Wearing Daddies hat.
Lilah’s new party trick. Seriously, this is her favorite way to show off. She’ll walk up to strangers & do the “ssspslits” in front of them.
Acton Trip, Week 2
November 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
There was just too much to fit into one post, so here’s some great stuff from the second part of our trip—Thanksgiving through Dec. 1st. As you’d expect, we spent a lot more time around Hybid and the horses. While some of the kids were participating in a games rally (on horseback) Lilah discovered the egg and spoon game.
Lilah couldn’t get enough of her grandparents. She loved playing games with Grumpy…he even coached her on the ‘memoh’ (piano).
And while we made our share of messes, we were also able to spend a lot of time cleaning up and organizing the house. Mom helped us go through drawer after drawer of kids artwork, papers, photos, gems and junk. We bought and labeled bins so that everything has it’s own place. Which is no small feat, as those who’ve visited can attest.
On Saturday night Kristie and I left Lilah with Nana and Nina, and headed into Boston for a date night. We spent some time in Cambridge, grabbed dinner near Faniuel Hall, dipped into the Italian North End for dessert, and spent the rest of the evening walking and window shopping around Newbury St. and Boylston. Lots of memories there, so much fun to be back.
We also got a chance to head up to our place in New Hampshire for a couple days. Here’s a shot of handsome Wicky, looking manly.
On our way out of town we stopped by a small farm where my mom buys raw milk. They had all kinds of animals that Lilah absolutely loved—chickens, dogs, cattle, pigs, calves, horses, etc.
On our last full day in town, we decided to go to the New England Aquarium. That place seemed magical to me as a kid, and my return 20 years later didn’t disappoint. Lilah spent the whole time running around excitedly, yelling “Fis! Fis!”
Thanksgiving
November 24, 2011 By 1 Comment
Thanksgiving was terrific. Great family, great food and an opportunity to reflect on all we’ve been blessed with. Our group wasn’t too large this year (we were especially missing Andrew in NC, Coleman in AZ, Cathy in PA and Ron in OR), but we were grateful to have auntie DD and Johnny with us.
While we all pitched in a little, Kristie did the Turkey and the lion’s share of the food and prep this year. She did an absolutely fabulous job of making the traditional staples healthy and delicious.
In addition to the food, she also prepared two phenomenal homemade pies. The first had a crust made of nuts and dates, with a filling of apples, raisins and spices. The second was a strawberry masterpiece, with a cashew, agave and vanilla whipped topping. Nobody even ate the store-bought pumpkin pie I grabbed last second.
Acton Trip, Week 1
November 20, 2011 By 2 Comments
This November we took a two week vacation out to Massachusetts. Even though we see the McConnon’s in Cape May each summer, it had been about a year since we’d been to Acton, so we were really excited to head home. Those of you who know Rita (Nana) can imagine how excited she was to have Lilah around, and be able to show her off. Oh yeah, and Wicky (Grumpy) too. Grump mumble.
One of the best parts of the trip was watching Lilah enjoy the farm and all the animals. She spent hours running around the property, pointing a pudgy index finger at horses, chickens, cats and birds, imitating the sounds they make. Her ‘rooster’ is priceless. Here are a few shots from around the farm:
This trip was the first time she got on a horse. Nana was delighted. One of the perks of being Rita’s granddaughter is that if you want to ride a pony, you just say the word and it’s yours. The girls around the barn were really sweet to let Lilah share their horses and let her play.
When we were indoors, we were either hanging out or helping to organizing the house. Nana and Grumpy were terrific entertainers, and Lilah loved being around them.
We also got out and about for a few trips. Here’s some fun stuff from the library and the nursery at church:
Tanner Family Pictures
November 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
We had Tanner Family pictures taken back in October. Here are a few of our favorites:
Houston & Becca
Lacey & Cole
Angela, Jeff & the kids.
Mom & Dad Tanner
Laughing Cow from Cathy
November 18, 2011 By 2 Comments
Lilah’s auntie Cathy sent her a package that contained two hilarious gifts…one we opened today, one we’re saving for Christmas. At first Lilah thought it was pretty scary, but after a few minutes she warmed up to it (and ended up getting pretty attached). Here’s a few reactions:
Thanks again Cathy, it’ll be double the fun at Christmas!
Play Date with Clover
November 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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!
Grandma Tanner Visit
November 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Mom Tanner got a chance to fly down here for the weekend and it was a blast! She flew in Friday the 15th and was able to stay through Monday morning. A lot of the Tanner family is here in Provo, so it was really fun to get everyone together. I wish I had gotten a picture with all of us together, but I completely forgot.
Some of the highlights were:
Going shopping with Mom, Lacey, Travis, Tom & Lilah. Mom bought me some really cute clothes for my birthday and found a few cute things for herself as well!
Dinner at Brick Oven with Tom, Me, Lilah, Mom, Lacey & Travis. Lilah wasn’t even sad that she had her own food that we brought her from home. While we were there a guy walked by and offered to make Lilah a balloon shaped animal. We had him make here a dog and Lilah loved it! I don’t really think it looked like a dog, but Lilah wouldn’t put it down.
Another highlight was being able to attend church together! I love being able to have my mom there with me. She even helped me take care of Lilah while I taught my sunbeam lesson.
Sunday dinner with everyone was really fun. Houston and Becca actually had Becca’s parents staying with them earlier in the weekend, so they weren’t able to be with us Friday or Saturday. So on Sunday we had everyone over to our house for a big dinner. That night we watched 17 Miracles. It was a really neat portrayal of what some of the pioneers had to endure and the miracles they experienced along the way. I came away feeling very grateful for what we have. It made me not want to take anything for gran-tit.
Mom Tanner flew out early Monday morning, and the house seemed a little too quite all day. We are so grateful that you got to come all the way down here to be with us, Mom! We loved having you here, and can’t wait to spend more time together soon!
Halloween
October 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I totally forgot to post pictures about our actual Halloween night, and had to put them up. So here they are:
Lilah and our neighbor Lilia all dressed up and ready to go.
We wanted Lilah to get the experience of trick-or-treating. She actually enjoyed it a lot more than I expected! She loved saying “trick or treat”, and she really liked picking out “shiny toy things,” (or so she thought). She didn’t even know she had something edible. She didn’t try and eat anything. And every time our neighbors offered a non-edible prize she chose those (like bracelets, pencils, etc).
I thought we’d only make it to a handful a houses, but she loved the whole experience, and we had a great time visiting our neighbors. After arriving home, she soon lost interest in her pail and we added her loot to our own candy to hand out. Which was a good thing because we had a lot of kids stop by. I gave Lilah her first box of raisins and she thought it was the best thing ever! She carried it around for about an hour and enjoyed each little one.
Holidays are so much more fun with kids! We had a blast!
Random October
October 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I thought Lilah’s pose in this picture was pretty funny.
This is one of Lilah’s new favorite things to do: putting on socks, shoes, gloves, leg warmers, etc.
Lilah loved posing for pictures with these glasses on.
Lastly, here is a video of one of Lilah’s favorite past times. She’ll ask me to turn on the music, then get me a blanket so we can play. Lilah’s outfit is adorable right?! Since she is potty training she needed to have something on that we could take off easily… many times… But I don’t want her little lets to get cold. I am happy that we aren’t having many accidents now so I can just put her in her normal clothes. The real challenge is trying to find underwear for a 16 month old! The smallest I can find is 2T/3T. They’ve worked alright though with pants over the top, to hold them up.