These just in!

I received these pictures in an email from my Mom:

Silly Lily!

Cowgirl Lily & Grandma Minnie playing party games

The morning after her party...we've all been there before!

Lily and her pal, Andrew (who she affectionately refers to as "antrue")

Lily modeling all her "Jessie" birthday gifts.

She inherited that smile from me...can anyone say "cheese"

Eric and Sarita at the lake

Family picnic

Today we took a drive out toward Mount Bachelor for a stop at Devils Lake. The water is sooo clear, it's the only lake I would get into of my own free will. The maximum depth is nine feet so you can see everything around you if you're by the edge, but the water is freezing!

After walking around the water we stopped at a day park for a picnic lunch. It was another beautiful day in Bend and I am soooo glad to be back in the Northwest!! I love that our families can visit, I love the warm, sunny weather, I love the scenery!!

Bend Brewfest

Today is the Bend Brewfest and we're all looking forward to trying a few new microbrews. It's been a great visit so far and we are so happy to have our family here to explore Bend with us!

After her exciting night, Lily was happy to have a slumber party with Auntie Marissa! I guess she kept rolling off the air matress all night.

Sisters!

Lily really loves having my sister around because they're little palsies!

 Even though my grandma doesn't normally drink, she branched out and tried a few samples of beer and wine today

Here's Lil in a new outfit. The brewfest was family friendly and Lily got soooo many compliments on her new boots!!

When we got home we all headed to the pool for a quick swim. I really don't think the weather could have been any more perfect today!!

Cupcake time!

When we first found out that we were moving to Bend we decided to make a date with my family for the Bend Brewfest happening this weekend. I knew I wasn't going to plan a big birthday party for Lily this year so we decided to make a mini celebration on Friday since my mom and sister would already be in town. While I finished the dinner preperations, I let Lily start decorating her party cupcakes. She was doing such a great job of working quietly, I actually forgot that she was in the kitchen with me.

And this is what happens when you leave a toddler unattended with sprinkles...

In the beginning, everything is just fine...

She's nicely adding a few sprinkles at a time...

But then she decides that when it comes to sprinkles, less is not more...more is more...and the more the merrier!

Ultimately, half a bottle of sprinkles gets used on SIX cupcakes...but they are six beautiful, sparkly cupcakes!

In the end, I had to turn the first six cupcakes upside down over the sink and tap on them to shake some of the excess sugar off! Those things were cavities just waiting to happen! But Lily had fun and they were all her own design, so it's was a positive experience for everyone!

Lily's Round Up!

After I told Lily that we were going to have a birthday party, we got right to work with picking the theme. Although she kept bringing up Tangled, she finally decided that she wanted a Jessie (from Toy Story) birthday party. The only thing is that most of the Toy Story merchandise is marketed toward boys and there isn't a lot of Jessie stuff out there. The result was a very...home made...party.

I stuck with the traditional Toy Story color theme which was easy to incorporate into everything else

I made a paper banner with sparkly cut out letters from a free "Western" font I found online...I love pennant banners!!

To make the kitchen and dining room a little more festive, I put up a saloon door decoration that I bought at a party store

After spending hours online searching for party ideas, I found a cookie recipe on Disney's website. These are supposed to be Jessie's hat made out of sugar cookies and candy...I'll go ahead and say this was a total failure, they looked terrible!!

Instead of cake, I baked cupcakes and let Lily decorate them herself

But to keep the party "Jessie" themed, I did buy a few sets of Toy Story party decorations

To create a Western ambiance, I decorated parts of the house so guests could get right into the theme. Luckily, I already had lots of brown project paper so the only things I had to buy were the bales of hay. I decorated the downstairs bathroom to look like an outhouse and added a cowbell outside the front door. I cut the project paper into 8.5x11 sheets and just used our computer printer to make the signs.

I gave a red bandana and badge to our guests when they arrived so we could all be in character

For dinner, we had a western style menu with pulled-chicken sandwiches, corn on the cob, and mashed potatos. Thankfully, it was a perfect night for eating outside and playing games!

The games were simple enough for everyone to play and I did give out small prizes. The best part was just being outside together!

Like last year, Lily obviously snuck a few tastes of frosting before we sang to her

I think her favorite part of anyone's birthday party is the singing and candles, so this was a fun moment for her

Although the party was small, she still received a lot of gifts! At this point in the party, she had been up for twelve hours without napping and things could have spiraled out of control, but she stayed in a great mood and opened all her gifts without any meltdowns!

One item she received was a pair of sparkly red Jessie boots from the Disney store that I know she is going to enjoy!!

Self portrait

Lately Lily has shown a real interest in photography. These are a few self portraits she took in the mirror at the hotel. I love how she even knows to move the camera into different positions for a unique shot! She is a woman of many talents!

And these are a few of her earlier photos:

It's so funny to upload our pictures and see the one's she taken around the house!

BNSF Softball!

Eric had to work in Klamath Falls for two nights this week so we met him out here and got to see him play on the BNSF softball team that he's a part of. Lily loved cheering him on! We don't have anything planned for this trip except pool time!

Back yard progress continues!

The mulch was delivered today and we picked out a few flowers for color. No, we don't know anything about outdoor plants, and yes, I have killed off every indoor plant I've ever owned, but we're hoping to have better luck this time.

 We have guests visiting next weekend and we're joining Eric for another work trip this week so we have a lot to get done in a short amount of time!

**UPDATE: As soon as we got the red flowers planted we had a visit from a hummingbird, it was so cute!**

Columbia Gorge Discovery Center

Eric had another busy day of work so Lily and I stopped at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center before driving home. It's a small, but well planned museum and I highly recommend a visit there to break up a long drive! They have a few interactive areas for kids and a great section about Lewis & Clark! They even have a cafe on site for lunch.

We had a great time exploring the Dalles and hope to travel with Eric more often.

A view on our drive back to Bend

I love the contrast of mountains and farm land!

Time with Eric

When Eric got back to the hotel we took a walk out to the water. Right behind the hotel there are old wooden...fishing structures(?) or something like that. It's so interesting to see them right next to the dam and think about how time changes a place.

Lily had a great time watching the current and looking for rocks!