Virginia

Lucy and I were lucky enough to take a trip to visit the Berget's at the end of October (Brad was supposed to be in Brazil). We had fun seeing some of the memorial/monuments that I hadn't seen before, we saw the butterfly exhibit at the Smithsonian, we went to the Baltimore Aquarium, had a tour of the Capital, and had a fun Halloween. We had a lot of fun. Love you guys!

Daddy "Pumpkin" Time

Brad and Lucy carved our pumpkin together.

So Bossy!

Lucy is talking a lot more, and saying some of the funniest things. For example—The other day I put Lucy down for a nap, but she never fell asleep. When I went to get her from her crib she said "Lucy not sleep at all" she continued to say that off and on for the next few minutes and then one time followed it with "Lucy happy. La La La!" She has also begun to ask the question Why? And with all of this has come some bossy behavior. Here is an example.

I'm an Esme!

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My cute little pumpkin

Really, can you get any cuter?




(look how much hair she is getting!)

Fall Activities

One thing I love about where we live is the farms. This year we have gone to the farm to get asparagus, strawberries, and most recently apples, pears, and pumpkins. Lucy had a lot of fun. She even enjoyed a pear in the car on the way home. At the pumpkin patch she was so easily distracted (pumpkins, dirt, wagon, corn, dirt, slide, bunnies, dirt, pumpkin buggy) it was hard to get a lot of good pictures.

September's Project — DONE!

Brad and I decided to do some work on our front doorway for our project in September. And, guess what, it's done. Wahoo! Here are the before, during, and after pictures.

A long time...

It's been a long time since I really updated this thing, and now at 11:30 pm I've decided to do it. Here we go!

We spent the last two weeks of July doing A LOT of driving! We packed up the car and headed west. Our first destination was Colorado. We were able to see Brad's sisters Nicole and Monica and their families. We were also lucky enough to be there for the baptism of Macey. After a short time there we headed north with Brad's parents to Montana. We had a nice time visiting with them, Grandma Johns, and some of Brad's aunts.

After a few days there we left Montana for a scenic drive to Island Park, Idaho for a family reunion with my family. Along the way we did some garnet mining (Lucy was a big help there) and we went to a huge candy store in Nevada City.

While in Island park, we spent an evening in West Yellowstone enjoying the Playmill Theatre, jet skiing, hanging out at the lake, rafting, and hanging out with the cousins. After a few days there, we loaded up the car once again and headed down to Sandy Utah to spend the rest of our vacation.


Then, all too soon, we loaded up the car for the very long (I'm hoping I can forget about it) trip back home to Wisconsin. We had a lot of fun—that is, when we weren't in the car. Thanks everyone.


Once back in Wisconsin, Lucy soon learned about dress up clothes and loves to wear her pink dress (A blue Cinderella has been added to the collection, but I'm trying to save that one for Halloween)


After weeks of separation, Lucy and I went to the park with Lena and Kathleen for lunch. There was a live band there and then the kids can play in the fountain.



Some of you may remember pictures of Lucy eating in our garden last summer. Well, she is still the vegetable loving fool—just like Daddy. Her favorite by far is the tomatoes. She was eating them green and orange. I'm surprised any of them lasted long enough to turn red.



We also enjoyed the Miller Electric Family Picnic. There was good food, a petting zoo, and Lucy enjoyed a ride on a camel and her first carnival ride. Of course it was at a park and she was more interested in playing on the swing and slide. Figures.


Then the beginning of my long nightmare began. On August 15th around 11:40 pm, just as I was getting ready to wake Brad from his nap on the couch to go to bed, he started having a seizure. He had one 4 years earlier and we thought that was a one time thing—apparently not. Here he is in the hospital. It took a week for him to recover and here is a picture of him napping. Lucy thought he needed some of her toys (stuffed crab, toy phone, Cinderella card, Cinderella doll and case, and of course Elmo) and then tried to mimic him herself.


Unfortunately it didn't end there. On September 30th 1:00 am, as I rolled over in bed, Brad had his third seizure. This was the first one were he didn't take a trip to the emergency room. The recovery from this one has been a lot better. He is already back to work. However his "return to driving" date has now been changed from November 13th to the first of the year (as long as he is seizure free). On the bright side we have felt so much love from our friends here in Wisconsin. Their willingness to help out is truely appreciated. I can't thank everyone enough.

Corn on the cob

Just like her mother, Lucy LOVES corn on the cob.

Who needs the park?

So, I have a lot I need to blog about, but I thought I would throw this in real quick, until I have more time to do think about my blog. Here is one of Lucy's new ways to keep life at the park at home. Her other is to lean her car seat against the couch and then climb on the couch and "slide" down it.

4th of July

Here are a few pictures and a video from our 4th of July. We started our day with a ward breakfast and then introduced Lucy to the world of Snaps. She had fun with them. Then later we went to some friends house to eat and hang out. We didn't stay late enough to see the fireworks, but we came home and did some of our own and then it was time for bed.

June

Well, I've been meaning to update this thing all month and am finally getting around to it. June has been a busy, fun, and at times an exciting month.

Our first adventure would be the visit from Sarah and Carson. After some weather delays, (why does that always happen to my sisters) Sarah arrived. During her stay, we did some shopping (I got a 50% off at Gymboree!), had the kids pictures taken, and we celebrated Carson's first birthday. Happy Birthday Carson! Since he was too young to object, we celebrated most of Lucy's then too. We decorated, wrapped presents, and baked a few cakes. I think the balloons were a bigger hit than the gifts, but we had fun.

There was also a lot of rain here in Wisconsin during the month of June. Half of the state has been declared a disaster, and there was some significant flooding in Oshkosh (15 min south) and Fon du Lac (40 min south), not to mention the Fox River being above flood stage and last I heard they were still waiting for it to crest. Maybe it finally has, but you never know. Along with these rains, we have had some damaging winds. One of those hit close to home...literally! Sarah, Carson, and I were in the kitchen getting dinner ready. Lucy was in the dining room, and Brad was somewhere in between. We were watching the news because there was a possibility of a tornado and all of a sudden we hear a crash. Sarah and I look out the window to see if lightning struck, and what we see is part of a tree that fell across our driveway (blocking it). We were really lucky since we were all on that side of the house and the tree branch mostly missed the house (no damage done there). Also, our car had been parked in the driveway and maybe 40 minutes earlier Brad moved it into the garage saving it from the tree. So the branch was about 48' long and at the base 1'6" in diameter at the base and the section in our driveway was about 12" in diameter. So, I called my wonderful visiting teacher Pam to arrange a ride for the next morning and asked her if she happened to know anyone with a chainsaw. She didn't, but not long later, her son and husband drove up with an ax and a saw and went to work. Sarah and I tried to get them to come inside because of the lightning but that didn't work. We are very grateful to them for their help. On a side note we had some water leaking in the basement as well. And I thought I loved the rain. ;)

Lucy turned 2 on June 19th. Happy Birthday Lucy! We took her to the doctor and she was so brave. She had to get one shot and she didn't cry. She weighed in at 30 lbs (86%), 35.25" tall (85%) and 48.4 cm for her head (74%). She opened her big present from her parents on her birthday. The Little People House. She loves it.

The last adventure would have been last Saturday. We got up and moving early in the morning and met our friends Adam, Kahleen, and Lena Mangum at I Hop for breakfast. Then we drove out to Cuff Farms and picked strawberries. We had so much fun eating and picking. Lucy was a mess! She was eating the strawberries, the stems, green ones, picked ones, ones from the Mangum's box (she was our little strawberry poacher). She was all over the place. In the end we came home with almost more strawberries than we could handle, which made for a lot of jam. Yummy!

Lucy's new accomplishment is that she counted to 11 by herself today. She's getting so big. She also recognizes a lot of letters, and is starting to sing along with Cinderella (still her favorite). Her favorite book this week is There's a Wocket in my Pocket. Favorite sayings/words: Oh no!, rasins?, go away, luv you, you ok?, beep beep, I get you, I stuck, movie?, balloon, and oh boy. She is jabbering up a storm and is loving her stuffed dog Wiffer, he goes with her everywhere (in the house). She likes to play peek a boo with him and her doll house.

Hair!

Here is proof to anyone who didn't believe me when I said Lucy was getting more hair.

Tagged x 2

So, I’ve been tagged by two people, so I’m combining them…

10 Years ago:
1998. 10 years ago I would have just finished my first year at Rick’s College. I had decided to become a graphic designer (good choice). I survived my hardest art class, and made some good friends in the process. I spent the summer being a nanny for the Clausens.

On My To Do List:
-everything!
-weed and work in the yard
-finish painting jobs around the house
-work
-blog
-clean the basement
-clean the kitchen
-grocery shopping

5 Places that I've lived:
1. Pleasanton, CA
2. Sandy, UT
3. Logan, UT
4. Rexburg, ID
5. Neenah, WI

5 Jobs I've had:
1. Ricks College- Graphic Services
2. BYU-Design Department something er rather
3. USU- Marketing Communications/PDP
4. PJ Livingston Company
5. Mom/freelance designer

What I would do if I became a billionaire:
Build a NEW ”old house” Pay off loans. Get a second car. With the leftovers? I don’t know

Bad Habits:
Me? Bad habits, I don’t think so. Umm... I’m always telling/checking to make sure Brad is doing what he is doing how I want it. I think of it is a preventative measure, but he thinks otherwise.

Things I enjoy:
Nice weather
Smell of rain
Listening to music
Watching Lucy
Snuggling with Brad

Things people don't know about me:
I hate paying the bills
I'm really into finding new recipes right now
I love fresh flowers in the house
How much I enjoy watching Brad play with Lucy

Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours

1. I can't stand the feel of dirty hands

2. I have a super sensitive sniffer.

3. I can't go more than a day without talking to someone in my family. If I do, it's not for lack of trying. ;)

4. Anytime I talk about Lucy I have to say that she is "really cute" even if she is being naughty, because she is... really cute :)

5. Constantly critiquing things

6. I HAVE to wear my seatbelt. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. No seatbelt, I ain't goin!

I tag anyone who would respond. :)

Rella!

I thought I would see if I could go a whole 2 months before I updated this thing, but too many people are on my case about it. I'm sorry it's taken so long, I've been busy. So, here is what we have been up to:

We have been doing lots of work on our house. We put a door in at the top of the stairs down to the basement and then put beadboard up on the walls by the door. We still have to paint the door though. We painted the sun room/office and bathroom. That involved sanding the walls a little to get rid of the rough sand textures (Ouch! and Yuck!) Then we put up new blinds and some new accessories in the bathroom. With the leftover paint, we painted the extra room upstairs. Wow! What a difference that made. We put in 4 new light fixtures and drapes! We have drapes. I'm still working on the tie backs for those but we are making progress. In addition to the house work, we got a new TV and entertainment center. This thing is 4 times the size of our old TV. And during all of this, spring as sprung and we have begun some work outside. Last weekend brad "trimmed" the hedge between our house and our neighbors. When I say trimmed I mean hacked off 3-4 feet! Maybe this weekend we will get the garden planted.

My mother also came out for a visit. She helped pick out the drapes. Thanks mom! We had so much fun with Grammy, Lucy was sad to see her go and would look for her after naps a few times. We got our hair done, and shopped and visited, it was great. We sure wish we were closer to family.

So, for an update on Lucy, she is chatting up a storm and so cute! We have decided that she is trying to say a blessing on the food. When we are in the middle of the blessing, she will start jabbering (with her arms folded) and then say amen. She has also started trying to sing. At church she will hum along with the hymns while holding the hymn book (one of her favorite things). When Elmo's world comes on she sings along with Elmo—yah, yah, yah. And today when I was putting her down for her nap I sang "Give Said the Little Stream" and when I started she started saying "give-way, give-way". She loves to go outside and play, go for walks, ride in the wagon, run down the driveway, and go to the park. She loves the park. We will drive by the park by our house and she will say to us "Slide? Slide?" She is doing better at feeding herself with a fork, and her new favorite past time is to draw/color. She used her aquadoodle during all of sacrament meeting—nothing else. I was shocked! (she also might be a lefty). Yesterday we went outside and used the sidewalk chalk—Alyce, I understand play clothes now.

Cinderella, Cinderella, night and day it's Cinderella... LITERALLY!!!! (Hence the title of this post) Lucy has a new love, she likes movies, but she loves Cinderella (or Rella as she calls her). If I try to put on a different Disney movie this is how the conversation would go

Lucy: (she will watch for a few minutes) "Rella?"
Me: "No, this is Beauty and the Beast."
Lucy: "Beast?"
Me: "That's right"
Lucy: (watches for a few more minutes) "Rella?"
Me: "No, that's Belle, isn't she pretty"
Lucy: (watches for a few more minutes) "Rella! RELLA RELLA!!!!"
Me: "Ok, we can watch Cinderella"

Brad has been busy with work. He recently had a business trip to San Diego. He is no longer the ward mission leader, now he is the assistant ward clerk over finances. I still think that's funny because I take care of all of our finances. Brad is glad that the weather is warmer because that means he can ride is motorcycle to work. Lucy calls it a-cycle, and when one drives by our house she will turn her head and say "Daddy?" He is also a published author. Check it out.

I've been busy doing my design work, and I am no longer in the nursery on Sunday. Now, I'm with the Sunbeams. Still just as chaotic, but nice to have a break from Lucy and Lucy to have a break from me.

Well there you have it, a brief update on the Hemmert's.

Make Believe

Lucy is showing a more nurturing side. She is feeding Baby Stella and buckling her into the car seat. If you look close at Elmo, he has fish crackers in his mouth. She insisted on buckling him in, putting the bib on him, putting the tray on, and then feeding him (she was taking her snack and putting it in a bowl for Elmo). It's really quite cute.

Snow!

The title of this is one of Lucy's new words today (along with Papa), and boy was she excited to get out there in the snow—maybe she was just really excited to get out of the house?!? So, there she was right along side of Daddy shoveling snow. Her cheeks were so pink and she kept running back and forth the length of our driveway. Then she decided she wanted to help shovel, although her gloves got in the way, so she decided to remove them. It was too cold outside for that—no gloves, time to go inside. Church was also canceled today because the morning started with freezing rain, and the roads were ice. After the rain came ALL of the snow. It was fun to watch it fall and blow around and then to see Lucy out there playing, especially since she didn't have very much fun in the snow in Utah over Christmas.