Christmas Visit

So I know that it's a month past Christmas and that I've had multiple posts since then, but I had tried multiple times to get these pictures to upload to no avail. I had given up on a Christmas post until I was talking to a friend at church who reminded me that this was our journal and that it would be a shame to not have Christmas remembered, so here they are. It snowed a ton while we were there, which was nice on one hand, because it felt very Christmas-y. But was also difficult because Julee couldn't make it in the snow and we couldn't go anywhere because of the road conditions. We still had a blast hanging out with my siblings and Lillie's cousins. It was really hard for us to come home from this trip especially because I saw how much fun she had playing with them and getting to know them. I wish we lived closer. It was fun to see my grandparents also, this was the first time that I'd gotten pictures of Lillie with them, I know, I'm lame. Oh well. During the whole trip, I was annoyed by the snow because I kept thinking about getting delayed on our way home and we were wanting to take a trip to OR to visit some friends and the roads were bad, but we were able to make it down for a wonderful visit. Lillie was teething majorly on our vacay and she was up quite a bit on Christmas Eve, so I was less than cheerful on Christmas day. It's a good things that we had our little Christmas here before we left or else I would have felt like I had totally missed the holiday. It was a great trip, we loved seeing everyone and wished we could have spent more time with everyone.

Visit to the Madsons

We were able to visit our friends for just one day during our trip, due to snowy roads that shortened our trip. It was still really fun to see them, their children have grown up so fast, it was the first time Lillie and their little girl had met, but they loved each other and played together so well. And their son is so smart and so big, I remember him as a little 3 month old! He speaks english and chinese perfectly, I'm so impressed. They are our dear friends and we cannot wait until we can see them again.

Visit to the Gowens

Lillie was able to make her big debut to our good friends, Jay and Stephanie. We were able to spend their first night in their new home with them. It is such a beautiful house, we are so excited for them. Stephanie insisted on taking photos of us while we were there, so we ventured out into the cold and down icy paths. But it was fun and some of the photos of Lillie turned out really well, like the one above, my favorite. We miss them and wished that we could see them more often.

Finders Keepers...

And I'm the weeping loser. Yesterday I lost a 100 dollar bill (my prized Christmas money) out of my purse on my way to the bank to deposit it. I had just thrown it loosely into my purse because I was in a hurry and went on my way. I made a stop at Target before going to the bank, which is where I think I lost it. I've looked all over my car and turned my purse inside out, but no luck.
So next time you find money on the street corner, while you think it is your lucky day, take a sec to stop and think about the poor loser that dropped it. I had been dreaming all week of the fun stuff I could spend it on... dang it!

Disneyland Christmas

Before we left for vacation in WA, we spent an evening at Disneyland. It was cold (ok, SoCal cold, not cold cold) but was still a lot of fun. The highlights were the Christmas parade and It's a Small World. We waited about 45 min in line for It's a Small World because it had just opened up after a year long renovation, but it was worth it, I loved the ride! Here's some phone pictures from the trip, I left my real camera in the car. It was one of my favorite trips!

All Lil Wants for Christmas is Her Two Front Teeth

So Lillie has been eating solid foods for six months now. She's all about eating what we're eating, except that she hasn't had any teeth (okay she does have her two front bottom teeth) so she attempts to gum them up and then swallows things whole. But yesterday she was acting abnormally fussy and was trying to chew on my mom's leather ottoman, so I looked in her mouth and saw the bulging gums on top. Hallelujah! It's about time.
So I had been all excited about it, thinking I could handle anything that teething would bring but man, she threw a fit coming home from shopping today like never before. I thought she had been possessed by a devil. In her defense, she had been stuck in her carseat for several hours and hadn't napped nearly enough, but still. I hope these teeth break through soon, I don't know how many more of those fits I can handle.
I'll try and get a picture once they break through, but that might be near impossible. We'll see, if we survive to see that happen.

Gimme an L, Gimme an I...

I am so grateful for my daughter. We were playing with her on our bed this morning and she's such a ham. She was bouncing around on the bed and wrestling with us and having such a good time. She is such a good girl and is really a fun age. You know they say that every age is the best age, and that's true but there is something extra fun about an almost 11 mo old. Lillie's personality has really started to develop recently.

Lillie is still such a chatterbox. She has full conversations in baby jibberish, but has also started to copy words that we say. It's fun to hear her try to say peek-a-boo, coat, shoe, etc.

She loves to dance. We've got video to prove that she has got some moves. It doesn't even matter if there's music or not, she knows what the word 'dance' means.

She loves kids, especially those older than her. I suspect that she gets a little bored with me, because she squeals with delight whenever there are kids around. Part of me really wishes she had older siblings. But then that would also mean that I would have more than 1 kid right now...

She loves adults, she bounces on her knees and holds her arms out to whoever comes close to her. She will crawl over and curl up on laps, too. She's got no stranger danger.

Lillie loves stuffed animals. Especially her lambie, she grabs it and hugs it so tight whenever she sees it. She also snags it really quickly before I pull her out of her crib... and her binky.

She loves to perform for you. You can tell that she is proud of herself when she walks around with her push toy and you cheer her on because she breaks out into a huge smile and will start to dance sometimes.

She is adventurous and fearless, not very much like me. I am so proud of the person she is becoming!

THANKSGIVING

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Eric's family in Utah. We were so excited to go because all of his siblings would be together for the first time in over five years and we hadn't been to Utah in about 4 years, so it was a big trip for us. It was a hectic and fun week, sprinkled with a dash of the common cold. We played with new (Emmett and Madelyn and Ella) and old cousins (Daniel and Isaac), ate good food (well Eric did, I had to watch Lillie while he ate and so my food was cold and there wasn't any left for seconds by the time I ate), and got awesome deals on Black Friday.\


I did a lot of nose wiping this vacation.

Lillie and Ella were so cute together. Ella is 8 mos older, but is the same size as Lil, and so they got along really well. They always wanted to be held by the same person at the same time and they shared a deep love for Grandma's beanie babies. I wish that Iowa wasn't so far away so that they could play together often.
Eric and I went to see the beautiful temple lights one night, too. Which was fun because the last time we saw them was when we had been dating less than a month. It's amazing how much has changed in 6 years, with us, not the lights.
Four generations: Eric and Lillie with his Mom and Grandpa

i really enjoyed the trip. I wish we lived closer to Eric's family, we love them and loved spending time with them. I hope it's not another 5 years before we all get together again.

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.