Lily's First Movie, Surprise Rain, Indoor Camping, and Friendly Alligators

I suppose you could say we had a busy week last week.

Lily practicing her photography skills

By Lily

We took Lily to a movie!  Lance and I were so excited. We haven't been to a movie together in over a year.  Lily has not been to a movie as a mobile person.  The last time I remember taking her to a movie we saw The Avengers. I believe it was the first one.  Lily was very good throughout it, and she stayed in her car seat for most of it.  Afterwards, we went to change her diaper and noticed that there was poop all the way up to her neck. That was glorious.

This time was similar, but without the poop.  Lily was really good, and she enjoyed the movie!  She was so cute with the popcorn, and candy, and her "yaya" (blanket).

We saw Inside Out. It was amazing!  I cried big fat tears, and Lily was worried about me.

Watching Inside Out

Lance's best friends' mom passed away last Tuesday, so he made a last minute trip to Utah.

I figured, if my best friend's mom passed away, I'd want to be there for her, so I should let Lance do the same.  He left early Thursday morning, and got back Saturday evening, at about 8pm.  Then he went to work.  He skipped church, since being awake for about 29 hours is pretty dang difficult!

On Thursday, Lily and I were going to go to the park.  I got our drinks and treats loaded up in a cooler, jumped in the car, and BOOM. Flash flood.  It wasn't really a flood, it was just a normal rainstorm, but it was too heavy to safely drive.  You couldn't really see anything, even with wipers on high.  So, we parked the car and hung out until the storm lightened up.  I was hoping we'd see some cool lightning, but we did not.

The next day, Friday, we went to the park for real!  Then a nice lady walked by, and commented on how hot it was.  It was really hot, upper 90s. Pretty high humidity.  Lily was the only one at the park, and the lady said, "Did you know there is a splash pad on the other side?"

Whaaaat?  I had no idea!  I knew there was another playground, but it was for older kids. But apparently there is also a really good splash pad.  So we went over to check it out.

Lily loved it!  And I could watch her from the shade.  Definitely going back!

Lily loved that alligator. There were lots of other things to play on, but this was her favorite, I guess! Afterwards, I needed to stop at the store really quick, but Lily was asleep in the back seat before I got there.

I woke her up, and loaded her into a shopping cart with her blanket.  I got some really strange stares, but it was fine.  She was tired! And I wasn't about to leave her in the car.

We purchased items to make s'mores.

Lily had her nap, and afterwards, we made a fort and the s'mores and watched a movie.

It was really fun.  We watched Alice in Wonderland.  The s'mores turned out really good!  I actually think they tasted better without the "campfire" taste.

I put marshmallows on graham crackers and put those in the oven until they were golden.  Then I took them out, placed a piece of chocolate on each one, and topped it with another graham cracker.  Then we let them cool while we ate dinner and built our fort.

The chocolate was gooey when we ate them, and I think they tasted better the next day, after the chocolate had time to set up.  I kept them in a Ziplock bag so they wouldn't get stale.



On Saturday, Lily had another dance class.

I'm not sure if she likes dance class or not.  She goes just fine, but in the middle of the week if I ask her if she wants to go to dance she says she doesn't.

I'm thinking about trying out the Tumblebears class, which is a gymnastics class. I think she might like that one better than this one, Creative Dance, which is more like ballet. I'll definitely try it out before signing her up for the full school year.

I think it's good for her, but if she doesn't like it I'm not going to make her stay.



This week, Emilee is coming late Tuesday night! It's going to be a partay!

Goal Update - June

Monthly Enrichment night
Once again, I did not go. However, this was not because I didn't want to go, it was because I didn't know about it. It wasn't announced, and I had missed church the Sunday before due to feeling ill.  I found out about it 1 hour after it had started.  Blegh.  July is also going to be tricky, I'm not sure if they'll have it the first week like normal, or change it due to Independence Day.


Cook dinner 3 times a week
Really, really doing bad at this.  I think I've cooked dinner 3 times total this month.  We don't eat out all the time, I've just been preparing convenience foods which I don't count as cooking dinner. But hey, as long as my family gets fed, whatevs.

I hold Lily to a higher standard than I hold myself and Lance. She's not allowed to drink soda, and she must have at least one raw fruit or veggie with every single meal.  She drinks mostly water.

If I fed myself the way I feed her, I'd probably be a lot healthier. But, Coke is great.  I do eat fruits and veggies with most of my meals as well, as well as snacks. I love summertime because of all the stuff that's in season!  Lily goes gaga for corn on the cob, so I bought a bunch of that. She also seems to appreciate strawberries, applies, blackberries, and nectarines.  She LOVES tomatoes, and we always have those on hand for her to snack on.

So, no, I have not been cooking dinner, but I promise my child is not eating a load of crap.  I'm just not in the kitchen cooking dinner.

I've made myself a weekly agenda to more organize my schedule, activities I'd like to do, as well as a designated grocery day.  That's the problem, I don't like spur of the moment decisions.  Like, if we run out of milk, I can't be like, "Oh, I'll just go to the store." Why not? I don't know. Because I'm insane, but I deal with it, and so should you.  I need at least a day to mentally prepare myself to leave my house.


52 Week Money Saving Challenge
We didn't put any in during the month of June. But, we didn't take any out (and haven't all year), either. I think we'll have to cut it down to only one set of the 52 week challenge. Previously we had been putting money in as if we were both doing the challenge.  Week 1 we put $2, week 2 we put $4.  But from now on, we'll have to stop doubling, I think.

Monthly date night
Ugh, no.  We really need to make each other more of a priority.  I have issues. I have issues with talking to people, and asking people for help, even if I'm paying them.  My sister, Emilee will be staying with us for a couple of months, so I think Lance and I will be getting a date in July. I mean, it is our anniversary, so we'd better go on a date.  I'm not sure if we even like each other anymore! (Just kidding.)

Weekly crafts with Lily
No..... I need to plan this better.  As stated above I made a weekly agenda, and a day for crafts has been included on it.  I think this will help, so I have a "due date" for my craft to be planned by.

Clean something (in my house) every day
Yes and no. I haven't really deep cleaned every day, but my house is a lot better than it used to be.

Remember friends' and family members' birthdays
I'm so sorry, Jared and Aziz. I still have not mailed your birthday cards.  Plan B: E-gift card. I should switch over. I think getting something in the mail is exciting, but I think getting anything at all is pretty cool too.




Just because I mentioned it twice, here's the weekly schedule I want to start using:

Mon: Grocery day / Craft day (Work)
Tue: Go to the park and/or splash pad (Work)
Wed: Family day! / Disney day
Thu: Picnic / Missionary Correlation meeting (prepare snack) (Work)
Fri: Swimming pool / Feed missionaries
Sat: Dance class / Free day (Work)
Sun: Church / Rest (Work)

Goal Update - May

Monthly Enrichment night
I didn't go. :-/

Cook dinner 3 times a week
I was doing OK, but when Lance switched jobs, I haven't gotten back into a good shopping/cooking groove quite yet.  I cook at least once a week, when we have missionaries over for dinner.

52 Week Money Saving Challenge
We got behind this month, and we'll probably stay behind.

Monthly date night
Umm, no.

Weekly crafts with Lily
No.

Clean something (in my house) every day
No.

Remember friends' and family members' birthdays
No.

JK, I sent Emilee a card but it was really late. Sorry Emilee!




Wow, looks like a fail on all my goals. Go me!

Past Couple Weeks

I have not felt very well over the past week.  Tomorrow I am determined to leave this house with Lily and do something fun. Just the two of us.


But here are some things we have been up to.

Top knot inspired by Auntie Em.

We were almost completely out of soap in our house, so Lily and I made a quick trip over to The Loop, which is an outdoor shopping center/mall area near us. It's quite nice over there.  We visited Bath and Body Works. We didn't have anywhere to be, so Lily and I took our time smelling all the things.

I let Lily pick the soap for her bathroom. And of course she chose one with a picture of cupcakes on it.

Afterwards, we went next door to Menchie's for some frozen yogurt.  We just got one cup, and I let her pick everything that went inside.  She did a pretty good job!

Wednesday is our "family outing" day. You could probably relate it to most people's Saturdays.  Lance and I both have that day off, and we try to get out do something fun.  Last week, we had a visitor in our ward who was having a rough time.  She was a grown woman, traveling by herself for work. She asked for a blessing, so Lance and the missionaries obliged.  Then Lance told her we could hang out during the week.  So, we took her to Downtown Disney on our family day.  It was pretty fun.  She was a really nice person.

Doing something like this is really difficult for both Lance and I.  We don't just ask random people to hang out. But, maybe we should. It was pretty great.

I only got one picture that day though.  Lily, in her favorite place.

In the kids' room at the Lego Store at Downtown Disney

The following Wednesday, just this past one, we went to Magic Kingdom at night. We hadn't watched fireworks in months, maybe even a year?  So we wanted to do that.

We watched from the train station. It was a pretty great viewing area. Anywhere away from the pushing and shoving of people is nice.

But since it had rained a lot that day, the park wasn't very busy or crowded.


We also rode a few rides, and we decided to have Lily meet Ariel and Belle.  I didn't get a picture of either. Whoops!  But meeting Belle was really cool. It's called Enchanted Tales With Belle. I thought Belle would be reading us a story, but actually anyone who would like to, acts out a story and performs it for Belle.

Lily was Chip, and it was adorable!

I don't have very many photos because I was taking video.  I did get a couple things.

Lumiere moves and talks.

Here's where she meets Prince Charming, but she won't discover that it's him 'til chapter three.

We have the missionaries over every Thursday for correlation meeting.  I'm usually working, but I try to feed two of them (there are six in our ward), and provide some kind of treat for all six of them for the meeting.

The missionaries are just so darling!

Because I work Thursday, I think it would be better if we started feeding them on Fridays instead though.  Then I don't have to feel rude stepping out in the middle of dinner.

Hanging out with my buddy

So, I think anyone who has lived in the south can agree with me when I say that you don't know what rain is until you've lived in the south.

Our first lesson on real rain was in North Carolina.  I like to call it, "Don't ever, under any circumstance, leave your windows down while you are not near your car."

We still have stains on our seats from this mistake.


A 100% sunny, hot, day can turn into a flood at the drop of a hat.


The pictures below are from a similar day.


We went to dinner and the sun was shining.  After dinner, it was pouring. Bad.  We ran to our car, and were outside for maybe 10 seconds.  Soaked.  Seriously soaked.  I think it's so funny. And Lily was laughing so much as we ran to the car.  She thought it was the best thing ever!  And now she asks me if she can go outside every time it is raining.

Seriously considering getting her a pair of rain boots, a rain coat, and a little umbrella and telling her to have at it!

She loves to jump in puddles.

We are soaked!

Yesterday was Lily's first ever dance class.  I was really excited, but also nervous.

I wasn't allowed in the classroom, but there was a window we could watch from.

Before class started, she made a few friends while they played with the vending machine.

Lily is in the top left, biting her thumb.

Lily is at the bottom.

At the top left, biting her thumb again.

I'm starting to wonder if the thumb thing is a nervous habit.


From what I observed of the class, Lily was the one who needed the most "correction."  The teacher had to remind her to be quiet several times, and had to remind her to go back to her spot.

There is a giant mirror in there, and Lily kept watching herself and making faces, and walking toward the mirror.

She also wanted to show the teacher the flower on her skirt.

Lily also had to pee in the middle of class, and the teacher had to remind me to take her before.  I'll try next week, but I can't make any promises.  She doesn't pee on command...


Because her class was so large (12 kids!), they decided to split it into two classes, so I moved Lily to the 10:00 class, instead of the 9:15am class.

We'll see how next week goes.  I'm sure she'll get better once she knows the routine and understands what is expected of her.