Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas, we had our first Gardner Family Christmas at home, just our little family. I was scheduled to work Christmas day, so we had to stay home and we couldn't convince anyone to come hang out with us, so it was just us! I was worried it wasn't going to feel like Christmas, but we had such a fun  holiday together. It was nice to just slow down and be together as our own family.

Christmas Eve day, we had a fun day playing with Lynne and her kids. We played in the snow, sledded, and built a snowman. It was a fun day hanging out with family.

Needless to say, Emry didn't like the snowman much...

Christmas Eve day lunch with our cousins. So happy they are all best friends!! 

Christmas Eve, we decided to have dinner with Kris & Bjorn and their family. We had a delicious ham and potatoes and then we had a program of Christmas songs we sang. It was a simple night focused on family and Christ. It was a great night.

Emry on Christmas Eve

Maddie, Emry, & Gabby in front of the tree

Emry working on her Christmas Eve gift

She loved her new Christmas PJ's and wanted to put them on immediately. Such a cutie!!

Ryan and his new PJ's (can't leave out the adults with all the fun!!)

18 Months

Emry is getting so big and I've been so bad at recording all her new fun things she does, but I guess better late than never, right. Stats:

Weight: 23 lbs 14 oz (70%)

Height: 33 inches (85%)

Head: 19 inches (75%)

*Talks in sentences now. Mostly it's 2-3 words but she has said full on sentences before. It's awesome hearing her grow up! She sounds like a little girl now.
*She still doesn't ever say "yes." She will either grunt in agreeance or say "K" It's my favorite when she says that because she sounds like she is 14! 

*She likes to hold hands when she's in the car seat. Not all the time but when she gets fussy, holding mom or dad's hand makes everything better.

*Loves to hear her kids music. If I'm listening to my own music or even Christmas music in the car she points to the radio and says "No. Dancing!" which means she wants her own music to dance to. It's pretty adorable.

*Eats anything we eat. She is still a pretty good eater. One of her favorite things is a frozen Go-gurt. She knows exactly where we keep them and goes over to the freezer and says "this" The girl knows what she wants. She also is getting really good at eating with a fork and a spoon. Big girl!

*Still loves to watch videos of herself on our phones. Her favorite thing ever!

*Loves to read books all day long. Her favorite is Elmo.

*Loves to go swimming. We have an indoor pool at the nearby rec center that she loves to play in. She loves to wear her puddle jumpers too. 

*She loves her daddy. Every morning before he leaves she says, "miss you" and won't let him go. It's adorable!! I love that she loves her daddy. 

*Loves her cousins so much! She is constantly asking about Lila, Owen, and Lynnie and whenever she sees the picture on our fridge of the cousins, she has to point out Cadence and Cameron. She loves to look at the babies on our fridge too (Rylee and Leah). 

*She loves babies so much. Whenever she hears them crying she says, "baby sad" and then says "be happy." She loves to kiss them on their head and give them loves. 

*She is learning how to say her prayers and it's adorable. She always wants to pray for Owen, Lila, Lynne, Grandpa, and Daddy. And she says Jesus, Amen. Every night we say prayers I just melt with cuteness and love for her! She is so sweet.

At our Doctor appointment. She looks so old here to me.

She loves to do puzzles and she is getting pretty good at them too!

Looking happy as can be

Disneyland Day 2

After everyone else went home for Thanksgiving, Ryan and I still had a day or two so we decided to take another trip to Disneyland. It was fun to have Ryan there this time to see how much fun Emry had! My grandma came too and we had a fun, exhausting day. We decided to spend the morning with Emry and then have my mom come pick her up so Ryan and I could stay until the fireworks that night. It was really fun but I was so tired and hurting by the end of the day. All that walking made my pregnant back really tired. Here are the pictures of our fun day!

This is Ryan's favorite ride ever. I'm pretty sure we rode it like 400 times that day. Ryan was trying to get a high score and even googled how to get the highest score. I'm telling you, he was obsessed. 

Emry loves her daddy. I would ask her, "Do you want to go on the ride with Mommy or Daddy?" and she would hug her daddy and say "Daddy!!" There is nothing cuter than a girl and her daddy! Love them!

Ryan and Em on Autopia 

Me and Grandma Donna on the ride

All of us on the train

 Emry on the 'Mater ride

Ryan and I in front of the Christmas tree that night. We are about 13 weeks in this picture. Funny thing is, we have a picture at Disneyland in front of the Christmas tree when I was about 14 weeks pregnant with Emry. 

Disneyland Day 1

 Before Thanksgiving, Emry and I went to California to spend time with my family and thanks to Uncle Scottie we got to go to Disneyland!! Emry had a blast. So much fun, in fact that she would not fall asleep until finally at like 5:30 pm. She was a trooper though and we had a blast!!

I love Disneyland at Christmas time. They have the best decorations!! This was in the Hotel lobby. A huge gingerbread house! So cute!

Yes, we got my dad to go to Disneyland. If you know my dad, you know how rare this is. 

The group on the Finding Nemo submarine ride. Emry loved seeing the fishies.

It's A Small World ride. Emry loved the dancing.

Me and Emry in front of the castle

This pose was for Ryan. He loves trying to get the sword out. Gotta pass on the traditions.

On the merry go round

She finally conked out at like 5:30. No naps for this baby finally made her give in

Me and Scottie in front of the Christmas tree

Emry and Grandma vs me. I won :)

Happy California Thanksgiving

When Kelli first announced she was having another baby right before Thanksgiving I knew we had to spend Thanksgiving in California to snuggle that cute baby boy!! 

Emry and I went early because Ryan was out of town for work. And I'm so glad we did because it was a blast!! I'm just going to let the pictures tell the story of how much fun we had. We also went to Disneyland twice, but this post is going to be too long, so I'll do a separate post for those. 

We made it a priority to see this little man! He is such a mini Brian! 

We decided to make this trip when we announced to everyone that we were expecting again!! This little girl is gonna be a BIG sister!!! 

 Cade and Cam were excited to see Em! Love these cousins! 

  Emry loved being with Grandma. This is her coming up with the Thanksgiving meal menu :D

 Eating OUTSIDE with our cousin Cam. We love these sunny days. Cadence and Cam were fighting over who got to sit by Emry. They love their cousin.

Best thing about Grandma's house is making cookies!! She looked so cute in her apron! 

Everyone loved helping!! 

"Look what I got!!" Grandma's house = lots of sugar

Since we wouldn't all be together for Christmas, we decided to do our Christmas picture at Thanksgiving. Everyone is so much older than last year, plus there's a new baby this year!! Can't wait to see how these change each year. 

 More sunny days!! Emry loved getting back to the park! We've been missing outside lately! 

Remember the Grandparents = sugar thing? Grandpa got us an ice cream cone!! 

Of course, we had to visit the beach while we were there! Emry loved playing in the sand. 

Emry and Daddy on the swings at the beach

Grandpa's specialty is digging holes for kids to play in, and all the grand kids LOVED it!

She's cute

 Rides on Grandpa's shoulders

We rode the ferry across the bay at balboa. Emry loved the "water choo choo"

Our cute family on the pier. I really do love these two (or three)

Us on the beach (Also, as you can see, Ryan still has his beard/mustache from "movember")

One day we got Uncle Scottie to let us in to the Disneyland hotel pool. It wasn't quite as warm as we would have liked, but it was still fun and Emry liked the little water slide.

On Thanksgiving day, we spent more time at the park. This girl was in heaven with all this outside time!

All the cousins wearing their Big Sister and Big Brother t-shirts. 

Daddy and Emry

Gardner Grandparents

Rylee was blessed, which was a great reason to get all the grand kids together. These are some cute kids and some happy grand parents. 

Four generations. Great Grandpa Gardner, Grandpa Gardner, Daddy, and Emry