all i want for christmas

 emma is already checking out the ad for the top toys

i think she might be satisfied with just the ad though (it's cheaper that way ;)

and here's one of logan, because he won't let me take a picture of emma without taking a picture of him (which is fine with me)

i heart you

i found this sweet message in the shower this morning

 

i heart you too baby!

c is for cookie

saturday night we decorated some sugar cookies and it was logan's first time(at least i think it was). he helped roll the cookies into balls 

 which he had learned how to make a ball earlier in the day when we played with some playdough.

 after enjoying the fruits of his labor

 he had a little too much fun with the sprinkles

this got me excited to actually make sugar cookies this christmas (these were from a package). i can't believe how quickly christmas is coming!

mommy's helper

 logan wanted to help me feed emma the other night and he did pretty well (there was just a little bit more food that didn't quite make it into her mouth). i like how his mouth is open when he wants her to open hers for the food. i think i do the same thing. this little girl sure loves solid food!

oops!

i had a little (ok, BIG) cooking disaster on tuesday night involving spicy tomato soup and my blender. instead of crying like i wanted to right after it happened i decided to take a picture. the pictures don't even do the mess justice. it's funny to look at the pictures now, although it wasn't funny at the time (i was running late and did not have the time to deal with the huge mess).

 in the midst of my cleaning i looked over and saw logan putting a "birthday hat" (it's a horn) on emma's head and singing happy birthday. it made me happy!
thank goodness for those little cuties that help put things into perspective!

weekend gratitude

 i've had a fun time reading people's gratitude posts this month and although i'm not doing one daily, i thought i'd share some of the things i was grateful for this weekend (and today).

inspiring church meetings and personal revelation (where dave and i look at each other and know the speaker said just what we needed to hear)

wonderful family members that babysit (and love) our kids

spending time with fun girls (one of the perks of my job)

a morning run with dave and the kids on a perfect fall morning

stopping at the park during our run for logan to play

watching "the big bang theory" with dave (hilarious show)

mac 'n cheese from noodles and company

playdates. not only are they good for logan but they are so good for me. i love chatting with other moms, learning from them, watching how they parent and just building friendships.

the power of prayer

the way emma looks at me with her big blue eyes

the way logan plays pretend

that i get to be a mom to the 2 cuties above

cuddling with dave

laughing with dave

good health

having such a wonderful partner in this parenting adventure

yummy grilled cheese sandwiches

personal scripture study where i feel like the lord is tutoring me through the spirit

family dance parties. the number one song choice that gets the kids smiling and dancing (and that logan asks for by name):
"baby" by justin bieber (the wesslers have a little bieber fever. dave will try to deny it, but it's true)

emma: 7 months

i know i just posted emma's 6 month update, but i decided to actually try and post closer to her actual month mark (imagine that!). this little beauty turned 7 months on friday (11.11.11). she had a diaper blowout earlier today and since i was already stripping her down, it seemed like the perfect time to take a few pictures.

 

• this girl loves to eat (just like her mom and dad)! whenever we feed her solids she acts like she can't get enough (and grunts if we take too long in between bites to remind us to hurry up). she still watches closely as the rest of us eat. i think she is anxious for some table food.
• she was soo close to rolling today (after i was done taking pictures), but still not ready i guess.
• she will turn around and look up at us when we're holding her. it's so cute!
• when i am holding her, she has to know where dave is (if he's in the room). she will squirm and twist around until she finds him and then will just stop and stare at him. and vice versa, when he's holding her she always has to know where i am.
• she gets easily distracted while nursing.
• is a mama's girl (although she is still crazy about her dad).
• is really good at leaning over (folding herself in half) to grab toy while she is sitting and then getting herself back up with the toy.
• is content to sit on the floor and play with toys. i love it! logan will often come and sit down next to her and play. although lately the contentment ends when logan pushes her over.
• is having a rough couple of weeks with sleeping. she has been waking up almost every night at least one time. dave and i are completely baffled and don't know what to do. we're pretty anxious for her to return to sleeping through the night.
• she loves to suck on our hoodie zippers
• her hair is getting thicker and darker
• she enjoys sucking on logan's cars and trains and he is usually good to share with her (although whatever she is playing with suddenly becomes a lot more interesting to him when she's got it)
• she likes to bite fingers
• she loves to dance with us to music
• she loves to chew on her socks
• she doesn't love to get her diaper changed, although dave seems to be able to calm her down when he does it (too bad he's not around in the day to change more ;)

showering baby boy bremner

last month kathy and erin threw the cutest shower for kari. kathy is the queen of details and made everything look darling. and of course there was tons of delicious food. i'm drooling thinking of all of the yummy-ness!

 one of my contributions (actually it was a team effort, i traced the template and dave cut and assembled them). here's the template for the cones. easy and super cute!

 kari wanted hot chocolate, so i made marshmallow sticks to stir the hot chocolate.

 is this not the cutest diaper cake ever?! like i said before, kathy is amazing!

 kari is loved by many and it was clear by all the friends who came to celebrate baby collin. check out all that loot! she was seriously showered with gifts!

 dave's cousin meagan took good care of emma. she even got her to fall asleep on her (the proof is below) which never happens. i was a little jealous!

 grandma gg, meagan and emma

 a little help from cute kingsley (who is exactly one week younger than logan)

 i made baby collin some shoes and a tie onesie. i could not have done the shoes without my friend jessica's help. she is amazing (and very patient)! i must say, i am quite proud of myself. 

if the type of aunt kari is is any indication of the type of mother she will be, she is going to be incredible! we can't wait to meet baby collin!

thoughts on life

a few weeks ago dave and i went on date. i had found a fun list of questions to talk about over dinner (to spice up our conversation) and one of the questions was, "how would you like people to describe you at your funeral?" it really made me stop and think, because in my opinion the heart of that question is "what/who do you want to have become by the end of your life?"

fast forward to last friday. i attended the funeral of an amazing woman from the ward i grew up in (and still lovingly refer to as my "home ward." it still feels like home there). despite the sadness of the occasion, her funeral was an inspiring event. i don't think a single person left it without wanting to be better. as i listened to how her family and friends described her, it was clear the kind of person she had become and what was important to her, her family and the gospel of jesus christ. she had spent her life loving and serving those around her. one of her daughters described her as a "people builder" and i thought that was a beautiful tribute. i can honestly say that i never left her presence without feeling important, special and loved. it was a gift of hers to make everyone feel that way. shortly before she passed away her family was gathered around her and she asked them to be true to their covenants, because as she said, it's all we have. one of her daughters shared with me that while she and her mom were talking, her mom had told her that she while wasn't perfect, she had lived her covenants. what a wonderful thing to be able to say at the end of your life (or really any time during your life)!

and once again i thought about who and what i want to have become by the end of my life and it could be summed up in one thing: i want to be someone who has kept their covenants. because if i have been striving each day to keep my covenants, i will have become who i want to be: someone who loves the Lord and has tried to follow him and keep his commandments; someone who loves her family and has lived so it can be eternal :) ; someone who served and cared for others during good times and hard times and was "willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light;" someone who stood "as a witness of God at all times and in all things, and in all places" that i was in; someone who learned to submit my will to God's, trusting he knows what is best for me; someone the Lord could use to build his kingdom and further his work; someone who had become an instrument in the Lord's hands; someone who learned to recognize and follow the voice of the spirit; someone who loved truth; someone who loved life and lived it fully and found joy and happiness (and laughed a lot); someone who was true. i have got a long way to go to become that person, but my covenants have become a little more real and hopefully will influence me a little more each day.

slice of life: our lazy weekend

we had a lazy weekend and it was wonderful! lots of time just hanging out, playing, reading books, watching mormon messages, hanging out and talking in bed, and just being together. i love these kind of weekends!

no matter how many times i see this scene above, i can't get enough of it

a week worth of halloween celebrations

we had such a great halloween. it really is true that kids make everything so much more fun! logan loved trick or treating and let's be honest, why wouldn't he?! free candy (after all, he is my son!)! we celebrated over the period of about a week and rather than doing multiple posts i'm just doing one long one. prepare yourself for lots of pictures of a cute fireman and darling ducky!

the week before halloween we went to the trunk or treat at my parent's ward. i always love visiting their ward, it still feels like home to me. this was logan's first experience with trick or treating. whenever he would say trick or treat he would hold up his arm (like the picture on the left). it was pouring rain so rather than going car to car, people lined the halls of the church with their candy. it got pretty packed (like claustrophobic) at times but it was worth it for candy (can you tell how much i love candy?!)!

is that not the cutest duck ever?! 

thanks to kari and sterling for lending us their japanese kimonos!

logan got his face painted (obviously...not a necessary caption)

they had a harry potter room that was really cool. logan sat on a stool and was sorted into a house (yea gryffindor) and this was him getting his wand from mr. ollivander!

the saturday before halloween the weather was beautiful and i thought it would be the perfect day to visit the zoo. it wasn't until we were pulling up to the zoo and saw all the kids dressed up and nowhere  to park that i remembered it was "boo at the zoo." after driving around for 15 minutes looking for parking (and getting mighty frustrated) and parking a 15 minute walk from the zoo, we finally made it. we looked like the total slacker parents because our kids weren't dressed in their costumes (i seriously think i only saw one other kid without a costume and there were a lot of kids there). luckily logan was oblivious and just thought it was fun to see the animals and more importantly, fun to get candy!

the day before halloween we went trick or treating to gammy and pappy's house. halloween is kathy's favorite holiday and she goes all out decorating and spoiling the kids. i think the picture below on the left perfectly captures her love of this holiday (and her grandkids)

finally the actual night arrived. we went trick or treating around our neighborhood with our friends the gordons and it was so fun! logan thought it was great and would push his way to the front at every house (not so great). he said "trick or treat" and "happy halloween" and we couldn't get over how cute he was. we visited one house that goes all out decorating. i'm personally not a fan of inflatable lawn decor, but this house was so festive we had to get a picture. plus they must have had between 12-15 intricately decorated jack-o-lanterns. they were incredible (and sadly by the next day all the decorations were down and the pumpkins were in their trash cans).

logan with the 2 cutest ladybugs

we came home and logan had to check out his loot. i think this picture is funny because he is lining up his candy that is the same size and shape. and dave and i had fun passing out candy to the late trick or treaters (i think it is one of dave's favorite things about halloween). it was the perfect end to a great week of celebrating. we also celebrated by attending our nephew josh's halloween birthday party but sadly didn't take any pictures :(

let's just say i have eaten more than my fair share of candy. i could relate to what one of my friends posted on facebook, that for every one piece of candy her son eats, she eats five. that sounds about right to me. one of the first things that logan asks for when he wakes up is a piece of candy and then he begs for it for the rest of the day. aahhh! it does work well for bribery though (like bribing him with candy if he would be reverent during family scripture study tonight)! happy halloween!