Carving out our niche.
Our Friend Mandy was nice enough to watch Lilah while Tom and I took a trip to the Provo Temple. Lilah and Clover are so cute together and I’m glad Mandy got a few fun pictures.
When we came to pick Lilah up she didn’t want to leave. She must have had a blast. Thanks again Mandy!
I’ve never had a Halloween season where I dressed up as much as I did this year…I ended up wearing 5 different costumes! That’s craziness! But each one was a blast, and well worth the planning. For this latest adventure, our friends Mandy and Ryan put on a little Mardi Gras-themed murder mystery dinner (which wrapped up our Halloween weekend festivities). Tom had never been to one before, but this one was my second. We received invitations to show up as costumed characters from a fictional Bayou community.
Well, our hosts really went all out for the party…it was so much fun. Mandy is so crafty and creative! Raf and Claudia were nice enough to have it at their home, and Raf made some delicious food (including a mouthwatering Cajun jambalaya)! The decorations were awesome and everyone dressed to fit their part.
Tom and I
John and Becky
Raf and Claudia
Ryan (the murderer!) and Mandy
In the end, none of us guessed the murderer correctly, but we still had a great time debating and making guesses. Thanks again guys!
Our good friends threw their annual Halloween Party on Saturday night and we were happy to get an invite! We even got a babysitter so we could just enjoy the evening and stay late. Tom and I decided to go as Wall St itself and a protestor. I think it turned out pretty well for pretty much throwing it together. We had fun with it. We played some games and it was funny to see a bunch of our friends running around in costumes making animal noises and acting out celebrities.
Thanks again Val! We hope to make it a annual McConnon tradition.
A bunch of girls in our ward have a Bunco night each month. This month they needed a sub and invited me to join in on the fun! Since it is Halloween time they decided to do a witches theme. We all dressed up like witches and Nikki decorated everything so cute! This group of women is such a blast, and we laughed all night!
Dinner was delicious and the game is always entertaining. I ended up with an adorable home-made Halloween wreath for my front door, which I had my eye on since I walked in! Yah! Now I finally feel like my home looks a little festive. I think I’ll do more decorating next year when Lilah will actually enjoy and appreciate it… lol Thanks again to Nikki for the invite and to Tom for having a little daddy daughter time!
The day after our annual Asian Star dinner our whole family headed up to Idaho for a mini family reunion. Angela, Jeff and their kids were making their trip because Jeff’s little brother was getting married. We all jumped at the chance to have the whole family there. My wonderful mother just found out that that she will need to undergo chemo therapy again along with radiation treatments. She knew that this would be the last chance to get everyone together for a family picture before her treatments and loosing all her hair.
We had such a fun weekend together and I credit this all to my mom. Even though she is going through something so difficult, she radiates strength and peace. She’s happy and full of faith. This sets a great example for the rest of us and allows us to go on enjoying our lives together. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I know she will feel and appreciate them.
Mom loves it when we are all home and we love it as well! We all arrived on Friday night, and enjoyed eating, talking, and playing games. On Saturday I was able to go on a quick run with Angela and her sister-in-law Amanda Stevens. I love running with these girls and jump at any chance I get. That evening was Jeff’s younger brother’s wedding reception. Jonny and Emilee make such a cute couple and we were happy to be able to celebrate with them.
Lilah loves dancing around to the music. She kept pulling her skirt up higher and higher especially when she realized that she was making us all laugh. Here are two funny little videos of her.
On Sunday we all got the opportunity to hear my mom and Lacey sing a duet in sacrament meeting. They did a beautiful job and it brought such a sweet spirit to the meeting. Lacey was actually planning on singing a different song by herself that day. Then while sitting in the chapel she asked my mom if they could switch the song and sing a duet. My mom was supposed to play the piano, so they quickly found another pianist and went to a room to run through the song. First of all, the pianist (sister Leach) did amazing and I can’t believe someone can play such a hard song without practice, and secondly both my mom and Lacey sang the song so beautifully on short notice as well. We were all blessed to be there and share in the experience.
We were also able to take family pictures, and we were so grateful to the photographer for squeezing us into her schedule at the last minute. I’m excited to get the pictures! I’ll put some up in a later post.
I finally decided to get my wisdom teeth out. Was waiting until I was almost 26 wise or not? Definitely not wise. The surgeon says it gets worse with age, and although I have nothing to compare it to, I thought it was pretty annoying.
This is right after I got home. Lilah thought the ice packs were so funny.
Leah was nice enough to take me in to get them done. She stayed with Lilah in the office while I had the surgery, then she took me home and got me all settled. She put Lilah down for a nap and even made me a kefir smoothie. Then she came back a few days later with carrot orange soup and apple juice. She is such an amazing friend and has done so much for me. I was really grateful for all her help.
Luckily Tom convinced me to get them taken out on a Friday afternoon so that he could take care of me all weekend before he had to go back to work. He got home just in time to bring me a bucket to throw up in. I have never thrown up so much, at one time, in my life… lol We actually had a good laugh about it later on… much later on. Lilah thought the whole thing was pretty funny. She sat there and genuinely laughed while I puked my guts out. I was actually quite relieved that it didn’t worry her.
I ended up getting a dry socket on Sunday which took things to a whole new level. I was surprised at how painful it was. But I still think that the most frustrating thing of all was the eating situation. I really hate drinking all my food! I chewed my first food on the Thursday after the surgery and it was heavenly. I think all that waiting just made everything taste that much better. I am just grateful that you only have to get your wisdom teeth out once. So, moral of the story, if there is anyone out there putting off their wisdom teeth removal… get it over with.
A group of us who cheered together met up Kiwanis park to catch up. It was a pretty small group, but I’m so glad we met up. A lot has changed since we all cheered together… lol But it’s amazing how quickly things can almost feel like old times again. I wish I had remembered to get a group picture.
KC and I doing a stretch minus
KC and I doing a Scorpion
I actually felt quite nostalgic afterwards; I miss our daily practices, warming up to the “Spelling Song,” getting thrown into the pit, sitting against the mirror talking…complaining, braving the ice bath up to our stomachs and sometimes our necks, trying new stunts, dances and pyramids, getting bruises over and over again…lol, the butterflies I got standing on the field as the football team ran out of the tunnel. I really enjoyed my time cheering for BYU. There were definitely ups and downs, but I’m grateful for all the time I had to do something I loved.
Lilah has never seen anything like that before and actually really enjoyed it! She ran around trying to do somersaults and tricks herself. She also kept wanting to hug and kiss me. I think she thought it was pretty cool… lol
Tom signed up for this 8 mile trail run/obstacle-course-type-race with his friend Ryan a while back. I was thinking that it would be a pretty easy race where they ran around in the mud, but it ended up being a lot tougher. Both the guys were surprised at how tired they were after they finished. It didn’t help that the race didn’t start till 10am and it was already really hot by that point.
Mandy and I hung out with the kids and tried to get some pictures of the boys, but I wish we could have gotten more. The course was quite confusing and we had no idea what obstacles were in the beginning, the middle or the end. The contestants ran up and down this set of mountains and hills over and over. To us it looked like people were running in every direction… I actually asked someone in charge for a map, and they told me that there wasn’t one. They said that part of the challenge was to not know what to expect. They didn’t even want spectators to know where the race was headed to discourage giving hints to contestants.
So, we decided to pick a spot and stay there to ensure that we could at least get a few pictures. Both kids were pretty upset to have to sit in the hot sun, with no naps, and with mom’s who didn’t know how long it was going to take…lol We were eventually able to figure out that we were waiting near the end of the race.
We were all really excited when the boys got to us! We got to see them go through 4 obstacles. I found out later that if you failed to complete an obstacle you had to do 30 up down drills. Tom thought that was one of the most difficult parts of the race. Luckily each of them only had to do 3 sets of up downs. But that’s still 90 total! First they climbed up this wet and slippery board with a rope and slid down the other side.
Then we say them crawl under barbed wire through the mud.
After that they had to jump over some fire. Then they had to run through a really muddy pit, which we didn’t get pictures of because we were trying to get to the finish line. There were tons more obstacles that we didn’t get to see that included anything from completing a rubik’s cube to climbing a rope or throwing a spear.
It was funny to compare the before and after pictures! Luckily they had an outdoor shower for everyone to use. I definitely have a new respect for Spartan Races. Nice job guys!
Leah and I got to throw our good friend Amanda a little baby shower. Even though Amanda doesn’t live in Provo, she still knew some people from around here, so we jumped at the chance. She looks so cute with her little baby belly!
Leah and I didn’t know the other girls before the shower, but we all became instant friends. I really enjoyed hearing different birth stories and experiences. That use to be one of the things I dreaded most about baby showers, and now it’s one of my favorite parts.
We are all so excited for Amanda and Houston! Congrats again you guys!
Our pass of all passes has been so fun this year! We have definitely gotten our money’s worth already. I’ve taken Lilah to Seven Peaks at least once a week for a while now. It’s nice to be able to stop by for an hour or two since I’m not buying a day pass each time we go. Lacey has been able to join us a couple of times when she has the day off at school.
Lilah loves playing in the water, and wants to just run around with all the other little kids! She has learned to like holding onto my hands while walking around in the water and I love it! I’ve been waiting for her to hold my hand while she is walking and I guess being in the unstable water was the perfect tool.
Lilah loves her aunt Lacey!
We’ve also gone to Trafalga at least 5 times. Friday night we went with Leah and Jonny and played their outside mini golf for the first time. We all had a great time! Lilah especially loved walking around, trying to pick up all our golf balls off the putting green.