July 2013

Another fun month! On the Fourth of July, we had a delicious lunch at the Cheesecake Factory,  crab cooked by Cason for dinner, and en went downtown with the Hankla's for the fireworks. We had never gone before, but thought Lilli was finally old enough to really appreciate it. We got there early, and surprisingly enough, was pretty stress free ( nothing like the commotion of the Idaho falls fireworks).  Lilli played with Lucas while we waited for the show to start, and made some other friends- she literally makes friends where ever she goes! There was a little hiccup when Lil announced that she had to go potty and I had to go into a dark port-a-potty with her, but we survived it, and didn't miss any of the show. Lilli was AMAZED. Cason asked her which ones were her favorite color, and told her to yell any time she saw them, so every time a green firework she would say "YELL!!!!" And would shout "all of the colors!!!!!" When more than one color would go off. Later on she decided he needed to get the part started and started yelling, "everybody clap!!!!!" ( something she learned from the circus), and of course...nobody did. To which she would respond " i guess people can't hear me" , and would yell even louder. Everyone probably got pretty sick of her, but we thought it was hilarious. And to make things even better, Lucas was a dream baby and slept through almost the whole thing.

The next day, we headed to Utah to see Cason's family, and to go to Lagoon. Jesse came to the park with us,and we all had a blast! Lilli loved her first ride at kiddie land, and was so brave the rest of the day. She was game with any ride we put in front of her, even the big kid ones. She would sometimes say that the ride was " a little bit scary, but really fun". Her favorite was the bumper cars, and  one of the kiddie water rides.

After we had lunch, we changed into our bathing suites and headed over to lagoons black. What. A. Bummer. I hated it. Lilli of course loved it, because she loves water, but he was too little to go down any of the water slides, so there was nothing to do. However, when it was time to leave lilli threw a HUGE fit because she thought the water was more "funner" than the rides. But after a time out, and a slushie, we were good to go, and she of course loved all of the rides.

The day ended on a bad note with a torrential rain storm, and Cason in a terrible mood. Lilli and I went down a water ride a few times ( she would giggle the whole way down, it was adorable), and then we made a mad dash to the car, ending with us all soaked to the bone.


The following day was Sunday, and we all relaxed with Cason's family.

On Monday, we decided to head back to lagoon since we didn't get to all of the rides on Saturday. Lilli was a bit more apprehensive this time, and I don't know why, but she eventually warmed up, and had fun.

I had to be at work the following afternoon, and despite my efforts to convince Cason to drive home on Tuesday morning, he insisted that we leave that night. We were tired. We were burnt. A five hour drive did not sound fun. We got packed up only to discover that our car wouldn't start. Luckily, it was just a problem with the battery, and we got it going, but at that point it was LATE. Again, I tried to convince him to wait until morning, but it was a no go. It was one of the scariest nits of my life. I can't count the number of times that Cason nodded off behind the wheel, and I was having a hard time as well. We stopped a couple of times, but we couldn't risk too. Inch because A: we didn't know if the car would start up again and then we would be stranded at a scary truck stop, and B: any time we stopped lilli would wake up and freak out, making it impossible for us to get any rest.  Anyway... We got into a huge fight, and were miserable, but we made it home around 5 am, and I made it to work that afternoon thanks to my sister giving me a ride.

Despite the crappy end, we had a great trip. Lilli asks me at least once a week when we get to go back to " goon", and she will tell anyone about all of the fun rides she went on.

Later in the month, Nicole and Dylan came to Boise, and we had fun playing with them.

June 2013

Summer time!! We were so excited! ...and then we all got sick :/. Luckily, it didn't last too long and we got busy having fun.

 On Father's Day, we started out with German pancakes, and later went to the splash park in the afternoon. Lilli had a blast, even after they turned the water off ( which happens every time we go there), and Cason and I enjoyed a moment to relax.

The best part of the month was the shriner's circus. I had mentioned to Cason that it was coming to tow, but he didn't seem too interested, so I forgot about it. Then the morning of, he randomly brought it up, and we decided to go for it. We headed downtown a little early so we could have some yummy brick oven pizza and italian sodas.

We got to the main event pretty early so we could get good seats ( which we did), but it also meant that we had to keep lilli entertained for over an hour. She started with her first ever pony ride. Amazingly enough, they let her ride for a long time, and she loved it. Cason then convinced me to go for an elephant ride with her. What an experience! Our little trip was WAY too short, but I don't think either of us ever expected to be on such a huge and amazing animal, and I'm happy that I got to share it with her. After that, it was time for cotton candy and for the show to start! I thought it was great! I'm sure it wasn't the most legit circus show in the world, but I had nothing to compare it to, and thought it was a lot of fun. Lilli was unsure at times, but enjoyed herself overall. She was super excited about the tigers, and was then immediately crushed when she found out that she wouldn't be able to ride them! Her favorite part were the doggies, especially the one dressed as a stuffed elephant.  She also got today in a huge bounce house during intermission which was a bit stressful, especially when it was time for the show to start again. She was no happy! But, it was nothing that an icee and more circus fun couldn't fix.

After the show, we let lilli play in a fountain, which was definitely her favorite part of the night! She was so happy!! By the end of the night, we had spent WAY too much money, but we were all happy and tired from a wonderful day.

We did a lot of apartment hunting this month, but eventually ended up deciding to stay where we are. We couldn't afford anything that we were interested in, and we decided the whole ordeal just wasn't worth the hassle.

June also included lots of time at grandma and grandpa's house and a few dips in the pool. This girl LOVES water...no matter how cold it may be, and even if her bathing suite " didn't show off her boobies good".

May 2013

May was much more eventful. The fun started on May the fourth, which of course meant a Star Wars themed wedding!

The bride: my sister in law Rachelle. And the groom: a boy named Kevin.

 The day started out a little rough for me, when I was informed army dress looked like r2d2 (just kidding, i didn't actually care!), and then when I dropped my camera and broke it at the temple. As far as thee reception goes, i'll admit that i'm not the biggest star wars fan, and Cason I were really unsure about the whole thing, but it turned out really nice. In fact, it was actually beautiful, and even elegant in a way.

 

 Not to mention, it's the most fun I've ever had at a reception. There was pizza, Italian sodas, crepes, and lots of other fun and delicious food. Lilli had a FANTASTIC time at the " kids party" and I barely saw her the entire day...she was in heaven.

The remainder of the trip was spent relaxing, and we also made a trip to Ikea for my Mother's Day gift. I got a rug for our living room, and a bunch of other little fun things. Lilli also tried her first toaster marshmallow.

When we got home, I was thrown into the stresses of preparing for finals, and ended the semester with the end of the month! I've never been happier to see a semester end. It.was.rough. So rough in fact, that I changed my major at the end of it!

April 2013

April must have been another boring month, because I remember next to nothing, and took like... 3 pictures. I imagine I stressed out a lot about school, worked, and took care of  Lucas and Lilli.

I remember lilli being a bit down in April as well, and that she spent A LOT of time in her "car" driving to see jesse at his house!

So... I guess we'll move on to May now!

March 2013

We started watching Lucas 3 times a week in march. I thought having a baby in the house would be magical, and convince Cason that we finally needed to have another one, but I'll be honest... It was rough! I had WAY too much going on, and Cason had to pick up a lot of the slack, and well... He's not exactly a baby person, especially if the baby is his. He warmed up to him eventually though, and Lucas has always been quite fond of him! I also think it was a good experience for lilli. She learned  a
Little bit of independence on the days hewas here, and she enjoyed having someone to (sort of)play with.

(St. Paddy's Day)

 We also made quick trip to Oakland California for Courtney's wedding. T be honest, Oakland is a pit, but we had a really nice time. The temple was beautiful, and lilli had SO much fun!she deemed herself to be the flower girl, and threw petals at the "little princess". She also spent. Lot of time playing i the fountains, and picking the temple flowers (whoops!).

Before the wedding, we snuck off to San Francisco. We only had. Few hours, but I'm really glad we went. Rhett was determined to drive across the golden gate bridge, and it was fun to take in some of the scenery- it's definitely our kind of city! The best part was giving lilli her first ocean experience. It was cold, and we weren't dressed right, but it was great! She had fun asking "sand castles" and running from the waves- I only wish we could have stayed longer!

We then headed back to Boise for an Easter egg hunt at Grandma's house with the Cousins, and Easter Sunday which included Lucas' Baby Blessing with the WHOLE family! :)

Easter Bunny Goodies at our house

Basket from Grandma

It was a great month!

February 2013

I honestly can't remember a single  blog worthy thing happening in February. I went back to work, and struggled with school. Cason worked on his writing, and lilli, was lilli :)

We had a fun visit from the holloways. Lilli LOVES cousin Dylan! (And cousin Lucas too).

We had a low key valentines day, with a few fun gifts.

AND... I think that about sums it up! Sheesh, that was a quick one!

January 2013

Ok, here we go.

This could be long and painful for everyone involved- but I have to have some kind of family record, so I have to try!

January:

January was COLD, and snowy. Definitely the snowiest I've ever seen it in boise. Lilli loved every minute of it, whenever we went outside she would insist on throwing snow at us and at the car.

I started the year off with continuous UTI's which was miserable, and made school nearly impossible. Luckily, I was on leave from work for hurting my knee, and had lots of time to rest and snuggle!

I went to physical therapy twice a week, which I hated...and found mostly useless.

I celebrated my 25th birthday with Johnny Carino's, and cheesecake from Costco. I also got my beautiful iPad from my wonderful husband! Our laptop had recently broken, so we were definitely in need of it! I also got an exercise bike from my in laws to help strengthen  my knees. All around, it was a pretty great birthday!

The BEST thing that happened in January, was the birth of our little nephew, Lucas. We love him so much, and are thankful to have him in our family!