Days of '47 Parade

Michal and I have always wanted to go to the Days of '47 Parade, and living downtown made it oh-so-convenient!  We woke up at 8:45, left the apartment at 8:55, found some friends to sit with at 9:00 and watched a parade in great shady weather. 

I think that having Lily motivated us to go because she loves looking around at just about everything. 

At first she wasn't so sure about it, but after seeing all sorts of colorful things and loud music, she was loving it.

Of course, I think that seeing good friends also motivated us to go.  Who doesn't like watching a parade with this handsome crew?

Ivan (left) Amelia (right)

Kristina (left - married to Ivan above her) Brandon (right - not married to gal above him)

Here are some of our favorite parade people? acts? performers?

Below is an awesome bike - and look at how tiny those horses (ponies) are.  Can you believe it?

I liked the Summer Santa in the La-Z-Boy chair, but the bizarre space missionary takes the cake!

During the boring parts of the parade, we just admired Lily!

Watching the Bagpipes brought back bittersweet memories of being a piper in parades.  I mean it wasn't all that great... (A) I wasn't that good (B) It was so hot being dressed in 100% wool from head to toe (C) I was always off-step with the rest of the band (D) I had no idea what I was doing.  But regardless, it was fun to say that I tried it, I did it, and I'm proud of it. I just wish I was as good as these guys were in the parade!

 Another favorite part of the parade was Brandon and his BYU flag.  He waved it for like 5 seconds before the U of U float found it and tried to ignore it, and waved it for like 5 minutes before the BYU float actually noticed him.  He sure does have extreme team spirit (and if you know Brandon - I think that you would agree with me that extreme may be an understatement of a word choice).

I liked the float below because little children's heads were the center of the flowers and even smaller children were the peas in the pod.  It was just too cute.

Hands down, my favorite part of the parade was Lily getting tired and falling asleep right on me! 

 And when she woke up again she was the happiest girl in the audience with smiles for everyone around her.

 Having a child is the best, I get do to things that I normally wouldn't, and enjoy them WAY more than I normally would when I see their reactions.  It was a great and happy way to celebrate "Utah Day"!

Bailey's Wedding

I'm excited that this post is "eventful".  This time last year I was in a different country like every other week - and now - well, it's a good day if I get a walk in, the house gets cleaned, and dinner is more than just hummus and celery sticks.

We met Bailey in Poland while she came to stay for a month with her cousins & Aunt/Uncle = The Armstrongs.  Because we love the Armstrongs, we fell in love with Bailey too.  She has turned into a honorary family member in the Trenerowski household and she is one of Lily's favorite Aunties.

We were so excited for her wedding.  This time last year Bryson was chasing after Bailey and she was having none of it.  She tried to brush him off by ignoring him, sending not-so-nice emails, and any excuse she could come up with.  But persistence was the key - and Bryson won the gold medal.  They were married in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple on July 12, 2013.

The sealer in their ceremony gave such great advice.  Some things that I really liked what he said included:
* That he has the power to seal, but it is up to our faithfulness to remain sealed.
* He talked a lot about gender roles and gifts bestowed upon each gender in a way that it made so much sense.  It didn't seem like there was any kind of inequality the way that he was describing our purpose and plan in our specific gender roles.
* He talked a lot about laws and ordinances and what it means to keep, honor, and obey them.
* He talked about laws and how we promise we will obey them, however, one specific law we are only asked to "accept".  I had never noticed that before.
* He talked about a lot of different things that we learn in the temple that I had never even thought about before and gave me new insight into such amazing, wonderful things.

After the wedding, it was rainy and (kinda gross) and my hair turned into a curly disaster that we didn't take any pictures. Lily was so darn tired that when we got home she slept for 3.5 hours to recuperate.

So, we made sure that we were prepared for the reception and got a few good shots in of Bailey and her Groom.  Lily went shopping and bought this dress just for Bailey's wedding because it matched her colors perfectly.  But she decided to buy it in an extra large size so that she could wear it for the next year and be reminded of this beautiful day every-time that she wore it.

(She was more interested in the pretty flowers)

Our favorite part of all of Bailey's festivities (Luncheon, Wedding, Reception) - was seeing the Armstrongs.  They are seriously such an amazing, inspiring family.  They have taught us so much about being positive and encouraging in the home and what it means to just let loose and have fun.  We miss them - but are so excited to go and visit them when they are in Thailand in 2 years on their diplomatic assignment there.

We truly feel like not only did Bailey get adopted into our family, but we were adopted into hers as well.  We were invited to the massive family reunion/Ribs Barbeque the following day and had just as much fun getting to know new people and learn new things.  Lily was in heaven with all the attention she got over the long weekend.

5 Months

One more month - and we can introduce solid foods to Lily!  I'm so excited about this because she is now at the age where she wants to reach for and eat everything that I am eating.

She's also at that age where getting her to sit still is nearly impossible.

Noted by the pictures below!

 She just did not want to stand up against the chair... and then when we sat her down, she was more interested in the camera and kept reaching for it.

Here are the best two pictures that I was able to take:

 Having Lily grow up is so much fun... and 5 months is such a fabulous age.  It's so much fun to watch her try to drink from my cup (even if there is nothing in it), bounce up and down, roll over, talk, giggle, and smile. In addition, she's very interactive and attentive.  Every night when I put her to bed, I want to hurry and go to bed also because I can't wait to see her in the morning.

4 months

And just like that... another month goes by.  

The only "exciting" thing that we did in the last month was move.  Our good friend Heather told us, "You move so much that just thinking about it makes me tired."

 In these pictures we had to get a morning and night picture.  I didn't know if any of the pictures worked because my camera died in the middle of taking pictures, so I tried again later that night.  I guess a few turned out, but it is so hard to get a little infant to look at the camera and smile.  

And this was the best I could do at getting Lily to stand up for us.  Her absolute favorite thing to do is to stand up.  She's such a strong little girl, and is already flipping over - but she only decides to do it when I'm not looking. The doc told us that within the next two months we can expect more motion and more giggles: both of which I am truly excited for.  

Here are her stats from her 4 month wellness check-up:

Height: 26.4 inches - above 100th percentile

Weight: 14.4 lbs - slightly below 75th percentile

Head circumference - 75th percentile

BMI - below 0th percentile

I took statistics and I didn't ever do problems where something was above the 100th or below the 0th percentile.  The doc told us not to worry, that she is just may be an early bloomer.

With the exception of her immunization shots messing up her sleep schedule for a few days, we are loving this little girl more and more and can't wait for her to meet those of you that she hasn't had the chance to meet yet!

3 Months

You may remember this picture from when Lily turned 2 months old.  A few days later at her 2 month wellness appointment we found out that she is in the 95% percentile for her height... and 90% percentile for her weight because of how tall she is.  The doc was impressed with her strength and stamina and how good of a baby she is.  It was also the first time I really heard Lily cry.  Once she got her immunizations, she sure cried... and now she does all the time.  I think the immunization shots taught her how to use those lungs and now she uses it to her full advantage.  Now our little girl is a little over 3 months and she changes each day.   Here are some of my favorite things that she has accomplished in the last month:

* She now sleeps through the night.  Up until a few days ago we would put her to bed at 9:15 and she would wake us up at 6:00 am the next morning.  Now, bedtime is an hour earlier.

* She smiles all the time.

* Lily has laughed a few times when I stand her up.

* She talks to me non stop.  In fact, one day I said, "I LOVE YOU." And she repeated it back to me (not the exact words) but the same intonation that I used to say "I love you" to her.

* She plays well by herself.

* She grabs things.

* She sucks on her hands constantly.  (Rant: why do people want to grab babies hands when that's all they put in their mouth?  It's just asking for babies to get sick... and... I actually had someone tell me, "It's good for unhealthy people to touch their hands, it builds their immune systems." WHAT???? You heard right.)

* She got her first cold.  (Thanks to inconsiderate lady who told me it was good to build her immune system and touched her hands after refusing to put hand sanitizer on for me.)

* 0-3 month clothes are too small... and by too small I mean... the onesies are too short... so we put her in 3-6 month clothes - and they are too long that the bunch up and she just eats (and slobbers) all over her collar.  

* We should be in size 2 diapers - but still have 71 size 1 diapers left... so we'll use them instead of lose them.

* Lily still hates tummy time, but holds her head up the whole time as if she's ready to crawl right away.

Lily's Baby Blessing

A Little over nth ago, we were able to bless our baby girl.  Michal didn't want to perform the blessing at church, since we are transient and don't really have a ward we call "home".  Therefore, we had close family and friends over at my parents house in Layton for the blessing.

Michal did a great job.  He really thought, and pondered, and fasted over what he should say - and I think it was perfect.  He blessed our little girl to be my best friend.  He blessed her that she would grow up and share the gospel.  He blessed her to have a keen mind and many talents.  He blessed her with many other things, but these were a few that I specifically remembered.

When we talked about our baby blessing, we felt like it should be a celebration of the life of Lily - and so we wanted to invite people to the blessing in which have a special meaning to us... those that would help us "celebrate" this occasion.  Michal was in charge of the invites, and I feel like we got a pretty good turn out.

Michal had friends from far away come:

Jason came from St. George & Lael came all the way from DC

These are two of Michal's buddies/roommates/best man friends.

President & Sister Lewis.  President Lewis performed the sealing ordinance for Michal & I when we got married.  He has a special connection with Michal as that he was serving as Poland's Mission President when Michal got home from his mission.

The Pace Family.

We know Natalie from way back when Michal & I were dating - we decided to pick up some girls walking home at 2 am from the grocery store.  Lo & Behold - it was Natalie and her roommate.  Natalie and I had common friends (but FaceBook wasn't around yet, so we actually had to talk to figure that out).  Later, Natalie went on a mission to Poland.  Such a small world.

 The Rodriguez Family (in the middle).  They were our fun friends when we lived in the Brigham Apartments.  They are also expecting a baby (Max) in June.

Heather Collier (left) & Brooke Blair (right).

Heather is my bestie from when I went on a Study Abroad throughout Europe. Without Heather, I wouldn't have known the difference between being a "tourist" and a "traveler." Heather helped me to appreciate people and cultures and have the utmost fun possible.

Brooke is my bestie from High School.  She is literally one of like 4 people I keep in contact with from HS.  She came out to visit us in Poland and helped us move... and is a saint.

Amanda & Jared Mortenson

We love them.  Michal especially loves to introduce Amanda as "the Porn doctor."  We feel like we may have had a tiny itty bitty influence in their marriage.  Maybe, maybe not... but we still love them.

Our OB/GYN doctor.  How cool is it that our Doctor came to our baby blessing?

 Our Doctor was the missionary who taught Michal the Gospel.  Without her there would be no baby blessing.  She is an incredible woman.  Hopefully, one day I can grow up and be more like her. Now, I may not want to deliver babies when I get older, but I do want to make an impact in someone's life one day.

 ... and we were lucky enough that she brought her family along with her.

The Kinghorn Family

Not pictured: Katie's brothers + wives.  Katie's parents. Katie's Grandparents.

Overall... it was a great day.  Here are some details that I don't want to forget...

 Lily was blessed in the exact same outfit that I was blessed 29 years ago!

 I created these 'Her "SHE" y's' announcements that tell Lily's Stats on the back.  I made one for every guest that we had (36) (including children)... but somehow we had about 11 leftover (maybe Mom's didn't want their kids having them).  Anyway, I figured I'd give them to visitors who came to visit Lily. Unfortunately, Michal found out there were 11 left over and ate them over the course of the following month.

It was a great Sunday & Lily was such a trooper, she didn't fuss once and was so happy to have everyone hold her and get her picture taken a million times.  We sure love her.