Somebody turned FIFTY!

My dear old pa turned 5-0 this year!  We (his wife and children) threw him a surprise party at his all-time favorite restaurant, El Tenampa, in Nampa, Idaho.  We'd been discussing it for a couple months and I think we were all pretty convinced he had sort of figured it out because of...ahem...a few siblings' slip-ups...ahem...Karli.  But apparently his old age helped our cause.  We arranged to have some of his closest friends and family already at El Tenampa and then he met us there and we yelled, "SURPRISE!" and he was! It was perfect!  Good food...good friends...good Dad.

We love you Dad!  Happy Birthday!  Can't wait to celebrate the big 1-0-0 in the same fashion!

 Oh boy, does Harper love her Papi...and vice versa.

 Father & Son.  So sweet!

 True?

 Best family ever

 Cutest parents.  Love them.

4 Generations

Somebody turned ONE!

Well I'm SO far behind, but there are a few things I must document....

such as...

our little Harper turning the big number ONE.  I can't even believe I have to utter such an age. (Even almost 3 months later!!)  I'm part of the cliche mommy group that can't believe their baby has grown so much so quickly.  But alas, we have reached this milestone and we sure do love our one year old girl!

 Here she is with Great Grandma Williams after Christmas....sick.  So sad.

 Playing with Daddy...getting ready for the trek to G&G Williams' house in Utah.

 And here's the birthday girl on her big day...December 26th!  This girl doesn't like to get messy (she is her mama's daughter) so she was quite hesitant at first to dig into her chocolate cupcake.  I had to give her the first bite and then she slowly got going.

 This is her hesitating...wondering if the mess is worth it.

 Then she decides that it is.

 Mama & Baby...er...Girlie

Daddy & Daughter

We sure do love our Harper-Lulu.  She has the sweetest disposition and is usually just so content to just sit and read books (her FAVORITE activity!) or play and babble to herself.  As of her 1st birthday she still wasn't crawling or walking on her own.  (She is now...well not walking on her own yet, but close.)  But you can see her figuring things out and thinking about what we're saying and trying to communicate with us with her cute little voice and "language".  She's pretty much a mama's girl at this point, but is usually pretty happy to go play with other people.  But when it comes to naptime or bedtime...I must be around.

Harper, we love you.  Thank you for bringing us joy beyond imagination.  Happy Birthday baby girl!

Little fishlet

Apparently she loves to swim. And is quite a natural. This was in Washington D.C. with the Williams fam.

Washington D.C. in the fall

So WAAAAAY back in November we went to Washington D.C. with the Williams family. Long story short, my mom got my dad Washington Redskins tickets for an early 50th birthday present. And he thought the thing that would make that present really awesome was if his fam was there too. We couldn't have agreed more.

So we got to spend a week seeing all the sights in Washington D.C. and spending a little bit of time in Lance's mission (Baltimore mission...but we were mostly out in the boonies of West Virginia.) It was a lot of fun. There are SO many things to see there and we crammed a lot in just a few days. We saw a lot of places that aren't pictured...all those Smithsonians and Mount Vernon and the football game and a bunch of stuff. My parents must have those pictures. Anyway, it was fun and here are the photos.

Harper's first plane ride. I was prepared for every eventuality and didn't need a thing. She was just amazed by all the new stuff and new faces and couldn't have been more of an angel.

The view from Arlington National Cemetery

We caught the very end of the leaves changing, and they were lovely.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Such a neat experience. Can't listen to "Taps" without tearing up.

Barack's House

Lincoln

WWII Memorial & Lincoln Memorial in the background

So cute...especially Harper's wispy hair glowing in the sunshine.

My sis & I at the Washington Monument

Harper was quite the swimmer. Her little legs kicked just like a little frog. It was so cute!

Livin the posh life

This was on our way home and everyone was exhausted. And my spectacular sister got Harper to sleep. Bless you, Karli!

Thanks go my parents for making this whole trip possible. We had a blast!

Christmas Cards

I'll do a real post soon, I promise. I'm just TOTALLY overwhelmed with all kinds of things right now. One of them being Christmas cards. So here's how you can help me: if you want a Christmas card from us, leave me your address. And you better believe that if I'm sending one to you, I want one from you too! (Our address is 1104 E Washington St, Boise, ID 83712) Can't wait to see all your cute faces!

The last couple months...

** I just typed up a whole bunch of stuff for all these photos and when I pushed "Publish Post" Blogger said it could not process my request. So I lost it all! Grrr... **

Our lil' baby girl is growing up. She is now 10 months old and cuter than ever. She's learning new tricks all the time--waving, clapping, funny sounds with her mouth, saying "uh-oh" (but forgetting the "oh" part), pulling up on stuff....but still no crawling. :) Some may say she's lazy, we say she's content. We try to encourage her to crawl by helping her onto her knees and putting her favorite toys out in front of her, but to no avail. She just wants to eat and sit around--not the best lifestyle choices. People keep saying not to rush her, so I'm trying not to. I like that she still stays wherever I put her, but when I walk away and she whines, it would be nice if she could just follow me. All in good time, I guess.

Harper LOVES bath time. This is often where she does her best thinking...and screeching. She loves to play with her rubber duckies and splash.

A while back my mom and sisters came to visit and in typical Williams family fashion, we didn't take hardly any pictures until they were leaving. But it was SO great to have them here. I miss my fam!

Back in August we went to the Boise Music Festival at Ann Morrison Park in downtown Boise. They had music (obviously), food, and hot air balloons at dusk. The balloons were really pretty. Harper slept the whole time (that's her in the background) but it was a nice evening for us to get out and do something different.

Grandma Williams & Harper...they love each other.

Karli gave Harper this ADORABLE outfit. Harper is quite the stylish chic...thanks to all our family!

This girl LOVES to eat. She's resisting baby food more and more and just wants what we're having. One of her favorites is spaghetti--she must be my baby! She makes quite a mess and is mostly fine with it, except when things stick to her hands. She'll grab a big handful of whatever, shove it in her mouth, and then shake her hands until all "danglies" are off. Again, she must be my child. :)

For Halloween Harper was the cutest lil' skunk you ever saw. My extremely talented mother made her this costume. Thanks Ma! Harper was the most adorable at ALL Halloween activities we attended...at least we thought so. Here she is with Grandpa Fly at Sunday dinner.

Our little family on Halloween. No, Chase and I didn't dress up. We really don't like to. We love to see all the kids dressed up, but adults make us...uncomfortable. We're kind of Halloween scrooges. :)

We tried to make Harper a bit more skunk-like by putting her on all fours. She wasn't really a fan, but it was cute!

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

I'm Weird

So I just spent like the last hour looking at how others organize their stuff. I LOVE doing that! I love seeing organizers and bins and baskets and glass jars all neatly filled with crap...but it looks so pretty!

My latest obsession? Organized pantries. For those who may not know, I have become a coupon-crazy person. Seriously, it saves us SO much money. (For example, last month I spent $129.96 on ALL groceries--food, toiletries, etc.--that would have cost $756.33. That means I saved $626.37 or 82%!!! And a special thanks to the hubs for making me a sweet spreadsheet so I don't have to do the math.) Anyway, that's besides the point. My obsession today was with organized, pretty pantries because I have all kinds of food coming out my ears...and my shelves. I may not get a pretty pantry like this, but a woman can dream.

So am I the only one who envies others' organization?