How this baby is three I still don't quite understand! But she did have a birthday, and we definitely shouted hooray.
We decided to celebrate Lila's birthday in St. George, in part because Kayla and Ben were having a little gender reveal celebration we wanted to be a part of. They found out they are having a girl (woot woot!) and are quite excited. We spent Friday night celebrating their baby...
And we spent Saturday celebrating our three-year-old baby! We decided that since we were so close, we needed to go to Zion! We packed a lunch and made the long-ish drive, which wasn't too bad because Lila had convinced Grandma to ride with us and Lila LOVES when Grandma rides with us. When we got to Springdale, we found a parking lot to leave Kayla and Ben's car in and crowded into the Tahoe--perhaps somewhat illegally, but just for a short distance. Before we knew it, we were at the lodge! We decided to start with our picnic lunch because everyone was already hungry. And, as we all know, hiking with hungry kids is zero fun. Our picnic was delicious, and we all ate rather quickly because there was definitely a chill in the air. Once we'd finished and taken potty breaks, we headed across the street to our favorite hike: Emerald Pools!
We knew Zion was supposed to be cold, so we were appropriately bundled. What we didn't know was that about 100 feet into the hike, the trail was iced over. We tried to go a little further, but between Kayla being pregnant and cautious, and my crazy knee making me nervous (it felt like it was going to give out with the ways I was asking it to support me and to move), we were moving very, very slowly. A few hikers passed us on their way down--they were wearing spikes, smarties--and told us the rest of the trail was icy. And that was when we turned around. Going back down the short hill we climbed took even more time to go down than up, but eventually we made it safely back to non-icy ground.
We decided to try another hike we'd done before that we knew was relatively flat and not by water, so had a chance of not being icy/impassable. We were thwarted once again, this time only about 50 yards in. There were traces of ice on the ground, but the real problem was the mud! Yuck. So instead of a hike, we found a big rock, posed, and took group selfies to prove we were in Zion.
We did a little scenic drive, then decided to head back down to St. George. We stopped briefly at the Children's Place Outlet, where we find Lila the most ridiculously adorable slippers, then headed back to Grandma's house to par-tay! Grandma and Kayla had planned a cute Minnie Mouse party for Lila, and Lila truly enjoyed every second. We played games: pin the bow on Minnie, Donald duck-duck goose, a prize walk (like a cake walk but with toys, and a goofy game where we took turns drawing and acting out goofy things. We ended the party in true Rolfe party fashion by fishing for prizes. I think I fished for my party bags at every birthday party I ever had! The kids had so much fun!
After our games, we got to enjoy the cake Lila helped me make! She choose a confetti cake with confetti frosting, then put her Minnie Mouse action figures allllllll over the top. She was very happy with her cake and we were very happy to enjoy her cake with her. After cake, Lila got to open her presents! Grandma made a beautiful princess dress for her, which went on immediately, of course. Lila also got several new outfits, which she about died over. She LOVES clothes. Every time she's worn them since she's told me, "Grandma gave me this shirt!" or "Kay Kay loves these pink pants she gave me!" I think her absolute favorites are the leggings with zebras on them. We had a fun night celebrating our doll!
The night before Lila's actual birthday, Lila got to go on a shopping date with Daddy! Grandma and Grandpa Hambly sent a gift card so Lila could go choose something out with her own money. According to Ryan's report, Lila immediately settled on a Minnie cash register she's been eyeing for ages. After that, she was ready to go. Ryan tried explaining that she had more money to spend, and suggesting she put all the things she liked in the cart, then they could decide what she wanted to keep at the end. Lila was so, so confused. She had her cash register and was ready to go! Ryan coaxed her into looking at a few more things and they wound up with an Our Generation doll and a play baby stroller in the cart, too. Lila chose the OG doll based on her purple dress--she told Ryan, "Look at that DRESS, Daddy!" Now that they'd looked through the toy section, it was time to decide what to take home. Lila was again confused and asked, "We get all them, Daddy?" She was a few dollars over budget, but he just went with it! She loves all the things she chose and is particularly smitten with Olivia, the OG doll.
On Lila's actual birthday, Lila got to open her presents first thing! I'd wrapped her presents the night before her birthday while she was sleeping, and waking up to a pile of wrapped gifts was too much to resist! We gave her a set of Fancy Nancy books, a hairdressing kit, and a mobigo game. Her charm from Ryan this year was a lightbulb. He chose the light bulb because she is such a light in our life--she truly brings us so much joy and is such a sweet presence in our family. We spent the morning at Pump it Up!, a giant bounce house place, with her best friend McKynlee. For the first half hour, we were literally the only kids there, which was amazing. Even after that only a handful of other kids showed up, so we had the run of the place! That night, we had some of her favorite foods for dinner: broccoli (her absolute favorite!), baked chicken nuggets, and homemade french fries. I always thought people were exaggerating or bragging when they said that their kids LOVED vegetables, but apparently some kids really DO enjoy veggies. Lila doesn't like any other vegetable at all, but she does love her broccoli. We didn't want to do a big cake again, so we let Lila choose out a dessert at the store. Her choice? Pink heart-shaped hostess cupcakes.
We sure love our three-year-old dolly!
Asher's illicit car seat.
Chilly picnic!
I die watching her run.
Aaaaand....we've given up!
My mom had this random Obi Wan Kenobi pen that the boys were quite pumped to find. Reed took the pen along in the car to keep him company.
Lila has been dying for slippers of her own. When we found these at Children's Place, we knew they had to come home!
Ben pinned the bow on Asher!
A prize walk prize!
Poor Asher's prize bag came detached two or three times while fishing. He started bawling, truly believing that he wouldn't get a prize! Luckily, the fishing pond was kind and let him have unlimited tries to get his bag over.
A box of cereal! Woohoo!
The boys each have their own tithing/savings/fun bank. We gave Lila a bank for her birthday and she was SO pumped! She yelled, I have been wanting one of these!
Lila opening presents was akin to a tornado. She didn't stop to really look at anything until everything was unwrapped!
Posing with Olivia, her new dolly.