"I'm Going to Jackson", Hole that is

The Memorial Day Weekend (kinda an oxymoron...day-weekend) brought the Bartons and great friends the Thompsons to Jackson Hole, Wyoming! A few pics from the trip...

We set off to Grand Teton National Park to hike up to Jenny Lake and some apparently pretty waterfalls. I say apparently because after paying the $25 park fee, we get to the trailhead and wouldn't you know it, the trail is closed for reconstructive purposes! But, we walked around anyways and let the kiddos take in the scenery...pretty sure Lily was asleep about 5 minutes into the walk.

Yeah, family photo! Troy, Gretchen and Gage - so cute

"OH Dad, you're just saying I'm the cutest cuz I'm your daughter!"

"Ok, maybe you're right...I'm pretty dang cute!"

We strolled around downtown Jackson Hole, a cool little ski town and found a park to take in the view. But before our walk, the Thompsons insisted on doing the tourist thing (a bit of a tradition during their family trips!). Can you guess what that was by the following photo?

What?! Oh yes, we went and did the old time, black and white photo - costumes and all! Just a glimpse of what Ken and Lily doned in the photo. Lots of fun but I won't lie...I was a bit grossed out by the thought of thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of people wearing the same outfits prior to us. Luckily no weird rashes broke out! But the photo guy still remains creepy and weird.

So after a long day of window shopping, photo shoots, and park going, we had to unwind for some sampling. Beer sampling, of course, at the Snake River Brewery & Pub (no idea if that's the official name but you get the idea). As you can imagine, this was Ken's least favorite part of the day. Right.

And as Ken and I sipped our Pale Ale, Stout, and my favorite, The Discombobulator, Lily sampled her own finds like this rubber ducky - ahhh, the plastic tastes so good when it hits your lips!

Thanks Gretti for planning the trip and making my 30th B-day a great celebration! Good times!

Swaddle No More

I'm a big girl now - no more swaddle! Well, after we got yelled at by Lily's pediatrician, Dr. Ferreria, to not use it anymore, we tried our luck. Ok, he didn't exactly yell, but he did tell us she needs to be able to suck on her fingers at night to sooth herself back to sleep...so swaddle no more! Ken and I thought it would be a long night...that Lily surprised us yet again.

Lean, Mean, Pooping Machine...6 months & kickin'

Get outta' here - I'm 6 months today!Things that I have learned & discovered in my 180 plus days of life:

1. Smile - it's pretty fun to flash that

2. Giggle - I'm still working on this but when Mom & Dad find that ticklish armpit, it's over!

3. My tongue! I like to stick it out - maybe at you if you're lucky!

4. Air zerberts...ya know, flappin my lips pushing air through, air zerberts!

5. Roll over - tummy to back no problem...back to tummy - uh, that dang arm doesn't quite tuck under all the time

6. My toes...pretty cool to suck on those

7. Mom says I take after my Auntie Syd because I'm babbling on and on now! Also, if you ask her, she will tell you I am definitely saying, "Mamamama"...I'll buy that to make her feel good.

8. And finally, I'm in serious training to master this sitting thing. How am I doing?

Now back to that lean, mean thing! Lily had her 6 month appointment yesterday and she measured up just fine on that percentile chart....

86% in height - 26.77 inches
23% in weight - 14 lbs 8 oz

80% head size - 17.13 inches (uh, I know not that exciting but probably still important!)

So I totally stole this idea from BF Megan & Hadley (Hads) Prentice's blog and it was a must to take photos on the kid chair in the doctor office! Thank ya' Megs! Here's a look back on Lily's growth...

6 Days Old...a bit camera shy or just real pissed that Mom took her out of the nice, warm blanket to take this stupid photo!

2 Months Old...ya, check out that mohawk - it's all natural. Don't be jealous!

4 Months Old..still got it, still got the mohawk - definitely don't take after my Grandpa Jim in the hair category!

And again, a look back at the 6 month photo op. It's absolutely amazing and crazy and joyous and heartbreaking to see your little one grow up so fast! I would just politely nod my head at those who told me, "Don't blink, they'll be graduating high school before you know it." And then, think to myself, "Ya, ya, ya...whatever. You obviously don't remember 2 am feedings and dirty diapers every 1/2 hour. Pretty sure you don't miss that!" And now...I miss 2am and a garbage full of diaper-doos. We love you Lily and trying real hard not to blink!

Found it! Ozzy aka Willie the Groundskeeper

As mentioned in the past post, I said I'd give Gretti and Troy's (aka T-Bone) dog, Ozzy, a cameo photo, so here it is...although it really doesn't do his "look" justice! If you're wondering, he is a German Wire Hair which in German is "Drahthaar." Basically, a hairy bird dog! We love Ozzer!

And so the other dogs don't feel left out (mainly Chief because Troy totally favors Ozzy...hopefully not an indicator of what T-Bone will be like when Baby Thompson #2 comes around!), I included a couple of Cash and Chief. This one was just way too cute not to put in. If you look closely, you can actually see Chief's leg around Cash, like, "Hey guys, this is my lil' bro Cash."

One more...so these crazy dogs (they are brothers, by the way so two peas in a pod!) followed me out to the garage one night as I was unloading the trunk. And as labs always are, quite excited thinking we were going "for a ride" (if you're a lab owner you know you can never even mutter these words!). I set something down and turned to see this "are you serious?" moment. They waited a long time for that ride to actually depart.

Grandma Sheryl's 1st Visit!

Ok, let's do some reminiscing and recapping! A few "firsts" in Lily's life...

We needed to share some pics of Grandma Sheryl's first time meeting her first grandbaby in Lily's first week of life. Of course, Lily had to sport her favorite onesie for the visit (courtesy of Auntie Sydney...along with 2/3 of Lily's wardrobe provided by Auntie--thank you for clothing our child!)

Grandma's first time holding Lily Jay


Sunny days in November! Lily's first ever walk with Mom, Grandma, great friend Gretchen (aka Gretti), Gage (aka Rager Gager), Cash the Dog (ours), Chief (Gretti's dog...aka Chiefie Beefy, Cheddar, Cheddar Bomb, and the list goes on), and can't forget Ozzy (also Gretti's...aka Ozzer Pozzer, Oz Man, Poo Eater, and Groundskeeper Willie of the Simpons). Can you keep up with the nicknames?

As you can see, Lily was alert the entire walk just taking it all in!
Just had to add a picture of everyone who was along for the first walk...Gretti was the photographer above but I had to give her a photo shout out! And I can't find one of Ozzy but I know I have one, so he'll get a delayed cameo when I find one...cuz everyone needs to see his old man eyebrows and beard!

It was a long day...Lily is exhausted! Grandma helped rock her to sleep and I'm not sure if she ever put her down from here on out!

Vegas, Baby!

We made it through the weekend...the trip to Vegas! Not only the leaving Lily part but our ol' can't-party-like-we're-22-anymore-butts somehow managed to pull off two nights in Sin City with not too bad of hangovers. However, we were certainly ready to hit the road back to SLC and of course, Lily!

Joining us in our weekend getaway (well, actually we totally jumped on this band wagon, they had already planned this vacation), was our great friends, Carrie and Dave "Guder" Gudanowski. Funny...they are just plain funny--lovin' those grins!

And the instigaters to get Ken and I to join the debacle, the Weston's! Well, Sarah really was the master planner--surprising, huh? Sarah talking us into crazy activities! Good times were had...we did a little gambling--Craps for me, Black Jack for Ken...and some crazy poker game in which the dealer, Monica, told me I looked like her niece...mind you, Monica was Asian. Hmmm?? Not sure I, nor anyone, would agree with her observation. We basked in the sun by the pool and some beverages were consumed...just a few!

A BIG thanks to Ken's sister's family--Laura, Duncan, Tristan, and Will!! They watched Lily for us and we couldn't have felt more confident and comfortable with the situation. In fact, pretty sure Laur knows way more about parenting than we ever will! And if there were any parental nerves that needed calming, they settled when we were sent this photo on our trip.

Lily's first sleep over!

In my attempt to capture Lily's giggles, she, as most of you would assume, outsmarts her mama.

And just when I thought I had her, she strikes again! At least we know her hand-eye coordination is up to speed...maybe too well. This video gets a little long and crazy voices are heard from the camera"mom" but bare with me; I'm a parent trying to capture all those kodak memories for Lily...ok, maybe for Ken & me selfishly!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

We're off to Las Vegas tomorrow leaving our lil' baby girl for the first time. It's a mixture of nervousness, excitement, sadness, anticipation and the list goes on. Lily will be well taken care of by her two cousins, Tristan & Will, with a bit of help from Aunt Laura and Uncle Duncan...so we're not worried there! I, however, am worried about the fact I have not consumed alcohol as you do in Vegas for well, well over a year...and college buds Carrie and Sarah with their hubbies Dave aka "Guder" and Chris aka "Big Chris" will be there, so as you can imagine, I'm even more scared! Ken, please pack the GIANT advil bottle. Miss Lily, we love, love, love you and will miss you tremondously but I've got to say we are looking forward to getting a full night's rest and sleeping in past 6am. Good luck Laur and Dunc! (and thank you!!)

Here's me in the "final product". Here's how it started...

The car ride began like any other...this thing in my hair was new however...

hmmm...not sure I like this strange thing on top of my head??

It's creepin'...

Damn. I knew it would end like this.

I'm in my Bumbo, I'm in my bumbo...

Simply...one of my favorite pics ever. I came in to check on Miss Lil and this is what I found. I went straight for the camera...

Some say I look exactly like my mom...pretty sure they also think Clay and Rubin are going to make it big.

Trying this out...first post. Question: does it work? We'll see when i hit publish post...