Racing for the Cures

This month, I was lucky enough to participate in not only one - but two race/walks to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer and crohn's disease.

Race for the Cure: If you have never participated in a Race for the Cure in Salt Lake, I highly recommend it. This year, I participated with a great group of girls - including my wonderful friend Mandy. It's amazing to be part of an event that has thousands of people participating - the view is wall to wall people everywhere you look! I had a lot of fun and it was great to be a pink warrior for a great cause.

Take Steps, Be Heard: While this event was on a much smaller scale, it hit a lot more close to home for me. As many of you know, I have struggled with crohn's disease for several years now. It's a disease that can literally bring you to your knees when the pain hits - and one without a cure. I am very blessed to have an amazing doctor and a disease that I have been able to maintain with the help of medication. However, I know there are others who are not as fortunate. This year, my brother Matt and I created a team to help raise funds for research and to create awareness. We raised $270 and had a great time walking in the event with a few friends. Thanks to everyone that contributed and/or walked!

Moms

It's the last day of May and this month has given me a lot to think about when it comes to being a mom - both in my own experiences and watching the amazing women that surround me.

I could not talk about the strength of women and the joys of being a mom without beginning with my own mom. I am so blessed to have a mom that watches Lily for me when I work. It's such a blessing to know that my little girl is in the best care when I cannot be there. I frequently walk into my parent's house at the end of the day to find Lily laughing like crazy with her fun grandma! I will never be able to thank her enough for being there for Lily. With six crazy kids of her own, I know we've all taken my parents on one heck of a ride as we find our own way and begin our own families and I'm so thankful for parents who are always there for us.

In my own family and beyond, I have watched with awe the strength of the amazing women I am blessed to know. I have watch women rise above a child's illness to become stronger for them in the future. I have watched women rally together to send well wishes for a child's future health. I have watched the patience of so many mother's whose creativity and kind hearts will bless their families for years to come. To these strong women, I thank you. You know who you are. 

And finally, this month has left me thinking about my own adventures in being a mom. As all moms know, it's amazing the lessons you learn in the first year. You learn how to juggle a lot more, that baby wipes will freeze if you leave them in the car, and that it is possible to love something so small more than you ever thought possible. It's a journey - it's a challenge - but it is the greatest blessing that I have ever known.

We Love Animals!

Ali and I love taking Lily to the zoo! She loves to watch the animals and we love it as well.

In addition to our zoo trips, we took Lily to the aquarium shortly after they added the penguins. Lily absolutely loved it and when you held her up to the glass to see - she tried to catch the fish or penguins with both of her hands.

Mom and Me

For Mother's Day this year, I really wanted to do some Mom and Daughter photos. So, we headed to the Peace Gardens in Salt Lake and Ali was our photographer extraordinaire. Check out some of my favorite shots.

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A Daddy's Girl

While Lily and I love our girl time together, she is definately a big fan of daddy! I can often hear her laughing so hard when they play together and she loves to play on his shoulders. Here's just a few pics of their fun times together.

From Seven Weeks to Eight Months

Well, I guess I have been slacking on my blog more than I thought! So, let this be the first of a few posts to catch everyone up on our adventures among the lilies.

Our little one sure grew fast! With a full head of soft black curls and chubby cheeks, she is often the object of affection anywhere we take her. At only eight months old, we've already had to turn down two marriage proposals. She is learning new things everyday and it's fun to watch her begin to figure it all out. While Lily haven't quite perfected crawling forward yet - she is excellent at the backwards crawl and she's already working on her break dancing skills by doing a circle crawl as well.

We've gone on lots of adventures including the zoo, the aquarium, wheeler farm, and of course - the park. Lily is a huge fan of the baby swing and feeding the ducks.

The First Seven Weeks

It's been just over seven weeks since I went from counting kicks to counting fingers and toes, ounces of formula, and toothless little smiles. I remember all the comments about how life will never be the same - and they were right! While it's been a bumpy ride at times, it's also been one amazing adventure as I continue to marvel at this sweet little girl. Lily has grown so much and I can't wait to watch her grow more every day.

In the past seven weeks, Lily has enjoying a lot of 'firsts' including her first holiday, first snowfall, first bath, first zoo visit, and first trip with the Oveson family to a cabin near Zions. Ali's been around for many of the adventures and I know that she already has him wrapped around her little finger. I love to watch them play together, especially when he sings her lullabies in French.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of our fun times together!

The Oveson Family Halloween party: We had some fun costumes this year! We all enjoyed some great homemade soup and the kids had fun decorating cookies.


This year, Lily was our little 'Princess Witch' and we were definitely bewitched by Lily in this cute costume!

Lily and Aidan: Lily has a very special friend, her three-year-old cousin Aidan. He absolutely adores Lily and is always willing to give his favorite stuffed animal, Bunny, to her so she can sleep well. My favorite is those moments when he thinks your not looking and he will stand over Lily and say, 'oh, she's so cute!'

Lily's First Bath: She was a little unsure of this new experience, but now loves it - especially when I wash all those beautiful dark curls!

My Beautiful Lily

As a new mom, I may be a little biased - but I think this little girl is such a beauty! During our time at the hospital, Lily and I got to share some fun moments - including her first little smile.

Lots of Love

Lily had lots of visitors over the next couple of days! Thank you to all my family and friends for all their support - Lily is sure to always be surrounded by love. A special thanks to Aunt Marci, Uncle Chad, and cute cousin Aidan for all their help!

Dad and Daughter

Proud Dad Ali

Uncle Matt showing his sensitive side

Uncle Chad, Aunt Marci, and Aidan

Uncle Mike

Aunt Mary and excited cousins: Zach, Preston, and Kyle

Amber and Lily

Alyssa (She was so scared!)

Aunt Michelle and Uncle Jim

Welcome Little One!

On Thursday, September 10th, I received the best gift I have ever been given - the gift of welcoming my sweet little girl. After 16 hours of labor and some clever nurse tactics, the world stood still for a moment as a beautiful little girl was finally placed on my chest. Lily Ntjila weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 20 and a half inches long. She arrived with a full head of dark curls that we all have come to love!

Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, along with Aunt Marci were all present to welcome this precious little girl.

Right After Birth

Grandpa meets his first little Granddaughter

Grandma was in love at first site

Proud Dad

The Perfect Season: Again

For anyone who knows me, of course you knew this blog was coming. What an awesome season for my Utes ending with a huge win over the TDS! As always, this year was a blast to watch and I had the best time tailgating with friends at several of the games. It was a bit of a tragedy that I could no longer sit in the MUSS, but Matt (my official partner in crime) and I still lost our voices several times watching our Utes complete yet another perfect season.

I can't wait for the BCS bowl . . . GO UTES!

Nephew Dates

I've always had a strong desire to be that fun aunt for my 5 little nephews (a 6th is one the way). So awhile back we started what we call, 'Aunt Missy Dates'. Essentially, it's when we all just get to be kids and have a blast! Past dates have included the Utah State Fair, Dinosaur park, Dinosaur Museum, Disney on Ice, Nickelcade, Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point, and of course the Polar Express. Right now, it's usually the three oldest boys (Zachy, Pres, and Aidan) with me and Matt. I'm sure the younger ones will come along too once they get older.

These dates are typically filled with their own fair share of silly and cute moments that I wish I had time to go into more detail about. . but for now, here two funny little stories and some pics from a few of our adventures.

Utah State Fair: This was our most recent adventure. Unfortunately, Aidan couldn't join us at the last minute and it ended up being Zach, Preston, and myself. The day was full of funny sayings and lots of questions from Preston. We did about everything that fair had to offer from Pony Rides, to fun houses, to finding Star Wars Legos (the boys favorite!). However, my favorite little moment was when I caught Preston just staring at me. I said, "What's up, buddy? What are you looking at?" His reply, "Nothing. I just like you."

Aidan: Last year we went on a very cold adventure to the North Pole on the Polar Express (aka the Heber Creeper). We had Zach, Preston, Aidan, their parents (Mike and Mary, Chad and Marci), myself, and Matt. The whole adventure was quite funny with the boys not knowing whether to cry or hug Santa, and a little 16-year-old Elf flirtin' it up with Matt. I talked to my sister, Marci, just the other day who informed me that Aidan had found his bell from Santa. He told his mom that he had to keep it in his pocket cause Santa 'gived it to him with Aunt Missy'. Aidan is so cute and has an excellent memory! Sounds like we will have to find a new Santa adventure this year as well!