Lily's Party

June 20 (I am so behind I have to date my posts for now. We just moved...so give me a break. Actually don't give me a break, I will always have another excuse!)

And my Did this little girl know how to party! Last month we visited Spokane, and I didn't tell Renee (my favorite sister in law) that I was coming until later. We made a surprise visit for Lily's (their daughter) 1st Birthday Party. Renee is just a wonderful person to surprise. She gives you a huge reaction. It was great! And I met Lily for the first time and she was just a little doll!

Anyway, I offered to take pictures of the Party and Renee graciously obliged. I really wanted to mainly because I love taking pictures and I knew Dave would love it if I got some of my picture taking need out on other people. I also know it is nice to enjoy those moments without worrying about taking pictures, but mostly I just like to pretend I am a famous photographer (sorry if you thought I was just lovingly doing service for you Renee!) so I had a complete ball!

FYI: my camera got sand in it and hasn't been working since July 17. I need to go get it cleaned because I am going crazy! Today we hiked to Stewart Falls and I just died wanting to take a hundred pictures of Lucy. Is it wrong to not want to do cool things because I can't take pictures? Oh well. I am learning to enjoy the moment, instead of just capture it and then embellish how awesome it was on my blog! Ha ha. At least I am not taking a million pictures and then getting even more behind on my blogging! Beware of the upcoming summer picture dryspell.

Anyway, the party was wonderful, but Lily was the best part about it. She ate three whole cupcakes! It was a blast watching her chow them down. She is seriously a better eater than my almost 2 year old (yeah, just a few weeks will make 2 years! I can't believe my baby is all grown up!) I put way too many pictures of Lily eating cupcakes in the slide show. They just made me laugh so much, I really couldn't choose between all of them. Even if you don't know this cute baby, it is worth watching the slide show. She will make you laugh, and leave this page smiling. Happy Babies just do that to you sometimes, huh?

Well here is the slide show. More Spokane Vacation Posts to follow soon! Enjoy!

Channy's Wedding

How did I spend my New Year's eve? On the dance floor of course! We celebrated my cousin Channy's wedding on New Year's eve. I couldn't have felt more honored than to be one of her bridesmaids (plus I have always wanted to wear a formal dress to a New Year's Eve party...Wish Granted!). She is a few years older than me and I have always looked up to her way more than she could ever imagine, and I am pretty sure most people that meet her do. She married an absolutely fantastic person, Sean, who I am so excited is part of my extended family now.

It was quite the exciting night for me. I was the emcee and sang a song ("So this is Love" from Cinderella), which was an absolute blast for me. My Dad sang "As time Goes By" and my brother sang "This is Your Song." They were both wonderful and I loved every minute! I haven't done anything like this since before Lucy was born and now all I can talk about is how I am going to run a wedding planning company and be the emcee at every wedding possible. Of course, you probably already know that I change my career path every month, which is funny because I don't really have a career right now, and most likely won't until I raise a couple of kids, but I still change my plan every month. Maybe in 20 years when I am actually ready to start a career I will be able to stick with something for more than a month!

Lucy loved rocking out on the dance floor! She now insists that we hold hands when she dances, just like all the other couples. She even wants to do spins and dips (which she completely bends and puts her head back for). It cracks me up and I wonder if behavior at this age can predict very much about the future...if so, we're going to have to start saving so we can build a dance studio in our house. Honestly, she wakes up every morning, begs me to put one of her frilly dresses on, then asks me to turn the player piano on and then she rocks 'til she drops (usually at least a half hour). At least I get a workout every morning. I love having a buddy who is always ready to rock out with me (not that Dave doesn't succumb every once in a while, even he can't resist jumping in there when his baby girl asks him for a dance)!

Here's a good family shot! It was a lovely wedding and perfect night to be remembered!

Snow Play

Lucy really fell in love with the snow in Spokane. She would have stayed out in it all day if I let her. The entire 2 weeks we were there I think I only remember one day that it didn't snow. I had never seen so much snow in my life and was totally in heaven (other than seriously wishing I had my trustee snowboard).

Here's some of the snow play in action (thanks to Renee for the pictures...I always forget my camera right when the perfect photo op happens):

Christmas + Cousins

Christmas Morning 2008

Nana and Papa's house

Lucy giving some love to her baby that kisses and says I love you, me looking like this is way too early to be up (even though it was probably around 9:00 a.m. and there was really no excuse)
Dominic, Lucy's cousin, totally rocking out with his new guitar!
Such a little girl just talking away on her new phone



Later Christmas Day

Not in the best of moods here, but we were trying desperately to take advantage of Dave's Aunt Dana's house who is the best decorator I have ever seen ( I mean check that adorable rocking, antique looking, motorcycle, wooden sled, and you can't even see, but the tree has to be 15 feet high!):


Well we did get a half smile out of them:


Could Dominic be any cuter?

NO

Ahhhhh, it's been so long since my little Lucy posed for a super sweet shot
Second cousin Ryan jumped in for a cute picture:


And here's the whole gang (minus 2 2nd cousins, this is Dale and Betty Pendergrass with all their Great Grandkids) Ryan, Gage, Landon, Lucy, Dominic
What a good looking bunch!

...and a perfect (totally white might I add) Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve - Lots of partying and hugs at the Pendergrass home (mainly by Lucy and Dominic, although most the extended family was there, I really only got pics of the little cuties).


Wish I would have taken more pictures of Lucy with her grandparents, but sometimes I just feel like I am starting to annoy everybody with the camera, so this is really all I got the whole trip.

Lucy is so in love with her Papa...she really just doesn't stop giggling when he is around.
They are spinning around here, so Mark looks a little funny, but I had to post it because of the sheer joy on Lucy's face! That seems to be about how she feels every time he walks in the room.
We know how to wrap up a party around here:
Put the little ones to work and this house will be shining in no time! I couldn't stop laughing when I walked in the kitchen and found these two like this, all of their own accord. Some kids tend to get into trouble more with certain kids, but Lucy and Dominic really bring out the best in each other. He is the first little kid Lucy has really followed around and played with, and lets just say if cleaning and hugging are the result, I'll be shipping my nephew down whenever I get the chance!

2nd Cousin Photo Shoot

While we were in Logan two weeks ago for My Grandpa Russell's Funeral, April 26 to be exact, we had some very rare and special moments. There were so many cousins there I hadn't seen in years and all of them are married now, with children I have never met! I was soooooo excited to reunite with all the cousins on the Poppleton side of the family. We took some really cute shots of all my Grandma Anna's Great Grandchildren born in 2007 (of course, 2 of them weren't there, but it was still pretty rare to get these 5 together). Can you believe she had 7 new great grandbabies in 2007! What a great posterity.

Anyway you got a love a shot of a bunch of babies!Here are the 2007 Grandbabies:
LucyPendergrass, Landon Olsen, Ann Rae Fisher, Logan Merrill, and Nathaniel Winkler
What a good looking bunch!

And here is More 2nd cousins (Very far from being all!) (Morgan, Jason, Lucy, Anna, Logan, Kameron and Nathaniel)


This picture was too funny not to include. Check out those kissing cousins!

Anna and Lucy are just about the same age and were being really cute together!

Sweet side shot!

And of course, Lucy, getting malled by Landon. And where was her mother...

Taking a picture of it! She must have a really great Mom!

More Cousins

I had too many great pictures of Cousins to put them all in one post!


I absolutely love this picture of cousins. It just shows the joy of family. (Lucy and her 2nd cousin Breanne, with my first cousins Aubrey and Sarah)


After a long day I caught these 2 sleeping. Nathan Poppleton (who is now in the MTC) and little Anna Fisher.

Uncle Dale, Cousin Sarah, Me and Lucy

This is my cousin Joseph holding Lucy. He is handicapped and the most happy, wonderful boy you will ever meet. He really helps you remember what is important in life!

Joseph took this picture and it turned out great. Way to go Joe!


This may seem like a random picture, but it is important because it is the first picture Lucy took. Aubrey helped her push the button! Yeah Lucy! A photographer in the making!