4th of July!!!

The 4th of July might just be my FAVORITE holiday! so many good memories as a kid: walking through "the numbered streets" to the parade, sitting in the hot sun waiting to catch as much candy as we could, waving the little flag they hand out throughout the rest of the day, the BBQ, standing on top of our picnic table with my older sister Hannah singing "If tomorrow all the things were gone, I'd worked for all my life..." at the top of our lungs to a crowd of adoring lilac blossoms, to waiting for hours on end at the green belt in the perfect spot for THE BEST FIREWORK SHOW THIS SIDE OF THE MISSISSIPPI! We would roller blade around the greenbelt hoping to see friends we hadn't seen since the end of the school year, and sitting with tears coming to my eyes as the fireworks took my breath away! I was so excited to share all of these things with My Little Girl! I think that she loves it all just as much a I do!

We bundles her up tight with the pacifier wedged in her mouth and my hands over her ears to muffle the amazing sounds soon to come, ready for the most amazing thing that she has probably witnessed in her short life! She sat a stared not moving a muscle as the lights blazed and the fireworks exploded with a "BOOM", and we listened to "And I'm proud to be an American, Where at least I know I'm Free..." on the radio. That same song I sang as a child and this time tears were in my eyes once again as the words "If I had to start again with just my CHILDREN and my wife..." rang a little more true to me this year. Every once in a while with the really loud BANG her little legs would kick a few times but then she would settle right back to watching with wide eyes.

At the Parade with Grandpa!

He may have given her a few licks of his chocolate cream cycle! What an awesome little extra to an awesome Day!

Happy 4th of July Lilly Bug. This is your first of many to come! I hope that you love and appreciate this great country as much as I do!

Picnic With Grandma

While my sister Hannah was in Hawaii and my mom was watching them for the week we all decided to go to the park for a picnic. One of my favorite summer activities and I think that Lilly loves it too. She was so good! She doesn't like to sit on the grass so much but put her on a blanket and she is as happy as can be! She is sitting up on her own now! What a big girl!

Lilly in her sweet watermelon sun hat! What a doll! You can see Hannah's kids in the background too!

Baby got her first tooth! It was kind of a hard few days (and nights) leading up to it but we had a "breakthrough". She gets kind of confused at times about what it is her mouth and we find her sometimes running her tongue across it with a puckered up mouth and a very confused look on her face. It is just the first of many My Dear!!!

My Little Swimmer

We went to my niece Emma's birthday party at the hotel swimming pool. It was so much fun! Lilly loved the water! Happy Birthday Emma!

Little Zipper Eater

Lilly has developed quite the odd obsession. She loves to chew on the zipper of my jackets. As soon as I pick her up and happen to have a jacket on with a zipper, she zeros in on it and gabs it, leans over, and it is in her mouth before I even know that she is up to. I can't imagine that it tastes that great but who knows. It seems to relax her too because she seems to take these times to do her "business" also:) She loves to chew on anything that hangs. If you have on a sweatshirt that has hoodie strings you better believe that they will be in her mouth. She also has this knack of finding the tags on any stuffed animal and once again they find a way to her mouth!

First Cereal Experience!

LillyBug tried cereal for the first time! She did so well with it and seemed to love every bite. Paige my sister-in-law,who watched Lilly when I go to work two days a week, informed me that after every bite Lilly takes she makes a slight "yummm" sound. I think that she got it from me since after every bite I feed her I might make that sound as well. It is the cutest thing!

Bath Time Fun

Daddy picked out this adorable giraffe bath robe before we had LillyBug! Now it finally fits somewhat. She is just too cute! She loves her bath time!

Chelsea's Outfits!

Our good friend Chelsea Adams makes these sweet baby clothes! Can you believe it? She brought them over and we played dress-up with Lilly! They are so cute! We had a pretty cute model as well if I do say so myself!

Picture Day for Baby! What a sweet heart! Thanks Mom for the sweet outfit! And thanks Grandma Debi for the pictures at The Gardens! Those pictures to be added soon!

Baby's First Swim...

What a Cutie Patootie!!!

Self Discovery #1: My Secret Obsession...

Lilly has started drooling a lot more and chewing on everything! She has been a little more fussy as well. So we thought that she might be teething. I decided that we should get her a teether of some sort and found myself getting really excited and anxious to go to the store to pick one out! While at the store, I had in my head what I was looking for and anything else that Jonathan picked up to suggest promptly was put back on the shelf! Finally I found it! The King of all teething rings, the smooth soft plastic teether with 6 water filled bubbles connected only by small narrow channels for the water to move from one bubble to the next. My heart quickened slightly as i said, "This is it!" I couldn't wait to get out of the store and to the car where I quickly opened the package and started playing with this little baby toy! Lilly didn't get it until I had had my own little fun.

Why get so excited over a device meant to sooth toddler's aching gums you might ask? I really am not quite sure, other than when I pinch those little bubbles between my fingers, I get a very nostalgic feeling and a picture enters my mind of being a child pinching the bubbles of a similar ring on either side of one little bubble back and forth watching the small blue plastic fish within do summer-salts with the moving water. I find myself more interested in Lilly's little toy than she is but that's okay since I am the one who is constantly playing with the little thing.

My Dad's Moral to MY Story...

So I sat in my parents kitchen yesterday while my father read my post about "My day from you know where" that I posted yesterday. After he finished reading it he stated, "Well you know what the moral to that story is..." And I quickly interjected with a smirk on my face, "Rexburg Stinks!?" ( I may have used a not so ladylike word there but I am trying to be better and not use it anymore. Not to be confused with a cuss word!) But then I quickly realized what my father really was going to say and I said it before he could get the words out, "Never let your gas tank get under a quarter of a tank full." With a smile in his eye he said, "That is exactly right." For those of you who know my dad, you know that that it SO my dad!!! From the day that I got my driver's license my daddy would impart those words of wisdom frequently. Probably right after I went to him asking for a little cash to get gas or I wouldn't be able to make it to school.

My dad is one of those Overly prepared types! I don't remember a road trip that we took as kids where there wasn't one or two sleeping bags and an emergency candle in the trunk just in case the car quit or we ran off the road and it was night time or just cold outside, even if it was the middle of July! Don't get me wrong, I love this about my dad! I am so much like him! Always thinking ahead.

After I married Jonathan he would get so confused when I would start stressing and telling him that we NEED to get gas TODAY! He would look at me and say, "We still have over a quarter of a tank and you could get to work and back at least twice on that!" And my response would be, " I know but I would feel a lot better if we got gas today!" My sweet husband would shake his head and stop at the gas station. Needless to say, after my morning yesterday, I don't think my husband will ever question me again when I insist on getting gas, no matter how full the tank is!!

Thanks Daddy for being so prepared to take care of us no matter what Might happen, even if it never did! And for teaching me to be the same way!

The Morning from You Know Where...

So let me paint the picture of what I woke up to this "Fine" April morning! Imagine my surprise as I woke up and sleepily looked out our open window in good old Rexburg Idaho to see 2-3 inches of SNOW!!! YES SNOW! The wind was howling at at least 50 mph. I could only see about 30 feet from the window though the pounding snow and wind. All this much to my surprise since yesterday was in the mid 50's and sunny skies. I really should not have been surprised since this is Idaho. I had to go into work today in Idaho Falls a mere 30 minutes away so my spirits sank to think of having to go out in that mess let alone drive in it. I got up, got ready, and then got little Lilly Bug bathed and ready to go. My sweet husband who normally would have gone out and started my car for me and scraped all the windows, had to go into work early so that job was left up to me.

I am usually one to think ahead and work things out so that I am NEVER late to anything and get really put out if things don't go according to plan. So I put Lilly in her car seat through her much protesting. Then I donned my coat and ventured out into the mess! It took all I had to keep the blanket over the baby from flying away never to be found again. I hurried to put the little one in the car and even though she was screaming I grabbed the snow scraper and went to work chipping away at the caked on snow while standing in a 4 inch snow drift. The wind and icy snow pelted me in the face making my recently applied makeup smear down my cheeks. All I could think was "Serves me right for living on the top of the hill in Rexburg".

Finally the car was clean enough to see out the windows and I hopped in the car. As I was about to put the car in reverse I happened to look down to see the gas gauge hovering over the red "E" for empty. There was no way that I was going to clean off the other car and move everything including the car seat and it's base into it and take it instead. I was just going to have to go to the gas station. The roads were slick and my nerves were on edge. It didn't help having a five month old screaming in the back seat.

I made it to the gas station on fumes and then hopped out of the car once again into the blizzard. I inserted my debit card only for it to be denied. Twice! I had money in my account I was sure of it. I stood there perplexed as a nice man walked out of the convenient store to tell me that their card system was down and I would have to pay inside with Cash! So I ran in and as I opened my wallet I found a lone 1 dollar bill and nothing else! I was about to go back out and go home and call into work to tell them I wouldn't be coming in. I asked the clerk if there was anything I could do and he told me the ATM was still working. I walked over and paid $2 to get a twenty dollar bill and prepaid for my gas in a hurry!

I ran out to the car and started the gas pumping and jumped in the back seat to get the baby situated again! She was hysterical and just sobbing. (It was time for a nap) Finally I got on the highway and on my was to work. A couple of times I considered turning back because the reads were so bad but I pressed on. As soon as I drove into Rigby the roads were clear and not a sign of a snow storm! When I drove into Idaho Falls, the sun was even shinning and when I told all who would listen my story, they couldn't believe it. If it wasn't for the snow on the hood of my car I think they would have thought I was pulling their leg.

Needless to say, I got to work on time and the rest of my day has gone a lot smoother. What a test of my patience!

Baby Girl's Ruby Slippers!

I just LOVE these little shoes! I would have my little "Dorothy" wear them every day if they matched all her clothes, unfortunately all her clothes are PINK!!!

But Lilly would rather eat them than wear them anyway!

Three Years!!!

Jonathan got me this beautiful picture of the Salt Lake Temple where we were married for our three year anniversary! Thanks Honey!!

Just waking up...

BIG STRETCH!!!!

Blessing day

Can you believe that I figured out how to even put more pictures on this thing! I started reading some blogs and really caught the spirit of it, even if it is just for today. But I thought that I really need to take more pictures of my precious little girl and putting them on our blog makes them available for anyone to enjoy. I really do love to look at my family and friends blogs and read what they are up to and cute funny things that happen or their kids do. So I thought, How can I deprive others of the chance to hear about us, but most of all hear about Lilly and see pictures and videos of her in all of her cuteness! Here's to being better and documenting mile stones and memories!

LillyBug

My little LillyBug is getting so Big!!!

Well I am finally adding something to this Blog that I even forgot how to find for a while! I was reading my last (and first) post and realized that it has been two years since I somewhat threw this thing together with the generous help of someone who actually knew what they were doing (thanks Mara)! I still need to take the time to really figure out how to add all the things and pictures that I want to.

Jonathan and I have almost been married 3 years now! Where did the time go? So many things have happened in the last 2 years. We now have a beautiful baby girl Lilly Sofia. She really is my pride and joy! Who knew that being a Mommy could be so rewarding and hard at the same time! Sleep deprivation is just expected now and I didn't think that I would worry as much as I do! I am turning into my older sister (You know it is true Hannah Hehe). Jonathan is still going to school and we hope will apply to Dental school in the next year or so. He is now working as the assistant manager at the apartment complex where we live and I think that he likes it and is glad not to be waiting tables any more! I'm still at the OBGYN office and still loving it as much as the day that I started! I would rather be at home all day every day with Lilly, but going to part time after she was born was a good change. The funny thing is that it is even getting harder to leave her the days I do work. I thought it was supposed to get easier! No such luck. Well that is a quick update for the moment. I really will try to get some picture of our little Angel on here but for right now I have to go wake the little princess up to eat one last time before the bed for the night! And when I say bed for the night I mean until she wakes up a few hours later!