Saturday, August 25, 2007

It Was a Year Ago Yesterday....


A year ago yesterday we got Emma's referral and saw this photo for the first time. I don't know how old she was when this was taken. How old does she look to you?


And here's our pretty girl now. Doesn't she look grown up?



Emma made an important pilgrimage today -- to Maddox Ranch House Restaurant in Brigham City, UT. It will be the first of many such visits. Oh, the homey goodness of Maddox food. The first bite of hot roll with raspberry butter sent me to gastronomical paradise. Joe ordered the famous fried chicken; I had melt-in-your-mouth roast beef with mashed potatoes and sweet corn; Emma poked around at her child-size chicken-fried steak.

A fine point of Maddox protocol is to make your own honey butter for the cornbread; the bigger the mess you make on your plate, the tastier the product.

After lunching at Maddox, we bought a couple of baskets of peaches to take home for jam-making (it's Peach Days in Brigham right now, don'tcha know). Then we visited our friends Shawn and Calista and their family, who live nearby. They're planning to leave September 13 to pick up their daughter Sophi Li in Hubei Province.

My sister Julie was in town this past week for BYU Education Week (I went with her one day on Monday; what a blast. It's like being transported to a lovely, edifying, well-groomed, caffeine-free planet). The above photo was taken at Aunt Barbie's. From left: Yer author, niece Angie with her baby Wyatt, sister Julie and her daughter Julia, sister Barbie with Emma.

Emma and Grandpa Hiatt had a blast swinging in Barbie's backyard. Hard to tell who was having a better time.

But from the looks of this photo, it was probably Emma.

The other day Emma took one of her little bears, wrapped him in her blankey-blank and propped a pillow behind his head. I like to see her pretendy side coming out.

Our summer's coming to a close. It's been a wonderful first summer with our little girl. Thanks for checking in.

9 comments:

Ang said...

I can't believe it's been a year! It was so great to see you and Emma. She really does seem so mature all of a sudden. And that picture on the swing is absolutely priceless.

Anonymous said...

I can personally testify that both Emma and Grandpa Hiatt were having a great time, but she's a MUCH better smiler than I am. Give her a hug, a high five an an "I luv.."

Anonymous said...

That picture of Emma with grandpa is so cute! And I can't believe how much she's grown up in the past year. My guess for how old she is in that first picture is maybe 5 months old?

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, that picture brought back so many memories - I kinda still think that backdrop is a real place - a cross between China and Hello Kitty-land. I think she looks about 6 months old in that picture - but I don't think we'll ever know. It's so much fun to watch Emma interact with Grandpa Hiatt - you can feel that true love between them - who would have ever guessed that we would all have the blessing of Emma in our life. Julia said to me "I feel so cool having Emma as my cousin!" We are really lucky to be able to see her and watch her grow up - she's just a joy. And I love the angles of our hands in that group photo - it looks like we're doing some sort of wrist/hand ballet - we're all hyper-elastic!
XO
Aunt Barbie

Julia Warren said...

Missy Em and grandpa make a great pair. It was such fun to hang out last week--I loved going out to lunch and watching you and my mom do "my high silk hat" with all the gestures!

andrea said...

Kids start looking more mature when you can see their necks, don'tcha think? Emma seems to have a very elegant one.

And what a good lookin bunch of gals on the couch! (With one cute boy thrown in, of course.)

I'm with Amy--I'm guessing around 5 months old in the pic.

Anonymous said...

Amazing to see the difference a year can make! Emma looks so happy and so grown up! We loved when you came with her to a Wasatch Meeting and she was all over the place! She has grown up since then too! Cute girl!

laurel said...

We are friends with the Jennings too and used your agency as well. Our baby is from Hubei too. We are so excited for Calista. You daughter is so beautitul!

Anonymous said...

Oh good grief, what a mega slacker blogger checker I am. (Say that 3 times fast.) What adorable pictures of Emma. My guess is 8 months old of the early one.

You can tell Grandpa Hiatt is enjoying every minute of Act 1, scene 1 of "Emma".

Denny, do pass down this musical cultural treasure of "One daaaaaay, as I was riding on the subway....my high silk hat, my high silk hat. I laaaaid it down upon the seat beside me, my high silk hat, my high silk hat. A BIIIG FAT LADY CAME AND SAT UPON IT! My high silk hat (hand gesture here: expand arms vertically, palms open, facing each other), it looked like that! (collapse hands and slap palms together quickly, so as to shock the listener). Repeat phrase. (There's more, but you'll have to call up Denny to get the rest sung to you. Julia, it was great to be able to demonstrate this camp song in its entirity. BYU EDUCATION WEEK ROCKED THE HOUSE!