What a Difference a Year Makes

Happy 1st Birthday Lila Girl!!!

August 2010

August 26th 2011

Fun at Build A Bear with Chris's Family.

Lila's final choice. He even makes monkey sounds.

Excited about the presents, or at least the curly ribbon on top.

She was spoiled rotten!

The Cake! She was dainty about eating it at first, but then stuffed it in by the fist full. That's my girl!

Daddy brought home balloons.

Lila LOVES her new music table. She likes all the buttons and lights almost as much as she loves pushing it around the house.

Lila got so many fun presents from all our family that maybe she will occupy herself for a few days...one can hope, right?

She had such a blast today and I'm so glad her first birthday was great! She spent a lot of time standing on her own then clapping for herself. She leans forward like she wants to take a step, but doesn't know how. It's funny to watch her think about it. I think she started to like all the attention everyone gave her and got really loud and silly by the end of the night. Love this little sass of a one-year old!!!

9 and Counting!

Happy 9 years of marriage to my wonderful husband! This has been a fabulous year for us because we became parents to a very special little girl. It has changed us for the better and we are excited for many more years of love together!

Chris teaching Lila the "important" things in life, like how to putt on an artificial surface in our living room!

Love this guy! Happy Anniversary Honey!

San Diego Vacation

Chris, Lila and I spent two gloriously humid free, beach filled, family fun weeks in San Diego. I wish we could have stayed a month, but two weeks is at least enough to make flying with Lila worth it! Overall she was good but it was by no means a pleasant experience. Luckily the trip was fabulous. I have tons of pictures to prove it...mostly of Lila. I can't believe I got no pictures with great grandparents, cousins and barely any of my parents!

I did get one of Lila with two of my cousins' kids who are a couple months older than her, Bryce and Kaden.

We rented boats and saw beautiful mansions, landscapes and a couple seals.

My niece, Chloe and Bro-in-law, Will.

My mom and nephew, Luke.

Lila driving!

My dad and sister, Audra

Audra's kids dancing in the park. Those kids have some serious moves!

The 3 of us tend to wear blue a lot! Here we are at Newport Beach. Yes, wetsuits were a necessity to enter the water.

Lila loved the sand. She ate a few handfuls to prove it!

Audra and I boogie boarding. Florida may have amazing water temps, but I forgot how much I LOVE the waves. I boogie boarded and body surfed several times over the vacation.

We played a lot of beach volleyball. My feet were sore after a couple days of playing in the sand. Pathetic!

My sister lives near Newport so we BBQ'd at her house after the beach trip. Chloe sat in her doll stroller and since Lila loves to push anything that moves or could possibly move, Chloe got to go for a ride. It cracked us up pretty good since Lila is a year younger than Chloe!

Back at my parent's house we clocked a lot of jacuzzi time in their amazing new backyard. Every morning Lila would crawl over to the sliding door and bang to go outside. Let's just say she doesn't do that here in FL.

Chris and Lila played tag with Ethan and Luke. Kinda a small playing field, but they enjoyed it!

The girls in the hot tub.

Fun in Coronado.

I really wanted to have my dad take some nice pictures of Lila in the backyard since she will be one in a week, but she wasn't having it. She smiled a ton the whole trip except when I wanted these pictures taken. I'm posting some anyway because I think the coloring is beautiful and she looks kind of cute even without a smile.

She loved this car the whole trip.

We did a ton of things I didn't get pictures of like, Lila crawling straight into the ocean with no fear even when the waves lapped around her, visiting with Chris's cousins and kids in San Clemente, opening birthday presents and eating lots and lots of mexican food. We had so much fun and were thrilled that Lila adjusted to the time change and everything else so well. I think my parents will never forgive me for living across the country now that they have gotten to know her so well, but thank goodness for planes and ichat.