dear EVERYONE!,

Were sorry you didn't get you christmas cards... either frank or myself (not sure who) accidentally threw away the addressed and stamped envelopes filled with the cards. :(
So just know that we love you all, and were and are thinking of you this holiday season even though you didn't get our cards.
<3 us.

It's TRUE!

"This church is true. It will weather every storm that beats against it. It will outlast every critic who rises to mock it. It was established by God the Eternal Father for the blessing of His sons and daughters of all generations. It carries the name of Him who st...ands as its head, even the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. It is governed and moves by the power of the priesthood. It sends forth to the world another witness of the divinity of the Lord. Be faithful my friends. Be true. Be loyal to the great things of God which have been revealed in this dispensation. " ~pRESIDENT Hinkley

A little seperation anxiety...

Yep, thats right we are starting to suffer from a little bit of seperation anxiety, but ironically when I say "we" I mean "me"! Frank's annual work christmas party was this past Saturday evening and for weeks we had been trying to figure out who would be best suited to stay with Lilley for several hours while we were away... unfortunately, more for us then for her, this was the first time we've left her with anyone for more then like an hour. And if you know either of us very well, then you've heard us make mention of the individuals that we really didn't feel comfortable leaving her with. Well, we figured after some deep contemplation that we better let Franks parents spend some time with her epsecially since they don't make too mauch of an effort to come see her.
*on a side note, it's kind of our thought that the grandparents should make most of the effort to see the grandchildren instead of the parents always having to take the grandchildren to see the grandparents... does anyone else agree? "cuz my mother in law seems to think that we should be the ones always going to visit her. Thats mainly Franks frustration-not mine, but I do have to agree with him.

Just before leaving:



Anyways, long story short, it came time to leave and my mother-in-law STILL WASN'T THERE... SHE WAS 45 MINUTES LATE!! (how rude) she knew we were on a time schedule and had to be somewhere by the time she FINALLY arrived. So i hurried her through the routine with Lilley... how much to feed her, what to feed her(she likes to do her own thing apparently-from my sis in law) what NOT to do in big bold letters, how to rock her, how to lay her in her crib, etc, etc, etc... she probably was annpyed with me after telling her, but WHO CARES, it's MY KID she was watching so I was entitled to tell her as much as I needed. Then it came time to say goodbye. WE kissed her on the head and hurried down the stairs and out our front door and didn't look back. SAD MOMENT. WE got in the car and had a nice conversation about who knows what for about 5 minutes and then Frank looked at me and said "I miss Lilley, should we just go home"? It took me a minute to respond, but FINALLY i uttered... "NO."
WE made it to the party enjoyed ourself for a little while, then Frank called to check in on her and she was peaceful as could be. He could hear her babbling and squawking with excitement in the background so I guess he felt better.
The rest of the night was okay, the party was as fun this year, I think 'cuz we both missed the baby, and also because there were some friends of ours who also work for the company who were extrmely inappropriate due to large amounts of alcohol consumption which was TOTALLY TRASHY AND WITHOUT CLASS. So we just wanted the night to hurry and be over so we could go home to baby girl.
In the end we all survived, she did extraordinarily well (I do always hand her off to other people so she's okay with strangers) and we too did much better then thought. Frank thought I'd for sure cry, and I thought he'd shed a tear or two but nope, WE DID IT! and this is what we came home to...HEAVEN.




Earlier in the day, we were busy doing a few things, here's what we were up to...





Made a trip to the NORTH POLE (aka the Dowdens) to meet Santa... was a HUGE SUCCESS! She loved the beard!

Tried out some green beans for lunch:


"I don't know mom"


"mmmmm"



AND FINALLY, A NAP WITH DADDY AND BUDDY.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

It's a little early, but what the heck... Happy Holidays everyone! We wish you the merriest of Christmas's and the happiest coming year!






All our love,
Frank, Sabrina, Lilley and Buddy too.

6 MONTHS IN 1 WEEK!

OMG!!!!! I cannot believe Lilley girl is 6 months old! Well, technically she will be next week. Time is just FLYING by, and I want it to stop and just stand still. This girl is toooooooo much fun. Her personality has really come out over the past few weeks and she keeps her daddy and myself giggling and melting over her each and every day. We were blessed with such a great baby, I'm sure every parent says that, so we'll just join in. She is so happy, laughs and smiles all day long, babbles and screaches like she's a big kid and eats like a champ.

At 6 months, she:

LOVES LOVES LOVES LOVES LOVES to be held... (mom and dad love it t00)

loves to learn- she is constantly watching us like a little hawk and very intently no matter what we're doing.

loves baby einstein, would probably watch all of the videos all day long if I'd let her.

LOVES to stand up and can hold herself up when leaned on something. Likes to sit up on her own, but only for a few seconds, then she topples over. She can totally do it, I think she just gets a little distracted. :)

LOVES Buddy our dog, and my moms dogs too. She screatches at them any time she sees them.

LOVES the outdoors... she babbles the whole time we are outside.
Shes really enjoying her new stroller that we cruise in a few mornings a week on the way to the park.

Shes a fabulous shopper- mom loves that about her. We go on dates to the mall and other stores all the time and lilley loves to help me pick things out and pull them off the shelf or rack.

Shes OBSESSED with my cell phone

Likes tummy time now, and thoroughly enjoys the car... however, i think she prefers her dads car over mine, his back window is at her level so she can actually see whats going on. :)

hmmm what else? oh! SHE'S A PIGGY! but still only weighs 14.5lbs which is just over double her birthweight. She nurses 6 times a day and eats fruit for breakfast and veggies for dinner.

We just adore her and each and every day she does something new that reminds us she's growing so quickly so we have to make sure we revel in these early months because they go by in the blink of an eye!

Lilley- we love you. TRULY. MADLY. DEEPLY.