water fun? must be one!

 Happy Birthday littlest bird!

Lily had a wonderful day celebrating turning one.  All kids should have summer birthdays.  I know that is what Bayli has always wished for.  

She visited with Grandma Bev in the morning, while mom recouped from working overnight.

After she got home and had nap-time, she crawled about the house and played with her favorite toys and friends (Bayli & Chase). 

Then she did her favorite thing, went outside and played.  She loves being outside.

Although she still is hesitant about letting her bare limbs touch the grass. 

She has to work herself up a bit.

She takes a break from touching the grass by standing up.  She is pretty great at doing squats.

Then she takes a few steps to try and escape from the tickly grass.

She ends up back on her bottom after about 3 steps.

 This turns into a pretty fun game after a while.  

Until she decides to make a mad dash (crawl)  to the basketball court.  

And tries to climb into the pool. 

We usually thwart her efforts at this point.

 In the evening we had our entire family over to join in the celebrations.  

We enjoyed some serious water wars. 

Everyone got drenched.

No one was safe.  Including the person packing around the birthday girl and camera.

There were a few who managed to hide out from the drenching. 

I think that they must have given serious threats, that or they escaped into the house.

 Lily did get a bit overwhelmed by all of the people.

I love her cute little posture and bum.

 She had a good time picking up balloon entrails.  With the help of her trusty blue duckie.

Until the adults forced her to stop that game. The big meanies!!!

Then we enjoyed hotdogs.

Can I just say how much I love having the walk out patio done?  LOVE IT!!!  

Now we just need the basement done so we don't have to make a billion trips up and down to the kitchen.

Lily loves to eat, so she was more than willing to eat a hotdog.

 

 While holding onto her blue duckie, the entire time.

 Then it was time for cake!!!

 Of course she didn't hesitate to test that out.

 She had a bit of a pause after the first sampling.

Then she dove right in.

And before long, looked like this.

And was scouring her tray looking for more.

She was forced to take a bath after that. 

More like, she screamed at mom to help get the cake out of her eyes while trying to shake it off of her hands.

 After the cleanup, present time!

She had a bit of help from brother and sister.

And she made out with some really fun gifts.

She has so many people who love and adore her.

Not focused, but for some reason I love this one. 

Probably  because all of the movement reminds me of all the joy she exuded.

 And this doesn't show her first loves given to her pillow pet. 

I hope we got them on video.   

Because it was so darn cute and tender.

 She was a pretty happy little gem.  

Thanks family for coming and celebrating with us!!!

the few days remaining

On Friday, our baby will be one.  Our baby will be one?!!!?  It is hard to believe.  She has grown so fast.  Our littlest ray of sunshine, our littlest bird, our baby, our blue-eyed (at least for now) beauty, our Lil's, is going to be ONE in just a few days.
 
I am torn between wanting to keep her at these baby stages and watching her conquer each milestone, watching her grow into a little lady.

She has turned into a little chatterer.  She has also discovered that screaming is effective.  She doesn't take any guff from Bayli and Chase.

She loves to be around people, while in mom or dad's arms.  I keep waiting/dreading the day that I am no longer her favorite person.

She loves kids, any and all, especially babies about her size (we don't come across them as often as she would like).
The other day we had a little friend over who is about 6 months older than Lily.  Lily crawled right up to her, put her arms out big, and proceeded to give her a bear hug.  While in the process, she knocked her over.  She was relentless, she wanted to hug that baby.  She kept her little arms tight around her while they were in a heap of little baby girl cuteness on the floor. I had to finally pry her off to rescue the other little cutie.

She LOVES to eat.  Dirt and rocks will even do.  Her mouth is definitely her favorite tool.  But really, she does love any and all kinds of food. 

She has discovered a love for music and dancing.  She has a pretty mad head bob when she is bumpin' to some tunes.  She responds best to Hello by Martin Solveig.

It is so sad, yet exciting, to see her grow up.  

How sweet our Lily grows! 

bridal veil falls

To celebrate the day after Utah's Pioneer Day, we headed up Provo Canyon with the Dixon clan. 
Our destination, along with all of the other families from Utah County, Bridal Veil Falls. 
And let me say, that with the wet year we have had, it was definitely not disappointing. 
We enjoyed a fun picnic before we headed up the trail to the falls.

 The kids had a blast getting soaked and wading through the icy water.

 Chase was a bit more hesitant than Bayli to venture into the cold.  But once he realized that he was okay, we couldn't get him out.

 In fact, all he wanted to do was scale up the rocks in the falls.  We had to tell him that he could only go up so far, otherwise he would have attempted to scale to the top. 

 He didn't want anyone holding onto him.  Even to pose for a picture.

 He wanted to find his own way up and down the rocks.

On the other-hand, Bayli was her typical self, always up for posing for the camera.

perigee fun

We had a fun evening at Liberty Park celebrating Perigee's success (Jed and his 3 partners business).   It also happened to be Jed's birthday, 35 couldn't be handsomer.
They have put in a lot of hard work to make their company successful.  I loved that they decided to make this gathering about our families, not just an evening out with adults. 

The kids had a blast with a pinata. 

Lily loved, what else, eating everything on the ground.

 But the favored event was playing in the splash fountains. 

 Even when their lips were purple and they were nearing hypothermia.

 They were full of joyful goosebumps.