Eight and Nine Months

I missed doing our eight and nine month posts on Annie. So I'll combine them and post now while I can still remember what she's doing at this age. She loves the camera and always makes funny faces for me. She also loves her Puna. She likes to talk on the phone and hear Puna's voice.

She is teething, but no teeth are showing yet. I like to give her cold carrots to chew on. She likes them a lot.

We've taken her swimming a few times this summer. Whether or not she likes it depends entirely on her mood that day. Some days she cries the second she touches the water, other days she can't get enough of the water.

She is a great sleeper. She is sleeping through the night from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and still takes one or two naps during the day. She can also sleep just about anywhere.

She loves to feed herself. It usually turns into a big mess, but I don't mind letting her try. Especially when she looks this cute.



She is a fairly fussy baby. Still clings to Mommy and wants her way all the time. But there are beautiful moments of silliness and happiness too.

Graham crackers are her favorite snack. She wants to eat them all the time! I think she is doing an independent study to find out if a baby can survive solely on graham crackers and yogurt.

Her latest trick is standing up. I love the supermodel pose she's striking. I think she'll be walking well before she's one. After all, she has a big sister to keep up with.

She is down to one nursing session a day. Mommy is so excited to almost be done with breastfeeding. Annie loves to try new foods but usually wants to go back to her favorite - graham crackers. She is not a fan of babyfood vegetables, but she will eat canned green beans. We were never successful in getting her to take a bottle but she can drink from a cup and loves to use sippy cups. She likes cold drinks and I've had success getting her to take formula if it is cold.

She can cruise along furniture very fast but doesn't like to walk while holding our hands. She can stand up without any assistance. Annie loves to try and play with Lily and Lily tries to be patient and include Annie. Annie is finally saying "mama" and has added "lala" and something that sounds like "hi" to her vocabulary. She recognizes her name and will respond when she hears it. She is more aware of singing now and really watches our mouths closely while we sing songs. She likes to babble in a low grunting kind of voice. She is wearing size nine month clothes.

She is very curious and doesn't like to feel left out. She always wants to try and do what Lily is doing. It seems like they are both growing so quickly. We are thankful to have such wonderful girls.

"Sleeping" in a Tent

I can't really call it camping because we were sleeping in an open field at the county fairgrounds and we had a full bathroom. But we did "SLEEP" in a tent the night before the triathlon. Our little tent wouldn't fit all of us so Jeremy slept in his one-man and the girls and I shared the two-man. It was really hot, Lily just couldn't settle down, the air mattress went flat, it started raining on us, we were near the street so we had lights shining on us and traffic driving by all night....can you tell we didn't get much SLEEP? Jeremy said he could hear me snapping at Lily to settle down well after the sun went down.

Lily loved it. As the tent was being set up she kept calling it a "tenk". She danced around it and inside of it for almost an hour. Annie loved crawling around the outside of it and pushing on the walls. I guess we need to do more camping so the girls get used to the idea of a tent.

And the next time we do the triathlon we are staying in a hotel!

Spud Man Triahlon

Jeremy competed in the Burley Lions Club Spud Man Triathlon on Saturday July 30. We don't have official race pictures or his official time yet so I will post again when they come. But he did beat his previous racing time. The girls didn't quite understand what all the excitement was about. Annie was tired from our camping adventure the night before so she slept a lot.

We passed the time playing and coloring. We did catch a fleeting glimpse of Daddy riding his bike. We cheered for him but he didn't see us. Lily didn't like the noise.

None of these bikers are Jeremy. I was practicing getting a shot. When he actually passed I was trying to wrestle the girls and missed him.

I tried to snap a shot of Jeremy crossing the finish line, but while wrestling two girls and trying to fight the crowds I couldn't get there in time. In the picture below you can see his khaki colored hat in the background. He is being presented his participant's medal just after finishing.
Click on the picture to see it larger.

One tired Spud Man!

Lily didn't want lunch - only Doritos. We were all so tired that we didn't fight her on it. She fell asleep in the car with her hand in the bag and a cheesy face. We made our traditional stop at Arby's for lunch and made our way back home. Jeremy had enough energy to drive home and run errands. Then he crashed into bed at 9:00 p.m.

Great job Jeremy. I can't wait to do this with you someday!

More Pioneer Day Fun

We are learning that Pioneer Day (July 24th) is a big deal for the Latter-day Saint community in this area. After having so much fun at our church activity we decided to visit the nearby city of St. Anthony for their Pioneer Day festivities. To start things off we went to our first rodeo.

It was so much fun and very exciting. Seriously heart pounding. We will definitely go to one again. Lily liked the Calf Shuffle. They glued money to three cows and let all the children under age 11 chase down the cows and try to snatch the money. It was really cute and funny. We didn't let Lily try it this year. Maybe by next year she'll be big enough.



The girls were cold so we had to snuggle them. Once it got near sundown we took them home. We missed some of the most exciting events but we will come back again. The next morning we went to the parade.

The parade had a patriotic theme. Some of the floats were really well made.

Mommy loved this HUGE shopping cart sponsored by the local grocery store. Wouldn't one of these be awesome to have for a Costco shopping trip. I could fill this no problem.

I thought the camel was funny so I just had to include it.


Lily's favorite part of the parade was the candy. She talked about going back to the parade for days and finished the candy (with Mommy and Daddy's help) in about a week. Jeremy's boss lives in St. Anthony so he and his family saved us great seats for the parade. We loved spending the morning with them.

Pioneer Day Activity

Our church celebrates the settling of the Salt Lake Valley by Mormon pioneers every year on July 24th. We went to a wonderful activity at our meetinghouse Thursday night in celebration of Pioneer Day. It was catered by Gandolfo's Deli. There was live music and a talent show plus all sorts of pioneer era activities - strength contests, chicken races, pie eating contests, etc.


One of Lily's favorites was the fish pond. They built this pond and stocked it with trout. All the children ages 2-6 got a chance to jump in the pond and catch a trout with their bare hands. Lily just wanted to get wet. She didn't want to touch a fish, or get trampled by the bigger kids.


There were wagons and carriages to ride in. This little wagon had the fastest moving team so it was more exciting to ride. The horses names were Pepper and Ginger. Lily and Annie both loved it.




The highlight for Lily was the chance to ride a pony. After finishing her first ride she wanted to jump right back in line to wait for another turn. She waited so patiently in line and was not the least bit afraid of the ponies. Her smile went from ear to ear the rest of the evening. And we did let her ride twice.

There were cows to milk. This one is a baby so we just pet her. Lily was afraid of the bigger cow.


After almost three hours of eating and playing the girls were still all smiles on the way home. Annie got to try watermelon for the first time. Lily got to meet ponies and play with some friends. It was a fabulous activity. We can't wait for next year.

Weigh-In

Did you notice my tracker up above? That's right folks I am now down 25 big ones! I had a smaller loss (1.6 lbs) this week since I decided to give myself a week free from measuring, tracking, food journaling, and hard core exercising. I also indulged in a few treats like eating out with my mom and having breakfast with a friend. Life is meant to be lived. I am back on the wagon starting today. I've had a few friends and family members ask me what I eat every day so look for a few posts coming soon about what I eat for my meals. Maybe my meal ideas will help you too.

4th of July

We packed about as much fun as you can have in one day on the 4th of July. The 4th is Jeremy's birthday and this year he invited me to go on a bike ride with him. Thanks to my spinning classes, I did a pretty good job of keeping up. We took a ride to Mesa Falls. My parents met us there later in the morning with the kids. The mosquitos were hungry and I got covered in bites, but it was a beautiful way to spend the morning.




For lunch, Jeremy wanted to go to Big Jud's. It is a burger place. They are famous for making a one pound burger. If you can eat the whole burger, eat all your fries, and finish your drink, they take your picture and put it up on a wall. Brady decided to take the challenge.

But once he got near the end, he decided that just finishing the burger was a big enough accomplishment.

After lunch we went to a brand new water park in Rexburg. It was a really great family place. Annie did not like the water at first, but Lily jumped right in and loved playing with Brady, Puna, Papa, and Daddy. Mommy was pretty busy keeping Annie happy.



We left the water park in barely enough time to get ready for Jeremy's birthday party. I made Cafe Rio sweet pork, and grilled chicken and set up a build your own taco bar. I also made patriotic rainbow Jell-O and red-white-and-blue layered drinks. I was so frantic running around getting everything done that I didn't get to enjoy much of the party or get pictures of everything. But Jeremy said it was a wonderful party and I think everybody had fun. We had my cousins and some of their friends over. I made Jeremy's favorite tres leches cake and my mom made my favorite angel food cake with lemon icing. Water and fireworks were a big hit with old and young alike. My dad went all out buying fireworks. Lily talked about them for days afterward.




Happy 4th to everyone and happy birthday to a great daddy and husband.