Yesterday, we drove down to San Diego to go to the Wild Animal Park. It was a great trip, the safari ride into the open range pens was SO COOL! It was neat to see the animals, who usually stayed with their own kind, interact with other species in these wide open spaces. It was terrific weather, cool enough so you didn't overheat with all the hiking. We didn't get to see everything, it's a huge park, so we'll have to go again! My feet were really hurting by the end though. Here are some of the pics. Lil loved the park, she was so good!

Finally, a New Post!

It's been a while since I've posted. It's been crazy and so instead of trying to catch up, I'll just start from here or else I'll never do it. So this past week my brother and his family came down to SoCal for a vacation away from WA. We spent one day with them at Disneyland and then they later came to stay with us and we spent part of a day at our favorite park.
Haylee and Lillie are only a couple weeks apart in age, so I was really excited to see them play together. And it was a blast, Lillie loved hanging out with Haylee and Amy. We hope they had a fun time down here, because we loved having them around. Seriously, they're the only company we've had since February. LA is a happening place, so I'm guessing it's us that's keeping people away. Hmmm..... anyway.

Here are some of the pictures that we took at the park. I can't seem to find the camera that I took to Disneyland.




I'll try to get another post up before another month passes.

Haunted Queen Mary

The past couples weeks have been really difficult with Lillie. She has learned how to pull herself up on things, but didn't know how to get down. This made napping impossible and so she was really grumpy/frustrated for two weeks straight. So I guess I was in crisis mode when I said that I would love to go to the haunted Queen Mary and get scared out of my mind. Yeah, not sure why I agreed to it now. No, actually it was really fun and nice to get out, without having to take a diaper bag with me. It was the first time (here) that we left Lillie under someone else's watch and went out of town.
The Queen Mary is a ship that is permanently docked in Long Beach and every year for Halloween they put together these mazes with scary things and scary people to jump out at you. We met up with people from Eric's class and Troy and Mikelle, it was nice being in a bigger group. And I have to admit it was fun watching this Pig Man chase Mikelle around, he would not stop bugging her. Freaky.
I want to go back and tour the ship, after the Halloween season. I was too distracted by gory scenes and freaky people to really enjoy the Queen Mary.

My Sister, the Princess

I know this is on my sisters' blogs but I wanted to post it also. One of my little sisters, Jody, was the Junior Princess for her high school's Homecoming this year. She's sassy but we love her. Congrats Jody. She's pictured with my handsome nephews. Miss you guys!

Florida? No, THIS is the SUNSHINE STATE

This is madness. I have never been in such hot weather at the end of OCTOBER. It is over 90 degrees pretty much every day. I hate to complain but man, I LONG for chilly days. Jackets, sweaters, hats, mittens, hot chocolate... I love it all. I just want to sleep with a blanket on my bed, is that too much to ask??

The Cat in the Hat

This is the before picture.
And the after picture. This is our little family as pumpkins. The mischevious one is Eric, the happy one is me, of course, and the crying baby one is who else, Lil.
Troublemakers, the lot of them.

Tonight was our ward's annual Trunk or Treat. I was really nervous because I didn't think anyone would show up (I'm the ward activity chairperson). However, there was a good turnout, we ran out of candy and it was a fun time. Lillie went as the Cat in the Hat and Eric and I were Thing 1 and Thing 2. I was really happy about how our costumes turned out since I made it all but the wigs. Lillie was really good about keeping on her hat and bow, too.

Some Pics

9 Month Visit

Yesterday Lillie went in for her nine month appointment. I didn't have the anxiety taking her to the doc that I normally have because I only thought she would be getting one shot this time, but I was wrong. She got two shots and a blood draw. Ouch! From my limited experience as a nurse I do know that it is DANG hard to get an IV in babies. So, let me just say that they did a remarkable job, even though there was a little digging for the vein. Needless to say, it was a traumatic experience for her and me.
Anyway, I just thought I would put up her stats from this visit. She is tall and skinny. 28.5 inches long, 75th percentile and 17 lbs 10 oz, 30th percentile. She's normally been in the 50th percentile for weight but the doc said its normal to lose some at this age because she is so active.
She is still army crawling (fast), loves to pull herself up on things (like our big shoe rack, which she pulled on top of herself today), and loves, even more, to walk around holding onto your fingers. She has said both Mama and Dada purposefully and correctly. She has started to imitate words and voice inflection that you say. Today, she was trying to say "I love you" back to me. Lillie loves to sing when music is playing. She loves spending time with Hallie, stealing her toys, etc. After a bout of not wanting to eat or drink, she now loves food again, especially whatever we're eating. Eric even gave her an M&M the other day. That would not have flied if I'd seen it go down. She has started to throw dramatic fits when we change her diaper, clothes, or put her down. Not good. She even tries to "tell us off" by crying and saying "Na, na, na" over and over. She loves reading books. She loves her dad, always wanting to go to him, wrestle with him, etc. She is a wonderful sleeper, which has made all the difference in the world the past three months.
We love her so much, love having her in our family, and are amazed at how much she is growing and learning each day.

Outting to the Park

climbing like a pro

Lillie took a while but we've finally got her pulling herself up on stuff. Here she is in action:

LOL

Tonight we had some friends over to play games. All three husbands are in dental school. So we were playing Catch Phrase and the word was "square root". The description for "root" was the bottom of the tooth and all the future dentists could come up with were words like "apices" and "furca". Both of which I have no idea what they mean, but neither sound like "root". So they didn't score that point. Come on, Brad, "square apices"???? It was a fun night.

Two Lil Toofies

Well, it took 8.5 mos but Lillie has finally gotten in her first teeth. Eric informs me that their location is O and P, or to anyone who is not a dentist, the typical two middle bottom ones. I was so surprised when Eric spotted them, I didn't know they were coming. Her tongue is always wagging out of her mouth, but we're not able to see her gums hardly ever. She wasn't that fussy until after the teething was discovered. And now she's emotional, pulling at her ear constantly and has a runny nose. Hmmm... I was so excited for her to get teeth, and I still am, I just wish that it wouldn't be painful (for her and me).

It's fun to run at the Y-M-C-A

So Eric and I are fat. Lil is getting old and I no longer have the excuse of "just having been pregnant" for the extra weight. So we finally signed up at the local Y. We have been members of exercise facilities before, but we have never felt so at home. Back at 24 hr fitness, everyone was in peak physical shape, except for us, although we were in a lot better shape than we are now. But at the Y, I don't feel like the fattest or the least in shape person... it's great.
I feel like there are people there just like me, who have lives outside of fitness regimes, but want to be in better shape than they currently are in. It's like we are all working together, in our ratty t-shirts and baggy shorts, to better our health and the health of our society. Ok super cheesy, I know. It's not quite like that, but I love running into people in our ward, the daycare closely resembles the nursery, and I love all that it has to offer.
We've been doing pretty good, going at least 4 times a week for the last 3 weeks. No changes yet on the scale or in the fitting of my clothing, but hopefully they will come. We want this to become a lifestyle change, even though it's gonna be hard to keep this up. Eric and I are going to start training for 5k's to help motivate us. So we'll keep ya posted on that.
Random post, I know, especially because it is my third for the night and it is quite late, but I feel like it will help to motivate me, if people know.

Decorating Dilemma...

So I am actually really happy with the way my apartment has turned out. We moved down to CA with only the stuff we could fit into our cars, so it has been a long process trying to make it a home. I've been working on it for the past year and there are still many projects that I need to do to feel like this place is complete. But right now the wall behind our TV is my biggest dislike of our place. It doesn't look good, too many focal points and the mats and frames are very traditional. The rest of our place is more transitional/contemporary. So I need a good solution. Any ideas?? Amanda?? Anyone??


Here is the offending wall. I was thinking of painting our last name in big letters across the wall in a light grey. It might seem like we're really obsessed with ourselves though. Eric doesn't like my idea.
Eric is studying. I needed to get proof of this. And to show the hideous TV dinner tray table he brought home one day. I hate it. But I do love our bookshelf because it blocks my view into Eric's office area, which is always messy. Sigh.
This is our accent wall. I like it, Eric hates it, but not enough for him to paint over it himself, so it stays for now.
The curtains are one of my most recent projects. They run floor to ceiling and when the vertical blinds are pulled back, they hide behind the curtains. I love them!
My most recent project. I decoupaged paper over the little mirrors. I think it turned out nice. Eric thinks it's weird to be able to look in the mirror while using the restroom...

I am not finished with either Lillie's or our room, so those pictures will have to wait. I just thought I'd show pictures since only our parents have seen our place and I think it's changed a lot since they were here 8 mos ago.

Little Buddies

It has been so fun having Hallie live just down the hallway. We see them quite often and it's great to see the girls interact. They are starting to be able to entertain one another and play together. They think they are such hot stuff now that they can stand up on furniture. So funny!

P.S. My baby has straggly bangs. Can you cut baby bangs? I put in little clips but her hair's too fine and they fall out. It's a struggle to get her to wear headbands, so I need another solution...

Fight On!

Lillie in her trojan get up, feeding herself!  Yay!

Wasn't the USC/Ohio State game great?

MT Vacation

Unfortunately we had to delay our trip to MT a day due to Lillie's sickness and Eric's eyes. But we still got to visit for a couple of fun filled days. Eric's brother, Tyler, came up from SLC for a couple days. It was good to see him... and beat him bowling. Hehe. But really, he was the first of Eric's siblings to meet Lil, so we're glad he made the long drive up. Thanks, Tyler.

We spent one day in a little old western town called Virginia City. We looked at all the shops, watched/participated in a play, ate yummy ice cream and lost our camera. It was a really cool town and the best part was that, days later, when we called to see if they had found a camera, it was there. Someone actually had enough integrity to turn the camera. The owner stayed open for a couple hours later than normal so that it could be picked up for us. Thanks again. Anyway, if you're in that area, it's worth the stop.

Another day was spent at the Lewis and Clark caverns. The pictures do not do them justice, that was way cool. It was a little difficult because Lillie was tired and we had to fit through tight spaces holding her, but it was totally worth it. Seriously. Very cool.

One night we spent bowling. I won the first game, due to my two strikes in the 10th frame, but Eric had the high score for the night in the next. The great 90s music and disco ball just topped off the night.

It was sad for us to leave, knowing that it was the end of our vacationing, and possibly the last time we'd visit that part of MT. I was very depressed on the drive from LV to LA, knowing that it would be months before we'd see our families again.
Poor Grandpa got stuck with the terrible job of carrying Lillie up the mountain in the hot hot sun.
Uncle Tyler, Lillie's fav uncle. Oh and if you know any cute, shorter than 5'7", girls at BYU who are looking for a date, I'll pass the word along to him.
Lillie Crocket. Ha ha. I just love this picture.
Blind Er, sporting both of his protective eyewear at the same time. Nice.
Eric's parents in the caves, surrounded by Stalagmites. StalagMITES might reach the ceiling. StalacTITES stay tight on the ceiling. I know you were wondering which was which..you're welcome.
Group photo, too bad you can't really tell what it was like inside from this pic.
Even though it might not look like it from this photo, we had a blast bowling.
Eric ate a buffalo burger in Virginia City, in the most backward/interesting restaurant.
Um... I was the main act. It's a good thing only our family was in the audience.

Lil and Grandma enjoying homemade ice cream. This was the last picture taken because this is where we left our camera. Oops.

WA Vacation

We are going to split up our vacationing into two blogs. The first part was spent in WA with my family and the second in MT with Eric's family.

I was really excited to be able to go see family, since it had been months since we'd seen them and because we had never seen Macey, my sister's baby. The evening after picking us up from the airport was spent at my grandma's house. She had put together a dinner for the family, which was so nice and so delicious. She is such a great lady.

Lillie and Katie hit it off the first time they saw each other. Lil thought she was the greatest thing. I wish that Katie could have come down to live with us to help entertain the lilster. It was nice having her help with a sick baby even though Katie got sick and missed her first day of school. Oops.

Then two days later Wendy and her kids came to stay at my mom's while her husband was out of town. It was fun to get to see her boys. Kaden is so smart and so big, I can't believe that he is already going into first grade. Brandt is so funny, I could listen to him talk for hours. I love that he stands up to Aunt Katie. Macey is such a pretty little pixie. It was fun to see her little bobble head go like Lil's used to.

Heath and his family also came up to visit. It was fun to talk to Amy, she is so mature and fun and I couldn't believe how advanced Haylee is. She's already cruising and crawling, she looks a lot older than Lillie even though they're only 3 weeks apart. I loved seeing them playing together.

Grady, Grady, Grady. He has gotten to be such a cute little guy. I loved seeing him jump and play with the older boys. He is darling.

One day we went to the local waterpark with the fam. Eric tried to surf a couple times. I beat Wendy on waterslide races. All the kids spent plenty time in the lazy river. It was a lot of fun and was one of only a couple days that were warm so it was nice to take advantage of it.

A couple days later we took the boat out to the lake where Eric got to spend sometime crashing, I mean, wakeboarding. The women spent their on the beach entertaining the babies. The grandkids tried tubing for a little while.

The next day Eric went and had eye surgery, you know, the normal thing to do when you're on vacation. He got the PRK procedure done and had a couple really rough days following. He's almost perfect, but his vision is still a little blurry and will continue to clear up...hopefully.

I had such a fun time being home. Even though Lillie got really sick and had diarrhea, fever, loss of appetite for a week and Eric was in terrible pain from his surgery, I still had a fun time. It's hard for me to not live close, I miss them all the time.

Katie, my littlest sister, who is such a great help with grandkids...when she wants to be.
Crashing the Gilbert family reunion...or at least we thought we were.
What cute little girls. This was the only photo where they were remotely looking in the same direction. They are gonna be trouble when they get older!
Brandtie boy. He is so cute without his teeth, and it's a good thing because it'll be a while before they come back in.
Macey, she is so cute and tiny. She always had the cutest outfits and headbands. I got lots of good ideas from her head wear.
I love this picture of Haylee. She has the most beautiful green/grey eyes. Too bad Eric's hairy leg is covering half her face.
Eric's attempt at surfing. This picture was taken the split second that he was actually able to stay on.

Won't you be my neighbor? Please anyone else!

Bang, bang, BANG! Bang, bang, bang, BANG, bang, BANG, bang, bang, bang, bang, BANG! (for 5 mins) This is what I woke up to this morning, at 5:15. What might be causing all that ruckus, you might ask. It's the witch that lives upstairs. She hates us, no joke. She lives in the only apartment that is directly attached to us. How did we get so unlucky? No really. I'd really like to know.

She gets up at that time to get ready for work and I know she did it to wake us up. She has a reputation. She doesn't say Hi to anyone in the building, she has told off more than one of our neighbors, she's always fighting LOUDLY with her daughter, and she intentionally does things to make us mad. You're probably thinking that no one does anything unprovoked, and our only possible offense is that we have a baby.

It started back in April. We came home from our vacation to find a huge muddy mess covering our whole balcony. She pours water down onto our balcony intentionally or else she overwaters the jungle of plants on her balcony and lets it run down onto ours. So we've had huge muddy puddles on our balcony for months now. It went so far as letters from the building's owners asking her to stop, but she hasn't.

A little water is annoying, it keeps us from hanging out on our balcony, it has rusted our bbq, but it's not have big of a deal. SLEEP to me IS a big deal. I know it was intentional, we banged on the wall to tell her to stop, but it didn't, it got worse. If it had woken Lillie up, then all heck would have broken loose. It better not happen again tomorrow morning. I HATE apartment living!

My First Tag

I Got Tagged!

Here are the rules: Write five things about yourself that nobody knows or that is unique to you. Then tag five of your friends.

1. I am deathly afraid of going to the dentist and getting cavities filled. I HATE THE SHOTS! Last time I had gotten a prescription for Valium, in hopes that it would help keep me calm, but it didn't work at all. There's nothing worse than the thought of a needle going into my jaw bone... yucky. And feeling numb for so long after... oh so terrible! The best thing about this, is that my husband is in dental school. I don't think I'll ever let him fill my cavities, because I'm sure I would be mad it him for months after. I HATED my dentist in Spokane, and he was a nice guy! Oh and I'm pretty sure that I have a couple cavities right now but am too afraid to go into to have them checked...

2. I have terrible vision. I am legally blind without glasses or contacts. I cannot see ANYTHING, which made things difficult when I was getting up with a tiny newborn during the night. I'm hoping that someday soon I'll be able to get vision correcting surgery. It was supposed to be my graduation gift from college but I found out the day before graduation that I was pregnant and pregnant or nursing women cannot have it done. Fingers crossed that I'll qualify and get it done in the next year.

3. Candace Olsen is my hero. I love interior design, it was my first major, and as a consequence, I love HGTV. It has pretty much been the only thing I've watched since I was 12. My favorite show is Divine Design, of which she is the host and designer. I have seen every episode multiple times. Someday I will go back to school for it. And someday she will do a room in my house... unless she is retired by the time we have enough money for her to do one. She is a design genius.

4. I always get the same thing to eat every time I go to a restaurant. I always get a chicken teriyaki bowl with noodles from Pei Wei, crispy chicken wraps with honey mustard from McDonalds, hawaiian pizza from any pizza establishment, steak and garlic potatoes from any steakhouse, tuscan garlic chicken from Olive Garden, famous star from Carls Jr, and the list goes on and on. Eric always knows what I will order. The real reason is that I'm cheap and I don't want to waste money on something that I don't like. This way I will always like what I get. This makes me sound really boring...oh well.

5. I am a clogger. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's like tap just with double taps. I have done it since I was 12 and still did it on a competition team in college. I love it, it is such good exercise. Everyone in my ward now knows this because of a talent show our ward had a few months ago. A few other girls in my ward also clog! It was fun brushing up on some of my old moves, I wish I could do it more. I used to teach a couple young groups and wanted to open a clogging studio later on in life. Maybe it'll happen.

P.S. It was really hard to find five things. But I'm going to tag Stephanie, Charee, Shanell, Wendy, and Julee (or Jon, whoever sees this first). Oh and thanks, Amanda!