We made the trek to Louisiana for Memorial Day this year.  It was so nice to get to see everyone and introduce the family to Mari!  We had a GREAT time swimming to beat the heat!  Lara has become a real fish this year!

My cousin Mandy and Aunt Janis decided to come down and see us with my Aunt Glenda (who lives in Nashville) while they were on their trek to this side of the country!  So glad that they got to come and meet Mari and visit with us for a bit!

We made a go at strawberry picking for one third and final time for the season, because Lucas wanted to go, and I thought that SURELY Lara would enjoy it more each time we went... Well, she still wasn't thrilled, but we had a good time anyways, and now have more strawberries that we know what to do with!  Thankfully they freeze well and we'll be making LOTS of smoothies this summer to beat the heat!

Is it really possible that this beautiful, crazy, silly girl is 2 and a HALF years old!  There is not much baby left in this baby, and that makes me so sad, but I love, love, love, love the age that she is (most days anyways!)

Here is what Lara is up to lately!

* We are L-O-V-I-N-G summer!  We are spending most of our time outside playing in the pool, doing chalk, blowing bubbles, going to the park, or going to play in the fountains at a local outdoor mall.  Lara asks almost as soon as we get up if it's time to go outside yet!  Love it!

* I love that she loves to talk. All. The. Time!  Her vocabulary keeps growing daily and I'm always amazed when she comes up to me and starts talking about riding the escalators or playing on her calculators or picking her squash and zucchini out of the garden.  She definitely has something to say about everything around her!

* She says the funniest things all the time, and she knows that she's funny! ;-)  I really need to start writing things down, because I can't ever remember the things she's told us that make us laugh so hard!

* Her favorite things to do lately are playdoh, stickers and puzzles.  Between these three activities, I think she could be happy pretty much all day long :-)

* She's recently starting having a real interest in helping me bake and cook.  She likes to help me measure everything out and then dump it in, and she is always so excited to see what the finished product will be!  Her favorites to help me with are lasagna, cookies and zucchini bread!  

* We started our very own garden this year, and she has gotten more out of it than I ever could have imagined!  She helped make the garden, then plant all of the plants, and has been LOVING watching everything grow.  She gets SO excited everyday when we go out to check on the garden and loves helping find and pick the ripe "matoes" and zucchini!  

* She has proven to be a GREAT big sister.  She always lets me know when Mari is crying (as if I didn't already hear her!) and always wants to know if she can go make her feel better.  She loves giving her hugs and kisses and bringing her toys and trying to make her giggle!  She is really gentle (most of the time) and I'm excited to see how their relationship grows as they get older, although I do have the realistic view that things will not always be so bright and cheery as I'm sure LOTS of fighting will happen!

* She is such a fantastic eater.  She eats everything that we eat, and is pretty great about trying new things. She is always pretty excited about eating the tomatoes and zucchini from the garden.  She wants a "spinage lettuce salad with RED matoes from the garden and pink dip" pretty much every day for lunch :-)  

* I know there is SO much more, but this is all I can come up with right now!  ha!  

Perfect picture of silly Lara :-) Love this sweet girl!