It was my birthday yesterday. I asked for a sailboat ride in Newport Harbor. Instead, I got an ipad (the extra nice one).

I can't say I'm complaining. (Insert huge smile here.)

Thanks to all who contributed for said gift. I, well, LOVE it. A lot. And thank you to everyone who sent me well wishes via various formats. Extra points go to Grandma and Erin who sent cards. The kind with hand written notes. Or, in other words, the kind that are extra awesome.

It was a good day.

(Oh - and thanks to Elise for breakfast today. I like getting to hang out with you.)

Edited to include Steve, Lori, Casey, Madi, Garth, and Charlotte to those who sent birthday cards. THANK YOU!

Funny Siblings.

I just got this text from a certain 16-year old little sister:

"Oh Jill. Every time I see your frozen breast milk in the freezer I miss you."

This would be the same frozen breast milk upon which a certain brother wrote the following note:

"Do not touch. Ryan's future progeny."

I'm so glad my storing food for my child has sparked so much interest, creativity, and conversation among my siblings.

They're fun. I maybe miss them a little.

So I've been gone for awhile. For a really long time actually. Now that I think of it, this last trip is the longest I've been away from my primary living place since "striking out on my own" when I was 18.

It was awesome.

The only bummer was the bout of mastitis I had while on vacation...the other bummer would be throwing my back out (while getting the car seat out of the car) when we got home. Not sure which is worse - actually the mastitis wins, but the back problem was made worse by the fact that I came home to a NEW BIKE from my sweet husband. A bike I've been wanting for a few years. The bike that I couldn't ride until today due to said back injury. (It was worth the wait, by the way.)

I may or may not play catch up on this blog. I may or may not post photos. I won't, however, feel obligated to do either or feel guilt for not doing either. It would ruin the vacation.

So...some thoughts.

Monday (July 19th) marked the one-year anniversary of Kenny's dad's death. I can't believe it's been a whole year. However, when I think of all that's happened since his death it seems that it's been much longer. Granted, this year has been an eventful one for us. When I think about last year and the time Kenny spent away from home caring for his dad, I'm mostly grateful. Grateful that Kenny was in a position to serve Ken in that capacity during that time, grateful that Kenny would want to serve him (it was really hard for Kenny - physically and emotionally), and grateful to have gained a greater understanding of charity. True charity. Not the pity kind, but the loving, unselfish service kind of charity. Kenny grew so much during that time. I'm only sad that Ken is not here to see his son in person. Or that he's not here to play with Lola. Rather than dwell on those things, I like to imagine Ken getting Lola all ready to come into this world. When I see her do things that remind me of him, I just smile. And I'm grateful for that, too.

Speaking of The Girl, Lola turns 3 months old tomorrow. Wow. Congratulate me. I've kept a totally helpless creature alive for three months. No plant I've ever owned has ever fared that well. Although, no plant ever gave me auditory clues that it was hungry. If it had screamed or cired I probably would have watered it. So I guess it's really the plants' fault. How's motherhood? Still what I expected. Awesome in an "ups & downs" sort of way. The biggest surprise is that I've yet to get sick of HER - even for a moment. I've gotten sick of certain aspects of mothering (can one really ever love cleaning up poop? and, oh yeah, remember the mastitis?!), but never HER. Everything she does fascinates me. Like right now. I'm watching her alternate between trying to stick her whole fist in her mouth (and almost succeed - until she gags herself), smiling at the ceiling fan like it's her best friend (which it sort of is), and try to nurse the couch cushion. And I'm totally entertained and almost even giddy about it all. Disgusting, right? Yeah, I know. The weird thing is that I don't care. In fact, I'd rather watch her do that than write anything else, so ... well, I won't. I guess I'm done.

Over and out.

More Lola

Lola Dee turned two months old this week. At 10 lbs 12 oz and 22 inches, she's as average as a girl that age can be (i.e. 50th percentile across the board). But not to us. Probably because she's ours.

Love that smile...wish you could see the dimple.

Always so serious with that furrowed brow.

She really loves helping her dad work. Or rather she loves keeping him from getting any work done. She's REALLY good at that.
I love her purple eyes.

She's more aware of her hands lately. Why I'm so fascinated by this, I don't know. But I'm as interested in her hands (and everything) as she is.
And she's loving that she gets to see her Uncle Ryan so much. We'll all be sad when he moves back to UT at the end of the summer.
In other news...I'm slowly getting a life back. This means I might actually start posting about something other than The Girl from time to time. I've got a great blog-rant in the works. So stay tuned.

I'm excited.

More Awesome from Amelia

I was really fortunate and really loved during this pregnancy. I had six showers. It sounds ridiculous, but I did. My family, Kenny's Dad's family in UT, Kenny's Mom's family in CA, my ward, friends (Elise, Sarah, Jennifer), and my office all threw me showers to get ready for this baby. Was I ever ready for this kid! We were spoiled rotten. Thank you. SO MUCH. My only regret is that I don't have photos of all the showers...I wish I had captured the sort of detail, thought, and work that went into each one. Again, THANK YOU. You know who you are.

However, Amelia did get some great shots of one of the showers. I won't even begin to tell you how wonderful it was. The pictures do all the talking.

You may remember that Amelia did maternity shots for us. Which were amazing. So, I also asked Amelia to shoot the delivery. Even I was surprised when I decided I wanted someone other than Kenny in the room...not to mention someone with a camera catching some very personal moments (and body parts). She did a wonderful job and I'm so grateful to have these images to remember that day. The only picture I wish I had is one of Amelia holding my leg with one arm (to aid me while I pushed) and a camera in her other documenting the whole thing. It was eipc.

AND Amelia was able to catch some newborn shots of Lola when she was 1.5 weeks old. Again, they're wonderful.

I've said it before, but it must be said. Amelia is awesome. This post just mentions the shower she helped put on and the pictures she took, but there was so much more she did during this pregnancy and after (and while) Lola was born. My own sisters are still little and far away, so I'm so happy to have scored in the sister-in-law department.

I only hope everyone could be so lucky. Thank you, Amy.

PLEASE go see the rest of the photos on her site and drop her some blog-lovin' in the comment sections. She deserves to hear your praises.

Some (more) catch up...

For Memorial Day we made a last minute trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks with Kenny's parents, Mark and DeAnne. Lola was a dream despite being strapped into her car seat for two days.

It was beautiful. And I can't really convey how HUGE sequoia trees actually are. Lots of photos to follow.

Our family.

Like I said, Lola was so fun!


The parents.
This is my favorite shot of the trip.
Look closely at this next one...can you see me?


Lola wanted to feel the spongy bark of the Sequoia.
The two giants.
The trees are ginormous.


This next tree, "General Sherman" is the largest one in terms of total mass. Take note of the person on the right to get an idea of the scale.

And the trees are really tall (i.e. 300 feet-ish). The General Sherman is as tall as a 27 story building.


For Kenny's birthday, we went for a long bike ride with Steve and Lori who were in town for the weekend to see Lola. They said they were there to attend a conference, but really they mainly wanted to see the girl. And who can blame them? She's really fun.

We got to try out our bike trailer. And we love it.
Again...it's been a full, fun few weeks.

Some catch up...

So if you wanted to irritate Kenny in the last little while, you just had to comment on how his pending fatherhood ultimately meant his life was ending. Banalities such as "just you wait!" and "Oh, enjoy that while you can" just drove him mad. So, it's perhaps in retaliation to these comments that we've done quite a bit since Lola was born. Her short life (eight weeks this Thursday) has been a full one. And, by default, so has ours.

So, Little Miss has been to the beach a bunch, had a bonfire, been to Disneyland four times, accompanied me on numerous walks/jogs, been towed behind bikes on the board walk, lounged poolside, been to two national parks, etc. And, just moments ago, she slept through her first earthquake (which scared the *--- out of her mother). Also, she helped us celebrate Mothers' Day, her grandma's birthday, her aunt's birthday, her dad's 31st birthday (last Monday), her parents' seven-year wedding anniversary (yesterday), and will make Kenny the happiest new dad this coming Fathers' Day.

It's been a wonderful seven and a half weeks.

Anyway. Here's some more photos from our anniversary. There's a lot.

More photos coming soon.