Hey rv9rlaph,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities. Enabling an emoji is a simple setup. The following article will guide you through enabling them.
iOS: Understanding emoji
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4976
To enable emoji from the keyboard settings in iOS:
- Tap Settings > General > Keyboard
- Tap International Keyboards
- Tap Add New Keyboard
Locate and tap Emoji
Once emoji is enabled, you can access the emoji keyboard by tapping the globe icon to the right of the space bar:

Regards,
-Norm G.