First Thanksgiving

This was Lilybelle's first Thanksgiving. I know that everything that we do for the next year is going to be her first, but it's still so exciting to me. This year we went down to my parents' house for some turkey and fixings. It was quite a chore to load everyone up. We had to load up two dogs, their food, Lilybelle, her diaper bag, bouncy seat, blankets, and the pumpkin cheesecake that I made. Once the car was loaded we were off to spend the day with Nana and Grandpa. Nana and Grandpa were excited to see Lilybelle, and she promptly spent most of her day in one of their arms.

My mom out did herself with dinner. It was amazing. The turkey was super moist, the rolls fluffy, the asparagus yummy, and on and on. Once we were done stuffing our face with food, we broke out the pumpkin cheesecake which was a compromise on my part. See I hate pumpkin pie, but everyone else likes it, and I wasn't going to make an apple and pumpkin pie for four people. I found out that I kinda like pumpkin cheesecake; not enough to eat it all the time, but enough to eat it once a year. This is the sole picture that I remembered to take that day. Poor Lilybelle.

After all the food, Nana, Lilybelle, and I went to Michaels for a little after turkey shopping. It was okay, not great, but not bad either as far as deals went. It was Lilybelle's first Black Friday shopping (shocking another first!) and the only store that she went to. I didn't want to take her out in the crowds so Tim and I alternated who went and who stayed home between shopping on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (I really wish they would go back to just one day, but it's because people like me go all three days that they do it that way).

Also on Black Friday, we went Christmas Tree looking/cutting with Tim's family. I say looking because Tim and I have a fake tree at home. We have a hard time agreeing on a tree to cut down, and our house isn't really big enough for a big tree from the woods. It requires what is termed a pencil tree which works out really great in our house. We had a good time hanging out and eating lunch with family after everyone had found a tree. The dogs enjoyed their time out too. Sophie found some deer poop and rolled all over it. Fun for Tim who got to clean it up since I was feeding Lilybelle. When we got home Tim set up our tree and the next day we put all the ornaments on the tree. We're getting ready for Lilybelle's first Christmas.

2 Months Old

Today Lilybelle is 2 months old; I can hardly believe it! We took our 2 month old photo today. It will be fun to compare the monthly photo shoots when she is one year old. This is also my last week of maternity leave. Time has definitely flown, but as the saying goes time flies by when you are having fun. She's had a very eventful second month of life. She saw her Uncle Matthew get married, celebrated her first Halloween by attending many parties, and enjoyed many an outing out and around Reno. I can't believe that I have to leave my baby and go back to work next week. Tomorrow her Grandpa is coming up to visit her, and she has her shots on Friday.

1st Halloween

We had another first... Lilybelle's first Halloween. She had quite the Halloween too. It started last week with our Ward's Trunk or Treat. Since Tim had to study for the PE, it was just Lilybelle and me. My mom had bought Lilybelle her costume, so I dressed her up in her jaguar costume and off we went. She slept all through dinner and the games. We didn't actually Trunk or Treat since it was cold, and she can't eat candy yet.

On Halloween I dressed her up again and took her to my work for my their Halloween party. She was happily awake for the lunch and group photo, but fell asleep after.

Later she helped pass out candy in her jaguar costume and went trick or treating at her Grammie's house where she showed off her costume to her Grammie, Aunt Hilary, Uncle Jon, and cousins. I think she enjoyed her first Halloween.

Also, today we found out that our nephew will serve his mission in Chicago, Illinois. We are so excited for him!

Matthew & Kit's Wedding

So my brother finally did it... he got married! We are so excited for him and his new wife Kit. Last weekend we got to celebrate their new beginning with them. They got married at Sorenson's Resort (Hope Valley, CA) with just immediate family present. It was a beautiful day and a very lovely ceremony. They are two people very much in love and committed to each other.

After the ceremony, we all took pictures with the changing leaves as a backdrop. I'd forgotten how beautiful Hope Valley is in the autumn.

After the wedding and pictures the families went to a restaurant in Markleeville to celebrate. And throughout the whole afternoon and evening, Lilybelle did great. She slept through the ceremony and was happily passed around during dinner. All in all a great day spent with family.

1 Month

Today Lilybelle is one month old. I can't believe that it's already been a month since she was born. She is doing so good. She had her weight check appointment today and she gained all the weight that she needed to gain. She gained 12 ounces in 10 days...way to go Lilybelle! So now she doesn't need to go back until her two month checkup where she gets all her shots...don't think I'm looking forward to that.

Today is also the first day that I am leaving her. I have a church activity to go to, and Tim said that he would watch her while I went. Part of me is looking forward to going and having fun, but a part of me is sad to not be attached to her. For the past month she has gone every where that I have gone and vice versa. It will be good for us both though, and Lilybelle and Tim can have bonding time too.

Also since she is getting bigger and sleeping for longer periods of time, I've started to work on my Pinterest list. While I was pregnant I would go onto Pinterest and pin a bunch of stuff that I said I was going to do while I was on maternity leave. Well I didn't have too much time the first few weeks, but lately I've found that I have a little time to do some stuff. I've made two dinners, dessert and I'm working on a craft. The two dinners were really good (one was a ham, cheese, and asparagus croissant and the other was pineapple chicken). Dessert was yummy. It was little mini apple pies and were really easy to make. I'm in the middle of the craft, but I think it's turning out quite well. I'm still working on it, I think I'm going to have to paint it (I should have probably done that before I glued all the balls on, oops).

Salmon Run

Yesterday Tim, Lilybelle, and I went up to Lake Tahoe to see the Kokanee Salmon swim upstream. We went with Tim's family and spent the afternoon at Taylor Creek. It was really cool to see the salmon swim upstream to lay their eggs. When it is time for the salmon to lay their eggs they swim upstream to Taylor Creek where they were born to lay and fertilize their eggs. During this process they also turn a bright red. I haven't gone up to Taylor Creek to see the salmon since I was a kid, so it was really cool to go up and see them again. Lilybelle enjoyed her outing too. So much so that she slept the entire time. But despite her sleeping the whole time, it was her first trip to Lake Tahoe. We even walked down to the beach so she can say that she saw the lake. She is doing better in the car too. She slept the entire way up there, and on the way home she mostly just took in the scenery. I'm hoping that this is just one of many sights that we take Lilybelle to see.

I couldn't believe how red the salmon got. You can't tell it from this picture, but the salmon jump and make quite a splash in their quest to swim upstream.

We all decided to walk down to the lake after seeing the fish swim upstream. This is the three of us enjoying the view on the walk down to Lake Tahoe.

Tim decided that despite the fact that it is October and it's Lake Tahoe to find a few rocks in the cold lake to skip.

2 week check up

Today Lilybelle had her two week check up. She did good. She still has a little more weight to gain for the doctor to be happy, but overall she seems to be doing good.  So she needs to go back to the doctor in ten days to make sure she is gaining weight.  After the doctor appointment this morning, we went for a walk around the Sparks Marina with my sisters-in-law and their kids. She slept the whole time. It was nice to get out and walk with her. She really likes her baby bjorn.  She is such a little gem.  Every time I look at her I think "how lucky I am that she is my little girl."  Below are some pictures of her. I especially like the one where she is smiling.  I like to think that she is smiling because she is happy and not because she has gas.

Smiling in her sleep

Lilybelle sleeping

Lilybelle after her walk today