my brother ben was discharged from the army on april 8th, so he flew home for a week, went down to my grandma's, then swooped over to see us before flying off to la before going down to san diego to start school this summer.  my parents brought ben out, so we had a fun little weekend with them.  my dad's birthday is this week, so we had an early birthday party (i mean really, any excuse for dessert. and lily loves to celebrate birthdays).

happy (early) birthday, dad!

kevin has a friend with a plane, so we went to the
livermore airport to check it out.

uncle benny and his favorite niece!

lily really had a good time with ben, and is going to miss him terribly.
come back and visit soon, benny!

all dressed up and ready for our walk to church.
she's a girl who loves her accessories!

spring wildflower festival

sunol regional park had a spring wildflower festival on saturday.  it was kind of a wet day, which made for a less crowded event.  you paid $5 to park, and everything else was free.  it was such a lovely day and so much fun.  i can't wait to do this every year. 

starting our nature walk; meandering in the meadow.

learning all about the wildflowers in the meadow.

one of the free activities: building a bee house

another activity: making a flower crown.
be still my heart! she was so cute with flowers in her hair.

lily had a sleepover with her little buddy ren this weekend.  we picked him up friday morning and had him with us until friday evening.  he and lily had such a good time with each other.  i really wish the thurmonds lived closer to us. 

practicing their prom pose

building butterfly houses at the home depot kid workshop

the finished butterfly houses.

bakers extraordinaire! 

sharing secrets in their fort

they had so much fun they fell asleep on our drive to drop ren off with vanessa.