First Solids

Today, we gave Emerson his first oatmeal cereal. He absolutely thought that it was the best thing in the world. He has been eyeing us eating things off spoons, so we decided that he was ready...and sure enough he was. He could not get enough. His hands would flail in excitment every time the spoon came near, but he would whack the spoon...losing about half of the cereal.




He made a huge mess, but he didn't care. He was getting SOLIDS!!!

Birthday Wish List

I was asked to come up with a birthday wish list. So, here it is...

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
$89.74 here at Amazon
SanDisk 8 GB Extreme III CF Card
$60.89 here at Amazon

Pantone huey Monitor Calibrator
$59.99 here at Amazon


ACDSee 10 Photo Manager
$29.99 here at ACDSee.

I would also love the rest of Stephanie Meyer's books.

And money

for scrapbooking supplies, fabric, clothes,
or to get one of my quilt tops professionally quilted.

I would also love games...computer, board, card, or mental.

This was extremely hard to think of ideas. I could only think of things that I wanted for Emerson. It is amazing how your mind becomes so focused on your child that you forget that you should be buying stuff for yourself too.

Emerson: 5 Months

My cute boy turned 5 months last week! I can't believe it. I know that I say that every month, but it is true. He grows way too fast!

Emerson's stats this month: (these are approximate)

Weight: Between 16-17 lbs
Height: 24 inches

About Emerson this month:

• Wears 3-6 month clothes.
• Wears size 2 diapers.
• Loves to smile at everyone!
• Thinks that when he smiles that he has to put his hand in his mouth.
• Knows who his mommy and daddy is.
• Met Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Stringham.
• Tells tons of stories.
• Is sleeping through the night.
• Nurses and bottle feeds about 50/50.
• Has been to 8 states (Oregon, Washington, New York, Georgia, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho).
• Still has no mommy in him, just a clone of his daddy.
• Can sit up on his own for short period of time when balance by his huge belly!
• Has brown specs in his eyes in the sunlight; otherwise, they are grayish blue.
• Just rolls over from Back to Belly over the right shoulder. (Unless we get him crying big time, then he sometimes will go from belly to back).
• Loves his mommy and daddy and they love him so much too!

Here are some videos taken this month of Emerson.

Trip to the Ranch

We were able to go to Dryhead Ranch for our Stringham Family Reunion. This was so much fun. It was fun to sit around talking, play games, laugh, and get to know each other a little better. Dryhead is in southern Montana. So, we flew into Utah and drive 10 hours to the ranch. The car ride was actually not that bad. There were a couple times that Emerson just couldn't handle it anymore. So, we would just get out and let him have a little break. The car decided that it had had enough about 20 mile out of the last town, Lovell, before a long dirt road to the Ranch. So, we let it have a break and then we got to the town. We decided to leave the car in Lovell, and all pilled into different cars. Thank goodness that was able to work!

On the second day at the ranch, we were out talking and all of the sudden people started to say that there was a bear. We watched it climb a tree, and then it stayed up there. I guess that the bear was just old enough to be away from the mama, so we didn't have that worry. I was still a little scared, so I got close enough to take some pictures, then I went to the other side of the cook house and stayed there.

Grandma Bush (and Natalie) bought Emery a little cowboy hat. I think that he was so cute in it.

We went riding horse. I think that will be my last time riding a horse. My knees hurt so bad about half way into the ride that I had to get off and walk most the way back.

This is my cute nephew Dean on the horse.
I love this picture of Emerson and Aunt Olivia. He is just so little there.
Emerson rarely folds in half anymore, I had to get a picture of him here. He is just so sweet.
While at the Ranch, Emerson turned 5 months! So we had to get some pictures of him to celebrate! Right after these pictures, a big storm came in and we have big hail, lighting, and thunder! We watched it on the porch. Jason put a piece of hail into Emerson's hand. He didn't know what to do. It was just a completely new sensation for him.

On our way back to Utah, we stopped at Yellowstone. We got the see the Waterfalls and the Paint Pots. We went to see Old Faithful, but it was going off as we drove up, so we decided to move on. I guess that the animals decided to take the day off because we only saw a couple Bison, Elk, and a Buffalo. That was too bad.

Here is a cute picture of Emery at Yellowstone with Daddy.
Once I got back in Utah, I immediately got to go to my cousin Megan's baby shower. It was so much fun showing Emerson off the the Bush family. There Emerson got to play with another baby really for the first time. He had his first experience with sharing. They were being really cute together.
This is Emerson with his 2nd cousin, Tony. They are a month apart exactly (Tony being older), but Tony is so much lighter that Emery. I can't believe how big Emerson is getting.
We had a lot of fun this trip. We just wish that we could have had time to visit with some of our friends and have more time with our family.

New Hair Style

I used to get my hair done all the time, then I lost Emily (my sister) being near me. So, I quit doing anything fun to my hair. This summer though, Emily has been here, so I decided that was time to do something fun again.

Here is the best picture of showing my hair before...I forgot to take one right before the cut.
All the foil goodness.
And the hair after. I love how it turned out. It is just what I wanted. If you can't tell, it was inspired by Kherington on "So You Think You Can Dance".

And I just have to put a cute one of Emery playing with Emily (even though you can't see her) here...I can't have a post that is all about me when I have so many cute pictures to show of Emers.

Butler Family Reunion.

Last week we went the the Butler Family Reunion (Jason's mom's family) out in Orcas Island. It was a lot of fun. I had a great time meeting Jason's family and spending time with Bruce, Sue, Jordan, and Julie. Our time was filled with talking, playing, and eating. Man...did they have food! I luckly didn't come home with any excess weight :)

Here are A LOT of pictures from our week out there.

Story time with Grandma Sue.

Taking the ferry out to Orcas. Emery driving the Ferry.

Emery on top of Mt. Constitution

The view from Mt. Constitution. It was beautiful, but VERY sunny.

Emery and me next to the lake.

Daddy and Emery playing after the evening fireside.

Getting ready for the first time in cold water. He didn't like it much. Maybe next time.

Prince Emery in his Grandpa Bruce Throne.

4th of July

I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July. Emerson had a fun one. We went and hung out with Aunt Emily and Uncle Lyle. We played some games, then we went over to Fort Vancouver and hung out until the fireworks. I was kind of worried about Emerson and the fireworks, but they didn't phase him at all. For about the first 20 seconds he looked at the lights, then he just sat in my arms looking at me until he fell asleep. I am glad that he was able to make it through them with no problem.