Hot Weather

We hit 105 degrees in Boise this week. We were hot! So hot that Mommy just turned on the sprinkler and we played in the water with our clothes on. Lily had a blast. She's starting to get the hang of running through the sprinkler.

Even with the help of the cool water, her cheeks were still bright pink. We ate a popsicle, changed our clothes, and then took a long nap to help cool down. It was definitely a lazy, hazy day of summer!

New Toy and 1st Snow Cone

Grammy and Grampy Hall found Lily this little wagon at a garage sale. She has been playing with it for the past four days. She and Daddy have started a new "game" where he pulls her off the edge of the concrete patio. Lily squeals with glee every time.

Here she is saying "Whoa!" after a particularly good pull by Daddy. After working up a sweat playing with the wagon, we took Lily out for her first shaved ice snow cone. We ordered a medium size root beer float flavor. As you can see from the photo - it was nearly as big as Lily's head. The three of us couldn't finish it.

We weren't feeding her fast enough, so Lily took matters into her own hands. I love the chunk dropping from the spoon in this picture. We will have to go back for more snow cones another day.

Swimming

Daddy's company hosted a party last night. The weather was chilly for swimming, but Daddy braved the 75 degree weather so Lily could swim. All she said was "water! water!" from the moment she saw the pool. Once her lips turned blue we made her get out and dry off. The party was really fun. Mommy brought her awesome chocolate zucchini cake - they request it every year. We ate and played for hours. Thanks to Daddy's company for a great time!

More Camping Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from our camping adventure last week at Barber Flats.

Mommy explaining to Lily that she cannot cross the rock barrier without holding a parent's hand.

Lily playing with her friend Eric.

Getting good and dirty!

The bath water was so yucky when we got home!

Popcorn!

We planned a game night with friends and I volunteered to bring a snack. It is hard to think of snacks you can easily eat while playing games so I searched the internet for a good "snacky" recipe. I decided to try two - White Chocolate M&M Popcorn and Peanut Butter White Chocolate Popcorn. They were both easy and delicious.

White Chocolate Popcorn
2 bags microwave popcorn
2 cups white chocolate or vanilla baking chips
1 cup M&Ms

Pop the popcorn according to package directions. Pick out all the unpopped kernels and transfer to a large bowl. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler. Pour warm chocolate over the popcorn, add the M&Ms. Stir gently. Spread over waxed paper to cool. Break apart to serve.

Peanut Butter White Chocolate Popcorn

2 bags microwave popcorn

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups white chocolate or vanilla baking chips

1 cup Reeses Pieces

Pop the popcorn according to package directions. Pick out all the unpopped kernels and transfer to a large bowl. Melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter together in the microwave or in a double boiler. Pour chocolate peanut butter mix over the popcorn. Add the Reeses Pieces and stir to coat. Spread on waxed paper to cool.

Recipe Confession: I substituted trail mix (peanuts, raisins, and M&Ms) for the Reeses Pieces in this recipe and thought it tasted great. I also melted the pb and chocolate together rather than apart to save a step and the popcorn still turned out great - so that's the way I posted it. The original recipe indicates that 1) you melt the peanut butter and coat the popcorn then, 2) melt the chocolate and coat the popcorn while adding the candy. Melting them together and adding at the same time turned out just fine.

The popcorn was a big hit - especially with the kids. Lily keeps asking for "ka-pon" which we figured out is popcorn. I guess I'll have to make it again soon.

Eleven Year Anniversary

We celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary this weekend. We spent a wonderful evening at the temple to reflect on our marriage covenants and enjoy the peace of the House of the Lord. We didn't buy gifts this year because we bought tickets to see Wicked in May and agreed that those tickets would be our gift. But we couldn't let an anniversary pass without Jelly Bellies!

We buy Jelly Belly beans every year on our anniversary. On our wedding night, my mom gave us a beautiful room at the Salish Lodge. Our room had a huge gift basket filled with snacks. We were thankful for the food since we didn't get to sit and eat at our reception and we were too shy to order room service. We ate apples, sparkling cider, crackers and cheese, and found a glass bottle of Jelly Bellies which we picked through and laughed over that night. We kept that bottle and refill it every anniversary. Funny how the little things mean so much over the years.

I am still so thankful for the blessing that Jeremy is in my life. He is a devoted husband and a fun loving dad. Our life has been full of love, family, and joy even during times of trial.

Here's to an eternity of Jelly Bellies!

22 Months!

It seems that as my due date comes closer, Lily keeps growing up faster. I find myself spending extra time reading and snuggling with her and cherishing this time we have alone together without a baby sister to divide my attention. Lily seem oblivious to the arrival of the new baby. We talk about it every day, but I can tell she is not really comprehending what I'm saying.

Here is what she is up to at 22 months:

She loves to go on walks and to push the stroller - even when it is empty. She's rather push than ride.

She still prefers fresh fruits and vegetables to any processed food. Here she is eating a roma tomato right out of the garden. She loves to "help" us in the garden. She picks the veggies - usually before they are ripe and helps to "prune" the plants by pulling off their leaves.

Ice cream and popsicles are a favorite summer treat. She says ice cream like this "eye-gi-keem" and she says popsicle two ways "ah-boo-kul" and "pop-ee-gul". Another favorite treat is a frozen yoplait go-gurt, which she also calls ice cream.

We watch Curious George on PBS every morning after breakfast. Recently there was an episode about flying kites. Since then, Lily is on the lookout for kites and talks about them when she feels a breeze outside. Grammy Hall bought Lily some little kites that float without much effort. Lily loves to fly her kites!

This summer we enrolled in a Mommy and Me gymnastics class. Lily didn't seem to learn much or want to pay attention in class, but she does like to show off some of her moves when we're at home.

She is talking so much more. Here are some of our favorite Lily sayings:

Mook = milk

I hep you? = will you help me?

Pees = please

I get it = I'll get it, what she says when she drops something

bid-it, bid-it = ribbit, when we ask her what a froggy says

kank you = thank you

pana/papa = puna and papa

ganny/gana = grammy and grandpa

wanch = ranch, as in the dressing, her new favorite food

Most of her other words are pretty clear. She tries to copy what we say all the time. We're always amazed at the things she is able to communicate.

She still takes two naps a day and sleeps for about 11 hours at night. She loves to color and sing and dance. We can never go anywhere without her blankie (which she calls banky). She loves to talk on the phone - especially to Daddy and Puna.

8 Weeks Left

The doctor felt it best to schedule a C-section for the delivery of Miracle #2. We set the date for October 18th at 7:30 a.m. Here's to our next adventure in parenting!

Barber Flats

We went camping with some friends from church this weekend to Barber Flats. It was a great spot - not enough shade for Mommy's liking - but lots of water to play in. Lily as usual was drawn to the river. She fell in the water just a few minutes after we got to the site. She loved crossing the water with Daddy and throwing rocks with the bigger kids. Mommy loved having some time to rest while Daddy kept Lily entertained. There were no biting bugs (HOORAY!). We will probably go back there again someday so we can explore a little more.

Tomato Worm

Lily and Akela found a tomato worm in our yard this morning. It looked like a big green caterpillar. We weren't positive which end was the face and which end was the....you know. We all had fun playing with it. But now Mommy has one more pest to look out for in the garden!

After we all got a chance to inspect it and touch it, Akela decided she needed some one-on-one time with the critter. Lily wanted to get close to it but when the caterpillar moved, Lily would scream and run away. And when Daddy or Mommy got too close to the "bug-uh," as Lily called it, she would tell us to "stop it." We're amazed she was willing to push it around in the dump truck. What a funny way to spend time together on Saturday morning.

Why Blankie is Always Dirty

I let Lily have a snack yesterday while I finished preparing dinner. She climbed up into the high chair and was happily eating her watermelon and strawberries. The next time I turned around, she had her blankie wrapped around her shoulders with big spots of red juice all over it. I don't know how she was able to reach it!

This is why blankie needs to be washed every four days. She won't do anything but bathe without it!

21 Months

Lily's favorite foods of the month are: chocolate pudding, go-gurts, watermelon and trail mix (especially the almonds)

• She picks up two or three new words a day and is trying to communicate with more words
• She gives commands to the dog and the cat like: Sit, Stay, Stop it, and Go
• Her favorite things to name are body parts and numbers
• She loves all things monkey - especially Curious George
• She loves to share, but not with kids her own age...se above picture of her feeding Daddy
• She is beginning to show signs of the terrible twos!
• We can't go anywhere without her blankie
• She loves "reading" to herself and coloring
• She can identify the letters A, B, C, D, L, M, and O
• When we listen to music in the car she says "More! More! Oosic! (Music)" during the pause between songs
• Her favorite songs to sing are "The Wheels on the Bus", "If You're Happy and You Know It" - especially the shout Hooray part, and the "Lonely Goatherd" from The Sound of Music - she likes the lady-oh-da-lady-oh-da-lay-hee-hoo part
• Her eyes, hair, and smile still attract people wherever we go

We love this little munchkin and can't believe she'll be a big sister in just three more months!

Rain Forest Cafe and Seattle Aquarium

Lily loves monkeys. She especially love Curious George. We thought it might be fun to take her to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. She liked the fish in the tanks and really liked the robotic elephants near our table. After they would finish moving and making noise she would put her hands up and ask "Where they go?" or "All done?".

For desert we ordered a chocolate volcano - complete with sparkler. Lily liked the sparkler more than the actual dessert.

Her favorite things were the frozen lemonade, which she drank all by herself; and the macaroni and cheese, which she spilled all over herself. The monkey on her back is a new child leash we're trying out. So far it is working well.

After going to Alki beach, we took Lily to the aquarium. One of her favorite things to see was this replica of an orca fin. She was fighting off other kids so she could play on it.

Here's Brady and Morgan being silly to try and make Lily smile. It worked!

Who looks happier in this picture....Lily or Puna? It's a toss up.

Giving the jelly fish a kiss. She liked being able to get so close to the jellies. We'll have to try the aquarium again when Lily has had more sleep. She was pretty grumpy and so was Mommy.

Alki Beach

While on our Washington trip, Puna wanted to take Lily to the beach. We found a little sandy spot on Alki and tried to help Lily play. She did not like the feeling of sand on her feet so she wanted to sit on or near one of us for the first little while. Puna thought that socks and shoes might help Lily feel more comfortable on the sand. She was right. Once her feet couldn't feel the sand, Lily was off and running.

Lily loved throwing rocks in the water. She also kept charging right into the surf. This girl is not phased by cold water. She wanted to run into the water with all her clothes on. She eventually tripped and fell face first into the water. When Mommy pulled her up, she laughed and wanted more. People on the beach kept telling Mommy it was too cold for her baby to run around soaking wet, so we snuggled down with Puna to dry off, change clothes, and get ready for lunch. Now Mommy knows that the key to beach success is to keep Lily's feet covered. We can't wait to try it again.