Zany Zigzaggy Zoo Day

Jordan and I spent an eventful morning at the Hogle Zoo today along with Justin and AJ. Our timing was perfect as we were able to see some once-in-a-lifetime moments at the zoo. 

There were the typical ferocious felines

Jordan was brave enough to get close to this exotic baby Tigress.  

However, nobody dared get too close to this lioness after she showed her sharp teeth!


We saw primates of all sizes! That male gorilla looks pretty tough,
not even Alpha Jordan wanted to challenge him.


One of the most amazing parts of the day was the inter-species interactions. Normally they are all seperated by fences, but today it was almost as if the millenium had come. Look here how the Lion is playing with the lamb.

And here how the Lion and the Tiger rule the streets in perfect harmony.



As peaceful as they play together, us Humans need to make sure to keep these wild animals at an arms length.



Unless, of course, you are highly trained in handling these cute but dangerous creatures such as Justin here.



The rest of us untrained observers had to wait until the darling cuddly animals at the petting zoo to get a hands on experience.

A big thanks to AJ & Justin for inviting us! 

Catching Up

Unfortunately in order to get caught up with the blog it is necessary to back track a bit. I'm going to post most recent and go backwards - so keep going, there are around 10 new posts!

Lucy the Fish

Lucy is Lily's favorite bath toy. The girl who, if her relationship with baths were posted on Facebook would be: it's complicated-   will take her own clothes off and climb in the tub if she sees Lucy in there without her. However, I noticed that Lucy would suddenly go from excessively happy to screaming as soon as Lily got in the water. 

I discovered that she was just upset that someone was impeding her kicking. Once put in the water this little princess turns into a frog. She loves it, but look at her face in the video, it is focused. She stays in there until I deem the water too cold for a little baby. And then she gets mad when I make her get out. I'm already having dreams of her Olympic gold metals.

Lily & Cali

Lily and Cali pretending to take a nap together! My sister came down for an afternoon the week after conference to hang out with us and it was so much fun- if the bay area wasn't so expensive, that's where I'd be pushing Jordan to find an internship!

3 months Ucy

Little miss Lucy Rose is 3 months! She's generally a very happy baby - she started smiling at me from one month on (full awake smile- not just the smile in her sleep), but it was usually right after I fed her and I had a difficult time capturing it on camera until now. 
There are 2 gaurenteed ways to make her smile. 1- sing the "Miss America" song while helping her do the pageant wave (She even lets Lily help her wave without getting upset). 2- tell her she's pretty. I don't blame her, I mean look at the girl, she's gorgeous. 


She doesn't act like a 3 month old - neither does she look like one. But let's be honest, she came out looking like a 1 month old. She's already a light sleeper and doesn't sleep well in the car. After 2 months of fighting to get take 3 naps, I've learned that she's already a 2 nap/day kind of girl (one is 3 hours long). She's been sleeping through the night (6-8 hours) since she was 3 weeks old. She is so very different from Lily, yet they look so similar it's uncanny.

Busted out the bumbo for the first time! It was a hit!

Lily loves to play with her sister and just be next to her. Her newest fixation is to try to help Lucy do the actions to her favorite songs, such as "Wheels on the Bus" and "Shake your Sillies Out." 
Lily's bed head hair is a little more obvious than Lucy's in the picture.

Lucy's first toy! I love this smile- it's the same one that she gives me when I get her out of her bassinet every morning.

She's so cute it hurts!

Where's Lily?

Overall, Lily transfered to her toddler bed easily (thanks to Jordan). However I still like to go in an check on her every time I nurse Lucy in the night. 

Lily's favorite game is the "where is...." The sign for "where" is to shake your finger in the air, most would confuse it with saying "no". When Lily does it she crooks her finger like she's captain hook, twists instead of shakes, and says "Where is ...(something that she sees) and then before you have a chance to say anything, she proclaims, "that way!"

So let's play the "where's Lily" game.

One night I went in and couldn't find her. I didn't panic as I could hear her breathing, but it took me a minute to see where she was- completely under the bed. 

2 months Uchi

2 month stats:

Weight: 11.14 lb - 90th percentile

Height: 22.5 inches - 50th percentile

Head circumference: 39 inches -50th percentile

Lucy has a particular brand of bouncing that she prefers and already has a love hate relationship with Lily. She loves it when Lily is playing next to her but if she gets too close, she starts crying. Even if Lily isn't touching her. 

"You found THAT on the clearance rack??!!"

Rocky Horror Picture Show

This picture pretty much sums up their relationship. 

Lucy doesn't mind when Lily shares her soft foam toys.

Lily Kins

Here are some fun picture of our Lily-kins

6 weeks

Lucy was smiling by this time but I had a difficult time catching it on camera. Her 6 week photo shoot didn't go as well as I had hoped, but Lily insisted on being my assistant. 

Lily wanted Lucy to wear a hat

I always tell Lily that she can touch Lucy's toes and not her face. This is the one time she actually listened to me. 

Lucy's Baby Blessing

Lucy was blessed on September 4, 2011. We were lucky enough to have a large turnout from family & friends:

+Justin & AJ Elliss & Family (As soon as Lily saw AJ at church she jumped into her lap and didn't give me a second thought until later in the afternoon).

+Uncle Clyde & Aunt Kris

+Joe & Jill

+My cousin Julie

+ My Mom & Rick

+My Dad & Kathy

+Uncle Kent

+Aunt Kathy

+Bonnie & Brian

Our church starts at 9 am, and Lucy takes her first nap around 930 - which means that her blessing fell right around the time she was trying to fall asleep. This equates to her screaming the ENTIRE blessing. This then equates to the blessing being somewhat short. Jordan didn't pull any tricks on me and change her name last minute - she was presented to the Lord as Lucy Rose Elliss. 

+She was blessed to be married in the temple

+ (I need to get the notes from my wonderful sister-in-law who was sweet enough to take them for me!)

I was one proud Mama!

Lily had fun showing off for the large crowd at our house.

Lucy with her sweet Grandma! Lucy is wearing the same dress that all of her cousins from her Aunt Joci wore. Thanks Joci for sharing! It is a beautiful dress.

And now, for the star of the show. Little Miss Lucy Rose 

(or "Lucky" as her Grandpa Elliss likes to call her).

We begin brainwashing early in this family.
Thanks for all the beautiful pictures Dad!

2 Week Old Udy

"Udy" was as close as Lily could pronouce Lucy's name at this time. I can't write enough about how much she loves her little sister. She just doesn't understand the "soft"concept. Sometimes she's rough on purpose but most of the time she is just trying to play with her. For example: yesterday she wanted to share her new Vtec toy, so she put the hefty toy on Lucy's tummy and then squeezed her hand she as she tried to make her push the buttons. Obviously Lucy wasn't happy so I had to put an end to it, but it was sweet that Lily tried to share.

Or for another example: Lily kissed Lucy. However Lily kissed Lucy while she was eating string cheese and kissed Lucy's eye. It took 10 minutes for me to get all the string cheese out of Lucy's eye and calm her down.

2 Weeks Stats:

Weight: 9 lbs 13.5 oz. - 89%

Length: 22 inches - 95%

Head Circumference: 36 cm - 51%

Catching some Vitamin D

"As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."...and BYU

Friends

Our good friends the Stonehawkers

Lily and her bestie Chloe 

Las Hermanas de la MTC!!! Still two of the best people I know!

The Gathering of the APE's (Allen, Parker, Elliss) & Leanys

 This was over the 24th of July weekend - so Lucy was just 2 weeks old and we were lucky enough to have almost all my family come out to see the little goose.

My mom bought me a little sprinkler ball and both Laney and Cali made us promise that we wouldn't turn it on while my dad was taking pictures.

Unfortunately they forgot to make Uncle Jordan promise.... 3 months later and Lily still won't go near the sprinkler ball.

Both Laney and Cali were so sweet with Lucy! I love how Cali would cup her hands together and say in her minnie mouse voice, "baby Lucy". 

I lost track of how many times Laney said, "she
so cute!" Lucky for them they will have a baby in their home in a few months!

Everyone loves a brown eyed girl!

What a silly group! Dominion was the hot game that Jordan got for his birthday.

Lily making her first pie! It's only fitting that it was with her Granny. My mom came and helped right after Lucy was born and I don't know what I would have done without her!

Love that face!

Lucy with her Uncle David! I'm so glad David was able to come down and I could get to know my awesome new step-brother a little better. Lucy thought he was pretty cool, obviously, as she couldn't take her eyes off of him. He's probably going to be the uncle that she wants to marry (until she understands that you can't marry uncles). I can't wait for Lucy to meet her Uncle Chris & Auntie Em - part of it is just that I want to see them again too :)

Lucy with her Grandpa Rick. I couldn't ask for a better man to take care of my mom or to be my Dad #2. The more I get to know him the more I realize how lucky we are to be apart of his family.