Walking!

Up until today, Lorilyn had just taken a couple steps at a time, but I guess she now decided she can do it, because now she can't be stopped! Oh how grateful I am to be a stay at home mom and get to be there for every one of these discoveries, I couldn't imagine missing these things! Thank you hubby for working so hard and allowing me to be home!

Destruction!

Every stage of growth and development seems to come with exciting things. I think my new job of mother during this one is clean up lady!

All of these clothes WERE nicely folded or in the drawers...

How can you be frustrated at a face like that?:)

Thankful

I wanted to write a few of my thoughts this Holiday season as my heart has truly been overwhelmed with all the blessings I have.

I guess the newest blessing in my life this year is my baby girl. As any mother knows, there are truly no words to express the love and happiness a child brings to your life. Lorilyn entered this world with big bright eyes, alert and ready for all the world has to offer. She is such an incredible part of our family. Ryan and I continue to say we have no idea how we lived without her. There is nothing that can brighten a day like the smile of your child. I feel so blessed to be able to be a say at home mom and be able to savor every one of those smiles, along with all of the new discoveries she learns every day.

I guess that leads me to my next aspect of gratitude I would like to express. The only reason I am able to be at home with her is because of an amazing husband that works so hard to provide for our family. He is my best friend and an incredible father. We both had to go through some crazy things to find each other, but I would go through it all in a heartbeat to be with him for eternity.

Speaking of eternity, I want to express my gratitude for my eternal family on this earth. I have 2 amazing siblings who have wonderful families that have shown me unwavering support and love my whole life. Now that Ryan and I are in Chicago we have the opportunity to be close to Steve and Kori, and we are so grateful for that. They have welcomed us into their home so many times with love and friendship and we feel so blessed to have that so close. Although I might be far away from my sister Lynette I am so grateful for the amazing woman she is and the friendship we share. I love our phone calls and look forward to every chance we get to spend together. And we wouldn't be here if it weren't for my parents. I was blessed to join an incredible family with 2 amazing parents. My father worked hard to support our family, and my mother is my greatest example of what a true women of God is. The service she has shown her whole life is unlike anyone I have ever known. Whether it is a family member, or a ward member, she is always serving others before herself. I am so grateful for such a wonderful mother who is now the best grandma any grandkid could ask for!

Although I was born into an amazing family, I was also incredibly blessed to be able to marry into one also. I truly have some of the most amazing in-laws anyone could ask for. They have loved and supported me from the moment we met. I also now have a awesome younger brother who's heart is as big as anyone's I've ever known, and is always good for a laugh (even if it is at my expense:).

The last couple years have just been filled with one blessing after another. I don't know what I ever did to deserve any of them, but I will forever be grateful. I have so many more, but wanted to take a second to recognize some of them today.

Thank you all my friends and loved ones for being the special blessings you are to my life!

Christmas Decorating

I can't even believe how few pictures I took during the Thanksgiving week and our trip to Michigan, but I did manage to get the camera out Friday as we were decorating their house, so here are the few precious ones we got.

Grandma and her little helper. If Grandma was in the room, Lorilyn was at her feet, reaching for her hand to walk with her, or up to hold her.

Grandma tried to get her to help decorate the tree, but she didn't like the prickly branches.

However, she thought the ornaments were awesome!

Look at the big girl standing on her own with her favorite ornament:)

This picture is a little blurry but I had to add it because this is what went on ALL week. Anyone else has to beg for kisses from her, but Grandpa always gets them freely, multiple times a day!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful Thanksgiving week!!!

Trip to Grandma and Grandpa's!

For a while we knew we were going back to Michigan for the Penn State game in October, but LJ and I decided that just two days there was not enough, so we jumped on Amtrak and rode there by ourselves, then dad followed a couple days later in the car. The train was an experience, but we made it and had a wonderful week with Grandma and Grandpa. I feel so blessed I have such wonderful in-laws that are so welcoming to their home. If fact I would venture to say I have some of the best in-laws anyone has ever had!:) Sorry if this post gets long, but there we so many fun things we did I have to tell about them all!

Here we are at Union Station in Chicago ready to board the train.

Right after we got to their house Grandma gave little one her halloween outfit which came with this awesome head band! Lorilyn loved it and never took it off!:)

Grandma was such a big help and fed us LOTS of food!:) Grandmas are the best when it comes to yummy food!

Grandma also let us come watch some of her dance class and so Lorilyn got her first dance lesson from Grandma! I am sure it is her first of many:)

We also got to visit Grandpa at work!

We went back to Milan to say hi to Bops:)

Grandma and Grandpa let Ryan and I go out on Friday night with some friends and watched the little one for us. Grandma had brought home Lorilyn's first costume and had to try it on her. Looks like they had some fun together!

The day of the game was rainy and cold, but we managed to have a wonderful time anyway!

This was a sneak attack caught on film:)

I just love this lady!

Unfortunately the team lost, but thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa for another wonderful day at the stadium!

Although this is a little early, and there will be more pictures to follow around Christmas, I just had to show the pretty Christmas dress Grandma bought for little one.

Grandpa and his little goblin girl.

Isn't this face awesome, it is like the same one as her shirt!

Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful trip. We love you and can't wait until Thanksgiving where we can see you again!!

Our First Year of Forever...

October 17th was the 1 year anniversary of Ryan and my sealing in the Chicago temple. Interesting how things work for we were only sealed in the Chicago temple because that was easiest for all the family, even though we lived in Michigan at the time. But little did we know one year later Chicago would be our home! I truly can't say enough about how incredible it is to be sealed to such an amazing man. He is such an incredible husband and now father. He works so incredibly hard to support our family and allow me to be at home with our beautiful little girl, making my lifetime dream of being a stay at home mom a reality. Watching him play with his little girl brings me more joy than anything I ever imagined. More than anything his is my best friend. It is amazing how incredible it can be just spending an evening on the couch watching football or something when you are doing it with your best friend. I am so grateful that I get eternity to enjoy this wonderful man!

Our bishop and his lovely wife and family offered to watch Lorilyn that evening so we could get a bite to eat. We ended up going to Buca de Beppo and having a delicious dinner.

This is how excited about our anniversary little one was:) Thanks Bishop and family for taking such good care of her and allowing us a little mommy and daddy time!

Adventures of An 8 mo Old

Lorilyn just turned 8 months old today...I can't believe how the time flies! Here is a post to catch you up on a few things that have happened in her life in the last few weeks...

We LOVE getting dressed in pretty dresses for church (Thank you Aunt Kori), but aren't so keen on the whole 3 hours of being quite at church thing...we tend to spend about 2 of those hours in the hallway with mommy or daddy...

We absolutely love to stand up and play with our new favorite toy (also big thanks to Aunt Kori!). We can stand here for 45 minutes at a time playing with all the buttons being as happy as can be.

We just started crawling 2 days ago...

And finally.....

We LOVE LOVE LOVE dill pickles!:) She is definitely her daddy's girl!

Our Trip to Michigan

Last weekend we were able to go back to Michigan to spend a little time with family and go to the Michigan vs Notre Dame game. The game was awesome as Michigan pulled it out in the last seconds. All of our voices were horse and we are all exhausted but it was so much fun. We also just loved being home with Grandma and Grandpa. Thank you so much for letting us come! We are counting down the days until next time! And as for all of those who might be worried, I will never forget my BYU Cougars, they will always be my number 1 but Michigan now is a close second:)

Carter's Baptism

Carter, Steve and Kori's 3rd child was baptized Sept 5th. It is so wonderful to be living close to them now and get to be a part of many wonderful things. Grandma and Grandpa Bird came and stayed with us, which was so much fun. Lorilyn wants them back soon! We had lots of fun spending time all weekend with the Birds, and BYU even pulled out a victory for us against Oklahoma! Thanks everyone for a wonderful time...we love you all!

Almost There...

Lorilyn is so very close to crawling...which means mommy is almost in big trouble trying to keep an eye on this little one! She already can roll to whatever she wants but I know it just gets crazier from here! It is so fun to see her grown and develop though. I am so grateful to have this beautiful little spirit in our home!

We Love You Bill

I just wanted to take this opportunity to share my thoughts about our beloved friend Bill Corkin who passed away last week. He was truly more than just a friend to the Stoianowski's. He was family. Before I moved to Michigan I would constantly hear about evenings at the "side porch", and knew all about these wonderful people Bill and Diana. Then on one of the first days I arrived in Michigan we were invited over and I got to finally meet these people I had heard so much about. I couldn't believe how much love and hospitality I was shown even on the first day. It truly felt like I was meeting some of my new grandparents with hugs and kisses all around. Bill was never truly comfortable when he had people over because he was constantly making sure you had everything you wanted or needed, usually more than you could handle:) Bill was always good for a great big hug and then many laughs whenever you were around him. I couldn't even begin to count the times he told me how beautiful and special I was. Bill and Diana were also incredibly generous and showed it in many ways. For Ryan and I they let us stay in their condo in Marco Island, FL for our honeymoon. It was an incredible experience and we enjoyed the times we spent with them there also. Here are a few pictures from our honeymoon there...

Having us over to their condo for some appetizers and a beautiful sunset.

Dinner at the Marco Inn with the Corkins and the Gordans...what wonderful friends.

Their names down by the beach. Aren't they an adorable couple:)

They were just too cute. Bill made every lady feel special, especially his love Diana.

I took a set of pictures of Lorilyn in this golf outfit in the golf baby shoes Bill and Diana gave her. LJ only got to meet him a couple times but he loved having her around and saying PEEAANUT! She loved her Grandpa Bill, as did all of us. We will miss you Bill until we meet again...we love you.

Solid Foods:)

We decided it was time to start the little one on some solid foods since she has reached the 6 month mark and she seems to want to eat everything around her:)

We started the first day with just cereal...

mmmm....tasty

Let me do it mommy!

I think we like it...

Squash face!

This was after peas and cereal...the peas took a few bites to get used to, but I think we are ok with them too:)

She amazes us every day with how much she wants to be a big girl and how fast she is moving into each phase...where is my baby going?

Our New Chicago Home!

I know I already put a picture of the front, but I thought I would start with that again and give you a little tour of our new place. These pics were taken before our pictures were on the walls and everything was totally set up, but it gives you a little idea of where we are. We continue to feel so incredibly blessed by everything that has happened to get us here and are enjoying every minute of it. It has been wonderful to have Ryan home for a week before he started work. We have both worked together and got things pretty settled. We are excited to start our new life in Chicago!

Here is the back of our house. We have quite a bit of backyard, so that will be good next summer to let the little one run around in:)

View from the garage

Looking toward the garage. There is a half bath on the left just before the garage door.

Our new wonderful kitchen table.

View from the front door toward the kitchen

From the front door. We LOVE our huge sectional. It is so comfy!

Down the stairs. The front door is to the left.

Here is our bath upstairs. There is also a door into our room.

We will be painting the green a nice darker blue color. We love the space we have though. There is also a walk-in closet to the left.

The little one's room.

We think she is pretty happy here!