happy 3 year anniversary!

To quote my dear friend Michelle Richards (names and years replaced), "Aaron and I recently celebrated our 3 year anniversary. We talked it over and we think we're going to shoot for 4." Haha... I love that Michelle!!

Aaron and I hit our 3 year mark last week!! Part of me feels like - Wow! It's been 3 years already? And part of me feels like we've always been married. When has there not been a furry, cuddly, snuggler in my bed? :) It sounds so cliche, but Aaron is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I dated some serious goobers and am so glad I chose to marry who I did. He is my level head. He is my confidence boost. He is my anti-stress pill. He is my balance in every way. He is my best friend. He is the most kind, gentle and fun person I know. He is the biggest goof ball I know. He makes me an even bigger goof ball than I ever knew I could be. And this year, he gave me our Emery, for which I owe him the world. As we always say, "life is good with you"! I love you, Aaron!

Here's a picture from our anniversary date (and some from previous years just for fun!). So glad we had a gift card to Olive Garden stashed away or let's be honest, we probably would have eaten at Taco Bell. We're so cheap. Gifts exchanged: I got Aaron sushi (his all time favorite meal - sick) and secretly learned to play the guitar and played him one of our favorite songs (Little Big Town - Bring It On Home). He got me 2 shirts with my Skinny Bovine's Kitchen logo printed on them. Love it! They will be for sale in all fine retail stores... or not. :)

3 years

2 years (hiding a 7 month pregnant belly behind Aaron)

2 months shy of 1 year (on our late honeymoon in Mexico)... closest I could find! :)

making her Daddy and Grandpa proud...

This is what I caught Emery doing earlier this week... and yes, she was drinking from the camelback, not just biting it. Her Daddy and Grandpa Wimmer are so proud.

sleep training revisited

I don't think I ever blogged about it but we attempted "cry it out" sleep training this summer with Emery after a long battle over bedtime and constant night waking with a normally great sleeper. (And you don't abandon them to let them cry... you comfort them periodically. I'm not totally nuts.) I was terrified to do it, but it worked great, she was sleeping great, waking up happier, happier all day. It was awesome. Then we moved back to Utah. Sleep training DESTROYED. Yikes.

I've been too chicken to try it again, especially since I don't have Aaron home to be moral support now, but last night I was going CRAZY!! She has been being so wild at bedtime. She wouldn't go to bed with a binky, a bottle, nursing, nothing! She was staying up so late she finally just conked out in my lap. So I decided to revisit sleep training.

Good news! She only cried for 5 minutes last night and 5 minutes tonight. This morning she slept until 8:00!!! Today for her nap she just whined for a few minutes and then fell asleep without even really crying! I love it!!

And just for fun... a few funny pictures of my destroying angel and her cute friend, Alisa. Em loves Alisa and I sure love her mom. I'm thankful for good friends.

they used to be so tiny and sweet...but now....

em: haha, she's eating the leaf!

alisa: she's older than me... maybe she's already tasted these and they're good...

em: haha, i ripped her leaf and it was so FUN!!! (the destroying angel)

alisa: she ripped my leaf. :( (the angel, no destruction whatsoever)

em: mmmm... potatoe masher. yum. doesn't my headband look cool? i'm rambo baby! (thanks, kimberly for the super cute rambo bow!)

a wounded soldier finds her strength!!

Before last night Emery got from here to there like a soldier whose legs had been wounded in battle. Short demonstration below.

But on the floor of The Quarry (the climbing gym) last night she regained the use of her legs! :) Here's the video from this morning (obviously we didn't have the video camera at the climbing gym with us, but we were psyched that - like her parents - Emery finds her inspiration from climbing. haha.) And yes, like the dorky mom that I am, I totally got teary! I can't believe how big she's getting!

Other fun videos below... since we haven't posted any in a while. Some recent, some not so recent.

This one is from June... disgusting, but hilarious! (Watch her nose if you aren't seeing it.)

She's learning how to climb up on stuff. Here's a good crash and burn (from our camera instead of our video camera so it's grainy... sorry!).

Here's the kind of thing that typically happens when I leave Em with dad to go to the gym. Nice do girly!

Okay... this one is a little long, but it's hilarious to watch her bonk heads with herself in the mirror!