Lilly's Book Club

The Holidays

Wow… I am way behind on blogging. To catch up let’s go over the holidays. Our Holidays started with a small Thanksgiving at our apartment. We had been invited to go to a couple of other people’s home for Thanksgiving but we were excited to have our very own Thanksgiving. Tyson made a wonderful turkey and I made all the fixings, well most of them.

It was such a beautiful and warm day that we decided to go on a hike after dinner at the Latta Plantation. We didn’t even have to wear our jackets.The rest of the night was spent relaxing, watching movies, and eating leftovers. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving. I thought I was going to be lonely but I wasn’t at all.

December was spent doing the usual Christmas preparations. We decorated the apartment and since Tyson didn’t have a house to put lights on this year he put lights around our deck. We also drove around checking out lights and spending time at the SMALL Christmas Village set up down at Birkdale. One house close to us had their lights set up with music. A sign would tell you what station to tune into and watch the light show.

In this picture Tyson and I are trying to make both Lilly and Herbie look at the camera.

Our apartment complex brought in Santa for all the kids to see. We brought Lilly
down to see him. She did not like Santa and cried the whole time. Before we saw Santa we taught her how to say Ho Ho Ho. After we saw Santa she refused to do that trick anymore.

On December 19th we did a small Christmas together before flying to Utah. This way we didn’t have to bring all of our presents with us. Lilly and I had gotten sick this week so it was a snuffle-ie Christmas. Lilly was very cute at opening presents. She enjoyed ripping everything open.

On December 21st we made our way out West. I am always nervous about flying with Lilly but she always ends up doing pretty well. Usually she only gets fussy the last 30 minutes of each flight. I don’t know how she knows when we are 30 minutes from landing but somehow she figures it out.

While in Utah we had several family parties including a Harris Christmas party, a Ballard Christmas Day party, a Ballard sibling party, and a Harris New Years Eve party. They were all a blast. It was funny playing games with the Ballard siblings. I am surprised how shocked everyone was about how competitive the Ballard’s are. I think the Harris’ knew that about me from day one (or the first time we played Pounce). We also went to the lights at Temple Square, Tyson went shooting with the Wiricks, we eat at Sonora Grill and Café Rio (both of these are very important ‘To-Do’s’ for Utah), we spent an afternoon at the instant care, and both Tyson and I had a chance to hang out with friends. It was so much fun seeing everyone, Lilly loved seeing and playing with all of her cousins.On Christmas day we opened presents with the Dave Ballard family and Richard and Gloria. Lilly had a good time opening presents with Luke, Isaiah, and Layla. Usually she liked their presents better then hers and we couldn’t keep her away from the stairs.
Lilly wanted to thank Grandma Harris for teaching her how to go down the stairs, the Kippen’s for letting us stay at their house, Gloria for babysitting, Richard for letting us use his car, and everyone else for being so nice to her.

10 Things You Should Know About Lilly

Lilly loves the dog bed. She sits it in any chance she has. If the dog is in it she will go and harass him until he gets out. She likes to sit in it without the pillow so she will take that out first before climbing in. Sitting on things is a newer trick she has learned so she also like sitting in laundry baskets, in cupboards, on the boppy, in her own spot on the couch.

Lilly loves stairs. She uses the dog stairs we have going up to the bed as practice at home. She refuses learning how to go down them though which causes dangerous situations. When we are at church she wonders around the halls until she finds the stairs and then insists on climbing up them several times.Lilly is very naughty at church. She refuses to sleep on mom or dad and when she is sleepy she gets extremely wiggly and hyper. Her favorite thing to do at church is to find other little kids that are drawing on their chairs and joining them. She takes their crayons and pretends she knows how to color. Sometimes the other kids aren’t in a sharing mood and will take the crayons away from Lilly. Then she starts bawling and I have to take her out in the hall – then the search for the stairs begins.

Lilly says Daddy when she is really excited, like when Daddy comes home. She says Mommy whenever she is sad. I am not sure what to think about this.

Lilly loves fabric. She plays with towels, wash cloths, blankets, clothes…pretty much anything that comes out of the dryer. She likes to take whatever she is playing with, wrap it around her neck like a scarf and wonders around the house.
Lilly pretends to drink out of everything. Sometimes she will put her hands in water and then licks them and I swear it is always dirty water she finds in various locations (dog bowel, shower, dishwasher). Now imagine her sitting in the middle of a kitchen with a Tupperware she is pretending to drink from and a towel wrapped around her neck. She looks like an ancient Medicine Man doing a ritual and drinking from the sacred cup of life.

Lilly likes to steal other people’s mommies. As soon as she sees a little kid leave their mommy she will swoop in to steal a kiss and a hug until the other kid sees her and gets mad.

Lilly is extremely observant and smart. I know that everyone says this about their own kids but other people have mentioned it about her and even the pediatrician comment on it. She notices all the jewelry you are wearing and must play with each piece. She also has figured out how to pop out the safety plugs, find a cord, carry it over to the plug, and try to plug it in. This causes another safety issue.

Lilly isn’t very good at sippy cups yet, she doesn't like bottles and real cups get spilled down the front over her so we have to use straws.

Lilly likes to get in trouble. If you do not notice her doing something naughty she will come and inform you that she is doing it. She also will hold her hand up waiting to touch something she isn’t supposed to until you look over. Then she slowly puts her hand down to touch it with a big grin on her face and she giggles the whole time you are telling her she is being naughty. I guess I am not a very scary mommy.

Bonus thing to know – Lilly likes to yell at the dog when he barks. She also tries to tell him to come here by patting the ground when he is in big trouble.

Happy Birthday Lilly

Lilly turned 1 on Tuesday the 15th. Unfortunately, Tyson was out of town on her birthday so we celebrated it on Friday. We got a purple butterfly cake, some balloons and decorated her highchair with pink streamers. After eating pizza we let her open up her presents. She liked the presents but didn’t give much of a reaction. After present time she eat her cake. She was very lady-like while eating the cake. She got small fingers full and carefully put them in her mouth. She didn’t tear into the cake.

I am very sad my baby is 1. Although, she is still adorable and wonderful I am finding it sad watching my baby get older….and it is just beginning.

Happy Birthday Lilly –

I have loved having you in the family. You are the most amazing addition and have been the best baby ever. You eat well, sleep well, and have a wonderful attitude (most of the time). You are very loving. You love to give hugs and kisses to your mommy and daddy, the people in your books, and all of your toys. Nothing makes me happier than having you sit on my lap and getting hugs and kisses from you.

You are good at Mommy and Me and are great at climbing on all of the toys. When all of the kids are off playing you like to sneak up to their Mommy’s or the teacher, flash them a smile and your puppy-dog-eyes, and have them pick you up for a hug. You like dancing with the music, clapping your hands, and waiving hello/goodbye. You also get excited when the bubbles and parachute come out.

Thank you for being nice to the dog even though sometimes he isn’t nice to you. Thank you for always trying to help mommy when she is cleaning up. Thank you for being a good traveler and going with us to North Carolina, Florida, Wrightsville Beach, Atlanta, Utah, and all of our other weekend trips. You never cried or complained when we were out exploring. Thank you for being mommy’s best friend when she moved away from home.

Your mommy and daddy love you so much.

Love,
Mommy

Lilly's First Halloween

I am trying to get all caught up on blogging about our busy October. It was Lilly’s first Halloween and it was packed full of activities. We started off our celebration with a Trunk-or-Treat at our church. Tyson decorated the trunk so well. We even had spooky Halloween music. After the trunk-or-treating was done they had games in the gym and a pumpkin carving contest. Tyson’s pumpkin did not win and we are sure there was some cheating. It was fun having Kathy at the Trunk-or-Treat with us.
On Halloween we started off the night by walking down to Birkdale Village for their Halloween Festival. It was packed. By the time we got there all of the stores ran out of candy. So we trick-or-treated on our way home. There were some spooky houses that scared Lilly a little bit but she still had a lot of fun talking to all the new people and holding her candy bag.

Look how cute Lilly is in her costume. People kept calling her a boy but that is what I get for putting her in brown. I think she is the cutest Kangaroo in the world.

We had zero trick-or-treaters come to our apartment. We put the sign on our door letting trick-or-treaters know they were welcome but no one came and we had a lot of left over candy.

A Visit From Family

Our next visitor was Tyson’s mom, Kathy. She came the day after my friends left. Tyson started off the visit by bringing Kathy to Biltmore while Lilly and I spent the day at home. Lilly needed a little break to get back on her schedule. For more information about Biltmore see previous post.

The next day we went to Boone, North Carolina. This was a first time to Boone for all of us and it was a blast. The Town of Boone is a university town in Watauga County, atop the Appalachian Mountains. Boone acquires its name from the famous pioneer and explorer Daniel Boone, who on several occasions camped at a site generally agreed to be within the present city limits.

We started our visit at the Mast General Store. The Mast General Store was opened in 1883 and has the reputation of carrying everything from “candles to caskets”. It was crazy how much stuff was in the store. They had clothing, candy, toys, kitchen supplies, home décor, etc. It was a lot of fun spending time in the store.

We then went to a local attraction called Tweetsie Railroad which is North Carolina’s oldest theme park. The theme of the park was Wild West. We found this amusing considering we just moved to the South from the West and we were visiting a Western theme park. The park had a coal-fired locomotive you could ride around the park. During your train ride they had actors that would perform a skit. The park also had old fashion carnival rides and a petting zoo. Lilly had her first ride on a carousel but was more interested in watching how everything worked then waving at her dad.

The drive to and from Boone was beautiful and we enjoyed the fall scenery. We even bought a hand-made birdhouse from an old man on the side of the road.
During the next week Tyson had to go to Raleigh on business so Kathy, Lilly and I headed down to Charleston, South Carolina, for a girls trip. Charleston was amazing!! I am so glad we decided to visit. While in Charleston we went on a guided carriage ride of the city. I learned a lot of information about Charleston that I had never known before, including facts about the many natural disasters that have occurred there. Lilly loved the horses. We spent some time shopping at City Market. Here is some information I found about the Market:

The land on which the market sits was donated by a wealthy Charleston family in the early 1800s to be used as a marketplace. The main building, Market Hall, was erected in 1841. Behind Market Hall, four open-air buildings span from Meeting Street to East Bay Street, near the waterfront. The market originally sold foodstuffs, including meat, fish and fresh produce grown locally.

Today, more than 100 vendors sell everything from local foods to souvenirs. The most celebrated residents are the ladies who weave and sell sweet-grass baskets. The craft of basket-weaving, passed down from West African slaves, is considered one of Charleston's most vibrant traditions.

I learned that you should carry cash when you are at the City Market. We also spent a short amount of time at a beach near Charleston called Isle of Palms. Kathy and I decided that we should have brought beach chairs and spent the whole day at the beach. It was a beautiful beach and there was hardly anyone there. The weather was perfect but everyone else thinks it is cold.

Kathy, Lilly and I also spent time at the Latta Plantation, Raptor Center, Discovery Place, and the Children’s Library in Charlotte. She got a full tour of the surrounding areas/towns, had a tour of the local parks and walking paths, went to church with us and celebrated Halloween by going to our wards Trunk or Treat. We loved having Grandma Kathy come and visit us, especially Lilly. I had to work most days so while I was working Kathy would take Lilly on walks or just play with her so she didn’t have to wait for boring mommy to play with her. Thanks for coming and visiting us!

A Visit from Friends

Tyson and I were lucky to have two sets of visitor’s in October. Our first visitor’s are my best friends Jennifer and Emilee. We started off their visit with a trip to the U.S. National Whitewater Center. This was my first time at the Whitewater Center and I have to say that it is one of the coolest places I have ever been. The center is located on approximately 400 acres (mostly wooded) and includes activities such as whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking, rope courses, zip lines, and a mega jump. It features a man mad river which has 12 million gallons of well water, going through 680-horsepower pumps and over natural boulders cemented in place to make continuous rapids. It was beautiful and amazing and you should all go look at the website, usnwc.org.



We bought the AllSport Pass for $49 that allowed us to do all the activities. That is cheaper then Lagoon! We started off the day with some rock climbing and rafting. We had a great time rafting and no one fell out. This is good considering I almost fell out when we rafted the Snake River and I had to have the guide snag me mid-air. We did have to rescue a lady that fell out of another raft who seemed to have given up on rescuing herself. We also had to share our raft with three middle age women from LA who thought they were cougars and were trying to pick up on raft guide. They couldn’t figure out paddling and it was up to the three of us to handle things. Good thing Emilee and I were the winning canoeing team at girl’s camp. How great is it to go rafting in October and not freeze!

We spent the rest of the day trying out the zip lines, mega jump, and rope courses. We spent a good 3 hours in harnesses walking around in the trees. Just like this guy…but cooler:


Look how awesome we are in our gear.



The Whitewater Center would be the first place I would take the Steve Ballard family to if they came and visited us. This activity is PERFECT for them, hint hint…come and visit Steve Ballard family.

The next day was spent in a mountain town called Ashville, or like how they say it here in the south Ash-vull. While at Ashville we toured the Biltmore Mansion. This mansion is the largest privately-owned home in the United States. While there we toured the home, the gardens, the bass lake and the winery. Don’t worry we snuck out before they had us do any wine tasting. Fall is the peak season for Biltmore due to the beautiful fall leaves.



The day before Jen and Emilee left we spent some time touring the area closest to us. I drove them around the lake, through the posh neighborhoods, into an amazing park, through some small southern local towns, and to the Latta Plantation. The Latta Plantation is my favorite local place. It is a beautiful plantation that has been turned into a nature preserve. While at the plantation we took a tour of the home and went on a short hike. The views were amazing and the weather was great.



One thing I really love about North Carolina is how amazing the parks and outdoor areas are taken care of. Every park on our area has tennis courts, trails, beaches, and volleyball nets. Plus there are so many trees everywhere you always feel like you are in the woods. The area is also fantastic at doing a lot of family oriented activities that are free or very inexpensive. This area is wonderful and everyone should come on visit us.

Before Emilee and Jennifer left we did one last activity and painted our own pottery at a ‘paint your own pottery’ place. It was a fun and relaxing activity to end their visit.


Don’t worry; I also made sure they had some southern food and a tour of Charlotte.