New kicks

Today was a very special day for Lilly. She got her very first pair of "real" tennis shoes. She has far outgrown her baby ones and they no longer keep up with a princess who loves to run, since they didn't have a rubber bottom she found herself slipping and sliding on certain surfaces. She was great, she let the saleswoman measure her foot so we knew just what size she was and then she did really well at running and walking to make sure they fit right. There wasn't a huge selection for her size and we have looked at several places already, but we had a coupon for Famous footwear and on top of it they were having a sale, so we got 2 great pairs of shoes for the price of one. :-) We are going to let her test our her new shoes at the park later... you know just to make sure they work properly ;-)

Summer Days

Our summer has been filled with so many fun things. Playing with friends, hiking, swimming, going to birthday parties, but I have to say what we love best are those fun days just hanging out at the park. Last week Tyler and Lilly begged us to take them to the park, so we caved :-) like always and we took them to the best park in town. It has a huge sand box, a kiddie play area, a big kid play area, and a water play area. Lilly has always been a bit fearful of this park. Ziff and I have never been able to figure out why but she just clams up and clings to our legs. But not on this day...the one day I was ready to sit and chat with Kathleen and catch up...Lilly decided this was the day she would branch out and explore. It was so warm out that morning that the kiddos were all read and sweaty so we decided to take them into the water. From the pictures I am sure you can tell they had a blast. I still got my chatting in and am very glad Lilly was able to overcome her fear of this park because it really is a fun park. By the time we were pulling out of the park to head home for nap Lilly was already asleep :-) I guess she had a fun morning . And thanks to Kathleen we got some great mommy daughter picture moments, there never seem to be enough of those :-)

Reunited

This past week we had the first ever David Reed family reunion. We lucked out and had the least distance to drive since it was here in Colorado (about 3 hours away from us) While everyone else had at least a 12 hour drive. ON Saturday we had a full house. Ziff's brother Jeremy, His wife Heather, and their 7 boys (Austin, Avery, Adrion, Payton, Parker, Kaden, and Landon) all stopped by to see our place, stretch their legs enjoy a Popsicle, and visit for a bit. And then Ziff's other brother Kib, his wife Kari and their 2 boys (Zane and Ryder) came...and stayed for 2 nights. And Finally Ziff's mom and dad arrived and they too stayed for 2 nights. Thankfully our apartment is pretty good sized and was able to fit everyone. It was a bit crowded, but we made it work. On Monday morning we all started to make our way down to Winter Park, but Ziff, Lilly, and I stopped at the butterfly pavilion since we had plenty of time to kill. After the butterfly pavilion we fulfilled Ziff's craving for Jack in the box (which they only have near Denver) and got back on the road. Spending time with Ziff's siblings and their kids was great. I really got to know them alot better. I learned alot of things about them, and hopefully bonds were created as they got to know me. I am the newest addition to the family. Ziff's brother Jeremy and his wife have been married 14 years, His sister Tabatha has been married around 8 years, and his brother Kib has been married 4 years, so I have alot of catching up to do. Although in all fairness Ziff is the youngest of all his siblings...so we are right on track to having a long happy marriage. We shared our room with Heather and Jeremy's oldest boys, Austin 13, Avery 11, and Adrion 9 and they had such a great time hanging out with their uncle Ziff, being boys, and I will admit I had to run out of the room a few times due to unannounced stench. At night Tabatha and her husband and Heather and I would play games, eat candy and chat. We filled our days with roller skating, hiking, biking, white water rafting, dancing, rock climbing, basketball, swimming, eating, sleeping, visiting museums, visiting a homestead, mini golf, horseback riding and making a special shirt for grandpa. So needless to say we were pretty busy although Lilly's nap time and early bedtimes were welcomed. I used those times as a chance to nap or read and so did Ziff. We had our system worked our since Lilly is the only one who was really on a schedule (by her own choice) The only bummer part about the trip is that there was nothing really toddler or preschool friendly, so Lilly had to tag along with us where ever we went, we tried to find as many things as possible that we could make somewhat entertaining for her, and thankfully on our way out of winter park we found that great park to repay her for putting up with all the non toddler activities. We have so many new memories and our friendships with family members have all gone to new levels and our little family has gone to a new level as well. Ziff and Lilly were able to bond on a new level and he and I we able to spend some really good quality time together. It was a trip we won't soon forget. There is so much more I could say about the trip but I will just leave it at that and let the pictures do the talking.

Lilly playing in the sand at a fantastic toddler friendly park we found just outside of winter park

Grandpa finally got to sit nest to Lilly at mealtime, she was checking out his new shirt and telling him all about how they had made it for him. We used the kid's hand prints and turned them into cheetahs, their names are written as the tails and then we added grass. Each Family was it's own heard and since Lilly has no siblings yet we put her solo hand over grandpas heart (yes i kinda planned that) right where it belongs.

Lilly running around...her 2 cousins are in the background somewhere chasing their balls too

Ziff rock climbing with his brother and nephews

Grandpa and 16 of his 17 grand kids. He is wearing the shirt they all made for him

Tabatha, Eric, Me, and Heather
We left our kiddos with their daddy's and went riding

Lilly and I on the steps of Hotel De Paris
It was a grand hotel full of history

Kari, her 2 boys Zane and ryder and in her trailer, Kristi (kari's step daughter), Me and Lilly is in my trailer. My legs hurt so bad that night I could barely walk

My man jumping off the cliff..."no guts, no glory" he had fun besides losing his wedding ring and getting a bloody nose

Ziff, Blake (kib's son), Kib, Ziff's Dad David, and Tabatha only 2 of his siblings the rest didn't want to go, but i heard it was alot of fun

Flutters

My favorite butterfly at the exhibit

Lilly wanted to touch the butterfly so bad Ziff had to hold her back

Ziff and Lilly checking out the bugs

Before we drove all the way to Winter park we made a pit stop in Westminster at the butterfly pavilion. I love butterflies and have been bugging ziff to go with Lilly and I there. I want to share my love of butterflies with them as much as possible. It is something that makes me feel so close to my mom and Lilly's grandma because when I was little my mom used to take my sister and I on walks to "hunt" butterflies. We kept the ones that we found already dead in special boxes lined with cotton. It is one of the few things that I remember about my mom and I try to keep the memory close (per my tattoo) and in some way I think my love of butterflies has taught me about all the transformations we go through in life, and about how something may may start out not looking so great, but through a little work will turn out beautifully as it was meant to be. Anyways, back to the trip... It was great as I had hoped Lilly loved the butterflies, she wanted to chase and touch and hold them. It was great. We also got to see bugs. Tarantulas, beatles, cockroaches, and bees. I wasn't a fan of that part but Ziff took her around to see all of the different ones and even got up close and personal with a real tarantula. She took it all in and had a smile on the whole time. And Ziff had a smile one too, he kept saying how cool this place was and that is was so much better than the one in Seattle. :-) I was so glad they both enjoyed it so much. We spent almost and hour there but it felt like it was only a half hour or so because we here having such a good time.

Girl girl girl

It is so funny to think back to when we found out what the sex of our baby was. In my heart knew it was a girl (we had been talking about Lilly Kay way before she was ever a twinkle in our eye we had the name and everything) but Ziff really wanted it to be a boy. The night before our ultrasound I remember lying in bed and Ziff leaned over and started talking to my tummy. He said "make sure we can get a good clear view of you baby" and he kissed the belly goodnight after giving more instructions to the belly which i don't remember.The next day Ziff and I met my sister Chante and the ultra sound place and got into our room ready to see our baby. The tech said " I have never seen a more positive result for the sex of a baby" and then she asked if anyone else could tell. I kind of could, but Chante beat me to the punch and yelled out "it's a girl". Ziff looked stunned. I almost thought he was going to faint, all he could manage to say was, "can you check again please" Lilly's legs were spread wide open still for us to see it was indeed a girl. The next picture we tried to get was of her profile...and we caught Lilly giving daddy a thumbs up as if to say "it's okay daddy, girls are fun", it was so perfect. I say all this to say that I think it is hilarious how girly Lilly is. She love all things pink and she loves accessories, sunglasses, jewelry, shoes, and purses. Oh it's adorable! For her birthday she got a few Lilly sized purses that she loves to fill up and carry around even though she still tries occasionally to carry my big ones around. Ziff loves every bit of her now and has come to be entertained by how girly she is. Lilly knew from the beginning that even though she was a girl and not a boy...everything was going to be okay.

Reading

I have been trying to find new ways to keep Lilly happy while she grows a bunch of new teeth. I know it must not be an easy thing to grow teeth so I do what I can, but this day I decided to take off the couch cushions to clean them and also giving Lilly a bit safer freedom on the couch. It is much safer of a fall with no cushions...not as far to fall. But any ways, she played for close to an hour on the sofa. She would bounce from one end to the other and she would bounce off and climb back on. Oh she looked like she was having a blast! Then I decided to change it up a bit and put the middle cushion in so she had an "obstacle" and she thought it was just great! She bounced over it over and over and over again. Finally she grabbed her favorite book, Elmo Loves You, and she sat on the cushion and started reading it. It was Very sweet, and needless to say come bedtime, she was ready.