Our Jack-E-Lantern

Emerson with his self-portrait jack-o-lantern. Or should
I say jack-E-lantern? I know, I know, go ahead and groan...

Halloween Fun

The boys struggling for victory

Trying not to lose their donuts...

Before the contest

Yeah, we're hot

Candice, Melinda, Joni

Measuring mouth size

Our awesome jack-o-lanterns

Taylee and Melinda

Carving pumpkins

Toasting marshmallows

The crowd

On Friday night, to celebrate the end of Anatomy, we planned a little Halloween get-together with the Richards and Wrights. We started off with the traditional Halloween dinner (from the Johnson family...thanks mom) with witch's brew punch, monster claw breadsticks, and chili. Then we toasted mini marshmallows over tea candles with toothpicks. We had a few mini raging infernos, but it worked out pretty well. After dinner we carved pumpkins. We made ours into an Emerson face because he has such a cute little jack-o-lantern grin right now with his two bottom teeth. After pumpkins, we took a short jaunt over to the Richards' house where we put Emerson and Taylee down for bed. Then Mike and Candice cooked up some fantastic pumpkin donuts and we had a donut eating contest. Candice won out of the girls and Rocky won out the boys. I guess they just had the biggest mouths...;) Thanks for the fun night guys!

Tag

I like reading other people's tags, but I think mine are boring. But since I was triple-tagged, I decided to do it. I got this one from my sister-in-law Ashley. :)
Here are the Rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is UP.

1. I love to cook, but I LOVE going out to eat. There's just something special about a restaurant that always appeals to me. Maybe it just feels more romantic when I get to go out with Ben. I'm a huge fan of not having to clean up as well. I have to admit that I'm with Ashley when it comes to unhealthy food. I must guiltily say that I love a good greasy meal once in awhile.

2. I heart shoes. If I could choose to buy anything or shoes I'll always choose shoes. They make me so happy.

3. I'm a super-quick yet super-thorough bathroom cleaner. Ben has been repeatedly amazed at how fast and efficient I am. (Or maybe he's just cheering me on so he doesn't have to do it...)

4. I am obsessive compulsive about things. I inherited this from my dad (Love you, Dad!) I MUST have the whole set of something. This includes books, recipes, shoes, scrapbooking supplies, you name it. I have to combat this though because I obviously can't become a hoarder and make my house junky. I think this is why I love Costco so much. I feel like I have the whole set of something when I get to buy a whole box of canned corn. It's so satisfying. I try to explain this to people, but they just don't get it. So if you don't understand, don't feel bad. I know I'm weird, but that's just how I am...sorry.

5. I LOVE to bake things. I went through a phase in high school where I'd make homemade eclairs fairly often. And I enjoy making the treats as much as eating them. It's my secret desire to open a pastry shop with my mom called "Just Desserts". Yeah, it would totally rock. And I would be rail-thin of course. (In my dreams.)

6. I'm afraid of a lot of things: spiders, my parents getting divorced, getting lost, and mildewy towels. (One of these things is not like the other....) I hate hate hate when I go to dry my hands and the towel smells rotten. Ew, it makes me want to vomit. The only things worse than a rotten hand towel is a rotten bath towel because then it just emanates from your whole body. I'm practically dry heaving just writing about it. Ew. So if you're ever at my house and any towel smells remotely rotten or that it might ever be rotten, please tell me and I will dispose of it immediately. Yuck.

I tag:
Natalie H.
Candice
Kristie
Corissa
Hayley
Cammy

Pearly Whites

Ok, I realize there are a lot of pictures here...but I figured if I posted them all then you could get a good idea of his little teeth because to the untrained eye they can appear as glistening spit which Emerson has plenty of. :) He cut his first 2 little teeth last week and they're just the cutest little things! I'm a little sad because it means he's getting bigger, but they're so dang cute I can't stay sad for long. I swear if he bites me with these razor sharp chompers there will be a cold-turkey weaning. (*shifty eyes* ok, I know that would never work, and that I would most likely die if I tried...) I'm glad he has these pearly whites to help him break down his very smooth squash and green beans that he loves so much. (He really does love them! I guess we'll see about the other veggies.)

A Trip to Utah

Emerson and his 2nd cousin Brighton (Emerson is the giant spitty one)

Some of my family at Frightmares at Lagoon

Emerson and Sadie (his girlfriend). They have a long-distance relationship. :)

Last week Ben and I had to unexpectedly fly home to Utah for his Grandma McMullin's funeral. We were sad to have to go home because of that, but were also happy to be able to see our families. Grandma's funeral was very nice, and it made me very grateful to have the gospel because we all know we'll see her again.

We flew out on Sunday and Ben flew home on Wednesday because he just couldn't miss more school than he already was. I decided to extend my stay to the following Sunday (just to get my money's worth, you know?...) So I got to spend a lot of time with my family because it was UEA weekend so my siblings were all out of school (except Scott who is also in medical school at Penn State) and my parents took work off as well. I got to see my cousin Brooke and her two little boys, my Aunt Karen and Uncle Craig, Aunt Mary and Uncle Jon, and the whole Mumford clan when we went to Weston Idaho for Becki's baby shower. We were able to drive through Logan on the way up to Weston so I got to see our old crappy apartment (with tender yet angry feelings) and our best friends the Humpherys! We got to reunite Emerson with his girlfriend Sadie. It made me realize how much I miss good ole' Logan.

Our other activities included Frightmares at Lagoon, Ikea, eating at Cafe Rio and Five Guys, going shopping, watching movies, getting E's 6 month immunizations, and allowing everyone to fuss over Emerson. :) It was such a great trip that it was hard to leave! Thank you so much for the fun time dearest family! I missed Ben a ton though and I think he even missed us a little...so it was good to come back to Columbus.

Loaves and Fishes, Minus the Fishes

Every Monday our ward gets donated bread from a local bakery, and the members take turns picking it up. Then ward members come to that member's house and pick up as much as they want. I'm not gonna lie--I love not having to buy bread. And this is GOOD bread. I always knew there was a ton of bread, but I never quite realized how much until it was our turn to pick up the bread this Monday. HOLY CRAP. There were 7 huge bags full of loaves, baguettes, bagels, and a giant box of pastries. While Ben and Emerson and I were waiting in the bakery for them to close, we kept snickering to ourselves at the people who showed up right at 9:00 and paid for their food. So I didn't feel too bad when the manager gave them each a brownie from our box. We hauled the bags out to our car and it filled up the entire trunk, either side of Emerson's carseat, and my lap. We were just praying that ward members would actually come. There was a pretty good showing, and we actually got rid of most of it (with lots of help from Ben's medical school classmates--thanks Hannah & Daniel, Angie & Scott, and Joni & Rocky!) But we still have a huge bag full of bagels. So for those ward members that didn't show up, don't be surprised if you find some stale bagels sprinkled on your lawn or stuck to your car. Maybe we can pawn some off on the missionaries or our unsuspecting neighbors. :)

Mail

Grandpa Emerson Draper's blessing gown

Emerson O. Draper 1912

My Emerson enjoying the packing peanuts...and yes he posed for this one too.

Meticulously dissecting the packing peanut

Thanks Great Aunt Karen!

I love getting mail. Well...good mail. I hate junk mail. When I sort the mail I open everything and then spitefully place all the junk mail in a little hate pile along with the envelopes from the bills and stuff so I can promptly throw them all away together. You know what's better than little good mail? BIG good mail! Yesterday I got a package in the mail from my mom and I knew it was going to be good because the delivery man breathed a sigh of relief when I answered the door and said "I'm so glad you're home because I did NOT want to load this thing back in the truck." What did my gigantic package hold, you ask? The framed blessing gown of my grandpa Emerson (who my little Emerson is named after...hence the significance.) My awesome Aunt Karen had it framed for me before we moved out to Ohio, but we couldn't squeeze it into the Ford Focus for the drive. So my lovely and kind mother shipped it out to me! So exciting... It's a good thing I left an entire wall empty in Emerson's bedroom, cause you can be sure that's where this baby is going. Thank you so much Karen! And thank you Mom!

The Big Cheese

E in his kingly throne...complete with manly smiling daisy.

"I'm ready for my closeup, Mom."

This post was going to be about Emerson's new highchair and how much I LOVE it and how much better the rice cereal thing goes with this amazing tool...but I decided to use the pictures to demonstrate what a big cheese my little guy is. Every time I pull out my cell phone and point it at him or I pull out the camera and turn it on he stops whatever it is he's doing and looks at me and grins. It makes me giggle every time. It's not like I've trained him to do it or anything, but ever since he was born I've thought he was a pretty social little guy, so I guess he likes the attention. So forget those candid shots or whatever, I'll take these anyday!

Six Months Old!

I'm six months old today!

I can't believe it...my baby is six months old today! We've had him around for HALF A YEAR. It's hard for me to grasp that concept for some reason. We sure love him though and wonder what we did before he was here!

I Have Such An Intelligent Child

Does this picture really need an explanation?

Emerson's Newest Trick

Little Mozart

Trying to eat the piano

P.S. Thanks Ashley for picking out the cute outfit for Emerson in St. George, and thanks Grandma J for buying it for him!

Daddy's Eyes

This post is for you, Mom, since you crack up at Ben's morning eyes. I guess Emerson partly has Daddy's eyes because they look pretty morning-ish to me!

Mother of Twins

Emerson trying to figure out who is making all that noise!

Hypnotized by Baby Einstein

Matching rattle-phones! (Please excuse my son's drool-soaked onesie..he's a faucet.)

This week I started tending the Watkins' little boy Tucker. He's the same age as Emerson. It's funny to watch them occasionally stare at each other, and then less funny when they set each other off crying. But luckily they're both really good, really cute babies!

I Heart Celine

Not my favorite outfit...

Joni and me in the 14th row!

"But Benny, I have tickets tonight! Front row seats! You can smell the sweat..." -From How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
What's the best thing you could possibly do on a Monday night? (Besides family home evening of course...) Go to the Celine Dion concert! I'm just glad that Joni's husband Rocky was selfless enough to give his ticket up to me. I know he really wanted to go. :) I pretty much pried it out of his hands.
After battling traffic for about an hour to get there and walking about 20 miles to the Schottenstein Center, we arrived! We showed the usher our tickets, and we knew they'd be pretty bad seats since they were free, but we didn't realize how bad until we saw his reaction. "You head up this row and...oh..well, why don't you just wait a little while and I'll see what I can do for you." Our patience was rewarded. He hooked us up with a guy that gave us seats on the 14th row! It was sweet. We had to battle some obese old guy to let us get to our seats, and he was pretty unhappy about having to stand up (maybe he should swallow a tapeworm like Kelly on The Office...) and reprimanded us as we walked by about not arriving early enough. Oh well, Celine probably doesn't heart him like she hearts me.
The actual concert was GOOD. She's quite the performer. Aside from a few freaky outfits, a weird man/woman dancer (I'm not sure which), and the hour long wait in the parking lot afterward, I quite enjoyed it. Thanks for tending Emerson, Ben, and letting me act like a teenage girl again for a night.