Fun Times!

On Friday my mom invited Emily and I to tag along on a company "field trip". They decided they needed a break so they headed to a beautiful peony garden in Charlottesville. They knew it was either now or not until next year, as the peonies are now in full bloom! It was so beautiful there! Emily really enjoyed getting out too! Since it had been raining for a bit, it was really nice to get outdoors and get some fresh air and breathe in some sweet aromas! I am grateful to my Father in Heaven who allows us, His children, to live on this beautiful earth and partake of all of the many wonders that surround us! Peonies are just one of those beauties, but I sure love them and I think Emily does too! What can I say, like mommy like daughter!!

She had such a blast getting out of her stroller and getting to get up close and smell the peonies!

Maybe she will be a gardener one day. She is SERIOUS about her flowers!


She LOVED to smell them, and I will have to admit some of them had really great smells!

Here we are in the midst of lots of peonies! Emily couldn't take her eyes off of them!

Here's an overview from the top of just half of the peony garden!! It was really beautiful!!

On Saturday we woke up and Micah went to clean the church for a little while, and then we all went to Kmart to get our pictures taken. It was a nice experience, but I definitely prefer family shots that you can take with your own digital camera. However, we did get some good shots of Emily and some good shots of Emily and me and Emily and Daddy! It was just the family ones that didn't really turn out! But that's okay, we still had fun!

Then we came back home and got a few things together and headed up to NOVA to celebrate Ruth's birthday!! And what a nice trip it was! It is always great to get to see family and it's even more fun when we can get together for a family dinner to celebrate a birthday! We are so happy for Ruth, because not only did she celebrate a birthday last week, but she also was offered a job! It was good to see everyone and catch up on how life is going!

I know Emily enjoyed herself too, until she got too tired. She LOVES seeing her cousins and getting all of that extra attention and they love her too! It is so sweet to watch them interact! We get to go back to NOVA in just a couple of weeks and it will be a longer visit, so that will be nice too! Even though Emily is not a big fan of her car seat these days, I am glad that we are able to make these trips! We always have great memories and cute pictures and it is fun to watch Emily grow and interact with her cousins too!

Here are a few pictures from our whirlwind trip. Enjoy!!

All wrapped up! Micah loves her defiant look!

Daddy is on the couch with Emily, who is getting tons of love from Abigail (who is hugging her) and Hannah!

Abigail is such a good cousin to Emily, she always wants to take care of her when she gets sad!

Hannah is a fun cousin too! And she LOVES babies!

Daddy and Emily being silly....and cute!

Emily and I getting our picture taken while Uncle Jacob is thinking about his next shot!

Lydia, Hannah, Joseph and Abigail all getting ready to eat a yummy Quiche that Uncle Matt and Aunt Ruth prepared for the birthday celebration!

Emily was so hungry, she was trying to eat the plate...and doing a pretty good job of it! Good thing she doesn't have teeth quite yet:)

The Birthday Girl opening up her gifts!

Posing for another photo with some of my adorable nieces (Hannah and Abigail) although Emily was past photo time at this point of the evening!