Lily Update

Lily turned 1 year old on June 12th 2009. We were in AZ for her first birthday and a lot of friends and family turned out for the big bash. We had her birthday at my sisters apartment complex by the pool. It was a party with all the food fixing's and the best part is all the cousins were there and we all had a blast. Unfortunately, I lost all my pictures off my camera so all I have of her birthday is video. Big bummer!

Here is the video of Lily with her cake. I must say, for being as excited for food as she usually is, I think she got "gun shy" when every one was staring at her. I had high expectations because a month earlier, she was at her cousin Haven's (a couple months older) party. My cousin put all the babies on the table and let then dig into the cake. Lily went for it! She pigged out and I thought "Man! She is going to be awesome at her birthday party." Well of course she did exactly the opposite. She was a big dud with the cake but for memory's sake, I will post the video any way. (Thanks to Nicole who made her cake).





She got lots of awesome presents too so, "Thank you all who made her birthday and special one."

Another fun mile stone is that she started walking one week before her first birthday. Of course, I got that on video too:)



Lily is a busy body and once she started walking, she NEVER crawled again. I think she would walk a mile if I let her. It's a wonder that I am not thinner for all the chasing around I do! The girl can RUN!

I love when kids figure out that they too can actually play peek-a-boo! Lily played peek-a-boo with Josh by herself for the first time also while in AZ. This is quite adorable. She loves her daddy.




Since we have been home, Lily has fallen in love with Baby Einstein, books, Starfall (an amazing on line learning web site) and climbing. Some of her favorite books are:
Hands Can
Quack, Quack
Opposites
Splash
This adorable puzzle book she got for her birthday
And pretty much anything her brother will read to her:)

She won't even let us have a second in the morning. Before I can even get to the couch to sit down, she will already be chasing me with a book in her hand. She then looks at you and says "up!" and proceeds to climb onto your lap. It melts my heart every time!

For those of you who have young kids and don't know what Starfall is, you should check out the website http://www.starfall.com/ . Vinny started on it at 15 months and by 17 he knew all the letters of the alphabet, capital and lower case. He is also full on reading and hadn't even started kindergarten yet. It really works and kids love it. Lily will sit for 30 to 40 minutes at a time and and be mesmerized the entire time. In fact, now, when I get on the computer, she runs up to me and says "Up!" because SHE KNOOOOWS:)

Lily is probably about 24 to 25 pounds however, she is thinning out because she started walking. This makes us very sad because we soooo loved her fatness!

Lillian is definitely lacking in the hair department. I can finally put little pig tails in, but she is still pretty bald on top so I hide that with a bow. I call it "creative combing" and I do it to hide the "Skullet".

Lily loves to climb the slide in Vincent's room and can do it with no problem. She also likes to climb the playground equipment at Vincent's school. Vinny couldn't start at the bottom of a slide and climb up until he was about 3.

As far as talking, she is saying some words and knows her animal sounds. I always push my finger into her belly when I say "Moo" and now when I ask her what a cow says, she pushes her finger into her belly and says "Mooooooo". It's too cute!

She has 8 teeth and is cutting four molars at the same time. Luckily, she hasn't been too cranky. She just doesn't sleep the best.

Lillian is very loved by all our friends and neighbors here in UT. The neighbor kids have to hug her every time they see her and she is just fine with that. In fact, she lights up every time she sees them. It is fun to watch kids as they start to love and recognize the people around them.

Lily is fun, adventurous, smart, loving and expressive. I just love to watch her facial expressions. She is a joy and I'm so glad she's mine.

One of the funniest things about Lily is her uncontrollable urge to dance when she hears music. It is an automatic response.

Here's Lily jammin' to Michael Jackson's "Thriller"

Back From Az and First Things First... FISHIN'!

And that's the way it's done:)

Actually, I have to say the entire fishin' experience started out with my dad casting a spinner into his ear. Yes my friends, he hooked himself... by far the biggest catch EVER!

This video is only six seconds long for two reasons:

1) I had to hurry before the pain kicked in.

2) I was the one who had to pry it out of his ear and this was not an easy task. I had to keep steady hands and use needle nose pliers to smash down the barb on the hook so that I could pull the spinner back out through his ear. OUCH!

Nice one dad! :)



I have to tell my tragic tale...

I got home from our 5 week trip to to AZ, went to upload all my pics and right at the moment the pictures were making their transfer, the battery dies on my camera and I lost ALL of my pictures. So, there will be no exciting update on my trip to AZ.

AZ in a nut shell... HOT, saw family and friends and got to do two weeks of workshop which was a total joy, Lily turned 1 and it was HOT. Wait... or did I already say that?

Before we even returned home from AZ, my Dad decided he would come up for a fishing trip. YAHOOOO!!!! I love fishing with my dad! So, we drove home Friday, had two days to recover, my dad got in at 4 and we were fishing by 6:00 and fished every single day after that.

I lost the fishing pics too and that is why I have all the video.Which, might I say, is even better. Especially for those of you who don't believe us when we say that we catch fish:)

My dad and I had a grand ol' time and I think I am safe to say that he was proud of his daughter. I really became a "pro" that week. I was catching enough fish to start my own market and, on top of it all, I learned to gut them as well. This is something I have watched my dad do for years but have never attempted it myself. I figure I better know how to do it, so this way, when I go fishing on my own, I can actually bring the fish that I catch home with me:)

Later that week, my dad and I thought it would be so fun to invite the neighbors over for a "Fish Fry". We made fish tacos, beans, fresh salsa and home-made cherry ice cream. It was so fun and best of all, my neighbors LOVED the tacos! I never had a doubt!

Josh said the funniest thing. He said:

"Ya know? You two are the only people I know who would invite the entire neighborhood over for a fish fry BEFORE you have actually caught the fish!"

We are confident and slightly cocky when it comes to fishing it's true.

On a sentimental note, Grandpa got to take Vinny out fishin' for his very first time. Grandma Robin bought him a pole when we were in AZ and he practiced everyday because he wanted Grandpa to take him fishing someday.

We went to Vivian Park which has a park and pond for kids to fish in. It is very beautiful and is located in the Provo canyon. I love it there!



One month later...

I guess my Dad had so much fun that he just couldn't resist and had to come back for more. So he did (at the last minute) and by surprise, so did my mom (also at the very last minute). This wasn't a planned thing and some might think that is just crazy but I loved it because I got to spend time with my parents and we got to take my mom fishing. She did great and looked adorable at the same time:)

She caught fish too. Go Bozo Go! (she thought she looked like Bozo the clown in that hat).


Here's some great pics of my dad with some more "trophy fish".





It was a short little trip for the both of them but super fun! My neighbors were especially glad my dad came back because they got to eat more fish tacos! We invited even more people this time and as always, it was a hit! One of our neighbors, Ashley and Rodd even went fishing with us one time. They did great and Rodd actually caught the biggest fish of he night:)

Thank you Dad for teaching me how to fish, for catching me when I fall in the river, for tying my boots even when they are cold and wet, for fishing out my spinners when you could keep fishing yourself, for being happy for me when I catch bigger fish than you instead of jealous (OK except for the one time you were helping me land the biggest fish I ever caught and you dropped it!) but more importantly, thanks for all the time we got to spend together! I will not however, thank you for introducing me to Fiddle Faddle and fudge-covered Graham Crackers!!

I love you.