¡Amo a España!

In case you somehow didn't know, I recently went back to Spain for a quick visit. Martha (a girl I taught on my mission) got married in the Madrid temple, and I didn't want to miss out on that. A friend of mine (Ashley) came along for the ride, and we had a blast. There was a civil wedding on Saturday, followed by the temple ceremony the next Tuesday. The wedding was so much fun! It started at NOON and lasted until 11 PM. We ate more than I ever thought possible and then danced the night away. We became friends with a group of Iker's (Martha's new husband) buddies and hung out with them most of the night... they even invited us to go out after the wedding was over. It was fun being the exotic foreign girls -- I'm not used to getting that much attention, and I kinda liked it. :) One week was definitely not long enough, but we managed to do a lot in that short period of time. Unfortunately, we didn't make it out to see the running of the bulls (boo hoo!), but I guess it was for the best... at least that's what all of our new Spanish friends told us. They were glad it didn't work out -- it's not the safest place, especially for foreigners. Below are some pictures from the trip. Also, check out the links section to the right of this post. One of them is a link to my YouTube page where you can view several videos I took during the reception. The other will take you to my photo album on Facebook. Go check them out to get a better idea of how amazing it was to be back there.

This is a picture of me in Bilbao. I love the yellow building (I'm not sure what it is) and the "Bilbobus" in the background .

Here I am at the beach in Santander. We were only there for a few hours, unfortunately. I served in this city and would have enjoyed seeing some of my old friends, but I didn't know how to contact them. This was a last-minute trip (we had an extra day since we didn't get to go to the running of the bulls), so I didn't plan ahead. :(

Santander again.

And again...

OK, now go check out those other links. Worth your time, I promise. Oh, and be sure to read the photo captions so you know what everything is. I love you all!

Summer Fun

So Dana and I went to a Women's Retreat last weekend and it was soo much fun. I had an amazing experience. As a matter of fact such a good experience I am planning on going to the Women's Retreat my Community is doing in Australia next March. If I actually make it all the way out there, man I will be sure to take a lot of pictures.

so about Dana and I and some of what we did. It turns out Dana absolutely loves water. She spent quite awhile in the hot tub (it wasn't too hot - it was actually like warm bath water). She can float on her back and she discovered the annoying playful art of splashing. once she discovered it she was doing it to everybody. It was too cute. My baby is growing up really fast.





Mother-Daughter summer pose.... S-M-I-L-E


I made matching outfits for the weekend. I don't have any good pictures of them at present but I will soon. We got compliments all day. It was cool.

I was able to take some beautiful pictures of the deer at the Retreat Center Meadow.




here it is looking at me.


here it doesn't know I am there.

It was really neat. it seems we get so caught up in the rush of life that only when we find ourselves in the middle of nowhere we remember the simplicity and beauty of life.


I have this new thing I really like to do. I love to record music on MySpace. Here's a pic of me with my Microphone/headset. I am recording a CD for Joshua for Christmas with his favorite songs on it. I have a friend who is letting me use his recording studio for free all I have to bring is the background music and my voice. So I am excited about that.




For those of you who don't know, this year I am officially opening my Business: Heavenly Presence - Custom Gift Baskets for all Occassions. It's Grand Opening will be October 1st, 2008. So for those who have trouble getting gifts for the name you picked out on time, I can solve your troubles. :) Here is the first one I did and am auctioning off:

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Well, Joshua gets back from Japan tomorrow. I think that is all for now. Love you all and miss you a ton. Can't wait for that Family ReUnion.

Guinn Family Update

Hi everyone! It has been a while since I have talked to most of you. We have been enjoying our summer together. This is our last summer with Ashley as a "child". She is off to college next month, and she is totally excited. Sarah is more than ready to step in as the "big sister in residence". She has big plans for her new responsibilities. Liam is 3 years old today! He is finally potty trained (YAY!!). We had a Mickey Mouse party for him and all his playgroup buddies on Friday. There must have been 20 kids here and it was crazy, but lots of fun. Austin has decided that he loves babies. We take turns with other families at church volunteering in the nursery and last week there were 3 new babies. Austin couldn't stay away from them. He gets this really high pitched squeal that he uses when he see animals (and apparently also babies). He kept doing his squeal and going over to the babies and trying to hug them all. He was totally smitten! I guess that is a good way to lead into the next bit of information..... we are expecting another baby in March! It is a big (huge) surprise, but everyone is pretty excited about having a new baby to love. And I guess we have seen that Austin loves babies, so that is good. Well, I hope you are all doing well. We love you all and hope we can arrange some type of a reunion soon!

Hey everyone! If you haven't already noticed we have our own blog now. We thought this family blog thing was so fun we decided to make our own. However I am about as good at udating it as I was updating this one...:( Sorry I'm trying to do better! I just made a post on the other one and I am going to try and see if I can copy it to this one. So here goes! We love and miss you all!

Ok so I know it has been forever since we posted! We have been busy and having a great summer so far. Eli is busy keeping up with summer school. It is amazing how much coursework they can cram into 5 weeks! We recently celebrated our 5 year anniversary by going to the world's best waterpark, Schlitterbahn! We had a blast! Their most popular slide is called the master blaster. It is actually a 6 story "water coaster" with 8 uphill blasts! Owen just continues to amaze us everyday! A few nights ago we were watering the grass and it was a full moon. Owen says "oh mommy look at the moon! (pause)... (gasp) It's moving!!!!" He is just so fun! Here are some pics below of what we've been up to.

Our birds hatched a month ago and aren't they so cuuu.... ugly!:)
Much cuter!

After a long day of play, nothing beats a nap in mommy's clean laundry.

"Oh man, do we have to go home now?!?!" One of our "projects." We love our new pot rack

Watching fireworks on the trunk of our car with daddy.

Sarah had to work the 4th and 5th but that didn't stop the firework fun.

Boo, I scared you!"

ps. You can can check our blog by clicking the link Bekki put at the top right of the fam blog. Otherwise the address is www.eliandsarah.blogspot.com

Happy Belated July 4th!

Living the Military Life as an Army family, brings to mind ever more deeply the daily cost of our Freedom. Stephanie can tell also tell you that this life isn't the easiest. It is definitely rewarding but so far from being easy. We are going to take a brief stroll down memory lane.

July 13th, 2006, I saw my husband off to train for the demands of military life. I spent six months pretty much alone as a new wife. During that time, we lost our beloved twins, and were each forced to go through that alone. That was just the beginning of our united yet separate lives. I recall the day we met again for his Basic Training Graduation. The adage "distance makes the heart grow fonder" is very true - especially in our case when the distance may get very far and long.

Josh and I were stationed here at Fort Lewis and have been through our ups and downs. There is nothing like having a baby in the military. At least everything is free... Josh got promoted to Specialist effective July 13th, 2008. He has worked so hard for this. The Army has already given him several awards as well as looks at him with a lot of respect and so do I.

July 4th brought to mind the reality of deployments however. just before the fireworks, they played a slideshow in honor of the Unit that just got back from their tour to Iraq. I know the Army Wife is supposed to be strong. However, my heart was breaking just thinking about the day when I know he too will be called to war and I will be the wife and mother right here waiting for him to come back. It's so hard to see what the soldiers go through while they are on their tours. The price of freedom is not cheap. Considering we have a Soldier in our midst, let's especially remember to pray for our troops as well as their families. God Bless the U.S.A.

Josh Emmot Family Update....

well, it's finally time for me to post an update on our family. but first, before I forget, a family reunion is a great idea. Tell us when and we will make an effort to come down.

Dana is growing big and fast. She is now feeding herself - sippy cup. She is eating some baby foods and tried tomato soup the other day. All her teeth are trying to come in at the same time so she is constantly bugged about that. She stayed up to watch fireworks with us on July 4th . She scoots herself around anywhere she wants to go only backwards... LOL She is having a blast discovering new things every day.

Joshua is doing really well. He is getting ready to head to Japan for the month. He leaves July 11th. He will get back late July and will immediately head out again to Virginia for a week or so. Then he will take a week or so off for vacation.

I am doing quite well. I have been cleaning house, getting rid of as much unnecessary stuff as I can. I started a baby quilt today and it is already half way done. YAY!

Our family had a blast this past week. 110th Chem Battalion Tech Escort put on a Marriage Retreat July 1-3rd at the Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, WA. It was so beautiful there! The Marriage Retreat was wonderful - the best thing for us considering we are almost completely recovered from our marital issues from a couple months ago. Childcare there was fantabulous!

About a month ago, we had a bomb threat a couple doors down from where we live. It was in our same building and CID evacuated 300 sq feet radius. They said it was going to be only an hour or two - it wound up stretching from 7pm to 2:30am. Turns out this lady had 3 bombs on detonators and 25 pounds of explosives in her house. She claims "she didn't know it was there." I am quite nervouse about living pretty much next door to someone who apparently doesn't know what happens in her own house.

Well, I think that is about it for now! Love and hugs....