fridays with lily {oakland zoo}

we met up with some friends at the oakland zoo for our friday adventure.  grace and eliza are some of lily's most favorite friends, and i always enjoy adult time with ingrid.  it was a beautiful day and the animals were out in full force.  

"look...it's the human exhibit!"

a tea party at the zoo, in front of the elephants?
why not?

a shot in front of the giraffes for
aunt kerry is always a must.

the three amigas:
grace, eliza, & lily

i told lily that they were tortoises in the exhibit (they were huge!).
when a another group was looking and kept calling them turtles,
she "kindly" kept correcting them:
"they're tortoises."
she's a stickler for things being "just so."
thanks, kid.  :-/

hopping across the lily pads

feeding the goats was kind of a highlight.

lily and the goats became great friends

three-year old photo shoot

i like to have a little photo shoot around lily's birthday every year.  it is fun to look back and see the changes, and to know that the photos were all taken at the same time every year.  today we went out and took some shots, and did the traditional bunny photo for a few of them (my mom made her a stuffed bunny before she was born, and i've taken her picture next to it for every month her first year, and then once a year around her birthday photo shoots).  i know that she grows so much every year, but to look at the bunny, which stays the same, and being able to compare the photos, it is just amazing to me.  you can see the past years here and here.

lily's 3rd birthday party

lily was so excited for her birthday this year that i decided to throw a little party for her.  i kept it small (just a few friends and the cousins who were born the same year she was).  it was such a fun couple hours, and i loved seeing lily enjoy her friends and the party.  

lily hasn't ever seen a spongebob square pants cartoon,
but for some reason that is the pinata she wanted.
whatever.  it worked and he's pretty cute. 

we had five minutes until pick-up after we finished the pinata,
so what else do you do but watch a little daniel tiger?

the crew: elika, lizzy, stuey, evie, lily, ren
her little friends are adorable and i love these kids.
i hope they are able to grow up together and stay friends for a long, long time.

lily turns 3!

lily turned three last week and i can't believe how much change happened in the blink of an eye.  she is no longer a toddler, but has morphed into a full-fledged little kid.  she had her three-year well check the other day, and it went really well.  mostly because there were no shots involved. :-) lily's status are:

weight: 36 lb (92nd percentile)

height: 3' 4.75" (99th percentile)

lily is a tall little girl, and her doctor told us that she thought lily was four when she walked in the exam room.  a few things lily is currently doing/saying/in to:

• lily is obsessed with "how to train your dragon."  she has two baby dolls that she has named snotlout and hiccup (characters from the movie)
• "oh, yeah.  of course." 
• "fiiiiiiinnnne" (the response we get when we ask her to do something)
• "what's with the attitude, dude?"
• "i'm big hungry" or "i'm little hungry" (lily's way of telling us how hungry she is (big or little is her metric of choice for anything requiring a measurement)
• lily loves the song "old macdonald" and has a certain order to the animals that are on the farm.  she will correct you if you deviate from the list. also, the cast of "how to train your dragon" is often found on the farm.  finding noises for them can be challenging.
• every night when i put lily to bed, i tell her that she is the best part of my day.  her response lately is that i am her sunshine.  my heart melts every time. 

presents first thing in the morning.  because nothing else would do.

she was so excited to have her cake and have us
sing to her.  it was so cute.

birthday ice cream with jess, emma, and jordan.

temple square

my little tribe spent a day on temple square in slc on our last day in utah.  lily calls every large, white building we see a temple, so i was a little excited to show her the slc temple.  her reaction did not disappoint.  we wandered around, letting lily lead the way since kevin and i have been there multiple times before.  it was a pretty great day.

wandering around temple square, going into the visitors centers, and especially being there over pioneer weekend and knowing what the mormon pioneers went through that they might live the gospel freely and allow it to be shared so that i could have it in my life today, i had such an overwhelming feeling of the spirit, and of the knowledge that my family is eternal.  that i chose to make covenants with my Heavenly Father so that i could be linked to my parents and siblings, my ancestors, and my husband and daughter, and through lily, my descendants.  it was humbling to feel the love of my Savior as i walked around with my family, as i pondered what sacrifices the early saints had made to come to the utah valley.  i am grateful for that knowledge, and grateful to know that because the Savior lives, i might live with Him and my Father in Heaven again.

lily kept wanting to go inside and "see Jesus,"
but had to be content with hanging out on the steps and walking around.
sorry, kid.  someday.

the tabernacle.

visiting the Christus

budding photographer

lbc crew in slc, utah

this past weekend i flew to utah with my little tribe to meet up with my lbc crew.  it was such a fabulous weekend of fun and good times.  the weekend that worked best for everyone happened to be over pioneer weekend (a huge deal in utah; it's a state holiday almost bigger than the 4th of july), so we partied like locals and just enjoyed a great time together.  i love these ladies, and am so grateful and lucky to have them in my life.

ready to "whoosh!"
(lily-speak for take-off)

5:30 am flights are brutal

bonding with patty

patty and her adoring fans;
(erica, thor, winnie, rocky)

we experienced a demolition derby for the first time.
it was pretty entertaining.

"this is the place."

lily and ren had some bonding moments

the lbc crew (plus some recent additions) 

heading home.
also, note to self, selfies are great for entertaining the toddler.

fridays with lily {visiting gg}

a couple weeks ago, lily and i made a quick day trip up to chico to visit my grandma (lily's gg).  when i pulled up, my parents car was there.  surprise!  we got a bonus visit with them, and some time with grandma/gg.  it was such a fun day.

riding around on gg's wheelchair was kind of a highlight

what's a visit from grandma and grandpa without some sort of present?

gg, lily, willy...

"hug me so hard!"

grandpa does voices.  it's kind of the best thing ever.