First hike

Ziff has been itching to get outdoors. He tried to convince Lilly and I to go camping this past weekend, his plan was leave Saturday morning and get back Sunday around 9 with plenty of time to get ready for church...HA! was our response...the forecast was rain and snow for the entire weekend. Not exactly my idea of camping, especially with a baby. So we settled on going to Eldorado Canyons and going for a hike. Ziff was so excited to be going outdoors that he didn't want to dig out the hiking backpack for Lilly so he ended up using the bijorn and we weren't able to take the really long hike, but it was still a great hike and it was so beautiful. Lilly did great, she didn't complain once, she was just taking it all in, as were Ziff and I. I am so happy to see this picture because the smile on Ziff's face says it all. When we first started the hike there was a large rock off to the side and on it was a snake all coiled up... Ziff thought it was real and startled he jumped back (since we were just talking about rattle snakes and how if you can hear it rattle you are to close (the name of the trail was the rattlesnake head or something like that) I think he was a little freaked) Good to know though if there were a snake that close to us it would be every man for himself and I would have been SOL... good thing it was a copper snake! I laughed so hard because he was freaked out by a fake snake and I knew it. Talk about funny watching a man his size freak out. Although I got my payback, because when we were hiking back down I heard grunting coming from behind me and i squealed and almost fell over in fright only to find out it was only 2 joggers. The guys felt so bad that they startled me, but seriously who wouldn't be freaked out by 2 joggers making that noise with no waring as they are soming up behind you. After our hike we had a picnic out of the back of the car and enjoyed a beautiful drive home. I was a great way to spend a Saturday and I can't wait till we get out more.

Sand sand everywhere

Sand is a new favorite pass time. For the most part we have done really well at avoiding eating it... although sticks and twigs that we find in the sand are a different story. (in this picture she has a twig in her hand which after i snapped this picture went straight into her mouth) She love to rake the sand with her fingers and pick up a fistful and let it fall through her fingers and occasionally she tries to bury her legs. She would play forever in the sand if I let her and because she doesn't like being dirty, she sits in one spot and plays. She may move a little to the left or right but for the most part something about the feel of the sand and the dirtiness it causes, helps contain her to one spot. It is so fun to watch her explore and fulfill her curiosities.

Just like her momma

Lilly has come to love the camera, she poses occasionally like I always used to do as a kid. She is so cute and I just can't get enough of her. I think this picture says it all. :-)

Fishy fishy in the sea...

Today Lilly and I had an adventure... under the sea! We went to the downtown aquarium with our good friends Kathleen and Tyler. We are always looking for new fun and exciting things to do and we loved this as much as the kids did. Lilly kept reaching for the fish, she wanted to touch them and pet them it was super cute. When she was out of the stroller she would touch the glass and get so excited. We had lunch at the aquarium's beautiful restaurant. The kids got anxious waiting for lunch so they decided to entertain us with their noises. It was cute, Tyler would squeal and then Lilly would squeal... and then they would squeal together. After Lunch we went back to finished looking at all the fish... there were so many neat exhibits! I can't wait to go back with Ziff so he can see all the fun fishes too!

A special visit!

Lilly was slightly dazed and surprised to see what the Easter bunny had left for her while she was sleeping

He brought her a new Elmo book, Elmo is a finger puppet, she loved it SO much I couldn't get her to look up from it for the picture and she kept giving him kisses all day. It was so cute and it kept her very entertained during sacrament. :-) (thank you Easter bunny)

The Easter bunny was so smart he thought to put Lilly treats in her eggs! They had puffs, cookies, wagon wheels, and cheerios...way to go bunny!

Lilly in her Easter dress and all her goods... she is so precious we just love her so much!

We hid the eggs after church, to see what she would do... one was on her music table, one on the floor under the light, one on her bongos, one on the tv stand and one in her stuffties... we just wanted to see what she would do and she acctually went and pulled each one from its spot and put them all in a pile on the floor and then played with them all! We were both surprised that she was able to grasp the concept of finding the eggs... not that we "hid" them very well, but itwas so much fun!

Tight squeeze

Lilly thinks all the time is snack time. She will eat anything, including paper and lint. She is constantly picking at the floor because she thinks she sees something to eat... but really i think it is just carpet fuzz. Yesterday the missionaries were over and out of no where Lilly spotted an MIA cheerio... So she decided to rescue it and return it to safety in her tummy. No one gets left behind must have been her motto because i think the picture speaks for itself... she had to wedge herself under her music table because the cheerio was in the back corner. She got stuck for a brief moment but with some boot camp maneuvers managed to wiggle free with the cheerio in her tummy. Sweet victories.

Ring Ring

I cannot figure it out... she has so many nice toys, but her 3 top toys that she absolutely loves are her little rubber ducky, (which I actually have had since I was 18), keys, and mommy or daddy's blackberry phones. The reason I add on the specificity of blackberry is because she will not play with a flip phone, I tried to give her Ziff's old one and she refused to play with it, but when she lays eyes on one of our phones she will do everything in her power to reach for it or knock it off so she can get to it. I have never seen her play with her other toys as long as she plays with phones and keys. It's even so bad that she is worried if she crawls away from it i will pick it up so she crawls one handed with the phone and keys in the other. It cracks me up because we giver her our ring of extra keys and the phone is not such a big deal since she knows she isn't allowed to suck on it. The amazing part of her love for these things is that when she is playing with my phone she types on it (or presses the buttons) just like a grown person would, it's incredible that she grasps the concept of typing, she even holds the phone the right way, she will correct it if she picks it up upside down. The other thing that amazes me it that I usually lock my keys so that she can still light up the screen but cannot actually make any calls or type any messages, and the other day while Ziff and I were talking i looked down and realized she had unlocked the phone and was in fact typing a message. It blew my mind that she had hit all the right keys !!! I always ask her who she is calling or texting and then i always say "are you calling grandpa" and she smiles every time. Needless to say when she can dial the phone grandpa Reed will be getting alot of calls from Lilly, because I think she misses him terribly (since she is always calling him) .

Mmmm nannas

We are trying to introduce Lilly to more and more table food and surprisingly she is taking to it really well, alot better than I anticipated. I personally think she loves the feel of being part of everything and at dinner its her time to talk to daddy about her day and boy does she! We pull her high chair right up to the table and she jump in the conversation and gets sad when you forget to talk to her (because it's also mommy's and daddy's time to talk about their days). I have started not only having dinners with her at the table but after daddy goes to work and we wave good-bye and blow him kisses we sit down and have breakfast together at the table (i couldn't eat my breakfast without her trying to steal my food so i had to com up with a solution) I figured she was sick of the oatmeal and yogurt we'd been having and we always have cheerios so adventurously I made banana pancakes (they were going bad and she didn't want to eat them just plain so i disguised them in pancakes) and she LOVED them! I was shocked, she ate one whole pancake! She really wanted a whole one on top of the little pieces i cut up for her, and she took big girl bites from it, but it only lasted so long before she threw it off the tray. It was a banantastic morning!

Once upon a time...

Lilly loves her books! She will sit and read them forever and she loves it when you read to her. Though sometimes she doesn't always sit still and listen, but seriously what 9 month old would, but i figure she still listens as she is crawling around. It is so rewarding when you see all your efforts have paid off and this particular picture was such a proud moment for me, this was the first time SHE pulled out her books and started reading it to herself. She was babbling and turning pages just like we do when we read together. These 2 that she has out are her favorites, Elmo Loves you and Baby Einstein's Touch and Feel Baby Animals. Since this day I have caught her at random times pulling all her board books out and reading through them all by herself, it makes me one proud momma!

Finally!

We have hair!! (enough to stick up)

The great boo boo

Lilly is so adventurous these days. She is constantly wanting to try new things and explore everything, as most babies do. She love opening drawers and cabinets, although she can only open some the others we have child-proofed. Her favorite pass time is unloading the contents of the drawers and cabinets. She squeals in delight and is so proud of herself and when she is done with messing up one room she moves on to the next. With this new curiosity come great clumsiness. It seems that she can barely crawl without tripping over herself. This particular evening she was trying to open the drawer to pull out all her towels and wash clothes and she must have gotten excited and lost her footing and BAM bump on the forehead. This particular bump was the first really good and noticeable one so i decided to be a good mommy and capture this moment. This bump was the first in a series of many over the next few days and now every bump is a "major" one to her.