Pictures!

Some pictures of our recent activities.

Jilly has been on this funny kick lately of wanting to be wrapped in her blankets. So I have more than once put her to bed semi-swaddled. It cracked me up so much I had to take a picture.

One day she got really bored in her bed, so she pulled out all the blankets, took off all her clothes and somehow peeled the sticker off the mattress. I didn't even realize it was a sticker until I saw it stuck to her! Freak show!!!

Jilly borrowed this T-Shirt from Uncle Andy on Easter when she'd gotten her dress wet and needed something to wear for her nap. He decided to let her keep it. Just so you know, she hearts your boyfriend. ;-)

At the Church beautification project, all the kiddos got together and ate snacks. Jeanne snapped some great pictures of them all lined up. :-)

I made these cupcakes for our Primary Activity "We Beelieve" Articles of Faith Extravaganza. Candace helped me decorate them all and they turned out great!!

I let Jilly have one of the leftover cupcakes the next day. I wasn't really thinking when I gave her a chocolate cupcake while she was still in her white dress, was I?

When Maya was over a couple weeks ago, the girls put on their own shoes so that we could go out for a walk. How do little ones ALWAYS put their shoes on the wrong feet?

Jilly's new swimsuit! We had to go to the pool today and will probably be hitting it often all summer.

She loves playing in the pool with Daddy.

She is practicing her swimming. She loves the water so much, we figure she'll be swimming by herself next summer.

Memorial Day Weekend!

This past weekend was a lot of fun for the Hall family. It started on Friday when we took Steve to work so I could have the car. Jilly was pretty upset with us for waking her up at 5am (I don't blame her) but calmed down once we told her we were going outside. The girl LOVES to go outside. I have to be careful not to tell her we're going out until we're ready to go, otherwise she runs to the door and tries to get out before I am ready. ;-) Anyway, we took her in and paraded her around Steve's work for a little bit, then back home and back to bed. After a couple more hours of sleep, us chickies got up, got dressed and headed out the door. We went down to Seattle to visit my friend Jenne and her son Willem, who is two months younger than Jilly exactly. Jenne is also pregnant with their second baby, and we hadn't seen each other in almost a year! It was way overdue.

The weather was gorgeous, so we ended up spending most of the day outside, on the playground at their complex. I even got to see Bri, Ginny and Violet, because Ginny was there playing with some other kids from their ward. :-) Bonus! Jilly took to the playground immediately and played on that for a couple hours. It was nice to see how much Willem and Jillian had grown up since we'd last seen them. They played together just fine and were on more the same level with physical ability. Last year, Jilly had barely been walking for a couple weeks and was still unsure of herself, whereas Willem had been walking for months, and at 16-18 months neither of them quite knew how to play with each other, so there had been moments of hitting or hurting the other. This time, no such worries! Not to mention how nice it was for Jenne and I just to be able to sit (big ol' preggies that we are) in the sun and watch the kids, without having to chase them constantly and help them play. Ahhh, independence is a valuable thing! Anyway, we let them play while we just chatted for quite awhile. We got hungry and decided to walk over to Johnny Rocket's at U Village (they live right next to it) for lunch. Yummy chicken fingers and fries were enjoyed by all (including Belle and Jason) and then it was time to go pick up Daddy.

It took forever for us to get to Steve's work, due to the Memorial Day weekend traffic, so we ended up picking him up at Blue Moon Burgers instead. Once we had him, we took off for the midwife appt. This time we met with the other midwife, Mel, just so we get to know her in case Cindie can't make it to our birth and Mel comes instead. It was a quick appt, everything was totally normal (my blood pressure was more normal for me 102/62), I've gained about 20lbs thus far (score!) and she gave me some handouts about exercises to help my back pain. Wildcat hasn't changed position at all, still head down, back out and legs tucked on my right, by my ribs. I'm getting much better about differentiating which limbs he is using for any given movement. I'm even starting to tell when it's an elbow or knee, versus a hand or foot. That's way more detail than I ever figured out with Jilly, so it's really neat. Then, we all came home and crashed. Jilly hadn't gotten a nap that day and we'd all gotten less sleep than planned. So we all snoozed for a couple hours. My sister came over later and hung out for a bit. Then it was time for bed. A very full Friday for us!

Saturday, I went to work and it was a very busy day!! We had a lot of people calling to go on daytrips or weekend trips for that day or the next, because the weather was gorgeous and it was a holiday weekend. I got massive cabin fever later in the afternoon and was really anxious to get out of work. At one point, Wildcat started arching his back and sticking out his butt a ton. For awhile, I couldn't tell if it was a contraction or just his little butt that was causing my abdomen to get so hard. I think it was about 50/50. Twerp. ;-) Steve and Jilly didn't do much at home, just hung out and cleaned a bit and took naps. That evening we just stayed at home and relaxed.

Sunday was busier for me, at least in the morning. I had to go to a church meeting at 7am, then came home and got Jilly ready for church. Of course, Jilly being the contrary 2 year old that she can be, decided that 5:30am was the most appropriate time to wake up and would not be dissuaded. I was getting up at that time anyway to get ready for my meeting, so poor Steve had to get up with Beans. But one benefit to her getting up so early was that she was wide awake, ate breakfast and was happy to go to church. Most Sundays we have to wake her up and she gets pretty sour about it. We made it to church just on time and got to sit in the chapel for the second week in a row. NICE! That may have been the first time all year we made it on time, and in the chapel in consecutive weeks. Because she'd been awake and fed already, she was actually fairly well behaved in Sacrament Meeting. I took her with me for a couple minutes to set up the Primary Room, but honestly, she would have been fine staying in the chapel the entire time. Woo-hoo!! She is growing up! ;-) During Nursery, she apparently fell down and now has a big old yellow bruise on her nose, right between her eyes. She doesn't seem bothered by it at all, it's just less than pretty. Oh well. After church, we just went home, took naps (Jilly slept for 5 hours!!) and hung out for the day. We had a yummy lunch of quesadillas and a Mexican Pot Roast for dinner.

Monday was AWESOME! We woke up around 8:30am and got going. We cleaned up the house and got ourselves ready. Then we hit Safeway to get some food for a picnic! Yummy!! We took our picnic over to Seaview Park, a couple blocks from my parents' house. We played on the toys, then as we were about to sit down for lunch, my step-dad Paul rode his bike over to meet us. We had a really yummy lunch of sandwiches, chips, string cheese, and apples. Then more playing on the playground when Mom met us there too. She brought some new clothes for both Jilly and Jason, spoiled grandkids that they are (actually they were kind of needed clothes, especially on Jason's part, so we are way appreciative as always). We hung out in the sunshine for quite awhile, it was so nice!!! Then they had to go back home to get things done, so we went there for a little bit. I wanted to see the new bedding my mom had gotten for the guest room. It is SO cute! White with pink, orange, yellow, green and blue fishies all over! Love it! This is the room where I will probably give birth and the bed that Jilly will sleep in from now on when she spends the night at Granny & Grandpa's. It's adorable. We had some chocolate cake and then it was time to go home because Jilly was really tired and I needed to go to work. Jilly took a nice long nap while I was gone.

Work was CRAZY when I walked in. I guess there was crazy boat traffic on Lake Union, so the planes that were supposed to land there around 3:30-4pm couldn't and had to divert to Kenmore. All of a sudden, there were 30-40 passengers at Kenmore that no one was expecting and we had to figure out how to get them back to Lake Union. It was a slightly insane afternoon, but things eventually calmed down and got all sorted out. After work, it was just time to hang out with the family and eat dinner.

It was such a nice weekend, full of fun outdoor activities and lots of down time too. The best part was having so much time all together! Between our two work schedules, we don't get as much time as we would like with both parents and Jilly together to do fun things. It definitely gave us a taste of what the summer can be like, while I'm on maternity leave and Jason has joined the party. It should be really fantastic!! :-D

P.S. There are pictures from both Friday and Monday, but since they aren't on my camera (Jenne's and my mom's cameras) I have to wait until I get them emailed to me. Then I will put them up, for sure!!

And I'm thankful for this?!

Just to be fair, I will warn you this blog is about throwing up. If you don't want to read about it, I don't blame you, and stop now. ;-)

Typically, vomiting is not a gratitude-inducing event. But today, as the toilet and I were making friends once again (it had been a couple of weeks), the thoughts going through my head were all ones of gratitude. The irony of it was significant enough for me, that I decided it needed a blog.

Jilly had been playing in the bathtub while I was online, blog surfing. All too soon, I felt that familiar feeling. I started fanning my growing-hotter-by-the-second face, hoping it would ward off what I knew was ultimately inevitable. Yeah, it didn't work and I took off running for the bathroom. As I sat there on the floor making all sorts of disgusting noises, Jilly started laughing. Like, giggling! She thought what was going on was funny!! That led me to Grateful Thought #1: I am grateful that seeing her mama throw up doesn't scare or upset her. It's just a funny noise (and sight, I am sure) to her. I can only imagine how much harder being pregnant and sick would be, if witnessing that freaked her out.

After a minute, I realized that it wasn't going to be as bad as I thought and probably wouldn't involve greeting my lunch again. Thus, Grateful Thought #2: My food had digested and left my stomach, so I was only dry heaving. Granted, it was probably the fact that there was no solid food in my stomach that was causing me to be in this position in the first place. But I didn't care, because I don't mind having to go through that, as long as there is no actual food returning.

Even though, I stayed on the floor, with my stomach performing amazing contortions, for a few more minutes, I noticed that something else I had expected to happen hadn't. And last but not least Grateful Thought #3: Even though my bladder was not empty, I managed to control it and NOT make a puddle on the floor. This has been something I've dealt with during this pregnancy that I've really hated. Since about 4 months along, if I was throwing up or even coughing, and I hadn't just gone to the bathroom, I could be sure that there would be liquid escaping from both ends of my body. Sometimes it was only a little bit, sometimes a bigger mess. It really has bothered me that my muscles just aren't strong enough to hold that particular sphincter shut. But today, it didn't happen.

So here I am feeling just fine now (typical) but still pretty surprised that I all I could think during the episode itself was how grateful I was for those little mercies. I think I needed to be reminded of something to be grateful for, as I am totally hitting "the wall", both physically and emotionally at the end of pregnancy. I am pretty much always uncomfortable or in pain (heartburn, outgrown most of my clothes, back aches, etc and so forth) and starting to get really nervous about actually having a second child. Some days I am going nuts with just one, how in the heck am I supposed to handle two?! And why again did I ask for this? Poor Steve (and pretty much everyone around me) has had to listen to lengthy complaints from me (I'm not a pleasant pregnant lady for the most part) all the time lately. I appreciate their patience with me. And I am glad I was reminded that even though I am uncomfortable and somewhat scared about this whole thing, I have lots to be grateful for! Even if it is as simple as not peeing my pants while throwing up. ;-)

She sure ain't the milkman's kid!

Jilly is just a little bit like her daddy.

Since she was born, she has always slept exactly like him. I have several pictures of them in the exact same position, with the exact same expressions on their faces as they sleep. This was tonight, when I'd sent her out of the room to "go cuddle with Daddy" since she was driving me nuts with her whining. Within in moments, it was quiet and I found them like this.

I heart my family.

Celebratory Weekend!

This past weekend was a big one in our family!!! My sister Katie graduated from Washington State University with her Bachelor's Degree on Saturday!! We all trucked it over to Pullman (the opposite side of the state) for the ceremony and to move her back home. Then Sunday was Mother's Day. We were all busy busy busy but it was wonderful.

The weekend started early. Thursday night I picked up my Auntie Karen from the airport and took her and Jilly to my mom's for the night. My mom, Karen and Jilly took off from Edmonds Friday morning for Pullman. I worked that morning, then picked up Paul from the transit center so he could go home to pick up the trailer. At his house, Andy joined me and the two of us headed out for Pullman about 1pm in my car. Originally, Steve and I were supposed to drive together and Andy go with my mom. But at the last minute, Steve had to work on Saturday and couldn't find anyone else to cover the shift, so he had to stay home. Luckily Andy was totally cool with driving with me, so I didn't have to go across the state by myself (no one liked that idea, least of all me). We cruised along and stopped in Ellensburg so we could switch driving and get a quick snack. I decided to call my mom to see where she was at (i.e. how long until I could see my little girl again, I was starting to miss her!). Turns out she was in Ellensburg too, but a couple miles behind us!! I couldn't believe we were farther along than anyone else. They had run errands before really getting on the way and were having a nice sit-down lunch, so it made sense. But still amused us. Andy and I made remarkably good time as we traveled across the state, stopping one more time outside Othello to switch driving, arriving in Pullman about 6:30pm or so. Man, it felt SO good to get out of the car and then curl up on Katie's bed for a little bit. My poor pregnant bones could only handle so much car sitting.

Mom, Karen and Jilly got there around 7:30pm and we started packing up Katie's room. Poor girl had been so busy all week with studying and finals, that she hadn't gotten time to do ANY packing! We packed for a little bit, then decided we all needed to eat badly and get our buns out to Lewiston to the hotel. We went to a yummy Thai restaurant and had a fun time. Soon enough, Mom, Karen, Jilly and I took off for Lewiston, leaving my car in Pullman with Katie and Andy. For those of you not super up to date on Washington/Idaho geography, Pullman is at the very eastern edge of WA state on the Idaho border. Lewiston is in Idaho, still along the border but somewhat south, around 45 minutes or so away. That was the closest hotel we could find when we booked, 11 months in advance! I think we finally checked into the hotel around 11pm. Soon after, Paul and Juliet showed up and we all got unpacked and crashed into bed pretty quick. My poor little trooper of a two year old was EXHAUSTED! She had only gotten a 45 minute nap between North Bend and Ellensburg earlier that day. And she had been SUCH a good girl! She didn't cause trouble for anyone. Sweet baby sure enough was very ready to be put in her playpen at 11:30pm and was snoring within 5 minutes, even though there were lights on and people moving around and talking. The rest of us followed suit within about 30 minutes.

All too soon that alarm rang at 5:15am (UGH!). We snoozed for a little bit, then dragged our sorry butts out of bed, more than reluctantly. Jilly had a tough morning, getting less than 6 hours of sleep (she's used to more like 11-12 at night). I took her to get breakfast but she didn't seem to cheer up until we were in the car. By that time, Mom and I were both stressed about running late, Jilly crying and generally exhausted. Add to this, the fact that I am 7 months pregnant and while it's usually not an issue, the stress of the trip was really throwing my hormones out of whack, and we ended up yelling at each other and me crying in the car. Not exactly my most favorite moment, but hey, it's what happened. Everything was resolved shortly, but I could tell my emotions were going to be funky for the rest of the day. We made great time getting back to Pullman, picked up Katie and Andy and got to campus for the ceremony.

I am SO grateful that there were so many willing helpers there. There is no way I could have done that trip without everyone there. We never used the stroller (it would have been way too difficult with the crowds and cramped spaces) and Jilly just couldn't do all the walking by herself. I didn't have the strength to carry her, so everyone else had to carry her, while I had to keep slowing them down, calling, "Wait for The Waddler! She can't keep up with you!" As we were walking to the coliseum, Katie was walking with Jilly and we got some CUTE pictures of them.

Jilly was very sweet and kept trying to step on her shadow, saying "Step, step," as she did so. It was adorable.

We dropped Katie off in the line with all the other Psych grads and found our seats with Paul, the Aunties and Katie's roommates. The ceremony began! We were all so excited to see Katie walk in to the arena in her cap and gown! It was awesome. After the (seemingly endless) introductions and recognitions, they finally got into the meat of the program, the commencement speaker. Funny moment: During the National Anthem, we were all standing, with my mom holding Jilly. Apparently, Jilly knew that this was a sitting-event, so she starts yelling at everyone, "Sit down! Sit down!" Oops, guess I need to teach her some manners and respect for the National Anthem. Hahahaha. As was the theme of the whole evening, my mom pretty much took care of Jilly the whole time, so I didn't have to. I got up during the speaker, so that my mom could go listen if she wanted to (she'd been walking around with Jilly). I hung out with them for awhile, but my back really started protesting, so I went and sat down once they started calling names. That part of the ceremony went by surprisingly fast, even though there were like 900 graduates. We were all cheering and hooping and hollering as we saw Katie be handed her diploma and shake hands with the WSU president. HOORAY FOR KATIE!! She is a college graduate!!! YIPPEE!!!! They then had some closing remarks, sang the Fight Song and Alma Mater, then it was over! (Note: I drew the line at singing/clapping along with the songs. I am a Husky! I stood out of respect, but couldn't bring my purple and gold self to sing along. That would have been high treason. ;-))

We met up with Katie outside, where it was sunny and beautiful and took the bajillion obligatory pictures. Here are some of them:

The proud graduate with her diploma. Congrats Katie!!

Mom and her three kids.

All the family: Andy, Paul, Katie, Mom, Auntie Karen in back. Jilly, me, and Auntie Juliet in front.

The three kids. You can see just how huge my belly is. As my friend Regan said when she saw the picture, "Where's Katie? I can't see her behind your belly!"

Auntie Katie holding her favorite niece, who is so proud of her!

Sisters (and Wildcat).


We went and spent the rest of the afternoon packing up Katie's apartment. With so many of us, it went very well and much faster than expected. After a couple readjustments and a quick trip to the hardware store, the trailer and three vehicles were packed to the hilt with all Katie's stuff from her life in Pullman. Paul and Juliet took off first with the trailer, and the rest of us left soon after. We stopped in Colfax (a small town about 25 minutes outside Pullman) for lunch at Arby's and gas, and finally really truly headed out about 4pm. Jilly hadn't slept yet, so she was wooooorn out. My mom said she was asleep before they even made the first turn out of town. Auntie Karen and I drove together and had a delightful time chatting. We stopped in Othello and switched cars a bit. Andy ended up driving my car with Karen, while I crashed in Mom's car with her, Katie and Jilly. Jilly was still asleep, but woke up as soon as we left Othello. We stopped for a couple minutes in Royal City (about 10 minutes away) so we could change her diaper and let her walk for a bit. Then back in the car and off we went.

We stopped in Ellensburg to get some food and Mom checked in with Paul and Juliet. Turns out they were still in Ellensburg (we'd talked to them a bti after we'd left Othello), in the very restaurant we were parked outside of! We decided we were in fact hungry and to get dinner there. Yum. All too soon, we were back in the car, heading home. Andy and Karen had eaten at a different spot and so were well ahead of us. We eventually pulled into Mom's house at almost 11pm. Two days, most of them spent in the car or sitting, and we were all wasted... By the time we got back to our house, Jilly and I collapsed into bed.

Sunday we woke up for church and I was given my first Mother's Day gift. It was from Steve and Wildcat (apparently they collaborated whilst I was sleeping). Steve told me that it was a little self-centered of a gift from Jason, but I loved it anyway. It was a bag of Ghiradhelli Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter squares (which he'll also get to enjoy) and The Bourne Ultimatum DVD (about Jason Bourne, his "namesake"). Awesome! We ended up being rather late for church, but oh well. In Primary, we had the kids make candy necklaces for their moms. They each got 8 pieces of candy, that they wrapped in saran wrap and tied with ribbons. There were extras so I made one for my mom too; I figured it had been a few years since anyone had made her a Mothers Day gift in Primary. ;-) In Nursery, Jilly made me a sweet foam card with flower stickers on it and a flower of gumdrops and a fudge stripe cookie. Of course, as soon as her Nursery leader handed it to me, Beanie snatched off the top gumdrop and ate it, then when we were in the Primary room cleaning up, she also grabbed the cookie while I wasn't watching. Hahaha. Silly girl.

After church, we ate lunch and then took naps. Before naps, I got my Mother's Day gift from Steve and Jillian. Steve had spent quite a bit of time making a photo montage-video thing for me. It was set to one of my favorite songs and was filled with photos of me along my journey to and through motherhood, from dating to engagement to wedding day to my pregnancy with Jilly and all through her life so far. He couldn't find the pictures of me pregnant with Wildcat, but there are a couple pictures from Halloween of me, when I was brand newly pregnant, so that counts for me. It was very sweet and my pregnancy hormones really made for an excellent reaction, I sat there sobbing through all 4 minutes, and a few more after. ;-) I loved it! When it was time for a nap, Jilly, being the incredibly brillant two year old that she is, decided not to sleep until well after 2pm. Well, at 3pm we had to wake her up so we could go meet my family for dinner. She was less than amused about it. We met my family at their house and then we all headed down to Palisade on Elliot Bay for dinner. Katie had picked it, because she had wanted to eat there for months, and it was her graduation dinner (we Moms were just hangers-on ;-)). It was beautiful!!! There is a stream running through the middle of the restaurant, and you have to walk over a bridge to get to your table. We had a big round table for all of us, with a view of the Elliot Bay Marina. They had even put a card on the table congratulating Katie and decorated it with flower petals. We had a marvellous time over the evening! The food was SO GOOD!! Most people got seafood, but since I hate seafood, I went with a yummy steak. We took a bunch of pictures of everyone so here they are:

Mom and Paul

Katie and Auntie Karen

The three of us kids again

The Hall family. Not really a great picture of either Steve or me, but Jilly is cute, and let's face it, that's the most important.

Juliet and her fiance Kelly were there as well, but I don't have a picture of them.

We exchanged cards and presents for Katie and the moms. It was such a nice time, food and company wise. The restaurant is AWESOME! I would definitely recommend it. It is expensive, but the service and quality of food are top-notch. We kept having to take Jilly on walks here and there because she'd get bored sitting in her highchair. Steve and I took turns and then during dessert, Andy took her without even being asked, walking on the bridge for a little, then taking her outside. I think we were there for 2 1/2 or 3 hours total. Lovely time. :-)

After dinner we headed home and hung out at the family's house for a little before going home. We had such a great time with all of our family over the weekend. The Aunties were especially excited because they both got to feel Wildcat move really well. Nice to know he can perform when he needs to. ;-) Mom and Auntie Karen had stopped at the Outlet Mall in North Bend on Friday and ended up buying Jilly two new pairs of sandals, one white, one pink, for the summer. Mom also got Wildcat a bunch of newborn onesies that are very cute, and Auntie Karen had brought an outfit for him from Canada. Travis, my cousin, picked it out. Mom crocheted around the edge of some burp rags, so Wildcat got just as spoiled as Katie did this weekend!

It took Monday to clean up the house and recover from the weekend, but now we're back to normal. It was a great time! Yeah, incredibly exhausting, more physically than anything else, but well worth it I would say.

CONGRATULATIONS to Katie on her graduation!!!

Big Sister toes!

I've been meaning to paint my toenails for weeks, because it's been many many months since I last did it. We're going to my sister's graduation in Pullman this weekend, so I wanted to look especially spiffy. So today, I finally sat down to do it while Jilly was in the bath. Then I decided, I wanted to paint hers too! So after the bath, she's starting to get tired, so I sit her down on the couch with a sippy cup, in front of the TV and paint her tiny tiny toenails. I was apprehensive about doing it, because I was afraid she'd move around and smear them. But she sat very still for me and let me paint, wipe off the extra and let them dry. They turned out adorable! She was so excited about them. She kept looking down at them and smiling. Clearly, she is a girly girl. ;-) Gotta love it.

Here's a cute picture of her, smiling and posing for me.

And her cute cute red toes!

And the other foot.

This is her new shirt from Aunt Becky. She's pretty darn psyched about it!


I guess if she can sit still long enough to get her toenails painted, she's old enough to be a big sister! Hope so, because she doesn't have a choice. ;-) Hahaha. What a cute girl!

Tulips!!

Earlier this week, we got an email inviting us to go to the Tulip Festival with some friends from church. I was very excited because I'd heard they were beautiful this year and I thought it would be a lot of fun. Stacey was generous to offer to drive us with her and Austin. We oke up to beautiful weather and got dressed in T-shirts and shorts for the day. Jilly wore a brand new outfit from Aunt Becky, which was just perfect. It was even cuter when I did her hair in pigtails with the daisy hair clips. BUT... she pulled them all out halfway to La Conner. Turd. ;-) Here are our pictures!

This was the first field we visited. We only were there for like 10 minutes, because neither Austin nor Jilly wanted to walk and we'd left the strollers in the car. Oops!

I tried to get a bunch of pictures of Jilly, but she wasn't very interested and most of them turned out bad. This was the best of all the pictures. ((sigh))

This picture has three bright colors all together, purple pink and red. Pretty!

You can see the mountains in the background.

There was this neat old barn next to one of the fields. I wish I had a better camera, because there was some definite cool-picture potential there.

This was the second field we went to. This time we were smarter and brought the strollers, so we wouldn't have to carry the 2 1/2 year olds. There were more colors and more variety in this one. Loved it.

I think this might be my favorite picture. The purple was just gorgeous.

Jilly took this picture of what was probably the only cloud in the sky, so I just had to include it.

Proof that I was there as well.

I love how there is a huge block of red, then a swatch of pink and just a little more red at the very back.

At last, a picture of all four of us! Jilly was the least enthused about taking a picture. ;-)

We got back in the car and briefly discussed venturing out to Deception Pass, but decided the kiddos probably wouldn't handle the extra hour or more. So we'll have to do that another time. It was a smart decision because even though we fed them when we got back in the car, they were tired and a bit worn from all the sun. Austin had a rough ride home, poor guy. But we made it home and are so glad we went! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Stacey for inviting us to come. It was a lot of fun.

When we got home, I laid Jilly down in her crib to relax for a bit while I worked on the blog. She laid for a few minutes, then jumped up and started talking. She was practicing a bunch of phrases, unbidden by me, so I had to document it. Of course as soon as she saw the camera, she stopped saying some of them, but I caught a few. ;-) She was saying, "byebye!", "See you later!", "I love you!" among other things. Very cute. So that gets added here. Enjoy!