Andrea and Rick were trying to roast hot dogs, but were having a hard time with the heat in their face (or they were just bowing to the Fire King!!) Well, after a little help from my clever husband...they were able to just sit back and enjoy! :)

The Big Red Ball

Emma and Derrick had so much fun with this exercise ball! I only had to break up a few fights over it! :) Derrick kept trying to pick it up, and as you can tell it was bigger than he was!

Tired Kids!

This was taken the day after we got home! I think they were a little worn out (and completely focused on whatever was on tv)! But, it's always a fun time in Young!

Emma and Derrick

Here are a few pictures I took of the kids playing in Emma's room a few weeks ago! Emma likes to have me tie blankets around her so that it looks like a dress! She also likes to admire herself in the mirror! Derrick has suddenly become very attatched to his blanket! He has to have it when he goes out to eat breakfast in the mornings and cries when I put it on the table so it doesn't get dirty while he eats! He is starting to show quite the personality lately! He walks around with cheesey faces(just like the picture), dances, makes interesting noises and says new words all the time! It's a little sad that out of all the words I have been trying to teach him, he said Wal-mart the other day! We were in the car and Emma asked where we were going and I told her, "Wal-Mart". Derrick immediately mimicked me! He does hear the name Wal-Mart alot...it's Emma's favorite store!

Today...she is Belle!

Emma has had an exciting week after her birthday! She has definitely been busy playing with all her new toys! I feel like I won't have to buy her toys again until next year! But, we won't deprive her of Christmas! :) The other day she danced and danced in her Belle dress with her Beast! It was cute to watch her! Then she lined up all her new fairies, princesses and polly pockets on the table (plus a Christmas ornament that Rachel gave us that Emma just had to see)! This isn't even all of them in the picture! She has fun though and is develpoing her little imagination! She is so excited that she has boy polly pockets now! So, all those princesses share 2 princes! :) I took Emma to a new doctor yesterday! I loved the office and the nurse practitioner that we saw! I felt like she was more helpful in 1 visit than our last doctor was in 3 years! And the office is brand new and very clean! Our old one was not! It was getting kind of yucky! But, she is growing and develpoing well! They tested her for anemia because of her "purple, dark eyes" as Emma would say! But, it came back negative! She is just doomed to look like her mom with dark circles uner her eyes for life! Poor girl! :) Derrick has been having some rough nights lately! He was up for almost 3 hours in the middle of the night last night! Jon was camping and Emma slept right through it (thank goodness)! I wish I could have slept through it! I wish those teeth would come in and we could be done with it! I think we finally figured out the trick to keep Emma in bed! It has worked the last 2 nights! She usually just gets up and lays by her door in the middle of the night! So, I put the baby gate up in her room to where she couldn't get to her door! She did not like that at all the first night and threw a tremendous fit! But, she has been very happy in the mornings when she gets treats for staying in bed all night! We'll see if it continues to work!

Emma's 3rd Birthday!

Emma had her 3rd birthday party on Saturday! (Her actual birthday was Sunday the 19th!) If you couldn't tell, it was a Cinderella party...just what Emma wanted! She was waiting for this for months! She was so excited to get all dressed up like Cinderella and eat her castle cake and open her princess wrapped presents! It was a fun evening and I want to thank everyone for the wonderful presents, she has been keeping busy playing with new toys these last few days! Happy Birthday to our Princess!

Presents!

Waiting patiently to open all her presents!

A new necklace from her cousins!

Everything was so exciting!

Just some family shots!

Getting a taste!

Here's Emma after licking the spatula of cake batter! She could hardly wait to eat the real thing!

Cinderella's Castle!

What princess would be complete without her castle! Grandma Clark did a wonderful job on Cinderella's castle cake! After about 3-4 hours just decorating alone, it looked beautiful! Emma was so excited when she saw it! And, it tasted pretty good too! (THANK YOU MOM!!!)

Play time...

The kids played and played until everyone went home and then Emma played some more! Derrick had to play what the girls were playing with, of course! Emma didn't end up falling asleep until after 11 p.m.!!! Too much excitement for our big 3 year old!

Loves!

I just loved this picture of the kids giving each other "loves"! They really do get along well, even though I have to remind Emma to not yell at Derrick when he does something she doesn't like! Derrick has quickly learned the word "NO"! He hears it from Emma all day long! But, we are working on that and they love to play together! Derrick is learning new words still imitates everything he sees! Yesterday he picked up one of Emma's purses and put it on his arm and looked at me and said "Bye-Bye" and walked out of the room! I think he's seen that a few times!

Dance Class!

Emma's dance class officially started at the beginning of August! She has gone 2 times now and absolutely loves it! It is a tap, ballet, tumbling combo class so she is introduced to a little of everything! It's so funny to watch 2 and 3 year olds trying to learn basic dance moves! The teacher is really starting with simple steps like tapping your toe and walking on tip-toes with hands above the head! You would think that is not so hard, but for that age group...you'd be surprised! They all want to bend their knee when it should be straight and flap their arms around when they should be still above their heads! It is really quite cute to watch! Derrick has been doing pretty well sitting in his stroller for the hour that we are at class too! I just take snacks and books and he stays content! I hope that lasts! A few weeks ago Emma was so excited that she learned about temples in nursery at church! She made a crown that said, " I want to go to the Temple"! She wore it all day on Sunday! We've been talking about temples lately and she was so excited when we drove past the Mesa temple the other day! I put in a recent picture of Derrick! He is so hard to take a picture of because everytime he sees the camera he runs for me and all I get are close up shots! Oh well! This one turned out pretty cute!