Emily's First Birthday

Emily got a fun ride-on toy for her birthday that also lets you bounce on the seat and make noises.

 Emily is not so sure about the whole cake, blowing out candles, etc.  She had a Sesame Street themed cake because she loves the characters.

 This picture is a little blurry but it is one of the only ones that shows her smiling.

 After a few tentative bites, she started to enjoy eating her cake.

 She got a "pee-wee" pillow pet shaped like a dog from her brothers and sisters.  Her first word was dog and she goes crazy every time she sees a real one or a stuffed one.

I think she is trying to figure out what is going on.  The following pictures are all showing her first few bites of cake and the progression from a clean face to a pretty messy one.  It could have been worse.  At least she didn't put it in her hair.

 These last couple of pictures are from Sunday dinner a few days after her birthday.  We gave her lasagna and she loved every bite.  It was a lot messier than her cake eating.

This last picture is my favorite because she is grinning underneath those hands.  You can tell by her smiling eyes.

Lindsay's 9th Birthday

Lindsay celebrated her 9th birthday with lots of fun activities including a pool party to celebrate finishing their summer reading program, delicious cake, and donuts for breakfast. A little less fun was looking for cars for part of the day.

Lindsay with all of her siblings except for Emily.
She blew out all of her candles with one big breath. She wished for a new car and the next day we got our Suburban!
Lindsay loves to do things herself, especially anything domestic. She would excel in a Home Economics class.
Jonathan loves to make presents for his siblings' birthday. They are always very colorful and super creative.
Lindsay got a new Mp3 player. The kids really enjoyed having music to listen to when we went to California the next week. Little Emily's head is in the bottom right corner of the picture.

First Day of School

One of these days I am going to get on top of things in my life...until then I will have to try and do a little catching up.

Jonathan started Kindergarten this year. Here he is outside of his classroom with little Emily. You can tell by the size difference that Emily will have to wait quite awhile until she goes to Kindergarten.
He is in Mrs. Clark's class and seems to be enjoying himself. He goes in the afternoon, which is a change for our family.
All dressed and ready to go. He was very anxious to start school because he had to wait a week and a half after the other kids to start.
Here are my big kids all ready for school. Laurel is in 5th grade this year. Evan is in 2nd grade and Lindsay is in 4th grade.
I was comparing the pictures of the kids from last year with this year. They have grown up a lot in the last 12 months. They are great kids and I am so grateful for each of them.

Higbee Family Reunion Pictures Part I

Grandpa and Grandmommy were so generous in helping to provide a great reunion for all of us. We love them and wish we could see them more often.
Jonathan and Isaac enjoyed playing together during the reunion. They are very handsome boys.
This is where most of the kids sat for meal times. It was totally amazing how much food it took to feed all of us.
Jonathan and Evan slept in the "boy room" of the large house we all stayed in for the reunion. The room had bunk beds and a rock climbing wall.
This is up at Alta ski resort close to where we went hiking. It was hard to believe that it was the end of June while looking at this much snow.
All of the Higbee cousins except for Emily who was eating at the time. This was just before we started the hike up the trail.
Lindsay, Emily, and I got a little bit of a late start but caught up with the group in time for lunch. It was amazing how much snow was on the ground. There were a lot of little and big streams of water on the trail where the melting snow was running off the mountain.
Evan and Jonathan pose for a picture. They were a little grouchy about eating sandwiches for lunch. Jonathan his holding one of his "stuffies" named Tinsel in his hands. He always has a little stuffed animal friend with him wherever he goes. I am not sure how that is going to work when he starts Kindergarten in a few weeks.
I carried Emily for a little while but then it was Daddy's turn. Emily loves to be outside. She points at everything and makes the same "unh" sound to know what it is or to try and touch.
What a good-looking couple, right? We might not be as young as we used to be but we are definitely getting wiser and more grateful for the little things.
The girls did a little bit of "skiing" when we stopped for lunch. We couldn't hike any higher because there was too much snow. They even got mom to ski down once. Evan also "skied" down several times.
Here's a picture of Laurel giving it a try. She also was nice enough to give several of the smaller cousins a ride down the snow hill.
Baby Emily enjoyed trying to drink water out of a bottle. She was actually pretty successful.
Uncle Joseph gave Evan a lift after he fell down while hiking down the mountain. He scraped up his knees and got a couple of bruises. In this picture he is giving his brave face for the camera.
This is Lindsay and Grandmommy at the baby blessing for cousin Daniel. Don't they both look beautiful. I love this picture of both of these lovely ladies.

Fourth of July

This year for the Fourth of July we did some fun things. In the morning Michael and the kids along with Joey and Angela and their kids tried to see some hot air balloons, but the weather did not cooperate. We watched some of the parade and enjoyed a BBQ and fireworks at night. Auntie got off of work early and came over for fireworks and strawberry shortcake.

Auntie Lindsay helps Emily enjoy a sparkler. She was mesmerized by the sparkling lights.
Evan loved doing sparklers with his siblings and cousins before it started raining.
In the afternoon the kids played in the backyard with their cousin Isaac. It was very hot and humid, especially for Utah. The rain held out until that night during the fireworks.
The kids were trying to rig up an invention on the playground.
Emily was working on standing up in the grass while holding onto the red bouncy ball behind her. My guess is that she will be walking within the next 2 weeks.

Laurel's Swim Meet

This summer Laurel joined the city swim team. She has gotten up early to practice all summer long. Michael took some video of her meet last Saturday. I think that the first video is of her butterfly race and the second is her last relay.

First Solids

We absolutely love her cheeks. They are so much fun to kiss!
Her hands tend to get in the way more than anything. She probably would like to grab the bowl or my hand but that makes a big mess.
The shirt she is wearing has an angel on the front. It is one of my favorite outfits.
I love this picture. She is a happy baby most of the time and we really enjoy her.
Emily is already 18 pounds and we decided that 5 months old would be a good time to try out solids. The pictures above are of her first feeding of rice cereal. She did really well. If you notice her hand is next to her ear. She has been struggling with ear infections since before Christmas.