Belated, but .....

In honor of their 3rd decade of life, I thought I'd throw these on here. Happy Birthday LAST week to Cris & Bryce!
Here's an email that I sent to Lisa, who organized a 'running' birthday party for them, with memories from their siblings of their colorful pasts! (mostly for mom and dad who probably didn't get to read these) Feel free to add your own!

"sorry I got distracted yesterday, but I hope this still reaches you in time! Thank goodness this isn't snail mail!Here are some stories: Nicole & I shared a room always and back when we were about 9 & 11 or so, Cris had this practice. Nicole had a little ritual everynight-she'd go down to the bathroom to brush her teeth, then she'd come back to the room & kneel by her bed to pray. I was usually already in bed, and would just watch this every night. Cris would come sneak down, very often, as soon as she left to brush her teeth. He would come running into the room and slide under her bed. She would come back and kneel down for her prayer, and as she started to pray, Cris would reach out from under her bed & grab her legs and she would scream!! This was like every night for a few weeks. I would just laugh every time, as would Cris... Nicole wasn't quite as amused. Also, Cris & Bryce also found this way to torture her one summer, about the same age (which made them about 13 or 14 or so). She hated bugs, so they would go around at night and collect the dead dried up bugs from the windowsills. While she was brushing her teeth, they would come in and drop their days' spoils on her pillow, then leave. Plus, whenever they found a worm when we were weeding the garden, they would throw it at her, or they would start chasing her around the house with it, with her screaming! OK, sorry, enough of Nicole! :)So one little ritual about Bryce: My last 2 years of high school, I had the upstairs girls' room to myself, and Jamie had the boys room & there's the bathroom in between. When Bryce would come home from college for a weekend, he would stay in the (only) boys' room in the house, up with Jamie. It'd be late at night when I was finally getting to bed. Bryce was usually on a similar schedule. I would just be getting into bed, as he was brushing his teeth, and he'd walk into my room and chat a little, but with the toothbrush, that would be difficult, so he'd finish brushing, then come back into my room and sit at the foot of my bed (because my feet didn't usually reach all that far) and he'd chat and we'd catch up and he'd tell me about all the drama (sometimes including girls) at school, and I'd tell him my drama. It was a fun little bonding time. Even the summers when I came home from school, we'd still talk about the traumatic dating experiences and lament together. One TWIN story (kind of)...Mom is always very nervous about her kids. When Carrie & Lisa were back at BYU, they lived with Cris in the Elms and one of them had an early morning job on campus, and they'd have to go up to campus when it was still dark. This of course worried mom, but without hesitation Cris offered to get up early every morning and walk her up to campus every morning. Bryce, likewise, when he found out last year that I worked early in the morning, despite having a family and busy school schedule like Cris, offered to wake up at 4:45 and drive across Provo to pick me up and drop me off at work to ensure that I was safe (& warm)! Despite loving to tease us, they always are very protective and are GREAT brothers!Cris has always been very bright. He worked at Honeywell, I think, with brother Maitland one summer. There was a machine they needed for testing that one day quit working. It was a VERY sensitive machine (I think it measured the dust quantity of the air or something like that) and very complex. Well, Cris went in & tinkered with this thing and had it working again. When the 'real' employees found out, I believe the story goes that they were excited to have it working but told him NEVER to touch it again! The machine was worth a million dollars and it would break the warranty if anyone that wasn't trained from the manufacturer touched it. Also, my freshman year at school, I lived with 5 other girls. Cris was the only sibling on campus, and I never really appreciated it that year because I had just come from home where I had plenty of siblings around, but I learned what a blessing it is and how fun it is to have family on campus. He would show up at my apartment and make me my favorite kind of jello salad-and he would whip the whipped cream BY HAND to make it, too! How sweet! ALL my roommates loved him and whenever I missed his phone call or visit, they would say 'Our brother Cris came by!' Also, my sophomore year, Bryce came to visit and stayed at Cris's about a week before Christmas (right during finals, probably, now that I think of it). We all hung out one night and then I told Bryce I'd cook him breakfast the next morning. I wasn't sure he really was coming, so I listened to him from my bed that Saturday morning. I didn't hear him, so I went back to sleep. Later that morning, when I left the apartment, there was a note on a dirty newspaper that he'd found on the ground that said "I came, I knocked, I left hungry' or something like that. I felt SO bad, because it was such a privilege to have my older brothers around and to do something nice for them, and I totally ditched him that morning!! (I don't know if you want to tell this one, because maybe Besty will feel bad...) but right when I got home from my mission, Bryce & Lisa came to visit. A month before, Besty was supposed to have a big prom date that she was SO excited about. The little punk totally cancelled on her and it was so sad. Bryce & Lisa, while they were up for the weekend, had brought some special dress up clothes, too, and had Besty put on her prom dress and took out all dressed up to this fancy dessert restaurant in downtown Boston later in the evening. I thought that was so sweet of them!A funny story about Cris, that probably is a bad memory for my mom....I can't remember if he or Bryce was the first to come off their mission, but either way, it was a VERY big deal! So (this is before 911) we were all waiting at the gate for Cris to come home and finally we see him walking out!!! We were SO excited! But he walks right by us and is talking to this Argentine family that he sat next to on the plane and was really enjoying talking to them and they had a 10 year old girl, or so, so in Cris fashion, he was chasing her and getting along with her great! He walked with them a little down the terminal, then finally said goodbye and came back to hug his mother a few minutes later! Cris is so friendly!! Gotta love him! It was great to have them back home They both just brought back suitcases FULL of alfajores! And Cris had bought Doc Martens down there becuase they are so inexpensive. We thought he'd bought them from tracting and stuff, but he pulled them out, all brand new and stuff still & said he was saving them! And I think they are still being used and in good condition to this day!!And Bryce got back from his mission loving to make doughnuts and cook and stuff. No one would complain when he'd get up really early to make the donuts and he'd get up early enough to let them rise for a long time so they'd be nice and soft and then he'd have them ready by the time we woke up. Oh yeah, one more. So Cris & Bryce had this good friend, Manasseh, in the ward, back when they were in high school. During sacrament meeting, they would always try to sing soprano, and I'm not sure how many people around us could hear it, but we sure could!! They thought it was so funny! and we would laugh too, sometimes!Anyways, hope that's enough for now!!!I hope the party is a blast and we are so wishing we could be there to see everyone!!!love ya,Katy"

Welcome Home!!

Micah's sister Cassandra finished her LDS mission to Toronto, Canada on Friday and was able to do a little road trip with the family before arriving back home on Monday! I was actually able to meet her right before she went into the MTC, but it will be great to spend some more time with her! We are looking forward to some road trips!!

Between brothers at her farewell, (Feb '07)

in this pretty chapel. Isn't it cool?!?!

A few years earlier at EFY with sibs & cousins

The Lillroses: Christmas '06 on the Holly Jolly Trolly (is that right?)

A Growing [extended] Family

Most of the people reading this blog already know this, but I thought I'd add it for our own record. This summer, we got THREE new nephews in 1 month! Crazy, huh? Nope, not triplets.

The adventure started with Carrie & Mark having their 4th, Taylor Martin, on June 14th, coming in at 8lbs, 6 oz.
I love this one-he had a little bit of jaundice, but instead of a 'tanning bed' they just got to take him home with a glow blanket instead!

On July 10th, Travis Brigham came to Bryce & Lisa (& big sister Sophie!)
Isn't that the sweetest picture you've ever seen? & Soph is such a BIG girl now!!

Blessing Day: Labor Day Weekend

And lastly, but not leastly, but littlest-ly! We got a phone call early one Sunday morning (July 13) saying that Nicole had had her baby in the middle of the night and he was being lifeflighted to Ogden from Logan. We were not expecting him, as he was 10 weeks early & he has had quite the struggle, but finally came home about 10 days ago and got off oxygen in the last few days!
He got down to 3lbs 1oz at one point, but has been gaining weight and doing ok.

Finally coming home-looks like he's fed up with the hospital-or the chair?

Sights of New Mexico! (Warning: this is LONG!)

We have taken a few day trips out and about new mehico now & I've gotten behind on posting them. I am sorry to hold you all in suspense...I know everyone is so curious as to what one does when they live here. You will be surprised to know that most of the state, except for the city we happen to live in, is pretty green (relatively speaking, of course; plus it was monsoon season, so everything had a little bit of cheating)
By the end of July, when the summer was creeping to an end, we still hadn't seen anything here, so after work one Friday, I packed up the car with food, clothes & tent and we set out for Jemez Falls Campground, a little over an hour from here. When we got there past dark, the campground was full, so we continued on to Los Alamos & stayed in a hotel there. Micah was pretty excited because that town is basically a huge lab that was established for the Manhattan Project and is one of the main birthplaces of the atomic bomb. The next day we headed back to Jemez and did some hiking & exploring.

Saturday, July 21

I don't think the mushrooms around here are edible.
and a little tidbit: in Latvia (my mission) they have a commonly used phrase:
ej bekot: literal translation-go mushroom hunting
real translation-get lost
and people there really do go mushroom hunting! I was taught a few tricks....a Russian sister actually made soup from mushrooms she'd found when we were out on a prep day excursion

Modern camping: we hooked the griddle up to an inverter to the car battery and cooked lunch!
(except the griddle has way too high wattage, so it didn't work, but I liked the picture anyways)

This area has a lot of red rock just like Southern Utah

Las Conchas Trail

The very next weekend we actually went camping to the same area with some good friend, Jasmine & Eric. ( Micah & Eric work together)

(July 31-Aug 2)

On our way in....
It was actually really slippery & hard to climb up this sandstone stuff-Micah was the only one to make it around to that cave/hole.

A Lillrose Family-favorite game: Dirty Marbles (it's like aggravation for those of you from the 90's) We've gotten our friends addicted to it. The girls were on a team and we were kicking the boys' behinds, but the boys would not stop playing until they had won more games...so pretty much all Friday afternoon we played this game

On our way out...

we stopped at their friend's ranch...
This is probably more what you picture when you think on NM

We took a break for a few weekends, then on August 23rd, we headed to Santa Fe, which I believe is the oldest city in the US. We stopped right outside of town at an info booth, & they said we were 'lucky' because it was Indian Market that weekend (1500 vendors & 75000 tourists). Micah didn't really look forward to that much. He hates crowds & congestion. But right when we stepped out of the car, there was this cool used bookstore, which appeased him & saved us from a little rain.

An old church in the middle of town

Micah & a native

The Loretta Chapel: another old chapel

This is for AllyeB. She sent me an email a few weeks before of this mysterious chapel in Santa Fe. Here's the legend: in the mid 1800's, this chapel was built. When it was done, the nuns realized there were no stairs to the choir loft. They searched for people to build some, but everyone said to build stairs that weren't too steep, they'd have to use too much of the seating area & that they should use a ladder. The nuns prayed to St. Joseph (I'm assuming Mary's husband) - a carpenter. Then one day a man appeared with wood and bins to soak and curve it & built this staircase (originally it had no banisters), then left without pay. To this day, no engineer can fingure out how it stands, as there is no support pole, & the wood is not at all native to the NM. They suppose he was the St. Joseph himself that came & built it.

Micah going to confession

Notice the fame: Unsolved Mysteries!! (that show used to freak me out because they either had murders or hauntings on it...probably still does freak me out)

Needless to say, we didn't stay long, but we did see this on our way out:
The next weekend, August 30th, we went to the VLA, which means nothing to you or I, but is famous in Micah's world of Radioastronomy & is a huge research facility. It's about 2 hours from here & the entire movie of Contact is based around it (which we rented that weekend). It was actually kind of cool, even for me!

Micah & his new love, Jody Foster (star of Contact)

These things look like satellite dishes, but in this field, they're called Antenaes. There are 27 of the, they're on RR tracks & can be spread over a 26 mile range, this is the crazy part: they're each the size of a baseball diamond & I have NO idea what they're made of, but they weigh 230 TONS- EACH!

I just wanted you to see the average size of a bug down here. They're huge crusty things! (that's the tip of Micah's shoe. The bugs are like the size of half my pointer finger)

We had guests coming for Labor Day weekend in a few hours, so as we were hurrying home, we got distracted, because neither of us had ever been to a Ghost Town before, but we saw this little detour called Kelly Mines, Ghost Town, so we had to explore:

On the bottom left, you can see the mine shaft hole is still there...& deep!

On a sign there, it also stated that 'para-normal sitings are usual'....ghosts?
that kind of creeped me out

The next day we took our friends, Brandon & Erica & baby around Abq.

This is on top of Sandia Crest, which has a great view of the valley...except it was rainy & cloudy so you can't tell.

At the temple. We were SO excited to see soft grass that we had to take a break to sit on it.

Saying goodbye on Labor Day at Old Town.

Lastly!! This past weekend we went to see some volcanoes. See, on my flight here a few weeks after the wedding, I sat next to this guy that was visiting, since living here a few years. As we were getting close to the end, we flew over some volcanoes he pointed out, right on the West side of the city & told me they're a pretty cool hike. I'd been wanting to go, so I looked on the atlas & west of the city, there was marked "Bandera Volcanoes & Ice Caves"...so off we went. 1.5 hours later, I realized these were not the volcanoes I was thinking of, & they were not a State Park, so we had to pay a boatload to go in, & I forgot the camera, so I'll have to borrow. We also took a ride around this big loop and saw a geologic arch, some cool cliffs (that we climbed down a little bit further then most people & Micah loves to throw rocks, so when he started doing that, these other people ran to the edge of the cliff to check on us, because they thought someone had fallen over), we were hoping to see a rattlesnake, as there were warning signs, but we didn't see any.

El Malpais (the Badlands) was the area we were in:

It's hard to tell because there's growth on it, but you can see the black rock. There was a lot of this in the area from the hardened lava. It's really porous, too.

Here is the ice cave & volcano (which in itself ended up being a 1 hour walk round trip).

That's ice with algae in it at the bottom. It never gets above 31 degrees & you can seriously feel the temperature difference in 1 step; it is NOT a gradual change. Little tidbit for you: on our way up, we talked to a couple from CA that had just moved here & they told us their son is part of the Famous Hannah Montana recording group. So close to fame, we were!

To make the hike out of the volcano a little more exciting than walking back the way we came, we hiked up & OVER the rim. The path only leads you to 2/3 the way up the hole, but we wanted the view from the top! This thing is actually bigger than it looks in the pic, ps-thanks to their official website

And that my friends are the exciting summer adventures of Micah & Katy!

Treasure Hunting!!

Like most of you out there, I love a bargain. When Micah first moved down here, he happened to look at a new & used furniture store as he was attempting to furnish his bachelor apartment. He totally scored and found this 6 month old Italian brand leather couch in perfect condition, for $250! We think it will be perfect in a library someday, which is a luxury we would both love to have in our house someday.

In lieu of the library, we've dropped into used book stores and Salvation Army stores to look for old books and have found some cool ones! We got a red leather bound with gold print Lord of the Rings (all 4 books in 1) for $12.50, plus some other older looking books and books we've read before (including good condition hard cover Harry Potter #6 for 49 cents! we have 6 & 7 and now we're on the hunt for the rest) And while we're in the store anyways, we've found some great bargains for the rest of the house! Here's the spoils from our little treasure hunts:

Cool vintage looking lamp that works: $4.99 (plus we live in an apartment that doesn't have any light fixtures in the living room nor bedroom, so we LOVE lamps!


Micah got a practically brandnew Callaway Golf Bag (that means nothing to me, nor most of you out there, but if you watch golf on TV, you'll see the pros' caddies carrying those)

A BRANDNEW Prince tennis triple racket holder, tags still on, could only find it online for $40, but we got it for: $2.99! (a new favorite hobby, by the way. You should try playing!!)

These fun little bar stools for the 'breakfast bar' (kind of) for $4 each!


We haven't spent much effort on buying real decorations, we figured we'd wait til we actually have a house. But in the meantime, we've found these shelves/trinkets for $1-$3 each. It helps it feel a little bit more homey/organize clutter while we're in an apartment!



Luckily, we found this big mirror for $20. It's a few feet by a few feet, which is great, because otherwise we'd have a lot of white wall space!!