A Blessed Day

Emmilene had an exciting last couple of weeks.  Less than a week after Grandma Salmon, Jeff and Alita came, my parents and little brother came as well.  This was Grandpa Nelson's first chance to meet his #1 grandchild.  (Well, the first in age at least). 

Uncle Anders and Emmi hit it off right away, as he is pretty entertaining.

Why was everyone coming at once, you may ask?  Emmilene was blessed in our church on August 17th by her father.  

Moments before church started, she also got to

 finally meet the elusive Grandpa S.

Several of our friends came, including some co-workers of mine.

It was a beautiful day, and Emmilene was such a good girl!  

But it wore her right out!

Thanks for all your help, everyone.  And thanks Grandma Nelson for making such a beautiful dress!

Meeting Grandma S

Emmilene finally got to meet her Grandma Salmon.   

Grandma, Jeff and Alita all came to visit us for two weeks (Grandpa was detained for a week).  This is their first encounter.  

It was love at first sight with Emmi and her Gma.

And Aunt Alita was so fun!

Uncle Jeffy was fun too, but strangely we don't have any pictures of him holding her.  Probably because he was so crazy, we didn't want to embarrass him by documenting it.

Parties

We went to a couple of festivities recently.  The first was a birthday party for a friend out in Long Island.  We had to take the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road, for those of you not fluent in 'NewYorkese') which was farther than Emmilene or I had ever been in LI.

Emmilene was a hit with her lucky Toucan outfit.  She showed some of her dance moves with the girls.

We hitched a ride on the way home and Emmi was happy as long as she could stare at dad.

The next party we went to was a goodbye party to our friends Danny and Diana who are going to Utah for school.  It was a farewell/Olympic Opening Ceremony party, although the only part I really got to watch was the boring stuff, as seen below. 

(No offense to anyone from Belarus).

We ended the night with sparklers, which was the first many of these New Yorkers had ever seen them.  It was comical as some of the scared kids were yelling "You're going to burn the house down!"  

Not everyone appreciated the fireworks...

We will miss you Diana and Danny!

Party on, dude!

Pain and Posterity

Yesterday Emmilene celebrated her two month birthday with two important events.  

The first took place at the Pediatricians office in the form of 3 painful shots.  She tried to be brave since she understood the protection these vaccinations give her, but it still was a traumatic experience for all those involved.  

She didn't even get Mickey Mouse Band-Aids! 

The second event was much happier and pain-free, at least for us.  Emmilene finally has a cousin on the Nelson side!  (I say that as if she has been waiting years, even though it has been, um, two months).

My sister Siriana and her husband Jeremy had a little baby girl in the noon hour yesterday, the same exact time as Emmi's shots.  Her name is Lillian Jean and she weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and is 22 inches long.  

I guess the hair runs in the family.

Emmilene can't wait to play with you, Lillian!

Why We Love the City #302

A bearded lady tried to steal our clean laundry today. 

Just thought you would like to know.

Ocho Semanas

Can you believe we have been parents for 8 weeks?  Astounding, isn't it?  So far so good...

Someone asked me today what kinds of things Emmilene likes to do, which I thought a funny question considering she is an infant.  The woman asked as if she was expecting a long list of clubs or hobbies Emmi has been involved in, maybe even a part-time job.

So here are a few of the few things she loves... 

She loves to read...or to be read to as she gazes at anything but the book.  She especially loves her dad to read to her, since he does the voices.

Em loves to lie on the floor and contemplate the universe... until she gets distracted by the ceiling fan.

She also loves going on walks.  It doesn't matter if it is by stroller, Bjorn, or donkey, (if we had one)-- she always falls asleep.  

Somehow her dad is always in the photos... 

And she loves to just sit on the couch and talk.  What about, you ask?  You will just have to come visit to find out...

Family Photos

We finally convinced a friend to take our picture last sunday when we were all happy and all clothed.

Emmi sure loves her daddy...

Here is a random photo of the Temple.  Isn't it loverly?