Darling...

My Run in Numbers

So my favorite part of magazines is the "________ in numbers" section.  No matter the subject, I always love learning the random facts that are posted there.  This morning as I ran, I first noticed the number of different kinds of birds that I saw and the rest of the time I spent noticing different things that I could count in different ways.  So, without any further ado, here is my morning run in numbers:


Date of run: July 23, 2012
Run in miles:  2.84 (ok, I walked the last .14 or so...)
Scale of how much I wanted to do my run this morning on a 1-10):  4
Types of birds I saw on my run: 8
Number of birds I can name:  ducks, chicken, quail, magpie (4)
Times I heard a rooster crow (is that the correct word for that?):  2
Ducks I saw:  100+
Number of times I scared ducks into the water:  5
Water bottles I took:  0
Times I wanted to water bottle:  only about 50
Ounces of water I drank before and after my run:  24
Scale of how much I love the sound of running water on 1-10:  10
Number of times I heard water running this morning:  6
Temperature on run:  70 degrees
Time I woke up to go running:  6:30
Time I got out of bed:  7:01
Range of height of weeds on the edge of canal:  6 in. - 6 ft.
Number of times I thought that said weeds are a fire hazard:  3
Wind speed:  totally guessing here, but less than 10 mph.
Dogs I heard barking at me:  7
Number that ran after me:  0
Other people I saw running:  1
Count of the hold of my stretches:  15
Scale of how glad I am that I did this run this morning on a 1-100 scale:  99

Playing in the Rain

So today was one of those times where you totally live in the moment.  And the moment was wonderful.


Lilly and I had just pulled into the driveway when it started to rain.  I came in and set her down, but immediately knew that I needed to take out some stinky diapers, so I quickly did, leaving the door open as I went.  Before I could get back, Lilly had made her way back outside and over to the waterspout and the corresponding puddle under it.  I said, "To heck with it" and the next 20 minutes were some of my favorite of her life!  Thankfully my camera was close at hand.

This first video is when she first started playing..

This was when the water first started really coming down hard.  You can see it on the street in the background.

 Here is how the rain came down for a few minutes....

Playing with the settings on the camera and captured this sweet picture.

She loved putting her hand in the water.

And her feet.

 Really having fun with the water...

Of course she loves splashing in the puddle.

At this point she was soaked and I thought she was done, but when I tried to direct her inside, she turned right back around and went back to the water.

I love that this looks like she's asking, "Is this really ok, Mom?" even though she'd already been playing for about 15 minutes at this point.

I know this picture is horribly out of focus, but I still think that it is so soft and sweet.

You can see how the water was just gushing around her in the picture and she was loving every second of it!

Pure joy!

I love that I actually captured the water pouring over her hands.

Playing with the settings again--caught this look perfectly.  Love it!

She was so excited about being in the water!

Another one trying to catch her hands and the water.

This was a darling moment as she kept sticking her foot under the running water.

She's so at peace with life in this picture.  Just living in the moment.

What a great picture!  I love my little Belles!

Even after this, I still had to literally pull her inside (especially because she then wanted to go play in the dirt...).  

I hope I never forget this day.  It was just pure joy watching her play.  

We have a 1-Year-Old! AHHH!

I can't believe it has been a year since Lilly was born!  Our little girl has grown up so much.  She is so bright, determined, particular, smiley, rhythmic, funny, and cute!  We can't love her enough.  She has grown from this

to this

Photo by PhotosByWendyG.com

We started celebrating on Saturday with a little party for Lilly.  

We had friends from church (Wendy and Emberly; Beth, Roy and Finn; Mallory and Melanie; Maylin and JoAnn; and Mike and Brenda Tuttle), friends of ours (Bennions, Moores, Thompsons, Mathesons), and even some family (Aunt Shannon and cousin Katie) come over for a cupcake party!  

Thanks to LaNell for the beautiful cake and cupcakes.  They were divine.  It ended up being a beautiful day outside!  Pret and I were grateful to have cupcakes smashed on the grass and not on the carpet in the house.  

Lilly showed off perfectly as she ate her birthday cupcake.  It was quite cute!  She kept asking for more, but I figured one cupcake would give her enough of a sugar high to make it through the rest of her party without a nap.  

Even though we requested no gifts, a few people broke the rules and brought us gifts anyway--silly people!  LaNell really went over and above by making Lilly a darling dress that matches one that she made for her daughter's birthday.  Here they are in their matching dresses!

I needed someone to help stabilize Lilly on the other side, so Nate gladly stepped in!

Lils was quite the trooper and had smiles all day.  She went down to bed about an hour earlier than normal and slept for 13 hours last night, so I think she was a bit tuckered out!

As my parents were doing some cleaning at their house, my mom found the outfit I wore on my 1st birthday (bought in Greece and worn in Egypt), so she sent it to me.  It had a few spit-up stains on it, but they weren't too noticeable unless you were right up close, so we decided to have her wear it to church today.  She looked adorable in it!  Not too shabby for a 29-year old dress!  

I had to take her monthly picture, so I decided to use the end of the natural light outside.  It added a little variety to the background of the pictures, as well, so it was nice.

Then I just had fun with some other shots.  She enjoyed picking the grass and even tried a few blades...

Then we went on a walk as a family and Lilly enjoyed her first ride on Daddy's shoulders.  

We walked by the canal and saw lots of ducks, dogs, cows, and chickens.  Lilly still loves to walk holding hands, but sits herself down as soon as we let go of her.  Since she started moving before Thanksgiving we thought for sure that she would be walking by her 1st birthday, but she is doing things her own way.  Don't worry, this Momma is none too anxious for her to start walking, so I am A-Ok with it all.  

On the other hand, she is "talking" up a storm.  She can verbally say, "bye-bye," "Da-da," "Jesus," and "Kate" (the name of our dog) and noises for "uh-oh" and "amen."  She can now sign "more," "please," "all done," "again," and "food."  She gives big, wet, tongue-filled kisses and has started blowing kisses, too.  She loves to turn lights on and off and is starting to want to help close doors, too.  It is so cute to see her walking in her shoes, but she has recently figured out that our shoes go on feet, too, so she can often be seen attempting to get my shoes on her feet.  So cute!  She is obsessed with my phone (to the point of screaming when it is taken away) and has figured out that the TV remote does something when it is pointed at the TV, so she has been trying to "make it work" for the last week.  But her favorite thing of all is to be outside--especially if that means that she gets to see Kate.  

Lilly is definitely the joy of our life.  She is such a good baby (and yes, we know we are spoiled!).  She is a great eater, sleeper, and player.  We can't even remember what life was like without her and can't wait to see what the rest of life will be like with her!  Love you, Lils!

photo by PhotosbyWendyG

It's Been 6 Years Already?

Yep!  Pret and I celebrated our 6th anniversary over the weekend.  Because of the cruise, we decided that we would save our money and stay close to home this year.  It turned out great!

Saturday started with us cleaning out one of our sheds in preparation for a big SWAP.  Unfortunately, over the last couple years, we have faced our own city of NIMH.  :-(  We have tried various traps and been successful sometimes, but we have started getting sick when we enter the place, so we knew an intervention was necessary.  More to come on that, later.

Later we went to the temple.  We were going to be really cheesy and go do sealings, but we were too late for the sessions, so we just did initiatory.  It was our ward temple night, so we saw lots of people from the ward, but we decided to skip out on the dinner and go by ourselves.

We went to Red Robin (one of our favorites).  It was DELICIOUS!!  We got the fried zucchini.  I would totally recommend it!  We each got our favorite drinks and meals.  Our server was great, we had a nice quiet table, and Lilly was well taken care of, so it was perfect.

Then, we put Lilly to bed and watched We Bought a Zoo.  A very cute movie we recommend if you haven't seen it yet.  It was not fast paced, but had a great soundtrack and a good message.  Then we hit the sack as Pret had to speak in Church on Sunday.  He did a great job and I had lots of people come up and tell me what a great talk he had given, so it really must have been good!  :-)  He spoke on how the Atonement can help prevent sin, not just work to repent of it later.

In a rare occasion, our weekend did not end on Sunday as Pret had taken Monday off so we could continue working on the sheds.  We totally gutted the "ratty" shed, sprayed it down with Bleach, and moved all our stuff into the lesser of the two infested sheds.  As we were working, we encountered some of the rats.  Pret took up arms against them with a 2x4 and a metal pipe.  He was ready for REVENGE!  I asked if he would be offended if I videoed the scene and he said yes, so you will just have to imagine what Pret looked like as he attacked 4 rats and succeeded in killing three of them, one of them being HUGE (from nose to end of tail, almost the length of my arm).  It was quite the scene and I was very proud of his protecting and exterminating abilities.

We successfully moved everything, but didn't take the time to do a whole lot of sorting or arranging, so that will have to wait until another day, but we felt that we had gotten about 85% finished with everything, so that was a huge sense of accomplishment and weight off our shoulders.  And what did we do with Lilly during that time, you may wonder?  Well, she slept for about 4 hours of it altogether and the other time, she happily played in a giant tub next to Kate's kennel and close by where we were working.  She is such a good, well-mannered girl.

We are so truly blessed in so many ways!  I feel especially so by my amazing husband.  He works so hard for our family in so many ways.  He encourages me to be better every day, compliments me more than I think he should, and makes me laugh in a way no one else can.  And he has a darling daughter who adores her "DaDa!"  I love you, Pret!

Photo Dump--February and March Happenings

Lilly loves to play in the drawers--that usually means the stuff in them.  This once, she decided to join her "toys" in their resting place.

Lilly and Daddy ready for one of their cold, night runs!  Lilly never complains about the cold--thanks in part to her genes and also in part to her cute bunting!

She was so smily this day!  And I loved the headband over her long hair...

She is absolutely OBSESSED with phones.  If I get a text, she will make noises until I look at it.  And she now SCREAMS when we take a phone away from her if she is not immediately distracted by something else.

Lilly found the cover to one of my razors and had a great time putting it in her mouth while she opened and shut the bathroom door.  Glad it was just the cover!

Lilly loves to wrestle with Dad and when I am playing with her now, she will often roll onto her back like she is waiting for me to attack her.  It is adorable.

She slept so peacefully this day.  It's not often that she will 1) fall right asleep without moving 2) stay asleep in the same position and 3) fall asleep with the door open so I can come in and snatch a few adorable pictures of her as she sleeps.

Lilly has always loved the mirror, but now that she can see into it on her own, it adds a new dimension to her play.

Lilly's high chair tray was dirty, so I just put her food on the table.  She thought she was such a big girl!

Every once in a while I can snatch a picture of the two of us together...

Lilly discovered our recycling bin and the water bottles next to it and she was a happy camper for about 1/2 an hour at a time for a few days.  Oh the joys of putting things in and out, in and out!

Now that Lilly has teeth on the top and bottom, she can really bite down on the spoon.  She usually does it by accident, but it is so darn cute.  Even though she's been doing it for a few months now, it still makes me laugh every time!

Lilly saw my baby doll on the shelf one day and kept pointing to it, so I got it down for her to play with.  She loves playing with the diaper (curtesy of her newborn diapers) and the dolls eyes, which open and shut.  The only downside is, after playing with it for a while, she thinks she can open and shut our eyes.  I hope it will be a good tool for helping her learn the body parts.

These two little gray things are the steam vent covers on my Pyrex bowels (if you look carefully, you can see the large, gray lid still has it in the holes...) but Lilly thinks they are the best toy in the world.  When she first discovered them, she played with them for about 30 minutes, totally uninterrupted.  I had to go check on her a few times to see what she was doing.  They will still entertain her for at least 10 minutes at a time.

She carried them all around the house and had to show me her new treasure a few different times!

These were her 10-month pictures hastily snapped minutes before we were walking out the door for our cruise.  In the busyness of preparing, I totally forgot about taking them, but knew that she would be well into her 11th month by the time we got back, so I tried to act fast.  She wasn't very cooperative and wanted to move on to her other toys.

I keep thinking the bear should be getting smaller, but Lilly just isn't growing all that fast.  :-(

Lilly sure is getting an attitude, though, so her personality sure is growing, even if her body is a little slow to catch on to the idea!

Pret played a game of ping-pong with a friend on the cruise.  It had an added element of difficulty with the movement of the boat.

Our "formal" night on the cruise.  I took my glasses of to avoid the glare and I actually don't mind it for once.  Pret sure looks handsome in this picture, though!

Our group picture.  It was such a great group of friends!

Me, and Jeni and Tanya (married to brothers) on our tour around the Cabo beaches and rock formations.

Scott (Jeni) and Jeff (Tanya) and Pret 

This picture was taken minutes before Scott sliced his hand open trying to save himself and an expensive camera from going under an unexpected wave rounding the bend in the background of the picture.  He later visited the ship doctor (who was a rude jerk) and got stitches right under his thumb.

The famous arch at Lover's Beach in Cabo.

There were seals sunning on the rocks--can you see them?

I caught a pretty neat profile of this one.

The arch looking back toward the main part of town.

I loved this solitary boat out at sea.  As you can see from the clouds in these pictures, it wasn't a very sunny day.  :-(  But I hope to get a print of this picture to add to our "nursery."  It fits the gray, nautical theme quite well, don't you think?

The "fin" of our boat.

I thought this towel "frog" was kind of cute!

The city center of Cabo.  I thought the gazebo was very pretty and bright!

They had this tree (it is not a bush--this was like 4 feet off the ground.   You can see it to the left of the gazebo above) was cut in the shape of a house and I thought it was pretty nifty!

This tree was beautiful, but I also had to capture Tanya in her traditional "picture-taking" picture!  

The mission where Cabo was founded.

The courtyard of the mission.

Pret checking out the shark, below.

A little shark Pret saw while scuba diving.

Giving the photographer the "evil eye."  I would have stayed a whole lot further back!

Jeff, Bronson and Pret.  Scott was supposed to go, too, but the stitches in his hand prevented much more fun the rest of the trip.  :-(

And ugly eel-type creature.  It is ugly in a "I can't quit looking at it but when I do I just think it is ugly and gross way so I don't want to look at it any more but I can't help it" way.

Sorry, got a little out of order--this is the entrance to the chapel at the mission.

Bronson, Tanya, and Jeff were the only ones brave enough to go down the "drop" slide.  Pret was cold and I wouldn't do it without him, so we were the "guardians" of the stuff.

We got Lilly a little "Mexican" doll while we were down there.  I searched long and hard for just the right one.  I think she liked it ok.  

She definitely liked it best when Daddy made it talk to her!

This is our favorite "Lilly look."  

Here, she looked so much like her cousin, Noah (Craig's boy), that I had to take a picture of her!   Craig commented that it looked like his oldest daughter, Sarah.  I guess there is some Roberts blood in her looks! 

I guess Lilly really did want to go on the cruise with us because the day after we got home, she sat and looked at this Vacations magazine like 5 times, carefully turning the pages and going back to the front when she was done.  It was hilarious and darling!  

So Pret loves giving me gifts.  He TOTALLY surprised me on the cruise by letting me know that this was waiting for me at home.  I have not had more than just a hand mixer since we got married and just recently I broke one of the beaters, so I didn't know what I was going to do.  So I was THRILLED to find out that my problem was solved.

Not having a mixed hasn't been too big a deal, except when it comes to making bread.  I have said for a while that I want to learn to make bread but I am far too LAZY to knead it by hand.   So now that I have a mixed, I don't have an excuse to not make bread.  So I did.  These were my first two loaves.  They were really dense (which we like), but the salt didn't mix through evenly for some reason.

Grandma Brenda got this really cute dress for Lilly with stripes of different colors, so I thought I would make her hair match!  Thankfully she was distracted well by her music table.  

She didn't like me trying to take pictures of her hair, but I think she did like her hair.  It is getting so long and lighter in color now.  Only the very tip of her ponytail shows her "birth color" any more.  

So I joined in the "stand your broom up" craze.  It was pretty nifty.

We went up to our friend's cabin in the Uintahs.  Lilly LOVED being outside.  Thankfully, it wasn't very cold, but it wasn't ALL that warm, either.  She loved crawling around in the snow, but her bunting was not very waterproof, so it soaked quickly.  She enjoyed just being outside, and even went down the hill on the sled with me a couple times.

We didn't know if the snowmobile would scare her or not, but she seemed to enjoy it well enough!

The guys got into a great snowball fight.  I wanted to join them desperately, but Lilly preventing me.  :-(