Johnny Jump-Up

We arrived in WI to a home fully stocked with baby gear. I think my parents may have more gear than we do- there was a pack-and-play set up with fresh sheets and a changing table. A pack of diapers and wipes, some bibs and clothes. A exersaucer, bouncy seat, blanket, toys, and a johnny-jump-up among other things. It was perfect, and so easy for us to travel. They even had a baby monitor- we dont even have one of those (probably a good thing...). Thanks mom!

Here are some shots of Lauren in her Johnny Jump-up in the garage, complete with herbal bug repellent disks to keep the mosquitos away. Her hat is a Harley skull-cap, perfect to keep her head warm when she doesn't need a wide-brimmed sun hat. So fun and convenient for Lauren's first big trip. She did great, and it was so nice to be around the family!

Lauren meets her family

Finally- I get to meet Aunt Susie!

Uncle Gus is a natural! She was so happy with him!

Grandpa Randy- silly guy. Lauren was enamored with him.

Twins? Lauren and her cousin Kalliegh have the same birthday and matching outfits! The shirts say "Miss December"

Cousin Taya (Micah cuddled with her too, I just didn't get a photo...)

Rodeo to benefit Relay for Life

So my parents and family/ friends organize this annual motorcycle rodeo- this year was our first year to attend. It was quite impressive- a fun day and a great turn out. My mom and her family and some good friends are the coordinators of a very large event- over 300 people in attendance, I believe. They raised almost $6000 that they will add to their Relay For Life team donations (which totaled over $20,000 last year!!). I was so proud of them all- what a fantastic cause and a fun day. My friend Anne and her family drove up from Chicago to spend the weekend and see us - I was so touched. And many, many friend and family stopped by to see us all- it was a really nice weekend and made me thankful for all of the great people in our lives. Here is a pic of Lauren cashed out at the rodeo- she was great considering she missed most of her naps for several days.

ps- man! are there a lot of mosquitos in WI- I am still itching!

Funny Lauren

Poor baby- has no clothes.

Lauren's favorite thing- licking ice water glasses. She doesn't actually drink water, but loves to lick/ suck on the cold glass. I think she is teething... yikes!

Great Grandpa!

Lauren got to meet her first great grandparent this weekend. Here she is with great grandpa, he was so pleased to meet her! And in keeping with the Sawall family tradition- she was thrilled with the "beat me up - up, beat me, beat me up!" frog (inside joke, if you have never been to my grandpa's house). Here are some photos.

Update on Dad

So, my dad is back home recovering. He is actually doing very well and despite the seriousness of the blockage in his heart, his quick access to medical care has hopefully spared him any major heart damage from this heart attack. It does sound like he may need bypass surgery and some cardiac rehab, but everyone is hopeful for a quick recovery. Thanks for all of the prayers and well-wishes. My step-sister Catherine has some great pictures of him on her website http://catherineanne5.blogspot.com/ that really made me feel better. The cute photos of dad and Donna are after he got out of the hospital- he looks great!

School pictures- 5 months old

This week we picked up Lauren's school pictures. They are not my favorite pictures of her, but they are still darn cute. She had her tongue out on every shot - and we were not there to make sure her wardrobe was just perfect, so her clothes are a bit disheveled. None-the-less, they really show off her silly girl personality. We will be bringing them back to WI this weekend to share with everyone- and will mail some out to the other grandparents to enjoy.

Pray for my dad

Today I got a phone call that I have been dreading... my dad has had another heart attack. This one, although in a very bad location in his heart, was not quite as bad as last time. He was with his family and sought medical attention very quickly and had a cath with stents right away. He is lucky- had he not gotten to a big medical center so quickly, this may have been much worse. I am happy to report he is recovering and should be OK- please call or email me if you want more details. Include him in your prayers this week- he will be in the hospital for a few days and then hopefully get to go home to recover.

There is a family in colorado who love you very much and are thinking of you dad! Lauren Grace says FEEL BETTER SOON!

Date night!

Last night Jeff and I had our first official date night without Lauren. Thanks Pam! A friend from work volunteered to watch Lauren, so we packed up her stuff and dropped her off. We were only gone for about 2hrs or so, but it was really fun. We had to decide what to do- something adult that we would not bring Lauren to, we thought about a movie- but there was nothing on- so we went to Dave and Busters- it is like an arcade for grown-ups. We had a blast! I had a martini- woo-hoo!! Jeff said it best- when we used to do things like this it was fun, but now it seems like such a special treat.

Mother's Day/ Birthday weekend

Our family had a great weekend. On Friday, Jeff and Lauren set up a day at the spa for me for Mother's day. It was fantastic- my toes are painted for the first time in months!

Then we went up to Winter Park and had a great time. We took Lauren on a long stroller ride around the town- Jeff went a little overboard on the sunblock.

And we went swimming with Lauren in her new float, she LOVED it. She immediately started kicking her legs and could swim toward us. She loved the new mobility. She swam half the long length of the pool all at once. It must be a human insticnt to be able to kick your legs and swim- she was great at it and had a blast. I have been planning on finding swimming lessons for her this summer- I can see she will love it!

After a nap, we went to the Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe at the resort and listened to a blue-grass band. Lauren liked the music and couldn't take her eyes of the guy with the wash-board and spoons.

Mother's Day morning we woke up to heavy snow falling- see the pictures at the top. I LOVE the snow- so it was a perfect gift for me. We went to a nice brunch, and are heading back to Denver. Tonight we are celebrating my birthday in Denver. What a busy, fun weekend!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mother's Day Mom! And all the moms out there! I am so happy to be part of the club. I never realized how great it feels to be someone's mom, but when I snuggle my little blue-eyed angel up to my neck, and smell her sweat head and feel her soft hair on my cheek- just melts my heart. What a difference a year can make in a person's life!
I am forever greatful for my relationship with my mom- I now understand why she has always worried about me- often in an irrational way. How hard it must be once your baby is old enough to make her own decisions and you have to sit by the wayside and hope she makes good choices. And how hard it must be when your daughter moves more than 1000 miles from home- I hope Lauren is more considerate. My mom is such a great mentor, and friend to me- I love her so much and am lucky to have her as a big part of my life! :)

The Beermosa

Aahh- the beermosa. I had totally forgotten about this brunch drink- that is what a year of pregnancy/nursing will do to you. We learned about it from the locals in Winter Park. We used to go to this bar on sundays to watch football - the packers and steelers are usually not on TV here, so we found a brewery/ restaurant with the NFL sunday ticket. And we got to know some of the local people a bit- who taught us about the beermosa. I was a beer snob at first and said "No way! It'll ruin the beer!". Well, they made me try it, and man were they right- it is great! You mix half OJ and half beer- it is a white-trash mimosa. They usually mix it with cheap beer- Coors light or something, but we discovered it is really yummy with a wheat beer like Easy Street Wheat or Blue Moon. Definitely a camping beverage.

Making breakfast

Look what I caught Lauren doing this morning! I think she is practicing making pancakes so she can surprise me with breakfast in bed tomorrow.

Actually, we just didn't bring toys up to Winter Park with us this weekend- I figured when you are only 5 months old, everything seems new and exciting to play with...

May I take your order?

Out to dinner in Winter Park at Hernando's Pizza. Lauren had a lot of fun- her favorite entertainment? Reading the menu, singing to the '80s muzac and drinking ice water from a mason-jar. She is so much fun, glad she is such a good sport and likes to eat out.

Lauren playing

Check out these pics of my pretty little angel playing in the grass. She was helping me open cards. She is so pretty. She can sit up on her own now, which is pretty fun.

Hooked on this yogurt

I am hooked on this FiberOne yogurt. It comes in tiny little cups and is only 80 cals per cup, and has loads of fiber in it. It is so creamy and tastes great- I am usually not a yogurt fan, but I love this kind. You gotta try the key lime pie- you can even taste the graham cracker crust- seriously- how did they do that? I am sure it is some artificial something that makes the taste (I emailed the company to ask how- will keep you posted).

Baby Leg-warmers

I have decided that I love these things. Lauren has just one pair of baby legwarmers, but she will be getting more. They are so cute on babies, and then they dont have bare legs when they are wearing dresses. Love 'em!

Summer plans!

I know I am not the only one- It is CRAZY how fast the weekends in the summer book up!! Jeff and I each have a cousin getting married this summer- that equals two trips to WI this summer, two trips to ND this summer, an anticipated camping trip with friends, a week with my parents in town in July, and maybe a family RV trip for the three of us?? Our close friends from Utah are in town in September for the w/e for a wedding and we hope to have them as guests. And Jeff and I have opposite weekends to work, so we work 2 weekends per month!! How can we fit this all in?? This is the way I feel every May- how can I have my whole summer booked already?? Baffling, but fun! How lame would I feel if my calendar was blank for the whole summer (or would I love it......)?? I think we are blessed to have so many wonderful plans- miss Lauren is going to need to warm up her running shoes to keep up with our lifesyle- I sense she is game!

Rub-a-dub dub!

One last video- a clip of Lauren in the tub. It isn't great- I was dumb and tipped the camera on the side - duh! And I edited it weird to it runs into another clip, but anyway- here is some more cute-ness.

The Jumper

So, this is Lauren's new jumper. Check out how cute she looks! Unfortunately, it doesn't fit on our downstairs doorways, and wont adjust any shorter on the upstairs ones, so i think i am going to have to send it back and try a different style (I bought this based on Laurie's blog rec from the past). But she looks so cute- it makes her look like she can stand on her own!

Lauren and Daddy Playing

Check out the video of Lauren playing with her Daddo. She was singing and chatting it up, until I started the video camera, of course! Look who is wearing daddy's Rockies hat. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the cookie jar toy!

Happy May Day!

May Day (May 1st) is celebrated in many places around the world. The traditions and stories surrounding May Day vary from place to place. There is, however, one thing that is similar in most celebrations - the use of Flowers!
One of the most popularly known May Day traditions is to hang a basket full of spring flowers and/or other small gifts on a neighbor's doorknob. The trick is you don't want the neighbor to see you! If you get caught, you are supposed to get a kiss. We used to do this when I was a kid- cannot wait to resurrect the tradition in a year or two!

Project Angel Heart

Last night was the annual "Dining out for life" fundraiser for Project Angel Heart. This is a charity that provides meals for people with life-threatening diseases. They have an annual fundraiser where for one night at participating restaurants, 25% of your bill is donated to Project Angel Heart. Additionally, they have volunteers on hand at each restaurant to take donations. It is a very nice charity, and reminds me of when I was a kid and my mom and my grandma were volunteers for Meals-on-wheels.

We took Lauren in the stroller down to a local irish pub/ restaurant for her first shot at philanthropy. She was a hit- all smiles and happy- everyone at the restaurant loved her. Poor thing, we kept her up past her bed time, but she was giggling and smiling the whole walk home, despite the fact that it was 8pm and she is usually in bed by then. She is just such a good baby- I am often amazed!