September 2014

We had Lilli's birthday party on the first of September. Dylan, Nicole, clay, Owen, and Ashley came to play pokemon themed games, and eat lots of treats. Unfortunately, the reeds had to leave, but Cason's family and my brother Ryan joined us for pizza, cake, gifts, and a piñata. We had so much fun!

Lilli continued to love school, and I started volunteering for her class. It's fun to be in there with her every so often and be able to get to know her teacher and classmates. Lilli seems to be adapting really well!

My parent's came up for BYU's first home game on the 11th.  I wanted Lilli to experience a cougar football game at least once in her life, so she and I went with. Football games are loooong, but lilli had fun just about the whole time. It went like this: first quarter, whining for her cougar tail (donut), second quarter, happy and finishing her donut, 3rd quarter: SUPER hyper, 4th quarter: soooo tired. The game wasn't super exciting, but we won! When we finally got home at 12:30am, Cason had accidentally locked us out so i spent about 20 minutes calling his phone, pounding on the door and windows, all while lilli was screaming about how tired and scared she was. I'm sure our neighbors loved us!!

Cason had his 28th birthday on the 14th. We went to his parents house for a birthday dinner for him and his dad, and the day after, we celebrated in the traditional way:  prime rib & ice cream cake.

We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on the 19th. We hadn't planned on doing anything, but at the last minute Cason decided that we should at least go to dinner. I assumed it would be something casual, but as soon as he got home from work, he looked at me and said "uhm, you might want to dress up a little bit", which was funny, because the exact thing happened on the night he proposed! We went to Pago, a fancy little restaurant downtown. Cason loved it, bu it was a little too adventurous/ weird for me. It was fun to go somewhere nice though, and experience some new food (even though I didn't like it much).

On the 30th, I got a frantic call from Cason at 5:30 am, saying that the car had stopped and that he was on the side of Bangerter Highway. Lilli and I picked him up, drove him the rest of the way to work, went home, called a mechanic, and went back to sleep. Later in the day, we were told that the motor had died and would be WAY too much to fix. We kind of knew what the mechanic was going to say, but it was still sad. Having 2 cars was a huge blessing for us, and going back to one is going to be really difficult. Not to mention, that I graduated high school with that car, drove my roommates around in college, drove to my honeymoon, brought my baby home from the hospital in it, and made 3 big moves with it.

August 2014

Lilli and I went to The Chilren's Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point with the Holloway's. It was pretty nice, and Lilli had tons of fun! I don't really think adults should have to pay admission, because there isn't really anything for us to do other than watch our kids.

Cason started working for the US Postal Service doing data entry. It's a super intense job, but he seems to like it ok, and he makes good money. Also, I started working at
Papa Johns as a driver. I never thought that I would deliver pizzas  for a living, but here I am. It's an ok job. I get super stressed out when I get lost, and it's kind of lonely, but the hours and money are good, so I'm satisfied with it for now.

A few weeks later, on Cason's day off, he took Lilli to see the Ninja Turtle movie. Cason said it was crap, but Lilli loved it. She said her favorite past was "when the orange one went in the sewer and tooted". we then headed to Boondocks.  Lilli played her first game of mini golf, we drove bumper boats, played lots if arcade games, and lilli played in the kid zone. It was a super fun day!

The 25th was Lilli's big day. Our baby turned 5.  We told her she could do anything she wanted, and she chose donuts for breakfast, chick fil a for lunch (where she played for a very long time), and cake and ice cream later in the day.

 I though the big 5 deserved a little more excitement, so we went to all star to play "mini bowling". Lilli loved it! As soon as she rolled the ball, she started jumping and dancing around, and would leap into my arms when it hit the pins.

They also had a glow in the dark indoor mini golf course that Lilli wanted to do, so we went for it. Oh boy, did she hate it! She thought it was super scary, and just wanted out! Overall, it was a really fun day and she had a good birthday.

Lilli had her first day of kindergarten at The Summit Academy on the 28th. It's a new charter school in the area, and we're super excited that she got in! Lilli wasn't nervous at all, and I didn't even cry when I dropped her off. I was just happy to see how happy she was. She of course loved it, and loves her teacher.

On the 30th, we bought our first car together. We had been looking on line for a long time, but hadn't decided on  anything, and it seemed like we would never get it done. Luckily, our brother in law spencer works and Enterprise, and took us down to their sales lot in SLC. We didn't plan on leaving that day with a car, but it happened! We got a Chevy Sonic LT. It's a pretty cool little car, and we got a good deal on it because it used to be a rental car, and we got a family discount thanks to Spencer!

July 2014

We celebrated the Fourth of July with a big party at the Dotson's. Good food, fun people, and lots of swimming. Lilli loved playing with all of Kelli and Robert's nieces and nephews!

Afterwards, Cason had to go to work, and Lilli and I went to the Holloway's to relax a bit and then watch the fireworks. We didn't really know where to go to watch them, and we didn't end up at a great spot, and the kids were grumpy, but what can you do?  Papa johns was slow, so Cason only stayed a couple of hours, and then joined us for the rest of the show.

That weekend, Neko Ruby Holloway was blessed. My parent's, the Hankla's and my brother Ryan came for the occasion, and although it was a very short visit, it was still fun to see them. We also got to meet our new nephew. Jana and Vinnie are in the process of adopting a little boy. They are currently his foster parents, and because of this, I can't post his name, or any pictures, so I will just say that he is a sweet, happy little boy, and we're excited to have him in the family.

The rest of the month was slllllllow. Cason worked a lot, leaving lilli and I at home - but at least he was making good money!

The only fun outing we had was we went to a huge water fountain and played. It's basically like a kiddie pool, and there's always a few people there. Later, they droned it and put up a big sign saying that it was not intended for swimming, which was a bummer. Honestly, who makes a fountain that big, and fun just to look pretty?

Given that we now live in Utah, I wanted to do something to celebrate Pioneer Day. However, I couldn't convince Cason to go to SLC for the parade(shocker), and he had I work that night, so we were out of luck.  Luckily, I didn't mention the holiday to lilli, so she wasn't disappointed. Right before I put lilli to bed, I heard some fireworks go off (lilli thought I was lying to her)and I rushed her outside. It was kind of awesome. We could see about a dozen different displays throughout the valley. Some were super close, others were far away, but they were all good, legit fireworks. We watched for over an hour!

On the 26th, lilli lost her second tooth. She's on a roll! And she talks with a cute little lisp now, I'll miss it when her adult teeth grow in!

One interesting thing was that Lill was featured on the cover of The Friend magazine. Ok, not really, but seriously, it's kind of freaking just how much it looks like her!

Questions

Lilli has been asking a lot of questions lately, like "who made all of the planets" and " are dinosaurs real?" Tonight while watching fFrozen she asked why Hans and Anna couldn't get married, because I got married to her daddy. I explained that they could get married, but not yet, because they just met and didn't know each other very well. Which didn't make sense to her because "they sang the song". I told her that wasn't long enough to get to know each other, and that they had to be friends for a long time before they decided to get married. It made sense, and she was satisfied...

Until she said, " well, if you didn't marry daddy, then just me and  you could live together." So I had to tell her that she wouldn't be here if I didn't marry daddy, because she was part mommy and part daddy because we made her together and I grew her in my belly.  She said "oh! That's why I have red hair like him and why he was in baby pictures with me." She then moved on to other inquires, to which I was grateful, but I have a feeling that it's not the end of the conversation!

June 2014

The Hankla's visit continued through the first couple of days of June. All the cousins, along with Nicole, Jana, Vinnie, and myself went to the Draper Aquarium together. It was pretty fun. Lilli had been before with Nicole and Dylan and she acted like she owned the place! I loved watching she and Dylan waddling around like little penguins, and Lucas wearing himself out running all around!

Later that day, Lilli and I went to Ikea with the Hankla's. I figured when we moved 5 minutes away from Ikea, that I would spend a lot of time there, but it was only the second time going since we moved to Utah. Its not very fun to go when you don't have any money to spend! However, Lilli LOVES the little daycare center, and had a great time playing while we wandered.

The next day, we went to the splash pad near our house. Dylan hated it, Neko slept (of course), and Lucas liked it until he got too cold. As usual, Lilli had a blast and made some friends. We've spent several afternoons playing at the splash pad this summer, you cant beat free entertainment!

Later that week, Lilli and I drove out to Spanish Fork to see Ashley and her two boys. We hit up another splash pad, and despite Lilli burning her buns (darn wedgies), we had a great time. Lilli loves Clay and Owen, and asks all the time when we get to go see them again. I wish we lived a little closer so we could see them all the time, but it's almost an hour away. Still the same, I am super grateful for them and their friendship!

 

On June 12th, Lilli came up to me and said "Look mommy, one of my teeths is broken." Sure enough she had a very loose tooth! She wouldn't let me near it at first, but a few hours later, I took one gentle tug at it, and it was out. It didn't hurt her at all, and she was super excited to get a visit from the Tooth Fairy. She got $2, and used her money to buy a beta fish that she named "Noodle Noodle".

Also on the 12th, Cason brought home a new family member from work. I couldn't believe when he showed up with a guinea pig! Despite my protests, we named her Ruby after a dog Lilli sometimes plays with (it's also my grandmother's name). She was very timid at first and Lilli wouldnt hold her because of her sharp claws, but she was very excited to have her. Unfortunatly, later in the month, Ruby got sick. She got better, but we were unable to hold her for a couple of weeks, and we had to start the bonding process all over again. Frankly, I don't like her. All she does is crap. Seriously, I never knew something could poop so much. Every time we hold her she poops on us. She's a lot of work, and not a lot of fun. Lilli still wont hold her and shows very little interest in her. Cason is the only one who loves her (probably because i'm the one who always cleans her cage). Hopefully she'll grow on me, but i have my doubts!

Father's day was super low key. Lilli picked some of her daddy's favorite treats as a gift, and drew him a bunch of pictures. After his favorite breakfast, Cason had to go to work (it was his last day at Petco), so Lilli and I just hung out at home and then the three of us went to visit his dad in Bountiful.

Cason started working at Papa John's as a delivery driver, and things slowed WAY down for Lilli and I. Since he needed the car, we were stuck at home a lot! We played, watched Netflix, and did some crafting. Lilli LOVES "crafs", like to the point that I need to hide all of my supplies from her so she doesn't use them all! She also loves "decorating" the house and having parties. I have a birthday almost every day...sometimes multiple times a day. Good thing I love her, because it gets exhausting!!