Gray's Lake Beach

Go, Ali, Go!

Last Saturday we spent the morning at cousin Ali's softball games.  Lily mostly played in the dirt with the boys and goofed around with cousin Angie (Ali's mom).

God Did It!

Last night on the way home from running errands, Lily said from the backseat "Look at the pink sky!  God did it!"

Justin and I were beaming as we just took in the moment and were filled with pure joy to see how she expressed awe & wonder of her Heavenly Father.

I never want to forget those little comments.  Thanks to recording them here I won't have to! 

Psalm 19:1: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Iowa State Fair: Part 2

Our second trip to the fair was on Saturday, when we went as a family.  It was amazing and ridiculous to me how we spent so much money on food and I still wasn't full!  The deep fried Pickle Dawg was by far the best, I had no doubt I'd love it!  The weather again was ideal and since Lily is into horses at the moment, we decided to watch some of the horse show.  She had a fun time giving us a play-by-play of what the horses were doing. :)

Iowa State Fair: Part 1

This year I decided to take advantage of the free admission deal the opening morning of the fair and boy am I glad we did!  It couldn't have been better weather and since we took the shuttle, we didn't have to fight any crowds.  We met up with my friend from high school and her little girl.  Lily and Scotlyn are exactly 6 months apart and have a great time when they get together.  I think their favorite part was riding the bus and doing "Little Hands on the Farm".

 Cruisin' on the shuttle bus

 Little Hands on the Farm!

 Cute little farm girl :)

 Milking the cow

 Lily has been learning about money lately so she was very excited that they were given (fake) money at the end to buy something in the grocery store!

 Enjoying her purchase

24 weeks along with Baby J here

Union Park

We headed over to Union Park this week with some friends to check it out.  I'd never been there before but kept hearing from moms that it had quite a bit for the kids to do.  And it did!  A wading pool, two playgrounds, a carousel and they provide a free lunch on the weekdays - what a great deal! 

 Kickin' back in the wading pool

 Hurrah!

 Beckham and Lily enjoying their free lunch

 Larae is too sweet!

You can faintly see the dirt on Lily's face in this picture - she had an adventurous morning! :)

I-Cubs Game

Thanks to the company Justin works for, we were able to enjoy an evening at an I-Cubs game earlier this week.  The night was absolutely beautiful outside!  There were plenty of seats open around us so that left room for Lily to wander around and not bother anyone.  A bonus for Lily was that it was Dog Night so of course she loved getting to see all of the dogs go out onto the field.  I think the announcer said there were over 300 dogs!  The elderly couple behind us was awesome, chatting it up with Lily pretty much the whole time and at one point I heard her singing along to a Black Eyed Peas song...hilarious.  Fun times!

Meeting Baby Sophia

We finally made it over to our friends, the Peuses, this week.  Their little girl Sophia was born at the end of April and we had only seen her in passing at church once.  Lily really wanted to hold her.  I think she'll be a great big sister in a few months!

Party at the Farm

My cousin's husband Jeff will be celebrating his 40th birthday later this month and we were able to go to his surprise party while we were visiting this past weekend.  It was held at his parent's farm just outside of Seymour so there was lots of exploring for the kids to do!  We had a relaxing, enjoyable time sitting around talking while Lily was entertained by the other kids (and animals) and sneaking cake & cheese curls from the food table from time to time. :)

 Hugs for Dad

 Lily's attempt at taking a picture of us

 Lily behind the camera again - group shot

 This poor dog was so tolerant. 
Cousin Gracie was eager to show him to Lily.

 Lily loved going over and talking to the dog and cat.

 Looking out into the pasture at the cows