Diseny World 2011

When Mitch was away on his deployment Marshall and I would comfort each other with the fact that when Daddy got back we were going to go to Disney World as a family. It was very difficult to be apart. My favorite place in the entire world is just to be with my family. So when Mitch got back I was anxious to book my exclusive family vacation with the two most important men in my world.

It seemed to me like a right of passage for Mitch and I. Not only were we celebrating Mitch's return, but we were also celebrating our 7 year anniversary. It seemed kind of funny because we celebrated on 1 year anniversary at Disney Land. Now six years later we were taking our son to Disney World. As we stood in line for the Peter Pan ride. I almost started to cry happy tears. It just felt so wonderful to be able to make such fun memory with Marshall.


We bought the 5 day hopper pass. We went to Disney World 2 days, Hollywood Studios 2 days and Animal Kingdom 1 day and then went to their Blizzard Beach waterpark on a separate day.



Our favorite ride at Disney World was hands down, the Pirates of the Caribbean. To add to our euphoria Marshall was hand selected by Jack Sparrows himself to become an honorary pirate. That was awesome.





For us it was the perfect time to go as a family. Marshall is the perfect age where everything was simply magical, he was tall enough to ride on almost all the rides. We took Marshall on the Hollywood Tower of Terror, which he admitted he never wants to go on again. I don't blame him. We went in June, it was blastedly hot and humid but once I got over the fact that I was just going to sweat and I would have to wear my hair up and no foundation it wasn't so bad. I would do it all over again in a heart beat!



At Hollywood Studios Marshall was selected to participate in the Jedi training in front of the Star Wars ride. Well low an behold guess who showed up? Darth Vador. He fought the evil Darth Vader.





Marshall LOVES Indian Jones. He about died when he saw this getup. He couldn't understand why I would not buy him a real leather whip.

A few things from May

In true "Anna Emerick" blogging style I have ignored the fact that I have a blog for months and then bombard you with a brief overview of what has happened in our lives those months of blogging absence.

Mitch got back from his overseas deployment in April. The four month deployment ended up being only three months. Lucky for Marshall and I. Although I do have to say we took pretty good care of each other while he was away, we really like having him home. It is great to be a family again under one roof!

In April, we took a visit up to Great Pap Hepner's house for a visit. Mitch and Marshall took a ride with Pap on the fishing boat. I love Pap and Gram Hepner. They are so sweet and always make me feel so welcome in their home.


In May we attended the Andrew's Airforce Base Air Show. We went there last year and had such a great time we decided to make it a yearly tradition.
I am so proud to be an American. I seriously got goose bumps as the fighter jets flew over our heads and listened to the deafening roar of freedom.

They have so many different types of airplanes and fighter jets on display. I have about a hundred pictures from the day. I will spare you. Since you will probably see another post NEXT year.

At the very end of May we took a weekend trip with some of our friends, the Anderssons and the Nears to Topsail, NC. I have never been to a NC beach or rented a beach house before but I have to tell you I could seriously do this once a month.




It was such a great time. Each family had their own room. Even the 3 goonies: Marshall, Josh and Brendan had their own room together - not that they slept much. We played in the sand, laid out, read books, and ate. Heck, we almost formed a band with our crazy bad guitar hero skills! Ok, I lied, we didn't. But it was so fun.

NYC Girls Trip

Is that me on the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC? YES! Can I tell you about an amazing weekend I had earlier this month? Let me first begin by telling you that I have amazing women in my life. For some reason I have been blessed with really good friends and family. A group of us (10 in total) took a weekend and took NYC by storm. We arrived in NY at like 5:30 AM on Friday! We went to the Today Show and stood outside hoping with all our high hopes to get caught on camera, but because of the earthquake in Japan they didn't come outside the studio. Never mind, we still had fun. AND we can say we went to the Today show. I saw Al thru the window!
This beautiful gal is my sister-in-law Trisha who joined us on the trip. She is really an awesome and fun girl to be with. I was so glad that she came with and by the end of it she swore she didn't think any of us were crazy.
We took a subway to Brooklyn and walked the Brooklyn bridge. Then strolled ourselves over to Little Italy for some amazing lasagna and were harassed in China town.

Of course we went to a BROADWAY show on Friday night! We went to the Broadway Musical, Memphis. Really, really good.
Saturday Morning went to visit Lady Liberty. Let me tell you, she is stunning!

Looking back at NYC from the Island. Can see the Brooklyn bridge in the far distance. You see how long that is? Yes, I walked across the entire thing! I know, it's awesome.
Ellis Island. It was amazing. I love, love, love looking at pictures. In the upper part of the building you can go through room to room seeing the process and actual pictures of what the new immigrants went through. It was interesting.
Inside Ellis Island.
Ellis Island gift shop.
Okay, so this place was incredible, we went there Sat. night after I bought 2 super super super cute purses, ring, and ear rings in China town. It's called "The Stardust Diner." When you go to NY you must go there. The food is yummy, but the service and entertainment is EXCELLENT. The servers are all aspiring Broadway stars. They sing and dance on the tables and through the entire restraunt. It was so neat!
Ordering our food at the Stardust Diner.
As we were getting ready to leave Sunday morning a limo driver asked if we needed a ride. Yes, yes we did. For $35 bucks we rode in style to our bus stop. That's right, we took a limo to the bus stop! It was my first time ever in a limo, and let me tell you, a girl could get use to that!
All in all, it was amazing. I can't wait to go back! Next year? Whose with me?

So for Christmas last year (yes, 2010)...

So for Christmas last year (yes, like 3 or so months ago) I decided that I was going to hand make all of the gifts that I gave to my family members. I know what you are thinking, I bet you learned your lesson. Nope. I enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I am already planning in my mind what I am going to do THIS year.

For my mama, mama-in-law, sister, sister-in-laws, sister-in-laws friend, and nieces I made these super cute slippers. I don't do many things that I think turn out. But these did. I was happy with the final result. What do you think?



I found out how to make them and printed the FREE pattern on Prudent Baby (my new favorite) blog. Here is the tutorial on it: http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/10/how-to-make-fabric-slippers-with-free.html

For my sweet nephews I made these adorable, and so SEW easy little boy ties. Here is the website that is on the FREE pattern that I printed off. It's www.purlsoho.com I am going to be honest here. I wanted to link you to the actual tutorial that I used but I can't find it anywhere. I originally googled "little boy tie patterns" and that is how I found the above mentioned site. Here are two pics a tie that I made for Marshall. I have made about 20 since then. Here we are getting ready to go to church.


Isn't he cute...waiting so patiently for us to get out the door.

For my brothers, brother-in-law, Dad, and Dad-in-law I struggled. What do you make for guys that they will actually use? So I opted for the fleece with the cut and tied blanket. No pictures cause they just weren't that cool.
As I mentioned before, my mind is already at work with new ideas for Christmas. Any suggestions?

A Trip out West

Holy cow! It's been so long since I have posted anything I almost forgot HOW TO POST!
Sooooo since my last post, stuff has happened, Halloween happened, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, then New Years and Valentines and a bunch of other stuff happened. We had fun doing all that stuff and I took pictures. So I am not going to try to play catchup cause it's too daunting and makes me hate blogging. So I am just going to post a trip Marshall and I enjoyed together.
In January Marshall and I flew out to Utah to for a two week visit! It had almost been TWO YEARS since I had gone back to Utah for a visit. I know, I know, I am ashamed of myself for allowing so much time to have passed. Marsh and I were so excited to visit with family and friends.There is something you should know about my little boy Marshall. He LOVES all animals. Animals sometimes love him. He fell instantly in love with my sister's pets during our visit. Cotton, the friendly feline in the above and below pictures, put up with a lot of LOVE from Marshall.
Marshall LOVED being with his cousin's Ela May and Luke. He had a great time playing imagination, dancing, singing duets on the guitar with Ela and Luke accompanying with the bell and wrestling! I haven't laughed that much in months! The three of them together were a riot! Watching them interact and play reminded me a lot of my childhood with my siblings. Uncle Dave let us come and visit him at Timpview High School and watch the high schoolers wrestle and then Marshall got to join in the fun as well! It was awesome!

Marshall got a "Utah hair" cut at Cookie Cutters in American Fork. It's this awesome little hair cuttery that is just for children. Marshall loved sitting in his own airplane and watched, "The Incredibles" all while getting his hair cut!
I think one of my favorite parts of my trip was spending time with my little sister. She is a really neat person, with such a kind heart. Most people don't know how amazing she is. I am glad that I got to spend some quality time with her.
We had such a great visit with my parents. Marshall absolutely adores his grandparents. He especially loves his grandpa's stories.

We took a day and drove down to visit my Grandma Nielson in St. George. Marshall had met her once before when he was just a year old. As you can imagine he has changed quite a bit. We were able to visit with my Uncle Carl and Aunt Joanne, and Aunt Paula. It was so good to see them all. It had been so long. Grandma Nielson had been so ill with cancer. She passed away about two weeks after I returned. I wasn't able to go back out for the funeral. I was am so very grateful that I was able to see her and say goodbye to her while I was there. She was a wonderful grandmother and I am so grateful for her life.
My dad with his mother.
We also were able to visit Uncle Greg (Mitch's brother) and Aunt Katherine in Provo. We had lunch at Brick Oven and then we stopped by this place called "The Sweet Tooth Fairy" for some cupcakes. Oh my gosh! They were delicious! I have never tasted a cupcake so good before in my life. I ended up buying half a dozen to take home and share with my sis and parents. They were that good! Katherine and Greg let us hang out at their apartment for the afternoon. It was great to see them! We just think they are great!
I had a roommate reunion with two of the greatest girls in the whole wide world. I have to tell you that the two girls below are some of the worlds best kept secrets! I love them! They were my roommates at BYU-Idaho. I think nothing but the very best of them. L to R Katy W. (I know, she is radiant with her pregnancy glow), me (I know what you are thinking - gosh Anna, you picked the ugliest picture of yourself to post with your roommates, well friends, this IS the best picture of me from that night) and Kristen G.
Kristen gave birth to her beautiful baby girl, 45 minutes before this picture was taken. Okay not really but like 4 days earlier. Who looks this good after just having a baby? No one, except Kristen.