Dog

When we were visiting my parents in Michigan, Emma became quite attached to their dog, Shadow. I'm not sure she totally loved him, but he definitely provided hours of entertainment. They were about the same size, they ate similar foods (cheese, Reese's puffs cereal that looked like the dog's food), and they had a mutually beneficial relationship. Emma liked to follow Shadow around and climb on furniture with her, while Shadow was much appreciative of Emma's habit of dropping food in her path. Every morning Emma woke up at 6 am (yes, SIX...not my favorite part of our trip) saying "doggie" and "woof woof" in her crib, and the first thing we'd do was find Shadow. It was fun to watch them play, and Shadow was the subject of Emma's first two sentences: "Hi, doggie!" and "Where'd he go?"

This Girl Needs a Backyard

One of Emma's favorite things about visiting her Grandma and Grandpa was their backyard. We spend several afternoons just hanging out in the driveway and watching Emma play. She loved the Little Tykes car (a relic of yesteryear, though I never had one--it belonged to one of the spoiled younger siblings) and chasing Tyler. She would copy him no matter what he did. (Sorry for the photo overload--feel free to skip if you're not a blood relative :).

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Hooray Tyler!

My little brother graduated from high school last week and Emma and I traveled to Michigan so we could be there (hence the blog silence the last couple of weeks). Tyler is fun, outgoing, and kind, and we're really excited for him to be off to BYU in the fall. It was a nice day to be with my family and celebrate Tyler's accomplishments, as well as reflect on what I've been doing since I graduated high school (has it really been 10 years????).

Mom, Dad, and Brittany with Tyler

Us with Tyler

We were gone for 9 days, and also took a road trip to Chicago, so more pictures coming soon!