Our little walker

Lily has decided to join the world of walkers. She's been cruising along the couch and taking a step or two for a few months now. She surprised us last week by taking some steps when she didn't think we were watching. Since then she has been practicing and getting pretty good! She has also started this new giggle that is hilarious.

San Diego Trip Part 1

Since I plan on homeschooling our children - I am trying to get into the whole educational vibe. Johnny and I took Lily to our Credit Union's SeaWorld day to show Lily the penguins, sloths, and turtles that they brought for an educational day. Before I knew it .... Southern California was calling my name ... shouting more like it :). I jumped on Priceline to see what kind of a deal we could get and as luck would have it - we were able to get a fantastic, unbeatable deal. Being the spontaneous people we are, we packed up the next week and headed to sunny San Diego for a few days for a much needed vacation. We absolutely loved it! And Lily was fantastic the entire time ... except for when we went into the shark pavilion ... can't blame her there! So here are a few of the pictures from our trip with more to come from the other sights we visited.

I love Beluga Whales. I am saving my pennies so I can swim with them next time. Lily was fascinated, too, and paid attention to them much longer than we thought she would.
I love Behind the Scenes tours. We signed up for the Penguin Encounter. This is Penguin 133 - a macaroni penguin. Who they said has never bitten anyone before, but got dangerously close to Lily's pink hair bow with a sneaky look in his eye.
This is Johnny and Lily in the actual Penguin habitat at SeaWorld. Guests usually just get to see the Penguins from a moving walkway behind the glass, but our tour took us into the habitat! It was a cool 27 degrees! Good thing we brought Lily's sweat suit! This penguin is blind and named King Tut. King Tut was kind of moody.
And here is Lily with her favorite type of penguins - the kind she can hug! She is like Johnny and will hug anything furry that she can get her cute little hands on!

Child Labor

Johnny and I were making dinner while Lily was watching her new Signing Time DVD. Suddenly instead of laughing and signing - we hear splashing! We had accidently left the bathroom door open. She is such a big helper.

Babysteals.com

I will admit it - I am cheap, but I still want quality. I hate to pay full price for anything. I think it is genetic because my mom's the same way. Now that I have had a baby my addiction to finding a good deal has gotten worse. Ebay, consignment stores, freecycle - all my best friends. Three-fourths of Lily's toys are practically new hand-me-downs and I am not complaining!

So my latest addiction is babysteals.com. I found out about it at the South Towne Expo Mommy Fair. They offer a brand new "baby steal" every day. The steals are fun mommy/baby products at 40-80 percent off regular price. Their shipping speed is fabulous! I got my Teething Bling two days later.

So far I have bought Teething Bling and Signing Time videos for Lily. I bought the teething jewelry for me to wear since Lily is finally getting her teeth (at 11 months old). After the fact, I went to the company's web-site and saw that I had good company with my Teething Bling - Tori Spelling, Mr. Big from Sex in the City, and my person favorite - Niecy Nash from Who Wants a Clean House. Now I am a big fan of Who Wants a Clean House. Probably because I lean toward pack rat tendencies and it makes me feel good to see houses messier than mine :). So I figure if Niecy has it - it must be great right? She always looks fabulous.


So check it out! The web-site is www.babysteals.com

April update!

I realize that our blog has been sadly lacking in text. We love taking pictures of Lily, but have been remiss in actually writing about her! So here is our update in text!

Johnny: Johnny is finishing up another semester of classes at UVSC ... soon to be UVU. The countdown of a year to graduation has begun! Right now he is working full time, going to school full time, and daddying full time. Johnny is learning about FLEX and is still enjoying designing.

Tara: As for me, I am loving being at home and being a mommy. My ever present thesis is looming over my head and will hopefully be finished by August. Wish me luck! My current project is renovating our second room into a nursery for Lily. IKEA is my new best friend. Being at home has brought out my inner domesticity ... we shall see what it actually results in!

Lily: Lily is the star of our family. She definitely keeps us on our toes! She is a talented, happy, and stubborn (most always in a good way) little girl. She crawls, climbs, and is an excellent little explorer. She is looking forward to her first birthday in only two months!

March 2008

Contrary to how she looks in the post ... Lily loves riding her new "pony." I was quite proud of myself for buying it for only $6 at the Just Between Friends consignment sale.

Lily is also loving the slightly warmer weather. Warmer weather means more trips to the park! She is finally loving the swings and even does a ride or two down the slide with me.

Lily is our little monkey. She is happiest when climbing, exploring, standing, crawling, and doing everything that big people do ... including brushing her teeth :)

Lily also loves laughing with her aunts and uncles!

Playing catch up .... A day in the Life of Lily!

Some how Little Miss Lily has kept us so busy during the last three months that we haven't made any updates! I'll play a little catch up today and try to be better in the future! The following pictures are in no particular order .... just a random sampling of our crazy lives the last few months!

This is the beloved mullett. We thought it was cute and funny for our baby girl to have one. She liked it as well ... especially when we put it in a pony tale. However, the mullett was sacrificed and became the First Gift of Christmas. Lily got her first hair cut on Christmas Eve. Johnny gave Uncle Conner the mullett because we know he liked it best :).

Poor mullettless baby.

The other Christmas gifts! We enjoyed Christmas at the Grandparent's house. All the Christmas's I can remember have been at my Grandma and Grandpa Kimball's so it was exciting for me to start our Christmas traditions with Lily there. This is Lily enjoying her sparkly new shoes.

The girl's playing with their Christmas gifts together!