Back where it all began . . .




As many of you know, Scott wants to create a geocache where he proposed to me. (Well, close to where he proposed to me. It's actually goint to be about 20 feet from the official site.) We haven't been back since the proposal, so we thought it would make a nice family outing. Lily really enjoyed the time with both of her parents. She didn't mind the muddy path one bit! Hopefully, we'll have the cache official by the end of April. Once it's done, we'll have family members try to find it.

Trouble has never looked so cute!



I don't have a tupperware drawer for Lily to play in, so she found the next best thing: fruit snacks! She's always scattering the fruit snacks across the kitchen floor.

The R kids together again!

My sisters & niece flew up for Mickayla's baptism. It was a great weekend. (The only thing that could have made it better is having Keith, Brent & Reed up here, too.) Not only did we watch Mickayla be baptized, but we also had a lot of fun playing games, roasting marshmallows, playing lasso golf, and geocaching. The geocache was a multi-cache which makes it even more fun, although, we discovered an all-terrain stroller is required for this cache. (Scott & Steve carried Lily in her stroller a few times.) Blake was the first to discover the cache, but Mickayla & Brooklynn quickly claimed the cache as their treasure chest. I love this picture!

For those who don't know my family well, in the back row: Blake, Ann, me, Steve (Erin's boyfriend), and Erin. front row: Mickayla, Brooklynn, Lily & LaDawn. (Scott was the photographer)

Lily being her cute self!

I had my camera out, and Lily really wanted me to take her picture. Isn't she a doll?!

Have no fear -- "Lily Pup is here!"














If you ever find yourself without your favorite toy sheep, pig, or cow; just call for "Lily Pup." She happily delivers on all fours. (Warning: the toy will be slobbery.) "Lily Pup" also delivers binkies. So the next time you need help, just call for "Lily Pup!"

Editors Note: I love how my daughter has decided to follow in my footsteps. Acting like our canine friends builds such character!

If you could be mistaken for any celebrity, who would you choose to be confused with?

Scott is always told that he looks like George Clooney. (It's the eyebrows.) Darn, to be confused with a handsome actor. I, on the other hand, am not so fortunate.

Scott took his bobblehead of me to work, so he could watch my head shake in disapproval even when I'm not present. Well, his coworker came in and asked, "Why do you have a bobblehead of Hillary Clinton?" Seriously? That's insulting.

So, I thought I would post pictures so people can see for themselves (the picture of me is one of the pictures they used to make the bobblehead).

As a result of this mix-up, I decided to dye my hair. I thought it was time for a change, and Scott was happy to assist. He wanted me to go dark brown, but I'm conservative, so I went with medium brown. He did a great job dyeing my hair. (Lily didn't like playing by herself for 30 minutes, but she survived the neglect.)

Lily & the egg

Lily is a picky eater. I've really struggled to find things she's willing to eat. She loves her rice puffs. She'll eat almost 10 rice puffs each meal. She makes a disgusted face whenever she eats baby food, bananas, or apple sauce. I was really excited when I gave her an egg yolk, and she liked it! She loved playing in it. She put it in her hair, all over her face, and on her clothes. (You can see some of it by her left eye.)

Happy Birthday to me! I'm now 26.

Lily & Will were very excited to help me celebrate my birthday. Will handed me presents to unwrap and Lily helped destroy all the wrapping paper.

Lily has a cow

Lily loves the barn & barn animals Uncle Pat (Scott's uncle) gave her for Christmas. She insisted on taking her cow to Activity Days. Naturally, it was my turn to lead the activity. I was trying to teach the girls how to lead music, and we started learning a new song. Lily would cry if she dropped the cow, and would cry if I set her down, so I held her the whole time. The girls became focused on Lily's cow, and would scream, "The cow! The cow!" whenever Lily dropped the cow.

Lily's now big enough to sit up and play all by herself in the tub.

She loves bathtime!

Michael (the man in the chef's hat and apron) hosted a murder mystery dinner for New Years. We all dressed in our best 50's attire and played various roles in trying to solve the murder mystery.

Candice was a studious nerd, and I was the dumb jock.

These are some cute pics of Lily playing with her new toys that she got for Christmas.

She loved all the pretty bows and wrapping paper.

Candice surprised me with the coolest Christmas gift ever . . .

It was a CANDICE BOBBLEHEAD!!! I always told Candice that she shakes her head at me a lot, and when she does she looks like a little bobblehead. Now that I actually have a Candice bobblehead I can watch her shake her head at me even when I'm at work.

Ashley, also surprised everyone with a creative gift. She hand-crafted a mini tipi for the grandkids to play in for my mom. The tipi has the names and handprints of all the members of the S family and say "Families are Forever" on it. As you can see by the picture, it is quite a hit with the grandkids.

Lily was so excited to sit with all the big people at Spaghetti Factory. Here she is sporting her "look at me. I'm goofy" grin.

Here's a couple of pics of the S grandkids during Christmas. The first is at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens.

This one is my favorite though. Check out Logan (Mr. Logey). Logan is the one flashing his belly at everyone.

Christmas in Canada!

Lily was so excited for Christmas, she woke-up early! We were all excited to sleep in, but the child determines when presents are opened. She didn't understand unwrapping presents. She liked her toys once they were unwrapped, and loved playing with the wrapping paper once it was off the presents.

The second picture is Scott, and his mom, with Lily and one of her new toys. (I purposely didn't post a picture of me. No one needs to see how bad I look when I first wake-up.)

There was snow in Canada, so we wanted to take Lily sledding. We got her all bundled up, so well that she couldn't move at all! We all laughed at Lily's expense. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the sled at Grandma Allen's house. (Lily fell asleep while we were hunting for the sled, too.)

Christmas Lights at Bellevue Botanical Gardens

I've wanted to see the "Garden d'Lights" for years, so we finally made it a point to go. We liked it so much, we decided to go a second time, taking Scott's family the second time.
I thought Lily would love the lights, but she fell asleep both times!

The peacock was my favorite light creation.

Apparently, it's a Garden tradition to relocate the slug each year. All the regular visitors know to look for it. (Scott helped me find it this year.)

Did Lily just say that?

According to Scott, Lily said her first word. I am a little skeptical, even though I was present for the event in question.

We were walking around Wal-Mart, killing time while we waited for Scott's mom to meet up with us in Omak. I had Lily in the Bjorn. She saw Scott walking up to her, she looked right at him and said, "Dada!" I think she's just babbling, but Scott swears she said her first word!

What does everyone think? Should it count?

(SCOTT):
Candice's lack of description above might sway the voting. She failed to mention that when I was coming toward Lily she got really excited, smiled from ear to ear, looked directly at me with wide eyes, and exclaimed emphatically "Dada!"

I must say, I think that should count. I don't see how she could have meant it any other way.

Her Royal Frogness . . . Lily

Lily was very good about keeping her frog costume on. Even when it fell forward and covered her eyes, she didn't fuss. She loved how it kept her warm. And secretly, I think she loved all the extra attention she got!

I've Been Tagged!

My friend, Andrae, tagged me. Here are the rules for being tagged:
1. The player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves - try to find 6 you haven't already posted about.
2. At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names, and then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog for the rules.

Things about me:
1. Like Andrae, I detest crafts, especially toll painting. I hate painting the little dots and hatch marks, trying in vain to make the country girl, or goose, or other unfortunate creature look "cute." I don't want to put it in my house, either. However, I do like making quilts and cross-stitching (I think it's the math I like most about them).

2. My next overseas adventure will most likely be to Brazil. Scott really wants to take Lily & me there to meet his friends, and see where he served his mission. Plus, Lily needs to meet Graca (Lily's middle name is in honor of Graca.)

3. I no longer have a favorite food. I've overindulged in pumpkin pie the last 7 years, so I "can't like it" as much. I still like it, it just isn't my ultimate favorite food right now.

4. I have lost 61 lbs in the last 6 months! (That means I'm 5 lbs below my prepregnancy weight, and just 5 lbs more than what I weighed in High School -- pre-Germany.)

5. My dream is to fix up run down houses. I don't know if I will then rent them out or sell them, that's a long discussion Scott and I will need to have someday, but first, we have to buy a run down house -- that's not happening anytime soon. (Grad school is first on the agenda.)

6. I love my kitchen appliances. I'm not talking about the dishwasher, fridge, and oven. They are okay. I'm referring to my breadmaker, KitchenAid mixer, Crockpot, and Blender. They make it so easy to make good food! Naturally, I still use every dish in my cupboards when I make dinner, it is inevitable. The appliances just make it where less personal attention is required to make dinner now.

So, I'm tagging Erin (she has lots of friends and shouldn't have a problem doing this), Anna (she's a good sport), Sam (he needs to update his blog desperately), Lisa (I love hearing random things about her), Maddy (she just started her blog a few weeks ago -- yeah!), and Juli (she always has a fun twist to life).