I Heard the Bells

This Christmas was one of my very favorites!  We didn't have a million different places to go, we just kind of hung out at my parents house all day with family, and enjoyed an evening bowling and playing foosball together. After I became a mother, I really learned to apppreciate the simple things. Anniston was much more excited about opening and recieving gifts this year, so much so, that everyone in my family wanted Anniston to open their gifts for them. Oh, the joys of being the only grandchild on the Pilley side of the family! My favorite gift this year was from my sweet husband, of course.  He got me this beautiful chess set from World Market that was handmade in India. About 3 years ago, Gabe and I went out and purchased a five dollar chess set at Walmart. We played it all the time! We used to stay up way too late playing, and we always had a fun time playing it together, even though Gabe always beat me. I attribute my consistent failure to win against Gabe to him being in the chess club in middle school.  Yes ladies, be jealous! But I'll have you know, I totally beat Gabe in our first game on my new chess board! I'm in a bit of denial, still trying to accept that Christmas time is over and still wishing everyone a Merry Christmas everywhere we go. It was a wonderful Christmas in the Lawrence and Pilley households! I hope everyones Christmas was as pleasant and simple as ours. <3

Christmas Eve with the Lawrence's

It has become a tradition for us to spend Christmas Eve with Gabe's parents, which is so nice, because it saves us from having to commute all over the place on Christmas day. Anyways, now that Anniston is starting to get older and really getting into the holiday stuff, I wanted to start a family tradition for our own family. I saw a few ideas of Christmas Eve boxes on Pinterest. I never actually looked to see what was in the boxes, but I thought the idea of a Christmas Eve box was cool.  So I decided to make my own version.  I packed our box with some yummy salted caramel hot cocoa, the story of the first Christmas, a finger puppet nativity to go along with the story, holiday decorations, and the explanations of how they correspond with the Savior's birth (thank you primary lesson).  The whole thing went over very well, except for the sitting through the story part of it. I think we are going to have to find a shorter version for more toddler-like attention spans.  After we finished with all of the activites in the box, Gabe and his dad set up the slide that Gabe's parents gave Anni for Christmas, among millions of other gifts. That little girl of ours definitely gets spoiled!  Anniston absolutely loves her new slide and wants to be on it 24/7!  All and all, it was a very pleasant Christmas Eve with the Lawrence's. 

Logan and Anni's first trip to the P Patch

We took the munchkins on their first trip to the pumpkin patch, and to be honest, it wasn't the biggest hit with them.  However, in the defense of the pumpkin patch,  it was also a farm and garden, so there were more interesting things to look at than just stationary, orange spheres.  Anni and Logan loved the animals and waterfall!  They also had a bounce house, which was what attracted  most of Anniston's attention.  Poor thing was so distraught that she was too little to go inside. The pumpkin patch we chose to go to was Summers Past Farm, which is an adorable little place right outside of Alpine.  It was very small, so it wasn't packed at all, even on a Saturday.  The babies could run around and we didn't have to worry about them getting trampled, which is a very big plus! The munchkins had a great time chasing each other and everyone else around at Summers Past Farm so it was a successful first trip to the P patch in our book!

Bumbleberry Pie and Some Wilderness

I'm a planner by default, so I like to have most of my days and weeks planned out with very little room for change.  Gabe, however, is the complete opposite.  This man is the epitome of spontaneity.  On very rare occasions, I feel like living on the wild side and being spontaneous too.  One of those very rare days was our trip to Julian. I asked Gabe the night before if he thought heading up to Julian for the day would be fun.  He said, "Sure. What do you want to do in Julian?"  My response went something like, "I have no clue. Let's just go with the flow." Gabe almost died of shock!  So the next day, we packed lunch and headed up to Julian. We wandered through the adorable little town for awhile. It was a little chilly and warm pie sounded wonderful, so we stopped by Mom's for some pie.  Not either of our actual mom's, but the bakery, Mom's Pies. Gabe had been wanting to go to Mom's since our visit to Julian last year, but the place was always ridiculously busy.  Luckily, this time we seemed to have beat out most of the rush. We ended up getting bumbleberry pie.  It had absolutely no apples in it, which is actually kind of lame of us, considering Julian is know for it's apple pie. But of course, it was absolutely delicious, so we didn't feel the least bit guilty, and who knows if they actually make their apple pie with Julian apples anyway. After indulging in the best pie I've ever tasted, we decided to work the pie off with a little hike. Anniston was on a bit of sugar high and needed to get some energy out.  Hiking has always been something Gabe and I have loved to do together, but this was the first time Anniston got to hike along with us, instead of begin stuck in her carrier.  I am happy to report that she enjoyed tromping through the forest as much as we did. She was covered in dirt, with flowers in one hand, rocks in the other, and a huge smile on her face. I wish there were more hiking areas in San Diego.  Thinking about it makes me really miss Boise. Living only 15 minutes aways from a beautiful forest was nice.  Hopefully, someday very soon, we will be able to explore the forest of Boise again, but next time, we will explore it with our little nature girl. 

Grandma P

This past weekend, we all got the flu.  It took us almost a week to fully recover.  But I would like to post a big thank you to my mom for being such a big help with Anniston while Gabe and I were sick.  See, Anniston had the flu for all but 2 hours, which I am very thankful for.  Gabe and I, however, were not as lucky. Chasing her around, while also puking our guts out, was no bueno.  My mom was our hero this weekend and entertained Anniston most of the time Gabe and I were feeling like death.  Plus, Anniston adores my mom, so it was basically an Anni and Grandma Pilley party all weekend. She is pretty much the best and I feel so lucky to have her as a mother.  Starr Pilley, you're the best! Thanks for being our hero this weekend.  We all love you very much! 

Anniston at 14 months

Anniston had her 14 month check up last week. No shots! Wahoo! Anyway, I've decided to do a update on how much our sweet little girl is learning and growing.  

• Her height and weight haven't changed at all in the last two months.  She is still 22 pounds (72th percentile) and 31 inches long ( 81st percentile).
• She has learned where her nose, head, hands, feet, toes, tummy and ears are and can point to them if asked.
• She has also been all about the barn yard animal sounds lately.  She knows the sounds of the cow, duck, sheep, dog, rooster and horse.  Anniston's Aunt Lindsey was the one who taught Anniston the horse sound.  She was having a pretty hard time with that one.  Thanks, Aunt Lindsey!
• Her favorite words lately are bye, chicken, thank you, bubble and GG.  GG stands for Grumpy Grandpa, which is what my mom lovingly dubbed my dad.  
•  By far, Anniston's favorite pastime is rock collecting.  Every chance she gets to be outside she is on the search for the biggest rock she can find.
• Is getting pretty skilled at feeding herself with a spoon.
• Her new favorite thing to do is style her hair with her food.  It's literally my least favorite thing.  She tends to have more baths lately as a result. 
• Anniston has the chubbiest feet ever! She fits into almost no shoes.  Thank goodness for baby moccasins and sandals or she would be going around barefoot.
• Pretty much refuses to hold anyones hand when she is walking around.  Such an independent thing.
• Is usually a very sweet little girl who listens pretty well; however, if she is in a bad mood she can have quite an attitude.  I've clocked multiple tantrums at 60 mins.  Those were definitely not fun times. 
• Thinks every spherical shape is a ball and every animal with four legs is a dog.  
• Will wait at the door to go outside until someone takes her outside.  Still a nature girl.  
• To my complete dismay, she has become a picky eater.  She used to eat everything, but pretty much the day she hit one year old, she started shaking her head at most things offered to her. 
• In addition to her picky eating, she is basically a vegetarian, with the exception of fish. 
• Has been having some pretty amazing snuggle moments lately, which are literally my favorite. :)