Exploring Salt Lake

Michal had some fly out interviews - which means - that if a company is invested enough in him to fly him out, there is a pretty good possibility that they will ask him to come back... for good.

SOOOOOOOOO... while he was gone, Lily and I went on lots of walks together and explored more of Salt Lake.  While we didn't go to any museums, or stores, this post is more of the hidden treasures that we found together on our walks.

Check out this awesome home... I love how it looks like a doll house... admit it... it does!!!

And this home below is just beautiful also!  It looks like a plantation mansion - right here downtown Salt Lake!

 I know I'm an Art History Major, but I have to admit - this random sculpture totally stumped me.  I have no idea what it refers to - or means.  Any ideas?

 How many cities have a "Q Street"?  Okay - so maybe a lot of cities do - but... how many of them imprint the name of the street on the sidewalk?  I bet not many.  Salt Lake is so cool!

 Here's one that blew me away.  I was walking by this home and I saw a harp in the window.  So, of course, as I'm exploring - I had to take a picture of it!  But as I got closer, there wasn't just one harp - or two harps - or three harps... but there were NINE harps in the front living room of this home.  They were all pedal harps (as compared to lever harps) - which retail for at least $30k.  Think about it $30k x 9 harps = $270,000.  That's AT LEAST over a quarter of a million dollars (probably closer to about a half million) just sitting in the front living room of this home.  I sure hope they have a good alarm system going on in here!

Lily was such a good girl just chillin' and enjoying the scenery while I was busy taking random pictures!

 Look how massive this Ronald McDonald house is going to be?  Fun fact - most times when you donate to charities - your money doesn't go DIRECTLY to the cause (it goes to overhead, and employees, and CEO's - you get the picture)... but with the Ronald McDonald house 100% of the money donated goes directly to the house - not a penny on employees of Ronald McDonald's house.  That's like tithing money - or temples!

I couldn't forget to take pictures of two awesome edifices located within one block of where I lived.  The Cathedral of the Madeline (which I'm kinda jealous that Mormon churches don't have bells - or play them either - every time the bells play downtown I always tell Lily that they are playing just for her) and the Salt Lake Temple - which is literally like 200 steps away from our apartment complex.

The next day Lily and I went to the Downtown Farmer's Market.  Everyone knows what a Farmer's Market is - and everyone's seen the goods they sell - but has everyone seen one of these:

A KEG COOLER

(I think my dad needs this for his birthday)!

 A didgeridoo!

(Which you have to play by circular breathing - which is like constantly blowing through a straw while breathing at the same time - try it - it's nearly impossible to do).

 And this...

I'm not quite sure what it is... but it's some weird instrument that the guy claims is from Sweden.

 Even though we had a lot of fun adventures - our favorite was chatting with Daddy each time he had a free minute to spare.

When Michal returned home he was so excited to see Lily and she was so tired from playing with him that they fell asleep together.

Michal is such a good daddy. Lily is such a lucky girl to have him as her daddy.  And we are all so grateful when he's home and not away interviewing.

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.