Birthday for Lily, Birthday for Jesus, the Southern way!

After a very long and over-delayed flight, Lillian, Daniel and I arrived in Birmingham, Alabama at 12:30 a.m. Lily was so exhausted (didn't sleep the entire flight trip until her melt-down moment at the very end), but Granny and PawPaw were so excited to see her sleeping face. It was nice to step off the plane into 50 degree weather, and the next few days after that were gorgeous and in the upper 60s! Lily loves being outside.

Speaking of which, outside time is great and we have a lot of videos from our snowshoeing adventure and Lily's world outside thanks to our new GoPro. Unfortunately, the files are EXTREMELY big and Daniel has to take a considerable amount of time to format them to fit on fb or the blog...so what I'm saying is, we'll all just have to settle with pictures. :) The videos are great though, ;)

snowshoeing adventure at Harriman State Park

The birthday girl!

I was concerned that Lily would not do well for her birthday. She was pretty tired the day after and she had another melt-down at my grandparents' house. Her birthday was the 19th, only 2 days after we flew in. Surprisingly, she slept like a baby("well, a baby that sleeps like an adult who sleeps well"--name that movie) for her naps and she was well-rested and ready to party! We like to go over-the-top here in the South about a lot of things and throwing parties are no different. My granny threw a great first birthday party for the Lily B. Filled with a gi-normous cake, smash cake, a ba-zillion finger foods (chick-fil-a included) and lots and lots and lots of presents, this was a party to remember. Not only that, but Lily pulverized her smash cake; it was the funniest thing to see. It was also her first time having that much sugar, but she did well, and had a good ole' sugar crash about an hour 1/2 into the party. All-in-all, it was great to see most of the family (including Dad, Grandma and Grandaddy)!

We have enjoyed being in Alabama with the fam so much. Even though it's been 2 1/2 years, it is so familiar and inviting. Family is fam, and we all know what that means, but we have enjoyed every moment.

Christmas was exceptional; all the family came out including Alex, Kyle and Niki! We had another feast of food, and lots and lots of toys for the two great-grandchildren (man, are they spoiled--I don't know how we are going to bring all these toys home!) We didn't do a lot of mine and Daniel's traditions, but that's ok; we wanted to follow the family's traditions this year. We learned a lot though, and we are excited about next year and the things we are going to do with Lily when she is two-years-old.

meeting her great-grandma!

Lily has loved every moment with her extended family! She loves Granny and she has sugar just for her Granny. Mom (my mom) is dubbed "Mi Mi"--I don't know why. Dad (my dad) is "Grandpa Craig." She loves Grandma (my grandma...confusing, but you get used to it); she will go right up to her and give her wonderful open-mouth kisses. Everyone in the family has been teaching her a lot of new things. She is now able to say a lot of new words. She blows kisses (in an interesting way). When she is going to bed she will promptly wave "bye" to everyone. She still loves her nursing and will now try to undress me...hmmm...gotta work on that one. ;) Her appetite has grown too while she has been here. She loves Southern cooking, and she loves Granny's lasagna! I've never seen her eat so much. I'm proud of my girl for liking sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs (she devours these guys), and dressing...oh, and don't forget the BBQ! She loves ribs. She is growing, so it's ok for her to add some pounds, but I think I've gained 5 lbs just by looking at all this food! This kind of goodness doesn't come very often though and it's worth it all! Daniel asked me why I just can't recreate it. I told him I could, but it just wouldn't be the same. So true.

"do you want some?"

Everyone insisted that I had to clean her up. Mi Mi helped, thankfully.

Lily meeting her uncle, Alex!

Mi Mi and Aunt Sherry going upstairs to put Lily's Christmas outfit on.

2012 has wrapped up as a great year! We have started in Rexburg with a new little baby, moved to Kenai, AK and had a lot of crazy adventures. I don't know if the story of how we drove to our 4,600 sq ft. home in -28 degree weather with a 4 week old is ever going to get old. We ended up in Rexburg again in September, successfully completed another semester of classes, and visited the Southern family in Alabama. I'd say it was a great year, indeed! I'm sure 2013 will be extremely eventful! :)