Philippians 2:3 In Action

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves"

 

We found Lily this way in the morning while staying overnight with friends last weekend.  I'm hoping this generosity extends to her new baby sibling in a few months!  So precious.

Recent Lily Quotes

A few favorites:

--After waking up in the morning with bed-head....
"Whoa, my hair's gettin' all crazy!"

--In the backseat talking to her baby doll.....
Lily - "Oh, you want some gum? Ok, you need to say please."
Lily talking for Baby Emma - "PLEEEASE!"
Lily - "Ok, here you go.  You need to chew it."

--At Aldi's a couple weeks ago....
"Mom, don't say no.  DON'T SAY NO!....Can I have gum?"

--Observing a little boy throwing a fit....
"That boy needs a spank."

--Pulling into the church parking lot....
Me: What is that, Lily?
Lily: A cross
M: Who went on the cross?
L: Jesus.  He got a owie.
M: You're right.  And He died, didn't He?
L: Yeah, like baby bird. (We saw a dead baby bird at the park a few weeks back).
M: Baby bird was on the ground, wasn't it?
L: Yeah, he wanted his Mommy and Daddy.

 --After realizing she left her water bottle at a friend's house...
Lily: My water bottle is at Izzy's house.
Me: Uh oh, you forgot it there?
L: Yeah, Mommy and Daddy stay here.  Lily will drive and go get it.
(I'm sure that will be happening way too soon.  Not ready for it yet! :)

Morning at Raccoon River Park

Last Saturday we enjoyed the morning at RR Park.  Lily played on the playground, we had a picnic lunch, went down to the beach for a bit and then had a Hawaiian shave ice.  We love it there!

Bathtime Artwork

Sprinkler Time with Friends

On Thursday mornings, I do a kid swap with my friend Liz.  This week, I decided to get the sprinkler out and it was a perfect morning for it.  Lily, Molly and Joel had a great time running through it and playing in the kiddie pool.

CG Social

During the summer, our connection group, has a couple socials a month.  Last Sunday we were at the Carlsons where the kiddos enjoyed swimming and jumping on the trampoline.  The older kids and dads had a fun time with a water balloon fight....which I have no pictures of because I was safely sitting inside the four seasons porch.  To top it all off, Erin's homemade ice cream sandwiches were awesome!

 Lily swimming with the boys.  This is a familiar scene.  She needs more girlfriends in her life! :)

 Ben hangin' by the pool

 Ty having a good laugh with his dad

The Carlson boys showing their skillz on the trampoline

 Jonah perched up in the treehouse

Lily LOVED jumping on the trampoline!

A future gymnast?

McHenry Baby Shower

Last Saturday we attended a couple's baby shower for the first time.  Our friends, Mike and Ashley, are expecting their sweet baby at the beginning of August.  It was so great to get together and celebrate life with them!

 Playing a game of Memory - baby shower style

 Beautiful mama-to-be, Ashley

 Elia and Lily

 Lily cheesing it up with Jaden

The shower organizers, Annie and I with the guest of honor

Arizona: Last Day

On Wednesday morning the 6th, we packed up our things to head back to Iowa.  Lily got in some more hugs with Papa Jones and we were on our way to the airport.  As much as I love traveling, I think coming back home is even better!  Lily fell right back into her normal routine the day after we returned so that was a huge blessing.  It's nice to be back to 3 hour naps in her bed instead of sporatic sleeping on the go.  We made some great memories and might visit again someday....but in the winter or spring next time.  This pregnant mama had all the heat she could take. :)

 Lily with Papa Jones

 On the drive home from the Omaha airport

 Kissing the ground....he was so happy to be home!

And admiring our green grass, which did not exist in the great state of Arizona.

I'm glad I married a guy that makes me laugh.

Arizona: Day 6, Part 2

On Tuesday night, we had dinner out at an Italian restaurant that had been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  Justin's dad, stepmom and stepbrother joined us.  The food was great.  The only bummer was that we were overcharged by about $11 and didn't realized it until we were back to the house.  They don't allow the check to be split and since there were 6 of us eating, it was difficult to sort out on the handwritten bill what was what.  Oh well, I guess our waitress just got a really hefty tip!

 Pop in a glass bottle.  It just tastes better!

I don't think I'd had this treat since I was a kid.

 Justin's stepmom Mitzi, her son Jeremy, Justin's dad

Outside La Piazza Al Forno

Arizona: Day 6, Part 1

 On Tuesday morning we enjoyed some time in the pool again and went paddleboating before we had to check out of the resort.  Then we headed to Old Scottsdale which was a neat area nearby with shops, restaurants and little places for photo ops.  After about 30 minutes of walking around though, we were ready to head back to the air-conditioned car!

 I started off the morning by reading my book for Book Club right in this very relaxing hammock.  It was perfect timing to be reading this book, by the way.  Lily was testing boundaries most of the trip so as I was reading "Don't Make Me Count to Three", I was reminded of many things we needed to start being more consistent with once we returned to Iowa soil!

 View of our resort from the lake

This photo of me carrying Baby J reminds me of one we took of me pregnant with Lily on our trip to Savannah........

  Hopefully Justin and I will get to go on another trip, just the two of us, before the next love of our life arrives!

Arizona: Day 5, Part 2

The evening part of Day 5 was spent at Almosta Ranch, hanging out with our friend Jade who is a horse trainer there.  We had SO MUCH fun!  Lily was mesmerized the whole time as we walked through the barns and met all of the horses.  Jade had to re-bandage the injured leg of a horse and Lily had a concerned look on her face as she commented that the horse had an "owie".  Then the moment came that we had been waiting for...asking Lily if she would like to ride a horse with Jade.  And we may or may not have mentioned to her that she could have ice cream if she got up there.  What can I say, I really wanted to capture the moment!!  She was a little hesitant but once she was up, she had a great time.  Since we've been home she has loved watching the video of her riding!  Again, be prepared for lots of photos below!

 Petting Armando (the horse she rode).  You can kind of see in this photo that she just used her two little fingers to pet him, it was so cute.

 Our friend Jade has always been such a natural with horses...it's in his blood!

 Here we're pictured with Jade and the owner of the ranch, Al Dunning.  When we met him, he remarked that "you must be the friends from Iowa.  I love getting the Seymour Herald every week.  We should take our picture with this week's paper".  My grandma and aunt run our hometown newspaper so of course we thought it was a great idea!

 Here's Jade taking this wild horse on his first ride.  We were impressed!

 Lily watching intently

 I love watching horses run wild.  They're such beautiful animals!

 First moment up on the horse with Jade.

Fingers in the mouth = not sure what to think

 You can see by her cheese face she's much more relaxed by this point! :)

 Lily really liked brushing Armando after their ride

 And by golly, she did not forget the promise of ice cream.  It was the first thing she mentioned when we sat down for dinner at this Mexican restaurant.  Fortunately for her, fried ice cream was on the menu!

 Jade and his girlfriend Tessa

Aren't they a cute couple?!

 Lily was completely loaded up with sugar after dessert. She was jumping off the walls before we went back out to Tessa's truck and not 2 minutes into the ride, she was absolutely silent in a sort of trance.  It was the biggest sugar crash we've ever witnessed!  And quite funny.

Once we got back to the ranch and said our goodbyes, we headed back to our resort.  Lily didn't last long in the car before she was sawing logs.  She stayed asleep through Justin carrying her into the room, changing her into her jammies and laying her in her pack-n-play.  She had a great night's sleep at the end of our busy day!