2 1/2 Month Summary

I know that there is a lot of catching-up to do for the last 2 1/2 months of our lives, so I thought I would do most of it in pictures, with minimal commentary.  Enjoy!

Halloween 2011

Two year ago, I got my friend Megan into running.  We ran the Las Vegas Ragnar together in 2009, both ran the SLC Ragnar in 2010 (but not together) then she ran a 1/2 marathon the week after Lilly was born.  We really wanted to run a 1/2 together, so we planned on doing the Mesquite one the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  Then I realized that we would be on our way to Kansas and her sister was due with a baby the next week, so we found the Halloween Half to do instead.  Megan had been a cheerleader in high school, so we used her old uniform skirts as our "costumes."  Our goal was less than 2 hours, as her first 1/2 had been 2:01.  We got a late start, but made good time and ended up at 1:56 (I think).  I felt pretty beat-up towards the end, but she kept me going.  Thanks for the fun times, Megan!

Lilly was a lady-bug for Halloween.  When I would put her hair in pig-tails, everyone would comment on how it looked like antennae, so I took advantage of that.  I think all said, her costume cost about $4.  I can handle that!

Lilly Fun

Grandma DeDee got Lilly this cover-all jacket when she was about a week old.  She loves it!  It has worked perfectly for Pret and me to continue our outside runs, even in winter.  Lilly loves to be outside, and so far, the cold hasn't dampened her spirits!

Lilly has this pose that she does in-between her moving.  The first time Pret saw it, he made the comment, "She's showing off her sexy leg," and since then, this has been her "sexy legs" pose!  It is adorable! 

Sorry, I didn't realize I can't turn pictures.  Lilly sure loves her baths!  In fact, as soon as I'm done with this, that's the next thing on the schedule!

7 Month Pictures!

I had to try a couple times to get her 7-month pictures because she wasn't super co-operative either time.  This was the first day...

And various poses from the second.

None of them worked really well for comparing her size to the bear.  Sorry...

I just love her big, happy smile in this one!

Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving, we went to go visit Pret's brother, Dave, and his family in Victoria, Kansas.  It is a small town about 10 minutes from Hays, which is along I-70 a little west of central Kansas.  We had lots of fun playing with Lacey (his wife) and Maylee (2 1/2) and Adalou ("Lou", 4 months).  Maylee LOVED Lilly and Lilly LOVED May.

Sitting together at the Hays Library story time.  Maylee goes every week and it was so fun to watch her there with the other kids!

We went to the school park across the street from their house.  Lilly loved watching Maylee and the other "big" kids that were playing there.

I am really starting to like playing with my camera.  I love this shot of May and wish that I had a better camera to have better captured the moment.

Lilly wanted to get out and play too!

They had this neat thing on the playground that had the ASL alphabet on it.  I would love to see something like that in all parks!

Can you figure out what is says?

One of the reasons we went to KS for Thanksgiving was so the Pret and his dad and brothers could go hunting all week.  They were pretty successful.  On Friday, though, I did run a very "unofficial" 1/2 marathon with Lacey and one of her friends.  We took it nice and slow, had potty/house breaks throughout, but it was perfect running weather and a great way to start out my "holidays" workouts!

The killings for 2 days

I found Lilly sleeping like this during her nap one day!

Quail, I believe.

A pheasant rooster

Pret showing off the rooster...

Here you can see the rooster's feathers.
In the background, you can also see the St. Fidelis Church, dubbed the "Cathedral of the Plains" as it was the tallest church West of the Mississippi at its dedication.

Here are our great providers--Pret, Dave, Dan (Pret's dad) and Chad (younger brother).

We discovered how much Lilly loves dogs over at Pret's parents' house,  Kate is so patient with Lilly!  

We went to Las Vegas the weekend before Christmas to see my nephew, Tyler, receiving the priesthood, and my other nephew, Matthew, being baptized.  Then I stayed on Monday and Tuesday to go to the Grand Canyon with my parents and the Weinands.  Lilly and I flew home on Wednesday morning.  It was a 6:15 am flight!  Lilly was great and slept most of the time in the airport and on the plane.  It worked out great.  I am just glad that I am not a full-time single parent.  Hats-off to those who are!

At nap-time, I knew that Lilly would not go down in the pack-and-play in the living room, so I had her lay down with Michael and Lizzy (my niece and nephew).  I told Michael to make sure she didn't roll off the bed.  When I came in to check on her, he had his arm protectively over her.  By the time I got back with my camera, they had shifted, but it was DARLING!  Lilly was definitely entertained by all her cousins at this house, as well.

I had fun taking pictures of the Grand Canyon!  I went with my dad for sunrise pictures, but we were about 15 minutes too late to really capture the best light.  It was a great reminder of the adventures I took with my dad about 20 years ago along the Oregon Trail in Wyoming.  It was also a great mini-lesson time to get tips on picture taking from an expert!

We caught a little bit of the sunrise.  I have just recently discovered playing around with picture in iPhoto, so this and the next are a bit enhanced.

These two trees became my obsession.  I don't know why I was so attracted to them.  My mom is a fan of "contrasts" and I guess I got that bug too.  They were right next to each other and I thought it was so fabulous to see the LIVING and the DEAD so close to one another.

I enhanced this one a little bit, too!

This is what is was like behind us--the trees came up to about 10 feet away from the edge of the canyon.  That was so interesting to me.  I always thought that the canyon was in the middle of the "desert."  

This tree stump was one of the "mini-lessons" from my dad.  I took the one on the left first, and then my dad gave me some pointers on the exposure, etc. and then I took the one on the right.  Then I went back to "my trees" to see if I could make those pictures a bit cooler.  So I don't remember all the technical stuff that went into the pictures and if you don't care to see the repeats, then just skip them...  :)

Playing with the "horizon" line on the next few.  Which do you like best?

Another one I enhanced a bit.  I really like this one, though!

Another one with Lil.  She was fascinated by the velcro on her suit, though.  :(

Lilly and Grandma DeDee!  This was try #3, so Lilly was about done!

Grandma DeDee with her Weinand and Dahlgren grandchildren!

Weinands-Michael, Lauren, Matthew, Tyler, Elizabeth, Susan

I love how you can see all the layers of the canyon in this picture.

Lilly with a really "Wonder"ful background!  :-)

Lilly's 8-Month Pictures!I tried to create a cool backdrop with my quilt from Brooke, but it wasn't quite big enough to do what I wanted with it.  But it did hide the mess of diapers, etc., behind her.

Lilly's 8-months

I'm not sure what caught her attention outside, but it sure put some pretty light on  her face.

I tried to put plastic on the windows to cut down on the draft, but Lilly discovered it and pulls on it.  

I hate that this picture is blurry.  It is the best of the "comparison" pictures.

This is about how she looked for most of this day!  The day after she turned 8-months, her first tooth popped through! 

Christmas 2011

This was after Lilly's Christmas photoshoot with Grandpa.  I don't have many pictures of Lilly and me together and she rarely "snuggles" so I had my dad catch this picture...

This is the sweet picture my dad took!

Pret was the patient, lucky one who got to open presents with Lilly.  

Lilly was really cute to pull off the paper, then Pret would take it out of her hand before it could get to her mouth and she would happily pull off the next piece!
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Dahlgren for the fun popping machine!

Pret and I got her a set of stacking cups (KSL $3!)  We figured this was the only year we could get away with not giving her much!  :-)

Lilly and Kate--friends for life!

Kate was still pretty tired from hunting the Friday before Christmas,  and she was inside, so she was happy to let Lilly be on her for a bit!

Kate asking Pret, "Why are you doing this to me?"

It was hard to keep Lilly away from Kate's eyes.

Lilly loves to hit the cups together to make noises!

Lilly goes to our neighbor's house one of the days that I work every week.  Their boy, Finn, is 3 months older than Lilly, but they are friends already.  One day last week when it was really nice, I watched Finn while Beth went running.  I am not sure how she does it--I felt like I couldn't leave the 2 of them alone to even go to the bathroom!  

Stacking Cups Fun

She is so good with the cups.  We can give them to her all nested and she will pull them out one at a time.  It was definitely a good buy!

Enhanced this one a bit--I love it!

I introduced Lilly to the heating vent.  It got pretty hot, so she didn't like it much.  She sure looked cute, though!