Time in Utah and other updates

I can't believe my sweet little Alyssa is done with high school! It was fun to be there when she graduated and to spend some time with her. I love hanging out with my amazing sister!

Cassidy came to visit for a few days and we had a great time! Lyla especially loved playing with her at the park.

One Sunday morning when it was time to get ready for church, we asked Lyla to go in her room and get her dress. Instead she picked out what she wanted to wear- some pjs and a pair of pants. After laughing Paul put them on her like this:

We've been spending a lot of time outside working on our yard, and Lyla loves to pitch in. She always finds gloves to wear, needs a shovel in each hand, and then uses her plastic golf clubs to dig in the ground. Such a sweet little helper!

My friend Brittany took these pictures of Lyla swinging. It was fun to have the Allreds stay with us for a few days and to get to know their cute little boy.

My favorite monkey pajamas on my angel girl! When we were in Utah a few weeks ago, we had some friends over to my parent's house to swim. It was fun to catch up with everyone!

My mischievous little girl snuck up behind me...

and tried to push me in the pool! Such a funny little girl.

Lyla is already 19 months old and is learning new words every day. She loves to do the actions to lots of nursery rhymes like ring around the rosies, wheels on the bus, popcorn popping, pat-a-cake, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, etc. A few weeks ago she started folding her arms during prayers all by herself and loves seeing pictures of Jesus. She is definitely a mommy's girl and is very clingy- especially in public. We have entered the tantrum stage and her favorite activity when she gets upset is to bang her head against the wall as hard as she can. This week she actually ate something besides fruit, toast, and pbj sandwiches. She has been loving a pasta dish I made and I'm crossing my fingers that she continues to try new things!