Celebrating . . .

We are celebrating Emmy's half birthday. We can't believe it's been six months since she was born. Time flies! It has been the most rewarding six months of our lives. Here's a picture from Valentine's Day. We are so excited that the builders are breaking ground on our new home on Monday. I ran 5 miles with Chris at Daybreak today and can't wait to have our own home there. This is a picture on our property. Sorry about the poor light. It's the best we could do. We are happy that we just had good food with good friends, Drew and Alesha. Thanks for the fun night. Can't wait to do it again.

Is it always so dark in here?

My family went to Disneyland over the weekend. We got to play at Disneyland and California Adventure, visit the David Brems family, and cheer for our runners at the Huntington Beach Marathon and Half Marathon.

On Saturday night, we went on the Storybook Land boat ride. It was awesome riding a boat through the whales mouth. Then, the boat emerges from the whale in a quiet atmosphere where we see well-lit scenes from various Disney stories. After puzzling about it for half the ride, I finally ask, "IS IT ALWAYS SO DARK IN HERE?" It took everyone a minute to figure out what the heck I was asking. When they discovered that I thought we were inside, I got a lot of laughs, even from the strangers and the Disney tour guide on our boat. Dani kindly explained that I really do have a college degree. Oops, that was embarrassing! Now Gib tells me to come out of the dome when I am gullible.

It was a blast to have Emmy and Logan at Disneyland. Emmy loved it. She enjoyed looking at everything; the bright colors and lights. The weather was fabulous. When we got off the plane on the Long Beach Airport runway, there was a warm breeze that blew through Emmy's hair. She looked into the breeze and smiled and giggled as if it was the greatest feeling ever.

Her favorite ride was Toy Story. She loved the sharp turns. She smiled the whole time and she didn't even chew on the lap bar. Good girl!

The gift of Good Health

My parents gave each of their children a VitaMix blender for Christmas. I have to say, I love it! I made a green smoothie for dessert and it was incredible. If it wasn't dark green we wouldn't even know there was spinach in it. Gib was skeptical before he tasted it and asked, "What did you do, put a tree in it?" But even he loves it and highly recommends it! Here's the recipe for anyone interested. Healthy and Oh So Tasty!

8 oz frozen spinach
1 orange
1 jonagold apple
1 cup green grapes
1/2 cup pineapple chunks
1 cup cranapple juice
1 cup ice cubes

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. These pictures are from Grandma Sommers party. Emmy looks excited about getting her present. I love this next picture I got of Logan and Ashley because of the way Logan has his eye on Santa. He wasn't too sure about him this year.Dani, our professional family photographer, had a photo shoot with Emmy and Logan on Christmas eve. She got some great pics. Here are my favorites of Emmy. Isn't she cute!
We tried to get a cute picture of her in a wreath the way they did with McKinley, but Emmy wouldn't have any of it.
Notice her crazy hair! She got that from her Namie Gilbert!


Here are a few more pictures from Christmas day.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton

Gib's sister, Jolleen and her family, Justin, Nick, Grace and Natalie are here from Pennsylvania. As a family, we went to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Forests over the weekend. It was a fun vacation. I was surprised by the beauty and wildlife we saw.

The highlights of the vacation were the Old Faithful Geyser and hot springs in Yellowstone.


We also drove through the Grand Tetons. We stopped at Jenny Lake and rode a 10 minute ferry across the lake to hike half a mile uphill to a beautiful waterfall. I was proud of Gib's mom and sisters who successfully hiked up the steep hill over glaciers and slippery mud in flip-flops. 4 year-old Grace also hiked the whole way in flip-flops. It was hard but worth it.

Several buffalo walked beside our car when we were driving through Yellowstone. We could have reached out the window and touched them. Gib got some great pictures.

Kitties

We are looking for a temporary foster home for our cats. We are moving into my parents' basement for about 9 months and are unable to keep them during that time. We love our pets and will be excited to give them a good home after we leave my parents house but need some help until then. Let me know if you are interested or know anyone who could help. Needless to say, we will provide food, kitty litter and compensation for a good home. They might look mean in the pictures but they're just camera shy. Both are box trained and have front paws declawed. Ichabod, the black cat, loves to play and stretch on his back. Carma, the calico, is friendly and loves to cuddle. Below is a rare belly picture of me. It was taken in March so imagine how much bigger I am now!
By the way, if you haven't heard, we are having a baby girl named Emmy, short for Emmarique Rose. Aimerique is a French name that Gib loved on his mission, so we decided to use the name but spell it phonetically. Hopefully, to make her life easier when her teachers call her name in class.

People say the darndest things

I love so much about my job and where I work. I have met some of the nicest and most diverse people there. With a location in rural northern Utah, my company employs many native cowboys, farmers, ranchers and sheep-herders. No joke, I really work with a real life sheep-herder. From what I hear, he's very talented. His sheep always win prizes at the state fair. Seriously, I love these people, many are so hard-working. I wanted to tell you about some of the funny things these guys have said to me since I've been pregnant. Last Monday I was wearing a bright yellow maternity shirt (very cute hand-me-down from Ash). And there are certain days I feel like my stomach grows out 4 inches overnight. Well, this was one of those days, when my stomach seems to have popped out. I knew it was going to be an interesting day when the first technician I saw in the morning walks out in the hall and says, "Wow, you're. . . um, well, you're. . . um, yellow." At lunch, another technician says, "Brittany, it looks like you're blossoming with spring in more than one way." My most favorite comment comes from a guy who works in operations, meaning he actually makes the rocket case. He is probably close to 70 years old and so entirely grumpy that it is endearing. I saw him a few months ago and told him I was pregnant but haven't seen him since I've gained about 20 pounds. I was on the operations floor the other day, surrounding by dozens of guys working, when this cute, grumpy man sees me. In his northern Utah drawl, he yells across the manufacturing floor, obviously loud enough for everyone to hear, "Well, well, well, there's my favorite little fat girl!" I thought, "What the heck, should I be pleased that he is actually excited to see me or should I be offended that he thinks I am fat?" He immediately recognized his error and gave me a big bear hug. We all laughed about that one. I now affectionately sign my email to the guys on the floor as, "your favorite little fat girl."