Idaho Trip

Emmy and I got the lucky chance to take a flight up to Idaho to visit Grandma Paula and meet her Great Grandmothers on her maternal side.

This was Emmy's first flight and she's only 4 months old.  I was definitely nervous to fly with a baby, it always sounds like it is a stressful event.  Luckily the first flight we had the whole row to ourselves, were able to sprawl out, and had plenty of room to nurse without bothering anyone or feeling like our privacy was being intruded upon.

Emmy was a super flyer, I don't think she really even noticed we were on a plane.  Sean was pretty jealous of Emmy's jet setting because he had never ridden on a plane until he was 15!

We met up with Grandma Paula in Minneapolis and had a few hours of layover so we got some lunch and headed over to the Mall of America.  It's just a tram ride away from the airport. We of course stopped by the Disney store.  Lot's to see and cute shops.  It was freezing cold outside so we stayed bundled up and it was nice and cozy for Emmy in her moby wrap.

It was so fun to get to Idaho, Grandma Paula had set up the guest room with the crib me and my sisters used as babies and even had the quilt and crib bumpers she had made.  You could tell getting ready for her first granddaughters visit had been a labor of love.

The trip consisted of naps with Grandma, baths with Grandma, walks with Grandma, diaper changes with Grandma, and pretty much everything with Grandma!

Emmy's Great Grandma Carol had made her a precious little elephant stuffed animal.  Elephants are Emmy's favorite, so needless to say she loved it.

Aunts soon came into town to visit and got some much needed time with their favorite niece!  Emmy spends most of her time on her back since she can't roll over yet and loved playing, kicking, and talking to all the visitors.

Emmy also made a trip to Boise to visit and meet her Great Grandma Carol.  She was so excited that she was talking and yelling the whole time.  Great Grandma Carol got a kick out of all of Emmy's yelling.  She also loved watching the fan spin and Great Grandma kept her entertained with that.

We tried leaving town after a week, but because of some mechanical issues with a plane we ended staying 4 extra days, which was a treat for Grandma!  We went on long walks and Emmy wore her warm winter coat since it was so much colder in Idaho!

We had a lot of fun, and Emmy can't wait to go back and visit when she is bigger and can play with the dogs and pick strawberries with Grandma Paula.

Emmy Reaches 4 Months

This little girl is getting bigger and bigger!

Valentine's Day

We celebrated our first Valentines Day as parents.  Emmy was in tow to our "romantic" valentines activities.

Somehow our stake conference was scheduled for Valentines weekend, so this made for an afternoon valentines lunch and an evening at the Saturday adult session.  Again, very romantic!

We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Bahama Breeze, for an afternoon Valentines Day lunch.  It is definitely a different experience having a baby hanging out with us.  We enjoyed ourselves and Emmy got the best seat in the house, and ate lunch with Dad.

       

Sean and I exchanged gifts in the afternoon as well.  After almost 3 years of marriage we have learned to just let each other know what we really want!  Sean had asked for cream cheese brownies, and I had my eyes on a big ol' box of chocolates!  We both thoroughly enjoyed our chocolate comas!

Later that evening we found ourselves at the Adult session of Stake Conference.  Again, Emmy joined us and was such a sweet little angel.  She fell right to sleep in Daddy's arms, I guess she found her valentine!

Our little valentine!  

Grandma Page and Halls, TN

Grandma Page came for a visit this week and spent a lot of time hanging out at home with Emmy.  While most of the time was spent relaxing at home, Grandma did pry herself away from the baby girl one day and headed with me to Halls, Tennessee.

Halls is only about an hour and a half to the north of Memphis, and it was once home to my great-great-grandparents.  Mom and I thought we would check out the town on a mini family history excursion.

Halls is also where my great-great-grandparents first met missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Two missionaries were traveling by train across the state and one felt prompted to get off the train in Halls.  The other objected, having heard stories that missionaries weren't received kindly in those parts.  When the train pulled into Main Street Station the missionaries got off and started walking down the road.

Here is Main Street in Halls, where the missionaries got off the train.  They made their way through town and at some point eventually made it to our family home, where my great-great-grandmother was "up to her elbows in flour".  She didn't answer the door at first but after the second knock heard a voice in her head tell her to answer it.  She did, and the rest is history, as they say.

After some time on Main Street, we head to the local cemetery, not expecting to find anything, but curious nonetheless.

While walking through we found two headstones with our family name on them.  Haynes was my grandmother's maiden name.  We have no idea who Julia or Don are, or if they are in our line, but the census in 1900 for Halls was 395 people, and in 1950 it was 1,808.  What are the odds that in a town of less than 2,000 there were two unrelated Haynes families?

It was a really neat day trip with my mom to cap off a fun visit.

Emmy Eats A Lemon

Below you will find a video of Emmy tasting some of the lemon from Cory's water.  She clearly thinks it's sour.  Then again, she doesn't pull away.