My little punk rock princess!
Thanks to Vanessa for buying her this shirt, my little girl is already showing signs of her rebelious ways. I woke up this morning and this is how she looked. I just thought I would share my joy with you :)

Well onto something else... I can't beleive that Thanksgiving is over! We spent it over at my Uncle Mikes house and like always, there was too much food. This time it was the pies that did us in. There were 12 of us there and we seriously had 10 different pies. It was out of control, but who cares, its pie! My Mom and I found out that the mall was giving out $10.00 gift cards to the first 200 people Friday morning. So, 1o bucks is 10 bucks, right? After much heckleing from my dear sweet Ammon, and him betting that I wouldn't ever wake up on time, We arrived at home by 1:00am from a long night of games and... of course, pie, and went to bed. I got 3.5 hours sleep on thursday all for a gift card, $10.00 more dollars from waking up and winning out Ammon on his bet, and the satisfaction of running through the mall with hundreds of other crazy people at 6:00 o'clock in the morning- ooh yeah and we got a snowglobe too. It actually was very fun, and I came out with an additional $15.00 in Kolhs cash after waiting in line for an hour and having the cashier mess up. Not bad, eh? I got home from shopping at about 10:30am and who was still asleep? Hmmm I will let you figure that one out :)

Today starts my, "I don't want to look like I had a baby 4 months ago" diet and exersise plan. I am pretty excited about it. I do know that Christmas is coming up so it will be called off for a few days, but why wait until the end of the year? Nobody ever starts anything that they want to do as a resolution so I am going to beat the system by starting a month in advance. I said goodbye to my old ways yesterday after eating like 4 pieces of pumpkin coffee cake. Why not go out with a bang? Wish me luck.

Well Emmie is awake now, and we are off to clean the bathroom and make some phone calls- fun eh? Keep us posted on what's new in your life. Love ya all!

Its About Time, I KNOW!


So many of you inquireing minds have been trying to get me to put up a new post for quite some time now. I apologize for the wait, but things have been a bit crazy the past month or so. Forgive me?


Well, onto what's new with the Cheneys....
We are officially residents or Medford OR without all the needed documentation that is (Drivers liscense, etc.) and we are having a blast. We just got into a townhouse about a week ago (pictures to follow soon, because I am proud :), Ammon got a killer job at the best printing press in the area, and Emmie is the cutest daughter I have ever had (well she's the only, but don't tell her that). She has been so much fun. After weighing her a few days ago, she clocked in at a hefty 12lbs 7 oz, and is on the rise again I am sure. She loves to eat, just like Mom and will soon be preparing her own meals :) She just recently became really interested in her toys and especially loves anything she can chew on, lights, and the sound of running water. She sleeps through the night ... halleluja chorus in the background... and smiles and talks upon waking up- what a perfect child! We sure love her!

Halloween being last week... these are our most recent photos plus it give me an opportunity to boast about my amazing costume making abilities. Daniel is wearing this years creation... I call it "Le Scarecrow! #5"- nice eh? And then there is Emmie and I which aren't as spectacular, but still fun. We went to the ward "trunk or treat" which Ems slept through so nobody could see her cuteness, and stopped by uncle Mike's and uncle Mitch's haunted houses. Lots of fun had by all and home and in bed by 10:30! Such is life with a baby and very sleepy husband.

She loves to Smile!!!

Emmie will be seven weeks old tomorrow. Time sure does fly by fast. She is starting to giggle (mostly in her sleep), talk (but moslty grunt like some sort of gremlin), and she is actually starting to gain weight (yeah!!).

Things are going pretty well in our little place here. Ammon and I are just gearing up for our move to Medford, OR coming up here October 5. Our house is trashed with boxes all over the place not to mention all of the baby furniture. But all in all things are pretty good, we are just enjoying our little one and finally...maybe...starting to adjust to this whole being a parent thing.

September 10, 2006

Big "Thanks!" to Vince and Sue Rackliffe! You guys have given us such treasures! We could never have afforded such beautiful keepsakes if not for you!

Meet Emmie's Mommy!


Heather is the beautiful mother of my beautiful daughter!










But before she was a beautiful mommy,












she was my beautiful wife!






And before that






she was Daniel's beautiful sister!








But before she was a beautiful sister to anyone,



















She was a beautiful daughter to Andrea and Rob!
I married a woman that has been beautiful in many roles, but she gets prettier with each new role, and she'll always play every role she ever started, but she'll be most beautiful as a Mother that is a wife, a mother that is a sister, and a mother that is a daughter!

Emmalyn is a week and a half old and bath time was unavoidable. Her umbilical cord mysteriously fell off and found it’s way to the coffee table where it was found Saturday afternoon. (For the record I was only joking when I pretended to eat it, and I didn’t really think it looked like bacon, and it sure didn’t taste like bacon!)

Thankfully Andrea and Daniel are in the Cheney home to provide the much-needed moral support as well as give excellent advice on parenting. Daniel could not have been more clear about that cord not tasting like bacon, he also thinks we should know absolutely everything about Super Mario (who is somewhat of a mentor to him). As a parent I hope to obtain as many stars as possible and eventually beat the final Bowser! That is some sort of metaphor for financial success and Emmalyn’s future fiancé, I think.

Just one more picture...
I think this one should win some sort of award! I guess I'm just really good at taking pictures -Heather

We are home!

It's so nice to be here and out of the hospital. However, when you drive home it definitely kicks in that the baby is YOURS and is not just a fun amusment to cuddle up with and give back to the nurses. I am very greatful for how smoothly everything went and for the little girl we get to keep... for good (unlike all the puppies being given away that I hold outside the doors of the grocery store). I am officially a mom and it is great!

Last night, Ammon went to get some some dinner for the two of us, and came back with a full-fledged night of wining and dining. A kind of "last date" of sorts for the time being. After sending Emmie off to the nursery we enjoyed chinese take out, sparkling juice, chocolate eclaires and the smell of sweet red roses. It was a ton of fun and definitely appreciated and needed. We ended up getting Emmie out of the nursery after about a half an hour of going through withdrawls.

Since being home, Ammon has found many things that he wants to improve in the house to make better for a baby and I am enjoying watching him clean and make those changes :) Just joking, we have had a very relaxing day and evening of visiting with family and enjoying having her home with us. We now have Sonic the Hedgehog playing on the Sega with Emmie asleepin' away- and it seems that we are going to adjust to having a baby just fine! -Heather

Ammon's Account

Aug. 2, 2006 Heather’s due date to delver Emmalyn
7am Heather has the first painful contractions of her pregnancy.
8 am Ammon arrives at work only to be useless as he waits to hear from Heather.
9 am Ammon hears nothing.
10 am Ammon hears nothing.
10:35 am Ammon’s clever female co-workers suggest Ammon call his wife.
10:40 am Ammon feels much better!

I will either kick myself for not writing anything today, or I will just have to write later when I have some kind of organized thought. I don’t know what to think right now. It’s actually a quarter after midnight August 4th. Emmalyn was born yesterday at 3:35 pm. Heather and I drove to the hospital after a sleepless night at 6:30 am. After hours of painful contractions a mishap of sorts with the epideral Heather began pushing at 1:30 pm. I teared up when I first saw Emmie’s little fuzzy head poking through, then after what seemed like hours (because it was I guess) her head just shot out and her right arm right beside it, she came reaching out like she had been digging with her right hand ahead of her. Jackie our midwife exclaimed, “she’s definatley a girl, she’d reaching for a credit card!”

Heather and I each had quite a few messages from concerned parties, I opted to call three people. I gave Heather her phone to call her mother and I left the room to call mine, then I called my good friend Neil Tenney, followed by a member of our ward that I instructed to tell whoever he wanted as long as he calls the bishop for me.

When Emmie was born I cried in a shoulder shaking ball. I was so glad to see Heather done with the pain and to have a healthy little miracle in my arms. I got to hold Emmie for about half an hour or more while Heather was being stitched up where she had torn a little.

The first thing I remember thinking is that I could see similarities in her face and her uncle Shawn and Vincents. Heather said she had my mouth. She had a headfull of dark hair as well as a very hairy back. Her nails were long, but I thought her fingers were as well. Her head was almost instantly perfect shape and a perfect shade of pink. She sucks on the left side of her lower lip. Her eyes looked blue, but I understand that will likely change. Her head looked so small until she popped out and then I saw that her head had been smooshed into a cone like shape, which quickly filled out, she was about three times the size that I imagined, she looked so big to me when I first saw her, I didn’t think she looked like a new-born.

Heather tried to breast feed after she and her bed were all transformed to normal. Emmie seemed to know how, but lacked interest. We tried again when Emmie woke up six hours later, and she definatley knew how.

I like having a daughter. I love holding her and kissing her. It’s nice to have the privledge. I like to hold other peoples babies, but I don’t like to ask others and I have often felt inclined to love little babies that I have held, but that makes mothers uncomfortable, esp. if I kiss the little ones. I’m so thrilled to have all that affection be appropriate.

I love her yawns, and her scowls. I love her snorts and squeeks.

I changed her first diaper at about 10 pm, it was very stickey and black of course, but I think I did ok.

She’s in the nursery now and she will be brought to Heather, should Emmie be hungry. I think we all need the sleep right now though.

Here is our little one. Emmalyn Anne. Born 8/3/06, 3:35 PM, 8 lb. 3 oz., 20".

14 hrs of labor. Heather is a star!

Key players:
Incubator played by Heather
Seeder played by Ammon
Midwife played by Jackie
Nurse played by Joy
Projectile played by Emmalyn